Cowboys Break: What To Expect In Indy

as Kyle. But Dave the veteran here this is his seventh. Hello. Wow. It makes me feel really when you say gunch is a little bit yeah, you're walking around me. I will like, all right, I don't want to sound like old guy McGee shout out Mickey. Uh sorry, I'm sorry, Mickey. There wasn't a Radio Row the first time I came here, and like you talk to like old reporters who covered this thing in the eighties, and it was like five reporters,

and then it was like a couple dozen reporters. And now like, I mean, every team, every team in the league has a radio station set up broadcasting what's going on. I mean, it's it's the biggest offseason event of the year other than the draft itself. So it's it has become a monster and it's it's super fun to be here. Well, here's what we got coming up for you today in

the break. I know you're one wanting to know what we've been seeing, what these guys are going to be talking about coming up this week on the Draft Show. We'll give you a little taste. Draft Show will be tomorrow at eleven am Central. We're going to talk about was Stephen shared with us yesterday, as well as taking your Twitter questions that we asked for earlier. We'll get to that. So why don't we start with what you

guys have been seeing. Obviously a ton of buzz around Joe Burrow and for the Cowboys, not media, just just tu just he's talking about that, talking about the Cowboys. Yeah, he is. And it's crazy that see like that narrative kind of become at the forefront. I mean it was like, oh, yeah, two was gonna go as a top five quarterback. He's gonna go here and there, and then all of a sudden, it's like, oh yeah, I love the Cowboys though, and then he talked about the Cowboys again, okay, but well

there's a difference there. He was asked about the cow You were the one that I was. I wasn't the only one, But I mean, okay, is it super interesting that one of the best quarterbacks in the draft is a lifelong Cowboys fan and named his dogs Dallas and Star. Of course it is. But guess what, it's the most popular football team in the world. You know how many guys in every draft class probably grew up to Cowboy fans pretty good amount, Dak Prescott being one of them.

Sometimes it works out and you get drafted by your childhood favorite team. Sometimes it doesn't. So I mean it's interesting. I don't buy the narrative that it means Tonguavilo is going to wind up on the Cowboys, but it's fun to talk about it. And even with just a narrative overall of him liking the Cowboys and growing up as a Cowboys fan. Whenever you get drafted by a team, what's a former Cowboys fan going to do? Whenever he goes to the other team. He wants to put a

target on the Cowboys back. Absolutely, he wants to beat the Cowboys because he grew up a fan of the Dallas Cowboys. So even with the narrative that is there with two in the entire I guess media row kind of talking about the fact that he's, oh my gosh, he's a big Cowboys fan. If he gets drafted by the Miami Dolphins and number five overall, he's gonna put on the Miami Dolphins element and he's gonna want to beat everybody else in the NFL. There are no lukewarm

reactions to the Dallas Cowboys a great point. You love them or you hate them, You want to play for them, or you want to beat them desperately, and it just applies to everybody. So before we get into our conversation with Steven Jones yesterday, Dave, we're walking in this morning, we run into a new running back coach, Skip Pete. Yeah, Cowboys coaches are rolling in here. McCarthy is supposed to be here today. He might already be here early afternoon,

but things have changed, the schedule has changed. They're all kind of feeling it out and and wanting to see their guys asap. Yeah, we actually just I mean, you talk about the changes, and that's you know, we kind of previewed it on the Draft show last year. This is this is the first time the combine been this different in a long time. The drills are going in primetime now the NFL is trying to turn this into a muscy TV event, and it's funny to see, like, obviously,

like we're scrambling, we've got to be adaptable. We don't know who's talking and when, but neither do these guys. That was Skip Pete was like when can I get my hands on these running backs? Like when am I going to be part of these meetings? Like they got drills at night, they got interviews with the league in the morning, Like when or when do I find some time? And you know, talking to personnel guys around the league,

you talk to the scouts. This thing is a headache for these guys because again, this used to be an information gathering session and it has turned into orma finding Well it's it's it's must muscy TV for football dorcs at least, And so that's that is the adjustment that

everybody's having to make right now. It's funny to see, you know, gms and scouts and coaches are just as clueless as the rest of us about how all this is going to work because it's the first time they're doing all well, and you even talk about the changes of the combine, But what about the coaching staff. I mean, this is the first offseason that this coaching staff has had meshing together kind of trying to find those roles. Now.

I know they're professionals, but at the same time, you kind of got to get into a rhythm of being a staff, being a part of this franchise together and doing that while also going through changes of the combine and the scheduling and just trying to find personnel. It's like you talked about us being adaptable when we talk about the draft overall, we kind of it's still a guessing game in terms of what this coaching staff is

going to see as their biggest priorities. Now. I know in the off season you're going to look at the dat contract in Amari and Byron, But in terms of the draft, are they gonna go defensive tackle? Is secondary where they want to attack it or would they rather attack that in free agency. It's trying to figure out those those the an ounce of the off season as a coaching staff, but also having to deal simultaneously with

the changes that the combine has ad period. It's interesting to think, can you mentioned all these things are talking about? Steven touched on him yesterday. Yeah, so let's dive in. Let's go down the list. Stephen Jones talked to us probably twenty minutes yesterday. Where do you want to start in between CBA talk? I want you to kind of

decode Dave, because I know it's confusing. We've got dates, we're trying to get contracts done before, but the CBA is kind of hanging around waiting to see what the players end up voting on. So can you decode that for us before we begin? So I'm the NFL owners enfranchises are aware of these things before they reach our ears, so I doubt that they were as caught off guard

as the rest of us. But it is a hell of a wrinkle for the Dallas Cowboys that a new CBA is being considered right now because it throws everything in limbo. And that was kind of the tenor of what I took away from Steven Jones yesterday is there's a lot of different ways this offseason can go based on how that's gets decided. So if you need a primer, the CBA is entering the final year of its deal. If you remember ten years ago to the lockout, they

signed a ten year deal. We've been going strong for ten years. It's time for a new one. They are trying to get a jump on this and put a new one in place before it expires in the spring of twenty twenty one. For my money, I didn't think that would get decided until next year, and it still might not. Nothing has been approved, but the NFL owners agreed on a proposed CBA. You've probably read about it.

Adding an extra week to the regular season, taking away preseason game, changing drug testing rules, expanding the postseason, all of these crazy and massively different changes, and that needs to be decided the NFL, the nflpa's player reps are weighing it right now. They're considering whether they approve it. If the players approve it, then you've got an all new CBA which changes everything heading into the new league year. And all of that is within the next three weeks.

And all of that is on top of the fact that the Cowboys are trying to negotiate a contract extension with Dak Prescott, with Amari Cooper, probably not, but maybe with Byron Jones on top of all of the other business they've got to take care of. And Stephen Jones said it at the top of yesterday's interview. He was like, we need to wait and see how that pans out

before we know how to go forward. And that's why, you know, sitting here second day that we've been in Indie, there's not much in the way of updates in terms of where things stands with DAK, where it stands with AMAR, because they need to see what type of league landscape they're working in before they do any of that time, he seemed very like handcuffed almost and he was willing to talk and share, but he was very limited on what he knew is going to happen in a few days.

And what was it, seventy nine million dollars. You're working with the cap and we're going to be in trouble. I mean, he said that we are going to be in trouble. So, yeah, it's hard to quantify. It's hard to quantify just how much it could change, Okay, I mean one example of that being, you know, it's the rumored talk of if you're in the final year of the CBA, you can use a franchise tag and a

transition tag at the same time. If a new CBA is agreed to, it's at least theoretically possible you take one of those tags away all of a sudden, that's a tag you can't use on them. On Amari Cooper or Byron Jones for that matter, you change the revenue sharing plan, you change how it affects the cap. The numbers could change based on what's agreed to. And for my like, I get stressed out just talking about it. And I actually I talked to Stephen Jones after our

interview yesterday. I was like, Stephen, does this kind of freak you out at all? That? Like, you basically have to have two, three, four different plans of attack based on what's going to happen here in the next three weeks, and all you can really do is wait and see what happens. And he was like, no, this is just this is the world we live in. This business is normal. Yea. Even at the same time, whenever you guys were talking yesterday, it was he said, franchise tags. We're not going to

speculate here. We're not speculating one or way or the year we got how many we got five or six. Not going to speculate a ton of that. Lots of that at the same time, even if you wanted to speculate which direction are you going to? And that's what I'm with you. I mean, I'm stressing out over the fact of having to deal with all of this, and I'm not even the one that has to make these decisions. None of us are. It's the select group of people that have been put into that spot and they feel

like they have a good grasp on it. But from the outside looking in, it looks like a little bit of a mess. It's sure is stressful to me. Man. So we're here in Indy. This kind of marks the beginning of this time of year. So Thursday, February twenty seventh, that marks the first day that you can designate a player with the franchise tag. Two days that's two days away, and then you've got two weeks until the deadline. So

you hear Stephen Jones. Probably the biggest snippet that came out of that is that he reiterated our goal is to sign Dak Prescott before we have to put the tag on him. Even to heck, I thought we'd do it last year. Yeah, yeah, which, and I mean that's we can get into that if you want to. Which is that two sides haven't talked since September, have not discussed, have not made a lot of progress. But Stephen Jones is saying we want to have him signed in seventeen days.

That is a lot of work to do if you're going to avoid all that you're hearing. And after seeing what happened with Ezekiel Elliott and to market, I even put it past him, stranger things have happened. I mean, it would not surprise me, It really would. It surprised me. It almost feels like we need to gear ourselves up for it popping up in the next seventeen days. Well, and sometimes that franchise tag is used as a placeholder, and that placeholder is to get a long term deal done.

The only problem with using the franchise tag as a flip placeholder is that there's four other deals that you want to try and get worked out, whether it's be with your returning players or with guys in free agency. And that's that right there is the problem. Because I remember, you know, you talk about me being an old head. I come here all the time in twenty fifteen, it was Dez Bryant and it was we want to get a deal done. If we can't, we'll tag him and

that gives us until July to figure something out. Not very stressful in the grand scheme of things. But now you're talking about if we have to tag Deck, does Amari Cooper hit the open market? Do we have another tag to use depending on the CBA? What about Byron Jones. There's there's so many moving parts to this Cowboys offseason,

and they're really important. By the way, a Pro Bowl quarterback, a Pro Bowl receiver, and by the way, an All Pro cornerback that like nobody wants to talk about just shoving Byron Jones offer me on air that we really did get the vibe yesterday that Byron Jones might there

just might not be room. The writing has been on the wall, and Stephen Jones echoed yesterday he's you know, he's like, we want to I think his quote was something along the lines if we want to visit with his people and see where they stand, and he had a great run was something he said. It's that's rough to hear. It does not seem likely that the Cowboys think that they can fit Byron Jones into their financial plans.

And it's interesting to get the Cowboys fans takes on that because I hear so many just opposite perspectives, like he should be the number one priority, and then another you know, he gets intercept, you know what I mean, the great cover corner doesn't get picks. It's all like, literally, all three of these guys, you would say they've been drastically important to what success the Cowboys have had over

the last two years. They also have enough flaws in their game that you can't find a consensus, like there are people that don't want Dak, there are people that don't want to Mary, and there are people that don't want Byron, and yet all three of them would break

the absolute bank if they hit the open market. Now, it is a weird spot to be even with all of that being said, though, like the priority with keeping a franchise quarterback and then having a wide receiver that's a by far number one wide out in your offense, those two things are gonna still be priority number one and two over keeping a cover corner. And I think I think Cowboys Nation in the fans out there, kind

of got a little thrown off guard. Whenever we heard Mike Nolan and the car watch that happened with the assistant coaches when he was saying, well, I'm not afraid of a guy that's going to the corner. I think Troy Aikman said something about it as well. He said he talked to Troy. He Mike Nolan said, you know, Troy Aigman said, I'm not afraid of the guy that bats down balls exactly, I'm afraid of the guy that takes the ball the other way and almost instantly wipe

the memory of Cowboys fans. You have a lockdown corner who's been a great cover corner and all pro on your team, the kind of corner that you're going to spend the next five years trying to find, whether it be in the draft or in free agency. When you're letting him walk, they did. They Stephen right after that funneled in and said, but hey, we're focusing on defense

for the draft. I'm just going to come out and say that right now, we're locked up on offense, we have good contracts that we like, We're gonna go young for me own defense. It's man, it's interesting because I hear what you just said. Yeah, it's so easy to make the case that it's easier to find a wide receiver in the draft and like replace that production rather than give him Maury Cooper eighteen twenty million dollars a year.

It's also easy to make the case that your Pro Bowl wide receiver makes a far bigger impact a week in and week out then a cornerback, especially a cornerback who doesn't take the ball away. I think, yeah, you can make a case for either one of them. I just know the odds that the Cowboys sign all three are very, very smallow, and the writing seems to be

on the wall about which they think is more important. Well, and even looking at the draft and looking at defense overall, the Cowboys have had zero success in finding defense in free agency, at least over the last five years. Since twenty fifteen, I wrote this down Quinn was a trade though, trade trade, but I mean, you look at three defensive tackles and that's a notable position of interest for the Cowboys this offseason. Three defensive tackles have been signed since

twenty fifteen, Christian Covington, Stephen Pio, and Cedric Thorton. Those are the three defensive tackles in free agency that have been signed by the Dallas Cowboys, I think I don't think it's a stretch to say, and I mean, for all intents and purposes, they acquired a veteran defensive end who got them eleven sacks. Yeah, during the offseason, you

can't cheap. You can't discount Robert Quinn. But okay, Robert Quinn Randall Cobb last year arguably the only really quality free agent, veteran type additions that this team has made in the last five years. I think people that don't want to see Byron Jones leave. I get why that scares him, because if he's gone, Anthony Brown is also

a free agent. Now you're looking and saying, well, we have Cheeto and Jordan Lewis, both of whom are entering contract years of their own, neither one of whom really inspires your confidence that, like, this is a lockdown Pro Bowl guy. You know, maybe Jay Lou could turn into that guy with some more playing time, but we haven't seen it. And you sit here and say, well, what are we gonna do about our secondary if these guys

are all gone? Like, I totally get why it's terrifying for people that like the idea of keeping Byron Jones quick break here from the break in Indianapolis. When we come back, these two are going to give you their teas to the draft show, and we're getting to your Twitter questions, one of those including Dave in a Marty Girl experience anywhere. I'm j Nobachik, former tight end for the Dallas Cowboys. Back in the day, I was a guy who always got the tough yards, and that's why

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based on GWS one scores of number twenty nineteen. Back to the Break, Welcome back to the Break here on Radio Row in Indianapolis, and I've got Dave Hellman and Kyle Yelman's with me, who are going to keep you posted on everything for the draft this upcoming week. First, before we get into the twitter questions, I love what you guys have sent in. What are you both most excited to watch quote unquote watch for the rest of

the week. You'll be here till Saturday Sunday. What's the best part, Dave, No, Kyle, you need more time to think about. Man. I'm excited really to kind of get to talk to some of these guys, and we've we've already started that. Today the quarterbacks and the wide receivers and the tight ends came in and did their media session and I got to kind of at least talk

with some of the guys. One of the favorite individuals that I met with was James Prochet, the wide receiver out of smu Ye Dallas guy, just a great guy overall, and it seems like there's still that that stigma of the Cowboys being a favorite of some kJ Hill wide receiver out of Ohio State from Arkansas. Apparently he's a big Cowboys fan, grew up a Cowboys fan because Jerry

Jones was an Arkansas guy as well. So it's fun just getting to know the background stories and some of the different intricacies of these prospects because they're literally running around with a number in a position and that's it. I know the names are attached to it as well for the most part, but this is a process that can get really impersonable for a while. But this is a good way to get personable with some of these games.

We'll be doing some profiles on some of these guys for the Blitz, our offseason show coming up, so leading up to the draft, tune in for those and get to know these guys better that could possibly be Cowboys now the old head just going to lean into that head helmet. I think it's just, you know, this is a good opportunity for guys to go a little bit more mainstream. There's so many there's so many good players here.

You know. On the Draft show, we do our best to spread it around, but you tend to get fixated on us on a small number of players. Cats, well not the thing. Not only do you have pet cats, but you know there's no way around it. We in the media are behind everybody else. Yeah, I mean inside the you know, we're behind the league in terms of who we need to be looking at. And so somebody this week is going to pop up on our radar.

It's hard to believe. Now. Speaking of Byron Jones, people knew who Byron Jones was going into the combine, but he made point, made himself a household name boy absolutely destroying the combine and that you know, you gotta be careful obviously, because it's it's the underwear Olympics. And not every guy who can jump higher or run fast as a good football player, but some of them are. Yea

Byron Jones is an all Pro. Took him a couple of years to get there, but he's a damn good player, and he jumped into the national consciousness literally by having a great combine. So somebody's going to do that this week's sweetheart. And there's a good bet it'll be a defensive player, yes, because offensive players steal ahead. Like we know who a lot of the offensive guys are, I

mean quarterbacks, steal the headlines. You know, the wide receivers, you know Henry Rods, the touchdowns and and they're the ones that run the four two forties. I mean, you know, the rugs Is and Raigers of the world. People know those names. But there's gonna be some defenders and that. And again, Lindsay, you said it in the first part of the show. Yeah, the Cowboys are going to consider everybody and do their due due diligence, but they need defenders. Yep.

They need cornerback safeties and defensive tackles. And we're gonna learn a little bit more about those guys this week. And like I said, I'm I don't want to throw any names out there, but somebody's going to pop up that that we haven't been talking. We'll throw plenty of names out there. We will do it name dropping, left, right, and loaded. Let's get ready for the Twitter questions. We asked you guys to send them in. So Mac is first up, guys, and he wants to know we just

said they're going to be drafting defenders. But I've gotten this question a lot via email as well. Is there a possibility of drafting a quarter back and letting him groom under Prescott for one year. We know the Mike White experiment failed and a lot of people are not set on Cooper Rush being the backup. Yeah. Okay, but here's the thing, and I'm stealing this line from our good friend Dane Brugler, who we worked with for so long.

The Mike White experiment didn't fail. Like it didn't work out. No, it didn't. It's a Day three pick, it's like and it's I mean, okay, it did not work out. But to say it failed implies that he's like this first round pick like it's a lot in a bus. It's a it's a lottery ticket you put like it's like you spend a dollar fifty on a scratch off and win fifty. I think they should. Honestly, I think they will. I think by the time the draft is over, I think a quarterback will be taken by the cow I

think that. I mean, they need to figure out their backup situation, whether it's Cooper Rush or a veteran from somewhere else. They got to figure that. I'm not drafting a quarterback to be my backup, but I'm absolutely interested in using a Day three pick to bring in a developmental guy. Yeah, Mike White was a fifth round pick, fifth, sixth, seventh round. Bring him on. There's a there's a name that's been thrown around throughout the draft show process, but

I like Anthony Gordon for that role. State. Yeah, quarterback. He's kind of twitchy, He's got a little bit of footwork issue, but I think if the right coaches get a hold of him, he's got a powerful arm. He's got a cannon with a bullet of passes that you can use throughout the course. And I feel like that's not the scout term all for it all bullet passes, but I mean, I really think that this is a guy with a strong arm and with the poise in the pocket. He had a nine touchdown game this year

in the Pac twelve. Well, I mean he played for Mike Leach at Washing exact day. Those guys put up the coaching stupidest numbers in the World's great, but it's great to think about. But he's a project, that's what he is. He's not going to come in and be a starter. Even content for a starting job. Don't need him. That's where that's where I think a guy like he

could thrive in a Cowboys system. We're looking. It's it's a lottery ticket and you buy low and hopefully he sell high or cash in one one or the other. It's a possibility, maybe a Day three pick. Devon wants to know, referencing Steven Jones answering questions about special teams yesterday, saying, okay, So if Chris Jones is injured, do the Cowboys have any plans to replace him this year and try and get better in that way? I haven't heard anything about

that as of yet. Now, I mean it's it's still early. Like I mean, Chris Jones isn't. You know, the guys with the huge amounts of money are the ones that people always circle for restructuring or releasing that type of stuff. I haven't heard that about Chris Jones. And you're not Let's be real, You're not going to draft a punter anyway, so you know, I Cowboys might not draft a punter. I think a punter will be taken. No, why rhetorical, you like the Cowboys are not. I would get shocked

if the Cowboys draft a punter, you know. I mean M Brandon Man out of Texas A and M's pretty He's amazing. And Dixon, the Texas punter who wound up in Seattle, he's fantastic. Not to say you can't draft one. Yeah, I don't think the Cowboys will, which in that case, I would like to think they could bring in a punter to compete, but I don't anticipate Chris Jones going anywhere in the near future. I think there are enough veteran punters out there that you don't have to address

that need when it comes to draft time. And and like you said, I agree, I don't think they're gonna use one of their six picks at the moment. I know they might get a comp pick for maybe a Cole Beasley in there somewhere, but I don't see one of those six or seven picks going to getting a guy like a Brandon Man or a punter later in the draft. I think they would rather address backups and

build depth more so than special teams. But I mean, I do I get I get the question though, I mean we kind of gloss over the fact that punting has not been great for this team for a couple of seasons well, and special teams is going to continue being a question. I mean, a new coach with John Fossil, You're probably gonna have to have a new punt returner. I don't know if Tavon Austin's going to be back in that spot again because he had multiple blunders throughout

the course. Very very quietly, there is not much in the way of certainty about special teams on this team. We're bath coming back? Is it er coming back? There's so many with some of these key roles a special teams, There's a lot of ways you can go. I just don't think the draft is one of those. No, agreed. This is the question I've been looking forward to from

our good friend Bobby belt Nice. Now this question is directed at Dave, but Kyle, I want you to just kind of chime in if you think of something as well. And the question is if Hellman had to compare his Marty Graw experience to a prospect in this year's draft, which prospect would it be? And why I appreciate you rewarding Bobby the troll on our airspace. He deserves it. Bobby talking about my personal vacation time quick Mardy grow experience for Dave this weekend made it here on two

hours sleep. My Marty gar time my Mardi Grow experience would be Henry Ruggs, the Alabama receiver. He might set the NFL record for fastest forty and he is a joy to watch play, which is to say, my Marty Grow experience was very fast and very fun. I was there for forty eight hours. My memory is fuzzy, but I got to see a lot of friends. I drank a few beverages, I watched a few parades, and then I caught a flight to Indianapolis and I'm here doing my job in ree Rugs. Okay, I've got one for you,

and it's a different Alabama wide receiver. Okay, it's Jerry Judy. And you know why why. He is twenty years old at the moment. He turns twenty one on April twenty four. On April twenty fourth, that is a great nugget because he's gonna have a hell of a Draft weekend is the first round of the draft, yeah, which is in Las Vegas. So Jerry Judy will be in Las Vegas. I can almost guarantee it because the night he gets drafted in the first round, he's going to turn twenty one.

That's why I would compare Marty graw to Jerry Judy, which, thank you, You're welcome. I like I like that a lot. Um man. I know the Cowboys need defense, but I would just be ecstatic to watch either of those guys play for this. It's not gonna happen. I'm oh, stop, I'm convinced that stop the first segment on Wednesday. What if it's happening? What if what if Jerry Judy falls to seventeen and you don't love any of the other options.

I know he's not going to happening. That leads me to question, who do you think could potentially slide in the draft? Another question from Twitter, see any potentials surprises? What what were you guys reading on Twitter earlier that somebody said about Chase Young? Yeah, somebody on Twitter was talking about that's not just I don't I don't even want to. I don't want to dignify that it wasn't

right like a top five pick. I don't change. I mean, honest, like, the biggest variable, the biggest variable in this whole draft right now is I mean, it's over, it's over talked about, but it's probably too a tongue of aloo, because if he's completely healthy and you feel confident about his ability. You could argue he's worth the number one pick in the draft if you feel good about his health, which that's the big debate. And if you don't, he could

you could see him slide. You could see him slide to the middle of the first You could. I mean, I don't think it'll happen, but you could conceivably see him slide out of the first round if teams are just out. I mean, you know, we talk about this and we'll get into it on the Draft show. It's like you get your medical evaluations here in Indy. According to tah everything looks good, but they do another thing called the medical recheck, where guys with medical concerns get rechecked.

See how that you know it's right. It's right there in the name name. Yeah, you get rechecked. And that's where you know red flags start to pop up, like oh, x so and so team is out on on this player because they just don't feel good about his knee. The Cowboys have done it before. The one that broke my heart a few years ago was Jay Agii, the Boise State running back. The Cowboys didn't feel good about his knee. A lot of teams didn't and it dings

you in your draft boards. So Toa's health is going to mean everything, because if he's healthy, he's a top five pick. If he's not, who knows where he yes. I think seeing a quarterback slide is gonna be a little bit tougher this year, especially because there are so many teams that need quarterbacks. I think you're gonna see

more teams even get in the mix by trading up. Yeah, I think there's gonna be teams that aren't in the top fifteen that are gonna go up and try and get a guy like two or Justin Herbert or Jordan Love that are all up in that top tier quarterback category. But I would see maybe a defensive guy like Javon Kinlaw. I mean, I know we've talked about kin Law NonStop throughout the course of the Draft show, because he's a defensive tackle. He's a three technique that just bullies people

in the middle of an offensive line. He can have a little bit of pass rush there too. There's a lot of great things about kin Law and his knee tend Ninus kind of flares up every now and again. It did it in the middle of the season, didn't Senior Bowl week says he's good to go this week and through the medical checks this week said that, hey,

everything is fine. That's good and dandy. But if the rechecks come back and there's something a little bit wrong with that, knatsin de ninus and the rehab doesn't necessarily go as right as you expect, or you turn around and maybe he hurts himself at a pro day in a workout whenever he's doing his on field stuff. So I think a guy like that might slide a little

bit more so than maybe a quarterback would. But even then, I think kin Law's kind of talent that could still go top fifteen even with a little bit of the injury issues. Next question from Reuben. Will McClay has always been more of a big school guy in drafting. Do you think this will change slightly with McCarthy's input or

how is that whole dynamic going to work. I have to see it to believe it, And I mean, Mike McCarthy and his staff are going to have their own ideas and values and opinions about the way this goes. But you know, I think and Will McClay and Stephen Jones have both kind of said this over the last month or so, is like they're not overhauling the way

they do this. Yeah, they're you know, they're they're tweaking, and you know, you know, maybe it sounds like Mike McCarthy and Mike Nolan want a bigger mold of defensive lineman. That's obviously doable. Rod Marinelli really liked smaller, faster defensive lineman. Maybe you want to bulk up. But again, you're not overhauling this thing. And I think until I see otherwise, I think it's a foundational piece of what they want

to do. That they're looking for guys that have played under the bright lights, that have done it on a big stage, that are not wowed by the idea of being a Dallas Cowboy, especially with your early picks. And that's you know, and I hate to throw his name out there. He's a great player, But Kyle Dugger, I mean, we've talked about him a lot. Nor Rhyne, which I had never heard of until I found out about Kyle Dugger.

I just would have to see it to believe it, because I you know, you look at where did the Cowboys get their players from? Notre Dame Ohio State, Boise State, which is it's a smaller program but still on the upper echelon, and it's one of the best mid major programs in college bridial top five exactly, Mississippi State, the SEC. You know, that's what they favor, and I think it's a smart strategy. Honestly, Yeah, I would just have to see him go away from it before or I believed it.

Just to play a little bit of Devil's advocate here, I'm not saying that I disagree with you, because I agree in the fact that I think i'd have to see it to believe it. I think they'd have to take maybe one or two of those small school guys for me to maybe see a shift in the thought process. But there's a lot of small school guys in this

draft that are gonna make an impact. Adam Troutman out of Dayton, You've got you already mentioned, Kyle Dugger out of Lenoor Ryan, guys like Ben Bartch from Saint John's one of the top off offensive linemen that we've talked about in the draft. I know we don't talk a ton of offensive lineman, but then you got like Tyler

Bass out of Georgia, Southern. I mean, there's a lot of solid players that are gonna be in Day two, maybe early day three of this draft that are in positions of need for the Cowboys, and I think that might kind of leto it. And like you said that the earlier draft picks, if you're not gonna see Georgia Southern player taking at seventeen, that's not gonna happen. You're gonna see a South Carolina or a Clemson er on Alabama something big time, with somebody that's approven against a

tough schedule and has proven themselves. But in terms of the later draft picks and guys who maybe didn't necessarily have that schedule and that strength of schedule. On the other side, I think you could see some guys go and you oh you will, ye oh yeah, I'm not. You absolutely will. I just don't think it'll be by

the Dallas Cowboys. Well I'm saying like it could be by the Dallas cow I have to see it to believe it, and that and I'm not necessarily saying I'm right because obviously somebody from a small school is going to be great. It happened, really good happens all the time. But I will. I'm going to go back to that well of SEC Big ten ACC every time, and I'll hit way more often than I don't whereas like which

and I just like it's just an easier pool. It's it's an easier pool to fish from, and I'll miss on some like some small school guys that I don't draft will be great. Yeah, but I'm still I'm not even interested in taking the risk, honestly, as you like, give me the guy that's played against the best more often than not, Jason wants to know, considering the lack of rookie production in twenty nineteen. Of course there wasn't

a first trump pick and the roster turnover. Just throw that like, wait, no, but they didn't have a first round pick. But no. He references Hill, Tristan Hill, and McGovern disappointing draft, very disappointing drafts so far. So far? Will they be going all in on contribute now type of players, Jason is asking, I was just refreshing everybody that Tristan Yeah, anyways, Um, I mean I say this all the time. In your first three rounds, first, second,

third round, they better be ready to contribute. Yeah, And last year I don't want to call it unlucky. I mean they made the trade for a MARII, they did that consciously, and they insisted on drafting Tristan Hill, So like I'm not calling that luck, but I think there's every reason to believe that that they can get that

because more often than not they do. You know, U eighteen, you get Layton vander Ash, a starting linebacker, Connor Williams, a starting guard, Michael Gallup who looks like a really big find. Twenty seventeen, obviously Taco Charlon's a disappointment, but even in that draft you get two starting caliber players, actually three if you count Xavier Woods, he's a date three. And then you know twenty sixteen. That's a once in

a generation type of draft. But more often than not, I trust them to find contributors in those early rounds because they've done it way more often than they haven't. I would agree completely. I think this has to be a draft where you have to hit on a couple of guys which you want to keep that winning window open. I don't think the pressure has ever been greater on Will McClay and his staff because again, they're they're going to give out so much money. Whether you know dak Amari,

we'll see how it all plays out. But the way you afford big name contracts like that is by hitting on your draft picks. You have to have guys bawling out on cheap contracts to be successful when you're paying that kind of money. So first, second, and third round they better be contributors, he could preferably, they better be like starting caliber contract. And it's got to be in

positions of need as well. I mean, unless you wanted to go the what we've coined as the forty Burger route in the Draft Show and draft a wide receiver early. Other than that, it needs to be secondary, defensive line, tight end potentially, depending on what you think of that position.

There's a lot of different needs here, and with the window seemingly closing on the era of the or at least the not era, but at least the modern Cowboys potentially trying to win another Super Bowl with some of these young talents on cheap contracts, with all of the money that's man shelled out. With that closing, you've got to hit on a couple of if they get the same contributions from their first three picks as they did

last year. Yeah, it's not gonna be good. They will be talking about how twenty twenty was a disappointing season. I mean, and it's so scary to have hope for Tristan Hill this season. Um, I have a little bit. I'm not. I'm not gonna go as far as to say I have hope, but I'm just not ready to

close the book. That's not fair to him. It's not it's not fair to him to just again, I mean, Byron Jones was a disappointment two years into his career, actually three, He did not really hit his stride as a great player, which you need it to be faster than that. Like, they can't afford to wait two more years for Tristan Hill to be good. But it's still it's not fair to call his career a bust after one season. But a top way he was picked fifty eight.

A top sixty player should play regularly and be a healthy scrap, not be a healthy scrap. I mean, yeah, even you know, Michael Gallup was nowhere near as good his rookie year as he was in year two. He still started and caught forty balls and was part contribute. He was part of a reason of their success. He wasn't struggling to make a ross right, which was kind of the issue, and he was taking twenty spots after Tristan Hill. It's it's there's no there's no way to

defend it. But it's too early to say that that's going to be his entire career. And with a different coaching staff too. It throws a new wrinkle into this to where it's either going to sink or swim. Yeah, I mean that's what it is going to be for and maybe this year or next year. You obviously you lose a great defensive line coaching Rod Marinelli. But Jim tom Sula has been your boy boy. I want to get a beer with Jim tom Sula. I doubt. I doubt he listens to the break. But Jim, let's go,

We're an indie, Come bind me find a way. I feel like if you told him to listen to it, he'd be like, sure, where do I get it? Seriously that's on Twitter and be like the what. But he has coached a lot of great defensive lineman. He has been around the NFL, so he can help Tristan Hill maximize his talent um it's too early to call his career a bust, but I mean there's no way around the disappointment of that rookie. See quickly referenced Layton vanderash

a moment ago. And are you worried after hearing from Steven yesterday saying you know, things are okay, but I mean, we're gonna have to take it slow coming up these next few months. I'm not worried because of what Steven said. So if you didn't if you didn't listen or read it, Stephen Jones say, you know, everything sounds good. We continue to get positive feedback after his surgery. That said, you know, we're gonna have a plan for him. We're not just

going to throw him in there. We probably won't completely let him loose until training camp. Um. So I'm not worried by those comments. I'm just worried because netball are terrible. Thing like neck and back are the two injuries you do not want to hear about it well, and especially with a linebacker playing downhill, the physical ta position in the game exactly, you don't want to hear about neck injuries.

And I think he goes all the way back. My worry for Laton Vanderich goes back to the press conference that Jason Garrett had after the injury was app we don't think it's career threatening, career threatening, and everybody was like, I wasn't there, Like, now that you've brought that up, now I think it might be. So it really stems from that. I don't think it will hinder his career now.

I mean, he's gonna miss some time for it, but I would rather them take the route that Stephen talked about and take it extremely slow and not risk potentially rooting his career, ending his career prematurely. Let's take it slow, invest in what was a first round pick, and at least make sure that he's good to go from the remainder of his career, which it kind of goes. You know, I'm going to tie this back to the top of

the show. Watch me do this, do it, Dave. There's so many there's so many elements with with this CBA and with these contracts. Yeah, Jerry Jones uses this phrase all the time. You have to have a tolerance for ambiguity, and that's you know, there's there's two camps of people. There are people that are like Layton's gonna be fine. He'll be a pro bowler again in twenty twenty. And there's people that are like, his next hurt, he'll never

walk again. We have to draft a linebacker. And it's like you can find some common ground in there and say, I'm definitely concerned about his long term health, but we just drafted him, and I'm just gonna give their medical process the benefit of the doubt and say, these guys know what they're doing, not saying he's one hundred percent fine, but you just kind of have to wait and see

and say, we'll carry this thing through. And you know, if we're still having this conversation about his health next year, it's a completely different conversation. But now I'm willing to believe that he can regain his health and his all pro form and we don't have to worry about this. And it's it seems like people are always in a rush to declare this is a five alarm fire, we have to do something, or this is nothing. Shut up, and it can be in the middle somewhere. Just don't

knee jerk reaction, right, which to a guy's career. Yeah, potentially, but that goes against the nature of this very business. That's for sure. That guys, we are out of my guy already give me a couple of nuggets that we're gonna just hear from you guys all throughout the week. What are you gonna be talking about. We just gave you all our nuggets We've got. We had draft shows all the rest of the week. Shoot, Mike McCarthy hasn't even talked. He'll be doing that later this week. Tomorrow.

You're getting like a real spa with Mike McCarthy. Yeah. The dang drills don't even start until Thursday, so like we're just ramping up so we'll have drill results. We'll have Mike McCarthy, Jerry Jones is going to talk. And where does Jerry talk? That's a big TBD, my friend. Wow, you won't be here though, but usually it's at the end of the week around the bus. Yeah, we're gonna go on Jerry's bus and have a chat. It's it's fine, wait for that. It's gonna be good. Which but I'm

not lying. I don't know when that's It's like no, no, no, they don't tell us. We'll just stay ready. It's like, oh, we're always ready. It's like you get a self destruct message in the mail that's like this is where like be here at two o'clock on Friday. You're going to be the Raiders and the Chargers and the Texans and you're gonna be sitting at your radio road table and then all of the Cowboys staff is just gonna book it out of the re Oh. Yeah, And that's what

it's gonna be. I mean, that's what it's gonna look like. It's gonna look like there was a fire drill and the only ones that knew about it were the Dallas Cowboys media. That's what's gonna be. Can't wait, Kyle Dave Lenz, thank you guys for tuning in to this little shin dig of the break. Catch them the rest of the week right here from Indie. This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys. For full