OXNARD, Calif. -- After just about every morning walk-through, Dallas Cowboys cornerback Brandon Carr lays a speed ladder on the ground on the practice field and goes to work.
For 20 minutes, his feet pitter-patter on the ground as quickly as possible as he goes up the ladder and down the ladder. In and out, out and in. On one, he turns his right hip as he goes through. On another, he turns his left hip.
The work can be mesmerizing as his feet dance across the grass, like a dancer working across a stage.
"With my job, at the line of scrimmage you can win or lose a down with your feet or with your hips, just with your eyes and your reactions," Carr said. "So these drills incorporate different things where I flip and turn and just get my feet in the ground quick and get out of my break quick. That helps me here against live action with the receivers."
Carr has always done footwork drills in the past, but never as intricate as these.
"Just different things to try to keep my craft and keep my sword sharpened, so to speak," Carr said. "Just getting back to my old ways to what got me to this stage."
There is some surprise Carr is still with the Cowboys, especially with a $12.7 million cap figure. He is about to enter the fourth year of a five-year, $50 million deal he signed as a free agent. He did not record an interception for the first time in his career last season.
The nadir of his season came Nov. 23 against the New York Giants when Odell Beckham Jr. made a one-handed catch while falling backward to the ground. The replay continues to play over and over again in some sort of cruel way, football’s version of the agony of defeat.
A week later he gambled and gave up a 58-yard catch to Jeremy Maclin in a Thanksgiving Day loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.
But Carr’s level of play changed after that. He was more aggressive. Five of his 12 pass deflections came in the final four regular season games. In the playoffs he added two more pass deflections and limited Jordy Nelson to two catches for 22 yards in the divisional round loss to the Green Bay Packers.
In the offseason he called that his best game of the season.
The Cowboys never really got involved in pay cut talks with his agent and have considered giving him an extension to help with potential cap issues in the future.
Perhaps the team knew more of the struggle he had with the death of his mother, Kathy, last summer from a battle with breast cancer. Carr arrived late to training camp and did not play in the preseason.
Early in this training camp Carr has an interception of Tony Romo and one pass deflection. He has been in the pockets of Dez Bryant and Terrance Williams. While he swears there is nothing different about his weight, he looks different.
Carr, 29, joked he went into the garage for a new exhaust and engine.
"As you get older your metabolism, everything kind of slows down," Carr said. "You kind of want to slim down as you grow in this league. I learned that from some veteran guys early on and just took it to heart this year. I’m always cognizant of what I put into my body, foods and all those things. I definitely want to be lean. The game is changing. It’s a pass happy league. The receivers are bigger, stronger, quicker than ever so you’ve got to adapt to it and just find a way to stick around in this league."
Carr joked he got some new tires too. Maybe they came in the form of those agility drills.
"He understands the importance of earning his opportunity," coach Jason Garrett said. "He has done that in this league. We feel really good about what he is all about physically. But to your question, about what he's all about as a person too. Had some difficult time with his family, really over the last couple of years. He has worked his way though that. He was a real professional handling all that. He is that certainly can get better as a player. He recognizes that. We recognize that. But he is a darn good football player for us."