GLENDALE, Ariz. — Camden Brown has caught five passes for 139 yards and two touchdowns in two preseason games. Jonathan Mingo caught two passes for 62 yards and a score in the Dallas Cowboys‘ 34-13 win over the Arizona Cardinals.
Eight Dallas receivers played Saturday. Those two accounted for 139 of the 244 passing yards.
Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer said the roster math at the position is about to start, and that what Brown has done complicates the number.
“We’ll start playing those numbers games here in a couple weeks. But it’s a talented room,” Schottenheimer said. “I’m proud of the Jones and Jerry and Steven and Will McClay and the personnel group. We’re a much better football team on paper, but the play style is right, and that’s what these guys believe and know. It’s cool when your young guys are the guys that are battling to do that. It puts a lot of fun pressure on the vets because they’ve got to step up and do the same thing, which I know they will.”
CeeDee Lamb, George Pickens, KaVontae Turpin, and Ryan Flournoy were all among the 29 players Dallas held out in Glendale. Pickens caught 93 passes for 1,429 yards and nine touchdowns last season and made the Pro Bowl. Lamb caught 75 for 1,077 and three scores in 14 games. Turpin added 26 catches for 396 yards. Flournoy caught 40 for 475 and four touchdowns in 16 games.
Camden Brown’s Two Games
Brown’s 70-yard catch came on third-and-3 from the Dallas 29 with 12:01 left in the second quarter. Joe Milton III rolled left away from pressure and hit him in space, and Brown took it to the Arizona 1. Milton scored on a keeper on the next snap.
Brown caught two of his four targets Saturday for 77 yards. He played 28 offensive snaps and eight on special teams, where he was credited with an assisted tackle on the second-half kickoff.
A week earlier at Seattle, Brown caught three passes for 62 yards and both Dallas touchdowns, taking a 39-yarder from Sam Howell in the second quarter and a 2-yard fade from Milton in the third. One of the two was a diving one-handed catch.
Brown is an undrafted rookie. He has no professional Sports Reference page yet.
Milton said what both receivers did Saturday was what the staff asks of everybody on the roster.
“Those guys come out here and work every day. And that’s what we asked of those guys. We asked everybody on this team just to do their 111,” Milton said. “And that’s what they came out here and did today. They did their 111. I’m pretty sure that they’ll go back and watch some plays and wanna take some plays back. But for the most part, they did their 111 and that’s all we can ask from those guys. And whatever happens, who’s not on the team, that’s out of our control. So you want to control what you can control.”
Jonathan Mingo And Camden Brown Eat Together
Mingo said Brown was frustrated earlier in camp about how few targets he was getting, and that the frustration ended the day Brown made a one-handed touchdown catch in practice.
“That’s my dog. Me and Cam go out to eat all the time, so that’s my dog. So I try to talk to him, try to tell him to stay patient,” Mingo said. “I remember earlier in camp, he was kinda mad that he wasn’t really getting too many targets. And that’s when he had the one-handed touchdown in practice. So he’s a baller and I’m happy for him.”
Seattle did not surprise him.
“I wasn’t surprised. I’ve been in practice, so y’all know what he’s been doing. So it’s the same thing,” Mingo explained. “We always happy for each other. Like everybody’s not playing, so we always want everybody to thrive. Being receivers, it’s already kind of hard enough. Everybody can’t get the ball, so it’s taking advantage of opportunities, so I’m happy for them.”
Jonathan Mingo’s First Score Was A Preseason Touchdown
Mingo’s 53-yard catch with 3:43 left in the first quarter was his first touchdown in a Dallas uniform. It was not his first in the NFL in the sense the record book uses. Mingo has played 38 regular-season games since 2023 and has not scored in any of them.
He caught two of three targets Saturday, played 18 offensive snaps, and played seven on special teams, where he fair caught the only Arizona punt of the first half.
Carolina drafted Mingo in the second round in 2023, 39th overall out of Ole Miss. He caught 43 passes for 418 yards as a rookie with 14 starts, then fell to 12 catches for 121 yards through nine games in 2024 before the Panthers traded him. Dallas acquired him on Nov. 5, 2024, sending Carolina a 2025 fourth-round pick and receiving Mingo and a 2025 seventh-rounder.
Mingo went on injured reserve designated for return on Aug. 26 last year and was activated on Oct. 21. He appeared in six games in 2025 and caught one pass for 25 yards on five targets. Across three seasons, he has 61 receptions for 610 yards.
The Rest Of The Room
Traeshon Johnson led all Dallas receivers with 38 offensive snaps, 64% of the total, and caught two passes for 3 yards. Marquez Valdes-Scantling played 23 snaps and caught a 14-yard pass from Howell in the third quarter. Ashton Smith caught two for 18 on 22 snaps and carried once for 8 yards. Jalen Hudson caught one for 8. Denzel Mims caught one for minus-1. Jonathan Smith was targeted once and did not catch it.
Dallas cuts to 53 players after Friday’s preseason finale. The Cowboys host the New Orleans Saints at 7 p.m. CT at AT&T Stadium, and the game airs on CBS 11 and ESPN.
