Cowboys Break: More Uncertainty at DE

long time. It's being a really long time, at least seven weeks. That's hey, So I mean we're making do We're all right, we still keep the show going and make it happen. He's one constant to the whole thing. Well, another thing, it's been a while since we've answered some questions from fans. So if you're listening and you want to hit us up with whatever question you may have about the Cowboys, you can hit us on Twitter at Cowboys Break and we'll get to it later in the show.

But in the meantime, let's start Um, I don't know, let's let's check back in later for that. Let's see how the show goes. We'll see, we'll see um. But yesterday Randy Gregory started going around Twitter and trending around Twitter and something that's happening there where we don't necessarily have all the facts just yet and what's exactly going on there. But the reports from yesterday was that the Cowboys had offered an extension to Randy Gregory's contract for

I believe another year. Right and as of right now, where does this whole thing stands? It's true? What's going on here? Well, it's definitely true. They agreed on the deal, they send it into the league, the league is now reviewing it, and usually it's just accepted. It's not a big issue. But I think that there are some some things about this um extension that the NFL fell obviously

has questions about the timing of it. UM and you know who it benefits, I guess obviously it's a different situation for a guy that's been uh in you know, going in and out of them. He's had some some rehab situations, he's been suspended multiple times. He's actually suspended right now with no definition of like how many days or anything just yet. There's not a time limit on

the suspension. So I think that you know, there's you know, we talked about this just before we went on with there's a precedent here that the Cowboys have done this before and it definitely benefits them. Um, you know, Randy needs he needs money. I think that's what it comes down to. They're trying to help him. That's the overall thing here is that they are trying to help this guy. He's going through different centers in and out of him.

He has to pay all this on his own. And what this says is basically, you're buying next year's restricted year and you're giving him a signing bonus right now. You're putting three hundred thousand or so dollars in his pocket now. And what that does is it you know, it prevents Randy from, say, getting a big year this year, Say he does play gets a big year, the Cowboys would be forced to give him a probably of one year, right. It keeps him from being up for renewal as soon

as he comes back. Basically they'd done this. I can think of Lance Dunbar, Phil Costa, Jeremy Parnell again, not the same type of players Randy Gregory. It's a very normal thing to do to a restricted free agent who you're anticipating using. Yeah, except usually without all the suspensions and the right that I'll be perfect. Like I hate talking about Randy Gregory and that's like nothing against Randy

at all. I like Randy Gregory as a person, not but his whole career has been kind of like this, Like it's it's convoluted and there's conversations going on between the league and the Cowboys. I mean, you know, you talk about his suspensions, you know, his visits last year where he had to go to Chicago as part of his treatment. It's it's always it's always hard to get to the bottom of it with Randy. And that's not you know, like I said, I'm not not blaming him

for that, but it's always tricky with it. We don't talk about the you know, government in Germany because we don't know what's going on exactly. I'm like, I don't know. I don't say I don't know. I like the analogy because like anytime Randy Gregory's in the news, I'm like looking through the CBA like okay, what I like going,

what is what is this? All? Right? So I had to be real vague with you, guys, because I could have said in any other country and you guys would have been like, well, yeah, I was there last week and Angela Merkel, what's up. I know that I got that going for me. All right, Well, let's try to

put a little bit bit more sense. So based on what you said, what do you explained this is actually a good thing or like a smart thing that the Cowboys are doing here, Because there are a lot of confused fans as to why the Cowboys would do something like this to a guy that has not been trustworthy or reliable. Let's say it's better, yeah, reliable, reliable on the field, you know, just just his availability hasn't been reliable, and but the Cowboys still want to give him every

opportunity to succeed. They want to help him. Um, and this would be one of those win win situations. It's like listen, it's it's like i'll help you, we'll help you here. Well, we'll give you this extension. This will put some money in your pocket right now. Um, it doesn't it also protects us and we don't we won't pay you a lot next year. Um, if you have this great season, but we're helping you. We're betting on

you right now. Um. Actually, you know you can throw Buried Church in there for as an assigned him do an extension while he was coming off a torn achilles. That's right, I'm betting on you. They got him at a pretty great discount considering you know. Yeah, he turned into their starter for however many years. So it's I think it's so where we stand on it is that the league is reviewing it right now. I think the Cowboys are going to try to fight this thing and

try to they're trying to help him. The league, they don't. This is new for them too, you know kind of. I mean, just just a guy that's been through this many situations, so they have to figure out what a suspension is. They said, He's right. People people keep asking me and again, like, you know, I hate talking about

it because I can't give you a great answer. Like it's clear, you know, Jerry Jones, Stephen Jones, like everybody from the top down has expressed at least some level of hope or confidence that maybe Randy Gregory's not done for twenty nineteen. What that means, I don't know. I chalk it up to you know, every report we've heard is is how hard he's been working to get back. They've gone out of their way to compliment him. You know, they're not really allowed to have contact with him, but

they are capable of checking in on him. So every report has been favorable from what I've heard. And then on top of that, it's very obvious and if you remember last summer when he was first coming back, there were reports about this. The NFL is at least considering

changing its stance on how these things work. And I do think there's a lot of credence to the thought that the worst thing you can do for a guy that needs structure and help to overcome these types of things is to send him away to be by himself. And I think that thought is at least gaining traction in the league office. What that means going forward, who knows.

The thing that's really interesting about Gregory is that his whole life seems to be from from what we know it, everything about the aspects of his life is kind of either a contradiction or it's not what you think. It's like, well, he's available, he's doing great, and all of a sudden, now he's not. He's you know, there's just this whole status with the league is up and down. Watch him as a player. Guy comes off the edge, makes a

great play. Oh he's turning the corner. He's got another sack, he forced to fumble, penalty fifteen yards penalty, stupid face mask penalty or hitting the quarterback lane or rinding up off sides and all that stuff. Then you talk to him and like this guy keeps making mistakes, Like is he really a smart guy? Have you ever had a conversation with this a really smart He's a really smart guy. Everything about him in his life on and off the field is not exactly what you're thinking. As soon as

you think it's one way, it goes another. So it's it's it's weird. That's that's people though, you know, like how many everybody's got like a cousin or a brother. That's like he I thought he had a girlfriend. Didn't he just get a new job and he got fired again. I thought I thought this was it. I thought he was yeah. I thought I thought they were gonna get married. Now you tall crap, Like back at square one with this guy, Like everybody knows somebody like that. They're just

in Yeah, that's a good one. You're usually they're usually not great at sacking the quarterback, like they're usually not superstar athletes. But Randy Gregory is so all right. Well, we'll keep waiting to see if we find some things Dolly in the meantime. Yeah, And what's weird is that there's a that's just one of many situations with the defensive end position. I mean that, you know, you would think they signed a guy Robert Quinn for a one year deal. We don't need to go into we could

have this. Derek's not Derek's not here to call DeMarcus a bad player to so we don't have to fight about it. Yeah, Derek's gonna hear this hot wind of that you probably saw. I watched the show after seeing all the what did you think about that? I was with you guys, Yeah, you were. I would have loved to be in here while that was happening with Brian in here and Derek in here. Brian was just like making no sense. Brian was that cook that's making like chili.

You know, he just band like Brian like if he thinks it'll make if you like him. Sigh. Derek's gonna listen to this in three hours and like, come to my desk and be like, I did not say he's a bad player. He might just say Quinn's just as good as he is. Was that the same kind of level of intensity he had with the hot dog or a hamburger? Yeah, oh my god, we don't need to do that. But yes, he was animated. He Derek likes to argue, like he really really likes to argue. So well,

just transition into something else. Okay, Um, obviously free agency technically, I mean it's not really over. There are still free agents player acquisition exactly, so, but we started to transition into the draft and more draft stuff. The thirty visits started, so I wanted to get a little bit into that and some of the guys that the Cowboys have brought in here, any name that seems attractive to you. Obviously this is on the second day of the draft, so

the names are not as flashy. But with that being said, are there some of those guys that kind of cut your eye? I had an hour and a half. Um, we all had a mandatory Dave hour and a half training session on safety here and which was ironic because Cowboys have a lot of safeties. They sure do, waiting for kids like I'll be you know the draft drum. Yeah, it was pretty bad. Anyways, what's I'm trying to do

my twelve things here? Yeah? Literally, no, okay, you're good. No, it was it was a really bad joke, and I was it wasn't It wasn't great. All right, give me a name, give me an and why Jonathan Abram is right here on the cover. I know you're hungry. Can't just hold on shows over at twelve. Yeah, we look really, we look pretty smart with the guy we put front

and center on this magazine this year. Yeah, Jonathan Jonathan Abram is a I actually have seen him play a game one game this year and he was wrecking the whole first quarter and I was like, man, that's a guy that Cowboys need. And then you guys been all over the draft show and you watch every player from here to sagonall Valley State, and so Jonathan Abrams, a guy you like, stands out. You don't think you'll be

there fifty eight? Yeah? Well so, I mean, you know, I don't want to read off the whole list on the show. You can go plenty of places to find it if you want to look. But they are clearly

focusing on safety. I think they've got as many as like six guys coming in defensive line is a spot, and like that's so you get thirty you can bring thirty guys in from around the country to meet your coaching staff, you know, work on the whiteboard, meet everybody two or the facility, stay in the hotel across the street for the night. So six safeties, I think six or seven defensive linemen. Like that's and and the Cowboys haven't really hid that, like that's been their focus. They've

sent it. That's kind of what we're looking at. If you look at what they've done in free agency, that makes the most sense. You know, what's what's the status of Demark Lawrence, what's the status or Randy Gregory. None of these defensive tackles really are here for the long term. And then the same thing with your safeties. You know, Jeff Heats coming up in a contract year, George Ilokas on a one year deal, and you would like to potentially improve the talent level. So those are those are

two spots that I think are really intriguing. M Abrams here. Taylor Rapp from Washington is also here. I would be pretty surprised if either of those fell all the way to number fifty eight. That's that's the trick thing about on one Thornhill. He's another guy that's a little more realistic. I think Chauncey Gardner Johnson is he now I'm I'm doubt he's a visit he is. He's a vis um

another guy that I think could be there. The tricky thing is obviously you're you're picking six spots away from the start of the third round, so it's not even like you're at the top of the second So Brian a favorite. Brian brought us catchphrases they're just at the mercy of the board, like you just you just gotta seem just gonna have to see who's there. Um, my favorite player in this whole draft, Deebo Samuel was here. That's really exciting. I honestly think that, you know, what

what they've done in free agency is really good. I mean, this is what you're supposed to do in free agency're supposed to cover your basis, and I think they've done even better than that of adding some players in that are that are that can start for you. You don't have to draft a safety. You don't have to Yeah, I actually no, I'm I'm completely with you. I did this chart yesterday. It's penned on my Twitter profile. I just went down, you know, the eleven positions on a team.

You know, is this is this a Cowboys draft need? Why or why not? And like, you can make a convincing argument why every position is not. Any column coming on Dallas Cowboys dot Com could be yeah, I mean, like I feel like I've written about it on the website before, but yeah, I mean probably tweeted about it before. Yeah, I do that too. You know, there's many ways to put out content these but so is it a need or not? You can make a convincing argument why every

position is not a need. Safety. You're bringing in I Loco, who's a six year starter. Spare me your heath hate, but he's still there. So you've got three experienced starters at safety defensive tackle. As much as you would like to upgrade the depth there, you've got four experienced starters. You've got Kerrie Hyder and Christian Covington to back up

Antoine Woods and Malik Collins defensive end. And that's and that's not to say that Tyrone Crawford might right and Tyrone well, and you know we've said it a million times, he doesn't do it, but Taco could probably do it. Two in a pinch, and signing Quinn gives you four guys and you don't feel great about it if de Marcus Lawrence isn't there. But you've got four guys and

hopefully five, maybe six if Randy comes back. Tight end you, I mean, don't get me wrong, there's so many tight ends in this class that I'd love to have on this team. But are they how much playing time are they going to get behind the three guys you have here, especially Jason Witten? I mean, how much is he really coming off the field? So the receiver you brought in cop to go with all the guys you already have here, Like, I think they've done a very very good job of

covering themselves. I think the one position that I just think that you have to draft is running back. You're right, That is you're right. That is the one spot where you're like, yeah, they need to and and and it's good they are. Yeah, I think there's three backs on the list. Yeah, I mean, which you know, it's funny to think, like their biggest need is a spot that I would bet twenty bucks they're not to address until the third day. Yeah, like they're not going after a

running back involves a position that has best player. And the other thing I think we brought this up last week is Jerry Jones said this at the owners meetings. If they don't get a guy they love in the draft, or maybe even if they do, there's still several good free agents out there, Like it just goes to show, you know, we thought running back was making all this progress, and it's like Todd Gurley got hurt and now everybody's afraid of him again. T J. Yelden's still out there.

It's h c J. Anderson just signs like it just happened. So there's a couple more veterans that are still out there as well. So I'm very confident they're gonna want to trade for one or I don't know if we can talk about that depends on the pro well. I mean, well that's always the fun gray area. I know. You know, the rumor coming out of Cleveland is that the Browns want to deal Duke Johnson. He would very much, he would, oh he would be a lot of fun to have

as a backup here. He can catch the ball, he runs routes, He's obviously a capable runner. I wonder about the cost, though, because you're trading for him. I'm one. I mean, maybe you could do it for a twenty twenty pick, but even then, he's got three years left on a you know, I think average of five million

dollars a year. You pay him two million this year, and then it escalates like three next year, three and a half the year after that, which not a huge salary, but when you consider that a guy you draft would be paying, you'd be paying him six hundred thousand. I think I'd rather just dract. Think. I think we're at this point. You said about the free agency being over.

It's never over, but but it gets to a point, and I didn't know if it was this early before the draft, but it gets to a point where you're like, all, hey, you're not gonna do anything else because we want to wait and see what we get out of this, right,

and then then it'll pick back up. I bet, yeah, they'll probably sign a couple more guys, but it'll be when the draft's over, because yeah, I mean the visitors are here, you know, you still got to do Dallas Day, which is when you bring in all the local kids that should be coming up soon. This guy's just staring at me. Here, this Elijah holy Field. You like him?

I do? And maybe I'm just enamored if his name was Elijah Jones and his dad just was well, but his dad get that weight champion boxer of the world played. He played for Georgia. They've been one of the best programs in college football the last two or three years. He kind of runs like Zeke like he now this four seven eight for his forty time is obviously not great, lower like four eight four nine. I'm just saying, I don't know. I don't want to running forty yards. I

want to run in like six yards. But I think I think a guy like that in the mid rounds would be good. It may not be him, It'll be somebody with with a little bit more. I say that, I mean, who cared? Like how often do you see NFL running backs run forty yards at a time? Like what's the ten yards split? Like? Can he get through the hole? Can he hit can he hit the split in like one point five? Are you going to carry

a couple of guys with him. Yeah, again, we saw one of the are you talking about from a physique standpoint? We saw one of the best they've ever had in the seventh round pick last year and he's not in the league both Scarborough, Oh yeah, you're right, so which that was sad. But his dad's not heavyweight boxer. That's I really I look at the fourth round as the sweet spot because you know, you draft, you go any later.

You're talking about bo Scarborough, you're talking about Darius Jackson, which you know, big fan of Darius Jackson, but he's had six carries in the NFL in three years. But they've got two picks in the fourth round. You know, you think about holy Field, Justice Hill. I think there's two kids coming out of Memphis that I'm drawn a blank on their name right now, who are both really good? Going to my draft guide, yeah, which get on news stands and on the internet, like starting this week, right,

I think, yes, starting today. Darryl Henderson's the guy, Darrell Henderson, really good player. I said, Justice Hill out of Oklahoma State. You know he ran the fastest combine at the fastest combine fastest forty at the combine, So two picks in the fourth round. Um, that's where I'm looking if I'm the Dallas Cowboys, and I think you could find a

really capable back up in there. All right, Well, let's our quick break and we'll be right back and we'll keep talking about some of these guys and then transition to Jason Kin. Caboo Texas is three days, six stages, over one hundred artists, including The Killers, Minel Richie, Leonard Skinyard, You Miss, Lauren Hill, Kid rock O, Lenis Morris, Sat Little Big Town, the Eight Fat Brothers, Counting Crows, Pitfall, Sting, the Black Eyed Pe and the list goes on. Don't

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it out and put it to the test. The Cowboys did when they name John Dear their official tractor experience one for yourself. Visit my John Dear dealer dot com. Slash Football. Back to the Break, All right, welcome back. This is the second segment of the Break, and here's a question from Twitter. Since we're still in the topic of the draft and some options there. If either of these safeties fall into the second round, do you think the Cowboys will treat up for a ram or Rap.

I would never count out the possibility of the Cowboys trading I think it would depend on how far they have to go and whether they're comfortable. You know, unless you know, unless you're talking about only moving four or five spots, you probably have to trade your third round pick, so you know, which to the point we made in the first segment, like they've done a pretty good job

of handling their needs. So you know, if you're like, you know, let's say, you know, we can get Jonathan Abram if we trade our third round pick and we've got we've got our starting safety duo for the next you know, at least two, if not more years, and this guy's gonna be you know, playing for us for a decade, then I would do it for sure, because there just aren't that many positions where when you're picking at ninety where I feel confident that that this guy's

going to be a hit, you know, And so I would do it. I don't know if they would do it, but you know, for everybody that's asking that, get comfortable with the thought that it would cost your third round pick to do it. Yeah, I think that, you know, by sitting around all day and in the first day of the draft and not not being able to do anything and watching Amari Cooper highlights, as Stephen Jones said,

they would do. But I think that you have a better chance of thinking they will move back than the move up. I just I just think that they're gonna try to collect some picks. So if there's somebody that they're not like in love with at the fifty eight spot,

I could see them maybe trying to move back. But I mean then then you would move out of the round, or you could There could be there could be five guys that they feel good about, and you're like, well, maybe we can trade back and one of those guys will still be there when we pick at sixty five instead of fifty eight. Because what you just said about you don't think there's a huge difference maker. They're at ninety so you would which, okay, maybe, I mean there's

typically not. Yes, Jason Witten was picked in third round, but well, I mean, you know, Michael Gallup was pick eighty one. But and you know, I always say, like, you want your top one hundred. Anybody you take in the top one hundred you're hoping can play a role for you in their rookie year. But I feel better about a guy you're trading up to forty five. Yeah,

than a guy you're drafting at ninety. But that being said, the guy at forty five, you would rather just probably have your second and third round pick than to you know, I mean, which which you know what I remember. I remember the DeMarcus Lawrence trade was similar to that because they moved up to thirty four. I don't remember where they were, they were at forty seven. They went at thirteen spots, and you know, you moved up. You moved up to get to Marcus Lawrence and he had to

you didn't have your third round pick. Same type of scenario. And then there was a good guard from LSU maybe that was sitting in the third round, and you're like, is this a good night? After a couple of years, you're like, this really wasn't a great pick, and then two or three years later it's like it was a great pick, and then now maybe it's not. Well I'm just kidding. There's two guys from the twenty fourteen draft still on this team and they're both all pros. So

I mean worked out. It took to Marcus a little bit longer than Zach. I think Zach kind of got there faster than everybody ever. Yeah, but that's tricky. I mean, you like, yeah, would you rather have you know Zach Allen and um, I'm gonna Zach Allen and McCole Hardman from Georgia me cole or or Jonathan Abram you know, I don't know. I just saw Mikol Hardman and it's fourth. He's fast, free. He would be your guy, he would

be your speed guy. He was staring at you two. No. Actually, when I watched the championship game two years ago and it was Alabama and he I think he went for eighty yarder and then he had another touchdown in the game too. I'm like, he's fast. Who's this guy? He's super fast? What's his deal? We can't catch what his

his route tree? I don't think he's super polished. I mean, I mean, and that's he's He's kind of Tavon Austiny to me, you know, which you know that speed can make a difference, and I just don't know how polished he is. That's just me though, I'm not you know, Brian's the scout. Yeah, that's just my opinion, all right, anything else you'll want to say before we changed the topic, No, I'm sorry. I mean, cut us off. Whatever, what are we going to I'll talk. I know sometimes you have

something in your mind. So today's Wednesday. Obviously tomorrow is Thursday, which is another episode of the Draft show. True. But well, you can go to the website. I think later today we'll be able to have a link for you that you can go and purchase this magazine. I'd take a

lot of good information stuff, a lot of guys. I don't even want to put a number on it, but it's probably over at least three hundred guys that are that are listed in here with with some detailed profiles on about one hundred and fifty one hundred and seventy. I think guys at Brian really spent a lot of time the work and the work that he puts into the draft process is uh, it's unbelievable. And I think this cover is amazing and we did a nice job

with this cover. So, um, probably two guys on here that have a real good shot, maybe three when you talk about Jonathan Abram um Alan, there's a few guys on there that that have a shot. Alan from Boston College. Yeah, Um, you know, Trevion Williams is a guy to watch maybe at Oliver if he falls, Yeah, geez, I would be a hell of a fall. I might have to wear a gas mask on Draft night to have that happen.

God Heard is a guy I you know, I haven't heard a lot of smoke about him from the you know you kind of a lot of these names kind of get linked to the Cowboys. I haven't heard anything linking Jalen Heard to the Cowboys. But I'm a big fan of his game. You never know what happened. He was the he was the running back that Alvin like. He Alvin Kamara couldn't get on the field because of him, and then he wound up playing slot receiver at Baylor.

So he just sucks. I watched. I'm just watching, and I see all these guys just so young, you know, and it reminds me of every time I just I would say, oh, they just keep getting younger, but no, I just keep getting Stop. It's weird, No, it's weird. It's weird that now I came in at the same age and now they're all like, way younger than me. What does that have to do with anything? Though? It just has a baby face. He has a baby face. Twenty six years old. Nobody's impressed. You're not old at all.

All right, Well, Jason Witten, he's getting up there. He got inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame and he got the chance to talk to the media for the first time since he got since he retired. All that jazz that happened. Anyways, he seems pretty excited, very very excited. Got a post on Instagram and Twitter and of his helpmet and his jersey in the locker room. And we've already discussed our expectations for him this year of coming back after a year of not playing football.

But there was something that he said that was interesting to me, the whole experience of him watching the game from the booth and just seeing the whole game from a whole another perspective. Do you guys think that him having the opportunity to experience that and learn from that would give him some kind of different knowledge or advantage that he can apply into the game. Um, I don't

know about that part. I don't know if that if that's the thing, what I do what I do buy into is that him be him seeing it from another perspective and really just missing what he's used to and I did have a conversation with him. It was very one sided. I didn't get a lot of words in. He was he was, he was going, and he was talking a lot about his whole time at ESPN. And basically what I took from that was when the game was over, he told me his story. The very first

game he did was over. He was like, that's it, Like what what what now? Like, well, you just go home and go to the next game next week. He was just it just didn't he wasn't fulfilled. He didn't get hit in the face, he didn't get to hit anyone. It just wasn't his thing. And he was just you could tell that he wasn't ready to give it up. So to come back, I think that I don't know if it's a different perspective, but I just think that he's got this renewed energy and I think he will

have to change his mindset a little bit. I mean, this hole coming off the field stuff and what kind of leadership he is. You know, when when you leave for a year, you come back, it won't be the same. And I think he knows that, I really do. I think he knows that he's not maybe one of the leader leaders of this team. I'll be I. You know, it's you don't want to read too much into it. If you saw it, you mentioned it the video he posted. You know, he walked into the locker room and was like,

let's do it. Which is funny because he was back here. He was in the building like a day after all that happened. Like I remember we were in Indie for the combine and they announced he was coming back on a Thursday. I came back into work on like a Wednesday, and you know, he was in his sweatsuit with his backwards hat, and I was like, like it was like he never left, Like he did not waste any time getting back into the flow of it. So you can

tell he's excited. But he posted this video and if you look, his locker is in between two other lockers, which, if you know the layout of the Cowboys locker room, that's not the way it used to be. He was the last you know, Jason Garrett loves to put his leaders at focal points of the locker room, so like your pro bowlers are either at the end, so you have to walk past him to come into the locker room.

You know, Sean Lee and DeMarcus Lawrence are at one end, Travis Frederick and Tyrn Smith or at the other end, and then in the middle, you know, by the showers. You you had Jason Witton, you had um Dan Bailey for a while, rip well way back in the Valley Ranch days. Yeah, Romo, I guess he had a locker here in twenty sixteen. It doesn't feel like it at this point, but yeah, Dak and Zeke sit in the middle of the locker room, so you have to be

near them if you're going by the showers or whatever. Anyway, Witton sat right there by the shower, and when he left, they made a big deal of giving his locker to Zach Martin. And you're not going to take that away from Zach Martin. I mean, he's definitely in the conversation. Locker empty for like it least nine or ten weeks of the season, though, well, no, they left it empty. They left it empty for the off season program and then when the you know, when the team got back

from Oxnard. I think that's when Zach moved over there. But either way, I know, I don't know, but if you go look at you know, it's it's an Instagram video or a Twitter video whatever, and you can just tell that it's in between two lockers, which was not the case with his old locker. And I was like, well, that's kind of telling that, you know, it's not exactly the same, because it was exactly the same. They would have put him right back in his old spot where

he always sat, and they didn't do that. And part of that is stemmed from Valley Ranch, just from a simple standpoint of when the media is around them at their locker, because we don't do the podium here, um, that it's just easier for the media to kind of be around like the edges. Yeah, and but now it doesn't really feel the same. It's actually harder to do that with you know, Sean Lee and de Marcus. I don't Dees had to have a spot like that. Dees

used to see. Yeah, they moved to Marcus into does a spot, So it's fun to see how that changes. But again, you know, maybe they'll you know, just because that's where Witten's locker was in an Instagram video on March twenty fifth, doesn't mean that's where it'll be. But I did think that was interesting because how are you gonna ask Zach Martin to move mister five time all pro Okay, I'm drawing blank right now? Who sits? Um? Where Roma was? Dan Bailey? Don't know? Over in that LP.

It might be LP. Yeah, I'm like about corner. I'm drawing a blank because whoever it is, he's not a guy that talks to the media. Yeah, I cannot remember. I don't either. I don't. I don't think it was LP. I don't think it's Light. It might be Chris Jones. Chris Jones sits over there somewhere. I don't know when I go in the locker room next time, which will be in like a month. You know, this is very important talk. Where are these players? We're peeling the curtain

back right now? Okay, people want to hear this stuff. Yeah, maybe maybe maybe? Where are we even? So? Yeah, win is he gonna be? I think I want? I mean, I don't think it's gonna be completely so confident and also saying you know, there are I understand there are doubt doubters out there that are gonna you know, doubt his comeback and all that, But the way he expressed himself was basically like, um, the tape is going to show the real thing. I don't doubt watch it. I

don't doubt his ability to come back at all. I doubt how different it's going to be. And that's even if he's in a new locker or whatever. I mean, I just, you know, Jerry Jones said it. I gotta see to believe that he's going to be part of this platoon with two guys that have like twenty five career catches like well, I just don't. I gotta see it. I just have to. And all the players respect him just as much. I mean, that hasn't gone away, so

there's gonna be still that level of respect. And let's be honest too, it's not like he was keeping these great players down by being on the field all the time. Now you can say Martellis Bennett was pretty good. That was ten years ago. Ten years ago. Yeah, but and he made a Pro Bowl or two or whatever, and Jason made about six or seven more. But I don't think there's been any other tight ends that he's like, well, I mean, it's definitely a narrative, you know, Fasano, Martellis, Uh,

there was one more, wasn't there? Kevin? Yeah, I'm saying but it's been a while since, like a truly great tightly since a guy went on to be better at his next team after not making it here, like it's been a while since that. I think if Blake Jarwin and and or Schultz are you know, worthy of of of playing as much or if not more than Witten, then then I would imagine the Cowboys would make that

change and do that. I mean, these coaches, as Brian brought Us would say, these coaches are coaching for their lives here. This is this is a I mean, this is their their shot. And I don't think that you can't sit there and go, well, nah, I can't. I can't tell Whitten to get off the field. Well, you know, the owner's gonna tell you to get to leave if if this thing doesn't go and you kind of lose that right after you decide to retire you so you

do you do? I mean, no, that's fair. I still whether he's better or because he's Jason Witten, whatever, If I set the over under for for his offensive snaps like next January the or February sorry whatever, whenever the season ends, season and review booklet comes out, I set I'm setting the over under for snap count, like eighty three point five percent of the snaps you've taken the over or the under eighty three point five And I'm being generous because his numbers are usually ninety. You ever

been ninety five? If I said it at eighty three and a half, where I'm taking the over all day, all day, probably i'd probably I'd take the over if you said it at ninety honestly, Yeah, yeah, that's a good question. I think it's in the eighties. I would take the I would definitely take the under if it was in the nineties, but eighty And I can't sit sit here and think it's in the seventies. I can't either. That's and maybe it will be. I don't know, but I just I have to see that before I believe

it's going to happen. Training camp is going to be fun, Yeah, just to watch him come back and after a whole year of not playing football. Who knows how much he was training. There's no doubt, not during the off season, but he will be ready, like there's no doubt. Oh yeah, for sure. All right, but before we take a break, I'll give a little teaser for you guys. The kicker what's up with this position? People? You know, some people tend to forget, some others not. They will remind you

on Twitter, like what's up with the kicker position? Bret Maher and all that jazz. So when we come back, we'll dig into that whole topic. Well, the player 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 just stats and scouting reports when building their team. When picking a tractor, it's why you should rely on more than just specs and features. You've got to take it out and put

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pride right here in Texas. They are still the official crown of all self prospecting Cowboys, and Stetson is proud to be on the field with America's team. Find Steps and Hats in the proof shop or at Stepson dot com. Today. Back to the break, all right, welcome back. We've basically talked about every position of need and not of need for the Cowboys. So what's up with the kicker? That is one that we haven't really discussed. Is there still a position of need that you see that the Cowboys

shoot address through the draft or somehow? Man, I'm reluctant to comment because this time last year I was like shut up about getting rid of Dan Bailey, Like stop. Okay, he struggled down the stretch. Whatever, he'll be here, Nope, Like you learned some valuable lessons the last couple of years covering this team, Like you can't really bound count on anything to last longer than the next six months. We're going to watch the practices and we're going to

watch the kicking attempts and practice. The Sierra training camp will definitely pay attention. I have a couple I have a couple of thoughts. One, I just have this feeling that Jason Garrett and and the and then by proxy the front office like they have more faith in good Brett Maher than the brat bad Brett Maher. Like we he was brilliant at times last year, he had struggles. He was inconsistent, especially down the stretch of the season. I just feel like they have more faith in him

than the average fan or media member does. One. Two, this team has found great players without using draft capital. At the kicker position. Dan Bailey was undrafted, Brett Maher was undrafted. That covers like the last decade of cowboy kickers. I'm only drafted quick kicker that I can think of was David Bieler, and he really wasn't that good? Where did? Where did? Folk? Was somebody else's raft, but not by the Cowboy by Yeah, for some reason, I thought he

was drafted by the Jet. No, he went to the Jets after. Yeah, he was drasted by the Cowboys. You're right, but either I mean, okay, So even if you're talking about drafting one, mean, the last kicker that was drafted high was a GUYO and that was a miserable failure. Yeah, just Janikowski was, I mean, he was pretty damn good. But so the expectation here is that definitely they're bringing somebody to out of competition and all that stuff. I'd

practice training camp. I would be fairly surprised if they draft a kicker. There's only two that are worth it, probably Siebert out of Oklahoma and then Cole Tracy out of LSU. I would be pretty surprised, especially like you've only got six picks as it stands right now. I would be surprised if they spent one of those on a kicker. There will assuredly be a guy here in

training camp. I wouldn't. I wouldn't. I wouldn't draft one because because Brett Maher, like you said, there's good, there's there's some shaky moments for sure, But I think you're bringing a guy in, You're finding a guy wasn't drafted, and you're gonna see if he's better. And he might be, he might outperform him at camp. But I don't think it's worth a pick to do that, because if you are going to make a pick, then you're making that

decision right now. Like if you're a team, like let's say the Bears that obviously let go of their kicker and their season ended because miss miss kicks, then yeah, you draft a guy and that's that's the kicker. But I don't think you would even draft one and he would be better. The word Remember when the word that came out after they cut Dan Bailey. You know, you have conversations and you know, whispers start to get around.

It's like they were worried about his mindset. They're worried about his confidence, felt like he was out of his routine, felt like, you know, he didn't have that belief that you would prefer a kicker to have. And everything I've ever heard Jason Garrett say about Bret Maher is he's the exact opposite. Like he missed like a long kick

in a gay. I don't remember, you know, I don't remember which game right now, but you know I heard somebody say after the game he was just like right back at it, like I'll drill it from sixty two. If you give me another shot, like get me back on the field, I'll do it. And I think his belief and his you know, to borrow a word from Garrett Process, I think they have a lot of confidence

in him and belief that he can do it. That they lost with Dan Bailey towards the end of his time here, and I think that counts for a lot with them. Like so, I think there's more belief on their part in Brett Maher than, like I said, than we or maybe the fans have. Here are some of the concerns that I have though, is that the fifty nine and sixty two yard field goals that almost hurts them. It almost hurts the situation because those aren't normal. It has to be the end of the half or whatever.

And yeah, you can try it, but for the most part, you're not trying a field goal like that. I want to know what he can do between thirty and forty. Well, that's sure point the joke. The joke is that he'll just nail it from sixty two but miss from thirty eight, right, which that's scary. So I get it. I'm you know,

I understand people's concerns. I would like him to have some healthy competition and training camp, but just the nature of the position, I would be surprised if because how like you see a kicker get drafted like once every other year or you know once a draft, like it just doesn't happen that often. So I think they'll just find a guy in college and you know, undrafted free agency to come in and compete with him. And then

and then it'll probably be a guy that does some punting. Yeah, it'll that that can punt some and kick that can he can have one extra guy that can help Chris Jones. It can also help Maher he can kick off some. So but that's kind of the way Maher was. He was just a guy that could do a little bit of everything. And for five years we were just like, Okay, this is the guy that's gonna spell Dan Bailey every

other day, and like nobody literally nobody realized. I don't think they didn't even realize that he might take his job. So it's just something we're gonna have to pay closer attention to this show. And and I like that from from the standpoint of training camp. And you know, sometimes you go out there, We've been going there for many years and it's a it's routine. Yes, it's it's different players, but it's it's a routine. We sit the same spot.

You know, the weather is about the same, it's always sunny, and it's always about the same thing. We kind of just take up. Here's the guy that's gonna kick a little bit and we don't even need to know his name. That's not happening this year. Remember another position? Yeah, I remember I watched him last year at training camp and now and he missed a few and I was like, oh, this guy sucks. And I'm like, Okay, Dan Bailey, he's gonna be fine because the kicker position. It's I like

the kicker position. And obviously I'm a I guess I'm still him a fan of Dan Bailey, and I still have a supposter up there on my desk. Maybe she should replace it, but um, I remember watching it. Here's here's also a difference too from last year to this year when he got the job. What was the number one question that we had about this guy? Oh god, I don't remember. He set me up to fail here. Well, how do you say his name? Are you? Yeah? Oh? No one even knew how to say his mother. It's Ma,

it's mahr its her. No one knew that won't happen this year, like whoever it is. And my point is we didn't even get to know his name. We didn't care. Shout out all my Nebraska cowboy fans that knew, but nobody else did. Yeah her ma, Ma, I thought it was Mary. But my expectation, my personal expectations, are that whoever comes in here and I practice and all that, it's still not going to be someone that would win the job over him. Right, so the fans should most

likely expect to That just contradicts everything we just said. No, no, okay, you never know what can happen. Clearly what happened with Dian Bailey, it's a clear example of Bret maher had. He was brilliant at times last year. And if he's the guy, that's fine, but I'm not gonna take him. I'm not gonna assume anything. I am why we just had this converence like it's literally, I mean, you're only as good as your last kick training. I mean, if if Dan Bailey can get the acts, then Bred Maher

definitely can. Yep, we'll see, I guess, and they have a good team that do a good job of picking kickers and guys on that position and guys I care. But all right, we'll see what happens there. I don't know what to believe. I don't know what to expect at this point. You just confused me. I agree with. I think the difference is that you're going to see is um. You know, Bailey didn't want to kick a

lot in the preseason. If the operation isn't normal for him, if it's not LP to Chris Jones, and then the kick, he didn't want to do it. And for different reasons. Why you have to play the different alignments and special teams first team, second team and all that stuff, so are all that jazz. So you know, he didn't get to kick as much with the first team guys, and so it rattled Dan. I don't think that. I don't think he's kicked in the CFL Saskatchewan. He doesn't really care.

I think it'd be fine, And so I think he's gonna take all the kicks that he can until they decide they want to get another kicker in there. So he's gonna have every opportunity to win or lose this job. Yeah.

And the reason why I really said that my expectations would be for him to most likely keep his job is because of what you said about Garrett and what they'd like about his mentality and a lot of the things that we've seen from this team is that when they have a guy that they like their mentality and stuff, they will back that guy up no matter why. To be clear, I think Brett Maher will be the kicker

when Week one finally kicks off. Yeah, but I'm not going to go into training camp assuming anything after what happened last year exactly. Okay, this is a question from Brian ernand this is there any chance at all that the Cowboys talked to Cleveland about Duke Johnson? We kind of mentioned that in the first segment. Kind of what Nick said at the top is at this the draft is three weeks away, and so I think it's all hands on deck trying to make sure your draft strategies implemented.

They've done enough that they feel good about everything. You know, if if the draft doesn't go your way, maybe you revisit that um or. Like I said, you know, there's there's some veterans and free agency that you can acquire. I'd be surprised if they did that right now. You know what what could happen too, is is you get to the fourth or fifth round and you're like, you

haven't got the running back that you want. It's true they swapped Switzer for Tavon on that Hey, you know, we know what Cleveland probably would like to have the pick here and definitely you know, to trade their guy. Is these guys that were about to pick from would this guy help us more? And obviously it'd be more expensive, but you know, is it worth it to do that round? So I could see it being a maybe a draft

day thing. I think they've got They've got a small number of targets that they feel really good about, and I think they're going to focus on that until something changes, That's my guess. And you could do the you could do the Duke Johnson deal when the drafts over, too. I mean, you know, if you know Cleveland's got Chubb and at some point they'll have Kareem Hunt, and if I mean if they're hell bent on dealing him, I think they would do it for twenty twenty pick the

same way the Dolphins did. All Right, here's a fun little question. Which side of the ball do you expect to take the biggest jump this season? Given the recent editions or returns. You got Quinn law the Marcus Lawrence. Laying Vanders Smith with a full season could be legendary. But we also have Amari Cooper, Cobb, Dack and possibly the return of Frederick came doing well back in the mix and Witten. It had well and Witten. That's another one.

It had better be the offense because the offense was bad last year and the offense is getting an all Pro center back. We'll just we'll assume Travis Frederick is Travis Frederick. You know a lot to still do there, but you're getting Travis Frederick back on that offensive line. You're adding Randall Cobb, who I think can significantly upgrade your slot production. No offense to Cole Beasley, another year of Amari Cooper. He'll be at training camp this time.

You will, one way or another, you'll have a better backup running back, I think than what you've had the last couple of years, and that's where you need to see the improvement. On top of that, you know, Derek's not here to plug Robert Quinn as Reggie White. But if DeMarcus Lawrence, that situation scares the crap out of me, because you're taught. I mean, right now, I'm not confident he's going to be completely healthy when the season starts. That's I mean, as it stands right now. I don't

know how you can feel confident about that. And if he's not there, the defense won't be as good. Derek doesn't want to hear that that's okay. He's not here to defend himself. I think that the defense will actually be better than the I mean obviously better than the offense, because I think that it is a better unit. But I do think that they're going to improve as well. I think the linebackers are going to be even even better, more dynamic, and I think Quinn will help and I

do believed law Quinn will both be there together. I don't I'm not saying I wish they would have done something a little bit better in safety, but didn't happen again. The street continues. Well, keep in mind, I mean the draft is still there. Draft is there, but the top sixty pick is added to the safety position. You might feel better. I might. I might. And they haven't really drafted a safety in the second round. Am I missing someone?

I can't really last. The highest pick they've spent on a safety in recent memory was Wilcox and that was played running back for three years of his career. Pick eighty five, Yeah, pick eighty seven, something like that. Well, maybe maybe that's what they do. Maybe they just say, hey, second round, we're packing, we're taking a safety. Maybe you know you said it earlier, asked earlier. If they're gonna move up for a guy, I could see them moving up.

If if Abraham is sitting there, I could see them maybe moving up for him, because he does seem like a dynamic type of player, kind of an I wouldn't say Eric Berry type, but I mean he's like a linebacker type guy that they can play safety. He would be an interesting guy for me. But I wonder if they'd move up for a pass rusher if this Lawrence thing doesn't fix itself real soon, Like I mean, they did that for DeMarcus Lawrence, the which which Brian brought us was here so I could yell at him too.

They trade it up for DeMarcus Lawrence because they said he was the last guy on their board who could play right end. And now I'm supposed to believe that he can only play left end and he's not as good because he can't play on the right side. That's a bowl. Yeah, so maybe they maybe they trade up to get a guy if they really don't feel good about this DeMarcus Lawrence thing, because that I just mark it down. I said this last week, mark it down. Quote me, I don't care. If he's not on this team,

even healthy, the defense won't be as good. It just won't be I don't And and that's I'm not trying to disrespect the linebackers or anybody else, but difference making pass rushers are a big deal. They make a difference, They do the work. Difference is right. Yeah, So when they're not there, yeah, they're a big big deal. Ye you no, we're running out of time, but they'll let me think. I'm like when you said you would think they would go for a pass rusher, I mean, let

you know, you can't have enough. They're far apart. They're they're they're far, they're they're apart on a deal. To quote Stephen Jones, they're at an impass. As far as we know, the guy's not planning on getting surgery. It's a lengthy recovery. He was probably going to be limited to training camp anyway. He definitely will be if he waits much longer to have it. Gregory suspended, Gregory suspended,

I don't know that yet. Suspended. Well, yeah, you know that Cowboys are hopeful he is suspended as of right now. That's an insert. I mean, you know, definitely if this, if this DeMarcus thing goes all the way up to it, I mean, like you know, and I have no idea, but they could resend the tag, they could trade him, they could sign him, but then he's out until October because he needs to have surgery. And then let's also say could draft the defensive end to try to offset that.

Even if he comes and signs tomorrow. Okay, and and and Gregory isn't not suspended. Let's just have this best case scenario, and Taco even plays well, they all play well. Quinn is probably one year deal. He yeah, he can go ye, and then you still kind of need somebody there because because you're getting to the point with Gregory, you know where his contracts going to be up there too, So it makes sense that you can always if there's

a good pass rusher, keep them coming. But if the DeMarcus situation is murky even more, like I've been more, I would trade significant assets if a guy that I felt good about was there. I don't think that's likely based on how late they're picking, but hopefully they'll be able to do a better evaluation on that position this year, because it's disappointing that they spent the first round on

Taco recently and this is just really paid off. Maybe, you know, maybe we'll be sitting back in October like, well, if we've known Taco was gonna have a ten sacks season, then we wouldn't have been whining about this all spring. Fingers crossed, any things possible, Taco, you go there, you go. Well, thank you guys so much for joining us again for Nicki, Mint, David Helmont, Ken Garrison back there, Hiding and Amburger Seat. This has been Cowboys Break on Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio.

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