Talkin' Cowboys: Big Twitter Mailbag

And also you know it's the official chip and the official Dip of the Dallas Cowboys, the Chip and the Dips. So we have a new presenting spa answering. You know, Friday's last year it was say it with your Chest Day, you know, And it's a day where you bring the energy. It's a day where you bring the intensity. The hot takes the opinions. And I think this year we dial it back and we keep it calm, cool and collected. What do you guys say about that? Why are you

out of your mind? Dial it back? And I know some listeners out there probably aren't ready for the heat. They aren't ready for that. He didn't put in his sexy hair cream this morning, sexy hair cream. Well it's called now y oh, don't act like that's not what's sell the two. Yeah, it's actually on the two. Okay, it says that for real. I don't think it says that word for you take that deep down a side deep and never bring it up again. Well you know

what I think you guys are right. You've convinced me and I would never go say it with your chest Friday without showing a little bit of energy. So it's saying with your yes boy, yeah right now. I love messing with you guys, but we will always bring it. Say it with your chest Friday. For those of you who may be new to talking cowboys in Dallas cowboys dot Com, it's like I said, did you bring the heat?

I want your fan questions on Twitter. I just tweeted right now, I want you to send in your Twitter questions because we're going to answer them coming up here in just a little bit. But how are we doing today, gentlemen? Because Isaiah doing great things, rob doing great things, and now we've got an official narrator of a documentary. I did. I did. I like the whole damn thing. But I liked I like the voice bringing us along the journey. Bro.

The whole thing was absolutely crazy, the stories, the storylines, the how close we came to disaster. That was the one thing about making this that getting those backstories. I'm like, we we almost did what we what we were about to take whom Just thank god we didn't do that, the kidness. It could have been crazy the way that things turned out, I think for this organization, because it doesn't every draft, it's not a one year deal. It is a five to ten year investment on who you're picking.

And war Stories is the name of the Deep Blue. You can go check it out on Dallas Cowboys dot com on the YouTube channel. It is fantastic and Heckma Harrison is the voice of that. So yeah, man, it really was really cool. Mad props to Caden Gates, Danny Sirek, of course Heckma and then all of the individuals that were a part of that as well. Nick Eatman was a big part of that too, and it was really really cool. So go check it out Deep Blue War Story.

And I'm sure the narration part of it cannot be easy. You gotta you gotta get your inflections just right, you know, that's that's not an easy thing to pull off, especially with a sultry voice. Well, it helps to have a sultry voice. No, let me tell you something. This is not really kind of none of us on this show. The kind of funny story is is that I did it. The first time I did it, I was so extra like, how good voice in it? And Derek and Nick came

back to me and said, just stop it. We don't want that, We just want you just which is the best? Just read it? What was the what was the way they said it to you? Don't try and be Kyle, don't be called, don't do radio voice cod get away from ma, you know, don't do that. You do you and read it like you're sitting there talking to your wife. So I was like, all right, that's easy. I do that all the time. It was perfect. It was perfect. And Nikki does it too, exactly narrated, and y'all are

both awesome at it. But I'm gonna I gotta say this, man, just honestly, working here, working man. I work with some amazingly talented people. The people that on the back side that to roxam Adina, to Chris Beam, to Kevin Timp everybody that works here, Scott Purcell, Matt and you know, man, if y'all don't know, like, I'm not the most technically savvy person, so I am. I am always in awe of TV production people's ability to see to be forward thinking.

Because I'm just reading this. I don't understand what it's gonna happen and how it's gonna be, how it's gonna play out, and it's just, man, everything about it I think is amazing. And being someone from Dallas, h man, I used to sell programs at Texas Stadium, you know, so to be able to do this, I mean, this never gets old to me. To be in this setting and to also know to be a part of those drafts,

those and talk about those drafts like that. Man, Like I said, it's a it's an amazing blessing for me. And I don't take it lightly off for granted, but that was that was yeah, yeah, yeah, that's for the kid, right. You guys should have seen his face when he saw it streaming live. We were about to do the high school game last night and we were in the booth

and we were about what fifteen minutes to kick off? Yeah, So I mean it was we were getting right up on like getting on air, and he looks down at his moone he goes, no waylay. They just like freaked out. It was awesome. It was a great job to you and everybody involved with that. But I think it's it's only fitting since we're talking about war stories and we're talking about the draft, let's talk about some rookies a little bit here on this edition of Talking Cowboys. Now.

A tough task for some of these guys that are trying to make the roster and that are now currently in COVID nineteen protocols like in Israel, Mukuamu. I'll leave those guys out, but rob out of the rookies that you've seen over the last couple of weeks, I'm gonna take Michael Parsons out of this. Who has impressed you the most since you've returned from Oxnar Ohsa Diggi Zola.

I think I said it the other day. I mean, he even if he's not a starter at defensive tackle while Neville Gallimore is out with that elbow injury, he's gonna play a lot and he's played really well. He's been a guy that you know they've got him at the three technique, but he can move around the defensive front and his pass rush has been really good and it shows up in the pre season games as well as practice. We saw it from the jump in Ox

and Ard. You know, for a third round draft pick to have the type of camp he's having, I think you have to feel better about your tackle depth despite the fact that you know you're missing a key piece of your defense. Right now. With Galimore being out, they were really expecting him to take a big jump. Still might, but he's gonna be out several weeks, so they need Osa to deliver, and so far he has. We'll see

if he can carry over. Though Osa Diggy Zoola was taking seven spots higher than Neville Gallimore was in their respective drafts. I mean Osa was seventy five, Gallimore was eighty two. Isaiah, from what you've seen from Osa Diggy zooa, has he gotten off to a better start than Nevill Gallimore did last year. I mean we've seen both of these guys since this group has been on this show. We've had those conversations about both of those guys as rookies.

Who do you think was ahead at this point? That's a tough question because they're they're they're coming into two separate systems, and I think they have two different attributes. I think that Olsa is a lot more explosive than Gallimore. Gallimore's more of a can kind of consume you type of type of guy, UM, and Olsa is like, I need to get up in there, right, I need to be I need to penetrate, let me let me find a see. So UM, it's kind of hard to say

which one is ahead at this point in time. I think that with the with the skill set that that Olsa has in this system, I think that he will be definitely have opportunity to shine more um because of the abilities and the and the opportunities that he's going to have underneath dan Quinn No. I like that. And I think that Neville Gallimore, to sort of disadvantage from last year, was retaught how to be a two gap

guy and so that's what turned him into that. But I think this going into training camp, you saw those changes about him, you know, with him being able to pin his ears back and beat gaps, sound and attack um. But if you know Quinn Bohanna to the rookie has shown uh, you know I think we were thinking about when when Woods departed, Um with the whole replacing Don Terry Pole and guys like that, to get our defense sound,

for our linebackers to be able to flow. I think Quentin Bohanna has stepped in naturally, and I like, um, what I'm hearing about him from from front office guys that he's an old soul is what I'm hearing. Is this really a laidback, laid back rookie, but he's showing what he has and showing us that he's gonna bring some value to this defensive line. A lot of the defensive tackle talk after the Neville Gallimore injury against Arizona was woe is me, Oh my gosh, here we go again.

We're thin a d tackle. But there is a lot of positivity I think around those two guys Osa and about Quentin Bohanna as well. But I'll throw this back at you, heckma, how important is it for young defensive tackles to be simplified? Because you mentioned Nevil Gallimore trying to be a two gap player, that's something he could certainly do. It wasn't in his comfort zone, and he's he's better as a one gap guy. But how how does that kind of formulate a defense in order for

those guys to be successful? And if you ask any defensive player, the number one thing that they want to do is just read and react. They don't want to do a whole lot of thinking. If you give them too many responsibilities, that's where you have a defense that's playing slow. And so when guys can be gap sound, they know where they need to be and they can just focus on that, that's when you get the best out of guys, you know. And again, I don't want to I think too much has been made about Mike

Nolan and what's the success that he didn't have. I don't think that he was ever set up to be successful in the year that we had, right, So I just feel as though this new defensive scheme for Dan Quinn and all of the energy that he's bringing to the front line, I think that him teaching these guys exactly what he's expecting out of them and his defense,

it's what's important, and that's you know. And I think that's just a byproduct of what we've been seeing in the preseason, the way these guys have been flowing to the ball. Rob do you agree, Oh, for sure. I was actually I was trying to go down the list and see if there's anybody else that really Jabril Cox's huge. Go ahead. No, I like Jabrille and I like him like again, he's a he's a product of this system. This is where he will shine simply because of his abilities.

He's a solid size, and he's fast, he's quick. His ability to be able to carry tight ends, which we've talked about extensively on the show. That's becoming a highlighted position in this league. And you need a guy who can run. You need a guy that can run. You want to keep your secondary back you prefer to get you will preferred to stay too high safety and keep your front seven just intact. You don't really you really don't want to bring that guy down into the box.

So I think Jabrille allows for you to do that instead of having to bring, you know, roll somebody down and row somebody down close to the line. But they talk about the advantages of being able to keep two safeties high and trust your front. Yeah. So typically whenever you run, whenever as an offensive front right, if the quarterback comes up to the line of scrimmage, if you have two plays called, which is typically what you do all the time. Now in this NFL, you come up

to the line of scrimmage, you see too high. Usually if you have a run play called, you're running the run play. Usually you're running the run play. Because you have a seven man box. You feel pretty good about that. Typically, how do teams take away your run, Well, they bring that safety, they roll that safety down. So now you have an eight man box. So now you come up, you have eight man box. What do you want to do as an offense? I want to throw the ball right.

But so now what you're starting to see is a lot of teams are coming up with these three receiver sets, right, so there's really four weapons out there. So instead of having to roll that safety down to still have to respect that respect the run. Now you can keep two guys back, you keep two guys deep on in the back end bringing your nickel. Now you've covered up everything in terms of receiving potential, and you still have help

on both sides of the field. Most of the time you have helping in the middle of the field and single high. I could look that safety off if I'm really you know, if I'm really good with my eyes, I could really put guy. I can overload them. I could flood that safety to make them have to favor one side, and I could isolate guys like Coop, right, I can put Coop on one person, whatever I want to do. When you have guys two guys back, it makes it really difficult for offenses to throw the ball.

And if you have a front seven that's dominant and you have some guys up front that can really get a push and allow our now linebackers to run free, we can stop both attacks that the offense can can have against us. Talking about so you're talking two high safety, so cover two, but dan Quinn traditionally is run a cover three. What is the biggest difference between the cover two and cover three? Whenever you kind of talk about

the front seven as well. So you hear a lot about cover two whenever you see two high safety, that's not just it, that's really at the surface level. So on the surface level is Covered two, and then there's Cover four, which is every guy has a quarter of the field. But then you have like Cover eight or it's half covered two and it's half Cover four, and then you have all Cover six and a bunch of

other different variations that don't really get talked about. But there's a lot of different combinations on one side of the field where we're playing. Hey, Coop likes to run these type of routes. So we're gonna roll, We're gonna run two man. Not only we're gonna run cover two the safety over the top. We're I'm gonna move that cornerback on the inside of them, and I'm anna force everything Coop does on the outside or anybody else, right, I want to force them. Right. We might see that

against Tampa Bay. You saw it a lot against Michael Gallipla, absolutely right. So when we face Tampa Bay, if we can have a front seven, that's that's a boss, and we can keep two high safeties. Now, guess what, Mike Evans, No, no, we're gonna take you. We're gonna liminate you. We're gonna move our cornerback inside. Tradevon is gonna move inside, or maybe we don't have to use Trayvon on you, because now we can run a zone on that side of the field and we can man everybody else up with

safety health. So there's a lot of different options that it really provides you and it gives you a lot of advantages with the ability to stop the run and stop the pass. Yeah, and seeing the way that Quinn is incorporating some Tampa two into his scheme, it says a lot about what he thinks about his front and their ability to hunt. Because the defensive mindset is, if I'm gonna play cover two, then I believe wholeheartedly that I can get pressure just like this. And that's why

when teams seeing you in the cover three, that's automatic. Man. We have matchups on the outside, which last year we were exposed in that way when we tried any three because we were exposed on the outside, we just didn't have the coverage ability and even when we went to we just didn't have the personnel from a front line

setting to get that pressure. So that's a fantastic point because going into the initial parts of the hiring of Dan Quinn as a defensive coordinator, we thought it was going to be covered three because it gives you extra help up front, extra time, extra coverage on the back end because you didn't think you were going to get pressure. The fact that we've gone to these practices and we've seen so much Covered two, I think it alludes to

just how comfortable Dan Quinn is. Heck, you said it a moment ago, but I just wanted to re emphasize that because he is comfortable with the front seven that he has. Have you seen the same thing, Rob, Yeah, for sure. I mean, and they're gonna mix up their coverages. Like when Rod Marinelli was here Tampa two was his deal play? How much single high did we see? But I mean that was primarily what they did. Absolutely, they're going to change up coverages, like Isaiah said, based on matchups.

But yeah, it does come down to how effective are you upfront? How much push can you get. I just want to go back real quick to Jubil Cox. He I don't know how much he's gonna get to play, but he's more physical than I think. Maybe he got credit for coming out of college. I think the biggest thing he talked about the other day, he's he's known as a cover guy, but he is stepped up and hit and made tackles in these preseason games. We don't see it in practice. I'm still I'm just very interested

to see how they're gonna figure out these linebacker reps. Man, because I you know, I think, yeah, I think it's gonna be I think it's gonna be a carousel. Man. I think he's gonna see guys just rolling through. And I'm excited to see it. Because now if we're able to play two high safety, our cornerbacks don't have to necessarily play as cornerbacks. We can drop our corners back into back into a zone coverage. We can run Jabil Cox out to the flat right. We can run him

all the way from a linebacker box. Soon as we see that it's a that's a past. He can literally take off from the box and get all the way out to where a cover two corner would be playing. Michael Parsons. Guess what he has that range right to be able to run out right and if you want to leave you want if you want to leave Jaylen in the middle, leave Jaylen in the middle. I have him spied a quarterback. So now you can put Jaylen in the middle spying a quarterback, and he's that more

of a box guy. You can run Jabril and Michael Parsons out to the flats and you can still have all four of your of your secondary guys being able to come up and feel gaps to make plays and break on balls. It is going to be fun. And dan Quinn, I know he's sitting back there with his little his little his little little bag, and he's just reaching to his little his little back because at toys, you know, you know back in the days to take all your your your toys out and kind of set

him out. Just kind of sit back and look at him. I know he's doing that right now. Leading up to the first game, you had a little bag with your toys. Yeah, fanny pack acts, Oh yeah, yeah, I'm picturing. Not surprised me. But why do you always swing your fanny pack to the hip? You guys ever do that? I don't hone fanny I had one, but it's been a long time. A picture in the Rock, you remember the rock picture. Yes, he had a leather one. That was a good stuff.

I mean, Isaiah's just way too big for a fanny pack. Anyway. My grandpa had a fanny pack. That thing. He had some much changing it. He was hanging down to his knee. But but I mean, I just say, I hope Tampa's not listening to this podcast because Isaiah just gave his whole scheme away right there. But it's true. I mean you see a lot of that with the way uh that Michael Parsons is pressure in the A gap and then he's belling out and there's nothing new under the sun.

I mean, they're they're just giving multiple looks. But they're able to do that with the athletic ability of their guys. And when you don't have that, you can't play like that. And to to your point to backdoor what you just said, when you start having guys that are athletic, like the guys that we have, these are freak just athletes. Now these are not just okay, they're good and they're in the NFL. These guys are elite athletes in the NFL. Think about guys like Troy Paulamalu, the things that he

was able to do, Ed Reid he was able. They're able to be at the line of scrimmage at the snap right and then all of a sudden take off and they're twenty five yards deeper than they were two seconds ago. Right, So you have the ability to do that not only with your secondary but now with your linebackers. Right, And you started talking about the athleticism of it, like Bohanna,

you could drop you could drop him out. You could drop him out now, right, man, maybe he shocks the center of sharks, shocks the guard and now he's dropping out and he's the middle linebacker. Now he's looking up guys, so they yeah, yeah, absolutely right. So when you have that kind of athleticism, right, maybe Bradley and I maybe that's the way he finds his way onto the field, right,

Maybe he's he's dropping out into coverage. So there's a lot of things you could do if you can get some kind of pressure with your front four and guess what, maybe you get a push with your front three. Now you're really nasty, right right. So, I mean it's gonna be amazing once we get our entire team out there, we're playing in real games, a bit of a master class and how defense could be played for the Dallas Cowboys going into the twenty twenty one season. I love it.

It makes me so excited just to see it. I mean, like, like we've said plenty of times, the realistic expectation is not to go from thirty first in the league, thirtieth in the league to number top five. I mean, we we're not. That's not the expectation. The expectation is to see vast improvement. If you go any higher than that, it's just a cherry on top. It's a little bit

of whip cream. And he liked. But hypothetically, hypothetically, if you did go from thirty first to fifth's the chance of I mean it, dan Quinn makes all the difference in that. And I'm just saying, I maybe you have only be here for one year. Yeah, listen, well, hypothetically then that's what I started the preface my statement with that.

But I'm just saying the way that they change with those wholesale changes, your draft picks that you have, and the ability to take defense from the basement that was lifeless at certain points in the season to get them to that point. I just see that they have the personnel to do it. The success of this defense is going to be dependent on their ability to take the ball away, and you see that being emphasized in the preseason. That's they're not They're not asking this defense to necessarily

get three and ounce. You could drive all day long, drive, drive, drive, get all the way down to the red zone for all life. We can care if we take the ball away with our offense. We're now in a position to score, right, And that's all you're asking. You just need this team healthy. You need this team to be ahead of in the game. And if we're ahead in the game and our defense can get one or two takeaways a game, those are ws. Those are ws. I agree with that. That's got to

be number one. The other things stopping the run. They have to get better. We can't win a game that quick change situation aginst Houston very first. That was they they didn't react to that well really it really was. But beyond but overall, they've been better against the run of these preseason games. So we'll see. But there they have taken steps upgrade every level. Ye, so we'll see. I mean they are young in some spots and they're not deep in some spots. But I just think with

dan Quinn and he's not off the COVID protocols yet. Um, but if they just don't bust as many assignments as they had, that was part of their problem too, is that the lack of understanding of communication or faith in the scheme last year led us some really bad busts. And then on top of that, yet an offense that was so banged up that they couldn't compete and and and match score for score with some of these teams they are playing. It was just the perfect storm for good.

And that's why that's why culture is so important. Culture is so important because when you have a team like we had last year. Now, obviously it was a you know, like I told you, guys, F five tornado everything where everything that could happen happened to us in a negative sense. But when you have a team that's having fun and you have guys that are making plays, then guess what heck we're having now we're having fun on the field. Now it's a party on the field. And guess what's

that translates into. It translates to a party in the locker room. Right when it translates to a party in locker room, guess what Now, we're going back to the house and we're playing Madden together. Now we're on the headsets and we're playing Madden and Cod and everything else, and we're going out and we're going bowling together or watching movies. And guess what now we're watching film together.

But guess what when things are bad and it's not fun at practice, when I leave here, I'm out right, I check cats is checking out and A right, I'll see I'll see it tomorrow. And it doesn't sound good people, but that's the way, that's the reality. I've been on teams that are kind of like that. I've been on a lot. I've been blessed to be on some really good teams that the continuity and the culture was so amazing.

It's so tight knit, tight knit that it carried out not only in the game, but you can see it. You can see guys having fun and balling out and getting after it, and then you go to the the locker room and guys are laughing and the music is playing there dancing around and you see some of that stuff come across social media. Now, those are the teams that are tight knit, and those are the teams that have fun together, and those are the teams that are gonna

come municate the best. And on top of that, last year you couldn't even do some of that stuff because so it was just a double yeah, it was double yeah. Yeah, it was awful. There are three teams that came to mind when you talked about that. One of them's the reigning Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the other one wanted Super Bowl two years ago and was in the Super Bowl. And that's the Kansas City Chiefs, and the

other one was the Buffalo Bills. Those three teams have some fun, or at least it looks like they have fun. And guess what all three were in a conference championship game last year? It was three of the four teams. The other one was Green Bay. I wouldn't necessarily say they're having a ton of fun right now, but they'll

figure it out. They're ultra talented. But when we come back here on Talking Cowboys were talking a little bit more defense, a little bit more linebackers, and well, the Cowboys played more of a three four defense until Neville Gallimore returns. Maybe go with one of those defensive tackles when we come back with more Talking Cowboys. Presented by Tostitos, Honey, Big News, Gary, Are you okay? Oh? I'm not Gary anymore. I'm Jettie Flash. What see? I want the latest smartphone?

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That's a noon kickoff this Sunday. You can catch myself hosting Countdown to Kickoff eleven am Central Time, Dallas Cowboys dot com and on the what would that be? It was CBS eleven on Sunday, so tons of fun still to be had, Lots of affiliates actually carrying that broadcast across the Dallas Cowboys network. But I t's going into the break? What's going on? Nothing? Something happening? Nope, Okay, we're not going through the principal's office everyday? Am I

going to the No, you're not You're good? Okay, don't tell anything about Nick that you shouldn't good. I know that's true. Don't love you NICKI man um so I'm all, I'm all out of sorts now. Goodness, gracious, I tease defense going in, but I've completely forgot something off the top of the show that we definitely need to hit. A man got a bag today, got some money, got

some paid today. Because a restructured deal for Ezekiel Elliott has now freed up a significant amount of cap space for the Dallas Cowboys, Rob, Can you go through the deal and the restructure of zeke contract. Yeah, it's it's similar to what they've done the last year, restructuring some of their top offensive lineman guys de Marcus Lawrence. Last year, same deal you can you convert a large portion of the base salary to signing bonus, so you're creating in essence.

I think it's close to seven million bucks this year, but they can carry it over and that's what they did last year. I think they restructured to Marcus Lawrence last September and it was ten million bucks or so, and everybody thought Earl, Earl's coming, It's it's Earl time, and they did. They didn't do that. They used it and carried it over to twenty twenty one and used it to resign Dak Prescot or help resign Dak Prescos.

So that's what the ten million was for. Yes, So Isaiah, I say it's literally yeah, I don't want to burst your bubble, but they maybe just be doing that plus creating kind of that emergency fund during the season for injuries and stuff like that. Maybe maybe you or Isaiah well, I think we had a conversation when I said, you can kind of determine that were either the severity or the concern writing on the wall was what you use.

You got what I said, Yeah, the writing on the wall in terms of the confidence in Dak's health, yes, or the preparedness of making ensuring that you don't know what happened last year, it doesn't happen again now the last year it was different, but ensuring that you have a backup quarterback that you feel confident about going into to this season. And I say, I've kind of projected that something major was going to happen over the last week leading up to the season. Well, there it is. There,

it is right. Seven million dollars is now available for us to acquire some security at that position or other positions. But as we look through this roster, I think we feel good about most other positions. You know, we have always backup center, swing tackle, but quarterback, so we're not We don't. We don't say names, but let's just say that. Keep your eyes peeled over this next week. I would say, to figure out exactly why are we freeing up cap space?

Something big, something big, just putting bait on your hook to Lorian something big. Maybe as Rob as rob P said, maybe not last I mean, by heck, no, last year we did the same thing, right and we didn't didn't We didn't do anything with it. But then last year didn't go the way we wanted either. So how about we not repeat history and we make sure that we do what that we get what we need to get. Yeah, rob it. So you do you think if you're leaning one way or the other, they're going to make a

move a big move. I don't think this is just for that. What would you classify as a big move. You're talking like all six point eight. I'm talking like, you know, thinking that that was like an ET fund last year and it wasn't an ET fund. Okay, I don't think it's that. I don't know if there's anybody out there that reaches that sort of No. No, it definitely gives them more flexibility this year if something And look, I mean, what does Stephen Jones always say three sixty five?

So they need they needed space under the cap. Now they have it, but they also can can use it for next year because remember, I mean, the CAP's gonna go up next year, hopefully with more people and revenue coming in, you know, as we're still in this pandemic, but it's not going to be what it could be until that TV money rule. Look, I understand where playing is safe and that's cool, all right, but here's the deal. We have a backup quarterback situation that needs to get

resolved here pretty soon. And I don't think any of you guys we've talked about this at list and I'm not going to go into it any more, but we have to do something about that. And I feel like Mike McCarthy has already taken this to the people that need to hear it and say, look, you know, I don't want history to repeat itself in the form of something happening to dak And if the person that comes, you know, out of the bullpen, I need that to

be a bona fide guy. And I just don't feel like I have a bona fide guy, no question marks, not at all. What if Cooper Rush is done, doesn't matter if he stopping stop stop, stop stop. If he goes full debot jackson wait a minute, wait a minute, hear yourself say that he say it? Come on, woman time. What if Cooper Rush goes full debot climbing through that window against Jacksonville, he can he can freaking blow that wall out, and Cooper Rush will have a valiant effort.

It's still not enough to ensure the security of that position that is too valuable of a position to go into the season with a question mark, what if triple quadruple. No disrespect to those guys, they're just not of the caliber of player that you need in position. Should something happen today, okay, I think that they're in the process. They're in development, right, just like many vehicles, right, you go through the sketches and then you go through a

little mold. I think they're in the molding phase, right. They haven't necessarily made it to the press ship. The body hasn't been sculpted, it hasn't been pressed out. They haven't started putting parts in it yet. They're not ready, and they need somebody who is a bona fide leader, somebody who was respected when they walk in his locker room. The players say, he doesn't know the playbook yet, but that boy can ball, right, and should that go down,

there's no question marks on his ability. There might be question marks on how much of the offense we can run, but there's no question marks can that boy play. That's what they have to bring in here over the next week. Yeah, Mike McCarthy has gotten an opportunity to evaluate these guys at LYND and he didn't get a chance to do that last season. It's kind of like a parent. Man, Like most parents out there, they got an opportunity to teach your kids in the house for a full year

during the pandemic. You thought it was the teachers, and then you start teaching your own kid and you're like, no, it's you. You know you know that. I mean, hey, as a parent, you want to think that your kids are all angels. And then you sit there with him for a year by yourself, and you're like, hey, got to keep my eye on you. So Mike is in the same He's of the same mind state. Man, I am not gonna let this out of the hen house

and have this come back to bite me. And you know what, I have to get a guy to come out firing if I'm ever put in that position and if he doesn't make any changes in it, and it's absolutely for let's just say to the swing tackle position or another d tackle something like that along those lines. That's still shoring up your team, that's still making you better, but there's still going to be that lasting question mark until we get that resolved. You can't can't do that, No,

you just can't. I think they used four million, four million dollars on a quarterback somehow. So you paid Dandy Dalton three last year, so it's positive to pay, you pay because there's gonna be some big moves happening here next week. You pay forty five million dollars on a one to five I respect, it would starter, who's your backup? If you wanted to stretch to the cap, that would leave you what three point five out out after that

or something like that, probably something. I mean, that's enough to maybe go get a backup, a swing, swing tackle if you if there was one available that you liked, somebody pops up, because it would have to be a pop up on What did that do to Zeke's deal? What did he do for him? Did it add a year or to his contract? Did it just money up front? It doesn't add anything in terms of years. It just it's gonna it's gonna make his his um base jump later in the years of his of his deal. But

it doesn't add any deals to it. And his money for twenty twenty two was guaranteed anyway, So I'm sure they looked at it like what difference does it make? And and again I don't think it's next year, but in a couple of years that TV money is rolling in and the CAP's gonna get really, really big. So I don't think they're too worried about all fitting all that in and it's converted into a signing bonus, right right,

He doesn't care because it gets them all up front. Yeah, I mean, players don't mind the US at all because they sure he probably point six probably today. I don't know if his direct deposit or hand it. I've never been in that situation. In that situation, wouldn't that be had to be very nice? Actually? Yeah? But yeah, but eighty six six is in his pockets today. Now you know, after taxes, you'll probably round probably sent around five. Yeah. I don't even want to think about just how I

want to think about it. I mean, I would love to think I would love to have that problem, wouldn't you have? You see this blank stare, blank stair, imagine a blank check, so kind of I kind of want to go back. Oh, actually, you know what, We've got a couple more minutes before we need to take our second break. I want to talk about Mali cooker activated off of COVID nineteen protocols. He is free to practice today, correct, Rob, Yeah, I believe he's out there. So he's good. So that

means they've got Israel. Mcquamne came off the list on Wednesday. So the guys that are left, as far as I remember, Connor Williams, Demante Casey, Ceedee Lamb, Carlos Watkins, I think that's it. And then dan Quinn as the coach. Dan Quinn said he's feeling better. He would not disclose where he is in the protocol, but he said I'll be back if I can get cleared in time to coach Sunday. We'll see. So mcquomo is he able to play Sunday? Yeah,

he is. He's done. He's off. Yeah, he's off the Yeah, he's a guy that definitely has to a great game on Sunday. I mean, it's a that's a really good bubble guy to watch. I don't I don't. I've said earlier like I think he makes the team, but I don't know. Man, it's you got to figure out these other positions too. He's he is the guy that you that you just wish would just go out there and ball as as a coach, because you are you're able

to recognize this. First of all, he's A. He's a physical specimen right his he's he's versatile is all get out. Not only he's value me working in value proposition right your VP. He can play a lot of different positions. I could put him at the safety position. I could put him at the cornerback position. I could him as my nickel, A six four nickel. Are you kidding me? Right? So, the versatility of this guy. But as I talked to, like I told you guys, I talked to Dan Quinn

in Arizona. He said, I need him to flick the switch on and go hit somebody. He hasn't made that switch in his mind from cornerback to safety. It hasn't happened yet. He needs it to happen this weekend. And that's unfortunate because in this defense, he's gonna have to be a thumper. He's got to come up's and guys like Hooker and Casey they have that DNA and we've seen them in preseason games. Closed quickly. I mean, Mali

Cooker is this. I think so many people have forgotten about how awesome he was coming out of Ohio State and just how great he was and so and I think, like if you didn't watch you know, Big ten football or know about him in Indy. Man, this guy is you know, when he's healthy, he is a guy that

can impact the game. But that's what's fascinating is they got to figure out where he is in his career and what you know, can he be the guy the twenty seventeen that was getting interceptions and making plays And if he's not going to be a starter, can he play special teams which he's never done. He's never done that. There's just different moving parts there and he just needs to get time on the field and show what he can do. The problem is we have one game left

to do it. I mean, I think he makes the team, but I'm not sure, like what the defined role is going to be week one. That's exactly the way I think about it. You're going to see Kaz and Hooker as your free safeties in my opinion, and there's going to be a rotation. It's just what is that rotation? Right? Is it sixty forty? Is it's seventy thirty one way or the other. I don't know. I mean, I don't

think this coaching staff knows. I think this is going to be the best special teams unit the Cowboys have seen in a very long time. Think so, really, I think so? So I'm not somewhere John Fossils smiling. I think, I honestly think that because the amount of talent that we have in the secondary. We have a lot of talent in the secondary. Now are they dominant, No, we don't have a lot of dominant players, but we have a lot of very competitive guys. What do you need

our special teams? I need competitive guys. And if you don't have a clear defined, like solid too deep that you don't know is you know exactly who who's gonna be in a position and guess what everybody has to contribute somehow. That means that everybody's gonna be contributing on special teams. So that means that you're taking starters slash second tier guys that are going to be competing not only in the games under defensive respective defensive positions, but

also on special teams. Your talent level just what up? Typically you need your core five, and you still need your core five, But now maybe you don't need a core five. Maybe you need a core four and you've got guys that are very talented that are still going to rotate on that side of the ball. But now they are gonna come in. They're gonna compete for you, especially Coach Fossil. When you have a coach that that just just as hype and guys love them and you

see it on hard knocks. The guys want to be around them, and they respond them to them, they respect for them, they respect them. That is going to be a very high energy, competitive unit and I think is going to be the best that we've seen in a long time. And they're gonna have a big impact because usually we just talk about the two thirds. Now we're gonna be talking about all three phases of the game. That's a really good point because darry and Thompson has

been that way on special teams previously. You won Israel Mukuama to step up in that regard. Donovan Wilson, even early in his career, did a lot of that and now he is presumed the starter. Talking about Donovan dealing with a groin issue. Yeah, my question is who's who's getting those reps at strong safety? Who is behind Donovan Wilson Because mcquamo's a center field guy, probably not going to be your strong safety. Could be urs is probably that guy. Right, So if Donovan Wilson is out, does

that mean Jaren Curse is making this team? No doubt, because then that's a fifth name that's thrown into the mix. Now he can't Unfortunately, there's too many, too many guys, I mean, the number is alone saying no. And it sucks because he could play. What if he's the only other box safety on the roster. Somebody got to move. And you just made a point about special teams. That's where I was going. Oh, yeah, he is a special teams demon. That's what he does. And though, and so

most special teams is comprised of dbs and linebackers. And so that's a good problem that we have on this team. And you cannot sacrifice a guy that that's his m for a young and upcoming guy that hadn't shown Yeah, exactly. I love it when you finish my sentences, by the way, But it's just it's just guys like that that I feel like, Look, naturally, you can't just look over your run. Curse and mcquomo may make this team, but he may

never play this year. I mean, and that may be the the coing thing for him because he has to develop into what you need him to be in order to make be on Reggie Robinson King, Well, I mean like on the rosters, want to get to play and come back. How no, no, no, no, no no no no, this isotot bring up child. Sorry. I think as a as, I would hate to be a coach right now because Israel mcuomo is like the guy you're just like, it's not like I need you to develop here, here, and here.

I don't need you to get better at all these spots. It's just one thing. I just need you to deflict the switch. Be willing to throw your head in there, be willing to throw your body in there. And as soon as that clicks for him, hopefully it does. He's a beast. And to be in a position where you if you cut that guy and you know that's all you're waiting on. He goes to another team, he flicks

that switch. Crap, I just cut a six four, two hundred and five two ten pound safety slash corner slash nickel. He's not gonna get cut. He would be, he would be picked up. I mean waivers. But I'm talking about off this. Yeah, yeah, I'm saying that that's that's somebody that you don't want to let go of, That's all I'm saying. And lessilly, you could protect him for the first two weeks of the year. So even if you did put him on the practice squad, you could pull

him up for that kind of halfway hybrid thing. You could protect him for two weeks and then I mean, week three, he's either a part of the roster or he's not. I mean, and and then he's it's every week he'll be on waivers from that point forward. So it does make things a little bit sketchy. Who knows. Maybe he is on waivers and nobody picks him off. I mean, nobody kicked him until the fifth round that they're drafted. Any that does happen, like it happens all

the time, six four. But it was a sixth round pick. You're saying, remember Alex Tanney, I don't quarterback. It was balling out. Oh yeah, likes you know, he passed with waivers, you know, I mean, like we always think, like with whatever at this position, at this position, I just I don't see him. I agree with you. He's got some

unique skills, very much so so. Nick named the last safety corner, nickelback, you that you got that you found out was this big name, the last sixth round pick that was a lock to make a team no matter what he showed in the preseason, because he hasn't shown a whole lot. But it's a lot of six round picks with gold jackets. So I don't saying Tom Brady and I'm saying whoa, I'm saying, I'm saying rookie miss

seven ring himself. I'm sorry, rookie year. And in terms of not showing what you need him to be in a position switch, I mean, there are a lot of difference, just not that far off is what He's not. What we're saying free, I'm not he's a bad player, and cut the guy and let's never think of him again. I'm saying, even though he's valued in this organization, it doesn't mean thirty one other teams are valuing him as well. Doesn't mean that by anyone those attributes. I would disagree

on that one, just on this particular case. You don't find guys that versatile. You just don't. It's not common. I don't care where he was drafted. I don't care if he's sitting on the couch. You just don't see guys that can move their feet like we've seen him move his feet and be able to not only again, if he figures out how to hit somebody. If that's just a decision, that's not a skill set, that's just

do you want to do it. If he figures that out, he can play safety, he could play corner, and he can come in on your I don't care if you move your biggest receiver to the slot. I'm moving him to the slot. And guess what, I got a Honda hands for you. Chris just gave me a stat nine six round picks that are Hall of famers. So there's guys that do it. I agree with you in terms of versatility, except one of the versatile tools he doesn't have is one of the most important when it comes

to playing. But it absolutely correct. But again it's that's not a capability, that's a decision. But when I when I came into the league, I was a quarterback that they moved to receiver. I didn't return kicks before. Guess what I figured out how freaking returns from kicks. I had never ran down and hit anybody. Guess what you're gonna run into this way. What about blocking, you're gonna I've never blocked anybody. Guess what you want to play?

You want to check, you figure it out. So when they when they had back in the day, when they had those four man wedges and everybody does those three hunder powders can link their hands up, they will put me on the inside and run me down to said Isaiah, I need you to split those guys. You run down there, you close your eyes and you jump as fast and hard as you can and hope that you wake up. You know, like, that's what you do. That's what you do in this league. And guess what, you will earn

the respect. And after you do that, it gets a little bit easier every time. You just have to make the decision that one time, I'm gonna do this no matter what. And guess what, I'm okay. The same thing we're saying about deck, right, that's gonna get rolled up on at some point in time. Right, Yeah, I woke up, but that's gonna get rolled up at some point. Right, And what's he gonna do. I'm okay, Yeah, let's go ball. Yeah, it's the same thing. So that's all you're waiting on.

You're waiting. The coaches are literally waiting for that one moment and when it happens, oh man, we got a dog. That's the light switched. Dan Quinn's talking absolutely and it just hasn't been flipped on yet. Once it is, he can really turn into somebody help. He could really help the team. I mean, you're starting strong safety right now. Was a sixth round pick as well, and Donovan Wilson. So it can't happen. It just has yet, is my point.

And I say until that point, I don't know. If he with a deep safety group, he might be the odd man out. And I wouldn't rule out it comes to Dono for the Hall of Fame either. That's my guy. Gig of Maggs. Right, Maggie, there you go. All right, let's take a break. When we come back, we're gonna answer some fan questions and continue on with or Talking Cowboys,

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See more, do more. We didn't have this at training camp, Kyle. We just miss and have Yeah every time every time we did those reads we were like, man, I can't wait to have them. I'll tell you what training camp. No, I'm getting somebody's bag. I'm not staying here. Oh it's not happening this year. I'm going if I if I'm sitting in the stands with the fans and I'm doing WebEx podcasts from this, I'm going. You save. I'm not leaving me save a lot of headaches at home, but

staying home and not being gone. He don't talk. I'm just telling you from personal experience. Well, you're still on the couch, not you know, are back. I made it. I made you back. I'm still on the couch apartment. I'm still on the couch food. I'm just gonna sleep here today. By the way, we had an update on a stat that Chris uh was so kind to look up for us in the last segment. Only one sixth round pick has ever been named to the Hall of Fame. He'll be two in about seven years. Yeah, yeah, Jack

Christiansen was the only one. Sixty. I'm in seventh round. I'm in seventh round. Well, the thing is is, it's the it was the sixth round at the time, but he was drafted in nineteen fifty one by the Detroit Lions, and it was still the sixty nine Chris, you guys, which would be a second back check everything? By right, Chris, that's only one job. I mean, that's my job, all right, Chris, thank you kind of way way to back up the homie And guess guess who did Chris's job before Chris

did his job? Who is that? I'm just saying, like, well, well, not nearly nearly as good at this. Can you sprinkle salt? Now? Yeah? Chris's next, Chris. Chris is way better at his job than I ever put in bush Um what the visuals too much? That's why you have to watch this show on video. Audio does not do adjustice. Thank you for all of those audio listeners out there. Go watch us on phone just to see what happened, because that was great.

Leave it up there. It's like sitting in it. Yea. Alright, Okay, we have some fan questions we need to get to. I'm already. I'm done. Same with your chest Friday, all right. Mike Gray asked, do you think the Cowboys may play more of a three or four defense until Neville Gallimore returns, kind of taking away the need for a one and two technique and kind of playing with one of the other Isaiah, you're shaking your head. No, No, I don't

think you change your entire scheme for one guy. We're pretty really to be deep at this position, and you have some young guys that need to go out there and compete. It's some unfortunate that Gallimore's down, but if there was every opportunity for, you know, for the same next man up to really come into play, this is it. You got some guys that you need to gain confidence in. You got some guys that need to gain confidence in themselves,

and you throw them in a fire. You throw those guys in a fire, and you expect them to have an impact, and you're not just going to shy away from it because of one person. These dudes got to step up and play, and I think they're coaches are gonna put them in a position to do so. Can't make the switch because a one guy, I mean, that's a pretty simple thing. Not at that position. No, And even if that's your base most of the time, you know you're playing so much Nickel that that's not something

you're Yeah, and here's the other thing. They didn't haven't changed up their defense because they've missed Tank Lawrence, so they wouldn't change up anything because of Nevill Gallimore. And you know it. To be honest with you, As far as the depth that you have, I think you have more depth quality as far as talent is concerned to steal. Stay with your scheme. Report from practice. Dave Hellman says, Greg's eirline eight of nine on goal attempts today, second

leg is nice. That's good, that's encouraging. I wonder how, I wonder where he missed from. I didn't say probably that's probably the only place he missed. I know if he from. If you miss got a boot man, if we miss I'd love to see that awesome yep. Uh my goodness. I mean, if if he ends up missing from thirty seven, it's like, oh, what's going on? But if he misses from sixty seven, then that's a little

bit different. Uh. Geo, our guy, Geo Molina says, with Neil Parsons and Cox changing the speed, the overall speed a linebacker, which is something we talked about earlier. Is it a possibility that we see a transition where Smith and Layton vander Esch become rotational guys. You're already seeing that. I mean, I think we are right. They will be. Yeah, they might wander, both might play some special teams. I mean just because I mean, that's not a bad thing.

It's not I mean a demotion we had. We had Darren Woodson in here last week and he did it all throughout his career. Guy that should be in the Hall of Fame. There's nothing wrong with that. But I just think that that's possible, you know, because you've got to if you're gonna be on the game day roster and you're not playing ninety eight percent of the snaps like Jalen Smith did, then yeah, you could see those guys on special teams. I don't think that's out of

the question. That's not a bad thing. I know. I bring this up. When I was in Seattle, when Dan Quinn was around, you saw you saw you saw Thomas on special teams. You saw Sherman on special teams. You saw some of your premier guys, Cam Chancellor on special teams. When you were in a position. Then when you have depth and you can put some of your most competitive, dominant players on special teams, why have two thirds of

your units really good. When you can have all three phases good right, when you can have all three phases dominant, why would you not do that if you have players that are selfless and willing to do it. Now, obviously you always more plays means more risk of injury, absolutely, but you can't play scared. So if you have an opportunity to go out there and have your dogs, go out there and compete on special teams, you take you dominate that phase. If you're dominating three phases into the game,

guess what your chances of winning just went up? Isaiah stand on special teams day, I like this, say it with your chest, my friend. Kind of backing up on the GEO question, is the linebacker room more crowded than the wide receiver room with guys like Francis Bernard and Luke Gifford now being in danger of being on that bubble? Yeah, I think that. You know, the depth is incredible from

the linebacker perspective from where we were last year to now. So, um, those two guys added Cox and Parsons just makes it and better. And yeah, I mean that's a whole other starts graded or second highest graded linebacker in the NFL. Preseason. He's got a ninety five grade on pro football. But I think it is what I also think it's very spectacular, is the way that that speed translates in this game. But you know, I want to answer that when you're

talking about GEO and the special teams part. I think it's important to to think about this this squad maybe three years ago where special teams was kind of an afterthought, and now and losing games because of special teams eras, and now this team is just like, nah, we're gonna put our best guys out there. It doesn't matter what you're getting paid. You can play special teams as well. But you know, I think for a team of of guys that you want to see them be selfless, this

is the way to do it. And so if there was anyone like Malie Hookers, a guy that says I never played special teams, well, hell, if you want to make the squad, you gotta play special teams. Doesn't matter. Gotta gotta find a way to fit into a role, especially if you're not the starter. I mean, even if you are the starter, if you want to contribute, like Isaiah saying, then hey, as long as you don't get hurt. That's my one issue with putting those even go out

there thinking about that. Yeah. Uh, final question here, and this is I don't really want I guess I'll say the name Terzo Power is kind of fun. I mean, yeah, it's the name of the account Terso Power. Uh. We know Jalen won't save money if he's cut, but keeping him is not costless. He may take a spot from someone in better at another position. Why isn't this always

framed that way? So more of saying that even though he's not gonna save money, it doesn't come without a cost to keep him on the roster, either by cutting or trading. I don't think there's even a remote possibility of cutting Jalens Man. Jalen's not going anywhere unless somebody comes with a big boy like out of his world trade. He's not going anywhere leading tacklers that might too, like out of this world trade would mean the cowboys get the best value, because I don't know what is what

Jalen Smith's value is your trade market. It's probably not a whole lot. Jalen Smith is a good linebacker when you let him do what he does, when you ask him to do the whole gamut, which is what we did last year. We expected him to be able to shed blocks and all that kind of stuff. Now he's getting paid a pretty penny, and I understand the expectations

rise when that happens. But if there's a guys, there's plenty of guys in the history of football in the NFL that got paid a pretty penny and they can do this. They do this really well. He can tackle very well. So put him in the box, right, let the other guys run around, Let Parsons run around. Put him it's putting him at what position metal, put the mic, put him at the him at the mic. Yeah, that's that's what I'm gonna do it. Yeah, that's what. Put him at the mike. Keep him in the box. Put

two guys on the edge that could really run. And I don't think that's Laden Vanderesh's natural position, which they hadn't playing last year. So um and again, I go back and forth on Layton Vanderesh. Sometimes I think he's better as a mic. Sometimes I think he's better at the will. I think that the collarbone injuries, the neck injuries,

and all of those will makes him a will. And I think if you want to get production and if you care about him, get him out of there because that's where he's gonna get the most damaged by taking on guys. Look, you know it's a lot when it comes down to Jalen and when you're doing the comparisons with Mica, it's night and day. And it shouldn't be that way. You should look at Jalen as another as Micah, as a guy on this team that's gonna come tribute

along with Jalen Smith as well. So a long season, both of these guys are going to contribute to the wins on this team. You have to start looking at this unit and how they how they what's the word I'm looking for. I can't think of a word, but how they how they benefit each other? Right, and like like these guys are gonna be played the compliment how they compliment each other. That stop looking at this as oh, this person does this, this person gonna do this? No, no, no,

they do. They're gonna be really good together. And and when you bring the talent level up like you did at this position again, you take Jalen Smith, you say, hey, big fellow, you don't have to worry about all that anymore. What you do well, push that good dog on that easy button and go right, go hunt. Okay, I can do that. I do that really well, right, And I could justify my paycheck if I go out there and I own that. Michael Parsons, you running hit? You want

to run in hit? You like that, right, Jabrel cos you're running hit, Neil, you're running hit. Okay, you guys do that right. And I'm allowing my other, my other big boys to do what they do best. That's when guys can play playing fast. I have to worry about all these other responsibilities. I could play fast. I could do exactly what Dan quinns. I cannot play fast if I'm man to man on Logan Thompson across what I do. Will I do it? I'm willing to, yeah, or I'm willing to do it. But am I gonna be the

best at it? No, I'm not gonna go. I'm just not. Yeah. Well, the guy, I think guy answer his own question. Kyle think his money's guaranteed, so he's here and and so what fine roles that he can do? Well? You know, whether it's whether you guys mentioned the mic, whether it's the Sam playing you know, kind of set in the edge on the side of maybe you know, he's a blitz guy. Sometimes they play him on the line of scrimmage as a rusher, all those things, just you know,

put him as part of the rotation. That's what that's what they're gonna do. I'm interested to see how many snaps it's gonna be per game though, ones if everybody stays healthy and just how they figure that all out. That helps guys stay healthy. Yeah, yes, it does, it does. Absolutely. That's a great point. And maybe that's one of the reasons why they are excited to keep all those guys around.

It is that way if I'm doing I mean, last year, if Layton vander eschmiss time, it was Jalen Smith and then Joe Thomas, Joe Thomas, I mean, and nothing against Joe Thomas, like Michael Parsons Kanail have been exponentially. Yeah, Joe Thomas looked a lot better than the linebackers that we had last year. And just run stop and again back to what you're saying, whatever, all this stuff that we're talking about doesn't mean a thing if we cannot

stop the run. And Michael Parsons right now, we're singing his praises and he's so great. But if he can't take on, he will get consumed as well. It will be the same way if he can't stick his head in there, if he can't shoot those gaps, if he's not making those tackles, then we're back to square one all over again. Yeah, lots of defensive talk today here on Talking Cowboys, but that is going to do it this week. Thanks for joining us here on Say It

with your Chest Friday. As always for keep keep in mind, there's some fun things to look out on Dallas Cowboys dot Com this weekend. If you haven't caught it already catched the Deep Blue Ye War stories, It's fantastic, Hem Harrison. You could also find a Path to Safety d Blue where Rob Phillips had a huge hand in that one as well. Plenty more to come throughout next week. We'll be back on Tuesday for Chris Beam, Rob Phillips, Isaiah

stand back in the man. Heck my Harrison. I'm Kyle Yeoman saying so long from the s WBC Mortgage Studios. We'll see you next week on Talking Cowboys. This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys football club,