Cowboys Break: Projecting the 53

are alive. I am from the virtual s WB Mortgage studios in my home, joined by Nick Eatman, Dave helm and Amber Garcia. Nick's at the start to day although the team's practicing in the afternoon today, camp is now over there starting to hit more of a rhythm that they will hit similar to what they will do in the season. But today we gotta show for you guys. We're gonna talk a little bit about some injuries, some guys that have not been practicing here over the last

few days. We'll also get to the fifty three man roster. Have these guys pinned down for you? What you think will happen with the top fifty three And as we end the show, we will have a little bit of a ramp cap wrap up of camp with a few standout players that these guys have seen throughout the duration of training camp. How's everybody doing today? Wonderful, good, awesome. Let's jump right in. Let's get into some of these injuries.

I think the most important one that we probably need to talk about is Amari Cooper, although I'm not certain that there is an injury to really refer to. Jerry Jones talked about it yesterday. Dave, I think you mentioned in a tweet that he hadn't been practicing in team drills over a few practices. Tell me what Jerry said, and then kind of what you think about it. Let's start with you, Dave. Yeah, I mean, so, you know, Amari hasn't really done much in a team setting since

probably last Thursday. It's been about three practices since he really had a heavy workload. Uh. Jerry Jones said yesterday morning that it's really more about precaution and monitoring. He mentioned, you know, the GPS and the tracking devices that they use. They thought that Amari had been exerting himself plenty, and you know, maybe in the interest of preventing some sort of strain. They kind of dialed him back. The thing, the thing that makes me feel okay about it is

that you know, he's still doing stuff. You know, he suits up every day and he's gone through individual warm ups and he's gotten a couple you know, routes in individual drills and stuff like that over the last three or four days. You know, it doesn't seem like he's drastically injured. Like Jerry said, I think they're just being cautious with a guy who has had a history of

lower body injuries. Yeah, you know, it's interesting. I saw some people on social media that I guess the best way to describe it is they were a little bit like, I don't know if I'm buying all of this with regards to to that. But the way I look at it is, I think it kind of rides with with what we've seen from Lyle Collins too. He didn't really

have an injury that we were told. It sounded like they just kind of wanted to get him to a certain place before he started practicing, And I think that probably points a little bit to maybe them seeing something through what they'd seen in his workouts heading into camp. Maybe some of the analytics involved. Nick, what are your thoughts on that and just kind of haul this plays out well. I don't think anything has changed as far

as the way they're getting players ready to play. McCarthy might have a different approach than Jason Garrett, but you know, to me, the you know, the trainers, the doctors, they're they're the same, and they're going to continue to kind of to work these guys where be Lyle or Maury Cooper or you know, the goal here always is September thirteenth against the Rams, So everybody's got a difference, you know, whether it be an injury, ailment, illness, whatever it is.

I don't think that the plan is any different than it was before because you know, the trainers and doctors haven't changed really since in twenty five years, thirty years. Really, let's go ahead and get to us some of the other injuries. Let's talk about the defensive back position. There are a number of injuries there. You got Xavier Woods that that's been out of practice. I think he left during the during Cowboys Night on Sunday. You had Chito

who has been missing a couple of practices. You have Jordan Lewis has been out for a little bit. Talk to me about how those guys are at this point and when they're expected to return. Let's go to you Amber. What do you have on that. Well, as far as I've heard, none of them are really major injuries. The only thing that concerns me obviously, this is a position

that was already of need. So it sucks that a couple of weeks prior to when we are expecting to start the season, that these guys who are veteran guys are now struggling with certain injuries. And I'm sure they're doing the best to monitor them and be as cautionary as they that they can be. But as far as from what I've heard, these are nothing like major injuries, so not too concerning, but still something to keep an

eye on. It's also interesting that you look at a guy like Luke Gifford, who is by all accounts trying to make this team, a guy that missed a significant part last year due to injury. He has also been on the injury poor Dave. What do we know about Luke Gifford. We know that we haven't seen Louke Gifford practice in a week or more, and that's actually I was going to bring that up about Jordan Lewis too.

I mean, I don't get the feeling that any of these are serious injuries, but this is such a shortened training camp. I mean, a two week injuries not a big deal when training camp is six weeks long. But Jordan, you know, Jordan went out on like the third day of practice and he hasn't been back, which you know, he's a fourth year vetter and he can probably deal with that, but it's still not ideal, even more so for Luke Gifford. I don't get the feeling that this

is a super long term injury. But camp is over, and Luke Gifford hasn't you know, fifty percent of that. He hasn't had a chance to show his stuff. I wonder if that's going to hurt him because you know, this isn't the coaching staff that brought him in that

was absolutely in love with him last summer. This is a completely different group of guys, and you know the fact that they haven't been able to see a full camp from him, it's it's kind of concerning if I'm Luke Gifford in my opinion at least, yeah, and it's going to be. I assume that's that's one of the positions, and we'll talk a little bit about more when we

get to the linebacker position. That's one of the positions where I feel like it's gonna be tight and trying to make the team at the linebacker positions gonna be tough because they got a lot of quality players at that position, and and we'll talk a little bit more about that when we get there, of how this might affect him. But that's what we're gonna do. Now. We're gonna jump into the fifty three man roster. The way I broke this down is we're gonna go through each position.

We're gonna talk a little bit about the guys that are there, the guys we know that are for sure, and guys that we think are kind of on the bubble, and let you guys give some opinions about that. We'll get to the end of it, and that's when we will look back and see, Okay, here's the total number of players that we think are for sure, here's what we think we've got left, and here the areas where you can choose from. And then we'll try to figure out what those who those last few spots should be.

Let's start first with the specialists. So I don't think there's a ton of questions about who's gonna make the team. You've got Greg Zerline, you got Chris Jones, you got LP Ltdiser. They're all gonna be on the team. I do have one question for you guys. I'll start with you Nick. What do you think are how comfortable are you or what are your feelings right now with regards to Chris Jones as a punter, coming off a year where he wasn't at his best? What are your thoughts there?

My thoughts are that he's going to have a different coach here and John Fossil who's been really good with punters over the years, Don Johnny Hecker, and so I'm just thinking that, you know, a change of scenery might help with a little bit of philosophy, you know. And he's he's a good punter, he's been injured. I think he'll he'll get better, you know, this year that he's healthy. That's kind of the goal for zer Line, that's the goal for Chris Jones as well, that then maybe they

can get back to where he was. Sounds good, Yeah, and that's the tough part is will he be able to get back there? But I think going into this season, the hope is that he can get back to that point. I think Greg Zerline is another guy that coming off last year wasn't his best year, but the expectation is that he will be better this year. He certainly has been stella throughout camp and we'll see how that goes as we had into the season. Let's move on to

the quarterback position. The Cowboys have what we know, They're definitely gonna have two people that are quarterbacks that will be on this roster, Dak Prescott, Andy Dalton. My question for you guys is is this scenario where the Cowboys maybe could go short and only carry two, knowing that they have two quarterbacks who are highly skilled, who are very experienced, and just try to ride with that, versus having a third guy on the team. Let's start first

with you, Aner, what do you think about that? I've been going back and forth. Me personally, I think I would just keep two. But for the Cowboys, I think that they would go ahead and keep de Nucci as well, especially because even though they say they're gonna come into an agreement with Dak prescot and figure out the contract deal. You just never know what's gonna happen. And de Nucci is a young guy who has had a good camp.

He's shown some ability, he's shown some good stuff. So I don't think they they'll be okay with just letting him go. I think that they keep three quarterbacks in this scenario. Dave, Yeah. I mean, you know, if we had played five free seas and games, we might we might have a better idea. You know, if if Denucci had been terrible throughout the course of the preseason, maybe you you part ways. But I just don't think the Cowboys have seen enough. You know, it's it's two and

a half weeks of practice and no games. They drafted the guy, Mike McCarthy obviously really likes him. Mike McCarthy also has a history of keeping three quarterbacks, and I just, you know, I'd be pretty surprised if he's not on the team. I know, you know, you can protect guys on the practice squad this year, at least two of them, I believe. But they've still got to go through waivers first. And you know, there were at least a couple other

teams interested in signing him after the draft. That's why the Cowboys picked him. So I'd be pretty surprised if they cut him. Honestly, Nick, I, you know you don't need him, You certainly don't need to keep him. But but I understand why they would say that, because they drafted him for a reason. So I probably would not keep him on the roster. I think you need spots another place. All right, Let's go ahead, move on to to the running back position. Cowboys half for sure, Zeke

Elliott Tony Pollard. So we know that there are two that are definitely going to be on the roster. The question becomes do the Cowboys keep a third running back? And also should the Cowboys consider keeping a fullback? And should they consider maybe keeping both keeping a third running back and a fullback. Let's start first with you, Dave, Where do you go on that? I just got the two. To be honest with you, they did it last year. You know, Tony and Zeke were the only two backs

running backs they had Jamazela Wally. Obviously that's not an option this year, you know, at the risk of getting into their scheme and strategy, like we simply have not seen them do a lot of stuff with fullbacks at this camp. Shwo Alana lou is the only one here, and the opportunities that he's gotten have been way more

as a running back than a fullback. You know, ric o'dowdell and Darius Anderson have had moments, but there's gonna be a million running backs available on waivers and done practice squads after these rosters get cut, So I really only have the two. Nick Um, I'm gonna keep Rico. I'm gonna I'm gonna keep him on the team. I think he's done enough. And then he got then he got Tony Pollard and of course Zeke. I don't. I don't think you need a full back because I think

you're gonna have put those tight ends. I don't. I definitely would just keep two, especially if i'm keeping another quarterback. So if I'm keeping three quarterbacks, I'm keeping two running backs and Zeke. You know, Zeke and Tony Poller. He's done an amazing job at camp, So I don't think there's a need for a third one. All right, So let's move on to the tight end position. Cowboys have three spots that you would assume they're gonna carry. You would think Blake job Win, Blake Bell, and I would

think Dalton Schultz is your third guy. I know we had to talk last weekend, and I think a couple of you guys said you wouldn't necessarily completely rule out the possibility of Cole Hiccottini making this team. My question for you guys is, do you stick with three and Hiccotini becomes your third or Schultz, or do you go with four and take all four of them. Let's start first with you, Nick, I think you can keep four

tight ends if you don't keep a fullback. Remember he said they were interchangeable, and so I think Hiccottini has done enough where you could maybe keep him. I don't know about going along at running back and tight end, but the other three guys are solid and they deserve to make it. Amber I think I would just keep I would like to have four, but I would just probably keep three because honestly, the I like Blake Jarwin,

Blake Bell, I think he's gonna stay. And then out of Dalton Schultz and colehat Kutini, I mean they both haven't done enough to where I'm like, oh, yes, let me keep both of them. I would just take one of those two and just keep three and see what who else is available from other teams. Helman, I honestly, I think they're either gonna keep four tight ends or they're gonna add a running back fullback when this stuff

gets cut. And that's that's the tough part is, you know, it's it's almost a guarantee that there will be one or two guys on this roster that aren't here. Now, you think about how experienced this coaching staff is. You know, they've been all you know, so many of these coaches have spent so much time in the league. There's bound to be players they like that are available, you know, on Saturday and Sunday. But what we're looking at right now, if they don't keep three running backs, I wouldn't be

surprised if they keep a fourth fullback. I think Blake Bell and Dalton Schultz can both be in h back fullback type of guy. And then you add in Cole Hiccottini as depth. I don't know that he's gonna make it, but I at least want to. Min shouldn't Sean mckun as well, the Michigan rookie. He's had moments, for sure, and he's a big body guy who can do some

of that blocking stuff. So, like I said, I don't know if he makes the team, but I think we should at least mention him all right some more onto the wide receiver position, We've got three guys we absolutely know we're gonna make this team, Amari Cooper, Michael Gallop and Ceedee Lamb. I think most of us agree that Noah Brown and Cedric Wilson are gonna be the fourth and fifth wide receivers on this team. The question for you guys is do the Cowboys keep us sixth and

if so, who do they keep? Out of Intel Bryant, John Vay Johnson, Devid Smith. Let's start first with you, Nick. I don't think they go with any I don't I won't go with six receivers at all. I'd stick with five because I think when you when you're so top heavy with the top three that you have, you really don't need more than that. You got to back up in. Cedric Wilson has been really good. You've got a special teams guy, and Noah Brown, who's also been pretty good

lately as a receiver. I can't see where a sixth guy really is needed at this point, all right, Amber, I'm going back and forth. I think that they should be okay with the fifth guy. Now. I wonder how concerned they are about Amari Cooper and his whole whatever the injury is, even though they say it's just precautionary at this point, but I wonder if that plays a role into maybe then wanted to keep a sixth guy. And if they were to keep a six guy, my

guy would be Devin Smith to add there. All right, Dave Age took the words right out of my mouth. I would love to keep Devin Smith on this team. I think if something happens to one of the big three, he's the most logical guy that can step in and play out on the boundary. But he also has probably the least special team's value. And that's that's the thing is, can you afford to just have Devin Smith be a

game day and active until somebody gets hurt? I don't know, um vent tel Brian his injury is it looked pretty bad they said it wasn't. I want to keep an eye on that. I mean, if he's healthy enough that he's not going to miss a ton of time, his special team's ability is intriguing. He's also you know, he's a bigger bodied guy who can probably do some stuff on the outside. Um, I'm not convinced you need six, but if they kept six, I would hope it would be Devin Smith or vent Tel Bryant. Yeah. I like

Devin Smith. You gotta remember about vent Tel Brian he could be facing a suspension, so true, it's a good point. Sure what the deal is with him? Yeah, I think one of the interesting things here is I like Devin Smith a lot, and I think he could add something to this team from a depth perspective. But the one thing that I keep remembering that that McCarthy said multiple times is he needs guys on the team that can

do multiple things. And so I have a hard time thinking that they're going to have a receiver who's gonna be sixth on their depth chart, presumably that is not going to be able to play special teams for them. I just don't see how that would fit based upon again, what McCarthy has told us. Now, we'll find out through all of this is our first year with this coach.

We'll find out how much of this is stuff that he really believes or stuff that he just says right, But based upon what he said so far, I have a hard time thinking that Devin gets a shot at making this team under those kind of scenarios, unless again, they see an opportunity for him to play more on special teams than maybe what we see. We're gonna go and take our first break and we come back. We're

gonna talk about the offensive line. There are lots of conversations to have around that, and then we'll get into the defense. We'll do that when we come right back. This is Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio. We're back in a tasty treat that's sweeping airwaves and taste buds. It's new Doctor Pepper and Creep Soda. Let's take a listen, Doctor pepe and Cream Soda. Is he a Newcombonut's music to My Years? Okay, Doctor Times Music's Mayars and MOUs new Doctor Pepper and Cream Soda? What Delias just du

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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. We live from the virtual SWBC Mortgage studio at my home. Got Nikki and Dave Helm and Amber Garcia. We're talking Cowboys football with you, guys. We're going through the roster. We're trying to get it down to fifty three players. Guys have already talked about the skill positions on the offensive side of the ball. We're now going to move to the offensive line. Let's

talk about the offensive tackle position. First. We know for sure that Tyrn Smith Lyle Collins will definitely make this team. I want to ask you guys this question about cam Irving. Obviously, he was brought in here to be the swing tackle, so conventional wisdom would would say that he's going to

make this team. My question for you is have you seen enough from him that makes you feel comfortable with him as the swing tackle again recognizing the fact that there have been injury issues over the last several years for your tackles, or do you feel comfortable with him in that role or do you think maybe this is a position where the Cowboys will possibly be looking out to see what other teams might be doing as far as guys that get cut, veterans that may get cut,

and see if maybe they can upgrade the position. Let's start first with you, Dave. I'm not trying to convince anybody that cam Irving is amazing. He's been fine. He doesn't look as good as Tyron and LC. But my thing is, first of all, I'm convinced they need to keep him, not because of anything he's done, but because of how much we've seen the starting tackles, which is not a lot. You know, Lyle and Tyrn both have

their injury issues. It is what it is, and I'm dubious that there will be a better tackle available than a guy like Cam Irving who has been a starter in this league for multiple years. Guys like that don't get put on the street very often, so I'm all in favor of keeping him. Like I said, I don't think he's you know, if he has to start multiple games, that's probably not great, but it's better than nothing. And I'm keeping Brandon Knight too, so I would like to

have four tackles on this roster for sure. Amber I think that this is a situation where they definitely look into bringing someone else. I feel like, obviously we know how Tyrant and Lyle Collins look like when they're healthy and in delight, but we also got a preview of what this offensive line could look like without those two guys.

We saw a lot of combination, different mixes of people moving around the line and seeing what that looked like, and honestly, that didn't make me feel super super excited or comfortable with going into a real regular season game with those guys. So I think that they need to are They probably will look into someone else. I don't know who all is out there and if they are any better than what they already got, but as of right now, I think that they just need help at

the position. Nick Well, I think that it comes down to how ready Camering is to play. Also, I mean, not only has he has he been out, but we really weren't told why he missed so much time, and so is he a guy that could step right in in play? Is he ready to do that? He hasn't had much of a training camp and certainly hasn't played any games. So yeah, I'd be looking at somebody else if they were available just I mean just to upgrade number one, but also you might need a guy that's

more ready to play. Based upon what Amber and Nick said, how do you guys feel about the idea of having a fourth tackle? I think Dave's already said he's in on that. How do you guys feel about a fourth and who would that person be? I love Brandon Knight as the fourth tackle. I don't know if if he's ready to be the third, but I like him as the fourth. And if you get a guy that's better than Cam Irving, then maybe you cut cam Irving. But I'm keeping Brandon Knight as a developmental player who is

show some toughness. He's got versatility, position flex maybe to play some guard if needed. I like Brandon Knight as a fourth I'm keeping him. I'm okay with that. You know what, it makes me wonder how difficult would it be for the scouts to be able to look at other guys as well that are out there in the league.

I mean, do you feel more comfortable keeping what you already have and you know what you have, or do you take a risk into bringing someone else that maybe is I mean, when you talk about those kind of back cups like that, you don't really you haven't really seen much from people out there, so it's not like a well known guy. So I don't know, what do you guys think you do you take a chance and risk it into bringing someone else, or do you stay with well, you know, that's kind of my point. I mean,

you're absolutely right. First of all, you know, this year, more than any year, you just don't really have an idea of what other guys are doing. And like I said, I mean, I just I don't think they are going to be as many, very many guys available that have as much experience as cam Irving does. That doesn't make him a cure all, but it does probably make him the best available option. I would be pretty surprised if

there is a strikingly better tackle available this weekend. That goes back to a point about the quarterback too, because it's like, why do you keep being deduci I mean, somebody gonna pick him up and actually put him on their their fifty three man roster, like I don't know, I mean, because they haven't seen him at all. So I think you can get younger players through a little

bit more. That being said to answer her question, it's gonna be really challenging to say, are I'm gonna take this young guy that I just liked coming out of college and putting him on my team. It's gonna have to be a veteran player that you would say I've seen him before, I had him before at another place. So there's not a lot of rookies I think that

are going to be claimed like that. Yeah, it sounds like what you guys are saying is veterans are premium this year because of the limited amount of time they've had to prepare in the offseason, which means there won't probably be any good veterans on the street once these cuts are made. All right, let's move on. Let's talk about the guard position. We know Zach Martin, Connor Williams, Connor McGovern make this team. I think we're all good here, right,

they're good. There? Three is all they need? You guys good on that number? Um, well, I think, and I assume you're gonna know Joe Looney and Tyler Battis. Adam Redman does a little bit of everything. If they want to go heavy, he could play, you know, he can play all three interior positions. Like I said, if they want an extra body, maybe you consider him. But yeah, I think I think you're probably right. Yeah, that's interesting. We're going talk about the center position. We know Joe

Looney is going to make the team obviously. I think Tyler Briottish is another that we expect to make the team. My question really is do you think they keep Adam Redman because he does have that position flex for you and he could play he could play both both center and guard. What do you think, Amber? I think so, And especially when going back to what you said of all Mike McCarthy earlier, something that he keeps talking about over and over when he comes to roster spots is

that flexibility. They want to have guys that have the flexibility to be interchangeable in different positions when need it. So when you got a guy like that that has some kind of experience and you know what he can do and help you're in, I think you can definitely

keep a guy like that just for emergency. Nick, you know, I'm actually going back to the guard position just now, because let's not overlook the fact that Connor McGovern hasn't played a football game in over two years since he played at Penn State, So to have him as your backup guard on game day and if something were to happen. Oh, by the way, you just got to face Aaron Donald.

I mean I'm a little bit concerned by that, just because he hasn't played, and so I wonder if something were to happen, is it better to put be honest at center and lunient guard at this point, I don't know. I don't know if McGovern's ready. So that makes me kind of hesitant a little bit about saying we're good with the three guards. Wait, but are you saying that Connor mcgovernor doesn't make this team? No, no, no, but he is he ready to back up both guard spots

in if needed. He hasn't played since a bowl game at Penn State, and so I just and that was two years ago. So I don't know. It goes back to to the same point that you're making. I mean, it's Tyler Biat is ready to be a center, you know, if you move Joe Lunia, I mean, uh yeah, without either. I don't feel comfortable either, I don't. I mean, that's not about being comfortable, and this is this twenty twenty.

There's nothing comfortable about this year at all. So I'm just saying he's not as far removed from playing football as McGovern. I just wonder what your best options. You're trying to get five five best players out on the field, and I don't know if McGovern would be that if there would be an injury. I don't know. I think y'all are kind of out of the nature of the NFL in twenty twenty. I mean, that's that's the NFL. I mean, how many positions are you going to lose

a guy and feel comfortable about who's replacing him. I mean, you're very lucky, you know. I think you could probably say that about running back and to some degree, receiver, depending on how many injuries you're dealing with. But when you when guys get hurt, you're probably not going to feel great about your options. But we're going to say, of all the players on the team that are gonna make the team, let's say you put fifty three fifty

five guys out there. Of the players you know nothing about, don't you think Connor McGovern's right at the top of that list, Or you're like, I really don't know anything about this guy. I think you can make the same argument, as Amber was saying with Tyler Beiodis, I don't think you really know a lot about him. He's a rookie, he's just coming in. He hasn't had an offseason. I think you say that about him. I think you say

that about Gallimore. I think you can say that about if you think Bradley and like, go down the list of all the rookies except for the top two, I think you could probably make the same argument about any one of those guys because you just haven't seen enough to know whether they're in. But they don't have as

much rust as this guy. That's what I'm saying. He hasn't played in two years, so yeah, he might be he might be better, But I'm just saying it's been a long time since he's done anything, and I don't know.

I don't know what to expect from him. Yep. I think the strategy they're going to have is cross their fingers and pray that neither one of their guards goes down when they got to face Aaron Donald, because it will be a rough day for whoever is out there by the way, it'll be a rough day for It'll be a rough day for either one of the starters

to Aaron Donald's just a handful, you know. So, I mean, you just pray that those guys don't go down, and if they do, then I think Conor mc govern's gonna get thrown in and they're just gonna see what he can do. That's putting it nice. Aaron Donald's a handfuls like saying we've had some missions this year. All right, let's move on. Let's talk about the defensive side of the ball. We're gonna flip over to start with a defensive line. My assumption is they're going to carry at

least ten defensive linemen. I'm gonna throw you eight names that I think are for sure going to make this team. You guys, tell them if you agree with that, and then tell me, if it's two more, who the two that you'll take. So I think it's DeMarcus Lawrence, Alden Smith, Everson Griffin, Tyron Crawford, Don Terry Poe, Tristan Hill, Antoine Woods, Neville Gallimar. That leads two more spots, and you'll have to choose between Bradley and I, Joe Jackson, Rondelle Carter,

Ladarius Hamilton, and Dorance Armstrong. Do you guys agree with the eight And if so, do you think if they're gonna get to two, how many more or who those two names that you take to get you to ten. Let's start with you, Dave. I mean, I don't disagree with your list, but I I'm I think Bradley and I's a lock. Honestly, you know, he's a he's a rookie draft pick. Teams don't like to cut draft picks. He's also kicked some ass, I mean, and don't get

me wrong, I don't you know. I don't think he's gonna get a ton of playing time as a rookie, but he's done more than enough to deserve a roster spot. And he's done more than enough, which you know obviously other teams haven't seen this. But I would be afraid of trying to get him through waivers, that's for sure. So I consider him a lock. And then for me, you know when you told me we were doing this, I spent some time last night. I think it's probably

between Doran's Armstrong and Joe Jackson. If they keep ten, that's my guests. So if they keep a tenth guy, I think it would be one of those two and I would probably lean toward Doran's nick. I like the eight.

I mean, I think eight is good, And yeah, I would say a nine makes it with the ninth guy, and I think I'm done there because you know, it looks like they're gonna play a lot of three four So when you think about three down linemen, I mean, you know, do you need more than I understand some of those guys are playing linebacker and pass rush and all that, but I just don't see the need to have that many guys. Armstrong or Jackson. It would be

it'd be a flip. It would be the guy that could be a little bit more versatile as a stand up player. But I could see Armstrong, I guess making it. But you know, I'm and wait, is there anybody getting suspended to start the year? I mean it seems like this, well this would be the first year in like seven years we don't have a defensive end starting the year suspension, right, I think we're going to break unless unless they move back around on Crawford, I think we're good. There's been

a bad boy in Florida. If Jerry, if Jared would stop talking about that, you know how to let it lie, right, you know. That's a good point of though. Also about Crawford, and that's what makes him so good with the position flex is that's like having two guys at one. I don't think you need to have ten when you have a guy like Crawford who could play multiple spots. Griffin's playing multiple spots. So give me, give me nine with a nine and I think we're good. And yeah, you know,

it's you have to cut ties. I guess with Jackson and Armstrong a couple of picks, but they've had some time to do something and they really haven't. Amber Um. I agree with everything they just said, both Dave and Nick. I think that out of those two, it just depends what they decide to do on other positions. But if they were to keep that extra guy, I think out

of those two would just be Dorian's Armstrong. I don't think there is a full need for it, but it just I guess he's one of those that what do they do at other positions? All right, let's flip over to the linebacker position. Right now, the Cowboys have what I would think are gonna be six spots. There are seven linebackers on the roster currently, question is are they going to keep a seventh? Are they gonna stick with six? We know Jalen Smith, Layton Vanderess, Shaun Lee are definitely

on this team. Question becomes what happens with the other three spots? Yes, Dave, Sorry, I you know, one of the fun things about doing the show on our phones is that I can't look at it, which apparently they have released Adam Redmond while we've been on the show, So okay, never made it easy. Yeah, yeah, so I guess they don't feel that way, which, yeah, so I would imagine maybe you go nine, No Lineman, best of

luck to Adam Redmond. I think Clayton Thorson was also released today, So yeah, sorry that we were on the show while that happened. Everybody anyway, all right, So you know, so going back to know what's happening, you're real quick. You know what's happening is they out a practice here for three three more days for the cutdown day. They know what they want to do. And this is a big difference between what you've seen other coaching staffs. The

previous staff is they wouldn't necessarily do this. This team is like, all right, we know we're not going to have him, don't let him get hurt and do an injury settlement and stuff like that. Let's go ahead and start cutting down the roster since we already know what we want to do. It's kind of I don't know what y'all think about that, but at least that's kind of refreshing to me. They go ahead and start doing that.

It's amazing they you know, under Jason Garrett, they used to wait until like Saturday night, and yeah, I mean, if you know what you want to do, get it out of the way. And also maybe give a guy like Adam Redman an opportunity to talk to some teams before you know, everything gets crazy. That's exactly right. The sooner he's out there, the sooner teams can evaluate him and determine whether he's better than what they have. Gives him an opportunity maybe to get on another team. This

is great for players. I think, Yeah, all right, so let's get back to linebackers. I think Jalen Smith, Layton Vanderess, Sean Lee locks to make the team. I think there are three one spots up for grab, Joe Thomas, Justin March, Luke Gifford and Francis Bernard, Do you keep six or seven? And who are the guys that you keep out of those final guys? Let's start first with you Amber Um. Let's see, man, I think hmm, okay, I think I'm ready to say bye to Louk Giffer. That was my guy.

But honestly, this this time has been so crucial for the for this year, you just cannot miss any practice time. And I think that Francis Bernard, and I know Nick has been talking about him, but he's definitely a guy that just came in and started making his name known out there on the field. I think he took that spot. I would keep, all right, you said, Layton, Jalen, Shaun Lee.

I would say, Joe Thomas, Francis Bernard. And do you really need yes, I guess justin March, I mean you don't really, it's not I guess you basically keep the whole group except for one guy pretty much. Here here's the thing. Here's the thing about it. The one position that linebackers kind of mirror from the offensive side of the ball is a fullback and or tied end maybe. And the fact that you don't have that many physical players at full you don't have a fullback. Really that

is gonna make it you're you're you're tight ends. Dalton Schultz is not really a thumper, you know, type of blocker at all. Uh So you need maybe you needed a little bit more linebackers to make up for that on the special team's part, because you're not really getting that on the offensive side of the ball. So I think to answer your question about March, yeah, I think you do need to keep justin March. I think you do need to keep u is it Francis Bernard? Is

that his name, Bernard Francis, I don't know. I'll tell you this. I almost hit him. I almost hit him with my truck in the parking lot two days ago. We wouldn't even truck, but I'm saying it was kind of a mess down there and he was walking by. I know it was him because it was the hair, and almost hit him. But you know, so we almost

weren't even talking about this, but that didn't happen. They right now, is they've right now is wrapping up exactly what all of us are thinking, just like, no, please don't hit him, Please don't hit please don't hold Francis Bernard. I told Dave, No, you did. I really I think five of there's five locks. In my opinion, I think Joe Thomas makes this team for you know, if you have a capable starter as a fourth linebacker, that's wonderful depth.

Francis Bernard hasn't done more than enough to make the team. I've got justin March making it. Maybe they like Gifford more, It's hard to imagine that they do, since Gifford has been sidelined. I would guess six, and I leaned toward March. Yeah. I think it's a general consensus among you guys is

probably gonna be six. The only reason I would caution for seventh is I do wonder how much that factors into special teams when you look at the fact that, as we talked about earlier, if a fullback doesn't make this team, and let's assume they only keep three tight ends, maybe they go with the fourth, but let's assume maybe they do three. I think they're gonna need some more big bodies that are athletic that they can throw out

on special teams. And I do think this team is going to be very, very cautious and thoughtful about what they do as far as making their final fifty three man roster, and how it affects special teams. I know not all coaching staffs do that, but every indication is that they will do that. It makes me wonder how

those how those will be tied together. If they decide to only go three at tight end and no fullback, do you go with the seventh linebacker to give you a little better, a little bit of extra help on special teams. I'll throw that back out to you, guys. What do you think about that analysis? Well, I was gonna say, you know we were talking. Oh sorry, Nick, go ahead, you know what I want to say that. I'm not implying anything. I'm not trying to start anything.

But are we sure that Sean Lee is a lock? I mean, when you ask what's even Jones was asked about him, he said he could put a coach, You could put a coaching, you know, cap on him in a whistle right now. It was a kind of a weird answer. He hasn't practiced much. I'm just saying I don't know what's going on with him. I mean, I'm not implying I don't know anything. He might They might just be getting him ready to play the season getting him healthy because he knows how to get his body ready.

But it wouldn't be the biggest shock in the world if for some reason Sean Lee isn't on the roster and maybe has a different role. Again, I know nothing all about what I've seen and what I heard recently on the radio. For what Stephen said, it just sounded weird to me. I would be shocked, I'll say this,

I absolutely would be two. And based upon what you guys were saying early in the show with regards to the premium that you'll have on Veterans this year, I think that is even more reason why I think he makes this team. And quite frankly, I look at it as it goes back to the first conversation we had

on this show. We were talking about injuries and talking about how it seems like, at least from from what Jerry's been saying or what he said in this most recent interview about Amari, that this team is looking at the analytics and trying to figure out how they best integrate guys in, how they best pull them back, all the things that they need to do from the analytics that helped them be more predictive about how injuries could happen and try to guard guys from that. I think

that's why they haven't seen as much of Sean Lee personally. Again, that's not based upon anything that I've heard. It's just based upon kind of you put all these things together and start reading the tea leaves. I think it's much more about the fact they're trying to keep him from injury then he's injured, or that he's gonna, you will be a problem for him this season. You can base it on things that you've heard. I don't remember when

Stephen did another interview. Obviously, Stephen and Jerry Jones talk like five times a week. Stephen said, you know, very early on in camp, you know, he said, Mike McCarthy had this funny line about, like, you know, we're not worried about August eighteenth, we're worried about September thirteenth. And that's exactly that's the vibe that I give for Sean Lee. Absolutely.

I mean, the guy you don't need to worry about him getting practice reps, especially since you're not looking at him to start, you know, you're not asking him to play sixty five snaps a game, So I think the plan with Sean is just to have him ready for

the season and not really worry about a whole lot else. Yeah, I will say this, if you get to week five or six of this season and you sustain an injury to one of your two top linebackers, of all the guys that are left, I would love more than any of the others to throw Sean Lee in there as my starter at that point. So I think for that reason alone, he's the guy that makes this team. All Right, we're gon take our final break. When we come back,

Let's jump into the defensive backs. We'll talk about them a bit, then we'll wrap up training camp. Will do all that when we come right back. This is Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio since eighteen sixty five. Stetson hats are American maid with pride right here in Texas, and Stetson is proud to be on the field with America's team. Want to show your Texas and team pride too? You can by purchasing your own stetson. You can look just like how the flag guys do on you'ld at every

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Doctor Times, Music to My Ears? And mouse new Doctor pepper and Cream Soda, Delash, Just do Bay Back to the break Welcome back. It is the final segment of the Break Life from the Virtual s WBC more. It's studios at the Star. Nick's at the Star. We've got Amberg Dave at their homes. We're gonna wrap this thing up talking about the insive backs for the Dallas Cowboys, who we think will make the team. I think there

will be ten. That's the magic number. The guys I think that are locks are Cheetah, bay A Woozia, Jordan Lewis, Anthony Brown, Trevon Diggs, Darryl Worley, Darian Thompson, Xavier Woods, Haha, Clinton Dix. That gives us eight. We got two more spots. Who do you think makes the final or do you think that numbers should be higher or Lord, we've got c J. Goodwin, Donovan Wilson, Reggie Robinson, Chris Westry, Xavion Smith, Deontay Burton, and Luther Kirk. Let's start first with you, Dave.

What do you do with the defensive backpotition? I don't think you can rule out the possibility that they keep eleven. And I know that's a lot, but it speaks to how few proven things they have back there, and how many you know, guys they have competings. You know, I wrote this down. I think there's five locks at cornerback Cheeto Brown, Diggs, Jordan and Warley. And then at safety, I've got Xavier Thompson, Hah, Reggie Robinson and Donovan Wilson.

And then you can't forget you know. I'm not looking to him to play cornerback, but we brave every year about CJ. Goodwin's abilities as a special teamer. So that's a name that I think is worth considering. That's probably it, though I know, you know, people love Chris Westley. I'm not sure I see that, but if they really love what Goodwin brings to their special teams, maybe they keep eleven. Okay, Amber, I agree with Dave Honestly, I wasn't thinking about them

keeping eleven guys, but his recently makes perfect sense. So I'm all in with Dad. There's so many guys that are just like kind of right there with each other, and you know, I was really concerned about Jordan Lewis and the fact that he was missing so much time on my old man. I hope that none of these guys come and kind of pass his how do you say?

Get better and then you you're leaning more towards a different guy and kind of forget about Jordian Lewis because I've always loved what Jordan Lewis can do, but looking at it and being at the end of Camp, I don't think there was any guy that actually was able to do that, and Jordan Lewis has the experience and out of that, I think you guys mentioned all the name I got right here, Darian Thompson, Cheeta, Xavier Jordan's

ha ha, Darley Worley, who to me has been pretty impressive. Honestly, I wasn't expecting him to be so to do the kind of job that he's done. Anthony Brown, Digs, Donovan Wilson, and then Reggie Robinson, so I'm not ten guys there. You take, you take Wilson and Robinson, those are your final two if they only stick with ten. Yeah, okay, CJ. Goodwin would be out for you, correct, CJ. Goodwin. I guess if they do keep ten guys like Dave said,

but I wouldn't mind that at all. But out of those guys, like after those, there's no one else that honestly did enough for me. I want to throw this out there. Oh yeah, lett, Nick, go, but I want to throw something out there. Okay, Nick? Well, first of all, as I say this, Dave, can we confirm does Devin Smith also been released as well? Smith has also been there? Yeah? Yeah, they really timed this perfectly for us. Yeah, Devin Smith

is gone, so not a huge surprise. Like I said, I would have liked to keep him, but oh well, Um. The thing is is that we get to this point of doing the roster, it's like, what's the number? Like, I mean, how many are you? Are you keeping track? Derek? I mean, what what what are we at with keeping tracking?

So we're gonna go back and do that. Tell me what you think about this these guys, and then we'll go back and do that Um, I just eleven seems too many for me, and Goodwin would be a lot higher on my list to make sure that I get in here again. I'm not trying to cut a bunch of veterans. I'm just not trying to lock them. I mean, I don't know if ha Ha is he is he a lock? I don't know that. I mean he hasn't been playing now with Xavier Woods banged up, probably to

stay on the roster here. But I mean he was brought in here to compete, I mean, to get a starting job, and he hasn't necessarily done that. So do you need him? Donald Wilson and Renci Robinson. Robinson hasn't done much of anything. You're just hoping that he will at some point. But if Maurice Kennedy opting out like that, I think CJ. Goodwin, I think he is close to a lot to make the team, honestly, So are you saying that you don't you wouldn't necessarily think that there's

going to beat ten. You think because we had eight that we thought were locks, you're saying you don't even think Ha has as much of a lock. But CJ would replace him as a lock. So you're saying that, you're saying at this point nine, maybe go a number end. I'd go with I'd go with ten. If I could fit ten in, I would go with ten. So who's your tenth If you're gonna keep and you're gonna have CJ. Goodwin out of Donovan Wilson, Reggie Robinson, Chris Westry, who

is your your last guy? I go with Wilson and I'm cut him a fourth round pick. I'd be a big move. I haven't. I mean, I haven't seen that since maybe two thousand and six. Skyler Green. Yeah, I can't remember that many fourth round picks being cut, But I don't know. He probably wouldn't pass Raver in my time here, I don't. That would signal. That would signal

a pretty big shift. I mean that would say something about Mike McCarthy to me, because in the time that I've been here, and in the time that Will McClay has been running the draft, they haven't I think a fifth rounder is the highest drafted guy that they've cut. Rookie. Yeah, you know what you can't do that, you can't cut him. I mean, this is what he's had eighteen practices. I mean, you should have that eighteen practices before you go to training camp. He hasn't had that. They drafted him in

the fourth round of what they knew of him. I don't think things have changed. So okay, I gotta you gotta take him back. He's gotta be you gotta go with eleven if I could fit eleven, or maybe you don't have to keep that other safety. You don't have to keep Donald Wilson or ha. Here's this is what I wanted to bring up, And I mean, I think the Xavier Woods injury probably helps haha, but I definitely

don't think that that's a guarantee. But the other thing is this is maybe a spot where you could get away with trading a guy on Saturday. You know, I was the first one to say I wasn't convinced Trayvon Diggs could be a starter from the get I have completely changed my mind. He absolutely looks like he's capable of starting from day one. So, I mean, I love Jordan Lewis, but if somebody wanted him and you could get something for him, that's something to look at. And

I think he's had a really good camp. But Darryl Worley is another one. His versatility would make me reluctant to do that. But if somebody wanted to send me a fullback or a sixth round pick or something like that, I would consider it. Would you be willing to go with Anthony Brown? Trade Anthony Brown if that were available to you. I just don't know Anthony Brown's I mean, it's not the biggest contract in the world, but he's

on a three year, fifteen million dollar deal. So I need something, you know, I can trade Jordan Lewis First, it's more about for you. It's more about the fact that Jordan's Jordan's in the last year of his deal. That's more that it takes you for you, right, And you know, I mean, if if somebody wants to give me a sixth round or seventh round pick for Jordan, I say, yeah, that's probably fair because he's only got

one year left on his deal. I mean, if I'm trading Anthony Brown, I'd better be getting something better than that. And I don't know who's going to be willing to part with something better than that. Okay, so let's wrap this whole thing up the way it looks right now, based upon the numbers that we've all agreed on, and that's assuming that they're gonna be at at least ten defensive backs. It gets us to a total of fifty guys that are currently that we think currently would be

on the roster. So you've got three spots and you get to choose from these players. Right, you got the fullback, You've got the two running backs Anderson and Dowdell. You have a sixth wide receiver in John Vay Johnson or Vintel Bryant. You've got an eleventh defensive lineman which would be between Joe Jackson, Rondelle Carter, Ladarius Hamilton, or Dorance Armstrong. You have a seventh linebacker which would be Luke Gifford. And you have an eleventh defensive back which would be

between Donovan Wilson, Reggie Robinson Chris Westry. Where do you go? Who are those three extra players that you that you put on your team. Let's start first with you, Nick, and how many defensive backs do we have? At this point? I think we settled. We settled on ten, which meant that we were gonna make CJ. Goodwin, Donovan Wilson, and

Reggie Robinson. Two of those three We're gonna make it so you could take the third of that group or Chris Westry right to get you to eleven, you gotta keep Reggie Robinson, now change from mine there, so I gotta, I gotta ki it'd be good with Wilson. Reggie Robinson's that's one of your spots. You got two more? Yeah, I let them pick those. We gotta we gotta each got three spots. I'll pick one. I'll take Reggie Robinson,

all right, Dave between Luke Gifford and Joe Jackson Vintel Bryant. No, No, I'm gonna cheat because if that's the case, like it'll there will be a guy or two here that wasn't at camp. That's the way it always goes. Um whether that's that's gonna be ye, I'm gonna guess. I'm gonna guess it'll be on offense. I mean they've I mean, defense is crowded anyway, So I'm gonna guess, Uh, one way or another, they're gonna add a extra running back slash fullback or a fourth tight end who can do

that type of stuff. Um, Yeah, that's my guess, is somebody on offense that can contribute to the blocking aspect of everything all right, Amber, So what where are we at now? Basically, I need you to give me one player out of all of those that hasn't been selected that you think will make this team. So you had the fallback, You had the two running backs Anderson Dowdle. You had the two receivers John Vay Johnson and Vintel Bryant.

You had some of the defensive lineman Joe Jackson, Dorance Armstrong, you had Luke Gifford Um and you had Chris Westry. Those are guys you're choosing from. Well now, with hearing that Demon Smith was cut, I mean, do you now decide to keep jump bad Johnson? That would have been my next guy out of the group. I know, Um, I've seen some things from benel Brian, but I wasn't too crazy honestly about him. And now with the injury, I don't want to deal with anyone that's starting off

the season with injury. Like I'm sorry, but stop it, stop it. Don't even say a poor guy. A poor guy. He has such a great spirit. He stands out there with his helmet on even though he's not doing anything, but he has the helmet on and he's out there in the bag kind of going through the motions even though he's not doing much. But out of those guys, I think I would add did you say Donovan Wilson, Yes,

he's already we're saying he's already on the team. Okay, if that's assuming that C J. Goodwin and Reggie Robinson. Basically you can take all three of those guys if you want to use one of that, would I would? I think that there would be some other guys coming from other teams, But based on what we currently have on this roster, if I had to choose out of those guys, I think I would keep those three guys

because the secondary is just full of question marks. So out of those, I just think we just need the bodies. So it looks like under those circumstances, based on what you guys have all said, cowboys will give up on Joe Jackson, Dorance Armstrong, they would give up on Luke Gifford, they give up on Chris Westry. Those are the names that I think would be the most notable among the cuts.

Based upon what you guys are saying, you guys all cool with that, Yeah, and remember about about you can say give up on Doran's armstrong and give up on Joe Jackson. This team went ahead and signed Everson Griffin. They went out and got Alden Smith, absolutely drafted Bradley and I I mean like they did those things, you know, in the offseasoning knowing very well that Joe Jackson, dorn Troms Traum were on the team. So you know, it's not so much giving up. It's just that they had

to protect themselves. And I don't think they've done anything to say, whoa you know what about me? So I think I think you do have to move on. All right With that, We're gonna wrap the show. We'll be back next week. Actually next week we start our daily shows. We'll be at on next Tuesday. Our show will be at eleven thirty every single week day, So starting next to make Tuesday, make sure you jump in and join us. We'll be starting to get you guys ready for Cowboys

Versus Rams. That'll be week one of the NFL seats. Until then, for Nick Eatman, Dave Helman, Amber Garcia, I am Derek Eackleton. 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