Tuesday was supposed to be a rather significant date on the Cowboys training camp calendar, their second and final joint practice/scrimmage opportunity to continue sorting out the depth chart with invaluable live reps against another opponent. Dallas came into this scrimmage with plenty of depth chart questions following their first preseason game, but one of the only big ways the depth sorted itself out on Tuesday was due to players putting themselves in a negative light by being involved in one or more
of several fights that broke out on the day.
Having already looked at three winnerson a day that will go down as mostly useless because of these fights, unfortunately the skirmishing has to remain a topic for a bit longer as it also helps frames our three losers on the day – with injuries also having some say.
1. EDGE Donovan Ezeiruaku
It really was not all that long ago that nearly the entire hopes of the Cowboys generating a pass rush in 2026 seemingly rested on the shoulders of second-year draft pick Donovan Ezeiruaku, who had a promising rookie campaign despite being in horrible circumstances for the defense as a whole in 2025.
Good on the Cowboys for adding Rashan Gary since this time, Malachi Lawrence in the draft, and then earlier this week Von Miller as well, but the reason we now have to feel much better about these veteran additions instead of continuing to hype up Ezeiruaku still feels yucky.
For the second time this training camp, Ezeiruaku was told to hit the showers early for fighting, this time throwing a punch at a Saints player.
Availability is the best ability any player can have, so it is highly concerning that Ezeiruaku is not even exhibiting the ability to be available for as many reps as needed, even in practice settings. Dallas’ number one concern coming out of the preseason win over the Seahawks on defense should be how well they can set the edge from their outside linebacker position. The Miller acquisition was an awesome immediate response to get better in this area even after just one preseason game, but in order to keep the upside of this veteran addition high, the Cowboys need their young talent to come along on the edge as well.
Ezeiruaku is supposed to be the cream of the crop in this regard, but now has a potential mountain (or at least a decent hill) to climb just to be back in the good graces of this coaching staff.
2. RB Jaydon Blue
Sticking with the availability trend, RB2 candidate Jaydon Blue has hit hard times ever since the Seahawks game. The Cowboys saw other depth in the backfield pop in the game, and upon return to Oxnard, have not even been able to put Blue on the field. Blue was not a full participant at practice on Monday, and then did not participate in the scrimmage on Tuesday.
Time is ticking rapidly at this point when it comes to the amount of practice and game reps combined the Cowboys will be able to use to decide their pecking order at running back. Just for the moment the amount of time Blue is missing is not a death-con level red alert, but if it starts to extend with the second preseason game looming on Saturday, there are more than enough hungry mouths to feed with Malik Davis, Israel Abanikanda, and a healing Phil Mafah to push Blue down the depth chart.
To make matters worse was how the offense popped against the Saints on the practice fields at Oxnard. The pass offense absolutely lit it up, an area that Blue could have contributed and made a real difference in the backfield competition where he is undoubtedly the most natural pass catcher of the RB group at the moment.
3. TE Michael Trigg
Another player that mainly finds himself on this list because he was not available for the scrimmage, UDFA TE Michael Trigg also could not contribute to the good day the Cowboys had through the air. Although he did so a little bit against the Seahawks, that was without Jake Ferguson playing at all, Luke Schoonmaker playing just eight snaps, and Brevyn Spann-Ford also not playing at all.
This feels like the umpteenth training camp in a row where the tight end depth chart has a lot of intrigue and some roster longshot “pet cats”, but by about this time in the summer session, the realization that Ferguson is going to take up the vast majority of the space available for any other TEs to play is made. The Cowboys showed this by getting Ferguson involved in his usual red zone ways against the Saints, but also by getting creative with TE1.
Even Luke Schoonmaker got in on the action.
Just like favorite ice cream flavors, every Cowboys fan may still cling onto their favorite tight end beyond Ferguson to contribute to this offense in 2026, with two preseason games to go. With three receivers that demand seeing the field at a very high rate and Ferguson coming on stronger and stronger as camp progresses though, the team’s most experienced tight end was another winner on the day for Tuesday, and it makes the rest of the position group more of a loser.
Trigg is the new undrafted player that wasn’t on the field at all in this practice, creating a gap for him to close right as the cream is starting to rise to the top all over the roster and more established players are showing their regular season form.
