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That is I Chris Beam in the back. I'm Kyle Yeomans.
Gally, you can't.
I don't know if you can say that on air.
I can it.
We can eat your oats on the internet too. You said, well you can get your oats on the internet.
You can't get your oats something you can do that, get that on the internet too, no doubt about it. Welcome in, everybody, Glad you're with us. Lots to catch up on over the last week. Right now in Indianapolis, the NFL Combine is underway, which means information is flying.
Around the NFL.
There's a lot going on across the board, whether it's from a fron office standpoint, from a draft standpoint, scouting players, coaches, all sorts of stuff is kind of happening all at the same time in Indianapolis, and we're gonna break it down for you as we go along here over this
next hour. But before we get into any of that, the biggest news of the week after we were last on the air, Zach Martin is expected to retire the seven time first Team All Pro, time total All Pro, and first ballot Hall of Famer.
I would like to say forward.
I mean, there's been three Cowboys in franchise history that have had seven first.
Team All Pro?
Who are they?
Comedies?
Randy White pretty Good, Bob Lily and Zach Martin, the Manster, Mister Cowboy and the Gold There you go, and the first two were what they were, first ballot Hall of Famers.
So next top Canton, Yeah, next top Canton.
For Zack Martin, it's just a matter of win, not if his career comes to a close. We kind of alluded to it a little bit last week, and there was a feeling around the building that it was done. Missed the final seven games due to injury, and it kind of it felt like it was the right time to ride off into the sunset. The offensive line has
some depth that they can work with behind him. They played well without him up front, not the same as strengthened prime Zach Martin, but still it was a bummer to see that his career is coming to an end because it was a hell of a career to watch.
Yeah, we've been talking about it for the large majority of last season because you know, just more and more as it went on, you saw what used to be a resident iron man in Zach Martin. I mean, it's not so long ago that we could point at Zach Martin and know that every single snap, every single week, that he would be on the field, And just over the past season plus, I'd say, his body just started to kind of not let that be the case anymore,
and his play suffered because of it. And unfortunately, we saw a situation where you know, Zach went down with the season ending ankle injury and brought Kaffman, to his credit, was able to come in and stabilize things. But if you're talking about losing Zach Martin and gaining stability. That tells you where he was in the career. So incomparable career, I cannot think Zach Martin enough for what he did
for this organization. I hate that it's another legend going out without some jewelry, but it doesn't in fact, not only in the Zach Martin era, but it ends that particular era when we're talking about Tyrone Smith, Zach Martin, Travis Frederick, Frederick having retired to the GPS, GBS. So yeah, it was time, most certainly. And like you said, Josh, next stop is Canton for sure.
I mean when I think of Zach Martin, I always think of the draft party that was at at and T Stadium.
I was at that draft party.
Were you really?
I was at that draft party.
And I remember the crowd at the time our pick was up. We were on the clock. Everyone's chanting not Zach Martin, Johnny Football. And I was there like no, please, no, And Zach Martin's name was announced and there was a.
Flutter around the room.
The room, being at and T Stadium was like who's that? But ended up being one of the greatest Dallas Cowboys ever of all time. I will never forget that moment when we drafted him, feeling confident about like, Okay, we like what we have here. Let's build behind a great quarterback that we already have and protect him. To me, the legacy of Zach Martin, will I mean for that to happen before I started working here, and then for my very first season to be the Zach Martin hold
out at camp time? You know, tis a flat circle, at least personally for me, obviously.
The his.
Legacy speaks for itself, it really does.
And seeing him out there each and every week knowing confidently he's not going to get a holding call and he's going to play his ass off right us.
Another ridiculous stat you drive what is the stats? So repeat it?
Repeat it?
For the number of first team All pros, I outlined that earlier seven number of accepted holding penalties throughout his what was it eleven year seven, the same amounts of first team not just all pros. He actually had more All Pro nods than he did except hold hold penalties, but first team All Pro nons He had the exact same number.
Seven.
Insane and his legacy speaks for itself. Like I said, next up Ken obviously, but it is interesting to see how the offensive line is going to change now with the with Zach Martin moving on.
I think that this most recent year was a transition piece for them, and I think, you know, how he's going out is obviously not the way that he wants to go out, but honestly, I think it's more beneficial for the Cowboys organization. But in terms of what he's been to this organization, you guys have already hit on it, and you guys already touched on everything. He's an amazing
human being, first and foremost great family man. You know what he did on the field, what he did for his teammates, and what he did for this offensive line. For all these years, you always knew that you have one solid piece that you never had to worry about.
And whenever you can have somebody on your team that you don't have to be concerned about whether or not they're going to come prepared, whether or not they're going to come with their right mindset, and whether they are going to deliver in terms of performance, is that you know, he is that guy. He has been that guy for the Dallas Cowboys and he will get rewarded for that. And to ensure that everybody going forward, forever and ever will always remember who he was in the league standard.
I'll just say I'll be the first to say, you know, you're welcome on Talking Cowboys whenever you're ready to be an official host.
Of Bigger Cheer, A bigger cheer A large human that's this chair can fit.
Nate Newton.
First first dips on on Zach Martin.
Yeah, we called it. He's gonna be there's gonna be an extra mind right here if he wants it. I don't see Zach as that type of personality. What do you mean, He's not Jason Kelsey's.
He would.
I think it's more likely he would go into coaching than it would be broadcasting, and I don't think either one of them is possible.
I think he's gonna just family, hang family, family, Yeah.
I think which is I think the testament to who he is as a person and what he's done throughout his career to kind of earn that that point. So yeah, whatever he ends up doing next, h we certainly wish him the best. And I think there's going to be an official announcement at some point because all of this is reports and that he had told the team, and that was kind of the initial stuff. There will be
an official announcement. And another thing to keep in mind, there will be a cut because his contract is still there. And even though he's a what is it an exclusive rights free agent or one of those, he's got void years.
He's got a void year.
How does that work in regards to the cap? Do you guys know when somebody retires, what does that do to their contract? Because it's not like just cutting somebody.
Right, the rest of that guaranteed money is on your cap.
And spread out over those foid years.
I believe it would save you actually cap space because it's treated like a pro rate. Yeah, so you don't take the entire the entirety of the remaining hit as a one time so amateurize, right exactly, So.
Over time, Like like you said, there's but there will be a cut first off, So don't be alarmed whenever it says like it pops up and there's a bleacher.
Don't do it though, I'm not gonna do it.
Uh, there's a bleacher report not notification that Cowboys showed ten time pro bowler, I mean and seven times first the door.
Somebody's gonna do it. Don't click on it.
It's stupid. Don't click.
Yeah, shut like it, just don't.
Don't les procedural procedure part of it.
So with that being said, and Isaiah, you kind of alluded to this earlier, what's.
Next for the Cowboys offensive line?
Where do you go?
Pa?
Here? I mean, I think we've been hearing some murmurs.
You know, don't know anything until obviously these guys start stepping on the field for OTAs and the draft is done and free agency kind of goes through. I don't think you have a full understanding. But in regards to who we currently have on this roster, it's sounding like, yeah, I says, sounding like, sounding like, sounding like they like Hoffman potentially at the center position, and they're planning on moving Cooper b B to the right guard position. That's
what I'm hearing again, it's all rumors. We don't know until they step on the field and we see us a ball snapped. But if they were to do that, that makes sense because they were trying to teach Cooper b B to play center and that's not his natural position. Now obviously there's a void that was not there originally.
If Zach Martin it wasn't in the car.
It wasn't there before.
So now if he does walk away from the game of football, now there's a large See what I did there, There's a large void there at the right guard position. So I can move now Cooper BB to his more natural position, and I could put the Brahma bull with his hand on the bar replay.
So I'll read to you guys, because Stephen Jones and Tommy Yarsh is in Indie right now. He beat us by a couple of days. He's doing sensational work. He spoke with Stephen Jones and Stephen Jones.
Yeah man.
Stephen Jones basically echoed a sentiment that Connor Riley told us in availability early last week. This is a quote from Connor Riley, which if you don't remember, he is now the former offensive coordinator and offensive line coach of one Kansas State University. Which is what did Cooper BB? Yeah, there you go, Manhattan, and we ain't talking about New York.
Yeah, little apple, right, the little one right, And I quote.
I think one of the best things about Cooper BB is his versatility. He was a two time All American at guard for Kansas State, started some games at tackle and right guard dot dot dot. He gives us an opportunity to find the best fit for everybody up front. End quote, this is Connor Riley, your new offensive line coach, previously an offensive line coach for Cooper BB, basically letting you know that they're going into the OTAs and mini camp and training camp looking for the best five up front.
So as we have this conversation, Cooper BB is still the center, but it does sound like to your point, Isaiah, that could change.
It's a very fluid situation.
You might see brock Hoffman go over the center, but it's also contingent upon what does or does not happen in free agency, what does does not happen with the NFL draft. But you love to hear this from Connor Riley, heard it from Clayton Adams. You're hearing it echoed by Stephen Jones. Cowboys are no longer going into this situation saying, well, you know, no matter what, he's going to be here, he's going to be here. I think the only places
I'll say plural, we had three places. No, Ter Steele is at right tackle, yep, we know, Tyler Smith is at left guard and I'll go ahead and say Tyler Guidon is left tackle because Tyler Smith is right guard. So as far as center versus right guard is concerned, I think it's going to be a battle in Connor Riley and Clayton Adams. They're going to figure out what the best front five looks like.
I mean, I love what fans have been warning for so long.
Sure, well, I alluded to the question last week, and honestly, it wasn't because of the Zach Martin, the lingering Zach Martin future that was not in the cards for me. I was genuinely curious before Zach Martin is not going to be here? Yeah, does twelve sound like a or does offensive line sound like a pick?
They would make it twelve. This is before all of this happened.
And now I'm like, okay, well, this kind of seems like that is a clear indication to me that it's a spot you look at.
For sure.
I think if the right player is there at twelve, they'll take him there. But I don't know if there's that right player in this draft. If any other draft across the board, I think I would say Dallas in this same scenario because I completely agree with you. I think in this scenario, you would say, let's build for the future. Let's build around Guid and let's build around Smith, Let's build around bb and we'll have four guys up front that we are very confident in, and then we'll figure out.
The fitth spot.
I guess Terren Steele would probably be that odd man out there in terms of value draft picks and value of youth moving forward. Whereas this year, I'm looking at this offensive line class, and we've talked about this a couple times on the Draft Show. There's just something that's not clicking for every one of these top offensive lineman. Now there's a couple of them, but those couple of them probably aren't gonna make it to twelve because they don't have any red flags on them.
But if it's a red.
Flag from a medical or a size or a position fit or whatever, it ends up being twelve might not be right.
Face man, We can.
Make that if it turns out that we need Kelvin Banks or somebody Will Campbell or some of these other guys whoever it ends up being up front. I think there's ten in the top ten picks of this NFL draft. I think there's gonna be one or two offensive lineman and you're gonna have your pick of the third or
fourth fifth best offensive lineman in this draft class. But if you were to compare that to the twenty two to twenty three, twenty four draft class, I think your third, fourth fifth best offensive lineman in this class would probably be more like eight, nine ten in those other classes.
It's just this.
I'll make mine quick and I'll throw it back to you, guys. I wouldn't go offensive line at number twelve. I just wouldn't. And I don't think that the Zach News changes that for me because that's where I was standing before Rick was expected to retire, and now that he is expected to retire, my needle doesn't move as far as would I go. You know, offensive line at twelve, No in this situation, and Kyle lays it out perfectly. When it comes to this class, I would be much morefortable in
a trade back situation. If your hell bent on getting an offensive.
I'm down for them.
We talked about that last week.
I think I would trade down, get more picks, and then go oil. I wouldn't just go outright at number twelve for oil. I'm reserving number twelve for an Ashton Genty if he's there, or a top shelf wide receiver if he's there, and you just know that if you move back.
You're going to lose that on that guy.
But offensive line, I think that because I've seen what brock Hoffman can be, I'm comfortable enough to kind of.
Sit tight there.
So either it's a trade back situation or it's something that you address in the second round.
But I think it also lends itself to choosing the best player available at twelve regardless, because there are positions, There are positions in need all over the board, across the board.
For the Dallas Cowboys, J Stee's on YouTube says.
Leave bb alone, put him at center. He's got a full season at center. Man, what are we doing often is a good backup?
I'm kind of in that camp.
But why speak on it, because I just think I don't believe that a natural position for him at the center position.
He was better than Hoffman at center, okay, and that's where I'm at. Okay, he was better than haff Minute, So so then why swap is why?
So?
Why mess with I like Bebe's frame better for gard I like him better at guard.
I don't. I don't know that.
If I'm going to have a Brahma bull in this kitchen right five office alignment, I want him at center.
I want broadcast center.
I want I want that mentality at center because that person touches the ball every single play. That person is going to be the point on every single play. Versus having that person offset to one side or the other.
That's just me.
If you're just talking about like glass eater aggressive mentality. Yes, okay, you had that with Tyler Biadash and it didn't necessarily work out.
He's working out somewhere else, true, but.
It didn't work out here.
A question though, what was Brock Coffin's worst game last year?
I would have to go back, I wanted to.
I want to say it was the Philadelphia probably probably, And you would have put him at the center against a team like that twice a year.
Listen, this coaching staff that we're now having place, these guys are supposed to be jedis when it comes to the old question would be this, and this is the question the Cowboys would have to answer in this scenario is the career And they had to answer this for Tyler Smith.
Is the career for Cooper BB. Does it have a higher ceiling at guard than at center? Because if it's at guard, then I'm with you putting him at guard, and then maybe you draft your center if brought Koffman, if you need an upgrade over.
So it's the way you view the set, it's the way you view that.
If you think that his ceiling, being Cooper BB, is higher at center, then you leave him there and you leave brockoff in at guard.
I think that's the crux of what the argument is going.
I'm gonna I'm gonna literally put the trust in this on these coaches.
I'm literally in considering who we're talking about, Connor Riley and Clayton Adams. I'm let's let them cook. Listen.
I can have an opinion all day long, but I think those guys have a good idea. If they're coming in and it sounds like they're moving Cooper BB to right guard, then I have full confidence that that's the most advantageous position for him and the offensive line.
So just going back to the conversation of Hoffman and where he might fit specifically, let's just go to PFF because we don't have the film in front of us right now, but Pro Football focus over thirty nine pass blocking snaps against Tampa Bay.
That was his worst graded game.
He gave up three pressures, he gave up one sack, one QB hit, and two penalties in that matchup. It's a lot one game and thirty nine snaps he gave up basically six different things that went wrong. Now that snap he took all sixty.
At right guard. Took it all at right guard.
So that goes back to your point.
His best graded game of the year was against Cincinnati, where he only allowed one hit one QB hit along the way over, Let's see, it was thirty six pass blocking snaps and those were all at center, So something like that could play a factor.
Yeah, Like I said, I'm looking forward to the coaching. Like I really believe that most fans, Okay, this is no shots fire, It's just just an observation don't put enough emphasis on development and the coaches' roles that they're supposed to play an organization, and for this team and coach Settenheimer to have brought in two O line specialists, two people that that's what they do.
Right, your officive coordinator and now your officive line coach.
That is their wheelhouse, like, that's where they feel most confident, and they said they can be better than you at anything. They're both gonna say coaching old lineman, that's awesome to have both of those resources on one team like that. Yeah, you might have three. I'm looking forward to seeing now players and what we've seen, right, we can go back and look at what they've done. And if you have somebody like a brock Hoffman who's an absolute dog, right,
which is what they're at. Every coach that's spoken on offense side of the ball has talked about the mentality. He talked about the physicality. I'm just I'm talking about him. I'm talking about the character of this an identity of this offensive line going forward, violence, right, all those things right? You want that he has that naturally or ornately has that? Develop it now? Develop it?
Right.
You talk about people that people are ready to write off right now, like Terrance Still people are ready to oh, let's move on from Terryce Steell. We know Terry still ain't no punk, right, ter Terres still ain't no punt.
That one thing we know.
About him that because he was maybe initially and know t Stilly.
Has never been a punt he Stilley always wanted to smoke right, always want to I.
Think back to the one game against what was it twenty one? Was it Washington where he got he was he was kind of off to the side and somebody got into him off It might have been Martin, It might have been Zach Martin that got into him. I don't have to go back and do my research, but I'm going back to twenty one where it was a rookie season, just kind of getting into it, trying to work it, or that was the second year. Then he
he didn't let it happen again. At that point, sometimes you got to talk him from Sometimes, yeah, you gotta.
Learn from there and move on.
Well, from that point, he never had any question marks about his willingness and his dog mentality.
Develop them right.
I'm looking forward to seeing how these guys come along, because where they're at now is not where they're going to be when the season starts. If these coaches are masters at developing players, the one aspect that you can't control is a willingness. I can't control your will to want to get better. If you have that work ethic will determination mentality. If you have all that, now it's on me to go ahead and help that flourish.
And now I was going to say, the question becomes, is brock Hoffman just a stellar backup center or could he be an actual consistent starting center, because I think that it could go when it comes to Cooper BB.
The beauty of Cooper BB is that he's.
Proven himself a starting center, even in year one after a transition, He's proven that he can get better and better and he can be probably.
A pro Bowl center in this league.
But he could probably be an all pro right guard, which would make him a definitive successor to Zach Martin. And if that's the case, you you don't really have to sell me on moving him the right guard.
I'm finally even.
Him at center if that's what they choose to let Clayton Adams and Connor Riley.
I might have been in the plans from the from the beginning though. If this Cooper Bebe is our third round draft pick, we'll put them where we can use him now and then when Martin's done, move over.
And then you put him at right guard if that's your plan.
But then I look at broad coffin and I say, okay, exclusive rights free agent this year, they're going to keep them okay, restricted free. From my point being, his contract is starting to right. You need to know what's going on for the future at center. You use it an early day two, pick very well, minor, and then there you go, very well, might there you go.
I don't have any doubt that they will address offensive line.
It's just that that early.
That where they address, because where they address it will dictate if brock Kaufman is going to be a starter on this.
Office and how they address it when we come back.
Stephen Jones had some choice words throughout his Combine week out in Indianapolis talking to the Dallas media, including our on Tommy Yarish. We'll talk about his words, What does it mean and where do the action start from here? We've talked about that a couple times as well. Actions speak louder than words. When can we expect some action? I think this week you'll see some when we come
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That that's not what I was I you were pointing to your right and it's on the screen to the left.
It's on my it's that side.
It's this way now, buddy, that way, Yeah, that way.
I love it, I really do, all right.
Quaker ror Code, Quaker Oates, Patrick Noci Walker, Josh Roderiguez, Isaiah stand back and Kyle Yeomens Chris be in the back. Uh again, We've talked about this before, but YouTube is now streaming live.
Right.
The fun part about YouTube and very soon to come to the Cowboys now, app there's gonna be live chat functions. That fact that we have the ability to interact with at the moment and in live so love you guys get to interact with everybody that's listening as well.
We appreciate your respect fitting in Uh.
Yeah, be respectful in the chat. Yeah, don't.
You will get blocked if you do something stupid.
Report.
So there's there's parts of that, but be nice in there. Let's have some fun. We appreciate you guys as always. You know who's having fun right now. Enjoying his first ever NFL combine imy are Ash Thomas Indianapolis. Uh, he's covering the combine for us this week. Doing a great job out there. And he I mean he was just a beast off the plane and working yesterday.
Actually he was working before he was on the plane.
He had an interview we'll talk about this draft, uh interview and a draft blog that's up on dallascowboys dot com. He had an interview with Alfred Collins, the defensive tackle from Texas, and it happened at about five forty in the morning as they were waiting in the gate for their flight at Boynnapolis. He said, I'm grinding boy, I'm in here.
Yeah it was.
It was a longhorn, to be fair.
Yeah.
So I think it's a little bias in little a little bit.
It's both bias and then a little bit of connection to because I think he knew one beforehand, so they were able to kind of through it, but it was people. Yeah, Tommy does know people, that is true. So one of the big things that came out of yesterday, which of course the drills don't start until later Thursday's the first day of drills, and.
I'll be there to morrow. Patrick, you had to do talking cowboys in the morning, That's what okay?
So uh, anyways, exactly skipped responsibility. Combine starts for drills on Thursday. But the entire league is out there except for Patrick.
Right now.
The thought process is now where this is where all that information is coming from. And Stephen Jones was a big thing in that information pool yesterday. What were some of the takeaways Patrick from Stephen Jones yesterday that kind of.
Perked the ears of Cowboys Nation. Well, let's see, should I be selectively aggressive? And yeah, selectively? All right, let's let's.
Le's not gonna be all in this off season?
Unfortunate?
Is that going to be this freaking thing?
Based on how does the video reacted to it? So I'll read it, go ahead, all right, So let me this is uh Stephen Jones yesterday he was asked about the approach this season. This offseason and he said enough, well, we're going to look at everything we can. We're going to be selectively aggressive. There are there are things in this league you can have a certain amount of resources they allow you to have. We'll look at that. But we're going to improve this team. We're going to expect
to have success next year, which is this year. And then of course, out of that Parson parceled everyone ran with a selectively aggressive portion of it, which is unfortunately, Kyle, that is going to be this year's all in version of all. But you know, Stephen Jones when he talked about free agency and just how they're going to approach it, uh, he also volunteered the thought process of a draft participal, not draft, but potential trade. He was like trades. Yeah,
he brought that up unprovoked. So trade is going to be a possibility for the Cowboys. What does that look like? It does not look like Michael Parsons. Let me just say that right now. What does that look like outside of Michael Parsons?
Jonathan Mingo, you already trade?
Oh wait, yeah, we already.
Why would you bring up that?
Sorry, the fourth round pick is still trauma to be like they did that huh, they did that.
You're not even on the draft show either, geez.
So what does that look like as far as the potential trade getting someone in here? What assets might be required to do that? Who are they looking at going after an outside free agency? Will know that here. In a couple of weeks or so, once legal tampering begins, we'll see exactly how selectively aggressive the Cowboys are going to be, because routinely they do not they're not players in the first week of free agency. They try to let those overpays pass and then get the tertiary rounds.
Sometimes they're not even acts. Yeah, we'll see if that.
If that changes, we'll seeing well about.
Dante's doing much better though they're both doing well. We'll see if that changes. So the Cowboys are looking to be more aggressive in free agency, be it selective or however you want a word that they're going to talk with Oh soo Diggi Zua his agent. That's one of the biggest keeps. You got to figure out how to keep Osa in the building. I don't think it's a franchise tag situation, but I hear that transition tags not off the table at eighteen million dollars.
We'll see, but the fact that they're it is hefty.
The fact that they're even entertaining that possibility lets me know exactly how badly, lets me know how badly they want to keep Agent double O nine to seven. In the building they talked about Stephen Jones did talked about definitely wanting to keep Jordan Lewis not breaking news. We know that they want to keep Jordan Lewis, and they're going to have conversations with the Marcus Lawrence's agents at
the Combine as well. So those top two defensive linemen, as far as I'm the current roster, Cowboys are going to start those talks. And Michael Parsons it sounds like the Cowboys are as open to as he is to trying to get a deal done sooner than later. Love what Stephen Jones said about the difference between the Ceedy Lamb negotiation, the Dak Prescott negotiation, and the Michael Parsons negotiation. When you're negotiating with Dak Prescott, you were playing the market.
When you negotiate with Citie Lamb, you were playing the market. You had Justin Jefferson out there. What does that look like? When does that fall when it comes to Michael Parsons, you you don't have that to contend with this year. It's it's Michael Parson's world as far as that market is.
Those leaves don't need to fall.
Come on, all in leaves falling, come on, rama can get route. So I don't know. I doubt that it will happen before free agency is route ear Ruth, I'm like, God, I rute, I hate you.
It's it's we would love for the Michael Parsons still to happen before free agency so that cap money can be freed up for spending.
Okay, what do you don't know that it's going to happen? Yes or no? Is it going to happen Micah? Yes, before free agency?
Before free agency?
No?
No no no yes, Now before training camp ask me that before, Now ask me before training camp.
I think that's fifty to fifty.
That's right around where you would expect it both before before training camp. I think it would be before practices start a training camp. I mean I could see it as I could see it as like a Trayvon thing where like they get out to Oxnard and then they sign it, like when they get their same kind of thing where it was like very.
Start legal tampering. It is March tenth, then March fourteenth is going to be sie fifteenth, fifteenth?
Will it?
Will Michael Parsons get his new contract before March fifteenth?
Yes? No? No? Yes?
What do you think?
I would like to say yes? But are you do you know what? Okay?
Yes, They're going to be selectively be aggressive and signed Michael Parsons before so that they know what they're dealing with and what they can't can't go get.
I think they'll pull the other triggers that by them time they'll pull the deck trigger restructure, they will pull the CD trigger restructure to go ahead and get the money on the books right then, which then allows them the time to maybe go to O t A's early summer negotiating this deal.
Because this be accomplished, I think they I think I think it happened.
I don't feel great about it, but there's a number of reasons why I believe that they It's advantageous for the Cowboys to pull that trigger. Obviously, well not even just the salary cap right obviously, understanding what money they're going to have to play with going into free agency.
There's a lot of big time free agents. There's a lot of iraids for that.
Because it sets the table.
Absolutely, it allows you to do that.
Do I think it's going to happen?
Understood, But they also want him to be here for OTAs. They also want him to be here for voluntary workouts, all those.
Things you need, you want.
I don't want to say you have to, but you would like to incentivize him to get there and put him in a position.
Go ahead, I got.
A bar real quick.
Okay.
Not only does it set the table, but it actually gives you more food to invite more people. Yes, you know what I'm saying. So yes, I think the quicker you're able to get it done. Obviously you're going to have you need folks to come in, free agents to come in before training camp. We don't need to do this whole rigamarole again.
Or if you have a brand new coach, you have a the last thing you want to be dealing with is his contract. Of the contract of the you know, arguably the most dominant player at that position.
Right.
The other guy is up for trades.
Right, So you started talking about why do we want to start this offseason.
Do we want to start this off season with contract talks?
No, I don't want to start this season with contract talks. Do I want to start this off season not knowing how much money I have to go get be selectively aggressive?
No?
Do I want to start this off season not knowing what our salary cap position is going to be. No, these are all things that you can literally nix. You're in control of your environment that you're creating for this new coaching staff. Set them up, set this organization up for success by knocking it out. You already said you're not competing, You're not waiting on nobody. You're you are
in negotiations with that person individual. There's not waiting on nobody else to set the market, go make it happen.
He's already told you, and he's made it public that he is willing to take less to make sure that this deal gets done and that there are more people that can come to the table and eat.
So I love the way you put it.
You're competing against yourself right now, which should make for much easier and more efficient.
It should grease the wheels, right So there's.
No reason to wait at this I guess what I'm getting at Isak.
Well, there's no reason why you would wait.
There's no beneficial reason as to why you would wait to get Michael Parsons.
Do we have all things to be aggressive about? Select this?
Please?
We've seen DeMarcus Lawrence Dak Prescott on multiple occasions held DeMarcus loans and multiplications, and now CD Lamb on his first occasion of a second contract negotiation where it was always reactive, reactive, reactive, But then we saw them break rank and get proactive with a guy like Trayvon Diggs. Pull a Trayvon Diggs this time, break your usual and make this happen fast.
Since we're setting the table and since we're since we're serving some food for free agency, it's time to break bread.
Everybody, let's go, let's start.
Let's start breaking bread and breaking down the bread so that way we can dish it out to Micah Parsons and everywhere else across the board. All right, when we come back, I want to hear about Isaiah's combine experience.
The former player in.
The room has a very interesting thought process when it comes to the NFL combine. Plus, we've got some interesting how about the intel after this from Isaiah's time at the combine.
More to Tom with more talking cowboys muhahahaha.
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To Talking Cowboys.
Welcome back to Talking Cowboys.
This segment is brought to you by in visil Line, the official smile of the Dallas Cowboys. We've got Patrick Nosey Walker, Josh Rodriguez, Chris Beam in the back. I'm Kyle Yellmans, and on this panel we have a Super Bowl Champion.
His name is I didn't want to stand back?
Oh oh yeah, sorry, did neither did I? Uh?
Super Bowl Champion, Emmy Award Winner Isaiah Standback. Some would say he's pretty intelligent when.
It comes to the game of football.
Times but you, uh, We've got something for you. When did you go to the combine? Two thousand and seven, So the seven NFL combines, we're almost twenty years away from that. You guys have like a class reunion coming up around.
That's a long time ago. Where are they now?
So two thousand and seven Isaiah's in Indianapolis.
He's hanging out. He's doing a bunch of things.
He's a lot of interviews, a lot of interviews, a lot of medical checkups as well that you've talked about extensively on this program before.
A lot of tests, a lot of tests.
Including one that's an IQ test. It's called the wonder Lick. If you've never heard of it before. It's a test that most teams. It's pretty standard across.
The base of the league.
It's given to these players, these draft prospects and then handed out to each of the teams, and the scouts then use it to kind of see where the general cognitive ability is for these players in math, vocabulary, and then reasoning. So they've got a couple different categories here. It was used by the Navy during World War Two to determine candidates for pilot training and navigation, and now
it's you used to determine who's good at football. So some of the highest wonder Lake scores in NFL history, how about pack Mick Mickinally it was this guy, the pat that I'm talking about as a punter. Kevin Curtis was one of the highest wide receivers he got a forty eight. It's on a scale of fifty. By the way, forgive me if I'm wrong. Byron Jones, did he not score? Ryan Fitzpatrick quarterback was a forty eight the lead, bud, Come on, man, varying the lead. What are you talking about?
Go to well to the very bottom, the very.
Bottom air force. That's sure average score. Oh yeah, I was getting there, he said Patrick.
Uh So.
The lowest score was actually a former Cowboys draft pick, Morris Claiborne, got a four.
And there's even an asterisk on there like it's it could be.
He explained why.
He was later diagnosed with a learning disability, so that that plays a factor into it. But there's some other ones on there that were Darren Davis, Oscar Davenport, Frank Gore, Vince Young. These are all guys that scored under a six in that. So we for the first time are going to divulge Isaiah Stamback wonder Licks scoring. He's never heard the number, he doesn't know what it is, and we're going to try.
And rank it against some of the others.
We're gonna see if it's above or below the average Wonderlick score from some of these other individuals, both by position and then by normal everyday job titles. So we've got like engineer and cashier, bank teller, nurse, some of these different things along the way. Beamer, Yes, sir, you have the one bullet.
And it is a twenty three right in the middle.
You were wonderfully average.
Wow average, all right? Average for a quarterback?
Me okay, so bady okay.
So who's the average score by a quarterback is twenty six, So you're three points below the average. But you played a lot of wide receivers, saying, so you played wide out. The average twenty for a wide out, so you're three points above the average receiver.
How about right, let's compare you.
What can he do in life?
Life?
You are an electrician.
None wrong with that, wrong, nothing wrong with that's money right there.
That's a solid job.
That's a really good a dispatcher, like a like a police and EMT dispatcher.
And good under stress like you're just after those guys on those solar panels, see that right there.
Yeah, Yeah, you're just a tad underqualified to be a secretary.
Could have been charger money.
Yeah.
The librarian was twenty seven seven.
Librarian they read a lot part of it.
It was a okay, you're also even with nurse, you could probably be a nurse.
That's good.
Twenty three is the average score from a nurse.
Some of the ones that are below all the time bank teller, cashier, firefighter, mechanist, those are all below you. Firefighters, Yeah, above you are teacher, reporter, yeah, executive accountant, programmer. And then the highest at least that's on this list is like a systems analyst, and that's a thirty two. So that's that's like the highest everyday person they score.
I'm glad that I'm average twenty three.
The source text me. He goes, he must have been cheating.
He got a twenty selected average.
Bro, I don't even remember those tests.
You don't remember like any of your questions or anything you remember like taking them.
I do. What was the process, Like, oh, bro, I don't remember that specific one. I mean we did a lot of brain analyzation. Uh.
They tested us on everything. It felt like you were doing SAT times ten. It was just it was one of those things where you were going through it. You're like like for what, like why right? You know what I'm saying, Like like you don't remember, which is why you don't remember taking it again because I'm not a test taker at that I mean, I stressed out about tests, so like I even got a twenty three.
Yeah, I mean that whole process was weird. I mean you that leading up.
To the actual physical aspect of the combine that's at the end of your week.
Yeah, like everything else is really a blur. It really is.
Like all the test taking, it was a lot, man, It's a lot of stuff that you had to do. The medical for me at that point in time was really where my mind and emphasis was at because I couldn't do a lot of the physical stuff. I was coming off of surgery that to remove screws out of my foot, so by uh doctor's orders, I wasn't supposed to do any physical activity.
I was literally still my foot was still swollen.
So getting you know, poked and prodded on by doctors and you know, imagine being in the middle of all room at a hotel and you know, they have a table and literally all the doctors they come out. You walk out there and they announce your name and like all right, Isaiah stand bag you know, boom boom quarterback.
You know, University of Washington and all right, have Adam and literally all these doctors get up from their tables and they walk out there and they all start like poking and grabbing on you and any injury that showed up on your on your list. They're literally trying to, you know, get you to show pain. Does this hurt? Does this hurt?
No? Does this bother you? And I'm like, I just got out of.
Surgery, bro bro it all hurts, But like you can't show that, right, So, like you're trying not to show any sign of weakness while they're analyzing you, because anything can hurt you if you WinCE, if you blink, if you like anything, right, like, they're gonna get you for it. So that portion sucked standing out there, you know, in your toonies, in front of a bunch of people with clipboards.
You know, it's sitting in bleachers that doesn't not necessarily the most comfortable thing in the world, sitting in the pod little pod you know for body fat analysis, putting a little scoop of scoopa hat on. There's a lot of things like that, but a lot of the conversations that you have behind the scenes that that was the stuff that you remember, you know the jokes, and you know youre trying to make fun of the situation. It's a high stress situation that you really have no control over.
If you have any friends that you still like talk to from combine times, I know what happens.
It's like a it's like a weekend at camp.
Right, the people you were hanging out with.
Yeah, I mean we I mean I was in the quarterbacks room for the most part, right, So, I mean we had myself, John Beck, Troy Smith, Brady Quinn in no way wow quick.
Yeah.
So, I mean there's a lot of conversations going on, and then you get to the physical aspect, and I couldn't do a lot of the things that I wanted to do because I was coming off with surgery. The fact that I was even invited to the combine after having played just six games of my senior series.
Yeah, yeah, So.
It's trying to make you feel I feel like it was twenty nine.
I was frustrated because I wanted to do the forty.
Like I had ran track and became the fastest quarterback in the nation, so I wanted to show that and I couldn't. Right, I would have I actually text my track coach this morning. I was like, hey, coach, with my one hundred time, you know what would I have ran in the forty?
He was like, you know, mid four threes? I said, all right, that'd have been nice to Yeah, that had been nice to have run. But you know, I threw.
I wasn't supposed to against doctor's orders because I was like, there's no way that I'm going to be on this platform and not show something.
So we need to dig up some old throwing footage. I'm on it. Yeah that should be fun, but no great experience all in all. But it's fast. It's a fast week, man. It's in the meetings.
I mean they try to tire you out your meetings until over, you know, past midnight.
Depending on who you are.
You have a lanyard that on the back of the lanyard that has every day and then at a certain time what you're done with all your testing for the day, after you have dinner, it's like, Okay, you got to meet with this team at this time, this team at this time.
And you're literally going room to room meeting with all.
These teams and coaches and front office execs, and it's stressful.
Man, do you remember your bench You remember how you benched?
Yes, I didn't hit it enough. I was frustrated. That was a whole situation.
Would you guess over or under?
His wonders? Oh, you know it already. What do you know? What are you over look over under?
The twenty three of the Wonderlick score for his bench press.
Four forty five is right there, buddy, he said he was frustrated.
Though, Yeah, I was very frustrated. I should hit more. I'm still going to say over.
Another quarterback beat him though it was it was under. It was twenty two give you, but it was close. It was a close one. The uh beamer, you said, another quarterback, and he's pretty mad about it.
We talked about it this morning.
Brady Quinn twenty four?
What Brady Quinn beat you in the bench?
G I Joe bro That's what I literally call him. He's a walking g I Joe figuring.
No, I'm done, He's a walking He's a specimen.
He's a physical specimen. For sure.
He was damn for you in the end.
Yes, by the way, Melvin in the chant said that you were a beast on matten and kick return.
Yeah, that's there's that four to three speed.
We know and love Matt and knew, Yeah, Mad and New.
It's funny. I did.
I did do some research here. I got buried churches.
If you guys want any of the wonder lick, I don't have his wonderleg score. I do have forty time though.
Yeah, what was it?
Four sixty nine?
Oh?
He was nineteen reps on the bench, nineteen on Bitch Baby, thirty six vert and ten to one broad she waited sleek two, twenty two lean.
I mean, hey, listen, anything over fifteen on bench presses.
Yeah, no, that's legit.
That's legit.
So what Josh does on a regular basis, bro, that's legit.
I told him I was like four forty five, do like four of them?
Four solid? After it? I like it?
All right?
We got it.
Larry Elliott I had one hundred and was it like seventy three or someone crazy like times twelve?
Larry Allen? I mean did he hit on bench at one point? His doing it with one hand because he was like, what am I even here for?
Yeah?
Actually, we talked about this with Chris Hall the other day and he said his his combine wasn't great because he was coming off a peck injury, I believe.
So it was that great.
No, I'm talking about the Pro Bowl.
The Pro Bowl he like shattered it.
It was like forty three times. Yeah, insentive, stupid.
All right, that does it for us here on Talking Cowboys, Hope you had some fun. We'll be back. We're gonna break down what happens in the drills on the combine. Does it affect how the Cowboys are gonna draft? At twelve and there after that? Uh Isaiah's WONDERLA scores at twenty three is interested twenty two his forty was a four six nine.
No no, no, no, no.
What is that insulting to say that?
It's about four to three? Guys?
What are you saying here?
Don't you put that on me? What are you saying? Very charged? He wasn't a speed guy. He was a hitter.
Stand back for Josh Rodriguez, for Patrick Nosey Walker, Chris Beam in the back of Kyle Yeoman, saying so long, we'll see you next time.
On Talking Cowboys.
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