Cowboys OTA buzz: Eric Scott continues to see 1st-team duty, Matt Waletzko at guard

The Dallas Cowboys continued with OTAs on Thursday, the closest bit of football action were are going to be getting, along with minicamp, for about two months (a little less, but might as well round up).

Since things began last week, we have seen the Cowboys take things rather slow and cautiously so as not to wind up in a situation where they, and/or head coach Mike McCarth,y are fined for too much contact happening. That has been the case each of the last two offseasons as well, and with the New England Patriots this year.

If it is not obvious, things in a glorified walkthrough should not be taken with the highest level of seriousness. Still, we can do our best to discern what is happening with the team and the decisions that they are considering making with regards to the upcoming season.

Here are the notable updates from Thursday’s session.

Dak Prescott was unlucky on an interception, what else is new

We are all well-aware of the fact that quarterback Dak Prescott threw 15 interceptions last season and while a strong argument can be made that not all of them were his fault, obviously some were.

The one on Thursday definitely was not on Dak, though.

A reminder that Dak was hardly a turnover-prone quarterback prior to 2022.

Football can be a cruel game sometimes.

Eric Scott Jr. continues to see first-team reps

As noted up top, we needn’t freak out about alignments or where certain players are lining up on the first day of June, but nevertheless it caught some people by surprise when rookie sixth-round pick Eric Scott received work with the first team last week.

This happened again on Thursday, although there were a handful of players in front of Scott on the depth chart that were not participating which obviously opened the door of opportunity.

We noted it in the discussion about Scott getting the work last week and the Cowboys are very high on him. He was a visit of theirs and they specifically traded into the draft (sacrificing capital next year, although they are likely banking on a compensatory pick or two) to land him.

Interesting to say the least.

Kelvin Joseph saw work at nickel again

One of the revelations from last week was that third-year cornerback Kelvin Joseph was not seeing work along the outside but rather inside at nickel.

That happened again on Thursday.

The Kelvin Joseph era has hardly been a prosperous one for the Cowboys and that the team is seemingly more comfortable giving snaps (even OTA ones in June) to a rookie sixth-rounder in Eric Scott over Joseph says quite a bit.

Training camp will be very interesting to watch as far as how the Cowboys use Joseph but obviously where they use him more specifically.

Matt Waletzko saw work... at left guard

This time a year ago many of us had an issue with how the Cowboys were approaching their swing tackle situation. Things went badly on paper, they clawed their way out of it, and now we are all currently upset about what the plan is going to be at left guard.

A number of names have been suggested here ranging from free agent signing Chuma Edoga to rookie Asim Richards to returning veterans like Josh Ball and even Terence Steele. It appears that Matt Waletzko, who was part of the plan at swing tackle last year, is now an option as well.

Noted in this tweet is that Tyron Smith saw work at right tackle and it is also worth mentioning that Tyler Smith saw every first-team rep on the left side. It appears that the tackle situation is starting to become rather known (there is a faction of people who want to see Tyron at his old post), now it is just a matter of moving inside and figuring things out.

Tony Pollard believes he will be ready for Week 1

One of the lower-level worries for Cowboys fans these days is whether or not running back Tony Pollard is going to be healthy enough to play in the season opener against the New York Giants.

Cowboys brass has spoken optimistically about Pollard returning from the fractured fibula that he suffered in the season-ending loss against San Francisco, but for what it is worth Pollard himself believes he will be ready to go when things start in Week 1.

That is certainly very good to see.

Rookie TE Luke Schoonmaker is wearing a boot

On the other side of that coin, second-round pick Luke Schoonmaker is apparently wearing a boot.

Hopefully this is just a bunch of nothing.