OXNARD, Calif. – From the outside perspective, there seems to be a huge concern about the wide receiver position.
For now, Dak Prescott doesn't share that sentiment.
In fact, the Cowboys quarterback sounded quite confident in the wide receivers, despite the recent injury to James Washington, coupled with Michael Gallup's continued rehab.
When asked if the recent injury issues are a setback, Prescott dismissed the notion.
"You're never going to catch me looking at anything in my life as a step back. You've got an opportunity to move forward, you've got an opportunity to grow. If you don't do that, you're in trouble and you've already lost to begin with," Prescott said. "I just know, the young guys that we've got, the guys that we already have are going to step in and take on bigger roles. I continue to say exciting, but that's what it is. And the reason is, is because I feel like a lot of you — and people don't know necessarily — what these guys are, what these guys can do."
The "young guys" mentioned here include rookies such as Jalen Tolbert and Dennis Houston, a rookie free agent who has found himself often running with the first-team offense.
Reluctant to single out a receiver, Dak did mention those two rookies that have impressed him.
"A lot of young guys have stepped up. Just to say one would be cheating the other," Dak said. "But obviously Dennis Houston and Tolbert, just to start off on who have been in there and taken more reps. You're asking 'hey, give us an X, give us a Z,' just coming in, just trying to play whatever position and be available to the offense. That's how you get on the field, doing as many things as you can and doing it at a high level. That's what these young guys are doing right now."
Other players that have taken advantage of their additional reps include Noah Brown, Simi Fehoko and T.J. Vasher.
But let's not overlook the No. 1 receiver in CeeDee Lamb, who assumes this role after the Cowboys parted ways with Amari Cooper this offseason.
"CeeDee is a guy that wants the ball, expects the ball," Dak said. "When one guy is on him he's not covered in his head. And I appreciate that and like that. So I think in that sense yeah, as Kellen said, we'll feature him. Some plays will be designed to get it to him but in a case where everybody is one on one across the board, yeah, he's our guy to go to. We're just going to continue to try to build our trust in each other and just all the routes and it's been growing fast honestly since the spring, into training camp. It's exciting."
Exciting to Dak. Maybe not to everyone else right now, but then again, he doesn't seem to care about that.
