Cowboys Break: Slow Start?

free agency wasn't that important. You know, you guys know I always have to give him crappit anytime he's not on the show. But how are you guys doing? I mean, hey, if he's gonna if he's gonna be gone during free agency? The Cowboys seem to be a great team to work for, so it works out probably doing good. You're saying, I'm great,

I'm lovely, I'm lovely. No, that's good. Well, we are gonna try to talk about what's been happening since Monday in free agency, relating obviously to the Cowboys, and then we're gonna go down the list and kind of talk about the guys that are left under the list of Cowboys free agents and kind of see what we can expect from that. But one of the bigger names that has come up is obviously quarterback Andy Dalton. He has

agreed to a deal with the Chicago Bears. So this leads to the question with what's gonna happen at quarterback? Backup quarterback for the Cowboys. So just wanted to get started with Andy Dalton and kind of something that we kind of expected to go somewhere else and possibly start for another team. But what happens now here for the Cowboys, Well, I really don't know if they can do anything other

than what they've already got. I mean, and you know, I don't think you can have it all, um, you know, in this in this area, in this era of siler cap I just don't think that the Cowboys can't afford to have a forty million dollar, you know, a year quarterback and then have a backup that's that's you know, making a lot of money. I just I think it's got to be Garrett Kilbert. I think it's got to be a maybe a draft pick. I mean, maybe there might be somebody out there on the very, very cheap.

But I just I don't know if they could really afford that. My rebuttal I guess would be that they afforded it while they were paying their quarterback thirty one million last year, which obviously is not forty, but you can make it work. I don't know if the Cowboys will for starters. I'm just happy for Andy, Like I know, you know, last season wasn't great for anybody, but he took a low contract, partially because of COVID, partially because this was home, partially to set himself up, and it

worked out. He tripled his deal from last year, and he's going to have a chance to start. I don't know what that's gonna look like, because the Bears kind of look like a disaster from the outside, but hey, he you know, as of right now, I think Nick Foles is the only person he's competing against for a starting job, So good for him. I mean, I do tend to agree with Nick. If you if you made me guess right now, I would say Garrett Gilbert and maybe Ben Denucci or maybe Mike McCarthy rolls the dice

on another backup, but I would guess those two young guys. Honestly, with Dalton and Tyrod Taylor going off to market yesterday, there's not a ton of like experienced quarterback ability available, like the two names that really come to mind, or Alex Smith and Mitch Drubisky. Both of those guys I would assume are going to try to go somewhere with a better opportunity to start. But if that doesn't work out, maybe they'd be willing to settle for less like Andy

Dalton did last year. Um, that could be really fun, particularly Alex Smith in my opinion, with what Dak Prescott said about him during his press conference last week. But that's obviously a little premature, and with the with the crunch they have against the cap, Yeah, I think I think probably cheaper is the more likely option. I mean, it's gonna have to be somebody, if it's a veteran, it's gonna have to be somebody in the same boat

as Dalton last year. That's like you know, I mean, Dalton's arrow is pointing up because he got a chance to play. It was pointing down last year, which that's where the money was. I mean you said that they made it work, they didn't. I mean it was thirty one million for Dak. I guess what was he counting? Andy Dalton? Like two three, three million? It was Yeah, I mean it was a It was a base of

three with a bunch of incentives tactics. He probably hits some of those, I would imagine probably yeah, I made yeah, I think he yeah, he upped it up to like five I think. But with the cap going down and well, go ahead, No, I was just gonna say that we know how big since the moment Mike McCarthy got here, we know how big he is some quarterbacks and all that and the importance of it, and given the fact that, okay, he cares so much about quarterback. We know that Dak Prescott,

he's coming back from an injury. He looks and he seems healthy. We've seen the video of him working out. He says he's gonna be ready when the moment matters and all that. But as of right now, what would like how big? Giving all the necessities that the Cowboys currently have on the roster in other positions, where would you rate quarterback? Backup quarterback? I mean, are you really looking at backup quarterback as a really important need right now?

For the Cowboys. No, I mean I think, oh, go ahead, well I disagree again. Yeah, I just don't. I don't think it's not when it's you know, not when it's related to the other positions. I wouldn't put it up there that high. I mean, we saw last year that it was important to have, but they got the best backup quarterback they could probably have last year and they didn't didn't help them. I mean, if you lose Dak

it's you're playing for a draft pick probably anyway. So I'm not I'm not putting that as a super high priority. See I disagree because, first of all, I mean the difference between I think the difference between what Dalton was able to provide over the second half of the season and what you saw from Ben Denucci. I know people are super high on what Garrett Gilbert did against Pittsburgh, and that's fair, but it was one game a week after one of the most atrocious performances I can ever remember,

So I handicapped that a little bit. But my point was going to be, you're not always going to lose your starter for the season. You know, that's pretty rare, but it's not that uncommon to lose your starter for one, two, three, four weeks. You know, the Rams didn't have Jared Goff and the Cardinals didn't have Kyler Murray going into their

season finale with the playoffs spot on the line last year. Uh, you know, the Saints treaded water with Teddy Bridgewater for five or six weeks a couple years ago when Drew Brees was hurt. And I think, you know, Andy Dalton starting nine games is probably not going to get you where you want to go, but if he had only been needed for three, it could have been huge. And so that's that's where my head is. Um Again, first

of all, there aren't that many options. You know, there aren't very many quarterbacks left that have a significant amount of starting experience. It would probably have to be Alex Smith or Mitchell Trubisky, which you know, if they kick around for a few more weeks and can't find a deal they like, maybe it's possible. But like I said, I think I think the overwhelming likelihood is that they go with youth, just because of the constraints they have

on their salary cap. Y go ahead, And I think, you know, but I think that you can make that argument both ways. Like if it's only if he's only probably going to be hurt two or three games, then you could say, well, if it's two or three games, you know, maybe you know we're gonna we're not gonna win those anyways. I mean, you're not gonna win them. I don't I don't think those backup quarterbacks that you get. You know, Andy Dalton came in in his first week

and he was he was terrible against Arizona. That wasn't you know, that wasn't his best game. And he didn't play that well the next week against Washington even though they didn't have a chance. But so, I mean, I think you could mismake the argument both sides, like, well, if it's only gonna be two or three games, then maybe you can get by with with And Garrett Gilbert is kind of intriguing because he is a veteran, but he's still he's been around, he just hasn't played a

whole lot, and he's cheap. He's a cheap veteran that's that's been around. So that might that might be the only way, the only option that they really have anyways, just because they just don't have a lot of money. Yeah, And I think I made I think I made that joke back in like January that I mean, for the

circumstances he was in. Garrett Gilbert played great against Pittsburgh, and I think the Cowboys are gonna use that, plus his cost, his very team friendly cost, to say, well, we feel good about what he can do, and we'll keep you know, we'll keep developing Benda Nucci or you know, maybe we'll use another flyer on a draft pick. That's that's what I expect to happen. But me personally, I have a lot more appreciation for the value of a

quarterback who's been there and done that. And you know, maybe it's probably not in the cards for the Cowboys this year, but I still think it would be a good idea. Well, Gilbert did show some potential in that one game that we did get to see from him last year. But Dave In, you know, another position that can help the quarterback position, and we know it's very important,

is the tackle position. The Cows are expecting to have Lyell Callins and turning Smith back into lineup and all that, but one of the moves that did happen during free agency earlier this week was swing tackle Cam Irving he agreed on a two year deal with the Panthers. The Carolina Panthers, and although he wasn't necessarily a guy that contributed much to the position, he because of injuries and all that, it's still another body to add depth there at the position. The Cowboys did agree a one year

deal with tackle Tie and I cannot. I was like, let's let's hear it, Insecki. It's actually once you once you hear it and see it, it's like, oh, that kind of makes sense. It's Tie insecky. But I'm sek all right coming from the Buffalo, So I just wanted to get your input and kind of your evaluation. I know he's not necessarily a big name guy, but what do you guys think about him? And that near addition

to to the position? Uh, you know in the in the press conference that they that they're going to have later today and to explain all these moves. I can't wait to ask him about it. Um, I'm joking because they're probably not doing that. UM. I don't understand it, and I don't have to understand it because no one's really explaining it. Does doesn't make sense to me. He's got seventeen starts in seven years. I don't know anything about him, and I know that he hasn't been good

enough to start. I know he's from Arlington, Texas, so that's cool, but you know, I don't know. I mean, it doesn't make a lot of a lot of sense. And so you know, as Rob Phillips I think pointed out when we talked about it, he's got one more start than Terrence Steele. So I don't know. I'm not expecting a whole lot out of him because he hasn't. He hasn't been that guy in his career. Does does he at least have less injury history as Cam Irving?

It harder to tell. He's only Yeah, I mean he's he's that's he's he's been available, but yeah, he hasn't been a regular starter. Yeah. Without trying, without trying to sound too much like a smart alec, I mean, you can sort of just do the cowboys off. You can do their free agency, like as Phil in the blank, Like the story is the same, the name is different. It's the same signing as Cam Irving or or Cam Fleming. In my opinion, like a you know, a guy that

has been around the league has started is not very expensive. Uh, probably doesn't thrill you if he actually has to play a lot, but can be here. And you know, if the Cowboys did have a press conference, which they probably won't, but if they did, they would say something along the lines of, well, you know, this opens us up to be true in the draft, and you know we don't have a glaring need at offensive tackle because we have this guy, but we could still draft one if we

need to. It's like like the Cowboys basically have a manual at this point and they check it off. They're like, all right, we resigned some key special teamers. We got a vetter great but might be good enough, and you know, hopefully it works out better than the other ones have because the other ones haven't been awesome. Hopefully that's not all they do at the position. So I think the draft. I think in the draft, yeah, I thought you were making like a three eight. Yes, yeah, I don't think

they expected. What did what did Irving get? Like? Nine? Did he get nine? Two years, five million years? I think it's two for ten with eight guaranteed or something like that. Yeah, good for him, I mean that, he I'm I'm I think that I think that was being him being a first round pick because he didn't do anything last year to kind of show that, oh, you know,

he's a really good player. I mean he you know, he was he was sick when he first got here and then he got hurt twice and m he played okay, I think when he was here, but I mean he was battling with Terrence Steele for playing time. So um, you know, I think that's what this is. I think that they covered themselves with a little bit more of a veteran guy. But I think that if whatever depth chart they have on their board, I would imagine Terrence

Steele is still he's probably ahead of this guy. It wouldn't surprise me based on everything we saw from Terrence Steele last year. And I'm yeah, like I I you know, and I'm at like, I'm somewhat familiar with Niseki because he was he was a reserve for Washington for several I got that was where he got the vast majority of his playing time was with Washington. Whenever Trent Williams or Morgan Moses was unavailable, Um, he would step in

and he seemed fine. But yeah, like I'm I'm not about to sell this as the Cowboys solving their swing tackle problem. If anything, I think, you know, it's probably a three way competition right now between him and Brandon Knight and Terrence Steele, and you know, maybe they'll add a guy in the draft as well. I hate saying that, especially coming from me talking to you guys, But why is he so old? Like he's thirty five years old? I don't, well, it don't. It didn't add up, Like

where's this? I mean, seven year pro thirty five, I mean played baseball for six years. I mean, what's going on? I'm I think he did it. Actually, Uh, he had an extensive like he's been out of college since two thousand and nine. He played, Yeah, he played a lot of like Arena league football. I think, yeah, he played a lot of Arena league football. And I don't think he got to the NFL until twenty twelve, and then

he went back. He went back to Arena league for a little while too, Like he's, oh andy, there's some CFL on this resume. Yeah, my man. I mean, you know, it's easy to crack jokes, but like, good on him, Like that's a hell of a success story to turn that into. You know, you've been on three or four NFL teams and signed three or four contracts. I mean, good for you, so I have in my story then I said that he played high school ball right right next to or near AT and T Stadium. Uh, not

exactly true. He probably like he played it next to the construction. He's probably an it next to the construction site. Yeah, yeah, I got it. Hang, I thought that was safe there. This places it open eleven years all right. Well, definitely not not anything, not anything, not anyone exciting, but an extra body and quote unquote some veteran experience, if you can call that veteran experience. But we'll see. Hopefully the

Cowboys do better in this free agency. So far, there hasn't been any splash right now, which people hate, but we know that's kind of the Cowboys trend and what they usually do by moving on to the on the list to the wide receiver position. We know that the Cowboys did agree on a contract and on a one year deal with wide receiver Noah Brown, and then they are expected to give Cedric Wilson the tender. So two guys that we've talked about on the show. Any surprises here,

good or bad? Are you guys happy with kind of those decisions that the Cowboys have made. With those two guys. You know, there's been like a there's been a tone of sarcasm, I think to the entire opening of the show, which is totally fair in my opinion. But I genuinely they have done a few things that I genuinely love. And bringing back Noah Brown and Cedric Wilson or two of them, because I neither one of them was expensive. They've both you know, they're both well familiar with everything

that's asked of them here. You know, Noah's been here since twenty seventeen, Cedric's been here since twenty eighteen. I hesitate to use the term break out because you know, they were still role players last year, but they certainly made their biggest contributions yet to the team, and it certainly looked like they were both going to have bigger roles before Dak got hurt. I think you kind of

pair things down when you lose your starting quarterback. Obviously, Cedric had that amazing game in Seattle, you know, a week or two before Dak went down, and now you know, you keep your receiver corep intact and it keeps you from really having to do anything. You know, maybe maybe they want to draft a guy to deal with maybe losing Michael Gallup, but that could also be a problem for next year. You know, you could tag Gallop, you

could do something with a Mari's contract. So I like this because it keeps the group in tac for at least one more year, and you know, you can make some hard decisions next year. But on a team with this many holes to fill, it's nice to think that, you know wide receiver, you don't have to do anything with it right now, because I think one through five that's about as good as you could ask for, in my opinion, Dave, I didn't even I should have looked

this up. What is the Noah Brown's salary? What did they pay for him? I honestly, I don't think the terms have even been disclosed, because you know, it's technically I know, you can resign your own like you can resign your own during the tampering period. But I don't think any of these guys have actually signed their deals. But I have a hard time believing Noah Brown is going to make more than you know, a million or two. Like I, it just you know, Cris Cedric's tag is

for two million dollars. I can't that would be more than that. I thought that was a little high. Actually, I don't think I would have done that if I was the Cowboys. You know, you don't have to you don't have to give him a restricted tender. You could just sign him to whatever you want. I think I probably would have done that two point one million dollars. I'm okay with doing that for Antoine Woods, but I

mean for Cedric Wilson. I'm you know, I hear what you're saying about having that intact, but you know, I just I feel like you could probably they could probably get him cheaper than that, and I don't believe that's guaranteed, so they don't necessarily have to to to keep him if they if they want to, you know, move him. He did make some good strides though last year, especially

when with with dak So. I would imagine he'll be a regular at the at the Prescott Ranch or whatever they they're calling his his his field over there, Yeahike Yard, Yeah, that's das guy, no doubt. So hey and may you know, hey, when you're the when you're the forty million dollars face of the franchise. Maybe maybe Dak's got that cache where he's like, how about y'all under my guy and just make sure he doesn't go anywhere. That's true, he's got that. Now, Well,

let's go ahead and take a quick break. When we come back, we'll just keep going down the line on this list. And Nick, you did mention Antwoine Woods, So he's up next on the right Cowboys free agency list. Honey, big news. Gary? Are you okay? Oh? I'm not Gary anymore. I'm Jackie Flash. What see? I want the latest smartphone, but the best deals are only for new customers. So to get a new customer deal, I changed my name

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Back to the Break, The Star District is the perfect place for the whole family to enjoy. Help support local Frisco businesses by visiting us to dine, shop, and explore the Dallas Cowboys themed campus. For more information on all the Star has to offer, visit the Star District dot com. And I was at the Stars Welcome back to the

Break now, Mega. I was at the Star District actually last night, and I saw Joe Looney there, so I don't And I was kind of talking to him briefly, kind of yelled at him and he yelled back, but I don't know. I got the sense he might be coming back. Did you get any formation. Well, I was kind of loud in there, and he was kind of gone up and he was excited, you know, just because he was excited, I think he'd be you know, he'd be excited even if he heard some really bad news.

I mean, he's just that's just the guy he is. But I get the sense that he might be coming back, Joe Looney back in Dallas. We'll seecred to know. Okay, but you can you can do all that at the Star District. You never know who you're gonna see at the Star District. Honestly, that's not even that's not even me trying to sell it. Like, hang out there enough,

you'll probably run into somebody interesting. Like it's just I mean, it's right there next to the facility, so you never know who's gonna pop out to grab something to eat or whatever. Right, could be David Hillman, could be Meekman. You never know. I was thinking about like legitimately important people.

But yeah, that too. You guys are important too. Um okay, moving on to the defensive tackle position, Nick, I'm gonna throw it back to you with Antoine Woods, he is expected to receive the tender thoughts on this, Um, how are you guys feeling about that decision? Yeah? I I like him. I've always liked his game. I think it

I think it fits. We'll see how it fits in this kind of scheme, in this newer scheme, but it's it's a scheme that they've that marion Elli ran pretty much a couple of years ago, so and I thought he did well in that too. So, um, I think he's gonna be a good fit. Um, you know, he was probably hoping for a bigger deal. I know he's been looking for Yeah, yeah, he's been. He's been, he's

been seeking a bigger deal. I mean, he probably thought he was going to get a better contract when he joined up with Drew Rosenhouse as his agent long time ago. So you know, he probably wasn't anticipating this. But where they are with their defensive tackles, they've got some young guys with Gallimore Tristan Hill. You know, I think he fits in there. I still think they need a bigger body, but I don't know if that's going to happen. I don't I don't foresee the him getting Gerald McCoy. I

don't think that's going to happen. So I think he's you know, he's probably going to be the veteran of the group, especially if Tyrone Crawford retires, like it's being you know, like that's being anticipated that he will. I feel bad for Antoine because the I mean, the brutal reality is like, if you're an undrafted player, you gotta

work really hard to reach true free agency. You know, like he was an exclusive rights free agent last year, which means that Cowboys had like they could tender him for an even cheaper price, and nobody could even you know, at least now under the restricted tender, another team could potentially make him an offer. They couldn't even do that last year. And now it's you know, it's very unlikely. Restricted free agents don't typically get offer sheets. It doesn't

happen very often. So you know, Antoine, Antoine entered the league in twenty fifteen, and it'll be twenty twenty two before he can enter true free agency and kind of name his own price. That's that sucks, but it is what it is. I'm I'm happy to have him back. You know. I love his demeanor and what he brings to the team. You know, no offense to him, I don't. I don't think it's enough. You know, the trio of him, Tristan Hill and Neville Gallimore, like, I like that, but

I don't love it. Gerald McCoy whatever, you know, I don't think damakinsue is likely to come here. I I spit out my coffee this morning when I saw what the Lions had to give up to get Michael Brocker's I mean, you know, if you told me I could get a guy like that for a future seventh round pick and his cap hit is only eight million dollars, it seems like a heck of a deal to me.

But doesn't seem likely. Um, you know what's going on with Jerald McCoy because a couple of weeks we were talking about him and it seemed like we all thought that he might be back with the Cowboys. Do you guys know what wasn't exactly is happening with him. I was just told that that's probably not going to happen. Um,

that doesn't That doesn't mean that it won't. I mean maybe that's has something to do with his price and his price tag, but um, the way it went down last year, you know, and they even said, well, we might bring him back, but that I don't know, Dave, that just never seemed like that was that was a situation that that's gonna be like reconnected, just the way it you know, when you when you say, hey, we're gonna put a stipulation on this contract based on your

right quad. We don't know, we don't know if we trusted. And then a week later the right quad blows out, and then it's like, ah, okay, well we're releasing you. I don't know. It just doesn't seem like you're just

gonna a year later be like, hey, welcome back. I don't know it did it made me interested just the fact you know that he stayed in touch with all of these guys, you know, Neville Gallimore credited him as you know, constantly being in his ear and being willing to talk to him, even despite not even you know, guy wasn't even on IR, he wasn't on the team, but he still took an interest in these guys that he had only known for a couple of months. Yeah,

well that's a good that's a great point. Actually, I hadn't thought about that, but either, I mean maybe, but I yeah, I guess, I guess. I wouldn't have bet

on it, but maybe. And that's what I was going to say, ag is like the unfortunate reality is the Cowboys are gonna wait and see how the market shakes out, you know, I mean technically the league year doesn't open for another few hours, Like this has all been the legal tampering period, and there's I mean, there's still a lot of interesting talent out there and a lot of you know, there's a lot of stuff left to develop.

This doesn't affect the Cowboys, but just as an example, this free agent receiver market is just not happening at all. You know, Kenny Golladay and Juju Smith Schuster are just sitting out there, and you know, there's a lot of there's a lot of similar situations, like when are we going to see these veteran cornerbacks start to signed? Patrick Peterson, Richard Sherman, A J. Bouyer, Like where are those guys going to go? And how much money are they going

to command? And you know it's frustrating to hear, but the Cowboys are going to see how all those dominoes fall and they're probably gonna keep an eye on who's still available in the next you know, four to seven days, and that's those are the names that will start circling. It's just it's not in their mo to be involved in this free Well, let's go ahead and jump into the cornerback position. Since you mentioned that position. I mean, Chidoya Woozia was a guy that we all expected him

to be gone during the free agency. He's expected to sign a three year contract with the Bengals and then c J. Goodwin that's a good sign for the Cowboys. They are expecting to sign him on a two year deal and he has been a big contributor and on special teams for the Cowboys. So cornerback position, big position for the Cowboys that we know they do need help. Thoughts on this other than than what was expected. I mean, we do have Jordan Lewis that's still kind of helping

the air. What are you guys expecting there to happen? Well, I do think the I think the CJ. Goodwin move is is a good one. I don't I don't even know if he's um he liked what I did. They're a good one, um he um. You know, he's not really a corner He's more of a special teams guy. I mean, that's that's what you know. That's what he does. When when you see good plays on special teams, it always seems like he's around there, whether it's he's getting

the watermelon kick or downing the ball. On the one yard line, or or getting a fumble or taking an eighty yards against Pittsburgh on that trick play. I mean, he's the captain, he's leading a tackler, and I think that's a really good get for for the special teams units there. It sounds like there's gonna be some shake ups going on and all over the special teams, but uh, that's a good good get there and all that day. I'll let you talk about Cheeto and George and what

you think will happen there. Yeah, I did. I mean a gain. Like I said, you're not gonna hear me say anything sarcastic about CJ. Goodwin. I love that signing a lot, like every team needs a guy like that, and I did, like people ask about that, and it's no offense to CJ. Goodwin. I don't even think about him as a cornerback like this. This team was banged up at corner all year last year, and they turned over every stone to bring in guys like Stephen Parker

and Richard Robinson. They did all of that before CJ. Goodwin got a look, because that's how far down the depth chart he was. But he is an incredible special teams guy. You know, our buddy Danny McCrae was kind of like that years ago, and they're just they're invaluable. They block punts, they down punts, they tackle guys before they can return. The fake punt was amazing. Like, I love stories like that, and guys like that are really valuable. So I'm pumped that he's here. Um Cheeto. You know,

we talked about it. Honestly, his deal was small than I thought it would be, but it was still pretty damn big. I mean, up to twenty two million. I think Cincinnati guaranteed him ten million in the first year of his deal, which is really nice for a guy that spent half of the last season hurt. You know, he's only twenty five years old, he's art and he's started forty games at twenty five. That's pretty that's pretty impressive. And you know, I had a long conversation about this

on Twitter yesterday. Probably didn't live up to the expectations that you put on a second round draft pick, obviously given that he didn't sign a second contract here, but still a solid player, a good dude, good locker room guy, Like I don't have anything bad to say about Cheeto. It's just you can't keep everybody, especially if if they don't measure up to what you need. So great for him that he was able to get that deal, I don't think. I don't think Jordan would get as big

of a deal. And that's why I'm at least optimistic that that the Cowboys might be able to resign him, because I think you can get him at a lower number, similar to what they did with Anthony Brown last year, and I would if they're able to do it, I would love that because that would give you, you know, two guys that are capable of playing in the slot, two veterans that have been here that understand the scheme, and it obviously wouldn't stop them from drafting a cornerback

with a high pick. So I don't know if that's going to happen. I think the Cowboys are interested in making it happen. So that's that's something to watch. I see that. I do see that happen. Sorry, I see that happening as far as him resigning, because I just you know, you don't want to go into the draft with an absolute need. I mean, you want to have some needs. But I think if you just had Anthony

Brown and Trey Von Diggs. I mean, there's everybody would know you've got to take a corner right there at ten, and then you probably got to come back around in the third or fourth round and get another one. So I mean, if you could resign Jordan Lewis, it's still it's still a high need, and I still think it would be their top priority in the first round. But I you know, I just you don't have to. You

kind of cove yourself a little bit there. It kind of it goes back to what I was saying about following a manual, Like it's it's very it's it's a very similar story to what we hear every year, Like you say, oh, well, if we resigned George and we've got Jordan Lewis, Anthony Brown and Treyvon Diggs. Probably not excited about going into a season with that being our

top three, but at least you could do it. And it's the same thing with ty Niseki is like, don't love the thought of him being the third offensive tackle, but at least now we're not in the position where we're forced to spend one of our first two picks on an offensive tackle. I think. I mean, that's the thought process. I'm not saying anybody has to be thrilled about it, but that's the thought process. Well, we'll see what they do with Jordan Lewis boy outside from their

own guys. We've seen it in the past where the Cowboys end up getting a guy that's kind of interchangeable between safety and cornerback position and it's not necessarily a big name guy, but they're always like, oh, if we need them at this position, they can move. There are there any names out there that you guys might think of at the top of your head right now that could possibly be that kind of guy that could come in have some veteran experiencing them and also have that

kind of flexibility as well. Yes, yeah, there are some names, and you know, they're names that people like to throw out there all the time. Richard Sherman, Patrick Peterson, you know. But I think it'll be interesting to see though, before you go that route, is are they going to get a safety, like a real safety, one that's actually done and in the game. And there's a perception people have done this for years. They think if you're a seven, eight year, ten year veteran corner that's lost a step,

you just slide over to safety. I mean, it's natural, and that's not the way it works. You've got to be a smart guy. You've got to understand that the scheme. You've got to be willing to tackle. It's not just an older corner. Just because Rod Woodson, who's in the Hall of Fame did it and some others have done it, it doesn't mean it's an easy transition. That being said, is there a smarter person out there that's playing football

than Richard Sherman? Not sure. That's a smart guy. If anyone can do it, I think he can do it, and I would love that signing, I really would. I know that that. I just think that would be so fun if he was here, and I think he'd be a good player. But you know, we'll see what the money's like and how if he could really transition. I don't think he's ready to transition to safety though. Yeah. I mean him and Patrick Peterson both I think can

probably still make some money playing cornerback. But I guess we'll see. But would you hate that, Dave? If Patrick Pierson came here, I would do a fricking black flip. Where does he ranked on the all time Tigers in your list. I mean he's not He's not a hit on Honey Badger top five for sure. Yeah, I mean it's him, Joe Honey Badger. Um those I mean those are probably the big three. I could come up with a few more. Um No, But I mean that's that's

it's it's exciting. It's exciting, but frustrating because there there's a lot of talented football players out here. Like we've talked about this, teams have had to do a lot of drastic stuff to get under the salary cap. Like even even with most of the big big days, like, there are still guys that I think can still play. Like a guy that I've talked about a lot for the Cowboys. Who a Texas guy. I'm sure he would love a chance to play for the Cowboys. Kenny Vaccaro.

Trey Boston is one. Nineteenth time we've talked about the Dan Quinn connection with some of the Atlanta players like Demante kaze Kean O'Neil, Ricardo Alan, who else. I'm just looking at the name right now, Like there, I mean a lot of guys have hit the market because of these cap constraints. The question and it goes back to

kind of letting the dominoes fall. How long are the Cowboys gonna wait and how low does the price have to get before they express an interest in any of these guys, And that's I think it's a waiting game, and I understand that it's a frustrating waiting game. But hopefully when they do decide to dip their toe in the water, because they will, I mean, we do this every year, like every year, everybody's very frustrated and sarcastic for the first few days, and they eventually dip their

toe in the water. I'm not saying obviously the signings haven't been great, but they'll they'll target some guys eventually, and hopefully when they finally decide to do that, there's

still some better players available than they usually are. Well, when you see teams like the Patriots making big, splashing moves, it's kind of hard out to get for us traded and say, hey, when aren't we making a big splash or I mean, I know that Dak Prescott was the biggest splash right now, but still in free agency itself,

it's just, uh, it's always frustrating. You know, every year you gotta remember too about about you know, the Patriots, Like if if if the Cowboys had let Dak Prescott go and he goes and wins the Super Bowl, then the next year you got all this money, then you better go do something because they have egg on their face. I mean, they let the greatest quarterback of all time go to another team and they won a super Bowl in their first year. You better go do something and

spending your money and go get get some guys. And you know, and I give them credit, they've they've done it, but they're they're you know, they took they got their ass kicked last year, you know, both literally and then also like in the media and all that stuff. So they're fighting back. You know, Belichick's not gonna sit back and take that. But I'm just saying, you're right what you just said, Cowboys. You can't get all excited a week ago, go finally we go, finally got Dak. I'm

so glad we got him. And then wonder where the money is. I mean, that's that's where the money is. Yeah, And I'll definitely I'll defend the Cowboys on that front all day, every day. The Patriots. Bill Belichick's great he's arguably the best coach ever. What they have done speaks for itself. But they they are a talent poor team right now, or they were before they spent all that money. They haven't drafted all that well. They don't have Tom Brady or Grunk anymore. They let their best guard walk

in free agency. They've got a few guys on defense. You know, Stefan Gilmour is still a good player. Donte high Tower opted out of the season, But like, didn't have any good receivers, didn't have any good tight ends, had a you know, a stable of like okay running backs. Obviously, don't have a top tier quarterback, so they better spend some damn money. Yeah, you know, it's basically like they did.

They did the same thing that the Jags and the Browns do every other year, which is to say they were terrible, didn't have any talent, so they went out into free agency to try to fix it. The only differences We're used to seeing the Patriots contend for Super Bowls, so it seems weird to see them do that. But I would, and you can make all the snarky comments you want. I know, the Cowboys were bad last year.

The Cowboys have talented players, like the Patriots would love to have any of the Cowboys' best six or seven players, including their quarterback. So I will defend the Cowboys on that front that I would rather have a bunch of good players under contract and not have a ton of money to spend than have to go out and sign other people's players because I don't have any good ones. Yeah, and you know, last last week, I will say this,

I'm sorry, I will say this. I do. What I do like about what the Patriots have done is that it's their willing willingness to adapt. You know, I don't don't. I just don't understand why you have to have one way that you do it. You know, Steven Jones said it the other day, and I respectfully disagree. Actually was saying, you know, we feel like, well, I don't agree with him saying we feel like the best way is to build through the I agree with that that is the

best way. It's the cheapest way, but it doesn't always work. I think you've got to have a willingness to adapt and say, you know what, this year, we do need to add a little bit more pieces. We need to be more aggressive in free agency, we're gonna make a splash early, just be able to do. It's not one way that's worked because in twenty we all know it's been well documented. In twenty five years it has not worked. So I don't really understand why there's all you always

have the same approach all the time. I would like to see a different approaching out. They just don't have the money, that's one thing, but there's been some years that they have some and I think that they need to alter the approach a little bit more than they do, which and that's I mean, we obviously we can agree on that. That's the frustrating thing to me is not that they don't spend big. It's that it's this zero

or sixty approach. They're like the only way to do it is to spend no money, or you go like you know, twenty twelve and drop fifty million dollars on a cornerback like they did with Brandon Carr. Like you it doesn't have to be that way. I mean, it was only it was only two years ago. What did they trade to get Robert Quinn like a fifth Yeah, Like that's the stuff that aggravates me again, I know, Michael Brocker's cap hit is big, but you can find

a way to make that work. And all Detroit gave up to get him was a future seventh round pick. We see teams do stuff like that all the time, Like your draft picks aren't that valuable? You can use them to go get talented players and ms he was with the Rams. Yeah, he was sure. That wasn't like a player to be named later. You know what do you mean, wasn't he was just Oh, as part of the golf deal. Yeah, I will say, in fairness to in fairness to the Cowboys, the Lions, GM used to

work for the Rams. Yeah, So like that's an I mean, that's an And I don't want to get too hung up on the specific trade. My point is trades like this happen in the NFL every single year. The Cowboys did it with Robert Quinn and it worked out really well. Yeah, and that just it seems stuff like that often enough, Like nobody's asking you to go sign an eighty million dollar contract, but you got to do more than scrape the bottom of the barrel. You've been doing that for

a decade and it hasn't done anything. Well, we gave them praise by the way they structure DA's deal in the way and the amount of money that they were able to save for this year, and we talked about how they might possibly use that obviously a diff agency.

So my next question when we come back from the break is do you guys expect the Cowboys to use that money that they currently have to evenly kind of distribute it and address several positions or is there a position that you feel that the Cowboys could spend a little bit more in free agency? Not necessarily a big, big old splash, but a little splash that can get someone what from like someone that's standing by the pool

over there, you know. So when we come back from the break, I want you guys to let me know if there's a name out there are not necessarily a name, but at least a position that the Cowboys might be able to do that with. Since eighteen sixty five, Stetson hats are American maid with pride right here in Texas, and Stetson is proud to be on the field with America's team. Want to show your Texas and Team pride too,

You can by purchasing your own stetson. You can look just like how the flag guys do on field at every home game. Stetson Hats the official crown of all self respecting Cowboys and your favorite football team. Get yours today at shop dot Dallas Cowboys dot com or at Stetson dot com. Honey, big news scary? Are you? Okay? Oh? I'm not Gary anymore. I'm Jackie Flash. What see? I want the latest smartphone, But the best deals are only for new customers. So to get a new customer deal,

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airwaves and taste buds. It's new Doctor Pepper and Cream Soda. Let's take a listen, Doctor pepe and Cream Soda. Is he a Newcombonut's music to my ears? Okay, doctor time, music to my ears and mouth new Doctor Pepper and Cream Soda. Back to the break. I don't I don't actually have the read ready. So it's something about the DC United, but I don't have it. I can read it here in just a second though, sorry, so Amber, go ahead, go ahead. Yeah, this is our start back.

I have to never read, but we're back. I have it. I'll have it now. But yeah, you can say it at the end of the show. All right. It's for the ultimate fans and if you're at the end of the show, you'll be a fan. Yeah, okay, ultimate fan? Yeah, got it? Cool? All right? Well, I posted the question big olds or just kind of wet your feed and kind of see if it's cold or not, and then slowly get in the pool type of uh splash. That was terrible. That was a terrible analogy. But I don't

care whatever, who's gonna do. Just give me a name a position. You're looking for a cannonball, right, You're looking for a cannonball that's gonna just like get everybody wet, which that was last week. They did that. They made the big splash last week. But to answer your question, and I've said this before, like like, is there is there a position that you're like, we're just gonna get We're not just gonna spread this around. We're gonna get one guy. We're gonna sign one big guy here. Um,

I would probably do a center. And I don't call that the most intriguing position or the most needed position, but I think, you know, and I've made it clear, I think Nick Martin would be a good addition. I think that if you get a big time safety corner, you know, maybe there's a chance he's good. Maybe he doesn't. We've seen it happen where they they they don't play well, their first round pick, they're a former pro bowler, they

come here and it just doesn't work out. If you signed a guy like Nick Martin or or a center that can really solidify the position. I just don't think he's gonna suck. He's not gonna suck. You put him next to Zach Martin, you put him next to Connor Williams, or you put him whoever on that line. I just don't think he's gonna suck. And I think that that you have the best chance to get a really good player if you get a guy there to help your

the middle of your offense. That's I mean, it's it's exciting, but also frustrating. Age. It's kind of like what I said, because right now, again the league year hasn't even opened, but right now I think there's more capable veterans that can still play at a high level available than there usually is because of all of the things teams have had to do to get under the cap. The question is, how are those markets going to develop and are those guys?

Will any of those guys be cheap enough that the Cowboys would take a look, Like I could go down the list of guys that I think still might be able to give you something. Uh Kawan Short, I know he's been dealing with injuries, but again, if you sign him low enough, it's low risk, high reward. Jurrell Casey is a name that is intriguing to me. Anybody that was tied to Dan Quinn in Atlanta is intriguing to me.

Whether that's Keyan O'Neil, Demante, Kazi, Ricardo Allen. Oh geez, there's I already mentioned some of the safeties, Kenny Vacaro and interesting. Getting the head of the Cowboys close your eyes and think like you're Stephen Jones. Oh that's what That's what makes it frustrating is because if I got on the head of the Cowboys, they'd probably just be like, oh no, he wants to well hold on, if we're

doing that. If we're doing that, that we're gonna sign Robert Griffin the third That's that's a that's a guy that they would sign because he's come here, he's beat their ass on Thanksgiving, even though it was ten years ago. He's done. You know, he's a name, he's Texas guy. You know, he'll be relatively cheap. I think, so, yeah, I mean, that's a quarterback obviously, but it's those type of those type of guys. There's just unfortunately, I mean I think it just depends on how some of this

stuff plays out. I think I think there's probably a dozen or more guys that they would have interest in signing, but only at a price that they like. And that's what I mean. It's it's going to take time for some of this stuff to sort itself out and for

them to do well. I think that's why everything they've done so far has other than Niseki every like, the majority of what they've done has just been tying up loosens with their own guys and and we'll see, Like I mean, it might not take a week, but I just think it's a it's a slow play. It always is with these guys. So what what I'm hoping is that when this kind of first spree of spending is over, is that there's still a healthy amount of like veteran

players looking for that's because of the cap situation. That's if I'm trying to offer you hope that the Cowboys are going to sign talented players. I think that is that's the hope. Yeah, Can we at least hope that anything that they do this year should be better than what they did last year and a better turnout of what happened in last year's free agency because that was a total uh, I don't know the word, like it

just didn't work out for them. Any of the veteran guys that they brought through free agency just didn't make it through well with one. I think that's part of it. Sorry, Oh, I mean Greg Greg Zerline was one of the best players that they had, one of the most consistent players. He's forgotten a lot because these special teams, I get it,

but he was one of the more exciting moves. When they get it, it it was like, holy crap, really, you know, I know people were excited there and he had a pretty good, pretty good year, so um, you know, one of couple of games for them, pretty steady that was. That was one one move there. And uh. And I say that to say, you know, he was connected with John Fossil, who's been with the Rams, and we should probably at least throw it out there that it's it's

been highly reported. It looks like it's going to happen where they the Cowboys could bring in a long snapper there. Um. Uh. Jake McQuaid I believe is his name. He's been with the Rams several years and so obviously that would signal the end of LP Lattiser's time here um with the Cowboys. Well, I think I saw a lot of people when these

reports started coming out a couple of days ago. I saw a lot of people question him as to why, like why make that kind of decision when we know LP Ladiser has been a guy super consistent for the Cowboys. He doesn't ever really makes an error. There was one time that it wasn't necessarily his fault, but other than that, in all the years that he's been here with the Cowboys, been consistent every time. He's always there doing what he's

asked to do. So I guess, Dave, you can go ahead and get started on this question, like why do you think the Cowboys went ahead and they haven't made that move, but it's being reported that they might make the move there and just kind of part ways with Ladiser. I mean, it is interesting, like you know, it doesn't seem completely finalized with McQuaid, but it doesn't sound like

LP's coming back. And if that's the case, I would just say, don't underestimate the poll of coaches, Like I mean, like we'd beat this into the ground with Rod Marinelli, like coaches want to work with their guys, the guys that like either get what they're asking them to do, or guys that they have a good relationship with. It's no surprise, you know, guys that have worked with Rod Marinelli have flocked to Las Vegas since he got to Las Vegas because you get in and you say, oh,

that's not what I want. I'm going to get a guy that does what I want. And and clearly John Fossil has pull. Uh. They resigned C. J. Goodwin, who was their their best special teamer, and they brought in greg'sirline when he got here, who was his kicker the whole time he was with the Rams. And if they bring in the Rams long snapper who I mean he seems good by all accounts because I mean he made

the Pro Bowl twice twice. Yeah, so coaches have pull and and if if the Cowboys are moving on from LP in favor of a guy that John Fossil worked with for a long time, I think it. I think that's why I think the number, you know, I think the number four scares people when you're looking at age. So he just turned forty only in football, though Nick not for not for like not for you. Yeah, only in football. I mean, you know, people will say, oh, you have to do a snap, and for the most part,

that's really all you have to do. They protected these guys now with the rules that they're not getting you know, hit after they snap. The only thing is you got to go down there and run and you know, make plays on specially you don't have to make He's just gotta run down there. And I still thought, you know, he did a nice job with that, So I think you're right, this isn't really about you know, uh production, And I don't even know what you're talking about when

you said he had one bad player. I can't even remember any of them. Are you talking about the snap and fraction? She's talking about the pen in Washington? Yeah, yeah, that was not Yeah I still don't Yeah, I don't even know, um exactly what went down there. And I mean he took the blame for it, but yeah, I just think that they were you know about who you want to work with, who you want to who you want to deal with. And you know, LP is what he is is is he the nicest guy in the world?

Like no, but is he the mean? He's not mean he's just he's just LP. He's a deep snapper. I mean, I don't I don't know. It's just hard to get better than zero bad snaps. So good luck, I guess. I But, like I said, like we see this all over the league, like coaches, coaches have polling, they make decisions like this, like John Gruden cut arguably the best center in the league yesterday, and as far as I can figure out, there was no real reason behind it.

I think maybe John Gruden just doesn't like the guy or something. I don't know. Like, but and like I said with Rod, like we saw this all the time, Like coaches are just kind of like that sometimes where they're like I don't want that guy. I want my guy. Well but this guy is really good. It's like I don't care, I don't want that guy. I want my guy.

Like coaches do that all the time. And by the way, when you said John Fossil has Pool, we saw that in Thanksgiving when he said, hey, coach, what do you think about running this fake punt here on fourth and ten? Like you know, okay, well let's do it. I mean, like, yeah, he's kind of Pool, maybe not anymore, but yeah, well LP is gonna miss those cookies. He's gonna there's another part this too. You know who else is excited about this,

Jason Jason Witten too. Two hundred and fifty five games play Jason Witten and LP breathing down his neck at two fifty three. Let's put a stop to that. So it's like Jason Whitten will be the all and if LP never plays again for the Cowboys and all that, if that happens, nobody's getting two fifty five. Like that's that hard to That's not happening anymore, not in this not the way the NFL is now. Guy's moving so much.

He just you can't see that happen because you gotta not only do you have to play seventeen years, you can't miss any games. So I mean it's for both of them. Tho, I've gotta give credit. And I'll say this. Let me say this real quick about LP. One of the more fascinating stories ever as far as a guy that that got here, just an unbelievable right place, right time. And I've I've lived at myself, so I appreciate that

even more. This guy. If we wouldn't have stayed a week in California, which we've never done ever since I've been here to stay a week, but in between regular season games played the Raiders and the forty nine ers. If we weren't there and the guy wouldn't have messed up the week before, we needed a snapper. Here's a guy sitting at San Jose State. If he if he was from Clemson, he wouldn't have been called. But he was right there. He drove over, had good snap. They said,

you know, okay, we're gonna sign you. You know, we'll see how it goes for this game. And it went for seven or sixteen straight years without a bad snap. That's a pretty great career and pretty awesome timing for him. So uh, you know, if he is done with the Cowboys, I think, you know, you got to give him credit for an outstanding career. Yeah. Now with that, we are ready to end the show with that cool story. What's what's the official time? What's the official time for free

agency to starts at three pm? The league year begins at three pm Central time, So I mean, if you're listening to this live, that's yeah, two and a half hours from now. But but fair to say that towards the end of the day. I mean, we should start hearing some more things about the Cowboys, even if it's their own guys that they're signing. Yeah. Maybe maybe never never, don't try to put a timetable on the Dallas Cowboys.

If I've learned anything. I bet they signed three guys today. Well, they usually signed their own Yeah, there we go, Nick, Nick Nick loves that. Yeah, I bet they signed three three players today. Um, I'm gonna say. I'm gonna say four players they signed today. Three of them will be resigned and one will be somebody different. Well, okay, all right, we'll see any clue like you want to imply something. I mean, I mean you already kind of well. I do think they're gonna resign. Um, I think Joe Looney

is a chance to be resigned. I could be wrong with this. I mean, who knows what they're what they're saying. I think they're in talks of it. I think Joe Looney, I think Jordan Lewis. Um, who else could be resigned? Maybe Blake Bell? No, what about what about the outside guy? Oh that guy? Yeah, that little guy. I wouldn't worry about that little guy. Okay, there we go. By no way. By the way, I just realized that we and we

have to go. But we never got to talk about Joe Thomas and him expected to sign a one year deal with the Houston Texans. To me, that's a big loss for the Cowboys. He was a guy that I mean, especially at the linebacker position. That it's already a position of need for the Cowboys. So any comments, real, real, real quick before we leave the show. H Yeah, I was bummed to see that. You know, the special teams. I would like to think that either Luke Gifford or

Francis Bernard can help you replace that. So that isn't terrible. But the thing that made Joe valuable was he had the experience in the ability to step in and start. You don't have that right now. You definitely don't have it. If Sean Lee decides to retire, we'll see what happens with him. And yeah, I mean, I think linebackers is sneaky, sneaky big need for this team. It's not even sneaky, it's just a big need. And so you know, we'll see what they do in free agency. But I would

be trying to address that in the draft early. If I were them agreed. That's tough loss. I thought, we're out of times. Yes, everything Dave said, I agree, this guy could start. He starts with you, So he starts, and he was always ready. He's a big hitter, big hitter. All right, We're gonna miss him here, hopefully, Like I always do, address the position, whether that's here in free agency or through the draft at least. So anyways, that's it for today. We are out of time for Nicki Man.

David Hellman, remember her Sea. This has been Cowboys Break on Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio. This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.