As rookies throughout the NFL get their first taste of pro football, some of them will be getting a second taste of their most recent meals.
Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer made it clear during the team’s rookie minicamp that the new players are struggling.
“None of these guys are in great shape right now,” Schottenheimer told reporters. “You might have saw a few guys getting sick yesterday. A little bit of vomiting going on.”
It’s not a surprise. After football season ended, most of them spent time not doing football conditioning but preparing for the specific drills of the Scouting Combine and the Pro Day workout. Many of them spent the weeks before the draft flying around to various team facilities for visits. (Schottenheimer mentioned that first-rounder Malachi Lawrence visited 16 or 17 teams.)
When the rookie minicamp rolls around, they all get thrown into the fray. And even if it’s not full pads, it’s football practice. For guys who haven’t practiced any football in months.
It’s also a way to get their attention before they get thrown into the mix of offseason workouts with the veterans. The culture shock doesn’t happen in September. It arrives in May, as the first part of the process aimed at getting them ready for the real thing.
The Cowboys traded up one spot before taking safety Caleb Downs in the first round of this year’s draft, but that deal only came after an attempt to move even higher was rebuffed.
A clip from ESPN’s The Pick Is In shows Browns general manger Andrew Berry fielding a call from Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones while on the clock at No. 9. Berry turned down Dallas’s offer of their No. 12 and No. 20 picks for No. 9 and No. 24, and he did not change his mind when Jones offered to add a fifth-round pick to the offer.
The offer suggests the Cowboys thought that the Giants were going to take Downs at No. 10 as that was a frequent link during the mock draft season. The Giants wound up taking tackle Francis Mauigoa and the Cowboys wound up sending two fifth-rounders to the Dolphins to move up to No. 11 for Downs. They later traded down three spots from No, 20 and picked up two fourth-round picks.
The Browns took tackle Spencer Fano at No. 9 and another clip from the show features Berry talking to the Browns’ draft room after they traded down from No. 6 into that spot. He said Fano, Mauigoa and wide receiver Jordyn Tyson were the players the team was considering at No. 9 and Tyson went to New Orleans at No. 8, so another move down may have left them without all of their preferred options with their first of two first-round picks.
He was the eleventh overall pick in the draft. As of Friday, however, Cowboys safety Caleb Downs had the top-selling jersey among all rookies.
Fanatics has announced, via Fox Sports, the ten best-selling rookie jerseys in the wake of the 2026 draft. Downs leads the way.
Raiders quarterback Fernando Mendoza, the No. 1 overall pick, lands at No. 5. That’s one spot behind Steelers rookie quarterback Drew Allar, a third-round pick, who sits at No. 4.
Here’s the full top ten: (1) Downs; (2) Dolphins linebacker Jacob Rodriguez; (3) Cowboys linebacker Malachi Lawrence; (4) Allar; (5) Mendoza; (6) Dolphins cornerback Chris Johnson; (7) Cardinals running back Jeremiyah Love; (8) Patriots offensive lineman Caleb Lomu; (9) Bears safety Dillon Thieneman; (10) Jets linebacker David Bailey.
The presence of two Cowboys defensive players in the top three and two Dolphins defensive players in the top six could be a reflection of the overall optimism the fans of those teams are currently feeling. For Dallas, the offense is among the best in the league; it won’t take much defensive improvement to make the team a contender. As to the Dolphins, it’s a new era with the hiring of G.M. Jon-Eric Sullivan and coach Jeff Hafley.
It’s somewhat surprising that none of the four receivers taken in the first round made the list. And the absence of Rams quarterback Ty Simpson reflects the reality that he’ll be spending a year (or two, or maybe three) behind Matthew Stafford.
The numbers will surely change once the depth charts are determined for 2026 and, after that, the games are played. The rookies who play and play well will see a spike in jersey sales.
The unexpected decision of Cowboys receiver George Pickens to accept his franchise tender has sparked plenty of speculation. The explanation seems to be pretty simple.
From the perspective of Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer, the situation is sufficiently simple to require barely a second of thought, or discussion.
On Saturday, Schottenheimer made it clear that he sees no purpose in speaking to Pickens about his decision.
“I don’t think there’s any reason for us to have that [conversation],” Schottenheimer said Saturday, via Joseph Hoyt of the Dallas Morning News. “That’s not what we plan on doing.”
So why does Schottenheimer believe Pickens decided to commit to a one-year, $27.298 million contract with the Cowboys?
“I think because George would play this game for a dollar as much as he loves football,” Schottenheimer said. “These guys that love playing the game, they love playing the game.”
That’s a gross oversimplification of the situation. The better view is that Pickens had no other viable alternative. With the Cowboys unwilling to give Pickens a long-term deal, and with no other team willing to sign him to an offer sheet that would require two first-round picks as compensation if the proposal wasn’t matched, Pickens’s only play was to take $27.298 million (even if it’s nearly $15 million below the top of the market), have another big year, and do it again in 2027.
And while some continue to wonder whether Pickens’s next play will be to skip next month’s mandatory minicamp, we’d suggest cracking open a can of common sense. Why would he accept the tender now and then subject himself to nearly $100,000 in fines when he could have simply not accepted the tender until after the minicamp came and went?
The gesture suggests that Pickens is all in for 2026. That he’ll be there, with the goal of repeating his performance from 2025 and, in turn, putting the lingering issues from his three years in Pittsburgh deeper into the rear-view mirror.
The Cowboys are holding their rookie minicamp this weekend and they used the occasion as reason to finalize agreements with 11 undrafted free agents.
A couple of the new additions to the roster are tight ends. The Cowboys did not draft any players at the position last week.
D.J. Rogers caught 34 passes for 319 yards and two touchdowns during his final season at TCU. Michael Trigg played at USC and Ole Miss before transferring to Baylor for the last two seasons. He had 80 catches for 1,089 yards and nine touchdowns while with the Bears.
The Cowboys also signed Georgia Southern wide receiver Camden Brown, Kansas defensive tackle Tommy Dunn, Baylor tackle Sidney Fugar, Virginia Tech defensive tackle Kelvin Gilliam, SMU wide receiver Jordan Hudson, Vanderbilt linebacker Langston Patterson, Kentucky tackle Shiyazh Pete, Tulsa running back Dominic Richardson, and Kansas defensive tackle D.J. Withers.
