Notes and observations from Cowboys’ 2026 rookie minicamp – Tommy Yarrish, DallasCowboys.com
Checking in on the new rookies.
Cowboys first-round pick Caleb Downs spent a good bit of practice on Friday working one-on-one with Christian Parker during practice. On Saturday, Downs and Parker did the same one-on-one work after practice concluded. “I feel like that’s when you learn fully what the coach means,” Downs said of his time with Parker. “To be able to get hands on and be able to do the drill with you, I feel like that’s a real positive.” When Downs wasn’t working with Parker, he spent most
of his positional drills with secondary coach Ryan Smith, whose focus is primarily on the safety room.
Dallas’ second first-round pick Malachi Lawrence did one-on-one work with Cowboys pass rush specialist consultant B.T. Jordan over the weekend, and the two are working to make his pass rushes more efficient. “He’s very technical,” Lawrence said of Jordan. “When it comes to my steps, he doesn’t want me false stepping, so we worked on that today. I had a bag under my foot, so just working on false step, working on get-off.”
After drafting Jaishawn Barham in the third-round, Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer said the team would begin working him at inside linebacker. On Friday, Christian Parker said he’d be getting work at MIKE linebacker, an area that Dallas needs players at. On Saturday, Parker pulled Barham aside during linebacker position drills and did one-on-one work with him. “I feel like my ability to run, run sideline to sideline, be able to hit, take on blocks, get off blocks, being able to cover tight ends, running backs, whatever. I feel like I’m a football player. So whether it’s d-end or linebacker, I play football, so I can do it.”
$28M Cowboys signing brings 6-year hardware streak of good luck-Ben Grimaldi, Cowboys Wire
Cowboys may have just secured their good luck charm.
When the Dallas Cowboys signed wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling, they likely had no idea that they unlocked a key to their 2026 season. Success follows the veteran wideout no matter where he goes, either for his quarterback, or the team he plays for. Despite being a solid WR during his eight seasons, Valdes-Scantling has modest numbers over the course of his career, never topping 690 yards or six touchdowns in a single year. However, Valdes-Scantling does seem to bring good luck wherever he goes. In his last six seasons, major hardware has made it’s way either to the team he played for, or the quarterback he caught passes from.
If you’re wondering how things turned out in 2024, Buffalo Bills QB Josh Allen won the MVP award. And if you’re counting, at his last five stops prior to 2025, Valdes-Scantling’s QBs had won four MVP’s and two Super Bowls. It helps that he’s played for a few of the best signal callers in the league, and now he gets to play with another one in Dak Prescott. He hasn’t won an MVP yet, but Prescott’s played some of his best football in two of the last three seasons and finished second in MVP voting in 2023.
Perhaps Valdes-Scantling can help Prescott win the award this upcoming season. What might be more difficult is facilitating a Super Bowl run for the Cowboys, who haven’t even seen an NFC championship game in 31 years. If anyone can do it, it might be Valdes-Scantling, who was signed by the Seattle Seahawks last offseason. Even though he was cut before the 2025 campaign began and played for two other teams during the regular season, the Seahawks did go on to win the Super Bowl.
That would mean any team Valdes-Scantling has started an offseason with in the last six years has seen its QB win the MVP, or team or hoist the Lombardi Trophy. The Cowboys should like those results, even if the team cuts the veteran WR before the season.
Cowboys must have Bobby Wagner on speed dial after Dee Winters’ admission -Jerry Trotta, The Landry Hat
Communication is key. Why Dallas needs to consider this veteran.
The question all Dallas Cowboys fans are asking after the NFL Draft is if the team is done adding at linebacker. That may sound greedy given that Dallas’ draft was a home run, but it’s impossible to overstate how awful the defense was last season, and poor linebacker play was a big reason why. To the Cowboys’ credit, they made it a point to address the position on Day 2, trading for vet Dee Winters, who started 17 games for the San Francisco 49ers last season, and drafting Michigan’s Jaishawn Barham.
It’s unclear if Barham will start right away, but Cowboys fans can expect Winters to be suited and booted when Dallas takes the field in September. What remains to be seen with the former 49er, though, is if he’ll wear the green dot for defensive coordinator Christian Parker. In his introductory press conference, Winters admitted that, while he’s willing to do anything that’s asked of him, he has minimal experience with the green dot (h/t Jon Machota, The Athletic).
“I’ve only done a few practices with the green dot. That’ll be new, but there’s a first time for everything. I’m willing to do whatever it takes.”
The Dallas Cowboys must sign Bobby Wagner to be their green dot linebacker
If there were ever a time for Dallas to get Bobby Wagner on the phone, it’s now. That’s not to diminish Winters, but we all saw how poor the communication was last season. Matt Eberflus deserves a large share of the blame, but it has to be cleaned up. Christian Parker alone will make a major difference, but he still needs a defensive quarterback to relay calls and keep everyone aligned.
Whether Winters can handle that responsibility is still to be determined, but he revealed Parker wants him playing in space to “run and hit” and unleash his physicality. That assignment is typically given to the WILL or weakside linebacker, whereas the MIKE or middle linebacker most commonly wears the green dot. Enter Bobby Wagner. Approaching his 36th birthday, Wagner can’t keep up in coverage like he once did, but his IQ remains as sharp as ever. When it comes to reading and reacting and navigating traffic against the run, you’d be hard-pressed to name five linebackers better. Incredible when you consider his age.
Cowboys 2026 roster rundown: LB Shemar James-Jess Haynie, Blogging the Boys
After being thrown into the fire, this second-year linebacker has a part to play on this new-look defense.
Our next player profile in this series is the first one from the defense: linebacker Shemar James. He’s not as high on the depth chart as he was a few weeks ago, but James still figures to be on the 2026 roster in at least some kind of role, and the potential for significant playing time is still there for the second-year prospect.
Background
Years in NFL: 1
Acquired by: Drafted (2025 fifth round)The Cowboys made James one of their two fifth-round picks in last year’s draft, the other being RB Jaydon Blue. At the time, James was seen a little more than a down-roster development player with strong special teams value. After all, Dallas has traded for veteran Kenneth Murray, signed Jack Sanborn for his experience in Matt Eberflus’ system, and had Marist Liufau as an intriguing second-year guy. They also anticipated DeMarvion Overshown’s return from injury during the regular season, and even still had Damone Clark as an experienced backup option.
Well, we know how that all went. Sanborn was a bust as the starting MLB and eventually got hurt. Murray moved to that role and was woefully miscast. Liufau, like most of our defenders, seemed to forget how to play in Eberflus’ scheme. Clark was just as lost and got cut midseason. And Overshown did return after 10 weeks, but between the team’s other defensive issues and being judicious in how they worked him back in, he didn’t get to do much.
If chaos is a ladder, James climbed it to six starts and more defensive snaps than any other LB but Murray. It wasn’t pretty at times: the rawness that made him a fifth-round pick showed up plenty of times, and he graded out as one of the league’s worst linebackers overall. But, to be fair, some of those grades came as a result of all the bad play around him.
It wasn’t all bad, though. The athletic traits that got James drafted were also on display, especially as a blitzer, and allowed him to still flash play-making potential. It was enough to keep him on the roster this offseason and still have plenty of optimistic supporters as we go into camp.
