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Take Aways from 1st Week of OTA’s

The first week of OTA’s completed on Thursday, May 24th. We shouldn’t have any real high expectations for OTA’s. It was barely more exciting then listening to one of Jason Garrett’s press briefings. Positions aren’t won or lost here in week one. It’s just a shade more than the underwear olympics at the Combine.

A very important thing is to come out of it healthy and for the most part, the Boys did that. There was the “hammy express” with Cole Beasley & Lucky sitting out the week & the team playing it safe with Zeke, following a minor traffic accident. Having watched Sean Lee blow out a knee a few years ago on day one of OTA’s, we should be very happy that everything is minor. Its more about getting guys back into that football mindset and walking them through the playbook. The coaches are looking to get them mentally focused on the play book.

According to Jaylon Smith, he’s feeling good and did everything they wanted him to do. Pretty basic, mostly boring if not for the way he smiled and gave them the ” its a process” speech and laughed his way through it. Nonetheless he’s the lead story as the media is salivating on seeing him in action. We’ll all be waiting until camp to actually see him, so sit back, relax, grab a cold one and wait for the pads & helmets to go on in July, to get a legit look at #54!

There were only a few reports that came out of the single media day on Wednesday and as one might figure it would be on a WR or two and the DB’s. We have to remember that in OTA’s the level of contact is minimized by the NFL under the CBA and can be penalized for going a notch above those limits. Makes it hard to see everything a DL, OL and LB’s can bring other than their quickness and a bit of their strength.

With Beasley sitting out with that hammy, it gave Switzer snaps with the 1’s. That’s big for him to get that opportunity this early. He reportedly made a few nice catches, but we should actually expect that from a WR. The credentialed media loved what they  witnessed first hand, especially his quickness and route running skills. If you read the prior piece written on this site, he’s the one guy that I see with the biggest role from the start of the season. His selection effectively ends the time for Lucky in Dallas. Equally, with Witten getting a “veterans” day on Wednesday, Rico Gathers got 1st team reps. This again is big a key opportunity for him to be out there running with the 1’s. Can only run the scout team for so long and this gave him a chance to put his his play book work into action. It requires him to make his reads quickly of the defense and the necessary switches in his assignments and routes. Getting snaps with the 2nd or 3rd team in preseason is good, but not great for his development. Those two players, getting snaps with the 1’s were the highlights of the week. For Switzer, he’s a virtual lock for the 53 & 46 and getting snaps from the start. This work now for Gathers will eventually determine if he gets opportunities to be on the field this year or not. He must prove that he can handle the reads required and not miss his assignments as the speed of the game accelerates.

 

A little feel good piece on my pet cat from last season, Anthony Brown. He’s facing three draft picks at CB, so we’ll see where things shake out after training camp. Competition is on! Liked what I saw from him overall and looking for improvement in his second year.

 

Expectations for week two of OTA’s?

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