Just days into training camp, the Most Valuable Player for the USFL, KaVontae Turpin, has reportedly signed with the Dallas Cowboys. To make room for the move, Dallas waived fullback Nick Ralston.
According to reports, the former MVP will take his physical this morning and will participate in practice in some form. The reigning MVP caught 44 passes for 540 yards and four touchdowns in ten games. He added 129 yards on the ground with a score and led the USFL in punt return average.
WR KaVontae Turpin will take physical this morning & will probably take part in practice in some form.
“The No. 1 thing he’s got to do is be a receiver,” Cowboys VP Will McClay said. “I think he’s a talented young player w/ his ability to return as well as play the slot.”
Turpin played college football at TCU. During his three seasons as a Horned Frog, he caught 116 passes for 1,338 yards and ten touchdowns. He rushed for an additional 286 yards and two more scores. Named as first-team All-Big 12 kick and punt returner during his final season with the team, he was released in 2018 from the program due to a domestic violence issue.
Cowboys are bringing in WR Kavontae Turpin and plan to sign the 2022 USFL MVP, source confirms to @usatodaysports. Turpin led USFL with 540 receiving yards (921 all-purpose) while flashing elusiveness like this:pic.twitter.com/1S8lnPV7Ro
— Jori Epstein (@JoriEpstein) July 28, 2022
Turpin also spent time recently with the Sea Lions of the Spring League, the Wroclaw Panthers of the European League of Football, and Fan Controlled Football Glacier Boyz before earning MVP as a member of the New Jersey Generals.
So what does this mean for the Cowboys' WR room? As for now, nothing will change until we see him on the field. The Cowboys are adding a player that helps attempt to make up for the loss of Amari Cooper and add some depth before Michael Gallup returns from his ACL tear. I did not watch much of the USFL, so I did not see many games of Turpin, but from the looks of it, he can do just about everything from the passing game to the return game.
Not only will he be looking to move up quickly in the rotation, but Dallas may have found themselves a guy who can help both CeeDee Lamb and Tony Pollard in the return game and relieve some pressure off them when needed.
Beats the heck out of bringing back an aging Beasley.
I did watch all of the USFL games. Once he finally made it onto the field, it was hard to take him back off. He’s tiny, but he’s got serious speed. He took a few hard shots and popped back up, but a few sent him to the sideline for a few plays to recover.
They used him on a lot of jet sweeps at first, then opened up the playbook more for him as the season went on. From the slot, they liked to run him on a quick out behind the outside receiver and then let him use his speed and agility to create from there while the outside receiver blocked.
On the outside, his speed forced DB’s to either respect his speed with a big cushion or take their chances jamming him at the line. A few times, he made the CB playing press look outright silly, forcing the Safety to sprint to try to limit the damage. If the CB played off, they’d hit him on a quick curl and then let him create from there. I wouldn’t say he’s got great hands, but he’s got better hands than a lot of receivers.
As good as he was as a WR, he really made his money on returns. Sometimes he’d just scoot through the hole and be gone, others, he showed patience and would direct traffic before blasting past everyone. Teams were quickly trying to kick away from him, which led to a lot of shanked punts. Of course, the kicking game in the USFL left a lot to be desired, so he still got more chances than you’d expect.
His game has a lot of similarities to how Tyreek Hill used to be used. He might not quite have Hill’s speed, but he’s got more than enough. I think they’ll mainly use him as a returner while they try different options in the slot. The best part of that is he’s got far more experience at it than just about anyone else on the roster. Plus, he’s expendable, whereas Lamb and Tolbert are more likely to be protected by not exposing them on ST’s if they can help it. If nobody seizes the Slot outright at the beginning of the season, he may take it over before mid-season.
I hope they signed him to at least a two-year deal, because he could easily price himself out of reach in just one season.
This kid is a football player. He runs a 4.3 40.