Talkin' Cowboys: Draft Paths

SWBC studios at the Star in Frisco. We're ready here over the next forty five minutes to run down everything you need to know about the Cowboys offseason right here from the world headquarters. Five of them things. Yeah, forty five minutes, we got it all done. Chris being in the back, we got Isaiah stand back, Patrick Nose Walker, I'm Kyle Yeoman's. How's everybody doing? Fantastic? Fantastic, old man. It's been a great week of sports, right it has.

It's been magnificent, awesome week of smoodness. Because you talk about not only did March Madden has come to a conclusion. We had both final fours, both of which were in Texas, one in Houston for the men the women were here in Dallas and it was awesome, unbelievable, super cool. I mean, you talk about Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese. There's controversy there, but honestly that's competitive. Oh yes, I just love watching them every ounce of that trash both directions. Yes, two

of the best players, your trash man since win. Since when is it a sin to talk trash talk your trash man? I don't know. This world is so sensitive now. I'm sorry if you don't ye say the word that you want to say. A WFT solved. It's so I mean, like, I don't know what neighborhoods people grew up in, so I can't speak to that of which they're they're culturally

inclined to um. But in my culture that I grew up in, and I'm not talking about raise some stuff on culture, okay, environment and the environment I was in right now. You talk smack and like I tell my daughter, I told her in the middle of the game another day, they were losing one zero and I saw nor your hands started to go down and the rest of her team. I said, hey, hey, I called her out in the the middle of the game. She turned looked at me, I said,

do you like the results? She was like, nah, Sai didn't change it. Change it. If you don't like the results, change it. If you don't want somebody talking smack, change the results. So they can't talk smack because guess what, people don't talk smack when they're losing. Yep, it's not not what happens, you're right, right, So like talking smack is a it's a pride thing, and yeah, they're sportsmanship and all the other jazz. You can talk smack and

still has shake hands and shake hands afterwards. But as long as we're competing between these lines, I ain't your friends. It's on, I'm not your friend. And if me talking smack gets in your head and brings your game down, and guess what, that's strategy, Kyle. That's the exact point of talking smack. That's why let's see Michael Jordan talks smack. Tyger Woods talks smack. Charles Barkley talked all of the smack, all of these great competitors, Tom Brady talks, Aaron Rodgers.

The list goes on and on, and it transcends genres. Go to formula one. How much trash talking GEPs? Oh yeah, oh yeah, Nascar. I mean it transcends all sports. Trash talking is a rite of passage. I tell my kids. I trash talk to my kids when we're when we're doing small things, trash talking here here, in here. Who makes it to the car first, when we're going to the grocery store. You're so slow? Pick it up? Pick it up. My thing is make sure you back it up.

If you can back it up, man talking, And both of those ladies could back it up about and even more so, be able to and this is the big thing. Be able to take what you dish out. That's the key thing. So Caitlyn much respect to her, arguably or maybe inarguably the best player in the country. Okay, she's talking to Smack. She was the one doing it. Yeah, you put it out. She was the one doing it. Put it out. You got to be able to take it. So kudos to her because with all of this, didn't

say yeah, Caitlyn didn't say a word. You know why because she's a competitor and that gets it, and she gets it. That's what comes with it. So if the competitors get it, what is every what the spectators know, we're in concil culture. That's where we're in now, twenty twenty two, twenty twenty three, bottom cancel culture. So play a sport and be good at it, and you understand why talking a matter of fact, be good at anything, and then you can't trash be good at business. Talk

your trash about being good at be the best. Nervous people who talk mess about spreadsheets. I'm telling you my spreadsheets better than her trash talk trash. Let's go, oh, my sales fun, let's go. This wasn't exactly the road I wanted to go down, but I'm glad I was down. I'm gonna. I'm gonna I'm gonna do my job here, and I'm gonna translate it back to the Cowboys. You said something what you said to your daughter. You said, if you don't like the outcome, change it, change it.

In fact, change it. That's what the Cowboys are trying to do. This offsets. They didn't like the outcome. The Cowboys Nation did not like the outcome of what happened against San Francisco. In the past, there's been a track record of not change again, of just floating along. It feels like that's different. It feels like that's come to a it's come to a head, and you're like, Okay, now now it's time to really over this exactly. Sounds like they are over it. They were ready to roll,

which opens the door for the NFL Draft. And part of the reason why I mentioned the great sports that are happening because there was basketball, there was baseball coming back. Opening Day was outstanding. The Rangers were killing it for at least against the Phillies. Thank you Rangers. Yeah there you go away. Yeah, all for you. They did it for you. And then you had like IndyCar, NASCAR trucks, whatever, you had, how much sports in Dallas? Stars clinching this

then Stars playoff, no doubt. But guess what, see, I was right behind it. It's draft behind It's draft season. Being a first round yeah whatever, I'm not scared of the krackings. Okay, we just won the last game we played against you guys, That's okay, Okay, yeah whatever, the we're not see there's the trash talk. But it's draft season. All of this is happening. But it's still NFL Draft season all the way across the board, and the Cowboys are welcoming in prospects all this week I mean, we're

in the middle of thirty thirty business. We have fifteen players across the way right now as we're speaking. I walked by Will mcclay's office on the way in here. He's got a player in there. Dan Quinn's over there, whole scouting departments up, they're all running around, they're all get walking around. It is an exciting time of years. So with that being said, we're gonna talk a lot

of draft in this episode. We're gonna talk to some of the needs where the Cowboys could go, how much much of they covered their basis to allow themselves an opportunity to go best player available. But we're gonna talk about that later on. First, let's start with some news. I can't wait for news and thothers because we've been waiting on this news to come from. We have, and it's not. The length of news and notes is not

as robust as it was past couple of weeks. Ursins because the Cowboys were knocking it out the park the last two or three weeks in the free agency. But as things start to dwindle down, they only had a couple of loose ends to try to tie up, one of which Jonathan Hankins. We talked about last Tuesday that the Cowboys were actively closing in on getting the deal done with Jonathan Hankins, and one day later they did. Jonathan Hankins is back with the Dallas Cowboys, resigned on

a one year deal. So the veteran, big body knows tackle that devours two and three guys at one time in the middle of that defensive line, he's back, and that's fantastic for the Cowboys. Not to be understated, cannot be overstated his importance on that line. So the Cowboys, they were so actively trying to get Carlos Watkins back, you can't keep them all. Carlos Watkins did have a deal on the table and he opted for a fresh start with the Arizona Cardinals on a one year deal,

So they did lose Carlos Watkins. Stings a bit if you understand the impact of Carlos Watkins in that it's also bigger than his stat line. But the exclamation point for me is Jonathan Hankins coming back on a one year deal, which not only provides the massurance at the nose tackle, it gives them a starter. I mean, they have their starter back. At the nose tackle position. Yeah, that's a starter. On defense, you added two starters via

trade with Cooks and Gilmore. Right now, if you had to play a game today, you have every position covered. You have every single position along the way. You got your wide receiver corps, you got the running back hopefully, I mean not today with Tony Pollard and the injury, but you at least have Ronald Jones. Who's somebody that

could happen. That's probably the one area, right we don't know about you, but yet we'll find out, and the goal is for him to come in and show himself at left guard and hopefully be that for the Cowboys. But until we know, we don't know. So as we have this conversation, we don't know. So that's still a gaping hole. And you've got your linebackers. The depth wise, I think behind the moan, Clark, you ken a ton of question marks. You got Laateen and you got the Moan,

and those are your solids behind them. Obviously, Anthony Barr remains a free agent. But you talk about Mollie Jefferson, you know DeVante bond Harp. I mean, these are practice squad guys, your bial Cox needs to step up and show his game, and he understands that. Now he will have a lot more time removed from that torn acl the Cowboys are going to expect him to be an impact player, but again that's still a question mark. The only two linebackers that you're confident in right now is

Lating Vander Esch and the Moan Clark. So at the top of your depth chart and linebacker, you're golden. You feel fantastic. Once you get to LB. Three and below, especially considering you lost Luke Gifford to the Tennessee Titans, you're not feeling great. So that is a position as well that needs to be addressed. Twenty eleven, thirteen, twenty fourteen. Then you go to twenty twenty two. Every one of those years the Cowboys took an offensive lineman in the

first round. Took an offensive lineman Tyler Smith. Last year you would double dip, much like you did in twenty thirteen, twenty fourteen, you took Travis Frederick and Zach Martin. That was a center that was a guard. Worked out pretty darn good, didn't it. So are you I'm asking you, guys, I know most of Cowboys Nation is okay with it? Are you okay with taking a guard at twenty six for the second straight year? Yes? Why is that because you need it? Well, first of all, the guards you

took last year, it's technically your left tackle. It's gonna be your tackle right, So if you look at it from that perspective alone, you're not taking a card technical back and back. You took your future left tackle and then you hopefully you're getting your future left guard and you need it absolutely, and you need it, so I know you guys have have kind of started diving in and looking at these prospects like tray songs. Yeah, which which there's two names there, and we've mentioned this a

couple of times. There's two names there. Steve A. Villa from TCU as one of the names, but probably the most likely name is Osirius Torrance out of Florida. Which one of those two guys do you like better? One of those Villa better? And and you know I'm a record as saying that a few weeks ago, while Torrance was already getting some interest from the Cowboys at the Combine. We confirmed that with him at the combine just and we talked about it here recently you could go either way.

Not be fine with that. Um. I think I'm fifty one forty nine toward a Villa though, But I will toss a third name in there, maybe not as a first round but someone to consider after the first round would be Mafi out of UCLA. UM. So that's an interior offensive linement that the Cowboys might be interested in, probably at this point, if he's not already in the building for the official thirty, might be before the draft runs. As as far as my knowledge goes, I do not

think he's ever thirty. Visit Mafia. We'll see, Yeah, we'll see. But a name to keep an eye on, but not for a first rounder. Something that sure after the first round, yea, But for first rounders, I'm fifty one forty nine a Villa. It's something about that that that kid, that TCU kid.

I just I love what he does. And this is also speaking from you know, a dogs fan of Uga Lum, and I know we did what we did to TCU, But I was looking at guys like a Villa to see how they would performing, to see what their morale would be, what their motor would be. Once the score began to kind of get out of hand and he just kept going, he kept motoring, he kept motorating. That's the kind of kid that you know you would want

on your offensive line. He mass, he gets the job done, he's not afraid to get his hands dirty, and he's difficult to move. So I'm here for that. That's Antonio Mafiata Ucla a little. I like that because if you don't, if you don't go with one of those two guards early Torrance or a Villa, you're probably pigeonholing yourself into either trying to move a guy from tackle again or you're taking a guy later. You're not gonna and the guys later are not that great. I'm just gonna say

it how it is. The interior offensive linemen in this class are not great. Do you have a problem or concern with a mister Osiris Torrence's size. I have a concern on the way that he played heavy. I don't have a concern if he can continue to trim down and to lean up, and he has been he played. His playing weight at Florida was listed at three forty six. Three forty six is a lot for him to carry on that frame because he's a big dude. Yeah, but like not didn't move as well as Nate did. Let's

say it that way. He's down to three thirty as late as the combine. So the last time he was measured in officially he was three thirty. So he's already dropped sixteen pounds, which is a significant difference. You can see it in his frame. If he can continue to lean up, I don't have a problem with it. What do you want to see him at the guard position? Wait? Wise six five, now low three twenties school and I'm I'm all in. Give me Osyrus Towns twenty six and

let's ride this puppy. Because he's a great run blocker. It's whenever he gets in the press set pass sets that he's kind of he labors. He's got heavy feet. You usually want to see quick feet, heavy hands. He's got quick hands, heavy feet, So it's backwards. You don't want it that way. I want to see him trim down a little bit. Maybe that'll help with the feet. His power is there, he's got heavy hands, he's got that that power. I think there's a way that he

gets better, and it's shift by leaning up. So yeah, from conversations with Nate and other former officive alignment. It's easier to teach run blocking, yeah, than it is to teach pass blocking. So if you have the ability to pass set and have good feet and you're a big boy, it's a lot easier for your brand new office and line coach to teach you how to go ahead and be a big, nasty and get down here and move some guys out the way when it comes to the

running game. So, if you had the choice, looking at it from that perspective, I much rather have somebody who's fully confident in their pass blocking abilities than in their in their run blocking having to teach them how to protect number four. Yeah, Torrence and Tyler Smith have a couple similarities. I mean, Torrence is a bigger human than Tyler Smith was, and he doesn't move as well as Tyler Smith does, which kind of shows that he's going to be a guard in the side. He's not gonna

play outside. He's not gonna play exactly. Put him in a in a phone booth on on him right. But strength, they have double plus strength plus plus strength, whereas movement wise, that's where there's a bit of a concern. So having both of those guys is your future left side of your offensive line. Does that concern you at all? Because

they're very similar in the way that they play. Does that mean that you have just a full fledged weakness on that side of the offensive line for your future moving into the next couple I wouldn't view it like this simply because I'm I'm super confident in the athleticism of Tyler and I feel like what we saw from Tyler Smith in year one, as far as from an athletic standpoint, that wasn't it like, there's there's more room

to grow there and that should terrify right bud. Wait, there's more, but that should terrify some opposing edge rushers seeing this. You know, this young man going into year two already having displayed the athleticism that he displayed in year one, being able to flex in from guard to left tackle and do whatever they need. And then at left tackle, yes, he had some you know, some penalty issues with his hands getting a little grabby, but once he saw that penalty issue, I'm not worried at all

about Tyler Smith Smith's athleticism. I think that that would help keep Torrance out of trouble. So I think those two players would be great together. I'm still fifty one forty nine on the Villa because of that particular thank you for talking about athleticism. I think the Villa is more athletic than Torrance. Yeah, I think he can move his mass better, quicker, and he has more control of it at the point of a tech than Torrence. Now, does that mean that he's light years beyond I wouldn't

say that. I think the fifty one forty nine for me goes to the athleticism. But also because as we're talking about, Torrance has too much mass right now, so you don't want him to get too lean because you want him in the phone booth. But at the same time you don't want him lumbering either, you know. And as I'm looking at these guys, Torrance, when you think about it in context, is actually smaller than a vila. Currently, he's more stretched out versus a villa fives true store,

so he's more a compact. He's more of a fire hydrant than even Torrance's. No, you're right, and if you were to slim down with Torrance, it would even be a little bit more so spread out. So yeah, and I would agree with it moves better. I would agree with you. I have easier to get underneath Torrance based off a hype correct just same thing. So you're talking about leverage then absolutely, Yeah. Yeah, you're talking about stuff in three thirty into a six three frame instead of

a six five frame. Yeah, it's a major difference. The way the scouting report that I have on a villa I said, athletic and versatile up front. Plays with a strong base and does not get out muscled by anybody, moves well for somebody his size, and has good balance on the move. Footwork is clean, and he can seal a block well whenever he's run blocking. Not polished with his hand technique, so I'm not I wasn't impressed with his hands whenever I was watching. I watched Georgia. I'm

just gonna let you say, go dogs go dogs. There you go, Kansas, Michigan, Oklahoma. Yeah, I appreciate it, but yeah, Kansas, Michigan, Oklahoma. So I watched him against a couple different fronts, and the strength is there, but his punch is often off balance and inaccurate. Whenever he's having to reset his hands, he has trouble. So there was times when he gets wiped away and think he has trouble resetting grabbing again. Are you more confident in getting out on the itche

getting out on running wise death? Oh that's tough, because I think Torrance is a hell of a run blocker and pulling pulling it, it would probably be a Vela. There you go. I so I grade on a seven point scale. That's what I've done, and it's different for each point is what I kind of feel like they fit into from a rookie standpoint and then a developmental standpoint. I have Torrance as a second round grade, which is a five point nine. I have a Vila as a

second round grade. I haven't as a five point eight. So it is right if either one of those guys is a first round pick. I'm okay, okay, because especially at twenty six we talked about it before, you have a second eighty eighty to twenty first round grades on your board, and depending on what they think across the way, they may think of Vela as the first round they may think Torrance is a first round grade. I'm okay with both of those guys. Are they my favorite player

across the board? Probably not. There's probably going to be a first round player there. So that's when I think the conversation would happen. But we'll continue to have the Avila and Warrens battle. Yeah, maybe don't. Let's talk about that. Let's talk about talking about we've hit the first round. Let's talk about some later round picks. It's some picks that might surprise you, some under the radar possibilities for this Cowboys team when we come back right after this

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to Talking Cowboys. Back here on Talking Cowboys. You can get ready to welcome in a new draft class with the twenty twenty three New Era of draft hats that are available now. Grab yours at the nearest pro shop or log onto Dallas Cowboys dot com a fanatics experience. Before we get into the second segment and we move on from the first round possibilities for the Cowboys, I want to hit the stat that this is according to

Pro Football Focus. I was talking about the past set ability of those Sirens Torrents, and I gave it a bit of a knock because sometimes he does labor with the feat but through three thousand total snaps, he didn't allow a single or excuse me, I'm gonna take it back. That was through his career. His career was three thousand snaps through his fifteen hundred pass blocking snaps. He had zero career sacks allout. Now from it's from a guards position,

so it's different. Remember guard guard sacks and tackle sacks are completely different. There's important, but it is important to note that when he is in the game. There were zero sacks allowed by him in fifteen hundred pass blocking sets throughout his Florida career. So that's that's what torrents. So even though we're knocking his pass blocking, there's still a pretty darn good in the most mentalit guys in

NFC East and the defensive line come from the interior. Yes, they do, at least that's what we've been taught by Zach Martin. Thank you very much, Jack Martin. All right, let's talk about some of these second or third round guys. Day two. We're gonna hit day two here. Any position. Let's say they do go offensive line in the first what is the potential of what you could see in the second round? Linebacker? Okay, okay, fair. I wouldn't be

mad at it. I would be very happy because what you know what, the Dallas Cowboys have positioned themselves very well for the draft, and you gotta tell me about it. In recent years, the Dallas Cowboys have went into the draft with gate being holes at multiple positions, Okay, that they need to address through the draft, and there are a couple of times that they covered their basis, but

you're right, starter wise, you didn't have them. Now they have been able to retain, as we just mentioned at the top of the top of the hour, they were able to retain majority of their starting roles. So now, aside from the one officive line position that you can address most likely at twenty six, now you're just playing with house money. Okay, you definitely need to address the linebacker position because of depth, right, but you guess what, you have picks so that you can do that, right,

and you're not worried about it. You're not worried about getting your guy or a quality player with your second round picks. You have options. Okay, they're not stealing linebackers like that in this draft. Okay, So you address your office a line and now guess what. Now, let's go ahead and grab ourselves a linebacker and then we could just just see wherever else we want the next best player. Hunting trade, you're just hunting at that point, right, I'm

just shooting whatever flies across my table. Okay, that looks good, but you don't have a need beyond that point. Okay, you have likes, you have once needs, some totally different teams that need have needs going into draft. Multiple needs. Are in a bad position when it comes to the draft, I believe, because now they're just watching your guys get picked off, and then you get desperated, you get desperate. I feel like you could get and you're not wrong.

And that preface this by saying, I would be completely fine if it was linebacker in the second round. I wouldn't bat an eye. I'd applaud because we just talked about the depth issue behind behind him on Clark and late Vanderium. But I would also be pleased if it were a tight end being selected in the second round.

And here's why. And for those that are saying what's weird to me is um, you know in Twitter, in the Twitter's verse, they're saying, well, we don't have a need at tight end, Well, yeah you do, Yes you do. And they're saying, well, even without don't shows we don't have any Well yeah you do. Because not entirely dissimilar from the linebacker situation, you got two guys that you're all in on. You're all in on, Jake Ferguson, you're all in on pay hinder shot. What you got behind that?

And when in front of it or in front of it? And when I posed that question, it's crickets and tumbleweed, right, So therein lies your issue. So for me, I look at a guy and you could call it bias whatever it gets. Maybe if Darnielle Washington is still there in the second round, which is possible because I don't think that there's going to be this mad run on tight ends in the first round, and there's a lot of capable tight ends. This'll probably be three or four tight ends, right.

This tight end depth looks really good. It looks pretty good at the top of that prospect pool. So it's possible that when you're going to clock in the second round that a guy like Darniel Washington will still be there. And if he is, I love his fit. And I'm not saying that from the aspect of a Georgia fan outside of knowing what his film looks like, because I watched him play every single snap in Athens. I'm saying that from a pure fit standpoint. Jake Ferguson is your

due at all guy. Okay. He's the guy that's going to come in and hopefully be equal or better than Dalton shows painting, paying hinder shots shot, Payton hinder shot. He's your playmaker, he's your blake jar when he's your you know, stretched the defense down the field, he's your yat guy. Okay. But do you have a Maller as a blocker? No, you do not. Neither one of those two players I've mentioned strike fear in anyone's heart when it comes to lining up in the run game and

bursting through the chess plate of an opposing guy. That's a Darnielle Washington who is huge. He's a specimen, but also he's a specimen who's a Maller as a blocker. And the Cowboys, we all know the Cowboys. They want to run this football, okay, But he can also occasionally make the big play down the field if he improves upon that ability and adds that to what he already has as a run block of what he already has as a physical specimen, my goodness, if you combine him

with Ferguson and Henry I, I'm with you. I will retract my previous statement, Oh, if Darnielle Washington is available, there's no way Double Jay passes out there. You go, he seems like a Jerry guy, Jerry guy, he's not. He's not passing on a physical specimen. You know, Jerry's got dot Hey, Will'll make the call. I tell you, will make the call. Look look at that dude, right he's six seven, two hundred and seventy pounds. Guy, Dog, you put him right at the end of that line

of screamers, right there next to Tyrant Smith. And I'll tell you what. He can go out there and grab a ball. You're gonna make plays for us. Dog, make the call and salt the mcgriddle. He's a weapon in the red zone, he's a weapon in the in the run game. He's bigger than anybody that's gonna guard him. Now, he's six seven, two seven pounds. Anybody is gonna be all here the one and you can't. You're not tipping

your hand when he's in the game. Because if you think, if you're a defensive quoted, if you think, oh, will Darnel's in the game, this is going to be a run play, Okay, Well, then it becomes a release and he's up the field and now it's him versus a safety or dB not even fair high point that ball in this a reception one. The one thing that I think and then I think he does fit here because, like you said, Hendershot, your receiver, Jake Ferguson's you're all

around guy. Darnel Washington's gonna be your maller, He's gonna be your bulldozer because Jake Ferguson's your best blocker on the roster right now. Don't even give me Sean McKowen. That's not a Sean mckewin is not a good blocker. If Peyton Hendershot can possibly get it done when need be. And Darnel Washington, even though he's better as a blocker than he is as a receiver, he can be a

receiver and he can be that change up. The one thing I had against Darnell Washington with him at Georgia was a lot of the times with Georgia they were putting games away early. He was more so a changeup than he was a game plan. He wasn't. He wasn't the game plan of what the Dogs did. The Dogs were so good all the way the game plan was.

Everybody else the game plan was was Okay, let's get it to our playmakers, and then you know what, when we need to change things up, here's Darnell Washington, and oh my goodness, he was able to play exceptionally whenever he got the ball in his hands because he was not the game plan. Teams were trying to load out to stop other things. I like the way he plays the game downhill. I like the way he's he's a he moves and shines as a blocker, but he also shines as a receiver. The one thing I have is

that he wasn't a featured piece in this offense. The way that Dak Prescott plays the game. He likes to feature tight ends. You've seen it with Dalton Schultz. You've seen it with Blake jar When. You've seen it with Jason Witten at times, even in the early years, they like to feature tight ends. Can he be a featured guy? That's my one concern. I think he can, but I just want to have seen it. I have seen it. Like we mentioned earlier, you don't know until you know correct.

That's fair, and I guess I will counter that with and it's not a it's not a full counter as much as it is an asterisk on what you're saying, because you're not wrong. But you know that Jake Ferguson is, as we have this conversation, the feature, So he's one ay. Hendershot is one B as the feature. So you'll you'll get feature plays from Darnell and it won't be entirely dissimilar from when he had to share the spotlight with Brock, who is, to me, the best tight end in the country.

So when you have to share that spotlight and on that stage, and now you're coming into another big stage having to share the spotlight, My point is he's not unfamiliar with that scenario and that when he's not often going to be game planned four on a weekly basis by the Cowboys, but he knows to stay ready when it's time for his number to be called. As far as making the play down the field. He doesn't tune

out mentally. He doesn't get down on himself mentally that well, you know what, well I was I was the man at Georgia. You mean I'm gonna have to play second or third? No, He's that doesn't worry me at all right, he's used to be in complimentary. He's going to mall, mall, mall, and then when he gets his number call, he's like ready to go, and then mall, mall, mall ready to go. So he's he's acclimated to that. So would Ferguson be

your number one? Darnel Washington's your number two tight end? Would? I would argue you? So I would argue you. My counterpoint to that is, are you going to spend a second round pick on a number two tight end when HiT's Darnall Washington? Like, like, that's where I have pops, because I want to number one tight end. I want somebody that's gonna be better than Jake Ferguson. And I'm not knocking Jake Ferguson. He was a fourth round pick

last year for a reason. They had three other names in the fourth round that they liked better than Jake Ferguson last year. And I know that for a fact. The thing, the fact of the matter is Ferguson had a great rookie season. But is he ready to take over right now? Is tight end number one one? We haven't seen it yet. I think he could, But there's guys that are out here right now, in this class,

that are better. Here's what I would say, what if it's a situation where, because again we can only talk about what we know at the moment as we have this conversation, even if Darnelle Washington is the pick in the second round, you're not going to say immediately that he's going to beat out Jake Ferguson because you saw what Jake Ferguson was able to do less season, right, He's a key reason Dolton Shows is not here anymore. Okay, So both of those guys Ferguson and so at the moment,

Jake Ferguson has the throne. I think we could agree that Darniell could challenge for the throne. He could as early as this training camp. But here's where it would either go in Darnielle's favor as TE one or Jake's favor as TE one. Who's the better pass catcher And at the moment, the better and more refined pass catcher is Jake Ferguson. So but I say that to say, who knows if that remains the case over the course of twenty twenty three or in year two in twenty

twenty four. Maybe Darnell takes those strips which were expected, especially under the tutelage of a guy like Lunda Welles, you're gonna do, You're gonna take trust trust him and I trust that Stade. What if I told you that you could spend a second round pick on Donille Washington, get that physical freak of a man who's a mawler in the run game, who can get you the downfield

plays when called upon, will never mentally check out. He might be t E two in twenty twenty three, but the potential of being tied in one or at least constantly battling with Jake for that for the next three years. I sign up for that. Yeah, that sounds I'd sign up for that. So what do you think you threw the alley to me? Because you know my guy, Linda Wales,

he's he's my dude. Yeah, and he is probably the most undervalued coach on this roster, outwardly saying I guess in the general public, I think he's starting to finally get the credibility and he very well should. Yeah, because every tidy and you throw in that room and gets developed. He's been They've been great yeh, drafted or undrafted, they get developed, didn't they play? Okay? So yeah, so they need to go ahead and put some put some respect

on his name. Continue to do so. If you were to do ahead and take mister Washington, I know we're talking about you know, t E one. This is if he's available at fifty, I don't see put enough prospect. I don't seeing I put that on the table. I don't see him being available at whops. Okay, but I don't see a physical specimen. You're not wrong, but it's the draft. Um. One thing about sports. You can't teach speed, but you can teach technique. Okay, you can't teach a maller,

but you could teach somebody how to catch. So if we're looking at options, I can't teach six six seven, two hundred and seventy two hundred and sixty five pounds. I can't teach that. No, you're either that or you're not. I can't teach that size coupled with a dog mentality to block. Can't teach that, and the athletics I can't give you want to right, So you got the physicality, the other physical size, you got the stature, and you got the mentality. Can't teach that. You know what I

can't teach. I could take your butt out here on these drugs all day long, ye and show you got to catch off those hands, soften them hands to do for a long time. Every every time he was here, in the early parts of his career and even later we saw it out there, even the last couple of years. He was the last one on the jugs absolutely every day.

So when you was the last one out, So when you're looking at the type of guys that you're going to be asking them to block, I would much rather have a man of that stature and that mentality to be able to handle that in the running game and then be able to call whatever past game I want to off of it. Yeah. Look look at the NFC's

defensive lines. In defensive that's what I'm talking about. Oh yeah, absolutely, Man, if Darnell is there, you get Darnell and you send him out to George Kittle University to get those hands softened up a little bit, and he can be a problem.

I just I get excited thinking about the probability or the possibility of teaming him with a playmaker like Hinder Shot with an all around guy who can do it like Jake Ferguson and throwing those three that they're making a three headed hydra, throwing them all on the field and training camp over the next two to three years and saying who wants it more, get after it. Because if you know anything and what we've learned about both Jake and pay and those are those are hyper competitive guys.

They're best sees and everything, but they're they're doing it the right way, but they're hyper competitive against each other. And Darnell is as well. So when you throw that in, the question is, well, will Darnell be your te one? But he can be, but so can Jake, but in a couple of years maybe so competent. And they're just throw them out there and let him fight for it. And while they're fighting for it, guess what you're getting from as Dak Prescott three security blankets, you're also getting

a fantastic run blocker in Darnell Washington. And if you're the opposing defensive coordinator, if any two or three of those players are on the field, who's the ball going to. And we're not even talking about just yet, the Brandon Cooks and the Ceedee Lamb and Michael Gallup possibly having a resurgent year, and then Tony Pollit back healthy and everything just from a tight end standpoint two tight end set. Are you sure that just because Darnell's on the field

that it's a run play? No, you're not. Nope. I love it. Yeah, No, it provides the ultimate change up if he ends up there at fifty eight. Do you think that he's there? No? Do you think he's there, think he's the top four? No? I don't. I don't think he's there. But again, stranger things have happened. He's a great player, and teams might be scared of this. I'm trying to play Devil's advocate here here, because teams might be scared of every team can use a tight end.

They may also be infatuated with him and they may just snatch everything. But I would also say, as much as we are praising Darnielle Washington and rightfully so, I don't think any of us has him ranked as the number one guy in the type. So there's a lot of other options, right, So we're sitting him, We're saying this, and we know that other teams understand Darnell's Washington value

and potential in ceiling as well. But those other teams also know that Darnielle Washington is not the best best in the class, which means first those bests have to come off the board, and I think that's when the Cowboys might have a shot. Might be a long shot, but I don't think as as long as you think.

He's my tight end number five, and I have four guys in front of him, two first round grades in Dalton Kincaide from Utah, Michael Mayer from Notre Dame, and then I have three second round grades Luke Musgrave right at the top of the second round from Oregon State, and then one player in between who I'll tell you in a second, and then Darnell Washington, one player in between. It's possible, It is possible. Actually I have right now, and this is going to change between now and draft weekend.

I have him as fifty five on my board total, so he's a top fifty five player, and we pick at fifty eight, it's possible move up and get him. He's probably gonna move up, period. I think if he's there, If he's there at fifty, if you can get on the phone, get on the phone if he's there fifty. The guy that's in between and is another guy that's a maller. And I think because of the traits of Darnell Washington, he actually has a better chance at falling

to you. Sam Laporta from Iowa. I like Sam Laporta. He's a downhill bulldozer too. Probably not. He's not the physical specimen. Nobody is but Darnell Washington exactly. But he's from Iowa. Yeah, they turn them out. All right, let's take our second break. When we come back, we're gonna quickly hit some Day three potentials coming back right after this. On Talking Cowboys, Todd thought it would be secure to jog in the cheetah Savannah. Todd believed the big Cat

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up with the official coffee of the Dallas Cowboys. That's Black Riflecoffee dot Com. To fuel up today? This sweet? Did you get to work on time? Yeah? But I just realized it's Sunday. Little sweets his head on home. Doctor Pepper is on its way, So maybe there's nothing better. I bet you've probably done something you investionistic and NFT and I don't even know what that is. It's a nonfunchable token something doctor I want to use? What the pros us? How about the official men's skincare brand of

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Cowboys for one night only. Music legends Billy Joel and Stephen Nicks will perform at AT and T Stadium on Saturday, April eighth, twenty twenty three. Tickets are on sale right now at seek dot com, the official ticketing provider of AT and T Stadium. You guys know what else is on sale right now? What's that? How about the Dallas Cowboys official star magazine Draft Guy, And look at this cover.

This is phenomenal. So you've got be Jean Robinson, You've got Quentin Johnston from TCU, you have Christian Gonzalez from Oregon, Jackson Smith and Jigba Ohio State and Tyree Wilson. Really don't like seeing the organ stuff, but you know what, I'm sorry, I'm okay with him. We had a Washington player in the past. I'm okay with him because my daughter ran trek with his with his sister last year. They were on the same relay team and his other

two sisters train out of my facility. Yeah, they're their local Dallas people. He's from the Colony, played at the Colony High School, which for those of you who don't know the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex, it's about ten minutes from where we are right now here at the Star, so right down the street. Probably not going to be there for the Cowboys the twenties six, but we like many lay. Yeah, he's probably gone way way way before that. Here's here's kind of the reason why all these guys

are on the front. They have Texas connections. So we have this Texas connection article, really nicely done by Jeff Sullivan. Then things get real special. How about no guarantee? This is by Patrick Walker, special edition of the Science Lab. Get it what science Baby rules. We have a we have a first round draft, mock draft, and then we have scouting reports for every position. How about that? And I put together these rankings and these scout reports. Some

might I put a cougar in that book. Uh yeah, there's a lot of there's a coolger in that car. Yeah, a lot of them throughout. So yes, science. Uh yeah, so we've got a bunch of cool stuff. You can get this online. There is a digital copy available as well for those of you who don't want the clasical magazine. Dallas Cowboys dot com. Right, you got to say it in the honorable boys, do it now now. I have tweeted out a couple of links too, So if you want to go on my Twitter, it's there for Cowboys.

Twitter has posted item really really cool magazine. Are you paying for your check? Mark? Uh? No, no, I'm good. I'm good. No, I'm not paying for it. If that gives you an idea, take it and get it over with, yep, nope, I've but uh yeah, so there you go. So that's your draft magazine that you have to go and enjoy, have some fun. Are you paying for your check? Pay for my chickbark? I will draw a chickbark gut here. Yeah, there you go. Yeah, go get you a copy. It's

really cool. I recommend having the physical copy outside of the nostalgic like. I have them all stacked up on my desk. All you will be the smartest one at the draft party, no doubt, no doubt. This is my fourth year contributing to the Draft magazine, third year doing all of the bios. I'm pretty proud of what's in here. This is really good. Should be pro dude. This magnificent

good stuff, all right. And for those that are behind the scenes and who have who has seen Kyle putting this work in then you know exactly what it took for him to be able to get you guys this product. So get it. You'd learn and like as I say, it'd be the smartest person to room when the draft rolls and we put some we put some secrets in here too, just so you know. You got to figure out what those secrets are. But they're in hearing a

little hunt a little bit, all right. Let's say the Cowboys have offensive line, tight end and linebacker out of the way in the first three rounds. They hit their needs hard, bam boom, out of the way. Man, where you're going next in the day three? Real quick before we wrap things up, Okay, D line into D line, interior D line. Okay, put somebody back behind baby Hankins. Okay, So you want to nose tack. I want to nose tack. You don't want a three technique? Now I want one.

I want to one, A zero. I wanna true now I want to, I want to. I want to Gilbert Brown, want to? I want to Gilbert Brown, big Sam Adams very nice because when Hankins goes out, I don't want teams to feel like they have an advantage. I'm with that. Keep them fresh too, and and keeping my ladies and gentlemen. When we talk about day two, day three, they're more than one. It's more than one. Pick one day three.

So if you get that idea, that's great. But if we're talking about somebody that I really want, or a position I really want, where's my developmental quarterback? Right? Let me get my developmental quarterback. And I'm looking at someone like a Clayton Tune in the sixth something like that. Um, I don't know if he's gonna last to the second. I don't know either, but if he's available, and you know, as a flyer, I take him as early. What did happen? Yes? Uh, I have Oh man, I love talking to him. I'm

a lot higher on tune than most people. I like tune a lot as a developmental guy. I have him as a top one fifty player. I have him as a fourth round high. I'm I have him early fourth Okay, I'm I'm yeah, I'm strong going to him. Yeah, I'm already that high to him, though I'd be willing to go as early as a fifth on him, but I'm circling sixth as far as he would So there's preferably there's there's like three tiers of quarterbacks, for quarterback and fourth.

I know what you're thinking, No, don't you do it, now, don't you do it. There's three tiers of quarterbacks. There's the first round guys that are C. J. Stroud, Rice Young, Will Levis, Anthony Richardson. Then I've got a second tier of guys that's Hendon Hooker. Uh. Actually, it's just Hendon Hooker in the second tier. And then the third tier of guys is a jumbled mess of Jake Hayner from Fresno State, Clayton Tune from Houston, Tanner McKee from Stanford.

A lot of teams are really high on Tanner McKee. Some people even had him mocked in the first round. A lot of people like him. I had him, I had him pretty high, but not that high. And then Max Duggan from TCU is in that third tier as well, So lots to look forward to with with some developmental quarterbacks. I think there are some good ones in there there,

most certainly, so yeah, give me my developmental quarterback. You got Cooper Rush back, and you know, kudos to that because it also helps avoid a glaring need, right and then you got Will Grill, who a battle with Cooper Rush But you know Cooper Rush he's he's not getting any younger, and you want to see another step forward from Will Grill or you know that developmental quarterback might end up taking that spot. So Will Grid's going to have to fight for his spot as well, and he

understands this, So yeah, developmental quarterback. Jerry Jones says he wants to do it, so I would not expect that Day three would expire without it being done. So I hear you talking, mister Jones, show me, show it there you go. If you don't like the result, what do you say if you don't really like the result, than what change change your baby? Time to changeing with the

NFL Draft. We'll have more draft talk as we continue along and we'll continue to get better at outlining what the Cowboys want, will probably know a lot more of the names from the thirty visit by the time we get around next week as well, so that doesn't for us here on Talking Cowboys. Gotta wait another week. Next Tuesday, ten am Central Time, we'll get right back at it for Chris being Friday stand back for Patrick nose Walker. I'm Kyle Yoman saying so long here from the Star

in Frisco and Talking Cowboys. We'll see you next week. This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.