FRISCO, Texas – Sometimes, it's easy to read between the lines about what training camp really means.
The cliché ideal of the NFL preseason is that every man is fighting for his job, the ultimate meritocracy. In a lot of situations that's true, especially in the case of young players.
For some guys, like Malik Hooker, it's much more about properly acclimating for the regular season.
So, as some guys grinded it out in the preseason finale against Jacksonville, hopeful for a roster spot, it felt much more like an opportunity for Hooker to knock some rust off.
"Obviously, I ain't played football in, what, a year? So for me it's just about keeping the repetitions under my belt, catching up to speed," Hooker said Sunday. "Everybody else has been here since OTAs, plus more for some guys. Just getting up to speed and tempo, as far as everybody else."
From the time he signed on in late July, it never seemed like Hooker's job was in danger. The Cowboys signed him a few days into training camp after hosting him on a free agent visit in the spring. The league's COVID-19 protocols kept him off the practice field for nearly a week, and from there he began the process of working his way back from last October's torn Achilles.
Hooker himself noted that it was a different sort of timeline than he's been used to, as he wasn't ready to participate in practice or the preseason until roughly the final week of camp.
"By the time the third week came, which was last week, that's when they gave me one quarter of reps. It's just kind of fast for me," he said.
Now officially on the active roster, Hooker should have plenty more time to acclimate as the season progresses. Damontae Kazee is the expected Week 1 starter, once he returns from COVID-19 protocols, and the early guess is that Donovan Wilson will start alongside him.
But between the talent that made him a Top 15 draft pick in 2017 and the coverage ability that saw him net seven career interceptions in just 36 NFL games, the Cowboys clearly think Hooker can be a meaningful piece of this puzzle.
Hooker played a quarter in the third preseason game against Houston and roughly a half against Jacksonville and said he felt good about it. But he's still working on progressing to the full range he says he's capable of using.
"Whether it's a break on the post or a fade ball on the outside, like you guys have seen my range. I can make it to the red line," he said. "But for me, now it's about getting a little bit out there to the red line, maybe a little bit past it. It's just stuff like that, I feel like I can get back from college that I know I can get back in the tank."
For those that might be unaware, the aforementioned red line is a marker used in practice by a lot of teams – a red stripe running down the length of the field, roughly five yards from the sideline. As anyone who has followed this team can attest, it has been a long time since the Cowboys had a safety capable of routinely making plays that far outside the numbers.
"We just feel like, if you look at his full body of work of what we thought of him coming out of Ohio State, when he's been healthy, the work that he did there in Indianapolis, he made a lot of plays on the ball," said Cowboys chief operating officer Stephen Jones.
None of this is to say Hooker is taking the opportunity for granted. In the world of the NFL, it's been an eternity since the Colts drafted him No. 15 overall, and he is coming off an injury that limited him to just two games last season.
So it might have been the Cowboys' plan to get him ready for the regular season all along. But for Malik Hooker, the process of proving himself is only just beginning.
"You start all over again – first-round pick, all that stuff is out the window. That was four or five years ago," he said. "So for me, making the roster. Alright, now I've made the roster. For me, now it's just taking it a day at a time and getting better and better."
