Cowboys Break: O-Line Comfort?

I am live back here in the s WBC Mortgage studios at the Star. My co host joining me, Nick Eatman, he is here at the Star as well. We've got Dave Hellman at his home, Amber Garcia at her home, and we're bringing all this to you, guys, bringing all this together. It is our first day of daily shows. We'll be on every day at eleven thirty am on Dallas Cowboys dot Com and all Dallas Cowboys platforms. And I'm so happy to be back at his football season.

How's everybody doing today? Doing great? Derek? Throughout the Nick, why don't you ever say anything what I say? How are you doing? Is it just like you're just in a mood today or everything good. I guess I am in a mood today, but I don't know. I'm just waiting on everybody. Sometimes I do, I do say good, doing great, wonderful, I'm awesome, Derek, thank you. You guys got it. I'm trying to figure out, go ahead, who's

out I see somebody on the field. I don't know if I'm supposed to say that, but I do see someone out here working out, and I'm trying to figure out who that is. So you're spying right now, you know, on this Tuesday day off. Yeah, I'm not really supposed to do. See this is we're getting. Fans are getting an opportunity right now to see how Nick gets this information, to be the guy that just prognosticates all the stuff

that's gonna happen. Like last week he threw a little nugget, a couple nuggets on us that we all kind of just glossed over. And then of course when the rosters came out, it was like, wow, Nick, did you know something. He's like, no, no, I didn't know anything, So but let's talk about that. I didn't know. What I saw was just like Dave Saul just like annber and Darren.

You guys saw Darren Thompson was starting over Haha, Clinton Dix, So if he if he's not starting and he's already been cut before by two other teams, including Washington who didn't want him. So you know, that didn't seem good to me. Sean Lee hadn't practiced since two thousand and seven, it seems like, so, I mean, that didn't seem good either. So I don't know, I'm just putting it together. I didn't really know that. I didn't know that they were going to go. I had no idea Hyle was going.

He's just one of them that just watching anybody well just one of the many reasons why fans tune in here to the Break, because you'll get those kind of little nuggets that will make you think about things, and then you'll see him come true and you'll be like, wow, I heard that on the break. First, let's start with the fifty three man roster. There were a lot of surprises. Well, I shouldn't say there were a lot of surprises. There

were some surprises. I guess I'll start first with you guys and just go around and talk about each one of you. Talk about kind of as you saw the roster, what was your first thought if there was a surprise, if it was something that just kind of corroborated what you already thinking. I just want to get an initial thought from you as you saw the fifty three man roster. We'll start first with you, Dave. I think the most surprising thing was just the way that they managed this

linebacker situation. I mean, Nick had an inkling that maybe Sean Lee might not be on the roster to start with. He turned out to be correct. But then you think about, you know, the team cut Joe Thomas and Justin March over the weekend too, Like there was a point where they only had like two healthy linebackers on the team. They brought Joe and Justin back, so it's not a big deal. But some of the stuff they did to just fit under the fifty three man limit I thought

was really interesting. And then you know, when you see Terry and Steele make the team at offensive tackle, you know, five offensive tackles is a lot. You kind of had a feeling Lile might not be long for the roster either, So those are those are probably the two bambroons. I don't really have much to add to that. Honestly, as the roster stands right now, there's nothing that really surprises me aside from what they did with the linebackers. But now knowing or seeing how it ended up, it makes

sense the way they decided to do things there. The only biggest surprise to me was the whole Alcolins thing. We kept hearing my McCarthy talking about him and just saying that it wasn't anything long term, and it might not be. I mean, I think they they have what three weeks until they're available to come back, So I'm just curious to see how it really affects the old line here once they start playing an actual game, because in practice you can't really evaluate those kinds of things.

I mean, they make plays and then you see Dank Prescott getting pressure, but then he said, okay, they can't really sack him or anything in practice. So I just I'm very curious to see how Bolane just fully comes together once they get to the real knick. With any surprises for you on this roster, yeah, I mean this is just another example of you know, without being a training camp, getting to talk to coaches, getting to talk to scouts, you know, just those conversations you normally have.

Somebody would have probably told us, hey, Francis Bernard isn't doing as good as you think he is, because what we see was a guy that was kind of making plays, interceptions, plays behind the line of scrimmage. What we don't see and I don't know if this is true, but you know, he might run to the right, get blocked and there's a twenty five yard running up the middle. We don't know some of the things and how he's grasping it. I thought he was making plays and to the point

where you would want to keep him. But guess what. Once again a guy gets cut, he doesn't, he doesn't get claimed by another team. He's back on the practice squad. I lost a dollar bet with some body in the media about that, which I had to Venmo, So you know, I thought he would be gone. But hey, it is what it is. That's a really and you're absolutely right. Nick. Is Like if we were all out in Oxnard, you know, eating dinner next to coaches and scouts, somebody would have

been like, pump the brakes. Pump, Yeah, well you know what I mean. On the other side, Yeah, pump the brakes. On Francis Bernard, while at the same time, it's the classic case where, like you know, you you run into a coach or a scout and they're like, what do you mean. C. J. Goodwin's not on the team? Of course he's on the team, like we've known that since day one, which you know, classic case of a guy that everybody wants to overlook who makes his way back

to the roster. So it's a bummer that you don't get to have those conversations with guys in this And I think the other thing to consider here is that it was bitch very difficult based upon how we were able to watch practice without preseason games what the coaches would think about these guys from a special team standpoint, And I think that's one of the things where you start looking at some of the guys that are not the starter caliber players, but some of the guys that

a little bit farther down the depth chart special teams I'm sure has a lot to play plays in a lot there, and so it's it's some of those guys that may have made it or didn't make it, you wonder if some of that is about the fact of what they saw from them in practice and in drills around special teams and what they think they can provide for them from a special team's perspective. Let's go ahead and and move on to the I want to dig

in a little bit more on these injuries. These guys that are now on IR Sean Leelyle Collins, Vintel Bryant go through and tell me what the injuries are. And obviously they have the three weeks that they will be on IR that after which they could come back, But just talk about their injuries from the standpoint of long term. Is it only a three week type period or are we talking about longer for some of these guys. Dave, give me a giving an update of what you know

on that. What I really know is that a big difference between Mike McCarthy and Jason Garrett is that it's hard to say for sure. And I mean that's not That's not to say Jason Garrett was the most forthcoming person in the world, but Mike McCarthy really really doesn't like to even tell you what might be bothering a guy. I think from Stephen Jones and Jerry Jones, it sounds like it's a hip injury for Lyle and actually Mike McCarthy was asked on Monday night whether this is a

conditioning thing. I think there's there's a rumor going around Twitter that Lyle's on injured reserve because he's out of shape. I don't think I buy that. I don't think you put a guy on injured reserve because he's out of shape. So it sounds like it's a hip. You know, the fact that he was able to do some things in practice gives me optimism that you know, in a month,

three weeks to a month, he can come back. But I guess we'll see same thing with like, I mean, Nick, tell me if I'm missing something, Like I don't one hundred percent know what Sean Lee is dealing with. Ventell Bryant was his knee. Ventell Bryant hurt his knee in practice last weekend, so we know that, but I couldn't tell you what it is with Sean No, because you know, this is not anything unusual then from what they've done,

kind of a workload management thing at training camp. And so when he wasn't practicing, he didn't think that was that big a deal because we've seen that at training camp a lot. But then you get to the point where now that it's like he's just not, you know, not ready to go in the games. I mean, that's something that that was surprising to me because I went back and looked he actually played sixteen games last year on the schedules, the first time he's done that in

his whole career. So the management workload worked for them last year, so I kind of thought that was going to happen. But when Stephen Jones said, you know, you can put a whistle around his neck and a coaching cap and he would be just fine, that kind of made me think that that's kind of a role that they're there, they have for him. So I'm still a little bit confused with what's going on with shaw Lee.

Do you guys think that cam Irving is an adequate replacement for Lyle, even on a temporary basis, I'll start with you Amber. I mean, if they couldn't find any better option out there from the guys that were caught from other teams, I just I trust that they did their job evaluating player the best that they possibly could given the circumstances. I don't I don't feel fully comfortable or confident about the whole decision here. But who else was better to fill in the role while Lyle is out?

I don't, honestly, I don't know. He's a guy that's okay, okay for now, and we'll see how it goes during the game. But is it someone that excites me? Not really. So I'll ask you this Amber, on a scale of one to ten, with ten being the most concerned, one being the least concerned, how concerned are you about this offensive line with now coming out of last year? You've got two offensive line positions that are that you had

starters last year that are not back. You've got the center position where Travis Cats retired, and now you got you're gonna start the season with your right tackle gone. How concerned are you On a scale of one to ten, I would say seven seven around there, because see with Travis Frederick and Joe Looney did an amazing job. I think he did a great job two years ago and he was able to take on that role and do good.

But even when Travis was able to come back, we saw the difference that Travis made inside the old line. So you take that element away once again. Even though this should mean that Joe has gained more experience in these two years that went by, But at the same time we know how how in sync the old line needs to be in order to perform better. So I am concerned. I would say seven, but we just I honestly, honestly,

I don't know what to fully expect. Once they say I mean your level of con cern one to ten offensive line, I probably put it at like a four. I mean, it's definitely definitely concerning. You would prefer Lyle to be there to answer your question. No, I don't feel great about cam Irving, which it's not anything you know. I didn't notice anything bad about what he was doing at camp. Obviously he had an injury too that kept him out for a while. It seems like he's been

fine since he got back. The big thing that I'm watching is Brandon Knight. He heard his ankle last week in practice right at the tail end of camp. I think he's gonna be okay, but it's I think it's something we need to be watching when they start practicing tomorrow. And I don't know who the starter would be. But the thing that makes me feel good is that if cam Irving ain't up to snuff, Brandon Knight is a

decent four. I mean, for your fourth tackle to be able to fall back on that, I feel pretty good about it. I think I've been saying since the spring, like, I'm really not worried about Joe Looney. He was already good enough to I mean, they got to the playoffs

with him as the starter. And the big thing for me with that is, I think there's a big difference between year three of Dak Prescott and year five of Dak Prescott in terms of not just commanding the offense, but navigating the pocket and getting rid of the ball. You know, I think Dak got sacked fifty six times in twenty eighteen or something crazy like that, forty six times. He dropped that number all the way down to twenty three last year, and you just can't convince me that

that was all on Travis Frederick coming back. So the right tackle spot, concerning the center spot, not so much for me. Seven eight maybe left left left tackle. Um, I think he's healthy. He hasn't practiced, doesn't you know. He's one of the best in the league, if not the best, but you know, there's always a little bit of concern with his health. He hasn't done a whole lot. How sharp is he? If anybody can do it without practicing, it would be tiring. Connor Williams at left guard. You know,

I think he's gonna be fine. You know, he's he's starting to it better, but there's still you know, it hasn't really turned that corner just yet. Joe Looney, that's a that's a downgrade from Travis Frederick. But like Joe, like Dave said, I mean, not a huge concern. Zack Martin and Zack Martin and then Cam Irving hasn't practiced a whole lot either, and that's a big drop off. And my concern is who they're playing this week with Aaron Donald and the Rams on the other side, that's

the concern. If it was another team, it wouldn't be as high. But going up again, you know, playing week to week and not knowing what we have from the Cowboys and knowing pretty much what the Rams are gonna at least have an Aaron Donald, I would say seven to eight, all right, we're gonna go and take our first break and we come back. We got a couple of other transactions that we got to talk about. Well, Derek, you if I had to give it, I would probably

be with you Nick around that seven. And that's not so much. I don't even know if I call it. I'm not worried about it, but I am concerned. It's going to be something that I watched very heavily in this first game actually these first few weeks, because and I do have a lot more concern I think than maybe you guys do on cam Irving. I as as I the few times I got to see him practice,

I just wasn't that impressed with him. And I think lyall Collins is a really good right tackle, So I think you're taking a the delta between those two guys in my opinion, again, just based upon what I saw in those few practices, suggests to me that there's a big difference between those two players. And uh, and so I'm interested to see. Now. I do think that you

look at this offense. This offense has a lot of playmakers, So getting the ball out quick and getting it into the handle the hands of the playmakers and letting them make plays, I think that's an advantage they have. So you may not see it show up as much on film, but I am a little bit concerned about that right tackle position, and especially with him being out for a number of weeks. Here, we're going to take our first break. When we come back, we're gonna talk about a couple

of other transacts. It's Brandon Carr being one of them, Randy Gregory being the other. When we come right back. This is Dallas Cowboys dot com Radio. We're back at the Tasty Treat. That's sweeping airwaves and taste buds. It's new Doctor Pepper and Creep Soda. Let's take a listen Doctor Pepper cream sodas he a new Combonut's music to my Ears? Okay, doctor time pass Music's my ears and mouth New Doctor Pepper and cream Soda. What delasis du bay? Hey?

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get to them. So as always, our people can't wait to take you to yours. American Airlines, you are why we fly back to the break Welcome back to the second segment of The Break Life from the SWBC Mortgage Studios at the start, we appreciate you guys to take us some time today to talk some Cowboys football with us. Here on the break, we are talking about the transactions that happened over the weekend Cowboys make their final cuts

to get down to fifty three players. We talked about some of the areas where they had some interesting moves. One of those interesting moves that we didn't talk about was Brandon Carr, a guy the Cowboys fans should be very familiar with. Cowboys signed him. He was a player on the team years ago, has been in Baltimore for the last several years, been playing pretty well. There was a free agent and the Cowboys went and signed him and placed him on their practice squad, which seems a

little strange. And so the first thing I want to do before we get into the actual move, I'd love for you Nick to break down for fans the rules around I know you're laughing, the rules around the practice squad for this season because they are a little bit different to allow teams to have a little more flexibility with regards to COVID. So tell us kind of what that looks like, what practice squad looks like this year?

All right, I'll do my best. Dave, jump in if I if I if you've heard differently from what I understand. Sixteen person practice squad. Now, I think it's six spots that can be any experience at all. It doesn't matter what kind of you know, how long you played in the league. There's six of those veteran type spots that you could have. Not that the Cowboys have used them all, but but you could. And they have the ability to call up two players. This is where I'm a little sketchy. Dave.

You might want to help me two players to the roster during the week to make it a fifty five man roster, but then you have to then you have to put them back down at the end of the week, and you can only do that a couple of times for each player throughout the year. So Breda Carr can be on the roster, he can actually be in the game and play this week just because he's on the practice squad. That's the best that I know, Dave, Amber You guys might have heard different. Well, I mean, that's

that's basically the gist of it. But I think something that's really important to note, as far as I understand it, the fifty five thing. That's a that's a weekend thing. So like on Saturday, you can decide to bring two guys to your game day roster, and that does I mean, you still have to make seven inactives, so you just have more guys to choose from to do that with. The other big thing is because of COVID, there's no there's like no processing time. You know, typically you gotta

do this. You got to move a guy from the practice squad to the roster on Friday or Saturday to get him on the roster in time for game day. That's not a thing anymore. You can do. You can move a guy to the roster up to ninety minutes before kick and I think that's designed to help combat the possibility of a COVID outbreak. So you know, God forbid if four or five guys come down with COVID on Friday or even Sunday, you can use the practice

squad to supplement that. The other thing, and this doesn't really have anything to do with Brandon Carr, but teams are allowed to designate up to four players per week who are immune to being poached, like they are off limits. It's kind of like big brother, like you give somebody like the team has the power of veto. You can just say no way, you can't touch these four guys, and you can do that every single week. So right, that makes me, That makes me so proud that Dave

is referring to Big Brother. You guys got to know, Like, I've been a Big Brother fan since it started. I got Dave hip to it, what two years ago? Maybe a year? Maybe you can training camp last year? No, like, yeah, and now he's all in, he's he's referring to it on the break. This is great, but it's a lot. It's a lot to like. I don't blame anybody for being confused. Oh. One more of the dozen things is

the Cowboys have a special exception for Isaac adlcohone. I hope I said that right, Amber, Um, he's he's he's just on the practice squad. He can be there as a seventeenth guys part of the International Pathways program. They don't have to worry about somebody poaching him. They don't have to worry about him counting toward the roster limits. So that's nice. So but then you can only this

part is still little confusing. I don't know if you already mentioned it, but you can only promote a player twice before they have to go through the whole waiver or clear waiver process. You can only take a guy. So if you want to expand your game day roster to fifty five, you can only do that with a player twice before he has to go given a better system, So I believe so, but we probably need to double

check that. It's it's pretty convoluted. As as us started looking through it, I was like, okay, I got tired here now, But I mean, yeah, it's it's pretty convoluted. But a lot of these rules are just really meant more than anything else to give teams options with regards to COVID, Like if you get an outbreak, you now have a few more options to be able to get a basically field a team on a sudden And what I wonder about that is how many you're going to

travel to the game now? I mean, because before you would never take a practice squad player to the game, but now you might, and so it might you might just take one per position. You know, if you have a couple of wide receivers on the practice squad, maybe you take one of those or one of your backs, or you know, you know, one of your cornerbacks. And so that's that's what I kind of wonder. What's especially, you know, on these road games, you have a noon

kickoff start. I don't I don't know what the testing is going to be like on Saturday Sunday. I'm not sure. I've heard three or four different things of if they're going to test on Sunday morning or Saturday night. I'm not sure. If you think about it, though, Nick, I mean,

we all travel with the team during regular years. Think about how many people that typically travel with the team won't be doing it this year, whether it's members of our staff, whether it's sponsorship people, whether it's uh, you know, employees for TV stations that often travel with the team. Like, there should be a lot more space on that plane, if it were, I would bring I'd bring all sixteen

of them. Why not? I mean, you don't have the room. Well, and here's another thing that I mean it might be better for talk about off there, but what's the plane look like? I mean, what does the protocol now on a plane? I mean do you have two rows between people? One row? I mean it's hard to social distance on a on an airplane, and so I kind of wonder, you know, maybe maybe the Hawaii football together. You're like un locking in each other's face already, So what sitting

next to each other? What's the big deal after that? You know that's true. I mean, we'll see, We'll see how that goes. But let's talk about Brandon card and cout. Oh yeah, Brandon Carr. I forgot, did you guess uthing? Nick? You know? Yeah, Well, I was gonna kind of segue into the whole the Brandon car thing because about does

this matter? Does a call up for a veteran the same for a call I don't know if if it really goes into place for a veteran, But let's remember this you said, and Carr played pretty well at safety in the last couple of years. He was not he was not signed by any team all summer, all until just now. Same for Joe Davian Clowney. You can you can make that case. I get it, so, but I just I wonder, how you know how great he really has been. I'm not saying great or good. He's just

he's been a solid player. I think Brandon carr Is value is goes greater than just how he plays on the field. I think he's a really good leader, good locker room guy. To me, he's the opposite of another player for Baltimore. I think that they were trying to bring in now that guy Orld Thomas is an outstanding player, seven time Pro Bowler. Brandon Carr not as great of a player. But I think what the Cowboys need right

now versatility, leadership, experience. I think Brandon Carr could help and those when you think about it, are you really needing Sorry, I was gonna say, are you really looking or needing leader ship right now? Rather than someone that can actually go in and play and make plays given the circumstances, you know what, That's leadership in its own way.

This guy. I think this is an amazing stat and I saw this on Twitter m that there are only two players in the history of the NFL that have started every game of their first twelve years of their career, one of them being Peyton Manning, the other being Brandon car. Peyton mann was expected to go in and play and start. Brandon car fifth round pick Grand Valley State, to go in and start every single game. That's probably gonna end

this week, he's not gonna start. I wouldn't think that this week, but but I think it's what I'm saying about leadership. It's not just pulling the guy to the side and say do better. It's it's preparing, getting your body, getting your mind ready to play, go in, learning the system, learning different roles. That to me is a form of leadership that other players can look to it. Yeah, and I think the thing go ahead, No, no, it's gonna say.

I think that The interesting part there is that you got a guy who is dependable first, and as Nick was saying, he started all those games over those years in a year like this when you got COVID and that's your big concern, and you're putting him in the role that they're putting in, which is, Hey, we literally might get to a Sunday morning and a guy that's been on our practice squad is going to need to

come up and play. Would you rather have him do that or would you rather have some guy that hasn't played for the last twelve years or hasn't had the number of starts that he's had for the last twelve years. And by the way, he can do it at two different positions. He can come in and play at cornerback, he can come in and play at safety, he can come in and give you relief at both. So I

think Brandon Carr is the perfect kind of player. I'm actually shocked that he was still out on the street, and what it makes me think is maybe this was also part of his doing. He lives here in the Dallas area, so this may be a situation where he may have had some other teams that expressed some interest and he may have said, look, I kind of don't

want to necessarily go up to Cleveland. And I'm not saying Cleveland was one of them, but he may be like, I live in Dallas, this is an easy fit for me. My family's already here. We just will be in Dallas at our home, and I'll be on the practice squad. I'll play when I need to play, and I can jump in. We all know he's been playing for twelve years, like we all know he is on the back end

of his career. But in a season like this, I think his dependability and his versatility are the absolute best factors you can have for a guy like him that you would bring in to play in that role. David Jeff some you were gonna say. I mean, I think you basically hit on all the pertinent points. I just and I can't speak for the coaching staff, but I don't I don't want to give people the impression I don't think Brandon Carr is here to step in and be a starter at any position in the near future.

I think, you know, it sounds like Xavier Woods is going to be ready to go for Sunday. That's what Jerry Jones said this morning. I think they're going to give darry and Thompson a shot to be the other guy, at least for the time being. And I hate to bring this up because it wasn't good, but it reminds me a lot of when they went into the season in seventeen or eighteen excuse me, without a true lead

receiver and it didn't work and they fixed it. And that's kind of my thought is if this is an unmitigated disaster after three or four weeks, then maybe they revisit. But for the time being, I think dari and Thompson's the guy. Brandon Carr can provide valuable depth at a number of positions. I think you're absolutely right Derek. He lives like two exits up the interstate away from the facility. He's around the Star all the time in the offseason anyway.

He obviously still knows a number of guys on the roster. I just think this was a good fit. And another thing that I don't think you can underestimate is they got two rookie cornerbacks who are in need of mentorship and leadership. And who better to do that than Brandon Carr. So I don't know if he's going to be a regular part of the lineup, but I think it's very very good that he's around. Yeah, I think you hit

on an interesting thing there, Dave. If the wills fall off the sting from the standpoint of the safety position, then if Earl's still sitting there, then maybe that becomes an issue. Right that may become an option for the Cowboys. And right now, Leui Cowboys look at it and say, we like the young guys we got. We like where Xavier Woods and Darian Thompson are in their career. They're the kind of guys they're not really you don't call them,

you know, inexperienced guys. They have some experience. We think they're at the point where they're gonna now take that next step, so we'll see what happens. And if it doesn't work, then you got that little pocket in your back. You got that little card in your back pocket that you can maybe pull out. Think about think about this. Sorry, Nick, I don't mean to cut you off, but just think

about this for a second. They open, Yeah, I don't I don't think Jared Goff is amazing, but they opened with the Rams, which was like the best offense in the league two years ago. Then they got Matt Ryan and Julio, then they got Russ and then they got Odell and Jarvis Landry and all this stuff up on their secondary is going to be tested, and if it sucks,

they're gonna have to revisit that conversation. So for all of you Earl Truthers, I don't think you need to, you know, put a pin in that and just see where we are in a month. Well, remember this about about Earl Thomas and any veteran like that. Most of the time this doesn't really factor in. But in a situation like this where nobody's really doubting if Earl Thomas can play, they're doubting whether or not he can get along with this team in the locker room, and he's

going to be a distraction. Is he gonna does he does? He love football to the point where he's gonna make it, you know, this top priority and all that. If he's not, then they're gonna you know, people say that all the time. If it doesn't work, get rid of him. It's hard to do that in week one. You know, if he's on the roster in week one, the way the rules are, if he's on the roster on this day right now, then his roster, his FOT is guaranteed next week. Though

week two. If he's on the roster, he's here four or five weeks, it doesn't work out, you don't owe him all of those things that you might. So that might actually play a factor into this, specifically with Earl Thomas, because teams aren't sure whether or not it's gonna work out or not. We're gonna chake our final break when

we come back. We're gonna talk a little about Randy Gregory, a guy that has been on this team I guess as a as a player that was on the commissioner's exemption list, but now he has been restored to the team and can start practicing at some point the next month. I think it is. We'll talk a little bit more about that, gets some idea of what the parameters are of his reinstatement when we come back. This is Dallas

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use the code word team JB. That's get Jack Black dot com slash Cowboys. The Jack Black Starter ten bucks, free shipping. We're backing the tasty treat that's sweeping airwaves and taste buds. It's new Doctor Pepper and cream Soda. Let's take a listen, Doctor Bad Cream Soda? Is he a Newcombonut's music to my ears? Okay, Doctor Times, New Doctor Pepper and Cream Soda a delas just do badd back to the break Welcome back. It is the final segment of The Break live from the s WBC Mortgage

studios at the Star. I'm so happy to be back in the building on a regular base. I'll be here every day. Cowboys Break will be on at eleven thirty am Central Time every single weekday. So make sure you join us here so we can talk a little Cowboys football with you. Guys. We enjoy having you and spending a little time with you each day. We've talked about the roster, and one addition to the roster that was interesting and I think a good thing for the Cowboys

is the reinstatement or conditional reinstatement of Randy Gregory. Dave, why don't you tell me a little bit about what this means as far as when he can return to the team and maybe when he can start practicing and maybe when fans can expect to see him on the field. Well, he's with the team now. I actually I thought it was surprising. I mean, he was Nick, correct me if I'm wrong. He was at the facility yesterday, was he not? Yeah, yeah, I saw him yesterday and we can talk about that

here in a second. But Dave, go ahead with well, yeah, well I found it surprising, Like Mike McCarthy and Mike Nolan said they haven't really had a chance to talk to him, which I thought it was interesting because he was in the building yesterday. But anyway, so he's allowed back with the team. They have a roster exhimption, he

doesn't count toward the fifty three. The NFL is putting him through a mandatory acclamation period, which part of me like, I'm like, well, this just seems like a further suspension, which is bs. But at the same time, all of these other players, you know, they reported in late July and didn't you know, they had a month basically, and Randy's been away from football even longer than they have,

so it makes sense. So he can start practicing on October fifth, which is the day after the Week four game against Cleveland, and he can play on October twenty fifth against Washington, So I think that's the seventh game of the season, so they won't have him for six weeks, but given how little football he's played over the last two years, he's probably gonna need that time. Anyway. Yeah, to clarify, he wasn't in the building when I saw him, and I'm not sure that that. I mean, he was

just outside the building. And so again he still could have talked to people. Um then I'm not I'm not sure if he did or did it or whatever. I saw him very briefly, you know, reminded me it doesn't happen to me a whole lot that the guy stands up and he just realized how tall he is. He is. He is the perfect guy for a three or four defense like this. If he's ready to play, he would be. He's a great fit for this scheme because he's not

not that big. He's a little you know, he's slender, but he's but he's he could bend, he can move, he can do those things. You know that this would be a good scheme for for him. But scheme and all that stuff is kind of down the road. Get him back in here, get him, you know, testing again, get him play and practicing all that kind of stuff. You know, I think he's excited about playing football. He showed more excitement than I've ever seen out of him

just to be back and close. So hopefully this is a good It was interesting, Nick, you told me about your gridable encounter with him, and it was it was interesting because virtually didn't recognize him but it seemed like from the way you were talking about it, he was very excited to be back with the Cowboys and excited to be able to start kind of getting back in there and getting some work done, which I guess I

should be fair, Nick, that's a really good point. It Actually, now that I think about it, it makes a lot more sense that Mike McCarthy and Mike Nolan didn't talk to him because he's got to go through all the COVID protocols. He probably was only there to get tested and then he probably left again, if I had to guess, So he's not able to really, you know, he's not able to fully be part of it until he goes

through those protocols when I'm guessing that started. Yes, So, Amber, what are your expectations for Randy Gregor at this point based upon the fact that he's been out of the league for as long as he has, the fact that if you factor in what he was before he left, where do you kind of grade him at this point? What do you expect from him at this point? What

do you expect from him at this point? I think it's the same expectations we had a few years ago when when he was back, and then we were trying to figure out how he was going to do once he got to the field. And to me, he's one of those guys that when people talk about rare talent, he has that rare talent that I don't know how you say it in English in Nate, that you're just kind of born with it. He's one of those guys that I see that he's able to just go out

there and perform at a high level. Obviously he needs to go through that whole period, but one of this, for example, you talk about Alden Smith, that was a guy that me, I didn't I didn't have much hope. I'm like, okay, yeah, cool, Let's see how he does when he gets in here. And he completely impressed me the time that he was during this training camp, what he was able to do, how he looked out there, how he fit in with the rest of the group.

So I think that Randy would would just his positivity right now, and even the thing that he wrote on Twitter, the way he was speaking, and that whole outlook of being just kind of on the right path, that's gonna help him a lot, not just on the off field things, but also on the field, it's gonna hopefully be able to translate. So I think he'll he'll do well. I just I hope that he's able to get opportunities and

just mixed in there. The good thing is that I think that the Cowboys have a group, a good group of guys that they can rotate and just get everyone in there to kind of bring their own It's interesting that you mentioned that you mentioned Alden Smith because he actually has been out of football longer than Randy Gregor was out of football, and quite frankly, I think the flip side to that is he was and I'm not I'm not saying anything that I don't think most people

agree with. He was a better player when he left the game of football than Randy Gregor has been in his career. So yeah, there's there's kind of good and bad on both sides of that coin of Yeah, you could see a guy returned it hasn't played football in a while, and all of a sudden he's showing these things that you don't necessarily expect to see from somebody has been out of football. But Alta Smith was a really phenomenal player when he left. When he was kicked

out of the league. He was a really, really great player, and we're seeing some of the shades of that right now. Coming back, Dave, tell us what you think as far as your expectations for Randy Gregor at this point. I mean, I don't want to say expectation. I hope that he's you know, healthy and happy and has conquered these demons of his for the last time. And I mean, I mean, I know that's a that's a daily battle, but I hope it he can do it and deal with that

while he has a productive NFL career. I mean, as far as football, you know, Alden Smith and Everson Griffin kind of takes the pressure off of Randy Gregory to contribute anything right away. I mean, you got two guys who can handle those positions. So I mean, if he can mix in and get snaps. He had six sacks when he was back here in eighteen. I mean, he showed that he could do it even after time away. So if he wants to chip in and do that,

that would be great. But I don't I don't want to say I have super big expectations beyond just being a happy and productive member. What are your expectations your expectations well, I don't know if this was has been said, but you know, expectations is that he will come in and and you know, he can provide some depth there. You got to remember, we keep saying things like, well, let's see if he can continue to you know, stay

on course and all that. The NFL rules are different now than they were before when he was playing there, you know, and so I hate to say it, but some of the setbacks that he had and those obstacles, I'm not sure are the same right now. So you hope that that he's clear and back and healthy and ready to go. But I know, I'm kind of danced

around the subject. But the rules are different than they were before, so maybe it will be easier for him and other players that have dealt with those issues to stay in the league and get the help that they need and actually you know, be on the field everything. I think the one thing, one thing I think we all agree on is that we're happy to see Randy back.

We're happy to see him get this next opportunity and hopefully, hopefully, as Dave said, he's in a position where he could take full advantage of them and pass some of those demons or at least some of those demons that would preclude him from being in the league in order for him to move forward his career. Nick, They're sitting on their couch and they're like, Oh, this guy, he doesn't carry, doesn't love football, whatever, how he's making dumb decisions. Yeah,

he's made some dumb decisions. If you talk to him for two minutes, you would be blown away with his demeanor, his character, his intelligence, just everything about him is not a guy that is making bad decisions. I mean, so he's easy to root for. And I think I speak for everybody when when they they've talked to him. He's a guy that you want to root for. You hope maybe you know this is this is the time, and you hope. And there's a reason Jerry Jones has not

turned his back on him. He continues to do that what Jerry is but but he sees something here because Randy's is the type of guy that you you just want to root for. Which, oh, sorry, Dared, but I mean no, that was that was so well said Nick. And the other thing, you know, we say this all the time. We said it. We said it a few years ago when Zeke was going through his off field problems is obvious. Like line one is always going to

be how good at football you are? Like, if Randy Gregory didn't have rare talent, this saga probably wouldn't have drawn out as long as it did. But I always tell people, like, listen to the people that are and it doesn't have to just be us. Obviously we're unique because we're in the building. But listen to literally everybody

around the Cowboys. Find me a person who has dealt with Randy Gregory who doesn't have glowing things to say about him, who isn't rooting for him, And I think I think that's important absolutely because if if you know, if if we thought he would as a jerk or a lost cause or a bad person, I don't think you would see such uniform support for him from across you know, the media and the people that work for the team. That's an interesting point because I was going

to say the same thing. I think you look at all the media guys that cover him. I've heard literally none of them say that they're not rooting for him, and also talk about it from the standpoint that this is not just a guy who just makes bad decisions off the field. This is a guy that has some significant issues that he's having to deal with, and so I think from that standpoint, there is a really different perspective.

I think sometimes from the standpoint to people that cover him and know him versus the people who are kind of just out in the regular part of society that maybe just onlookers that have a different opinion of him. We appreciate you guys, join us. We're going to be back. Nick Jeff's other quick I just want to say, he's a really good football player. He needs to get better in his decision making on the field as well. If there is one thing about him, he had a lot

of penalties, untimely things like that. So discipline was an issue for him on and off the field. Let's see if he's if he's corrected that in both are all right. We appreciate you guys, join us. We're gonna be back tomorrow. I did let everybody know on Twitter today. Starting tomorrow, we're going to have a special segment we're gonna do every Wednesday and Thursday where we have We'll be joined by Bucky Brooks of NFL Network. He is a former player and a former scout he'll come on and give

us some insights on our upcoming opponents. So tomorrow he will talk about the Rams offense. He'll take over Dave. Yeah, we're giving Dave a break because they've got too much on his plate. So Nick told me. Nick told me, I better get some stuff off a day's place so he can write. That's what he's hired to do. So well, that's what we're doing, and we're gonna get We're gonna get Bucky in here to talk about the Rams offense tomorrow. We'll talk about the Rams defense on Thursday. Make sure

you join us. We appreciate you guys joining us today for Nick Eatman, Dave Hillman, 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.