Mick Shots: Cover Two

two of us, right, Just who's Who's sang that? Who's sang that? Spags? Tell me good? Come on, man, just the two of us. You can make it if you try, say you got it better than man? Who is it? Who is it? Bill? Was it? Bill Withers? Bills? That's right, that's right. But we are old. We are now here's how old we are? So last night, uh, there was nothing on TV to watch between nine and ten, and I saw on public uh public TV k e R A k e R Yes, Public Television they had a

only old people watch that channel. They had a two thousand and seven concert from the Troubadour in La with James Taylor and Carol King. Carol oh many. Carol King was my favorite growing up. When I heard her song I Feel the Earth Move under my feet, Come on, man, that was one of the most powerful songs I've ever heard. They sang all those songs from back in the day. Uh. And it was an hour and a half concert, uh from the Troubadour And I think it showed in twenty ten,

but the concert was in two thousand and seven. Uh So yeah, uh, I got a little uh go back to days, right? I think I still have it too. By the way, I had her Greatest Hits album and the same thing from James Taylor too, and it was they were good. I would get I would get that. Yes, I would get that Greatest Hits album. And I'm sure while you were back in college you were drinking Boom's Farm as you were listening to her and James. I was.

I wasn't a wine guy back then. I could, I could, I could admit that, but I guarantee you there Mickey's about Mickey's big mouth. That was the worst the world. You know what? I kept one of those. I have one on my TV upstairs. Never opened. It's full God knows that desperate time and hardly no money. Yeah, that's what we used to call scunk beer. Right, Yes, well I think being now bag so I wouldn't. I would

be too bad. Alrighty, Well here we go. Uh it's uh what March second, we are one week into the period where teams can uh tag players with the franchise tag. One week to go March ninth, next Tuesdays the deadline. So uh, maybe we'll have some news by then, one

way or another one I do our next show. But at this point, all eyes still on Dak Prescott uh and the Dallas Cowboys to see if they can come to a long term deal before they have to use the franchise tag and not just use it to retain his rights, but to stuff thirty seven point seven million dollars into the salary cap come March seventeenth when the new league year opens. And I guess we can start there again since it's it's one of them ever since it's one of those topics that just keeps on giving.

It just doesn't go away. And I've been listening to everybody try to analyze all this stuff and the one thing, and I think we brought it up last week. The one thing no one points out is, you know, everybody keeps saying, sign him, you know, they should have signed him two years ago, just you know, give him what he wants. And my question always is, we don't know what they're asking for. What are they asking you know, do they because obviously thirty five million year was not enough?

Do they forty forty five fifty? I don't know. Uh, you know, And I heard, you know, talk rady, is it is it? Is it? Three years? Yeah? Four years? Yeah? Because I was five, yeah, right, and I heard, you know, I heard somebody saying, you know, they probably should have done this two years ago, and you know, they would have saved money. And I said, well, how do you know? Because you don't know what they were asking for two years ago. You don't know what they were asking for

last year. And with with me, you know, I look at the comparisons, uh in how I still I go way back to when Emmis Smith had to hold out to get his money and the next year Troy Akman's contract was torn up and uh, Emmis Smith was immediately underpaid on his team. After going through all of that, then you look at Tony Romo who you know, wanted Jerry's favorites, and how he made a big deal about signing Amo, tearing up the remainder of his contract and

signing him to a really nice deal. And then all of a sudden, here comes Dad and we got a plow. And so as a black man, I'm looking at this like, oh, man, come on, let's not be this fight. Let's not be this stereotypical. Let's not be this this this predictable. And and as I look at the contract and I look at what they're offering, man, I could say, as a friend of Dax, or maybe just a fan of Dax, I would say, wow, that's a lot of money he's

just signed that, you know. But then at the same time, as a as a former union rep and as a former player, the devil is in the details. And so the not confusing part. But I think the more engaging part of it is that we don't hear from Dad. We haven't heard from his people. They're sitting back taking in offers, you know, but not really despise, at least publicly not responding. I don't know what the capitaliz are saying.

I don't know what's really going on behind the scenes, But I just don't want this to turn into another Cousins situation, and I think I think it was in Washington where they just kept, you know, coming up with franchise, franchise, franchise, and then it turns into a volatile situation to where no one trusts anybody in the outcome of not just that position, but the outcome of the season is hanging

on these negotiations. So it's not like you're just dealing with a defensive back and not to diminish my DBS or any other position on the field. Okay, so shut ups fair. So all I'm saying is as a as a the quarterback position, as much as I despise the overblowing of its importance, we gotta have somebody in there that's gonna right this ship for good. We gotta know who we're gonna settle on. Is it gonna be Andy?

You know which? You know Andy's good? You know he did decent when you find the guy's legs under or are we gonna get back to see what that Prescott can do? And once again, the injury I'm sure is a factor. And on both sides, I'm sure Dak is very stubborn about he's ready to go, And of course the Cowboys they won't say it publicly, but during negotiations they're gonna say, hey, man, we're not sure what you can do on that leg. We saw that horrific break in.

Regardless of how enthusiastic your workouts are and how good you feel about it, we may not feel as good about it as you do. So therefore our negotiations might be have a little different tone this time arounds past, you know. And that's that's one reason why when you have an opportunity to sign a long term deal, do not play on a one year deal because you never know what might happen to you going into free agency the next year. Do you want to take that chance?

And you know what, So a couple of points. One, I think one of the positive points is is that Dak's been here rehabbing, so there doesn't seem to be any butt hurt going on on either side. You know, he's eligible to be here rehabbing in the offseason. He seems to be willfully doing that, so it's not like, no, I'm not going to show you you know where I'm at. So the Cowboys will have an idea of just where he's at with his rehab, which is a good thing.

The other thing that I got curious of after we did the show last week was, you know, remember last July fifteenth, when the deadline was going to pass. If you didn't sign him to a long term deal, he had to play on the franchise tag and they're no

more negotiations. Well, the reports came out at the last minute that they were close, that they were close to doing a deal, and supposedly they ran out of time, which I can't believe they ran out of time, right, yeah, yeah, they had they had, you know, seven months right to be able to work it out. So but if they were close, then when you pick up negotiations, now, why why aren't you still close? What changed? Nothing really changed. I can't imagine the Cowboys offered less. Uh, they may

have asked for more. But if you were close, why aren't you still close? And then there's this one. And I know you, as you said, you were a player rep and you had to deal with agents and things like that. But just I don't know if this coincidence or what. But his his representative, Todd France, who's been negotiating the deal. I didn't realize that come August, early August, he left his agency c AA UH and and they said it was a sports business journal reported it was

a mutual decision. So he left the agency he had been working for, and a month later he joined another agency. Um it was called Sports Sports First. I believe it was called UH. And It's like, so, was that just

a coincidence? Because I'm thinking agents probably have to give a cut to the agency they worked for, right, Yes, So I don't know, if you know, in the back of his mind he was leaving there and he didn't want to put money in an old agency when he was going to a new agency, right, just food for thought, right, you know. So well, I don't know. I'm not I'm

not accusing anything. I'm just pointing it out that this did take place, right, So maybe now that he's with the new agency, they can get this thing done, you know.

And it would be great if they can get it done by by next Tuesday, so the Cowboys don't have to start off the league year, you know, or at least get it done by March seventeenth, so they don't have to start off the league year or with that much money stuffed into a new UH salary cap, and we should probably know closer at some point, either later this week or early next week, what the CAP's going

to actually be. You know, they they've set a a ceiling at or not a ceiling, but I guess a basement at one eighty at least the cap would be. And I've seen some sites factoring the new salary cap at one eighty five, So we'll see what it ends up being, and maybe that'll help out. That's maybe holding things up, so you know exactly what the CAP's going to be. Plus they need a projection also for next year because when you you know, work out the UH the base salaries, you know, you base him on and

you continue. You used to base Hmond. Well, this CAP's gonna go up, right, and it's gonna go up. It's been going up ten million a year, so you're going, Okay, whatever the base salaries this year, it could be X amount of dollars more next year because the CAP's gonna absorb some of that. So we'll see where this thing's going. Did you ever have a law I got negotiations? I was gonna say, I was I was gonna say, you know, it got just like anything with you always. Right now,

I can't hear him. Have you lost me? Have you lost me? I'm still here. I'm still here. Can you hear me? Can you hear me? No, I'm still You're gonna assume he said something really great because I can't hear him right now. But we know we'll continue to monitor uh this as we uh as we go along, and hopefully uh you know the two sides can come together because you know what I keep saying is the deal benefits both sides. We know it benefits the Cowboys, right. Um,

but anybody my, ah, there we go? My my airphones have a partner on the air. No I knew I had a partner. I was worried that I didn't have one. I think the year phone plu're talking about? Yeah, so I talked about about Had you ever had a prolonged negotiation with tep Shram or Gil Brandt before you got here? Everything is always complicated with ever some walls. You remember came as a free agent, right. I bawled out my rookie year from preseason all the way to the Pro Bowl.

Must have had about eighteen interceptions and all by the time season was over. So the Cowboys came to me in the off season, doing me a favor, and so they came to me. From a thirty thousand dollars contract three years to a they came up with another three year deal and the first year was going to be eighty thousand dollars. Well, gil Brand forgot that I graduated from college. Now he may not look have much respect for my degree at Gramley State University, but it did

me well. Speaking of thank you very much, representative representative. So anyway, I'm thinking, Okay, so if I signed this eighty dollar deal, eighty thousand dollars deal, I think with the thirty thousand dollars signing bonus, I'm looking at ronniey Lot, Lawrence Taylor, and all of the defensive backs in the league. I just left the Pro Bowl, so I'm gathering information on what these salaries are in the Pro Bowl. Their

salaries up to one hundred and fifty thousand. Already you're telling me to come in and sign the eighty thousand dollars deal. I'd be just like em, Miss Smith. I'd be underpaid by the time the Eagles dropped, Okay, and that would be my raid. So I did just like that. I held out for greener pastures in regards to finances.

They came to me again with another deal. I think it was like one hundred and ten thousand on top of that, and I told Gil he must be out of his mind, and they sent they would send the troops after you. So they would ask some of the players to say something, you know in the media. You know, Gil Brad would put his hinchman out there. Gene Starlings came to me. Gene Starlings came to me and said, Evie, Evie,

I want to talk to you. You know, if you take that eighty thousand dollars and you put that in the bank, shoot man, in twenty years, you're gonna have yourself a million dollars. And I was just so flaba gassed at the elementary tactics that they were using to impression me into signing these contracts. So when you look at it, I rolled the dice for two years, not just one year. I rolled the dice for two years because I was not going to be underpaid even after

I signed the contract. So yes, this was before you got there. You came in eighty four, the middle of the eighty fourth season. Yeah, middle, Yeah. By that time, my damage was already done. My name was mud in the in the management office at twenty four years over twenty three years old, I had already ruined my reputation in regards to good graces with the three headed monster of text round, Gil Brand and Tom Lander. So so wait a minute. So three years when you said eighty thousand,

was it total or eighty thousand a year? They were going to give me eighty thousand with a thirty thousand dollars signing bonus first year, and it was going to go up I think one or five or one twenty five, something like that, but starting at eighty thousand or the thirty thousand dollars bonus, and I just you know, it's you don't have to be smart, Okay. Ronnie Lot came in with me, the LT came in with me. I'm at the Pro Bowl with them. So those are my peers.

I want to be paid like my peers. And I'm using an air quote. I don't know why I'm doing that, but they're really my peers. And so for me to sit up here and sign a contract that would bring me one ten including the thirty thousand dollars bonus when they're already at one fifty and they their bonus was a million dollars, not thirty thousand dollars. So when you look at all of that, it's not hard to turn something down like that, especially when I went eleven interceptions

the striker was coming up. I had seven in interceptions in nine games. My confidence is brewing, it's not adminishing, and that's something that the Cowboys couldn't deal with. And I'm wanting to think what people need to understand. Back in that day, the salaries work as public as they

are now. So Everson did his homework with fighting out what other guys and it's actually probably a good thing you did, because then in the strike, you're you guys didn't get paid for the seven games you missed, right? We did not. We did not. We did not get

paid for them. Let me say this, and I've never Gary Myers Man put it in his book, but I was always sensitive about lack of information, full disclosure in negotiations, and management was always about lying to you about what your teammate made because everyone was afraid to say what they made. So I don't know if you remember Man as a union rep. That's the first thing I did. And even though Gary Myers and USA today I believe

capitalize off of that move. I made sure that every salary was published so that players who were management lackeys wouldn't be lying about what they're making, and management themselves wouldn't be wouldn't mislead us about what our peers were making. Everybody a negotiations and not everybody had an agent back then, either, did they? No? No people, No, everyone had agents. Come on, man, this is not the seventies. I came in. I came in, made the one spans. Come on, man, come on that

stop himself. No, No, I made my own decisions. But I didn't have an agent. I had Weinberg, who he was ready to make trouble. Yeah, he was ready to make trouble. Look didn't matter. All I had to do was say sick him and he was going to get them. So that's what you wanted, an agent. And what that did was they put a lot of pressure on management because now they couldn't be dishonest in their practices, at

least not as much as they wanted to be. Yeah, they hated and Steve walk in the building, Gil Brant and Steve Weiber could you imagine being a fly on the wall any time together? And Steve would be like, well, no, no, no, no, that might be while I'm not in the ring of other right now, go all right, even fifty one to here, mix shots and Reverson and myself will return here in a moment, and we're gonna get into a little bit more of the Cowboys other free agents, guys that are

unrestricted coming up here when the league year starts. And speaking of Gil Brandt, I've got a his top thirty two board and we're gonna go over that and see just where the players are falling for where the Cowboys needs are that coming up next here on Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the SWBC mortgage student 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

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you return here to mix shots on this Tuesday. Mickey Spagnola Everson Walls Everson Walls in his home studio. I'm here at the Star in the SWBC mortgage studio as we're trying to have my liquor cabinet. I don't want anybody to see what they've got back then, Oh, is that the deal? Yeah, I was trying to hide it. Yeah, I was trying to use my picture to count of shifted and I can't see my my liquor of the cabinets. Okay, I just want to know. I want to make sure

it's full. Yes, it I finished the rooms, bags, the rooms finish. Does that mean the popcorn's off? And you painted done? I even got so far as paint the floor, paint the ceiling. I did it all. But it's done. It is done, and I didn't get in any trouble because that means that I will never listen to you when it comes to tell So you did a good job, is what you're telling me. I did an excellent job. Yes, I'm so proud of myself. All right. Well, when I need some stuff painted, I may just have to call

on you. We'll contract out. Yeah, you can call me, but I want to be answered. That's okay, all right. So, speaking of your your Grambling shirt, I'm just I'm curious. I see where Jackson States next game is going to be at Grambley? Is it next weekend or this weekend? That should be this weekend, this weekend, this weekend. I think they headed for this weekend. You know what, I think it may because of the freeze. I believe it's gonna be changed and the location should be at that

Globe Life a park. No way, it's gonna be a Globe Life. Yes, it's gonna be because it was gonna be grand the Cotton Bowl. My Coton Bowl was damaged doing this. The Cotton Bowl was damaged doing the freeze. So they're gonna be playing at Globe Life Park. So yeah, that's gonna be pretty amazing. And I'm not sure if it's this weekend or next weekend, but I'll be doing a camp this weekend, so I won't be able to participate.

But now it should be pretty exciting. Dion gets to come back home and and let's just face it, his regardless of what you think about Dion or whatever he is, he is a marketing genius. And I'm loving that he's bringing that prowess to the Southwestern Athletic Conference to HBCU football because you know, let's face it, we could use the infusion, especially with the pandemic. I mean, here we are playing ball in the springtime. I just let you

know that, you know, we couldn't handle the expenses. We couldn't handle any of the choice that had to be dumb, just because we just don't have that kind of discretionary income to make those kind of adjustments in the pandemic situation. So he would he should provide a nice infusion of excitement and you know, exposure to HBCUs. And before we move on, Spags, I want to it's another reason I

wore the Grambling shirt here, John Mendenhall. We lost a great one, not just from Grambling, not just as an HBCU athlete, but the entire Giants New York Giants family and the NFL family you're talking about. You know, when we look at this time, Spags, we are losing people who were prominent names in sports and in all of society,

in all walks of society. And so when all of a sudden, and I'm gonna get to him as well, John Mente Hall leaves us who was just one of those one of those names that when you heard it, you never forgot it. When it came to football, you know, he was a guy every game he played well, he was rarely hurt. He was an old school guy to where when you heard when you thought of New York Giants.

If you're a New York Giant fan, a true New York Giant fan, he's going to be one of those names that you remember that affected your childhood and your upbringing in regards to being a football fan. The professionalism that guys like mende Hall show that came from playing for Eddie Robinson, came from the pride that he had by being an HBCU player, coming from Grammy State University,

representing the swap, representing all HBC players. You know, these are the kind of names that they're just they're just leaving us, Spats, They're they're leaving us, and with no fanfare, you know what I'm saying, yea. And so it's it's happened with so many different types of people. And as we moved on to the Great Earth Cross, a guy that was a pioneer UH in all of sports, one of the first African American men to be on TV

in a sports UH show with Britain Mussburger. I believe it was CBS Sports If I'm not mistaken, it was, and he and Briton Mussburger go ahead, Spags, I know you know it was. It was in CBR you know. The thing I didn't realize about him and uh, and he joined uh CBS. Uh and he also, uh you know, was on NFL today The Great Show with Brett Musberg Phillis George. Right. What I didn't realize about him is he is from Hammond, Indiana. And just a little background

about that. Hammond's about maybe ten ten miles, no more than fifteen from where I grew up in the South suburbs of Chicago. And as a matter of fact, my summer job working in the factory during when my summers in college was in Hammond, Indiana. Right, So I didn't know, I didn't know he and then he went. He was like an all Stars, all state guy from the state

of Indiana. And he went to Northwestern in nineteen fifty seven and was drafted in the seventh round in sixty one and played with the Eagles, the Eagles, and I think it was the Lions. He played with two different teams, and he went back to the Eagles. Uh, and so it was the Eagles and Rams. I'm sorry anyway, yeah, you know, And here's what happens. So you know, when when you're young, you know, back in those days in

the sixties and seventies for us. You know, when people died, you sit there and go, oh, well they're really old, right, you didn't really know who they were. But now, yeah, now when you get older, you know all these people that are starting to die, and you're sitting there going, oh okay, I think, uh earth and then we were disillusion ourselves and say, oh yeah, he was eighty one

and Mendel Hall was only seventy two. So you know, and I remember this quote from uh Joe green uh because uh, I forgot who was the last guy on there still curtain to pass away? Uh? He was, Yeah, it was Alc Greenwood and so those were his guys right for the days in uh in Pittsburgh, and he said something like and he said something right, you know what happens when you get older is you lose your friends because we're all getting old, but you're not making

new friends. It's like you hold on to those old friends, right, but when you get older, you're not making a lot of new friends. And he goes in, you know, I'm feeling kind of lonely now because I'm the last man standing from that. And it made me think, and I absolutely when I talked to him. I told him, I said, boy, that was so accurate when you think about it, you know. So anyway, yeah, those those two guys, So let's do this, um the rest of this segment. The Cowboys have seventeen

players that are unrestricted free agents. They have six other guys that they are restricted or exclusive right free agents. So the cow Boys do have the rights on those other six guys to give them qualifying offers to retain their rights. But they do have seventeen guys, sixteen other than Dak Prescott. Right, So I thought we'd go through this and just kind of real quickly, kind of say yay or nay, or what do you think's going to happen? And this list is by the amount of money they

made this past year. So second behind Dak Prescott was Tyrone Crawford. Nine years in the league, came back from two hip surgeries. He's unrestricted. I wonder number one if he wants to continue play. And number two do the Cowboys you know, you got to get younger at some point, right, you can't keep resigning thirty some year old guys. Do they bring them back? Or I would imagine this is going to be one of those market value ones. Right, you see what the markets says, and then you see

what you know, what you think you can do? H what do you think you gotta not only that, not only his age, but I would love his experience and the spirit that he brought. But you're also talking about what two hip surgeries, right, Yeah, and so that's something that you have to be aware of. I know players want to hang on. We want to hang on as long as we can, and well, you know, to be so called put out the pasture, that's something that no

one wants to be involved in. But just from a practical standpoint, that would be tough to bring him back, Okay, it would be tough for me to make that decision. At Next would be Sean Lee. Uh, it's gonna turn thirty. Lee, Loving the Death, Loving the Death. Surprisedly came back this year and did as well as he did. He was always over matched physically. Now those injuries are catching up with him as well as age, and I have to

let him go. Andy Dalton and this one, I think we'll have a lot to do with the rest of the league. Things of Andy Dalton, because I got a feeling the Cowboys would love to have him back as the backup corner. Yes, yes, I'd love to bring him back for backup if he if he lets us, I'm bringing him back as a backup right now. But once again, if Dad does a sign, let's go Andy. Next is

the veteran offensive tackle. He just played one year with the Cowboys, Cam Irving, and he missed the majority of the season, missed all of training camp, was hurt at the beginning of the year, was hurt at the end of the year. To me, that's the one position if you aren't going to address it by the third round in the draft, offensive tackle, then you got to have You got to have better than Cam Irving as your backup tackle, knowing that your tackles have had injury history,

especially Tyran Smith. And I'm not saying to give up on Tyrann Smith. You know what I keep hearing is well, he hadn't. He's missed at least uh three games in each of the last four years. I'll take thirteen games from him at his level than anybody as the right right, But I gotta have that with with with with with Cam. With Cam. It's a tough one, it really is. You know, you want the big bodies fats. I mean we want that, we want that player. Is he as good as he's

gonna get? That's the thing. Is he as good as he's gonna get? What we saw from him last year, minus injuries or not? Is this all that we can expect from him? You know, sometimes those big bodies, they can do well for you if you can somehow tap into their mentality to make them understand the game better, which will make them better. All right, only because we need offensive line. That's a tough We'll see. We'll see

where that one goes. And again, uh I see a lot of people looking at the draft and looking at the injuries. The Cowboys had a tackle position and Twatt and the Cowboys the draft and offensive tackle in the first round. I'm not there at all. But by the third round I would take a young guy and say, Okay, is this guy good enough to step in and be

my swing tackle? Yes, like like they did with him exactly. Okay, Next is Joe Looney, who had been the ended up the starting center, but I think, be honest, is going to be the starter next year. Uh So, if Looney's good to come back as the backup swing guard tackle I'd be okay with that, but again that comes down to market value, right um, Alden Smith, Alden Smith, can you get him back? Does he want to stay? Our other team's gonna be offering. That's the unknown at this point.

Even though even though our defense was horrible, he was one of those blank spots and especially spast when we finally was smart enough to move him around exactly moved him around on that defensive line, he was extremely effective and those few shining moments that we had defensively, he was a big key in regards to that and his movement up and down the line. That was a big key to some of our hard to call us success on the defense that we had, but it did make

us more effective. So yes, for me, whatever's in saying is yeah, they list him as a defensive end, but he got some pretty good efficient snaps at defensive tackle, especially in a past rush situation. And at his age, if he's over Randy Gregory, with Randy Gregory on around, then he should be. That was defensive and Gregory should be, you know, for a full season, And if you can plan on that, then you're in pretty good shape along with Dornsiders and you still don't know what Bradley any.

He really didn't get a chance. So from a defensive end standpoint, you could be okay. This next one I think is a no brainer. Blake Bell the backup tight end. I think he was very serviceable and if you can bring him back as the third tight end with a guy that's very versatile, I'd have him back very versus. I like that fast, very versais. I could see him doing the same things that Rudolph was doing for the Vikings, who they had the other tight end that was playing

against us they lined up on the center. We can do all of that with Bell because he was a very accomplished running quarterback at Oklahoma. So to ask him, I'd love to keep him as a capable not just tight end, but he can do many many things on special teams as well. Now here's your guy, Joe Thomas, backup linebacker. Good veteran guy to have, right, Yes, he's good to have, but we didn't use him. Wow, I mean, let's let's not just keep him around for a veteran guy.

I'd love to use him more. And maybe once again, we don't want don't let me go off on this nickel thing again. Because I think I may have gotten in trouble last week, but I just you know, I feel that the guy deserved better than last year. And as much as you know he may not be well heeled in regards to a lot of talent, I thought he feeled in well for us when we finally decided to play three linebackers. LP Latticer no problem bringing him back.

He's still doing the job and the good thing about him is he's willing to play for that veteran benefit against the CAP, where you can give him a little bit more, but he doesn't cost us much against the Cap. Okay, now here here's gonna be a one that they're gonna have to make a decision about chittaby A Woozier. H Yeah,

that's a tough one. After last year and the injuries, you kind of you almost ready to dismiss him off the bat, because when you're with a bad defense, as always is, and you you came back as a veteran offer injury, and when you came back and played it didn't make a difference in your defense, then you know you're not really looking at necessarily keeping him. But if the new DC comes in and feels that the woozier. Can you help him and maybe put him in position

to make some plays. If he's attractive to Quinn, then he's attractive to me. Yeah, that's gonna be I think that'll be another one of those market value things. You got to kind of judge how much it would cost to bring him back. I'm sure you know he's he's done with his rookie contract, and you know, can can he cash in? Does somebody think, you know, one of the other thirty one teams think he's worth you know whatever?

But if not, you know, if he wants to re establish his market value, maybe you bring him back on a one year kind of deal uh, and say, okay, we can handle this amount now, maybe you can re establish your market value for the next year. If you're not getting a big a big offer U C. J. Good one, uh, kind of a special teams ace. If you can afford him, bring him back, uh. And again, but a lot of this is market value. Same thing with Justin March. The outside linebacker Jordan Lewis is another

tough one. He played, He ate up a lot of snaps for you, played in the nickel. But again, how much you know and and and in this especially this year, that's going to be a determining factor for these guys. I thought I thought he was misused a lot once again, playing nickel way too much. You're asking me a slightly built young man to get in there against tight ends and the running game and pulling guards on his first down, second down. We're not even talking about pass defense. We're

talking about first and ten, second and five. And he's got to stick his nose in there, and he did his best in regards to that. If you would just if we could just keep his responsibilities to a more finite level and stop trying to ask him to do too much, I think he could do well for us. I don't look at him as a starter, I never have, but I do think he could be that capable defensive back, that fifth and sixth defensive back that we need. Now. Once again, all of this is predicated on how we're

going to improve our pressure up front. If we can improve our pressure up front, guys like Julian Lewis have shown that they could be that guy to make important plays for us, doing critical parts of the game. So it has to be laid out for them just right. So three other guys real quickly here that played significant, somewhat significant roles. Xavier Woods, you're starting safety. Now there

was another guy. Everybody talks about his production, but they weren't playing them at free safety that second half of the season. They were playing on like a strong safety that he was their nickel. He was there, he was their strong side linebacker, right, And it's like, I'm getting so tired of hearing the word nickel to see. That's

the problem. So tired of hearing the word nickel because once they start using it so often, you're almost piecemeal and where you're putting your players right, you know, goy like Donovan Wilson that came along that really kind of turned things, uh upside down for the old secondary and there the high lucky the total pole that was established, which is a good thing. That's why docthor Wilson was back at safety free safety as opposed to Xavier Woods.

That's the way I saw. So if you're gonna bring back a Xavier Woods, then Donogan Wilson needs to be back there as well. Uh. Noah Brown, he's been a guy that's been on their practice squad and he finally kind of carved himself a role, but again, you're not going to spend a lot of money trying to bring him back as a fifth wide receiver. And then the other guy in that boat is Cedric Wilson, who I think is you know, uh but White. I take it back.

Cedric Wilson's a restricted free agent, so they can give him an offer probably would give him a qualified original draft choice because he was a six So if somebody signs him to an offer sheet and you don't want to match it, then you get a sixth round pick in return, and another versatile guy as well player as well. And here's another guy that once they put him back on the field and he's restricted this year, Antoine Woods,

your defensive tackle. Uh, this guy should have been playing from the start, messing around with don Terry Poe out there and costing this guy's snaps right, and he's restricted and he and he's he was not a draft choice. So uh, you know, if if you don't want to match whatever you the qualifying offer, then you know you

wouldn't get anything back for losing him. But maybe he's one of those guys where you just give a little bit of money to and you sign him to a very inexpensive two year deal, but he gave him a little signing bonus to give him something to come back, because remember last year, he didn't sign his exclusive tag until the last minute. He was hoping that they valued him a little bit more than h or at least

as much as he had valued himself. It didn't work out that body, So so that's kind of the Cowboys list here. Uh And when we return here on mix shots, I'm gonna give you Gil Brandt's top thirty two board here, and we're gonna play this game. I'm gonna read them off in order. And when you get to a player, you think the Cowboys would want you stop me? Okay, okay, all right? That next on mix shots on Dallas Cowboys dot Com, we're back in a tasty treat that's sweeping

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And if anybody's just joining us, which you should have long time ago, right, Mickey Spagnola Walls. So I've got Gil Brandt's top thirty two board and he's not suggesting that this is a mock draft. Okay, like this is the order these guys are gonna be picked, but he ranked them in how good he thinks these guys are. So I'm gonna read them off and you tell me. Okay, the Cowboys need that guy, right, So Number one Trevor Lawrence quarterback. Number two, yeah, right, Number two ten a

Sewell offensive tackle. I don't know that they could qualify taking an offensive tackle in the that high first ground. Okay. Number three wide receiver Jamar Chase probably don't need that. Number four quarterback Zach Wilson probably don't need that. No quarterbacks, all right, No, we don't need any quarterbacks. Number five is Kyle Pitts a tight end. That seems a little extravagant,

knowing that they have high right right. Number six offensive tackle were Sewn Slater that was offensive tackle, was looking goods facts Number seven Trey Lance quarterback, Number eight quarterback justin Fields. Number nine, number nine Elijah vera Tucker offensive guard in the top ten. I don't think I could qualify that. Oh no, Andy, Now then we just talk about the employance of an offensive line. I'm with you,

and we're dealing with offensive guard problems. Well, if Zack Martin you still say no, just think if Zach Martin's back, then you've got a combination of Connor McGovern and Connor Williams to take care of the guard backup guard position. And by the way, This is what I was going to point out when we were talking about cam Irving. The Cowboys can't mess around anymore if they get another offensive tackle, hurt Zach Martin's got to go out to tackle.

No messing around with undrafted free agents trying to fill in that spot. That's why I say, and that's why when you name off these linemen, especially tackles, and I am, I am intrigued. Yeah, you can get one in the second or third round. You don't need them in the first round when you have so many defensive Yeah, yes, yes, think about think about the Great Wall of Dallas. There was one guy that was drafted in the second round and the rest of them were basically undrafted free agents.

Right that they develop. Okay, Number number ten, DeVante Smith, you can't do that again. Right wide receiver, Number eleven, Jaylen Waddle wide receiver, and at number twelve on Gill's list is the first defensive player listed, Jalen H. Phillips, a defensive end number thirteen. Number thirteen is the guy I pointed out last week, linebacker Micah Parsons. Uh say, I I really think he's awfully talented, But again, you got to decide is he a three down linebacker or

two down linebacker? And he's another one of these guys that you know didn't play last year. So now what is your evaluation level on him? And now fourteen and fifteen we found before you move on, before you move on with that, you can also find great linebackers in the lower rounds, right spag. It happens all the time. You got humpy guys coming from small schools and they coming to a big time program, but it's Cowboys, Pittsburgh

or whatever, and they make a difference. So you're not I'm not really worried about UH linebackers in the first round as well. I feel like that the way you feel about the office offensive tackles. But what if this is a generational Lawrence Taylor type linebacker, Well, then if you say it is, I haven't evaluation, but I don't know you you you you put your stamp on him last week. Be consistent. And the one evaluation I read about him, and this was a guy's opinion I respect.

He compared them to Rolando McClain. And if you think about Rolando McClain when he before he had his off field problems, this guy wasn't stud right big. This guy Parsons six four two forty five, and he runs, you know, he runs like a defensive back. So anyway, one thing you have to have with linebackers bags before we move on. One thing you have to have with linebackers. You don't need just studs looking good, but they have to have

football instincts. Linebackers are like running backs. You have to know where the hole is once the ball is snapped, you see. So some guys don't get that no matter how much how high they're drafted. You can find that. And a guy Mit Brown who was just extremely intelligent and was a leader of his team for four years at I don't know, South, some Central university somewhere. You know what I'm saying. We can find that guy. All right,

here's here's gonna be your homework assignment. You call up his film and I understand highlight films, they're all gonna be great plays, right so, but his instincts in that highlight in those highlight films to me were amazing. All right, Now it down that we finally get to what everybody's giving the Dallas Cowboys in their mock drafts at fourteen and fifteen cornerback Patrick Certain and cornerback Caleb Farley Virginia Tech and Alabama by the way. So that's how Gil

kind of put his power rankings together. Now, well, Caleb Caleb was a guy that he sat out part of out also, yes, he did not play last year, so you got worried about that. Certain with Ballom the entire time. But he's got problems against speed. You know, sometimes the fast guys can can get by. And I mean, you know how it was I had the same problem. Sometimes you have to speed up your brain when you're out there going against faster players. I have one for your spags.

If the Cowboys might want to sign, can I can I mention this one? Go ahead? Honorable mentioned h Larry Roundtree. I'm sure you know of this young man. You know, he's a running back from from what where is he from a zoo? Right? Is he from a zoo? Yes? But he'll be come on, what you think he'll be. He'll be a second third round Uh Frank Gore, a Frank Gore type with major doability runs downhill. I mean, come on, I mean thirty seven carries against who was

that Mississippi State? Was it? Yes? But I mean, this guy's a stud man, but you're not bringing him up. Come on, represent the Tigers. He's not. He's not in Gill's top thirty two. The only guy from Missouri in the top thirty two, uh is linebacker Nick Bolton from Frisco. By the way, Uh nice, And but he's an inside guy and I don't know that he's a three down linebacker,

but he's awfully good. He's got him ranked nineteenth. But here's the deal on if you're trying to get an idea of what people think of what's available in the draft. We went through the top eleven and no defensive player was listed right, and then between twelve and twenty they were all defensive players. Before he had Alabama quarterback Matt Jones at twenty one, and then the next guy at twenty two, Christian Barmore, the defensive tackle from Alabama that

had one heck of a national championship game. Right, No, An, that's a championship year, right career. Let's just say, your whole career was amazing, and I had him circled and if that's something you would be interested in, then you could probably trade down, you know, five or six spots and probably still be able to pick him up. But I continue I continue to see in these in these

mock drafts like Charlie CASTLELEI. Whatever you think of Charlie and his player evaluation he had, he had Parsons going number seven by the way, um, and there's some people that had bar Moore going uh in their top twelve. So uh, those are positions I think the Cowboys obviously keeping an eye on not only you know, cornerback, but I got no problem taking a defensive tackle, defensive end,

you know, linebacker. As long as that linebacker's versatile and can play all three downs, I don't want him off the field on the nick. Well, the draft itself shows me that running backs are still not considered to be uh, you know, premium, which I still think. It's a shame. You got guys like Naji Harris and Bama. I mean, come on, who wouldn't take that guy? Another another Henry in the making? Uh? You bought from Oklahoma State? Right, Just a guy that the one of the best, Travis

and ten from Clemson. Man, this guy he's done things on the field that I've never seen anyone doing. He reminds me of Cede lamb just playing in the backfield a little bit bigger, and like I said, your boy brown Tree, right, he's a guys. He's ranked right after Naji Harris, And that sang a lot because Naji Harris is a great athlete. Larry brown Tree. Guys like that there, they won't be appreciated. They're just like the Frank Gulas.

They won't be appreciated until their career is old. And he's got Naji Harris ranked twenty fifth, the only running back in his top thirty two. That is amazing to me. The only running back. Yes, absolutely, that makes no sense. Come on, you could You could put that on Gil. And here's that's another thing I'm gonna put on Gail. Yeah. Right, And here's a guy, his thirty second guy. But when I watched this guy play, oh my, uh, Cadarius Tony, the wide receiver from Florida. I don't know if you've

ever seen him. He will cause some team team's headaches. I'll guarantee you that. And he may go higher than thirty second. He's not big, but boy, uh he's the next coming of the Kansas City's Guy Hill. Right. Uh, this guy, yeah, this guy is all over the place with the football. So anyway, well that's two shot, two Mick shots in a row of very informative, a lot

of innovation, right, yes, absolutely. I gotta look on my list and see if I forgot anything, but if I did, there's always next week, right yeah, and once again to cross Boy. I loved listen to earth Cross on that on the team moves. Yeah, really spoon NFL today he was he was awfully, awfully good. All right, thank you very much, Everson Walls, Chris Bean, thanks for keeping us afloat. And now I'll try keep my headset, my headphones plugged in well next time so we don't have a lapse

in the action. And we will be back next week on Tuesday even thirty. Dallas Cowboys dot Com, what's some more mix shots? Go Cowboys. This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.