Cowboys Break: Gathers & Gregory Starting?

What is going on? I was weird? All right, Okay, I'm not crazy. Then, welcome guys. Derek is here. He's gonna be joining us as a special guest today. And hey, are you happy? Are you having a good day? Great? Smile Dave? How about you? I'm fantastic, sick. Thank you. It freaked me out too, For whatever that's worth. That was every day, Like I think every day we can start all the time, every show, I think both you guys, like at the beginning of every show, we just want

to see you smile? Right, I smile all the time? I do. We need to get there, we go, But that's not all the time. I smile all the time. And Nick, I don't know, like he's got that frown right now, Like this team's owing two in the preseason, what's there to smile about? Okay unless you unless you got red news about Earle? What are we even talking about the regular season? And we get to like, oh and three, zero and four, then I get it, we'll

all be in here frown. I was joking. But this team's two and oh in the first time you go, and it's small about it. All right, we're gonna jump into some musy music stuff. First, we're gonna talk about the things that happened yesterday a little bit, and then I wanted to try to answer as many questions as we can, as far as people sending those questions on Twitter at Cowboys Break or you can call us at um can't can count. I can tell us the number

words the number eight eight five five to two ninety seven. Again, that's eight eight eight eight five five to two nine seven. Okay, Well, there you go. So you call us and I'm doing this or trying to do this just because we keep talking about the same thing over and over and that is creepy that is creepy. It's weird. I'm not used to that. That's the Garrets, that's the Garrett smile stopping, stopping. Okay, that makes me clown smile. You guys gonna ask me

some more questions. I hate that I don't want to answer. And yeah, yeah, okay, let's get the safety subject out of the way and just jump right into it. They ended up signing Jerome Johnson and gave him number twenty nine. So does that change any of the talks that we've been having as far as, oh, well, maybe get Earl Thomas here. Well, they ended up giving that number up to this guy. It changes absolutely nothing. Yeah, Lily's number is given to Doran's armstrong and he's not going to

keep it, so you know. And the thing is, if you get Earl Thomas, not only is this guy giving up his number, but his lock or everything else. He's probably like that. No disrespect, no disrespect intended to JJ Wilcox, but he's one of the nicest guys that I've covered with this team. But I mean, if another team signed JJ Wilcox, just that's what we're talking about here. It's like, well, this this JJ Wilcox guy. Is he gonna keep you

from doing anything out? No, he's a journeyman, veteran guy who you didn't pay a lot of money to whom if I could see him making the fifty three, but I wouldn't bank on it. If John Johnson gets cut and ends up joining the break and sits over there, we would still have zero interceptions as a group. Jeez, I make me happy. Thanks right. I think he's just a special team he was. He was Chris Richard's Cavan Frasier in Seattle. That's what he was. He's a special

teams guy who's still in trouble. Come week one of Xavier Woods isn't playing. Yeah, yeah, you could argue you're in trouble if he is. All right, I want to say it again, saying, well, it doesn't believe in the Cowboys. I didn't haven't seen him. He has started a game. I'm not sure the Cowboys had an event today. Is Stephen Jones was out? I guess at and T Stadium actually Texas Live, which I'm very excited. Okay, So for BBR stuff, well, I think I don't know why they

did it there. They just did. But it's the new indoor happening party spot that they built right between the Rangers new Ballpark in at and T Stadium. How's that gonna fit Cowboy games? They don't gonna fit Ranger games when they start playing. Means I don't know, but I assume it's going to give people a place to hang out, place to go like a bar. I mean, is it is go hang out? It's the new thing, you know.

I know a lot of our listeners aren't in Dallas, but if you are, if you've ever been to Legacy Hall down the road, have you, It's it's a new thing. I know. They have something like this in Philly. It's something you see in situations like this, a lot where it's at one building that encompasses about eighteen different things. There's like would tell them about this, Yes, there's seven. It's kind of like it's like all for food ball

specifically for like tailgating. There's like seven restaurants. There's a few bars, there's two stages. There's an outdoor stage and an indoor stage. Like it's basically just a one stop shop for you're going to the game later, here's where you can hang out and give us your money until then. I'm No, I'm one hundred percent like good business. LSU's playing out there in two weeks, and I do not want to hang out in a one hundred degree parking lot. I would much rather be in there. So you got

options for foods. You can jump around get different kinds of food. Sorry, I'm not trying to do a commercial for Texas Live, but we do commercials for everything else. It's pretty badass, honestly. Like, if you're coming to a game this year, whether you live in Dallas or anywhere else, it's a cool little spot to go before the game that's going to be open, but the stadium won't be open for years I think tears. Well, I think twenty twenty, so a year and a half. Whatever. Yeah, any Stephen,

I'm sure. I'm sure Stephen was brought to his attention the whole question about safety again, I'm assuming, so any different answer than what we've been here in so far. No, he said, you know, we signed to he said, probably don't expect to see Xavier Woods before this preseason's over. Maybe, you know, he's saying we have to allow for the possibility that he's not ready for the season opener. But

that's our hope UM. And you know again, you know, I feel like people expect us as reporters to just hammer him with questions about Earl Thomas, but he can't. Even if we did, he he can't. And you know there's some off the record conversations that happen when those types of things go down. But uh there he's he can't talk about that. There's been no progress in that, UM, but he did. You know, in those type of situations, he does allow that. You know, you're always looking at

you're looking at ways to improve your team. I mean, he says talent acquisition is three hundred and sixty five days a year. I think he says that three hundred and sixty five days a year. I really think, you know, I think we've all we've covered the Earl Thomas thing enough that, yeah, we know that it's out there. It's certainly not impossible. But other than that, I don't know what to tell you, but I think this team is going to be looking for ways to address that between

now and roster cuts. I think, you know, that's a prime spot where I think maybe you trade a six or seventh round pick for a guy if you see something you like or you sign. You know, if a team parts ways with a veteran for money reasons or something, maybe you pick him up. I do think they're going to be looking at that. But for the time being, this is it. It sounds like they're going to hold tight with what they've done here and hope that Woods

can be back sooner rather than later. Yeah, and moving on from that. Travis Frederick, he's a guy that has been out of practice for a little bit and at training camp went with disgusting asnar. He went to LA to visit especialist. He's been having the stings is while you guys calling stingers on his neck. Anyways, Joe Looney has stepped in. He's done a great job. The Cowboys brought in and you guys to kind of ease the

load on Looney. But in the meantime, Travis, we come back here now we hear that he's still getting some work done or like getting some work done analyzed. How big the issue is and when he last time talked, it sounded like it wasn't a big deal and it's just like, oh, precautionary, I just need to rest. Does these new reports of just doing different exams concern. You guys, I get more and more worried as the days go by. You know, the first I was like, okay, whatever, he's

getting a second opinion. People do that all the time. But this is day three where people have kind of been talking and asking about this, and the Cowboys don't have any firm answers. Stephen said this morning, he said he's still getting evaluated. I don't want to comment on it until we've heard that. He did say he's hoping that they get closure on this today. He said, maybe by later today we'll have, you know, some information that we can share. You know, people have asked Jason Garrett,

They've asked Stephen. I think they've asked asked Jerry too, you know, a surgery something and just no comment. Obviously it's a medical thing that's not surprising. But I mean until kind of like Zach Martin, you know, they said on Saturday night, we think he's gonna be okay. Well that's great, but I'd like some concrete confirmation that that's true. And that's kind of where I am with Frederick right now. I will say this though, I'm concerned about just anytime

something like this lingers where you don't really know. There's still that possibility that it could be something worse than it is, but I think when you consider the totality of what you have at the backup position, I think this is actually one of the positions on this team, and they're on a whole lot of them, but I think this is one of the positions on this team

where I feel pretty good about the backup. He's not Travis Frederick, but I feel pretty good that if he's surrounded by the guys they have on that line and the rest of that line's intact, I feel pretty good about what Joe Looney can do. The part worries you is you've now taken your swing guard and your backup center, and he's now a starter, which means if any one

of those three positions goes down, you're in trouble. And that's the part that worries me way more than if I gotta go with Looney for a bit without instead of Travis Frederick, Well and Psych Martin. He's expected to be back for the first home season. I can't even say that word season opener, home season opener game. There he goes season opener. He's expected to be back, so Nick, how much that does that concern you? Now that if you did have Travis Frederick Allen, let's say Zach is

not ready by that first week, now you got two starters. Yeah, yeah, that's a loss. I think, you know for the game if you if you go to Carolina and you don't have Zach Martin or Travis Frederick, I think you just start off and one for the season, um and got some studs on that line up there. It would be

really a tough game because he does. You know, what you count on for this team is to be able to run the ball, be able to be you talk about Dak friendly, that's not very friendly for your quarterback because so you're gonna sit him that game, Like you just be like, I don't even want to throw him out. I'm not sitting for that game. And I don't know if he's gonna be sitting for this this next game actually know which I know Dave would be excited to hear.

But we said that's that's something else Stephen talked about that we can get let's talk about that in a second. But I just think you know from a line for the line calls, uh, you know that that's something that goes unnoticed sometimes. I think Frederick does a great job. I think Zack Martin would take that over if Frederick. UM, not to say Looney can't do it, but if you lose both those guys, that would be tough right there.

I don't I mean, because you're talking about signing people, that's gonna affect your roster because you have to sign or keep more people just for that. Joe Looney has looked really good. He's had a great preseason. I feel great about him. Um, I would feel good if he had to step in because Travis twisted his ankle or something. I can't. I can't go with you because and and this purely speculation on my part. I want to make

that clear. But like you're talking about neurological stuff here with the stingers like his this is if if he misses time because of this, I don't think it's going to be a couple of games. Well he like it.

Just that sounds like a big deal to me, Like when you're talking about your neck and your spine and you're I mean, I've had stingers and I'm just saying it's that that's one of those things that it's just rest and everybody's bodies different what I've been told, and so it just's my point though, is it was it was stingers on Wednesday of last week when we were out in LA and now we're on day four of Travis Watch. Like if if something more is coming out

of this, then I again speculation on my part. It sounds more serious than stingers. It sounds like you're saying you think that it could be more than it. It certainly could. I guess what I'm saying is based on what we know at this point, which is the way they've diagnosed or at least described it is at its stingers. If it was purely what we know and nothing more, and it wouldn't still be an issue, right, you wouldn't keep getting second This is not surprising, not true though.

I don't think that's true because I think when it comes to stingers, they're not as as black and white as you think. It's not like I tore my knee toward the a cl on my knee. Like when you have stingers, there's a lot of different tests you go through to kind of figure out the severity, to figure out like is it a specific disc and how how you know what's causing that that problem to go from your neck all the way down your arm. Like it's not as simple as just a simple evaluation. Here's the

black and white of it. I get what I just I get what you're saying. But he saw somebody who's supposedly like the best at this stuff in California. And I again, y'all know me, like, I'm a half I'm a glass half empty person all the way. So I'm just I'm bracing myself for it to not be great news man, that's me. Maybe this is a Witten moment. He didn't like what he told him, and so he's looking for somebody else to tell them what he wants to hear. Like we saw that with Jason Witten when

he had was that with the spleen. Yeah, when you know the guy, the guy was like, yeah, you can't play, and he's like, well, let's go talk to somebody else. And he found somebody that would tell him, yeah, you can't play. So this is the opposite. Though he got good to you saying, oh, all you need to do. And Steve Stephen Jones said this morning he's still feeling the effects of that. He's still dealing with some symptoms, which he hasn't practiced at this point in a week,

which that seems troubling to me. So again, I don't know anything purely speculation. I want to make sure that's clear. I'm trying to be responsible, but I feel like maybe that's just my nature, but I am bracing for them

to tell us something that's not great. Definitely, longer this thing goes on, the more we all probably think is something extra is happening here, just because it keeps taking longer and longer, right, which means they're trying to figure things out, right, right, So right Again, if it was just cut and dry, got a stinger, you need to rest to be fine, we wouldn't We wouldn't have talked about this past last week. This is not a surprise

at all. If you watch him block, there's several times when he's doing one on one and he's getting beat, he's getting pushed back, and then all the sudden he's not anymore. He arches his back and he kind of just digs in and gets his bass under him and he just kind of contorts his whole back and it

just stops. This guy thinks he's you know, Richard ashe or somebody whoever, you know, was just making a push Antoine Woods and then just stops, and you know, and he's been doing that for three or four years now,

and he just wondered about the lower back. But he also was getting beat a lot more than he ever had, And I think it kind of makes sense now that you know he wasn't one hundred percent healthy, because he doesn't get beat like that, especially the guys that probably won't be in the NFL, which yeah, I mean again, we'll have to wait and see what they say when they say it, hopefully it's by the end of today,

but it's it's something to watch. And Joe Looney has been great, but Travis Frederick is still, you know, one of the five or six best players on this team for sure, and that would not be great if it is a serious injury. Zack Martin is still pending because he's still under recovery. Doesn't sound as major as we thought he would be, but he's still on a waiting

status now. As far as Cole Beasley, we've been talking at him for a long time wondering why he hasn't been on the field and is it more than just an injury. Blah blah blah. Now he's back. Yesterday he did some things out of practice. He's coming back from

a growing injury. I wanted to see based on what you guys saw so far and yesterday practice it wasn't all that because again they're not fully pattis nothing like training camp anymore or backing Knox nartive, which is sad, but but he did some things and just wanted to get a quick evaluation of him and his comeback. I might be in the minority on this. I know he's

never been to a Pro Bowl. I know he didn't have a great year last year, But like I lump Cole Beasley in that category where I'm just like, okay, September ninth, you're going to go. You know, he looked fine to me. I don't know. You don't need to play in the preseason at all. Yeah, that's safe. Yes, trick them all out. Yep, thank you, thank you for doing that for me. Build the Dallas Cowboys dot com website team for the preseason game rather than players, like

just keep the players in the locker room. Yeah, yeah, all right, you know, throw Marchhie. Murnoch's not here. Anymore, throw McAll McKay out there. I'll write a story about it. It'll be fine, all right, Okay, let's take our first break. When we come back, we're gonna get into Rico gathers taking reps with the first team off Ricko. It can be hard to find the right resource for learning about

important financial matters. You search how to build savings, you end up reading about the one weird ingredient from supermarkets that can make you taller. That's why Bank of America build Better Money Habits dot com, a safe little corner of the Internet for answering your financial questions. Full of simple videos and tips, Better Money Habits can show you how to make the most of your money without resorting to random searches that always seem to lead to unbelievable

photos of childhood stars grown up. To learn more, visit Better Money habits dot com. I definitely have an Instagram foody thing, but the low light camera on my new Samsung Galaxy S nine from AT and T is getting me a whole new world of likes and chairs, baskets of bread by candlelight, colorful fruit plates in full sun, even a dimly lit cobb salad was recently hailed as

a masterpiece. Come in now and ask how to get half off the new Samsung Galaxy S nine from AT and T. AT and T won't for your thing, That's our thing, Limited time only. See store for details or att dot com. Slash. Samsung du Lapertare supports F one five mode and if two for mood. Du Laperatur is installed on the rear camera. Oh I am craving a Doctor Pepper. I got some soda. I asked not for soda, I asked for ice cold, cravable Doctor Pepper. Its flavor is more one of a kid been a foretold sloth

with a thirst for speed. Stop settling for soda and start demanding Doctor Pepper. I love sloths. Will you crave a Doctor Pepper? Nothing else will do. Grab an ice cold twenty ounce Doctor Pepper today, Doctor Pepper, the one you crave. To work this big land, you need equipment with values rooted as deep in texts as soil as you are. Like John Deer compact tractors with a six year power training warranty, h big features that help you work less so you have more time to do what

you love. John Deer was first in the Texas fields, and we're proud to be on the field as the official agg and turf equipment of the Dallas Cowboys. Find Texas sized deals at my John Deer Dealer dot com. Slash football terms, conditions, exclusions, and warranty limitations apply. So can you love for details? Back to the break, All right, we are back and jumping into Rereco gathers the guy that we also keep talking about. And now he's been

practicing with the first team offense. Oh what's going on? So they Oh, we do we have to do? We have to do this. I'm just saying, so thoughts on him getting some reps in the first team offense. And again we're getting close to the date line of when cuts need to be made. And Rico has been one of those guys who he has been making plays. He has been catching the balls and at least keeping it very intriguing for all of those and we talked about

it yesterday a lot. But yeah, put him in the first team, go up against Caroline, I mean the Cardinals defense, Arizona's defense. Let him go in there and face guys that are going to be in the NFL and not out jump players that probably won't be in the league and just put the competition up a little bit more for him see how he does in the games. I don't know who's going to be around him for this game, but he'll have some some players out there that he knows.

That's what I want to jump into that real, not to just completely derail you. We can talk about Rico, I promise, But um, I get interesting because Stephen Jones is the second person I've heard say this now, which is, well, you know, the first team played a lot more than we thought they would on Saturday night in the first place, like they had something. I think they said they had twenty reps planned out for him, and they were at like eighteen when they started that third possession, and then

they went on a sixteen play drive. So they went well over the threshold that they had set in the first place, because you're not going to pull him out during a successful drive anyway. And so I wonder how much we're gonna see these guys, especially, I mean, Zach and Travis aren't going to play. You guys know how I feel, But I wonder how they I mean, you said you think Dak's gonna play a little. I think he plays a little bit. If he does, I can't

imagine it's more than like a series or two. But you know, I mean, what if what if Frederick doesn't play the opener? I would like for Dak and Looney to kind of get a few reps in together, which they have. They got thirty nine on Saturday, I got something the other night. Let's get some more in. Now. Would you want to see Ezekiel Elliot? Would you expect him to play, because this is the one game that in the preseason her Yeah, I do, Actually, I know I kind of want to see him too, just for

a little bit. You can make a case for every I mean every for every guy that gets hurt in the preseason, you can make the case. But if a guy rushes for one hundred and fifty yards in the opener, I guarantee, maybe you can say, well, you know, he had a few snaps, he wasn't rusty. I mean, you can make a case. Again, it wouldn't do It goes along with the same thing of Dak and what's happening

in the old line. It's like, okay, do you still want to go a little bit, just a little I need a series or two we'll see how it goes. Zeke is a sturdy dude too. Like it would be one thing if we were talking about a guy that looks like Lance Dunbar that you're like, ad, I don't know, he's kind of slight. You didn't want to take a few hits on him as possible. Zek's a sturdy guy. I don't think if you give him a series just to get hit a little bit, like he hasn't been hit,

He doesn't get hit in practice. Just give him, give him a series, run a couple of times, and I think it just gives him an opportunity to just kind of experienced that feel, like getting a little and taking a blow, getting going down, getting back up. Like, I just think it gives gives him a little feel, gives him a little taste before you get to the regular season. And I understand what Dave saying, like you would be you would be mortified if you ended up losing your

running back for the season. Knock on wood. Yeah, but I also think this is football, and the other side of me says, you can't run from that in football because that's the nature of football. And I get you know what, it makes a lot of difference if you lose him in a regular season versus a preseason game. But I do think giving him a couple of snaps, Yeah, so how many, how many, how how many possessions would

you give? I'd probably give him a series. I treat him like I treat everybody, all the starters in Week one, So preseason, at most, he probably gets sixteen snaps or maybe even as few as three. Yeah, he's probably gonna get at least two carries, anywhere from two to six carries. So we'll say we'll just average it out and say ten snaps, six touches, and then he's gonna sit on his butt for two weeks. And that's gonna make this

crazy difference. No, it's not gonna make it crazy. It's just gonna give him an opportunity to get a taste. That's it. That's all because guess what, guess what the whatever reps it that you've given these rook I mean, these vets through these last couple of weeks, it's the same thing. Like, is that going to make a huge difference? Maybe? Maybe not. The point is, you give him a little taste before you get to the regular season where it counts.

The offensive line. You know, they have to work in unison and work together, and they've got a rookie between them. I get you don't think the running back has to work in unison with them as well. You could just not cut me off before I'm deals my point. They got to do all that. The quarterback. Offensive line has to work because brought us would say offensive line has to work together. They got to do their thing. They got a rookie, the quarterback deaf. He's not in a

point where yeah, see, hey, there is good. You're talking about arguably the best running back in football, or certainly one of them who's in his third year and has gotten an overwhelmingly heavy workload in training camp, like they've been working that guy. They're not given a lot of reps to bow Scarborough and Darius Jackson, and yeah, it could help him, but again, risk reward, risk reward, and there's not a whole lot of reward and a hell

of a lot of risk. I think I refuse to believe that and snaps for one of the best running backs and football is gonna make that pick of it. Only thing we have it to judge it by is that every year, during the preseason starters play and what if for whatever amount of time they play, And so the coaches, the people that evaluate this stuff professionally think for some reason it makes a difference. Yeah, So I'm gonna trust that it makes some kind of difference to them.

Some reps it does make a difference. It's just not worth the risk, right well, And I mean to me, I look at it like you guys that both run you know, some half marathons, right yeah. And I mean, so that's the one thing I can kind of equate this too, or any kind of sport where you're not you haven't done it in a while. I would at least want a little bit of time before it really really counts, so you know, you don't have to run the whole thing, obviously, but you want to run a

little bit. You don't want when as soon as it's time to race. I haven't raced anything in a year, you know, I haven't run at all, And so I think that's kind of for me mentally. I would just be like, I got a few carries in that game against Arizona, not any but a few where I'm not going into Carolina and I haven't done anything since the Philly game last year, that would be my thing. It was just just I want I want five or six. So I'm not It's only been two weeks. It hasn't

been forty seven weeks. And even if it's not a lot, it's just a little taste, like it's just a little taste of taking that hit and going down and getting back up, like that's a part of it is just kind of set. If he's gonna be like I told you so, I understand it. But if I'm I'm done saying I told you so, because I say it every year and I'm always right, I'm always right. How's it. I was right about Romo. I approved my point. They got lucky, but Zack Martin got hurt last weekend, Zach.

They could have lost their best player for the year. So I'm usually right about this. But that's not the right because every team does it, and there's still teams that win the Super Bowl, like the team that won the Super Bowl last year, they did the exact same thing about four and one in the regular season in Week one. Since you've been I mean it's in the last five years, they're three and two. I think they've lost two openers every single team in the league does this.

Somebody still wins every year, so your point is not proven. You look across the league, there are tons of teams that go through the preseason, they play their starters. Every team plays are started. I don't think you can make that point without like going and breaking down how teams use their starters. And you mean to tell me there are teams that don't play their starters preseason. There are teams that play them a lot less. That's not the point because we're not saying playing a lot, we say

play him a series. You're saying they're teams that don't play their starters in the preseason. I think you just have to go back and see, like the top players of guys that don't play, and what do they do? How does how does their seasons start? I mean Emmett Smith, I don't think did much of anything in the preseason. Look at look at the runner in Pittsburgh the last couple of years. He's had a slow start because he hadn't been in training camp and hadn't played. Well. Okay,

that's a little bit different because he's not practicing. If Zeke was doing nothing, then I would agree with tour coming in here. Y'all want to see Zeke and Zeke should play against the Cardinals. Everybody, no crazy, everybody's in on that. Keep my all pros off the field. I think they heard exactly what you said. They're like, yeah, great, whatever, they're all in. They're all in playing. All right, let's

move let's move on. Let's move on. Let's get into Brandy Gregory, a guy that we didn't even talk about Rico. Thank god it worked, yes, version, very good diversion and he did that verse. We went on the whole rampage for last ten minutes. You don't want to talk about Rico. We can talk about Let's let's just finish him because he's one of those players that if he if he misses a block and the guy gets sacked, everyone in

the press box is gonna laugh. It's gonna be on everybody's little meme on their you know, on their Twitter, and oh, this guy's horrible. He's to be playing basketball in Europe. That's what's gonna happen. If he catches another touchdown pass or a touchdown pass, it's gonna be on memes on Twitter. And this guy's the next Antonio Gates. So he's one of those Everything that happens with him, it's just hot and cold. It's like he's he's great. You gotta keep him, or you gotta get rid of

this guy. You know, there's really no in between. So but here's the part that I still go back to him, or you and I were having this conversation a little earlier, When you look at a guy like Dalton Schultz, Guess what if he's out there, there's as much of a chance that he's gonna get tossed and they're gonna get to the quarterback as well. So I don't I don't. Really. It would be one thing if you had a roster of really well developed tight ends that you felt great about.

I don't think that's the case here. All of them, to some degree, you're trying to prove something or another. Jeff Swaim is the only one that really has any experience, right, And so I don't think it's a situation where where you're you're really looking at this and saying, we've got to have these other guys because they're so so much more experience or there's so much better at this particular

thing than him. I think they all got warts and and quite frankly, the one thing that he does that none of them can do is catch passes in an athletic way that he does. And so if none of them can do that, but they're all a little shaky blocking, yeah, what are you really losing? And I don't mind cutting the fourth round pick, not in this case, not in a in a case like this, it doesn't bother me at all because I already feel like I won. I've

got a seventh round pick that's starting. I've got an undrafted free agent that's going to be a backup that I like. And I've got a sixth round pick I took off of a basketball team that's gonna make the team. So I feel like, yes, you kind of wasted the resource here, but you've actually got three over here. That's that, and that's my thought. I don't think they believe that way. They put a lot of hard work into drafting these I would have to see that to believe it, just

with how much they pride themselves on their draft. It's been ten years since they drafted or twelve years since they cut a fourth round pick. I got no way to have four then, I just think, which I honestly do that. Yeah, I think you can do that. And I just I feel like this guy's gonna end up. Somebody's gonna be willing to say, we'll deal with the warts because we're gonna get some the Let's say, Carolina is this Sunday. This Sunday is Carolina? They keep four?

Who who is your third tight end in active? Jarwin? Sorry? Yeah, I never I never answer with what I would do. I'm saying what I think they are. Okay, Okay, I think that, and I agree with you. I think Brian's taught you that, Like which is which is what want to hear to hear there's a time to offer your opinion,

but I think fans want to hear both. I think fans want to not only know what the team, what they think the team's going to do, but also what your opinions are, because you guys are in a position to give opinion. Yeah, here's the thing. I don't think we've seen enough of Rico, Like they haven't put him out there enough to where we can fully say, all right, you know what, this is great, let's let's just keep it going. Or maybe this is just what he does a little bit of this now is that going to

fill you up. Maybe not, I don't know, but they just haven't given him yet enough time, enough playing time, And that's what I want to see, because again, amazing athlete, the body is incredible. As far as the position, he wouldn't have been able to make that catch that he made last week, and if he wasn't the type of guy that he is as big as he is. So so you want to see sixty snaps on Sunday night.

And I'm kind of talking about both sides of my mouth because earlier in the week I was like, well, you got to give those other guys options because they need to develop as well. But I'm starting to think you kind of need to figure out with him, and so in this situation, you would gain way more by giving him a full load because you're gonna have to make a decision specifically on him. So I would be okay with the idea of them just running him out

there for the whole game. I really would him and Schultz both, honestly, I mean, and whatever happened happens, But I'm not I'm not trying to put Swim and Jarwin in that Zeke category where I don't want to see him, But I think I need to see Schultz and ricco more than I want to see Swim and those who are making the team. Yeah, right, do y'all want to see Randy? Yeah? Well, yeah, you want to see him. Brandy Gregory has one career sack. He's not Zeke Elliott,

not on that level. Coach ahead, I was going to talk about what the coach, coach Marion he said yesterday, or he talked about the grade that coach gave him, which was a C minus for a guy that we kind of all been praising as far as man, yeah, come back, I mean what kind of comes back I've had. I've had a lot of parties after a C minus. Man, I'm okay with that, as long as what did you say? Even said like D for diploma, right, I said that all the time, Get you degrees is what he said.

Hell yeah, I said that too, D for diploma. I think a C minus and a guy who has shown a lot of good things right now, given the history that we know of him. So I don't think he played that great in the game, which I mean he was okay, He wasn't like a difference maker like we saw at a practice so I can understand why. I mean, that's a game grade. He wasn't really just pushing the pile back every time, but it was a little bit active. The ball got out quick, which is what you want.

So I mean, I don't think he played poorly C minus. He would he would have had a sack if not for a holding call on or false start start because they called they stopped the play here he zipped right around the corner. Yeah, But you know the interesting part about that is I would wonder if that C minus had anything to do with um. And I don't want this to sound bad. Let me quantify it. Let me

qualify it effort. And what I mean by that is, you know, they put a lot of stock in running to the play after you know, even if it's down the field, everybody charging to the play, and a guy like him that has not played a lot of football, they may be like, hey, we need more, we need more, and that that's a process that he's gonna have to

go through to get himself back into shape. That's the difference between being in shape and being in football shape is the ability to run full blast for and in play, go back to the huddle and then do it all over again and keep doing it over and over and guarantee there have been guys that have had two sacks in a game that have like a C. Yeah, that's a great point. We don't we don't hear the grades all the time, you know, I don't on a Scandrick he used to do that on the other side and

say Marinelli. I guess Marinelli offered that up like he was like, yeah, I gave him a C minus. Oh, Gregory, Okay. That they don't like to give out the grades. They don't like to talk about that stuff. Now. They don't put the report card up on the media to see. So you just see that would be every Thursday thing like would you get I thought I wrote it would

be funny. Actually yeah, but it's fird to say. We we've liked everything that we've seen from him so far and out of that game, even when he wasn't necessarily making a good play or like a play that was significant enough, we did see him or at least I did, running around and just taking off and maybe something that you were pointing out, making sure that he's going after that play, even the fact of him running after that, I I wasn't gonna do anything because he was It

just wasn't gonna get there. But he still had the effort to keep going for it and at least try and rush. And he's athletic ability. He's great compared to everybody else, like he's at the NFL football level right now. You could talk about the grade all you want. At the end of the day, if the Cowboys feel comfortable enough to basically move Tyron Crawford to defensive tackle, that tells you all you need to know about what they really think about where Randy Gregory is. Because I wasn't

expecting much this season. I think they expect he's going to be able to contribute starting out the season. I actually I wanted to talk more about that because Stephen Jones mentioned it this morning. But if you want to take a break first, we can. Yeah, yeah, we do that, all right, Yes, let's go ahead and take a break. We'll hit that and then we have a call waiting on us and a few fan questions. Cowboys fans know that the second best of anything simply won't cut it,

and your skincare should be no different. A long time locker room favored of the players and the official men's skincare brand of the Dallas Cowboys. Dallas based Jack Black is the number one best selling men's skincare brand in the country because we make products that help guys look, smell, and feel better. Visit get Jack Black dot com. Slash Cowboys to get ten is off your first order of

fifty dollars or more. Jack Black Look Good, Smell good, Feel good, official men skincare brand of the Dallas Cowboys. Star Sports Tours is the only official fan travel partner of the Dallas Cowboys, offering exclusive game weekend travel packages with sideline access and photo ops with current players, alumni

and cheerleaders. That's not all, though, You'll get to talk x's and os with Senior Director of Player Personnel Will McClay and of course with yours truly me, Brian broad Us you can trust the official fan travel partner of the Dallas Cowboys, and with us you'll travel like a pro. Visit Cowboys travel dot com to book your travel package today. Before there was a draft. You get sized up a cowboy by three simple factors. Decrease in his hat, the

bend of his brim, and his unbending attitude. A man Stetson didn't just protect him from what life throw at him, it projected a rugged, unstoppable spirit. Stetson hats are still American, made with pride. Right here in Texas. There's still the unofficial crowd of all self respecting Cowboys, and Stetson is proud to be on the field with America's team. Find a retailer nearest you at Stetson dot com slash Cowboys. What does it mean to be a Dallas Cowboys fan?

It means you've got the passion of the heart to do your part supporting the boys no matter what. That's why, when the game's on the line, you're on your feet, whether you're at home or in the stands. Actually, you're more than a fan. You are a member of Cowboys Nation. And so is AT and T doing their part to keep you connected to America's team all season law AT and T is a proud member of Cowboys Nation. Back to the break, All right, we are back, Dave. What

kind of underwhere are you wearying? O? God, how are you doing? I guess that's going on. I am wearing Tommy John underwear. As a matter of fact, Nobs, second day in a row, got my in the middle of my rotation, got the good underwear going. It's date night tonight. Yeah, I wish that would be fun. Okay, we don't need to get into that. Okay, Tommy John is amazingly comfortable. Am I appreciate you asking as I feel like I'm wearing nothing at all. It's great Tommy John dot com

Forward slash Cowboys. You can get twenty percent off your order. You can feel on top of the world like me. You can have beautiful women ask you what kind of underwear you're wearing. All you gotta do is go shop Tommy John. Is that why you get the question? Yeah, because they got nothing. It's got nothing to do with the read you know, So do that. Thank you, Thank you for that. All right before we got into break,

you were about to tell us something that you heard today. Yeah, no, Stephen Jones really kind of he dished for like fifteen minutes today and just you know, so, we've seen Tyrone Crawford play some tackle here in practice for the last week or so, and I asked him because you know, the problems that defensive tackle have been well documented. The

Randy Gregory story has been well documented. So I asked him, you know, is Tyrone playing tackle more about what you don't have at tackle or is it more about what you you have it end? And he said, you know, it's it's really a lot about what we have it end. And you know, we were talking about this off air just now. Nobody could have predicted in July that Randy

Gregory would even be practicing, let alone practicing well. And on top of that, I don't want to speak for y'all, but you know, going back to the Dalton Schultz thing, once you get to the fourth round, I assume you're probably not going to contribute in a big way. You know, that's kind of where the drop off is. I was wrong about Dorian's armstrong in that regard. I mean, he's still got to do in the regular season, but he looks he looks like a guy who can contribute right away.

I mean, I do think if we go back, and we had several questions, whether it be on here or what the guys that you're thinking are going to impact. And I mentioned him several times because I thought he would push Taco Charlton to a level that would be really good. I mean, and I think he's done that. And I think that they've all learned from DeMarcus as well. So I mean I thought they were gonna we were gonna see a little bit him. Not to this level. He's been stronger than I thought he would be as

a rookie. I mean, he's got upper body strength. You just don't see himing into the door, which makes me think next year he could be just a breakout player. And well just the other Another thing Steven said, which I think is important to note, Like people always want it to be black and white. I don't think Tyrone Crawford is just now an undertackle and that's all he's gonna be. Steve's Steven said, He's probably gonna do both. He's got the versatility to do that. He still plays

the run really well. He's still probably, I would guess, going to be a defensive captain. I think you'll see him play in two. But they've got two right ends that they didn't think they had when training camp started, So yeah, why not try to get him on the field especially, and we've seen that in practice. I think in nickel obvious pass rushing situations, if you can put Tyrone at three technique, that sounds pretty nice to me. He's a captain right now, and he's done everything they've

asked him to do. If if, and when he ever goes to another team and has that first interview, he'll probably talk about the frustration of being here and what you know, he got his body to the point where he is going to be a defensive end and then these guys blow up and now he got to slide inside and he's not. He doesn't look like a defensive tackle. He looks like an end. So, you know, it's just

kind of been a frustrating thing for him. If his versatility has kind of got the best at of him, and then he's an Now he's small playing tackle and he's not gonna you know, and all fans look at they don't look at that number. They look at his salary number, and I'm like, wow, where's the sacks? And so he's in a kind of a no win situation.

In my opinion, I'll eat some crow in that regard too, because in the offseason we even were like, he's not playing tackle, he can't play tackle, but he's versatile, and then I mean, the the blunt truth of the matter is if there's guys on the roster that look like they can rush the passer better than you. You're gonna you're gonna get moved or sad or whatever. I mean, that's just I mean, Randy Gregory looks the way he looks.

He's gonna get to play. But you know, Stephen Jones said this too, and to his credit, I think Tyrone Crawford just cares about winning games and contributing to a He's a great teammate. Oh he's he's And that's the reason why they can do this with him, because that not every player would be as amenable to something like this. You need guys like that. And yeah, I mean he's gonna get killed because you would prefer his salary to be a little bit lower. But yeah, he's got none

of but good stuff to say. So all those other qualities are important off the field as well. And Ken, do we still have Nigel on the line? We do? Les go ahead, Nigel. Hey, guys, how are you hey? Just taking the call? You know, Nick, I gotta tell you now, I'm starting to realize why Vince Vaughan blew you off at the bow a couple of years ago. No boot chat. Yeah, he's a little you know, thinking you're a little negative on our boys. But hey, look, this is gonna bother you. But I've been to hold

him for a while. This I just want to touch base on a couple of things. Rico gathers. I know that's gonna kill you, probably rolling your eyes right now. And Cooper Rush. The first thing with Rico in my opinion, you know, I've been out to the practices. I've been watching him for the last two years. And some guys, you know Alan Iverson didn't like to practice. Some guys don't show up at practice like they show up at

game time. And in my opinion, which probably means nothing anyone, when I watched Rico, he can post up and with today's cornerbacks that they're rarely looking at the ball. They're always chasing the receiver down the field. Nobody's eye on eye on the ball anymore, pretty much, and he sets himself up just to make plays. I think he's a gamer, and I hope to God he proves that to you this week. And that's my sewing out. The other is Cooper.

I think he's a stud man. He hasn't thrown a pick once, and he's just been put in horrible situations like last week's game. He had no chance. I mean, I don't care who you put in. Guy had no chance. So those are my points. I'm sticking to it. I hope Cooper has a great game, and yeah, Zeke, I think they all I think they all need to play a quarter. Can't knew what he means everything, no matter how good you are, you know, all right, thanks for the call. I'm not. I don't think he said anything

that Nick would disagree with. Honestly, I don't know. I don't know where they came from about being negative and being negative. Thought I was the negative guy. That guy was cool. I don't. I'm like he was delivering that as though he had controversial opinions. I don't. Yeah, I think Rico should make the team. That's think he will make the team. That's what Rico does well. I don't think Cooper Rush is a stud, but yeah, I think

he kind of overstated that a bit. I see, he hasn't done enough for me to say he's a stud. I think he's a developing player. There's been some things I liked that scene from him. There have been some things I was like, hey, I'm a little ambivalent on I mean, I most of most of them. Cooper Rush's struggles I would attribute to the people around him more

than his own ability. But yeah, everything, Sorry, I was just gonna say, I think I've seen good enough things coming from him already being at a bad situation that I would expect him to be a lot better when put like with the offensive line, the first team and all that, if needed. That's why when when we talk about bringing in a veteran guy or whatever. Last game, I mean, yeah, that was pretty bad. That was not good, and it made me think, man, maybe we do need

to bring someone in here. But you have to take into account that he's not put with the right guys on the field that can help him and allow him to perform at a better level. And that only goes so far. I mean, I remember twenty fourteen, this team was rolling and Romo goes down, Brandon Wheaton comes in behind an offensive line that has three All pros, and they lost two games. And so you know, it's always

was the case with him at Smith as well. You know, the guy mattered, as Garrett would say, the runner matters and the quarterback matters, and so but I think you're right, Cooper Rush, He's come in. He's done a nice job every time he gets the chance. For the most part, I think he's your backup quarterback, unless Mike White can can change your opinion, but I think he's your he's your backup quarterback. I gotta see it to believe that he's gonna like hold the hold the rope if Dak

goes down, you know, like I'm not. Yeah, if Dad goes down for an extended period of time, I think they're probably screwed. But maybe I'm wrong. But that's just how I feel right now. But he's been he's been adequate for now. Here's a question from Twitter who has been the bigger or the biggest disappointment this camp between Cony Eally and Hot War And we were talking about that in the press box at practice last night and we have the same answer. We did have the same answer.

It was not a pass rusher um between those two that I would say Cony Eally for me, is it because of expectations? Probably? I mean, but but what were your expectations? But the Jets cut him, So if the Jets and it didn't feel like he was a good player, I mean, well, that's I think for me. At least, I didn't know a lot about jihad Ward coming in

the door. I knew a bit more about Cony Ealy, so my expectations maybe were a little higher, knowing where he was drafted and that at some point somebody thought he could play it that lay. Did you not end up hearing more about Jihatward towards the middle? Yeah? I think. I mean those things kind of tend to show or like show a lot more who's doing better. Because when you start hearing from a guy that you've never really heard of before and now you're hearing his name constantly,

then that's a good thing, right. I guess I'll probably say Eali again. You know his career hasn't panned out that way, but you had the hope that he could become that guy that had three sacks in the Super Bowl. Jihad Ward, there's a chance he doesn't make this team, and I'll I'll do that deal again because that's why Tavon Austin's here, And that's how good I feel about

Tavon Austin. I mean, I know, you know he it's a separate trade, but they don't trade Ryan Switzer away if they never get Tavon Austin, So I'll gladly do that whole thing again, even if I get even I mean yeah, literally when that happened, you know, the word going around this building was like the Raiders drafted him too high. We liked him at the Senior Bowl, we thought, you know, but you know, we'll just see what we got. Like. It's not like they were like, this is our undertackle

of the future. Like that's not the type of stuff you're doing on a day three trade anyway, So probably Elie okay. And we haven't really hit on Dan Bailey again since we've been back, and last time to last time we talked about him, it was still kind of a concern. So here's a question. Has Dan bailey recent success in practice in games relieved some of our concerns? Yeah? But what let me let me back a little bit, because I don't think the last time we talked about this,

I don't think anybody was concerned yet. I don't think that's who we were. I was. I wasn't ye are you kidding me? No? I think what we said was right. Now We're keep being an eye oh yeah, just keeping an eye on it. Want to see what happens, but not concerned. You're keeping an eye. You're concern because, oh, you just like want to see if you go to a point where you need to be concerned. Go back and listen to that show she's talking about. We sound

kind of all right. I didn't remember like that. I'm wrong. Just it comes down to the regular season, Like his second miss. When is his second miss of the season. Is it halfway through the year? No big deal? Is it the first game? Is it the second game? And I'm saying, yeah, So when he gets to the second miss, where are we in the season? And then that's what I mean. He can make every kick from now on, but I guarantee if he misses a twenty eight yard

field goal in Carolina, there'll be some talk. You're absolutely right, and you're absolutely right. But he had four misses in three days and that's when we had that conversation. And since then he has missed one kick in two weeks and he made in a game. So you're, of course if he's If he struggles in the regular season, then it's a completely different conversation. But my the hackles on my neck. We're standing up and I've seen enough that I'm kind of back to It's like, all right, he's fine.

Best kicker in the NFL right now, it's probably justin Tucker, right he misses hess. I think he's the all time leading statistically, he's the best. He beat Bailey from it started the season, it was Bailey. But if Tucker misses three kicks in the first three weeks of the season, Baltimore is going to be looking at what They're going to be a little concerned. Yeah, that's just the nature of the business. And that's that's kicker. Yeah, that's just

what it is. No other and it's it sucks because it's no other position is like that really, no baby punter specialists based like you don't need to know the system of how we do things here. The ball just sits there and you kick it there a ton of There are a ton of average guys available to you at any given moment, right So it's I mean, you know, we talk about Mike White like you can cut a

fifth round pick, but it's different with a quarterback. Well you can, you know, doing something seventy five percent at the time. Him is great at every other position, But kicker, like that just the way it goes does seventy five sucks? Yes, that's horrible. Well, at least seeing him get that kick and make it in during a game. Although it's preseason,

it's still a game environment. It gave me personally a little bit of relief because we talked about the mental aspect of things and being writing the game and not letting that his conscious or mental things affect him as far as kicking. So I'm feeling good about Dan Bailey. Always have been, always will be, and I never doubt Dan Bailey is on my desk, A picture of him is on my desk. Yeah, all right, who do you guys think will be the eighth guy to make the

team on the old line? Is he here yet? Nope? That was simple. I think I think you're gonna have to have nine make the team, Yeah, because I don't. Yeah, I think the eighth guys well, don't I think? No, I don't think the eighth guys here. I think the ninth. I can agree with that, and I think that they'll they'll sign someone a little bit better. If Travis Frederick is not ready to play, I think you're gonna have to keep his spot open and then have to sign

somebody else to practice and do all that stuff. So I think you keep nine. I think you get a center who will probably be a game day guy. Well, you know, Kidney will probably be a game day player as well. You have to go along there. Yeah, because if Looney starts, the beauty of having him is that he is a backup to three spots. I don't know if you're gonna get that back up to three spots. Well, but I think the way I look at it, at least I would think between Looney and um and seventy five,

you got two guys. Fleming, you got two guys. Dad. Let's say Frederick doesn't play Looney. Yes, if Frederick doesn't push your backup guard Edwards, who's your backup center? So that's that's that's my right now right now. Do they have a backup center on this team outside of of what I'm saying that a camp body or is that somebody that you think legitimately is going to be unprobably talking about Monday, But yeah, well that's it' that's a

tough thing to answer right now. Like with Travis frederick'sself up in the air, if we assume that Travis Frederick can play, I think Kadeem at least makes the initial cut and then maybe they try to swap him out. But it's weird how a Travis Frederick injury can affect the tight end spot, can tect affect the last defensive back, quarterback quarter eight. Yeah, it affects all that because that is a center spot you have to keep open. Obviously,

we talk. I mean it's and don't get me wrong, I'm not talking down on it, but like we talk, so the fifty three man projection, what's the final roster, Like it's gonna last for twelve hours and it'll change again after the first game because somebody will get hurt, and like the fifty three never lasts longer than like twenty four hours. It's just constantly changing. So all right, I think that's all the time we have for today.

Thank you so much for tuning in once again on Cowboy's Break for Nickimman, Derek Eagles, and David Hellman and Imburger. See and this was Cowboys Break on Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio Radio