OXNARD, Calif. — It's time for all to join in for the obligatory, and forever legendary, quote from none other than LL Cool himself, because the Dallas Cowboys are going going, back back to Cal Cali. More accurately though, they've already landed, and there is no shortage of storylines and/or questions that will carry the next several weeks in Southern California.
CeeDee Lamb will be the biggest question mark of them all until further notice, the All-Pro wide receiver having held out of mandatory minicamp while negotiating his new contract; and that holdout will still be a thing if he's not reported by Wednesday.
Dak Prescott is also negotiating a new deal, though he's been present and accounted for this offseason while working with Lamb away from the facility to ensure WR1 remains ready.
New additions like Eric Kendricks join readditions, headlined by former three-time NFL rushing champ Ezekiel Elliott to try and lift the Cowboys out of their decades-long drought of making a deep run into the postseason — paramount in a season wherein there currently isn't a deal in place for some beyond 2025, and that includes head coach Mike McCarthy.
Those who operated under McCarthy's offense in its first season are using that to their advantage going into the upcoming one, such as starting left guard Tyler Smith, having himself already earned both a Pro Bowl nod and All-Pro honors without yet being entirely comfortable in it as McCarthy worked last year to install it.
"It's huge for me to step into that leadership role because the offense isn't new to me," said the All-Pro. "Coach [Mike] Solari's expectations and his philosophies — it's really about bringing the younger guys like [Tyler Guyton, Cooper Beebe and Nathan Thomas] up to speed on that. It's about really being a leader and showing them the ropes, and that's something I'm really excited about doing."
Keep an eye on injury updates as well, seeing as First-Team All-Pro and record-settibg cornerback Trevon Diggs hopes to dodge the team's PUP (physically unable to perform) list — having at least a solid chance of doing so — along with tight end John Stephens Jr. and linebacker DeMarvion Overshown, the latter expected to play a massive role in the rebuilt corps of linebackers in Dallas.
And you can count Jourdan Lewis in as one who's excited to get things going in Oxnard under the tutelage of not only Al Harris, who was promoted to assistant head coach this offseason in addition to his duties as defensive backs coach, but also Mike Zimmer, who is returning to the Cowboys as defensive coordinator for the first time since the early 2000s (and with one of the Cowboys' five Super Bowl rings on his shelf).
"It's some wrinkles [in the defense]," said Lewis. "But we really don't know [everything yet], because we only had a few weeks with him [this offseason]. I really enjoyed the scheme … and I'm really excited to see it in training camp and to see what he has in store for us."
Be it on defense or offense, it's easy to draw a red circle around areas that will quickly become some of the most explosive competitions in training camp, and it all begins effective immediately.
Pressure will either burst pipes or create diamonds, and the Cowboys have no shortage of it in this year's training camp and regular season. Tired of dealing with flood damage since the mid-1990s, the goal is to make the long-awaited trip back to the jeweler in 2024.
Each rep in Oxnard leads to one direction or the other.
