Tyron Smith had a sprained ankle.
La’el Collins had a sprained knee.
With neither offensive tackle available, Brandon Knight trotted onto the field in Week 6 last season against the New York Jets. The undrafted rookie from Indiana filled in for Collins at right tackle. On the Cowboys’ first snap from scrimmage, he and guard Zack Martin performed a double-team block against defensive lineman Quinnen Williams.
That was the first start a Dallas rookie made during the 2019 season. And the last.
The Cowboys received little immediate impact from their rookie class in 2019. Despite COVID-19 shutting down workouts this spring and after just one training-camp practice, it is already apparent such lack of early production won’t be the case for the 2020 group.
Coach Mike McCarthy insists upon it.
“Let’s be honest,” McCarthy said in a Saturday conference call with reporters. “It’s always a bit of a leap that you take playing rookies early in the season. It’s been that way my entire head coaching career. I think it’ll be no different this year. You obviously have to have a lot of trust in your practice environment, and you’ve got to put those guys in there.
“We’ve always played rookies in my time as a head coach early and often and by design. There’s a good chance the youth of your roster is going to be playing in the most important games of the year in December.”
The Cowboys’ first-year class in 2019 did not have the luxury of a first-round pick. That draft selection was traded one year earlier to acquire wide receiver Amari Cooper.
Even so, the lack of early impact was striking.
Dallas rookies didn’t just make a league-low one start in 2019. The club was one of three teams that produced no starts from its second to seventh-round selections, and its second to seventh-round picks played an NFL-low 405 combined offensive and defensive snaps.
Overall, with help from fourth-round running back Tony Pollad’s explosive effort spelling Ezekiel Elliott and Knight’s pinch start, Cowboys rookies appeared on 536 combined offensive and defensive snaps. It was the fewest for a team’s rookies in a single season since the 2012 San Francisco 49ers.
This is a new year.
Wide receiver CeeDee Lamb, the No. 17 overall pick, quickly has established himself as someone Cowboys coaches can feel comfortable relying upon to be a difference-maker. Since the draft, they have planned to involve him at a variety of receiver positions, including the slot.
“He’s picked it up seamlessly,” McCarthy said. “He’s done a great job in the classroom environment. CeeDee looks very natural out there. …He’s definitely shown the ability to play all three spots in the wide receiver position, and we’ll see what goes on with punt return and those types of things. But he looks very, very natural on the football field. So, excited about him.”
Like Lamb, cornerback Trevon Diggs has passed the eye test.
The second-round pick is part of a cluster of cornerbacks in the mix for significant snaps. Daryl Worley, Chidobe Awuzie, Jourdan Lewis and Anthony Brown also are in that group. It would surprise if Diggs does not start in the Sept. 13 season opener at the Los Angeles Rams.
McCarthy described Diggs as “very smooth.”
“He looks like’s transitioning very well so far,” McCarthy said. “We’ve only had one practice. The thing that jumps out to you on the practice field is particularly his ball skills. He’s a natural. I think he’ll adjust very well to the NFL game.”
Third-round pick Neville Gallimore and fifth-round pick Bradlee Anae are competing to be part of the Cowboys’ defensive line rotation. Fourth-round cornerback Reggie Robinson II, at worst, should be involved on special teams. Fourth-round center Tyler Biadasz is firmly behind Joe Looney on the center depth chart.
Ben DiNucci, a quarterback chosen in the seventh round, shouldn’t play a down in 2020. Twelve undrafted rookies are vying for a spot on the roster or practice squad.
McCarthy wants his rookies to see the field in 2020.
He shouldn’t lack for options.
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