The following.
He is a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club Cowboys.
This He's Talking Cowboys Straining live from the Dallas Cowboys World Head Course at.
The Star in Frisco.
Touchdown and now your hosts Isaiah Standback, Nick Harris, John Mashoda, and Kyle Yeomans. It's an off season addition of Talking Cowboys presented by Black Rifle Coffee Company, live from the Star in Frisco, Texas, in.
The SWBC studio.
Welcome in, everybody, Glad you're with us. We have the full cast and crew back in the fold. That's right, everybody's ready to roll. We've got Nick Harris, John Machoda, Isaiah stand Back, Chris Beam in the back.
I'm Kyle Yeomans.
Okay. We're doing No One.
And only doing well. My my headphones are low, so I'm gonna take them off. But doing well, doing fantastic.
Yeah.
What you got right there? You got back here?
What is that that old thing right there? That thing?
I don't have one? Where's mine?
That's the official twenty four Dallas Cowboys Draft Guide. These are the first copies printed.
They're not even available to the public yet I haven't even coming soon. Yeah, Nick hadn't even had He wrote a good chunk of this thing and he hasn't even seen it yet.
I feel some type of way right now though there's no Washington. There's an Organ guy on here, but not a Washington guy.
That was a That was a that was a.
Conscious I know, but that was a conscious decision my part to leave out watching.
Championship the first their runners up, but.
We beat We beat Organ in the Organ.
Won the center, in the in the country, Oregon was the whole champion.
Is there player gonna get drafted before Washington player? Uh no, no, no, we have twolayers wouldet drafted before him?
I was like, I was like, Fountain, maybe.
We have two players I was gonna get drafted before Orgon guy.
I'll tell you what disappoints me about this.
Oh no, there's not an athletic logo on there.
That But like for ads like this where they have dak huh, Like, how can't you have just Nick Harrison some of these like.
Yeah, just me on top of the plane.
All the work that he's put in here, you don't have hold him holding some Canada drive.
Nick has a has a calendar coming out saying, oh no, I.
Would have had to boo me for a photo shoot. This, that's I heard you on the read. I know you're ready for it.
We've got to find a way to fit him.
Some sponsors going to pick him up. Maybe a black rifle, take out a page ad.
Next, what would it take.
For you to have your calendar so fun calendar?
Yes, just a couple of dollars. Oh, shoot, I've heard of that.
I would I will start to go, don't do that.
Do we get to pick the outfits? Oh?
Man, let's got to be right. I don't get excited. The prices gotta be right.
What would the price be? Talk about it because you have to give four numbers or five?
You have to give them. My agent might be six, depending on the office.
Oh, I don't know if we got that. We don't have that kind of I can't raise that kind of bread.
Now.
I've heard of it being a fantasy football punishment.
Have you ever heard of that. It's a fantasy where you do the.
At the end of the season, the last place UH player in your fantasy football.
League has to do calendar shoot the body issue.
Yes, let's do it.
Like and and everybody gets a copy.
We're doing this year fantasy football.
Your hands going to stand there for a long time.
I'll do fantasy football, but I'm not doing it calendar.
Yeah, well, just don't lose.
Oh is that how it works?
Yeah?
Because I said that last year and I ended up taking the s a T.
So it sounds like somebody's never played fancy football because.
I have much luck involved with it.
Absolutely, there is yeah here.
For those that are listening, my hand is extended and looking at it. Right.
Surprise, oh surprise. Come on, man, we're gonna raise some funds. Beamer wouldn't lose.
That's the thing.
In fact, exactly got that.
I don't want to play against Beamer in anything, especially cornhole.
Somebody asked me about cornhole last week and I had They were like, man, I do, but you're really good at cornhole. I was like, actually, I am, actually relatively okay, except for when I play against guys like Beamer. Because Beamer destroyed me, made it seem like I was a young boy and he was a Doug on Jedi night at training camp.
This year, Beamers mister cornhole.
Yes, yeah, I I I take my hat off for him.
All right, let's get into some news and notes.
There's a couple of things going on and have been going on around the Star in first go, mostly after related nick Whenever you look at Dallas day thirty visits starting this week, the big twelve Pro day was in town.
Where do you want to start with those?
Well, we can also start with owners meetings last week, just kind of what wrapped up there in Orlando last week, the new kickoff rule getting approved, which is it's fascinating because they adopted it from the XFL. But then you look at the UFL this last weekend and they just ended up going right back to the normal kickoff rules, except they pushed it back to the twenty yard line. So it's kind of fascinating that they basically just swapped kickoff rules.
But we'll see how that goes into play this next year.
Kickers are incentivized to kick it between the goal line and the twenty yard line instead of just kicking it out of the end zone as far as they can, so that'll be an interesting adjustment for Brandon Aubrey and then Cavante's turpin. He's gonna have to really dial in
on his field vision to get some big returns. I know I've been critical of his field vision on this podcast in the past, so I think there's gonna have to be some improvement there with Turpin to be able to break some of those returns in that new kickoff role. But moving past off of owners meetings. Yeah, as you mentioned, Kyle, thirty visits this week. Dallas Day was yesterday, Big twelve Pro Day was this past weekend at the Star.
A lot of things happening thirty visits.
Will have a little bit more on the Draft show on that, but basically they're bringing in thirty of their top prospects, you know, the across all seven rounds that you know they want to talk with and meet with more in person, and they'll go through basically a car wash talking to people around the building, whether it be front office coaches, position coaches, strength and conditioning, scouting, all of that. It's a really good opportunity for the team to be able to meet with these guys and get
a better view of who they are in person. And then after that it's it's all full steam ahead.
Into the draft.
Here.
We're getting about three weeks away, which is crazy.
Kind of remember thirty visits, yeah, or Yeah, where did you take yours?
I went to I went to Dallas.
To Seattle for like a local day.
He didn't go to Seattle. It was not in their top thirty.
Did you feel the type of way?
But not even a little bit, not even a little bit. I went to Dallas, I went to Saint Louis at the time, I went to Jacksonville in Miami.
Okay, which one was your favorite?
So to say, there's three really bad airports there, But.
And I had to and I had to fly back to I think I was in LA at the time. I had to fly back to LA every time, like they wouldn't let you go, Like if I flew to Dallas Lois. I was rehabing in LA, so like they wouldn't let me fly to Dallas and in the Saint Louis. Like there was one time I flew from LA to Miami and then I had to fly back to LA just to fly back to Jacksonville. Yeah, there's a lot of flying, bro But now there were good visits. I remember sitting down with Double J the first time had
an opportunity to do that. I remember flying at the DFW and that was my first time ever experiencing that, and I was like, this is the biggest airport in the world. And I don't remember where we met, but I feel like we met at the airport there. I mean we met at the hotel at the airport. I think that's yeah. I think it was there because I remember still seeing the airport while I was there, So that was that was interesting.
Uh.
The one that I hated the most, I can tell you that the one I hated the most was Miami because Miami had messed around with my foot at the time I was rehabbing my foot from tearing out tearing my my list list Frank injury, and they had already
contorted my foot in a really bad way. I think I might to share that at some point in time at the combine, and I didn't really take a good liking to that, and I went down there and they did more of that, and their doctors were pretty much just like prodding me, just just just doing everything they could to try to elicit any kind of pain reaction from me to see exactly how far along I was in rehab. And then they took a kicker. I think, wow. Yeah,
they called me and woke me up as well. The second day of the draft, because that's when they were doing the first It was the first three rounds Day one, and then it was four through seven Day two. Back back in two thousand and seven when I got drafted and they called and woke me up from my sleep and then took a dog on a kicker I believe it was or a pun.
Wow.
Yeah, I was pretty angry so Miami I was that was not a fan of Miami.
How long did that kicker make in the league.
I don't know.
I'm gonna make it further than the mood.
I don't even know who was.
Oh, I'm going to figure it out.
Who do they take in the in the fourth?
Yeah, but we early I think I think that's what the fourth if you done a by the Dolphins, Yeah, they to take him in the third because you went the fourth.
Yeah, I went top and four.
Well the third only took Lorenzo Booker running back.
Yeah. But anyway, so yeah, that was my top thirty.
We're going to get to the bottom of this.
Yeah, if my memory might be jacked up, I got hit a few times. Yeah, upon after that's what That's what I think it was. It was Jacksonville took upon Jacksonville.
Yeah, Pittsburgh took Daniels Sada from UH Baylor.
No one more time. It sounded there you go.
But you know the business was cool, man, But you know, you see guys, you don't really see a lot of guys, like it's kind of like you're kind of everything is very scheduled. Remember, at least at that time, everything was very scheduled. You didn't really pass a lot of guys. It wasn't like, oh, we're all eating in the same spot. It was like you fly in, you meet, you fly out. At that time, Yeah, I don't know how different it is now.
It's not far off player that you're a drafted I mean from a from a thirty visit standpoint. Right now, you come in, you you immediately meet, You usually eat breakfast at the facility. You get to meet with a bunch of coaches, position coaches, and then they set up blocks of times.
I meet with the.
Front office staff, then you meet with the scouts, then you meet with the coaching and then you meet with the head coach, and it's kind of like all over it's just a block day and then you you fly out later at that in the night so it's not too far off from.
What you had. Maybe another free meal or two thrown in, but not at all. That's that's really what it looks like. Yep, that's cool.
It is important to keep track of thirty visits though, because I mean, the Cowboys traditionally will take some multiple thirty visits in the upcoming draft and at different times in the draft. It may not be the first round pick, but it could be your second round pick, third round pick.
Who knows how much of that do you think or your fits? I guess per I guess it depends on last year they took a sixth in terms of a gainsmanship being that because that kind of it can kind of tip your hat in terms of who you're really looking at. How much of that is like kind of gamesmanship in terms of, oh, we're gonna bring this guy in?
Just because I will say that under Jason Garrett it was very telling who the thirty. It has not been as telling under Mike McCarthy, but under j when Jason Garrett was head coach man, that was a really good bet. I want to say all of his first round picks, aside from mow Clayborn, were thirty visit guys, whereas with the Cowboys, I don't think.
Ceedee Lamb was a thirty visit.
I don't believe.
So there's been a couple that and since McCarthy's been actors, they didn't take yeah so well.
And like Jalen Hurts was a thirty visit in that twenty twenty draft because it was the virtual and they did all the right that stuff. So Aalen Hurts was technically a thirty visit. Tyler Smith was not. Micah and Mazie were. So it's like it's not completely telling. And I mean you'll see at times last year they had a ton of receivers in the building. They had Quinton Johnston from TCU, they had Jackson Smith and Jigbu.
From rock Wall. That's kind of a Dallas Day thing.
But they have these guys, these these position groups that they have no interest in taking currently that will come in and either that's a part of the gamemanship just to kind of like muddy the water or its future consideration. You know, hey, we're not going to trade up to go get Caleb Williams, but you may bring him in just to go see like what's going on, Like how's how's he processed the game, how does he do on a whiteboard? How does he mesh with coaching staff? I
mean all that kind of stuff matters. So that way down the road, seven or eight years, who knows.
Maybe Kayleb Williams is available. And that's just another conversation.
If Washington had the number one overall pick and it was like as certain as it is for Chicago taking Kayleb Williams, would you waste a thirty visit on bringing Kaleb Williams in just to see what he's just to see what he's going, just to pick his brain.
Sure I would.
If you're Callabiyas as an agent, would you show up?
Yeah?
Yeah, I think so?
Yeah, Okay, interesting, Yeah, that's a.
Good point too.
There was a guy that was, i mean top top five eligible the last couple of years that came in.
I'm gonna have to come go back and look at my notes.
I would go to every single thirty visit that invited to I wasn't the number one, surely yeah, because I would be just fine. If some really good team is going to package up a ton of picks, they come up and get me and I'm in a way better situation than going.
To whoever was the worst tea in the year before.
Like, yeah, Also, I hope that these agents are passing along wisdom in terms of the long game, right, because yeah, there might be teams that are trying to get you to come to a thirty visit that aren't anywhere in position to take you. Yeah, right, you know, obviously they could do trades and things of that nature, but realistically they're not in a position to take you in this year's draft at the pick that you're most likely going
to go at. But five years from now, you don't know how that meeting can have an impact on what may come into future. So in terms of the long games, you know, relationship building, you know, how is your you know, how is your character? You know, are you going to come on the visit? Do you think that you're bigger than the organization? Do you think that you're bigger than
the pick? Like, there's so many other things that you can take away from that that I hope that these agents are putting their guys in position to take advantage of if they're invited on some of these thirty visits.
That's the point of the thirty visit.
Right is to get to know these products or these prospects, to get to know them on a deeper level than just film and medicals, because that's that's what they have right now, is film medicals, and then any informal or formal meeting that they've had, either at.
The Senior Bowl or combine down the road. This is the formal formalism ultimately what.
It is the thing with him talking about the foot, though, if I was coming off of an injury, I think maybe that might now hearing that story hinder that. Yeah, where I'm like, I don't know if I need to go to every single and again I'm talking about you know, vit number one overall picked or likely going to be the number one overall pick.
I don't know if I want all these teams doing that to me.
And yes, but if I'm healthy and they just want to sit down and talk to me, like, I don't think I would turn anybody down.
Yeah, all right, let's take our first break. When we come back.
I want to talk a little bit about the cap situation, And I know that sounds kind of broad, but that's.
What it needs to be.
The cap situation is what it is for the Cowboys because of X. We're going to talk about that and what the Cowboys could do for the rest of the off season because we're weeks at this point into free.
Agency and there still hasn't been a ton of movement.
We're going to talk about it when we come back right after this on Talking Cowboys.
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Welcome back into Dear Doctor, the Show where I amswer life's questions with an ice cold can of doctor pepper. Sheila let's hear from my next caller.
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Nope, you're just gonna read your magazine insteagazine. It is a nice man.
I did not get in my oats, Kyle, because the show got moved back to ten o'clock last week when it was at nine o'clock. I was here in time to get some oats ready to roll. I was ready to roll with the road oats at the best show you've ever had. Probably not, but I mean it's okay. I love my oats, but I haven't had any What do you feel like the best show you've ever had? Was?
Was that the Hot Sauce episode?
It's gotta be the White Draws. Hot Sauce was a good one, though.
The Hot Sauce that was Nick, That was your best, hands down.
So this is this is an interesting topic to me because I'm definitely one of those people that I don't like watching anything that I do over again. I hate the way my voice sounds like I never feel like anything is ever where I'm like, oh, yeah, this was really good thing.
So do you guys feel that way?
Like you know, whether you're calling a game or you know when you're doing I don't know.
Heck, even when you played in games, did.
You ever feel like cringe a lot of times?
Yeah? That's the way I feel about.
Yeah, like the way you acted when when we brought that the wrestling video, which I didn't think it was bad, but you were like you didn't want to see it.
Bring it up again?
Yes, I think I was.
Yeah, get that one.
I think to be more critical on you know what I what I put forth, I want to be able to have like a good understanding of it, because not everyone hears your voice and thinks, oh, that's cringe.
It's only you that feels that way. So I just took that out of my mind.
And there's like actors that say like they never watched, never do movies, and that's why I could.
I don't like to, but I think it's necessary. And plus, you know, like our coach, our coach that we have is he's pretty anal when it comes to you know, be on top of you, on top of your feedback. So I have to watch that with with his perspective, you know. So I try to take that and take the wisdom from people who have been there, done that, coach greats and look at it from their lens, because if you don't, then you feel like you that you know better.
Yeah, I just want to know what Jerry Madelone would say about that sentence.
The thing about going back and watching it is the.
I had a mentor very early on tell me, like, you have to get over that because like for me specifically, I call games in every sport and I kind of go and do that a lot. I want to get better at it. It's like watching film. This is kind of the easy way to look at it. It may not be good film and you may have to kind of get.
Over it a little bit and put your pride aside.
But I've gotten into a rhythm where once or twice a month I'll go back and watch a game and it's entirely or watch a pregame or postgame show talking Cowboys draft show in its entirety, and really like dissect it and go into it. It's like you said, it's tough at first to kind of get into it and listen to your own voice. But at some point it turns around. At some point it does, and now I just listen to Isaiah's boys.
That's the best part about it.
All right, Let's talk about the elephant in the room, gentlemen. There's not an elephant actually in the room, I.
Say, sorry.
The fact that there has been zero movement from the Dallas Cowboys this offseason. The one outside signing has been Eric Hendricks. You've seen all these guys leave at different points throughout the off season, like a Tyron Smith and Doornce Armstrong's so on and so forth.
I can name all of them, but I'm got his valor.
Yeah, So why, I mean, that's kind of the number one concern right now of teams right now, or of fans I should say right now about this Dallas Cowboys team.
Why it's a concern stemming I'll dive into it.
The concern stemming from from upstairs is that if signing anybody this go around, whether it be in free agency or you know, extending anybody out of this point or restructuring anything, you're pushing money along in those voidable years, and the cash that you would spend now, you're pushing those that money into avoidable years where they feel like they're going to have restricting cap situations in twenty twenty five, twenty two, six, et cetera. Not as much a twenty six.
It's more so a twenty five problem. That is the understanding from upstairs. I'm trying to communicate that clearly because there is a clear disconnect between Twitter and upstairs as far as what the cap situation exactly looks like.
I am the messenger, who not kill the messenger.
Well, that's the thing we're not selling hope by telling exact facts. That's not what we're trying to do here. It's unfortunate they haven't signed players yet, they haven't retained some good talent like an armstrong I mean a be honist. You don't have a starting center right now, so I'll throw him in the mix. Left tackle Tyron Smith.
I think you can.
Fix that by the draft, yeah, and you can fix that by replacing free agents at some point.
But when you don't have money to spend, you don't have money to spend.
And I think this term meteoric whenever Jonathan Hankins left and his contract was basically nothing, and the fans.
Were like, Okay, we can't afford that.
So it's I think that's where most of this frustration had stemmed around. I don't think Hankins was a situation where they couldn't afford him, though. I think it was a situation where he wanted to go play for dirty and get back and that's on the West Coast. I think that's that's what I believe as far as Hankins goes. But I haven't talked to the man, so I don't know that one hundred percent. But I don't think it
was one hundred percent financial. But I mean, you look at the other situations and the guys that they have resigned and the dollar amounts that they've resigned them for the outside free agents that have gone on and signed for you know, low dollar amounts as well. I think you can fully expect that this team is just looking forward to the draft and trying to address needs in the draft. And I think post June one, you'll probably see that free agent you know, swing that you see
in the summer. I think they'll be a little bit more active in that, just trying to fill up the team. But if you're looking for a big name like you know, Derrick Henry going into the off season or anything like that, I don't really know what you were expecting to be honest, because if signing a guy like that, let's just let's take money out of the equation. It's a thirty year old coming into a running back room where they are trying to improve and have a little bit more youth
in that room as well. They're going to go draft a guy and they're expecting that guy to be able to step up and beat RB one.
Yeah, look at that running back room.
I don't think anyone would be confident in anybody in that room being RB one right now and being able to carry on that load. So you go get a Jonathan Brooks, you go get a Trey Benson, et cetera, et cetera. That's what they need in that room. That's just one example, but I think that can kind of go on both sides of the ball well.
And I think you bring up a great point of there's still time to address needs. It just hasn't happened yet, because you have to feel the team, I mean, pure and simple. You've got to you've got to put together your draft picks, which you don't.
Have a boatload of.
You've got a normal amount with seven, but you don't you don't have the money to go out there and sign all these guys that you would want to sign at some point. And I've heard this analogy from throughout the building, but it's like spending on a credit card, and that credit card at some point, whenever you kick contracts down the road, whether it be Dak Zach Martin, Tyr, Tyron Smith, Terrence Steele, you're pushing this money further and further away, but at some point it will come back
and hit the cap. And I think a big misconception a lot on the way is that cash doesn't count toward the cap.
That's wrong.
At some point, every single dollar that's given as a cash offer or a signing bonus or whatever that ends up being. That money will at some point hit the cap. It's just whether of win it will hit the cap. And so whenever you're saying, oh, that money's all gone, that forty million that you gave the deck as a signing bonus, that's just not going to ever hit. It's going to hit. And that's part of it is it's all kind of hitting at this point in time. So
you've spent the credit card, you've swiped it. You fielded a team over the last couple of years. You struck out in the playoffs, which is unfortunate and fortunate, but you won twelve games in each of the last three years. You got to find a way to fill the team in twenty twenty four then continue to push on.
That window down the line. That's what they're trying to do right now.
They're doing hard stuff right now, and this is where this organization is at. You know, you guys have laid out some great examples. You just laid it out and make in terms of where these guys are at situationally. But the reality is they have to watch their friends go go on vacations right now, and they don't have bread to do it. And that's that's where I don't know if everybody's ever been in that position before.
Right now, Yeah, you spent you spent your bread.
You know what I'm saying. Like you might have you might have got a nice car, you might have got you know, a nice house or whatever it might be. Yeah, three kids popped out of nowhere. Yeah. But then but then, like all your friends are like, hey, we're about to go, We're about to go to Europe. You want to come, You're like, yeah, the way my bank accounts set up
right now, I just can't do that. So you got to sit back and you got to watch them go have fun, and you just got to trust and believe in your process and say, Okay, next year, this time around, I'll be in a better position to be able to go do the things that I want to do.
I'm gonna go join Perry Church on the skiing and gonna make it happen, you know.
What I'm saying.
So, like that's where they're at.
They're making grown up decisions right now, and and it sucks, and nobody likes not being able to do what you want to do. But at some point in time. You have to be an adult about it. You have to be responsible, and you have to do the things that are absolutely necessary to put you in a position in the future. Otherwise you keep digging a bigger hole.
And so from the fans standpoint, I understand their frustration because of one Jerry repeatedly saying the all in thing, which made everything worse to begin with. The Other part is that you see the salary cap go up thirty million, and you just assume, well, yeah, business is boom in the NFL. It's just going to keep going up like that. I don't get the sense of the cowboys feel like
that's going to continue to happen. So they are projecting out like looking into the future, as you mentioned, you know, so you've got to factor that in.
The number that we were told was ten million over the next three years is what it would rise from what it is right now. So it took us step up and then it's going to even out. It'll still go up because it's the NFL. But if you look at sky Rocket that it was his passed off.
If you look at pre pandemic era of salary cap jump, it's typically about seven percent, and that would equate to about sixteen million.
So there you go.
So that's part of it. And then the other thing is is that it's it's told to us that this is being done so that they can be sure that they're able to re sign dak CD and Micah and then none of that stuff's happening.
But then there's even this.
Even if it does happen or it was happening right now and those guys are getting resigned, there's if you're a fan, there's a party that is looking at it like, well, yeah, we already have those we want more stuff. That stuff wasn't good enough for us to even beat the packers. You know, if those three guys that you're paying are Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, Chris Jones, You're just like, yeah, no, no,
I understand. We're not gonna be able to keep you know, all of our DB's and we're gonna have to make some moves and stuff like that. We're gonna lose the Tyreek Hill, but then we're gonna go on and we're gonna keep playing in super Bowls. And so you're not getting any closer to Super Bowls and you're not getting
any additional players. So my big thing on this is it's like, it's got to be tough for a fan because on paper, your team is not gonna be better next year than was this previous year, and this previous year it wasn't good enough to get over the hump either, And so it's like, well, if you're not adding any new pieces, then what am I supposed to hope for? Where am I supposed to get excited about this team going in the next season? And that's why I kind of compare it to I wrote today about what Mike
McCarthy said last week. I compare it to twenty fourteen and twenty sixteen. Those were really good years for the Cowboys, but those are years going into them where the expectations have been had been lowered, you know. I mean Jerry said in that twenty fourteen in training camp that it was gonna be an uphill battle. And that's a wild coming from a Jerry Jones who never talks like that at training camp.
It's usually very positive.
Whatever, and what do they do in twenty fourteen The end up having a great season, and then in twenty sixteen, you know, they're coming off of Romo's hurt in twenty fifteen, they only win four games, So you're sitting there like, all right, well this will be the year because and then Romo goes down in the preseason and you're just like, oh, they're gonna They're gonna rely in this fourth round pick. And they end up winning thirteen games to get the
one seed. And so when expectations have been lowered, the Cowboys have respound. Now they still haven't made a deep playoff run, and that's ultimately what this crew is going to be decided on.
But I get both sides of it.
The only issue is, though, is like when you talk about like taking it to Twitter, it just gets like kind of dark and just the way I don't know the back and worth with people, it just gets so negative that it, like, for example, for myself, like I don't even like getting involved with it, just because there's just you can have ten good interactions and then three just super negative ones to where you're just like, I'm not doing this anymore, Like I'm not getting paid any
extra to do this thing, Like why am I taking my time out of the day so people are going to take shots at me and stuff like that. So I totally I'm on the side of sometimes you just got to take a step back from doing all that stuff too.
So, like you said, there's two sides to it. There's the side of it that's the frustrated fan.
And I get it. I grew up a Cowboys fan. I want to see this team win just as much as anybody.
On the other side, there's the business element of the NFL and the salary cap. Jerry Jones has said it before it and I believe him in this matter because I see what he does around the building.
If he didn't have a.
Salary cap, he would pay for a team that would win the Super Bowl every year. It would he would New York Yankees this thing more than anybody because the.
Yankees don't have a salary cap.
He would be the Dallas Cowboys without a salary cap as well. I believe that he wants to win as bad as anybody.
The longer I cover the team, I doubt that a little bit more each year that goes by.
But yeah, I don't know why why do you doubt it? I mean, I don't know what. I don't know if you're going to get in.
But no, no, it's fine.
I just think that there's certain areas where uh coaching staff for example, there's no salary cap on coaching staff, no, Like, so how come they don't just go out and you're just always like, oh yeah, well the cow would just spend whatever and they just get like, you know, they literally have like the the da Alls Cowboys, how much
they're worth. They literally every time you like every time you look at their staff, best wide receiver coach, best running back coach, best I mean, you see it in college. You see it all the time in college, the big money teams, the Alabamas and stuff like that.
The Georgia's they're not, they're not.
Yeah, they bring up Now their staffs are are a little bit different because there's a lot of gas and things like that. But like they're just like little things like that. The longer I cover the team and like, is it really exhausting every single last dollar?
Maybe, well who would you go get in that element?
I mean you went and got Mike McCarthy, who at the time, I mean we're five years down the road now. At the time, he was one of the few Super Bowl active head coaches in the NFL that had been to the mountaintop and done it. I know, it's been a long time, trust me, but he was one of them that had done it. Other than that, what are you going to get. You're going to get John Harball, You're going to get Mike Tomlin, You're going to get
Bill Belichick. Even right now, I don't think Bill Belichick is a better higher than what Mike McCarthy has done.
Yeah, I mean there's there's elements to it.
I agree with you, and you could spend on maybe position coaches, but I don't think we've had a problem with any of the position coaches along the way, And if we have, we've I mean it's been a quick thing.
I just.
Because even that individual like the Dallas Cowboys coaching staff is not like one of the highest paid coaching staffs, and sure like you would assume with everything with the Dallas but you would assume like, no, no, this is every every single part of this best best beast. Like you know, when those NFLPA surveys come out, every single thing would be best best it's the Dallas Cowboys.
You have every single thing.
So it's a good point.
I don't know there is. I mean, there's kind of team I believe me.
There was a lot of times where I used to argue with people, other reporters and things like that, saying that like, oh, Jerry doesn't care about winning. Whatever hell he cares about is the money. And I'm like, well, if you win big that nothing's going to bring in more money than that.
So I don't doubt. I'm just saying that, I don't doubt one hundred percent what you're saying.
I just saying every year I cover the team, the more and more I'm just kind of gives that really the case.
Maybe, Yeah, there's elements to it, there's levels to it, and we've seen that along the way, and I think this off season brings a little bit of all of those elements out. So everybody has an opinion over a certain area or aspect of this team, and it's going to continue to grow as the off season goes along, which is why we'll be here as we continue.
To talk about it.
All Right, we've got to take our second break. When we come back. There'd be a possible homecoming in Dallas. We'll talk about it when we come back. Right after this.
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To Talking Cowboys.
Back here on Talking Cowboys presented by Black Rifle Coffee Company. This segment of the show was brought to you by Invisi Line, the official smile of the Dallas Cowboys. Isaiah has already got a smile on Ready to roll. John Machoda, Nick Harris, Chris Beam in the back. I'm Kyle Yeomans, all right, would you ever return to a team.
That let you walk in free agency?
Would you ever come back? If if the time and the place was right?
Yep?
Would you ever do it?
Absolutely?
Yeah, especially if the options that I was looking at whenever that team did leave me, leave me into the free agency pool were abundant.
I'll say that, yeah, would you if you were the Dallas Cowboys, welcome Ezekiel.
Elliott back into the fold? Yes, as a part of this team.
Yes?
Why.
I think that he was a foundational pillar. I think he was an exemplary player for this organization. I think that way he provided this team can't be forgotten. I think he's still productive. I think that's probably the more important thing at this point in regards to where he would be valuable to this team. Red zone blocking. Obviously, you still need a piece that would coincide with him. But I think if you're going to carry, you know,
three solid backs on this roster. I think that he could still provide value for you, depending on the guy that you that you end up getting in the draft.
Okay, so he would be the tandem back. I mean that's kind of the expectation. He's not gonna be RB one. He's gonna be paid like a backup running back, and then he would be the guy to mentored this next generation.
Would you do it?
Would you bring him back?
You mentioned everything that he does well blocking, you have that in the running back room, red zone presence, you don't have that, but you can go get that in the draft. I struggle with throwing Ezekiel Elliott into that running back room when the defensive tackle position only has one body in it right now, when the linebacker corp could really use an extra body or two, the safety unit arguably could use an extra body or two.
Corner as well. I mean, you can look all around the team.
I just I feel like the can go draft a running back, pair him with freeco Daoudle Duce, Vaughan Hunter Lipkey in that room and just see what tandem works best.
I don't.
I think I think the running back room issues from last year would not have been solved with Ezekiel Elliott.
So I don't. I don't think there's necessarily a huge value.
But if you get him on a veteran minimum he wants to come in and he understands that he'd be competing for a job, not that he would have one, then sure, yeah, that's fine.
That's that's the mindset that I have. I'm not saying just bring him in and hand him the job. But I'm not. As much as I love duce Vaughan, I'm not confident that he'll be on this roster by the end of training camp.
That's just being he's gonna have to show out.
He's going to show out on offense and special teams yep. And unfortunately his size has had an impact on his ability to be effective in both of those regards to date. Now his ability is just how effective he's been. So that's a reality. That's been his reality his entire life, and that's the situation he finds himself in. He has to find a way. He always has up to date, but he has he's gonna have to prove that. And
for those reasons, I don't see. I don't I don't have a crystal ball, but I don't foresee him having enough of an impact from what I've the evidence that I have on film in the league for him to be on this roster. So because of that, I think that you bring in another Zeke, and whether you put him at two or three, I don't freaking care. Right, you bring him in. He has wisdom, right, and then you still have to get your guy in the draft, I.
Will say, and I know it's not it's it's not comparing apples and apples, But Darrence Rolls had a very similar rookie season and it kind of took him a year to be able to figure out how to use his body and then he got hurt and he was lucky he would not have a league in the first two three years.
So there's still hope there.
I think produced fun and I think these new kickoff roles kind of give him an opportunity to be able to see what he can do with uh, you know, the return game as well.
So yeah, I would be fine with with Zeke coming back, depending on what they do in the draft. But if you're using a second or third round pick, you know, on a on a on a back.
I expect that to be your guy. That's the guy that you need to be. Uh, give the majority of the touches too.
But if they don't, because I thought that was gonna happen last year, to be honest with you, when they part of ways with Zeke, I thought they would draft a running back second, third, fourth round.
Yeah, and that didn't happen.
And so if let's say that happens again this year's draft, where you know, in the second round, just the right guy isn't there for the value and they go another route, and then the third just isn't the right guy for the value.
Whatever.
Next thing, you know, you're not getting a running back to the fifth or sixth round. I could be interested in the Zeke return that, but like right now, I don't think it makes any It doesn't make any sense. And that's not just Zeke, it's just really any running back in general.
Yeah, you know, Dalvin Cook, whatever.
And I like the point that Nick brought up to about there are other positions to be addressed right now, and running back is so deep in this draft class. I mean we can I mean I'll open up this Dallas Star Magazine draft guide, Uh yeah, and just look at some of these guys.
Let's say, let's see, uh.
Jalen Wright out of Tennessee, Jonathan Brooks Texas, Trey Benson, Bucky Irving, Blake or I mean, you've got options in the upcoming draft. That's that's where you find your running back talent. But when it comes to veterans in a specific position, I would rather have them at linebacker. I would rather have them at defensive tackle safety, even if there's a possibility. I know you've got veterans of safety now,
but you need you need extra rotation there too. So let let the draft play out first and then we can talk about it. Is kind of where I'm at as well.
I agree, Yeah, I think it's gonna be a very similar situation where it's a big talking point all the way up until training camp, over in the first couple of weeks of training camp, and then they sign somebody.
But if they take a running back in the second or third round, I don't think it'll be a talking point for the Cowboys.
I really I hope not.
But like Ken, they don't, you know what I'm saying, With the holes that they have, can you take a running back that early? That's my question.
If you're Mike McCarthy and this is your second year of calling the offense and you think it's going to make that much of a difference in your offense that particular player, then yeah, I could see him doing it.
Yeah, offensive line, running back, defensive tackle for three rounds?
Where do you have the issue.
The tackle? I feel like there's more running backs available than these tackles to play that Zimmer I feel like, and I agree with you, what you need. You can't even say that's a bigger need.
But in terms of value, like the chances of that running back coming in and making a media impact, and the defensive tackle to me, aren't even in the same neighborhood. It's not even close. Like, what are you getting from that defensive tackle in year one?
They better get a lot In the Zimmer system, I think you have. You have to in his system. You have you cannot have an undersized interior defensiveignment in his system.
Were not even one. He was, he was your first round pick.
He can't be the guy now in his current size.
I don't where he's that.
I haven't seen him since the offseason started, but based upon where he ended last year, he at that size is ineffective. In a Zimmer system, defensive tackle is so much tougher to come in and be pro rreg thought, which is why I say, can you afford you have two offensive line positions that have to be filled. Now you can easily say, okay, yeah, we have some guys that you know, Hoffman and things of that nature that we hope are going to come in and field the void.
But I think the hope I think the defensive tackle will be addressed with some type of a veteran player. I don't whether it be a trade, how they got Hankins, whatever, there's gonna be something that happens there.
I do not see them relying.
On, oh well, we better take it a defensive tackle in the first two rounds to pair with Mazi and Osa.
I just don't see that happen.
I think they need a veteran guy who And when I say that, it's not gonna be somebody when the move happens and everyone's gonna be like, oh, this fixes everything, yeah, just like no one was really acting but when they got Hankins. But it's gonna have to be a veteran that's like Ben around the game who it's not gonna be somebody that gets six seven sacks.
They're not gonna be.
But they're gonna be just a solid player in the middle that that Zimmer likes.
That's what's gonna happen.
Three thirty plus.
Yeah, big, yeah, big body in there that's a.
Beef gotta be big beef gotta be.
Yeah, it does.
Mason Smith, McKinley, Jackson, those are two names that to mind, lsux.
A and m So well, what rounds did they have to do for that?
Mason Smith third, potentially McKinley. I think they can get him in on day day three, but I would worry that he would go in the fourth.
But yeah, we'll see, he'd be probably.
Day three is kind of a it's a scatterboard, like there's guys that are getting fourth round grades that might not get drafted.
I mean Day three is completely wide open this year.
So yeah, that that break between round three and four this year, where you sleep on your board and you're going into day three is going to be the most stressful point of a lot of teams years.
After the top it's gonna be.
Yeah, Top one hundred is pretty stout, Like you've got starters at each position, and it's pretty even across the board. Then in some positions. Once day three starts, it just drops off. So it's gonna be really interesting to see how teams come bat That countdown has begun, Kyle, darn right, it has how many days?
Right off the top of your.
Head, twenty six, twenty three, twenty three days?
Shout Jordan, just.
Go there, you go. That's gonna do it for us. You're on talking Cowboys.
Will be back on Tuesday, ten am Central to continue to talk down.
We may start doing some like seven round mox or something in here. I want to get Isaiah's your next knowledge?
What do you do?
What you climbing Mount Everest?
No, definitely kill him and Jarrow's done.
It looks like you got to wait back though. I'll tell you that day that you came back from you looked. I was concerned.
Completed, I was concerned when you walked in wear an Oregon neon. But I mean it's fine.
I mean being at you guys have them on the cover.
Yeah, good time.
Sorry, what with the French toast?
Where are you going to be next week? You just you just out? I will be you know, on your vacation.
That I would have to watch.
Will be in l a Yeah, put your business on the street.
I'll be in La La Land, La La Land. We'll have fun representing the boys and some and form.
We'll be back tomorrow, all I mean tuesday.
We'll be back tuesday, all right for Chris be and Isaiah stand back John and showed to Nike care some Kyle Yeoman saying so long from Talking Cowboys.
We will see you next week. This has been a production of Dallascowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.