ESPN hilariously runs 2-year old Cowboys highlight based on Twitter troll job

USA Today

22-07-2025

First Take just aired that bullshit that @FergSZN posted the other day pic.twitter.com/r4oiFUCywN
On Tuesday morning's edition of ESPN's First Take, the crew had the obligatory discussion regarding Dallas Cowboys edge rusher Micah Parsons and his current contract negotiations with the team. Monday's opening press conference from Oxnard featured plenty of fireworks from owner Jerry Jones, who expressed no urgency to sign Parsons to what is widely expected to be the richest non-quarterback deal in league history. He justified the front office's stall tactic in a number of ways, including smugly reminding everyone Parsons is already under contract.
But in transitioning from Jones's grandstanding, the show pivoted to the team's offseason moves. The most notable on-the-field addition was the trade for wide receiver George Pickens, who is being counted on to open up the Cowboys air attack. How quickly he acclimates to quarterback Dak Prescott and the Dallas offense will be one of the most-discussed storylines in Oxnard.
And according to show host Molly Qerim, the Cowboys wasted no time showing off the new connection, airing a video of the new duo.
"During the team's first play of training camp," she narrated, "we saw Dak Prescott able to find Pickens for a massive touchdown. Obviously, a great way to start the day."
Only, at the time of Tuesday morning's show, the Cowboys had yet to set foot on the practice field this season.
So where did the clip come from? It's actually Prescott connecting with Brandin Cooks, and the highlight is nearly two years old.
Oops.
The Worldwide Leader grabbed the video from an X account called FergSZN, who posted the clip on Monday. But the original video was shot on July 31, 2023 by Cowboys media staffer Kyle Youmans. And while FergSZN's caption did cheekily attribute the play to Prescott and Pickens and sold it as the first play of this year's camp, the accompanying raised-eyebrows emojis should have probably been the first indicator that further confirmation was needed.
It was a troll job by FergSZN, meant to fool fans that weren't up to date on the fact the Cowboys hadn't yet taken to the practice field. And it fooled the ESPN; the experts.
Even a cursory check of the team's camp schedule would have shown Dallas didn't even take the field on Monday and wouldn't do so until several hours after Tuesday's First Take broadcast.
Would a Prescott-to-Pickens bomb on Tuesday's actual first play of 2025's camp be a fantastic leveling up troll job by the Cowboys? Yes.
Does ESPN's live-TV goof serve as a good reminder for all fans to double-check their sources before they shoot off their mouths or fall for social media fakery this summer? Also yes.
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