Cowboys Break: Gaining Leverage?

We are alive from our home studios. We'll call him the s WBC Mortgage Studios. I got my guys, Nick eat Dave Hellman, and of course Amber Garcia joining us today for another episode of The Break. We got a lot to talk about today. Schedule releases coming up tomorrow. We want to talk a little bit about that, get you guys ready for that. We'll also talk about a couple or a new player for the Cowboys, Andy Dalton and why the Cowboys made this move and moved on

from Cooper Rush. And then we'll finish up our discussion on the draft. Well, last week we went through our first four picks, and today we'll talk a little bit about Bradley and I ben Denucci and wrap up our draft coverage here on the break. How's everybody doing today? Great? Great, good to see you good, good surviving surviving out here. Yeah, I saw it before we went on the show. Amber was taking some medicine, some medicine because she wasn't feeling great.

Nick was like wiping his nose because it looks like he's kind of got a little something going on. So it's good that we're all in different locations. At least we'll keep each other from from getting sick. And yeah, it's either toilet paper or or tissue for Unick. I don't know, like one or the other. Right, I'm always going to bring something. Where is that toilet paper? Maybe we've used that? I don't know. Have you guys used it? All? You need some more? We running low? No, not running low.

I've got I've got plenty, I've got all right. Good. Well, let's talk a little bit about the schedule release the Cowboys tomorrow night. Actually, the entire NFL is going to be pushing forward releasing the schedule for the twenty twenty season. Their intention, the intention of the league is that they are going to approach the season as though they're gonna play a full season, and so they're gonna release the

schedule to morrow night. For the first time, each team will be allowed to release the schedule at six thirty. So we'll be releasing our schedule to morrow night at six thirty. So make sure you check out Dallas Cowboys dot com, Cowboys Mobile, any of our social channels. We will have a live show where we will release the schedule that we will cast across all those different platforms. But the question I have for you guys, is we

already know the opponents. We know who the Cowboys will be playing next season, just to give you an idea. At the home schedule, we know the Cowboys will play the three division teams. They'll also play the Cardinals, forty nine Ers, the Browns, the Steelers, and the Falcons. And then on the road they'll play the three division teams plus the Seahawks, the Rams, the Vikings, the Bengals, and the Ravens. Which of all those games do you think

is most intriguing to you? Well, I guess even if you had a couple of games that you kind of bunched together, what's most intriguing to you about the opponents? The Cowboys have next season. Let's start with you, Dave Well. I don't know this, but I have an inkling, just a just a hunch that I think there's a very good chance the Cowboys are going to be the team opening the Rams News Stadium in Los Angeles. There's been

buzz about it for months. Jerry Jones just had a twinkling as I talking about it at the Combine back in February. And Jerry Jones is a pretty persuasive guy. So I think there's a good chance that happens. And if it does, um, what a spectacle that would be. You know, we know how impressive at and T Stadium is. Uh, this is the you know, the new you know, the next big thing. It's going to be the next greatest stadium in the NFL. I guess. So that'll be cool.

Uh Selfishly, I've never been to Baltimore, So going to Baltimore to watch the MVP, the reigning MVP, Lamar Jackson, and then obviously get to see my guy Joe Burrow in person next year, so that's fun too. So that's three that I've got my eye on. All Right, I'll take Ravens. I'll just do one and I'll say, Ravens,

I think that's the one. I think that could be the season opener actually, and I just think playing you know, Lamar Jackson and going up to Baltimore place the Cowboys are, the stadium the Cowboys have never won at, will be will be an intriguing, intriguing matchup. I could see that being very early in the season. Camber Well, um, I would say I want to see them play with the still just for the Spanish content, honestly, just for pure

Spanish content, Cowboys versus Steelers. But I am excited about the Rams. Hopefully it's a better experience than the last few times we've been over there, because that sucked. But I'm excited to see what they've turned that stadium into. You know, it's interesting. I'm looking at the schedule and if I had one game that really intrigues me a lot, it would be the Cardinals just because with their addition of DeAndre Hopkins and what they were able to do

last year offensively. You started to see as the season war on, they were starting to get that offense going a little bit. You had a guy who I think is at least top three wide receiver in the NFL and playmaker in the NFL. I think that's gonna be a really really high flying, high scoring offense there in Arizona.

So that's gonna make it interesting. But I say that because I think when you look across all the opponentsy Cowboys next year, man, it's gonna I know, Dave, you guys talked to the Daft Show about this whole concept of the forty burger. They may need that because they're playing a bunch of teams that can put up some points.

You look at the Cardinals, you look at the Falcons, you look at the Seahawks, you look at the Bengal I mean, I'm at the Bengals, I'm sorry, the Ravens, the Rams, and then there's some teams like the Browns and the Cardinals who have a lot of talent offensively. On any given we could show up and score a lot of points. I just think that overall, the Cowboys are gonna play some teams that can score, and the Cowboys gonna have to score in order to match or

play some really really really stingy defense. This could be a really interesting season, you know. Obviously, the discussion continues to go about Dak and how good he is and how much money he deserves. He's gonna have a great

chance to prove himself again. I mean obvious, you're gonna play good cornerbacks every year, but it's interesting how many members of like the young class of cornerbacks are on the schedule, from Kyler Murray to Baker Mayfield, the new number one pick Joe Burrow, Daniel Jones and maybe Dwayne Haskins who were just drafted, the reigning MVP Lamar Jackson, the arguable MVP Russell Wilson. It's just a i mean, the you know, the face the next face of quarterbacks

in the NFL is all over the schedule. It'll be fun to see how Dak stacks up against that just Dak, but all the defense. I'm very curious to see how this Cowboys defense is gonna look like and perform against some of these other offense in the NFL, because based on what they just didn't do, you know, of last year.

So I'm hoping that this year with the new coaching staff, they're able to actually pump up the game and perform better and to the expectations that we were expecting them to play last year, and they didn't you know, you gotta watch out for the Giants too. I mean, because you know the Jason Garrett is the offensive coordinator. You say what you want about him being here, t shirts whatever,

He's an good offensive coordinator. He's gonna have some good weapons, and he's got arguably one of the best running backs in the NFL, one of the most dangerous players there. So you know, with Daniel Jones coming in there, I think, you know, the Giants will be a tough matchup for the Cowboys. I always are here. Two. Yeah he did, I mean he did, yeah, and it was good and he was good. I mean the offensive coordinator he was good, I mean really good. So yeah, he's he's a good

offensive coordinator for sure. So that that that that was a problem for the Cowboys, I mean for other teams when he was offensive coordinator and running the offense. So yeah, you're right, he had that. Here the chair point, I actually think he was a better go ahead, Dave, No, no, go ahead, Derek. Now, I was gonna say to your point, I think he was actually a better offensive coordinator than than maybe even a head coach. I think he was. I think that offense was really really good. When he

was an offensive coordinator. And I actually wonder if the Cowboys did themselves a favor and they when they made the decision that he was going to step away from being the guy to call the plays, because I think that's when you started getting into a lot of other things where where the offense. You know, you get into the Scotland Ahan year and then years, and I just don't I don't know if they were better with him not calling the plays and they were with him calling

the plays. Let's go ahead and move on and talk a little bit about the quarterback position. Cowboys made a decision this week that or last week that I actually really loved, and I want to hear your opinions. They signed Andy Dalton to one year deal three million dollars. I think what he's being compensated. I think he can get up to as high as seven million withincentives. I'll ask you guys a very simple question. Do you think this was a good move for the Cowboys? Let's start

with Amber. How can he not be I mean, there is no way you can argue that it was a bad move. I loved it completely unexpected Honestly, I did not expect to see the Cowboys pull something like this. He's a veteran guy, he has the experience. You know. You Some people are arguing, Okay, does this mean that they can use this as leverage to negotiate with Dak when it comes up about his contract, And I don't. I don't know if that necessarily plays a role into that.

But what I do know is they back themselves up whatever the reason or case may be, whether that decides to hold out, or whether he gets injured, whatever may happen. He is a guy that can definitely step in and play a game, make it happen. The Cowboys haven't had a veteran guy with this kind of experience, at least not since I've been here. So that's really relieving and good and refreshing to see the Cowboys do something like this, because I truly think they really needed someone with experience

behind Dak. Nick. To me, you know, it's like changing your car insurance. Have you ever switched her out? Like yeah, okay, like you hope it doesn't even matter. You don't see a big difference. Yeah you made a change, but you don't see a difference. That's what I hope the Cowboys will have here. Yes, it's a good backup, veteran backup.

It's funny how if you were to say two weeks ago, a week ago, what's your thoughts on Andy Dalton, everybody would be like, no, as the backup, You're like, oh, yeah, it's the backup. So if he plays, that could be a problem. But but you know, he's never had this type of offensive line and weapons really around him, so you know he might be pretty good in that. But I just you know, as a backup. Sure, it's it's expensive, but it's should be an upgrade. But again, you hope

that he plays as much as Cooper Rush played. That's the beauty of it that it's it's not it's not expensive. It's so cheap for a guy that started one hundred and thirty games. It's they're only paying him nine hundred thousand more then they were paying Cooper Rush, who has thrown three NFL passes in a real game. They got him for three mill and you know there's playtime incentives and if if he plays and they go to the playoffs, he could get up to seven. That's still a bargain.

The Texans are nine hundred more than what one hundred more than what was what was Cooper rushmaking. They're paying nine hundred thousand more there. They were gonna pay Cooper Rush two point one million dollars and you think they were gonna pay I mean, they hadn't paid him yet. Well, they hadn't paid him yet. He had never made that much money. He got a tender for two point two but he hadn't made that much. He didn't sign it. I'm just saying, well, he signed it, but he didn't

get any money until the week one. That's what I'm saying is they hadn't going to pay him that they like, that is what they were going to pay their backup quarterback until they switched him out. Debatable either way. Either way, it's it's a little bit more. It's a lot more than they were paying their backup quarterback last year. So and it's a lot of money for a guy, you hope where he's a ball cap the whole year. That's

all I'm saying. I just disagreed because again, like Dalton's making way less than a lot of other backups in the NFL right now, Like that, the going rate for a quarterback that can step in and win and potentially win you games. Is a lot of money. The Saints are paying Taysom Hill sixteen million dollars and he's not even their preferred number two or hasn't been, so I just I think it's an absurd discount. Yeah, I mean

I hope, I hope he doesn't play. But to get that kind of deal on a guy that's been to three Pro Bowls, um, it's it's freaking awesome. And it's so refreshing that the Cowboys were like, ah, maybe that guy's better than our guy, as opposed to we love our guys, which is what we heard for a decade. Um. It's really cool to see them step outside of their comfort zone to try to improve their roster. That was the most the most refreshing part was cutting Cooper Rush

on Monday. Not not nothing against him, It's just that they wouldn't have done that before. They would have sat there and wait, well, let's see what happens, and then he has to go to camp and get no snaps and then see if there's a you know, a job waiting for him. At the end, you know, they cut him. They knew there would be somebody in New York waiting for him, so you know, it worked out. Do you think that that part of that was that they they really like Denucci and they want to see how much

they can develop him. And they know with four guys on the on the roster, they're they're just not going to get a lot of opportunity, or actually five. I think there's another quarterback on the roster for training camp, but they just wouldn't get enough. They'd have too many bodies to really get a chance to see what de Nuci could do. Yeah, I do think that I think that Denucci's got a really good chance to be the third quarterback, especially now that they've added two spots on

the rosters. Fifty five spots on the roster. I mean, that just makes it more sense to have a third quarterback there. But I guess I mean, but Clayton, Clayton Thorsten, I mean, don't forget him. Yeah, So let's take it a little different direction. Let's back up a little bit to Andy Dalton. Why do you think he made the

decision to come to the Cowboys. This is a guy that's I think is fairly accomplished as a quarterback in the NFL's played a lot of Football's gone to the playoffs, hasn't gotten a playoff win, but has played on some pretty good offenses here in his career. Why do you think he chose the Cowboys where he's behind a guy

who notoriously doesn't get hurt. Where there are probably situations in the NFL where maybe he could have gotten an opportunity to go in and maybe compete for a starting job, or even be behind a quarterback that may have a little more injury concerns that that gives him maybe better opportunity to being able to get on the field. I don't know how long is this contract for one year deal that you know, I don't know. It's hard to

gage that because um I won't I won't lie. I did think about Kyle Orton when he when he signed, because I just thought, you know, that was interesting too, when Kyle Orton signed a few years ago as the backup when he had seemingly some other options, and you wondered, you know, maybe he just doesn't want to do that. It doesn't want to compete. He's just he's okay being the backup. I don't know if that's the case with Andy Dalton. I've never met him. I don't know anything

really about him other than what he was doing. And since so one year deal probably just a chance to come back, to come back to the Metroplex area, and it's where he's from, and you know, maybe turn that into something else. But I don't know. Maybe this was this was a better situation for him, but where he

is mentally that he just wanted to be here. I've been thinking about this a lot, and I don't know it for sure, but I wonder how much COVID nineteen played into this decision, because this is where Andy Dalton lives. He owns a home here, he's here, he's been like for years, he's been here in the off season, like

he is very familiar with the area. Obviously he went to school at TCU, And I just wonder if you look around at the options, and you know, if there had been a place that wanted him to be their clear cut starter, maybe you do that. But if you're looking around and the best bet you have is we'll give you a chance to compete, but you've got to uproot your family too. And I'm just using I'll use

Seattle as an example. I don't need to know if they offered him a spot, but You're like, well, am I really going to try to move my family to Seattle and figure out how to get the kids in school and find a home and all this other stuff.

And there's a pandemic and nobody can go outside, and that just sounds exhausting to me, And you think, you know, you look at the offer on the table and you say, oh, I can take one year deal where I already live, where I don't have to do any of that, and I can reassess the situation next year when everything's fine, and you know, maybe I get a chance to play and improve my stock, or at the very least, you know, I'll kind of get to polish my image being with

a more successful franchise. I just you know, I wouldn't be surprised if that was a big part of the thought process. He did mention on the Adam Schepter podcast that he did have several options and he chose the cow Boys. Um, And I think I think that's part of it, Dave. I do, I really do believe that

part of that is right now. I think there are probably now he's probably not the only player in the NFL that, because of the limited travel and that sort of thing, that they just they're making decisions that are somewhat short term to give them their best opportunity for right now, knowing that, uh, you know, you're just trying to see where you can fit in for this year and then with the hopes that next year they're a little bit more, uh, they're a little bit more opportunity,

more opportunities to travel, opportunities to get out a little bit more and kind of see what your options are, um and then make a better long term decision. At that point, he did also mention that there was some value to him in coming to UH to play with a coach like McCarthy who has had so much success with quarterbacks, because that that ultimately can maybe help him be a little bit better at what he's doing and

how he's preparing as a quarterback. And I mean, oh sorry, just I mean, thirty two is not old for an NFL quarterback. I mean, I wouldn't be surprised if he

can turn this into one more meaningful contract. Teddy Bridgewater situations a little bit different because he had that gnarly injury, but he wound up in New Orleans and got a nice deal to be their backup after sitting there for a year, like they paid him pretty handsomely to not play, and then he gets a chance to play five games last year, you know, Suven in for Drew Breese and turned that into a huge contract to be a starter. So there's no telling what could come out of this

for Andy Dalton just being here for one year. Well, Amber you mentioned it a little earlier. There have been there's been talk up there and lots of people talking about it one way or the other on whether this really affects negotiations with Dak Prescott on a long term deal. I'll ask you guys that question. Nicholas, start with you, do you think that the signing of Andy Dalton effects or allows the Cowboys a little more leverage when they're

negotiating with Dak Prescott. I don't think it allows any leverage. I just think gives them a veteran that if Dak isn't going to participate in some of the off season things, or maybe it's gonna take longer for him to get in there, they have just more of an option. But you know, also, I think the biggest part of this whole thing is just the fact that it's philosophy changes it's just the quarterback. I mean, it's a backup quarterback

that McCarthy wanted. This guy drafted it, you know. I mean they didn't draft or he drafted Aaron Rodgers or cut Brett Farve when he had Aaron Rodgers, and you know, they were drafting quarterbacks all the time. He views quarterbacks differently than what we've seen before. So I just think it's it's all about that. I don't think it changes the leverage and the Cowboys trying to sign him. They know what they want to pay. They just don't want to pay Dak to be the highest paid quarterback in

the NFL right now. They don't think he's deserved it, and I don't either. I can't imagine how this gives the Cowboys a substantial amount of leverage. I mean, if if they think that having Andy Dalton allows them to like hold firm on their number, I guess that's fine. But like if Dak Prescott is like the alpha elite quarterback, top tier guy that we're arguing about, Like, if he's that guy, I hope he's not intimidated by having Andy Dalton on the team, like I would hope Dak's reaction

to this signing is okay, what's that? Like? What am I supposed to be scared of that? Like? I would hope that that's his reaction. Um, I don't think this does much of anything. The other thing, I feel like I keep saying this and I hope people, I hope it's getting through. This is not a Zeke situation. Um, if Dak, if Dak and the team don't have an agreement by July fifteenth, that's it. He's He's all he can play on is the tack he So theoretically he could hold out if he wants to kiss goodbye to

two million dollar game check every week. He could do that. We watched Levon Bell do it two years ago. I just don't think it's likely. So you know, today ask this question, did I saw that that line of thinking? And again I'm not thinking that he necessarily will do

this because I don't know if it's Dak's way. But even if he's gonna play and get those game checks, he still could sit out during training camp and that does put a certain amount of pressure on the team to sign him, because during training camp is when you want to be installing this new offense or not a new offense. But you have a new coach, you want to be installing the offense, you want to be getting

ready for the season. Does that not create some pressure If he decides he wants to hold out during training camp, I will gladly eat these words. Dak Prescott would have to be an idiot to sit out of training camp, because again, Zeke sat out of training camp because he was trying to create leverage to get a new deal. If Dak doesn't show up to camp, there's nothing the Cowboys can do about it, Like they cannot give him

a new deal after July fifteenth. So at that point, all Dak Prescott is doing is hurting his own earning potential by not practicing. So if he goes out, it looks like crap because he didn't have a camp. It's on him. There's nothing the Cowboys can do. So if he wants to do that, I think it would be one of the most idiotic things I've ever seen. And Dack's not an idiot, So I just don't think it's going to happen, and I will gladly come back and

eat crow if that's the case. But this is gonna say, like to me, I don't think that this signing of Andy changes anything. It just, if anything, it gives you a sense of comfortness, you know, whatever the reason may be. You have a veteran guy out on the field throwing passes. You don't have Cooper Rush the one calling the offense and throwing passes. Even if that's just in practice. Let's

say the training camp scenario does happen. I feel and if I was the Cowboys, I would feel so much more comfortable having a guy like Dalton out there rather than a Cooper Rush who really doesn't have much experience. So, if anything, it just gives you a plan B in some sense of comfortness, rather than just having a guy like Cooper Rush behind as your backup guy. That's that's a good point. I mean, when Deck comes off the field and he's like, hey, what'd you see, Cooper's like,

I don't know. I've never thrown a pass, so I don't know. I mean, at least Andy Dalton's played one hundred and thirty games. I mean, I've always thought that we you know, we We've said this before. I've always thought that was important Having Wade Wilson, Kellen Moore, those guys there Jason Garrett. I mean betteran quarterbacks on the sideline. That does help, but I don't think it'll be anything close to what they he'll get, so he should be able to benefit. But really quick, I know we gotta

take a break. But yeah, I actually changed my stance. I do think it helps the Cowboys leverage now, and listening to what Dave said in that scenario, yeah, I think it changes their stance because it allowed it changes their leverage. It allows them to say, we're sticking here. We don't have to move up. You need to come down. If not, we'll play with Andy Dalton. Then you know, can he can he lead us to an eight and eight record that Asdak did last year? I mean, I

mean I think he probably could. I think Dak's way better, But I'm just saying I think it keeps their leverage where it is. Do you guys think there is any chance whatsoever that Andy Dalton gets in here and they see something from him that gives them reason to believe they could move on from Dak Prescott and in favor

of Andy Dalton going beyond this year. Obviously, Dak's going to be their quarterback this year, but if they don't have a long term deal and it's a one year franchise tag, and they start seeing some things from Andy Dalton that they like. Do you see any scenario where Dak isn't their quarterback of the future? Can I see us? Can I see it? Can I picture it? Yeah? I

don't think it's very likely. But I mean, who in their right mine thought Dak Prescott would take Tony Romo's job when he did, There's no I mean, you know, Dak could hurt himself. And you know, again going back to Teddy Bridgewater, people have not that great of an opinion of him, and all of the sudden he leads the Saints to a five and oh record and he's the new face of the Carolina Panthers. So is it possible? Yeah, but I don't know how likely it is. Yeah, that's

a good point. I mean, if Brees doesn't get hurt, Bridgewater doesn't get the chance to probably get a deal like that. So it's not likely the Deck gets hurt because he hasn't yet. But but I don't think it would be Dad. I don't think it would be something

they see in Andy Dalton. I think it would be something that they saw or didn't see in Dak if he's if he doesn't sign, he struggles, they don't go back to the playoffs, and then it's like, well, maybe there are some other options here as opposed to giving him a long term deal. Yeah, I think I would

agree with that. Like in this scenario, I think it would be more likely that they would say, Okay, Dak's not the guy, let's find a quarterback in the draft or you know, I don't know how likely it is that they give thirty three year old Andy Dalton like a four or five year extension, but maybe they decide to look elsewhere if this season is unimpressive. Yeah. Yeah. The one thing I do love about this, and I think you hear it all the time from coaches, is

you want competition at every position. Most teams don't actually do that at the quarterback position because the financial part of it usually doesn't allow them to have two viable quarterback options. But I love the fact that the Cowboys now have some competition, and if nothing else, hopefully it pushes Dak a little bit more because there's a capable guy behind him. And again I don't expect Dak to

whether from that. The one thing we've know about Dak Prescott since he's gotten to the Cowboys is nothing's too big for him. The guy doesn't seem to be phased by the things that a lot of people get phased by, so I don't think it will affect him from that standpoint. I do like competition, though, and I do like him having somebody else in that room who has the same who has more experienced than he does, that can help push him a little bit to be even better than

what he's been in the past. I think that's a good thing for the Cowboys all the way around, whether Andy Dalton sees the field or not. Let's go and take our first break. When we come back, we're gonna finish up our draft coverage. We had a couple other guys the Cowboys drafted that we didn't get to on our last episodes. We're gonna talk about those guys, and then Amber has a game for us in the final segment. We'll get to that when we come right back. This

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Mortgage Studios. We appreciate those guys are sponsoring our studio. And we're talking about draft here. I know week last week we hit up the first four picks for the Cowboys Cteedee, Lamb, Trayvon Diggs, Neville Gallum Way, I'm sorry five actually because we got to Reggie Robinson and Tyler Beadish. But we are now going to talk a little bit about Bradley and I who was the fifth round pick,

pick number one, seventy nine. And my first question for you guys, and I'll direct this from first to Dave, it seemed like going into the draft, this was a guy that was getting it. Sounded like he was as high as a third round grade that gets all the way to the fifth round for the Cowboys. What do you think was the reason why a guy like that is still around in the fifth round for the Cowboys

to make that selection. Athleticism that was always the knock on him, Like he's the classic case of the very productive college player that doesn't have the workout that wows the scouts. I wish I had pulled this up during the break, but his forty time and like he doesn't have that quick twitch, crazy athletic says, Yeah, I mean seven and a half second three cone drill, which three cone is the drill that I always look at when

I'm talking about pass rushers. I'm still surprised he fell that far because again, like this guy was awesome at Utah. He was a Senior Bowl MVP, had three sacks and a horse fumble in the Senior Bowl, which is obviously against some of the top notch talent. Very surprised he fell that far, But it's that the athleticism is the reason why, Nick, What do you think he fits among these defensive ends? Is he come in? Is he an

immediate starter right in? Where do you think he falls in in the I guess the pecking order of a of a position. It seems like it has at least a lot of bodies at this point. Yeah, I mean I think that he comes in and competes. He reminds me a little bit just I guess so maybe you know, geographically whatever where he comes from, but it reminds me a little bit of a Tyrone Craft just in the sense of, you know, he's gonna come in. He didn't

Tyrone didn't wil a lot of people. He was a third round pick Boise State, tough guy, could play some inside, some outside. And I think that he's gonna come in. You know, he's got to be better than Dorin's Armstrong first. I mean, that's that's where you know he's got to be better than him. You'll look at some other guys as far as you know, Joe Jackson, Jalen Jelks, let's see what they are in their their second year. And then of course he got Alden Smith, maybe Randy Gregory,

a lot of options over there. But he's just got to come in and be better than or at least compete with Dorin's Armstrong, Joe Jackson, Jalen Jelks to start with. But if Aldon Smith is what people think he is going to be or what the cowboys think he's gonna be,

and then I see him as the starter Abra. How do you feel about the depth there at the defensive end position, because I think coming into the draft, I think it was a position that most people felt like was still a need for the Cowboys based upon what they had. How do you feel about it now? Well, it depends because you still don't really know what's gonna happen with Alden Smith and Randy Gregory. Are they really gonna be able to come back? And if they do,

how are they going to be performing? I mean, these two guys definitely are skilled players. Those are one of the rare talented guys that are in the NFL, but they haven't been on the field plane for a really long time now, and I'm curious to see what their

level is gonna be once brought on the field. I think that if that's the case, if they do get reinstated and come back right before you know, when they're ready to get started with training camp and be part of the whole practices, I think that death wise, yes, it's great. I feel pretty good about it, but there's just so much unknown, you know, aside from those two guys level wise, and then this guy that they just drafted,

you just don't know what's the learning curve here? You see a lot of these guys, man, and sometimes you expect them to perform at a certain level. But we all know that some rookies have a longer or a bigger learning curve than others. So I just don't know what's really gonna happen as far as how soon we're gonna be able to see them perform well and do well in the defensive line. Amber mentions Alden Smith and

Randy Gregor. I'll toss the question to you both, you, Nick and Dave, what do you think of the prospects of Smith and Gregory actually being able to contribute something after being out of football for as long as they've been. I mean, I think although go ahead, Nick, Sorry, I just you know, it's a tough question to answer. Really.

I think that you're just hoping that, you know, two guys, one of them sticks, one of them is in a situation none of Maybe they're they're getting greedy and they want them both to contribute, but you know, well, we'll just see what kind of shape they're in. Sounds like Aldon Smith is in good shape. But you know, I don't think you can say, well, this is what he

was when he first started. But if he you know, again, I go back to not trying to pick on Dooran's armstrong, but that's what they have right now, a defensive en. So can you be better than that? Because I think right now he's the most experienced defensive end they have on the other side, unless I'm forgetting somebody you could Putney, Yeah, you could put Tyrone over there, and then that all of a sudden they're better. But when you throw in a third guy, who's going to be the third and

fourth guys? Yeah, I think that, you know, it's it's wide open with a lot of players. I think. I mean, with all the stuff we've seen about how he's working out, and obviously you know he'd he played for a long time in the NFL before his off field transgressions caught up to him. If Aldon Smith can get reinstated and like stay on the straight and narrow, I feel confident

he can be like a starting caliber player. You know, I don't know if he'll ever be a pro bowler again, but like, I feel like he can play fifty to seventy percent of the snaps and be fine for you. I just I mean, I want to see it to believe it really more than anything. But just as yeah, I agree with everything Nick just said. I think it's the biggest hole on the Cowboys roster right now and to get you know, to go back to Bradley and I I'm really excited about the pick. I think they

got great value for him. But for my money, I don't think there is a position in football where it is harder to hit on somebody that's not a top tier pick. You know, Like go through the list of great defensive ends and find me the guys that were drafted outside the top like fifty or sixty picks. There aren't very many. This is not a position like wide receiver where you can find a pro bowler an undrafted

free agency. If you can bend the corner and rush the passer, NFL teams are going to find you and draft you highly. John Ledyard, he's a great draft guy. On Twitter, he put out a list, you know, twenty seventeen, we talked about that pass rusher class as the way we talked about this year's receiver class, like there were so many good ones, whether you want to talk about Miles Garrett, Solomon Thomas at the top, of it, obviously

Taco Charlton and TJ. Watt, But the list just goes on and on, and three years later, Miles Garrett, who was the number one overall pick, and TJ. Watt are the only good ones. They're the only good ones that came out of that entire class. So I hope Bradley and I is great, but history suggests that it's very

hard to pull off. The one thing I will say is I love the fact that Tyrone Crawford is not It doesn't look like he's gonna be one of those guys having to jump between defensive end and defensive tackle. I actually would like to see him as a starter. And if you could get to a situation where he and Tank are your two starters, then you've got a situation where you can take Alden Smith and Randy Gregor

and make them situational pass rushers. I really love that because then you can just take advantage of the athleticism of those two guys, especially coming out coming back to football after being out for so long. You're not putting a full full load on them, uh to initially have to do everything they can come in. They can just use their their athleticism in order to try to get to the quarterback. I think that helps this team. Um, and then you see where where other guys can fit in,

where Dorn's armstrong can fit in. Nick, I know, and I'll let you talk a little bit about Jalen Jelks, but I think he's a guy that that maybe a lot of people don't talk about, but but maybe he has some some ability and maybe a guy that that

can factor into this. Yeah. I kind of heard some things, uh this offseason, dating back to last year, that that they had kind of maybe the staff had somewhat regretted putt putting him on ir uh for for the whole season, hoping that maybe they could just work through his injury and maybe he could give them something there at the end of the year. But um, you know, he's just he's a player that he's got good size to him

and you know, has some upside. But like Dave said, there's a reason why he was drafted, uh you know, or wasn't drafted all actually, Um, I forget was he a seventh round pick? Yeah? Okay, okay, so they all kind of they fly in together a little bit. When when you when you're talking about the end of the draft, but yeah, there were some reasons why he like he fell as well, so it'll be an uphill battle for him.

Joe Jackson, Uh, you know, but you just hope that any of those guys stick and the Cowboys have some you know, undrafted defensive ends as well that you know, maybe they'll they'll factor in pretty quick. And then I was gonna say, another thing that makes me wonder is, Okay, let's say your guy right now is Dorian's Armstrong, or let's say Alden Smith and Randy Gregory come back in, but he takes them a few weeks of regular season to kind of get back in the groove and the pace.

What does that create for DeMarcus Lawrence? Then, I mean, looking at what he had last year when you had Robert Quinn and the kind of performance that Robert Quinn had. But at the same time, a lot of people and I'm not saying de Marcus Lawrence had a terrible season at all, but definitely did not perform to the expectation of most fans, you know, as far as when you look at the contract situation. But what happens there, how

does that affect the Marcus Lawrence in this season. So that creates some concerns there because the whole the whole line, you know, it's a chain effect. You know, you need all those pieces to come together in order for them to perform well. And when you have one that it's just kind of a little oxidated. I don't know the right word in English, but you know you need to add some grease on there to make it sound good

and look good. And sorry, that's a bad analogy, but you get My point is you need everyone to be very well greased up and yeah, to be able to work well together. So it does. The point is it does make me wonder about DeMarcus Loreans and how that position there affects his playing time and not time, but performance wise, I think that you also have to remember that the whole defensive line structure is different. You know, you're right about d law You did not have the

year that everyone expected. It didn't really meet what the Cowboys were paying for there, but as far as stats go, but the defensive tackle position is way different now. It's a bigger front in the middle, Dontari Poe, Gerald McCoy. So those two right there, I think it's going to create a different dynamic in what offenses have to look

at and go, all right, let's pay attention here. They didn't have the beef inside that they do now, so that that might create different challenges for opposing offensive lines as opposed to saying double team d law We're not worried about the guy on the other side. They have to worry about the middle now. And not only that, but I think I also think that Gerald McCoy will be a a bigger presence in the pass rush than what you were getting from Malie Collins at the three techniques.

So I think that combined with DeMarcus Lawrence and then whatever you can get on the outside. Let's assume that those guys get reinstated, and now you've got those guys being able to flip in during pass rush situations. They may be able to generate the kind of pass rush that they need and that they have they weren't consistently

able to generate last year. Amber, did you have something. No. I was gonna say, it sounds good, it looks good, you know, when you started picturing these guys lined up together. But the fact that I haven't seen it happen yet, I haven't seen them in action just yet. It's kind of hard to fully imagine, you know, what this exactly gonna look like. But as of right now, it does sound great and I'm excited for it. But we'll see what happens when they get on the field. All right,

we're gonna take our final break. When we come back, Amber has a game for us. She's gonna have throw some questions at the crew and we'll see what you guys have to say about that well when we come right back. This is Dallas Cowboys dot com Radio. I want to use what the pros use. How about the official men's skincare brand or the Dallas Cowboys Jack Black. Right now, you can get the Jack Black Starter, a curated collection of Cowboys locker room favorites, for just ten

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and Amber has a game for us. Amber, what do you have? Well, it's not much of a game. But I since we haven't you know, we don't have the ability to take phone calls or anything, I did pull up some questions that the fans have been sending in and I thought we would get through some of these. So to start off, we already talked about the drafted guys,

but we haven't really discussed the undrafted list. Out of those undrafted guys, who would you say would be an intriguing guy or someone to watch for this training camp? Anytime someone that catches your attention, anytime you're talking undrafted free agents, I'm I follow the money because they give the most money to the guy they're the most intrigued by. So for them to supposedly give a one one hundred thousand dollars signing bonus to Rondelle Carter out of James

Madison is crazy. If you think back a few years, they signed an undrafted receiver by the name of George Farmer. They gave him fifty grand and that was like the story of the year, Like everybody wanted to talk to this guy because he was the big money receiver. They gave Carter double that. And I'm I'm the guy that just said you don't find good pass rushers an undrafted free agency. But if the Cowboys think that highly of him,

I am intrigued by what he can do. Yeah. I don't have the list in front of me, but I think there's a safety out there, maybe Luther Kirk, maybe he's his name. Yeah, he's the only safety on the Illinois state. So you're talking about that type of level that means and a lot of times when you get a lower level safety, they could play corner um And you know, I remember there were some players that Cowboys drafted a long time ago that that played division and

they could play corner. They have that much skill. But if you put them at corner, they're just gonna shut down that side and they'll never play. So you put him at safety where they can go and make plays and I believe he does that. For at Illinois State. He's the only safety that's been added in the rookie class, So you know, I think he'll have an opportunity unless they make more moves, but he'll have an opportunity to

do some things. You know that, I actually would think Rondelle Carter just because I agree with Dave on the money, I also look at the flip side of that. Dave just said, getting a defensive end that's not a top defensive end, the likelihood of them actually doing anything of consequences is probably pretty low. So so yeah, he's probably the guy you keep an eye on, just because they were so hard. They went so hard after him in

order to get him onto the team. But to be honest with you, I don't I don't really know that any of those guys really stands out to me as a guy that I think has a great shot. This is not a team I don't think, based upon what they did in the draft and based upon what they get in free agency, I don't think this is a team where there's going to be a lot of opportunity for young undrafted free agents to even make this team. So I don't really know that there's that any of

these guys really end up making a difference. At this point, I think the best option is trying to get on the practice squad and seeing if you can be or becoming a special teams type player, because I just don't know that there's enough room on this team for those

guys to actually make him. Little backstory there on Rondelle Carter. Carter, he was a guy that they were thinking about drafting in the seventh round, but they took his teammate Ben Denucci, and so it probably helped Carter to not be drafted because then he gets a high signing bonus for undrafted guy, over one hundred thousand plus part of his salary is guaranteed UH in the season, so that's how much they're

expecting him to be a part of things. I don't think he would have gotten some of that if he was picked in the seventh round. So sometimes it helps to not be drafted. Then you can pick your spot and pick your price. I got a I got another name I want to throw out there. This is intriguing. Maybe I'm just too much of a football nerd. But Shiwo alone Lua, the fullback running back out of TCU.

He's a fullback. I get it. We haven't seen the Cowboys use a lot of fullbacks, but dude, he's definitely intriguing. Dude is six three, two hundred and thirty pounds. Uh. TCU gave him the rock like he I think he had five hundred yards last year. He runs a four to six forty at that size, which is pretty impressive. Um. You know, I know Jimazola Wally's on the team, so that's that's gonna make it tough for him. But I'm

not gonna be shocked if that's a guy. You know, if we play preseason games, he's gonna be the star of a preseason game when it's the fourth quarter. Yeah, yep, because he can definitely run at I think he's a big running back more than he was a fullback. Yeah, maybe that's how they're gonna play him. But you're right, Dave. He got the ball a lot and he was doing it at TCU when he was eighteen years old as a freshman. He was a four year guy there and

he was running over people. Um as a freshman. So yeah, I'm actually surprised that he was an undrafted free agent. Now can Can we pronounce his name all the time. I don't know he had a nickname. I'm not gonna lie to you. I pulled it up on my computer before I said it, so I hope hopefully I didn't get it. Well. It just makes me think of, um, what was the guy that got last year? I think he was that we were all really intrigued about, and then they ended up cutting him. And then we saw

him last year back from Alabama. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, boo yeah he was a yeah yeah. It reminds me of that. You know, you were intrigued by him, and then at the end of the day, cut gun and see you and then that's pretty much it tough business. And then and then first quarter they couldn't tackle him. Yeah, go ahead. No. I just that's what kind of my point about Bradley, and I's like, if you're drafted outside the top four rounds, I would just temper my expectations

about what's going to happen. And I mean, I'm not trying to sound like a hater, but that's just math. Yep, were you gonna say something else? Nick? I was I was saying about both Scarborough. Yeah, cut, you're gone, see you later. We'll see you down the road until we get to Detroit, and then we can't tackle you for the whole first quarter, and then you look like bow Jackson running around there. Yeah, it's like, oh, yeah, that's the guy we cut. Yeah, and then and then Cowboy

fans are like, stupid Garrett for cutting this guy. He's gonna go to the Hall of Fame, you know. All right? So, out of the draft picks, which one would you say it would be a Day one starter? Lamb for sure, right, Yeah, that's high from him, because that one's kind of obvious, But that's high from him. When you look at the rest of the drafted guys, who would you think would

be capable of being a Day one starter? Capable is the only one, right, well, not capable, because a lot of these are capable, but that will actually beat a day one starter. And I can see I can see the hot take artists on Twitter already hating on this draft class, because honestly, I think Lamb is the only guy that I expect to start right away. I think Diggs could, but I don't think it's fair to just

say he absolutely should beat out these three veteran NFL cornerbacks. Four. Really, if you throw Warlie in there so to expect him to beat them out from day one, I'm not saying he can't, but I don't think it's fair that he should. Same thing goes for Neville Gallimore. I mean, he's not gonna beat out Jerald McCoy. And I know a lot of people talk about Tyler beatish, but I would have to see that to believe it as well. That doesn't mean they're not good. It's just hard to be a

day one starter in the NFL. I mean, let's let's not forget that that you know, and you guys know where I stay on this. I didn't think it was as great as everyone said, but there's they did have talent last year. I don't think they were the most talented team in the league and all that, but they have talent. It's hard to come in as any draft pick and and be you know, and knock people out of spots. I think, Dave, you make a good point

there with a beaddish. I mean, he, okay, fourth round pick, Remington Award winner is the best center, and now can you beat out a journeyman center who continues to sign one year deals and Joe Looney, I doubt it. I doubt he can, And so that just goes to show just how tough it is to break in there. And if the Cowboys don't start out in three three wives in the first play of the season in LA as Dave predicts or whatever, then ceedee. Lamb won't be starting

at wide receiver. Now, technically he'll be your third receiver, but that doesn't necessarily mean he will be the starter. Does he run out of the fire in the starting lineup when they blow a fire? You know, I don't know. If they open the season and the multiple tight end set, I'm going to be beside myself. I will be unhappy. Even Lamb could come on the next play, I won't care.

I'll be so pissed off. Yeah, and I'll say this too though, I think the fact that they that that we have all of this stuff going on with COVID, that's that's keeping the players from being in person at the facility. I think that also helps. I mean that also hurts these rookies being able to come in and

immediately be starters. I think there's gonna be a premium on that value that that veteran experience, right, because they've done it, they know what they're doing um and and for rookies, it's always going to be a learning curve when it comes to to acclimating from college to the NFL game. So I don't. I don't expect that anybody other than Cebe Lamb, and Cebe Lamb's coming in your

third wide receiver. So I don't. I don't expect there's any of these guys that are immediately going to be Day one starters outside of Lamb getting that third wide receiver role. I don't want to just I don't want to write Digs off completely, though, like I think that's possible, but again I don't. I don't think it's fair to expect that from him before he even practices in the NFL. What I think is possible is that by mid season

Diggs as your starter. I don't think there's a huge possibility that going into the season Game one, under the restrictions that we have right now, I have a hard time thinking Game one Digs as your starter over those, like you said, over all those veteran guys you already have there. Now, he might he might be a guy that can come in when you go to three three cornerbacks. I just have a hard time thinking he's gonna be ready to be a day one starter on the opening

day of the season. Yep, all right. Well, with every season comes new expectations. Every year, you know, fans get excited all over again because of X, Y Z, and then you think, oh man, this is it. This is the year we're making it to the Super Bowl, We're winning, blah blah blah. Okay, with that excitement comes the new coaching staff. Obviously, we haven't seen much. The Cowboys have not practice, we haven't been on a fel, we haven't

played a single game. But based on the things we have seen so far and heard so far, what are your first impressions of Mike mccartthy and what he's doing here in Dallas. Well, I think that what he's doing is it is what he said, is that he's gonna you know, he's looking at taking the best players. She's not weirried so much about what the scheme looks like. He's taking the best players. We saw that formula in

the draft as well, so we saw him. They stuck to the board for the most part, and they let the scouts do the work and then they followed it and they picked really good players. And now we'll see how. You know, they've got really good ingredients. They didn't go with the store brand. They went with the best brand. Now let's see if at what the chefs look like, if they can go cook the meal, but they've got

the top end ingredients. Yeah, I just think he's I mean, he's hit every correct note to this point, like from the opening press conference, and no idea how it will play out on the field. But I've been so refreshed by what they've done. I mean, going back to the Andy Dalton thing. They do not do that. They do not do that. Last year with Jason Garrett, they do not. Cooper rush is still here. No disrespect to him, he's a nice guy. But again stepping outside your comfort zone

to improve your roster. Stealing this stat from our friend Bobby Belt, they spent more money on outside free agents this year than the last two years combined. They have changed up their process. It's very obvious drafting Cede Lamb. I think I think they might have drafted Lamb even with Jason Garrett. I don't think it's fair to say they wouldn't have done that, because if when the draft grade is that absurdly high. I don't think even Jason Garrett gets in the way of that. But it's still

been a very refreshing offseason. It gives me a lot of high hopes and you know, we'll see where it goes from there. You know, the biggest thing that I think Mike McCart he has done that's made probably most

people excited about him is he's been different. That's the thing, like we look at, you know, kind of his demeanor from that first press conference, and he's the first thing he says, isn't I don't really know what to do with my hands, And you juxtapose that to the guy that was here before that was so buttoned up and so polished and everything had to be exactly and exactly perfect, and it came off to a lot of fans and

media as being robotic rather than being authentic. And so initially we saw him as authentic, which was the exact opposite of the guy that he that he was replacing. And then you look at free agency, and they spend a little bit more in free agency and get some players. A typically in the last several years, they haven't been willing to do. And then you look at the draft and they're going with as McCarthy said, he just wants great players. So it looks like they just go with

great players. They don't care so much about the fit that would maybe make a guy a little higher on their board and maybe other boards, but they go with the guys the best available player as as as as what they've told us. And so once again it looks like everything that he's doing is just different than the previous guy. The interesting part will be to see if being different is necessarily better. We don't know that it's

going to be better. We know that it's different, and right now, that's all everybody was creating for something different. We just want to see something different because what we've been doing for so many years wasn't seeming to work. Yeah, now to add to that, we're running out of time here, and I'll save the rest of the questions for next time. But do you know me, You know I always try to read people and just observe people and see how

they behave and act and talk. Initially, with that first press conference that Mike McCarthy had, I was like maybe this. I liked him. He's funny. I like that you can see some human aspects of him. But then I was like, well, maybe he might be a little soft, like a little too nice for what I want on a head coach. But then through the time that we've been gone through right now, I've seen different little fiery moments where I'm like, Okay, yes, yes he has it in him. I see some aggressiveness

in there in him. So I'm excited to see that that combination of both. And like you said, Derek, just the fact that it's someone new, someone different, a new voice, and I think that hopefully the guys in the locker room, you know, when you bring someone else in that you're that you don't know, usually you tend to impress them and want to do better just to you know, be on their good side. But so I'm excited as far as the whole new change with everything. I don't know

what kind of guy Mike McCarthy is. I mean, I mean, I don't know how fiery or soft or whatever. But somebody told Jason Wittena he's not coming back. And I don't think it was Jerry. I mean, I mean, I mean, I think Jerry wanted him, but you know, somebody kind of said, hey boy, let's let's move on from from the greatest tight end that the Cowboys have ever had. So yeah, I don't know, thanks a lot. Yeah, that's

not a soft person. Doesn't do that for sure. Now, And you know what he's done that with Brett Farve. I mean he did that in Great Bay. So he's I think he's he's the guy. And you guys said it best. I mean it's changed. That's what they needed that, they needed a different voice, and he's definitely doing that and his actions are speaking louder than his words too. All right, guys, we appreciate you join us. We're gonna be back next week at our normal time. Remember tomorrow

we will have a schedule release. We'll let you guys know where the Cowboys will be playing and when they will be playing those games Tomar at six thirty Central PM here on Dallas Cowboys dot Com, on the Cowboys Mobile app, on the Connective TV app, and across all of our social media channels. Make sure you join us for that show where we release the schedule till then for Nick even Dave Helmet, Amber Garcia, I'm Derek Eagles from this has been The Break Live on Dallas Cowboys

dot Com Radio. This has been a production of Dallas Boys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.