IRVING, Texas – The next time the Dallas Cowboys get together as a group will be July 28, when they get on a plane to fly to Oxnard, California, for the start of training camp.
These next five weeks will go fast.
“It’s good to be quick,” tight end Jason Witten said. “This is why you do this work, to have this opportunity to go to camp. I think that some of your best times as a group is building your team, individually kind of setting your goals, but then doing it as a team. I’m excited where we’re at. I think we really kind of talked about mentally going into this offseason of, 'We’ve got to get better.' It’s a group of guys that works really hard. I’m excited to get to training camp.”
While that time might go quickly, for the organization it might be a time of holding its breath as well. The offseason program officially started April 20, but players have been working out at Valley Ranch since the middle of March. Players will be able to continue to working out there until 10 days before camp starts.
Most of the players use the time to get away. Jason Garrett said the coaches will also get away before returning to work just before the flight to California.
“They have to have some discipline as they leave here,” Garrett said of his players. “It’s been a structured environment for them through the offseason in our offseason program both in strength and conditioning and with the OTAs and minicamp. Now, many of the guys are going to be away for a little over a month. They’ll have to get their minds right, do what they need to do each and every day so that they can be the best coming back when we go to Oxnard.”