OXNARD, Calif. – Jason Witten’s spleen injury doesn’t necessarily move James Hanna up the depth chart, but it does show the rookie tight end how quickly things can change.

“With John (Phillips) coming back, I’m in about the same position,” Hanna said. “I’m just trying to keep getting as prepared as I can because you never know what could happen. You never know when I could be called upon to take much more snaps maybe than I thought I would coming into it.”

Hanna started Monday’s game at Oakland when the Cowboys opened with a two-tight end formation and ended up with two catches for 15 yards.

As a sophomore at Oklahoma, he saw his role increase after Jermaine Gresham suffered a knee injury.

“He was an All-American the year before and I was thinking I was going to get minimal opportunity and it turned out to be different than that,” Hanna said. “Even later in the year, Brody Eldridge moved to the offensive line, so it was even more opportunity.”

So far at camp, the Cowboys have liked Hanna’s work as a blocker, which had been considered a weakness.

“He did some positive things,” coach Jason Garrett said of Hanna’s work against the Raiders. “He made some mistakes, like everybody does. I thought he got more and more comfortable as the game wore on. He made some plays on special teams that showed up. I thought he was a competitive blocker and then he made a couple of plays in the passing game as well. He looked comfortable out there. He just needs to play more, like all young guys do, but I thought it was a good start for him.”