OXNARD, Calif. — When the 2024 season gets underway for Jake Ferguson, it will mark his third in the NFL and with the Dallas Cowboys, and it will carry even more expectations of the talented young tight end than in either of the prior two.
Ferguson had a breakout season in Year 2 and, by all accounts, will see his targets ratcheted further in Year 3 and, based on his level of production, it could put him into the Pro Bowl or even All-Pro stratosphere.
He's been a key figure in this year's training camp and, as the Los Angeles Rams head into Oxnard for a joint practice on Thursday, Ferguson is beyond ready for that action, and especially considering he won't take a single snap in the preseason.
The former fourth-round pick turned Cowboys superstar tight end spoke openly about the joint practice, his relationship with head coach Mike McCarthy and how Mike Zimmer's defense presents new challenges in training camp practice(s).
On the value of having a joint practice:
"It gives you another group of guys to perfect your craft against. You talk about practice and it's not simply win or lose, it's iron sharpens iron, and it's a whole 'nother group of guys you practice that against. You can still perfect your craft. Maybe you don't have a good rep so you go back and fix it. It's the NFL. It's 32 teams of the best guys so it's good having another group in here to go at it with, before actually playing games."
On what he hopes to take away from it:
"I think it's great. I love it. After a while, you get tired of going against your own guys. They start learning your plays and your calls, and stuff like that. Having a whole new group with a different defense, different looks and a whole new scheme is beneficial because you're not running against the same stuff and going against the same checks. It might be a little different. It might have a couple of different wrinkles that you weren't thinking about earlier."
On balancing intensity with avoiding fights in joint practices:
"I think you know me well enough where fights aren't too big of a deal. Emotions get high. It's a physical game. But you try to stay away from the fights and you try to stay away from the punching, some dirty stuff, but I think — nothing's wrong with grabbing a guy by the pads, holding him, looking at him and saying, 'Hey, going after my QB like that isn't cool.' I understand emotions get high. It's a physical game. This is guys' livelihood, so I don't blame any of that stuff."
On Mike McCarthy being in the last year of his current contract:
"I'd run through a brick wall for coach. … I think he knows his players. He knows his scheme, and one of the best things about him is he lets his players play. That's something that just fires me up. And growing in Wisconsin, watching him in Green Bay from a distance, with my grandfather being a coach, I always thought the highest of [McCarthy]. I've always said I wanted to play for him, though maybe not at Green Bay [chuckles]. I've always had the highest respect for coach."
Comparing Dan Quinn's defense to Mike Zimmer's:
"One of the big differences is, well, first of all, it's Eric Kendricks — he's in there [chuckles]. That's a pretty big one. It seems like they're moving around, switching it up, there's always little wrinkles and it just seems like there's an extra layering, and that excites me because it makes us better."
