The dues are paid and Lance Lenoir is hoping for a receipt here soon.

Undrafted out of Western Illinois in 2017, the Dallas Cowboys saw something in Lenoir that made them ink him to a deal that keeps him in tow through the 2019 season. Although overlooked during the draft process, mostly due to his attendance at a small school, Lenoir has impressive skins on the wall at the position prior to landing in the NFL. A two-time All-Area and three-time All-Conference player at Crete-Monee High School just south of Chicago, he took his talents four hours west to Macomb, IL to make a collegiate name for himself.

He did just that, finding himself named to the All-Missouri Valley Football Conference All-Newcomer Team en route to becoming a two-time All-MVFC wideout.

Having had success previously with undrafted products out of Illinois, one of which you may have heard of, the Cowboys were rightfully intrigued. Following a competitive training camp and preseason that showed great promise, he found himself on the team's 10-man practice squad for the majority of the season. The Cowboys activated him for the final game and he now faces second year that includes a massive shakeup atop WR depth chart, with All-Pro WR Dez Bryant being given his walking papers in April.

Lenoir is already one of [my] sleepers to make the 53-man roster this year, although many outside the organization don't yet know his name. I spoke with the young upstart at the 2018 National Fantasy Football Convention in Fort Worth, TX to gauge his mindset heading into training camp, one that could lead to him being propelled into an impactful role fairly soon. New wideouts coach Sanjay Lal agrees with the sentiment, praising Lenoir earlier this offseason in a candid talk with The Doomsday Podcast.

"[Lance] has been ultra-competitive," said Lal. "He's worked extremely hard in the weight room. ...He's done everything that's been asked. He's a detailed route-runner.

"He studies. He comes in extra and it's shown on the field. He's made plays. He's one we're intrigued with."

Lenoir himself knows what he's up against, but is uber-confident in what he brings to the table. There's just one attribute he wants to key in on going forward.

"I know what I'm capable of. I just feel like it's [about] being more consistent," he said, speaking from NFFC. "This is the NFL. It's the best of the best, so each day go out there and bring your best each day. The most important thing for me is just being consistent. Just knowing my role and doing what I can do to help the team win."

He's been that thus far in training camp, footage of him torturing defensive backs in padded practice nearly becoming a daily occurrence now.

In this first clip, Anthony Brown is tasked with covering him on a one-on-one drill, and Lenoir turns the veteran's ankles into Ramen noodles:

His next victim is Byron Jones, who is having a stellar camp thus far at the cornerback position. Credit Jones for recovering and closing to prevent YAC following this play (because, wow), winning the war, but he first lost the battle when Lenoir delivers a brutal outside-in cut route that nearly spins Jones' top half around like an old G.I. Joe action figure:

It's safe to say Lenoir is carving out a slot on the final roster, a thought bolstered by the loss of rookie sixth-round pick Cedrick Wilson for a yet-to-be-determined amount of time with a shoulder injury. Lenoir is hungry and doesn't mind admitting that or just how rabid the Cowboys' wideout unit is about proving their doubters wrong.

The recent Amazon Prime original series "All or Nothing" shed a glaring light on just how much Bryant meant emotionally to the receiving corps, his passion routinely on full display. It challenged defenders to step up and other wideouts to do the same, so how will the Cowboys replace that attribute going forward?

I asked him directly just ahead of training camp.

"I think everybody [has] a little bit of nastiness in them," said Lenoir with a smirk. "Dez was just a little bit more outspoken. He said what he wanted to say when he wanted to say it, because that's the type of guy he is and it's [why he's so] respected. Everybody [has] that dog in them.

"Everybody got that nastiness in them. I feel like everybody on the team has that in them."

They'll need it, considering NFL media as a collective is shunning the potential of the group sans Bryant. For his part, Lenoir isn't deaf to all the noise, but he's also not concerned either.

"It's a lot of doubters but we still take care of what we can take care of," he told me directly. "We know what we can do. We know the guys around [and] the team we have. ...Just coming in and showing up every day is really my main focus for the season. Everything else takes care of itself.

"I've already put in the grind. I've already worked hard. I've already studied the film, so everything else is in God's Hands."

And all the ice is on the defensive backs' ankles.