NFL

Woodson returns to Cowboys’ camp for SportsCenter special

Woodson’s Cowboys storylines entering the 2015 NFL season:

“Offensively, in the running back battle right now you have Darren McFadden, Joseph Randle and Lance Dunbar. They’re taking over that role for DeMarco Murray who ended up leading the league in rushing. Who’s going to win that job? There’s a lot of drama involved in that job, particularly because the best offensive line is in front of you. Who’s going to be the main guy carrying the load?

“Defensively, the pass rush was terrible last year: 28 sacks total for the season. They have to get better as far as pass rush. I know they brought in Greg Hardy; he won’t play until Week 5. DeMarcus Lawrence – they have some young guys who can rush the passer, but they’re young, and I think that’s a huge problem for them right now. They’re putting a lot of pressure on that secondary to hold things up. We saw last year not enough pressure up front. They give up a lot of big plays on the back end.”

ESPN NFL analyst Darren Woodson is a three-time Super Bowl champion and five-time Pro Bowler. He played his entire 13-year career at safety for the Dallas Cowboys, and though he retired in 2004, he’s going back to training camp.

Tomorrow, ESPN’s “SportsCenter Special: Cowboys Training Camp” (7 p.m. ET, ESPN) will give fans a live look in primetime at this year’s Cowboys team as the defending NFC East champs go through a training camp workout in Oxnard, Calif.

Woodson will offer a player’s perspective and will appear alongside SportsCenter anchor Kenny Mayne and Monday Night Football’s Jon Gruden, the same trio who hosted a similar special at Seattle Seahawks camp a year ago.

“There was a much more physical aspect to training camp when I was playing,” Woodson said. “Now it is more of let’s get as much done as we can without the pads. . . It seems like these guys right now are getting so much more done mentally.

“I want to be able to bring the fans into the drill and the mind-set of why players have to do certain things,” he said.

Woodson is familiar with the Cowboys training facility in Oxnard, having spent his last NFL training camp there in 2004.

“The temperature is 75 degrees. It’s absolutely beautiful,” Woodson notes. “You could do all your install in a day and not have to worry about players and coaches falling out, being dehydrated.”

In addition to the hard work, Woodson’s training camp memories include a Cowboys’ tradition where rookies were asked to sing. Woodson recounts singing his Arizona State fight song multiple times in addition to a Marvin Gaye song.

“In my rookie year, we tried to avoid the lunchroom,” he said. “Get in quick and get out because they’re going to make you sing.”

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