IRVING, Texas -- Dallas Cowboys' Organized Team Activity No. 5 is in the books, so what happened at practice?
Here are some observations:
How sharp was Tony Romo? He completed 13 of 15 passes. One incompletion was on a deep throw to Lucky Whitehead when cornerback Josh Thomas made a nice adjustment at the last second. The other was on a crossing route that led Cole Beasley too far by a hair. Romo’s best throw came on a deep ball to Terrance Williams, who ran past Deji Olatoye in route-combination work. Williams had four catches in first-team work.
Dez Bryant (foot), Orlando Scandrick(knee), Barry Church (arm), Lance Dunbar (knee) and Gavin Escobar (Achilles) took part in the early walk-through portion of practice, but worked through rehab off to the side in team drills.
Rolando McClain continues to miss OTAs while tending to what head coach Jason Garrett has called a family situation in Alabama. Garrett said he hopes McClain is back next week.
"We want all of our players here," Garrett said. "Sometimes situations come up where they have to deal with things. In each of those cases, it’s family situations. So we have to be respectful of that. We certainly want our players here. We believe in OTAs. We believe in the offseason program. It’s not a mandatory time, though. It’s a voluntary time. We try to be respectful of the situations they’re dealing with."
Brandon Carr did a nice job of poking the ball free from Williams in red-zone work, forcing a fumble that he recovered. It was the defense’s lone takeaway of the day. Defensive end David Irving knocked down a Kellen Moore pass at the line in situational work.
Jameill Showers took the first turn with the No. 3 offense at quarterback, followed by Dak Prescott, the fourth-round pick. Showers had a sure touchdown pass to Chris Brown broken up by Arjen Colquhoun. Had Showers thrown the pass a step deeper, Brown had the score.
Second-year linebacker Mark Nzeocha did a nice job shooting the gap to meet running back Alfred Morris in the hole.
Defensive back Terrance Mitchell left practice early with a left pinky finger injury. Garrett did not know the severity of the injury after practice. Mitchell played outside cornerback and safety on Wednesday. The Cowboys want to see how Mitchell takes to safety after seeing him play in the slot some last season.
"He’s got a good feel and instinct for the game," Garrett said. "He has a lot of physical traits that would make you think he could play safety. You saw some of that when he was playing nickel last year at the end of the year. He just has some awareness about him. He has some play-making ability. But he’s a young player. He’s got to learn how to play consistently at this level, but we just felt like he could be a pretty good fit back there, and he’s responded well to that opportunity."