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This He's Talking Cowboys Straining live from the Dallas Cowboys World Course at the Star in Frisco's.
Welcome to Talking Cowboys, presented by Black Rifle Coffee, Live from the Star and Frisco. We're here in the s WBC podcast studio. I'm here with Nick Harris, Isaiah standback, John Machoda. I am Josh Rodriguez filling in for Kyle Yeoman who is on paternity leave. Shouts to him taking care of his kids.
What a good father he is.
He is a good dad.
Take them dad.
We'll miss him for sure. And just hear filling filling shoes as it were. We got Chrispy in the back.
Boys.
How we doing fan Tabby Loso?
Yeah, yeah, I can't complain. Draft We did this draft? Yeah, Draft Week players.
Yeah, they have a lot of players.
Trading.
Yeah, they just acquire a ton of picks next year.
Uh No, today's there's a press conference with who's all going to be on this press conference panel? We got Steven Jones, Jerry Jones, Mike McCarthy and Will McLay.
For this one today.
Lunch provided, that's all I know.
Lunch Yeah, lunch.
Provided, which is a yeah, that's that's new. But yeah, so we'll we'll hear from them today. Obviously they won't give too much as far as draft strategy goes. But certain things that I'm I'm curious about to address is are they open for business and trading back? Do they want to acquire a Day three pick? You know, what does that kind of look like for them?
Uh?
And their conversations up there in the building. So excited to see what comes with that. And then man, draft time, I'm excited. Man, It's yeah, it's one of my favorite times. It's sure time to shine, right, It's just my favorite time of the year.
Well, we got news and notes to get to kind of first off, before we get into the draft stuff.
Uh.
Dak Prescott, he had some comments this week or I guess last week. I kind of wanted to get into that as far as his future goes in Dallas. He made some comments about that. John, did you want to kind of kick us off? And yeah, tell us what he said?
So Nick and I were both there and I don't know if this jumped out to you immediately when it happened. But the way he talked about not being nervous or worried, feared, I don't feel fear. I don't fear about whether it's you know, his futures with the Cowboys or something. And that's the first time I ever heard him kind of talk like that. I like, I liked it from his perspective because it just shows you that he's dug in
and that I mean, he's a competitor. So I did it just he is so used to always saying exactly whatever the right thing is or whatever, you know, towing the company line, and for him to say that, that was the first time that I've ever been around him where I was like, oh, yeah, he's ready for He's ready for the a If if you guys think that you're better off without me, well maybe maybe maybe we'll find out.
Now.
Of course he didn't say that, but that's I mean, you read in between the lines. I thought that was that was pretty interesting, that part of it, and then the other part is just the whole. Yeah, he's talked to Jerry Jones about the contract, but haven't had quote,
real talks. Yeah, And that one to me was a little surprising, just because that's all we talk about is just DA contract, CD contract, MIC A contract, and you're just thinking, well, no, they're they're having these conversations everything, and the fact that they're not really having any substantial conversations it just I mean, I said this before free
agency started. I know you've said it way before then, but just like every day that goes by, it's more and more likely that he's going to play out this final year of this deal, and that's just gonna be wild. I mean, yeah, there's gonna be a lot of pressure on him, but there was pressure on him before for that last deal and he broke his ankle pretty significantly and still got that deal. So that doesn't mean that
he's not going to be with the Dallas Cowboys. But I think that, I think that right now is just more than ever you have to start thinking about that being a possibility. I know a lot of Cowboys fans probably don't want to think about that. I mean, if you're a Cowboys fan, you're used to whoever is your franchise quarterback. They don't wear anybody else's jersey, you know, Yeah, they don't go anywhere else.
When was the last time a quarterback left the Cowboys like it's still still in good standing. I guess as far as his career, I don't think there's a like a good one. I don't think there's been one. Yeah, yeah, was that fist pump? Like a yes fist pump or like a darn fist place Listen.
Like you mentioned, I foresaw that he was going to have to play in his fifth year, and it's still up in the air. But I like the fact that they're making him seemingly leaning towards him playing on his last year of his contract. I like it because all the respect in the world to Dak Prescott, great human being. He's been a good player for the Dallas Cowboys. But ultimately, your goal and your mission every year for every single organization, all thirty two teams, is to win a Super Bowl.
That's your over archie go.
Now, everything else underneath that umbrella is pretty much like pats on the back or progress. It's either pat on the back, Hey, good job got to the first round or guess what, you know, we got further than we got the year before, so we're heading in the right direction, right. Those are really the two boxes that get checked every
single year. But if your ultimate goal is to win a super Bowl, and you're serious about winning a super Bowl, then you have to take the regular season work kind of out of the picture.
You really have to separate.
Your emotional your emotional ties to an individual and the success that they've had during the regular season, and you have to look and say, during the postseason, what have we done?
And when you look at.
Tony Romo's career here, which you moved on from him, he was two and FoEI in the playoffs, correct Dak Prescott's two and five as.
It currently stands, there's not much difference there.
Well, they're one difference though, I will say with Romo and Dak is that Tony Romo could still be the starting quarterback of this franchise for all we know if his if his back could hold up good, we don't know that, he wouldn't still be here right now. So his his health kind of forced the hands. So the idea that well, they're just not gonna put up with this, We're going to move the next one.
We haven't really seen that from them.
I understand that, and I totally agree with you. His tenure here got cut short because of the succession of Dak Prescott based upon an unfortunate situation with with Tony Romo. The thing is, the record at that point in time remained the same. He was two and four in the playoffs.
Right now, Dak Prescott's two and five. So as an organization, regardless of how outstanding of a citizen he is, how how how much of a great model he is for the organization and great spokesperson, great human being, great regular season demon right killing it runner up to MVP? Does that get jewelry on your finger? And has it gotten jewelry on your finger? And if that is the ultimate goal, then why would you not put somebody's back up against
the wall. Say, before I reward you, I have to actually reward you for performance.
You're leading the witness a little bit. Obviously, no, there are no rings on his finger. But I also think that was Dax Prescott's job to take. I mean, if it was what the Cowboys intended, if it was Paxton Lynch on this roster, I think Tony Romo would still probably be the quarterback in some capacity. I don't think he overtakes Tony Romo in that position. But because you had Dak Prescott on the roster. He took that job understood,
he really did. As painful as that for me to say, as much as I left Tony Romo a little bit more context if I could on yeah, on the on the day last week and his availability. So first off, the event was for the Children's Cancer Ball on gala Dak Prescott and Troy Yeigman or co chairman's of the of the Cancer Fund. And there was fifty to seventy five kids that walked and over one hundred that were able to come back and you know, participate in the
festivities after participating in previous years. So a really good cause overall. I wanted to be sure and hit that.
Hey Romo ended up being there too.
Roma was there too, which was very fascinating seeing all three of them together like that. It is very fascinating, especially given the context of all of them as well. But a couple of more things, uh, Dak Prescott has had a meeting with Jerry Jones in recent weeks. He was able to tell us and just he said that
there's not any gray area. So at least whatever the understanding is, Dak Prescott and Jerry Jones are on the same page as far as where this contract, where these contract negotiations stand, he said, I talked to Jerry, so I understand where we are. Obviously Jerry's mentioned the same, so there's not any gray area in that sense. We had a great conversation that put us aligned and where we are in this moment. And he made he said,
in the moment now, focusing on now. That was kind of the theme around his availability in my eyes, and he's maintained that he has kept that same ridic rhetoric throughout his career. He said, you could go back to earlier in my career when there wasn't a contract in play. I'm a guy who focuses on the now, what I
can do in this moment. Yes, yes, there's something you can pull from that, but also I think it's it's a little bit more ambiguous when you look at it with the context, given the fact that he's entering a final year of his deal, and also the fact that you go back and you look at his previous availability, which was for the same cause a couple of months ago. I believe it was early March, right before a free
agency started there at North Park. I think it was around early March, and he was like, I'm confident we're gonna get a deal done.
You know.
There's that's that's where that's where we stand. You know, I'm confident it's gonna happen and the team needs it, so you know we're gonna get it done. To now, Hey man, I'm just living in the now. You know, when when talks get here, they'll get here, you know. And so it's like it's it's a little bit more more ambiguous and you kind of read between the lines in that sense, and you wonder where and when this
conversation might happen. And then yeah, the final quote that he gave on the last question, I'm not gonna say I fear being here or not right now.
It's with the Dallas Cowboys.
After the season, we'll see where we're at and if the future holds that, if not, we'll go from there. So yeah, it's it's fast standing he is standing on business and another another thing, I want to be sure and hit with CD apparently, you know, preparing to hold out for a new contract. He was also asked, hey, will you still be able to get working with CD if that holdout takes you into training camp, et cetera. He said, we'll get some work in. I've been in
communication with CD. Maybe a deal gets done, and if it doesn't, I guarantee that we'll still find a lot of time to get the work that we feel comfortable. One note on both of these topics with Dak Prescott and CD Lamb is that the Reliant Home run Derby is next Wednesday, and both of them are expected to compete, So there's could be a lot of headlines that come out of next week.
For sure, the.
Home runs will not be the headline.
I'll tell you that, no, no, not quite.
I also kind of wanted to touch on he made a few comments regarding the Cowboys offseason moves or lack thereof.
Did you kind of want to touch on that a little bit?
Yeah, he had.
I didn't really put it on this in this quote box that I have here, but that was another thing that he had talked with with Jerry about a couple of weeks ago, and that was kind of playing into there's not any gray area, so he understands where the organization is at. He understands where things are at. He said, He's focused on the guys in the locker room and what he can do to pour into them over the
course of the off season. So I mean that was that was you know, a typical deck answer and good sense.
Yeah, for sure.
So another topic that we have h Stephen Jones is on the fan discussing offensive line. He discussed Trey Lance a little bit, another thing that you touched on last week at length. But I kind of wanted to get your thoughts on this now that he actually said it onto the record. You know, this is out there for the world. With Mike Zimmer in the building. Obviously, the defensive scheme is going to change a little bit, and he said, we're going to be relying on a three
linebacker system. Bigger in the middle and uh less of the uh uh yeah, just bigger in the middle basically.
So he said more, he said, more three linebacker as opposed to two linebacker and three safety.
That's yeah, true, true, as pretty much a base defense.
Yeah, but how four down, four down, three linebackers.
Historically, if in the last two or three years, I'm not talking NFL has changed the entire.
League, NFL has changed personnel.
So if you are going to be in a more traditional type setting where you have four down, three linebackers, you better have some you better have some dbs, and you better have some great covering outside linebackers. Because the game of football has changed. It's eleven personnel. It is eleven personnel. And for those that don't know what eleven personnel is. One tight end, one running back, three receivers. That is primarily what most teams line up in, whether
it's run or pass. Now, if it's a second and short, third and short, yeah, you're gonna come out in a twenty one or twenty two, whatever it might be personnel to change up. You know the amount of tight ends and running backs that you have in the backfield. But I can't foresee this team turning into a traditional base
defense in this NFL. And with the lack of picks that you have in this year's draft, and the fact that most of free agency is gone, So where are you going to acquire all these extra assets that are going to now feel the voids that you have in this new system.
It was my concern last week.
It was my concern as soon as they brought Zim Roun staff, I was like, I can't see it. I don't know how they get there with the current roster that he's walking into.
So let's frum the tally. What would you need to be able to put together a base defense right now? Based on what this team needs, probably two defensive tackles, at least one more linebacker another end.
Yeah, I would say two.
You need at least two more linebackers because you would love over Showing to come back and be healthy.
Yeah, that's fair. You got pretty healthy.
I mean, but we had, you know, we have.
Unfortunately, what happened to Jabrill Cox kind of gave you a peek into the window of what could happen when Oversheon gets back. You just have to be obviously I'm not putting that on him, but that just you have to be realistic about that about what he's coming back as, because you would you had a really athletic you know, Cox and linebacker. He was a beast fast, and then he got hurt and then he came back and he just wasn't that right, whether it was confidence, whether it's ability.
So you're hoping that that's not the story for overshone. So I would like to come into the season without the expectation that Overshow is going to be what he was prior to injury, and plan for his replacement and in hope for the best, right and then just have that extra depth there. So if I'm not factoring overshown into it, now all of a sudden you got Damon Clark and you got Kendricks.
That's it.
Yeah, I think a minimum too and then hope for the best basically with overshown and you know, let him do what he needs to do to kind of get healthy.
But you talked about the size up front. You're severely undersized, like not just a little bit. Yeah, you are severely undersized for not only what mister Jones just said, right, Stephen Jones just said about going to a traditional four to three seemingly or historically what Zimmer has done with a three four. Either way, you are severely undersized. And how do you rectify that?
I don't know.
M just add more beef, as to add as much beef as you possibly can.
And the draft I think, I think training table is going to change the type of foods are serving.
It's not gonna be training table, it is gonna be fatting table.
I mean, you're gonna be able to fill out the roster and get the right body types. The problem is that are you going to have quality there because this team's gonna I think they're gonna make I don't know, two three, four undrafted guys, the guys that possibly make this roster just because they're gonna need extra body.
I can see a linebacker they don't even draft.
That's a guy that's depth but also special teams that makes this roster. I mean it's kind of like last year, like you had a pretty good idea with that when they signed TJ. Bass after the draft, Like, yeah, as he good as maybe a top three pick, top you know, first three round pick, probably not, but he had a good chance of making the roster because hey, look at what they need. You know, that's why he signed with the Cowboys because it was gonna be a great opportunity
to make the roster. I think linebacker you can fill out a little bit that way. The defensive tackle, particularly the big one technique, that's the one where I'm just like, I don't know where you're really finding somebody like this.
There's not many in the draft either, Yeah, a lot.
So you're going and obviously you can speak to that all day long. You're going into this season heavily relying upon rookies. Let's just call it what it is. Yeah, young guys in general, young guys in general, rookies, undraft second year guys, you're going into this season heavily relying upon it in a year in which you did not get a lot of productivity out of your draft.
Yeah.
So if you have this big breakout year two for Mazzie Smith, are you feeling a lot better?
I feel a lot better. But I mean, we have his work to look at, right, That's all we have. You know, we can hope all day long.
We can wish.
I had a lot of wish sandwiches growing up, you know, I wish my sandwiches were actually has some meat on it. But there no a lot of times it was just honey and bread, you knows.
And it's not only that I hate to be I hate to be the downer here on all this, but name the last player that really didn't give you anything year one and just super ascended the next year. Like now, there could be like a little bit in year one and then they take the next step in your two. But I'm talking like, you get almost nothing from and then year two you're just like, whoa where did this guy come from?
We're on the podcast, Let's do it.
I can't think.
I was at Broadcast boot camp.
There were offensive linemen there who played against the Dallas Cowboys last year. We had conversations on the on the bus, you know, lunchtime, and one of the offensive linemen that I was with was literally laughing at He was like, he didn't even know the name, but I knew he was talking about. He was talking about Mazi at the time. He was laughing about it. He's like, man, who was that little dude they brought in here? He's like, man, I was moving him all over the dog on field.
He was so light in the butt. This is coming from somebody who plays.
Early in the season or late in the season.
I'm curious because if you say earlier the season, that'll worry me more.
Yeah, there's no way he was light early in this later.
But he was like, but the way in which he was talking about it was like, why is he out here?
And that was disturbing to me.
Obviously when you're having good conversation, but obviously as a Cowboys.
Analyst, I'm like, Ooh, that's not good. That's not good.
So if that's who you're relying upon currently, obviously you're hoping that he puts on more way obviously you're coming. You're hoping that he comes in with a different mindset, has a lot greater impact. We can hope, hope all day long. But just going up, that's the reputation that he currently has around the NFL, and guys are confident going against them.
So I'm saying you're relying heavily upon him.
To make a one hundred and eighty degree change in size and effectiveness, as well as trying to fill voids with other guys who, as we know today, are unproven.
I'm seriously going through my head right now.
Don't know if you're looking it up, but like I'm going through my head right now the entire not that I wasn't listening. I was just no if I'm going through like all the draft picks and like I'm thinking all the Trayvon Diggs, Micah Parsons, Drawn Blands, all these guys showed you a flash in year one. They showed you something where you're just like, no, no, no, no, there's
there's probably there's a little bit more there. I'm not saying that you can't all of a sudden just be like especially defensive tackle is a position like that where hey, you might not see the best of the best of that player year one, year two. It takes them some time. So this is certainly a possibility here. I'm just going off of the Cowboys track record of drafting generally. The players that have contributed, you've you've known pretty early on,
oh yeah, there's something here. We saw flash heck, I thought last year a training camp and even before that preseason game, you saw some of that from de Marvion overshow, And that's what made me think, oh, no, no, no, this dude's a rookie, but I can see him being part of packages because we saw little flashes here or there.
I'm not saying he's gonna step in and be something.
There's something exactly, yeah, And that was what kind of disturbed me about the conversation that I had with some of these players that were at the same event. It was the fact that I didn't even hear the word fight or resilience or he got that dog or you know, it was not even associated with his effectiveness of play, but just like yeah, like I was able to move him, but like, yeah, that boy fights, Like there was there was none of.
That just lighten lightening the butt.
Right now, what I'm doing is going through this photo that they posted at that boot camp to try to figure out who Isaiah's talking about.
All right, well, let's take our first break, Chris. When we come back, we got to get into the NFL draft. So if you want to leave us a call or text, the phone line is up on the screen. Please do that.
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Welcome back into Dear Doctor, the show where I answer life's questions with an ice cold can of Doctor Pepper. Sheila, let's hear from my next caller.
Which their doctor my friend supported me during a tough time. But what's the right gift that says thanks for.
Being a souldier to cry out?
Okay, this one's easy, I say, give her a delicious Doctor Pepper. Nothing says thanks good better than one of a kind soda. Yes, any Doctor Pepper flavor will do. Now, just a reminder that I don't need to be a real doctor to know that Doctor Pepper is the one you deserve.
To Talking Cowboys.
Hello, Welcome back to Talking Cowboys, presented by Black Raffle Coffee, the official coffee of the Dallas Cowboys.
Our next segment is brought to you by Quaker.
Oats the uh A supercrested superfood Quaker Oats, the official oatmeal sponsor of Dallas Cowboys. I'm gonna turn over to the oat goat, Isaiah, standback.
Did you get your oats? Insight?
It not?
Unfortunately, by the time I got to the building, even though I got here substantially earlier than I normally do, because I was coming from an event they had a ready shut down the Oats.
You gotta be careful, saying oak goat.
All right, we got to get into the NFL Draft.
It's this week.
It's just let's get it.
What's wrong with that?
Man?
Come on?
All right?
I was looking at Twitter this week. A really good question. I'm sorry X this week refuse really good topic brought up by at John Machoda trade up or trade down? Oh yeah, he's good. Give him a follow on ask that do you expect the Cowboys to pick.
At twenty four or would you trade up or trade down?
So I said this on the Draft show yesterday. This is this is my feeling as of today, Tuesday, April twenty three to ten twenty five am this. This could change your quote right now, yeah, in the moment, as of now, I think I think if one of three guys are on the board at twenty four, I think they pick at twenty four. If either of those three are off the board, I think they trade back. This is just this is just my opinion. Troy Faltanu guard slash tackle out of mister standback Washington there.
Yeah, I don't think he'll be there either.
JC Latham tackles slash guard out of Alabama, third year guy, and then Graham Barton tackle guard center out of Duke. I personally have a little bit more pessimism than I think most when it comes to either of those three guys being on the board. I give it like a thirty percent chance that at least one of them will be on the board. That's kind of what I feel right now. If none of those three guys are on the board, I don't think they pick at twenty four.
I think they're para shooting back and getting on the phone with Baltimore at thirty or Casey at thirty two. You also got San Francisco at thirty one. Also, wouldn't be surprised if they trade out of the first round entirely. I mean, they need to pick up some extra capital that not having that fourth round pick not only does that hurt, but they don't pick until the end of the fifth So they're going from eighty seven on day two in round three to one seventy four on day
three in round five. That's eighty seven picks in between that you're just watching go by. There's a lot of really good talent there. For me, I feel like the Day three talent obviously it is at the top, but I feel like it's really top heavy. I feel like once you get into round six, round seven, you're starting to reach a little bit more than you would in past years.
In round six.
In round seven, they need to pick up an early Day three pick, and I think the best way to do that trade back six, seven, eight, nine, ten spots in the first round or go back into the second round and get that extra pick.
Would it hurt to get out of the first round for you just oh no, no, no, I'd I'd be completely okay with it, especially if you could pick up two picks along the way. Yeah, just kind of based on trade packages and things of the sort, you could get a third and a fifth, you know, if trading back into the trading out of the first round. But I mean even trading back to thirty two with Kansas City, you run the opportunity of getting a third and a fourth. So it's I think picking up those extra picks.
I think that would be huge, especially if you can sneak one into the top one hundred so that you can still get a top one hundred pick. And I feel like they could still get a quality offensive lineman there in the early thirties to mid thirties. Maybe not the guy that they could get a twenty four, obviously, but I think they could still get a guy in the early to mid thirties that can contribute immediately on the offensive line, or just go ahead and get the
number one linebacker in the class. So that would I think those are the options, and certainly everything that's being talked about up there, for sure, John, it was your question.
So yeah, so I think they're gonna do everything possible to trade back, but obviously you need a partner, and so that'll be the key thing.
So at the Athletic we do.
A couple different mock drafts throughout this time of the year, and we just did our final one yesterday, and so every writer picks for their team. And my whole goal was to get out of twenty four, just to see what else would be there if you move back.
And I tried.
So hard to get a trade back with so many different teams, and the only one I could get was with Kansas City, and all I got was their third for it, and I did it. And I will tell you this right now, if you get all the way back.
To thirty two.
Man, you're gonna get nervous about those offensive linemen. And here's the thing. If you go back thirty two plus a little bit more, and let's say you get out of the first round, then your first pick and your your draft could be like Junior Colson or Jonathan Brooks.
Like, are you fine with that?
Yeah, you would have to be.
I think if you're going back to the mid second round, I think the hope would be that Edrin Cooper or Peyton Wilson is one of those top two linebackers. I this kind of based on hearsay. I think there's a little bit more preference with Cooper just because there's not as many medical concerns. But I think you could still get back in those mid thirties and then you try to address offensive line later in day two, which you're
running that risk. But there's some good tackles there in the second round and third round that you can move
around with and you can be flexible with. But it sounds like Kansas City is probably the most likely partner because they need a receiver, and I think there could be a drop of a couple of receivers just based on other positions being valued a little bit higher here in the first round on Thursday night, And if there's names like Brian Thomas Junior and Xavier Worthy and ad A Ni Mitchell, Lad McConkie still available there at twenty four, then it would not surprise me if Buffalo or Kansas
City get on the phone with the Cowboys to try to go ahead and move up to twenty four take that receiver before the other one does it. Because both of those teams are receiver needy right now, you would have to assume both of them are taking one.
Not to give away too much because the mock draft comes out tomorrow morning.
But so I did that thinking the.
Same thing, and they didn't take a receiver.
Kingsley Sue Matteah and I was like yes, And I was like, Okay, this is not good.
This is not good. Like I'm already regretting this, like moving all the way back.
Yeah, because I'm fine with the trade back. But I got to get an offensive lineman out of it. That just me personally, because this team's drafted very well offensive lineman. They and honestly, when I say that, it could even be a guard, like it needs to be an offensive lineman. For me personally, I don't know if you guys feel differently, but I was saying that last year during the season that I felt strongly at their first round pick would be.
An offensive lineman.
And that's before you know they lost obviously Tyron Smith and Tyler be Ottish.
So uh yeah.
It's tough though, because you don't want to move back too far and then all of a sudden, you know you're kind of wiped out of this clump of players. And I think that's I bring that up because I think that's the way that they'll look at it too, is that there will have to be a group of players where they're like, all right, we got these five or six guys, we can move back five or six spots because we know we'll get.
One of these guys.
Whereas for me, I was just like, let me just move back because it's an exercise. I just want people to see what could potentially be there if you move all the way back to thirty two and it gets kind of thin, man, Yeah, it gets kind of thin back there.
Isaiah, stand trade forward, trade back? Stand Pat, what do you think stand back?
I think I'm on the mindset of Nick I think that they have a handful of guys that they would grab, but if they're not there as much as they will want to pick at twenty four, I think you have to look at your roster. Then you have to look at your salary cap, and you have to look in and say, how many players can we get for the least amount of money. That's really what this decision is
coming down to. Either we get a really good, really good impact player who's just sitting there that we really want, or dang it.
He's gone. They're gone.
We got to add value now because you know, I got twenty bucks and I got five kids defeet you know what I mean.
Like, that's the situation they're in.
They have a little bit of money, and they got to try to get as much as they can for that amount of money. So sometimes you got to go discount, double check, and you got to go find you some value with more picks. And even though that's not the most popular thing, that's the responsible thing. And I think that as hard as it is for the front office right now, for the Cowboys, I think they're doing the responsible thing just holistically as an organization, and it's not
fun for fans. And it's not cool, and it doesn't make headlines, and it doesn't add it doesn't equal up to the going all in and all that jazz stuff that everybody expected. But as they're doing the responsible thing by waiting guys out, making guys prove it, holding on to as much money as they can, trying to get their books back in order, they're not just continuingly swiping their credit card.
What's the move there on twenty dollars feet five kids? What would you do?
Listen here?
It's not none of our sponsorsa up.
Yeah, you've stressed that, all right.
I got another post from x year from at Nick Harris DC, A really good person to follow, who is one player, regardless of round, Gray, that you're most confident will be in a Cowboys uniform by the end of the week.
Yeah, there was an overwhelming consensus, and I honestly I was thinking about putting a little disclaimer out on the tweet before I sent it out. You can't say Jonathan Brooks, but I didn't, and everyone just said Jonathan Brooks. So Jonathan Brooks out of Texas a running back. I mean, every mock you look at has him pinned to the Cowboys at fifty six running back from Texas As I said,
he's from Howlettsville, originally down in central Texas. He's a top five rusher all time in Texas high school football history. Almost want to stay championship at AT and T Stadium back in twenty twenty, but went to the University of Texas, sat behind Roshawn Johnson and b John Robinson for two years and then got his opportunity to start last year. Man super productive almost six yards per carry, but he tours ACL late in the season against TCU. It was
late November. Had his ACL surgery performed by doctor Dan Cooper, who is the Cowboys team physician. So the Cowboys have more medical intel on him than arguably any other team. With that being said, it's probably kind of caught up by now because when he goes to the Combine, when he goes on these thirty visits, they can evaluate him to the very needle of where that surgery kind of was performed. So a lot of other teams have that same information, but the Cowboys they just kind of had
a leg up and doing the homework on him. They met with him at the Combine. I believe and know for sure. They brought him in for a thirty visit, so they have definitely done their homework on him. I think the only concern that you run there is will
he be there at fifty six. There has only been one draft in the modern draft era that has seen the first running back come off the board after pick fifty six, So you would have to assume that that would need to happen again this time around, because it's between Jonathan Brooks and Trey Benson out of Florida State. To my right, Johma showed us Florida State seminals. One of those two guys will most likely be the first running back off the board. And if it's Brooks, does
he get to fifty six? You know, there's there are other teams that have brought him in for thirty visits. The Panthers they pick at thirty three, and at thirty nine they brought him in for a thirty visit.
I believe the Packers as well. You could also look at.
The Eagles being a sneaky contender there for Jonathan Brooks's there's some there are some teams in front that you would kind of have to sweat out not picking Brooks but I think that's the safest pick right now. It was like going into the draft last year, Demarvin Overshown was It was kind of the one that everyone was looking around like, Okay, this one just feels right right, and he ended up happening.
There in the third round.
It feels a little bit of the same, But I don't think there was as many concerns with Overshown last year about him getting picked before whatever that pick was last year.
I think there's a little bit more with Brooks.
You hear something I.
Do, Sorry, okay or nuts just asking mainly for the fan here. Do you think picking up Royce Freeman changes your strategy at all at drafting a running back at two?
No, I don't believe.
So I think you still need to go get an RB one. Think like, think about the signing of Ronald Jones last year. Granted, take it a little bit more seriously because Ronald Jones had the cases had the issue at training camp last year where he was suspended for the first two games. I feel like he never was able to get a fair shot as a result of that, and he was dropped as soon as that two game suspension was up.
So I think I think.
Ronald Jones with a little bit more health and as of now a little bit better standing with the league. But I think it's just training camp competition and to bring a veteran in the room. I mean, that'll help whether there's a rookie in there or not.
Isaiah, I agree, I agree. It doesn't change my approach. It doesn't change my approach. You have to get a running back.
Do you need to because there's something that say you need to running backs in this draft? Do you need to know you need one running back? I think, I think, I agree, yeah.
But you need a But you need a starter, and that's what that's what causes you. That's what causes me concern because you need a starter at running back, but you need to start two starters at offensive line, and you need a starter at defensive line. I'm sorry, Yeah, that's four four positions, four starters, four starters.
You can draft a running back and find one and undrafted rookie free agency.
But if that's the if that's the happen, then.
But I'm saying, but you need starters, you need a you need a star running back, you need two star officeive lineman.
You can get away with one. Yeah, I'll get away argue one. So you can get away with one. At the very least, you need a star.
You need a big boy office a lineman, and you need a big dog on the defensive line. Oh and you need a big boy linebacker. You need a lot of big boys in terms of like people to come in and play now, not to supplement what you already have. You need them to come in and be the guy. And that's what concerns me about this year's draft. You need the guy at running back, the guy at office of line, the guy at defensive line, the guy at linebacker.
Yeah, it's realistic.
I think you need the guy at linebacker. You see the guy at linebacker.
Okay, you might I agree with you.
You might need the guy run back, defensive tackle.
I don't necessarily with linebacker, but yeah, I mean still, there's there's too many there's too many holes. You need a guy on the offensive line as well. So it's like, because as of now, as of today's stance, the offensive line would be left tackle Tyler Smith, left guard TJ. Bass, center brock Hoffman, right guard Zach Martin, right tackle Terrence Steele.
You need some competition in that interior.
Whether that's putting Tyler Smith back inside, or it's uh bringing in a guy like Graham Barton or Cedric Vampur and Granger out of Georgia to be able to have a little bit more competition in that interior. But I think one thing that could also, man, this would this would be a fun topic to talk about after the fact if the Cowboys take one of those receivers at twenty four that are slipping and I I would hate
that personally. I just think that's that's a that's a bad strategy because you could you could sell that pick for a little bit more than probably what it's worth and move back to that Kansas City spot and pick.
Up an extra pick. You take it back right now.
I'm telling you what my stance is.
I'm saying it would be an interesting thing to talk about after the fact if they do take a Brian Thomas junior, because yes, this is an instant playmaker, He's going to be able to, you know, sit right next to CD. But I could also be like, hey, CD, we got this other guy that can make plays too.
You know.
It's it's one of those senses. There would be a lot of conversations, be able to get the ball to him in time exactly.
That's the question. I'm not for it.
I'm not for it. Don't get me wrong.
They're still dude by the name of Cooks here there is, but.
He's only got one more year left on his deal. You know, you would have to think you have to start planning for the future outside of him. I think you need to draft a receiver on day three. But what if they're like, hey, this guy's here at twenty four, we have him, let's say fifteen on our board. Let's let's not win a dress it. Let's take the guy. And so they take the guy at twenty four, and then they don't they wait till day two to address Oh my goodness, I would I would be very upset.
Take a hard boys, we got to take all. We got to take our second break more from Talking Cowboys.
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To Talking Cowboys.
Welcome back to Talking Cowboys, per anybody Black Raffle Coffee. Our next segment is brought to you by in Visilne, the official smile of the Dallas Cowboys.
Let's see those pearly whites. Look at him, Look at him.
It's a pretty white shirt he's got today. What what's what the what's what the fancy dancy?
I am seeing an event earlier today.
Yeah, earlier today. It's ten forty.
Yeah, seven, nine o'clock. It was a it was a good breakfast.
You know what I did earlier today?
What's that?
I woke up at nine o'clock and drove over here.
Awesome. I was on the road at I coming from the event.
Yeah, I respect that.
I'll look all right now.
Yeah, yeah, I've been getting blown up over here during this show.
But speaker, my phone, my.
Mortgage people, Oh my god, they're calling again. Let's go. Let's go, Josh, all.
Right, let's go.
Let go.
Uh Dallas Cowboys dot com.
I know you have a uh Nick Harris's Top one hundred preview coming this week. Do you want to touch on that a little bit? Tease it for uh Dallas Cowboys dot com.
Yeah, be sure and check in with with Dallas Cowboys dot com this week if if you'll have the time and you're looking for some draft content. First off, our Draft guide, which Josh has right here. It's available for say ten bucks. You can order it now and it'll be on your doorstep by by draft night, you could be the smartest person in the room.
Baby.
Shout out to ky me and him put on a lot of legwork on that. On that thing, man, look.
Now, why there's no Washington player on a cover? Hate it man? They put an Organ guy right in the middle.
Whenever we were thinking about like who we should put on the cover, we were like, you know what we should not do. We should not put a wash that sounds we can piss off.
Washington guy is definitely going to going to get drafted before Organ guy.
Maybe two guys.
Yeah, yeah, that's that's valid.
But uh, anyway, as far as Dallas Cowboys dot Com, Uh, we'll be putting out a lot of draft content this week for me personally, putting out a top one hundred list as far as and position rankings leading up into the draft. Yeah, just kind of preview that as of right now, and I think this will probably stand. I have nineteen first round grades and uh, I'll be able
to touch on those a little bit. I think there might be a couple of surprises depending on who you ask as far as who's in the second round grades. A couple of guys that I'm higher on than others. Andrew Phillips Kentucky corner. I have him as of right now thirty four on my stack. I think he's a guy that's an early second round type talent. Haven't really heard a whole lot about him as far as going
in the second round. Another corner is Kyrie Jackson out of Oregon, a press guy who I think is big time and has crazy length that I think would work in a Mike Zimmer system, although I think he could be picked earlier than some imagine really good corner draft man. It was really tough to kind of stack these corners up because there are so many of all the positions. I had more corners in the top one hundred than
any other position. So if you're looking for day three value to go ahead and go grab a corner, I think there might be some guys there. If you're thinking from a Cowboys perspective, if you feel like they need to go get a corner on day three, then maybe that's maybe that's the Maybe that's the play there. Corner a wide receiver you have to draft one and you can only draft one. Which which one are you going?
Corner?
For sure?
Corner corner?
I just think that the depth there is it's underrated to have depth at corner, and I think wide receiver we've kind of made do with.
Or not having guilt round give me like a.
Fifth or after.
More so six to seventh, probably a corner, Probably a corner. Yeah, I think there's a case to be made for both because outside of Ceedee Lamb and Brandon Cooks this next year, you have a lot of unknown behind those two. Granted, yes, Jalen Tolbert stepped up and did what he was asked to do last year, and there's probably if he stays on the same line in trajectory, there's probably another step that he can take. And man, they are relying on him to be able to take that next step and
be the solidified wide receiver three. Is he ready for that type of role?
Though?
Then you also have Turp, who I've heard is ready to be lined up for a big offensive opportunity next season as well, even bigger than what he had last season. You also have Jalen Brooks, who was wide receiver five on the roster last year and still has an opportunity to step up and be that again this year.
Greatest camp out of anybody last year.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, he did have an awesome camp, Yeah he did.
Him and Hunter Luk.
Honestly, Lipy was awful, like the first three weeks of camp and then that Oakland or Vegas preseason game, he just exploded. But I think there is a case to be made for receiver. But yeah, you look at corner, you look at the depth there, you would have to assume you lose to Von Gilmore. He hasn't signed with anybody yet, but you would have to assume you lose him. If one of those three guys gets hurt, Digs Bland Lewis, then you're you're in a real pickle.
So yeah, I'm probably with you guys on corner.
And the depth is so good at corner, I think you can get a guy on day three that can be a reliable depth option, more reliable than Naseean Wright was all right, we're gonna have to.
I was gonna say real quick, the whole corner thing, like, there's gonna be a good corners available at twenty four. The one thing I will say about that is as great as it would be to put three stud corners all together, can you pay three stud corners?
You know what?
I'm saying, can you put that much money you already know you already got the money and Digs, you already know that you're gonna pay dround Bland, Like, can you really afford to have a first round pickt That's the only reason why I don't see that being up.
Yeah, it won't be a first round for sure. Yeah, I don't think it'll be early pick at all. I think it's more so you get a guy on Day three and hope he can just be a reliable depth option for you, because man, I think had they had reliable depth last season to be able to tell Stefunk Gilmore, hey, you can rest this game against the Packers.
We have a guy that we trust to be able to lock.
It down and be able to keep true to ourselves schematically, then I think there may have been a little bit a different result there. I'm not saying they win that game because there were so many problems with that game, but I think there would have been a little bit of a difference there.
I think a difference could have been made.
But you see how much that the lack of depth hurt at times last season, and even when Diggs was down, I mean there was a lot of concern early on, like, hey, can Bland step up and do this? You're just fortunate that you had a first team All Pro waiting behind, So yeah.
For sure, and if, especially if we don't bring Gilmour back, I think that would it would just make sense to have depth there. Overall, any other position groups you kind of are looking at, as far as the top one hundred goes.
I think offensive line if you're looking at if you're looking at the Cowboys to take a tackle, I think if they wait until round three, it might be too late.
And that's that's where it gets a little dicey.
You got Blake Fisher out of Notre Dame, Roger Rosengarden out of Washington, who I really love. I think he's awesome, and I think he could go anywhere from late first round to late third round. There's a huge range on how teams view him. But if either of those guys are available there at eighty seven, you haven't taken that tackle. I think either of those options could be solid, But
after that there is a huge drop off. So getting that offensive tackle on Day three, especially if you don't have a fourth round pick, my goodness, that would be extremely tough, and I think we could go into Day three comfortably saying, Okay, Tyler Smith is starting at left tackle this season, so that's one thing to keep an eye on. Also, you know, taking a guard early on, could that possibly, you know, be more realistic than we think. You know, that's something to kind of think about as well.
Do they view some of these tackles as guards. That'll be immediate questions that you know we would have when they take a lot of versatile guys in this draft. But yeah, there's gonna be a lot. There's gonna be a lot. Man, I'm really excited about it.
Now.
Final question for you guys.
I don't want to get into like the actual pick necessarily, but first pick Cowboys make in the NFL Draft, what position will it be?
Off the line?
Offensive line?
Line?
Just line, no center, guard, specific off of the line, offensive line, easy.
Boom, I'm gonna say left tackle.
Oh specific, Yeah, I'll I'll go I'll go safe pick here and just say offensive line too. Yeah, Because I mean those three guys that I mentioned earlier, you look at Troy FALTONO, JC Latham, Graham Barton, and my eyes, those are all interior guys. You could put jac Latham at left tackle. I think I think that you would have the most flexibility with him. And I'm curious with what you think about Troy Faltono. Do you think he could be a left tackle at the next level. I
think he's I like him inside as well. I think he has the mobility in athleticism to try him out at left tackle.
He is a dog.
But I think if you don't get any of those three guys and you're trading back, then you're probably looking at a Jordan Morgan out of Arizona, who I also like, is a guard.
You're also looking.
At potentially, Uh gosh, I'm trying to think a guy Tyler Guyton.
I mean, that would be a tackle option.
But I'm starting to think more and more that there might be a guard that is the first pick, and Tyler Smith is just a.
Little It's funny.
It's funny, you said, because if you go back three hundred and sixty five days, there was nobody talking about Matthew bergeron and you see that those video from that draft room come out. Now it came down to Berger
around and Mazzie Smith and how close it was. And I just thought of it when I was reading Dan Bruger's Draft Guy because he compared Jordan Morgan to Matthew bergeron and that immediately maybe like kind of like, yeah, we wouldn't have thought that last year, but they were really into that whole idea of of going after Berger around if they didn't if Mozzie Smith wasn't there.
So so they're taking bergeron this year?
Is that what you're saying, maybe maybe check the Athletic mock Draft.
I'm living in the chaos and I'm looking at linebacker. I'm looking at linebackers the first pick.
As a first pick.
I want to see it.
Yeah, that would be it would be interesting. They would have to trade back. There was the guy.
There that was worthy of twenty four. I think where worth?
All right? Boys, you guys, but no.
There's just not There's not like one of those linebackers that there are in some drafter you're like, oh yeah, you know, like like a ro Quand Smith type, you know, like that where you're like, well, this is obviously the best guy. That's a bunch of guys that like are kind of all in a group that people think will go early mid second round.
You know.
So I think if Peyton Wilson didn't have the medical concerns, he'd probably be that guy.
But the medical concerns push him to Day two comfortably.
Fair enough, our boys. That'll be it for the UH for Talking Cowboys. We'll be back next Tuesday, ten am after the NFL Draft, our first show after the Draft. Thank you guys for having us tuned into the draft show coming up next and all week long on Dallas Cowboys dot com.
UH.
Thank you for Nick Harris, John Machouda, Isaiah standback, Chris Beam in the back. I'm Josh Rodriguez. Thank you very much, see you.
This has been a production of Dallascowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.
Hey,