Mike McCarthy evaluates Cooper Beebe's progress early in camp

With two weeks of training camp in the rearview, Dallas Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy shared his evaluation of rookie Cooper Beebe on Thursday. Beebe has the potential to become the team’s starting center in his first season – though he’s never started a game at the position before.

The Cowboys snagged Beebe with a third-round pick out of Kansas State and received praise for the selection. If they can turn him into their starting center for this season, their pick will be more than lauded. At training camp so far, he has primarily worked with the second team.

“He looks good. What you really appreciate from him is he carried (his college performance) over to the pro practice,” McCarthy said on Thursday. “I was really impressed with his contact balance as a college player at K-State and you can see it right away in the first 9-on-7 and some of the pass protection reps because we had rankly too many people on the ground yesterday, I think we had eight of em, that’s too much but I think that’s a real strength of him. That’s part of being an anchor in there.”

“He just needs reps,” McCarthy said. “They’ve done a really good job picking it up schematically, I’d give them an A, but now it’s time. We have to see them apply it. Definitely Cooper has a lot of responsibility in that area since he’s playing the center position.”

While at Kansas State, Beebe earned first-team All-Big 12 Conference honors in 2021. He started all 13 games at left tackle before moving to left guard in 2022. After the move, he earned All-American second-team honors and the Big 12’s Offensive Lineman of the Year award.

Beebe’s mom goes viral for helping his training camp prep

Before Cooper departed for Oxnard, he had some extra help at home to tune up for training camp. At home in Kansas City, with his dad Tom recording, Beebe took snap after snap from his mom, Tamara.

“I gotta give a shout-out to my mom,” Beebe told CBS Sports Texas. “During that break, she filled in [on] QB for me, taking snaps on her lunch break.”

#Cowboys rookie center Cooper Beebe credits his mom, Tamara, for helping him learn how to shotgun snap this summer in the backyard — video courtesy his dad, Tom, chronicling it between the curtain blinds inside the househttps://t.co/YlSeQeVApe pic.twitter.com/uYTr75JgSV

— Bill Jones (@CBS11BillJones) August 1, 2024

“She’s getting the ‘Here we go!’” the Cowboys rookie added. “She’s been helping me out and is a big reason I’m getting my snaps in.”

The extra work is paying off for Beebe already. His new offensive coordinator sung his praises during OTAs.

“Cooper Beebe, from a mental standpoint, picking up the offense was outstanding,” Brian Schottenheimer said this summer. “We expected that. But we had zero balls on the ground in rookie minicamp. When you’re dealing with a new center and a new coordinator, that’s unusual. So hopefully, both those guys (Beebe and Tyler Guyton), we’ve found their best position.”

The Cowboys offensive line will be on display for the first time on August 11 against the LA Rams. The game is at SoFi Stadium at 4:30 p.m. ET.