10 Dallas Cowboys who exceeded Brian Schottenheimer’s expectations during team’s training camp stay in Oxnard
The Dallas Cowboys’ stay in Oxnard, California is coming to an end. Who stood out the most for head coach Brian Schottenheimer? He listed the players who exceeded his expectations.
Thursday marks the last day of the Dallas Cowboys’ stay in Oxnard, California for their 2026 training camp.
And while the preseason is far from over, head coach Brian Schottenheimer was asked to name the five players that exceeded his expectations during the team’s time in the West Coast. In true Schottenheimer fashion, we wasn’t able to stop at five. So he named ten.
Some of the names below might come as a surprise to you, so I’ll just share his list first and then dive into my biggest takeaways.
The 10 Cowboys who exceeded Schottenheimer’s expectations
- DB Caleb Downs
- ED Rashan Gary
- DL Otito Ogbonnia
- CB Shavon Revel Jr.
- WR Jonathan Mingo
- WR Camden Brown
- LT Tyler Guyton
- RB Javonte Williams
- WR Ryan Flournoy
- P Bryan Anger
The biggest names on the list
First of all, let me say this: Guyton making the list is absolutely huge.
Entering camp, the Cowboys starting left tackle was one of the biggest questions surrounding the high-powered offense led by Dak Prescott. Guyton taking a big step in his third year in the NFL should make life much easier on the quarterback and coaching staff alike. Last year, the Cowboys spent plenty of resources helping out their tackles in pass protection.
The Cowboys dropback game will benefit a lot from Guyton’s improvement. And that’s without even getting into the run game, where Guyton also looks much improved.
On defense, having defensive backs Shavon Revel Jr. and Caleb Downs stand out like they did is major. Revel Jr. could be the key to unlock man coverage for the Cowboys, which could help make Christian Parker’s defense much more versatile. As for Downs, his impact will be felt both in the run (where he looks like a gap-filling menace) and pass game.
I genuinely don’t think Cowboys fans could have asked for a different combination of three names that would make us feel better about the team’s prospects than this group.
Other takeaways:
- Schottenheimer naming Jonathan Mingo and undrafted rookie Camden Brown confirms the suspected: the battle for WR5 remains open even after the latter’s two-touchdown game in the preseason opener. It remains one of the most fun battles going on in camp.
- The Cowboys still have plenty of questions about their RB2 role, so it’s good to hear Javonte Williams is crushing it. The offense might need him to be more of a workhorse than a committee leader once again.
- When he mentioned EDGE Rashan Gary, Schottenheimer specifically praised his leadership. Gary is expected to start for the Cowboys but he also plays a major role inside the locker room.
- Get familiar with Otito Ogbonnia. Whenever the Cowboys are on base defense (3 defensive linemen, 2 outside linebackers/edge rushers), Ogbonnia is likely to be on the field.
- It’s very promising for the Cowboys offense to hear Flournoy is exceeding expectations after entering camp as the undisputed WR3. He can have a big year with defenses zeroing in on CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens every single down.
- Schottenheimer said punter Bryan Anger had multiple 75+ yard punts. Brandon Aubrey gets a lot of love but the punter might be gearing up for a big year, too.
