The Dallas Cowboys kick off their first organized football activities today, as the rookie mini camp starts and runs through the weekend. All draft picks, undrafted free agents and eligible first-year players will be in attendance with the exception of the biggest name, Morris Claiborne. Claiborne is still sidelined by a wrist that he had postseason surgery on that gave him trouble throughout his junior year at LSU. He is expected to be fine in time for training camp.
Tyrone Crawford will be in attendance though, and so will Kyle Wilber, Matt Johnson, Danny Coale, James Hanna and Caleb McSurdy. The Dallas assistant coaches will get their chance to drop the rest of the draft picks into a professional football environment for the first time and for the defensive players a chance to see Rob Ryan's 3-4 scheme.
The undrafted free agents will have their first chance to turn some heads and get noticed this weekend as well. Here's a listing of those 21 signings.
OT Jeff Adams, OG Ron Leary, OT Levy Adcock, OT Taylor Dever, OG Harland Gunn, OT Tyrone Novikoff, WR Tim Benford, WR Cole Beasley, WR Donavon Kemp, WR Saalim Hakim, TE George Bryan, TE Andrew Szczerba, RB Lance Dunbar, RB Darrell Scott, CB Lionel Smith, CB Troy Woolfolk, CB Isaac Madison, DE/OLB Adrian Hamilton, DE/OLB Aston Whiteside, S Eddie Whitley, LS Charley Hughlett
Not to be outdone, there are several eligible non-rookies, players that have been on the roster but haven't received many snaps that have some experience in the schemes and can help install the systems for those that don't know. Be on the lookout for speedy Teddy Williams, Mario Butler and also Justin Taplin-Ross who has returned to the team after an injury release last season and is now working as a corner back.
The team also has several players "trying out" for one of the final two roster spots; camp limit was increased to 90 for the 2012 season.