Cowboys news: Luke Schoonmaker makes practice debut, listed as backup TE on first depth chart

Updates: Schoonmaker returns; Status on Lewis - Staff, DallasCowboys.com

The Cowboys rookie tight end is finally ready for on-field work, trying to make an immediate impact behind Jake Ferguson and Peyton Hendershot.

10:51 a.m. - Rookie tight end Luke Schoonmaker, who has been nursing a plantar fasciitis injury since arriving in Dallas in late April, will come off the NFI list and make his practice debut on Monday, head coach Mike McCarthy said in his Monday press conference.

“I think like any of these situations, ramp up is part of the beginning of camp for a reason,” McCarthy said. “When a player comes off of NFI, we will put him through a workload capacity of a ramp-up. With that, you’ll see him in individual drills. He’ll have a detailed worksheet each and every day just to get him back. He obviously won’t be full go.”

When asked if he could play in Saturday’s preseason opener against Jacksonville, McCarthy said that the staff will see how he does this week in practice.

“He’s been in the classroom the whole time and he has a relatively high understanding of what’s being asked of him,” he said. “The key is to see if he can apply it and get up to the speed of the game.”

Dallas Cowboys roster: First look at first depth chart of 2023 season - RJ Ochoa, Blogging the Boys

How much of this will change between now and the home opener vs. the Giants?

Keep in mind that while this is an official Dallas Cowboys depth chart that it is in fact unofficial in terms of the way things can/will/might shake out when roster construction is all said and done.

At first glance there are no real surprises. Womp womp.

The offensive line looks the way we imagined and Jake Ferguson is the team’s starting tight end. If you want to really look for something it should be noted that Israel Mukuamu is listed at safety and that Kelvin Joseph is listed as a reserve nickel corner.

Cowboys release Tristan Vizcaino; sticking with Brandon Aubrey for now - The Cowboys Wire

The Cowboys are back to having only one kicker on the roster.

The Cowboys have decided they’ve seen enough from Tristan Vizcaino.

The 27-year-old kicker is being released by the team following a lackluster showing at the team’s training camp. Vizcaino connected on just 22 of his 35 attempts during the Cowboys’ padded practices in Oxnard.

He had a particularly rough day on Saturday, hitting just four of eight kicks, but Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy says Vizcaino’s release was not a knee-jerk reaction to one poor outing.

“It’s never just a one-day deal,” he told reporters prior to practice Monday.

The roster move leaves Brandon Aubrey as the only kicker on the roster, though the former USFL star still has plenty of room for improvement. He’s fared only slightly better thus far in camp, going 26-of-35 on his field goal tries, a make percentage that would have ranked him 32nd in the league last year.

Fantasy Alert: Cowboys’ Jake Ferguson ‘Favorite’ to Replace Dalton Schultz’s Targets - Timothy Rapp, Bleacher Report

The Cowboys dual-threat approach at TE may be risky for fantasy drafts, but Ferguson has made strides to claim the most targets.

As The Athletic’s Jon Machota wrote: “After the draft, the No. 1 tight end spot appeared like it would be a battle between Ferguson and second-round pick Luke Schoonmaker. But the rookie hasn’t been practicing because of plantar fasciitis. Ferguson is the clear No. 1 and the favorite to get the majority of the targets that had gone to Schultz over the past three seasons.”

That’s particularly notable because Schultz received 89 targets in both 2020 and 2022 and a career-high 104 targets in 2021. The result was 63 catches for 615 yards and four touchdowns in 2020, career highs in receptions (78), receiving yards (808) and touchdowns (eight in 2021) and 57 catches for 577 yards and five scores last season.

Ferguson, 24, was only targeted 22 times as a rookie, catching 19 passes for 174 yards and two scores. But he’s the frontrunner to serve as the TE1.

COWBOYS’ OFFENSIVE LINE IS ONE MISFORTUNE FROM POTENTIAL DISASTER - Mario Herrera Jr., Inside The Star

The Cowboys have yet to establish what their depth options will look like along the offensive line.

The Cowboys’ offensive line is now in a state of flux, and are one unfortunate event away from trouble.

Let’s run through what these events could possibly be.

TYRON SMITH GETS INJURED

The most concerning part of this scenario is that it’s most likely to happen.

Tyron has famously not played a full season since 2015, and has missed 44 games from 2016 until 2022.

His ailments have varied from ankle issues and back spasms, to a torn hamstring suffered just last season.

Tyron has become very unreliable, sometimes healthy all week long only to be ruled out on game day, usually with back tightness.

The Cowboys weathered this storm last season by kicking then rookie Tyler Smith out to left tackle from his projected starting left guard position.

They still have that luxury this season, but the issue lies with who will then step into the Tyler Smith sized hole that would remain at left guard.

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