Cowboys Break: Zeke & Tyron

The Break. We are alive from the s WBC Mortgage Studios at the Star present of our miller like the Only Beer of the Dallas Cowboys. Got Nick and Amber here today. Brian's actually covering baseball all today, so he's out of surprise Arizona doing a little baseball coverage. But we're gonna hold it down today. Talk a little bit about the NFL Scouting Combine. We've got a news coming out of there yesterday. We'll talk a little bit about what Steven Jones had to say on a myriad of topics.

We'll also get to our series that we've been running through biggest question Cowboys have at each position. Today, we'll talk about the offensive line. We might get a little farther than that, but judging about how things have been going, typically two positions is about as much as we can get into a show. So let's start first with Steven Jones and his comments yesterday from the scouting combine in Indianapolis.

When asked about the franchise tag. Here was his quote, more than likely, we'll use our tag, not necessarily on Tony, but we'll use our tag. That being said, we talked a little bit about the salary. I mean, I'm sorry with the franchise tag last week. Just to remember, remind everyone, Dalton Schultz would count about thirteen million if they were to tag him again. Tony Pollo would count about ten point one million. Odovan Wilson could be an option at

fourteen almost fourteen and a half million. Layton Vanderesh, I don't think, but at least for the sake of this conversation, would count about twenty one million if you were to tag him. My question for you, guys is, did you get anything out of that statement on whether this means that even though he said doesn't necessarily mean Tony that if they're definitely going to use it, it's going to be Tony or did you get some other indication on

maybe the player you think it would be. Yeah. I love Stephen, but I mean he's not gonna He's too smart to be saying anything that you know that you're like, oh, I'm going to read into this. I think they're going to use it on Tony Pollard. I think that's the only franchise tag option that's really in play now. You could say that about Schultz. They drafted Ferguson, and they

have Hendershot, and they look like they're promising enough. You know, players that you wouldn't want to pay thirteen million for Schultz, who is a good player. I don't think he's a great player. I think he's a good player. And I think any tight end that can get open would catch sixty to seventy passes from Dak because that's where Dak's going to throw it. So I Tony Polard at ten point one million, coming off an injury, that to me

seems like the best one. Yeah. I don't think there's any other player that just seems like it would make sense for them to be tagged by the Cowboys. What's interesting, Why would it be a big deal? To not want to say like if there because he did say there are planning on using the tag, what would it be a big deal to say we're thinking of using it for Polar Well, only if they're trying to negotiate a

long term deal. And that's the part that then he can't talk he won't necessarily talk about because I think they will do a long term deal. Well I mean, okay, long term two to three years. But yeah, the tricky part about a franchise tag is is a minute that you put it on there, he's a ten point one million player. That's what he is, and so that's where it starts. And so if you're like, well, we're gonna tag you or we can get this deal done, but they're like, well, the deal's got to be ten million

a year because that's what you're gonna tag us. So if they don't really say it like that, they're trying to maybe let's say it three year twenty four, like an eight a year, you know, which gives it more guarantees, you know, all that kind of stuff. But it I think agents always play that game. But if you tag me at all, that's where the floor is. And then we'll go up from there. So I don't think the Cowboys want to do that. Maybe I guess that makes

sense when you look at it that way. Would it be smart to do like even a two or three year deal with polar What do you smart for? Who smart for the Cowboys or for Polity the Cowboys? Well, that's the thing that's what makes this kind of tricky for even Pollard. Pollard's got to look at it too and say, Okay, I got hurt. What if I get hurt again? What if I play on the franchise tack and I get hurt like that again? Now with an increased load. By the way, problem increased load, le'll say

missed sometime, we'll say doesn't have the best year. Now what happens to him? What is his value? At five? He's a five year player going into a sixth years, had a couple of injuries, maybe declining. He's got to say, all right, if the money is there for a three year deal, that I can make twenty million guaranteed over three years. That might be better than the ten this year. So it's a it's a tough one for running backs,

you know. And I could see both sides wanting to say all right, do I bet on myself or do I take the money? Yeah, that's a and on the Cowboys side, you know, we talked about it last week. I would be afraid if I were an NFL franchise of committing long term money to a second, second contract running back. And that's not about Tony, that's not about Zeke, that's not about anybody in particular. That's just in general. The replacement value for running backs, as we all have

seen and have talked about, is relatively low. You can get really really good quality at the running back position with not a lot of draft capital and not a lot of money. So if you're talking about roster building overall and how much money you have to save against the cap, and know one you've got to spend big deals coming up on CD and Trey Von and Mica, this may be an area where you could save a

little money and still good, good quality production. And so from the Cowboys standpoint, I think they have to give some real consideration to are we willing to do a long term deal with Tony Pollard? No matter what we think of him. We might think he's a really good back and he might last all that time. It's more just the value a matter of what can I get for what I pay, and you might be able to get better as good a value for less money. Yeah, And I'm just never one that always says, well, you

can draft the back. Well, I mean, yes, you can. You can draft the back, and every year there will be running backs drafted, and some of them will come from the fourth or fifth or sixth round and they'll be productive, some of them won't. And so I think sometimes I just think it's a little naive for people, the draft experts. I mean, Brian says a lot of times too, and he's not wrong, and that you will be able to find the running back that's in the

middle rounds or whatever. But I think we should just not discount the fact that here is a here is a very quick, fast player who's still tough. He's tough for his size, he doesn't fumble, he knows how to make big plays. So there's value there of worth, you know, signing him. And I think you can do both. I think you can draft the guy that's getting left out here obviously is now. I think that's all fair. The one thing I will say, though, is I will trust

this scouting department to find me a running back. What they've done from the standpoint of the draft and really in some respects with regards to free agents. I trust them enough when draft Day comes that they'll get me a back that will be a good back. I just trust that they will because they're because their track record

shows that they're good on draft day. That's why the franchise tag makes sense because, like I said the other day, right, every time Tony Pollard has started a game, they average about forty points. It doesn't happen a lot, but it's a small enough sample sites to say, may be he is maybe he could really take over. I mean, when he got some chances to start they had, he had

huge days. So maybe you should do that with him and then draft a guy that's exactly right, and then we'll do a thank you graphic for Zeke when when he moves on or when they Honestly, I just don't know what to think of that. I mean, you heard the comments. I still think it's very noncommittal at this point one way or the other from Stephen, But what are your thoughts on what's going to happen when Zeke? Well, I wanted to ask you there because you're you've been

very pro draft a guy. You know, you talk about the running back cycle and how easy quote unquote it is to replace, to replace a guy in that position. Would you see a scenario, well, I wouldn't see it happening, But would you see the scenario where they just move on from both Zeke and Pauler. I mean it's a little riskier, but I would look at it and say, oh,

I'll put it to you like this. If the Cowboys feel like, and we're gonna get to this in just a second, because Steven has some comments about taking a running back in the first round, if the Cowboys feel like one of those two top running backs is going to be available to them in the first round, then I would be a little bit less worried about not having either one because, as you talked about last week, Nick, either one of those first two running backs, if you

plug them in next year, I think you got a really good running game. I mean, it's gonna be about your offensive line. It won't be about the running back position if you plug either one of those two guys in. Now, if you don't think based upon kind of how you how you look at the draft, and I know they do. They do these mock drafts, you know, internally to kind of fair out where they think guys are going to be.

If they don't think those two running backs will be there, they think they'll both be gone before they get to that point. Now, I do think that going to Knick's point, it might be a safer option for you to say, hey, at the very least, we want to do a one year franchise tag with Tony Pollard because we do want to at least have somebody for a year in order

to make we've got an option. But but outside of that, I wouldn't I would not be at all worried if they thought they could draft one of those two running backs and they didn't have either one of the running backs they currently. I really wish draft and free agency

dates were flipped. Draft would come first and then free agency and then you go from there and figure out what that big money that also wouldn't that also bring you the opposite problem, Like I know right now, a lot of teams try to kind of fill in gaps with free agency and then they get to draft and kind of know that they can kind of draft a lot of different things. It would be the flip, right, you would basically be trying to fill in gaps maybe with the draft, and then you would kind of go

into free agency. I think it would still present the same kind of challenges, right, I guess, you know, I think it's different because of the amount of money and the contract, the amount of money you're spending on play. It would always it would always be a different kind of challenge. I mean, it's just funny. I was I was as you was saying that, I was literally thinking what if they were flipped, you know, like like I

was thinking the same thing like timing. But yeah, there always would be something else that you'd have to deal with it, you know, I mean, because then you know, it'd be like, all right, well you know who do we you know? I mean, its one hundred percent would would be issues. But I like this this situation the way it is. I mean, it forces their hand to to do something. And also it would be a little bit more creative for agents if it was the other

way around too. It's like, now you drafted somebody, so now I know, you know we're gonna hold this out, or you didn't draft anyone and yeah you know so so yeah, it would it would be fun. But I mean, in this this particular case, I definitely think, um, it helps, you know, it helps the Cowboys to say, all right, we're gonna we're gonna do this with running back, and we don't know at twenty six, you just don't know

who's gonna fall. I think if Eishan Robinson's as good as everyone says he is, I don't still understand why he would fall that far. I mean, running backs, running

backs still get drafted in the first round. Yeah, but that's what we're seeing over the years is that I think they just don't They don't tend to go as early as like I'll put it to you like this, most everything I've read, Brian's even talked about it, most everything I've read is if you don't look at the position Jean Robinson is, from a talent standpoint, a top five player in this draft. He's not gonna sniff top five. He won't probably stiff top ten. But that's also up.

The point is because yeah, he's a really good running back, but when you think about just your overall team's ability to be successful, you don't need that kind of running back in order to do it. There are some positions that you do obviously, quarterback positions like cornerback, left tackle, those are positions where having that guy makes much more of a difference. In having the running back you can get a you know, look at the two teams that were in the Super Bowl this year, neither one had

a what you would call a premier running back. And so there is a way to be able to be successful with lesser running backs. And I think that's really more the key than than is the guy worth it, Like in the case of Tony Pollock, he's worth it, it's just do you necessarily need to do that in order to be successful? Yeah? Well, great questions the right formula here. If he's the first round you think he's first round talent, be John Robinson, Yes, not even a question. Perfect.

If I'm drafting at twenty six and I have a chance to get first round talent, then I'm in. I'm in, And I'm in for other positions too, you know. But but I mean, anytime you can get a first round grade at that point in the draft, that's and that's what they did last year. I mean, even though, and I wish people would go back and revisit that because everyone just kind of eraces. You know, these these draft

gurus or fans of the draft or whatever. They think the Cowboys you know, aren't going to do this or that, and they forget how much they just crapped on Tyler Smith's pick. They hated that pick. They thought it was a reach. This guy was you know, he guess what he had thirteen holding penalties last year, or thirteen penalties, not holding thirteen penalties, he had twelve a tulsa and everyone was like, oh my god, this guy's got yeah, well he had thirteen. Got a problem with that. I'm

good too. He played left guard, left tackle, left guard, and sometimes in the middle of the game, sometimes in the middle of the practice, went back and forth tyran Smith. I mean he ended up moving to right tackle because Tyler was playing so well. Okay close. El Adams had a false start every game, you know, for one year, and he made the Pro Bowl. I mean, he was

pretty good. So, I mean, when you have a hard time trying to find the picture of a guy that was drafted in the first round for whatever articles were posting, you're like scratching your head, like, okay, that's a good indication that the media's probably gonna have a problem with you, right, Yeah, who is this guy that has no pictures? Oh? You

know it's funny about that. I have a story in two thousand and five, remember going into your office after the draft after they took DeMarcus Ware who I was also in charge of finding photos. I couldn't really find a lot of photos of this guy from Troy State,

you know, and he's rushing the passer or whatever. The guy that I wanted him to draft was Derek Johnson out of Texas because every photo that I was searching for this linebacker he had the ball in his hands, hit the ball as a linebacker, and I was like, I want this guy. And he was a good point. He was a really good player, but he was in the NFL. Yeah, he did not turn out to be a Hall of His jacket is blue, yeah, or burnt orange or whatever he wears. Yeah, probably got a burn

orange jacket, I'm guessing, yeah, he probably does. Yeah. Now he ended up injuries at first, and then I felt like he ended up career a really good NFL career. He just wasn't Debarcus. But I just I just think that we should remember, you know, how the Cowboys are drafted, especially offensive lineman. They've done really well in the first round. We also should remember in free agency that Dan Quinn knows what he's doing, especially with players that you don't

think are that great. No one thought j Ron Curse was going to be who he is. No one they thought Donovan Wilson was going to have the year. He's got visions for players. So he's gonna sign some guy that played three years for the Jets. And you think, and I'm just throwing that out there, I have no idea what player. I'm just some player that you think this guy thought very good. Let's see what he does

in this system. Let's take our first break. When we come back, I want to talk about the Stephen Jones had to say about Tyrant Smith and the prospects of him being back with the team next year. We'll talk about that when we come back. Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio. Todd thought it would be secure to jog and the Cheetah sevent Todd believed the big Cat repellent he bought online was reliable. And now Todd is trying to be faster than this cheetah that can run eighty miles per hour.

But the good news is Todd has at and T five G. It is fast, reliable, and secure, and he learned the best thing to do is stop running and toss her the backpack with the beef stew at and T five G. Fast, reliable, secure, It's not complicated. Five G requires compatible plan and device. Five G may not be available in your area. See att dot com slash

five G for you for details. So what do you call a group of grown men and women with their faces painted silver and blue who get together every week to share a three hour long ritual of jumping, sinking, and toasting Miller Lite and Tim gallon hats while yelling, how about them cowboys? You call it Miller Time in Dallas. Here's to the Cowboys, Here's to the original light theater. It's Miller Time. Celebrate responsibly. Twenty twenty one, Miller Brewing

Company for Orts, Texas. Want to use what the pros use? How about the official men's skincare brand of the Dallas Cowboys, Jack Black. Right now you can get the Jack Black Starter, a curated collection of Cowboys locker room favorites, for just ten bucks with free shipping. The starter includes four Jack Black skincare favorites plus a full sized and tense therapy whip Bomb. Go to get Jack Black dot com slash Cowboys and use the code word team JB. That's Get

Jack Black dot com slash Cowboys. The Jack Black Starter ten bucks free shipping. When you build, you start with the foundation, and homeownership is a foundation of a stable future. The Bank of America Community Homeownership Commitment has helped over thirty four thousand people lay the groundwork so far, with up to ten thousand dollars to it's your down payment or three percent of the purchase price, whichever is less. The satisfaction of owning your own place can become a reality.

Visit Bank of America dot com slash Almoner to learn more. What would you like the power to do? Bank of America Ana equal Housing lender credit in collateralisophy to approval restrictions apply. This is not a commitment to lend back to the break. The most action packed motorsports experience in the world returns to Arlington this Saturday. Head to at and T Stadium on March the fourth for Monster Jam. Tickets are on sale now at SeatGeek dot com. The

official ticketing provider of AT and T Stadium. Welcome back, second segment of the Break Life from the s WBC Mortgage studios. At the start of this segment is brought to you by blockchain dot Com. Let's talk about Tyrant Smith. Yesterday, Stephen Jones was asked about Tyrant Smith. He was asked about the prospect of him coming back and also whether the team was comfortable with his contract situation. His answer was, yes, what do you think Tyrant's role would be if he's

back with this team? As Stephen indicated yesterday, Uh, I think he's a starter at left tackle, and I think Tyler Smith this year left guard unless something changes, like unless they draft someone that's better at guard, or you know, unless Tyrants not one year at best five. But I think he I think that they would bring him back. Um. You know, again, this is one of those where Steven said it, but that doesn't mean that they wouldn't try

to rework something. I mean he also said something else in there about the competition committee and how they talk about linemen and they say you can never have enough lineman. You can't. You just can't. And look go look at if you want to if you're bored. You know, go watch the XFL if you want to and just see how many linemen are there. I mean, it's it's the same as a fourth quarter of a preseason game. Nobody in block, nobody came out. Just there's just no backup lineman.

There's just not And that's that's what that's what the issue is. And so even when you get a guy like Isaac, you know you're going to a coleman. I can't say it, right, but um, you're going to keep developing him even though he is very, very raw. He's big, he's strong, smart, and he's going you just develop him because you don't want to let go of any of lineman like that. I say all that to say, I just don't know if they're just gonna let Tyrn Smith walk out the door. His salary is not that crazy.

And what's the amount that he's counting next year, do you know? Yeah, it's like, uh seventeen million on the cow m She's mean, that's not that crazy. That's a lot of money, right, Yeah, But that's your left tackle. He's your he's your left tackle. And if he's replaced, he's replaced by a guy that makes one. So I mean you're stealing with your left tackle of Tyler Smith and then Terrence Steele, who you can just get him on a restricted deal, a one year deal, So I

mean right, but I mean that all makes sense. So just look at the room. No, I get that, But I guess the way I'm looking at it is if you're looking at the team that's still seventeen million that you don't necessarily have to spend because you have a left tackle that you have at left guard, you'd say five. I mean that you would say five if you got him, So you say five if you cut him. I think you could save more if you did it after June one.

But again to that point and then get and then get who the somebody gets banged up Tyler to Aaron Steele gets hurt again, and now you're sitting you know. So if you're thinking about from a standpoint, let's say you're just looking at the room. And that's why I asked the question of what his role is if you wanted to continue to develop Tyler Smith as your left tackle, is there any scenario into which you would have Tyron Smith be your swing tackle? I don't know, he said.

Tyler Tyler. Oh no, Tyrn Tyrn, tyrone um. I think we just swing into retirement if that happens. I just don't you think he'll swing in every time where you get the Cowboys. I just don't think that's what he's gonna do. But I don't. I don't know. I've had four conversations. But he's not a man of many words. Spot Track has him the twenty third ranked salary in the league with left tackles. Not bad, it's pretty good. But either way, you know, every year, I wonder, at

what point is it enough? What point is it like your time is up? And I'm not talking about necessarily from the Cowboys, uh you, but also from him as a player, Like I get it. He's he's a big, strong guy, he's a machine. He's someone like we always talk about it like it's insane, the fact that he is still when he is on the field, the way he plays and he looks aside from all the injuries, but what point is it that your body's like, Okay, that's enough injuries. You can only take so many. So

it does make me wonder. And and he's been out here working, he's been working out, and you know, I just I don't know where he stands mentally and where he is as far as like how long he sees himself kind of keep playing. But going back to like what you think his role would be, you talk about the amount of different guys that you plug in, and we saw that with the Cowboys this last year, with

how many times they flipped and move guys around. But I think we would all agree that ideally you want to keep you're five in the same spot as often as possible. But I don't know how long he can count on him, and I think I would rather start off the season, would know. I just it's hard to sideline a guy like Tyrant Smith. But I just I don't know what his real role is. You don't know if he's gonna get injured at training camp. You don't know at what point he's gonna pull something and get hurt.

He ended up playing how many games last here? Like five? Yeah? You know, I mean bas based on his injury history. How how comfortable do you guys feel with having him be a week one starter? Um, if he does, it means he'll be rusty because he didn't have any work in training camp. Because if he gets work in training camp, he'll probably get banged up. So so to answer your question, I'm not then your backup is getting reps right and getting ready just incase, here's what I worry about with

Tyler Smith. I worry about Tyler Smith being Tyrone Crawford. And I say that as a guy that could play end, he could play tackle. Let's do him at both. Let's play you know, he never knows exactly where where to put his weight at during the offseason because he could get moved at any time to end. So he's now he's gonna play tackle, but then he gets moved out

to end and they're always doesn't get any sacks. Well, he doesn't have the burst because you had him at three hundred pounds at where he's just not working at that position. And so Kyle Wilbur was another guy like that. They always move, move him around and all that. But he has a lot more talent, a lot more talent, and he's smart to to to do it all. I just wonder, Yeah, Okay, he could be your tackle unless he has to play guard. He plays plays guard and

then he could move back to tackle or whatever. But are you are you leaving a pro bowler on the table by just saying this is your spot. You could be a pro bowler if you just you know, hone in on that as opposed to be really as opposed to being good players kind of bounce back a little bit. That's that's the dilemma. That's why position flex sounds great when you're drafting, but it also can be a curse of a player if they if they just lean on your position flex all the time and never develop you

as a as a full time starter at that spot. Yeah, that's one of the things that Stephen Jones pointed out the fact that he's young and versatile. Yeah, how you say um? And it just made me want, oh my gosh. I would hope that second year he has a spot, a specific spot where you're not moving him around, just because of what was mentioned, you develop and get better

and better at that position. And it also makes me wonder what's the best for the quarterback and the running game if you keep moving guys around a whole you know too much? I would assume yeah, based on what we saw as far as like the struggles at times with the running game where it just wasn't as consistent or as good as you wanted it to be. So

that's where I go back to you. Okay, I want to make sure I pin down all my starters at the right spot and go with that as long as possible, where I can now improve my running game with whoever the running back is. Yeah, I just changed my mind in the whole in this conversation. I think probably if I had to, if I had to think about what they're going to do and what they probably should do, I think they move on now that now that I think about, because I don't I don't trust that he'll

stay healthy all the time. And it's like Zeke in this sense of you can lower the salary to make it work, but the guy has done so much for you. He is a Dallas cowboy. He's one of your your cornerstone players or be in the Ring of Honor at some point. Yes, And so they can. They can offer Zeke a deal. It's just like they can offer Tyrn a deal. They don't want to do that. They did not want to offer it. What will really make sense for them? And five billion isn't a ton to save.

But you gotta have to sign Terrence Steele. Terren Steele is a guy that is you know, they want to. They want to. He's gonna get a big contract. They really like him, and and he's gonna be it. He's gonna be one of their guys for a while, so every everything counts. You probably need another left guard. You do need a left guard, and you've got to figure

that out with Connor McGovern. I mean, maybe McGovern comes back to I don't I don't know about that one, but I'm just saying, you know, Tyrn came back, but the problems didn't just get fixed. Even with him on the right side. They weren't as good as they were with Terren Steele. Based on what you've seen Tyma Smith's career so far. Is he a Hall of Famer? Yeah? I think so, because was he any different than Joe Thomas. Joe Thomas I only played eight years and he was Cleveland.

And I think they look for ways to get Cleveland in the Hall of Fame, just like they look for him to get in the Hall of Fame. Game and they get one Cleveland versus the Jets, because I mean, I was thinking the Cowboys could play the Jets or they play Cleveland. I don't remember who told me this. Someone told me this that probably not going to happen that the Cowboys would get in, because they'll they'll definitely get in when Witton goes in, but that's still a

few years away. He's still three years away. Yeah, so we'll see. But he's Cowboys, Jets and uh Browns for that one um for the Hall of Fame game. So sorry, finish just saying three preseason games for the Cowboys. They will not get the fourth game. You like that, Like, that is a tough trip, man, it is to clean to Cleveland, to Cleveland and they can't you're actually going to can't. Yeah. I always say that always makes me feel like a bad person. Yeah, because it's not my

favorite trip in the world. And you're always sitting around somebody, some young person that works with us. It's never been they're like, we're going to the Hall of Fame and you're like, it's I've been like five times. It's fine, okay, And then you know, it makes you feel like, oh, okay, Scrooge, you're going to the Hall of Fame. Sorry, you know, and but but but then it's just it's a tough You go to Cleveland, then you bust over the game, then you go to the game. Then you fly out

at like Akron or Toledo or whatever. We fly all the way to Lax and then you you take the bus from there to Oxnard. You get in at five in the morning, you put your change time zones and all that stuff. It's hard. Good luck on that Sunday, Yeah, but you don't want to discredit, like if you've never been to the Hall of Fame, even if you've only been waits, I would have awesome. I would have liked to be able to be there when DeMarcus goes in, just because you know, yeah, kind of root for him.

So that would have been nice. But that trip is a hard and it's it's tough for the for the team too. Yeah, it's another game that you have to play. You start camp earlier, which you know, coach is probably like that part of it because you do get to have more practices and you start but you still you know, yeah, but it's definitely one of those. And I don't want to sound ungrateful at all, because it's great anytime you

get to be a part of anything like that. But I think once you've been to it once, you're like, okay, it was cool all right. I don't think next time it's gonna be as different as it was this time. So you're kind of good with one. Yeah, But um, back to Tyrn Smith, I was gonna say that. For me, that's hard to answer because I feel most of the he's been out most of the time that I've been

covering the team. I feel like with injuries, you ask him about a guy like Sack Martin a thousand percent absolutely, But then you look at Tyrant Smith, I'm like, Okay, how can I really judge a guy that's been hurt so much? And that's nothing against him, he just hasn't been in as many games. And I feel like in my time here, I've been talking more about his injuries than him on the field. And that's not to say

that when he's been on the field and there. I forgot that year that we play against Atlanta, how bad it was and god that were just abusing Dak. And you've definitely noticed what a difference maker he's been in past year for the Cowboys. But I don't, I don't, I don't know. It seems like sometimes some of these requirements for all of famers, it's kind of tricky. Yeah, I'll tell you this for a lot of years. Maybe it was before you got here. I could have sworn

it was some years after you're here. But anyway, he was as steady just from a standpoint, always there, really and certainly from the standpoint of production, was just a

phenomenal player. And I just to me, it's all gonna be a matter of how the how the people that vote for the Hall of Fame view him from your from what you just talked about, from the latter part of his career where he was injured a lot of versus the earlier part of his career where he was there and he was very dominant and people didn't get

around him. I don't care who you were, I don't care who the defensive end that was trying to go against, Like nobody got around him, he didn't give up sacks like he was that good and uh and that guy I think from that standpoint, he probably should be in the Hall of Fame. Yeah, eight Pro Bowls is a lot. It is, um And one thing that that it comes up a lot in the in the discussion, seems to be the all Decade team UM, which you know, if you if you get into your career from twenty fifteen

to twenty twenty five. You may not make either one of them. He but I think he probably would make the All Decade team, where I guess it's already been out make it. I don't know about thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen and nineteen. You would think he should have been in the Joe Thomas. You know, Joe Thomas is eligible now, so that means he must have stopped in like eighteen or so, so he could be one. I think Tyring

and I think he was the best. I think I think he's probably an All Decade player, and I think you could say he's the best, you know, one of the best tackles of his errors. So yeah, I think so. And to answer your question about when you know at twenty fifteen he played every game, twenty sixteen he missed three, sixteen, seventeen and eighteen he missed three games each every year, and then nineteen he also missed three. So he was missing three games a year until twenty twenties when he

got hurt and he was out the whole year. Twenty twenty one he missed five games. I mean, it's crazy. He's like when you said, yeah, like thirteen. The last three years, he's missed a lot more than any other and so it's going in that direction. But you know, he was about three a year. But even though back then you say three. Now now he sounds like, oh no, that many, but I don't know. At the time, it felt like a whole lot. Also back then, if Tyren

Smith missed the game, probably gonna lose. Yeah, him and Sean Leeve, they were out. Everything's everything downhill. You're not gonna win that game. So I think that's part of it too. But that also may speak to how valuable Tyron was this team, right, Yeah, Yeah, that twenty twenty season that he I just remember he was hurting Week one, didn't play. Then Week two he just kind of fought through it and they played really really well. And then the next week he went on ir and for the year,

you know, with neck injury or surgery or whatever. And it's just kind of like, you know, he was hurting in that game he played, but he played and he and he locked it down. I mean, that's the thing. He just doesn't. He doesn't when he's out there, he doesn't suck. He doesn't. I mean, he could be hurt. He could be, he could he wasn't a great game when he played that playoff game at right tackle, I don't think. I think that was probably one of the games where I've seen in his career, one of the

very very few games. Yeah, while I was just like, he was very average that game in my opinion. Yeah, speaking of her, I know we have to go to break, but can I kind of take it back to running back for a quick sagon after we come back from break to us, Yeah, let's do that, and you know we'll do We'll just we'll do that and then we'll see if we get into these our series, we might put off the series or let's see, we'll come back in just second. To Stallas Cowboys dot Com Radio, the

season is finally here. For months, we've been gearing up to win. Now it's time for the team that performs on any field. United Aggin Turf with John Deer zero turns for mowing, compact tractors for loading, many excavators for digging, gator utility vehicles for hauling, implements for grading, a tools for bailing. United Aggin Turf for winning the official LaGG and Turf Equipment Supplier of the Dallas Cowboys. Visit United agginturf dot com for more. Todd thought it would be

secure to jog in the Cheetah Savanna. Todd belief the big cat repellent he bought online was reliable. And now Todd is trying to be faster than this cheetah that can run eighty miles per hour. But the good news is Todd has AT and T five G. It is fast, reliable, and secure, and he learned the best thing to do is stop running and toss her the backpack with the beef stew at and T five G. Fast, reliable, secure, It's not complicated. Five G requires compatible plan and device.

Five G may not be available in your area. See att dot com slash big for you for details. Yes, sweet, did you get to work on toime? Yeah, but I just realized it's Sunday. Little sweets his head on home, Doctor Pepper's on its way, So sweet, maybe there's nothing better. I'm You've probably done something you investionistic in a n f G. Yeah, and I don't even know what that is. It's a non functible token something. Doctor. When you build, you start with the foundation, and home ownership is a

foundation of a stable future. The Bank of America Community Homeownership commitment has helped over thirty four thousand people lay the ground work so far, with up to ten thousand dollars to it's your down payment or three percent of the purchase price, whichever is less. The satisfaction of owning your own place can become a reality. Visit Bank of America dot com slash homeowner to learn more. What would

you like the power to do? Bank of America an a equal housing lender credit in collateral les SOEPHY two approval of restrictions apply. This is not a commitment to lend. Back to the Break. Registration is now open for twenty twenty three Dallas Cowboys youth football and cheer camps presented by Invisiligne. Use promo codes Bring Break twenty three for twenty five dollars off camp on March fourteenth and fifteen. Take advantage of the bird pricing when you sign up

for summer camp by May the twelfth. Visit Dallascoways dot com slash Camps Welcome Back, final segment of The Break Life and st WBC more studios at the Star ambery Up Right before the Break, you had a question. What's your question? Yeah, okay, you've got a problem. We're a little aggressive with a paper over there. Well, I don't

want to exhaust the running back conversation. But as we were talking about and you missed, as we were talking about Tyrant Smith and the injuries and all of that and the time being out, it just kind of led me back to thinking how valuable those types of players are,

the type of players that can't play through injuries. And he made me think of Ezekiel Elliott, how tough that guy is and how often and people tend to not realize this, and you want to say every player in the NFL is dealing with something something, but Seek has been one of those guys that it takes a lot to get him off the field. And he's a very team player, you know, he's been great with the whole adding Tony Poller into the mix and just being a

team player. But when you look at these past few years and you realize, just talking behind the scenes and

all that, how often he's been dealing with something. He's still out there producing whatever it is, I'm my owner, whatever, But the fact that he's still out there doing things and we know and I'm not I'm not gonna name any names, but we know, we all know there are those types of players that as soon as like you pull a little something, you're like, ohh and you kind of I'm not saying exaggerated, but you know, those type of players that are not like fighting, fighting, fighting and

wanting to be out there on the field. So it is I see so much value in a guy like him and the amount of times that he fights and wants to be out there, and you need those type of players that, despite what you're dealing with, are gonna be out there so much. Similar to despite Tyren smith injury history, when he is dealing with something, I mean, it takes a lot for him also to be pulled off the field and he's still out there finishing games

or whatever. So again, and I wanted to reharsh all of that, but those are a lot of things that I'm positive the front office is taken into consideration. And when Steven Jones mentions, we look at things that are not stats and numbers, We look at a lot more things that are aside of what's looked at or seen

in paper. Do you think that's enough for them to at least consider keeping Zeke this coming year, knowing that he is, like like you said, he's very reliable from the standpoint of health, and even when he's not healthy, he's still there and he's still playing. Do you think that's enough for them to say that that should be factored in as to when we make a decision on where we're gonna keep him around or not. Yeah, I

mean I think it could be factored in. I just don't see a scenario that Zeke can be the number three running back. So if you're going if you're not going to keep Pollard, if you're gonna let him go free agency, and then you draft the guy for sure, and then you draft the one and you have Zeke, Okay, I can I can live with that. But I just but even at that, what's he gonna make? I mean, would you rather put him down to seven eight million a year or just keep Pollard for ten? I mean,

I think I'd rather have Pollard. You know, I just don't see a scenario where Zeke can be your third running How much longer if you had to guess, how much longer would his career be if he wasn't with the Dallas Cowboys, if he was to part ways and goes to another team, they could play a few more years, I would guess, because that's the thing, like there will be there will be teams out there that are like, you know, yeah, we could take a Zeke Elliot, we could work a role for him. I mean, we see

it happened with running backs all the time. You get a Levion Bell who's really great, and then he goes somewhere else and he just kind of meanders a little bit. You know, you see it. You saw it with Todd Gurley, like he's really good running backs. They can go somewhere else and they can play for a few more years where a team can kind of just get a little and the expectation is different. As long as he's here,

he's gonna be Zeke. You know, when you go somewhere else, then their expectations are a little less because they know they're getting him at a stage in his career where he's not Zeke that you drafted, you know, so in twenty sixteen. So so yeah, I think he'd go another three years to say, and he's got he's such a good short yardage back, he's a goal line back, and

we saw it this year. I mean it might be the last year of his career with the Cowboys, but he had twelve touchdowns, you know, and he had another guy that was making the Pro Bowl that we were sharing the load with. But he still was productive. And he can be productive for another team, especially for everything you just set on. You know, he's gonna give you everything he's got. He's gonna be out there, he's gonna be you know, he's gonna get his body ready enough

to play, and you know he sacrifices abody. Plus he's a really really good pass protection running back. So he's got some traits like Steve and was saying, got traits that don't necessarily you know, you know, always work out on the stat sheet. Yeah, you put him with a run heavy team, you put him with a team that maybe plays in cold weather, and I think they could find a really good role for him for another few years. And by the way, that could be here with Dallas.

Dallas could look at it and say, hey, we have a role for you, Zeke. We're gonna cut the salary. He may be okay with that, maybe he's not, but maybe they find a role that they say, you know, we think we're gonna have We're gonna go a little younger at running back. We want a little more juice, but we still want you to be here. We want you to be a kind of our short yardage goal line type back. I still think there's value in him, but it just can't be at the price that he's

been accustomed to being paid. And you kind of have to tear up that that thought process of well as Zeke. We don't really want to give him a price that insults him. It might not insults him. He may look at him and say, I know exactly where I am in my career, and I'm good with staying here, continuing to live in Dallas, be a part of the community I've build here, and I'll take less money to do that role. Who knows, but at least that's something I

think should be considered. If the Cowboys are willing to consider it. Yeah, I guess we'll see. We definitely will see. There's a lot that has to play out over the next couple of weeks, but make sure you check out the website the mobile app. This week we'll be covering scouting combine in Indianapolis. We got three of our reporters down there covering covering what's going on down there, so there'll be lots of content coming out of there. I'm sure Jerry will be talking some time this week. Mike

McCarthy's actually coming up today at one o'clock. I think actually it's gonna be twelve o'clock here, but we're gonna stream it live on the website and the mobile app. So if you want the opportunity to be able to check that out, and make sure you check that out until next week. For Nicki minambergar See. I'm Derek Kielton. 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.