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The Dallas Cowboys are working towards the 2020 NFL season, even in the middle of a global pandemic. At the time of this writing three players have chosen to opt out of the season, fullback Jamize Olawale is the latest, and those that are present for football activities are obviously going through things very different than normal. The Star itself has been upgraded with proper social distancing protocols.
These are fascinating times for the Dallas Cowboys in terms of just who they are as a football team, though. This offseason saw the team change head coaches for the first time in a decade and we have all been anxious to see what the squad looks like with Mike McCarthy’s fingerprints all over.
Mike McCarthy’s training camp plan for the Cowboys includes two different phases
Looking at things through the lens of the NFL calendar, everything coronavirus-related really took off just before free agency. The league pressed on though and teams still signed players, eventually drafted others, and did all of those things through the advances of technology. Interestingly enough this meant that Mike McCarthy had never met many of his new players.
The mothership released a video on Sunday of veterans gathering under Mike McCarthy for the first time. In it you can see players trickling in, while wearing masks obviously, and McCarthy dropping the obligatory “everything we do will be about winning” sort of line.
Mike McCarthy met the veterans for the first time today. Cowboys released this video of event. pic.twitter.com/kHf0IaT5n1
— Calvin Watkins (@calvinwatkins) August 2, 2020
McCarthy can be seen and heard explaining the two phases that training camp is going to consist of. The “pre-training camp phase” will last August 2nd to August 12th where as the “training camp phase” will take place from August 13th to September 5th. Dallas opens their season on Sunday, September 13th on the road against the Los Angeles Rams (on Sunday Night Football).
As far as what the two phases mean, Mike McCarthy noted that the traditional training camp that players are more accustomed to will be the second phase that begins on the 13th. Perhaps between now and then will be more install and classroom-type things along with managing a new normal.
We are six weeks away from the regular season. Here we go.