Cowboys Break: Sounding Off

I'm live from the s WBC Mortgage studios at the Star got Nick David Amber joining me today and we're gonna turn the show over over to Amber here in just a little bit. We're gonna do some fan questions. We don't get to fan questions often enough, so we decided we're going to turn over the almost most of the show today to you guys and let you guys get some questions in and we'll answer as many as we can and hear what you guys think is important

to discuss. We do have a few news items, a few topics we want to hit before we get to that. Though yesterday we find out that Andy Dalton and Cheeto a Woozier. Both we're back at practice. According to coach McCarthy, the expectation is at this point that they will both play this weekend. First, starting with Andy, do you expect to see the offense playing better than it playning even better than it did versus Pittsburgh with Andy back, Nick, let's start with you. Yeah, I think I expect that.

I think the Cowboys expect that or they would have, you know, gone to Gilbert. I think that they feel like a little bit better quarterback play would have won

that game. I'm sure it would have won the Eagles game as well, and so, you know, as as good as Hilbert played, based off our expectations, I think that, you know, it could have been way better obviously, And I think that they're just hoping that Dalton, with a couple of weeks off here, maybe he's fully healthy now and he can convert some of those field goals into touchdowns.

So yeah, I would I would think that he could be a little bit better amber I think, so there's a possibility of that, but there's just something that I feel that it just doesn't work with Andy Dalton, and I think obviously he has all the experience. He's a proven guy. You've seen him do it. You know he can do it. But at the same time, for some reason, and this is just me, I just feel that he just doesn't quite fit in with the guys in the offense. I just feel like there is a lack of connection

there and unity in a way. And there's nothing necessarily to back this up. It's merely based on the interviews that I've watched the guys when they go up there and try to talk to the media. Just the way I've heard certain players express themselves about Andy Dalton makes me feel like there's a lack of unity there and

a lack of connection. And not to say there's nothing bad and like it's nothing bad against him whatsoever or his skills, but to me, personally, I just feel that Gary Gilbert fits in better and therefore maybe that's the reason why we saw the offense perform differently than what we saw with Andy Dalton, even though Andy Dalton have had a very limited time on the field. Dave, those Andy is Andy quotes really bothered you. Huh, what'd you say that that was the only thing coming out when

Andy Dalton was the starting quarterback was Andy's Andy. He looks the same as he always does, and if you're not wrong, it was very boring. But I'm I lean toward thinking Andy Dalton's going to be a pretty drastic improvement, honestly, And I'm I'm banking mainly on the fact that Zack Martin basically was out for both of his starts. He went down actually in that Arizona game and missed the Washington game. I think having him there can stabilize that

offensive line. And yeah, like I think he's the better quarterback. I'll be surprised if he doesn't play significantly better than he did against the Cardinals and Washington. Yeah, I think that'll be the interesting thing. I'm cautiously optimistic, is the way I would put it, because I do think that what I saw from the offense last week was different

than what I've seen since Dak has been out. So what I don't know is, like you say, Dave, I don't know if that's because Zack Martin was out and now Zack's back and the offensive line was better because of that, or was the offensive line better because the quarterback got rid of the ball quicker and was being more decisive with his decisions getting the ball out right.

So that's where I really don't know, and I think that'll be an interesting thing to keep an eye on this week, as everything points to the fact that Andy Dalton will be your starter and presumably play the entire game. Let's look at the defensive side of the ball. Cheeto's coming back. You've lost Treyvon Diggs. Do you expect the defense to be better, worse, or the same with basically swapping out Cheeto for Treyvon Dick. Let's start with you,

Dave the same. I think you're you're swapping out one solid corner who occasionally gets beaten for another solid corner who occasionally gets beaten. I think if you had them both, you would probably feel pretty good, but you don't. So it's you know, it's Cheeto on one side, and then you piece it together with everybody else as you go. So I would guess it's gonna look fairly similar, which is to say, okay, all right, Nick, Yeah, I mean

I agree with that. I mean you'd like to have them both because I think they would be your two best cornerbacks, especially the two best on the outside. But you know, Cheeto will well should be it should be well rested. He also should should you know, be aware of certain things, certain looks. Um And you know Minnesota they have some some good receivers. They got a good, you know, young rookie that I know Dave knows all about. But also you know, Adam Feelin's a really good route runner,

really good player, good pass catcher. So you know, you just you'd like to have it both probably from an awareness standpoint, I mean, you get more with Cheeto, but you know, Diggs is a better playmaker. And he's got two interceptions and I think Cheeto has four for his career. So for his career, yeah, So I mean it's it's you know, he gets about one a year, so um, and he's got his one. So I think it's probably going to be about a washer unfortunately, Amber, I agree.

I think that we might get a similar look at least in these first few games of him coming back. I mean, he's missed a really long time. I mean it feels like he's been out since wait to you then he was out part of training camp because he had suffered another injury at training camp. I forgot what it was, but it was like maybe his knee or something like that, and he was out for a little bit, so he's missed a lot of time on the football field.

So I have a feeling that it might take him a little while for him to kind of get back on the track and get back to football shape. Although they're not gonna put him out there on the field and in real game if it's not ready. But at the same time, I think it's gonna take him a couple of games to kind of go back to him full like being him full self on the field. All right, let's move to another topic. And I'm gonna ask you guys to put on your GM hats a little bit here.

DeAndre Baker's a guy that's been in the news here recently. He was a guy that was on the New York Giants. He's drafted by the New York Giants. He was charged with armed robbery, and over the last day or two those charges were all dropped. At the time when he was first charged, the Giants decided to cut him. So

he is a free agent. He's sitting out there was a guess ball accounts and Dave, I'll ask you, since you do the draft show, give me a scout report on what you guys thought of this guy coming into the NFL. From what I remember, DeAndre Baker, he's a pure like classic man corner. You know, Georgia used to put him out on an island. He was an elite college player. I don't think he gave up a passing

touchdown during either of his seasons as a starter. Wow, average athleticism, Like he's not a freaky athlete, but he was just a sticky man corner. Giants drafted him thirtieth. He was one of three first round picks they made that year. And the big thing that I remember being a knock, which is interesting because of what's happened with him over the last six months, is his off field demeanor got a lot of bad mark People questioning how

much he liked football, people questioning his attitude. I think I remember a report last season that he fell asleep during a meeting, that type of stuff. So, I mean, you know, you talk about any leap cover corner who played at a program like Georgia, you would think he would be not higher than thirtieth overall. So that probably contributed to it a little bit. And I you know, just he had a really rough rookie season, like even

by rookie cornerback standards. He got picked on a lot last year, So that's kind of the thumbnail, I guess. With that all being said and understanding where this team is with regards to cornerbacks, we've talked a lot about the fact that they're gonna be losing some cornerbacks presumably or could lose some cornerbacks this offseason with free agency coming up, would you, if you were the Cowboys GM, make the decision to give this a shot, if you had an opportunity to go in and get this guy. Nick,

let's start with you. Well, if I was the Cowboys GM, I would be Jerry. And if I'm Jerry, I go and look at it. I mean, Jerry does this is what This is the type of thing that Jerry always does. You're trying to steal players. You're trying to steal talent. They've done it since, you know, since the moment he got here. If Charles Haley had a little bit of talent left and he could get him for cheap, let's bring him in. And it doesn't always work out, Demetrius Underwood,

Alonzo Spellman, it doesn't work out all the time. Greg Hardy, I mean, but he's trying to steal talent, and so he's gonna look at it. I think I think you have to. I think they look at the situation, they see is it worth the headache? And it sounds like in the year it's been a headache enough for the Giants to say, even without even knowing what's going on, the Giants said we're out. So that means to me,

there's thirty one teams available to sign them. I doubt that Giants will be one of them because he'll probably won't want to resign them that they turned their back on him before they knew all the information. But but but they might have known enough to say no thanks. But Jerry will look into it. Doesn't mean he'll sign them, doesn't mean that they'll they'll get them, but they will always try to get acquired talent like this Amber, would

you kick the tires. That's a tough one because I say, you always want to get talent, especially at an area

of need on your team. But at the same time, I'm someone who doesn't want to deal with behavioral issues and problems outside the field, so I don't want to bring that into the locker room or anything like that, and to me, hearing what the head coach from the Giants said and the fact that they're like, you know, we made the decision that this is what's better for our team not to have him on there, to me, that says a lot because those people know you a

lot better than other teams do, and people from the outside, and we know we've seen it. I mean, Nick was talking about Jerry Jones, and we've seen it with Jerry Jones when it comes to certain players, for example, Randy Gregory, very very very different story. But when you have guys that you have their backs and you want to root for them and all that, it just to me says a lot that the fact that the Giants decided to turn their backs and say by so I would say

I'll pass on that, Dave. I just want to point two more players real quick though, two more players and Dave might even mention this, but that are on the roster right now. Jordan Lewis and Lyle Collins, both of those guys. The Cowboys did their homework. They said, all right, we see what's in the news, we see what's been reported and all this, but let's do our homework and see and they brought both of them in and you know, there hasn't been any issues there. So I'm not saying

this the same thing. Like Amber said, everything's different, but I think the Cowboys will at least do their homework. They have to, they'd be silly not to, and then

they'll make their judgment from there. I would also point out that, you know, you can say the Giants turned their back on and maybe they did, but the charges that were alleged were pretty intense, like if you go read the police report from over the summer, talking about sticking guns and people's phases and all kinds of crazy stuff. So you know, it was the type of situation where I don't blame a team for wanting to distance themselves

from that. You know, this isn't like cutting a guy over a drug, you know, a marijuana arrest or something like that, So I think that's a little bit different. I don't really think there's a wrong answer to this, like kick the tires on a first round talent, maybe you steal something player like Nick said, or also if you just feel like he's it's not worth risking, you know, the influence in the room that I don't blame you for that either. I lean toward thinking I'd give it

a look just because there's really no downside. You bring him in for seven weeks, see what he can do. If it goes great, that's great, and if it doesn't, you can let him go. So yeah, I'd probably do it just because I don't. Yeah. I The one thing I'll say here is I look at the Giants and

that actually gives me pause what they did. And the reason why is because if he's a young guy who they drafted high, that they were willing to say at that moment, without having all of the facts, or at least all the facts that we know of, we're willing to say, hey, we're just gonna part ways. It makes me think that maybe his behavior before that corroborated that story enough for them, right, they could see a scenario.

You know, sometimes you hear something that someone did and you're like, uh, doesn't shock me, right, Or you hear something someone didn't you're like, oh my god, really, I think this might have fallen in the category maybe for the Giants of doesn't shock me, And so in that situation, they were like, he's not playing great on the field, maybe his attitude isn't what we wanted to be. We're not shocked by this. We make a move. That's the kind of thing that would make me a little bit leary.

But as you mentioned, Nick, like the cowboys do this, this is what they do. They look at situations where they can steal talent and get it on the cheap, and and so I think they certainly should because that's the way they proceed I think they should at least take a look at this, do their due diligence, which I'm sure they have people who can find out more information about what really happened and find out, you know,

what this guy's really all about. And then if they feel like they can bring him in without affecting the locker room, if they think they can bring him in and be a second chance for him where maybe if his attitude wasn't great in the past, maybe they can think it can get better, then do that because they certainly could use the talent. We all know at the cornerback position, they could definitely use a talent, So I think it would be a good thing for them long term.

We're gonna go and take our first break and we come back. We're gonna jumpupto Fan questions. We're gonna get up to a lot of them, Amber Haasm all lined up for us. Do that when we come right back. This is Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio. There's nothing as unique as our eyes, which is why SLOR pioneers ways to make lenses as unique as you. Varilux for super sharp vision, Essential Blue for protection, and Crisolved for freedom from glare. Three cutting up solutions and a single unique lens.

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Back to The Break give the gift of the Cowboys this holiday season with the ultimate fan experience for the ultimate Cowboys fan membership started just twenty dollars to join Dallas Cowboys United presented by Global Life. Visit Dallas Cowboys dot com Slash United to join today. Welcome back. It is the second segment of The Break Will Life from the SWBC Mortgage studios at the Star. We're going to spend the whole rest of the show taking questions from

you guys. We want to hear what you guys have to think. Amber has questions lined up. Amber, what you got? Okay, Now that I'm looking at the list of questions this question, I probably should have given you guys the heads up because I doubt you know this from the back of your head. But yesterday, Derek, you brought up Jeff heath and and what he's doing over there in Vegas when you start looking at his contract compared to what the Cowboys are losing in guarantees when they decided to cut Haha,

Clinton Dix, how does that compares. They're a big amount of money in comparison to what they did with Clinton Dix versus what they could have done with Jeff Heath and trying to keep him here in Dallas. No, they're not. I mean, they're not that different. I think Haha, Shoot, I can pull it up. Haha signed for like one year, three and a half with two and a half of that guaranteed. Jeff if Heath signed a two year, six million dollar deal. I think, Um, yeah, Haha signed a

four million dollar deal. Jeff Heath signed a two year, six million dollar deal. So they're very similar. And when when Heath left and Haha signed, people were like, this is a wash or maybe even a downgrade, like at this point in his career, Haha, Clinton Dix is not definitively better than Jeff Heath. Um. I think that's I think that's a difference between you know, a coaching staff.

You know, the guys that really loved and knew Jeff Heath aren't here anymore, and the new coaching staff wanted somebody that they were more familiar with, or they thought it was a better fit. I'm trying to hear people act like letting Jeff Heath go was this stupid decision based on how many fans hated him while he was here. Though, that's I mean, that's the that's the epitome of hindsight

is twenty twenty. Now. To follow that up, do you guys think still think that it was a bad decision from the Cowboys to have decided to cut Hicklington Dicks before the start of the season and even giving him a trying to having him on the field. Well, I mean, when when you consider that they brought in Stephen Parker up and up and down from the practice squad, and I mean, I don't know, it's hard for us to

say how bad haha. It was apparently the coaches didn't didn't like him at all, and and they'd let him go. And I don't believe he's in the league anywhere, so you know, it's he must have been pretty bad. But I mean, when you what you've seen out of Darien Thompson and Stephen Parker and you think, well, I'd like to thank for the veteran, it would click here at some point, um. So I thought it was a little bit early to do that, especially when you don't have

any backups that are playing well. Your starter next to lager Woods isn't doing anything really, so I would have probably kept him. But again, it's hard to say we weren't watching a ton of practice to be able to see what was happening and what wasn't happening. Yeah, I will say I always thought it was Oh sorry, I always I mean, Nick is right, we didn't get to see a whole lot, But like I remember thinking it

was weird, haha. Was a starter for about the first four days of practice, and then he was just buried on the depth chart, And I was always like, I'm like, man, we sure haven't had a whole lot of training camp for y all toon just decide that this guy's not worth a damn right off the bat, like it must have been. I mean, he either must have been way more atrocious than I thought, or maybe the fit just wasn't there with the coaches. Maybe they didn't you know,

people talk about, you know, trading Everson Griffin. Maybe because he didn't mess with the coaches. Maybe it was a situation like that. I don't know. It sure felt like they abandoned the experiment early, but I'm pretty confident saying like, I don't think their safety play would be significantly better if he was still here. I think the mistake was not investing more heavily in the offseason, which I mean,

we all know that anyway. Yeah, I'll say this that the interesting part to me is, and I know, in NFL terms, Dave, I think you said that the number was two million that was guaranteed on that deal. Obviously in NFL terms, that's not a ton of money. But for me, I look at it and say, how wrong were they either in the evaluation when they were trying

to sign him or once he got here? How bad did he actually play for them to just say, hey, we'd rather just give you two million dollars to leave us, you know, at a position where we already we don't know what's going to happen, we don't have a clear starter, we don't have players that we feel like are great.

To me, that's more of a just kind of a really weird situation where how bad did he have to really play or how off were they in their evaluations when they signed him to just give him two million dollars to walk away? That that's the part that really baffles me here, And I don't know that we really

know the answer. I think part of it is in the fact that if it's true that he hasn't signed with anyone to this point, then that may tell you a lot that maybe we made the evaluation or the Cowboys made the evaluation that was very different than a lot of other teams, and that the other teams are liking, Oh, there's no way we're taking this guy, and the Cowboys were willing to give him two million dollars to just walk away and go sit at home. Now, let's switch

the subject over to the quarterback position. I think we all assume that Andy Dalton might be the starter this weekend. Nick, you can start answering this question, what would you say is the length of Dalton's leash as far as at what point how many games do the Cowboys give him and for them to maybe decide, Okay, maybe he's not the right fit, and then maybe we need to let

Gary Gilbert play as the quarterback. One if he's terrible, two if it's if he's okay, but they lose, and then the second one is not very you know, not very good either. But if it's terrible in Minnesota one But but but you gotta be careful. You gotta be careful right now with all that, and you the Cowboys have to be prepared for a lot of things going into this, one of them being get Garrett Gilbert ready to play against Washington. And I think it was Chris

Beam that pointed this up. Chris, our producer, said, you better get a backup snapper, you better get another quarterback, you better get a backup hunter kicker, because if something happens in this game with the COVID rules, you don't have enough time to get another player for Thursday to bring him in here and all that. So that that being said, you better get guys ready to go. I'm giving Dalton one game. If he's if he's not good at all, then then I'm gonna go to Gilbert. And

that's not a very long leash. But that's how close it is for me right now, Derek or Dave, Yeah, I think, Um, I mean, if Andy is just absolutely god awful, like just Utrid on Sunday, then I think probably one game. Like I mean, if he just absolutely looks terrible quarters right, yeah, I mean, but I I guess my point. I just I just I'll be pretty surprised if that happens, Like I'll be pretty surprised if he is awful. So I mean I could stand to

be corrected, but my guess is. As long as he looks decent, I think he's the starter, and as long as Dallas is mathematically alive, you know, uh, you know, if if they're trading wins and losses, I think he's the starter the rest of the way. If they lose the next three games and they're two and ten, then I think you probably want to look at Garrett Gilbert. Um. So as as long as he doesn't look god awful, I think he's the starter as long as they're still

technically in the division race. But I mean if he just looks terrible against Minnesota, then I think you have to change that line of thinking. Yeah, you know, to be honest with you, if you guys listen to Jerry this morning on the radio, he made it seem as though like that's his guy. Andy is his They brought him in for this purpose exactly if you had to put a quarterback in. He feels like he has the most experience. He is, as Jerry called him this morning,

he is a starter. He is a starter caliber quarterback in the NFL. I don't think anybody's saying that necessarily about Garrett Gilbert. So as much as we all may see think that, I personally, don't think that the Cowboys are thinking that. I think, when it comes down to it, unless there is a situation where he is just playing just really horrible football, I think that down for the rest of the season, unless he's injured or unless COVID

pops back up. I think Andy Dalton is going to be your starter, and they're gonna see how they do with Andy Dalton as a starter, because I think they believe in his experience and they want to take advantage of the experience, and that's why they brought him here, is to be able to take advantage of the experience. So he's gonna have to be really, really awful in order for them to not play him and go with it.

Garrett Gilbert, That's funny because you guys keep talking about being awful, and then I'm just here thinking, Okay, be fine awful because already, so what's the level of awful? Okay, Cardinals, Cardinals, because I mean, Washington such a wash. Okay, that was just terrible the way the whole thing was set up for failure there, And I think you'll see that next Thursday when they play. I think it'll be a much different type of game. Zach Martin will help a lot there.

The weather obviously everything's going to be different. But Arizona they it wasn't all his fault. He didn't get a lot of help. He got some drop passes, but he wasn't that great either, and they only had three points until everybody went to bed, and then they scored another touchdown. So I think that's kind of borderline here. You're playing about equal type team Minnesota Arizona. Arizona is better than Minnesota,

but you know they're they're about close to equal. And if he doesn't play well, they has a field goal through most of the game. That's pretty awful for me. See I I think, I mean, I hear you. I'm not saying Andy was good against Arizona, but just looking at it, you know, he completed sixty three percent for two sixty six. Let him on a couple of score drives. Again, not saying they played great, they got their asses kicked. But if he can do that, I think he stays in.

It's more like if he's posting the line like Ben da Nucci did in Philly or you know Carson Winson Philly, where you're struggling to even approach two hundred yards passing, you know, four yards per attempt, something terrible like that. That's where I think you have to make a change. But he at least looked like a competent quarterback against Arizona, So I think he would have to be worse than

that to get pulled. Yeah, I think honestly, it's gonna cut down two turnovers and it's gonna come down to missing opportunities. So if regularly the coaches us seeing this guy is open, he missed the read, he didn't get the ball there, he missed the throw, or and or I should say he's turning the ball over. If he's throwing interceptions, if he's getting sack fumbles where he's just giving the ball away. I think those are two things that I think would quickly define for them that he's

playing poorly. And if you get to that situation, then I think maybe they make him. We heard Mike McCarthy talk about how one of the keys for him right now with this team is trying to solve the turnover issue. So if he takes it back to where they were a few weeks ago, where they're turning the ball over at this you know, crazy rate and he's doing two or three turnovers the game, then I think that could get him pulled. Do you have something right? Well, let's

take our final. Okay, I thought you had something good. Sorry, I can't say nake on my screen, so I didn't know if he was about to talk or not. I mean, I always have something, but I mean I'll just yeah, let me throw this part in. If it's not that great, do you get an advantage by starting Gilbert against Washington? Now Washington hasn't seen him. They prepared for Dalton and it was well for them. Gilbert would give them maybe a new look. You only have a short amount of

time to do that. But I'm just saying, you know, if it's not that great, and we know how it is on Thanksgiving, there's always a spark, there's always something. It would be a similar type atmosphere and maybe to the to the Pittsburgh game, even though you'd have more home fans, I'm sure, but I'm just saying, it's it's

that festive feeling. I think Gilbert, if it's not good, if they lose, they lose in a bad way against Minnesota, I think I could see that switch and it might given an advantage as Washington hasn't prepared for him yet. You'll see what happens pretty soon. Let's go ahead and take our final break, and we have plenty more questions to get to when we come back after this break. We're back in a tasty treat that's sweeping airwaves and taste buds. It's new Doctor pepper and cream Soda. Let's

take a listen, Doctor bad cream Soda. Is he a new comboe that's music to my ears? Okay, doctor time already music to my ears and mouths. New Doctor pepper and cream Soda a deliss. There's nothing as unique as our eyes, which is why SLOR pioneers ways to make lenses as unique as you. Varilux for super sharp vision, Essential Blue for protection, I'm Krisol for freedom from glare. Three cutting edge solutions and a single unique lens. So whatever your needs, insist on Selor visit your local SLOR

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Bank of America Corporation. Dear, it's nineteen oh eight. Don't you think we should get electricity and stop using candles to see it? Money? It's just electricity lights up the room fast, It's more reliable than candles blowing out, and people seem to love it nationwide. Candles, DA, did you just run into the wall? I have a new candle please. Historically, switching to new technology is a no brainer. Today it's AT and T five G, fast, reliable, secure and nationwide.

Switch to AT and T five G. It's not complicated. Five G requires compatible plan may not be in your area. See at dot com slash five G for you for details. Back to the break. The twenty twenty PBR Unleashed the Beast World Finals will be an AT and T Stadium this Thursday through Sunday. Don't miss a second of the action. Get your tickets now at PBR dot com or ceatgeek dot com. Welcome back. We are in the final segment

of the show. Amber's taking questions from the fans and we're going to jump right back in which you got Amber. Thank you, Derek. I have a long question, so bear with me and be patient. We keep talking a lot

about the draft and all that. So here's a draft question. Basically, if the Cowboys finished with the worst record in the NFL, is there any chance that they decide to draft a quarterback or Trevor Lawrence and let dakhnt free agency in order for them to be able to take advantage of the lower cap number and therefore be able to show up on defense and fix the issues on the O line, so basically, to save money so they can fix other

issues around the team. This is going to be the debate that doesn't go away as long as the Cowboys are in the top five of the draft order, which we'll see, you know, obviously, we'll see how that pans out. You know, it's a very interesting topic of conversation because you're taking a hell of a risk that any rookie quarterback is ever going to be better than what we've seen from Dak Prescott. Having said that you know, Trevor Lawrence is probably and honestly, I think the world of

Justin Fields too. I think those are maybe the best pair of quarterback prospects that have come out since Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin were at the top of the draft in twenty twelve. And to be blunt, I don't think the Cowboys would be doing their jobs correctly as a front office if they didn't at least consider it. But I also one, I don't think they're going to be drafting in the top two and two. I think Dak Prescott is that good that it's probably not worth

the risk of letting him walk. So I don't think you're crazy for asking the question, but I don't think it's going to happen either. I think the Cowboys I agree with it. I agree with that with what Dave said. I don't think they will be drafting right up there, but you know close enough to at least talk about it. I mean, think about last year this point last year, everyone was saying the Dolphins or other teams might tank for Tuah. Well, twa ends up fifth, right or fifth

or sixth, so he fell a little bit. So I'm not saying Lawrence is gonna fall, but I'm saying we don't really know how everything's gonna always shake out. But I I just I think the Cowboys going to do

their homework and evaluate these quarterbacks. And if Trevor Lawrence is the number one quarterback, a number one player on the board and all of that, and he's one of the best they've seen and all this time, then yeah, I think you have to consider that because yes, he's a rookie quarterback, but you know you put him in. This team was designed to be that way. I mean, they brought in a rookie quarterback and he had success

because of how it was built. Now it's it's not built that way now, but it can get rebuilt that way if you had an extra thirty one million dollars sitting around like you do this year. So I think you have to consider it. I mean, if you're up there and Trevor Lawrence is definitely the guy that they think is one of the best quarterbacks has come out in recent years. You know, I'll point out a couple

of things on this. The first thing is when they brought in Dak obviously they didn't expect Dak to be what Dak became. But what made Dak so successful initially as a young quarterback was the fact that he had a great offensive line. And I'm not certain how much stock I put in this offensive line going into next year. I think they got some good parts. I think they

got some really good players. I just don't know what the health the situation will be for some of them, and so I don't know what where the offensive line stands. But that all being said, the way I look at this is if you're in the top two, there is going to be a ransom to be paid by a lot of teams who are looking for quarterbacks to get into those top two. So you can look at it

two different ways. And you looked at it from the standpoint of do you restart the clock essentially on the rookie quarterback and have those years or you don't have to worry about paying a quarterback and invest those resources in the defense. I'll look at another way of do you want to trade back get, like I said, a ransom of picks from a team that's willing to jump up, that wants to jump up to be able to get a shot at one of those two quarterbacks and then

use those picks in order to restart your defense. That's the way I would prefer to do it, because I'm a bird in the hand kind of guy. If I've already got a quarterback, I don't know that I'm trying to go back to the well. Even if I think I might marginally get better at quarterback. I think I got a quarterback that's good enough to win championships with.

So for me, I say, if you get to the top two, you you trade back, you get more picks, You use those picks to re infuse into your defense, maybe an offensive lineman, and you see where you go from there. I'm all in on DAK. I stick with DAK. I don't make I don't. I don't change that up now. I shouldn't. I should know this by heart based on me covering this team in the NFL for like six years. But I forget dates and all of that every single year.

So when you look out free agency and the draft and all that draft is in late April, I believe, and which basically, which decision do you need to make first? Either figure out what you're gonna do with DAC or wait until the draft to see if you get a chance to possibly draft a quarterback. You have to tag Dac by sometime in February. I don't know the date off the top of my head, but it's the same every year. The deadline to use the franchise tag is usually two weeks to a month before the start of

free agency. That's I mean, I've been saying that forever. That's why the Cowboys need this money. That's why they're not using it. Is like they have to tag Dak. Like the odds of them getting a deal done between the end of the season and the start of free agency it's not impossible. It's also not very likely. That does not happen very often because players want to hit the market. They don't want to do the hard work for the team. They want to see what they can

get offered. So Dak will need to be tagged by February. I mean I would tag him like the day after the season ends, just to get it out of the way, and then you go from there. You don't have to sign him long term. You can keep him on the tag and see what happens, you know, whether that's draft capital or potential trades and all that stuff. But he's gonna need to be tagged very soon after the season. Hey Dave, Dave, I have a question for you on that.

Do you do you believe the reports that were out there that this last offseason that on the actual final day to actually do a long term deal, that the Cowboys and Dak's people were getting closer and they basically ran out of time. Do you do you put any stock in those reports? Because the reason why I asked that is, if you put stock in those reports, maybe they're ready to do a deal. Once the new season opens and they say, hey, you can sign your guys,

maybe they're ready to do a deal. If they were getting close at that point and they still feel the same way about one another. I think I believe that they started talking, like you know, I don't think it was dramatic. I don't think that they were like trying to get the signatures on the paper and they ran out of time. You know, I think they they probably you know, I buy that they talked and they like

maybe made some progress. But if you were close enough to the point where it might have gotten signed, it would have gotten signed. So I don't completely buy that. And like I said, it's it's definitely possible. Maybe Dak's injury changes some things as well. You know, maybe maybe Dak would agree to a deal that he's that he wouldn't have before because of what's going on with his ankle. I tend to doubt that. That's just a guess on

my part from what I know about Dak. So I really I don't view this as being any different than it was. They're rehabbing everything, all right, Um, what are you gonna say something? Nick? Now? Go ahead? Okay, Well, I'll just post this this question to you first. Uh, you, Derek, you brought up the whole current Old Line situation. So going back to that and what the current what the Cowboys currently have there and the issues that we've seen

based on that group starters and backups. Um, how viable does it look for twenty twenty one or how much resources are you thinking that the Cowboys are going to have to put into the Old Line this upcoming year? Yeah? I do think that they're going to have to address that, um, and that the sad part is is that they have been addressing it. I mean maybe not at tackle, but

they they've continued to do that. I Mean, Connor McGovern was just a pick in the third round because that he was he had high value and they said, you know, we'll need to use him at some point. And they've addressed it. It It with addressed it with Connor Williams, uh, you know, the year before and and Tyler Beatis this year and on fifth round. But but I know they have addressed it. I think they have to address the

tackle position one way or another. You know, get get solid back up in here or future guy, or you know, maybe maybe you draft the guy. I know that there's some talk there. Day would know this on the draft show. I guess the guy from Oregon that's opting out and who could be a clear cut tackle at some point, could start off at guard the way Lyle did or Flows l Adams or whatever. Maybe put him in at guard until he's really ready to play tackle. So there's

options there. But yeah, yes, yeah, I think you do need to address it even more now. It's funny because I feel I feel like sort of a Sunshine pumper when we talk about the offensive line, because I mean, I do agree you do need to address it. They need they need a better swing tackle, and whether that's in the draft, I mean probably needs to be in the draft, because, like we've talked about, signing one in free agency would be very expensive. But you know, Lyle

Collins is twenty seven years old. I feel optimistic that he's going to be just fine when he's had a chance to rehab his surgery and Tyrn Smith unless he's retired. I don't mean this to sound mean, but you're kind of stuck with him, Like they just restructured his deal. They pushed his money back to make room for Dack's contract, so they can't like cut him or anything or trade him without it being you know, this crazy hit on

their salary cap. So I would imagine you're going to rehab him and hope that him having surgery means he'll be okay. And then between you know, you still have Connor Williams, still have Connor McGovern, you still have Zach Martin, and you have Tyler Beatis. That seems pretty nice on the interior. So really we're just talking about needing a third tackle and whether, you know, if they want a draft Pennaya Sewell, I think that's how you say his name.

That's the Oregon guy that seems that seems awfully dramatic to me, like drafting a swing tackle in the top ten, and I get that he could be your starter in the future, but that still feels really dramatic. But if he's the best player available, go for it. And either way, I mean sometime in the first three rounds of the draft, they probably need a draft a tackle. Yeah, my question would be if you if you were going after that

Oregon tackle, can he play guard? Because if he can play guard, then that that spans you, right, that gives you an opportunity to get him on the field because he'll be one of your best five and he'll take Connor spot there at guard, and maybe Connor becomes your swing tackle, or he's your swing tackle in the event of long term injury um and then at whatever point they move on from Tyron or Tyrn retires, then you just slide him right in and he's ready to roll.

So I think, you know, I wouldn't I wouldn't completely push that idea out of mind if he can play guard. But but you're right, if he's not gonna play guard, then taking a top ten pick and having him a guy that's gonna be on the bit on the sideline with all the problems you got on this team, Like, that's that's a bad idea. I think. Right now, here's a finale question going into what you just said, Derek.

You know, we keep talking about these old linemen that have the flexibility, and we're always questioning, oh, is he gonna play tackle or is he gonna be a guard

or maybe center or whatever. I mean when you when you look into address whatever position on the old line, are you still wanting a guy that has that kind of flexibility to be moved around the line or are you looking more for someone that's more stuck at a certain position that you know it's going to be there, that maybe has more experience at let's say tackle, for example, versus to someone that's like, you're still where are we gonna play? Stam guard or tackle? So which way would

you go? Someone that's strictly more one position or someone that still has that kind of flexibility That I'll answer that because I think that that's a very good question, and it's very good and it changes based off of where you're picking. I can think of two examples, one of them played for the Cowboys, but two examples where players were drafted very high because they were supposed to be great great players, so you have to play them at left tackle. But it turns out they weren't very

good there. They were veter at guard. Robert Gallery was one was picked two overall by the Raiders, and Leonard Davis, picked by the Cardinals, eventually went to the Cowboys. You're not gonna draft a guard at number two, at least you didn't back then. But they drafted him at tackle. They played them there. You know. You see it in the NBA all the time too. These guys that are drafted tenth, eleventh overall, they're not that great until they go to the next team and they're a role player

and that's what they're better at. So it's a tricky, tricky part. If you get those guys in the second and third round, I think that's where you love to have the flexibility. They can play different spots for you. It'll be great backups for you. But if you draft them high, I mean, position flex is one, but I'd rather have a stud at one spot and say this is where he's gonna play. I will say this too.

Typically when you're drafting that high, the ability of those guys, the athletic ability of those guys typically means that you do have to position flexibility. It's kind of like Zach farther there. Zack Martin is a great player, you can move him to other spots. Now they're gonna keep him at guard, and they've kept him at guard, and they've

only had him play a tackle in emergency situations. But I have no doubt that Zach Martin is such a talented player that you could probably put him anywhere on the offensive line and he'd be at least okay, if not great. Right, So I think when you're drafting that high, I think it would be in most instance the guys probably can do a little different things. That is, those

are interesting names others you brought up, Nick. We have seen that happening from time to time, where guys get drafted high to play tackle because that's what you need to that's where you need to put him if you're gonna use that much draft capital. But you find out later they're they're better guards, and uh, And I think

that happens from time to time. But again, I think with this whole situation and just in general, I think it is a general good principle that a player is more valuable if he has position flexibility because that does allow you to be the ability to move him if you need to, and Dave you'll you'll probably you'll know this. It seems like teams are willing to draft guards a little bit higher, especially if if there's a you know,

clear cook. I know Quinton Nelson was one, but it seems like there's been others that you could draft if you've got a stud there, you're not a ready to take guard that high now, I mean, I think you can. I think Zach Martin deserves a lot of credit for that. I mean, I know, sixteenth overall is not like crazy high, but Brandon Shurff is another one in Washington. Quinton Nelson's like, you know, probably the best offensive line prospect that's come

out in the last five years. Yeah, I think, I mean, people see the value in that a lot more than they used to. Like it used to be a thing of you know, oh, guards not somewhere you need to draft in the first round. But we know better than most that a really top notch one can make a world of difference. So it's you know, I don't bat an eyelash at this point when guards go in the top ten, and if that's the best option. Yeah, by all means, let me throw one more point out before

we end the show. This is I know there's so much talking. You can't go anywhere without people saying they should tank, they should they should get a high draft picked, and all this kind of stuff. But if they if they do get into the playoffs and they say, you're sitting at eighteen or so, this team has so many needs that you can still get value throughout the draft.

I mean, what if safety is in the middle of the of the you know, first round, and you take a guy there, you need one for sure, you need to actually a guard. Could you could maybe justify that if he had some position flex If you're sitting there around eighteen or so, maybe tied end. I think they're okay with with Jarwin. I'm just talking about positions that typically don't go super high. But you're sitting there, You're gonna need everything. Defensive tackle, you need everything. So I'm

not too worried about it. If you can sneak into the playoffs and bill caromaraderie there, you still have some some opportunities to get a good player in anywhere really in the first round because you need us so much. I don't. I don't completely disagree with you. I mean, if there's one thing where Cowboy fans, if there's one thing that you can trust this team to do for

the most part, it's draft well. And you know, I know they picked Taco over t J. Watt, but their track record over the last decade speaks for itself in terms of finding talent. I think the thing when you know, when you're talking about tanking the season, it's not so much the first round pick. It's that you're picking at

the top of every other round. So let's say if you're picking, you know, just like twenty sixteen, if you're picking fourth overall, that also makes you're picking thirty thirty five, you're picking sixty five, and so now you're you know, if you if you view the top one hundred as guys that are instant difference makers, you've got a chance to draft as many as four guys that could compete

for starting time right away. I think that's that's what makes it more like, that's what makes it so exciting, more so than having that top ten pick, in my opinion. And I think the other thing to consider there too is and we won't know this until we get a little deeper into the draft, and by the way, we're going to be starting the draft show this year in December. But the other thing to consider there is how deep

are each of these positions where the Cowboys need help? Right, Because if you've got a position that is top heavy, and let's say, for example, as the safety position its top heavy, I'm not saying it is, but if it is and you're drafting later, now your opportunities to be able to get one in the first round or in any subsequent round is diminished because of the fact that

it's not as deep of a position. So I think we got to figure out two, what's the depth that each of these positions, how much talent is going to be there, and all the opportunities to get really talented players in the second, third, fourth round and later in those second, third, fourth rounds. Um. So we appreciate you guys, But now I'm gonna saying we'll talk about this for about the last seven weeks. We will talk about this, this a lot about tanking and all this stuff. But

but it's it's just for for media. It's it's not and maybe some later or not just kind of blase fans really, but it's not for the team, and it's not for diehard fans. It's just something that you wish they would get. You know, it would be nice to have it, but there's no way to go about it. You don't play for it. You don't. You don't go out and play your games that way. So you know

what I mean. That's why talking about the draft and stuff this early is I think sometimes it could be pointless because you don't know what you're gonna get, and the team is gonna go out to try to win. They're not gonna try to play for it. It's just media that say I don't have a dog in the

fight that just won a high draft pick. Well, not to get us too far into discussion, I don't think it's I think there are some diehard fans out there that would prefer the Cowboys to have a higher pick than Yes, Nick, you can't speak for all, Oh you can, you can't a higher pick. Prefer a higher pick. Prefer a higher pick. And what I mean by that is not to lose to Washington. Okay, what I'm saying is

I don't lose. I don't think either one of the I don't think either one of us can speak for every fan out there, and I think there are some die hard fans that would probably call into this show or eat or text this show, and I've seen them on Twitter that would say that they they prefer that the Cowboys don't necessarily win. They love what they saw last week, which is a competitive team that plays hard and still ends up with a loss at the end

of the day. What they really want is that top notch pick, because they think that has more value than the possibility to get into the playoffs and losing in the first round. That that's fine, that that's not a die hard. I'm talking about the die hards, not talking about fans that are fans of the team. I'm talking about the ones that die hard. Trust me, I have a college football team. I don't want him to lose. Ever, Yeah, because you don't get draft picks. I'm not losing. Yeah,

it doesn't it doesn't matter, it doesn't matter. Why don't we start this con thirty minutes and really, Needy and the show and the show, all right, tell you what, that's fine, let's talk about it. We'll talk about it. Well, they're they're just not die hards. That's all I'm saying. They're not die hards. If you want them to go and lose to that game, Okay, they didn't like the stealers. Here's what we're gonna mentions. They're gonna be interesting. I know.

Here's what we're gonna do. Here's what and that's not really any different than any other day. And Nick just mutes him and says, leam now. But but the point is, I don't care. They will not say I want them to lose and I'm a diehard. Doesn't happen, doesn't happen. Here's what we're gonna do. I do think, doesn't you're

not a diehard. I think that you didn't die. I do think this is a conversation that we can pick back up, and maybe we'll pick it up on Friday as a as a topic in our in in one of our segments Friday, we'll pick it up and talk a little bit more about it. Until then, though, for Nick Eatman, Dave Hellman, Amber Garcia, I am Derek Eagleton. This has been the Break live on Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio. This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys football Club