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Yeah, and so much for that.
It's time for the Break on Dallas Cowboys dot Com.
Were on a Break.
With Nick Eatman, Brian brought us and bar Garcia and Derek Eagleton.
It is Wednesday, May thirty, first, twenty twenty three, season nineteen, episode number nine. Welcome to the latest edition of The Break. We're a live from the SWBC Mortgage studios at the Star. Got Nick and Brian here with me and we should be joining us here momentarily. Today we continue our twenty twenty three off season review. We will hit the positions of wide receiver, tight end, might even have a little
bit of kicker talking there. Before next week we wrap up our off season shows with some with a look at the secondary and defensive line next week as we get ready for a little bit of rest and relaxation before we had to training camp in late July.
All right, how you guys doing today? Good? Excellent?
Roll?
Yes, sir? All right, let's go.
Let's talk first before we get into our season review, I do want to talk about a topic that popped up this last week. One DeAndre DeAndre Hopkins, wide receiver that was with the Arizona Cardinals and is now a free agent.
That's a key word. He's a free agent.
He is now a free agency now Bryant officially, you can mention his name, you can talk about him as much as you like. There you go, what do you see from DeAndre Hopkins as far as where he is right now as a player versus what he was when he was in Houston. Let's say, for example.
Yeah, you know, the thing with DeAndre Hopkins is if you talk to guys and gals around the league that study these players, they feel like the DeAndre Hopkins has lost a step or two, but where he is tremendous is.
His ability to make the contested catches.
As he's lost speed and the quickness, his ability to still make those adjusting, you know, contested catches is still at as at a.
Very high point.
So what you have with DeAndre Hopkins is a very reliable receiver, one that high targets mean high receptions. He's going to find ways to use his body position himself run routes enabled himself to get open, present himself as a good target so to you know, to the teams that are looking at him right now, you know, everybody's trying to kind of guess where he might end up. Buffalo talks about it, Kansas City talks about it. You know, there's all kinds you could get odds on all kinds
of teams. I've seen the Cowboys mentioned as part of one of those teams. But man, the guy still plays at a very very high level. Though, but people are saying though that watch the tape on him. The speed is really starting to lack from him.
Would you think he'd be a fit here in Dallas right now?
Yeah, No, I don't, not, not for everything involved. Not I mean good player. Sure, this team needs good players, especially on offense. They need playmakers. We saw that Twler season ended, But I don't think so when it comes to what the money. If people think that he can still play, he definitely thinks he can still play. When you think you can still play, you get the money. And Odell Beckham's contract showed him and the rest of the league of what that type of guy can still get.
And that's the well it was fifteen million a year or something like that for fifteen Yeah, I mean so if that's kind of the standard, and I think that's fair. I mean that for for Hopkins, if I'm looking at Beckham, I'm not coming off the same injury that he is, So I'm thinking, yeah, that that would probably be We'll start there. And so I just don't think from that standpoint. And then also where it fits. I mean, this is probably I think they have a top five receiver in
the league, the Cowboys do. That's what the stats show, that's what All Pro, second team, All Pro so CD second second receiver. If it's Cooks, it's pretty accomplished for a second receiver. If Gallup is your third, that's pretty accomplished. I don't I knew I should have looked this stat up this summer, but I still want to. I don't know how many teams in the league have three one thousand yard receivers on their team. So that being said, this is a good team, they'll be. This is a
good receiving corps right now. That's why I'm not worried about a lot of people are worried about. For four or five or six, that'll work itself. Out. So all that being said, sorry to be long winded. I don't think Hopkins fits from the where the Cowboys are right this month.
If I could circle back, I did have somebody in the league tell me this, and I think it kind of paints the.
Picture of really what Hopkins is.
I remembered that I had this and I talked about this on one oh five to three the fans. So if you're one of those folks that listen to this show and listen, and we really do appreciate you for that. But this gentleman said, depends on what he's asking for, who's willing to pay it. Odell Beckham, we were talked about here set the marker for wide receivers and didn't play last year. Hopkins is probably once to be paid regardless, And this guy said, I don't foresee much wiggle room
from whatever he perceives his value to be. So that's what you're dealing with right now. If Hopkins has a and there were rumors that we talked about on the radio side of things that I do of when Hopkins was here working out in the dockyard and doing things like that, that maybe if he got the opportunity, if the Cowboys in fact, had made the trade that he would be willing to do something with his contract, much like with what Cooks and others have done since they've
come to the Cowboys. So me personally, me personally, I would have made the trade before you did.
The Brandon Cooks. I see what they did.
They wanted Brandon Cooks. They wanted Brandon Cooks at the trade deadline last year. They feel like that Brandon Cooks is a better player. I think for your quarterback that you know, adding Cooks is out standing. I think adding Hopkins would have been outstanding too, So I think they kind of win either way. Again, it comes down to what their money situation is. They got a better deal on Cooks than maybe what they were going to get from Hopkins.
Yeah, and Hopkins obviously, you know, I'm not trying to be naive to the situation. And he's a more accomplished receiver than any of those three that the Cowboys have right now. But you know, you have to structure your team in a way where I just don't think this is the issue. There are at OTAs this week, Mini Camp next week. I see Cooks, I see CD Lamp, I see Michael gallup with that, and I think that's really important. And so you're right about Hopkins versus Cooks.
But the fact that is right now, Cooks is out here working and they're establishing something. So you know, there's just probably a better fit with more money for Hopkins than I think right here. I would think, for.
Yeah, they're probably teams that are willing to pay him like a number one receiver. I would guess, yeah, I would guess there are a few. I mean that My suspicion is the reason why he's no longer in Arizona is because they weren't willing to pay thirty million, and that's the reported amount that he was going to be
due this year. But the fact of the matter is there may be a team out there's willing to pay seventeen or eighteen, right, and so it still would be more than you would think the Cowboys would be willing to pay, and certainly more than they're probably willing to pay when they know they got CD coming up here that they have to do a new deal.
Long I think we're to the point now too where we're going to start to see money come back from June one reduction. Certain teams that have moved on from and you know, in the Cowboys case, we were talking about it last week on our show here about that money tends to If you ask the guys here in the building, hey, seventeen million dollars cab space, they look at you and they say, no, no, that money is already earmarked for other projects that we have to do.
And they've got guys they have to sign. They've got some guys coming up that they could surely use that money.
I think if you're a Cowboy fan and you know it's not going to happen here, then you know you cheer for the Bills even though the Cowboys got to play the Bills or the Chiefs. Yeah, you know, because Cleveland's a.
Team you have to find out too. Yeah.
But in the NFC, the team that makes the most sense if they've got the money, I don't know what their money looks like is the Giants. Oh I know, I want to see that, but the Giants, you know, And the thing about Hopkins and Daniel Jones is a is a good quarterback. Okay, he's not great, He's just a good quarterback.
But they got a lot out of him that I didn't truth. They were gonna get. But I mean that was coaching right there.
But if you play fantasy football and you've had Hopkins on your team, you know this. It doesn't matter who his quarterback is. He he's he produced.
His high volume.
That's the so it doesn't really matter who he's playing with.
And he's a bad ball catcher. So for a quarterback that isn't the most accurate, he makes them look really, really good because he'll catch the ball. You put it in his radius, and he's got along radius. You put in his radius, he's going to catch it.
As we ask God, as we speak today.
You remember that clip, sorry, you remember that clip of him and D'Angelo Hall getting into a fire. Yeah, and Hall wanted to fight him, and he just kept saying, I fear God, I fear guy that like, I don't fear anybody else but you. And then like five minutes later, he like gives them a double move.
And it wasn't that the end of because we can't a broadcaster after that.
Yeah, uh, as we speak today.
And this is just this is from overthecap dot com. This is who I'll use.
They're good, Yeah, they're good.
Three point eight million dollars with the Giants on there. He don't have a lot of money on their cap space right now. So that's where they're at. The Giants are at three.
Point the team like the Giants, if i'm them, I would if if you're really wanting to do it, you probably get rid of a couple of guys in order to be able to pick up a guy like him, because he would be that that that person on their offense outside of the running back, that could draw a lot of attention, which I don't think they necessarily have right now.
They don't have a U If I'm reading this right, I think I am. Uh Wanda Robinson, who I believe is in his second year is their.
Highest priced receiver. Yeah, on that team.
So to your everybody's point here, the Giants could absolutely use some skill.
And then and you mentioned the bad ball catcher.
I mean that that's the one thing that I was thinking about if you're adding for Dak. And again it's people say, oh, you're saying Dak's a bad ball thrower.
No, I'm just.
Saying, though, if things are off target, whether it's Dak or Cooper Rush or whoever's throwing him the ball, he has this ability to go get it, and his catch radius is quite large for the position.
Yep, all right, we're gonna take our first break. We're gonna come back. We're going to dive a little deeper into the wide receiver position. Nick already told us that he thinks Ceedee Lamb's a top five receiver. I'm gonna ask that question to Brian as well. Where does he rate relative to other NFL wide receivers, and then we'll talk a little bit more about the depth at that position. Will be back Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio.
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Back to the break.
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Welcome Back.
It is the second segment of The break Real Live from the SWBC Mortgage Studios. At the start of the second presented to you by blockchain dot Com. All right, we're talking about the twenty twenty three off season, heading into the twenty twenty three season, and we're trying to figure out if the Cowboys are better worse the same great weaknesses strengths of each position. We're going to talk about wide receiver now, Ceede Lamb we Nick. You mentioned him in the last segment saying he was a five
in your opinion of top five wide receiver. I think you saw some stats there during the break.
I kind of loosely said it and thinking that sounds about it, all right, Well, when you're a second team All Pro, you know, I would think that's about where you are, you know. But we looked up the stats. I was like, let me just see about this and his receptions. He's sixth among receivers in in yards he's fourth, and in touchdowns he's fifth.
So's to.
Z Brian, where do you think he ranks? Like in the pantheon of NFL receivers right now?
Where is he now?
Where where you when you look at him? Overall?
His ability to get open I think is at a very very high level.
His ability to make the catch.
Is somewhere probably in the in the top five, six seven area.
I think that's the you know, that's the one.
Yards after the catch is another one that you kind of look at and you see that he'll make the plays down the field, not much after the catch when you when you talk, we saw that he won the New England game with a catch that was after run after catch, But most of his stuff has been down the field, making the play, you know, securing the ball,
taking the hit and get down. But his ability to get open stuff like he's in that range of either five to eight when it comes to starting to compare him with the metrics that teams use to evaluate receivers.
You know, the top you say eight guys. Really when you look at the six seven, eight guys, you're talking about number two receivers on their own team. Waddle, yeah, and DeVante Smith, which those are both really good receivers, but I think it's really six guys Jefferson, Tyreek Hill, DeVante Adams, AJ Brown, Steffon Diggs, CD Lamp wherever you want top that's your top six and receiving yards, that's your top six really for the most part in catches. So it's kind of what type of player you like.
You know, watching that Texas OU game, the one that ceed Lamb just went crazy for three touchdowns. I really thought and there was a Kansas State game too, I thought that CD would have a little more run after catch. Yeah, but that hasn't really been his game. But I mean he took last year. Was just he took that next leap and we didn't know if he was gonna take it. You know, that was the big question going in and he did. And so I think with that they're better.
Yeah, I kind of when you when you start to talk about is like a guy at Chrystal LaVey in that group of eight.
You know, Chrystal Love is like.
A young guy and and and and a lot of people's minds and stuff like that.
He's not from the stats. But but let me throw it because I'm finding him at eighteenth. And then I saw somewhere here at seventeen a guy that only played twelve games. He's got to be mentioned in this group too. Jamar Chase. Yeah, Jamar Chase is definitely in the exactly missed. Yeah, he missed some games. He only played out.
Yeah, that's to me why I kind of look at eight. Yeah, I kind of there's there's some guys. I mean, I'm a big I'm a big T Higgins fan, Yeah, from Cincinnati.
And then you know and I and I.
And you could even I hate to throw this in there, but you could even the guy that doesn't get mentioned enough, and because he plays in Seattle is Tyler Lockett. You know, the guy that makes a lot of big play and stuff like that. So I don't know, I'm just kind of like, I've got this group of guys in my mind. But if you do you look at all the metrics that people CD is is in that group with with those say eight guys.
Nick, you were talking in the break. I thought it was interesting you were making a point of when he in your mind, solidified himself as a number one.
Take a site out whenever you allow us to do the Deep Blue documentary on CD, which will probably be after he's gone till wait, we'll see. But I thought, I thought the moment and every player kind of has that moment like that before. For me, his moment was against the Giants last year, week three up in the Meadowlands. I think it was Week three. Cooper Rush was playing, and at that point he hadn't really shown Hey, I got to be the number one. I'm the number one
receiver because first game Tampa, nobody stepped up. Second game was really Noah Brown against Cincinnati that did it. So in this third game, Cooper, I mean, I'm sorry, Cooper Rush. He throws that deep ball to Ceedee Lamb streaking down the field. Here's your moment. He drops it and it's like everyone's looking around, like see he can't do it. And from that moment something clicked with him. He took
over the game. Like Brian said, he made a couple of plays where you could tell he was just pissed off. He was just running over people. That's not even his game. Makes a great touchdown catch from that moment. Then he goes and has one hundred and seven catches for the season. I thought it was that moment on Monday Night Football that he said, you know what, I'm the dude and
I'm going to show everyone right here. Yeah, and I thought, you know that that was kind of his coming out party for that season.
Yeah. No, you're absolutely right.
He took over that that quarter there and then and then all of a sudden that the Giants had no answer for him.
There and that and that really was.
The difference in that football game, his ability to make those plays. But he's in that group we talk about the Adams Cooper cups. I mean, he's in that that cups that.
The injury I forgot about, that's what.
Yeah, there's some guys like Cup, Chase others. I mean, it's a very very and that's the one thing that the NFL drafts say the last maybe not, we'll see this year with the NFL draft with the receivers, but there have been some elite wide receivers put into the league the last say three years pre this draft. I mean,
we'll see what happens with Addison and those guys. But man, you know there's still a very very high level there when Adams and Cupp and Brown, well yeah I think I think, yeah, so there there are that he but he.
The group he's in, it doesn't take long to call the role. It really really doesn't.
All right, Let's let's move on. Let's talk about the wide receiver position from a little bit of a deeper standpoint. What do you think they were most missing last year? That Brandon's that Brandon what's wrong that Brandon Cooks can't provide for them? This year at the wide receiver position.
You're you gonna say it. I mean, you can say that's what they missed and missed the guy that can take plays.
That's saying what did he provide that You think maybe Brandon Cooks can't provide.
A veteran leadership route runner, guy that can go out there and produce hopefully at home and on the road. And if he can do.
That, were they getting that movie?
You're right, right, No, I just think just just another guy that you have to kind of account for. And you know, I remember when they played the Patriots, Belichick made it clear that that that was the guy they had to stop there with with uh and of course they paid for it because he scored the touchdown. But just veteran leadership at receiver.
What's crazy is that now that and Hi, Hi guys, I just kind of appear here.
Now that some time has passed by.
It's crazy to go back and think to think what we thought of Amari Cooper at the time when he was currently with the team and just the questions that were around him.
I mean, regardless of.
What he was doing for the team, there were those questions where he wasn't consistent you know, we went out on the road and he wasn't performing and was his willingness or like, was he all in with football and wanting to give it all his all and then all of a sudden he's off the team. And we saw last year how much it was missed having that type
of presence. That to me at the time and I valued Amari Cooper, but I didn't really see how valuable he truly was to the Cowboys and what he was bringing on the offense as a whole, and what he was being able to create for other guys as well. And I know you guys were talking about Cde Lamb earlier and he.
Did take that step up. We'll see.
I do believe he can carry it this year and keep performing at that level, But can the other guys kind of step up as well and create just more opportunities.
No, that's an excellent point, because what happened is you got Ceedee Lamb going into that top eight level that we were just talking about. And the problem was that when you look at Michael Gallup, he was Noah Brown, That's really what he was instead of instead of Michael Gallup also elevating his game, if you statistically look at him, targets and receptions are almost the same, yards, almost the same.
You know, you didn't need Gallup going backwards. And that's what you hope that when you when you add new blood to the room, and you hope that Gallup goes up. But you had one receiver that went to that level and then one that was we thought might be at that level sunk to a much lower level.
And now it made him have to think, wait a minute.
We talked about Cooks at the trade deadline last year. Can we take a chance on Gallup and then also Tolbert not elevating their game, we go we can't go through that again, you know, and now with no Noah Brown.
I mean, give Noah Brown a credit. Noah Brown played his role. Nick's right.
He won the Cincinnati game for you the way play. But that's Noah Brown you're comparing. If you statistically look at the numbers, Michael Gallup and Noah Brown are the same guy. You can't have that if you're going to be a team that has bigger aspirations on offense.
And with the money.
MICHAELA yeah, I was gonna ask you guys. I know it was a while but Michael Gallup, he talked to the media not too long ago, and you know, he was saying all the right things, basically saying he's feeling a lot better last compared to last year, especially where he was in pain basically the whole season and dealing with that and the mental aspect of it.
And he says he's good and working there. But there was one.
Specific quote that made me feel kind of hesitant at the end, and this is one of the articles I was put out on Dallas Cowois dot com. One of his last quotes was I'm very confident I'll feel like that guy again, And that kind of made me raise an eyebrow, like in the future tense like I'll feel.
Rather than I'm feeling like that.
And we're getting close to training camp, so that made me very concern as to where is he really going to be at level wise, and I mean according to his health and mentally as far as like what his body is allowing him to do back on the field. I don't know what y'all's concerns are.
Yeah, I kind of feel like not kind of this is an important year for him because contractually, if he has another poor year, we're going to be talking about this next year, about Okay, how do you replace this guy and this guy? And he very well could be in that conversation when you start to talk about what the allocation for money is to a wide receiver position that's not getting the production that they that they are trying to get from him. So, you know, maybe maybe
his confidence level it doesn't want to oversell it. Maybe he doesn't want you to you know, maybe he doesn't want oh, I'm great, I'm great, I'm great, I'm great.
And then he's not great.
Maybe his expectations are let me just kind of keep it tempered here, and then as we elevate this thing, then it will be like I told you it was going to it was going to take a little time here. I think he's kind of keeping us down here and then you know, and we'll see what the what the actual playing turns into.
And I think players also know that how they feel now and how they feel in the season are a little different. So I think he's probably weighing it like that, like when that season comes, you know, when the grind is here in training camp in the season, I'll feel like I'm supposed to feel, you know, because everybody that's feeling good now that they take it with a grain of salt. So maybe that's kind of what he meant if he wasn't at one hundred percent, if that's kind
of what you're asking. If he wasn't at one hundred percent, I think right here in these voluntary OTAs, I don't think he'd be going as hard as as he has been, and I think they would kind of hold him back. So I think it was more about when the season, when the when the real, when the lights come on, I feel like I'll be there.
I think, Yeah, I kind of took the same thing.
I didn't really take it as I didn't read it as literally as you did. I thought it was more of him just pointing to the season, like by the time I get to the season, I'll be there, not so much a matter of saying I'm not there now as much as just saying I know that this year. My expectation is this season, you're going to see a different player.
And it's what the fans want to hear, because if you say I'm killing it right.
Now, see that.
I've heard that with Tyren Smith.
Word these are all words, and these are all hopes until we see them actually play out on the field. I just think that what he was pointing to is I think this year, I'm going to be back to where I was, and actually that.
Is the case.
Yeah, well good, I feel good at by y'all's interpretation of that. But I actually liked everything that he said when he spoke because it felt very real and open and just someone that was being pretty transparent as to where he's at and where he was that you, I mean, we sit here and watch him play and criticize all we want, but we don't truly, ever really know what the player is going through. So it just put things
into perspective. But again, it makes you wonder. Okay, obviously they must feel some type of confidence with him by giving him that contract, but at the same time, he is he truly gonna be ready.
Yeah, that's the difficulty of our job.
You know, we sit here and evaluate how they play, but you're right, you don't know what they're going through in meetings, you don't know what they're going through off the field. You don't know all that. That's that is the unfortunate part of our job. You know, we were all you know, we've We've seen Britt Brown and players come off that field after injuries and then play at a high level.
We've seen that before.
So you automatically in your mind, you're going, he'll be back, he'll be ready to go, and then and then it doesn't happen, and then we're critical about it. You're kind of like, Okay, did we miss something here? But yeah, I think we're a huge disadvantage when it comes to is there something else other than football that's bothering these players that we don't know and that could affect the way they play and the way we evaluate him, fair or unfair.
Another guy that was disappointed in his season last year by his own admission, as Jalen Tolbert, how confident are you guys that the Cowboys got the pick right and he just needs more time to develop.
I know I did, and I know I'm the guy in this panel that looks at this stuff, especially with the draft and the Draft Show and all the things we do. I thought it was an excellent pick at the time. When I saw this kid play at South Alabama, I saw a guy with a chip on his shoulder.
I saw a guy that played at a very high level.
When it came to how he competed for the ball, how he went and got it, how he finished routes, how he was able to run after catch, the.
Catch radius, all all those things checked the boxes.
The Cowboys thought about him in the second round, they saw basically the same thing.
I think personally it was a huge.
Disappointment because we've seen receivers come into the league, especially young receivers in this day and age, and be ready to play from the jump.
He was not ready to play.
The fact that he was missing OTA's many can't practices. He was over there with Washington, they were over there with britt Brown rehabbing feet and ankles and whatever else they were dealing with. You know, that point in time when he didn't get that initial field work. I think it affected him. The minute they started throwing him into the deep end of the pool. He wasn't able to swim.
And I think now through everything that he's seen and the expectations that have been put on him, he now realizes what's ahead of him and this is a really important year for him as well.
Yeah, I mean, he's done it before. I've said this many times on here. I don't know. I mean I'm sure I'm repeating myself, but he had five catches his freshman year of South Alabama. Can't he had some kind of struggle there on that level, that competition and the learning curve wasn't there for him. The next year he had fifty five, the next year he had eighty. So he figured it out there on Okay, what am I doing and how do I get comfortable enough to start
making plays? Big jump obviously from South Alabama to the Cowboys, But it's happened before where if it matters to you, you'll do the necessary things to get there. And he says the right things. He said it all off season. Now it's time to perform, so we'll see. I think the jury is still out. Third round pick. You know, he should have played more, figure out where to line up, all that kind of stuff. But I think, you know,
we've seen Cedric Wilson and Noah Brown do it. They go to the dockyard and they just get comfortable with Dak and they get better players. If he can kind of get to the Cedric Wilson level, I think that would be that would be fine.
Well, that's the thing that I think you begin to appreciate and root for someone that is admitting things, is recognizing things, is saying what everyone thinks, you know. So I appreciate that from him, and I am rooting for him, and I do think he's going to be a lot better as opposed to And it's hard not to give your support when you meet someone and you hear those words and you connect with the player as opposed to someone like that's.
Telling you to watch the tape. Yeah, like I Jalen Smith, But.
You know he's not that type of player, and you're willing to give him another year. Let's see what you can do because you see him putting in the work. He's willing to do it, and he's putting all that effort and he's maturing. That's another thing, the maturity of it, where as opposed to last year, he may not have felt very comfortable confident in that kind of room with these guys that he sees as stars, and now he's how do you say that acclimating acclimated? I was gonna
say it in Spanish acclimatal. But yes, I think I think I truly believe that he'll be better this year.
Well, the organization thought enough of him. They didn't pick a wide receiver in a draft until the seventh round. Ye, and the receiver they picked was really a special teams guy too. Guy that's a you know, it does a lot of work on those special teams. So they believe enough in him that they were not willing to put a second, third, fourth round pick on a wide receiver in a draft that was pretty deep. In the middle of the draft, they said, Nah, we've got Tolbert.
He's our guy. Let's see how this plays out.
All right, we'll take our final break, we'll come back, we'll jump into a conversation on the tight end. We'll ask the question or any of these guys will able to step into the role that may be lost with Dalton Schultz. Then when we come back Dallas Cowboys dot Com.
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It is the final segment of the Break Life from the SWBC Mortage Studios, a starts stecument presented by Miller Light, the only beer of the Dallas Cowboys. Let's talk about the tight end position. I want to start with this question. If you were to ranked the three tight ends that are the projected top three tight ends on this team, how would you rank them between Schoonmaker, Ferguson, Hindershot.
How would you rank them?
How are we going to do it? Is it going to be are you asking the complete tight end? Who is the complete.
Mating From a standpoint of how much you want to lock in the field, you can tell me, you can decide that, but how much you want them on the field, how would you rank them?
That is a tough question because it's not it's sometimes it's third and two and sometimes it's third and twelve, and that's a different guy. Yep, And that is it. I mean that's a question. Yeah, I think it is. I think it is. On third and twelve, I'll take Hindershot. I like nder shots stretching the field for me, yeah, and kind of spread out a little bit. On third and two, I think I'll take Schoonmaker. I don't know that yet, but I think so.
I would the way I would rank him as far as completeness. And this is just because I've seen Schoonmaker at Michigan catch the football, and I think that's a very.
Underrated trait to his game.
Schoonmaker hindershot Ferguson is how I would rank it if you told me I could have Okay, I can only play one tight end, and if I play that tight end.
He can block and he can catch.
So I'm going with the guy that I know that can do both, and Schoonmaker hasn't done it in the NFL.
I get it.
Schoonmaker did play at a very high level Michigan football, very high level, played in playoff games, you know, national championship type of consequences for games.
He's been a productive receiver. But I feel like.
If you would not take him off the field because he's not going to be a liability as a blocker, damn.
What I'm not. I'm thinking of that scenario because that's the.
Only advantage I have over you guys right now.
Well, I feel like coming out of the draft, I mean a lot of the criticism for Schoonmaker or analysis type of stuff was about him being a catch make like a guy that can go and catch the ball. I mean one of the main traits were the blocking. But I mean, I trust your opinion because you watch all that, all those tapes.
But to me, I'm.
Sticking with Ferguson as my main guy first, and then I would probably try a scoom Maker, and then Hendershot third, and then McKean last.
Wait, how many titands would you keep?
Only? I think you keep three? Because three?
Right?
But the problem they're going to run into is do they keep the full back?
Yeah?
That's because if you watch the praise that we throw on the San Francisco forty nine ers is because of what Kyle Ustcheck does. And Kyle's us Check is a is a guy that plays full back, he plays wing, he plays tight end, he plays He's this interchangeable piece that just wrecks your scheme on defense because they'll put him at tight end or wing and now you have to account for him. And then you have to count for Deebo Samuel now being in the backfield the way
that they played with a fullback. And let's see if that's what that's Let's see if that's what uh you know what Mike has played with.
Full backs before.
So if they carry the full back, that that means to me, it's only three tight ends. That's that's the only way you carry I mean, if you didn't have a full back, maybe you carry a four.
Title well, and you know, rewind it back a whole year. And we're talking tight ends, I mean Hendershots not even mentioned. We're not even talking about that, and notun till we got the training camp do we see that? And and I know I've talked to tight end coach Linda Wells and he said, watch out for fans Princeton fan, Prince fan from Tennessee, undrafted free agent. He's a dynamic kind of playmaker type guy. So you know, I mean, you never know how how that all shakes out. But this
is what I'd like to see a training camp. I want to see.
Well, let me ask you this real quick.
As you mentioned him, to watch who does he replace if they carry three tight end?
Yeah, the guy the guy that got hurt in the third practice of training camp. I mean, I don't know, I don't know.
I mean, these things kind of work themselves out sometimes. If you had to take away if.
They're not gonna lose Scoon Maker, if you had to take away Ferguson or hinder Shot and say that fant was that guy, and you can only carry three, they gotta get hurt.
Wouldn't matter. What wouldn't matter?
This goes to what you were just talking about though, wouldn't matter from a standpoint of what does fant do well?
Like?
Is he more of a blocker? Is a pass catcher? And that affects who that third guy might be.
I'm just playing the game of tight end coach telling me to watch a guy. Yeah, and if Titan, if this guy lives up to tight end billing, you're not going to get rid of schoon maker And it's gonna come down now. Maybe it comes down to you don't carry the full back and you carry four guys. We've seen them do that before. They you're thinking they can't carry five safeties? They carry five? They Yeah, So to me, I was just trying to I was trying to pin you on who between Ferguson and Hit or Shot do
you feel the less? If does everything that Linda Well says he can do, which one of these tight ends do you move on from if you can only carry three?
Yeah? I mean what I was going to say is what I want to see a training camp is I want to see Jake Ferguson and I'm sure hender Shott will be with him riding around in a golf cart all the time. Because if you get a golf cart training camp, I think this is still the rule is because you kicked ass in the offseason, you're one of the off season award winners. That's kind of what they do. The strength coach gives you your own golf cart and
all that. That's what I want to see because if Ferguson can be an off season warrior with the strength Coach and all that, that's going to take him to that next level I think as a better blocker, as a better complete tied end, because the guy's hurtling people in the middle of the season too. Like he can make plays, he just needs a little bit more strength than it's blocking. If Ferguson can kind of take that next step, he jumps into that mix too.
The thing about it is, if you just believe in metrics, sixty nine percent of hindershots he makes like he's right about sixty eight sixty nine percent catching the football.
The other guy's about eighty four eighty five.
You know, so that if you're saying okay, because if the numbers are basically the same. But if you believe in the metrics, like well, who catches the better percentage of balls thrown in their direction, it would be Ferguson would be that guy.
Hendershott needs to work on those penalties. He had a lot of penalties for a guy that didn't take every snap. You know, when you look at you know percent And I haven't looked at this stat but Joseph would probably be first in as far as penalties versus your snaps. And Sam Williams is up there, and Donovan Wilson had a lot of snaps. But I mean and also also hinder shot those guys right there, got you know, young players got to work on on the discipline a little bit.
So we'll do this before we end the show. He lost Schultz, you add it, schoonmaker. Are they better, worse or the same than they were in twenty twenty two?
Better, I'll say the same. I'll say the same. But just because Schultz had some stats and he caught the ball well and all that, and that's what that's all he did, really, I mean, just he made some catches and all that, and then but I think they're gonna be I think they could be better. But because of you know that they're still young players. I would just say the same, But I'm not going to say that they're worse.
Why do you say they're better, Brian.
I'd say they're better because they added a more complete player. I do believe he I believe he catches the football well enough. I think they'll find ways to get him the ball. I think he is one of those point of attack blockers. You watch the teams that run the football really well in the National Football League, it's guys that do well at the point of attack.
Schoonmaker is going to be that guy for this football team.
He's replacing Dalton Schultz, who can catch the football, knows how to get open. But all these guys know how to get open, they know how to can they finish the play? But can they block? Can they help the running game? Can they be complete players?
They got better by adding Schoonmaker.
Right now, I feel like it's the same just because I don't know.
I haven't seen Schoonmaker just yet. I haven't. I don't know. It's if it's gonna.
Take him the first year to kind of get as he does. But you still have some of those rookies that come in here and it still takes them a little bit to get going. And it's gonna all come down to how many snaps and opportunities does he get to be on the field. Uh, and take that away from the other two guys.
So I just don't know yet.
Right now, I feel like they can be better than last year, but at the moment, they're the same.
All right, appreciate you guys joinas we are back next week. We'll have our final show before our little break before training camp. Tell them for Nickie. Mcbrian brought us then Ambergarci. I'm Derek Eagleton's has been The Break Live on Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio.
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