Cowboys Break: Handling Injuries

number twenty three. Welcome to the latest edition of The Break Life from this WBC Mortgage Studios at the Starman, Nick and Nick and I join are here. We got Dave and Amber at their homes. We're talking Cowboys football, if you guys, for about forty five minutes. And we've got so much to get into. As I started putting this together, so many different topics we can hit, but I think right now there's none bigger than the injury

situation for this team. Cowboys came out of that last game a little beat up and quite frankly beat up at some positions where I think they probably don't have a lot of room to be beat up. So we're gonna talk about that. I'm gonna run through some of these different positions and what your take is on how they should handle some of these situations. We'll do a segment where we'll do our I know, I think I have no idea. Hopefully you guys got some good stuff there.

We'll talk a little bit about Dak Prescott. Some news came out yesterday was pretty interesting about the contract negotiations and how they played out this offseason. I want to get your opinions on that, and then we'll find get to the end of the show, we'll talk a little bit about the NFC East and the team's there and what they did over week one and what we expect going into week two. How's everybody doing today? Doing great? Great, Derek,

Thanks Dave, appreciate that. Awesome. We got good energy. And by the way, Dave, your stars going to the final finals, they're at the finals. They're not They're not my stars. You're wearing for the Stars. Well, I'm trying to I'm trying to support local. I mean, I'm happy they want I just I don't want people to think that I like, I don't want to sound like a bandwagon guy for the Stump Goat Stars. Yeah, I'm just stand like now,

I mean, they're in the Stanley Cup Finals. Now I will say this, I'm just saying, no great day, just you know, shout out Danny Serek and Kelsey Charles. Like, there's a lot of people that have cared about the Stars a lot longer than I have. But I'm very excited that they're in Mickey, Yeah, Mickey's the season ticket holder. They're upset. Actually, they're like happy and upset at the

same time because they've waited so long. You get season tickets so you can go to games and you can go to for a moment like this, and they're playing where Edmonton orson. I mean, I don't know where, but I mean, congratulations and Stars. That's a big feat. Now, I mean, I'll even watch this because you know the local team. Like you said, the local team. I'm not a hockey fan, but when your local team is in it,

then you kind of watch. The same reason when I watched the Rangers when they were in the World Series. It's local team. You root for him, all right, So good luck to the Stars. Let's jump into some cowboys to talk. I first want to start with some of these injuries. We'll start with Layton vander esh yesterday it was I guess it's it's been confirmed that he has a broken collar bone, looking like he could be out up to eight weeks. My first question for you guys

is what would you do at the linebacker position? Nick, let's start with you, based on what they currently have, based upon him being out, based upon shan Lee being out for another presumably at least two weeks, what do you do at linebacker position? Well, I think Layton is having surgery today. I might have already had it. It's supposed to be today. What do you do? You played Joe Thomas. You know, Joe Thomas is a good is

a good player. I think he's he might be one of those guys that's better as the backup linebacker who will play a lot of your special teams. So if he has to play a lot, you know, I wouldn't be surprised if Luke Gifford is is actually inserted into this. He may even start. You know, he's been banged up as well his whole career, But I think Louke Gifford's a guy that might be somebody that wears the helmet

that that has that can make the calls. So it wouldn't surprise me if Gifford plays a lot, perhaps even starts Amber. What do you do? I would like to see Bernard over Louk Gifford, just because he was actually able to get more work in during training camp. And like Nick mentioned, Gifford has been dealing with his own injuries, and I know he's healthy now, but still those being out there and being able to practice obviously make a difference.

And Bernard, I know he might not be at the level that you want him to beat yet, but I think that based on everything that he showed during training camp, he has enough to at least be able to get in there and get some reps and get some practice in on real game time. You know, we were kind of all, I'll let Dave talk about linebacker for a second, but about Bernard. You know, we were all kind of

wondering why he was cut. And I had someone tell me the other day that the two things that are that's bad about Bernard is number one, he can't run, he's not very fast, and number two, he knows he's not very fast, so which I don't really know what that means. It's just that those two things he's not he's not a fluid player sideline to sideline type. He makes some plays, he gets around the ball, which you know, I mean that there's worse things in the world than that.

But I think that his athleticism is what scares the Cowboys a little bit. But I do think she's right. I think that he'll get called up. I don't, but maybe for special team's purposes. Dave, what do you do at linebacker? Yeah, I would guess Bernard gets called up to help account for Joe Thomas's special team snaps would be my guests. But overall, I think this is a situation where I mean, look, nobody's excited about it, but I think you just kind of have to hold the line.

You know, Joe Thomas can step in and get starting snaps. Luke Gifford can help, Bernard can handle some special teams. And you know, I'd like to believe Sean Lee will be available in a couple of weeks. You can roll your eyes at me if you want to, but he

started thirteen games last year and played really well. So I look, we all know injuries have been a problem for him his entire career, but he does have a track record of stepping in and playing well when he's healthy, and you just gotta do what you gotta do in an unideal situation right now, you know, Layton hopefully, hopefully he'll be back in six to eight weeks. Like I said, you get reinforcements with Sean in a few weeks hopefully, and you know, I think that's probably your best bet.

People people want to throw out like a Clay Matthews. That's not the type of linebacker the Cowboys need. You know that he's he made his money in his Pro Bowls as a pass rusher. So I don't know how many pure off ball linebackers that would make this team better or available that are you know, better than the guys that have been here throughout camp. And you know we've heard anything else on like Sean Lee. I know,

I'm still very confused on his injury. And I know he's on IR and that's at least two more weeks before he gets to come back. But it's just very confusing to me after an off season of not necessarily getting some football working and then he comes back not being able to do anything at all. Now, they haven't really said a lot about his injury, and they didn't have to once they put him on IR. He's not

even on the list for the injury reports. So Dave, unless you know kind of what he's dealing with, I mean, I don't, I don't. I mean with John, you know, I don't want to be reckless, but with Sean, soft tissue is usually a good guess. That's been the problem with him for most of his career. I know, you know, he's done a lot of conditioning with Britt Brown, the

director of rehab, you know, all throughout training camp. But yeah, they've been super quiet with whatever it is, which is sort of weird to me because we're used to talking out Sean Lee's injuries, so I don't know that anybody would that it should be extra alarming. But at this point I'm taking them at their word that he can be available in the next three or so weeks. If that's not true, then it changes the game a little bit, but for the time being, you know, with a game

in five days. Like I said, I think you are what you are for right now. I don't think any of us and I actually I just say all of us agreed. I think on Sunday, Jalen Smith didn't have his best game against the Rams. That all being said, I want you guys to give and we're gonna go around. I want you guys to give me a number, ten being the most and one being the least. How concerned are you with the linebacker position. Let's start with you

Amber eight. I'm pretty concerned, honestly. And the thumb thumb, Yes, you didn't count the thumb. There you go, my little thumbs out. No. I was gonna say. Another thing that's very confusing to me is I know I watched Jalen Smith all throughout camp, and I know that these practices are very different from real game. But at the same time, I just don't understand how you go from having such a great camp into playing the way that he did on Sunday. It's it's just it doesn't make any sense

to me. I was expecting him to be able to do a lot more, and unfortunately he did so I am. I am pretty concerned how the linebacker position right now? You know what I can offer you a bit of an explanation. There no good and that's I think maybe maybe we didn't do a good enough job. I think we did. But like a thing that people have to remember about this training camp is like we were watching them install their offense and defense, Like that's what that was.

They were going through what they want to put in. Like they're not playing a game against each other, you know, they're not necessarily trying to exploit each other. They're trying to get familiar with what they're going to be running on Sundays throughout the season on offense and defense. And so it's a lot different going against an install against your own team than the Rams sitting down and saying this is what Jaylen Smith doesn't do well and this

is how we're going to target it. I think those are two completely different things. And to fold that into my answer, yeah, I'm right there with you, Agie. Like having watched them play on Sunday and knowing that Layton's not available, I'm at like an eight because Jay, I mean, Jayleen Smith just looked like a serious problem and then the guy next to him, Layton is out. It seems

bad for me. The other thing I'll point out real quick, Nick before I get yours, is I think, with Jalen Smith and what you saw during training camp, I don't think the Cowboys offense during training camp looked a lot like what you saw the Cowboys having a problem with

the other night against the Rams. It wasn't a lot of misdirection, it wasn't a lot of screens, It wasn't the things that typically have hurt this defense over the last couple of years, particularly when they've played the Rams, and so I think maybe we just didn't see Jalen in that kind of situation the other night. What it looked like was again Jayalen was having a hard time diagnosing what was going on. Then he'd get out of position,

and then he couldn't get off blocks. And so when you got those three things happening, it's not like it is not gonna be a good day for you against the team that's doing that kind of stuff on offense. Question will be ken, was that just a bad game because he wasn't prepared for it, in which case you kind of wonder why it wasn't he prepared for it, or is this just a sign that that things are going to be as they have been for him, which means that Jalen is going to be an okay player.

But Jalen's gonna always have some issues, which that's when we saw last year he was an okay player, but he certainly had issues at times. Nick Well, I mean, yeah, I think we're all concerned about it. But the more concerning part is is your linebackers might be your best positions on defense still. I mean really well, I mean from what if if we're judging one game. I mean, because if we're judging one game off Jalen Smith, I'd hate to judge Tank Lawrence right now. I'd hate to

judge some of those defensive linemen. The secondary didn't I mean that they were okay, I mean that nothing great. So the problem is is that we thought that the linebackers would be freed up to go run, to make plays and do all that, and you know that that really didn't happen. I mean, the Rams give them some credit to that. They did a really good job that they did this two years ago of disguising things and

they make it really tough for your linebackers. Somebody said this to me on Twitter, and I you know, nobody cares about excuses, but let's not be surprised that one team that's got four years with the coaching staff, that's actually been to a Super Bowl actually come out and look way more prepared than somebody than another coaching staff that's never played a game in a preseason, done anything before like that shouldn't be surprising. No one cares that.

No one's saying that excuses. I'm just saying one team has done this a lot, and at the very high level. One team hasn't, and it showed. But but I think, well, we've been kind of at least sold in my opinion, maybe not said explicitly, but well, I think we've been sold. Is the fact that when you look at it, there's gonna be I mean, this team was basically coming in and it was an advantage that nobody had seen what they were gonna do. You know that certainly didn't look

like the case there. You knew exactly like we all talk about, we saw exactly with the RAMS what we had seen before from the RAMS, And so you had one team that could look at film and actually see what they do, and they looked like they were completely out of sorts and didn't exactly know how to react to that. He had another team that nobody had any idea what they were gonna do, and it seemed like for the most part, they were able to neutralize a

lot of stuff. Yeah, and the main reason for that is because their offensive coordinator called the same plays they was calling last year. I mean, like we saw bubble screams, pop passes, we saw all of those little reverse misdirection things in training camp. Didn't see anything like that during the game. I mean, I really I didn't. I didn't see Tony Pollar do dynamic things. I didn't see CD Lamb going in motion with fake reverses and things like that.

I didn't see all that. Yeah, all right, let's go ahead and move on. Let's talk about Blake Jarwin. Blake Jarwin now is expected to miss the season with a horn acl. My question for you guys is what do you do with that position. You do have a guy like a Delaney Walker who has been injured a lot during his career, coming off an injury, an older guy, but when healthy, pretty productive and at least according to reports,

he is sitting out there healthy. Do you look at maybe going out and getting a guy like a Delaney Walker to bring in to your team. Let's start first with you, Dave Man. I leaned toward thinking they have to and I'm not sitting here trying to say Delaney Walker is the same guy that he was when he was on a Super Bowl team. I'm looking at his stats. I mean, he had an eight hundred yard season in twenty seventeen. That was the last time he made the

Pro Bowl. Injuries have completely decimated his production since then. He had two hundred yards in seven games last year. If he's healthy, I would kick the tires because we already knew the tight end position was one of the thinnest on this entire team. And I felt good about it because that's how much I like Blake Jarwin. But to loose who's him in the first half of the first game, I mean, think about what you have behind him?

You have what third year pro Dalton Schultz, who, once again, you know, he did not live up to the opportunity that he was given by Jarwin's injury. Sean McCune has never played an NFL game. Blake Bell has been you know, he's been a goal line package blocking role player his

entire career. He got eight snaps the other night. And then there's Cole Hikutini, who's been in the league since twenty seventeen, and if he's ever spent time on an active roster, it's not a long time, like, you're just not You're not looking at a lot in the way of proven experience, and it's awfully scary. It sounds like they're not going to do anything about it this week, which, to be fair, you know, a guy that you signed today probably wouldn't even be able to get in the

building until like Friday. So it is what it is. But I don't know how you go through a whole season with that as your tight end. Corps Hamber, what do you do a tight end? I agree with everything that Dave said. I don't see the Cowboys getting Walker right now. The Cowboys are just not And again, we have a whole new coaching staff, so I don't know what McCarthy's input is and all this, but I just

don't see the Cowboys making that move right now. But I do think that they absolutely need to address it. There is not much talent and I'm not trying to hate on all the tight ends that the Cowboys currently have, but honestly, no one has done anything that it's exciting or that I would say, and Collie continued, would be the only one from that list that I felt that

I saw making more plays during training camp. But then again, that was like, okay, a guy to have as in the death chart and as a practice squad player to help out, not even to talk about like, oh, let's have him start in a game. So I just don't know. They're just gonna have to change their game plan on this and try to and I know we're about to get into that, Derek, but they just need to change it up and figure out a different type of personnel here.

Speaking of that, Nick, why don't you tell me would you consider the possibility of am I boring you? No? No? Okay, now I'm trying not to cough it. I didn't hear it. Yeah, okay, off at all? All right, boy, I'm getting nervous, all right, um glass here, So no, would you consider the possibility, if you're the Cowboys of maybe just using the tight end a lot less here and maybe going with more

ten personnel or twenty personnel. You can get Poller on the field with Zeke with three wide receivers, or you can get you know, one running back and four wide receivers if you want to go that route. Would you look at that as a as a possibility and just kind of take tight end a little take a step back with the tight end and just not use them

as much in this offense. Um, yeah, that's what you're gonna have to do if if they don't, especially like for this week, like Dave said, you know, you really can't bring a guy in right now and expect them to do anything unless it was Hiccotini, but he was on your practice quite anyways, so you know, there's probably not a lot of confidence there. But I think you've got to get creative. We've already seen a little bit

with the Antoine Woods putting him at fullback. Yeah, fat, that was a great idea two years ago, but I think that, sorry, you can do that kind of stuff. Though, there's defensive ends that do that. I mean, I think the Chicago Bears a couple like last year they had four different defensive players on a goal line thing. So you're gonna have to find some players that can kind of help you, whether it maybe it's an extra offensive tackle, but guess what, that's a position that they're lacking of

depth as well. But you just got to get creative with different packages on third downs and things like that. If it's not third and short and goal line, then yeah, I agree with you go with a different personnel groups and all that, but this is just a really weird, unique position where somebody could come in and leap frog all of the tight ends and actually start. Like when she was talking about Hiccotini, actually could see him starting.

It's it's because that probably won't happen, but I could just see because that's the role of of of the other two guys keep their same role, and you need more of that pass catcher. All right, let's go and take our first break. When we come back, I do want to talk a little bit about the offensive tackle position. Then we'll get into some other topics when we come back. This is Dallas Cowboys dot com Radio. We're back in a tasty treat that's sweeping airwaves and taste buds. It's

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at the Star dot com. Welcome back to the second segment of The Break. Life from the s WBC Mortgage studios at the Star got Dave and Amber at their homes. He's making so many face and emoji every time he's got the face. It's just it's because I'm just staring at my own face for an hour and it feels weird. So I have to break up the monotony. You're just entertaining yourself. I guess, like every time I look over there,

it looks like one of your emojis. He's got a hand face, he's got the like the eyeballs, you know, head explosion, not doing that one. I'm expressive. I'm expressing myself. One of these days when we don't have a lot on the docket to talk about. I'm gonna have Dave go back to his background and just kind of talk about all the different little relics he has back there and what significant stay whole, because it's actually pretty interesting when you start looking at it. A lot of cool stuff.

And but did you do that painting behind you? Because you probably did, but I don't know. Maybe you think she has paintings of an internouse that she didn't do. No, that's a good point, very nice work. All right, let's jump back in. I do want to talk about Cam Irving. That's the last injury that we had to talk about from the game, offensive tackle. He's the backup. I guess we all kind of were surprised. I was surprised a little bit by that that he was the backup going

into that game. Nick, tell me what his injury is and what they're thinking as far as the amount of time he's going to be out. Yeah, it didn't start. He played on kickoff I mean, I mean on the field goal team, so that fifty three yard field goal. He also he got hurt on that and it sprained himcl that's usually a two to four week they can put him on injured reserve to return if they wanted to. Um, there's not a lot of options on the practice squad. Um.

I forget the guy's name. Dave might know either. They picked him up from the Giants. He's a tackle, and of course there's another tackle on the practice squad as well. I couldn't pronounce it. Yeah, Isaac. Yeah, but I don't think Isaac, which I would be shocked if Isaac is ready to play in a game right now now. Isaac needs I don't think he can. I don't. I don't know if because of the program that he's in, he's able to like be eligible to play in a real

game this year. Really, like what if? What if? They sounded like a badass? Yeah, just just to be clear what Amber's talking about there is he is a player from Mexico. There are four teams, I think it's all NFC East teams that all have a player from another country. And it's a part of the international program of starting to integrate players from other countries into the NFL. And so basically the Cowboys get a an exemption on their roster.

He doesn't count on their roster, he's an extra guy, but it allows them to start integrating international players into the into the into the sport. But I would think they would just pigeonhole themselves of not being I mean, yeah, if I don't know good enough to play, I mean I'm sure they could, you would think so. But I mean as long as you put him onto your active roster M in which he would count, then I don't think you would be able to put him on your

active roster him be still an exemption. I think maybe he's just an exemption as a as a practice squad player. He travels. I mean I was surprised by that when I saw him. He was the first guy I saw actually traveling. He had his bag and everything, and I was like, you know, no offense to him, but I mean he's the seventeenth practice squad player I think. So I was like, well, if he's traveling, everybody's traveling, you know, and Dave and Amber, I get it, but you guys

might be playing, right tackle. I mean, good point. Um, now, I just I just that's my point is that that's why everyone's like, well, you know, this guy's out there, I mean, Ron Larry's out there, and the Lady Walker's out there, and these guys are out there. I'm like, yeah, but that's why there's sixteen practice card players, that's why they travel, that's why there's these different rules, because that's

not really a great option. So the key is just don't have two or three main injuries on week one. Just don't do that. Try not to try not to have that happen. Yeah, you know, let's let's talk about the guy who did start, Terrence Steele. I'm not I'm not one that puts everything into Pro Football Focus, but there was a report that came out yesterday that on Pro Football Focus this week, Terrence Steele was listed as second worst offensive tackle throughout the entire league as far

as how he graded in his performance this game. So I want to go with you. Guys, y'all tell me what do you think based upon what you saw from Terren Steele. I'm assuming you went back and even watched some of the game. What are your thoughts on Terrence Steele and how he performed? Dave, let's go with you. Well, I'm still waiting on the All twenty two from NFL

game pass, So TikTok, NFL. Some of us have jobs to do, But I mean, just from watching the game, and then going back and watching it on DVR, which don't try to judge offensive line play from TV copy. But he didn't root like, he didn't wreck the offense like they couldn't they they didn't have to change what they were doing because he was so bad. And for a guy starting his first NFL game against I mean, I know Aaron Donald doesn't play over there, but against

a pretty decent front seven, like, I thought he was fine. Honestly, um, I'm not surprised that he grated out low that that's not shocking to me. But like I said, you know, not to bring up Jazz Green for the ten million time, but once you've seen that, everything else looks better. So that's kind of how I feel. I guess Amber, would you think that's exactly how I always judge offensive lineman now is game? Yes? Uh no, I am. I agree with they've Honestly, I don't think he did a horrible job.

Now that's not to say that I don't think that the position needs help. I do think they need to add some depth there and hopefully you step up the game. But at the same time, I thought that the game could have gone a lot worse. I thought Dad could have been struggling a lot more throughout the game, and

that wasn't the case. He honestly played better than my expectations. Yeah, I didn't realize that Chaz Green has become a verb, Like I saw that on Twitter, like, well, he didn't really Chaz Green the game, like you know, like that's that was like a reference there. But he didn't seem like you're right, I mean, this didn't seem like it was that bad. Well you didn't notice it, but you know, I'll kind of disagree with a little bit what Dave said when he said Aaron Donald doesn't play over there.

Well he does, though, he does because you have to atone for him in the middle. There's no it's hard to double team the outside when you've got to deal with him. He is such a problem on the inside, so you know, and then you lose your tight end so there's not a lot of chipping going on there and you don't have a fullback. So he was put out there. I mean, lyle Collins needed to be out there, and that's you know, and we're also forgetting that. I mean,

there's only two more games of this. So I talked to Terrence after the game, and he said, you know, he admitted that he struggled a lot there early on, he was really nervous, but then he settled down. Then he had that play at the end. But I think Brandon Knight is a better option. I consider Brandon Knight to be a bar you know, like he's like a bar fight type of guy. You know, he's just gonna go in there and just brawl, and it reminds me a little bit of Colombo. And I think he is

just such a competitor. You know. I would like to see him do it, because we've seen him play before and I think he would be okay over there. Do you guys think that maybe the Cowboys should consider going with a more nuclear type option and look at somebody like I know we talked to Connor Williams hasn't done it, but should they look at that knowing that right now, you look at the fact that still didn't play a

great game. You look at the fact that you're tight end, you're starting tight end is now out, so you're you're gonna have Sholtz on the field probably more, which he's not a great blocker. And you look at the fact that that cam irving is now also gonna be out for a while. Do you think maybe the Cowboys need to start reconsidering and saying, Okay, right now, you got Connor Williams at guard, You got Connor McGovern sitting on

your bench at guard. You got Brandon Brandon McKnight, brand Brandon Knight sitting on your bench as a guard as well. Maybe you ought to think about maybe moving one of those guards, maybe Connor Williams, because he's done it before, to tackle, and and maybe put McGovern in there to play guard. You think maybe they should look at it

like that. I know if we've been talking about Connor making that transition for like a year and a half or so, but how quickly can you actually get a player like him to make a transition like that to tacklino who played it back college. But it's been a while and the NFL is completely different than college. So that's my question for you guys, hopefully no better than me, how quickly we're going to a player like that and

make a transition. If they were going to do that, then it should have been an active plan during the offseason and training camp, like he should have been mixing and matching and getting reps and you know, we don't see everything, but I never saw that. It didn't look like they were interested in doing it. Connor's been playing nothing but left guard in a game week situation, and get you know, they're already they're already knee deep in

the game planning for Atlanta. It seems so unfair to me to ask him to do that on five days notice and then expect him to be good at it. And I know he did it in college, but college was already a long time ago for him. Let's take that out of the mix. Because I'm not saying you necessarily make that move this week. What I'm saying is,

should they start that transition process now? Should they start in practice start working with him to see if maybe you give him some reps to play it at right tackle and just give yourself a little more or flexibility as you go down the road and maybe this is a move that happens week five or week six. I'm just saying, do they need to start thinking about some bigger planned options because right now I just don't feel

great about the right tackle position. You know, like I said, though Lyle Collins, is I mean, if we're talking about Sean Lee in two weeks. Lyle Collins is two more games and he's eligible to come back. So do we think he's gonna be ready to go by them? Yeah? I would think so, okay, I do think that he would be ready to go. And also, you know the weird part about you're talking about Connor Williams moving is that? Is that the guy that replaces him at guard? Is it?

Is it McGovern who's never played a game? Is it? Joe Looney says steal though, well but still has he's played one game? Yeah, okay, we already saw that wasn't great, so just say it. And Brandon Knight has played too. So I mean, either you put Looney over there and be honest, is in there who's never played a game? I mean, like you just don't have a lot of a lot of options. I get your point about long term things, but you know, it's not like they practice

four hours. I mean you have to the continuity is so important that he's they've got to get in there. They don't have a lot of options. I mean, I hate to say the words next man up, but I mean it has to be something like that. I get all of that, well, I just think right now, you look at your tackle position, you look at Lyle being out right now and hopefully comes back in two weeks. But we all have agreed that with Tyron you just

never know, right. So the likelihood that you're gonna get through this whole season and Tyron's gonna play sixteen games, if you look at his history, you're probably betting on the wrong side of that, right, So you better have some other options at tackling right now. I don't know that they have other options, better options at tackle. I don't understand. I'm with Nick for the record, I don't. I wonder if it's right. I don't know what's going on.

I wonder if this is a Joe Philbin thing that he looked at Brandon Knight and said he's a guard, not a tackle, because he was a right tackle in college. He was pretty damn good at it in Indiana, made the team as an undraft did rookie had to start for the Cowboys last year, And you know, I'd have to go back and watch it, but I feel confident saying he played better when he was out there than Terrence Steele did the other night. So I don't really

get it. That would be, you know, if you're not satisfied with Terrence Steele, that would be my go to, and then hope for the best with Lyell. Don't. I don't get the Connor thing at all, because like everybody dogs Connor for being the weak link of the offensive line. So you move him out to a new position that he's never played because he was a left tackle in college, and then we have no idea what Connor McGovern is either. For that matter, I hope he's a good player, but

I don't know. So it just sounds like you're weakening two positions because you're scared of one in my opinion. All right, so we're gonna do. We're gonna go and take our final break. When we come back, I want to talk a little bit about this DAK report to support on Dak's contract and some of the negotiations that were going on around that, and get your opinions on if it is true, whether you think the Cowboys made a good decision. Well do that when we come right.

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do bad. Back to the break get the ultimate fan experience for the ultimate Cowboys fan joined Dallas Cowboys United presented by Global Life, starting at just twenty dollars. Or is it Dallas Cowboys dot Com slash United. It's DCU nice all right? Final segment of the break off from the s WBC Mortgage Studios at the Star. I wanted to talk about this DAK report that came out yesterday.

Basically what it said was at the Cowboys, in their negotiations over the off season with Dak and his people, turned down an offer a counteroffer from Dak's side that said, basically it was going to be a five year deal. It would average about thirty five million a year, which the money and the years sound like what we've heard the Cowboys would actually be in favor of. But there was one little caveat to it that I want to

get your opinions on. Supposedly the caveat was at the Cowboys back dat is that they would not be able to use the franchise tag on DAC once that contract was done. Now, I don't know if that was true. We haven't heard that from the Cowboys, but I wanted to say, assuming I want to ask, assuming that that is accurate, did the Cowboys make a wise decision there to not give up the franchise tag but get everything else that they wanted in that deal? Nick will start

with you, I don't know. I don't that there sources involved in that and that report. Yeah, it's always means that just doesn't seem like that would be the sticking point there, and I wouldn't know that it makes there a lot of sense to me, because I just think when you look at the franchise, that's your leverage. If you don't have leverage, you have no negotiating power. If you've got a quarterback, that's good none. Okay, but we're talking about him in his tenth year of his career

at this point. Now I get it, Breezes, you know. I mean, this guy's an outstanding I mean, the great winds do they last that long? But I don't know. I just I don't like I mean, personally, I don't like speculating on a report that from a source that who knows if they got all that information right, if it's right. I just I wouldn't think that would be the sticking point. Not for me. At least, thirty five seems like a good number for what you're trying to do.

If that was the only thing, that doesn't seem like that would be the wise thing for the Cowboys. But I'm sure there's more to it than that. But I don't know, Camber. I'm still trying to wrap my head and like process this whole thing. I don't really get why that would be the breaking point of a contract or getting a deal done here and for a guy like Dak Prescott, who I don't see him planning his future for that long, But then again, you just never know.

A lot of these guys are starting to get long term contract deals with a lot of money, and I get why you wouldn't want to necessarily be franch franchise tagged again. But at the same time, that is just something that I find hard to believe as far as that being the real reason as to why a contract

hasn't gotten done or didn't get done. Dave, I don't want to I don't want to throw too much shade because it's hard to reach the top of this industry and I'm definitely not the most plugged in reporter in the world. But I know the source. I know where this is coming from, and I don't necessarily trust the track record there. You know, there's there's a handful of people that report NFL news who I think are rock solid. They're very rarely wrong, and this is not one of

those people. So take you know, so right off the bat, I'm taking what I'm hearing with a grain of salt. I guess it makes sense because, yeah, I mean, Nick kind of alluded to it with Drew Brees and Tom Brady. Like, once quarterbacks get into that stage of their career, you kind of need the franchise tag just to hammer things out, you know, Like Breeze has been going year to year forever, so as you know, Brady does it all the time.

So I understand why the Cowboys would be reluctant. But isn't it like six and one half a dozen of the other Like by not agreeing to the deal, like you can get him locked in on a deal that's going to save you money, and he might take you to the cleaners five years from now, but and that sucks. But by not doing that, he's going to take you to the cleaners right now, which is when you need the space because that's how the roster is constructed. Also,

the cap is about to be in flux. Like I would not have turned that down if I were the Cowboys. If this is true, I get their reluctance. I do understand it, but I think I would have just said let future cowboys, let that be somebody else's problem five or six years from now. Yeah, you know, that's an interesting point, Dave. I didn't think about it like that that you're kind of going to get screwed here now or later. The one that I will say, though, is I do think the term you use take them to

the cleaners. I don't think he's taken them to the cleaners this year. I don't think you'll take him to the cleaners next year, because they could still franchise him. Again, that's that's right, But but you get my point, Like I think that I think they probably felt like giving up that leverage in the future is not worth that right now, because again, let's assume for a second, right now,

in the negotiations they didn't have a franchise tag. If they didn't have a franchise tag, they had no leverage. DAC would have said either you pay me this, or I'm gonna go to the free agent market and somebody's gonna pay me that, right, And I think that's where if you got a player that, particularly a quarterback position. You know, again, we're basing a lot on the fact that this report is accurate, and it may or may not. It's more for conjecture and our fun of having the conversation.

But assuming that it is somewhat accurate, then the way I look at it is, if I'm the Cowboys. I probably would have done the same thing. I'm passing on anything that takes away my right to to use a franchise tag on a quarterback because I just know how how much in demand quarterbacks are, and there's somebody out there that's willing to pay even a good quarterback great quarterback money. Yeah, this is a tough one for me.

And every time I say anything negative towards Dak, I get a lot of people that think I'm this Dak hater and I'm not. I mean, I think he is your He's the guy you go to war with. I mean, he's the guy that should be the captain every single game, the one that stands out there as long as he, you know, says clearly to the RAF heads or tails or what they want to do, you know, there's no issue there. But he's your captain. He's your captain all

the way. I still just wonder what happens if we play this season and he can and this team doesn't meet expectations and they don't win close games. I just don't know if that's going to help him. And I would have if I was him, I would have got a deal done. I just would have. I would have done whatever I could get a deal done. But because I don't, I don't think it's gonna work. I don't think his asking price because I've seen people say, well, his price just went up, you know, because of what

Deshaun Watson did. His price just went up. What if it doesn't. Well, but I think when you're looking around the league right now, at least after week one, at least after week one, I don't think Dak looked like he wasn't in the same category with Deshaun Watson. Like that's my point, Like I do kind of agree with what people are saying that as this thing goes on, I think Dak's gonna he has all the weapons for

him to be a really good quarterback. I think the wheels would have to fall completely off for the Cowboys not to feel like they want to go back at and take another bite at the apple. Like, I just don't think so. At the least, he's gonna get that franchise tag next year and make thirty eight million dollars. That's the very least I think that, So that the price has already gone up, right, So that's where I look at it and say, yeah, the price is gonna go up. But I also think and you even heard

Steven say it on his comments. You know, they know that Dak bet on himself, and they know Dak probably one and probably earned some money by betting on himself. But that's kind of the way the negotiations had to go. And sometimes you get in those situations based upon the negotiations. You just have to go that route. And I think that's what happened here. Or if he gets hurt, it would have to be a huge, like the kind of injury that you don't know if he can come back. Yeah,

I mean Bridgewater situation. Yeah, yeah, I just I don't know. I and I and I see that's go ahead, Dave. Oh sorry nick I, Derek, you kind of just laid out. My point though, is like I just I don't see the Cowboys having a ton of leverage in this situation unless they are willing to part ways with Dakichi think, but here's here's the right and and sorry he's let me say this. Here here's it. Okay, David Studio. I

can't wait to go back at this. This is tough. Um. I said this before on a show with David rob that the uh, the Texans have a different plan than than let's say, the Cowboys do. They are they want Deshaun Watson to be their guy because they had a star wide receiver that they traded away and and that look already looks like a bad decisions. They don't have the Zach Martin Tyrant Smith type of deal. They aren't saying, hey, we're gonna build this thing around the Sean. They're saying,

the Sean is our main guy, number one. We're gonna pay him for sure, and we'll figure everything else out. And the Cowboys aren't doing it that way. So not yet, not yet, at whatever point. And this is what you look at the league. This is what happens. The moment you pay that quarterback that big contract is the moment you're saying, we're gonna have to start cutting back on the talent that we have in other places because the salary cap just doesn't work. Sorry, I love Dak, He's

not good enough as a quarterback to do that. I'm sorry. He isn't. Which he is, that's the big question. I don't believe he's the guy that can just go win the game and not have a lot of help. I don't think you're going to go back to the drawing board. I'm trying to figure it out with him. But but I mean, so we don't have to go to these world class cleaners. You guys are talking about, Dave, Where were you going this? Nick? Nick doesn't realize it, but he's kind of making. My point for me is that

the Cowboys. That's fine. If you don't think Dak is that guy, that's fine. If you're the Cowboys. The hope is that you got this deal done a long time ago so that it becomes a bargain and you can help prepare yourself for the next iteration of this roster. The Cowboys didn't sign Russell Wilson the first time when he was the guy. They signed him and it eased into that transition where he became the guy. So think

about it. I mean, you know, Tyrn Smith is nearing you know, he's closer to the end of his career than the beginning. Zach Martin is turning thirty if he's not already thirty like, and Dak is just getting more expensive. So if you tell me that I could have him at thirty five a year when it's gonna definitely cost me thirty eight next year or maybe forty two. I'm trying to get the cheaper deal, and we'll worry about franchising him later or not franchising him if we have to.

But Dak being more expensive as you have to let these older players transition out of your roster, is not going to help you. The goal is to have him taking up as little of the cap percentage as possible, and I would have done whatever I had to do to make that happen, even if it means I gotta pay for it later. And that's like, I think it is going to be hard for them to keep a good roster around him with the way that they've decided to do this. Yeah, I mean, I mean, and I

think more of Dak than Nick does. But that's fine. Well, like we can disagree on that all day, respectfully, but they're not doing themselves any favor with the way that they're trying to allocate this cap space. I just think that he's not in the category of you know, he's the guy. And then because to me, I've always thought Zeke is the best player on your team. I mean,

he is the guy. And when they were winning as a rookie, I believe it was because of what they were able to do with that offensive line in Zeke again, like I'm not going to go back with what I just said. I think I think Dak is a leader of this team. He is the guy front and center you want him to that. He is as tough as nails. He's a tough player that plays quarterback and you don't hear that all the time, but I just think he needs help around him so and I want him to

understand that. I think I think he does. He need. He can't break the bank here, and if it means that they're they're going to go out and you know they shouldn't be trading away. They're not going to trade away Ceedee Lamb in three years for a bag of chips like the like the Texans did. The one thing I will say is you didn't see Russell Wilson become the kind of quarterback that can do it without having great pieces around him until he was asked to do

it without him having great pieces around him. And so even though even though the assumption right now would be Decks maybe not that kind of quarterback, they've not asked that of him, even he's only been here when he's had great pieces around him. I do think though, that that they have to project that and if they're gonna do the long term deal, they have to know that as it goes with all these quarterbacks, once you pay him that big deal, it's going to then effect the

rest of your rock. Well, I know, this is one game, and I'll get David Amber's opinion on this. The Jets. Okay, the Jets game, you didn't have Amari Cooper. Not sure why he wasn't out there, Tyrant Smith wasn't there. Maybe Lyell Collins too well. But I mean, they didn't have a lot of help around them, and they got beat by a really bad football team. And I wasn't saying it's all because of him, But it's games like that that could be an example of how it could be.

If it's all going to be about, you know, the quarterback with us, we can have a separate we could have a separate conversation about how good we think Dak is. My point is, if they had played this differently, they

would be halfway through the deal already. And again, it's a more graceful transition, whereas now you're probably in a situation where you're going to have to decide whether or not Dak is worth it as you start to lose the players that make him so successful, Like Amar's only guaranteed for two more seasons again, Tyrn Smith, We'll see how much longer he wants to play. He's probably never going to be as amazing as he was from twenty fourteen to twenty sixteen. I just I wish that they

had it. Doesn't seem like they thought about the long term future with this, in my opinion. But we're here now, so it's going to be it's going to be an ever evolving storyline because until the Cowboys get a long term deal done with him, there's gonna be this kind of speculation that's out there, and it's gonna be this kind of talk that's out there. So it is what it is. We appreciate you guys. John Us will be back tomorrow. We'll have we'll get you guys ready, start

getting you guys ready for Cowboys versus Falcons. Bucky Brooks will be joining us. He's gonna break down the Falcons offense versus the Cowboys defense. Tol then for Nick Eatman, Dave helm and Ambergarcia I Am Derek Eagleton. This has been the Break live on Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio. This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.