Cowboys Break: How Morris Makes Sense

guys today. I hope you guys are ready. Got a lot to talk about with Ezekiel Elliott and Cowboys signing of a running back yesterday, and maybe that's there's a message in that, maybe there's not. We're gonna get into some camp observations from yesterday. Yesterday was the first day the Cowboys were in pads. Lots of things to notice. I'll take the opinions of these guys and what they saw and let you guys here a little bit about

what happened in practice. And if we have a little bit of time, I want to dive a little bit into the tight end position and Jason Witten coming back this season. Guys like Blake Jarwin, who've now had a little bit experience and where they fit with Jason Witten now in the tight end room, like talk a little bit about that. I think there's some interesting conversations there. How's everybody feeling this morning? Lovely, really really good good.

There is a practice that will be starting up here at ten forty five this morning out here in Oxnards, so we'll be ending the show a little bit early, but let's just jump right into it. Also, there's there's a guy sam blasting over there. There's nothing we can do about it. We're sorry. Hopefully he'll stop. I apologize. We all apologize on behalf of the sam blaster. Yeah, if we get to just know, I know we're gonna I know we're gonna get comments about it. And it's

not like we're doing it on purpose. We get too far into this camp and he's still doing that. I'm going to send you over there to have a conversation with him, the muscle because because I'm the muscle. Yeah, the shortest guy is the more our guy we send to handle those kinds of things. He'll just speak to you in Spanish. Oh, I'm waiting for the time because Nick has that little giggle like, yeah, something I was about to say. I was about to say, you might

want to take Amber, but she's gonna say that's fine. Okay, Okay, here we go. Let's do a little it is. Let's do a little blanket coverage here, start the show. I got a couple of sentences for you guys, a couple of statements that will be a blank that you guys will fill in. Let's start first with this statement. Zeke's decision to train in Cabo is blank, Dave, I don't even have a reaction to it. He's he is at a gym that his agent owns. He's been there before,

he trained there during his suspension. Maybe it's a bad look because Cabo is a vacation destination. I'm because of what happened in Dallas many years ago. But go ahead. But when Ezekiel Elliott was eight, I mean, so what, I don't care. I know Ezekiel Elliott. You know he comes with his baggage. He's had some issues off the field, but in terms of like playing running back, he's a professional. Whether he's here next week or a month from now, he'll be ready. I don't care, Amber, I mean I

think he he's matured. He's mature enough to where I wouldn't expect him to make a dumb decision, especially at the in the spot his end right now, you know, looking for a contract. I would not think he would make that mistake. Yes he has in the past. You can laugh about it. But if you're if right now, what you're trying to do is get your money and your deal, you wouldn't do something like that. And like Dave said, he's been there before and he trained over there.

You know, players like training on the sand and somehow that does something for your feet or something. It helps your calves immensely. Good time calf workout. It's a good workout. Okay, well no, probably not your calf. Zeke's decision training Cobo Nick is um interesting, okay, um. You know, I just I'm not going to go there with you on on he's matured and he's not gonna have a bad look because he's already had bad looks. He had a bad look this offseason, and we argued on that, like does

that really matter? But it still was a bad look. It was a bad look to to be in Vegas for you know, maybe seven or eight hours before you're going to have your own camp in Dallas, and then also to be you know, um, you know, stopped by the police is not good either. But I just think that it's just interesting to he's gonna go do that.

But if training is a part of it, that's fine, you know, long as training is in that because because you're right, he's gonna come back, and when he comes back, he's got to be ready, and then we'll see if he's if it's doing more training or more partying. So with all that being said, my opinion, I'm speaking for each of you, my opinion on how long this holdout will last. Blank Amber, While I may after I've seen

that he goes to Cabbo. The Cowboys signing Alfred Moore is clearly they're getting ready and preparing themselves in case this goes past the first week of the regular season. So it doesn't what it looks so far as of right now, to me, it doesn't seem like this is going to happen before the season starts. Nick Um, I think they are covering all bases here. I still think they're gonna try to get this thing done before the season, but it wouldn't be I wouldn't be surprised if he

goes into September. I will be surprised if he misses the first game, but I will I don't think it'll I think it'll go that far. But we'll talk about the Morris thing. I don't. I think they're just kind of covering themselves. Yeah, my opinion hasn't changed. I hope they're smarter than to think they're covering themselves by signing Alfred Morris. I mean, if that's you know, they're like, well, he might miss games. We gotta get Alfred Morris. Good

luck with that. No offense Alfred, I'm sorry, but not the way we all love. I love him to death, but I don't think it's a great way to protect yourself against not having Ezekiel Elliott. And that's kind of my point is he does have leverage because they there isn't something they can do short of trading another first round pick. There's not a whole lot they can do to ensure themselves against not having him at this point in the year. So yeah, I think it's more base

covering than getting ready for I'm sort of standoff. You know, maybe it does go into September, but I still don't think he misses games. Here's one makes me think otherwise. The Cowboys tend to be a little patient in a way. They tend to play their cards at their own time. To me, this happened pretty soon, especially after Jerry Jones talked about giving these new younger guys the opportunity of, you know, training out here and seeing them develop. It

happened rather too quickly. I know Alfred had had visited another team and all that, but I don't know, It's just it doesn't seem we'll see what happened. One thing to note on that, and Dave you just tweeted about this. Right before we went on the air. Will McClay was one with one of the local radio stations and talked about some of the rationales to why they went out and got Alfred Moors. Talk a little bit about that because maybe that answered a little bit of what Amber

is is alluding to there. Well, it's really fun. I mean, you know, we'll talk for fifteen minutes with our friends on one oh five through the fan and it's it started off, you know, talk about the Morris move. While we're creating competition, doesn't mean we don't like our young guys, we've barely even practiced, but this is a guy who knows how to do it. We're always about fostering competition, you know, hopefully these young guys understand that they should

understand that they're in the NFL. And they just kept asking him questions, and I think one of the guys was like sort of trying to hint about, like, well, is this a shot at Zeke Bubbaly or are you trying to put him on notice? And finally Will sounded kind of exasperate. He was like, most teams have six backs in camp right now, we don't. We needed to six back. Alfred is our six back, and there's no

guarantees beyond that we know what he can do. We like him, but basically there's no guarantee he even makes the roster. And so we had an hour to kill before the show. So I went and looked, and he's right. There were only five teams that didn't. Now there's four because the Cowboys have six. Now most teams have seven or eight. So you know, it seems like there's not enough reps to go around, but they'll they'll find a

way to make it work. And you know, you can argue that, say, well, why don't you just get a young guy. They've got plenty of those. They got plenty of players that have never taken a snap in the NFL. Um. In fact, of the four backs that I could think of right now, the two rookies, Jordan Chun and Darius Jackson, they have a combined uh six carries, all of them are Darius and all Darius, all in the last regular season game of last year, right, right, So not a

lot to work with in terms of NFL experience. Yeah, you know, and I know that Jerry you know, came out and said something on I guess it was Channel eleven and said, we don't you know, you don't need a running you don't need a rushing champion to win a Super Bowl. I thought that was really interesting because he does what do you mean, He's never won a

Super Bowl without the rushing champion. That was also a long long time ago, and a lot about the NFL seas, right, So, but before for you for Jerry Jones to say you don't need one, he's never won a Super Bowl without one, right, But I think I understand the point. It's happened four times, three of them are in Smith for him. So the way this team is structured and its structured kind of similar to that. So it's he's right, but it's just

that he's never experienced it either. So the last three times this team has experienced playoff success, it had the rushing champion as well, whether that was Ezekiel Elliott or DeMarco Murray. Yeah, so I think the thing is, can you can kind of look at this and say, well, they took that approach with wide receivers last year and it didn't work out. You need a number one, And if you want to start thinking about that with running back,

you might find yourself in the exact same situation. Although today's NFL, he does have a legitimate point from standpoint. In today's NFL, there are a lot of really good teams that do very very good things without having the best running back in the league. Now that means you probably need to have one of the better quarterbacks in the league or and or one of the best coaches in the league. And so do you have those things? That becomes the question if you don't have that kind

of runner that really put you over the top offensively. Yeah, Will actually had a great answer to that too. He was like, he's like Jerry, Jerry said something that's true, Like you clearly don't need one because so many teams have done it without him, but you know, and then he followed that up by saying, like, we're interested in having the best players, like we want the top talent regardless of position, Like, of course we value Zeke all

that good stuff. And that's I've I think I've said this already even since we started the show's back in Oxnar's like, you don't need a running back of Zeke's caliber, but this team, the way it's constructed, and especially at this point in the year, like like there aren't other avenues. You can't draft one free agencies long gone. It's it's past time to try to find a real contingency plan.

You are tied to this guy if you want to have the type of season you you want to have in my opinion, So let's talk a little bit about Alfred Morris and that's signing. One of the things I thought was kind of curious in this whole thing was his decision to come to the Cowboys. I think it's a good move for the Cowboys because you improve competition regards to what you think of the other backs here.

You brought in a back that has experienced deck and challenge the guys that are here, teach them a little bit along the way. I think that's a good move for the Cowboys. But if you look at it from Alfred Morris's point of view, he was going to have a triald Or he did have a tryout with the Saints, and then he made the decision to come here. My big question is do you think he can make this team.

Let's assume Zeke comes back at whatever point Zeke comes back, can't even make this team when you think about the other guys that are here, he can. I think he can make this team. He's got to be better, appreciably better than Mike Webber and Darius Jackson. He's got to be way better than them because and then if Tony Pollard proves to be a better inside runner, then it's

gonna be hard for him. But if he's kind of a guy that can play on the outside and does different things, and if anything were to happen to Zeke, they don't really have a good backup, then that's where Morris will play into this. But if Webber shows some flashes and Jackson shows some flashes. It's gonna be kind of tough on him, but you know, better than two guys that have a buying six carries. It's possible. Yeah, I mean, he's he's thirty years old, but he's he's

been to two Pro Bowls. He's done this before. He knows the scheme here, he knows everybody here. Actually I didn't know this. I read it on Twitter last night. His family stayed in Dallas when he went to San Francisco. Seems like everybody does something about Dallas. I don't know if it's the No. I mean, it's a great place to live, don't get me wrong. Maybe no, stay in Texas because same thing happens in Houston. There are a lot of former athletes that live in the Houston area.

The state income tax. It's home for him, at least for the time being. But yeah, I mean, I keep saying this. Pollard's the only one besides Zeke that they've invested anything in. You know, I thought, you know, Weber was drafted and that's exciting, but so is bo Scarborough. You know so, But the question is, you would think for younger guys, you get something on special teams, Zeke, I mean, Alfred Morris is not going to be a special team Yeah, but and Nick's right, he has to

be appreciably better. But if if you are appreciably more confident that he will give you more juice than you'll find a way to make that work, whether you know linebackers or whatever. Maybe he's an inactive guy, you know during the season. He doesn't play a lot on game day, but if something were to happen, that's what he was last time here. Um, you know, and I think it's it's worth pointing out that before the draft, you know, Jerry Jones was had kind of made some comments about,

you know, the direction of where they might go. It wasn't Republic, but he kind of had said, you know, we're gonna look at the draft, but Alfred Morris was on the radar back then. This isn't just a oh you're going to Cabbo watch this. Uh Morris. Morris has been a guy they've been looking at. But they drafted two running backs so they said, all right, we're gonna go here. But he's been He's been on the radar for a long time. That is a really good point

that I forgot about because they drafted two backs. But way back in April, Jerry was like, you know, free agency will be their force when the draft's over if we need it. And maybe Alfred Morris going on all these visits, maybe they felt like they couldn't wait around, and that's why they did it so quickly. It's right right, It's like, hey, if we want him on the roster, maybe we need to do something before this Saints or

somebody else gets trigger happy. Maybe I still don't answer your question though, wife for Morris, we don't know that, yeah, and not that we would until we talk to him, but but I do think, I mean, there were some good points there. Obviously, his family already being in Dallas that makes a difference. Him feeling like he already knows

the system makes a difference. At his age, my presumption would be thinking about this offensive line, he may be like, hey, there's if there's any place I feel like I can do damage, Uh, here, it's here. You look at his his average per carry two years ago when he was with Dallas, it was a full point higher a full yard higher than what it was in San Francisco last season. So there's a difference that's made by the offensive line and the offense that you're that you're running in, so

all those things matter. I just think that it's kind of tough when you start figuring out how he makes this team. If Zeke is back, I have a hard time figuring out how he makes a team. And just well I don't just because I mean, like you know, Darius Jackson, Mike Weber, they're great guys, but not by any means. You know, he didn't invest anything in him. There a seventh round pick and a sixth round pick

from four years ago. If if it's even closer, if Morris is even a little bit better, I don't think that's a hard call at all. I'm gonna get pissed if he gets cut. Who Alfred Alfred? Yeah? I mean I mean, yes, well that sucks, because that sucks. He's such a nice guy. He comes in here and then let's say, okay, welcome to the NFL. Well, we still need to talk about what happens contract wise. If he's here in place week one, let's say, uh, Seek is

not back yet, what happens with his contract? Seek comes like week two, he gets a big deal whatever, and then you decide to cut Alfred, you have to pay the whole year. And that's why, I mean, love Alfred to death, but that's why I'm guarded about him making the team, like he's gotta They gotta really know that he's worth it, because they guarantee a salary by putting him on the team, and we don't know exactly what the contract, right they could say we're going to guarantee

three or four game checks. You know, there was a reason why he decided to sign here, right, we don't know all of them, but I mean it was probably more than just I'm gonna play here, and I guess that's what I was pointing to is at least for me, I think there maybe a little bit more than we know about why or what the Cowboys told him, And that's where it starts to beg the question what kind of picture did they paint of the whole Zeke situation for Alfred that made him feel like this was a

good place for him to come and sign. Again, we don't know any of that, but it is a little curious why he made the decision. Dallas. I think there's some reasons why, but it's still a little bit curious. We're gonna take our first break and we come back. We're gonna talk about practice yesterday. It was the first padded practice for the Cowboys, and we want to find out from these guys what their observations were. We got a few observations that were pretty interesting, some interesting things

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it out and put it to the test. The Cowboys did when they named John Deer their official tractor experience one for yourself. Visit my John dear Dealer dot com slash Football. Back to the Break, Welcome back. It's the second segment of the Break Blackmock Snark, California. It's day four of Cowboys training or practice number four of the Cowboys training camp. Do they they have a morning practice? The crowd's already assembling. We started to see people filter

onto the field. That practice will start at ten forty five am Pacific time. We'll have lots of coverage and if you haven't been able to check it out from yesterday, we did start up our training Camp live segment, the videos that we do live during training camp practice. Dave Hellman was on it with Brian brought us good segment. Makes you check that out and makes you continue to check it out throughout training camp. All right, let's get

into some observations. Nick. I'll start with you talk me through some of the things that you noticed yesterday as you're watching practice first day in pat You know, I thought it was really interesting to see what Robert Quinn was going to be able to bring to the pass rush. And and you know he's gonna have some better he's gonna have some easier challenges than that. But if there was any question about Tyrn Smith, I think he's gonna

be just fine. Um, Robert Quinn might be a really good pro, but right now he was hard to see it on that first day because he was like any other player trying to get as Tyrant Smith. Yeah, it's not happening. He couldn't stay on his feet. I honestly believe like there's two things for for Robert Quinn's good news is bad news. The bad news you got to see this guy every day during practice during training camp.

The good news you're probably not going to see a guy better than him on Sundays throughout the entire season. So take it as a learning opportunity. But it's gonna be tough. I'd here during training Yeah, I'll put it more on Tyring. And we've noticed this this all off season. He just looks as good as he's ever looked. I think physically, he just looks like he's all he's never not looked that good. But you could just tell he seems healthy, and he looks the part, and he looks

like a badass. Yeah, and he played like one yesterday, he said, yesterday, this is as good as he's felt in a couple of years now. But thing that he's got on his yeah, he looks like a cyborg honestly, like he does. He doesn't look like a human being when he's all padded up like that. It's it's it's frightening, which is but he's like the least frightening guy like personally. But yeah, yeah, that's gonna say. To be fair to Robert Quinn, every time he went back against him, he

gotta timey a little bit better. I mean he was still on the ground, but he got better every time. You're right, the fourth time. The two the first two he just he well, he got up just like yeah, grass on his face. Third one got a little bit. The fourth one had he had to have moved Dak. Yeah, like Dak would have had to move up into the pocket or whatever because he was kind of so yeah,

getting better. Yeah, And by the end of camp, my suspicion is that he's gonna be winning some like he won't win every time, but he's gonna win some because that's also nature of We've seen that with other guys when you have to that kind of match up. We saw it with DeMarcus wearing Tyron when Tyrone was a

rookie and DeMarcus are just killing him. By the end of camp, Tyron's holding his own a little bit, right, So you get better as time goes on and you kind of get to know what they like to do and where what areas they're a little bit deficient in, and you try to explore Tyron said after practice, and he said, we will. We work together a lot after practice. We're gonna make each other better, So that that's a

good part of it too. Resolutely, Dave throw a little credit to Connor Williams too, been you know, he's done amazing work in the offseason. He's one of the award winners for best Strength and Conditioning and sure as hell looks like it's translating out there. They called him up in front of the team for compete period. Daniel Ross just sat down on him just a just hack, power, strength, all that stuff. We said he didn't have last year early, but it looks like he's got it, so shout out

to him. And then just watching what the offense kind of looked like. You know, Um, I saw a lot of jet sweeps yesterday, a lot of wide receiver action, a lot of motion in the backfield. Saw Tony Pollard split out wide and just move all over the formation, which you know we're at we're at ground level here, and these guys are enormous, so like, it's hard to really see what it looks like without having that bird's eye view, but I don't know, there's a lot of

people moving around back there, and it's exciting. I like watching it. Well to those people, Dad to keep wondering how Taco looks and how Tristan Hill looks when you know what's gonna happen this season, it's not good, no boy, no, no boy. No. Yeah, it's a little embarrassing out there, but you're gonna still embarrassing. That was for Taco. Tristin Hill. Obviously he's new, he's getting adjusted to everything that's going

on here. He still lacks that strength that you would want him to have, so yes, there's room to grow, but when you move and start talking about Taco, a guy that is going into a third year here he does not look good. And him going up against le Collins. I mean, you talk about Lyle. Yes, he's a great offensive lineman, but at the same time he makes errors. He's not the greatest old line out there, so he

handle him easy with one arm. I take video of every single snap at practice, Like I don't have time to really look at at it. I mean I might watch it once to make sure it's good, but like I don't have time to study it, so I don't see everything. I went back and looked at a Rep Taco going against Lyell and he just got handled and like towards the end of his rush, he's like, nah, screw this, and it was like the most half hearted you know, the Taco spin move, but it was like

twenty five percent speed. He just looked. He just looked. Honestly, you couldn't tell that he's supposed to be a veteran. You cannot tell him die. Far apart from what I love, Like you take this personally, you know, you're like, damn it, Taco,

come on. But I actually noticed that a couple of times there were a couple of rushes he had in the one on ones where it seemed like by the end of it he was just so exasperated because he was just like, I have nothing to get, Like I can't beat this guy at this point, and so he's kind of it's almost like he just kind of gave up. You see some guys that are like those one hundred milk ball in our you know, full time motor type guys,

and they don't stop until the whistle blows. That wasn't him on some of those one on one and the hoss rush drills, and so I don't know, he's he's got this will be a long camp. He's got some time. But when he's got a but he's got to jump in, he's got showing something he really does. Will has said this before, so it's not new news, but he said it again today where he's like, you know, Taco has to compete just like everybody else. He's got to compete

for a roster spot. That's the whole point of this. And I think he will, but if he doesn't, the train will leave without him. Like we're you know this, this thing ain't that time, This thing ain't slowing down for anybody so that time. Yeah, and they drafted two defensive ends. I mean they drafted Jokes and uh Joe Jackson and got one of free agency and got one free agency who Hyder Hyder? Yeah? Everybody sleeps on right, but howbody sleeps on Carrie Hyder? You know? And I

know he plays tackle? And I was just like, who you refer? Hider wears fifty one, which is like the least sexy d N number, even like Quinn wears fifty eight. That even kind of looks cool because the eight is like long, Yeah, that's true, Like fifty one. You're just like, is he alive? Shouldn't you be over there? The tackling sled, like what are you doing here? Yeah? But I think he could be. He's somebody to watch if he gets to that hot boy status he'll get in the ninth Ye,

speaking of numbers, Alfred Morris is wearing twenty three. Okay, Okay, I don't know. I guess yeah, it just looks different. I mean, forty six is a big bulky number for him. I bet he looks slimmer. People are gonna, you know, he looks slimmer only because he's not that he was like, not that he's like fat or anything, but yeah, forty six makes you look big. Yeah he'll be like, oh, it's pretty good. I'd like to throw some a couple names out on offense that I wanted to get your

opinions on. Reggie Davis yesterday was popped out at me. He's a guy that can run and he had a really phenomenal catch down the side. I don't know if

you guys saw it running down field. Talk a little about Reggie Davis, what you saw it during first of all him coming to the team and what he brings to the team, but what you saw during OTA's mini camps and then what you're seeing out here from this was that the one against Jordan, I don't I don't know who you remember who the cornerback was, although Jordan did. Jordan talked yesterday just about how much the insane amount of speed that's this receiver corps because Guidon and John

Vay like that's why they're here. They run four to three. Devin Smith was was a freakid Ohio State before all the injuries. So there's a and Reggie Davis too. Um, there's a lot of speed on this receiver. Corps and actually what stood out it was a great catch. It was a go route, he high pointed it, he needed one hand to hold on to it while he got tackled. But was more impressive than me was the one he made. H He ran a skinny post and it wasn't a

spectacular catch. But the reason why it stood out was because it was with the first team, which I don't know if that was an in practice decision or well, but I was like, Okay, Reggie Davis is getting some run with the ones and he looked good doing it. Um, he's he does not look like. He does not have an NFL build. He's skinny, he's five probably five ten,

five eleven maybe, but he can run. And to answer your question, what he did during OTAs that like once a day you're like, holy crap, well who caught the Oh Reggie Davis with the nice catch. So yeah, it's something to watch. I've said this statement for fifteen years, but it's true, and it's really true this year. These guys are here because they can run and they can catch, and they're gonna turn some heads and talk get talked

about because they what they they can catch. The guy that's gonna take that leap is the one that makes the best tackle, And that's that's always what happens with those receivers. The guy that comes out in that first game and goes down and blows somebody up at the punt return, it could be guiding and you're like, you know what, he could play special teams. That's what happened

to Sam heard. That's what those guys can do. And they're gonna Now unless you're Reggie Davis that continues to make these plays with the first team, Now you jump into this category like I can help as a receiver. But if they're gonna try to figure out the best guys in this group down here, the special team's contributor is going to rise to the front. Pretty fun moment to speaking of just high end speed. John Vay Johnson had a long touchdown and like it wasn't even hard.

That's how many yards behind Chris Wester he was. I mean it was he burned him and Chris Richard. After it was over, like he pointed at Westrey and pointed at the sideline. He was like, ah, like that's no sir. Yeah, you're gonna have to watch a reppertwo after that one. So these guys have some speed. That's that guys, It's gonna be an uphill battle for him. How does that affect a guy like Tavon Austin who his calling card to speed. But you look at the Avon had a

long catch yesterday too. I know that. But my point is why you last year, the reason why I thought Tavon was important to this team is because he added an element of speed that maybe they didn't have from a lot of guys. You're talking about the fact that there's a ton of guys right now that are young

that also have that kind of speed. Does how does that affect Tavon now not being the only guy with that kind of blazing blaze had a punt return as well, And I think if you continues to run the way he did on that one punt return, I mean there's there's different kinds of speed. We've seen guys that are clocked that could run a Randall Williams or somebody like that. But but Terry Glenn it had an aggressive speed speed on the field and and Tavon has that kind of speed.

So all these other guys, Devin Smith and John Vay, Yeah, that They've proven they can run well, but can they run well in the middle of crowd and do those kind of things that Tavon has proven to do in his career he needs to do on a consistent basis for this team though. Yeah, well really, to elaborate, I

was talking about the motions and all that stuff. We saw Cedric Wilson, we saw John Vay, Tavon did some things like there are a lot of guys with speed and so, you know, even we joked yesterday like Jordan Lewis had to do a lot of that stuff when Tavon got hurt last year, Like, I don't think that's the case, and hopefully calam Moore will be more willing

to use guys like that. So it's you know, I think Tavon probably makes this team, but you can't say that with any certainty because I do think there are a few guys on this team that can kind of replicate what he does. It's just amazing to me, as we talk about all these different positions each day, just how much depth the Cowboys have this year that that just didn't seem to be there in this amount last year. And again this is all very early on. We will

find out a lot more. We got to see that, like I've made that mistake before where I'm like, there's so many great guys out here when they're practicing against each other. You got to see that translate to preseason

games too. But even just looking at and the reason why I said it like I said it is because you know, we've seen teams where you'll have these you may have one guy like a Amari Cooper and then all the rest of the guys are the guys like Guy eating in that you're trying to see something from Like you've got three guys you already know day one are playing and they're gonna play well, right, and then you get to these guys it's like Scott has a little talent, Scot has some speed. It's just we talked

about the offensive line. It's the same thing. You already have your starters, but then you get beyond that and you're like, oh my god, these other guys can actually play. I just think right now, you look the depth overall, Cowboys are looking really really good from a depth standpoint, where I don't think they've always looked that way over the last several years, even when they've had pretty talented teams.

Looks like our final break. When we come back, we're gonna get into the tight end position a little bit. That might be an area that's a little different. Depths might be a little bit less at that position. We'll get these guys opinions. We'll talk about that when we come right back. This is Dallas Cowboys dot com Radio layer could look good on paper, it's when he's out on the field that you really find out what he's made of. That's why the Cowboys rely on more than

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to be on the field with America's team. Find Stetson Hats in the Pro Shop or at Stetson dot Com. Today Back to the break Welcome back the final segment of the break Lick of Hot Star California. The players are starting to take the field out here for the morning practice. It is the only practice of the day. They'll have a walk through this afternoon and tomorrow will be a day off for them so they can kind of get their legs back under them after a couple

of days and pass Sizzler day? Is that what it is? First off day off training camp? All right, you're welcome to come. Thank you. I never get the invite. That's awesome. The boss never gets the invite, no problem, so I appreciate that. All right, let's talk about the tight end position. Yeah, you wouldn't like it anyway. Really, Okay, let's talk about

the tight end position. I guess let's start. I want to start by giving you, you guys, an opportunity just to give me kind of your general observations of the tight end position, because it is, as as I mentioned a little earlier, there are a lot of positions where you look at the depth and you're like, man, they got a lot of talent here. I think the tight end position is one of the positions where they're probably

just as many questions as answers. So just give me your overall view of kind of where the cowboys sit here heading into training camp at the tight end position. Nicholas, start with you. They have a Hall of Fame tight end that they need to figure out if he's still a Hall of Famer, and if he's not, then it is Blake Jarr woodn't better, is it Jason Witten the same guy that he used to be? And if not, how is he is? He's still better than jar went

to get off the field at times. I mean, that's really what it comes down to, is that can they both play? Because before it was just one guy playing? Now is it to the point where they both need to kind of be out there? But everybody has something to prove? Everybody in that group. Charltz, can you can you be a factor? Rico? Can you do stuff? I mean, can you be a blocker? Now? Rico? Are you better than Witten? Whitten? Do you still have it? They all

have questions. I think he still does. Yeah, I think he still has it. I feel that right now. And I was hesitant of him coming back. I was like, Okay, how is it gonna come down to? You know, he when he was here, to me, he seemed like his game was getting slower. He just seemed a little slower and not as fast. Not that he was ever super fast, but you know what I mean, Now what I've seen from him, to me, he looks better than what he

looked like two years ago. Really, I feel like when he moves around again, we haven't seen a whole ton yet, but he moving around the field and running around catching the ball. I feel that his mobility, he just looks better than two years ago. He's got more pepp and his step, to be sure, And that makes sense when you think about it. I mean, he took a year off from getting in that stance sixty times a day and getting beat to hell every Sunday and all that

stuffs and guys leaning on it. Yeah, and if I had to guess, he probably still took really good care of himself even when he was a broadcast. You know, I don't know if he's on Tom Brady's level, but he definitely you know, I think somebody did a behind the scenes thing on kind of his routine, like you know,

hours of stretching and a massage every day. And you know, it's not just like hashtag blessed, Like you got to put hours in into it to still function that well at that age after this many years of taking that kind of beating, and I think a year off might have been good for his overall legs. It'll be interesting to see how that holds up. You know, I just look at it and I just you know, no offense

to Wit. It's like a holding pattern. You know, Jason garrettson a contractor year, Jason Witten wanted to come back. I think they worked well for each other, like, hey, you can help me, I can help you. Let's go try to accomplish this thing together and we'll worry about the future of the position later. I didn't. I did not know Blake Jarwin had the athleticism to jump over an entire jugs machine that was on top of a

golf cart by the way. They just kind of popped up for him because he was running full speed, caught a pass and then looked up and there's a jug machine. He's got to so negotiate that. You know, you don't unless it's like Jimmy Graham, who we all know used to play basketball, Like, you don't think of tight ends as being like super freak guys like that. But that was impressive. So I'm interested to see where Jarwin is. Maybe he really can push for playing time, like significant

playing time. I'm not I'm not ready to say that yet, just because I know who Witten is and what he's about. So I'm I'm still kind of waiting to see, do you guys think there's a chance that he could possibly. I don't think he'll be the starter because I think that they value making the veteran, the guy that runs out of the tunnel as the starter. But do you think there's an opportunity for Blake Jarwin here being the

more athletic of the two. And I don't think I'm speaking out of turn by saying that for him to be the primary tight end at some point throughout the season. I don't think he'll ever be like the primary primary tight end. But even just in the four days we've been here, we know this team's not afraid to use twelve personnel. Hopefully they're afraid to use thirteen personnel, but maybe not why because it never works. It never works. Maybe it'll work now that they have another tight end

who can do it. But like every time they do thirteen personnel, it's like, Okay, this is gonna be a run for like a yard every time, every single time. Anyway, every time they call twelve, it's always Blake Like. It certainly seems so far that there is a clear two, and then Schultz and Rico are significantly behind Whitten and Jarwin. So I think maybe he can get significant snaps in multiple tight end sets and stuff like that and have a real role. But I'd be surprised if he's ever

the guy in every formation. What I think you might see is when they get down by the goal line, I think he might be a better option because of his athleticism. He might be a better option down there because Witt is a better blocker. I don't know that yet. I know he's been a pretty good blocker, but you know, Jarwin, that's an area that all young tight ends have to

get better at it. So it might be a situation where Witten plays more and he has one touchdown and w and Jarwin has four for five because he's getting a little bit more opportunities down there. He's maybe more of a jump and ball type of guy than, you know, than Witten. What do you think that Schultz had to get better coming out of his rookie year? What do you think there was the area he had to get he had improven most in order to be a viable

tight end for the team? Drink strength, Yeah, bulk and strength. Do you see any of that? I haven't seen enough. I mean one padded practice and I honestly don't remember even watching him yesterday, and I was talking more about just his physical appearance because I know for Connor, we saw him the first time we saw him coming out of the offseason program. We were like, oh wow, he's put on weight, he's bulked up. He looks the part. At this point, I'll get back to you. I'll you

know that's on my brain. Now I'll take a look at him. Well. Aside from physical stuff, I think he still needs to get better his reaction and his instincts, just reacting a lot faster than what he does right now. And we'll see second year coming in. But last year I didn't feel that he had that quiet Yeah, and that's okay. He was a rookie, but it takes time to learn how to react and how to move at

a certain time. What do you guys, do you guys think the Cowboys will get anything out of the Rico experien experiment at this point, Well, based on where we are, on what you've seen at this point. First day of first day of pads, he dropped a slant that got intercepted. So, um, that's not a great start, you know, same thing as Taco.

It's early, But no, I I'm surprised. It's still ongoing, to be honest with you, and I think I've said I think this is the year it ends for two years, but I do think this is the year that it ends. So let's assume for a second that that Rico does not make this team. Do you think that Cowboys, knowing how much they like to use twelve thirteen personnel, that they'll have to go to the well and maybe bring in a fourth tight end or do you think that

that person's already on the team. It's a unique situation. I think what happens in this case is I think Winten, Jarwin, and Schultz make the team to start the year and Rico goes to spended list for one game. Oh, I forgot about that. But then in week two then they have a decision to make and knock on wood. But I mean, somebody gets banged up in week one, you know,

like let's say a couple two or three weeks. You know that Rico's a guy, Well he comes right in, and then if not, if you decide, well we don't have space for him, let's cut him. You know, it's it's at that point in the season where maybe other teams aren't going to say, well, let's let's take a shot on this guy. You know, maybe they will, maybe they don't. Maybe he's back on the practice squad. If

he's got eligibility for it, I'm not even sure. But if everyone's healthy, okay, yeah, are you wanting to keep four tight ends on the roster? It's all about him to me, it's all about Rico. Is Rico doing anything that makes you think I just not ready to let go? It's not a not a fourth tight end, it's a is it nine lineman? Is it six linebackers, it's whatever. You know, he's another quarterback you know, I don't know. And that's what's happened before. He's he'sn't been on this

team because of other positions. But he's one practice he's not you know, to answer me to answer your question, well, he did too. But I do I want four tight ends? Not really, but I think they probably do. That's and I always frame my answers in regard to that, knowing how much they like their team personnel. If you were mentioned before, you don't necessarily, but they love it seem like to do mooring stuff, So that's part of it.

I don't know, and you think if they if they're going to do that, they may one a half four tight ends. But if you know, Will McClay said it about Taco Charlton, the first round pick. He said, you know, the train will be leaving and you're you know, if you better be on it. If that's the case with Taco Charlton, that's got to be the case with Rico gets right. All right, guys, we appreciate you joining us. Practice will be starting hearing about a couple of minutes here.

They got everybody a symbol, player are on the field. We got fans out here. If you're in the area, make sure you come check it out as an opportunity to be able to see the Cowboys up close and personal. Till tomorrow for Nick Even, Dave Hillman, Amber Garcia. 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.