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It's time for the Break on Dallas Cowboys dot Com. Were with Mbar Garcia, Brian brought Us, Nick Harris, and Derek Eagleton.
It is Wednesday, March twenty sixth, twenty twenty five, Season twenty one, Episode number three. Welcome to the latest edition of The Break Will Life from that WBC Mortgage Studios at the Star Wars presented by LG. LG is the world's number one o ED TV brand for eleven news accounting. See why at LG dot com, Ford slash O, led Evo. Welcome to the show. Glad to have everybody here. Got
a lot we're going to talk about today. We're going to start a little position series today and talk about each position from the standpoint of now seeing what the Cowboys have done through most of free agency. As we know, free agency continues really all the way through training camp and beyond. But what they've done so far through in free agency, where they stand the players they've lost and gained.
We'll talk about each position from the standpoint of where they are and what they still need to do with the draft, what they still may even need to do in free agency to get themselves ready to be able to play at their best level coming into the season. Today, we're going to focus on two positions, quarterback and safety. Before we do that, though, I wanted to start first by just getting an overall view from each of you
on what you think of the Cowboys. If you had to grade what they've done so far in free agency, how would you grade their overall performance in free agency as far as getting themselves ready to be able to do the things they need to do in the draft to be ready for the season.
I'll start with you, Nick, I'd give it.
I'd give it a soft bee if I could soft soft beat.
Not a strong beat. Not I've never heard of soft beat strong bee.
Okay, you would that be a B minus? Is that what you're saying?
See, but it's not B minus and it's just a bee. I'm going like, like if you were degraded on the scale, like an eighty three, you know, like it's not a B minus.
But a.
Soft beat, a soft beast to it.
But uh yeah, I would say in that sense just because they added depth, and we certainly saw last season that they needed depth that a lot of positions whenever injuries came about. Now you hope that injuries don't hit that hard again in twenty twenty five, but you hope to be a little bit more.
Prepared if they do.
And they did add an impact pass rusher and Dante Fowler. He's a guy who has the upside to be a starter for you next season and be a double digitsat guy.
At the very least.
He's a violent, rotational rusher that can bring you some presents in the past rush game. So I liked the addition of Joante Williams. I think he'd be a perfect complementary back. If they do add they still need to add a strong early down back, and if they're able to pair one with Williams, then that's gonna look like a pretty solid addition. But you look at guys like Solomon Thomas, even Robert Jones, Jack Sanborn, Kenneth Murray. This is all a reliable, experienced depth that this that this
team needs moving forward. That's why I'd give it a soft B if the reason I don't give it an a. There wasn't a strong splash, right, There wasn't a huge impact player at receiver. I still believe that they have a big problem at corner. Even adding Kyer Elam, I think there's still a big problem there. You're you're gonna have to do some things to figure that out. But it's it's definitely been worse than years past.
I'll tell you this. This is I'm gonna go in a couple of different ways, sir. I'm gonna give an a for this reason. On the going out and using trades and free agency together.
You know this is something.
And now the draft will be the third third item that will come into play here. There was a time where this team was only draft depended and they went out and maybe by design that they knew that they couldn't replace all the debt. But the fact that they went out and used the player personnel they talk about twenty four to seven all the time around here. They traded, they signed, and now they're about to draft. So I'm going to give them an A for doing what they're
supposed to do. That way, I'm going to give them a C for the players that they've got, and I think there's some players that I think they've got some players that are better than hole fillers. I think where they're at at running back, and I like what Nick saying about Williams at the running back situation. But I think they've addressed the running back room and that area by the coaches they've hired. I don't think they've helped themselves,
particularly with the players. Let's see if the third phase of what I'm giving them an A four of that draft brings them that running back. I like the coaches and what they've done in the offseason as far as getting those guys, but I feel like they really didn't address that very well with the two players that they brought in. We'll see if that's the case. I'd also like to see him maybe have looked at a veteran receiver,
and I'm not just talking about Paris Campbell. I'm talking about maybe if they had gone out got so maybe the market didn't allow that a for execution and plan. See right now for the players they've attained, so average about it be softie.
That's gonna be the title of the show.
Amber Money is just to be playing bee with no soft or hardness to it just to be okay, no. But I think when you to me this season, and I've said it before, it's it feels completely different than years past as far as what they've used to do, what they're used to doing this year. I mean previous years, I feel like we would be sitting first week chilling and we as in we in the media, like waiting for news to come and signings to happen, and nothing
would happen. We would wait until that second wave, and then that's when they would tend to start signing guys. I think this year they started being a lot more proactive and making moves. Now, when you start looking at those moves and those plays, just like Brian said to me, you start pulling some of it, and some of those names. They they're a pretty solid guy with veteran experience that you feel like, yes, they're gonna come in here and
bring some impact in one way or another. But some of those other guys, you start looking at them and taking a deeper dive into their history and recent history and.
Statistics, statistics, statistics, statistics, statistics. Yes, but you start looking at that and you're like, okay, well, this is this doesn't look very very impressive. But again, it's hard to tell right now, Derek, because you still don't know what this coaching staff is actually gonna do. You hope that they have a different vision and something that's gonna be a lot more effective this year. So I'm just giving them the benefit of the doubt.
At least they made moves.
External moves, and it wasn't just signing their own. It was going out and making those bringing you guys in. With that come the different background and with those signings with internal signings, I think they did as best as they could. One of the guys that I hate that we lost was Jordan Lewis. But other than that, I think they highly focused on the key players that I think add the continuity to the team and also the there guys that are going to continue to contribute and
also fight for a spot here. But overall, I think they did a pretty solid job last year. I would have given them a seat. This year, I think they've moved up to a B.
Yeah.
For me, I look at it and I think this is a two year thing. What I mean by that is I think last year they lost a lot of players. They hemorrhaged players, but they didn't really replace a lot of that, and I think this year, what what we're seeing is they lost a few more this year, but they just they really went out to get a solid base of guys. These are not going to be your guys who you're gonna next next year, we're going to be on Sundays like, oh my god, this guy made
the great play. I don't think that's what these guys necessarily are, other than maybe a Dante Fowler.
I think more of what we will see is these will be.
The guys that will be your mainstay, solid guys, some of them in backup roles. Some of them may have opportunities where they start due to injury, some may start the beginning of the season. I think they will be guys that will be good and they'll be solid, and that's what they needed to replenish on this team because they do have some stars on this team. Last year, what we found is they just didn't have the depth
because they lost all of it. This offseason to me is about re establishing that depth, getting those solid guys that can just fill the holes and now the hope, at least, I would guess, and I would think their plan is that they will get some of those splash
guys in the draft. Whoever they select in round one, in round two, maybe in round three, maybe you can get guys that can come in and immediately make an impact on your team and provide some of those splash type moments that you're really gonna need in addition to the players you already have. Who are those splash type
players or Cedde Lambs or Michael Parsons. I think that's the way I look at this, and from that standpoint, I would give them a B. I don't know about a softbe, but I give them okay.
I think this thing is going to come down to how well these linebackers play. If you look at with Samborn and then and then you also look with Murray, you know that's gonna be really can you get the same play or maybe even a little bit better play than what you got from Eric Kendricks. There's so many
questions right now at linebacker with overshown. Leo Foul seems to be if you ask anybody in the you know, hey, give me your breakout player for twenty twenty five, everybody's gonna mention Leo Foul.
That's what they're gonna do.
And I think that you know, if you saw some flashes in last year, but he's he can't shoulder this thing by himself. This this this free agency period though that they went through. If if Samborne and Murray show up and play well this this thing, they they did a really, really nice job in that area.
Well, I was just going to ask you, guys, what do you think happened with Kendricks.
I think it's a situation where Kendricks is just he's bathed himself in that Zimmer scheme and they needed somebody who could come in and you know, be a little bit more's what's the word I'm looking for fit for the Ibra flu scheme and Kenneth Murray is that Jack Sanborn for sure? Is that Sanborn is probably the future at that position. If you had had to imagine after Kenneth Murray, that's the hope at least, and I certainly
think he has a talent to do that. I think Eric Kendricks will land on his feet somewhere, but I think it'll be probably in a scheme that's more fit to what he's been used to over the course of his career.
Yeah, you know one of things to that point that you were making, Brian, I think I look at this team and they had a lot of I think they have a lot of players who are relatively young who are kind of question marks for them, Guys like Sam Williams, Guys like Marshawn Kneeland, Leah File, you mentioned Mazzi, Kayln Carson. I think what this offseason did is it allowed them to be able to continue to develop those guys, but
not be beholden to them. Right, you don't get into a situation where if you want Kaylen Carson to really keep developing and you give him that opportunity, if he doesn't perform, you're now not stuck. You have an elon that you can maybe throw out there and say, he's a more of a veteran guy that we can throw out there. He has some experience. We can put him out there and feel better about what he can do. But it doesn't slow the progress of somebody like a
Kaylin Carson. Same things with Sam Williams, same thing with Marshawn Nieland you have the question marks, you want to give him the opportunity, but if they don't make it, if they can't do it. You got a Dante Fowler. So I just think that's what I love about this offseason. They've given themselves the ability to let those young guys continue to develop. If they don't, there are guys that are that are steady guys that can put in there and they're not losing a ton.
They might have upgraded at pass rusher with fall Over. Maybe he Tank, you know, and we all love Tank for what he's done, but let's be honest.
Though.
The run play, the instincts, those things were his calling card, but at one time he was a double digit sack guy. You just signed a double digit sack guy, is what you did in free agency. So that should help you going forward.
Did they put maybe a little too much pressure on having to hit on the first two days the draft though, by by having you think right now, right now, yeah, by not getting an impact starter at receiver, by not getting a starter at corner, by you know, still leaving some holes in depth at defensive tackle. I think you can make a case that you could you need another guy for depth at offensive tackle. I just wonder if there's maybe a little too much pressure on having to hit on those guys.
I think that the You know, Nick, that you and I have studied this scene pretty extensively. Now we're getting down to the home stretch where they have where the board looks like to me, it has depth as at defensive tackle, and the board looks like it's got some depth at wide receiver depending on what kind you want, and running back as well, right and running back as well.
But that's that's what I'm saying. I I think that they I think the players they grab in those first three picks, I think, well, I think they'll all I could say this was some certainty.
I think they're all going to contribute in year one.
You know, we've seen some in the past where the last couple of drafts that necessarily hasn't been the case. But I have a feeling with this group that they're about to select that those the first three for sure give me some hope that, man, hey, if if they hit the right guys, uh, that all these guys are capable of coming in and being starters for you. And that's that's absolutely what they need.
If it's in those three positions.
Yeah, I just wear you head to the fifth round and you still need a rotational defensive tackle or you still need a running back.
That's that's a that's a possibility.
There's no way they get to the fifth round they still haven't gotten a running back, is there?
I would say, man, looking at look at how how the board could fall.
I mean, there's there's there's a possibility of that.
I would take Mullens in from from U Michigan would be the guy that I would look at that point the starter. Yeah, okay, Well, I mean you've you've you've kind of walked me through a plan of Mulling. Okay, Mullings and then also though with Williams as a guy, so I mean I've got a physical you know. I mean Mullins isn't this elusive kind of runner, and but he is a physical runner. He protects the football. I
mean he he is a converted linebacker. I'm telling me, if you get down in the fifth round, you know, Hunter from Auburn is another one. I mean that might be a situation. I mean maybe you have him a little higher. But I kind of feel like though that I could maybe get a starter.
Is it perfect?
No, I'd love for them to address that thing in the first three rounds for sure, But if I had to, I mean, there's some guys on that board. I think that might slide through a little bit into the fifth that I had fourth round grades on. That might be an They give you an opportunity to get a starter out of this thing.
All right, let's pick our first break. We'll come back.
We'll jump into our position evaluation. We're going to start with the quarterback position. We got lots of questions on Dak Prescott. We'll be back Dallas Cowboys dot com Radio.
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Welcome back.
Second segment of the Break, live from the SWBC Mortgage Studios at the Star. This segment brought to you by blockchain dot Com. All right, let's talk about quarterbacks. I have three statements I'm going to roll out for you guys. They are true false statements. I want to hear whether you think they are true or false. First, they are all regarding Dak Prescott. First, he's still the same quarterback he was in twenty twenty three when he was the runner up League MVP in voting true or false?
Uh false false.
He's coming off a hamstring injury. That's tough, and it's going to affect his mobility moving forward. You know, how does that mobility manifest in his game. That's going to be the question he has to he has to answer early on. In my opinion, I think that's what makes it differ different from twenty twenty three. They were able to maximize his movement in a way where it didn't put him at risk, but yet it was still able to be an impact and offensively.
For the Cowboys.
So he's going to have to figure out how to you know, manage that now that he's had another leg injury quote unquote, So I would say different.
He's going to have to manage that for sure. That's the big thing that pops out.
To It makes me nervouses. Even when healthy, that wasn't a very good offense, you know, early on. I mean, and then you know, the defense wasn't great either. As a team, they weren't great. They got blown out in a lot of games, and you know, you Nick's talking about the health of the quarterback. Now we're starting to see the age, a little bit of the wear and tear. You know, they're going to have to really adjust the offense.
I think one of the reasons why Brian Schottenheimer got this job is because they don't want to run Dak Prescott to another different offense. I don't think they want to run him to another scheme, and I think Brian Schottenheimer probably convinced the front office that I could tailor a scheme that could fit his skill set. But he's not the same player that he was saved three or four years ago.
Yeah.
During that time, I think the Cowoys were able to find a lot of advantage of using his legs and mobility and being able to utilize him in the red zone and be able to have him escape and get in there and help score points for the offense. Now, I think that part of the game has been completely taken away. You go back to last year, they were not doing that with him, and then when it finally happened,
it just so happened coincidentally that he gets hurt. So I think that now that that prompted that injury, even though when you listen to what he said during that time, he wouldn't blame the injury into the fact that he had to run. I think it's gonna it's gonna be something that they will try to avoid the most as possible.
And that's where you now are looking to rely more on a running back that is effective and that you can bring back that running game, and that way you can avoid having to utilize your quarterback as a runner. So I think that now that that element of his game has been taken away. Not that he was a quarterback that ran all the time, but in key plays and key moments, it was very effective for the for the offense. So I think that, no, that's staying in. I would say it's.
False, all right, statement to any decline and Dak's performance in twenty twenty three was more related to the offense, particularly coaching and the players around him, the offensive line and the wide receivers.
We'll talk about twenty three or twenty four, twenty four, Sorry, twenty four, I'm sorry.
Can you run that back on?
Yes?
Please?
Any decline and Dak's performance in twenty twenty four was more related to the offense and coaching and to the players around him, the offensive line and the receivers.
Yeah, I think there's a lot of validity in that. I'll say true.
The offensive line was was a lot, especially when he was especially when he was starting before the Atlanta game when he got hurt. Personnel around him was and we talked about it on the show many times. The personnel around him did not help him, and the offseason last year did not help him to succeed. I mean, losing Tyron Smith is a big deal. Throwing a rookie over there, and a rookie that was battling injury from the start
of camp, it's it's it was. It was gonna be something that that hurt the offense, and it hurt Dak Prescott and eventually physically hurt Dak Prescott.
So I would say, yeah, that's that's true.
Everybody had a hand in this. One front office had a hand in this. Misevaluated the running back situation. They also misevaluated the second wide receiver on this football team. They believed in Jalen Tolbert, and he did not live up to what he the expectations that they had.
Also, Brandon Cook's getting hurt, right, Yeah.
You know, I think so too. I mean, it's just but you know, like I say.
The offensive line, the right guard wasn't very good, the right tackle wasn't very good.
You had problems. You know, he had a.
Rookie at left tackle, you had a rookie at center. I mean, I think the left tackle was more of a problem than the center. So yeah, I think everybody, the front office, the coaches, the scheme, A lot of things did not play out very well, and all those things ultimately affected Dak Prescott.
Yeah, I would say as well. I think looking at Dak's career overall, I would say everything around him had to be working for him in order for him to be successful. If you look at the beginning of his career till twenty twenty three, that was the first year I feel like, in my opinion that we were actually able to see a Dak Prescott take things on his own in certain games where he put the games on his back and he was making those plays for the
offense and saving them in that way. And then all of a sudden, twenty twenty four happens, you see the struggles that the offense was having. Overall, I would say, yes, every coaching I was not a fan of the play caller and the way that McCarthy was handling some of the situations happening on the field, and then the players. You look at certain plays where it was not on Dak.
A lot of plays were on Dak, but then there's a lot of that were not on him, and it was execution for other players, and you talk about the protection they're not being there in Dak having to kind of continuously having to deal with the pressure. So yeah, I think everyone had a hand in that one, all right.
Third statement, with the changes to coaching, projected changes to the offensive scheme, and with new personnel, Dak will be closer to the twenty twenty three production and version of himself than he was twenty twenty four.
Are reassuming he's healthy, I assume in the sense, Yeah, that's a good point.
Yeah's you. I'm going to go false.
I'm going to go false because the personnel still is a question for me. You know, they still need a starting running back, they still need reliability at that left tackle. I'm not saying that they need to go out and get a left tackle, but they need to prove that Tyler Geiden is ready to take on that challenge right guard.
What's going to go on there?
Brock Kaufman I have confidence in, and I'm going to stand on the table for brock Hoffman all the way through training camp unless he gives me a reason not to. I think he will be the starter at that spot and he will be good, but he needs to prove it as well, So there's a lot of questions on the offensive side of the ball, and Dak needs Dak.
Needs people around him, that is the fact.
And when he does have people around him, he returns to that twenty twenty three production and he is competing for an MVP and he does have this team competing for a number one seed in the NFC, but without people around him.
You see what happened in the first eight weeks of the season last year.
I'd love to I'm encouraged by the fact that he's got a new play caller. I think he's going to have a new wide receiver out there with Cede Lamb, and I think he saw some things with Turpin, so maybe they're eleven personnel. Stuff will be better. I think need Jake Ferguson to play a lot better than he did last year. I think that would really help Nix absolutely right, though they do not have a running back situation. I'm with him about liking Williams, but in a certain role.
You go out and get this guy a wide receiver that could play opposite Lamb, that could also play with Turpin and help with Ferguson, and then you get him a legitimate running back. I think the offensive line stuff will take care of itself. I'm encouraged by the two coaches that are here, so I think he can play at that level at twenty twenty three. But it's going to be a lot of things around him have to improve.
We said it, the.
Tackle spot, the guard spot, the receiver spot, the tied end spot, and the running spot. Is that too much to put on Dak Prescott? You know, he's now the guy that you know buy if you look at pay if you watch his pockets.
He is the highest paid guy.
And there's gonna be people to say, well, he needs to go out there and play like that. So depending on if you're that kind of person not, but he is going to need everything that I talked about to kind of to show up for him to have the season he had in twenty twenty three.
Yeah, right now, I would say false as well, but that doesn't mean that he can't be true.
There's just so much ann well, it's a soft true.
It's a soft true or false. True or false.
I say, you know, you can't easily change my mind if you start showing it to me. But right now I believe it until I see it. There's a lot false yes right now, false with a sense of hope for a truth. You know, sports is fluid, Yeah, so you know strange lady Brian, you never have But no, there's just so much change that you don't really know what it's actually going to happen. I will say this right now, this coaching change feels very different, like the
changing energy. You feel a sense of freshness and newness. I don't even know if that's a word, but there you go. A shot in Heimer. If you're around him, you just feel the energy and the desire to be here and really put in the work. I think he's doing just that, and I think when you do something like that, it's very contagious and it carries over to
the team. So I feel that based on what we've heard so far in the off season and the way that Dak Prescott has expressed himself in regards to Shotenheimer, I think he will put not that he's not ever, He's always done that, He's always tried to do his best. But I think when you have that kind of relationship,
you somehow just strive even harder. You're there for each other, you work hard, you stay later you put in those extra hours to get what you need to do, and I think the communication there is going to be a lot more effective, and therefore, I would imagine it just brings a sense of improvement as far as Dak's game.
Ye, all right, what should Dallas do to replenish the depth on the quarterback position after losing Cooper Rush to the Ravens and with Trey Lance still a free agent?
What does Dallas need to do?
They're gonna have to go get a guy in the draft that they feel confident can be that guy if Dad goes down for a couple of games. I mean, we talked about it a bit on the Draft show yesterday. Is like, Okay, yeah, you gotta go get starters at these positions. He's really important. So that's and Zach Walshik made a great point. He did, and he was like, I need to go get starters at this point. I'm not necessarily worried about quarterback, but the sense of it is.
And the thing I brought up is like, what if you start ten to three and Dad goes down and you don't have you have a fifth round quarterback that you have to rely upon. Granted he would have thirteen weeks of season, and you would hope, but you know, what does that situation look like? And then do you look back on the draft and be like, man, I wish I took one earlier. For me, if this team acquires another pick on Day two, that pick should be used to go get a quarterback.
Nick, tell me the places that Brian Schottenheimer's visiting.
Tell me the schools he's going to.
Yeah, so he's at Ohio State today.
Okay, that's Will Howard's there.
Yeah, he'll be at Texas A and M tomorrow. There's no quarterback, no quarterback there.
Friday he'll be at been one there a long time.
Say it again, Friday, Will He'll be at Ole Miss Jackson Dart won't be available.
Jackson Dart won't be available there.
But yeah, those would be the see I thought that there would be a thing the coaches and stuff that have gone to like to Oregon, in places like that. I think that Dallas is hunting. The one thing that Cowboys have shown me over the years. And even it goes back when I was in the personnel department here. We were always hunting for a quarterback, not always successful, didn't have the right mentality to do this. You know, didn't have the right focus to do this, but they do.
They need to go get a legitimate guy. I think Nick's right about taking the extra pick, but you also need to to go and look at you know, he's gonna have his eyes on Will Howard. Is Will Howard a third fourth round guy. You look at him and when he was at Kansas State and then you know what he's done at Ohio State. Tremendous player there, quinn Ewers at Texas. I mean where where do you see quinn Ewrs? Dylan Gabriel from Oregon. These are all guys.
I mean, Dylan Gabriel is a five to eleven guy that doesn't really have a lot of power to his game. But you know, you're starting to and I and I haven't mentioned like guys like Shuck and others that you know, there's there's going to be some guys that they need to absolutely consider here. I just don't I can say that they they gave a fourth round pick for Trey Lance. You know, they're always trying to hunt a corp. Back go back to to Connor Cook, go back to UH
to UH to the guy from from Memphis. There that that they I'm always forget this kid's name, but uh, Peyton anyway, don't worry about it. But you know, but Paxton Lynch, sorry, Pax Lynch, I knew I was gonna get I was thinking of Peyton something, Paxton Lynch. They're always been trying to hunt quarterbacks here, so this to me is no different than any of their times. They've proven that they want to use resources to try and find that guy.
Okay, so I'm gonna get a little crazy here.
Give me a name of a player at quarterback that would drop in the first or the second rounds that would make you say I would pull the trigger that early on a quarterback for this team.
If Jackson dar Sarre at forty four.
Huh yeah, sign me up. Let's go.
Is there anyone that would make you I'm assuming this wouldn't happen, but if either one of those quarterbacks dropped to you in the first round, would you would you pull the trigger in the first round?
No? I would not, not, not with four years left on Dak Steel, like if his deal was structured in a different way where he maybe had two or three years and yeah, but like you would be you would be aligning that rookie contract with.
That's why I think like a Will Howard or something like that, even Milrow.
So really, third fourth is the earliest, you guys.
Yeah, yes, you know, and it's it's it's fascinating to look back and you know, I've even done this in my head. If Dak had not signed here, what quarterback would I want at twelve? That's the game I play with myself and when I'm trying to kind of.
Feel like, who would I really have?
Would I rather have Sanders or would I rather have Dart Because I don't feel like I'm going to have a.
Shot at Ward.
Yeah, and I might not have a shot at Sanders either, but I won In my mind, I'm like, Okay, if I had the pick at twelve, That's how I'm trying to line these guys up, who would I take?
Since since they took Troy Aikman with the first pick in nineteen eighty nine, they have only drafted one quarterback before the fourth round.
It is Quincy Carter.
Quincy Carter.
Yeah, yeah, and so it's uh, and.
You look at the quarterbacks overall that they have drafted since O one, you go, Quincy Carter technically they're a counting Isaiah standback here, but he was a receiver. Stephen McGee and O nine in the fourth round, Dak in the fourth round in twenty sixteen, Mike White in the fifth round in twenty eighteen, and then Danucci in the seventh round in twenty twenty.
That's it.
Wow.
So you know it's yes, they have devoted resources into finding, you know, some of those those backup quarterback type roles, but it's not it's not a Green Bay where they go and get a quarterback every year, or they tried to. I think in this draft you're gonna have some guys there on Day three available to you. But I also would not necessarily force it. The reason I say that is because veterans available. Do any of these names entice you?
Joe Flacco, Carson Wentz, Teddy Bridgewater, Drew Locke, those would probably be the best names I could throw out as far as realistic.
Well, they like Will Greer, you know, I mean obviously Will Greer.
I that's a good yeah. I didn't even think about it me personally.
I you know, Will Greer could come in and probably be fine.
I mean they may feel like he is he's Cooper Rush, their next Cooper.
I don't Nick, do you think they got blindsided by Cooper Rush signing somewhere else or are they think so?
Were they okay with that? I don't think. I think the same thing. I think they're okay. They were like, listen, let's just kind of move on from that.
They had already said that they were devoting resources into finding how to get younger at that position behind Dax, so I think that they were fully expecting that. And you talk about Will Greer, He's gonna be thirty next year, so it's it's he's not necessarily the quote unquote younger option.
Hey watch it, watch it.
Older for football. But uh yeah, in general, they need to go get a the d.
To go get you know, well, your question was horrible, Derek.
The question you post with drafting a quarterback in the first three rounds terrible question. Why it's nonsense, It's not going to happen.
See what No, here, here's what I here was the point of the question.
The point of the question is it's a good question.
One of the questions like do you really what what would make you?
Where are you with quarterback? Are you so starved?
For quarterback to where you're like, hey, if this guy gets to me, yeah, I don't care that I can't use him this year, maybe even next year, I say, pulled the trigger.
That's what I'm trying to get to that level. And what's that name?
Looking into their perspective, like, I just feel like that just would not happen whatsoever, not after the contract you just gave Dash.
See, you should never you should never go into this thinking about building your football team because you gave a.
Massive contract to somebody.
Why never do that. It's about building your team. It's about it's about having options. You don't know what's going to happen in week five or week seven or week ten.
You don't know.
You've got to find a way to protect yourself. And the whole idea is to go out and get the most talented players you know, regardless of the position. That's what always talk about. One of the things that Dallas is really good at is when it's best available player, they go out and they get.
And it seems to work for them.
So to me, if you're if you're looking at this and saying I'm not going to sign a guy to Okay, if they go into this draft and thinking that they've got they've got their big receiver in Mingo and don't take an other receiver early in this thing. Is that do we feel good about that? We should feel the same way about a quarterback. You should feel the same any position, any position on your football team.
Don't let don't.
Let contracts and stuff keep you from getting the best football.
But that's your scout mind speaking. But when you start looking at it, I like all these numbers and contracts and like that.
I don't care.
I lost my quarterback in week what eight? Yeah, and my season was done. I mean Cooper Rush came in and was serviceable. You know, give me a chance to win games, give me a chance to be different. I mean, give me a chance to where I don't feel like that my team is going to completely fall apart.
And let's also throw this out there too, every one of you guys in that first question that I ask about Dak Prescott, true, a false? You all sit false because of the injury. Yeah, if there are concerns about his health, and if there are concerns about what that means for this season and going beyond that, then you.
Better have a backup quarterback.
And so if the question just becomes how much do you want to invest in that backup quarterback? Do you want to invest a lot in that backup quarterback knowing that at some point he will take over that role and maybe it happens before you get to the end of that contract. Or do you want to just say, hey,
give me a Will Greer and I'll be okay. Like That's what I'm trying to figure out is where that level of concern is with regards to the health of your starting quarterback, and that will dictate how much you're willing to invest right now.
In a quarterback.
But it's also when you looked at all the other needs that you still have in other position.
You're not all fair. You're not all fair. You're gonna get you're gonna be able to fill needs. You cannot fill every need this football team has in the draft.
You can't.
Yeah, you can't.
Never happen, you absolutely can't. And so the sit there and say, oh, well, we're using a premium pick. You're not gonna we have twenty holes. Yeah, you have holes because you're you weren't very good and you lost and you did your best.
That's why I gave him a an a on the execution.
Of trying to use drafting or use excuse me, signings and trades to their advantage. So that's that's They're doing what they need to do, but they're not gonna be able to fill all the needs that they have in this team. And Derek, I think you even said somebody said it was a two year thing, two year project. You know, it's still they still have a long way to go. But I don't think the draft is going to completely fill everything that they need.
I have a solution, guys.
It's a guy who I think would work in this scheme. He's athletic, he can work out, he's a winner, and he's on the open market right now. Sam Ellinger, just go get them crickets.
I like Sam.
I like Sam.
I was just trying to throw it.
But.
No, they get Vince Young. I like, if you're gonna play with what are we doing? That would take Vince Young? Maybe samok them?
But I can I do that?
Bottle up bringing Colt McCoy back.
I wish I could bottle up all of y'all's faces.
All right, final break, we'll be back. Well, we'll see where we go.
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Back to the.
Break ATNT Connecting changes everything.
Welcome back.
It is the final segment of the Break live from the SWBC Mortgage studios at the Star.
Why are you losing it over the Brian when you had these players right I'm just disappointed right now with you, some of these grades you got on these guys.
We'll see, We'll.
See closer to being more right. Last year we.
Had we had our missus right.
I felt pretty good about my board last year. That's all I was say.
You ran pretty close.
I ran pretty good. And the old guy I like, really missed on his bone X.
That was And what way you missed?
Like?
I was a lot hotter than you thought.
Yeah, he was a lot better than I thought he'd be.
Yeah, but I can't really think of a huge Malachai Corley was a miss for me last year.
If you do this long enough, you'll have a few of them.
Yeah, but it was beginner's luck last year. I had a great I had a great year last year.
But you know, we gotta keep it.
Don't hurt your back.
Yees, sophomore slump, got sophomore slump, softmore slump. It happens, we.
Won't have time to get to safety. We'll do that on our next show. But real quick, I did want you to talk about one particular safety. Uh Macouba out of Texas, give me a got a report on him.
Yeah, so a native of Zimbabwe, he moved to the United States when he was nine years old. Got to know this kid pretty well during his recruitment out of Austin LBJ High School, a talented young player who chose Clemson over Texas in the sense that it was around the Tom Harmon era Clemson. He felt better about development at that time in the Dabo Sweety defense and he
certainly got it. Played four years or played three years in that Clemson defense and was a key piece for them in that secondary battle injury, I believe in his second season, but made his way back from that and was really productive and transferred to Texas and got better. And the defensive back development at Texas last.
Year was was awesome.
And if you don't believe me, look at where all those coaches are getting hired now.
It was really strong.
And you talk about John Ay Barron being in at the corner spot. They had a guy Hmed Michael Taff who I think we're probably gonna talk about next year on Day Elite. Muhammad is another guy that's going to get drafted high when his time comes around. Really strong secondary in Macouba kind of was help helping to dictate what happened in that secondary and mccooba came in as the new guy, but he grew up playing with John A.
Barron.
He grew up playing with Michael taff I mean, these guys have a ton of experience together. You saw that experience hit the field immediately. Now, what does what does mccouba bring to you. He's a guy that has space on that back end. He's a guy that is quickly rising in this draft process. I think when and maybe I do need to do a second evaluation, Brian, in the sense that I gave mccouba the evel right after the Cotton Bowl. Yeah, and I put a third round
great on him. But it would not surprise me if this guy ends up getting taken in the second round. This surprises me that the Cowboys are taking him in for a thirty visit because they still have Mollie Cooker and Donovan Wilson locked up. They just re signed Janie Thomas and Marquise Bell to the depth of that position. Let's just say theoretically, like, hey, mccooba's available to you
at you're not taking him at forty four. So if he's available to you at seventy six, where does he fit in that that that?
I don't think. I don't think they're married to Hooker and Wilson.
I was about to say I don't know. There's nothing that tells me there.
Maybe you'll tell me contracts there's something that you can't get out of and all that. But I'll say this about mccuba. I mean, when you watch him play, and I'll do this quickly, this is one of the best safeties in the country. When you when when quarterbacks went after him. You look at the metrics and stuff about
this guy. He was the quarterback rating the fourth best in the country defending these quarterbacks and these receivers and stuff as a safety, and like twenty six percent of his targets were incompletions.
You know what I'm saying.
I mean, this kid is got, he's got the way he's the way he handles himself and stuff like that.
I mean he.
Could he could really cover some ground as a safety, and I think did. If you're the Cowboys, Yeah there's a guy. Boy, we got a guy who played with some range, guy that could trigger quick, guy that plays on the ball, guy that can cover, guy that can tackle. Yeah there's you could. Andrew mccuba is a guy you absolutely need to study.
It's the one concern I did have was tackling. I feel like his play strength probably could improve, especially at the next level. But you talk about his boss being that range everything six in or.
Siven he is built like a Cornery six foot six.
Is maybe that the thought process?
Yeah, you know what we saw what that guy Detroit does. You know, we saw what Brian Branch does. We saw the ability to play safety, playing coverage, play down play, you know. I mean, there's there's This is a really twitchy kind of a player. I really like the change, the direction, the burst and things like that.
This is one of those instances where I think sometimes you get into the offseason and people start breaking guys down and looking at their size and the measurables, and I could tell you, say, somebody that watched every single game at Texas that this guy played, he is a player like he's one of those guys that just was around the ball all the time, always making plays and and those kind of guys like it's just that's just something.
There's something to that in the game of football. Knowing where to be, knowing how to get there, knowing how to make the play when you get there. I think that's one of the things I love about this this guy, and I think whoever gets him is going to look back, and it's gonna be a lot of team's gonna be like, dang, we should have picked him, because I think he's that kind of player.
Nick, I think the media scouts, when part the media scouts are behind on this guy.
I think the media scouts, I think that. I think the NFL.
Teams, No, no, come about, we're all we're media scouts. But I'm saying I think a lot of guys and gals were behind on this guy.
They're they're all learning he's a really good football.
Good player.
All right, appreciate you guys joining us. We'll be back next week. We'll continue our player evaluation. We'll get in safety, couple other positions. Uh, we'll see how that goes.
Then.
For Nick Harris, we're getting.
Through the whole run training camp, but we're gonna get there.
And Ambergari and Derek Eavenson.
This has been The Break live on Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio.
This has been a production of Dallascowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.