First-team snap counts on second day of practice and what they might mean

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First-team snap counts on second day of practice and what they might mean

Want to know which Cowboys players were on the field while Dak Prescott led the first-team offense? Look no further.

We don’t get snap counts for practices from the team. What we do get is an increasing amount of training camp videos, increasingly from DallasCowboys.com themselves.

Which is why I reviewed all the videos I could find with Dak Prescott at quarterback, and charted which offensive and defensive player was in on which play. Overall, I found 19 documented plays, not all in sequence, but that doesn’t really matter if you’re just running scripted plays.

The first thing to look at is a simple snap count which details which player was in on how many plays. And that’s exactly what the two tables below show.

The big boys on the offensive line were in for every snap Dak Prescott played, but then the Cowboys started subbing in and out most of their presumptive players from the final 53. The numbers suggest Malik Davis may have a shot at the 53, while Jonathan Mingo might be battling it out with Marquez Valdes-Scantling for the final WR spot.

The top four seems pretty clear here, with Kenny Clark, Quinnen Williams, Rashan Gary, and Donovan Ezeiruaku as the presumptive starters, and its nice to see that the rookies Malachi Lawrence and Jaishawn Barham appear poised to move up at some stage.

For the linebacker/secondary groups, Caleb Downs is a true charting nightmare, and I hope he will have a similar effect on opposing offenses. His 15 snaps numerically charted as follows:

• 8/15 at Corner
• 5/15 at Linebacker
• 2/15 at Safety

But where he actually played is very difficult to tell, especially with the angle and shortness of the available clips.

Beyond Downs, it’s surprising to see Shemar James lead the linebackers ahead of DeMarvion Overshown and Dee Winters. Same thing at corner, where Shavon Revel leads Daron Bland and Cobie Durant, and Markquese Bell ahead of Jalen Thompson at safety is also a bit surprising.

All of this is just 19 snaps in the second practice without pads and tackling, so let’s not be too hasty in drawing any definite solutions. The coaches are likely trying to get a good look at some areas they still have questions about, including guys who will be battling to hang on to a roster spot.

Also note, that of the 19 plays, there were 19 different lineups on offense and 19 different lineups on defense, which suggests the coaches were using these plays just as much for installing the playbook as they were testing out different players and player combinations.

As for how much the first team reps will determine the final 53-man, The Bouncer, a tune form 90s dance duo Kicks Like a Mule, explains it best: “If your name’s not down, you’re not coming in.”

For those interested, here’s detailed breakdown of the lineups for the 19 plays.

The plays shown here are obviously skewed in favor of plays that look good on social media; they don’t include a lot of failed plays, and I didn’t find a lot of highlight plays by Joe Milton and Sam Howell, so I left those out altogether. However, Calvin Watkins reports some unofficial QB numbers from 11-11 drills: Dak Prescott 14-17, Sam Howell 5-9, Joe Milton 3-7. We have 11 of Dak’s completions, and just one of his incompletions in the tables above.

Also note that many of the highlights show players running to the endzone, even though they would have been tackled much earlier in a real game. That’s why I included “first contact” in the play description, as that’s likely where the play would have ended had there been real tackling.

Day Two of camp, no pads, no tackling – much too early to be talking about a depth chart. But who cares, we’re doing it anyway.

What’s your take on the 19 plays above?

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