Talkin' Cowboys: How Many Wins?

back our residence super Bowl champions. We bring you the recent storylines and talk through this Dallas Cowboys offseason. Heck, you got a big smile on your face. You have a good Mother's Day weekend? Why are you laughing? I don't even know that now? Is that it's gonna be a laugh? Is that what you're going with here? Coyle Man, listen. I wasn't ready for the before and after a picture of a child star, but that's what you look like

right now, a child star. You look like McCulloch Culkin after the Fame, post post home, Malone mccullar, Oh God, Kyle, Kyle I'm good with it, man, I okay, I'm like, it's it's been like eight weeks of quarantine. I've got like a mullet working back here like it's business and and it's like you just can't. I gotta do something myself.

So hey, Kyle, Kyle, I'm actually disappointment. I thought you's gonna come to the dark side with drizz man, but you know, I like to I don't know if I could even I don't think it was long enough first off, to even try that, And second off, I probably would have gotten maybe one of those sit down talks from either my bosses or my family saying you gotta look at your life here. Yeah, you gotta have the intervention.

So yeah, that's fair. Now, Isaiah, you called me Forrest Gump off the air, and I don't know if it's Justin Bieber or Forrest Gump better. I don't know. It looked like you was ready to run somewhere, So I don't know. I'm just going on what I see, you know, I'm he just happens to be actually right, yeah, exact more aerodynamic. Tell everybody that's what it is. That's what I'm doing. I'm trying to get it all slim down so that tomorrow's half marathon for Ceedee Lamb is much

more enjoyable. I guess if a half mile I can be enjoyable. Now tell him why you are doing the half mile? You don't just know, don't just yeah, it's glaze over that bro you lost. So basically, yeah, that's pretty much what it was. It was a tweet for those of you who haven't seen it on Twitter, well before the draft. About a month before the draft, I tweeted or somebody asked me a question and was asking if it's possible that Ceedee Lamb falls with the Cowboys.

I love Ceedee Lamb, and the fact that he even fell down that far was so far fetched to me that I said, if he does fall to seventeen and the Cowboys select him, I'll run to the Star and back from my apartment in a little elm. Well that's what I'm doing tomorrow, which just so happens to be about thirteen point four miles. So I'm getting started right around ten o'clock and I'm gonna head head down. It's actually downhill there, but it's uphill back, which is probably

the worst case scenario. So it'll be interesting. I'm not a runner, so that's what makes this thing tough for all thee runners out there. I respect you more than ever now that I'm having to try and do this and not hurt myself is pretty much the biggest thing. I'm gona do like I do my wife Beuh every year she runs in the New York City Marathon. I'm gonna take I'm gonna take mental rips with you the entire time. Nice. I like that, the quality mental reps,

and I thank you. And David Hellman said the same thing yesterday. He quote tweeted my What I said was, oh, I'm doing it on Wednesday, and he quote tweeted it and said, I'm here for this. And so I said, how are you running it with me? And he just said, no, I'm not running with you. He's like, no, you're crazy. I'm not running it with you at all. But enough about the haircut and a half marathon for betting or losing a bet against myself. Some recent storylines around the

Dallas Cowboys over the past week. Of course, the schedule was released on Thursday, and the Cowboys open up against the Los Angeles Rams. They'll open up that beautiful billion dollars Stadium and Sofi Stadium in Los Angeles as they take on the Rams Thanksgiving, it's the Washington Redskins, which seems to be familiar territory ten times. It's the tenth time that those two teams will meet on that holiday.

But we've kind of looked through the schedule. Everybody's done their predictions win loss, win loss, all the way through, and that's kind of the go to when you see a schedule. But I want to take a different angle at the schedule release and kind of look deeper into what it could bring once we get past Thanksgiving and get into the meat of that playoff hunt run. Because it seems like over the last couple of years it has come down to a game either in Philly or

New York, it doesn't matter. It comes down to a big time game later on. So let's look at some of the NFC stretch. Now I mentioned after Thanksgiving. So they play Washington week twelve Thanksgiving, and then you turn around, you go to Baltimore a Thursday after that on the road Thursday Night Football against Lamar and Jackson and the Ravens. Then you're at the Bengal so back to back cold weather games Baltimore since in Addie on the road in

open weather stadiums in December. Then you return home take on the forty nine Ers and the Eagles before you close out on the road against the Giants, and that's actually a January game on the road at MetLife Stadium against the Giants. So just initial thoughts, guys on the stretch run for the Cowboys and what it could mean to them whenever they're trying to get that NSC East crown back from those Eagles. Well, I mean, it looks tough on paper that final stretch, but it always does.

I swear every year. It's like I go to December right away because they always put and it's not just the Cowboys, they put the Vision games in that final month to make the race meaningful. But then when you look at this season too, you're talking about the two best records in the league, basically throwing the Saints too

in Baltimore and the forty nine Ers. So but again it's on paper, and you really can't look at last year's records and say, well, it's a tough schedule for sure, because look, last December, the Rams came to town and we were saw that schedule back in April and said, that's a that's a monster matchup that they're gonna lose that one. Potentially they won by thirty three at home, so you just you never know you might have a game like that, and you're probably gonna have a Jets

game in there somewhere too. It's just it's it's really impossible to tell. It doesn't make it any less fun to talk about, though. Yeah, I absolutely love the schedule when I saw it come out, and I thought it was pretty weird for the folks that were saying that we had the third easiest schedule in the NFL, and I know that's based off of last year's wins and losses, but it's very interesting at from the beginning, the rubber

meets the road for the Cowboys. When you talk about the Rams at home Atlanta and at and T Stadium and then out to Seattle, those are teams that when you look at the end of the season, teams that are in the hunt for a wild cart or a division, they're always there. So, like I said, the rubber meets the road immediately. I know I went to December as well, Rob to look at that little stretch that I'm sure

we're gonna get into it. But man, the Cowboys have a very diverse schedule and they're gonna be able to play a lot of different schemes and some really tough teams. Absolutely, I agree both of you guys, and I hear what people are saying about the easiest schedule, but I don't like it. I do not like this schedule for the Boys, especially kicking off in that brand new stadium with those Rams. They had a disappointing year. Obviously, I think those boys

are gonna come out smoking. I don't like us against Atlanta. I'm glad we're home against Atlanta, so that's that's beneficial. And obviously everybody everybody knows about Seattle. So I feel like it's like, you know, you know, high week, you know, we're we have really confidence, high confidence, and then you drop down it's like, oh crap, we gotta face these dudes, and I think we're gonna be tested. I think I

think the whole year is gonna be tested. It's really like a roller coaster over a year, especially that last stretch right that last stretch is tough. That whole second half of the season is tough. You got Pittsburgh, Minnesota, yeah whatever, Baltimore, Yeah, you know it. So it's like, you know, you gotta Baltimore, then you come down and you got to play Cincinnati, and then you gotta go back and play San Francisco, and then you got Phi Leagues,

you know, in New York. So it's we're gonna see exactly with this mental toughness that we've be talking about with a past few weeks. We're gonna see exactly where we stand with that, because this schedule is testing for

sure well. And I think if you look at that stretch when you talk about Pittsburgh and then Minnesota, Luckily there's a bye week in between there because you get a little bit of that that extra rest after you know it's going to be a battle against Pittsburgh and you know you're gonna travel up north and you're gonna

take on Minnesota. But whenever you look at those those final five games, let's just say that the fact that you you finished things off with Baltimore San Francisco two out of those first three out of the last five, rather our playoff contenders super Bowl contenders. When you want to look at it that way, and then you have

two divisional opponents to round out the season. What does that do for a team that doesn't want to look ahead but kind of needs to whenever you get into that Isaiah Man, Yeah, you can't look ahead when you can't do it. I mean, they can't afford to do it. I think there's only one stretch that I feel really confident about in terms of us right now, and that's

really you know, games four or five, six, seven. You know, like that stretch right there allows for us to really get our feet up underneath us and get ahead so that we can afford to possibly take some ills along along the road. Right But as you're pretending to that last stretch, it's tough, you know, when you have those division games. I mean that's three in a row. You know, you got you got, you got three NFC teams in a row that you're gonna have to deal with, and

and they're all dogs, you know, Cincinnati. You know, it might be in the sense of a you know, if people want to refer to certain things as somewhat of a bye week obviously with them coming off of that rough year. But San Francisco, Philly, New York, nothing about that makes you feel comfortable or confident, and as an organization, as a team, you're simply looking at that week because that's all that matters. You can't look in the future. If you find yourself looking too far in the future,

you're gonna lose it, lose the current. So um they got they have to be ready to roll. You absolutely can't look in the future. The team started off three and out last year and might have started looking ahead and it didn't turn out so good for them. But I will say, Kyle, I mean, and we'll probably get into this. If you look at the other teams in the nfcast, the schedules are obviously very similar. You play the same outside divisions, and it's not easy for the Eagles,

Redskins or Giants either down the stretch. So, like Isaiah said, you've got to be able to get your wins early. And there is that stretch there where they've got three straight home games in October, and that's that's huge. You know, the last time they had that was twenty eighteen. They won all three with the Maari Cooper after they made that big deal and found themselves winning the division. So you got to take advantage of the breaks that come

your way in the schedule too. Yeah, that's that's a tremendous opportunity for the Cowboys to exact the dominance in the NFL early with those matchups. I mean just talking about the Cleveland Browns and what they're going to represent on you know, on the offense and defensive matchups for

the Cowboys. But I look at the matchups in this schedule, the coaching matchup for coach McCarthy, who's basically hitting the reset button on his career, but he's going up against some guys like McVeigh, Zimmer, you know, the Tomlins, the Hardballs.

I mean, there are a bunch of great coaches and also for Dak in those head to head matchups in the season and the schedule, and so you know, look, we've been talking about it, and we know that there's going to be a culture change here in Dallas with Mike McCarthy, but it's going to have to start immediately in order for these guys to survive just the first

quarter of their season. So, like I said, I look at this, and I look at the fact that you know, with this COVID nineteen and Mike McCarthy not being able to put his imprint early on this team. Man, this just heightens what two of days in those preseason games. And I know that we may be dealing with an abbreviated version of the preseason games, but those games are are important now more than ever, no doubt, and they

wonder wonderful. One thing that I don't one thing I don't want to blow by, especially as as a former player, that bye week and when that bye week occurs is so important. Oh yeah, this is this is perfect. I mean, this is the absolute best scenario that you could possibly have. Some teams have their bye week and what week four, you know, four, week five, It is like you have another you know, twelve, twelve, thirteen games to run after that.

So um there and they should be super happy, especially after this stretch that they have to face on whether they're bye week being danging their smack dab in the middle of the season, which is awesome. Yeah, Detroit and Green Bay have the first bye weeks out of the NFL, and both of those come in Week five. I would not have won five bye week by any means, and I feel sorry, honestly for the Lions and for the

Packers in that regard. Now, Rob, you kind of alluded it to it a little bit earlier as you were looking ahead. But the the NFC East down the stretch, the Cowboys might have gotten a better draw down the stretch than some of these other squads. And we'll let you guys decide this. I'm gonna read them off. Really, the Giants have the Seahawks on the road, Cardinals, Browns at home, Ravens on the road. Then they close, of

course with the Cowboys. That's their final five games. Philadelphia in their final five at Green Bay versus New Orleans back to back weeks. That's twelve or that's thirteen and fourteen. Then you've got at Arizona at Dallas of course, and then they close out at home against the Washington Redskins. And then oh, I like that. I like that. That's schedule. And then for Washington it's at Pittsburgh at San Francisco home versus the Seahawks, then Carolina at home, and then

on the road against Philadelphia. So the Redskins no favors at the end either. But out of those four teams out of the NFC East, did the Cowboys actually have maybe the easiest draw out of those four as it's up to the side. Heckman is laughing for a reason. I don't think Philly's draw looks too good. No, no, I mean the Cowboys isn't great, but every everybody in the division has to play the forty nine Ers and

the Ravens at some point. And Mickey Spagnola's got his own podcast now on this network, but I used to argue with him all the time, Oh, first play, schedule doesn't matter. They all play the same teams. Now Philly's got to play Green Bay in New Orleans, and there's a difference in having to play those two quarterbacks not having to play yea, sir, No, that's a That's a tough schedule down the stretch. And you know, for us, man,

it's always been December. Like you said, Rob, when you look at the schedule, you just want to look and see what we have for December, because we had that December cloud hanging over our head. It looks as though, I mean, even when you look at our schedule, it gets really funky right there towards the end, from November first all the way to December twenty seven with the Steelers and the Vikings. But man, the Saints Green Bay,

oh Man Boo Eagles. Absolutely, yeah, No, I mean obviously we can look at the other teams all day long and see what they have to face. I mean, ultimately, you know, the count ways have a lot that they have to bear it this year. Um, you know obviously, and we we've talked about all these things, right, new coach, new regime, new offense, new defense, everything. So you know, as as we always do, when you want the other teams in your division obviously to take the ales, especially

down the road. But like we you know, these guys got to win some games. Man, they have to win them earlier, but I earlier, and hopefully we can get

stay healthy too. I Saiah, let me ask you this now, when you look at those matchups like for our team versus those AFC North opponents like Pittsburgh and Baltimore, what is that gonna do for us as a team potentially going into the playoffs coming against those edgy in those tough teams like Baltimore San Francisco even I think it does a great gym in terms of preparing you for what you're gonna face, because playoff football is a whole other level as we all as we all know, right,

So playoff football levels up about ten times or whatever speed you think regular gameplay is. It is literally ten times faster and every play matter. So when you're playing these greedy teams, you know, these teams that you know you can have a lot of these guys that you know that have a little edge to them. Right, we're

talk about the Baltimore, you talk about Minnesota. At this part, you know you're gonna be in a dog fight all three of those teams, right, A FC's nasty, So you know you're gonna you're gonna be in a dog fight.

So it prepares you for that stretch, right, it prepares you for that stretch and what you're gonna endure going for because like we talked about, you know you got Pittsburgh, Minnesota, all right, those teams are you got to get your mind right, all right, Washington, it's always a rivalry game, so you know whatever. But then you got Baltimore, right,

you got you gotta go to Baltimore. Right, it's gonna be cold them you got hardball out there, you got them dogs out the Earl Cats I played with, I mean there, I mean you have to be be serious, right, be ready to roll and then you come back, you know, to you know, Cincinnati, and then like I said, we have that last three stretch, so that's gonna prepare you. Hopefully that launches you in that competitive edge going into

that final stretch and then transition to straight into the playoffs. Now, you know, is Rob Well just piggyback and on what Isaiah said for a couple of weeks now the whole mental toughness thing that that is so true when you're talking about trying to navigate a schedule, because just the longer I cover this team in the league, when I see the schedule come out every year, I can look at it two ways. I could say, oh damn, they can win every game on the schedule, jump out the game.

It's just that just that just speaks to the parody in the league. And and when you talk, when you talk to people around the team, the biggest thing for them is how to win close games. And they did They did it two years ago. They did not do it last year. And when things weren't going their way, it kind of had a snowball effect at times last year. And I think that speaks to the mental toughness. Isaiah talks about you got to be able to bounce back.

And and that's if they can find a way to win close games this year, they're gonna be just fine. And but how do they do that? You know, and that that's gonna be the difference. Okay, uh yeah, we lost, we lost Kyle's mike. But you know, I think what's also important about this this season is what's going to be the identity of this group. Guys. You know when you talk about and I said, you know and Rob, you guys know this for sure that towards the end

of every sea, every season, a team has an identity. Well, the Cowboys are gonna have to have their identity immediately in order to compete and not put themselves behind the eight ball in this schedule because of the good teams that they have on the schedule. Absolutely, yeah, these guys

are gonna figure it out. They're gonna have to figure it out asac right, Like you're like you're pertaining to so I mean, right off the bat, you know, this team is going to be tested greater than they ever have been, right because everything that they're already coming into the season with right the restricted you know, preparation, you know, with the COVID nineteen stuff. You know our guys in shape, right, Um, do guys have enough time to absorb this new this

this new system. You know, all the young guys, can they catch up? Right? Can they catch up and get ready for what's gonna what's gonna be expected of them, especially some of these these big name guys like CD and such. Um. And then you go straight to a brand new stadium and one of the most populated cities that it's gonna that place is gonna be flooded, right, and you gotta face freaking and Aaron Donald and golf and you know, and then you know, and then it's like, okay, shoot,

if I survived that, then I come back home. We're going home and guess what going it? We got Matt Ryan coming in right, So, so I mean it's you're like you said, you're gonna be tested, you know those first three games. He's gonna be like, who who do we have? Do we have some dogs in the locker room? You know, we know we got a dog at coach, but do we have some dogs in the locker room?

It's this team gonna come together? Are we gonna use you know this COVID nineteen stuff as, Oh, we didn't have enough time to prepare, they didn't have enough time to to to bond, and nobody wants to hear we got we got, we gotta work. We gotta get every teams dealing with it. Yeah. Yeah, And then whenever you get down the stretch, you have an opportunity to look at some of those other teams that have gone through some of those mental obstacles and even physical too. I mean,

you look at Philadelphia. You mentioned it, Rob They have to play Green Bay this year. They played him last year on the road and beat Green Bay. One of the big reasons why that happened. Davante Adams is hurt, and I know there's always that next man of mentality, and there's always the rollover with injuries and whatnot, and you've got to still win games without injured players, but it still plays a factor as to who you are as a football team, and that's something that the Cowboys

have looked at in the past. So we've kind of gone through this schedule a little bit. There are some other recent storylines we definitely need to hit up when we come back. Stephen Jones went on Mike Florio and Pro Football Talk race some eyebrows a little bit during his conversation. Could this be a little bit of insight into the Cowboys chess match with the Dak Prescott negotiations. We'll talk about that coming up next year on Talking Cowboys.

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with America's best network. Come into an AT and T store to find out how to get one of our popular smartphones for zero dollars down based on GWS one score September twenty nineteen to talk in Cowboys. Don't miss your Dallas Cowboys this season at at and T Stadium. You can go and get your single game tickets on sale right now, get your tickets today at Dallas Cowboys dot com. With that schedule, we just went through and talked through here on Talking Cowboys. Glad you're with us

here on this Tuesday. Hope everybody had a safe and fun Mother's Day weekend. Happy Mother's Day, Late Mother's Day to all of those out there and guys. We kind of took up that first segment talking about the schedule release and some of the implications on that NFC some

other storylines coming out of this past week. The Cowboys did go out and sign Cam Irving one year, two point five million dollars, and then he has an opportunity to earn some incentives up to a quarter million dollars depending on his play here in twenty twenty overtakes maybe Brandon Night as that swing tackle spot and replaces the departed. Excuse me, I'm blanking on a name here. Who was

the swimming tackle that Cam flaming? I'm sorry, I'm almost said Cam Irving, even though it's Sam flaming that he's replaced whatever moving forward as the swing tame available Cam. Yeah, best available Cam. How about that. Let's just throw that out there. But he was up there blocking for Patrick Mahomes in twenty nineteen with the Kansas City Chiefs and Rob what do you feel like this does for that

offensive line? Because it gives you a little bit extra depth at the tackle spot, but it also gives you a guy who could play interior offensive line if you don't like the battle that's going on there. Yeah, versatility's big, I think based on what he did last year. Though you said it, swing tackle is one of the honestly, coming out of the draft, it is one of the

most glaring needs they had left potentially. I know they like Brandon Night, but when you're talking about an offseason that we just talked about, truncated workouts and all that kind of stuff, I think having an experienced guy if you've got to move things up and you don't have a lot of practice time. Uh. In Irving, I think that's that's a that's a good get. Eight game started at left tackle for the Chiefs last year, and yeah,

you could play a couple of different spots. I think he's played some center too, So you know, having a guy is on your backup lining pretty much play anywhere and has played a lot of football. I think that's good. Yeah, that's that's what we needed. And like you said, uh Rob, before the before the draft, that swing tackle was something that we were eyeball and now we get it with

that veteran. With the veteran guy has obviously championship pedigree and winning the Super Bowl in Kansas City, and so it's gonna be interesting. I believe the depth at the offensive line, you know that we're gonna these guys are gonna be fighting it out, especially at the center and guard uh position. But with the new CBA, I do believe that the Cowboys are gonna be able to carry eight uh offensive lineman on this the the on the

on the roster, is that correct? I believe they are required to carry eight is what I think it is. And you have your your five starters that everybody kind of goes for and knows about, and then you've also got those backup potentials. Whenever you talk about whoever loses the Connor McGovern, Connor Williams and Joe Looney battle. And then you also have I think you look at the contract for Cam Irving here and I think it shows

that he's expected to be on the roster. He's expected to be that swing tackle, and you need a guy like that because Tyrn smiss missed three games in twenty nineteen, He's missed games in the past couple of years. And then on the other side, you've got Lyell Collins who missed a game last year, and I know he's been probably the most significant part of that offensive line, maybe outside of Zack Martin, but he's gonna miss some games at the same time. Yeah, so Cam's gonna be active

for sure to be Yeah, yeah, I think so. Yeah, two and a half million dollars, you're playing, Yeah, you're probably gonna be. You're probably gonna be playing quite a bit. Now that kind of leads us into though, the on the other side of the football, the defensive line, Alden's

Smith apparently meeting with Roger Goodell. Now this isn't confirmed, but Stephen Jones didn't mention it on Pro Football Talk with Mike Florio yesterday and or excuse me, earlier this week, and I see the positives of Alden Smith meeting with Roger Goodell. But is there any way that this could be a negative rob in terms of the hope for reinstatement for both Smith and then also Randy Gregory. No, I don't think so. Ka. I think that's just part

of the process. Okay, guys trying to get back in the league, and from the Cowboys experience with Randy, it's been a face to face meeting with Roger. And then there's a time frame for when Roger gets back to the Cowboys and the NFL makes his decision. So you know, you hope it's something. It's a it's a window that they get a decision before training camp whenever that starts. But yeah, no, I think it's just part of the process. And uh, and we'll see what happens. I mean, the Cowboys,

you know, they don't have a feeling either way. But I think obviously there's hope if they went out and signed Alvin Smith, that that there's a possibility. You know, Jay Glazers, a well respected reporter around the league that has been working out with Alvin Smith and and maybe that's something in Commissioner Goodells, you know, looking into the case or his situation. Uh, he'll take that into account because that's everything we've heard has been very positive about

his recovery. Yeah, I think this is just a status check. You know, Rogier Gidel wants to get eyes on exactly the individual that you know, you hear so much about you. You've heard about all the negative, but you know he wants to give this young man opportunity to sit down and say, hey, let me see what your character is right now. You know I'm not going gonna throw you

back out there. Um, you know, I just want to evaluate a face to face what I'll any hearsay as to where you're at right now and make my own judgment, and then what'll reconvene and see, um, if you're ready to touch the field again and represent this shield. Just a straight formality is really what it is. As U.

You gotta have to go through that process. You gotta get in front of the commissioner and hope everything works out, because if Smith and Gregory are reinstated, all of a sudden, that right defensive indspot isn't as much of a hole as it is, maybe even a surplus of guys with now the fifth round draft pick and Bradley and I also being added into the mix. But that wasn't the only thing that Stephen Jones talked to Mike Florio about

over the weekend. And I'm interested to see what Isaiah has to say about this one as a former quarterback and also as a former player in the league in general, and then also Rob as an insider and heckmas Our Swiss Army Knife. I want to see what you guys think about what Stephen Jones said on Floria or with Florio about Dak Prescott and the contract negotiations. Now, he made it abundantly clear they still want to pay Dak Prescott and they want to get a deal done. They're

not going to rescind that franchise tag. However, he did come out and say that, I mean, it's kind of what we all know. It's the fact of if you put too much money in one position, especially your quarterback, it really hinders the rest of your roster. What kind of angle is this taking in terms of your negotiations, because the Joneses have been known to negotiate in public, What does this do and what is this insight into how the negotiations are going right now? Well, it's a

loaded question. It is definitely a loaded question. And I can tell you right now, Dak Prescott is watching Jerry require to talk about showing me the money. So right now they need to pay this dude. I mean, they need to pay them, and you're not You're not helping yourself now or in the future. Um, you know they're not going to resend an offer. Okay, nobody really resents a franchise tag offer until a franchise quarterback, it doesn't happen.

So making that statement does nothing for anybody, right, So he's gonna play underneath that franchise tag most likely. But you know you paid You paid your receiver twenty million a year, right, like you paid your receiver twenty million a year. So you're not willing to at this point in time, not willing to double that up and pay the man who gets him the ball, right. You know, it's hard to it's hard to fathom in and I think that Stephen right now in camp have really they

threw it on his shoulders there they're there. They kind of threw him under the bus a little bit because they know what what Cowboys fans want, right, Cowboys fans won a championship. That is number one, right, it's the most highly touted, you know, team in the league, in the world, and they know that the pressures from everybody else is going to affect his ability to make sound decisions,

possibly right if he doesn't have the right camp. So put it on his shoulders saying hey, you know, you know the analytics show that if you pay your quarterback too much, then your team success rate goes down. Man, that's that's BS, that's BS. We're not in that world. We're not Tom Brady. Nobody's Tom Brady. The only reason why,

you know, obviously Tom Brady has has just just changed everything. Right, he's the curveball, right, He's taking less money for a number of years to ensure that they have that they have a you know, super Bowl championship team. So that's different. You know, these cats are young. You know, they've seen a lot of ownership in the past not treat players so well. Right, Um, so you have to go out, you get one opportunity really in your career to get

that big boy contract and get that guarantee money. And I really think that's what it comes down to, is what's those guarantees numbers? Looking like, we haven't hurting anything. We don't know anything for sure, but I can almost assure you that it's all about the guarantee money. Yeah, you know what we've been talking about. How the reports say it could be the length of the deal is the biggest hold up. But I'm with Isaiah, I wonder if it's more still about dollars and trying to figure

that out based on you know, because Stephen's talking about. Honestly, what Stephen said to me is no different than what he said the past couple of years about under contracts they've tried to get done. I mean, you know, talking about dividing the pie and trying to create a deep enough roster top to bottom to be successful. I honestly, I've said this before. I think both sides are right.

You know, Steven's right, like in the in the today's NFL the parody, you've got to be able to have a deep roster that can be fielded one to fifty five, one to fifty three, whatever it is now, and so how do you how do you navigate that with these

top players that you have. At the same time, Dak Prescott is he's a player and he's trying to get as much money as he can and maximize his earning potential while he can't, especially given the first four years of his career at his position what he was making. So you can't fault him for that. But you also can't fault the Cowboys for trying to figure it out. You know, what's what's the best way to divide it all up. But ultimately, I don't, I don't really sweat it.

I feel like we've gone down this road with DeMarcus and Zeke, and ultimately it always gets done. So we'll see. But I don't. I don't. I don't sweat it too much. Heck no, you know what, I actually watched the entire interview and I didn't take anything from what When he made the comment about analytics, that didn't seem like verbal sparring to me through the media for Steve and Jones, I just felt as though he was he was, you know, basically stating a truth that all thirty two teams are

dealing with. But they I mean, it wouldn't matter to Green Bay if they went to the Super Bowl and Rogers making them money. They want to shatter that statistic anyway. Analytics are not Dak Prescott is homegrown. He's our quarterback. If you've been a Cowboy fan long enough to see they go through those years of having really horrible or borderline quarterbacks, we got our guy. I mean, he's our guy that we that the Joneses bench Tony Romo for. You know. So I don't see this as a point

of saying, Okay, sign this or else. I didn't take it like that one way or another. Dak Prescott is gonna come into this season two ways. He's gonna be the highest paid quarterback in the NFL, or he's gonna be amongst the highest paid quarterbacks in the NFL with the franchise to either way, he's gonna be a Dallas Cowboy. And so, I mean, I think that the NFL and I think that the Cowboys do a really great job of owning the off season to keep our name in

your mouth. Everybody's talking about Dak Prescott in this contract except for Dak and his representatives. And so I find it very interesting because we don't know what's on the table, and we keep speculating about it. But at the same time, no matter if it's the years, if it's the money, all of it benefits the Cowboys in the end. Well, and I think go for it. No, I was gonna say, I don't disagree with you. Heck and I and I

totally agree with you Rob as well. That you know this is you know that he made some good points

in analytics. He's not wrong, you know, and you know obviously Dak has his time span, he wants to do things in But I take offense to it as a as a player because as the leader of this organization now, right, which is we can all we can all wrest sure that he's the leader of this organization now in terms as a player, you you did other deals before me, right, It was like like you made these other deals happen.

And now I'm sitting back and I'm being asked right to take less than what I really want simply because oh there's not enough money and now we have to save money? Right? Where was where were you save money conversations? Save money conversations when when you know when cool paid, So like, it's not not the conversation, it's the time the conversation. Right, These conversations are happening after the money has already been handed out to these other camps who

are very valuable players. But guess what, these guys really don't do much unless I'm taking care of my business, right, So that's where an issue lies, right, and I'm and I'm again, we're all assuming, right, But if it was me, I would be up up in the air a little bit in terms of, you know, me being the last guy to get paid. About it? Now, all of a sudden, now we've got to budget, now, Isaiah, I want to play Devil's advocate here. You're talking about adding these other

players and putting money elsewhere. You put the money into Marii Cooper. You put your draft stock into taking Cedee Lamb in the first round rather than maybe going with Calavon Chason and an edge rusher. You went with these different moves. Could you use that as, hey, we're giving you weapons with these are gifts for you to be successful because we think that, hey, if you've got this around you, you're a Super Bowl contending quarterback. That's what

we're doing for you. Now it's time to maybe give back here. What are your thoughts around that, because it seems like at least over the courts of the offseason, they've done their job in terms of protecting Dak and giving him plenty of weapons in order to try and be successful, you know what. And I appreciate and I value your point. But then again come back to timing, right, who did they who? Who did they just sign at his position? That's true, Right, nobody's seeing him as a threat.

And I don't see him as a threat either. But guess what he is a what if? Right? What if this doesn't go the way that we wanted to What if you don't get your way, or what if you throw a fit and you don't want to sign this tenor guess what? We got somebody that can step in and do your No, no, no, I'm saying, I'm just I'm just saying. I'm just saying it might it may not be the way. It might not happen that way,

But the worst case scenario, they can do that. Right, that's not I mean to me, even drawing that scenario isn't realistic because the Cowboys have groomed Dack to this point and you don't get you don't groom a quarterback and get to the time that you have to sign this guy and throw them to the wolves. This this is the time that we know. Look, we've owned the offseason,

all of this speculation. Really, guys, July the fifteenth is where we gotta wait on all this, right because if nothing happens in between now and July fifteenth, then we can hit the panic button. Then we can start talking about disrespect. But all of this is just speculative. I mean, look, and here's the thing. Dak went from being a fourth round guy to now being the face of a franchise, a marketing name that's out there. I mean, the advertising

dollars are coming in. All of that has nothing to do with the contract that the Cowboys are gonna get him give him. But at the same time, every throw that Dak makes this season is gonna be under the microscope. If he bet on himself last year, he's gonna have to bet on himself again. He's gonna have to That's gonna be a tremendous amount of pressure on him to succeed, all right, and that microscope is going to be hot

and right under him. Every quarterback that he has on the schedule, I mean, Jared Goff, Russell Wilson, also Matt Ryan, big Ben, Roethlisberger, all of these guys, all his contemporaries, these are guys that he that have made more money than him, and he's wanting to make more money than them. He gets an opportunity to go out and show it, just like everybody else did. And I don't think Dak

Prescott wants to bet on himself again. I don't think he wants to go into another contract year, whether it's on the franchise tag or whatever. He wants the long term deal, which is why ultimately I sit on the side of the fence that I think it's going to

get done. A lot of people forget that with the NFL Draft and all of the production and all the work that goes into getting and leading up into a draft, it takes away time from the contract negotiations and things like that, and I think that was one of the cases. And then also the terribly tragic passing of his brother

kind of put a hold on it. After the draft, you're not going to see those conversations as you would normally expect because of the morning and the sad this around that, And you got to give him as much time as he needs. You gotta give him a ton of time. That's something that nobody really wants to bring up because it was. It was tragic and it was sad, but it also just puts a little bit of a

hold there. You've got till July fifteenth, Like you said, hack Mo, there's plenty of time to get this done. But I was asked on we were asked on Twitter as a as a group, yes or no? Do you think the long term deal gets done with Dak Prescott. We'll start with you, hack R. Okay, it's asked me again. I'm sorry. I was thinking to ask Rob does he think he's worth the money? Well, yeah, if you want to go with that, Rob, and I think he's worth the money. Rob, you're thinking sign Okay, No, I think

he's earned a new contract. And I think the Cowboys, Kyle, you just said something that you got to. You gotta point this out. I mean, I think he didn't bet on himself last year. I think that he's definitely something done and he decided he wanted to he wanted to play it out, and I think he did. I think he was right. I mean, he made the Pro Bowl and had a good season to try to keep maximizing his earning potential. But the Cowboys have been trying to

get this done. I mean it's it's I think maybe that was part of Steven's point, is it's not that they're trying to to delay this. I think you want to try to get this done. If anything, I think trying to get him done first would have been easier because then you could have slotted things around the biggest deal on your roster first. Um. But but Isaiah, I'm with Isaiah. I mean, I think he's earned, he's earned a new contract. And but again I don't I don't

sweat it. To answer your question, Kyle, yes, I think it gets done by July fifteen. The answers yes, The answer is yes, Kyle, it gets done before July fifteenth. No way they go into two of days with this looming, or of the season, with this contract looming. It has to get done. And yes, I again, when my brother's

over there, yes it gets done. But again I am to your point where I timing, you know, timing time and timing, and and there was a there was a there's always a better way that something could have been done, and I feel like this should have been. They could have really communicated to him, you know the importance of him in this organization by making sure that this deal got done first, right, and then all the other parts coming, but him as the leader of this team, I'm the

last guy. You know, if we're playing dodgeball, you know what I'm saying. You picked me last. You know, we're playing pickup ball, you picked me last. You're telling me that I'm your guy, but you're taking care of me last. Right, everybody else getting paid up the lineman are getting paid. Say, secondary is getting paid. You know it's getting I'm just saying, hey, I'm there, but you're But now you're trying to talk

to me about budgets, you know, analytics, analytics. Yes, yes, it gets done, but I like again and he'll be happy, right, and nobody will talk about this anymore. But there is a better way that this could have been handled in the conversations. Aren't that complicated that it couldn't have been done a long time ago? Everything is sitting as a message.

Everything does. I'm still on the side of saying that it's less about budge jets and more about years and length of deal and things of that sort of wanting to have Dak under contract for five years and have his rights for five years rather than four. But until we know what the negotiations are like, it's kind of tough to speculate either way. Now, one of those weapons around Dak Prescott could be in for a position chang or at least we're going to talk about it in

one of those new segments we've got for you. It's called Talking X's and Oh's. We're gonna debut it next when we come back on Talking Cowboys. Since eighteen sixty five, Stetson hats are American maid with pride right here in Texas, and Stetson is proud to be on the field with America's team. Want to show your Texas and Team pride two you can by purchasing your own Stetson. You can look just like how the flag guys do on field at every home game. Stetson heads the official crown of

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weird to talk to. We can you pick one up and say, it's so nice to be traded, Doctor Pepper, so nice to treat you to talk in Cowboys. It's the final segment here of Talking Cowboys here on this cloudy Tuesday morning. Glad you're with us. Kyle Yeoman's Rob Phillips, Isaiah stand back in the grade. Heck my Harrison here for talking Cowboys. Before we get into this final segment, I want to remind you about Main Event and their

virtual birthdays this season, celebrating the cowboys sixtieth birthdays. And we all know that you have birthdays to celebrate as well, so our partners at May Event are going to help. They have the new platform called Birthday with Me. It's been a staple on the show really since Quarantine started. And to celebrate at home on Instagram every day at two pm, you could go on and get cakes, candles, happy Birthday song of course everything you need for your

virtual birthday. So follow Main Event on Instagram, tune into their live story at two o'clock Central time each day to celebrate. Now, we just talked about some of the Dak Prescott negotiations and what that could mean and some of the public negotiations that may have been had with Steven Jones and Mike Florio. But we can talk about all the off field stuff all off season long. I want to talk about football because I'm a football guy, and I want to talk about the xs and os.

So we're going to start a new segment and this will be I don't know if this is a weekly thing. We might switch it in and out throughout the course of the off season, but we're talking xes and os. I'm gonna ask all of our great analysts. You've got the Insider and Rob Phillips, you've got a Super Bowl champion, and Isaiah swished him in Swiss Army knife over here. Swiss Army knife. Heck, but Harrison played by the way

college ball as well. So we've we've got We've got every angle covered here and we can talk about everything we can, from access to o's all the way through. And our first question actually comes from a fan on Twitter, and he said, could the Cowboys use Tony Pollard as their Tavon Austin slash fourth wide receiver backup role in addition to his duties as a backup running back. And Rob will start with you, I hope. So I'd love

to see that. I mean, I think use him on punt returns and then also use him in different ways out of the backfield. I don't know if he would be your full time fourth receiver, but but yes, I mean I think his skill set allows for that. A guy that can line up in different spots, line up in the same backfield as z and and help in different ways. The way they used him last year was interesting. It was more so, you know, when they had a lead and they kind of salted away games with him

the fourth quarter. But but yes, I think he could be more involved as a receiver isah. Yeah, I think he could be more involved as well. I don't see him being a four time just like Rob said, but I mean I can definitely see him coming out of the backfield or even just lining up and doing some some two man concepts and him kind of just pulling some of that underneath coverage. I don't really foresee him going down field too much, but him working on linebackers.

I think he could do that all day, all day long. Yeah, he's a He's a package guy. You know, Tony, you gonna have the Tony Pollard packages. Before we drafted Ceedee Lamb. I think we talked about that a few episodes ago about him actually being maybe that guy that to replace Cobb is that third receiver in certain packages. Now with Ceedee Lamb, most of those yards are gone and Ezekiel Ellen is gonna need that bona fide backup to give

you that thunder lightning. And Tony Pollard showed you that he has the capacity to take on that load as well. So I mean, I'm excited for a young player like him, and hopefully, you know, the the Cowboys have those different packages to keep him involved, but also keeping him involved in special teams, just keeping that rhythm goal. With Tony Pollard, I think it's going to be important. You want to get the ball question? Sorry, Kyle, now go for a rub.

It's just an interesting question though, because you get past those top three receivers and it's like it's a lot of young guys trying to get those maybe last two or three spots. You know. Oh yeah, it's John Day Johnson who was on IR last year. It's it's Devin Smith. It's I'm trying to Cedric Wilson. Yeah, so you know, it's you know, there's opportunity I think for Tony and maybe help in that area. Well, and you look at some of the stats that he's had over his career. Now,

last year was a little bit different. He didn't necessarily, I don't think he was utilized as well as he could have been in the passing game. Fifteen receptions, one hundred and seven yards. However, you go back to what he did in Memphis. He had at least twenty nine receptions each of his three years as a starter, and he had at almost almost or over three hundred yards each season, and he averaged over ten yards per catch. So I think you could absolutely use a guy like

that and just get the ball in his hands. That's kind of what I was gonna talk about with Heckma. You want to get your playmaker the ball, and he's one of those guys who is so lightning quick and so shifty that he could be a playmaker when need be. Yeah, that's you know, like you hit the nail on the head when you talk about what he did at Memphis. He was I mean, they had a running back, they had a guy his full time running back, and Pollard, even though he was a running back, handle most of

the receiving duties for the running back. So I see him being able to have it already, that skill set there. But Isaiah alluded to it just him in those little small spaces up against a linebacker. I mean, that's a good night, Irene. You know that Tony Pollard is gonna win that battle every time. And so you know the Cowboys have a good problem. But once Cede Lamb came into the equation, man, those yard, that yard is just shrank. Absolutely yeah. I mean that's what I was gonna contest to.

It is just how often do we really you know, I hate this because there's so much talent on every NFL team, right, I mean, I mean you're if you're in the league, you can ball, right, And what happens this guy's like polar get buried and you know they get they get buried. They get buried on rosters and they don't get the tick that they need. They don't get the tick that they need in order to develop

into the players that they that they should be. And I think this is possibly another one of those scenarios, right, I mean, you got those three receivers. Those guys aren't coming off the field, right, You got you got a gallup coup and CD. They're not coming off the field. You gotta drawing at you know at tight end he's not coming off the field. You know, then you got Zeke.

He's gonna get his touches. So how many touches do you honestly see Polar getting even if you go into a five or five you know, five out, you know set, you know, you know what he's doing. He's running underneath routes. You know if he comes in the game, you know as at running back, is he really tolding the ball that much? Nah? You know, because we bringing Zeke back in so as a defense, you know that he's going to be limited in terms of what they're gonna allow

for him to do. So you know, it kind of cuts down his productivity. So I like to kill. I like I think he's I think he's dope. But again, you know, you got some other do is that at you that you're paying it have to touch the field. If there's one hope I have for twenty twenty, and there's plenty of hopes that I have for that offense because there's a lot of high expectations around it. But one of those hopes is. I don't want Tony Polar to get lost in the shuffle. I really don't. I

know you have those weapons. Like Isaiah just rattled off, all of those guys are going to get their chance. I just want Tony Polar to make sure he gets his chance too, because he didn't get an opportunity last year. I don't think to really show what he had. And whenever he did have an opportunity, whether it was a small one or latent games, he showed out. And I think that's something you should at least reward and try and fit into what should be an explosive offense, because

I think he can add that to the table. Now, switching to the other side of the football, who are your starting corners? Of course, the Cowboys go out and take a second round selection in Treyvon Diggs. They add Reggie Robinson in the fourth round. You add that already to the cheetah Ooozier. You add that to the Jordan Lewis, the Anthony Browns of the world. Who is your starting corner? Oh,

your three starting corners? Right now? Thinking about if you're in the shoes of Mike Nolan rob Well, it depends to me on what they do with Cheeto. You know, if he stays at corner, I see him as a starter, especially I leaned towards experience early given the state of this offseason, you know, I think I think Kevin Cheeto and having you know, maybe Anthony Brown too as starters

might make sense early. But I you know, I think I could see Treybon Diggs as a starter down the stretch or playing starter caliber snaps down the stretch, just like those young corners did three years ago, Jordan Lewis, Cheeto, those guys, those guys, it kind of became their secondary as the year went on. But I think Isaiah's spoken in this it's hard for a corner to step in right away, you know and play starter snaps, and they do have experience ahead of him, So I would lean

on that early at least. I'm surprised that you said that Diggs is not an instant starter. Honestly, is he not maybe the best corner on the team right now? Well, I mean he's gonna have to go out and earn it, and and they're in a situation right now where there's not on field reps for him to take. So that's a great deal kind of I'm kind of factoring that in this year into how quickly can a rookie be ready to play NFL football if things continue the way

they are. Obviously we're counting on having a training camp or at least, you know, I think the week is very hopeful of that at some point. But but I gotta factor that in when I talk about, you know what a rookie can do right away? Now he's Trayvon Diggs is a day one starter for the Cowboys. Man, you might as well pencil in me and right now he's in flready, uh, every and it's everybody else after that, you know. So, I mean, tray Bon Diggs, I want

to just Trayvon Diggs, Lewis and Woozier. In my bet, you know Brown is going to be, you know, third cornerback. That's that's just my belief. I think you just circled Trayvon and just say, hey, he's our starting guy right now, and everybody else is by it out on the other side. Yeah, I don't think you guys forget about the veteran that we picked up a couple of years ago. Daryl Worley, Yeah, yeah, Daryl. I mean I think I think you brought him in to do just that right. You brought him in, um,

because he is a vet. You brought him in because he's lengthy, because he's feisty. He's gonna he's gonna be the representative of what you're trying to enact on that side of the ball. So I think that he starts. I think that, Yeah, that I believe that that Digg starts as well. I think those two guys are in there, um, and then you know you got Brown possibly in the slot. I think he is gonna be back there to safety. I don't I don't see him playing a corner too

much more. I think you're gonna throw him back there. So I think you got those guys really competing. And then Robinson's gonna come along too, depending on how fast he develops in training him. Yeah, and I kind of I think I wrote about this a week or two ago, talking about the shift of thinking in terms of Mike

Nolan in the corners and wanting to go longer. I wouldn't be surprised if you see a combination of Darryl Worley, Trayvon Diggs and maybe even Maurice Kennedy and as well, you talk about experience, Robin wanting a guy with experience. I think those three guys could start. And the fact that Daryl Worley has started the majority of his games in his four years in the NFL kind of leans to the fact of maybe throwing him into this conversation

a little bit more seriously. But I think that's a great point that you made about the fact that without this offseason, without these rookie training camps, at least in person, and then all of these different lead in events, it's going to be tough for a rookie to step in and start immediately. So last question here before we wrap things up for the day. Biggest hole to fill for

the Dallas Cowboys still. You've addressed the interior offensive line, you attest the backup swing tackle, you've added hopefully something at right defensive end. Are any of those still the main concern when it comes to the Cowboys in twenty twenty. Heck no, We'll start with you, Ah, you know, obviously, you know the contingency plans at the edge. We want to know what Roger Goodell thinks about you know, Smith and Gregory um safety. I'm still I still think that

their question marks at the strong safety position. I believe Xavier Woods is, you know, the incumbent that we're just going to right now. But they're still may be an opportunity, uh to find some other guys in free agency are after cuts final cuts are made. So I don't think that you know, I wouldn't say the biggest hole, but I think that that's just another position that you still have to be looking at upgrading. Example, I'm gonna go with depth at at outside linebacker and a tight end.

Those are those those are two areas that I'm gonna go with. I think that we have pretty much all the other spots pretty much. You know, we have we have a lot of depth. Yea, yeah, you did continue to find depth that officer line. Um, they have depth at D line. I don't see a problem there. We're gonna get one of those ends, right you know, Smith or you know, Hopefully or whoever, you know, We're gonna get one of those guys back. No, they're not gonna He's not gonna not allow both of them back in

the league. We hope back. They might come four games after after the season starts, but but one of those guys be in there. So I'm not worried about that anymore.

But I am concerned about our depth de linebacker. You know, I think I think Sean Lee gets hurt or or you know, the Wolf or Jalen one of those guys getting hurts, Like who's stepping in that cauld fulfeel it the way that those guys work, right, I know we have a solid three, but if one of those three big three get knocked out, then you're then you're setting up there stret Thomas right in the middle of the

mix right there. Yeah, yeah, that's true. That's true. So yeah, so that that and tight end, those are those are my picks. I got a totally echo when Isaiah just said I was thinking a linebacker and because you know vander Esch, we'll see what he's able to do is the off season goes on, if he's gonna be ready for for training camp. Uh, and then yeah, tight end.

You know, to me, it wasn't Uh. I didn't rule out the fact they could have drafted a tight end even though they got Blake Jerman, just because you know, I think not having Jason Witten, I think that that does leave a holder that's a guy that can block. He's an experienced player there, Blake Bell signing him, I think that gives them some experience. But I think that's that's a spot to watch and see how those guys developed, because you know, look, Jarlin's not used to playing as

many snaps as he's probably gonna play this year. I mean, he's usually playing about twenty five snaps a game, and now you're asking him to play Witten Droll. That's a big difference now this year. Absolutely, And I think Blake Bell adds a little bit to that backup tight end spot because he's a better blocker, and I think he's somebody who's still an ascending player, much like Blake Jarwin. I think both blakes have an opportunity to be an

ascending player in the early parts of their career. You've got Dalton Schultz back there. I agree with Isaiah on the linebacking corps, though, I think the fact that you need maybe one more guy in the mix there to go along with the uncertainty of that position with Laton vander Esh's health, the age of Sean Lee, and then also even the health and just play making ability of Jalen Smith, I think all of those kind of question marks add to the fact that you need another linebacker.

But that's my opinion on that overall. But that's going to do it here for Talking Cowboys. It's been a fun Tuesday morning as well. Hope everybody's staying say out there and continuing to look forward to the fall. We'll be back next week. So for heck Ma Harrison, for Rob Phillips and Isaiah stand back. I'm Kyle Yeoman saying so long here on Talking Cowboys. This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.