Mike McCarthy is taking an unorthodox approach to mandatory minicamp, and it involves shortening it by two-thirds. The usually three-day long event won’t be in 2022, with the Dallas Cowboys cancelling the final session on Thursday and sending their players home early for some R&R before things ramp up mightily in late July. The schedule change is the second this week, after McCarthy canceled Wednesday’s session as well, instead doing a team-building exercise that involved some golf fun.
Instead of the usual ongoings on Wednesday, the Cowboys took their talents to Top Golf in North Dallas, and it appears McCarthy’s plan for team morale worked; with everyone challenging each other to deliver the best swing on the roster.
The … driver … behind McCarthy’s plan isn’t complicated, nor is this the first time he’s substituted a workout for a team-building exercise — operating under the impression that establishing an intangible chemistry is just as important to a locker room as running drills. And, with that, the Cowboys followed up OTAs with a practice on Monday amid an ongoing heat wave in Texas, and then pulled back the reins ahead of what will amount to their usual summer vacation.
The next time they all meet will be training camp in Oxnard, California, in just over five weeks from now, when McCarthy enters the most pivotal season of his five-year contract. They also have one headline matter to attend to as well before then, and that’s attempting to negotiate a long-term contract with tight end Dalton Schultz, who sat out the back end of OTAs due to frustration stemming from lack of progress on a new deal, then reappearing for mandatory minicamp to avoid possible fines — having already signed his $10.9 million franchise tag.
The two sides have until July 15 to strike a deal or Schultz will meet the team in Oxnard on a one-year, fully guaranteed salary. But … fore… what it’s worth, the Cowboys won’t have to worry about a holdout from Schultz, or an injury from a minicamp they cut short by two days.
