Cowboys training camp is upon us. With a loaded roster and legitimate Super Bowl aspirations, Dallas fans are brimming with excitement.
But before we get to watching the Cowboys show out on gameday, there's still plenty of work left to do to get the best 53-man roster onto the field. There will be all the usual surprise performances and unfortunate cuts (I took a look at the four veterans most likely to get the axe here).
Plenty of players are fighting for their jobs, and these are the biggest positional battles to keep an eye on at Cowboys camp.
3 Biggest Cowboys Training Camp Battles to Watch
Running Back Depth: Malik Davis, Ronald Jones, Deuce Vaughn, Rico Dowdle
The running back room has been taking center stage in Cowboys talk lately, and for good reason. Ezekiel Elliott is gone, leaving Tony Pollard as the RB1 after having never seen 240+ touches in a season (a mark Zeke hit in all seven years with Dallas).
Pollard is also playing on the franchise tag, meaning the rest of the guys in the room may well be competing for a future starting job if they show out well enough this season.
This is a pretty unproven group, which means its truly anybody's role to win in training camp. Ronald Jones has the most high-level NFL experience, but the 2018 second-round pick has largely been written off as a bust at this point. He's shown flashes at times in his career though, and as a between-the-tackles runner who doesn't contribute much in the passing game he would make a natural complement to Pollard's style.
That puts him in direct competition with Malik Davis, who looked pretty good in the limited work he saw as a rookie with the Cowboys last year. Davis recorded carries in six games, and he ultimately ended up being more efficient than Zeke by averaging 4.2 yards per carry.
The rookie Vaughn is obviously the wildcard. A fan-favorite already, Vaughn was absurdly productive in college (4,884 yards from scrimmage with 43 touchdowns and an average of 5.5 yards per carry across three seasons at Kansas State), but his diminutive size makes it hard to project him at the NFL level. Not too many 5-foot-5 179-pound running backs can hold up at the NFL level.
As for Dowdle, he's primarily a special teams contributor and isn't likely to make an impact on the RB depth chart, if he even makes the roster.
Tight End: Luke Schoonmaker, Jake Ferguson, Peyton Hendershot, Seth Green, Princeton Font, Sean McKeon
Tight end could be the most wide-open position on the Cowboys roster right now. The long-term favorite for replacing Dalton Schultz in the TE1 role is obviously second-round pick Luke Schoonmaker. But this is a notoriously hard position for rookies to play, and even top prospects at the position aren't usually every-down starters right from the jump.
It's also a position where two or three guys tend to get consistent run, with a fourth potentially becoming relevant if injuries pop up, so there are a few spots being fought over here.
Jake Ferguson and Peyton Hendershot got the most run in 2022 among returning players at the position, with Ferguson getting a bit more (430 snaps to Hendershot's 298). Considering both of them were well ahead of Seth McKeon (128 snaps) on the depth chart last year (and McKeon may be losing his fullback role as well), that makes McKeon a natural pick as one of the odd men out.
Seth Green is also likely just a training camp body, as the 2022 undrafted free agent has yet to stick on an NFL roster. Princeton Fant is part of this year's undrafted free agent class, and while he's Noah Fant's cousin, he's a lot more of a long shot to contribute.
Kicker: Tristan Vizcaino, Brandon Aubrey
You don't need me to tell you about why the Cowboys have a battle for their open kicker spot. He-who-must-not-be-named is gone after being Dallas' starter in three of the last four seasons, now we have two new faces in camp.
This is actually Vizcaino's second stint with the Cowboys organization after briefly holding a Reserve/Futures contract from June to April 2020. He's also been on seven other NFL rosters though, and bouncing around like that is never a good sign.
He’s been nearly perfect on field goal attempts when he does see game action, going 11/12, but its struggles with extra points that stand out the most. He’s hit just 75% (15/20) of his XP attempts in games.
Aubrey is the more unconventional option, but it's exciting to see Dallas trying something other than an old NFL re-tread.
Aubrey was a professional soccer player, being selected in the 2017 MLS SuperDraft and only switching to American football in 2022 when the Birmingham Stallions selected him in the USFL Draft. Now he's on his first NFL roster.
Aubrey was nearly perfect in the USFL, going 14-of-15 on field goals and 35-of-35 on extra points.
Comparing the XP numbers is going to put a clear favorite in Cowboys fans' minds, and Aubrey is who I'm rooting for too.