Cowboys Break: Finding Trends

to be found right now. Boy, We're going to start the show and see how he goes. No, he's busy doing other important things as always. Um, but how are you guys doing? I'm great, can y'all hear me? Yeah? Okay, I my headphones are on the fritz. I'm just making sure. But yeah, I'm awesome, but as awesome as you could be.

You know, after spending a week in Hawaii and I kept back here, relaxed, ready to go, ready to pay for the draft, knock out this draft, and you know you're at that point in the draft where it's just especially on our staff, because we start this thing early.

We started it early, as we've ever done it in like December in November, but um, you know you're at the point where like it's still nothing happens other than maybe a trade here there, or somebody has a bad forty time or whatever that kind of lowers some stock or surgery to a player, But I mean you still like nothing has really happened. It's still like right here, we're getting so close, but we've we've like beaten this thing to death here and it's like it's time to

do it and board. Yeah, that's I mean, having a top ten pick is great, but there's really only so many ways you can slice it before you're just repeating yourself. Yeah, And it gets annoying when it's like, I mean, I'm not saying that nothing. Everything should be on the table, but it's like you just go in these waves where are like, wow, what are we gonna talk about today? You know, it's like what if they trade Michael Gallop

and get a receiver. You know, let's let's put the receivers in the mix now, you know what I mean. Just things like that, when I think we all know it's going to be certain er horn, I mean, that's what I think it's. That's what I think Sta Horner Pits, I think those are really I think it'll be one of those three players. I just don't see him even getting anywhere close to ten. Neither do I. But you didn't see Ceede Lamb getting a seventeen either, so you

just can't can't take it off the table. But if I had to bet today, I would put I would feel very comfortable betting on one of those cornerbacks being the pick. Yeah, I'd say fifty percent. I'll give you ten percent for Pits. Sounds about right well. Stephen Jones

did have an interview with the Fan earlier. I was it yesterday to the day, Yeah, earlier this week, and he did talk about getting starting to get some calls and people other teams that might be interested in making a trade if their guy is still available up there. So that's still that's already kind out on the table. He didn't necessarily say much about that whole possibility of whether or not they would in fact take a trade to move back or I mean, he can't really say

much about that. I think it's interesting that he said that they've gotten some calls already, and he said he expects it to heat up here over the next week, you know, leading up to actual draft day, and there have been reports, which I use reports like facetiously because I think Ian Rappaport said the other day that Miami is getting calls about trading out of number six and the Panthers are getting calls about trading out of number eight.

And I'm like, so basically Miami and Carolina want y'all saying that, like they want people to know that those picks are available to some degree. Maybe Stephen Jones does too, like, hey, if they feel good about their chances that one of those cornerbacks falls a little ways, maybe you know, if you could trade back and get another pick out of it. It's not It's not the worst thing in the world.

I think. You know, and teams, if you if you say something like that, like if you say like, yeah, we've gotten some calls, I just think maybe it doesn't mean that they're going to trade, but they want you to know that that they're open to it. I think, yeah. And you know, the key is the quarterbacks. It's it's uh fields from from Ohio State, Um, maybe Trey Lance

Um and then Mac Jones, you know those guys. They I think the Cowboys want four of those five for the five quarterbacks to be gone, and I think they would prefer one of them to be still there because that's what's gonna move somebody to trade for them if

they want to trade. I mean. An ideal situation though, would be to have you know, four quarterbacks gone and then just everyone loved the receivers, you know in pits and then and then you're sitting there with like, okay, you're at ten and somebody wants that one of those quarterbacks and both corners are still there. Then you fall back to I say New England because New England. New England's just the easiest one because it's there are only

five spots away and they need a quarterback. Like you know, we keep using them as an example, but it does make sense. Yeah, I look at it. It was I was looking at at this magazine. Actually, if I can, I don't know what camera will be on there, but I was looking at the magazine. I was like, all right, I was like, I've got you could take certain at ten,

you could trade back ideally for Horn at fifteen. You could trade back to twenty and maybe get Farley if you feel good about it, or trade up for five to get pits if you want to do that. So five, ten, fifteen to twenty. That's really what I look out of these four guys, you know, and I don't. I don't know if Farley at twenty is a thing? Moving back ten spots. That's next year's number one better be Yeah? Do you like that? Hell yeah, next year's one. Come on, Chicago,

how much do you want your quarterback? Let's go give me next year's one and probably like something this year. Yeah, this year's three and next year's one. I'll let you get up to ten. I'll I'm just fine. Like there, there'll still be a cornerback there at twenty, whether it's Caleb Farley or Greg Newsome. I'd feel a lot better about drafting one of these pass rushers at twenty than I would at ten. Right, like a Phillips or the

first round pick next year. Absolutely, and like especially a first round pick to a team that's that's going to play a quarterback. Chicago sucks. I know that you pay last year, but they're not good. Yeah, you want them to go and struggle with their quarterback and turn and think, you know, and that'll be a good pick for you, so right now, nothing is out of the question. There's a possibility to trade up, trade down, stay there, Yeah, Drevor Lawrence is out of the question. Well yeah, yeah,

that's about it. That's about it. That's all about it. But another thing that we all kind of already knew, and Stephen Jones did mention again was they are focused in defensive players in this draft. That's their main focus. But as always, if the right kind of guy kind of lance there, then they're definitely more than open to go for it and take the opportunity that would be. Is there any other name other than the tight end that would kind of be attractive for the Cowboys at

this point? I mean, you have to mention the tackles Rashaan Slater and Piney Sewell, and if an offensive player is going to be the Cowboys first pick, I think it would be one of those three guys, Kyle Pitts or one of the tackles. I don't know how you justify a receiver unless you really are going to trade Michael Gallup, which I don't see the point. And given what they said about Lyaelle and Tyron, you think they would be willing to take that kind of risk they

actually go for a tackle. I don't get the sense. I think the Cowboys, and I've been saying the same thing, is I think they feel a lot more confident about Tyrn Smith and Lyle Collins than the average fan does. I think that they think they're going to be fine, or at the very least they can get by with the combination of guys that are already here, and maybe if you draft a guy later on, Like, I don't get the sense that they think it's so dire that they need to draft a guy at ten. And you

also got to remember those two guys you mentioned. I think that if they were to draft them, because that's just the best guy available. And then you get to you know, you get to March. I mean, you get to a May June, and you're like, man, Tyrn and Lyell look great. Well, one of these two is playing guard, Yeah, playing left guard with Connor Williams spot probably and maybe Connor can play center, you know. I mean, I mean, but you're they have value. That's why you draft a

tackle at number ten is probably because they can play anywhere. Yeah, I would think I would think they could play inside at guard for a little bit. So it's not like you just would be wasting a pick this year. They're going to play somewhere. But I still think at the end of the day, I just think, yeah, I one of those two cornerbacks is almost guaranteed to be there. And that's and I and the reason why I defer

to Pitts. And you can yell at me if you want to, but I just I think he's that rare of a talent, Like if you were trying to comp him the like the comp for Kyle Pits, it's probably Calvin Johnson honestly like that, which that's insane, And so I don't think you can pass up on an opportunity like that. But that's why I don't think he'll be there. So I don't really think it's an issue. Yeah, I could see somebody trying to trade into that pick to get him, he goes in the top six picks, because

other teams are going to feel the same way. I mean, if I'm Atlanta, I'm you know, I mean, I'm not trying to get a quarterback. I got Matt Ryan for a little bit. And because I believe, honestly, if you would have showed me this magazine last year. We don't you don't even know, well these don't have quarterbacks, but you don't even know who these quarterbacks are they they develop. I mean, I don't think Wilson be why you was. I mean he was a first round pick maybe, but

not number two overall. Lawrence was Fields had to have another year in he excelled, and Lance you know, I mean he was kind of on he only played the one game or so, but I mean mac Jones certainly needed to elevate his So I just think every year there's going to be a quarterback, but not every year it's gonna be a tight end like this guy. So, I mean, I just can't see him following past four or five. Honestly. Yeah, I mean that's the and you

know this isn't Falcon's talk, but no, that isn't. It's the age old talk of you know, do you want to reset your financial window? I mean, or do you want to build around a new quarterback? Like how confident are you that Matt Ryan can give you four or five more years of high caliber play? Because if you don't think he can, then you should probably draft a quarterback.

But that's their problem to out, not mine. Well, but at all dominantly, you know, effect it is just how many, how many of these defensive studs are going to be there, And I think I really think the Cowboys will take the first or second defensive player. I mean, I don't think there'll be one till nine, right, maybe Detroit at seven maybe, but yeah, I agree. I mean, let's if the three best defensive players in this draft, or j. C. Horne, Patrick's or Tan and Micah Parsons, two of those three

will be available or maybe all three. So and that's why I really think that they're gonna draft defense first, Like it just it makes too much sense not to. Well, we're gonna find out soon enough. In about a week the draft starts and we shall get to see what actually happens on the first day of the NFL Draft.

My only hope, whether they draft a defensive player or an offensive player whatever that they had to do with the tenth overall pick, I just hope that with the rest of the draft that they are able to pick the right defensive players to actually help this defense, because looking at the list of previous draft and we're gonna finish kind of what we started last week with Derek talking about previous draft and the players where they were selected and how they developed and whether it was a

bust or they were above average or any of that. There were some questionable choices there, So we'll get to that in a bit, but before we move on to that part, I did want to mention real quick, just because it came out yesterday and knew it's part of the news, but cornerback Rashard Robinson, he was suspended by the NFL two games due to using um, what do you call that? Informance enhancing And yeah, and of course not everybody still understands all the rules that things have

changed in the NFL's you know, um policies there. But it's not like you can just take whatever. So we really don't know all the details. I mean, I think it's harder for guys to get a suspension, but if they do, then obviously you kind of know where they stand there. And I think I think there's a reason why the NFL announces this right now because if you wait longer, because they know that teams have to cut players, and Richard Robinson, in my opinion, is a guy that

very easily could have been cut at some point. I don't think I don't think they can really cut him right now, because they could, but I mean, you're not really supposed to cut guys if they've been suspended or definitely in the program like this, So we know he wasn't necessarily a very impactful player for the cow Was or anything like that. He kind of made his way into the roster because of all the injuries and the

necessity necessity of just depth at the position. Looking at what the Cowboys currently have, I mean, is this a guy that they kind of do need to keep because of death? I think he would have been released, Honestly. I think after the draft, you you draft a corner, you might draft two corners. Honestly, I think I think you could see a fifth, sixth round pick, you can get another corner, probably get a free agent corner. I think he's one of the players that's probably released. I

think they have like eighty something players on the roster. Yeah, you gotta get rid of about ten at least. I feel so guilty for saying this, but like you know, been I've had to. I've been handed some big time suspensions over my time covering this team, Like you know, Randy Gregory, Zeke Elliott. You're just like, how are they

gonna get by without this guy? And it's a nice I feel guilty, but like it's a nice change of pace where that email came down yesterday and I was like, oh, okay, Like definitely not a lock to make the roster, not even a lock to make it the training camp, and even even if you do want to keep them around, it's a two game suspension, which is like nothing compared to some of the four or six ten games suspensions we've seen around here, which not trying to make light

of any of that, but like in terms of like this is this is a blip on the radar for me because they're going to draft cornerbacks next week and I just don't see this as a big deal and I hesitate even going down this route, but at least because we don't know much of anything. But I think we have to just acknowledge the fact that Traymon Diggs's name is in the news right now. Not sure all the details of that, but you know, it's something that everybody has to to to be, you know, leary of

and how how things develop there. Um, it doesn't change their opinion on drafting cornerbacks. They're gonna draft one anyways. But you know, you just got to be prepared for everything, and just hopefully for Trayvon, say, hopefully everything is good. I'm just gonna, I think, just leave it at that. I don't I'm not trying to imply, but we don't know all the details. I just know that there's some you know, his name has been thrown out there and

accused of some things. So we'll see how how things develop, hopefully the best for for Treyvon and everybody involved there. Yeah, I mean, I haven't seen a credible news source touch that to this point, so I'm not going to either, right, I mean that until otherwise notified. Yeah, so, but I know, I know people over on that side of the building have kind of you know, they've heard it through. They're like, what's going on here? So that that's kind of where

we stand and not trying to ignore anything. But again, it like Dave said, nothing really credible yet it could be nothing. Hopefully it is. Well, um, hopefully it is nothing. And U there's no drama on the defensive side because we don't need any of that right now. The cow do not need any of that. And I don't know why. It always usually happens to be a defensive player for

some reason. But talking about another defensive player that's not with the Cowboys but has been somewhat in the news and around social media, and we were kind of wondering what kind of happened as to why maybe the Cowboys did not give Alden Smith another contract. And this didn't really I mean this what happened was recently, so it didn't necessarily have to do with the reason as to why the Cowboys didn't offer him any other contract. But just to mention it real quick, he's in some trouble

right now. Yeah, there's a there's a warrant out for his arrest allegedly, that's what's been reported for an incident that happened in New Orleans last weekend. So he was already kind of involved with some some some things you know, around the NFL kind of trying to see and I even said this, I guess a couple of weeks ago that there's been talk that you know, he might be facing a suspension, but again, don't know all the details that the Cowboys really had no serious interest in bringing

him back. I don't think that was ever a thing. Seattle is the only team really that's ever showed any interest in them. They wanted to trade for him in the middle of the season. The Cowboys didn't do that. In hindsight, they probably should have. But you know, I mean, Seattle, if we ever did we ever get a report on what the compensation would have been, because somebody just said

they should have taken their fifth round pick. But you know, but I don't know if that's even a thing, if they just and that's like, I mean, if if Seattle was offering a Day two pick, then they probably should have done it. But I've seen I've seen people kill the Cowboys for not doing that trade. And if all they were getting was a sixth round pick, I'd have rather had Alden Smith, who was one of their better pass rushers and who actually seemed like he gave a

damn like at least from my outsider's perspective. I never Actually, that's the funny thing. I got a few calls when, like just radio interviews and stuff like that, when Alden signed in Seattle, people asking me, They're like, well, what's he like. I'm like, I have no idea. I covered the season during a pandemic. I never met the man. I talked to him a couple of times on Zoomah,

So it's tricky. But from my perspective, basically sitting on my couch like everybody else, like, it seemed like he cared, and so I was like, as bad as his defense was, I would have rather had him out there trying than an extra sixth round pick. Like I don't. I'm not going to kill the Cowboys for not doing that. Dual quarterback pressures is such a big stat I mean matters. It affects the game, not just sacks. I mean the

pressures are a big deal. And d Law I think led the team with forty last year and Aldon Smith had thirty eight. I mean, so he's he's getting there. He was getting there. But I still think there was a reason why the Cowboys decided not at that point. They you gotta remember Seattle because he had three sacks against Seattle. So the Seahawks were like, well, let's get this guy. But I think, you know, the Cowboys are like, well, I mean, so far, so good. He's coming off of

five or absence, and this is what this is. One you know year in the pandemic if we can get him, keep him going. But I think between that happened the trade deadline and the end of the season and it just didn't seem to get that much better. And who knows what they were asking for, but it just it

just didn't work out to bring him back. Just one of those cases that's just unfortunate, because once again, when he got here, everyone was talking about him and kind of how impressive it was him coming back from not playing for like five years in the NFL to playing the way that he was playing at the beginning of the season. So just another unfortunate case that did not work out. Let's also remember too that one of the reasons his production dropped, it's because Randy Gregory returned back.

He came back off the suspension and he was playing better, and I think they just have more hope for what he could do. All right, Well, let's take our first break. When we come back, we're gonna get back into the previous draft and players that were picked at certain spots and just kind of talk about whether they exceeded met or where below expectations. When we come back after this break, Honey, big news. Gary. Are you okay? Oh, I'm not Gary anymore.

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Dallas cotwys dot com slash Draft Pick Challenge. It's an interesting thing, by the way, I was. I was kind of a part of this a little bit and what they're doing. And everybody loves to be right. Everyone loves to pick stuff. We do it. We have our own mock drafts and that we do. And uh so fans can can put in there. They can put u they can try to get all ten of them right. Uh, you can, and they can get you. There's different strategies

you could do. You could try to get the seventh round pick right, or you can just say I'm taking all ten of these guys and put them on my list and if if I get some points I'll get I'll get some points out of it. I'm gonna get something right. So it'll be fun to do that. They did it last year with some season ticket holders and it went really well. So now they're open it up to everyone. So Draft Pick Challenge. Can we do it?

I think so? I mean, you can do it, but Journey half season tickets because you're going to be at the game. So I don't know if you'd you'd be eligible, but yeah, you could definitely do it. In fact, we should, we should play along. All right, Well, last week we did not get that fire. We just got through the twenty sixteen draft. We went through those picks and then we started the twenty seventeen draft and just got to talk about Taco Charlton. Other than that, we didn't get

that much further down. So let's start off with the second round pick, which was ch w Blouisier and whether or not we didn't talk about him last week. Right now, Okay, did he exceed met or was below expectations? That's really and that a bunch of conversations happened about that when he left for Cincinnati. I think it's I think it's fair to say he didn't meet them, But I also think it's it's harsh to say that he was like a bust of a pick, you know, like he's right

there where he started for four years. Um, you know, he had some injury issues. I think he was fine. You know, people give him a hard time. It seemed like he got picked on at times, but his coverage was he you know what, what was it like almost Anthony Spencer's He's almost almost almost a woozier because he was a fraction of a fingertip away from batting down

so many balls that were eventually completed. Um, I feel mean killing the guy, but I think probably just just below the three levels that we put on here right me, expectations above and below. There's two more extremes. One is phenomenal pick and then yeah, and so he's he's he was below expectations because you drafted the guy in the second round. Um, you think he's going to be here and have a chance to maybe you know, make make

make a Pro Bowl maybe you know. And he you know, he plays four years, played out his contract and then he went to another team. That he's a pick. You expect more than that. But he wasn't a bust. I mean, he played, and he is a pick. He's not a great pick, he's not a bad pick. He's just he's a big He was a pick. And then another guy that tends to be talked about when you mentioned Cheeto is Jordan Lewis because he was picked in the third round and he's also a player that plays the same position.

What do you guys think about him? Well, his situation is a little different too because of how of what happened when they drafted him. You gotta remember and it feels like forever ago. But when they drafted him, you know, he had some legal issues still pending, and the Cowboys did their homework on him and said, we feel confident that whatever he's being accused of, it's gonna his name will be cleared. We love the kind of guy that he is, and they took a chance on him, and

they were right. They were right on him, and he's one of I mean, you ask anybody that covers the Cowboys who their favorite players are. Jordan Lewis is gonna be on everyone's He's just awesome. But but he makes plays too. So to me, he exceeded expectations because when when he drafted him, you're like, I just hope he gets on the field. I hope you can do. So he signed a second contract. He's considered one of their

better playmakers. So in my opinion, I think he has actually exceeded the expectations because they were a little bit different coming in. It's tricky and I again going back to the Cheetoh thing. I had a had a I'm not gonna call it an argument, but a healthy debate with Marcus Moser, who does a really good job covering

the draft and the team. And you know, I've I've said this a million times, like top one hundred picked, the expectations are a certain level, and like you look at Jordan Lewis and you're like, twenty six starts, twenty six starts in four seasons, Like, my expectations are little bit higher. But having said that, and the reason I brought this up is, you know, we were arguing about

Cheeto and he showed me. He was like, here are all of the cornerbacks drafted in the second round over the last twenty years, and this is what they did. And Cheetos actually like on the high end of what that was. Because the learning curve for cornerback is so tough, and so maybe maybe I should give these guys a little bit of grace. But at the same then I look at, uh, oh, absolutely, and this is why this is why we're doing this, and not to cut you up,

but why we're doing this. It's ought to take us back to this trapp And so if that's the case. If you're telling me he was one of the better second round picks, you better get your cornerback. I had not. I had a long argument and um, I think we're putting it out today. We did a big segment about cornerback with Kyle Yeoman's and Danny Serek and a long argument, building the building the board, and he was, um, he was like, well they got Treyvon Diggs in the second

round last year. I was like, look, we all feel good about what Treyvon Diggs did on the field, but he got picked on. You're like, there's a certain I mean, if you want, if you want to upgrade the position, you better be drafting in the top ten. Like that's where the bad asses are. You know, you know, I know, you know there's a there's a success story, there's a Richard Sherman everywhere for every position. But it ain't likely.

So what I'm trying to say is it's easy for me to say, like Jordan Lewis didn't meet the expectations, but maybe that's about what a third round cornerback is capable of. As far as Jordan Lewis, I mean, would you say it was more on him whether because of his talent or more on the coaching and what they were looking for, specifically cornerbacks, I mean, which hurt him. I mean, he didn't get much of an opportunity both.

But that's annoying because if you I mean you drafted him in the top one hundred, and I know, you know, Chris Rushard came in, but like the defensive coordinator was the same, Like Rod Marinelli, I assume was on board with that pick. Jason Garrett was on board with it. So it's annoying to think that they were like, we like him enough to use a third round pick on him, and then as soon as he got here, they were like, you know, you're too short or whatever. The problem was intrink.

I mean yeah, like you knew what you were getting and you were okay with it on draft day and then and that's and that's one of the reasons why I think the start's number can be a little bit misleading, because he does he has a niche position. I mean, he's a he's a slot guy. Not everybody, not every corner can play the slot. So he does that. And so sometimes you don't start, sometimes you do. You come in on Nickel depends on how they start the game.

You don't technically get to start. But I think he's been for the most part, he has been a regular contributor. There was one year he wasn't getting a lot of playing time, but for the most part he's been there. I think I think Jordan and Cheeto are very very similar in the sense of these were not bad picks, but you probably didn't meet the level of hype quite quite enough. Well here's a bad one for me. Fourth round pig Okay, oh wait, Ryan Switzer he was actually yeah,

he wasn't the fourth round. Um, well, I was never a fan, but that's just there's yeah, there's a he's okay. I mean, I think the what we don't have here and I don't know if you know this what they get for him, because they did trade him. I believe that was the jihad Ward trade, right, didn't they go player for player and get jihad Ward out of Oakland? Then? So much for that. I was about to just say,

what do they get? You know, sometimes you get something and it turns into don't remember think that they traded They traded a sixth for Tavon to bring Tavon here and then I believe because because Oakland, it was Oakland at the time. They sent Ward here for Switzer, and Ward was a guy that Marinelli. Rod Marinelli just did whatever the hell he wanted to the whole time he was here. Like he liked Ward in the draft cycle

that he came out. I remember, I think he was a Senior Bowl guy that you're the Cowboys coach the Senior Bowl. So they sent Switzer away for Jihad Ward, who you know, didn't do much here. But I found this out the other day too, doing some we're doing some documentary on some draft day stories, and you can say that about Rod Marinelli did what I wanted. Uh, he did it for the better the betterment of the team too, because a lot of the guys, the defensive coordinators,

all coaches are selfish. They want as many toys as they can have. Marinelli cut the tie between Leean Ramsey and Zeke and said, listen, they're both great. You get me a running back that can control the game with this offensive line will be fine on defense. Not a defensive coordinator will say that when they have a really studded cornerback you know over there in Ramsey who's been

everything as advertised if not better. So. Um, but but to say all that about flip side, I mean you're yes, I get you, but and that you're just gonna go down a wormhole. But you know you could have Jalen Ramsey and Derrick Henry here. I mean in an alternate reality, just saying, but you could play that game forever. Yeah, of course that's what makes the draft so fun. Yeah, um, it was okay, he was okay. I think I've put him as a pick. He returned to punt for a

touchdown head and had a lot of guys doing that. Yeah, it's okay. That's fumbled a punt in a game against the Rams that could have probably lost the game for him, and it definitely played a role. It's hard to he was here for a year. It seemed like his arrow was pointing up when they traded him. I think I'll just admit my human bias. I don't know if you like, he had a whole thing with his son. His son was really sick here in the last like six weeks.

Sounds like he's okay, But I don't. I can't. I'm not gonna sit here and dog a guy who is here for a year I don't know. Here's another thing about Switzer. Two y'all are making me feel bad. I mean, you got to remember how many guys that look like him do you need on your team? I mean not some some teams will say zero. You definitely don't need two. And the head easily Beasley and it's hard for him to do. I mean, you know that, that's why they

traded him. Um, in hindsight, if you don't have Beasley, you know you can maybe have a role. He's bounced around a little bit, played with the Steelers, played with the Raiders, but he's not in league, is that right. I think he's with the Browns right now. Good? Yeah, yeah, what's going on? Then? Not great? Not bad? All right? Thanks Savior Woods. Sixth round. He exceeded expectations for me because he started games and and he did you know, he did stuck around, stuck around when we got to

the point where he was a starter. Now, his expectations were different, and he went below expectation for what I thought he would be last year. Definitely, if you're going to go into a trade, a draft a night and you're not going to take a safety in the second round because you have Xavier Woods and that guy's starting and maybe has a super Bowl ring in one Thornhill because of Xavier Woods. Then yeah, that's that's that's bad. But as far as the overall pick, you have to

say he exceeded overall. That's a great pick. Yeah. If you get a guy in the sixth round who's capable of starting four years for you, that's good drafting. Now, you know, I think everybody was ready for that experiment to end, and I think he lost most people with his comments after the Browns game. It is what it is. Um certain, Like I think it was a good decision to let him leave, and but that you know, there's it's not always going to be guys that you invest

in and guys that bust. Like you know, you drafted him on day three, you got four years, it starts out of him. That's good roster building. It's a good pick. And if I'm not, I'm mistaken. I mean, typically you don't expect the sixth round bag to be a harder, right, six round picks aren't locks to make the team, Like, yeah, once first through first through fourth, I expect you to make the team. Fifth round still probably expect you to make the team sixth and beyond. If you're even on

the roster, that's that's good. You did a good so. Yeah, to play, contribute and start for that many years as a sixth round pick is very good. And when you just look at six and seven together, just kind of throw it out there together, because at that point it's just crapshoot. If you go back and look at these drafts, they're they're getting one. They're getting one a year. That's like wow. I mean it's like throwing stuff at the wall and see that Anthony Brown stuck. U Xavier Wood stuck.

Noah Brown and he stuck. I mean he's not great, but I mean he's still here. Cedric Wilson. I'm skipping around the draft, Cedric Wilson, Donovan Wilson, um, you know, surrounded by all these other guys that aren't really here anymore. Last year, they didn't have a sixth round pick last year to new team. He started a game. But but I don't think that they really have anything that has stood out this last year. But every year they're getting like one guy at the end of the draft that's

really a really, really good pick. So that was Xavier Woods was that pick. Yeah, well, I think the rest on the list we can kind of knocked out, knock out pretty quickly. We have requests. Why which was a sixth round er? Two, I don't think he made the team. Nope. He kicked around on the practice squad for a minute, but I don't think he was ever on the fifty three. Joey Ivy and Jordan Carroll I don't think made it out of their first training camp and then Nope. I

love Noah Brown. I don't care what anybody says. Whatever. You can hate him all you want. He just keeps finding ways to stick around. He's just one of those that you're always kind of hoping for more and you kind of see it there and he just never gets there. Like I get maybe that's maybe that's the problem, is like I'm not hoping for more from a seventh round pick, especially if a Marie Cooper and Ceedee Lammer on the depth chart, Like what do you want him to do?

I mean, he has a very niche role. I do like it seems like he's expanded on it. It was very frustrating at the beginning of his career when he it was like Jason Garrett was signaling the other sideline like we're gonna run the ball Noah Browns in the game, right, that was really annoying. But that's not Noah Browns fault. They changed that last year when he got every target. Remember that one game where it was like, oh my god, stop throwing the ball to Noah brown Like, what's did

he sign a contract extension we didn't even hear about. Yeah, there were a couple of games where people were just frantically tweeting us, like the CD hurt where CD it's like, no, no, just they decided to roll with Noah here in the fourth quarter, not really sure why working that's the thing. It was like six targets and one reception like that, Yeah, that is like the worst ratio. I still don't I

don't view this as Noah Browns fault. Like if they like, you're not gonna be like no coach, I think CD should go in. You're gonna go in the game. So yeah, I you know, I think saying it doesn't happen a lot. What just where someone says no, I don't, I don't really want it, you know not. But at the end of Hoosiers, you've probably never seen it I haven't, but I'm familiar with what you're talking about. Yeah, professional athletes don't say nah, somebody else can have that awesome opportunity.

I don't think so. So it's not Noah browns me as a decoy and then he'll take the last shot. I'm happy that he's here. Well, he has the body type that it just I don't know. To me, that's how I see it. When I see his body, I expect more because of certain players that his body reminds me of that have given you more. So I think that's that's been the problem for me, is because of his physique. I'm kind of expecting more, but I'm not getting it now because he looks like Des Bryant. Yeah,

and he doesn't play like that Bryant did. There were many times where I got confused, Well you started playing them like Brown. I would forget from our from our you know space needless press box spot, I mean not that high, but it's we're up there. You have to find out what is who's got blue socks on? Who's got the shoes on? I mean, because there's many times for like oh go Noah, it's like that's dead. Yeah. Sorry, Yeah,

that's true, and that's not his fault. All right, before we take our final break, if you had to rate the twenty seventeen draft, how would you rate that overall? Just like the no, well it's bad, Well it's bad. It's bad because it's not you don't divide it by eight nine picks. Here, it's like, yeah, the first pick takes off like fifty percent of it, and then after that, and so the fact that one guy is still here and he's Jordan Lewis and he's maybe he's probably not

even gonna start. He might be your technically two because Noah too. But yeah, I'm not bad, Yeah I'm sorry. But the fact that, yeah, you don't really I don't think about it. You don't really have a clear cut starter out of this group in your first round pick. You didn't even want him on the team you wanted he didn't even want him to see if he can develop. You just said we're done with you. Bad draft. Yeah,

that is a bad draft. All right, Well, let's take our final break and when we come back, we're gonna move on to the twenty eighteen draft. Okay, since eighteen sixty five stetson hats are American maid with pride right here in Texas, and Stetson is proud to be on the field with America's team. Want to show your Texas and Team pride too? You can by purchasing your own stetson. You can look just like how the flag guys do

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a Newcombonut's music to my ears? Okay, Doctor Time, Music to my ears and mouth New Doctor Pepper and Cream Soda. De Lat's just do back back to the break. Join us at the official twenty twenty one Dallas Cowboys Draft Day Party presented by Miller Lite on Thursday, April twenty ninth on the Tostitos Championship Plaza at the Star and Frisco. Enjoy NFL Draft coverage, performances by the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders, live music, and so much more. Admission in parking are free.

For details, visit Dallas Cowboys dot com slash Draft Day. Glad to be back where we could do stuff like that again. The draft will be here, like you'll be here, actually here. What are you gonna do on draft Day? You can do anything fun. I haven't. I'm waiting for the email telling me what I'm doing on Draft Day. But I assume I'll be here right there, probably somewhere in this studio with a number of other people. Don't know who or how many. I'm sure all will be

revealed within the next week. I hope. Yeah. Just good to be back and it isn't Yeah, I mean, it'll be fun. It'll be fun to be able to do it the way we usually do it right. Well. No, last year, despite the challenges, I thought he went pretty well. He was pretty successful. I know people give us grief about the zoom connection and everything, but we used We used one oh five three is like big boy equipment for that and broadcast. Broadcasting from my couch was not

my least favorite thing. When when it's all said done for me whenever ever long I'm here and you say, give me some draft day memories for you I'll be like twenty twenty, I was. I did a call with Jamie Fox and DeMarcus Ware, but Jamie Fox and they waited for three hours to finally go to me, and they did on when it was time to pick. And so Jamie Fox is like, Nick, who you think we're taking? I'm like, you know, I mean, I don't know Willie Beamon. I was like, I mean, I don't know how you

could not take CD Lamb. You know he's right there. I don't know this other defensive gay, but you gotta take CD if he's still there. And so Jamie was like, you know, I forgot how it all win. I haven't seen it again. But he was just like, you called it. You called it. So you know, I don't even know how I wrote my stories because I think I broke my arm patting myself on the back after that. So m C. The CD pick and the Great Manzille Martin

debate of twenty fourteen or probably stand out in my mind. Yeah, all right, well let's getting to twenty eighteen and hope that this was better than twenty seventeen. So first round pick late In Vanderesh, that one's stuff. It is, I mean it's below, it's below expectations. I think he's met For me, he's met expectations because on Draft Day, you said he'll make the Pro Bowl. He'll make the Pro Bowl next year. Right, there's a rookie. Yeah, all Pro.

Actually yeah, all Pro is a rookie. But see, so that that puts you here. Now he's been knocked down a little bit. But I don't I haven't seen it since. Though I haven't. I get he showed glimpses of it against Philly this past year, Like he played like a badass in Philly, Like he came back and you know, he forced a fumble. I think he had a sack. Uh, But he was so good in twenty eighteen. I guess maybe it's like a victim of your own success when

you're so good so quickly. I guess you could say he's met expectations because he's uh, he's made a Pro Bowl. He's made one Pro Bowl in three years. Doesn't matter when you expect it to happen. It just did ten and the injuries necessarily not his fault, you know, like it was, but it was said coming in that you know that was one of the reasons, you know, he don't they knew about it. He played eighteen games as a rookie if you count the playoffs, and he has

played nineteen in the two years since. And I understand that that's not his It's not his fault. Nobody wants to get hurt. I'm like, you know, go Shaun Lee understands. He actually said, you know, Layton said some great stuff last season about how Sean Lee gave him some great perspective about you know, don't let your frustration about not being available get in the way of coming back stronger and like approaching it the right way, because obvious, I mean,

Layton reminds obvious for a lot of reasons. He reminds me of Sean Lee. But he has that, like you can tell, he's got that desire to be good to the point where like if he's not great, he's he's pissed off about it. Like he didn't he didn't want to talk about his injury last year at training camp because you could tell how aggravated he was that that it was even a topic of conversation. So you know,

I empathize with him. But yeah, nineteen games in two years, and you know, they got to decide what to do with his fifth year option in a couple of weeks, and if they draft a linebacker in this draft, I won't be surprised if they don't pick it up, honestly. And if you're not, if you're not going to pick up the fifth year option of your first round pick, then I don't think you've met the expectations. So that'll be the barometer what they do in the next couple

of weeks. But I think that's just kind of how I feel right now. All right, second round, Connor Williams met, He's met expectations met, And I think i'd also think, you know, I think it's probably fair to say Connor has been the weak point of the offensive line for most of his career here, but he also plays with two potential Hall of famers and Travis Frederick was on a Hall of Fame trajectory before he retired before he got hurt or sick, and Lyle Collins. When he's been healthy,

he's been very good. So does that mean Connor Williams is bad or he's just playing with a bunch of really great player doesn't because I'll take you back thirteen years when the offensive line was about the same three Pro bowlers. Right tackle that was solid, and then left guard that was you know, he was just pretty good. Kyle Cozar. He was a pretty good player, but he was just with three Pro bowlers and another pretty good

right tackle. It's very similar here. You know, if Connor Williams is the worst member of your offensive line when it's completely healthy, then your offensive line is probably good. I still think he would be a better tackle. I'd be interested to see it. I think he'd be a better tackle. I'd ever got to see it here at this point, I think you're probably right. But I mean, but then again, I mean, I don't think he would have been a better tackle than the two that are starting.

So No, So that's and that it kind of goes back to what you said about Rashaan Slater and Piney Sewell is you're going to draft a guy what was Connor like fifty first overall again something, You're gonna draft him that high and just have him be your swing tackle and if all goes well, he's not going to play like I don't know if that's a good idea. No, So's he's been good. He in credit to him too for what he did last year. I mean he was. I mean, not going to compare him to Connor Connor Williams.

How we're going to say the same game, not going to compare him to Sack Martin. Yeah, but based on the fact that he was available all year except for a quick moment there where he got a little bit injured. But he was consistent last year and that's the one thing that you needed the most. From what we saw, he missed one snap in a year where everybody else was just beat to hell coming on. Somehow he was, Yeah,

somehow he was able to stay healthy. And he's another guy the huss suffer and dealt with other injuries in the passes. Met Yeah, met expectations all right. Third round Michael Gallas exceeded expectations. How much easily to say there everyone knows him and how well he's done all right? Fourth round, Dorn's armstrong. See this this is where it gets tricky. See I say, I say uh, Met, I

say met. I was about to say exceeded. And then when I think, well, I should think of Dak but that is like such a such an app that's ridiculous. But no, you know what I when I think of like a good or what a great fourth round pick is capable of. I always think of Anthony Hitchins. Yeah, like if you're capable of finding that with pick like one twenty six, then you know, I don't think as

a fourth round pick. Again, like teams cut fourth round picks all the time, Like you don't see it often as a rookie, but like in your second year and definitely in your third year, if you're not cutting it, you're not guaranteed to be here. So okay for him to hang around for three years and you know, not be amazing, but be a valuable role player. That's why I say below expectations because just like we said about Connor Williams, well he didn't he didn't play tackle or whatever. Well,

of course not. And look who's here. But since Dorence Armstrong has been here, this team's went out and traded for Robert Quinny. They had to go get Alden Smith, and those guys were playing and playing over him. They you know, they they have obviously you know, they resigned d Law and then they got Randy Gregory in here. He I mean, they it's been a position where they've been trying to turn over Rocks here to try to

help this thing. So he's a fourth round pick, you wouldn't expect them to have to try to do all this. You would hope that he'd be a guy in the mix and not somebody. Well, he's not the answer. So that's why I kind of say below. His stats have been great, but you know he's he's a he's a special team's kind of glue guy. You just think maybe a little bit more for a fourth round hire expected as for him, because since the moment he got here,

DeMarcus Lawrence, for whatever the reason, took him under his wing. Yeah, And I would see that, and he would talk about him and he would be kind of his guy. And I thought, well, if if the law is taking you under his wing, is because he must see something in you. But then it just again another guy that necessarily didn't necessarily I guess I great. I kind of said this about cornerbacks too, but edge rushers, and again, there's a there's a there's an exception for every position. Jared Allen

is a likely Hall of Famer. He was a fourth round pick, but like buy and large, edge rushers are drafted super duper high, like a fourth round edge rushers very rarely turn into those types of players. So maybe maybe I have that in the back of my mind when I cut Doran's armstrong some slack. But I think, you know, well, if the owner didn't bring him up in every other interview he did, I don't think people would hate him so much. I'll tell you why my

expectations were higher for him. Why because he wore number two at Kansas. He wore single digit number as a pass rusher and usually wear that. And you're like, that guy's gonna be pretty good. Yeah, I just think you just think he's gonna I want to pull I'm pulling up his college stats right now. I mean, yeah, he had he had sixteen career sacks at Kansas as he fell. He fell to the Cowboys in the fourth round. I mean murder projections. He would be a second round or

maybe third. He's he's met the expectations for where he was picked. I guess all right, next one, uh, Dalton Schultz also in the fourth round. I swear every time every time we do this, I'm just like, man, that's tricky. Like they're all like Nett. You would say, you would say didn't meet you would say below expectations if he hadn't been so good last year though, right, Yeah, because he was not meeting them last year. He shocked the hell out of all of us. Yeah, some of us.

You know, some of the people on this one wanted him cut. And you can say my name, put her name to it, Rember Me. I think there's more than one. I think more than one. I didn't really see the point. And then but then Jarwin got hurt. And when he got hurt, it was like, oh God, what now can he go get somebody? And he comes in and has a really good year. But I think what it shows is the guys around him, I mean they're tied end in this offense is he's probably gonna get you sixty five.

He catches sixty five to seventy how long down the field though, And that's what Jarwin's gonna be better than Charlt because he can spread it a little bit. You don't see he didn't really see Schultz making plays down the field. He did his job. He made a couple, but for the most part, he turns around, catches the ball, gets up the field, he knows where to go. He showed a little bit more. That's a guy like him. I just I think met is right, but I was

so I was so impressed with him last year. Especially not only that, but last year, you know, Jarwin tore his acl like thirty seconds into the opener, and I mean, and Dalton even he'll he wasn't ready good and he wasn't ready for it. He had a bad night. And then a week later, nine catches for eighty eight yards and a very nice touchdown and a nice catch over like over good coverage against the Falcons. That's I mean,

that's a hell of a response. And then obviously you know he had comparable stats to the guy who made the Pro Bowl, which said that a lot during the seasons, So don't I don't very very improbable snub which you really didn't have. I'm not gonna call him a Pro Bowl snow. He was probably the closest guy you could really make an argument for, unless you want to argue that Zach Martin even though he didn't play a lot or Amari I would say anyway, either way, Yeah, Matt expectations,

largely because he was a badass last year. Fifth round Mike White below. If you don't finish your contract, especially as a quarterback, because like teams are, you know, you're looking for reasons to hold on to a quarterback, and if you don't make it through your rookie contract, that's not great. Sixth round Chris Covington and below below, then you have Cedric Wilson also eated. Six round, exceeded. He would have made the team. He would have made the

team as a rookie if he hadn't gotten hurt. He got hurt, like right at the beginning of that camp and they just put him on ir um. So yeah, I mean, exceeded if you're picked two o eight and you're still here, uh this many years later, exceeded And the fact that he's kept you intrigued, which to me, that's also something to look at. He's a guy that I'm intrigued about and I want to see more and I want to see what, you know, what he can

actually develop into. And some of these guys, I mean, you mentioned names and you quickly just kind of they're so forgettable and you're like, yeah, yeah, he left whatever. But he's a guy that's has kept you interested despite the injuries. Now seventh round, both Scarborough below me played against Yeah, yeah, when he's when he's running the ball against him and you're looking around like good, good pick, Like, what'd you cut this guy? He looks better than Zeke

that day. I will. It's funny because, you know, especially as somebody who covers the draft, I'm like, who, it's a seventh round pick. It feels harsh to even say below expectations because seventh round picks don't even make the team. But there was so much hype on that guy because you know, he was a star at Alabama. Alabama's running backs are always great. I know, you guys hate this thing a name. Oh why I got killed for that last week. Yeah. No, no, it's not a name thing.

It's a it's a what it's a get off the bus guy, is what it was. It was like, this guy's a running back. Yeah, we'll find a spot for him, you know. And you know, and then the Lions didn't. I don't even know if he's still in the league. But no, he wasn't a name guy. He was just he was more of a this guy will kick your

ass kind of well. And like I said, you know, Alabama's I know you don't watch a lot of college football, but like for years, Alabama it's like, well, their starters great, but look at this backup, Like Derrick Henry was turning heads when mark Ingram was still the starter, and um, who's the other guy. I'm already Trent Richardson, Like you know, mark Ingram and him, they were like, oh my god, the backups. Eddie Lay was a backup on those teams.

They're like, the backups better than the starter. And the same thing with both Scarborough and he just it didn't translate to the league the same way it did for a lot of those guys. Let me let me clarify this too, because I had a few people on Twitter that misunderstood what I said. Let me just let me say that the name thing, Yeah, I don't think the Cowboys drafted him because his name was Taco. Okay, that's not what I said, and that's not what I meant.

What I'm saying is the whole persona of him which is created at Michigan. I'm talking about the guy that looks like this. I mean, he's a really tall guy. He's got an intriguing name. You're not going to forget Taco Charlton, what he looks like, what his name is. It just builds into all of it. Let's look at this, let's let's look at Taco again, and yeah, you see some good plays and all that. I just think it

just plays into it. I'm not saying you draft him because that's his name, because I mean that's the case Lucky Whitehead would get picked in the second round or something. I'm just saying there's a lot of that, But I just think it built the whole persona of him. And you know, I don't think it would have been the same if his name was Mike Johnson. I just don't think him. I find it funny that coming from someone who speaks English so well and it's so articulate, you're

always having to come back on the show. And I was about to say that that's like a theme a little bit, as Nick is like, all right, let me just clarify a couple. If I wasn't getting cut off all the time, I could finish a point fair. Oh my god, No, that's funny. Yeah, um, okay, so we finished that one. If you had to rate that draft overall, how would you rate it? I would call that a good draft. That's a B plus n B B plus. I mean you get a Pro Bowl season out of Layton.

You got two quality starters in Connor and Gallop, both of your fourth round picks are still here doing things, and you got a late round and find in Cedric Wilson, and uh, you know, we'll see what happens with Layton. You know, he's still he's got one, potentially two more seasons to kind of you know, the book is not closed on him. So yeah, I call it a B. I would call it a B right now, and if Layton rediscovers himself a little bit, then I would great

it even better. I also got to think about, you know, you're picking Night when he he was the nineteenth pick. I mean you're picking nineteen twenty ish at every round, So I mean that's you're already a little bit behind. I mean, it's hard to have great drafts when you're already you're starting at nineteen. UM. But yeah, I think it was good. A lot of question about that pick, Layton Van Rischard myself included. I mean, I was I was not a big fan of that. I don't you know,

most of us weren't. I don't like and Brian is right about a lot of people. I'm not trying to dog him, but like that that was not Brian's preferred guy, and the way he shot out of the gate and was an all pro right off the bat, he shut a lot of people up, you know. Or again, we'll see what you know, he's got at least one, if not two more years. We'll see what the final tally

looks like. You know, I thought I find this a lot more interesting than I thought I would, just looking back at used draft and just comparing not just each peak pick peek. Sorry, that's what I get from making fun of you, Nick, there's my accent, No, but just looking at the drafting overall and just comparing kind of what happens year after year and how whether they were

successful or not successful. So it's it'll be interested interesting to see if we finished this next week with Derek and just kind of look at maybe if there is a trend where you go from a really good draft then kind of not good, then decent, then maybe good again. I know. I mean, the Cowboys need to put a little more emphasis on free agency. I think we would all agree. But the draft, the draft is the lifeblood of the league, like it's all. It's not just and

it's not just about finding stars. It's about that. I mean, that's how you control salaries. It's not necessarily fair to those guys, but that's if you get great players and you don't have to pay them a lot. That's how you compete and win playoff games. And that's what makes it so interesting. And looking at the Cowboys is fascinating, or you can go look at somebody else and be like, well, that's why they're good. They found five Pro bowlers in

the same draft. That's why they're bad. Two thousand and nine. They didn't pick until the third round and none of their picks worked out. Not to bring that source subject up, but all right, well it matters. We'll see what if we get to finish this next week, and then I'm sure we'll talk more about the draft will which will be the following day and an exciting day to finally get some answers and see what actually happens. Perniki David Hellman, a member ORCIA. This has been the Break on Dallas

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