Michael Gallup carries strong start to training camp into Cowboys first preseason game

He only played nine snaps on Saturday night against the 49ers, but in those nine snaps, Michael Gallup made a huge difference for the Dallas Cowboys offense.

With Amari Cooper taking his time rehabbing from an injured heel, and Ezekiel Elliott still in Cabo holding out for a new contract, Michael Gallup was the guy who showed up big with the first-team offense. In his nine snaps, Dak Prescott and Gallup connected two times for 19 yards. The tandem also just missed on a deep ball coming off of play-action, drawing a defensive pass interference that set the offense up in prime position for points.

This shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone who has been following Cowboys training camp in Oxnard. Michael Gallup has been one of the most dominant offensive skill players at camp since the start, and has taken that same level of play over to game-day.

Gallup is coming off of a nice rookie season where he put up 507 yards on 33 catches, and two touchdowns. While those numbers aren’t bad for a third-round rookie wide receiver, there were hundreds of yards, and likely a few more touchdowns, left on the field last season as Prescott and Gallup were unable to connect on multiple long bombs that were pretty open. That connection is something the two have spent a lot of time on this offseason, and the hard work is starting to pay off.

While it is just training camp, and it is just preseason, it’s easy to see that Gallup has grown a ton since his first year in the NFL. If he can continue to develop throughout his career, the Cowboys could end up having one of the better wide receiver tandems in the NFL with Amari Cooper and Michael Gallup.