Cowboys news: Final practices in Oxnard finished before heading to Arizona

It feels like just yesterday all Dallas Cowboys fans were anticipating the team's arrival in Oxnard, California for training camp. After just under a month in Oxnard, the Cowboys finished their final real practice as they turn their attention to their week two preseason game.

After a nice game one win against the defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks, the Cowboys will travel to Arizona to take on the Cardinals Saturday night. With plenty of roster decisions to be made, let's take a look at how the final practice in Oxnard in 2026 went.

Team portion of the Cowboys final open" practice in Oxnard did not allow video. But the mothership staff still got a first-hand look at the Cowboys team portion of practice. Here are some observations:

Hard to Run:Thursday's final training camp practice in Oxnard was a good one for Dallas' run defense, which continued to make things difficult at the line of scrimmage. Donovan Ezeiruaku having a tackle for loss and DJ Withers having a run stuff on Israel Abanikanda were two of the big plays that stood out, but the defense as a whole was able to plug up the middle well as they've done for a majority of camp, albeit difficult to figure out truly how good a run defense is until live tackling is allowed in a game setting. - (Tommy Yarrish)

The NFL announced the Cowboys and Saints would be fined $500K each for the fight filled joint practice on Wednesday. With that large of a fine, let's hope both teams got their money's worth.

The NFL confirmed on Thursday that it has fined the Dallas Cowboys and New Orleans Saints organizations $500,000 after there were multiple fights during a joint practice session on Tuesday in Oxnard, California.

The Dallas Cowboys and New Orleans Saints have each been fined $500,000 for the actions that took place at the joint practice between the teams earlier this week," the league said in a statement.

The Competition Committee has made sportsmanship - including at joint practices - a point of emphasis over the past several years. All clubs were reminded by memo prior to training camp of their responsibility in preventing unsportsmanlike behavior at joint practices that has the potential to result in injury."

The Cowboys have remained relatively healthy throughout their time in Oxnard in 2026. That being said, they had multiple players leave practice early on Thursday.

The Dallas Cowboys are putting the finishing touches on the Oxnard portion of training camp on Thursday, and unfortunately it was not a fully clean effort in that regard.

It was reported early in the afternoon that defenders James Houston and Jay Toia each took to the injury tent at different points in time. You never want to see that.

Cowboys' head coach Brian Schottenheimer gave a list of players that stood out in training camp. There's a few interesting names currently in some heated position battles still to be decided.

And while the preseason is far from over, head coach Brian Schottenheimer was asked to name the five players that exceeded his expectations during the team's time in the West Coast. In true Schottenheimer fashion, we wasn't able to stop at five. So he named ten.

DB Caleb Downs
ED Rashan Gary
DL Otito Ogbonnia
CB Shavon Revel Jr.
WR Jonathan Mingo
WR Camden Brown
LT Tyler Guyton
RB Javonte Williams
WR Ryan Flournoy
P Bryan Anger

Brian Schottenheimer was very encouraged at what he saw in Oxnard. Carrying that encouragement into the regular season, and better yet, into the postseason is the major question.

We're still very much in the training camp mode," he said before a nearly two-hour practice Thursday. Training camp will last about another 10 days. Even when we leave Oxnard, we're still in training camp mode. We're still putting in the last two installs. So [Thursday's] install number eight, third-down day. And then we'll get to install nine when you get back to Frisco and back home. But expect these guys to do a great job like they always do with cracks and playing with good pad level, protecting each other. But should be a very spirited day."

One of the biggest questions coming into training camp was what should the Cowboys expect from Tyler Guyton? With Oxnard practices coming to an end, it sounds like Guyton may finish as one of the biggest winners of training camp.

Good: Tyler Guyton is impressing

Tyler Guyton entered the offseason as a question mark for the Cowboys but has been far more impressive than anticipated. Head coach Brian Schottenheimer praised him for his work during camp and he followed with another strong performance, even being singled-out by Patrik Walker for his work during camp.

Tyler Guyton is having the best camp of his young#Cowboyscareer.https://t.co/wrPdvvc17W- Patrik [No C] Walker (@VoiceOfTheStar)August 19, 2026

Daily discussion question: What is the main thing you want to see on Saturday night?