Cowboys Break: Improving In Free Agency?

The Break. I am Derek Eagleton, joined by our normal cast here. And actually I just thought about something. I got that wrong. It's actually season fourteen. Yeah, it is an episode number two because the NFL year has changed now we're into a new NFL season. Um, and it is not to mess. Marshall did not tell us about and he didn't mention it was actually last week should have been episode one, and he didn't get that right. Fire. Literally nobody cares gone gone, Season fourteen gone. He'll never

host again in this city. Wow, that's not true. Actually, next Thursday being the show. Actually for the next three weeks he's gonna be hosting the show. So Ken, I was hoping you would save that drop for a little bit later on when we talked about other people. Well, see you later. That one took. Yeah, all right, so we got a lot to talk about. Free agency is here. There have been a lot of moves around the NFL. Ironically, there have been zero moves here with the Cowboys, although

there are things. I'm sorry, yes, they're not. Forget about that fullback trade. I'm sorry, I'm right, You're right, there has been, but that wasn't a free agent move. It was a move a guy that agent, guy that wasn't on this team is on this team. Now we'll get

into that and talk about that. But there's been a lot of stuff around the league, and I really want to start this conversation just getting you guys opinion, because I think if you, if you listen to what fans are saying, and really just the general media as well, I think the Cowboys are taking a lot of a lot of just negativity because they haven't been very active. What are your thoughts of kind of what's transpired so far um here at the beginning of free agency with

the Cowboys. Well, can we just say also that Alan Hearns is here. I mean, he's here, He's in the buildings in the building, Yeah, Alan Hearns and two other guys. As soon as you said that, I knew it was coming. Yeah. But also, I mean Joe Thomas is also here, and he's a linebacker that was actually on the practice squad at some point here. Did not really know I was going to ask you to elaborate. I was like, I thought Joe Thomas retired, right, I figured that I was

kind of going for the pause there. And then Deonte Thompson, a wide receiver who was with the Bills. Sorry, those three guys. So to answer your question and we'll get to Alan Hearns a little bit. I want to talk a little bit about him. Um, I think I think the cowboy. I think fans are upset about nine and seven and no no playoff, you know, no not making the playoffs, not doing anything for the last you know, fifteen twenty years. That's what they're upset about. So they

just feel like they want to get better. They see other teams thinking that they're going to get better. Who knows if they really are, but you know, they just want to see you guys do something here that's not a fullback. I kind of understand it. But you know, people are just bitch into bitch. I mean that's just what they do other people, other players that other teams have signed that you wish the Cowboys would have made more of a play, Don't ask Dave that why why not?

Because of course yes, yeah, absolutely sure, badge who It's not even where my mind went at first, But right, well, that's it. You know, when this whole thing starts every year, for the first three days, you're like, all right, calmed down, everybody, like, no, they're not gonna throw eighty million dollars around. But then you start to see some of these other things. And I've said it on this show before the trades that

happened before free agency even kicked off. I just I'd like to see a little more aggression on behalf of the Cowboys. And that doesn't mean dropping eighty million dollars. That means signing a freaking Pro Bowl safety named Tyron Matthew to a six million dollar deal about one year, one year? How about commitment? How about Morgan Burnett on a three year, fourteen and a half million dollars deal

less than five million dollars a year? How about you know, I always go back to that we talk about how this team doesn't have a great one technique. The Patriots got Danny Shelton for a third round pick. He's a first round one technique defensive tackle. I think you make your off your defensive line a heck of a lot

better adding that guy to it. And it's a It's a relatively highly priced draft pick, but you can pay dividends immediately if you put the other talent on your defensive line next to a guy like that, free stuff up for your linebackers. There are some other ones, you know. You know, we talked about Sammy Watkins last week. I think that would have been dumb. I'm not this fifty

sixty million dollar contracts. I'm not interested. But there are small, calculated things that other teams are doing that I think this team could be doing that I think would be smart. And I don't blame fans for being frustrated that that they're not doing at least some smaller type of things. You know, I've decided to take this another route, and usually I would be frustrated for not seeing anything happening,

just as everyone else is. But at the same time, I'm thinking, Okay, well, patient is a virtue, and we've seen that the Cowboys having been very successful at acquiring or the guys they've gone been a good hit, so they haven't hit on good guys during free agency. So I keep trying to take it back and say, Okay, well, maybe this is a good move. But then at the same time it's so back and forth because at the same time you only get essentially two ways of bettering

your team through free agency and then the draft. They're letting free agency go by without doing really anything, So I don't know. I'm trying to give them the benefit of the doubt and let them handle this and expect them to know what they're doing and expect that maybe one it would have been too much money and we know how they have money problems right now in a way.

But two, if the guys that they did go for, would those be a waste and would be would we be here later on the year talking about this free agent guy. Is that sucked and didn't do anything for the Cowboys. Yeah. The fact of the matter is when you go for and I think Dave you hit on the same thing. When you go for the high price free agent, typically you're overpaying, You're overpaying for free agency that when you're when you're on that first wave of guys.

You look at just the history of the Cowboys, this is rare you find a high price free agent the Cowboys pay for that actually pays dividends. That doesn't happen a whole I think it happens the other way. Happens that often in the NFL. Yeah, maybe not right. And you look at just the most recent one. I don't know if this is the most recent one that can come. Think of Brandon Car. Brandon Car is a good player. Problem is you overpaid for him. And that's what free

agency does. It takes a good payer and makes you pay him as though he's a great player, rather than paying him as a good player. And that I think is the challenge of being in that first wave of free agency. There's probably only two or three guys every year in free agency that's in that first way that

actually get money that they're worth. The rest of them are getting overpaid because they're the best guy available, right, I think, Yeah, But I think the vast majority of intelligent fans understand that and don't want the Cowboys splashing eighty million dollars on play okay, but forget those eight people about the rest. I don't. I don't. I am not under the impression that they're I mean, okay, you know, people get excited any people get excited anytime a guy

gets released. So you know, like in Dominican Sue, he gets released out of one hundred million dollar contract, you think you might be able to get him for cheaper. But you talk about the unrestricted free agents, like the guys who were really the cream of the crop of this free agent class, Like you didn't hear a whole lot of you know, complaining that the Cowboys should be

chasing after those guys. And when the Cowboys did reveal that they went after Sammy Watkins, people were kind of surprised, Like really, you know, a lot of times unrestricted free agents like a senior in the NBA, like because you probably would have been released earlier. I think the guys that are released are probably better players because they're released

because of because they had a high contract. I think if you just let it go all the way to the end of unrestricted, I don't know if you're gonna get that many great players. I think the best ones are the ones that are getting cut. Yeah, yeah, and I would agree with that. And well, the point I was gonna make is I don't feel like we have to sell fans on not buying eighty one hundred million dollars players. But again, it's the smaller, smarter, more reasonable content.

Like you know, I already brought up Morgan Burnett. Pittsburgh put him on a three year, fifteen million dollars deal, even if he's not good. Is that really going to ruin your your finances? Probably not. Green Bay added Moe Wilkerson one year, five million dollars. The one year deals are the ones that really stand. He's got a bad reputation, but if he you know, if he doesn't make good on it, nobody's gonna care tyed Matthew again. And it's

that type of stuff. I think, for the most part, that's how you can really improve your team without thinking an absurd amount of money into it. And the fact that we haven't seen the Cowboys really even sniff at any of those situations, I think is what's got people frustrated. And I think when you look at DeMarcus Lawrence and obviously you know, fans don't look they don't really think about that as something that counts like that, I don't

really count like that they got him. But I think the issue with DeMarcus and what the Cowboys did is that they didn't get him on a long term deal. I don't think they want to. And by the decision of not trying to get him on a long term deal, and they're gonna have seventeen million just sitting there for him, you know, that's that's gonna be problematic to sign other guys. And so when when fans say, oh, that doesn't really count, unfortunately, it really does count to the cap, and it's eating

into it their decision. And I don't know if I blame him. The guy's really probably I don't know if he's a one hit wonder, but he's a one and a half hit wonder. He's really had one and a half really good seasons, and I don't know if that's something you want to throw all that money into. So I kind of understand why the Cowboys did that. It's DeMarcus Lawrence in that situation that's kind of holding this

thing up. Along with this. Now, they do have room, correct, I mean, they did restructure Travis Fredericks, so they have some room to be able to do some things right, do some stuff, and they and they cut Scandrick for June one. That saves him what three million that you know, that's just signing your draft picks really because he can't

do that until June one. But let me ask you this, going back to the Scandrick thing, were you're a little bit surprised, and this goes along with what Dave was saying as well, from the standpoint of you know how teams are making some of these shrewd moves with the guards to trades and stuff like that, where you're a bit surprised the Cowboys weren't able to structure some kind of trade and get some value out of Orlando rather

than just cutting him out right. Not really, No, that's I mean, he's thirty one, or he'll be turning thirty one. He's had extensive injury problems. He missed the last month of this season with an injury. And his contracts. I mean, what did he sign in Washington for two years ten? Yeah, something like that. He was on the hook for like two more years at four million dollars. So I thought

he had a tradable contract. Yeah, I don't think the contract was a Problemly, No, his contract's not a problem, but when you factor everything else in there, and just like, why are you scrambling to to take that on when you could just sign him after they can't? I don't. I don't think there's a huge market for him in terms of teams being and if they if there was, it certainly wouldn't have been anything. I mean, Robert Quinn is going for a fourth and a sixth. What's Orlando

Scander gonna get you? Yeah? I mean, this guy loves the West Coast and you know, ideally you would think he would sign with somebody over there, but I mean, we know him, we haven't. He has an agenda. I mean, he had three teams he wanted to sign with. And I don't know this personally because I haven't talked to him, but I mean it definitely makes sense that he looking for the red Skins or the Eagles or the Giants.

He wants to play the Cowboys again. Those chips on his shoulders were never going to be as big as they are next season. Good for him, but you know, I think more than anything, it was it was time for him to go. He knew it, the team knows it, and apparently his teammates did as well, because I mean, Dave, can you spend the next one second, um talking about all the guys that that wished him farewell? Right? I mean, and you know that Smith leaves and it's like, oh

my god, Beef, I mean, good luck in Oakland. And then Scandrick leaves after ten years and writes this long thing that nobody really believes and then he sends it in you know, peace out, and everyone's like, h yeah. I mean, I think it was his time. He was a good player and a great draft pick. He was a great that's value fifth round pick, the stick around for years, that's about, especially playing the slot. And I think and I think he is a very intelligent player.

He's a smart player. He learned the game, learned the craft. But I think, you know, he probably rubbed people just you know, the wrong way, just enough to kind of like, you know what, it's been good, it's been real time. We'll see we'll face you one time next year. And the interesting thing is when you look at all the guys that have left the Cowboys to go to the Redskins, particularly Cowboys haven't gotten burned on the right. So I think I think you're probably not. You're probably betting in

the direction that he might be okay for them. I don't know that the Cowboys are feeling like, oh my god, we gotta play him twice a year. Ever, is there ever? Oh, I mean Jason Hatcher, random Noble, Um, I mean row McClain, like our list, The Cowboys really haven't gotten burned by it. You know, the guys end up playing there and they're just guys who was ad I'm sorry Kent, Devin Harris when he was the Giants, Dwayne Harris, Jwayne Harris, sorry,

Jayne Giants. Yeah, but we were talking specifically. I think about the Redskins. Dwayne Harris burned him that one game he did Billyne Harris did beat them like almost single handedly. One can't He actually had a decent, decent time with the Giants. Yeah, but I just just the Redskins. Think about the Redskins and how they do free agency. It rarely has come back to bite the Cowboys. Well, Dion's the biggest one, and he didn't. He was toward the end, Yeah,

much closer to the end than the beginning. At that point, when the Cowboys released DeMarcus Ware, you kind of had a feeling in the back of your mind that that might come back on him, but he specifically said, I'm not going to the NFC. No, and no, I'm money with the Eagles. On thinking out loud here, I'm not talking yeah, No, I'm saying I nobody's worried that Orlando Scandrick is just gonna make life difficult for it. No, we've seen him in training these receivers. I like Orlando

Scandrick more than most people do, but I'm not buying it. Yeah, all right, let's move on. I do want to talk about a couple of guys that Cowboys lost. Let's talk a little bit about Keith Smith and Kyle Wilber. I know that they are not huge players, but when you start thinking about special teamers for this team and some of the better special teamers for this team, you were better. Now you were joking around, But like, let's talk about that trade. Yeah, let's talk about that whole because I

think I think there's a couple of things here. First, the fact that you've lost two core special teams players to Oakland, and then just the way the whole thing went down with losing Keith Smith, who signs with Oakland, and then Oakland trades you the guy that they probably are not going to have a place for because they signed your guy, and you give up a fifth round pick and get a sixth round pick for it. What was your thought about just that whole overall trans set

of transactions. That doesn't really bother me too much. I think that I think you're you're losing a better special teams player obviously in Keith Smith. Yeah, you know, but but you're probably gonna get a little bit more from an offensive standpoint with Ala Wally, and I think that look for this to be. I don't think they're done when making moves on the tight end position. I think this is more of an h back type guy. If they'll use them that way, I think you'll you'll see

a little bit more. You'll see him actually lined up more out. I think so slat than just in the backfield is full. I think so. But you are losing some special teams and probably just a better online blocker. You know. But I haven't had any conversations about people to affirm this theory. But I don't think that the Cowboys thought there was a market for Keith Smith, like he's their pet project. He's there a linebacker turned fullback, special team or they expect him to come right back.

They're the only team that values him in their minds. He you know, he plays twelve percent of the offensive snaps. He's caught like three passes in his career. They didn't tender him. They didn't think it would be a big it would be a big deal. They didn't think about the fact. Or maybe maybe they did and they just figured it was worth the risk. But his special team's coordinator works somewhere else now. I think they were probably surprised by how much he got in the grand I mean,

he got kind of was too. He got made nicely for a fullback, which an end today's NFL, that's a that's an anomaly. So, like I said, maybe they saw it coming, maybe they didn't, but I don't think they fully thought that he might actually leave. It makes a ton of sense for him. He's from the West Coast, he went to college up in the Bay Area. His daughter lives out there, and so you don't have a fullback Jason Garrett clearly wants to play that style of football.

So they did what they thought they had to do. To get the next best option, because and I went through all this yesterday, I was like, Okay, why don't you just get an undrafted free agent? Just get some guy to come in. It well, might take them a while to get up to speed. I mean they've brought in fullbacks in other years. I remember my guy J. C.

Copeland from LSU a couple of years ago. Figure, what's basically, what's twenty spots in the draft for a guy who can do the job and do it well right away? And so I think that's what they did. And you know, you know, people on Twitter kind of criticize it, like they never should have let Keith go. They should have waited for the Raiders to cut him, because obviously they probably would whatever they might wait till September to do that,

you might get outbid by somebody else. They did what they thought they had to do to just get it done, and they didn't spend a lot to do it. So lose a draft pick, I mean no, they move, they lost n they lost nineteen spots. I think the value is like two point seven points on the draft chart verse like one point two or it's it's miniscule, it's nothing. Um, so I would I'd rather have Keith Smith. Yeah, probably personally,

just that's mainly familiarity. Yeah, and I mean, well me personally, I like him as a dude, But I don't think this is a big deal or like, you know, I don't think the Cowboys got screwed. It's just kind of yeah whatever, all right, yeah, I think so, yeah, well, let's also just player to player. Yeah yeah, yeah, but don't don't forget this aspect too, because a lot of people will say and have said, well, you know, the

Raiders didn't want Ola Wally. You know, they want to Keith Smith, So you're gonna take what the Raiders didn't want. Don't forget that when a new coach comes in, especially a special team's coach, and a guy like Besaccia, I mean he's gonna come in. He doesn't want to win with Olah Wally, you know, he wants to win with Keith Smith. I mean, hey, guys, look our special teams. I brought Wilbury and I brought Keith Smith, and I want to win with my guys. That He's no different

than a lot of coaches. So yeah, if if if another let's just hYP hypothesize that a Cowboys coach leaves here next year and and just goes all out to get Jeff Heath on his team. Yeah, you know, like that's his guy. He knows the ski, he can do what he's supposed to do. He can help the other

guys understand what they're trying to get accomplished. Cowboys fans are you know, you know whoever, the Steelers fans are gonna be like, well, the Cowboys they didn't want him, and Cowboys trains will be like he's terrible, he's Jeff he ha ha ha. But like coaches do that, they like to surround themselves with familiar players and get guys who know how to run the things they want to run. It's just first. But Jeff a good player. Keith I think he plays. Keith Smith is a great story. He

is a phenomenal story. But I mean, is he is he really a good player? I mean, I think for what they ask him to do, yes, I think. Now, now that doesn't mean he's all pro cow What I'm saying is as a fullback, as a special teams player, I think he's a good player. Now, you know, the question becomes Jay is Jamay No? Maybe not? But is Jamay's old Whalley a good player. I know that I've seen moments when I've seen good play from him. He was here at one point, um and in Oakland he's

done some decent things for them. It's hard to know because I don't watch fullbacks a whole lot, right, So I don't know what he's a better player, worst player, or not. I guess, you know, it really is going to come down to how much of the Cowboy's gonna use a fullback? Let use him and how do they use him? You're talking, it's when you're talking twelve percent of the snaps, it's six to one and half a dozen to the other. That's I refuse to get up

in arms about it. And I like Keith Smith, and like I said, I wish he was still here, but it's it's what and there there's not many players that can score seventy five yard touchdown out there. I mean, you know, he's got a little bit of of more offensive game to him than Um, than Keith Smith. So if they're gonna use him that way, then that's fine. But if he's just got more offensive game, but you're not gonna you're still gonna play him in the same role,

then that's not good. I think what was once what the seventy five yard touchdown? Yeah, yeah, I mean, well one of them wasn't a tight He's He's had a few long receptions. I'm saying, I'm you don't just base your no, I'm raiding on him just by one or two, And I didn't. I did not do that. What I said was is he was just a better offensive player,

and he's probably got more skills offensively. If that's how they're gonna use him, if they want to line them up in front of Zeke and just blast these linebackers, I don't know if that's his game, so at his Keiths game. Again, what I'm saying is, I think they're gonna cut James Hannah probably or James Hannah's gonna have a hard time making this team, and they're figuring out

a way that Ola Wally plays fullback. But we you know, you have to have Rico on this team for a while at least, and then you've got You've got Swam, and you've got all these other tight ends in the mix. This is a way to kind of get him on the field and do similar thing. Yeah, I think the more important thing that I'll get that I'll personally keep an eye on is how much does the Special teams take a hit losing two corese special teams players who fills in that gap, and we'll see, like it may

mean nothing. You may have guys that can easily replace them, it may mean something. And that's the thing we've noticed. I think over the years of watching this team. It takes subtle changes. Sometimes you'll see big differences in how a Special Teams unit play. So that'll be something to keep an eye on this next year. It's take our first break. When we come back, I do want to dive in a little more on this Alan Hearns thing.

Let's talk a little bit about him and what he could mean to this team if the Cowboys go that route that when we come right back. This is Dallas Cowboys dot com review. It can be hard to find the right resource for learning about important financial matters. You search how to build savings, you end up reading about the one weird ingredient from supermarkets that can make you taller. That's why Bank of America build Better Money Habits dot Com a safe little corner of the Internet for answering

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to the break Welcome back. It is the second second of the Break Life from the s WBC Mortgate Studios at the Star. Talking free agency, Let's get into this this topic of Alan Hearns. He's a wide receiver that has been playing in Jacksonville the last three year, four years, I'm sorry. In two fifteen had a really really great season the numbers. In twenty fifteen he had sixty four receptions for one thousand and thirty one yards and ten touchdowns,

really really great season. The downside is over the last two years he's had some injuries. Played ten games last year, eleven games a year before. In both seasons, had thirty five and thirty nine receptions for four and seventy seven and four hundred and eighty four yards, and then only three and two touchdowns in those two seasons. So the question becomes, what are you getting. Are you getting the

guy that you saw the last two years? Are you getting the guy that you saw in two thousand and fifteen? And you know, you said a really really great season that was for a guy that you've been like, who's Alan Hearns? Like when can I get him on my fantasy team? Like and wow, Jacksonville actually has a player.

But but sixty four catches for a thousand yards and ten touchdowns was was actually a down season for Like I mean when Dez put up those numbers and Dess numbers were one a thousand yards and in that many touchdowns. But I mean Dez has had some numbers like that would have said some pretty good years. But that's still a really good season. Like also, keeping you go with a thousand yards and ten touchdowns. That's a good season. It's a good right, that's good season. That's a thousand

yards as a number two. Yeah, Alan Robinson was their number one. He's yeah, he was a quarterback for that year. That was the one year that Bortles had like a great season. Everybody thought, Okay, they're rolling now. He came in with Bortles. Yeah, and that would have been his second year with Portals. But which that is really I don't know what to make of this thing, because all right, he hasn't signed. First of all, there's that but here

he's here visiting, but he hasn't yet. He does not fit the mold of the other receivers that we've been talking about, Dontrell in Men, Justin Hunter, and then you can even throw in Bryce Butler as a candidate to sign back. He's much more accomplished than those guys and he will probably fetch a far higher price tag. He also is not what I would think of as a number one receiver. I mean, if you're gonna sign Sammy Watkins, you're cutting des Briant. That's what you're that's going that's

going down. He's gonna be your number one. You're gonna rebuild the receiver cord behind him. What are you doing with Alan Hearns? I mean, you're gonna make him the most expensive number four receiver in the league or are you signing him to replace DEAs and saying, hey, big guy, go get it be the number one even though you've never done that. And by the way, injury now using letting everybody know that you're going to use an early

pick on a wide receiver. In addition that, because I wouldn't which you're gonna get rid of Deaz even if you sign Hearns and not get a priority. And I completely agree, I think, I mean, if Hearns, if Hearns signs here, and I don't know anything, I'm not you know, nobody told. The hypothesis is all me just trying to make sense of why they would be interested in him

if they were going to sign him. I would imagine they signed him, give him a decent paycheck, and then draft a receiver highly next month, and then writings on the wall that does is at I mean, if you watch a little bit of tape, and I know brought us. I was looking at him um last night and this morning, and I watched a little bit he looks a lot like this. I mean, forget the eighty eight. I mean he he does bigger version though, right, a little big, right.

I mean he don't think he's as thick he looks. He looks just like I mean, I mean he runs. His routes are kind of the same, you know, which isn't necessarily a good thing. Um. You know, his quarterback doesn't always put the ball where it needs to be, which is similar. Uh here, Um, you know, it's it's a lot. There's a lot of des to it. And if you and if you look at the last three years,

you're like, uh, what I'll tell you this morning. If fans that want Alan Hern or people that want him are gonna say, well, you know, Alan Hearn had fifteen touchdowns last three years and this guy's had Doz had seventeen. If you take it back four years, it's like thirty three to nineteen. So, I mean I just think that it's I don't I don't see how you have Hearns and Daz on this team. That's I don't get this.

But even if Daz was gone and they have him, and I haven't looked at his stape or anything, but based on Brian already did his report and all that, and I read it based on all all the things that he wrote down. I mean, why would you have won this guy? Does he really have the qualities that you're looking for in a wide receiver? Yeah, he has the qualities. I think. I think what you get, you get a younger dad. You're just getting at You're not

really improving anything, really not getting younger. You're not younger, and you I personally think you're saving money. I know you said you think it's a heft of year prices. I don't know if I necessarily agree with that. I think you might be able to get that guy on that kind of one year deal, that kind of two year deal, because again, the last two years it's gonna

be hard for him to convince the teamies. I'm not sure, but he missed what six games one year in five games the other It's I mean, there is that if if if you really don't think there's that much of a market for him and you can get him to a super team friendly deal like that, go for it. But I know where he's going after this Jets, right, Yeah, they got a boatload of a lot of money, a

lot and the need for playmakers. Yeah, I mean he could be, but I think again, I think that these numbers are why it's hard to convince me that a team's gonna say, oh, he's the playmaker, we need to go and spend what did what did we just say though? Teams? Teams are doing that. Teams do that in free agency.

And if you've got eighty million dollars in cap space and quincy and none, you is your only wide receiver and you're about to draft a quarterback of the future, and you got the money where you can overpay this dude, who cares? I'm just saying. I just I look around the league and I see some of these other deals that you mentioned earlier in the show, where there are much better players that are on one year deals, prove it type deals. To me, this they prove it type guy.

The Ravens tried to give Ryan Grant eight million dollars a year. I haven't anything's possible. I know didn't work out, But at any Taylor Gabriel got seven and a half million dollars a year. I mean, not Taylor Garret. He does have some extraordinary speed that you can say, hey, we can use him in a lot of differentulties. All I'm saying is, you know, for the Cowboys, it has to make sense because they don't have that much cap space. But the Jets could give this guy eight million per

year on a shorter deal just because they need somebody. Honestly, I don't think I could name more than one Jets none. You I don't even know if I'm saying his name right. That's how to little I know about the Jets. Lucky Whitehead's up there. Good for him. They got Crabet, they got you know, there's no Wayne Kurbett, there's no Key Sean. They're about that. They're going to draft a quarterback. They need to have a reason for people to be excited about their offense. I'm so I agree with Dave on

this one. I'm just saying I think this guy will command a higher price tag than your and you know, and I honestly, I hope the Cowboys don't overpay for him. I don't and it doesn't sound like they they're willing to overpay for anybody, But I hope they don't overpay for him because I do think he's the kind of guy that needs to prove it. Kind of deal he has not proven in the last two years that he is a guy that's worthy of a big contract in my opinion. But to Amber's point, let's just say you

did that. Alan Hearns is twenty six, that's is turning thirty, Um, so you're basically getting a younger, similar player. And then again, if you did this, I would have to assume you're going to spend a top fifty draft pick on a receiver. So you turn your receiver corps over basically, just like you did with your cornerbacks. You make your top two receivers twenty six or younger going forward, and then you

can figure out what you want to do. And last year you have a receiver let that you drafted last year as well. So I mean, if you were to do this, then I believe Terrence Williams would become your oldest receiver and he can't be any older than like

twenty seven, twenty maybe not even that old. Oh yeah too, well, well, but you we already drafted somebody that he's like, Yeah, Beasley's also in a contract year, So I meant, I mean, I don't know how it's gonna play out, but it seems like they're very much interested in doing to their receiver corps what they did to their cornerback group. Yeah, and I just I agree with Dave. I think that somebody liked the Jets, which you ask them, Okay, what do you all need? We just need a guy that

can play, we need we need you. You could come in and help us. But there's more questions with the Cowboys doing what's up first of all, like if I'm if I'm his agent, and Alan Hurns, I'm like, what's going on with this? I mean, what what's up there? What rolled am I am? I? You know, walking into here um, which it's it's very intriguing because and you know,

I'll eat Crow. March isn't over. But I think I said at the beginning of March, I thought the dead situation would have resolved itself, because I guess I went into it thinking they were going to answer the dead question first and then do what they had to do after that, and they're clearly not doing that. They're either going to try to do it simultaneously, or they're going to try to answer the dead question after they bolster

the rest of their receiver group. I think they had a free agent list, and I you know, I think Sammy Watkins was at the top of it. I don't know if there was another guy, but I bet Dez was in there as well. It wasn't like we cut does or we don't. We don't like, let's see if we got someone better, if we can do, I guarantee if Sammy Watkins would have come here, is going to be cut. I don't think that there's any way around that.

I don't know about Herns. I don't know if if they're seeing you know, if he can if he comes into this mix or not. But you've got a lot of guys that are the same type of player to me, des Terrence, and now if you signed Alan Hearns, I think they would be all similar type guys. Yeah, I just I think it would would be a I think it would probably be a mistake to think that if you're gonna that you're gonna get rid of Dez and

that Alan Hurns would be his replacement. I don't think you're better doing that Hearns and you're drafting a guy you have to do. Yeah. But but I'm a believer personally that the chances of a rookie wide receiver. I know we've seen some of the last few years that have bucked this trend. But I'm a believer that a first round draft pick at wide receiver, you cannot count on them to be a significant contributor in their first year unless and when we've seen it work, typically they

have a really great gal on the opposite side. That won't be the case in this instance. You'll have some good guys. I don't know. If you have a great guy on the opposite side is going to take a little bit of attention. So I don't really factor that in for this year. Yes, for the future, I don't factor it in as much for this year. And again,

we're trying to figure out Dak. You know, we still don't know how he's going to be in his third year, and then bringing in and rookie and trying to put everything on that rookie and trusting him and this hears how do you say, urns. I don't like that idea at all, and the whole fac I understand being younger and in a way being cheaper obviously, but why does

that matter really at that point? If you were talking about like a rookie guy, then that's different because that's way younger, and yes, you have more time to develop, but this guy, you're at this point, you're wanting a wide receiver that can actually do something, not to test on the field and put him out there and see how he does and try to connect him with Dyke

and see how he goes with them. I mean, if I haven't been able to see that with Dez, I sure wouldn't want to be able to see this with him,

or I wouldn't expect something better through him. The one thing I think that's a caveat to this whole thing is, at least from the way the Cowboys could be thinking about this, they could be thinking of this as a look, if we have Zeke for a full season, we believe that we don't need a true number one if they're going to make that move right, Yeah, they could be looking at this. And I was the one that talked about it in two thousand was a two sixteen. Those

games it does miss, they're often still kept going. And I think the reason why the offense still kept going is because you had Zeke back there and you had a great offensive line. And they may be looking at this and saying, look, if we have Zeke for sixteen games,

and we've got our offensive line clicking. We believe that our quarterback can make the few throws he has to make per game, that the receivers we have have right now, even without Dez, can make the catches that we need to make during the game, and our offense is still clicking. So also how it went in and Cole yeah open and being able to make those plays, I mean not

at this point, or we didn't see that last year. Well, but I think their their argument will probably be, well, we didn't have Zeke the whole season, and once we had. When we had Zeke, by the time right before he got suspended, this offense was clicking. And I think they believe if we have him for a full season without the distraction of this thing hanging over his head, and we can get back to what we were. We think our offense can be efficient even with the receivers that

we have. We don't necessarily have to change out a lot. We can go cheaper and have an Alan Hearns that we think could be maybe comparable. And that's well, and that makes sense, and that's probably why they're you know, Jerry. Probably my favorite jerryism is the tolerance for ambiguity. I mean, like this whole thing is just nebulous right now, and it doesn't seem like it bothers him too much. I mean it'll, you know, by the time the draft's over, I feel like we'll have a much better idea of

what their plan is. But they don't seem like they're in a hurry one. I mean, whether it's Dez and a rookie, or Alan Hearns or somebody else that hasn't been cut yet. I don't know one alarming trend. I just looked at his stats. Hearns sixteen, fifteen, eleven ten, that's the game's played in that order. He's you know, he's rookie year sixteen and fifty. I mean he's always trending downward. I mean sometimes four years. That's still somewhat of a small sample size, but I mean he you know,

we'll see what happens with his career. But he's starting to get injured a little bit more. You'd like to kind of see a full sixteen in there, you know lately, which, well, to Derek's point, maybe his market won't be as great as I think it is because of that. I don't know. Yeah. I gotta figure out what what they do with Deaz I mean, and they have a plan. They're just they're just not having a press conference every week telling us about yeah yeah, all right, let's take our final break.

When we come back, I do want to talk about Jonathan Cooper. He signed with the forty nine ers, and I want to talk about what kind of hole, at least for the Cowboys. He was a start of last year at guard. This offensive line is the best of what the Cowboys do. What does that mean now for the rest of this offensive line of what the Cowboys will have to do in either free agency or the draft in orders sure in order to secure that offensive line. We'll talk about that when we come back. Is Dallas

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You are a member of Cowboys Nation, and so is AT and T doing their part to keep you connected to America's team all season long. Is a proud member of Cowboys Nation. Back to the Break, Welcome back. It is the final segment of the Break, Nick take it away. Oh yeah, yeah, hell yeah. Let's talk a little bit about Tommy John and you know what, we have different reads about it. The one thing that I don't think we talk about a lot is true Cowboy fans love

to wear their their star. Tommy John gives you that ability. If you go to the website Tommy John dot com forward slash Cowboys you'll be able to look at not only a great pair of underwear, the best that there is, but you can personalize it with your favorite team. You put a star on there, and so if you get to that point, you know, and people get to see the draws that are like, oh, Cowboy fan as well. So go to Dallas cow I mean you can go

to Dallas Cowboys as well. Hopefully definitely if there, you're already here, but tell me John dot com forwards last Cowboys. You get twenty percent off your first order and you can also figure out a way to put that star. We have other fans on the other teams, fans that listen to our show. Yeah, but they're just haters. Yeah, but they listen. Who there are people? Oh well, I guarantee welcome on board. Sometimes we talk about your team, Yeah we do. We do. So we'll talk about the

forty nine ers for a second. We do need to talk about that trending upward. They've made a lot of moves and you look at what they were year and a half ago. They are a completely different team. And yesterday they pick up one of the Cowboys. I guess one of the guys that Cowboys were okay with losing in Jonathan Cooper, who started for them all last season and I thought played pretty well, and I think it does leave a significant hole for them now that they

have to feel as far as a starting guard. What do you guys think about losing Jonathan Cooper cool? I mean, I don't. I don't think that it affects them at all. I really don't know. I wasn't one of those one year deals that that Dave mentioned earlier, so it wasn't like they committed a lot to him. Yeah, they get they want him. I don't know the number they watched. I heard an interview this morning they said it. I

forgot it. I know it's a one year deal. They want to see what he looks like when he doesn't have an all Pro center and all Pro left tackle next to him. I think the Cowboys are looking at this going Ron Leary was pretty good, and then he comes in there and he does does really well, you know, and then lyell, okay, can he play guard? He's never played it, and he played pretty well. And then Leary

comes back and then he's done well. And then Jonathan Cooper has been around three teams and he does well. I think they're kind of seeing that. You know what, let's get that you just plug in whoever. I mean, not whoever, But I don't know what we're not gonna Um a little slight. Maybe it's a little bit you think you can play left guard? Who Derek, No, No, too slight. You don't have an ass at least not compared to some. First of all, why are you looking

we work closely together. I'm sorry. Still, I don't look at yours, don't look at mine. Well you do buy up. That is pretty inappropriate, rich coming from you. But you did to Tommy john Ry last week. It was fantastic, That's what I heard. I heard it was really really well done. Um. I've said like three dozen times this offseason that I thought they should bring Cooper back because i've you know, you get him on a very inexpensive,

like one or two year type of deal. But again, like I'm not heartbroken that it didn't come to pass, because, like Nick said, I mean, I'm glad you did say anything inappropriate right there? Yeah, oh well yeah, good, um. But it's yeah, like to nixt point, it's whatever he's playing between two pro bowlers, you can you can find damn near anybody to do that job for you, so you know, best to luck to him. I thought it made sense to bring him back, But there's any number

of other guys who can do that for you. Yeah, So I mean it's not so much that that it's Jonathan Cooper as much as to me, it just creates one more hole you gotta fill, and this time it's start. It doesn't create anything though. That hole's been there since the season. But let's yeah, I gave him like a Brich guy or like one of those fan day again.

But but if you are, but if he is a bridge guy, then the question becomes typically, when you got a bridge guy, you got somebody else that's kind of coming up next, And they don't really have anybody coming up next. And I think the more important part of it is the part that Nick wants to talk about here, which is does this now affect what you're doing at

right tackle? Does your right tackle? And Lyle Collins now become the guy that ultimately has to move again down to guard because you got a hole at guarden And that's the part I think is more important to consider here. There they've looked at three different offensive lineman yesterday Cameron Fleming, who was a starter the last year. Um, kind of a journeyman, but but he's been a starter last year

for the Patriots start of the Super Bowl. That's something can't see, you know, like out boys on this team have not said, um, they he is. He's not really a swing guy. He's gonna play tackle, probably right tackle as his best position. So if they signed him and they're in some negotiations with with him, then yeah, Lyle would probably move to left or at least they're going to figure that out and see if that's the that's the best option. So they're also looking at some other guy,

was it Adrian wad Waddle. He's more of a swing tackle option there. They also looked at a guard, Marcus Martin. I don't know if he's necessarily in the mix to be signed. Also a couple of receivers too, Um yeah in Men and Hunter. But well, Dave, I know you have a problem with the idea of Lyle move and talk to about why I have a problem. You just do, Okay, Yeah, I just I don't love it. Uh, Like they're they're

like schizophrenic. Because for the first for forever, fans wanted him to play tackle, and we're sitting here having these conversations, like, look, they like him at guard. They said it a million times. We like him at guard. We think he can be really amazing at guard. So we say that for a year and a half, anticipating that's where he's gonna be low and behold. They changed their mind. They try to move and tackle. They paid him very well to move

out there. And I've thought he did an awesome job, like they like, nobody had a harder job than Lyle last year, Like he had to play Vaughan and Carrigan and Mac and pretty he would facing off against badasses week after week after week, and I thought he was hurt and with Annie had a bum foot and a lot. I don't think you can and you guys know more than I do, but I think there was a game where he just got beat up. Well he got He got pretty beat up in Denver in week two and

that's about it. Well, everybody got the most remarkable stats A little different to me. One of the most remarkable stats of all years the fact that he was on the injury report almost every week. He missed a lot of Wednesday practice, missed a lot of Thursday practice miss some were miss Thursday Friday. You know what me snaps he missed last year ze Row zero snaps in the game. Travis Frederick and him are the only two offensive players

to play every single snap. That's amazing to me because there were some times where he couldn't even walk off the field, so that that was probably should have Now it's playing him at guard the best spot for that. See. I don't think he's a guard, I really don't. I don't think he played guard. He played well. They were also the worst team in the league at third and one rushing. I don't think he gives you that kind of push that you need. I think he's I think

he's strong, but I think he's better at right tackle. Honestly, I think he can do either. No, so my problem isn't I don't think he's necessarily worse off putting him at guard. I just think at some point you gotta give this guy a chance to just let something. If it's tackle, yeah, keep him at tackle, guard, keep him at guard. Figure it out. But my man live Yeah.

I mean they recruited him to come here like they wanted him so they wanted to be a part of it, And to be fair, I mean, he's been a starter when he's been healthy for most of his career, but let him get better at something like he's making all this great progress at right tackle. You have him at a bargain right now. I mean, if he's you know, I gotta believe he's at least in the upper half of starting right tackles and you're paying him seven million

dollars a year. You got him for two more seasons. What if he does falter when he moves back to guard, or what if he's just not as good, or what if you have to pay your starting your new starting right tackle more money to do that? What if none of it makes sense to me? And I don't think any of it's well, what if we sorry go ahead? What if they decide to just let Zack Martin go and not resign him. Maybe that's the issue they haven't signed him yet. Than now you need a guard that

would surprise. It's not an option that's not enough. A lot of things are a lot of things are options cut off your point for that. I was just gonna say, maybe the way that the cowboy, And again, this is not a for sure thing or anything, but maybe the way that the Cowboys started taking a look at this and it is that it's easier for them to find a tackle than a guard. And maybe there that's how they're looking at it. Okay, can we find a better tackle?

And we don't have many guards out there right now that we're looking at That goes against widely accepted football theory. Tackle is one of the hardest positions, and hey, a good one. You might be right there. Might not be a guard. They feel good about him free agency Marcus Martin was here, maybe they don't really love him. Draft a guy then, right there, this is a good draft class for guards. We've I mean, Hernandez and when are the names that you know? But there's any have to

do it in the first round. No, you can get a guy, and I mean a guy that can start to get a starter for next year. Do you have to do it in the first round this year? No, and you shouldn't. If you you got all pros everywhere else and a first round pick at right tackle, you should be able to plug in a third round pick and have him be okay and maybe not great, but fine, I don't buy that. So no, we've seen it before. We've seen a seventh round pick start for this team.

You know, a guard? How good was he? It was? Okay? Are you talking about Bill Nagy? It's okay, he was out of the league in two years, but I mean he was okay. I was about to say, I don't know if I think he's good, but whatever for that man? I mean, Johnson was a center at second round pick? Was that right? Yeah? Nobody wants to hear this, but no, I'm not even gonna say it. No, I'm gonna say, who's gonna be behind Tyren Smith? Whoever? The guy that they try to sign in the next week or two.

Not not. If you're talking about Lee and now he's starting, he won't be. That means now, what you've done is essentially you've created kind of three spots you gotta which is why if Cameron Fleming wants to be the starting right tackle for this team, I would say thanks, but no thanks, we're good. I would pay Waddle to be my swing tackle. I would keep Eyele where he is, and I would I would probably still sign an el

Cheapo veteran guard and then try to draft somebody. That's what I would do and what I was gonna say is if push absolutely comes to shove, you could play Chaz Green at guard. If you do realize by the way, you're creating just one more guy. You got a draft. We already talked about the possibilities of what you do with Does does that mean you gotta go get a wide receiver? If you already think safety is in a position,

you gotta go and draft? Right, signed Fleming and I signed Waddle and I probably we'll see if you sign him both. You could do that. Looney's a free agent. Yeah, he's a free agent. Well, I know, I mean, we don't don't have one the backup center. Um, if you sign both, that's fine. I just let's talk about Amber's point here that she's trying. I mean, she really wasn't joking around because look around the league. I mean, look at what Joe Thomas did ten years, right, and he

was done. The injuries were just too much and he decided he wants to do something else. I mean, you told me something. Tyrn Smith is his eighth year. Where did that time go? Eighth year for Tyron Smith? Right? And you know starting to I'm not starting to. He's had a lot of issues with his back and neck and stuff. So I mean, that's why I would sign all those guys. I'm not gonna let an Atlanta game happen again. Yeah, that's a good point. I'm just not

getting And so that's a great point. I guess back up there, I guess that's true. I mean, we we've known they need a swing tackle. Yeah. Uh, you know, maybe this bites you on the butt later, but like, I'm not ready to draft a tackle in the first round because I'm worried about Tyrn. I'm gonna give yet, I'm gonna give him the benefit of the doubt for at least another year or two. If you have the same issues next year, then do you, I mean think

then yeah, then that's that's a problem for sure. Um, But for the I mean, yeah, they need a swing tackle. And whether that's the draft for free agency, it looks more likely to be free agency than the draft. To your point, if it's March twenty first, then you didn't realize that guard was a draft need. That's on you. I mean, I'm not I'm not saying I'm not saying that. What I'm saying is with letting the starting guard from last year go now, you've got multiple things you got

to consider it, and they all become draft. And if you're gonna if by the way, as we talked about earlier, if you're gonna take Lyle and flip him down the guard, now you gotta you gotta find a tackle and a swing tackle. It's not just getting one tackle. Now you need two tackles. So my whole point is just that this just complicates things and gives you even more and you keep putting, pushing it back to say, Okay, we'll have to address that in the draft. We'll have to

dress that in draft. Well, there's only so many picks. Whether it's whether it's Fleming and Why or two other guys whose names we don't know. I bet you they'll sign two offensive line free agents to help shore that up, and then we'll have it, and you think they'll be they'll be good quality. Though I guess that's the question. I didn't say that. I don't I said, I mean, it can't be. It can't nothing. I shouldn't say it

like you don't have many. It can't be guys that are like Chazz, Like you need guys that are capable and that that have the ability to come in. As we talked about before, you got to secure your swing tackle has to be a guy that can come in a minutes minutes notice and be able to play well because you don't know what Tyren status will be. Necessarily because history so far showing that he's getting to a

point where the Indies are mounting on him. You're walking into a situation where a guy has coached twenty seven years at this position in Paul Alexander, and I think that that is going to prove to be a pretty good get for this team. Yes, they've got talent, we know that. Um. You know, Frank Pollock was the coach here and he was inexperienced at the time doing it. Um. But I think I think you're given a really good coach, some really great players, and then I think he can

develop some as well. He's developed some guys over at Cincinnati, and I'm not saying that Pollock didn't, because you know, Lyle that was a project and they did a nice job with him and some other players. But I think Paul Alexander is taking it up a notch or two and I think that's really gonna help him. All right. I think we get one question here. We got got any questions over there coming out of Twitter? We do that?

Oh I forgot about that. Yeah, let's see hold on, Well, this one is going back onto the wide receiver stuff. I don't want to get into that again. We should throw it out there, all right, we know how Amber feels. Well, let's go with this one. Do you think I was could get a guard in the first round if Hernston sign is sign? Okay, so you're saying that they get the wide receivers. Now you know to answer that. The point I was gonna make is and I don't love

this theory. Really. I've never been a big fan of draft best available because I think it's really a lie. I don't think most teams do that. Um, even when they say it. I don't think you're drafting the best of it. You're drafting the best available need. Yeah. And so at nineteen, though, I think that they have a chance to really do that. I mean, there's gonna be a lot of needs here. I don't think a quarterback will be a pick. I don't think a cornerback will

be a pick there. That would be a real or a tight end. Maybe I don't see running back either. Everything else I could. I could see if it's a guard. Yeah, if they're wiped out on you know, linebacker and receiver and defensive end and safety and tied end. I mean, is there a stud tight end that would fall to them? I think all the tight ends will still be on the board when they pick. Because that being said, I don't think then, I don't think that they would go

tight end. Tight End is deep, but not not at the time. There's not a lot of great first round they have great well, speaking of tight ends real quick, here another question this guy is asking, wouldn't it be a good move to release this is crazy, release a Witten and use his seven million dollars cap hit. Now that guy an no disrespect to that guy. He's never really walked, probably walked in the Star and actually seen, you know, sound insane. That's a big old mural that

they got up there. I don't think that's good. I don't think it's gonna happen. Cut Jason Witten. There's a whole there's a cop making the Pro Bowl, and then then we need to talk about it. But you can continue to make the Pro Bowl regardless of if he was an altered or not. I mean he's still playing at a relatively high level. He's not the same guy he was, And I think that they could do a better job with mixing in, you know, some rotation, a little bit more um because they need they need more

playmaking tight ends. But I just don't see how you cut him. Yeah, No, who's the leader on this team? I mean they need that, they need that guy. We still need to find out about Recal. I'm still wondering what's going on with him? You and everybody, Well, no until we get to training camp, right forgot looks like all right, we appreciate you, guys, Joan us. We're back next week for another break. Till then for Nick even

Dave helm At Amber Garcia, I'm 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.