OXNARD, Calif. — Sam Williams going down in practice with a torn ACL and MCL was a devastating blow for both the young pass rusher and the Dallas Cowboys, and it also thrusts rookie second-round pick Marshawn Kneeland onto center stage as the lead horse in the race to try and replace Williams.
Kneeland is not naive to that reality.
"It's a tough loss that we have with him — great player and a great person," Kneeland said of Williams. "I've got to step up. I've gotta be ready, that much more, and take all of it seriously. … I've got to step it up a notch.
"… It's still the same mindset, helping the team out as much as possible, but now I know there's more on my back."
Off to a solid start to his first-ever NFL training camp, Kneeland has now seen reps both on the edge and on the interior at 3-tech (right of center) in certain sets. Mike Zimmer, newly-returned defensive coordinator, is testing Kneeland's versatility in the scheme but, make no mistake about it, the loss of Williams will pencil Kneeland on the edge far more than on the inside.
Already a stout run defender, Kneeland wants to use this as an opportunity to demonstrate to the Cowboys, and everyone, that he's not simply a run defender.
"I wanna show them that I can pass rush, too," he said. "I'm not just doing that in the MAC, but I can do that here, too."
Doing so will allow the Cowboys and Zimmer to continue with their plans of deploying Micah Parsons as a weapon with no true position, one opposing teams "gotta find", per Parsons, on a rep-to-rep basis.
It has all led Kneeland to not only studying heavily under DeMarcus Lawrence, but also in picking the brain of Parsons and studying film of Greg Ellis — a former Pro Bowl defensive end of the Cowboys who was hired by Zimmer as assistant defensive line coach beside Jeff Zgonina.
The rookie is taking it day by day, and he's locked in on proving the Cowboys right in their decision to use a second-round pick on him in April.
"It's going pretty good," he said of his first training camp. "I expect to get better everyday. I've got great players around me, and great coaches around me. It makes all of us better. … Excited to go out there and hit somebody for real.
"I made some plays but I'm just trying to get better."
And, to his credit, Kneeland knows the timeline for him to achieve that mission has been moved up from maybe later this season to, well, yesterday.
