Dallas Cowboys News & Notes: Dez Bryant And Terrance Williams Are Kings Of The Go Route

Garrett's message to Randy Gregory: just keep it up. - Lindsay Jones, USA Today
This article, which is about the upcoming rookie symposium, leads with Randy Gregory's experience in Dallas so far.

Randy Gregory was one of the final players to leave the AT&T Stadium field following the Dallas Cowboys' final practice of the offseason Thursday, lingering to catch a few extra minutes with coach Jason Garrett.

Gregory completed Dallas' offseason program feeling good about his future. He added 12 pounds onto his lanky frame, improved his conditioning and — perhaps most important — has been a model citizen and teammate.

Garrett's message, Gregory said, was simple: just keep it up.

"Stay focused," Gregory told USA TODAY Sports. "It was really just giving me feedback, telling me I'm doing well. There is still room for improvement. I'm making plays, doing what's asked and trying to stay out of trouble.

"I think it's key for everybody, not just me, but obviously I take it a little more serious."

Dallas Cowboys Mailbag: What a contract for Dez Bryant could look like? - Todd Archer, ESPN Dallas
Archer argues that Bryant shouldn't expect the same amount of guaranteed money as Calvin Johnson, but there should be room to make a deal.

Teams and agents can really make contracts say whatever they want. So let's call Bryant's potential deal nine years for $117 million. Does that make everybody happy? That's $13 million per season on average. But that doesn't mean Bryant will earn $117 million. No. Heck, he might not get half that.

The key to any contract is the first three years and the guaranteed money. The Cowboys are willing to pay Bryant $12.8 million this year under the franchise tag and another $15 million in 2016 if need be. To me, Bryant has to make at least $28 million in the first two years of this deal if that's what the tags would pay. Now, what about that third year? I'm sure that's part of the hang up.

I would put Bryant's guarantee in the $36-38 million range. Maybe Tom Condon is looking for more. If I'm the Cowboys, I'm not going to Calvin Johnson's $50 million guarantee. That's too big of a jump from the other receiver deals out there. But to me those would be the parameters (three years, $38 million). After that the two sides can just go about filling in the blanks and making the back side of the deal some sort of funny money.

Terrance Williams and Dez Bryant are Kings of the Go Route - ProFootballFocus
A Go route is simple route where the receiver runs straight upfield towards the endzone. There are two objectives of such a route: Outrun any defensive backs for an uncontested TD pass, or clear out space to create mid-range passing opportunities to a TE, WR, or RB. The Cowboys used the go route more than any other team last year, as the numbers of go routes per receiver below illustrate (note that the Cowboys had the second fewest pass attempts in the league with 476 attempts last year).

Jason Garrett never worried about new deal in Dallas - NFL.com
Garrett signed his new deal with the Cowboys in January, but Jerry Jones made his coach earn it. Garrett said he never worried about the contract situation.

"A big part of the culture we talk about is controlling what we can control," Garrett said this week. "I can honestly say to you that I never really thought very much about that. What I do every day is I wake up and try to do everything I can to build the kind of football team that we all can be proud of."

Jerry Jones: Rams’ ‘good flavor’ in California is reason for training camp practice with Cowboys | Dallas Morning News
While Jerry Jones talked politics of a potential LA-based team, Jason Garrett emphasized the immediate impact the Rams can have on the Cowboys season preparation.

"I just think it’s a positive situation," Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said. "We’ve tried to do this as much as we can when the logistics work out during training camp. You grind away in training camp. Day after day after day, you’re working against each other. And we try to create as many competitive situations as possible. We think that’s good for our team. But anytime you start playing the preseason games or have an opportunity to go against somebody else in a practice setting, I think you can really benefit from it. It’s a good way to evaluate your team collectively and individually and there typically are some good matchups there."

"The competitive spirit gets a little bit higher. I just think that’s a really good thing for your team and it’s a great way to evaluate a lot of different things. So we’ll have a good couple of days with those guys after we play that first preseason game and hopefully it will benefit both teams."

NFL 101: Introducing the Basics of Prevent Defenses | Bleacher Report
Matt Bowen provides an Xs & Os smorgasboard as he uses All-22 tape and chalkboard diagrams to explain what a "prevent" defense is and how it works.

Truth will not be the only casualty if Newcastle United embrace a ‘media partner’ like Washington Redskins did - The Independent
Turns out, the Redskins are a laughing stock not just in America but in Europe as well, as this article from the UK-based Independent explains.

From Washington DC comes a picture of what the future looks like when a big sports team buys off a critical newspaper by offering all the benefits it craves the most – exclusive access, exclusive quotes and plenty of seats in the press box.

The Washington Times used to report the Washington Redskins NFL team critically and objectively, ridiculing relentless attempts by Dan Snyder – the franchise’s owner, who steadfastly sticks to the name which many Native Americans consider an insult – to control the flow of information. “Chickenshit tactics” was how the Times’ editor Wesley Pruden described Snyder’s propaganda efforts in 2000, the year Snyder cut the paper’s ration of press-box seats from six to two. “Go to hell” is the printable summation of the paper’s response.

That paper’s spirit of inquiry and endeavour belongs in the past. The Times has agreed to give Snyder the very control it once railed against, by becoming the medium for his propaganda, in “a unique partnership that will make the newspaper a content and marketing partner of the team,” as the dismal joint press release puts it. The Times will distribute a weekly magazine produced by the Skins and publish “commentaries” about NFL issues penned by the club’s people. In return, columnists and reporters from the Times will appear in the team’s videos.

New Eagles players had better be at least as good as the old ones. Or else. - Phil Sheridan, ESPN Philly
Sheridan looks at at three questions that were raised, or at least left unanswered, by the events of the past few months in Philly. Here's one of them:

Question: Are DeMarco Murray, Brandon Graham, Allen Barbre and Nelson Agholor really better than LeSean McCoy, Trent Cole, Evan Mathis and Jeremy Maclin?

Partial answer: They'd better be at least as good, or Kelly's busy offseason is going to look like a mistake. There's also Bradford vs. Foles, Matt Tobin vs. Todd Herremans and Kiko Alonso vs. (most likely) Mychal Kendricks. If the majority of the new players can be as good as their predecessors, and a few key players can be significantly better, then Kelly's overhaul has a chance to look brilliant.

The worst outcome may be that all Kelly's upheaval leaves the Eagles as a 10-6 team that either just misses or just makes the playoffs. And it's not easy to win 10 games in the NFL. For Kelly, though, it's just not good enough.

We would like to Congratulate Jeremy & Markevia Mincey on their #epic wedding last weekend! @Mrmince94 #Cowboys pic.twitter.com/mR5GHYIb9O

— Precision Sports (@PrecisionSport_) June 20, 2015