Cowboys Break: Reshaping The Roster?

happy to be back home from training camp at Oxnard. Uh. Cowboys having their first practice here at the Ford Center. They are on the field right now going through their routine. And I got my guys here, Nick and Dave joining me. Amber's out today, but we'll carry on anyway. We got a lot to talk about, particularly we will get into Cowboys second preseason game. Dave what I'm just saying. Dave's right there, I said, he said, guys, I know I was watching anyway. People are because because we get to

watch practice, We're gonna get to watch practice. Let's have a little bit of that is a little treat for you guys as we do the show today, you'll be able to have a quick look in at what's happening here on the field. We're gonna spend some time talking though about the Cowboys second preseason game where they faced the Los Angeles Rams. They gotta win fourteen to ten. There was some very good things we saw during that game. We're gonna point those out and talk a little bit

about those. There are also some not so good moments that I also want to throw out and get your opinions on. Before we do that, though, let's talk a little bit about injuries. This injury list is is quite expansive. Uh, there's some guys that are kind of working back in, some guys still out. Why don't you guys go through and talk to me a little bit about some of the injuries and kind of where everybody stands with those. It's long, I don't know, I mean, really, we could

just start with who is practicing at this point. It's not that bad. Tyrant Smith is limited today. He the dreaded back tweak. We know he didn't go to Hawaii. Jason Garrett said he's still dealing with that. He's out there in uniform so much like a lot of these I don't think it's something that's super serious, but he's dealing with the back. Zach Martin's still dealing with the back.

Mary Cooper still dealing with his foot. Tyrone Crawford and DeMarcus Lawrence are back to practice today, but they're going to be very limited because this is their first work of the year. But positive step that positive step. Blake Jarwin and Dalton Schultz are both out. Um who else am I missing? Noah Brown and Byron Jones are still his PP. Shaun Lee is back. I don't expect that he's gonna do a ton, but he did come into practice. Jeff Heath is limited. He did not play on Saturday night.

I'm drawing a blank as to what his exact injury was. But again, these this is for the most part, all training camp. You know, knocks and bruises. Being cautious with guys. I think I don't wanna knock on wood, but I think Robert Quinn is like the only guy that's dealing with a you know, aside from Louke Gifford, which we already knew that, but those two are like the severe injuries among that's you know what we didn't get an

update on him today. It's a long list, man, It's a very long play the game, right, I mean not even a play, it was a kickoff. Yeah, linebacker Chris Covington. That's something that we need to check in on because we updated every single injury this morning with Jason Garrett. But the you know, sixth string linebacker got lost in the shuffle. I guess. Talk to me a little bit about Byron Jones and Noah Brown. These are two guys

that haven't practiced yet. Obviously, when you see couple guys now in Tyrone Crawford and Tank Lawrence coming back, you kind of started looking like, Okay, when are they going to be back? Talk to me about those two guys particularly, Yeah, I actually asked Jason for an update on both of them, because they're not they're not off of pup like Tyrone and DeMarcus are. Um. Jason said that Byron is still on schedule. He's right where he's supposed to be. Obviously.

You know, it feels like there's a long time to the season, but it's really they got five practices until it's time to start game planning for the Giants, so we'll see. It doesn't sound like it's gonna be this week, maybe next and then Noah Brown trying to read between the lines. I wonder, I wonder what his progress is. Jason said, he's still a little bit away. So now you now maybe you wonder if he's gonna not be available at the outside of the season. But that's the

little premature, you know. And the thing about Noah we we've talked about him being a guy that you know will probably make the team. They like him that much. The one thing about about him is that you know, he's he's obviously a big, strong guy. They don't have another guy that's in this mix of the John Vay Johnson's and Reggie Davis or Cedric Wilson. He's pretty pretty much the biggest guy there, Cedric Wilson. But there's an

important note. If you're watching Cedric Wilson out there doing um receiver drills, which obviously he's been in the concussion protocol. So that's there's nobody like Noah Brown. Though's what I'm trying to say, that there's nobody that does what he does or what they want him to do. I'm not saying he does it well or extremely well. Well, no, because they want him to be this tied end and block all the time, and he's really not. He's just a big receiver. But you know, he's getting there, and

I think that they like him for a reason. But I'm just saying, I don't know who's competing with him to say we're gonna take You're gonna be the big receiver on this team. You know who is that they don't. I mean, I'll maybe Cedric, Yeah, which that is. It's interesting. And if you remember, Noah started the season on ir last year and it kept them from having to make a decision about him. So if he is unavailable at the start of the season, it could be the same

thing all over again. And I think it would be pup this year because he didn't even mix into practice this year, So again it's premature, but I do wonder what they're gonna do with him if he can't mix into practice before they have to cut their roster down. All right, let's go on. Let's move on to a little bit of blanket coverage. I have a statement for you guys. It's just gonna be one statement today, you guys, fill in the blank. Here's the statement. Jerry joked after

Pollard's performance on Saturday. Zeke Who, Zeke's agent said it was as he said, he thought it was disrespectful. This has blank impact on negotiations, Dave none. It has like absolutely no impact on negotiations, which I feel a lot of different types of way about this. First of all, let's provide some context to the situation, because within ten seconds of the Zeke Who joke, he said, obviously I'm three seconds like it was quick. I'm very quick. I'm kidding.

We all love Zeke. We know what he does for this team. I would love to have him and Tony Pollard in the backfield at the same time. Very complimentary stuff. But as Jerry, first of all, he loves that type of stores. And then he was evan it was too good to pass up. It was a great opportunity at a joke. He winked at the camera after he said it. So, first of all, whatever, like full context, it's not a

big deal. Second of all, Okay, Zeke, you feel disrespected like Jerry probably doesn't appreciate that you haven't been at work for the last three weeks, Like big big deal. I don't care, like I it's and I guarantee you Jerry doesn't care either. And thirdly, and lastly, if a deal gets done, or when a deal gets done, it's gonna be water so far into the But do you think anybody's gonna care if they agree on this new

big deal and he's back in the fold. Oh, but you made a half hearted, light hearted joke about me two weeks. Nobody's gonna care. It's nothing. I'll take the next one. Yeah, it's been all the talk of social media for three days. I'm sick of hearing. And honestly, the only reason I brought it up is really because I wanted to give context because we were standing there. I know I was standing there. I think Dave, you

were standing there. Yeah, And I do think sometimes you hear these things how they reported, they'll kind of says in small italics, he was joking, but it in the big headline. Everybody read the headline and that's what they knew, and so a lot of people don't know that it was really it really was just one of those lighthearted moments that Jerry's having with the media, which he has quite frankly a lot of the time. Man, And just

get over it. If you're disrespected, I mean it sounds like the offer that they threw out there was pretty disrespectful as well, the first offer that they threw out there. So that zis camp. So, I mean, you know, it sounds like it's been happening. I completely I completely agree with the guy's strategy. Honestly, he does deserve to be paid better, and if that's what it takes to get it, good for him. But he is in breach of contract with two years left on his deal. Like I doubt

Stephen and Jerry Jones genuinely appreciate what he's doing. So great, everybody feels disrespected. Cool, don't care. All right, here's we're gonna do. I want to talk a little bit about the game I've noted about. I don't know. They're about five different things I noted from the game that I considered to be good moments in the game, or good or players I wanted to point out. And then they are roughly about four things I wanted to point out that weren't so good, and we'll talk about each one.

Cowboys get the win fourteen ten. The first thing I noticed m and I want to point it out and talk about is Tony Pollard. He has five carries forty two yards and a touchdown. Uh. In my opinion, that touchdown run was unique in the way that it wasn't just what we had heard of him from the standpoint of him being a guy that can kind of take a run and use his speed to being something that happened. He actually had to finish that run with some power, and he did and he got into the end zone.

That all being said, have you seen anything from him that even makes you think that there's a possibility he could be in every down back in the NFL? Nick Um, Yes, Yeah, it's the fact that Zeke's not here and he's the number one back and he's looked really good relatively speaking, so he will be the number one back and if you know, if he's if Zeke's not here, and he showed it with what you're asking and with these runs there.

The touchdown run to me reminded me and and again let's be I mean, I'm gonna put it in some context here, Bud. He reminded me of him at Smith the way that he was he was loaded the I like how you started it, I'm gonna put that in context. Yeah, Okay, the was like Emmett Smith in that very low center of gravity. He's you know, he's obviously when you're not that tall, you're going you're going to be But he stayed,

his balance was there. It was it was that hit like three yards off the line of scrimmage, and then he stays and then he goes and he finishes the run. But that to me, I'm not saying he's Emmitt Smith at all, because he's not really built like it. But the run was powerful with a low center of gravity that I thought was good. I thought I was being bold because I compared I've compared Pollard's drive in that game to what Zeke did against Seattle in twenty sixteen.

Like it just felt familiar in the sense of like putting everybody in the game on notice, although you have to point out that he did it against the Rams backups, like not really nobody of consequence was in that game for LA. I don't want to say, like it was very impressive. I wrote a whole story about it. I was blown away, and even you know, Brian brought us went through and watched the tape and the sack that they gave up on Dak wasn't all Pollard's fallow Jason

Witten had a hand in that. So all of that consider, like he looked fantastic in every aspect of the game. Um, I don't want to doubt or hate on the guy, but like, I'm not convinced that that means he's gonna be your every down guy. And I if Zeke's not here, I still don't think that'll be the case. I think Alfred Morris is here for a reason, especially if Zeke doesn't show up, and I just think there will be

some divvying there. I Mean, these guys know what they have in Morris, and there's a reason that he's kind of quietly been ramping up as time goes, and if Zeke's not here when the regular season starts, I think it'll be some type of balance between the two. The one thing I will say, though, is I don't think

he's just a third down back. I think for sure you can give him series because the one thing we've that at least I think i've noticed, is he is he's not afraid, and he's not bad at running between

the tackles. A lot of the runs, most of the runs that we've seen him have here in the preseason, so far, I've been between the tackles, and the one thing I like about him when he's running in there is, you know, sometimes you see a guy when he's running between the tackle, he just kind of bows his way through. He has a way of kind of just figuring out where the little creases are and he kind of just moves within them to try to get as much as he can get. Yeah, it's a different way maybe than

you have than a bruising type back. But the point is he's been pretty effective at it, and so I wouldn't discount his ability to be able to work within the tackles. And that makes him in every down back, even though he's not taking every carry in the game, he is a back that can play on any down. Yeah, the big difference, and the big question with backs like that is is you know, he's done it for one

drive in each game. Let's see what happens in the third quarter, fourth quarter when you know these these hits start, you know, piling up a little bit. But he's done everything that they've given him so far. He's passed with flying colors. So but that's my thing too, is I don't expect him to be the guy all three, whether

it's Zeke or Alfred Morris or whatever. Like, I don't expect him to put that kind of load on him, but there's no based on what we've seen through training camp in two preseason games, there's no way he shouldn't be getting a healthy percentage of the workload from the from the get you know, I mean, shoot, we already compared him to Emmett and Zeke, So just throw Kamara back out there too, Like, no, right, if the Saints can get Alvin Kamara that involved while they still have

mark Ingram, then there has to be a way to use this guy. It's clearly awesome. You know. It was back in the three yard line. I was like, well, what I told Derek, what if he takes it to the house right here ninety seven yards? And if that was the case, we would be comparing him to Tony Dorsett. So, you know, let's just do the whole thing. Hall of

Famer's run over someone like Marion Barber. You'll put him in the Hall already, all right, he's gonna Sorry, I wonder if he's gonna keep one in thirty six when he makes the team. Yeah, I don't like thirty six I don't need it, but maybe I will though, you know, like we said this the other day, Kamara, like forty one is lame, but Kamara made it cool, So maybe he can make thirty six. And forty one still doesn't match for his kind of skill for Kamara, it doesn't

match to me, like I see in him. It's just but it looks cool, like they call him AK forty one, like it's way cooler than you would have thought. I don't know. I'd rather I'd rather get to a number. I'm trying to think of a thirty six in NFL history that's been and like a real standout running back. Probably I'm sure there's been one. I'm sure there's been one, but I just can't think. I just feel like he's going to move into the twenties win this Roger is

a good thirty six. Ever, Like I mean, I have no idea. I'm trying to I don't want to think answered. I don't even know if that's true. I don't know, baby not, I don't know. All right, let's go and take our first break. When we come back, we have a couple others. We want to get to some good things that happened in this game, Cowboys get the fourteen ten win on the road out in Honolulu. We're back

though at the Star. Here at Frisco at Ford Center, Cowboys are having their practice or first practice back here. We'll be right back after this break. This is Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio. Your new apartment's big, such a great deal. It's okay, just okay. What's not right about the subway? Well, I bet you don't even notice it after that's my neighbor. As a deal, that's just okay, it's not okay. Get a great deal with America's best network.

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right here in Texas. They are still the official crown of all self prospecting Cowboys, and Stetson is proud to be on the field with America's team. Find Stetson Hats in the Pro Shop or at Stetson dot Com today to talk in Cowboys. Welcome back here. Well, oh, we're live here at Starr in Frisco at Fort Center, Cowboys are having practice this morning and we're here alive. The fans are out they're watching practice. If you want to come out and check out a practice, make sure you

get out here. It will be tomorrow and Thursday. That will be at eleven am out here, and then there will be another practice next week. It'll be two practices next week and they'll be at night. So if your kids are back at school, you want to get out here. After the kids are out of school. I think it's at five forty five on next Monday and Tuesday, So make sure you give that a shot. Try and get out here to the Star in Frisco Ford Center. That's

where everything will be happening. It's a crazy thing, and I mean, I understand, but Jason Garrett, you know it's like it's still training camp. But there's four more practices after this because they play a Thursday game next week. We're already almost halfway through this week. Like I'm kind of ready. I'm ready for some real football. That doesn't matter if you're ready or not. It's coming. It's like fifteen days away. Think about it. This weekend. College football

Stars yes, sir. We don't have another weekend without football until February. Love it. That's the time of the year. So excited. All right, Let's move on a couple other good things that happened in that game. Dak Prescott win five or five or sixty four yards. If you take his first two games in the preseason, he's gone nine for nine. He has not had an incompletion. He's had

eighty seven yards total. What you've seen from Dak during the preseason, as well as what you saw from him during training camp, do you think that you've seen enough growth in him where you think he is ready to assume the mantle of being the best thing that the Cowboys do. Let's assume for a second that Dak is not here. Is he ready to be that kind of guy? Zeke is not here? I'm sorry, Zeke is not here. Is Dak ready to be the best thing that the

Cowboys do? Offensively? I should say yeah, I'm not ready to say that, which, although let me let me start good before I get to that, though. I mean, I'm so encouraged by the way he's looked in these games, because again, we've been going back and forth about how he's looked in practice. It's been up and down. I even said he needs to be more consistent. And the argument, as always well, is that because of this top five defense or because Dak's not that good, And granted he's

playing backups in these games. I get that, but he's done everything you could ask him to do to this point. Ten points on two drives and ninety seven yard scoring drive got everybody involved look accurate. I know people were debating the gallop throw. I thought it was a fantastic pass. I thought he put it exactly where it needed to be to give Gallup a chance to get it, even if it was a jump ball. I think he's looked great and he's done everything you can ask of him.

Whether that means he's ready to be that load carrying quarterback, I'm not ready to say. You know, I thought the past that we just saw here in practice, where it was Tavon Austin about twenty yards down the field a crossing route, I thought that those are the type of plays that a Kellen Moore is kind of scheming open more than we saw last year and B Decks hitting him.

You know, so see who's getting these carries right, now right, my man Alfie, Sorry Pollard, who No, I just yeah, there we go, Mack haven't had a drop in a while, No, I thought. I just I think he's done well. I don't know if if that's the right answer where you get the best that they do, because I still think their offensive line in the running game kind of is everything that this team's based off of. So I still think that it's not the best thing that they do.

But he runs it really well. And that's kind of my argument for why I think this team, like fret less about the money, because even if you pay him right now, Dak doesn't have to be the best thing you do, Like Russell Wilson wasn't the best thing the Seahawks did after they gave him his first big contract. You still have the offensive line in place. Zeke presumably

will be there. We'll see how that goes. Cooper is going to be there, like all of that stuff is gonna be there for Dak, and all of this salary cap stuff isn't going to hit you for several more years at least two, if not more than that. And so even if he is just a high end I hate that phrase, but even if he's just a high end bus driver with all the other talent around him. Right now, that's probably good enough. And the hope for me is that in let's say two three years, he

is that guy. I don't know if he's there. Yeah. Well that's the thing, and that's the nature of this is once you give him that big contract, Basically, once you give all these guys these big contracts, over time, that's going to start diminishing the amount of talent that

you'll have across the board. That being said, if you guys were to look into your crystal balls right now, from what you've seen of him and his growth and his maturation over the years that he's been with the Cowboys, do you see his trajectory being one that gets him to that level? Yeah? I do, because because he's gotten better every every year. I mean, he's you can say that that he's you know, he keeps improving. Make sure

there's not an injured guy there on the field. No, But I mean I think you know, he's he's gotten you know, weapons around him, and I think the Amari Cooper thing really helped him last year. There's just the best route running receiver that he's ever had. On the team. You know, I guess Beasley was a good route runner, but not in all the spots. So I think he's getting more and more weapons and he's getting better, and I think Kellen Moore seems to be a better fit

for what he's trying to do. It's we'll see. I don't ever want to bet against his work ethic and his natural charisma, and those are the things that I that give me a lot of confidence that he can on top of that. And this isn't to take credit away from Dak, but I think of oh, that's interesting, tarn Christian getting some reps at quarterback, which we've seen very very little of a lot of people have been asking me about that. I think the Cowboys are trying

I think they're trying to hide him. I've played this Shaun Watson this week. Maybe they're trying to that's a good point getting him. I don't know. Maybe, well, I mean, I mean he's going to get a chance with this number two. These are not his first reps at quarterback, Like He's had a few chances, but it has been

few and far between. But I just think they like what he does on a variety of fact and like we joke like Jamie Showers two point oh, but I really think that's it's not a coincidence that they're trying to develop this guy at the same time that Jamie Showers runs out of practice squad eligibility. Yeah so, and he just does the read option. There is scout team quarterbacks. Eschell teams guy. He's covered kickoffs of we'll talk more about backup quarterbacks get to the bad of the game.

But I don't want to take credit away from Dak, but you can't underestimate what a good offensive coordinator can do for you, Like how bad did Jared Goff look when he first got in the league Versus how great he looks under Sean McVay. And like it's not a secret, Like Sean mcvayh is good at scheming quote unquote easy calls for him, Like he makes it easy on his quarterback. Saw it in the game on that wheel route. I

mean he schemed that. And it's not to take credit away from Jared Goff either, but you know how much have we talked about like play design, Why don't the Cowboys use rub routes? Why don't the Cowboys scheme guys open instead? Of relying on the receivers, and that's that's been this talking point. And maybe it's Kellen Moore that opens that up for Dak, or maybe it's the next coach, but either way, I think you can't underestimate what that could do for him too. All right, let's move on.

Michael Gallup had a thirty one yard reception. We've seen him go down the field quite a bit. Last year, he went down the field quite a bit, but the connection between he and Dak wasn't always perfect. And if you guys seen enough here in practicing in training camp to suggest that you think that'll be a more higher percentage play for the Cowboys this year than it was

last year. Yes, I do think so. And I think that the catch that he made was a proof of that, going up and attacking the football, getting the ball, not just you know, running in the past. Wasn't it wasn't you know, it didn't get him in stride. But you don't always have to do that. You get it out there and you let your playmaker go get to play because once he stops, the cornerback flies by anyways, So just get it in a spot where he can catch it. That was the problem that Dak was last year was

overthrowing him or throwing it out of bounds. Give him a catchable ball and let the playmaker go make the catch, which is what he did. Dak haters don't want to hear it, but he threw Gallop open on that play. Like the coverage was good and I like, you know, you want to hit him in stride, but you know they're safety help in the NFL. That's a thing. Like it was a well, it was a well placed ball, thank you. That's exactly right. All right, Let's move on

Devin Smith, another receiver. He actually had three catches for twenty four yards and a touchdown. Interesting guy because he's a second round pick, has had two knee injuries, did not play on a fifty three man roster last season, but this year has played pretty good over the last week. He had a really good last week, really nice catch by Randall Cobb right there, like that could have been an interception and Cobb just kind of took it away

from the guy. But he had a really nice practice last week and then ended in game with a touchdown. That was a really nice play. Do you think Devin Smith is making a case for himself to make this team despite the fact that he is a guy that has been injury prone, had two major injuries for him. I want to make sure like we're being very transparent here because I see you astute listeners of the break, like we we buried the guy. I think it was it was the wednesday before we like packed up in

ox and arts. No, no, no no, it was the Wednesday before the forty nine ers game. So coming up on two weeks ago, we were basically like, I don't see it. He's not really distinguishing himself. He's not that versatile. And ever since there he is right there. Ever since he's been making us eat our words, and people have pointed that out to me. I'm not hiding from it like he was. This thing is fluid. Let's absolutely it changes from day to day. He's great in the forty nine

ers game. He put together three great practices. Last week, he was great in the Rams game. He just had a catch right there. I do wonder though, and Nick just said it's gonna be tough for him, Like, again, are you versatile enough to justify that roster spot when you consider that the three main pass catchers. I mean, you've got three guys that are gonna play most of the snaps. You've got a fourth guy in Tavon Austin who's gonna handle a lot of special teams duties and

be a gadget guy. You probably have Noah Brown depending and again, I don't care if people don't want to hear it. He blocks, he does all that dirty stuff that Jason Garrett loves. That's important. Is Devin Smith good enough to justify that even and and does he have a role on special teams because that's so important for a guy that's you know, fifth or six on the depth chart too. They did have him as the gunner

the other day in the punt team. But it's come It looks like it's gonna come down to that final spot with John Vay Johnson, h Cedric Wilson. I mean, maybe Reggie Davis. He's he's kind of taking a few steps backwards here, but uh, you know, they really liked what John Vy does and uh Scooper throws into somebody. John Vy is just the classic case of not taking it to a game, though, right, which is I mean, honestly, I do wonder you know, Devin Smith second round pick

thirty seventh overall by the New York Jets. Everybody knows he's had He's had two knee injuries completely derailed his career, but everybody knows his talent. You average twenty eight yards per catch his final year Ohio State. That's crazy. If you cut him, is he more likely to get scooped up? Because name power is part of it, But obviously he's got a talent to be a top forty pick if

he's healthy, and he is. Is he less likely to hang around if you release him as opposed to you know, no offense, no offense to John Bay Johnson or Jalen Guiden or even Cedric Wilson. But like, you can probably sneak those guys onto your practice squad. Like I don't think NFL teams are beating down the door to steal them from you, because every team has guys like that. And here's the other thing to consider. I think we

all talk about it a lot on this show. You get down that layer of the depth chart, and the guy needs to also give you something on special teams. But I think something that could factor into this decision, or probably should factor into this decision, is that if you got a guy here that you feel like you might have stolen, who is a second round pick, a high second round pick that is really a caliber wide receiver of your top three guys, just hasn't had a

chance to really prove that because of injury. Then maybe you say, hey, we gotta keep this guy around because we think developing him, he's gonna be one of those top three guys come next year. And that's more important then having a guy down at the six wide receiver spot who was either going to be an active or

gonna be a special teams guy. And I think that might be Devin Smith's best bet is that you know, Randall Cobb's a free agent, all that good stuff, like having this guy is more important to us than having a dude who could do something more on special teams. And maybe you have to finagle some things to make that work, but you probably could. I just keep thinking of guys like Jimmy Smith, who it happened sometimes in the NFL, things just don't work out for you from

where you're drafting. You may have a high draft pick, but it just doesn't work out for injury or whatever reason. And then you get somewhere else and you do get that luck to fall on your side and now you're rolling. That's that. It's so tantalizing too. And we saw it briefly with Rolando mcclan right, like, if you can get one of those talented guys whose career hasn't worked out for him to hit, it can be big for our

Colombo was another guy. He came to the Cowboys and Chicago felt they that he had been a bus for them. He came here and had a really nice career here as a as a right tackle. And what does you know, Brian brun As say that the scouts always say, give me some traits. What does he do that separates him from others? And he is separating and run, He can

separate from the knees. He can he can run. We haven't even seen that so much as we've seen him just make good plays and in the red zone at receiver, which was a nice catch there in the back of the end zone in the game. Yeah, all right's sake, our final break. We'll come back. We got one more good thing, and then we have a couple of things that are we're not so good. We'll talk about those when come right back. This is Dallas cowboys dot com Radio your new apartments big such a great deal. Yeah,

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a pro. Visit Cowboys Travel dot com to book your travel package today. Back to the Break, the final segment of The Break live from Fort Center in Frisco, Texas, Cowboys are having the first practice back here after leaving Oxnard and Honolulu, and we're happy to be back here in Frisco, Texas. I'm thrilled to be back, thrilled that I can hear you over the music. Now that that was tough. It's kind of loud out here, but fans

are enjoying it. If you get an opportunity to get out here and make sure you come out, you can check out practice tomorrow and Thursday at eleven o'clock am, and then next Monday and Tuesday we'll have night practice at five forty five. Try to make it out. Can get an opportunities to your team up close and personal before we get to the regular season. We're going through the game. One other thing I wanted to point out

that was on the good side. Carrie hyder Um played very well and played very well at two different positions, both defensive tackle and defensive end, showing that versatility that the Cowboys love that position flex. This is kind of a bigger picture question. Do you think that he can now possibly play the role that for so many years Tyrone Crawford has played for this team And maybe it doesn't mean anything for this year, but in going down the road obviously next year be more of a decision.

Do you think that maybe he can start feeling that feeling that kind of role for him, or do you think it can even take another step in the in the form that you don't really want to have. If you're trying to figure out how you're gonna cut this team and get down to fifty three, that you have

to make a decision between here and Tyrone Crawford. M I think that that Hyder is a guy that you know, I don't know if you if you if you're looking that far down the road, I mean it makes sense though with about Crawford, you want to you wanna see what he's gonna be able to do next year contract wise, it could be something where they maybe part ways from But they love position flex They'll say they'll say that

all the time on every player. What I think Hider's able to do right now is that you have some questions all over the d line, especially a defensive end, and he's able to do that and say he's gonna be here week one. We know that he's gonna make that. I think he's gonna make the team for sure. I don't even think now he's a guy that makes the team for week one or two, and then we'll see what happens with Quinn. I mean he I think he's got a role because of what you said, all that versatility. Yeah,

I mean always we can be wrong. We were about Devin Smith two weeks ago, but I think of him as on the team and having a role. I think they love him. He's shown it in the games. I think it's a little premature of the stuff with Tyrone and Tyrone's contract the way it sits it does you know if they wanted to move on from him next year? Y sense? But I think he means too much to them right now. I think they're both versatile enough that you can find ways to work them both simultaneously anyway.

But on top of that, Carrie Hyder is not this like long term situation that Tyrone isn't. He's on a one year veteran deal. He's turning twenty nine next year. Like this isn't a rookie draft pick or something who's got this long future in front of him. So if you're making decisions based on Carrie Hyder with Tyrone, I don't. I don't think I see that And I expect him both to be on the team. Okay, let's move over to some of the things that weren't so good for

the Cowboys. Let's talk first about Mike White. He was seven to thirteen, he had thirty yards, he had an interception. They did give an opportunity to roam with the twos. I would assume in hopes that that maybe they could give him an opportunity to have a little bit of protection than he had in the San Francisco game. I think he all agreed the protection was a little shoddy there in that game. What do you think that means for him long term and for the backup quarterback position.

Doesn't seem good that Taren Christian just took his third team reps in practice. That doesn't seem good to me. I don't know, man. I try to keep an open mind and really be as forgiving as possible. But the Rams muffed punt set them up at the thirty one yard line. The Rams thirty one yard line, thirty one

yards from pay dirt. Mike White goes in there, he's with the second team, he's he should have good players around him, and they moved backward two yards, and I think that was Maher's missed field goal, right, so good to that. That's that's just not good enough. Yeah, it's just not And really, they haven't moved the ball with Mike White at quarterback in either preseason that he's been allowed to do it. And say what you will about Cooper Rush, he's certainly he hasn't looked as amazing as

he did his rookie year back in twenty seventeen. But he moved the offense down the field. He threw a touchdown past to Devin's. I always want to call him Devin White, Devin Smith. He moves the offense. It doesn't always look great, but he does it. You cannot say that about Mike White. As far as I'm concerned that competition is over, it seems pretty clear that, I mean, based on what we've seen, how can you call it

any other way. So it just it doesn't seem like they have any need to carry three quarterbacks, at least not these three m And I just think Cooper Russia will be the backup, and it's really not close in my opinion. Do you feel comfortable with Cooper Russia's the backup? Because I know going into this preseason I probably was a little bit. I was on the side of being very nervous about the backup quarterback position. I have seen a little bit this preseason and during training camp that

suggested me that maybe Cooper's got a little something. Do you guys feel a little better about it or you still feel the exact same as you did before the presempt to be a smart ass. I'm comfortable with anyone as the backup quarterback, you know I am. I mean anybody as the backup. I mean, we could be the backup as long as we given the defense very good looks in practice. If we're the backup, I'm just thinking, you know, we all know the deal. You know, it's a huge drop off, and I think I think it

would be a huge drop off. However, um, I see what you're seeing. I think that he's he moves the ball. Well, he's kind of a gamer, you know, he's he's never been one that just lights it up in practice. But you know, Dad didn't either. I don't know if Romo did either. I I don't. I don't know. I mean, I think you go out and practice his practice. But Cooper in the games, he moves the ball a lot better, and we're comparing him to Mike White, which Mike White can't.

He just doesn't pull the trigger on that interception, and it was like the guy was open and he just waited and then he threw it, and then it was it was a terrible pass. That's not open in the NFL. You've got to hit it. And I think that Cooper is and even Jason Garrett, surprisingly if you saw in the in the postgame press conference, said he's a lot more comfortable, and he's he's a he's further ahead, and

I think we're all seeing that right now. Bret Meyer was another guy that I'll put in the category of of something that didn't go the Cowboys way. He misses a fifty two yard field goal. Um after that, were you more or less or the same as far as your level of concern concern? I feel the same, just for me less a little a little less because he didn't strike it well. You know, I get it, it's a miss. Yeah, I fifty two yards and it's windy

and all that. It didn't seem like it was well hit. Now, I don't know, maybe I didn't get a good look at it, but it looked like a knuckleball just kind of fluttering a way off and it wasn't really close. I don't you know. I don't think it was a a great attempt. I mean, yeah, you're gonna miss some but so that makes you feel less concerned. No, I meant you feel less good about Maybe I just was so quick to answer. Now, I don't know how you can be less Okay, sorry, that's why you said. I

thought you'd come with some clever point. Sometimes you'll just kind of give something to say. Yeah, sorry, I feel I feel less about him, Yeah than I did, But I think I don't know who's better. But it's it's hard to pay it's hard to pay one hundred percent attention to what's going on a practice while we're trying to have a conversation. But I'm pretty sure he just

went six for six during field goal period. He was he was what five for five last ye If he was six for six today, which I'm not one hundred percent sure, but I think then that's his third straight or no, his Yeah, his third strade six for six and his fourth overall, which you know he's still missed in the game. That's I feel the same because he missed it's a fifty two yard or in a windy stadium, like, that's not a gimmey. I get that, But a miss is a miss, and that's supposed to be what you're

great at. You know, we know you missed from short range, but you're supposed to make it from long range. So now you missed from short range in San Francisco and you missed from so I just it doesn't it doesn't feel good. But yeah, I'm kind of with Nick that I'm not convinced that there's this definitive upgrade out there. I know, like people are gonna say Matt Brian and that might be the case, but he'll he'll be there,

I assume. So nobody else has grabbed him yet, although going back to the previous point, the Eagles did grab Josh McCown, who was my break glass in case of emergency quarterbacks. So I think that was probably a lot of teams around in the league thinking that. I tell think I would do it. I think I would get Matt Bryant would if if he struggles against the Texans,

I would would I would. My point was going to be as get through the preseason and if you if if really you're not feeling any better than you can go get Matt Bryant. But if you're worried that somebody else is going to take him, maybe you should. All right now, I bet I bet you they as usual. I bet you they're not as worried about it as we are. For whatever reason. Reggie Davis muffed to punt. We've seen him muff punts and practice as well throughout

training camp. Are you convinced that he can't be the return guy for you this year? Oh? Yeah, I don't think he will be. I think tayvon Or and or Cobb you know, can do that. The thing about these receivers would say it all the time. You get on the radar because you run routes and you and you catch the ball, But what are you doing on special teams?

That's gonna be the difference. So if you're dropping punts, or you're or you're not running down on kickoff or whatever it is, that's that's you've got to get there from there. It's not just catching the ball. You're not that good doing that. So we'll see, you know, we'll

see on him. But his arrow is gone down. As Devin Smith goes up and and Cedric Wilson's go up and you know he's what we ranked the receivers a week and a half ago, I believe, And you know we were we were told we were pretty close and what we were doing. I think we put him seventh if we had to do it today. I know Devin Smith is higher than him. I know Cedric Wilson would be higher than him. I don't think Jalen Guidon would be.

This week is going to be interesting because, like I mean, Reggie, Reggie Davis has played well as a receiver, but his big thing is the special team's contributions. He's been working at punt returner all camp, which people were blowing me up on Saturday to night like let somebody else get a look at this, And I'm like, well, go through your list of options. You know Tavan and Cob aren't going to do it. Cedric Wilson wasn't even in Hawaii, so all of a sudden, like you basically are got

nothing but Reggie Davis. You might as well give him a long look. But Cedric is back today, so there's a chance you could give him a look at returns on Saturday night. And also I think there's a chance you might see Tony Pollard back there, so it'd be interesting if one of those guys does a good job, then all of a sudden, Reggie Davis's unique skill set doesn't look that impressive. So something to watch real quick

before we end the show. That was actually one other good that I wanted to point out done them in a loom book. Yeh was very active playing cornerback for the Cowboys. All that being said, that is one of the positions where they got a little depth. Do you think he has a shot? I should even say a shot shot. Do you think he makes this team makes the final fifty three? I think so. I think he does. I don't think you have to keep a fifth round

pick in Mike Jackson. He has He's been way better than Mike Jackson, and he should be, you would think, because he's he's been here that much longer. But um, I think when you look at what you said earlier about the defensive tackle, if you look at the cornerback position next year and Anthony Brown Byron Jones, Jordan Lewis will see he'd be restricted, right Jordan Lewis, No, no, no, he's just being the last year of his deal. Nice looked like a nice breakup by Cheeto Woozier right there.

Speaking of cornerback, Cheeto will be here ully but not hurt, but a lumbo the guy that they like. He's okay and the the body type that that they like that Chris Shard obviously likes. I mean he's making he's making plays and because why do you want linked at corner so you can get you know, your hand on the ball. Well, he's done that more than anybody out here. It's interesting because Okay, again, let's break it down barring assuming nothing crazy happens with like a you know, a roster cut

trade something like that. Then Byron's on the team, Cheetos on the team, Jordan's on the team, Anthony Brown's on the team, and I think CJ. Goodwin's on the team because he is far and away their best. But he made a great play. Yeah, he made a great tackle as he was the guy that that he was in on that muff punt. He's a fantastic gunner. They love him as a special teamer. So that's five if they keep six. I think it's evidence that Chris Rashard has a lot of sway which he I mean, he should.

There's nothing wrong with that, And either way, you would think it's gonna be one of his guys because Jackson is his guy, and so is Alumba, So take your pick. Alumba has been better. But they only went with five corners last year, so if they go with six, I think it says a lot about Richard Sway in that personnel room. I will say this though, I don't think.

I don't think they necessarily want CJ. Goodwin on the field playing cornerback, and so when you're talking about having I know that he will fit on the depth chart there, but the fact is that would only be four cornerbacks because you don't want him to have to play, so you could kind of think of him more as even though he would make the team, you can't think of him or as your special team's ace. And then you

have your fifth cornerback in a Loomba or Jackson. Just in terms of bodies though, I get it, I get it, and it's hard to imagine more than ten dbs, and like I said, last year, they only kept nine. So but I'm I'm I'm good with four safety too. I think it's pretty clear I think you you go with pretty clear the two starters obviously, and then I think you got Um, I'm I don't have my roster with me for all the names. Uh, there's there's Darian Thompson.

Darian Thompson, that's three, and there's Donald Wilson. Those are the four that I would keep. And uh, yeah, I don't think you're wrong. That's who I would keep. You're gonna cut Fraser and I would. I would. Yeah. I think I think I feel I feel pretty good about where the safeties are right now. The two starters, um, and I don't think. I don't personally think they get a whole lot out of Frasier playing cornerback. Um, I'm

sorry playing safety. Frasier got the start for Heath on Saturday, and I get all that, Okay, get all that, but I just and this is if I were making the cuts. But obviously they they'll they do factor in veterans and veterans and their their knowledge of the team and being around here and being good citizens on the team like that matters to them. And so I wouldn't be shocked if if Frasier's here, But I do think this would be an opportunity for them to go a little young there.

And and if you're gonna have ten, go four safeties and keep that that extra cornerback. I think you got more talent at cornerback than what you do at say one way or another. Yeah, six cornerbacks sounds like it makes sense to me. All Right, we'll appreciate you guys join us. We are back tomorrow, same time, eleven o'clock. You guys, I'm sorry, eleven forty five. You guys will be able to watch us and watch practice same tomorrow and Thursday until then for Nick even, Dave helm and

I'm Derek Eagleton. This has been the Break live on Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio. The pun daped, the Don but att