For the Cowboys, good news has not exactly been dripping off this 2025 NFL training camp. Key injuries have cropped up at positions where the team is lacking depth (offensive line, defensive backfield) and internal belligerence has led to a handful of fights and got so bad that coach Brian Schottenheimer stopped practice last week and made his team run laps like it was a Pop Warner outfit.
And there’s the Micah Parsons disaster, which has shone a light onto just how big a problem out-of-touch owner Jerry Jones really is.
But if you want good news, there is some of that. And perhaps no story has been better thus far in Cowboys camp than that of former first-round pick Kaiir Elam, who fell so far out of favor in Buffalo last year that the Bills dumped him to Dallas with a sixth-round pick for a fifth- and seventh-rounder.
Kaiir Elam ‘Completely Different’
Elam has widely been recognized as the team’s top positive story from those who have been watching throughout camp in Oxnard, California.
Cowboys beat reporter Joseph Hoyt wrote of Elam–picking him as the team’s top “standout” in camp:
“So far in Dallas, it’s been completely different for Elam. He’s had opportunities. He’s made the most of them. He’s been confident, sparked by consistent play since he arrived. He’s been the one immovable object in the Cowboys’ rotating secondary this offseason. He was fantastic in minicamp and OTAs and he carried that over to camp, where he’s had a team-high three interceptions in team drills.
“Elam looks like a surefire starter for the Cowboys.”
Cowboys Need Depth
That enthusiasm was matched at the Cowboys site Inside the Star:
“Kaiir Elam has been balling out in camp, and people are noticing every single day. … The 24-year-old seems to have made a major turn in his development and confidence. His seemingly daily training camp interceptions have made fans think the grass was greener outside of Buffalo for Elam.”
And there was this from USA Today’s Cowboys Wire: “Elam’s performance has been both flashy and consistent. It’s not a matter of winning gambles, cashing in on bad passes, or just being lucky. He’s actually playing great. A change of scenery might be all this 24-year-old CB needed to regain his confidence and find his stride. Lord knows the Cowboys need it.”
Cowboys Dealing With Injuries to Defensive Backs
That last bit is a big piece to the puzzle. The Cowboys’ secondary was not deep to begin with but has been pummeled with injuries. There’s no telling when Trevon Diggs will be back from a second knee surgery, and rookie Shevon Revel remains uncertain, too.
The team lost Caelen Carson, too, for at least a month with a knee injury. Carson was expected to fill in for Diggs to open the season. The Cowboys could be down to their third-string option on one side of the field. But they’re counting on Elam on the other side.
