Mick Shots: Hot Opinions

Everson Walls inside his own SWBC Mortgage studio, and I am at my home as well. And we are one week in two days away from the start of the twenty twenty one National Football League Draft, and lots going on because what I guess is a well, it's kind of sort of virtual off season around the National Football League is underway this week and there's so much to talk to talk about over the next hour here on

Mick Shots, Mickey, Everson, how you're doing. Let's start with Nicky first, Mickey, since it's your name on this show. That's a scary proposition. I'm doing her fine. They're the one responsible. Yes, I'm responsible. For us being here right now. Everything's good. It's a beautiful day, and we got activity out on the football field here over the last couple of days. And Everson, how are you doing? I am doing wonderful, so good to be here. By the way, Bill,

you were late signing on. So I want to make sure that the T and yes, every everything here is Spagnola's fault. So I'm want to put those disclaimers out there right now and just let you know, uh, spacts, you actually have a front row seat, don't you to the Cowboy practices to even maybe Dak Prescott's recovery. Have you been watching them out there? They's been practicing. I heard these out there practicing with anybody and anyone that

would trying to catch his passes. I've heard you were out there on the end zone one day trying to catch them passes. So have you been checking them out? Have you been checking out his progress or anything like that. I know better than go and try to catch his passes. I learned that long time ago in uh A quick story in nineteen ninety three, after Troy Aikman had his back surgery in June, I believe the Cowboys played a I can't remember if they played in Mexico City that year.

They played a game that I wasn't covering, and I went out to watch him throw and Babe Laffenberg was supposed to be there to catch for him, and Babe was late, so his physical therapists was out there and he went out and said, yeah, i'll catch some, and Troy goes on, I don't know you. You need to wear some gloves and the guy goes, no, I don't need to wear gloves. So I was standing on the sideline and I was thinking, well, I can go out

there and catch a few. I was up close and personal to a few of the passes he was thrown, and I said, ain't no way. I need these hands for my living. I am not going to go out there. This poor guy's hands were beat red before Babe got there with his gloves on to catch. So, yeah, I'm not catching Deak. I haven't seen him throw the football. I've seen him do his rehab work, and he's moving awfully well on the field, doing his different exercises that

Britt Brown has him going through. And as I've said previously, I had to remind myself did he hurt his left foot or his right foot, because you can't tell the difference. So that's a good sign. Oh that's taking place. I have a I have a nice little, uh Doug Williams story for you. You know, he used to throw extremely hard. Of course, being at Grambley, he was the first black

college quarterback to be up for the heisman. So everything in practice was about coach Eddie Robinson showcasing Doug Williams. I mean, we had a lot of people come to town, earth Cross, Jane Kennedy, Mussburg, all those guys would come to town to see this, uh, this black Moses is what I called him. And so he ended up every time he throw the ball to the wide receivers, they will all have the same reaction as trying to catch choice passes as as a young man did. And I

recall Mike Moore. He bugging the heck out of me. He calls me all the time. He's a big mouth tight end that we had the Grammy that I loved to death. One of those guys that kept everything going. He had to take these two fingers together because that was a slit coming down his finger from trying to catch Doug Williams passes. I mean, you could just see it. That was That was that was blood here from where the ball, the point of the ball would hit his hands when he tried to come back and catch the

curl route. And that was to me, that was typical of a Doug Williams pass. So you talk about Troy Agman, Yeah, I think Doug might have turned it up just a

little bit more in regards to the comparisons. Actually, at one of those quarterback school sessions that turned into OTA's in Alvin Harper's rookie year, so I'm guessing that was ninety one, he was out there catching Troy passes and Elvin's got huge hands, right, which means long fingers, And he caught a Troy pass and the cone of the football went between his two fingers and split the webbing

and blood start flying all over the place. And and that should have been That should have been sign enough that when I was there in ninety three not even to consider catching one of his pants. Oh man, So Bill, how are your hands? My hands are just fine because I haven't been in the way of a Troy Achman pass in my life, or you know, Uh, it's kind of bringing it back to the draft. I think Gil Brandt may say to this day that Troy Aikman had the best workout he has ever seen leading up to

the draft, even here thirty thirty two years later. Uh that and and so maybe that's that's the real test. Is you get someone who's not usually a receiver, doesn't have the calloused hands, and uh, and that's how you can decide whether a quarterback has has what it takes to be a quarterback in this league, the league the velocity on his footballs, because uh, first one makes your hands bleed. He's your top pick. Maybe Trevor Lawrence can do that too. Well, you know what Troy too, By

the way, he was so accurate. So practices, you know, the ball rarely hit the ground, and that that first Super Bowl in ninety two, early in the week they were practicing and a couple of his passes hit the ground, and I remember North Turner telling the story, Oh my god, is he nervous? What's going on? We'll never score a touchdown? You know, he might have missed two passes in practice that he's normally used to not missing. So but anyway, I had a thought, I just had a thought, right,

quicks facts. Has Gil Brandt ever played one minute of any sports? Don't believe so. You know, I've never thought about that until now, Like has he has he ever call the pass? Has he ever run one step in his life? I mean, come on, for someone that's supposed to judge talons so much, I've never heard of his own individual athletic prowess. So tell me you've got some background on Gil Grant and being an athlete when he was growing up wherever the heck he grew up in.

He grew up in the outside of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, And I have not seen any evidence that he played the game in football a uniform, a uniform on any team or I mean anybody, mascot, come on, anything? Better watch your gated of the University of Wisconsin. Right well, I bet I better do what I was gonna say. You better watch out because he's he reads and listen. I got it. I got it, Hey, I got it. What he got I got it from Wikipedia. If you can

trust Wikipedia, ever Son, you'll love this all right. Gil, a native of Milwaukee, attended North Division High School, where he was a one hundred and fifty pounds starting defensive back. He also lettered in basketball and track. He enrolled at the University of Wisconsin but left after two years. So there you have it, the athletic history of the great deal. And he turned into a base that was that was

very base. Yeah, and then he then it was that background as a defensive back that led Gilbrandt to signing Everson Walls real Okay, didn't draft him, but signed him as an undrafted free agent out of gram Yeah. All right. Uh, speaking of quarterbacks, the fact that there could be five quarterbacks taken in the top nine picks of this draft affects the Cowboys, who could have the pick of the letter as far as defensive players go, when they pick

at number ten. All right, don't I don't know if either of you have how much you have studied the quarterbacks, since the Cowboys are not in the market for one of those quarterbacks. But do you think there will actually be five quarterbacks taken in the top nine picks? And if there is not one taken, which one was most likely to fall out of the top ten? What do

you think? I would think the guy that might fall to ten if it's not in the top nine would be Trey Lance just because of he hasn't had that much exposure to college football, only played what a game last year and then one season, So I would think if somebody really liked him, then that number ten pick could be pretty expensive real estate if somebody wanted to move up to grab him, because they know the Cowboys aren't going to take them, and if the Cowboys just

trade it down a little bit, they know who's ever coming up. It's going to take a quarterback. So if you don't fall down too many picks, you still may get your choice of one of the top three defensive players in this draft, which the Cowboys certainly would like. You know. I was listening to Stephen Jones yesterday on

one oh five three the Fan. He's been doing some interviews pre draft stuff, and he said, looking at what's going on with the quarterbacks, he goes, this should be pushing some defensive football players our direction, meaning if you get a couple of four or five quarterbacks, two wide receivers, a couple offensive lineman, suddenly get to nine and ten and you may have the pick of that top defensive player.

Thought it was pretty interesting listening to him basically saying buying anything opportunistic, we certainly want to improve our defensive football team and those are words for this team to live by. By the way, going into this draft, I'm

feeling kind of different about Trey Lance. I mean, when you look at it, he's really just a comparison to a Carson Wentz, you know, coming from a smaller school, smaller conference, old school one doble a That's that's what I call it, and just showing what a great athlete he is, what a great winner that he is in all the years that he was in college. I look, if someone grabs him, they're they're getting a complete athlete, They're getting a complete football player. You call Randall l

Back in the day with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He was able to do so many things, but they put him at wide receiver in order to do that, and he was able to throw the ball on his verses and trick plays. I don't think Trey Lance is looking forward to that, and I think he's trying to be more

of a traditional quarterback, just like a Carston Wentz. And then you start looking at fields the way they have been talking so negatively about him for someone that came through the Big Ten and you know, played the national championship games and showed his worth on the field. It's funny how his practices and his workouts have not impressed. So that's the difference between whether Troy Aikman did back in the day by uplifting his value by having great

workouts as opposed to fields who. I guess he's not having those type of workouts that Troy Aman may have had, and now his stock is really dropping. I don't know if he improved himself in a set I can work out, but that first workout had everybody on panic mode. So Bill, what's the Big three notebook say on these quarterbacks? Well, well,

the first on on Trey Lance. Uh. You know the interesting thing about him, as you alluded to, I mean, he just had the one game that North Dakota State played in the fall sixteen game season the prior year. I mean, he's only played because they won the national championship and they have a playoff in that FCS imagine L sixteen games, So that was that was his only

season to play. And uh, and so here's the amazing thing about him is that, and which shows how much he has shown as far as his athletic ability and everything that NFL teams look for in a quarterback everything that goes with that. He's only thrown three hundred eighteen passes in his college career. That's amazing that he's even being considered as the top of the draft type quarterback

when he's only thrown three hundred eighteen passes. Uh And because someone has to really be sold on his potential to stand on the table and tell an owner that, yeah, we're going to take the you know, the fourth pick in the draft, or the ninth pick in the draft, whatever it is, We're going to take a quarterback who's only thrown three hundred eighteen passes. Uh. I When when I look at him, I think he compares a lot with Dak prescott Um. And you know, I don't know

anything about him as far as you know. What is off the charts with Dak, as we quickly discovered, was his leadership ability and his work ethic. And that's why Dak has become what he has become now the only the only quarterback left standing from that twenty and sixteen draft with and uh and so so that that helps

Lance because we've seen it before. Where because because the thing that that but but you think about dak at Mississippi State, he had a lot more skins on the wall than what Trey Lance has in college, even with Lance winning a national championship at North Dakota State, but they ran him a lot. There was a lot of zone read stuff and so you know, he had over a thousand yards rushing that season. We all know that you can't run the football in the NFL to that extent,

but it does enhance his game. Um, it's just going to be very interesting to see where he lands. And I agree with you Mickey that if there is one that's going to fall out of the top ten, assuming that Shanahan is going to take mac Jones at number three, then I think Trey Lance is the most likely to fall out of the top ten, just because of the fact that there's there's such a small sampling of what he did in college. Yeah, and you probably need a team that says, Okay, he doesn't have to be my

day one starter. You know, a team that has a veteran there that can kind of bridge the gap to get him to go. So I just think if he's still sitting, there's somebody in those early teens might come to the Cowboys and say, okay, what about a trade. Stephen Jones was asked about if he getting any phone calls. He said, well, he said, the phone's not ringing that much, but it will probably heat up next week when you get kind of closer to the draft. But you know what,

here's my deal. If somebody's wanting to move up to tend to take a quarterback, they're gonna have to pay a king's ransom to get my spot. You know, this ain't gonna be Wow. They're moving up three or four spots and they're taking you know, an offensive tackle or a wide receiver. This is a quarterback, and they're gonna pay the price to be able to get a quarterback. And it's going to include multiple first round picks. I guarantee you that, if, if, if, you're gonna encourage me

to move. Also, since we're on quarterbacks, you know, Stephen was asked about the possibility of drafting the quarterback and he said, probably not going to be real early in the draft. But he goes, you know, middle middle rounds to late rounds. Will keep an eye on a guy because you always want to have guys in here to compete. Even if you had a veteran guy there. You want somebody to compete, so, uh, you know, it's not out of the realm of possibility that they actually do that.

And I better raise my hand because that no one thinks I'm in here. If there's no motion in this room, the lights somehow go off and you got to wave your hands get back on. If you noticed there was a little bit of a blackout there. Oh that's funny. So it's gonna be interesting to see what happens with the with the quarterbacks and how many Go ahead, Bill, I have a question, Bill, all right. You know I'm

always trying to get you guys to do research. I'm pretty sure you guys will throw this back in my lap. But I'll say this. In the past, let's say three years, how many teams that took a quarterback in the first round, uh, still made the playoffs? Let me let me that first year, any teams? Yes, And how many teams that were not in the playoffs the previous year that took a quarterback to so they can improve their their position and still

did not make the playoffs that following year? About drafting a quarterback to come in and start and and you know right away Uh, you know, like a like a like Cincinnati last year. Uh they did Man got hurt. Even though he got hurt, you know, they weren't They still weren't able to make the playoff. You know that. I guess I'm trying to point out. You know, we've got this emphasis on taking quarterbacks in the first round. How much has it improved their fortune as far as

the entire NFL is concerned. I would love to see how those seasons worked out, because you know, you want these You throw these guys in there right away thinking that they're ready to play, and then they're going to be a savior for your organization. I mean, how many times that work out? New York Giants with Jones? You know that's another one. Yeah, but ever said. What you have to remember, though, is the reason you're drafting high and the ability to get a quarterback is you were bad.

And it's not just bad because you didn't have a quarterback. You were just a bad team, right, Cincinnati, prime example, the Giants, a prime example. Now the Jets. Yeah, Now, if you were a good team and you were able to trade up to go get one, then that's a different story. Or you can have fourth round quarterback and you've made the playoffs. Right. But but but my thing is, uh,

does the quarterback position have to be the priority? Sometimes you gotta get that old lineman first instead of going out to a quarterback like a Sam Donald who was never able to develop. I think it sometimes hurts these players overall development when we throw them into the fire right away thinking they're gonna save our organization, and not only do they not save it. A lot of times disaster happens, you know, like right now with the Giants,

even though they kicked out Butts. So we can't I can't talk too much about this year, but you're talking about the you know Jones being the quarterback there. You know, did he improve their position at all by drafting him in the first round and making him play from snap one? You know, these are kind of things that are the prevalent in the NFL. But how successful is it making these teams? Well, that's my point. Here's the double edged sword.

Did that number one? You're right drafting him and throwing them in there before they're ready, and you ruin a quarterback, right, that's the problem. But the problem is because you take a guy with the first, second, third pick in the draft, everybody expects you to start the guy right away, and I think a lot of quarterback careers have been ruined

by that. But on the other side, what happens is if you're not taking a quarterback in the first round, and because everybody needs a quarterback, I guarantee you the rate of failure from the third round down is pretty darn high. So there's just not enough quarterbacks and you better get one in the first round. Traditionally, right, the odds are with you that you're gonna hit, but the odds of hitting with somebody after the second round not real good. That's why the Dak Prescott thing is almost

a minor miracle. Uh these days in there it really is. No Well, that's that's certain circumstances brought him down to the fourth round. You know that where he made a couple of mistakes. I think in college, I think you have dw I is something that affected everything and so he dropped for some really really far because of that. In fraction if I'm not mistaken, but I'm sure that if you take a look at some examples of a team that decided that, you know what, we're gonna go

against the Grand We're not gonna pick a quarterback. We're gonna go with one of the baddest offensive tackles we have in college right now, or one of the baddest linebackers we have. And so the culture is shifted now they say, Okay, we're gonna start with the offensive lineman first, or we're gonna show up our defense first, and then we're gonna go to the importance of having a quarterback. They're happy teams that have gone that woll correct and

been successful at it. They created the whole new culture in the organization. Not a lot of them. All right, well you're go ahead, Mickey. No, I just said, not a lot of them have gone that route. It's like, let me get the quarterback, then I'll fill in after that. Okay, let me let me throw this in. All right, I've got I'm doing my little research here as you've been talking on. All right, these are quarterback. These are the

number one overall quarterbacks. Okay, they're not all of the first rounders that I've been able to research while you've been talking, but the recent number one overall draft pick quarterbacks, and how did their team do the season that they were drafted? Okay, and Joe Burrow. Last year the Bengals went four eleven and one. Kyler Murray the year before five ten and one is what the Cardinals went. Baker Mayfield the year before, the Browns went seven, eight and one.

That year, the year twenty and sixteen, Jared Goff, the Rams went four and twelve. I believe that year, Okay, Jamis Winston uh six and ten in twenty fifteen. Then you go back to Andrew Luck. In twenty twelve, the Colts went eleven and five and made the playoffs when Andrew Luck was the overall number one draft pick. So that was nine years an look at that, Well, it's good think about this for the Browns if you're talking about the Browns going seven to eight and one, and

it was probably an improvement, right, true? True? And then those other guys that most of the majority of those other guys still haven't panned out, have they? And but see, when you start looking at this from an analytic standpoint, usually they would take take those numbers that Bill read out, which is pretty telling, and say, you know what, maybe

we need to change the direction here. Now. I will say some of those teams improved the second year and in the third year, Yes, I will say that, But did they improve because they showed up the rest of the team And would they have improved quicker if they would have gone with other positions first to show up the team and then pick a quarterback some other time. You see what I'm saying. It's a way for it's

a way to look at numbers. That's one thing. Again, changed the way it can benefit you and to benefit your argument. But to me, what Bill Jones just read out, that's that argument right there has merit like maybe we should go another direction. I mean, I'm sorry that that argument right there, those numbers that Bill just called out, that's pretty telling stuff right there. Guys. That's that's just ignored.

And we're still on this quarter the bad thing as opposed to, you know, going with the you're gonna put a quarterback back there and you still have a crappy offensive line. There's nothing to QB can do about that but get hurt. So I don't know, man, to me, it seems like analytics aren't working in misregard. They're not using it in the same manner as they use it this far as calling the football game. That's just my opinion.

I can go a little step further with it. Cam Newton in twenty eleven Panthers went six and ten his first year. Sam Bradford the Rams went seven and nine. Matthew Stafford the Lions went two and fourteen, and jam Marcus Russell JaMarcus Russell four and twelve. Time Sleep at Times, Sleep at time. So the Dallas and the Dallas Cowboys one in fifteen. So it doesn't always hold. It doesn't always hold. Yeah, and then Alex Smith the forty nine ers were four and twelve. So we've taken you back

to two thousand and five. There, all right, We've got much more mixed shots coming up in just a moment. 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 to it Jackie Flash. Okay, But the best smartphone deals at AT AT and T are for everyone new and existing customers. That's huge. Then guess who's getting the deal? Is it?

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to events in Dallas easier. Plus, every ticket purchased on Seki is protected by our fire Guarantee, which means you wing your money back or better if your event is canceled guaranteed. Download the Seki Gap today and when the time is right, let's go see geek Back back to Mick Shots. Cowboys fans enter the free to play Draft Pick Challenge presented by Draft Kings for a chance to win twenty twenty one season tickets. Submit your picks before the draft starts on April twenty ninth. Must be twenty

one years of age or older to play. To see the official rules and enter now, go to Dallas Cowboys dot com slash Draft Pick Challenge. All Right, we are now nine days away from the first round of the National Football League Draft. All Right. In the break, I did a little more research. I took you back to two thousand and four on that quarterback. This is your first round top of the first Round Quarterback Challenge here and two thousand and four. That was the year Eli

Manning was the number one overall pick. Of the San Diego Chargers traded to the Giants. Philip Rivers was the pick of the Chargers in two thousand and four Eli Manning. The Giants went six and ten after making the Eli Manning pick. The Chargers, however, went twelve and four that year, and they drafted Philip Rivers. That's right, there's a big difference there. Though Philip Rivers did not play. Drew Brees was the quarterback real Q Goodwin william I like that.

So there you go. So so here you go. We're talking about Trey Lance. The best place for Trey Lance might be with a team that's already got a quarterback, so that he can learn underneath that quarterback, and then he gets an opportunity that may be the way to go. I mean, Trey Lance might have the most successful any other quarterbacks if he goes that way. Case in point, Patrick Mahomes placed behind Alex Smith the first year and then his lights out when he finally gets an opportunity

to play. So basically what you're saying is the Washington's will move up and take Trey Lawrence and Trey Lance. I mean, because they got Ryan Fitzpatrick to man the ship in the meantime. Okay, I gotta get this the Dolphins last year. Yeah, I gotta get this off my chest here, and I want you guys to figure out if my logic is just totally off base. So yesterday was the start of the basically offseason workouts, and nineteen teams have decided that they don't want to participate in

the offseason workouts. The Cowboys, on the other hand, for these last two days, they've got a morning workout session, afternoon workout session. And if I'm just kind of coming up with a ballpark figure, they've probably had fifteen guys working out in each session. And what's going on now in the first phase, Let's be clear, the first phase is basically strength and conditioning, all right, just strength and conditioning.

What the part we see The guys are out on the field doing They're running exercises, different kind of routines. And then if there's any meetings afterwards, those meetings are virtual, right, Well, the nfl PA has come out and say they want a total, total virtual offseason, just like last year. Okay, my question is, how do you do strength and conditioning virtually? Like are you gonna sit there and they're gonna film you while you're doing what the strength and conditioning coach says.

And they're talking about And they had a pretty lengthy media conference yesterday with Demorris Smith and J. C. U. Tetter. Tretter the president, the player president for the NFLPA, and all they kept saying is, you know, they want the

players safe in the offseason, this and that. Okay, so strength and conditioning, If if you're coming into the facility to lift weights and run under their jurisdics and jurisdiction of the strength and conditioning coach, you're getting tested every day, right, You're you're You're not You're You're not just coming in and being around a bunch of people that you may

end up getting infected. Right, So if if, if, if that's not the safest environment to do your strength and conditioning, what is And if you're doing on your own, where are you working out? Because not everybody has a home gym, right, and not everybody's gonna run is hard as you do when you got fifteen guys along with you, So to me, it doesn't make sense. And they talked about guys working out on their own. Have any of you guys been in a gym lately to work out because the PANDEC

it's over. At least where I go, ain't nobody even got a mask on. They're not testing temperatures or anything. So how is that safer in the offseason to get ready for a football season then coming into the facility. So I just think there's a little bit of BS going on here. And Everson, I know you're a big union guy, but the nfl PA, to me, is trying to come out and Smith D. Smith said yesterday, this is not a boycott. This is just talent players to

do what's safest for them. Okay, I get it. But the other thing I get is they're trying to appease their membership for that seventeenth game getting approved. Right, they did a trade out, they did some finance, they got some financial concessions to give the owners the right to give them a seventeenth game. Now, all of a sudden, they're worried about their offseason and staying healthy. Well, how do you stay healthy working out on your own? Now I get the OTA parts. I was never a fan

of OTAs. If you were going to do OTAs, the OTAs should be like walkthroughs, right, But they put a helmet on, and all of a sudden, you know, guys will be guys right, and suddenly you start getting competitive and guys are jumping and leaping for catches and falling on their shoulders without you know, and got shoulder pads on. So I get that part of it, But I don't get these four weeks of not participating and strength and conditioning and you're telling me that helps your body be

ready for the start of training camp. I just don't get that part of this whole deal. I hear what you're saying, Spags, And like you said, heavy union guy was a union rep for the Cowboys back in eighty seven during the whole scrub thing scap thing. But what you found out, as they found out in education, they found out it was safer for the kids to go to school as opposed to staying home from school and

learning virtually. They found out that as you come to school, you have all the mechanisms in place, the protocols in place, as you said, in regards to testing and things of that nature. To me, it's a no win situation because you can still have those problems, you can still infect others while you have practice together. Because you can bring that from home to the practice field. But either way, if you go home and work out, you won't be

as competitive, that's very true. You won't improve as well by just working out on your own, that's also very truth, unless you're an extremely unique player who's very motivated, which a lot of are motivated, but just the odds of that happening are very high. I do understand the concern there. To me, like I said, it's a no win situation. You can get it at home and bring it there, or you can come and work out with some guys who brought it to the practice field and then you

could take it home. So those kind of things are still a concern here. And you know it's when it's all said and done, the union's just reacting to the way society is. If we could have had this thing under control by now, by everyone doing the right thing, we wouldn't even be having this conversation, Spadge. So that's like trying to put out a fire that started a long time ago and it's still burning way back there and now you're trying to control it here in the present.

So to me, it's still tough either way. Spadge and I do agree in part with what you're saying, But what do you do? What is the alternative? Well, to me, if you're coming into the facility, you're getting tested every day, You're not getting tested going anywhere else. So to me,

how is that safer? And in a letter that Demorris Smith and J. C. Teter sent out to the union members, there's a sentence in here that says it is the recommendation of the nfl PA, based on our medical experts advice that if the voluntary offseason program is in persons in person, players should not attend. Now they may choose whatever word they want that it's a personal decision. And he didn't like it during the press conference yesterday when

somebody mentioned it was a boycott. This is not a boycott, this is not a strike. This is personal preference. I get it. But you're telling guys that the nfl PA COVID Committee that we that we suggest they have an entirely virtual off season. Once again, I get it. On the OTA practices and maybe the mini camps and how they how they do those things, but strength and conditioning, to me, that does not having that doesn't help you prepare.

I mean, I don't know what you did in the off season because you didn't have OTAs or quarterback schools back then, right, you were on your own. We had mini camps. You had a mini camps like a couple, right, that was a couple of mini camps. Yes, we did. That's true because I remember, gosh, I can't remember who it was one of the linebackers back in the seventies. Um oh, gosh uh and and I asked them, no one in Hollywood. It was the guy from Mississippi State,

go barn, No, it was from Mississippi State. Lewis. Did Lewis Lewis? I asked D. D Lewis. I asked D. D. Lewis one time in an interview. I said, so in the off season, what did you to get ready? And he goes, well, he goes every day, at least for a couple hours. I would sit in the pool and do twelve ounts curls. That was his offseason. D D. Lewis to the athletes these days, that is extremely unfair. Please don't compare DD Lewis's off season. You know, come on,

man an. So that was the but no better then, you know, if training camp was to get ready for the season. Now you want to be running before you go to training camp, right, So I just don't get the logic behind the whole thing. Plus that basically the NFL has basically said all tier one and Tier two employees, so that's all coaches, anybody else that is around the players on a daily basis that they have to be vaccinated and if they're not vaccinated, then they can be

around the players on a daily basis. And they're saying, we're not requiring you to be vaccinated, We're just suggesting to be around the players that you better be vaccinated otherwise you've got to do your job from a fire,

which I think is a pretty good move. And they basically are telling teams to make sure that they're educating all their employees to get vaccinated, not requiring it, but educating them to the point of holding vaccination sites at your facility to help everyone get vaccinated, including family members.

So they've taken that step. But now to say, now you know what, I want to get paid two hundred, two hundred and seventy four two hundred and seventy five dollars a day in the offseason for virtual workouts, go ask some teachers how well students pay attention when they're zooming classes. I had one teacher telling me that, you know what, how do I get kids not to fall asleep during my lesson? Because I'll look up and I get there, there's a kid's sleeping, right, and there's no

parent there to wake him up. And some guys don't, and I'll be one of them. I can sit in a class and watch it on a screen. I learned better if I'm actually doing it, like if you got me on the field walking me through steps. And I remember back in the gosh, I can't remember. It was late nineties. Maybe the Cowboys had a running back and

he was local. It was a free agent, and they finally decided figured out that he learned better on the field instructions then he did looking at a video or uh, you know a grease screen or whatever they call it in diagram. Yeah, it's like it wasn't it was Thompson. It was Thompson. You're right from Irving, Irving Mccarvinghchool. I know it was Irving High School. No, they would love to a Vattie Matt mccarthur, but five hundred and twenty five yards in one game in high school. I think

it was probably against MacArthur. So anyway, I just I just don't I just don't understand the logic of this whole thing. But now I think you brought up a good point. It's all about the vaccinations. I mean, let's be real, if you're talking about vaccinations being there, then no one's going to even make this argument at all. All excuses will be out of the window. So that's the magic word of there. Man. The vaccinations must be done,

at least be educated on it. And if you're gonna put out a mandate as opposed to putting out a virtual of minicamp, I think the mandate should be or at least the importance should be on everyone getting vaccinated, not just to when you say, I'm sure you talking about players as well, I'm assuming if you're talking that, but the players should be vaccinated and their families. I mean, it's out there for everyone right now, so to me,

no excuses for that. This off season. The vaccinations should be the priority, not necessarily whether the workouts are virtual or not, because if we get the vaccinations done, then yeah, OTAs can be virtual. But then as we improve into the as we get into the off season, further into the off season, then you maybe you're looking at the change of mindset. You're looking at a change of mindset and all the leadership, and then we can go back

to being being normal, so to speak. You know. And their other point was not having it was having a virtual offseason improved play. I don't know what they were watching, right, It certainly wasn't this team, I guarantee you that. And what they wanted to point out to mention the injuries, Yeah, to mention, and they said the injuries went down. I don't see where injuries went down didn't apply to this team, right, that is a lie? Yeah, And they pointed out that

pain the teams were so good. They scored more points in any NFL season twelve thousand, six hundred and ninety two, and there was an average of forty nine point six points scored a game, the highest since nineteen seventy. Yeah. You know why they scored so many points because the defenses were so terrible. Yeah, so that doesn't make better football.

I just don't agree with their argument. And then one other thing on this vaccine, I know we probably got to go here, but I saw where the Buffalo Bills have basically put out a mandate and said if fans are not vaccinated, they will not be able to attend Bills games. And they're getting ready to use something called an Excelsior Pass app and it's only for people. It's eligible for people that live in the state of New York. And they said there'll be no exceptions, not religious or medical.

Either you're vaccinated or you're not going to be allowed into the games, and you have to have the app to show people that you've been vaccinated. So I don't know if that's extreme or not, but that's the step they're taken in Buffalo. We don't have time to get into this. But what do they do about people who have had COVID and are not a candidate to be vaccinated? Haven't heard that part yet, Okay, all right, that's something to think about. All right, We continue with more mix shots.

And God, you mentioned dd Lewis because there will be a Cowboys Legends TV show on d d Lewis coming up in the fall, I believe, and he talked. He talks about the fact that he has not done twelve ounced curls in about thirty five years now. We have more mix shots in just a moment. We're back in a tasty treat that's sweeping air waves and taste buds. It's new Doctor Pepper and Cream Soda. Let's take a listen, Doctor bat band and Cream sodas he a newcombonut's music

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So what about an offensive lineman. When you want to take your offensive lineman in this draft, I would take one as early in the second round, maybe the third or fourth. I would take an offensive tackle. And I don't have to have the best offensive tackle or the second best. Just give me somebody that has some quality better, better than any of these swing tackles the Cowboys have employed over the last four years. That's all I'm asking for. A guy that can step in and be my swing tackle.

He doesn't have to start. He would have the capability of playing a little guard maybe if if, if needed. But again, that backup offensive tackle spot, to me is the one spot that they need to take care of in this draft that I need somebody that can play. Doesn't have to be a first rounder, maybe not even a second rounder, but third, fourth. Give me somebody that I can sink my teeth into to grooming as we

move forward. And I'm sure there's some guys there that you know they'll have something wrong with them, but you figure out they've got some traits that you can work with better than undrafted free agents that the Cowboys had to start last year at both spots when with Eric Williams drafted third round, Bard round. Yeah, that's a good pick. Glary a second round, Adam's second round, Solomon Page second round, and a bunch of those guys started at guard before

they moved out to tackle too. By the way, So are any of those guys out there now? I mean in the second, third round? You know, Bill up those guys. He's looking right now as we speach, all right, So you're wondering, are there are there second rounders, third rounders that are going to be available that I think they're probably you can you can find them. You can find them,

that's right. So, but Mickey, you are would not be in favor of if Piney Seul or Ray Shawn Slater, who are the top two ranked tackles that most people talk about, are there for the cowboy Boys for the taking at number ten or even in a trade back scenario with Slater at number fifteen or fourteen or something like that, you would not be in favor of one of those guys at that point, I just think that's that's using your resources as an embarrassment of riches to

think that I have to have a first round guy at every spot on the offensive line. Ask Everson if he ever, how many first round offensive lineman he played with. Right, go go look at the Cowboys. Remember I don't even remember my offensive lineman teammate's names. I'm sorry, Go look at the Cowboys when they were winning, when they were winning Super Bowls. The highest, the highest drafted offensive lineman of that entire group was Larry Allen, and he didn't

get there until nineteen ninety four. Right. The others were third rounders or free agent. Gogan was like a sixth or seventh rounder in a twelve round draft, right off of cur Crawford. Kerr was a third rounder, if I remember correctly, Nate Newton, undrafted Mark two, and a undrafted Mark Stepanowski third round. So you don't have to have a first round guy at every spot. You find me a second, third, fourth round guy that I can develop and get in there and and have some have some talent.

They're out there. You just gotta but to use a first round pick again on another offensive lineman. You got to tell me that the defensive guys that I've got high on my board are no longer available, no longer available, and then I could maybe qualify it. But those guys are going to be gone, Bill, Won't they be gone in the top nine? Uh? Seul will be gone. Uh Slater. Slater would probably be there at ten. Is he the

guy with the short on Well? Well, you know that's the thing on the measurements on these because we didn't have a combine this year. How much do you believe all the measurements. There's there's an inconsistency on all. Right. If there's the guy at Northwestern, does he really know how to measure the arm length is at uniform across the every pro day? I seriously doubt it. Slater at thirty three inch arms, Pine Sewel thirty three and a quarter inch arms, So it's not much difference there in

their arm length. But I didn't do the research. I can't remember if I mentioned it on last week's show or not. If you look around the NFL and look at specifically at either tackle spot, but especially at left tackle, and I think if you're drafting in the first round a tackle that it needs to be someone who has the ability to eventually replace Tyring Smith whenever he retires at left tackle. If you look around the league, there are very few tackle that with an arm length of

less than thirty four inches. It's just it gives them a big advantage. Tyrant Smith, for example, has thirty six inch arms and eleven inch hands. Speaking of hand size, So again, if we if we are to assume that Tyrn Smith and Lell Collins are ready to go, and to me, they wouldn't have given them those restructured contracting ready ready to go meaning ready to play, yes, ready to leave, yeah, ready to play, yes, ready to go

the opening day. Right. They wouldn't have restructured their contracts if they didn't feel like whatever surgeries they had took care of what they needed. So if if those guys are good, you're not going to draft a guy better than Tyrn Smith, I'm sorry, And so that guy's gonna sit on the bench. That would be like the Green Bay Packers taken a quarterback last year or with wherever they were twenty sixth pick or whatever, and he sat

on the bench and they didn't improve their team. Now you may and I understand the draft isn't always for this year. You got to look down the road. But there's gonna be other tackles that you can you know, these aren't the last tackles, you know, like the last picture show, this is the last tackle show. Right. Same thing with Kyle Pitts. I understand he's great, right, but he's gonna be the last tight end to ever come around. That's gonna be good. In two years, There'll be another

Kyle Pitts. So to me find you know there, I saw the guy from Michigan. I think they they can consider him a guard, maybe tackle. Jalen Mayfield. Is that the guy from Michigan. Yep, Jalen Mayfield. He's six five, three hundred and twenty six pounds. You know, he may be a second third round guy according to one board. I saw. Take a guy like that and you talk about you talk about arm length right, thirty two and five eight cinches. That's why he's a guard. He's not

playing tackle in this league. He's not even got arms long enough to play center. He can't even reach his food on the plate if he pushed you far away from the table. That's how short is on. Well, there was, and there was. I have to say, though, there was a guy from Nebraska. If we're picking at ten, if we're picking at ten, everyone's not gonna be gone. Yeah, this is this is like so out of the ram of possibility, all the postles not gonna be gone, and

Collamore and Collin's not gonna be gone. Not to mention the dbs s ten talking Farley, we're talking, all of them are not gonna be gone, especially with the five quarterbacks you have, possibly in the first one. All of them are not gonna be gone. We're gonna have our choice to pick whoever we need. If it's not gonna be a linebacker, it's gonna be one of these defense back. So no, I just don't see that scenario. It's not

even logical. And Steven answered the question about defense, and they were asking about different positions, and he said the defensive needs. He goes, it's across the board. We can't and then he went on to say, we can't have enough linebacker. He was talking about the game today, right, He said, you can't have enough linebackers who can cover. And the Cowboys obviously need more than one right, and so that leaves that open. But he was very definitive defensively.

We have to get better and I'm telling you that's I just can't see him being lulled to any other position. He also had a great answer when he was asked about Jerry's comment about Pitts that he was intrigued by the tight end. Well, sure he's intrigued. Everybody's intrigued by him. And Steven as or did this way, he said, certainly Jerry was just commenting on it. All right, Everson, I've got a homework assignment for you before next week. We're talking about the linebackers. I want you to go look

at Jeremiah Owusue Corama from Notre Dame. Yeah. Yeah, I want you to take a pounds. Yeah. I wouldn't know a little bit about him. Guy can because somewhat of a hyper if he wanted to, because he wants what I'm doing four five forty you know. Oh yeah, I'm going for that that highlight tape of his Wow, it's something else. Um and and you talk about the new breed, what Mickey, what Stevens talking about? There? The day and age where a linebacker who can cover this guy is.

I mean in sub packages. He's one of your starting linebackers, and he can in the in the base defense, he can play safety for you. You could you you could use him in a nickel the way they wanted to do last year, you know, use him as a nickel guy as opposed to going with a small defensive bat. Yeah, instead of putting instead of putting Everson Walls linebacker, you know, instead of putting. Hey, man, come, you don't know what kind of work I did in New York when they

moved me the safety baby. I have the I have the pitch nerves to show for it. I'll stick in here if I have to. And then the other the other thing. Uh. An homework assignment for both of you for next Tuesday? Who is who is the guy that you want the Cowboys to come away with in the first round? And you can throw in other guys if you'd like, depending on how much research you want to do. But who do you want the Cowboys to get in

the first round next week? Okay? All right, got assignment, all right, and we will talk at you again next week here on Mick Shots Gold Cowboys. This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club