Talkin' Cowboys: NFL March Madness!

completely at the crossroads. We were unsure of what was going on. We were trying to figure out exactly what the next step was going to be for the Dallas Cowboys organization. Well, now as we enter this Monday, March fifteenth, we have an opportunity to say we know what crossroads had been chosen. We know who our franchise quarterback is

and it's Dak Prescott. Plus North Texas men's basketball's going dance in the NCAA tournament, So I'm going to throw that out there as well, get that out of the way. So I'm pretty excited about both of those factors as well. We've got a lot to talk about here on Talking Cowboys, Glad You're with us, on Dallas Cowboys dot Com, and the various streaming platforms, Kyle Yeoman's, Rob Phillips, Isaiah Stanbacked in the crate, heck my Harrison, and Rob it's crazy.

The deal got done last Monday, and every other show has gotten a chance to talk about it so far, but except for us, we were the ones that were early on Monday, And of course the deal happened right after our show was concluded. So what are your overall thoughts on the deal as we kind of get a chance it's to finally dissected on this specific podcast. I said this last week and I'll say it again. Everybody wins. The Cowboys win, they get the deal done, they get

some precious cap space. Dak gets a massive contract, second highest contract basically an average per year in NFL history. The fans win. If if you wanted Dak resigned, you win. If you didn't want to resigned, hey you get something else to complain about it. That'll be refreshing, right right Andy, And hey we win, We win because we you know, we had something to talk about up until the start of free agency. Which is basically today. And now it's done.

It's a weight off everybody's shoulders. And uh, I'm surprised it got done before the tag. I thought there was a chance based on rumblings before free agency, but I didn't think they would put it together five hours after we got off the air. And I think it just it just turned out to be the right time for everybody because and really for the Cowboys to kind of segue into free agency, able to spread that money out and allow themselves to possibly be somewhat active in the

coming weeks, if not this week. Well, I only got one word for that, man, and it is relieved. Was relieved relieved when I saw the text from Isaiah saying that it was a done deal. Um, yeah, Isaiah, were etched in history together because you let us know that the deal was done. So you know, I'll just really happy to see that we were able to get it done and not get muddy the waters with this thing

any longer. But I tell you, man, that the press conference on Wednesday was that that was the main attraction just of the some of the cringe worthy comments that came from the press conference. You know, Jerry admitting that you know he's the only guy that he would take advantage of him. Things like that that came out about the money and Dak digging in and I really just you know, all jokes aside on that. Man. I really loved some of the things that Dak had to say.

Pressure is a privilege. Man. I had to write that down immediately because that was definitely a quote to keep. I love the way that he handled himself and just knowing that he dug in, he dug in and wouldn't move on principle of what he wanted for his contracting. I think for the organization just gives us a sense

of we're able to move forward. We can move forward now, we can all the rest of the I guess the proverbial dominoes can fall where they may because we got the biggest deal done and just really happy that this doesn't have to linger any longer and Jerry and Stephen got it done. Yeah, finally it happened. No, I'm glad. I'm glad everybody walked away winners. Man, I'm glad everybody

walked away winners. Obviously, there's a lot the guys in the league right now that are walking away winners, getting some of this money in their pocket right now, just because of the parameters of this season, in the in the cap going down. So super happy not only for everybody, but obviously super happy for a dat. He got his brand. Like you guys already mentioned, he sunk his feet in there. He got what he was due, right, he got what

he was due. And unfortunately it took um you know, external pressures and external you know other other things that really applied pressure on the Cowboys, such as a cap and all those things that really added to this getting done. But you know, whatever is required, it happened. Now we can roll and now these guys got to figure out how to make some more room. Obviously they're starting to do those things so they can go out there and get some of these free agents that they need to

solidify this team. Oh, Isaiah providing a perfect segue into what I really want to talk about next, and that's those external pressures exactly. Uh, those external pressures kind of forcing this deal to get done. You talked about the salary cap. You also talked about how it needed to be the first domino to fall, because that was really what our conversations had been each of the last two weeks was we can't talk about free agency without Dak Prescott.

We can't talk about it without that contract and seeing what kind of piece of the pie that the Cowboys would be allotting to their franchise quarterback. Well, now we know exactly how big that piece of the pie is. Still a pretty darn big piece of pie, but it's a little bit smaller than what they dealt with a year ago with the franchise tag. So, Rob, whenever the money comes in and you look at this deal and now you have an opportunity to start talking to teams.

I mean, as of what thirty seven minutes ago as we're recording this, teams can agree to terms to a potential team. So now that you're looking at this money, Rob, what is the next step for the Cowboys in free agency? And where do they start looking because is this going to be a discount offseason or do they have a little bit more to spend here. That's a great question because you know, the salary cap is always it's always

a bit of a moving target. You know, we've seen projections all off season about oh, well, how much space might they have? Well, number one, we didn't know the cap. We know the cap now it's just a little over one eighty five and so I'm sorry, one eighty two five is what it is. So by getting this Dack deal done, they're allowed to they're able to spread out the hit. So really, instead of what would have been thirty seven seven million on the franchise tag, it's going

to be a little over twenty two. So when you can look at it like they're basically saving fifteen million on this year's tag this year's cap, you factor in the three restructures they did last week. We talked about that the last few weeks. That's a possibility, still could be a possibility. They could continue to do that if they want to. But with Zach Martin, Tyrant Smith, Lyle Collins, that opens up more space. I think. I think the projection is they're about eighteen and a half million under

the cap right now. That's good. You need to be under you have to be under the cap by Wednesday. I don't think that sounds it sounds like more to me than it really is, because you have to budget for your draft class that can be upwards of ten million, maybe a little less. Sometimes usually they like to keep a little bit of a break glass fund, you know, set aside a few million in the cap for injuries

that happen, things of that nature. So when you factor all that in there, they're a handful of million under the cap. So to me, it's I would think they need to maybe do something else, whether it's more restructure or something, if they want to be active beyond just going out in the market. Guys, they've got twenty something plus free agents on their own roster, so I'm very curious to see what happens. I mean, certainly some of

their guys. I'm sure they want to bring back. They're going to have to bring back some guys, and I'm just really curious now that the negotiating window has started today,

what's going to happen. You know, we're gonna talk about that a little bit later, but how many guys are going to settle for one year deals just because hey, just bank on the cap going up next year, and instead of instead of putting myself in a lower multi year deal than I could normally get, just bank on myself and sign a one year deal for less and

go get it next year. So that might help the Cowboys ultimately beyond the first wave because I usually they're not in that first wave, and it's hard to see them doing that this year. Heck Man. Yeah, that one eighty two point five is going to not only affect that Dallas Cowboys, is gonna affect a lot of teams. So they're gonna they're they're thirty one other teams that may not be able to keep guys that they if the salary cap had been a regular football year without COVID,

may have been able to get guys signed. So there may be a lot of talent here out on the free market in just a few right, So with all the with all of the guys that we're looking to sign, one of the things that you have to ensure, you know, Will McClay and his staff are really, you know, closely looking at the fact that there is some talent in the free agent market. I know we're gonna talk about that in a few but there are a lot guys

that you probably wouldn't necessarily been able to get. You talk about the number that the Cowboys have a free agents, and that's a that's a lot. And when you only have eighteen million plus the draft to try and choose, you know, kind of divvy up those funds. I'm really interested to see how they're gonna get dance around this. And it may be that they're looking at other players

on other rosters to get that done with. Yeah, and I'm with you guys, man, but but I think the reality is I think Robber the heck of a job really breaking down the financial positioning of the Cowboys. I mean, these guys, the realities. These guys got about ten million dollars to play with. Yeah, how it is? Yeah, if that, how many guys can you get for that? You probably get two, maybe three impact guys, not stars, you know

what I'm saying. So that's the reality. I mean, I'm not there's a lot of great players out there obviously that are skilled to play in this league. However, you can get you an impact player for about five million, a guy who's gonna come in and have a real effect, a star. You're going to spend your your whole little, your whole little allowance on one person. Right, So when we started talking about feeling up these spots, and that's not even addressing to free agents, right, So there's really

not much room. And like you guys already said, they have to make a lot of other moves if they plan on being active, if they even plan on feeling out this roster. So I just kind of want to play Devil's advocate here. I love doing that on this show. But the cap has already shown that it can be

easily manipulated. I mean, there are plenty of ways for you to either kick the can down the road like we did with Dak Prescott for three years, or you can figure out a way to restructure deals, which the Cowboys have already done with Lyell Collins, Zack Martin, and Tyrn Smith. Those three offensive linemen already having their contracts restructured to have saved you seventeen million dollars. So is

there not a way to continue doing that? Rob, I know you said that there was one more place, or excuse me, a couple more things that they probably should do. I think Jalen Smith is on that list. I think there's maybe a DeMarcus Lawrence on that list that could maybe help you out contract wise there if you wanted to restructure. But it is confusing from a money standpoint because it's easy to manipulate the cap, but it's not so easy to find that cap room for free agents

to go and signed. Right. Well, yeah, I mean they you're right, they can create more room. They can they can restructure Tank again. They could restructure Amari Cooper. Now, the thing with that is, you know, if you were to move on at some point from Amari, that's been speculated, and I just I don't really I don't see that as much as maybe other people do, just because he had ninety three catches or ninety two catches last year and he's your best receiver, but it's structured and very friendly.

As you move into future years, you restructure him, that's not the case anymore. And so that's that's what you constantly have to weigh with these restructures. But sure, they can open up millions of dollars in more room if they want to touch more deals like that. How so it's possible, and I wouldn't rule that out, But I'm just saying right now they are well under the cap.

That's great, but they have a lot of work to do, and they don't you know, they don't have a ton of room when you really factor in everything they need to do in the coming months. Rob explain this to me. How does the rollover cap work? From a cowboy standpoint, because you not only have that one eighty two point five as the pure salary cap, but the Cowboys have close to twenty seven million actually a little bit over twenty seven million that they have in rollovercap that from

twenty twenty could be allocated. But what does that do specifically? Can you go through and explain exactly what that money is over what the cap already allocates. That's confusing, and I don't I think it has something to do with dead money. It's it's not you see that number and you think, oh, they have all that all that room.

They don't. It's it's hard to explain, but it's it's what you're really looking at is what the actual cap number is and what they're able to where they are and before the before the deck deal, I think they were still over the cap when you factor everything in. So that got them, that got them underneath. You mentioned the seventeen million or so from the three restructures, so they're in a decent spot. You look around the league and there's some teams that have a decent amount of

cap space. I mean, there's some guys, some teams that can get out there and make some moves. So there's gonna be. Like Isaiah mentioned, there's some guys at the top of the market that are probably still going to get their money. But I'm just really curious to see how many guys who are quality players are like, man,

this is this sucks. You know, maybe I'll just take a one year deal here, or stay here on one year deal and next year when the team, maybe when the TV money comes in, or just when things are better in the world, the cap goes back to where it is or where it should be, and guys can

get what they're worth. I'm without there. I'm without said on the fact that you know, no matter what type of grocery shopping whatever, you got on that list, let's have guys on there that are impact guys, Guys that if they signed a one year deal, it's we're not back to where we were last year. Looking at what the heck did we do in free agency? Is why is this guy able to back the brink truck up at the start and get paid to go. You know,

that's that's what we can't afford. And look, that's why the Dak deal was so important, and we kept hammering that home that dude, if we don't get this done. We're pretty much where you talk about eighteen million dollars without the Dak deal and a franchise tag. We're less than that and unable to really get anybody signed. We know for sure, defensive line wise, we're gonna need to get some help. Maybe we go into the draft. That's

the number one thing. But there are some other positions on this team, and I don't want to say a curse word like safety, but we're gonna have to explore trying to get an effective guy that if he signed a one year deal, fine, you know, but who is that guy? Because we're gonna have to bargain shop for absolutely for that guy. And the last time I check, man, if you're shopping for guys on the bargain, you're really not gonna give much because you get what you pay for. See.

But isn't that what this offseason is gonna be, Because that's kind of the question I asked early on. You got the deal done, you restructured the offensive lineman, and you have a little bit of extra space to work with. That's great, That's all fine and dandy until you look at Oh wait, I've got, like Rob said, twenty free agents on my own roster. You're gonna have to bargain hunt. You're not gonna be able to go be high spenders

in this free agency class. You're not gonna be able to go hand pick guys like Patrick Peterson and Jadevian Clowney, Like, You're not gonna be able to go get those guys because you just have to find a way to bargain hunt. But you just got to do it better than you did in twenty twenty. No, I agree, and you're gonna

have to do that. And regardless of it, Like I said, Kyle, you get what you pay for this league, and if you're going out and you get you know, older veterans, guys long in the tooth that are at the end of their playing days and expect for them to come to Dallas and rejuvenate their careers. We just got to get out of that and actually get guys that can't be effective. And I just feel like that whole bart

we're still in a pickle. We're in a pickle. But the thing about the pickle we're in, everybody else is in it too. So there are guys that teams are gonna want to sign him because of the draft. Because of the the cap being where it is, they're not going to be able to sign him, and I think that's where the advantage may be for the Cowboys. Well yeah, and there this is their comfort level. Sorry, this is

real quick, This is their comfort level. They don't like being top of market anyway, so usually they like to pick their spots and I don't think they're gonna have as much of a choice anyway this year. And and you know, when Stephen was asked about it at Dak's press conference last week, he did reference the draft. They got ten draft picks now with four compensatory picks, and uh, you know, it's hard to imagine all of them making the team, but that might be the best way they

can add talent, you know. But again, there may be some bargains out there and maybe guys willing to settle for less. I mean, there's always a chance, right fellas. I mean, there's alreays somebody who's out there really were willing to take a little bit less than other. However, you know, as as Heckman mentioned, I mean, everybody in this league can play. It really comes down to if you do go out there and get some of these discounts,

discount players. What is the coaching staff going to be able to do to bring that bring that dog back out of them? Yeah, And I think that's that's the fact that that's the thing that we're really overlooking right now. It's not always just about Okay, the player just comes in and it's supposed to just ball out these Just because these guys professionals doesn't mean that they need they

need that. They don't need coaching, they don't need motivation, they don't need a mentor to really get them, get the best out of them if possible. That's why there's professional coaches. So these guys there are there's a ton of talent that's fully capable of playing in this league that really has untapped potential that these coaches are going to have to bring out of some of these guys, maybe a guys on his roster already, maybe as guys

outside of his roster. But either way, these coaches have their have their hands pull and getting the most out of whoever they acquire. Dan Quinn has his hands fully,

yes he does. And there are potentials for dan Quinn out there on the free agent market that could fit into his system and really I think this defense is one or two And this is gonna sound crazy, but just based off of the injuries last year and how bad they were last year, but the growth that you saw on the backside of the defense, you're one or two studs dogs away from being a decent defense. I'm not saying top of the league by any means. There's a long that's a long way to go to the

top of the league. But being a formidable defense is only one or two players away. And I think dan Quinn allows you to do that. But now we get to see are there any of those dogs out on the open market. When we come back on Talking Cowboys, we not only celebrate March Madness, but we give our Cinderella picks. Who are some of those dogs at the Cowboys would love to sign? We're done talking money, We're done talking Dak Prescott contract. It's how is this team

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for you. See more, Do more on Talking Cowboys. Isaiah stand back, Rob Phillips, heck Ma, Harrison, I'm Kyle Yeoman's and well it's uh, we're getting close to our assel Or lenses Heckma and uh, you know, heck with your orlenses, you're gonna be able to watch the North Texas Mean Green and NC DOUBLEA Tournament Action Robin and Isaiah, wh are y'all's team's gonna be marching in the madness or are you Are you in the big dance this year? School wise, the aggies are are in it right right. Sorry,

I don't. I don't have bows quiet comforts on it. I can't hear you. Oh you can't hear because Washington is not wow. Oh okay, I just want to be out there. Heckma and I are celebrating. That's that's all I have to say. It's a It's yeah. Washington's a softball school, so that's what it is. Softball and sometimes football and Isaiah standbacks playing. So uh, let's uh, don't disrespect us. We are our crew school. Okay, crew, Okay, okay, you dubbed respect you dub all the way. Um o

the crew. Oh man, I love. I had dinner last night with one of my receivers and one of my safeties from my from the University of Washington. Haven't seen those guys in thirteen years. Nice? Nice saw that wasn't your Instagram or your Twitter that you put that out on on my Instagram. I have to get back. I have to get better with Twitter. Man. Twitter is like I'm just not on there that much. I know. That's that's y'all. Stay. I have to do better. I'm just

you know, I'm on and I'm gone. You know, I'm on way on there because I have to be. There's like, you know, it's conversation back and forth and I you know, guys know my schedule. So yeah, yeah, I'm working on it. That's true. I love Twitter. I think Twitter is a lot of fun and there's so many fun people out there. Now there's so many not so fun people out there on Twitter as well, so it kind of goes back and forth. But that's the problem. That's the point. You

kind of have to balance the two of them. But let's see how the Cowboys are going to balance this offseason. And we of course with March Madness and North Texas Dancing, they're an official partner of the Cowboys, so I'm going to talk about them as much as i want on this show. That's fantastic. So I'm a proud North Texas a lum as you can probably tell as I'm were in the Green today. But there's also much madness and in not only basketball, but there's March Madness in terms

of the free agency. So we're gonna kind of merge the two of them, between the Cowboys and the NFL offseason, and we're gonna get winners, losers, and Cinderella picks out of free agency here on this show. And each one of us has a secret pick of all three of these. So we have not discussed this between the four of us. We've kept these quiet. And the winner is basically somebody you want the Cowboys to go sign, or that you

think the Cowboys will go sign. The loser is somebody from the Cowboys that you don't think is going to be on the Cowboys next year. And then Cinderella means throw the money out of the table or on the table, let's go get this guy, because this is my dream free agent signing. So I'm gonna start things off, and my start, I'm gonna start with my loser, and it's Jordan Lewis or excuse me, Xavier Wood. Jordan Lewis was

my win at one point, but I switched it. So Xavier Woods is my loss at safety, fourth year, five career interceptions, and ultimately, I just don't think the money's gonna be there enough for the Cowboys to bring him back, nor do they really want him back. I think they have better options out on the free agent market. One

of which is my win. A Kean O'Neil, former Atlantis safety who played for dan Quinn, had a ton of injury issues in the last three years, except in twenty twenty where he played fourteen out of the sixteen games, and he actually showed a little bit of physical prowess toward the end of the season. I think he would be one of those guys that you could get on a bit of a discount because of the injury. History's a former first round pick and he's played with dan Quinn.

He could fit that free safety spot right next to Donovan Wilson. So he is my win, My Cinderella, throw the money at him. How about Patrick Peterson out of Arizona. I think Patrick p could be not only a good corner, but you could switch him over to safety if you really wanted to, Because of course he's toward the end of his contract. Neil is only twenty six. Patrick Peterson's in his thirties at this point, or at least closing

in on his thirties. I don't remember exactly what it was so he is he is thirty one, But I think Patrick p is somebody the Cowboys could bring in as that veteran presence in the secondary that could help grow guys like Treyvon Diggs, Anthony Brown, and even Donovan Wilson back their communication. Wise, I think it would be huge for Dan Quinn and that secondary. Thoughts on that one. Heckma Neil is my win, Xavier Woods is my loss, and then Patrick p is the Cinderella No I like.

I like uh Neil. I don't want to say Kennel rees. You know I almost said the same thing again the replacement. Uh So you know I like him as well, and I think the familiarity with with Quinn I think makes it a win for the Cowboys. And again you can get him on the cheat the ACL injury. Hopefully he's back from that. But he's a guy that when he was recruited, well he was drafted in Atlanta, they had the similarities between him and the free safeties and strong

safeties in Seattle. Never lived up to that, especially with the with the injury. So he's a guy. I mean, we talked about him weeks ago, being the familiarity maybe someone that you get um. And also, I love what you said about Pat P. I think Pat I've been saying this for a while man that we have to get someone with that veteran leadership that's going to get us over the home. So I like, so I want to just I wanna There was a Twitter comment or

a periscope comment. We just talked about periscope and Twitter a second ago, but he said Pat Pete is not coming here with extra exclamation points and then the shrugging emojis. That's the point. That's why it's a Cinderella because if I if I thought he was going to come here, this is like what was that ron? Yeah, this is like Cleveland State making the Final four. Yeah, you know, this is just like you know, this is like banking on a thirteen seed to get in. This is Loyola's

Chicago making a run. That's what we're talking about with Cinderella is here. So dream big is what I'm saying. And that's why Patrick Peterson is my I think Neil is more likely. I don't think Patrick p is likely at all, and that's why I put him as my Cinderella. Rob. What are your three picks? Oh okay, so I'll do what you did, Kyle. Start with my loss. I'll go

with Cheeto as the loss. In free agency and We've talked about this a little bit, former second round pick, his pure skill level, even though he's had some injuries and has struggled at times. I think there's a chance he's got a deal out there that the Cowboys wouldn't be able to match, or you know, just we talked about their cap situation, so I'll go there as a potential replacement. And again, like we talk about free agency,

trying to cover yourself for the draft too. When I saw Casey Hayward getting released by the Chargers, that perked my ears up a little bit over the weekend. You know, he's thirty one, but to be thirty two was a pro bowler a few years ago. I get that. I get that. But he did play with Mike for Mike McCarthy, did play for Joe Witt, So that one's interesting. And actually the cornerback market is a little bit more robust than maybe we thought because there's been a lot of

guys getting released. Maybe there's not as much money to go around for all of them that could be Cheeto included. But that one kind of stood out to me. Wouldn't keep you from draft in a cornerback high. You know, if if the value was there for you in the draft? Okay, Cinderella, y way do I think this is going to happen? But this is where I'm thinking. I have to stick with what I've said. The biggest need on this defense, and to me, it's a big, strong, disruptive nose tackle.

Give me Dalvin Tomlinson, the highest rated D tackle on the market. He'll probably go back to the Giants. If he doesn't, he's gonna get a deal the Cowboys wouldn't be able to get involved in. I'm very confident of that. But that's where I'm thinking, whether it's free agency or the draft. I don't know how great a draft it is Kyle at that position, it's not great. Maybe they bring back Hand it's not great. Maybe you know, I would expect him to bring back Antoine Woods or try

and restricted free agency. They like their young tackles there, but I would continue looking to try to get some help there. In the seventh round mock draft that I put in or I submitted to the draft magazine this morning, I actually had the Cowboys taking a defensive tackle in the third round, so that I think that's such a need for this organization and for that defense. Especially for Dan Quinn to maybe try and help fix these linebackers a little bit. It's huge. I think that's a huge piece.

But like you said, man, that would be a lot for Tomlinson, like as the as the number one defensive tackle that is, that's gonna be a hefty Cinderella move, no doubt about it. But I don't think it's out of the question though. You think this guy, Yeah, we're just having fun. I like it. Heck, what are your three? No? Man? Get no man, nope, nope no. I just called on you. I just called on you, and you get to go first. You go first because we're saving We got Isaiah, I

know you got. He got some joke. Your graphics are pack go ahead. Made your three? All right? So Chris, first of all, Chris Beams said that we could you know, it was all the secret and we wouldn't be able to pick the same guy. But then Rob goes before me and he takes mine. Guys, So thanks for Rob, as I had always do that to man always. I how I like how the rules change as we go. But it's all good. So I do have Cheeto as my guy that I think is the odd man out.

But you know, there's you know, Alden Smith. I'm also looking at him as well man because I think the rest of the league has seen the production that he's had, and I think he just may receive an offer that we can't match because of his production in those earlier games. But when I look around in free agency for guys, Malcolm Butler is my guy that I would like to bring in. The reason being it's because he's a proven commodity.

Last year with Tennessee had five interceptions. I think that, you know, first of all, there's going to have to be some type of senior leadership in the back end of our defense, and I think that's what we've lacked. I think we've talked about bringing in Earl Thomas and all of that went away. Don't don't do it, Isaiah. But you know, when you talk about Malcolm Butler, he's a proven commodity. He's a guy that you know, has championship pedigree, and I think if we bring him in,

he'll fit nicely into that cornerback meeting room. Now, my Cinderella is actually going to turn the draft show's carriage into a pumpkin, because you're going to have to give up the farm for this guy. But my Cinderella pick is Justin Simmons from the from Denver. Look, guys, there isn't there isn't a free agent and that free safety right now that can match this guy's ball skills and that's what we need. You know, the term ballhawk is you so loosely, but when you turn on the tape,

he is closing on everything. I mean, great tackler, great teammate, but man, just his ball abilities, I think single high safety. You trust him back there. He's just you know, in Denver's defense right now. He does it all. But again you would have to give up two first and so again I'm wrecking the draft show by going to That's okay rickon next year's draft show too. Yeah, you're probably gonna have to take both of them out of there.

Sixteen career interceptions, closing in on three hundred and seventy tackles in just five seasons. You talk about ballhawk, and that's what Justin Simmons brings to the table. I thought for a second there that that Denver tagged Justin Simmons. I'm gonna have to look that up. They did tackle. So you're talking about trading for this guy. This isn't this isn't March madness in terms of free agent you're wanting to Actually, that's why you're giving up the farm. Okay,

I get I get it now, I'm caught up. I'm caught up, all right. Heck ma Harris, or excuse me, Isaiah Stanback. We have put you last for good reason because you came in guns of blazing to our WebEx zoom call thing that we have as as saying that you were gonna throw out the craziest name in terms of Cinderella. If it's Tom Brady, I'm gonna give you so much. Okay, well give me your list. Two are your three guys. There's nothing, I mean, there's nothing crazy.

It's probably Cinderella. For me, is is very attainable, you know. So I was like, think, who saw like the very pretty girl. It was like, you know what, she's probably out of my league, but I still have a chance. You're saying there's a chance. Right, So we when we talk about when we talk about losses, I think that

our loss wise, I think that we are going to lose. Um. Of course, I just freaking blank out god, Oh you got it, Aldon Smith Smith, Aldon Smith, I think we're gonna lose Alton Smith, so I think all Smith is gone um and I think at at the safety position UM for a win for us, it's Keyan O'Neill. I think we I think we can definitely go out there and grab him. However, I feel pretty dog one good about about our stronger safety position. A little young gun

we got out there, Wilson. So if we can't get Kean O'Neil that, I think we can go out there and get Ricardo Allen. So if we like him, I think we go grab Allen. So depending on how those guys feel about their secondary, you get one of those two guys because he's experienced their experience and there and they understand the system. Now, as we talk about Cinderella, I'm going out there getting my dog kJ right out of Seattle, kJ right out of Seattle. Reason being, kJ

is a dog, not d og. He's a dawg, right, so that's how I spell a dog around here. And he is a guy who was a great player, he's a great teammate, a great citizen, right, and he understands this program. He understands the system that Quinn is coming in with I think that we're definitely gonna be running

a lot more for three. So I think that if you had him out there that linebacker, and you had the Wolf on Wall Street, and you had dog on mister and missus shades him set off son of Shades, I think that both the trio at that second level would be absolutely amazing. Now, yes, you guys are gonna say, we still have holes of feeling on the D line,

of course, of course, of course we got holes everywhere. However, if you had those three at three hited monster at linebacker, I think we all can feel pretty dug one good about our second level and about our box, regardless of

who would eight throwing in there. So, looking at his market value right now, his market values two years closing in on fifteen millions, so about seven and a half a year is probably what you would be allotting to kJ right, I don't think that's necessarily out of the question, especially if you see a need at linebacker arise with maybe Sean Lee's retirement or whatever ends up happening with him.

If you bring back a guy like let's say Justin Thomas, and you have kJ right in there as that rotation with those four guys. I'd feel a lot better about that than I did in twenty twenty about that position, no doubt about it. And I don't think seven and a half million to him is necessarily out of the question. Now, Like we said earlier, there's gonna have to be some restructuring. There's gonna have to be some kind of change in terms of the money in order to get to that point.

But even though that's a Cinderella, I think that's a pretty good little underdog Cinderella story that might make a run to the final four there, Isaiah, Cinderella is a girl that you can still get. You just gotta shoot your shot. It's just shot. You better tell Kyle and College to the shot boy talking about Mars Mannus, you miss one hundred percent of the shot you don't take. Yeah, yeah, yeah it is. I mean, but I like kJ wrighting and you can't understate his value to those sensing to

the Seattle organization. Man, that would be big time for them to lose him. I mean, he's been a stud in that organization for a very very long time. So you know, look, kJ wright that's one I really I really like that and then also, h your winner. I think that's obtainable. Also, So out of the the more realistic one, go for it. Rob. Now I'm just saying that that's probably that's a more realistic trio than probably where we had. That's that's a good one. That's good.

That's kind of what my thought process was. And my next question was gonna say, out of the four list that we had, which one did you like the best?

In which one would fix the Cowboys? Quicker is my thought process, And I'm not necessarily talking about the Cinderellas, but I mean we've thrown Neil's name out there a couple of times because of his familiarity with dan Quinn, the potential of getting him on a bit of a discount because of the injury history, but also not to mention a high ceiling as a former first round pick and somebody that of course was drafted to Atlanta because of his similarities to what Seattle had when dan Quinn

was there. So, out of the guys here that we've mentioned, which one do you feel like is the most realistic? Is it Neil? Or is it more realistic to see one of those guys leave the Cowboys like a Cheetah, a Woozier and Xavier Woods or an Alden Smith. I think all of those things are likely. Everything that you just said is likely simply because by sure numbers and cap hit, we may not be able to keep Cheeto.

And then again, other teams may covet his ability and not give us an opportunity to to be able to resign. But I like the uh Rob, the cornerback from San Diego. What was this his last name? Hayward Casey Hayward. Yeah, man, he's He's a guy that I've liked for a very

long time. And I think realistically, even based off of his age and all of that, he's he's somebody that you know, realistically we could get, you know, that wouldn't be expensive at all, That may be more app to sign a one year deal versus some of these other guys that we've mentioned. So we got to and they you know, they would have It would have to be a situation where he's number one. The Cowboys feel like

he still played a high level too. Maybe he would want to go somewhere familiar where I've played for this coach and this coach and and it seems like a good fit. I think it's a It seems like it could be a possibility, but again it's just everything's going to come down to money. And again, you can structure deals in a certain way to make it fit under the cap. You can do that too, but I'm very

curious the how it works. It'll be interesting because the cap is manipulated enough to at least give you a chance. But how much of a chance are you going to get if you if you start bringing in some of these big name free agents. So that leads us to the question of what does the draft bring for this off season. I want to check in with you guys. It's been a little bit since we talked about the draft. I want to see where you guys lie in terms of draft strategy. When we come back on the other

side of the break. We've talked a lot about the secondary. Is offensive tackle a potential in terms of the NFL Draft. We'll mention it when we come back. You're on Talking Cowboys presented by Geico Hi. I'm Clint Tillison with you, nan at Aggin Turf. When there's work to be done, a real workhorse can make all the difference, Like the Range Boss package. Our fifty seventy five e John Deere seventy five horsepower tractor features a bell, spear and loader

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free shipping 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 Hats the official crown of all self respecting Cowboys and your favorite football team. Get yours today at Shop dot Dallas Cowboys dot com or at Stetson dot com.

To Talking Cowboys back here on Talking Cowboys, presented by Guiko. Glad you're with us here on this Monday, and whether you're listening to Talking Cowboys or listening to Mick Shots later in the week, you can experience audio at a whole new level with Bose Quiet Comfort earbuds. Bose Quiet Comfort Earbuds, the official earbuds of your Dallas Cowboys. Heck, well, what does it sound like in there? It's like a symphony in my head. Kyle. Oh, yes, that was way

better than last week. I got it. Yes back, Oh good goodness, grazy glad you guys like it? Yeah? No, that was really good. But what was the rating there? Is? Jah? What was the rating? That was nine point five? Nine point on the Richter scale. Man, that's awesome. Were back in the building. I'll give it a ten. Ten cards all round time. I'll give you an eight point five. I could still see a little bit more from you, but that's because I like pushing you to be a

better human being. I just want you to be better every single day. We're gonna get better here on talking Cowboys. All right. You never fail, You never failed, Kyle Um. Let's look at draft because the next couple big offseason dates. Of course, today being a big offseason dates where teams can officially start negotiating with these free agents and actually agreeing to terms. Whereas the league year starts on Wednesday.

At what is it three pm Eastern time or three pm Central time, four pm Eastern rom is that whenever the league year starts and it's officially new year in the NFL. Yeah, and hey, one quick free agency update is we get going report from ESPN that Cam Irving swing tackle Win Healthy is going to sign with the Panthers twins and ten million. So that didn't take. So that's that's an example, right, that's an example. Like Cowboy, he's had Irving under contract, Yeah for like two and

a half million to be the back. I don't know if you can have that luxury this year. Come on, Camy, five minute happened to Cam? Good job getting your money. He got that money money, he played it played a total of what three games total with the Cowboys last year? Miss? Yeah he missed ten games last year. Okay, yeah, I think he started three or whatever it ended up being. But yeah, no, I mean there's a luxury like you talked about. No, that's great for him. I think you

need to look at tackle in the draft. And I'm still gonna die on that that that hill. But I want to go through these off season dates real quickly. So the new league years starts on Wednesday, and then a couple of weeks after that, on April fifth, that's the start of the off season for new head coaches. The nineteenth is the start of workouts for everyone. So

the NFL workouts we'll get started on April nineteenth. Last day of restricted free agent signings is on the twenty third, and then the last day to match those restricted free agent signings is the twenty eighth of April, the day before the twenty twenty one INFL Draft. So let's talk about that NFL draft. And like I said, going into the last break, it's been a while since I checked in on you guys, but I want to see we

talked a lot about the secondary there. There was no offensive line talk really no offensive talkund around any of our March Madness picks. But whenever you look at this draft, tak Mo, where are your priorities lying? Is it still with going corner early on and drafting heavy defense throughout the entirety of the draft? Do you want to sell high on offense early and maybe pick up some of those defensive guys in the next couple of rounds. Where are you thinking? Whenever it comes to the Cowboys in

April twenty ninth. Yeah, I think you know, obviously, when you talk about the defense, it was abysmal. And if you're not looking at getting better on defense, than you're lying to yourself. But if there's just I can't deny this guy at ten staring you in the face, then you gotta get him too. And I won't bore you with any particulars, but I will say this that I do feel as though defense has to be the priority

no matter what. And so there have been a number of guys that's been thrown around, whether it be the guy from the defensive lineman from Alabama. A lot of people don't feel like bar Marshall gol at ten. But it just depends on where we covet these players and how they fit into the system. They're doing the interview process, they're doing pro days and all of that right now. But definitely cornerback, and we've talked about certain you know, the cornerback from Virginia Tech. I'm born as a kid

from South Carolina. That's also excuse me, oh so stan Alabama Farley Virginia born South Carolina. I just wanted to clarify that. Yeah, so that's yeah, that's Joe also so we got a few guys that come from that pro pedigree. So either way, man, I just feel like you got to go there first off with you with the number ten pick. So you're still sticking with corner Rob. I know you're mister bpa here is there any opportunity to see Kyle Pitts or shots later? Are you against that?

Are you sticking with defense? Don't do it. I can't Heck, this is for you. I can't do that. I can't do that unless it's ceedee Lamb style, like best player on my board at a tackle or tight end, and I just can't refuse it. Ky, this is probably gonna be the best player on your board, I will say, is he really going to be there at ten? Honestly? Yes?

Like probably not, I think you will be I don't. Well, I think if you want to be better this year, and you just signed your quarterback to this mega deal, you might want to get better at defense and try to do something to help your defense. And look, I saw Peter King say, hey, this might be a situation where the top eight picks in the draft or all offense. Well, then you put yourself in a position to draft the best defensive player in the draft potentially. I like that idea.

I mean, and I see I see the other side of it, like, well, maybe you just need your offense to put up forty a game next year. So I back, yeah, offense, and like and so okay, and that scenario, maybe the Pits pick makes sense. But I just I just have a hard time rationalizing that. You look at the roster and say, maybe there's two or three positions where you're just like they just it's not a need tight ends one of them tackle you can talk me into. More so than that, I say, where are you at? Yeah?

I agree with you, guys, man. I mean, I think we have to address defense. I think if ran in a position to get one of these top three corners, and you gonna grab one of these top three corners, you develop them. Um, if you don't have a position, I have opportunity to grab one of those guys in United to grab yourself as a defensive alignment or office alignment. I think that our tackles probably have another couple of years left in them, So if you're not planning for

their replacement, then you're planning to fail. So um, I think's Dak's current contracts will He'll be playing longer underneath this new contract than your officive tackles will will be playing in this league. So I think that you need to go out there and if you have, if you're in a position to grab those guys, you know Smith's

replacement right now? Yeah, you go ahead. He sorry, I just wanted to say that, you know, you're right, And I think as far as the top, you know, top thirty two guys, that's that's something to be talked about.

But also it's really going to be important rounds two through five if there's so so much talent in there and because guys opted out and you didn't get a chance to see them playing in twenty twenty, that's where I think there's really gonna be a challenge for a lot of scouting departments because there's so much talent in there with guys that didn't play last year. That's a great point. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, Kyle had a question

for you, Yeah about offensive tackle. At what point do you think it just tops out this year in terms of town because it seems like there's a lot of guys in this class that are good enough to be

picked in the top two rounds. Yeah, but can you wait past that and still get a future starter potentially, I would probably say midway through the third so probably top what would that be, top seventy five players, So the Cowboys have three picks in the top seventy five, I think you could probably get a starting caliber offensive tackle.

By starting caliber, I mean can be a starter in the next two or three years, because Pine sul w Shaons later, Christian Darisaul all three year starters right now. They'll be the best lineman on a lot of rosters right now. And I'm not saying maybe the Cowboys roster because you've have Zach Martin, you have Lyle Collins hopefully healthy with him, and Tyron Smith. I would put those three guys up against any other offensive line in the

country with Deris all Slater and Sewell. But after that then you have kind of a jumble of players like a Dylan Redunds and Alex Leatherwood. Redunds out of North Dakota State, Alex Leatherwood's out of Alabama, Lee and Eikenberg from Notre Dame, Spencer Brown Northern Iowa, Jalen Mayfield from Michigan. There are guys there that you could potentially draft Walker Little, who was an opt out out of Stanford who's just unbelievably talented. From a physical standboy, he's built like a fridge,

but he's had some off the field issues. He's a twenty twenty opt out. Maybe he falls a little bit and you can maybe snag him. I think he's certainly a starter in caliber offen to tackle. But my biggest thing here is with those three guys up at the top that I mentioned that are starters right now, I think you sell high on those guys kind of like what Isaiah is saying is pick a premium position at a premium spot, and that's what number ten is. That's

a premium spot. Go pick a position that's going to invest in keeping Dak Prescott on his feet and upright. Whereas the offensive line was the biggest storyline in twenty twenty outside of the Dak injury, because nobody could stay up right. Andy Dalton was running for his life. We saw what happened when Benda Nucci came in, Garrett Gilbert came in as well, because guess what, you had to use four different quarterbacks because your offensive line couldn't keep

anybody up right. So I think you invest heavily had offensive tackle, and then you address the cornerback, the secondary, maybe even the defensive line in rounds two through five, like Heck was talking about, because I think there's just more guys there that can be starters at this moment than there are as offensive tackles in those middle rounds.

I don't I don't disagree. The only thing I would say, though, I guess I do disagree a little bit in that Let's say you're even let's say you're not confident in night and Steel to take over for camp, I'm not. Maybe, well, okay, if you and you're not, and your best option anyway might be to do what you finally got around to doing last year, And that's if there's a problem at tackle, Zach Martin's your right tackle or your left tackle, and use your better depth inside to fill in that second

spot at right guard. That's what I would do. Connor Williams can also play tackle in a pinch. I'm confident of that. The other thing too, and maybe the Cowboys just had to do this because they had to create space. The fact that they were willing to touch Lyle's contract and Tyrone's contract and push more money into future years with those restructures. It does tell me, and we've kind of heard this too, that they're doing well in their rehab.

So I mean, I'm just thinking, like Isaiah said, you know, many years down the road, long term, you may have to start looking. But for this year, that tells me they think they're going to be fine for twenty twenty one. And if I'm trying to win, now, that's why I'm thinking defense first. But I mean, that's that's right, that's right now, right, So like right, that's I mean, we know what's behind them or what's not behind them. Not

no just no right, no disrespect. So I mean, if you're if you have an opportunity, so I'm with you. I'm with you, Rob. We need to get a D lineman. Yes, However, if there's an amazing tackle, you know, to to Kyle's point, if there's an amazing tackle, grab them because there's not that many of them. Yeah. Right, that's probably the hardest quarterback quarterback in officsive tackle or probably the two hardest positions to be right on, agreed, fair, It's just that's

that's just in the entire league. There's that's the two hardest positions to make sure that you have, and that's the reason why those guys get paid the most. Right, you can find a edge rusher, you can find good linebackers, you can find dbs, find receivers, running backs, all that. When it comes down to quarterbacks, we see what's going on there and officsive tackles. They play forever, and they still demand high dollar because you can't just teach that.

So you need to grab it if it's there, because these guys are I mean how, I mean how many more? How many more years? You guys say he's gonna play two? He's a young thirty. He may be able to play two or three. Yeah, two more. They're hoping it's more than that because because if he if he doesn't, then the dead money on his contracts gonna be insane. Yeah, he can he play more? Probably will he play more? I don't think so. I think he gonna play two more years and shut it down. So, but you need it,

you need to have his replacement ready. Shut it down a big man. I love what you what you're saying, Isaiah, and I think that's right. And obviously we all hope that Tyren Smith is healthy for the twenty twenty one season. But we've learned that that hope is not a strategy when it comes down to the health of our tackles. Yea, and we have to get we have to find a

way to shore up the swing tackle position. And that's why if a guy like Slater presents himself at ten and I cringe because I knew he struggs is over this shoulder right here. That's why I'm like, man, we may captain. We may have to do that because later is a guy that not only can't he play the left tackle position if that, you know, again health wise becomes available, he's also a guy that you can slide into a guard position as a starter. So it's it's just what it is. You have to look at that

and again planning to succeed and not to fail. Still had to learn on the job. He may be better this year because of what he had to go through and what OTAs may do for him as well. But I think the same things that we're facing and talking about free agency, there are going to be a lot of swing tackles out there on the market, you know. So we lost cam Irvin, but there's there are a few other guys out there that may present themselves in the next coming weeks that we can sign and get

a good deal on them. I'm not worried about picking up a backup swing tackle. I'm not really worried about that. I'm worried about replacing the offensive line that you've invested already so heavily in to protect the investments that you have invested so heavily in on offense, including your quarterback,

you're running back, and three different wide receivers. And yeah, so I'm I'm just saying there are so many investments on that side of the football that if you put a below average and buy below average, I mean, one of the league worst offensive lines back out there in twenty twenty one if the health doesn't stand up. Because, like Isaiah said, hope is not the right kind of answer whenever it comes to the offensive line. We saw that a year ago. I'm worried about that, and instead,

I would rather have a super offensive line. I would rather have Tyrant Smith then with Rashonse later than with Tyler Biattish, Zack Martin and Lyle Collins and said, stop us defensive East, come at us Chase Young. Let's figure it out. Okay, Okay, I'm just hoping that dan Quinn's gonna come in because he's dan Quinn and fix everything without some some influx of talent. I don't think that's a strategy either, but it's a great it's a great argument.

But we have holes everywhere though, right right right, holes everywhere. So absolutely we I think we're all on the same accord where we say that we need to get a defensive alignment. That's I think we're all in consensus. Name or however, Well, I think the bigger story here is that, like I said, you can't pass on a sure thing at tackle. Yep, you just can't. You can't do it, especially when you're when you're investing into your quarterback like this, right,

your job is now to protect him. Why you think that freaking Russell Wilson is thinking about trying to get up out of Seattle because they haven't invested protecting him, right and so reality, when when they were investing money into protecting him, they were going to the Super Bowl year after year, right back to back. When they had they had they had the most salary heavy officer line in the league. Right, they have spent the allocade. The most fun was officer line, and I guess what it

resulted in them going back to back Super Bowls. Then they got cocky and they said, you know, we can do it through free agency, right, we don't have to draft anybody, we have to develop anybody. And now look what's happening right now, they're on I'm talking about some other boys. I'm just starting to for somebody. I got an example. They say, Oh man, all right, is that where are y'all? Pits? Though? What if it's a tight end at ten? Now, okay, okay, because you can talk

me more so into a tackle than tight end. Yeah, I know how great Pits is as a prospect. I know it. But no, I no, I've said this before about Kyle Pitts. Even if you can guarantee that he's a Hall of famer, you have had a Hall of Fame tight end on your roster for the past what decade with Jason Witten, and it didn't get you no race. You don't have any rings exactly. So I love Kyle

Pitts too. I think he could be a game changer, But in terms of need, you can get along with Blake Jarwin and Dalton Schultz just fine, We've already figured that out. So I'm not worried about tight end moving into the future as much as I am about tackle and protecting the investments. I would rather protect offensive tackle in the offensive line rather than that. Plus and Rob said this, I know we're going over time, Chris, I'm

I feel you're you're angst in the other room. But whenever Rob said you just relying on Dan Quinn to fix this defense without an influx of talent, I don't necessarily think you're not having an influx of talent because there's those guys in the second, third, and fourth rounds that you could go in draft and that could be starters. You got Treyvon Diggs last year at fifty one, you're picking at forty four this year. You're gonna get another

guy like that. And I know that's a lot to say, because forty four that a lot of things can go wrong. I fully believe you can find the right guy at forty four, whether it's Elijah mold and are Richie Grant, some of these different guys that are going to be in the secondary that'll compliment Treyvon Diggs extremely well, or Donovan Wilson. I'm just saying I think there are guys you can go get and you can go draft offensive tackle in the first and it would be just fine.

But that's gonna do it for us here on Talking Cowboys, presented by Geico, continue this conversation with us. If you're interested in continuing this conversation defense versus offensive tackle in the first round, tweet at us. Get at us on Twitter, because Rob Phillips three on Twitter is always happy to answer questions. We got Heck underscore Harrison, I am stand back on Twitter, and then I'm at Kyle underscore Yeomans.

But for Chris be No, yeah, yeah, I hit up Isaiah for draft questions, Let's get him on Twitter a little bit more. But for Chris Beam in the back and these four jokesters, I'm Kyle Yeomans. We'll see you next week here on Talking Cowboys. This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club