Dallas Cowboys 2022 NFL preseason round-up: Dennis Houston, Ezekiel Elliott, DaRon Bland…

Cowboys Chargers joint practice day 2 - Houston’s Hail Mary catch

The Cowboys wrapped up their last joint practice with the LA Chargers on Thursday ahead of the game on Saturday. What stood out most for the Cowboys was the wide receivers - good news considering all the uncertainty around the position currently. Most notable was a walk-off Hail Mary by Dennis Houston.

CeeDee Lamb and Noah Brown both sat out practice again, mostly as a precaution. So Houston continued to see several of the snaps in camp. It was on the final play of the team drills that Dak Prescott threw a Hail Mary pass 50 yards towards the end zone. Both Houston and fellow WR Simi Fehoko attempted to grab it over the heads of two Chargers defenders and it was Houston who came down with the ball in hands.

“I told myself, ‘I’ve got to go get it,’” Houston said.

DaRon Bland steps up in Jourdan Lewis’ absence

At Wednesday’s joint practice, cornerback Jourdan Lewis suffered a hamstring injury, likely keeping him out until the start of the regular season. In his absence, fifth-round pick, rookie DaRon Bland stepped up to take his place. Bland had an incredible day - he broke up three passes in team drills and finished with an interception in the end zone.

“That was my goal coming in – to make an impact from anywhere on the field,” Bland said. “That’s my mentality every day, to make a play.”

Bland also performed well last week against the Broncos, proving to be worth the pick in the draft. Trevon Diggs expressed how impressed he’s been with the young corner.

“He’s been amazing throughout camp,” said Diggs. “You can see that everything is starting to slow down for him and he can just play, and make the plays. He’s got all the talent in the world. He’s having a great camp and I’m just excited to see where he goes.”

Jerry Jones responds to Antonio Brown’s suggestion

With all the talk surrounding the Cowboys being about their lack of depth and experience at wide receiver, retired WR Antonio Brown tweeted, “Tell Jerry Jones to call me!” Of course, Jones has consistently ignored the fact that there is any problem at all, saying that he trusts Prescott to elevate the young receivers. Well, he finally gave an official response to Brown, and it was exactly along those same lines.

“We’re good,” Jones said. “But, we want to give these young guys a real chance to compete.”

I certainly would not expect the Cowboys to sign a retired receiver (especially one whose exit from the NFL was a shirtless sideline tantrum), but to sign at least one other experienced WR would not be a terrible idea. While Jalen Tolbert, Dennis Houston, and KaVontae Turpin have been standing out in practices, they are the “young guys” in question, and not everyone has as much faith in testing that out as Jones does.

The Athletic suggests 2022 will be Ezekiel Elliott’s last year with Dallas

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. It was already suggested earlier in the offseason that this year could potentially be RB Ezekiel Elliott’s last with the Cowboys. It was understood that it could depend on how well this year goes though, as he has been steadily declining in performance for a while now. Injuries and time have taken their toll on the running back, though there is still some hope that he can get back to or at least close to where he was in his dominant years.

Despite that, The Athletic published an article highlighting Zeke’s declining statistics…and his expensive price tag. In it, it discussed why that combination is likely to mean Zeke’s exit in 2023, even if he does have a better performance. The argument is this: If he does somehow have a crazy explosive 2022 season, his price would still be too high to maintain. If he doesn’t, he’s not worth keeping.

“He is still on the poster of the marketing materials, but I have a very difficult time seeing Zeke back in 2023 unless something happens that never happens in the NFL — a running back finds explosion again after it being gone for a few years,” wrote beat reporter Bob Sturm. “His cap number in 2023 is not guaranteed and will be about $17 million and while it is always possible the team tries a modified deal as they did with DeMarcus Lawrence, I do not see it. I think this is his last year as a Cowboy.”