Cowboys Break: Amari's Future

to the latest edition of The Break. We are alive in that's WBC Mortgage Studios at the Star. We got the full crew, or we did have the full crew. We uh, we have every back. See we're back. We have everybody in the studio. Day Davis back from Senior Bowl. I don't think you have. You didn't catch a cold, did you? Like? I was got out there? You told you're out there in the right. The temperature changes of reeked havoc on my sinuses. But I'm I'm okay. It's

too worse for wear good. Nick and Dave Boat dressed looking good job interviews the day we ready to go that we know something that I don't know that's what Nick told me. He was like, job interview, I got some things I'm working on. So there we about a fast food chain. I was gonna be the district manager I've I was working. Oh sweet, Okay, it's probably not a sponsor for us, So yes, you probably shouldn't say it. Yeah, I probably won't get the job. We'll see, we'll see.

Let's try and get a reference. Yeah, I don't know that. I don't know that being a writer for the Dallas Cowboys necessarily makes you a great candidate for a job like that. But who knows. Maybe maybe we'll see press releases. You're about to say something. No, no, not about to say I got nothing and if I was, I now keep it to myself. Yeah, all right, let's let's start with our opener and what we do every day here in the off season. Get me a sports story right now,

just in random over the last week. Something that's interesting to you that you want to just talk about. Nick, Let's start with you. Well, you can talk about your boy. I mean, yeah, I am that all of win I'm gonna talk about them. Hellab a win yep, Arkansas beating the number one team last night in overtime. Great game. First time that Arkansas has beaten a number one team since Michael Jordan was playing for North Carolina. Wow, I

was eight years old. I remember that game. Hadn't beat a number one, to beat Auburn, no fingers, fingernails left, but yeah, got it done. That's that's big. I appreciate how much you like Arkansas basketball, Like love really Arkansas. No, but like he really loves Arkansas basketball. Oh yeah, Like yeah, Like you would have asked me you could win a football national championship or a basketball It's like, for you would be no brainer. It's not like it's laugh even

ask the question. Not for me, because man, you're going through six weeks of Final four and all that. Like what a ride that is. I've even been I've actually experienced it. Yeah, but man it's Awesomelan Richardson Yeah, so it was good. It was good win. Which that's my point is Kentucky's probably the only fan base in the SEC that really feels that way. Like everybody else, it's all football all the time. I'd rather win a College World Series than a Final Four probably, but that's it's

all unique to your own fan base, though. I mean if LSU would Actually LSU was pretty damn good when I was a kid, but by the time I was old enough to really basketball, yeah, I mean, they had Shack, they had Stanley roberts Um Yeah yeah, I mean they had some really yeah, but by the time I was old enough to really appreciate it, they were kind of trash. So and this year they started, you off thing having ey hopes and as long as they make but that's

as long as they make the tournament. I don't care, which I mean, if they make the tournament, I'll be happy. That's where my expectations are. With LSU basketball, I don't really care beyond that. Where like the baseball team, I'm already they're playing preseason games. I'm like, Okay, how's our cleanup hitter doing? Like, what's going on here? It's just, yeah, that's how you're raised. I guess, give me a sports story. Ye oh, I don't know. We'll just continue along that line.

I mean, my son's playing in the Super Bowl on Sunday. I'm just I'm excited about it. For those that don't know, you don't really have a son, but you're talking. Anybody that knows me knows what I'm talking about. Um, I'm yeah, I'm excited for Joe Burrow. It's it's really cool. It's funny like have you ever like had a band that you were on too early and then they kind of start to get popular and you're like, okay, like I'm happy for your success, but everybody's hey, I was here first,

outcast for me. Yeah, yeah, that's a great that's a great point. And that's kind of how I feel about Joe. I'm like, the whole feels like he's captured the whole sporting world's attention, and I'm like, Okay, I want y'all to root for Joe, but like we were here first, like we we claim we found him. He's ours. Yeah, Like Ohio State fans are like, oh, he was molded by Ohio. I'm like, shut up, Okay, he's ours. But I'm very excited. I hope he wins the super Bowl.

That would be great. And just so you guys know this kind of funny. The other day, Dave walks by my office. He has a package and he kind of holds it up to my window and kind of sneaks it out, and it's like the Cincinnati Bengal hood I guess was a hoodie sweatshirt. I was like, that's real, Like, that's real. That's how you know that's his boy? Like

I he is all in. I will be wherever he goes as long as he's playing and when he's done playing, like and like, and you know, we did a documentary about Dak and it was mainly about how Mississippi State fans feel the same way about him. Yeah, it's real, man, And then win your national championship, You're gonna cut form forever, right and and I'm not. I don't know something about It's just different in the pros. Like everybody, you love

your quarterback in the pros. But when you see these guys come up from being like a literal kid, I mean that sounds stupid. Joe was like twenty two when he got to LSU. But I don't know, to just kind of come from nothing as like a Okay, who's this kid? He's from bfe Ohio. Guess he can't be worse than what we've got. And then to get here in such a short amount of time, it's just swild amber goat for us. Best love right there? He is my son. Obviously I did not follow because I don't

follow up college football whatsoever. But the more I see him, the more I like him. And he has this cockiness to him, but it's like an appealing kind of cockiness, saying like there's you know, it's not the kind of cockiness that you just hate it. I wouldn't be I wouldn't be shocked if if anybody was like, yeah, your boy Joe's seems like kind of an a hole, I'd be like, I get where you. I understand where you

get that from. But like, it doesn't seem like it bothers very many not off putting because some people it can be, but it's not off put us because he's backs it up every step of the way. That's the thing, is like, why wouldn't you be cocky with what he's accomplished in such a short period of time, And it doesn't seem like he does it at the expense of his teammates, I guess is the best way to it all. And we don't know these guys, by the way, we

don't know if he really does or doesn't. But the way it appears, the way it seems is like he's still a good teammate. His teammates like him, so it's like he's you could see the little bit of arrogance, but it's like he still seems like a good guy, right. And I don't necessarily have a sports story, but something that I did see this morning, staying on topic, was the whole news on Gronk and what he said. What

do you say? He said that, you know, with Tom Brady leaving and all that, I guess he mentioned somewhere that a guy that he would like to go and play with would be him Burrow Burrow. I didn't see that, Okay, so that's trending on Twitter. Yeah, he's like, I'll go play next to him. So if he's like the other guy that it's not Tom Brady, he would go with

Joe Barrow. It's great. You kind of get to a point in your career where you're just ring hopping, like I'll go play for this guy that I like who might be able to help me win another super grenade out there and see what happened. That's amazing. I didn't hear that. I saw the clip that's the headline that said the quarterback that that Gronk wants to play with, And I'm like, I'm not giving it to you. I'm

not clear clicking on that. Oh they were baiting you in right, whatever, I'm not Yeah, I'm not doing that. Along a similar line, though, like and I do. This is something I've been thinking about a lot, because, like, I'm emotionally invested in Joe's success. I really want him to win. But like, it's easy to be a prisoner of the moment, and it's easy. I mean, he's great, and I assume he'll be back on this stage at

some point, but it's not a given. I've been thinking about that a lot, Like, you gotta take advantage of these opportunities. You know, the example, right, the consummate example, Dan Marino, Yes, exactly, made a super Bowl in his second season in the league. Never went back, and it's

and had good teams, Yeah, never went back. It was it's it's that always bothers me, Like it's like that the condescending thing that the graceful winner says, or they're like, oh, y'all be back, y'all be back, like let Stafford have this one because he's older, Like, y'all will be back. You don't know that, Yeah, so you gotta make this stuff count. Yeah, absolutely, and they're you would think they're

they're playing ahead of schedule. With all the young as they got on that team, it's easy to say like, oh, they weren't supposed to be here. They'll get better and be back, but who the hell knows? Yeah, all right, so I don't really have a sports story. I got something that's you could say, it's kind of competitive. But am I the only one that's addicted to word all at this point? Like I am all in on this game, Nick, I've gotten you, I think semi addicted at this point.

For those of you out there listening, if you haven't heard about this, it's everywhere right now. But basically, there are these guys that developed this website that is it's

a five letter game word I mean word game. Basically, you put in a random word and then it tells you which ones of those letters in that word you picked are either in the right spot or a word that a letter that's in the word but not in the right spot, and you have six tries to get it right, but you only get one time to play every day, and the whole world has the same word.

So it just becomes this thing where you kind of figure out your word and then you send it to whoever you want to say it too and say, see, it only took me three, it only took me four, it took me five, whatever. And I am just completely addicted to the game. I think it's just it's just so random and so much fun. So if you haven't done it, go doing it. I know what it is. I haven't really spent a lot of time with it. It sounds like something that would I would get addicted to,

so I'll go take a look at it. Go take a look at it. I got Nick into it now, and I showed Amber, sign me up. I started doing I started doing the New York Times crossword every day during quarantine as a way to pass the time, and now it's like an essential part of my routine. I think I read that New York Times actually bought Word. I think somebody bought it, Like literally, they made this game and it's not a very high tech game at all, but I think it was New York Times went and

bought it. And obviously the people that made it now just made a little loot off. They've got a whole puzzle department, so that makes sense. All right, let's let's take our first break one and take our an early break here when we finished. When we come back, we're going to dive in deep. We're talking salary cap today. Obviously the Cowboys have some significant things that they're gonna have to deal with this offseason and trying to figure

out their salary cap. Which guys stay, which guys leave. We're gonna talk about that when we come right back. This is Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio. At ATNT, everyone new and existing customers get our best deals on every smartphone. Why because you deserve it for turning your living room into your office and your gym. We're teaching. Grandma had a video call and teaching her again. It's the button on your left, Nana, Okay, your other laughs. It's not complicated.

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Stadium April swod April third. Get your tickets on SeatGeek dot com. Welcome Back. It is the second segment of The Break Life and Nest WBC Mortgage Studios. At the start, we're talking salary cap today. Cowboys are in an interesting situation this year, and I want to preface this conversation just by saying, you always hear this time of year, Oh, this team's this much under the cap. This team's this much over the cap in a lot of instances, and I really haven't seen a lot of instances where this

is not the case. If they're players at a team wants to keep on their team, they will find a way to keep them on their team. You can look at the team that's in the Super Bowl right now at the Rams. Nobody knows how they keep adding all these high price free agents, but somehow they figure it out. And so I think there are there are games you can play with your cap to be able to get to where you want to be and have the players

you want to have. But I do think for the let's sake of this conversation, we got to talk about the Cowboys right now being twenty million dollars over the cap, and within the next month or so they are going to have to find their way out of that and back to above or below the salary cap. That all being said, let's start first with what do the Cowboys

need to do? What are some just initial low hanging fruit that the Cowboys can kind of do in order to get themselves in a better situation with their cap. I mean, restructuring Dack's deal is basically a given and would free up I think fifteen or to seventeen million dollars. I mean, you can do the vast majority of that simply by pushing his money, which is something that they were always going to do anyway, if you remember, there's there's an avoidable year added on to his deal that

helps you absorb that. So I mean the minute that that deal was agreed upon, you could kind of bank on that probably happening. So at some point it's it's literally, you know, it's a button that they click and send it to Dak's agent. Like it's not it's not stuffy happen to negotiate. It's already been built into the deal. I would expect that will happen at some point in

the next you know, five or six weeks. Nick. Are there any ramifications of that with regards to what that means in future money for Dak or how it affects the cap in the future. I don't think No, I don't. I don't think so. I mean, you're, like Dave said, you're built in. This contract is with structured that way. That's why these these contracts take a lot longer than people think, because there's a lot of those variables in there.

But no, I mean, they're expecting Dak to be the quarterback of this team for the next five years or so four or five years, and I don't think anything changes with that. So this is just part of the deal. You gotta remember, there's a lot of window dressing going on when these deals, and you know, what's important to Dak. I want forty million a year that kind of stuff. Well, in order to get that, you have to be creative, and how it's structured, and how it's structured is to

hit these little trigger moments like that. But but you got to remember though, that this is get they can get under the cap. But Randy Gregory, Dalton Shoult Sarn curs, Yeah, it's not just about getting nobody under Nobody's nobody's counting anything. Those guys don't count anything for this cap. So they yeah, they can get there no longer. Yeah, they can get under their quick and then call it today and go go hunting in March, which they might do they've done

in the past. You know. But I thought you meant hunting for big name free agents and I was like, no, they don't know that hunting literally hunting, all right. So so that being said, there have been two names that have been thrown around a lot in the media, I think over the last week because of the amount of money not only that they make, but the amount of money the Cowboys can save by releasing them. Amark Cooper get these numbers, he can be if they cut Mary Cooper,

they could save sixteen million dollars against the cap. If it is a June first cut, they can save twenty one million, about five million more than than cutting him in normal. Basically, the idea is when you do a June one cut, you can and extrapolate the cut the hit to your cap over two years, which gives you a higher amount that you can that you can realize. And then DeMarcus Lawrence he has he would be it would be an eight million dollars savings if they were

to cut him. This one is the most important part of that. But if it's a June one cut, they could save nineteen million dollars. So a significant amount of money for both these players that you can that you can save if you're willing to cut them. My question for you guys is of those two, which would you think is more likely to be cut if the Cowboys choose to go that route. I'm Mari. I mean, he's a'm Maori Cooper. And the thing is how I see him more. I'm like, in my mind, I'm like, just

do it. Save the money. But because and I like Amari Cooper and I see the value in him. I think he's a really good player and he can still contribute in this team and be do a lot for you. But the Cowboys weren't really even utilizing him the right way. And I know that might change with things with having a new wide receivers coach coming in and then different things that Kellen Moore might do with his offense and all that. But you weren't even using him as much

as you could. And then at the same time you were though able to use other wide receivers. And I know Cedric Wilson, he's going to be a free agent, Noah Brown as well, right, everyone but CD and Semi Fajoko and Michael Gallup too. Yes, that is true. If you cut Amari Cooper, you have two receivers under contract and only one of them is actually really even played in the NFL. Which she's right, No, she's she's right.

If you're not using him, how you should Well, no, if you're not right about that, you're right about if you if you're telling me to pick one of these guys, that's if you've been paying attention. They're sort of leaving you breadcrumbs as to why this might happen. They haven't touched his money, and that's the big thing they and they love to push these deals back. They restructure the

offensive linemen all the time. They've restructured tank in the past, they've restructured Zeke, which that's like the guy that maybe you wouldn't want touch his money because it's the position that wears down the fastest. Amid all of this, they've never touched Amari's money because they know his guarantees are up after this season. They can free up a boatload

of money by releasing him. Throw on the fact that Jerry Jones did not bother hiding his frustration with the vaccination stuff when he missed games because of COVID, and it's easy to see why that might happen. Do I think it's a good idea? Absolutely not. And all I can think about is why why do we want to do this again? Because my memory is still very fresh of them trying to sell me on Deonte Thompson and Alan Hearns, like, Ah, we just need a few good guys.

We don't need any great guys. We're gonna com We're gonna committee this bad boy and Dack's just going to throw to the open one. Well, when you don't have good receivers, sometimes none of them get open and then you're so screwed that you trade away a first round pick in the middle of a season to fix it, and I just hope their memories aren't that short, because I think it would be a big mistake. Agree with that. He's your first round pick from twenty nineteen and you're

gonna get rid of him after his third year. All you gotta do is look at the Chiefs game in the Raiders game when he didn't play. You can be pissed off for the reason, whether you want to or not, but that nobody could get open. The offense was terrible in those games. So they haven't shown that they can

really be successful without Amari Cooper. And I'll say this, the greatest coach in the history of the NFL, Bill Belichick told you exactly what he thought of Amari Cooper because he made sure to get him out of the game when they played up there in New England. He was the one that he was worried about. So why do you want him off the team? If you have to do one, I'm cutting de Marcus. I'm sorry if you have to. I like de Marcus, but fourteen and

a half sacks in the last three years. You what they're paying for is for him to get in the range of ten to fourteen sacks per year, not total for three years. He can do more in the run game and all that stuff, but that's not what they're paying for. You can find guys that can do that. So if I have to do one or the other, I'd have to cut tanks. Let me ask you this, what does that say about your belief in Ceedee Lamb that you'd be so hesitant to cut Amari Cooper. Do

you not think he's ready to be a number one receiver. Honestly, it says nothing about my belief in Ceedee Lamb. I mean it's fair to say I don't. It's ironic because he made the Pro Bowl as an alternate. I don't think he lived up to the expectations that he set for himself with the dominant training camp that he had, Like we didn't make that up, and he did a lot of it against Treyvon Diggs, who led the league in interceptions. So I think he's capable of playing better.

But again, I mean, Davantae Adams does it in Green Bay. I don't think anybody thinks Dak is on Aaron Rodgers' level of like distributing the ball and stuff like that. And so even if CD is a total boss, so do you want him doing it all himself? Like the two teams in the Super Bowl, you know, both the Bengals and the Rams, they have star receivers, I mean, Chase and Cup. But Robert Woods was was going to be a thousand yard receiver if if he might have

already gotten there, he was really close. Odell comes in and then and then I don't even know their names, Boyd and Higgins, Boyd Higgins and Chase, but they but they got some good guys too, So those are Boyd is one of the more underrated slot receivers in the league. And Higgins was the first pick of the second round last year. I mean, he's a top tier talent. I hate him by the way. He ruined your fans. Yes, forty six points in like the semifinals. It always here's

somebody say I hate a player. It's always it always goes back to yeah. But I'm just saying, like, like, I don't think it has anything to do with CD. I mean, because you need something great. You don't know what what's your great thing that you do on offense? It's not running the ball? Is I mean you need the two receivers. I mean, that'll make those guys even better. Okay,

so good, Dave. I just I have no confidence there are offenses that can make that work again, like Davante Adams continues to produce despite a rotation of just guys. You don't see it very often, and I don't know. I don't trust the offensive coordinator or the quarterback to quote unquote make it work with like one great receiver and then we'll see what we can figure out. I mean, you go back again. This is all so recent. Michael Gallup had a very successful rookie season as pick eighty one.

He caught like thirty balls for five hundred yards. Like that is the realistic production that you're getting from that type of player early on. You're not You're not cutting Amari Cooper and plugging in another ready made thousand yard receiver unless you're willing to turn around and immediately invest that money in a free agent, which one they don't

and two why not just keep the guy you already have. Well, what they do is they will invest that money in a guy that they're trying to keep that's already on their team. So let's let's talk about it. From that standpoint, I would guess I don't know this for sure, but I would guess they probably could resign Michael Gallop and probably Cedric Wilson for less money than what it would cost on their cap to keep Mary Cooper. I don't I don't don't think so. Not twenty two million. I

think he counts twenty two million. I don't know they'll get both of those guys for twenty two I'm guessing. I'm guessing Gallup gets a good deal, not a great maybe maybe now. And I'm guessing Cedric Wilson gets what four million, three million, four million, something like that. Whatever. My point is, do you think that let's assume, for whatever, let's assume that you the Cowboys thought it was a better idea to resign Gallop and Cedric and they were

actually gonna still save some money. Do you think with those street receivers, and I'm including CD and that, do you think that's enough? Because you did say that he doesn't say anything about CD, So it may not be a fact that CD isn't ready. It might just be a matter that you really think you need a Mari. But if you got those other two, how do you

feel about that gallop towards a cl on Christmas? And I mean a CL's aren't the major thing that they used to be, but you're still probably anticipate him missing training camp and Cedric Wilson. For as wonderful as his overall season was, he and Noah Brown both were given a huge opportunity to step up when CD and A Mari were absent in that November stretch that Nick mentioned. Didn't do it first. That weighs heavily in my mind. Yeah, first half of the Chiefs game, that's what you're looking at.

I mean, you had CD, you didn't have a Mari, and you had Gallup was back. He was still kind of working himself in, but he's still gonna be working himself in for a while with this injury. And then he had Cedric Wilson. I like Cedric Wilson in the role that he is, but when you start to give him a bigger role, he hasn't really thrived with that. I'll just ask yo, what would you rather have c D and CD Amar and you draft one in the third round? Or would you rather have Gallop, Cedric Wilson

and CD. It's not that simple. Though, because you got to think about it for the money, Like that's always a part of this, and that's certainly a part of this right now when you've talk about I thought we just said it was about that same Yes, but I'm saying, though you're thinking about it from a standpoint, I think you probably can get those other guys for a little

less money. You're still going to save some money. In my opinion, you're not selling me on this team being better without Amari Cooper, So it really is, it really is for you guys. He's all about the fact that Amari Cooper just needs to be on this team because he makes you better. I agree that. I think Amari Cooper is a damn good player. His stats don't reflect it. He has a hand in that he didn't get vaccinated and it cost him a chance to produce. Like, who

knows how much better his numbers look. If he plays against Vegas in Kansas City, maybe they win one of those games. I like their odds to beat Vegas with him on the field. Maybe. Um so that I mean, some of that is on him, for sure. I'm not like absolving him of blame, but I look at his numbers this year and I'm just like the OC and the quarterback didn't do good enough job of getting him the ball in my opinion, And that's where I go

back to what I initially said. I'm like, Okay, if you're not utilizing him enough, And believe me, I see a huge value on Americ Amari Cooper, and I absolutely love him and I think he should stay, but when you're not necessarily using him the way that you should. And after seeing the Cowboys be able to connect with so many different wide receivers on their group, because I think we can all agree that last year, at various different times except the times that they were playing bad

Dad was connecting with all kinds of receivers. So the connection was there. So it's a little different than what we saw a couple of years ago, where when Dez was here, when you still had Cole Beasley and all that. It's a little different now that I'm seeing Dak being able to have that, being capable of connecting with other different guys than your main one, it makes me believe or think that, Okay, maybe this is a time where

we could save some money by cutting Amari Cooper. And I know the Cowboys don't really do this with free agency, But how are you fixing the old line? They have guys right now, but I just don't want to merely purely rely on the draft, Like I need a guy with good experience that can come here and be effective right off of the bat. Like I don't feel comfortable with counteror McGovern just being the guard. I do not feel confident about that. I don't feel confident about Tyren

Smith being healthy all the way. I don't know what they're gonna do with that, and I don't know if we're gonna talk about him and maybe what he could do in savings that way. But I just I would like them to save some money somehow and utilize that money rather than a wide receiver, put it towards somebody that can be good on the old line and be effective right away. And I know that's easier said than done, but that's just kind of how I feel. I don't know.

At some point, I just maybe this is just the parent in me. But just like if you bought a car for your teenager, drive the damn car and quit ubering all over around because I just bought you a car, They're like, well, if you don't you know, it's like, if you're not gonna I bought a car, might as well just take it away because I bought it, you're not using it. No, use the damn thing. So go into Kellen Moore's office and say, throw the ball to

my Marie Cooper. Quit messing around this. This doesn't work right, you know, Like, yeah, it's just like, now, if you're not gonna use him as well, just cut him. No damn it. I traded the first round. Use him, right, I'm That's what I was thinking. How does that play though, because because that's one of the things that Jerry gets blamed for all the time, and whether I don't think it's necessarily true, but he gets blamed for. He's he's in there telling the coaches what they gotta do with

this player and that player. Like is that is that something that you really want him doing? Is saying I want you to throw the ball to Mary Cooper, just the blanket statement. Figure it out. I want him with the ball in his hands. It doesn't have to be a Marie Cooper. That's the beauty of it. They it pervades the entire offense. They didn't focus enough on getting the ball to CD at times he disappeared in the playoff for Tony Pollard might as well not even exist.

It could be Jerry, it could be Stephen, it could be hopefully Mike, somebody. Hey, that would be a good idea to put the ball into the hands of our playmakers, make a concerted effort to do it. Please and thank you somebody. I don't care who says it. I don't care who says it. Yeah, just like you do you want this guy on the team or not, like you don't like Amari, No, no, we love then play him. Thank you, have a good day. That's it. That's simple, I think. So in this case, it is if you

want the guy on your team, then use him. Quit this because they do this this committee thing where they're like, whoever's open, you know, we throw it to whoever and all that. Well, that doesn't that doesn't really work. What if they don't want him though, because and that that

is something. There's that that situation, and then we know we've heard A'mori kind of express his own happiness and the fact that they weren't giving him the ball at certain times, and so I'm just wondering, like how he actually feels and what kind of like dynamic is started building up last year in their meetings and those rooms that we don't get to be in. If if that's the case, UM say it. It would be sure what

I'm saying here. If if we're gonna cut the best receiver on the team because of what he believes is the right thing for his body, If we're gonna cut him based off what happened, if we're really gonna get technical about the about the vaccine, he only would have missed one game if he was vaccining, he still had it COVID, he's gonna miss one or the second one, the first one. That's also assuming that he didn't. Yeah, he would have gotten it with the vaccine, because that's

not assumption you can make. But go, okay, if we're gonna cut the guy because we really he pissed us off, then I don't know if that jives with the statement he made at training camp that I will do anything to win a Super Bowl because you're gonna cut your best wide receiver. And I don't know if that you're going to cut him because you were mad at him. See there's gotta be more than that. Well, but I think the more than that is he's not producing at

the level of what you're paying him to produce. Now, that might not be his fault all the way, like your quarterback, your offensive coordinated they all got they got a part in that. But I mean, if you're looking at the numbers, you're like, man, we're paying a lot of money and he's not a Davante Adams. I don't think Amark Cooper has ever been considered among the top receivers in the league. But he's making that kind of money. So how do you make those two things level up?

My dude caught ninety two balls for eleven hundred without DAK the year before. So is he a top five wide receiver in the NFL? No, he's he a top ten wide receiver in the NFL. He's in that range, and he's somewhere between ten and fourteen. And guests like, we're let's move past this whole thing of like, if you have the top salary, that means you have to be the Like, that's not how this works. Yeah, you're

right about that. All I'm saying is when the GM is sitting there and he's looking at his entire roster and he's looking at his salary cap. He's like, it's the same evaluation that Nick just made for DeMarcus Lawrence. He's like, I'm paying him money to be getting ten to fourteen sacks a year, not to get fourteen sacks over three years. So it's the same thing. It's the same calculation here. You're paying this guy to be a premier, best among the best in the league wide receiver. Are

you getting that in production? And again, that might not all be his fault, but it certainly is a part of the calculation. Well, why would it not be his fault because of the offense and all that, because of the quarterback may not beginning the ball, the offense coordinator might not be behind. Compare that to d Lavin. What's the law not doing? What is he not getting the right scheme for him? A lot of this has been He's missed a lot. Yeah, he's missing. That's the part

you gotta worry about. There is this with his age. Is he going to start all of a sudden playing sixteen games seventeen games a year? I don't. I mean, And also you just look at the season they won without him to turn smith on defense. Now, I mean, unfortunately, unfortunately, that's I mean, that's probably a fair thing to say. It's been there have been issues for him consistently throughout his career, and that the durability aspect of it for Tank,

I get it. I still I can't like. All I can think about is the promise that this team showed and where they were and how disappointing the ending was. And like anybody that's you know, anybody that's listening to this, anybody that's coming back looking for hope and optimism that they could get over the hump next year, you're gonna sell me on that with Tank and Amari off this team, You're gonna sell me that this team will be substantially better than they were last year with those two guys

not here. Like I'm looking at it, so you're gonna sell me. I'm looking at twenty twenty two draft prospects. Shoot, I saw a guy I loved and at the Senior Bowl, Christian Watson out of North Dakota State, which is ironic because I don't think the Cowboys would ever draft an FCS guy that highly. But Michael Gallop miss in training camp, Ceedee Lamb and this and a rookie Christian Watson. That's gonna that's gonna be it, that's gonna be better than what you had. I just don't buy it. Same thing.

There's some good edge rushers in this class where the Cowboys are picking. It's ironic because Michael Parsons had thirteen sacks, but he's a little bit different, like he's not a pure end. Think of how long it took Tank to get to a point where he was capable of getting double digit sacks. I know we're criticizing him for not doing it. He got hurt and had one as a rookie.

I think he had he had six or seven his second season, had one in twenty sixteen because he was playing like It took until twenty seventeen as a twenty fourteen pick to get to a point where he was like a problem. And so again, this team's better without them. I don't buy it at all. I'll only cut Amari Cooper if you can guarantee Trayln Burkes will be there for me. Hey, I'm in favor, honestly, there at twenty four he could be this first rounds weird. Yeah, I

was listening to some stuff about this. Yet is like every draft mock draft. You'll see this. This draft season will probably be vastly different because it's all about the flavor you like. Yeah, it's it's there are no clear cut Oh this is the best player, this is the best two, three, four players. It's all over the map,

and it's about what you want. All I can all I know for sure right now is that there's like four really top tier offensive tackles and then the edge rusher for Michigan is going to be like a top five pick, but which there's two of them, but I'm talking about Hutchinson. Yeah, um, but yeah, everything else is up for debate and we talk. We're gonna talk about

that on the Draft show tomorrow. Like if they do cut a Maury Cooper, I think wide receiver becomes your number one need, like on the entire team, honestly more important offensive line. Yes, yeah, because you still like you. I mean, I know it's not great, but you still have guys that can you know, Connor McGovern started, Tyler Biades. You know you can play with what you have on

the offensive line. Yeah, but what I would do with the Maury Cooper and I because I I don't think he's he I still think he's got four to five years good years to go. I'm whatever what it's his guarantee. He's gonna his salary is guarantee, which I think is like twenty million league year, twenty million, twenty one something like that. I'm giving him that in a signing bonus. And I dropped the instructor. I dropped a salary down

to him one million. They could but give him twenty one instead of twenty one over seventeen you get it right now and marry Christmas, um and then he has it and then and then and then chop it up and then that I think if I did the math right,

that moves him down. You save about ten million. If you did that, if you restruct him so basically only restructing him for an addition, like an additional year about three years, no, but three more years, you're you're giving him twenty million, which chopped up over the next three years. That proation will will cut his his his whole thing down from his hit from twenty to about ten. I love that idea. That's ten keep him and you get to save some money. He's good, he's good for another years.

You're right about that. I don't think he's declining at all, I'm restructor him. And then I just did the You know, that's the funny thing though, is that's what they do to all their stars. They haven't they haven't never done it with and this will be Amara just finished his second year on this extension and they've never touched it. And which is why it's a big part of the reason why we're talking about that, because there's people over

there too. And then I know this for a fact that they think because he's quiet, that he doesn't love football. There's there's the notion of that while he doesn't love football, and then they throw the vaccination part in there too. It's like you're not going to do everything for your team because you didn't get vaccinated, and then look what happened and all that stuff. So I guarantee that's part of it too. It's like a love for football, which you got to be very misleading because there are guys

that are just quiet. Doesn't mean that he doesn't love the game. I can tell you this. When Ceedee Lamb wanted to steal his game winning touchdown in Minnesota away from him, he was like, no, you're funny, bron get

out of here and that I'm scoring this touchdown. There's there's always gonna be there's always gonna be somebody in like football culture who like that rubs you the wrong way, like unless brought us comes to my like, you know, those type of guys drive broad Us crazy because he just doesn't understand it because he breathes football all the time.

And so that's frustrating when you have some other interests doesn't mean you don't like look or even if you just even if you just don't express it the right way or you know, yeah, it's that's there's a weird cultural thing there just across the world of football. All Right, we're gonna take our final break. Comeback, Amber teed it up for us. We're gonna talk offensive line. There are two contracts that we got to talk about, Tyrn Smith and Lyle Collins when we come right back. This is

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the radio. I do deserve that Doctor Pepper zero sugar, the zero you deserve is finally here. Back to the break. Whether you're watching from home or cheering from the stands Essler lenses will let you see every exciting playbook an appointment at your local Essler expert. I find the perfect Esler lens for you. See more, Do more, Esler. Welcome back to the final segment of the BRAAKELAFTWBC Mortgage Studios at the Star. I'm realizing now we're not going to

get through this entire cap conversation. You never probably make this a two part or you never learn pick it up next wenes State University. But for right now, let me say this. I hope that whoever is helping Stephen Jones and Jerry Jones and all that make this decisions get paid very well, because this gives me a headache. It is not easy, and it's not like, oh yeah, we'll figure this one guy, cut this guy, and then you cut that guy. But then there's a domino effect

that there are so many other moving parts. Oh my god, I hate this. You know, every these days, every team has a cap specialist, a guy that is really their only job is to understand how every move affects the cap. And so they're having to do what you were just talking about, figuring out all these different little machinations of we do this well, it means this and this and this and in this contract, there's just one little part in the contract that allows us to do this so

we can say this money. It's just it's very convoluted and it requires people a lot smarter than me to do it. So hats off to those guys. Well, and then when when you talk about the post June and June first, I know that now you're even having to think about the future. It's not like, let's focus on

this year old. Yeah. Well, now you gotta keep in mind and take into account what the cop is gonna look like for an experience following, and what Dax's number is gonna look like us if you know, if you touch his money and do all that, like his condrat goes up too. So, yeah, there's there's guys out there that are probably bigger targets than the two that you mentioned that might keep cutting, and I mean one of them could be Yeah, I'll throw out these guys. Let's

talk about the offensive line, Tyren Smith. If they were to cut him, they would say five point four million, not a huge amount if it's a June one cut, though, it jumps to thirteen point five million. Here's the one that I think is the most interesting though, Lyle Collins. If they were to cut him right now, they would only save one point seven millions seven one point seven million. However, if it is a June first cut, they could save

ten million dollars by cutting Lyle Collins. If you were looking at both those two players and cowboys are going to make a cut on the off bentive line, which would be more likely to be cut well, I would say maybe Lael, because I think that they feel like there's a there's a replacement there and Terrence Steel that's

cheaper and played just as well. I think you could argue that case at least um And you know, if we're holding grudges, which apparently, uh we are, maybe we are, you know, then if that's the case, then I could see where Lyall it might have pissed off the front office a little bit there too over the last him pissing them off even a mar I'm just saying, if we're gonna if we're gonna play you know, grudge match game, then maybe it would be Lyle. I would hope. I mean,

I agree with that. And that's Tyrone's contract is just so friendly. It is like even we all acknowledge the problems with his availability, it is what it is. But even knowing that, like he's not denting your cap enough that you're just like, we can't deal with this and for the caliber player, you get right, I'll deal with

that headache. And yes, they need to worry about it, they need to consider tackles in the draft, all that good stuff, but it just doesn't seem efficient, like you're not getting enough out of getting rid of him, in my opinion, whereas Lyle I would, I would at least if if you're determined to move on, I would at least like to think maybe you could find a trade partner.

Like his contract's not crazy big either, you know, like considering he's a pretty good player on a he's not like up at the top of the market the numbers only getting bigger. How does that work from the standpoint of what you say, though, if you if you trade him versus a June because it really got not even the cut for this year, it's it's the June first cut.

What side are you on? I'm not on a site well over the cap in spo track usually both there's a it'll show you what you can save by the trade. I don't have it in front of me. It's in my experience, whatever you save in a trade is usually less than what you get in a cut, but you still typically save some money, or at least I think I am now at the point where I at least think that they should talk to him about playing guard. They should talk to him. Yeah, if that conversation was

on the table, I would look at that too. No, but I do, and I don't know this, I really don't. I just you know, the player's got to go for it, and you can sit here and say, well, he's selfish if he doesn't want to. But I mean Orlando Brown just did that with Baltimore. They traded him because he's like, I don't want to play right tackle. I want to

play on the left side. If he sees himself as a tackle and that's where he's always wanted to play, and he only played guard because he was an undrafted rookie that didn't have a choice, and the money's at tackle. You can't force him to do it, and so maybe then you have to have a different conversation. But I would at least try to talk to him. Well, if Darre told me, hey do this video for the Spanish side, I'm like, I don't want to do it, but I'm gonna do it because like I have no choice, or

I walked out of the door. That's so, But how many hours are you going to do it? That's what I was about to say. Yes, he could, he could be forced to play it, but is he going to be forced to come out here on May the third and really work and study and talk to Nate Newton and talk to Zach Martin and do the things you got to do to be a guard. You're just gonna be like, you know, they want me to do it,

so I'm gonna do it. The other like James Harden is playing in with the nets right now, is just kind of like I'll show up if you want me to show up and giving the best efforts. Hey, Zach Martin made it pretty clear he didn't want to play tackle, Like you don't. He don't you want to be team first. But you're also like, you know, I know in my place, Yeah, you don't want to suck at it. You don't want to, you know which, Then you look at him differently, You're like,

that's not who I thought he was. Well, because he's not really a tackle. It's entirely plot. I mean Lyle's skill set at this point in his career spat. I mean, he had a major hip injury, hip surgery. Maybe he would be better on the inside, but he's got to be open to that. And the difference is I've thought about this a lot. Football players have a lot more leverage than we do. Like the Cowboys can say do this and I'm like, I guess I have to if

I want to pay my rent. Whereas that's part. That's the big thing, like money buys you freedom, right, right, And the more money you have, the more you have the ability to say no, I ain't doing that, and else could and he's right, he could very much say f you cut me, then somebody else will pay me last, but still something to play tackle for them. Did y'all hear the story that Michael Evin told yesterday on I think it's Pat McAfee's show, talking about the NFL network. Yeah, yeah,

that's a good example of it. That basically the story went, the NFL network came to all the employees and we're basically like, hey, we're gonna do this voluntary salary cut because of COVID and all the stuff, and and we just want everybody to be a part of that. And we're so this is what we're gonna do. And they gave him a sheet of paper and they told him it said on that they were gonna cut his salary

twenty five percent. That was his voluntary cut. And so he looked at it and he decided, you know, I'm not I'm no, I'm gonna scratch twenty five out and I'll put ten. I'm gonna contribute ten. So he gives it to him at the last minute and they're like, wait, well, Mike, wait we had we have you slided for twenty five. He's like, nah, nah, it's voluntary, right, it's voluntary. I'm willing to contribute ten million. I'm not percent. I'm willing to contribute my ten percent, but I'm not willing to

contribute twenty five percent. And the host of the show that was talking about they were saying saying, They're like, yeah, he's got fe money. He's got the kind of money where he can say, what are you gonna do if you fire me? So what, I got money in the bank. I'm not worried about it. Those other guys in those cubicles in that office, they don't have that flexibility. They don't have that ability to be able to say no.

So in this instance, Lyle has that ability. He's made enough money and there are probably other teams that would be willing to sign him if the Cowboys said Okay, if you're not gonna do it, then you're out, like somebody that they don't have a replacement for Michael if they don't have a guy sitting there that's like this guy when he's in the chairs just as good. But the Cowboys they do, then he's a lot cheap. Oh absolutely, And that's part of it too, that's and that's on

the Cowboys calculation. The Cowboys calculation is, if he won't do it, we'll let him go and we'll just save some money and we'll put the other guy in there, and we think we'll be comparable at that position. The tricky party goes back to tying though, because you need three tackles because Terrence Steele played a lot of left tackle last year too, because you can't count on him,

so you need three tackles. So you can cut lie if you want to, and you can say I got Terrence Steele, But then who's playing left tackle for the four and a half games that you missed because Tyron the guy you drafted twenty four? I mean, yeah, it's that's the only option at that point. There's a lot of picks there for twenty four? Do you only get to pick one? I just took a receiver earlier. Welcome

to the draft, babe, That's what makes it fun. Cut cut tank, and then and then Randy doesn't sign, and then and then dan Quinn says, no, I want Michael to be playing this linebacker role or whatever. Then who's rushing the passer? Which ended Lawrence? Is he back? He's not under contract right the And to tie that back in, I think that's something that you might hear about a lot too, Like when you go to the combine, you know, maybe they try to get somebody to agree to a

pay cut. DeMarcus Lawrence could be a candidate for that. But what's that Zeke? Sure, maybe you got to have leverage to do well. Again, that goes back to my point. Those guys have a few money They're like, I ain't doing that. Cut me and then eight, you know, ten teams will want me on March seventeen. They can't cut, Zeke. They can't. They can't cut. That's the point. They don't have the leverage to to kind of push because you know,

we've seen them down the past. It's kind of like the Hey, you know, I'm holding the gun and I'm like, hey, you want to take the salary cut? Uh? Well, yeah, I guess so. Because I don't have enough leverage like you can. Basically, it's hurt me, and so yeah, it's fascinating. You know, from July until January, it's like we all got a row as one. We're all trying to complete our objective together, and then the minute the season's over, like the knives, who's trying to take my money, who's

trying to cut me? What's going on? You know? So yeah, all right, um, actually, I think we're gonna gun. I think we're gonna go ahead and save the rest of these conversations. Next week. We do have to talk about the cornerback position, because I think that's another interesting position where you got a couple of guys you could consider making moves with. The question just became is Kelvin Joseph Freder to take that next step and jump into a

starting role. We'll talk about that next week. So let's end the show though. On our super Bowl picks for this weekend. I gotta feel and I already know what Dave's gonna say, but we're gonna give everybody a chance to make their Super Bowl picks. Let's start with you, Dave. I mean, I picked against the Bengals when they played the Chiefs, and they proved me wrong, and I don't feel good about the Bengals offensive line holding up against

Donald and Vaughan and Floyd, But I'm not. I won't bet against him again, not in not with it all on the line. I'm going Bengals Bengals Amber exactly for the reason that Dave said about the old line and how much he was attacked. I mean, poor guy, but he made it. He made it through and got to

the super Bowl. I would like them to win, but I think that the Rams are probably the likeliest to win this game because of what they got, right, Nick, I really just like, I don't care like and I want to like, I want to get the super Bowl. I I love the super Bowl, But I just I don't like. I don't won't. I mean, I guarantee you, whoever gets up fourteen points, I'm gonna be rooting for the other team to come back. That's what I'm rooting for,

is I guess? And but who do you think? And I don't even say it, route like, who do you think when you put these two games? I don't get each other. I don't know. I mean the Bengals have been I mean playing it close. I mean they could have lost the first game, but they keep finding a way to win. I don't I don't know. I guess I'll pick I agree with Amber, I think the Rams will win, but I've missed almost every pick in the playoffs, including the Cowboy game, so I don't know. I'm gonna

pick the Rams. So it's good luck to either. I think the Rams are the better team on paper, but paper is undefeated and winless. Since he's got Joe Shicty. That's like that, I won't like you. I mean, I don't know. I mean, we know how Nick feels about Matt Stafford, Like there's there's something in the back of my mind where I'm just like the stage like this. I don't know. You think he's gonna fall apart? It

wouldn't shock me. Well, I just think I agree with I think what all you guys are saying is really the key to this game. Aaron Donald's a problem, and you put him up against that offensive line, I think that's even more of a problem. And I think Von Miller is that kind of player again. You want to talk about DeMarcus Ware, he is now DeMarcus Ware in Denver. He's a guy they brought in who is a guy that you give him one game, a super Bowl, by the way, to be able to show what he can do.

I think he's going to be a significant problem for them as well. And I just don't see a scenario where Joe is going to have enough protection against that front to be able to be able to make up

get a lot of points. The only way I think they win this game, honestly, is if it's a defensive struggle and it's just neither offense is really getting much done, which can go into your stafford thing, and then you kind of get to the end and Joe just gets some Joe magic and makes it hap throw up, throw a couple opportunities up, Matthew, throw up, throw up some dicey yeah, throw up some dicey balls. I don't I

don't know. I just I can't bet against him, not not after what I've seen the last month or so. It's so the Saints. The Saints made this won the Super Bowl when I was like in college, and that was amazing, and I I never I've never thought I would be emotionally invested in a Super Bowl until maybe I covered a Cowboys Super Bowl. So I mean, I

don't think it's going to be exactly the same. But it's weird to think that I'm going to be very emotionally invested in a Super Bowl between the Bengals and Rams, like the most random super Bowl matchup ever. Well, I will say this, We'll be watching Cheetobo Woozier out there playing for the Bengals. I'll be rooting for him because I personally want him to get a championship since he's there in the super Bowl game. Uh So that all being said, Well, appreciate you guys. Jonnas not so much.

Oh my god, he was a good dude. We're pro cheeto. No, he's a good row cheet chet. Yeah, procheo if you If you want a rooting interesting there you got no, no, no, screw that. I'm sorry. We're gonna play that game. Yeah, I'm telling you. One of my best friends that's ever worked for the Cowboys is Jod Camilla. So I'm gonna root for Joe d he's with the Rams. There you go, you got a rooting interest in Rams. Yeah. All right, we appreciate you guys. Join us. We're back next week.

We're gonna finish up this conversation on the cap until then, for Nick Eatman, Dave helm at Ambergarcia. I am Derek Eagleton. This has been The Break live on Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio. This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.