Cowboys Break: Reacting to the Roster

edition of The Break. We are living back on the air, ready to talk some Cowboys football because the season is here. It is week one of the NFL season. We have not had a chance to talk since the roster cut, so we'll spend quite a bit of time today talking about the roster and how this team's made up. But the great part is that the games are starting this week and as of Wednesday and Thursday and Friday, we'll be talking about Cowboys versus Panthers, which gets me excited.

I don't know about you, guys, it gets me very very excited. I'm ready to go. Somebody get feeling good today, feel freaking great? Awesome college football this weekend. That was a good weekend for some, not all, but some, and it was just good to see football back on. Let's start first, this fifty three man roster and this thing. I guess when I first when I first heard Nick, you you were the one that texted me and said, yeah, the roster's out without Dan Bailey, and it was I

was a bit shocked. I've learned in the NFL, though, not to be completely shocked about pretty much anything. But I do want to hear from you guys on what your thoughts were. I saw your I saw your tweet amber about Dan Bailey. I want to know your thoughts about what you thought first when you saw that Dan Bailey is no longer part of the Dallas Cowboys. Well, we have talked a little bit. I mean, I know, not in this group, but we did talk some yesterday on a show, so some of some people might have

heard that. But I'll be real quick. I was really surprised. As the day went on Saturday night, I kind of was a little bit more bothered by what happened. I wrote a column about it. I just didn't feel like there was a true competition. Even the Garrett came back yesterday and said, you know, they're always competing and all that stuff. And he explained some reasons. I don't agree with all of them. Actually, um, you know, they can do whatever he wants. He went with it with the

other kicker. I just felt like Dan deserved a better opportunity to win his job. He's the best that's ever done it for the Cowboys. And if there's confidence issues, he had four preseason games because we know they weren't trying to win those games. You should have been evaluating him and to see if he could make it and then move on. And then without just saying we don't think he's going to be good enough to move on. Yeah, I mean I echo most of that. I was floored, honestly.

I don't know. I haven't been here forever, but this is my six year cover in the team, and I don't know that I've ever been more surprised by something that happened. And again and yeah, absolutely, And here's the thing. Here's what I take issue with, is uh with De's Bryant, Like we saw the writing on the wall for months and months, even with Jason Witten, we sort of you know that's right, you heard rumors that it could happen you know, somebody report that he had tried out with

Joe tessitur like you all you hear this stuff. I didn't hear anything about this until maybe fifteen minutes before it actually happened, and it came right out of left field. And the thing that bothers me is exactly Dan Bailey struggled down the end of last season. We all know that we watched it happen the a what a cherry on a crap Sunday that Philadelphia game was to see him play so poorly in such a meaningless and awful game.

Having seen all of that, you didn't get the first idea that the Cowboys had concerns in the long term. You know, you didn't hear about it in the offseason. It's not in the dozens and dozens of times that the Joneses and Jason Garrett talked during the course of an off season. It never came up. Dan Bailey struggled for two practice days in Oxnard, and the media even tried to bring it up, and point blank Jason Garrett was dismissive of it. Like, we feel great about Dan Bailey.

He's made a lot of kicks for us. We're not worried about it, and then they pulled the rug out from under him right at the start of the regular season. And to be fair, again, we said this on the show we did yesterday. They know Dan better than I do. They are around him more, they see him more, they have a better feel for whether or not they should have confidence in him than I do. That's fair, but I absolutely reserve the right to criticize them for it

until proven otherwise. Maybe this was the right call, and I will give them credit for it if that comes to pass. But I just don't like the way they handled it. I never got the impression that Dan Bailey was in a competition. I wonder if he ever thought that, and so it's just it just seems weird to me. And yeah, I didn't really love the way at all

played out. But we'll see. I mean, the great thing about that is, especially with a position where the spotlight's on you like that, we're gonna know real quick whether or not they made the right calls. That's two people that don't have a poster of Dan Bailey on their wall. Sociall see what happens with someone that I am. I am really really upset and when I saw that. It was absolutely surprising, especially when you see them giving him only one chance. He only kicked the ball once, right

in the whole preseason. Yes it was only once? Yeah, yeah, in games? In games, And a guy that has been here so long, that has proven to be so good for your team, how do you go about it this way? And if you want to talk, And I'm not a cap gap whatever expert, I'm not a money expert and all that. But if you're like, Okay, that's gonna save you about three million whatever, that's nothing. That's like change money. If you're a regular pedestrian, that's a lot of money.

But when it comes to this, I'm like, okay, you say you save money by cutting death. What you do with that money? Nothing yet, you haven't done it. You can carry that money over, So let's say, okay, that's why I have to spend it now in order for it to be valuable to them for a team that already had sixteen million in cap space. I agree with her. Three million is nothing nothing. Get all that, I guess, and I don't want to. I'm bringing Earl Thomas and

this is the big work behind it all. Then okay, I'll maybe forgive this happening that they need my forgiveness. But if that's a plan, then okay, we're good. But as of right now, it just doesn't make any sense. Well, I guess the way I look at that is, I think next year, if let's assume for a second that Tank has a really good year, they got to figure out how they're gonna pay him. Right, Well, hold on just a second, they gotta figure out how how they're

gonna pay him. They still have a quarterback that's playing on his rookie contract. At some point they're gonna have to pay him if he continues to progress as they think he will. Right, and then let's remember Earl Thomas, whether that happens now or not, Old Thomas will be a free agent next year. So if they want to go after him next year, they will have every opportunity to do it, and they're gonna have to pay him.

Don't forget and ze. So all I'm saying is there are things that are coming up that if the Cowboys are thinking, hey, let's look at this from a long term perspective, and let's assume for a second that they look at this and say, this is money that we may not have to use Now we can hold this money over and we can have it available to us next year. Then it does create a situation where three million becomes valuable because you have all these different parts

that you have to sign. But that conversation only becomes relevant if you have lost confidence that Dan Bailey is the most accurate kicker. Absolutely absolutely, And that's where I get back to, or I shouldn't ague back to. That's where I think from what they've said, they felt like because of the injuries, they felt like because of the challenges that he had last year. I think they kind of got to a point where they were like, well, we don't know that we trust him for the money,

and then we talk about this conversation all the time. Right, if you're paying guy premium money and he's premium player, then you feel great about it. You'll pay him all day, right, But if you got to a point where you feel like, hey, every time he runs out there, we're just as worried as we would be with this young this other guy, and it's gonna cost us three million less and go with the other guy. To be fair, he's had injuries

two years in a row. His percentage has dipped I think three years in a row, but again to nixt point where let him let him compete. He got one kick in the preseason and I just I won't understand that for the life of me. Yeah, and again, how does that help him on landing? And I don't think he needs that much help to for another team to grab him. I think he still has a lot in

him left. But with the guy that you had have had for so long and that you would assume you respect and everything because of everything that he has done for you, how do you take the ability to showcase your talent during the preseason as far as other team If that's what you're planning on doing and cutting him, why don't you let him show it and allow him to see, you know, other teams see what he's still capable. Let me ask you this, and Nick and I would

have this conversation with walking In today. Could you really could he really show it in the preseas? But wait, wait, I think that the way that that they probably would look at that I would think is if we're worried about injuries and we're worried about what he's done the past couple of years, Like how We've seen him decline and we've seen injuries. He might be great right now

in the preseason. He might go out and kick all those field goals, but that doesn't necessarily make me feel better if I'm worried about injuries and if I'm worried about the future of where he's going based upon his trajectory over the last couple of years. So yeah, I could have given him that shot, but that doesn't necessarily clear up Mike, Well, you know what I mean, how much more important was the last game of the season

against the Eagles than a preseason game. I mean, they both didn't seem to matter in the in the you know, on the standings because they were out of it. But yet talking to Garrett yesterday, it made it sound like that last kick was pretty important that that Bailey missed. So if you're going to get valued by a game that doesn't matter, there, I mean you should have valued.

I think Brett Maher's kick of fifty seven yards I think that got him on the team, and I agree, and I think if Bailey could have got that kick, I think it could could have helped him. And again, that's the one position that you can show you're telling no matter why, no matter who who the other players are on the field right now, just a one position you can still show what you can do, no matter

if veteran guys are playing or not. But I also believe that that's the one position where I'm just as what he does in practice is just as important as what he does in game lining up and kicking a field goal and practice. The only difference is you don't have the pressure. So seeing him kick and seeing him kick over and over again in practice, that'll give you the same kind of confidence. And there was that day or two there where he was a little bit off

the rails. Okay, well liked when he throws the passes in practice. Still again it's still a difference. But yeah, but that's different a quarterback and a kicker. That's okay. Here's something that I think is kind of a really underlying problem here that that I think other players need to look at around the league, especially here. I've seen it now happen a few times. You can be a warrior and come come out and play if you're banged up.

I mean, you want to come back and fight for this team game, but you better be real careful with how you play, because if you put bad tape on yourself out there, your own team will evaluate that against you. I've seen it happen with DeMarcus where he played with Hatchers ago because he saw DeMarcus where fight through all this stuff, and then all of a sudden he gets labeled as a guy that doesn't have it anymore, even though he now he has a really shiny left hand

because of what he did in Denver. I mean, in the same with Bailey, we're all forgetting. I mean, Odell Beckham got paid. He only played in like four games last year. I mean, why was he Because he's great? But why I mean he only played in four games. He only played in four games. But he's great. He wasn't great last year. What's the difference? Did he get hurt? But he's great? Nick? I mean, but he Dan Bailey was great. Dan Bailey was seven of seven last year

before he got hurt. Are we not forgetting that he got hurt? Dan Bailey was never as great at what he does as Odell Beckham is what he That is an absolute false statement. That is a false statement. Okay, he's not going to lead Sports Center with the top ten with a field goal. I get it, being the best wide receiver is more lucrative, but Dan Bailey was literally the best to ever do it in his possession in the NFL. Has was Dan Bailey the best last

year or the year before? Yeah? In the NFL at kicking, well, he was the best kicker. Guy over here saying he was seven to seven before he got hurt, so he was doing pretty damn well. And he was the best kicker in the NFL. Yes, last year in the NFL, in the year before, in the history of the NFL, he was the number one kicker before he got hurt.

Number two on the Tucker had held to number It fell to number two because of because Tucker had a good year, and and I get it, a lot of those guys are right there that are all active players. I mean, I get it. But I'm just saying, just be just be careful when you come back and you play it, because because bad tape is bad tape, and it doesn't seem people don't seem to really. Uh, he was kind of playing through an injury to their To

their credit, the Cowboys give to Marcus Lauren. It's a ton of credit for gutting through injuries in twenty sixteen, But that could be part of the reason why he doesn't have a deal right now too, if he I mean, yeah, and oh you believe, you best believe when it time comes time to have negotiations on a contract, if you're a guy that's been hurt, that's gonna come up because that helps you drive the Probably think any fan cares

that Tyrone Crawford was battling through a rotator cuff injury. No, they just like, he makes this amount of money and he only got four sacks, Like what's the problem? Which this goes back to my point in the long run that I just would we would have heard something, somebody would have said something between December and July. If this was like again Dez Bryant was a long discussion and the writing was the writing was in ten foot letters all over the wall. You could not be surprised by that. Yeah,

Dan Bailey, this is my opinion. I don't have This is I'm not backed up by any fact, but I think they kind of just got to a point in like mid August where they were like, we're gonna save some money and we don't have to worry about this guy's back. Let's just get yeah, just yank this, get this were with and I think the fifty seven yarder got him there. And I really do believe. I think that's a crappy way to treat a guy who's been I know it's a business, I know, I know, I

don't care. I still think it's crappy. Tell him ahead of time that I mean, he needs to do well whatever, like no, no, give him some chances in the preseas. That's my point. That's my point. I think that, like you said, they got to late mid late August and they were like, h I don't know this, this guy might be as good as Dan Bailey. And then the fifty seven yarder happened, and I think that's when the

serious conversation started. I think it was a situation where like, man, this guy can kick because I had heard, I had heard that there were some people around here who are already saying this guy is a really, really good kicker, and we don't we don't like, we don't love the idea that eventually he's that he's going to be kicked off out of this place in favor of Dan Bailey,

because we feel like he's a good kicker. So I just think that after that fifty seven yarder, I think they that's when it really got into hyper gear, Like more people are starting to stand on the table, like why would we live this guy go when we already have concerns to some degree about Dan. You know what, I'm tired of this. I'm just gonna go talk to Stephen right now. I want to figure out what's happening here. Do it? Go ask him? Go do that. Actually, Nick

does have an interview with Stephen. Gents, we'll see what he comes away from that with. We're gonna take our first break when we come back. We do have a lot of other topics that we want to hit. A couple other things with regard to some transactions, some players who've been moved around in different places, some who've been signed back, and I want to talk about Travis Frederick

a little bit. There was a decision that was going to be made as to whether Travis would be ird that would keep him out for the first several weeks of the season. They did not make that decision. I want to talk to you about how do you guys feel about that decision? When we come right back. This is Dallas Cowboys dot com radio. It can be hard to find the right resource for learning about important financial matters.

You search how to build savings, you end up reading about the one weird ingredient from supermarkets that can make you taller. That's why Bank of America build Better Money Habits dot com, a safe little corner of the Internet for answering your financial questions. Full of simple videos and tips, and Better Money Habits can show you how to make the most of your money without resorting to random searches that always seem to lead to unbelievable photos of childhood

stars grown up. To learn more, visit Better Money habits dot com. I definitely have an Instagram foody thing, but the low light camera on my new Samsung Galaxy S nine from ATNT is getting me a whole new world of likes and chairs, baskets of bread by candlelight, colorful fruit plates in full sun. Even a dimly lit Cobs salad was recently hailed as a masterpiece. Come in now and ask how to get half off the new Samsung Galaxy S nine from ATNT, at and t more for

your thing. That's our thing many time only see store for details. Are att dot com slay Samsung Fi A du laperature supports F one five mode and two formo duo lapertures installed on the view camera. Oh, I am craving a Doctor Pepper. I got some soda. I asked not for soda, I asked for ice cold, cravable Doctor pepburn. Its flavor is more one of a kind than a foretold sloth with a thirst for speed. Stop settling for soda and start demanding Doctor Poper. I love sloths. Will

you crave a Doctor Pepper? Nothing else will do? Grabbing ice cold twenty ounce of Doctor Pepper today. Doctor Pepper the one to work this big land. You need equipment with values rooted as deep in Texas soil as you are. Like John Deer compact tractors with a six year power training warrant to him, big features that help you work less so you have more time to do what you love. John Deer was first in the Texas fields, and we're proud to be on the field as the official agg

and turf equipment of the Dallas Cowboys. Find Texas sized deals at my John Deer Dealer dot com. Slash football terms, conditions, exclusions and warranty limitations apply, so you can you love

for details. Back to the Brink, Welcome Back. It's the second segment of the Break Live for the SWBC Mortgage studios at the Star and we're talking to Cowboys fifty three man roster that talks about Dan Bailey, which is a surprise cut of this training camp and may have been may have been the surprise cut around the NFL. I can't think of another cut around the NFL that I was really shocked by like this one, So I think it was one that that definitely caught a lot

of people's attention. Dan did get an opportunity to go and trial for the New York Jets. We'll see if he actually gets the job. He's not been signed to this point, but there's no doubt in my mind that before this season has done, Dan Bailey will be kicking on somebody's roster. He's just done too much his league not to get a second opportunity, and I think for

kickers that's how it just goes. He's going to get an opportunity again and hopefully he'll be healthy and ready to go and we'll be able to resume his career. Let's talk. We're about to move on. But you know, I really hate that we didn't get a chance to talk to him, and we don't get a chance to talk, not to say goodbye, but just to hear his side of the story, you know, and kind of see his perspective. But again not we don't get a chance to talk to anybody that gets cut during this time. But it

just sucks. You know, you see him last time. I'm not knowing that that was the last time you were going to see him. That's the thing though, that I've in the years I've been around here, That's the one thing that I've grown to just kind of get used to, and I still don't like it. It's like things change so rapidly in the NFL, especially when you get to the offseason. I've seen everybody from Emmett Smith to Dion Sanders all the way to DeMarcus Ware and Tony Roman.

I've seen all these guys leave, and when they leave, it's just just like that. I was telling somebody and maybe you Dave back. During training camp the first day, you felt a little bit weird that Jason Witten wasn't there. By a weekend, you had completely forgotten about him as a part of what this current team is, and it's just that's how the NFL is. It moves on, and I don't care how big a player you are. I

don't care how small a player you are. It is exactly the same because once you're gone, the building forgets and they move on to whoever's in the building playing football. From them, You are one hundred percent right. Everything you just said is correct, but it leaves a really bad taste in my mouth when very accomplished players are treated unceremoniously. That's what happened. It does. It happened to Dan Bailey, and it's just a reminder players and players don't listen

to this. But if they did, they don't. You don't own this team anything. Don't forget that. Don't forget the way they're going to treat you. And for fans listening at home, if DeMarcus Lawrence, just if he was sitting out right now, I would not blame him one bit. Yes I would not, because it's it's a cutthroat league and you got to look out for yourself and that doesn't jibe with the team first mentality. That only works

for you when it's in your favor. But as soon as you can help the team, they don't care about you, and you go, yeah. That's why I always take the player's side in these things. I think it's two things. I think it is team first. When you're on the field, when you're practicing, when you're playing, you should always be looking out for your teammates. When it comes to the business of the NFL, you are your own business. You

are an independent contract. You are your own business. It is your responsibility to look out for what's best for you as a player first, for you and your family first, and then figure out how that affects the team. But you're right, but these teams, these teams will were disappointed that Levion Bell can't be here to help his teammate get out of here. I'll never never, I'll never feel like that. I always feel like when it comes down

to it, because again, these contracts are not guaranteed. So I think players have every right to do what's best for them from a business stamp. Once they're in the building, it should be all team. They should be looking out for their team because that's the only way you can get success, because if you rely on your teammate and your teammates can't rely on you. But when it comes to the business of the NFL, just like the teams look out for themselves. It's no different than all of

us in our everyday jobs as well. You know, at the end of the day, and employer's responsibility is to create a good business that makes money, right. It is not to make sure you're taking care of and you're comfortable, right, So think about that and make decisions that are best for you and your family that fit into the concept of the company that you work for. It is not one of those things where they're gonna always be loyal to you because they're ultimately going to make the best

decision for their business. Correct. All right, So let's move on. Let's talk a little bit about the couple of transactions that have happened here over the last couple of days. Noah Brown initially was placed on the active roster. He has now been moved to IR and they have now taken that spot and signed Deontay Thompson. I don't think there's much of a surprise here, Dave. It seems like back during training camp you were talking a lot about I think you were one of the people that say

Dante should make this team. This was a way to get him onto the team. He didn't get signed by anyone while he was cut, so it were it's actually, I mean, speaking of looking out for your own best interest, it's a pretty genius way of roster maneuvering. I mean, Cowboys aren't the only team that does this. But if you cut Noah Brown on Saturday, he goes through waivers, you might not get him back. So you keep him

on the roster. You cut the vested veteran and say, Deontay hang here at the Omnian Frisco for thirty six hours. We're gonna put Noah on IR so we can potentially bring him back and we don't have to risk losing him to another team. And as soon as we do that, we'll sign you back. You'd be good to go. It's common maneuvering, but I love that fun little you know. It's the jigsaw of how to make everything work and work in your favor. So let's talk about a couple

of other transactions. Darius Jackson, so on the Cowboys practice squad got signed away by the Green Bay Packers. Good for him, which I was saying to you guys in the break. You look at all the gay at the Cowboys cut that we were all kind of handwringing over and who's gonna, you know, who should they cut? Is is is a hard decision, I think, and I maybe I may be wrong in this. I think there was only one that got signed by another team, and that was

Darius Jackson to the Three Bay Packers. And to me probably rightfully so um outside of maybe my pick ked Brian Price, but I think, well he's gone to You're right, he's gone, but he hasn't been signed, right, I don't think he was. He was claimed by the Oakland Raiders. Okay, so he did get claimed. That's so. Actually I wrote about this yesterday. Cat maneuvering it worked out well in the Noah Brown instance, you hold on to Deontay Thompson.

But basically they were going, I mean, Dayton Jones is gonna go to I R. And they were gonna do the same thing and say, well, we want to bring Daytone back, so we got to keep him. Brian, We're gonna cut you, You're gonna go through waivers and we're gonna bring you back. Oakland had better had other ideas, and now Brian Prices in Oakland Raider. That's the costa, that's I mean, you take that risk, and that's why they didn't want to do it with Noah Brown, right.

But those two players, Darius Jackson, Brian Ice or two players I think showed a lot in the preseason, and really Brian Price going back to last year, this was not just about the preseason for him, and both of them end up on other teams. But that's the thing, and this is another thing we talked about in the break. Every team has guys that are on the bubble for them during training camp that they're like, this is gonna be hard to cut this guy. I don't know if

we can get him back. And just as in the case of Lance Lenore and Charles Tapper, Cowboys found that you put him out there by cutting them, they still were available to him to make them a part of their practice squad. They were literally I think, I mean there are more than a thousand cuts over the course of the weekend, and I think forty guys got claimed

across the league. So I mean, once you get to a certain point on the roster, everybody's got guys that fit that profile, and teams prefer to hold on to their guys because they know the system and they don't have to teach him something new. So unless you think you can drastically upgrade, which I'm excited for Darius, I don't know if he's gonna go anywhere. But Aaron Jones is suspended Green Bay. Jamal Williams is a second year guy,

and Time Montgomery's a wide receiver playing running back. So although he plays it pretty well, I'm not you're right, but there it should be opportunity there for Darius Jackson to maybe do something. I hope. I hope for him, so doubt. All right, let's talk up a little bit

about Travis Frederick. Travis Frederick was a guy that going into cuts, there was a thought that the Cowboys could possibly decide to hold on obviously put him on the fifty three man roster because they don't want to risk cutting him obviously, but what they might do is at some point move him to IR because of the rules that now they could bring him back after eight weeks or eight weeks, that would give them the ability basically to give him half a year to be able to

get right and then they could possibly bring him back. They did not make that decision. They have kept him on the active roster for now. Does that make you, guys, feel better about the situation and what you think is his status or prognosis is I think it makes me feel worse, to be honest, really, yes, Why well, I'm a natural pessimist, you know that. But here's the thing. They kept him on the fifty three, which suggests optimism, But at the same time they say, we don't know, like,

we don't have a timetable. We're not even worried about that yet. It's we're worried about Travis's health and we'll deal with that when it comes. But all the reports have been positive. That's awesome, And I care way more about Travis's health as a person than I do as a player. The Cowboys have Joe Looney, they claimed Alex Redmond, who can play center, so I feel good that they can handle the physical aspect of this without Travis. But I'm just thinking, Okay, what if this changes. You don't

know enough to know when he's coming back. What if three weeks from now, four weeks from now, you realize now maybe the optimism wasn't well founded, and then you put him on IR now he's gone until December probably, whereas if you just did it Sunday, you know, you don't even worry about it until whatever mid October and then you can make your best decision from there. So with so many unknowns, I think i'd rather or just hey, take two months and we'll bring you back if we can,

and if not, that's fine. Now you're gambling on getting him back, you don't have the extra roster spot, and if it doesn't work out the way you want it to, you lose him for even longer. But are you missing anything with that extra roster spot? Was Brian Price your example of where you could have used that roster spot? Brian Price could have played on Sunday and Travis Frederick cannot. So I mean, I I'm not saying it's definitely the

wrong move. And to your point, like the fifty third guy, is he really He's probably not going to address I understand, but it just it worries me when you're dealing with so many unknowns. That's I don't even feel one hundred percent comfortable talking about it because it's such a unique situation. And I hope that he's healthy more so than I hope he can play football. So I just I almost wish that they were just like, you know what, some

things are more important. Let's just let's just stash you for two months and worry about it and we'll see where you are. You know, never give me some optimism. I wish I could. No, I don't feel good about this, this decision. And here's why his condition it is. And I'm sure they know way more than we do. But at the same time, from what I from my understanding, this type of condition, it's very hard to determine how

long you're gonna be out for or all that. So I'm assuming it's kind of you take it day by day by day or week by week. Therefore, why not use that spot for something else where? The Cowboys they have plenty of spots that are in need. And what worries me is that sometimes the Cowboys are a little too optimistic in a way. You know, they think it's

it's just gonna work out. And I keep going back to Tyren Smith situation, where again, we all knew his back problems, we all knew where he was standing, and still you didn't really work on getting that backup spot ready and making sure you were well equipped for if whatever happened when he came out, you were able to go on with it. And I think I see this kind of it's a different scenario, But I don't know

if I'm making sense right now. If you know, my point of view is I think that sometimes they're a little too optimistic with certain things, and then some other things they're they're not as optimistic. So it's just it's

just weird. I don't understand. I get he's your best player, one of your best players, and you want to have him on the field when you can and all that, But as of right now, looking at everything they've said, why not just get let him be out for eight weeks and even then if you know if he's ready to come back, great, But if it's not, I'll boil it down really simplistically for you, just yes or no. What do you think is more likely that Travis Frederick

makes this incredibly remarkable recovery and is in the lineup week five when the Cowboys go to Houston, or Travis Frederick, if he can do anything, is back doing football stuff Thanksgiving in December. Well that was the reason I asked the question. Is My thought was if they made this decision.

They probably know more than days you're right publicly or said to us right, because the thing about it is, I don't think you just make this decision unless you have reason to believe that he has a legitimate shot to be back before that eight week period is up to be fair, and what they say publicly, that's one thing we know from what we've seen over the years, you don't always say publicly what is fully known. On

trust that they know more than I do. But again, I can only go with the information I have, which is two weeks after he got diagnosed, they're still saying no timetable. We're way more worried about his health as a person than anything relating to football. It doesn't sound like a guy who's gonna be ready to play football in four or five weeks. But that's also I mean, you have to keep saying that because again, the unpredictable nature of this injury or this this disease, this syndrome,

whatever it is, it's unpredictable. And so even if they feel like they've gotten good reports that suggest otherwise, they have to keep publicly saying we don't know they got when we were in ox. Now California. It was like, oh yeah, everything came out, came back good, We're good to go, blah blah. Then comed back to Dallas, still not practicing, and he gets more stuff and it's like, come to find out he's diagnosed with this decease. But once again, I don't believe in this is my own

personal belief. I don't believe they were saying publicly at that time what they knew. What they were saying was everything's fine because they didn't want to ring the alarm until they knew more. Right, Yeah, they are, don't. You can't convince me that they and Travis and everybody that was in the inner circle didn't know that this was more serious than just a stinger, right, you can't convince me of that. So if that's the case, then once

again they said what they had to say publicly. But that's that doesn't have anything to do with what's really happened. You're one hundred percent right, because after all this happen, I mean, you know, Zach was Zack Martin was even talking like, yeah, like it was really scary at camp, Like he was talking about, you know, how he didn't

feel as strong and blah, blah blah. So right. I know that I don't know the whole story, but trying to offer informed analysis as best I can, you only go it doesn't sound like it's realistic to think he's gonna be able to do meaningful things for you until after the IR window anyway, And honestly, with all the uncertainty and the fact it's an autoimmune disease. Again, it's not as hamstring. He's got a disease in his nerves.

It just sounds scary, just it absolutely is. Honestly, I just remove the temptation to worry about football and just say, hey, we'll see you on Halloween. But that I mean, hey, so we'll see. I don't know. Maybe maybe he's gonna play Week four and I'll admit that I was wrong, but and we'll see. I don't know. Let's take our final break. When we come back, we do have to take a talk about the safety position. We always dedicate a segment to the safety position, so why not today too,

when we come right back. This is Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio. Cowboys fans know that the second best of anything simply won't cut it, and your skincare should be no different. A long time locker room favored of the players, and the official men's skincare brand of Dallas Cowboys. Dallas based Jack Black is the number one best selling men's skincare brand in the country because we make products that

help guys look, smell and feel better. Visit get Jack Black dot com slash Cowboys to get ten dollars off your first order of fifty dollars or more. Jack Black Look Good, Smell good, Feel good. Official men's skincare brand of the Dallas Cowboys. Star Sports Tours is the only official fan travel partner of the Dallas Cowboys, offering exclusive game weekend travel packages with sideline access and photo ops

with current players, alumni and cheerleaders. That's not all, though, You'll get to talk xs and os with Senior Director of Player Personnel Will McClay and of course with yours truly, me, Brian broad Us you could trust the official fan travel partner of the Dallas Cowboys, and with us you'll travel like a pro. Visit Cowboys Travel dot com to book your travel package today. Before there was a draft. You

get sized up a cowboy by three simple factors. Decrease in his hat, the bend of his brim and his unbending attitude a man, Stetson didn't just protect him from what through at him. It projected a rugged, unstoppable spirit. Stetson hats are still American, made with pride. Right here in Texas, there's still the unofficial crowd. I'm all self respecting Cowboys, and Stetson is proud to be on the field with America's team. Find a retailer nearest you at

Stetson dot com slash Cowboys. What does it mean to be a Dallas Cowboys fan? It means you've got the passion and the heart to do your part supporting the Boys no matter what. That's why when the game's on the line, you're on your feet, whether you're at home or in the stands. Actually, you're more than a fan. You are a member of Cowboys Nation, and so is AT and T doing their part to keep you connected to America's team all season law AT and T is

a proud member of Cowboys Nation. Back to the Break, Welcome Back. It's the final segment of The Break live from the s WBC Morgat Studios. At the start, Nick's back with us. Hi got anything good from Stephen? I'm you know. I asked if there was a trade in the you know, he said no, not right now, and now stop asking me. I did. I did ask if Karen Reid would be the guy that they're gonna bring best since Brian Price was not um he was picked up and claimed by the Raiders. Um, And he said no,

that they're gonna keep Daytone Jones on the roster. He's been growing. Injury for him, I believe, so hamstring, Um, he's been yeah, but they feel like he's making progress to the point where he'll probably be able to play, maybe as soon as the second game against the Giants. So um it's a game of the season again, not the second game against the Giants, but um, just week two of the season. So it looks like Dayton Jones and Frederick are going to be your two guys that

stay on the roster. Say that's they were gonna put him on IR yesterday when they thought they'd get Brian Price back and they didn't. And I guess maybe they just think the drop off is that noticeable, or maybe they got a different report on his health. I don't know, but I hope it's that because I mean, why would you even cut Price in them begin with that's yeah, so you know, I don't if you think you can be there for week two, I'd say it's worth it.

But so two of your fifty three, I mean we got two of the enacted, we got three of the ENACTORAD. But that just seems kind of that just seems weird. It just seems weird. Like it's like, Okay, on Monday, they're gonna bring back Price if he clears waivers, so then they'll put Jones on. Why even do that on Sunday? Then? Why don't you just put will you sign your guard that you want to keep? You know? Redman just put Jones on. They couldn't. They couldn't get them. Then that's right.

They couldn't put Jones on IR on Monday. I just answered my question, Wait why not? Because on Sunday they couldn't put him on IR on Sunday they had to put him on Monday. I thought they I thought you could do. Oh no, you're right, yeah, Oh God's never mind. I just talked myself out of that. Okay, Sorry, I get it. Thanks Steven. Well, Nick Joan just just in time to talk about safety. It's a position we've talked a lot about Um. I guess let's start first with

the signing that the Cowboys made. They signed, say Ibraheim Campbell Um. And I don't know how much do you guys know about Campbell, if anything about you know, is he a special teams type player or is he got it? That's a that's been a safety? Like, what what do we know about about Campbell's played four or five has played four years in the league. Again, I say, to make this joke a lot, He's got the same amount of interceptions as we do, doesn't have an interception, which

means he's probably a special teams type guy. I know. Does have starts though, right, he's eleven. So that's eleven. Was that last year or was that four years ago? Early in his career earlier he's been a special teams guy. He's got eleven more starts, eleven more starts than every safety not named Jeff Heath, got it? So, I mean so again, this is again, this is just a guy that's a band aid temporarily until you can hopefully get some healthy safeties back. It's it sounds like they're at

least optimistic that Cavon might be available for Carolina. I think Xavier Woods is ruled out and so Robinson plays. I think you're gonna patch it together between Tyree Robinson, Ibrahim Campbell and hopefully Cavon Frasier. Hey, I know that that there's people in this room that like what Cam

Newton does. I don't think he's a great passer. If you're playing a better passer this week, would you would you maybe change your mind on what you do, think on how you do things, Like if this is Aaron Rodgers, I mean at this point though, I mean, I know theoretically you could go trade for Earl Thomas theoretically, but realistically really meaning you're not just giving up the bank or whatever you gotta do. Well, like, realistically, what more could they do right now? Well? They I mean, but

the schedule hasn't changed. They'd known all along that they were going to play Caroline in week one, and they might have to not have his Xavier Wood. It might have been different if there was somebody else, if you had Giants week one, maybe that changed, right, wouldn't play the Giants in Week one? That ever happened? How many? How many quarterbacks on the schedule this year of one NFL MVP, Matt Ryan, I am Newton, Okay, I knew that you were gonna go here, and I get it. No,

he's not great. He's not the most accomplished passer in the NFL. I get it. But like the most accomplished runner in the NFL, and you got it for pointing safeties wind up making those type of tackles too. That's what I was actually gonna say is I'm I'm more concerned about can they tackle in the open field when they got him one on one? He's if he's back at the safeties, you've got other issues going on and

our right, which you might. I mean, I just think that you think about how this offense is, like they got some playmakers on their offense. It's not just Cam. I mean that that running back runs, So that may be why you're where your linebackers are preoccupied, you know, after him. I really don't, um. I know, I get your point. I know what the stats say. Cam Newton is not a great pure passer, But you're not gonna hide a bad safety against an NFL MVP. I don't.

I don't think so. Either whether it's running or throwing, you're not gonna hide well. And he's also got a great tight end unless 's an injury or something that he's got a pro Bowl tight end. McCaffrey looks like a stud. I don't really know what DJ Moore has been doing, but he's there. Tory Smith is this is a pretty decent white Smith is there. I mean he wasn't great for run. He can run run. Yeah, So, I mean there's there's some things we'll talk about this tomorrow.

We're gonna get into the Panther's offense tomorrow. But are we doing that where Dave's gonna have his his chart and I hope so? Great? Okay, cool, Yeah, we're taking the Panther's offense tomorrow. So get it ready, Dave, get out the game past Thursday. You better be up till midnight taking notes on the tape. That's that's the job, bro, that's cool job. We got it cool all right? Um So, so I guess at this point from the standpoint of of the safeties, it's pretty apparent this is what they're

rolling into the season with. YEA, they feel comfortable with it. Do we know anything more about Xavier Woods and and is this just the one week thing or is this something that Lingers even into the Giants game, where again, I personally believe that you got a lot more challenges when you start talking about the receiving threats in New York. Let's wait and see kind of what practice looks like. I'm I'm not saying he's going to be on there,

but what he's doing on the other fields. If he's on the chords this week, if he's able to do that, that's a better sign that we're getting closer to practicing. Maybe this week you're making for next week. You're making a mistake if you're trying to put a hard deadline on a soft tissue injury, which Jerry Jones has said that he thinks they think he can be ready for New York. Jerry Jones is eternally optimistic, and you never know,

I mean hamstrings especially. We've seen that time and time again. So take that with a huge grain of salt. I'm waiting until like Thursday of week next week before I'm making a call on Xavier Woods. There's one final question I want to get to with you guys about the quarterbacks. Cowboys kept both quarterbacks backup quarterbacks in Cooper Rushing Mike White two quarterbacks that the Cowboys had a lot of interest in we're trying to trade up for in the draft.

A couple of years ago. Paxton Lynch and Connor Cook are both available after being cut. The Cowboys consider going out and getting one of those guys to replace one of the guys that they have here. I don't think so. You know, they're available because their team gave up on them, and you know, they had plenty of time to learn the system and show what they can do, and they showed what they couldn't do, And now you're going to ask them to come in and probably I would imagine,

I don't know this. I would imagine learning the offense was probably an issue for both of them, or they wouldn't be you know, or if not, then their talent isn't as good as they thought. So I think you got a chance to see some of them. If you're gonna put them here, are they going to be that

much better than what you have? I mean, I don't think I would go that route, but just to play Devil's advocate, at some point, the Cowboys were really willing to give up a first round pick and more because they were gonna have to trade up to get packs to Lynch. Does that at least make you think even if we brought him in as our third guy, a guy that we're going to develop, we should give that a shot because we thought so highly of him back then.

The only thing that depreciates faster than a car is like a draft pick. I'm serious, Like, yeah, Jerry Jones is killing himself for not giving up the third to go up and get Packson Lynch. And now we don't have to debate about this because Jerry already said this morning they're not interested, which I wouldn't have claimed him. But I don't see the harmon bringing them in for a workout now that they're street. But they got Mike White, who I mean, they valued him. He basically hasn't had

a chance to suck yet. I mean, I'm not saying he will, but you get my point, Like there's more reason to be optimistic with him than there is having two years of Paxson Lynch tape. Teams talk too, they talk to each other. Why'd you cut him well? Because he does this and this, you know it doesn't do that. Maybe he maybe this will humble both of them to

the point where like if there's some issues. Maybe if if there's worth work ethic issues or you know, things like that studying, maybe it'll humble them to the point where they they'll get better, you know. But I don't see the harmon bringing them in for a workout, especially since in this particular case, both of them are guys

we know that they liked. But I don't think it's this drastic and you're like, oh my god, these guys are obviously so much better than Cooper Russian Mike quite clear, I know I don't buy that, so I'm not losing sleep over it. All right, we appreciate you guys joining us. We're back tomorrow in our normal time. What'll be our normal time for the season will be eleven forty five. We'll be on every day from eleven forty five to

twelve thirty. I know it's only forty five minutes, but we will get a lot into that forty five minutes. So until then for Nick, even Dave Elman, and regard see, I'm Derek Eagles and 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.