Talkin' Cowboys: The Jaylon Decision

Is that the bull dance right there? Hump day? Oh he was happy more Feeling the flow, Feeling the flow. Heck Ma Harris and Isaiah stand back, Rob Phillips, Kyle Yeoman's with you, Chris Beam is in the back and gentlemen,

we have plenty of news to get to. We've only got forty five minutes of the show and we're gonna need every single one of them to hit what happened last night and the reaction or counter reaction to what happened as the Dallas Cowboys release Jalen Smith linebacker, Pro bowler, either fan favorite or fan not so favorite, depending on who you talk to. I mean it goes both ways. Jaylen Smith no longer a Dallas Cowboy. Rob Phillips, how did this thing go down? I actually thought this was

going to happen in the offseason. I thought we'd be having this conversation in like I don't March February, March. I think this decision was complex, just like his time here. You know, you look at his entire career here and you can't lose side of what a great comeback story it was for him in twenty sixteen. I know he has his detractors, lots of them from the fan base and the media as well, but you can't lose sight

of that. It's a complex story, the way he emerged as a starter and then by the end of it was only playing about half the snaps. The reason why they cut him, decided to release him, is partly about performance,

and it's partly about money. You know, he was playing fifty six percent of the snaps the first four games of the season, and on top of that, they're willing to eat what seven million whatever it is for the rest of this season because you know, partly because there's that injury guarantee, and you remember he had, I think, risk surgery in the offseason if he were to have a major injury. He camp as physical next year. That's like nine million guaranteed next year. So his agent's amazing.

They had a decision to weigh when you're playing, you know, the player that's playing that little snaps. I mean, it was it's a complex decision, and I really thought I didn't think he'd back next year, but I thought he'd play out this season. Didn't happen four games in, No, it did not. Jalen Smith had five years fifty point one million, or excuse me, fifty point seven million dollars left on his contract. His relief leaves behind sixteen point

six million dollars of dead cap to the Cowboys. Nine point eight of that is going in twenty twenty one, and that's also seven point two million dollars cash, and then twenty twenty two six point eight million dollars. So not only is it close to ten mill this year, it's close to seven mill next year of dead cap. Jesus, And that's exactly what Jalen Smith has coming his direction, which makes it, at least from an outsiders standpoint, look

like something led to this decision. I mean the complex nature of it means that nothing is straightforward, right, I mean, I think overriding, it's it's the last you know, there's a drop in performance if from his twenty nineteen Pro Bowl. If there wasn't, we wouldn't be having this conversation. And Micah Parsons might not be here and I don't Neil might not be here. And I think, you know, he ran into a situation where he's not playing as much,

and you know, they decide. I guess they felt comfortable enough with the depth going forward that they could make this decision, even if it meant eating some salary like you just mentioned, Kyle, a lot of salary here. Yeah, what do you think it? No, you know what I'm wanting to hear from from Isaiah and missus stand back

in Seattle. I said to him before, I said, before you even open your mouth, make sure you don't get that call from Seattle from your mama telling you to hey, watch yourself, it's happen so well, Mama standing back already, Daddy, Well, um, so a lot to talk about you guys. Yes, I'm

not talking giants today. We're not talking a lot to happen here, Um, Jayleen Smith, First of all, I want to thank him for his time here, his contributions, because there's a lot of work that goes into being a player, and he made a lot of commitments to this team. He busted his about to get back. The organization obviously committed to him coming off that injury, and I feel

like he gave it his all. I do feel like he gave it his Allum, Sometimes given it your all isn't enough, and that's the unfortunate thing about pro sports. And he found himself in a situation like Robie just said, where competition kind kind of came upon him right a little. Last year there was a heck of a year unfortunate in a bad way, and because of that, the team

had to make alterations. The team brought in a new defensive coordinator, team brought in some more depth, They brought in some veterans, they brought in some young guys, and they wanted to create this culture of competition, which we hit on yesterday. When you don't rise to that level of competition, then things happen in this league regardless of what I and I mentioned this as soon as Queen came on I told you guys from my time with Quinn, he doesn't give a dog on how much money you make.

He don't care. You don't, You don't. There's no pecking order simply because of what your salary says that you make. You don't just you don't receive things simply because at playing time you have to earn it. And I think the Cowboys were still committed to him even up until I don't remember what the date was up until contract was guaranteed. There was March twenty first, Right March twenty first, they had a decision to make do we keep him on a roster or do we let him go, trade

him whatever without any consequences. Well, they still at that March twenty first, obviously they felt good about him. And that's why it's surprising, you know, even even with the moves afterwards, with Parsons and all that. For sure, so at that date they obviously felt like he can make

a contribution to this team, right enough. Seven however much money he was going to make this year right now at this point at seven point two, right but whatever it was for the for those four games including that, I don't know what the total is, Yeah, but they felt good enough about him to have him on a roster, and then something happened. Something happened. New guys showed up. Right, new decordinator who makes decisions shows up and said. Maybe he was like, that's not he's not a good fit

for us. Maybe he's not making enough enough good plays. Maybe he's not making the right decisions. Maybe guys don't respect him. Maybe he's not just competing with these young guys and he's not receiving that will he doesn't. Some guys are used to being in the limelight, and when new guys show up and compete, they kind of backed down, or they feel as if they should be given something right, like they're entitled to something when they have to really

earn their spot. I don't know. Maybe he said that one of the coaches moms had an Audie belly building. I really don't know, right, but something happened, something, something happened. Heck, what you just saying? What did you just say to that point to give somebody seven point two million dollars to go home, take your ball and go home, et phone home seven How often have you seen that? You don't see it a lot? Two million dollars I can

eat that. Ye two point five three's a lot of money, all right, But we can eat that if it's not going, if he's not a good fit for this team, and he's not you know, you know, conducive to our environment. Seven million dollars we could have got two kJ rights for that m. That's a lot of money. And even with a surprise mid season release, it doesn't always happen to where they're just handing out cash. Look at Stefan Gilmore, which yes, we will talk about later. The Patriots released

him yesterday as well, or will release him today. I guess I should say so. But there's no money guaranteed on that deal at all. I mean, there was a money esque move that needed to be made there from the Patriots standpoint here. That's that's what's confusing. Is is it just the sole factor of Hey, down the line, it could be more money. Let's try and nip this before it really gets any bigger. You know, I think when you look at Jalen Smith's career, and that's that's

something that's going to take care of itself. The numbers, the Pro Bowl, all of those things, you know, and the appreciation from the fans and what he'd done, and the negative stuff is going to be there as well. But you know, when you talk about the March deadline, I think at that point the Cowboys didn't know they were in limbo and they had to sign that at least to have the depth of what they had. Now people will say that this is a Micah move, but

to me, I think it's a Ken O'Neill move. And the reason being is Neil has shown you that I can't take that off of the field, just even running passing all of those things, because then I'm tipping my hand on what my coverages are and what I'm doing. And for dan Quinn that wasn't gonna work. You saw them try certain things at the beginning of the game against Carolina and you saw our linebackers completely get blown

out of the way. You can't do that with a guy that can't read and react because his physical limitations, because of his figures, physical limitations. I've never seen a guy to be sent home with seven million dollars excuse me, seven point two and on top of all of that, just the money that I want to go into what he paid to were number nine, All of that stuff.

But this guy has literally tried many times in his career to reinvent renew his career because of all of the devastating things that happened to him coming into the league. But the truth of the matter is, you have guys now on your team that you that is no longer

it's an excuse to keep them on the bench. You gotta find out what Jabril Cox has because he's showing you something in practice, So you gotta the guy has to be inserted, and you cannot take number forty two out just to keep number nine on the field, and those things, I think dan Quinn and I have to, you know, applaud him for making that decision because he did what was best for the team and the youth movement that they have and where they're going with these

new guys. You know, you just gotta applaud the organization for doing him. It's the timing that's the weird part. But I completely agree with you all the way through. Again, I though I think it's they look at how much he's playing, and there is that you know the reports, and I think they're accurate. There is that injury guarantee for twenty two coming out there, and they that's a risk. That's a financial risk that they had to look at.

I will say this, there's been no indication it was any kind of issue with him with the lack of playing time. Mean, you look at his his playing time last year. He played ninety eight percent of the defensive snaps, and you say what you want about his production after he missed that first season and rehab with Britt Brown all year in twenty sixteen to get back from that

career threatening injury, he was always available. And I bet teammates are shocked because there's a lot of he was the guy that broken broke down the huddle before kickoff on Sunday against Carolina. I bet guys are shocked. So but look it, Isaiah hit it. You guys hit it. I mean, it's about competition, and I'll take it one step further. I think it's also Jayron Curse has stepped into this kind of hybrid safety linebacker role where they've got three safeties on the field, this big nickel role,

and he's not coming off the field. You got Kean O'Neil probably coming off COVID this week, and you mentioned your Bill Cox. I'm interesting if maybe he plays a little bit more. I don't know if it's gonna be a lot more, but he's only gotten four snaps. Yeah, maybe they are wanting to take a look at him a little bit more, you know, and he's got that speed and coverage ability that they're using. Curse for that

that Kean Neil can brain that kind of stuff. The weird thing is that I don't think that this is the last move that the Cowboys make. If you talk about who's on what on I are and the guy said, I mean, because you're gonna have to make some some moves because of that competition that's coming. You know. It's almost like we're still in training camp as the season is going on the way that guys are still competing against each other. So look, man, this is just a

very interesting move. I'm sure it shocked the hell out of a lot of guys on this team, but I think it put a lot of other guys on notice. Yeah it no bodies says the environment you want. You brought this up like a long time. When guys come off I are though, like recently, yeah, what do they do? There's now there's one open spot. I mean, Donovan Wilson's coming back to from injury. They gotta find snaps for him.

It's uh, it looks like some depth fellas more depth than we've seen in a while, more depth than fifty three man roster can hold at some certain spots. I will say we just kind of a going along, going along with what Rob said. And I really liked the point that Heckma made a moment ago of talking about how what are you laughing about? Now? What's going on? I just went French for a second. Oh yeah, now I know what you're talking about. That that's an inside

joke among this show. We had a couple of people reporting throughout the night last night saying, sources tell the cow Told or from the Cowboys tried unsuccessfully to trade Jalen Smith. Oh did everything they had asked him to do. Ultimately, the guys, like Heckno was saying, Kean O'Neil, Layton, Vander Esh, Michael Parsons, Drabill Cox and and their depth led to the decision, which is why we didn't really see that decision made in training camp, like you said, they were

in limbo. I love that point. So why could you not trade this guy as straight up contract or is it more so the performance. How much money was he supposed to make this year including the four game Let's talk about how much he's already made in total. Yeah, I gotta look at his nobody's will, the seven millions guaranteed Chris being do you know what that is? This is the time. But anyways, nobody's gonna pay four million extension that he's signing. Nobody's gonna pay for him for

his production. Okay, that's that's just let's just talk pure football. His contract. The Cowboys gave him a very nice contract that was a very Um, Jerry loved him. I'll say that Jerry loved him and gave him a very favorable contract, and it put this team, this organization in a bad position. Um when he did not put up that production, right, he didn't put it. When he doesn't put up that production in order, When you get paid like that, you're

supposed to be a dominant force. You're supposed to be somebody that they circle on. Every time the often steps up, they circle you. You better know who it is due it is. He's a dog, right And I don't think aside from one year, I don't think Jayalen was ever that guy, right, so when you start calling another team, say hey, you want to pick up seven million dollars for him? No, you know, into that point, you know,

it's just you know, kJ is my dog. But like kJ Right j R. He signed with with Las Vegas for three and a half million dollars. I can get a kJ Right for three and a half million. But you want me to pay seven million for him? Yeah? No, not above market value? Yeah not at this point in his career. And I think the only thing that I disagree with is that gave him. I feel like done, he earned it, and he signed a team friendly deal. Is the way that they said it was a team

friendly deal when he signed it. So let's being fair to to Jalen Right. It came to a certain point where the speed just wasn't there. He couldn't move him, puppies, and you saw it. You know, they say the eye and the sky don't lie. And if it don't lie to us and we're seeing it, it don't lie to them back there when they're seeing it. It's like, damn, this is what we had designed. Dog. Where are you going?

You know, So you can't continue to have credibility if you're a guy playing to that level, and you have a guy sitting over here on the bench that can give you more than that, and you're paying that guy twice what you would have paid the guy that you just mentioned, right, So that they put themselves in a conundrum that started in March. They had to cut bait, and I think they did what was necessary. You're right, that was an interesting stretch when he got that extension,

and you're right, it wasn't like a monster extension. Lyle Collins got one two around the same time. It wasn't a monster extension. They were in the middle of negotiating with Zeke, trying to get him out of the hold out, and that was an interesting stretch of how much pies available and all that stuff. And he was coming off a Pro Bowl appearance. But look, and he led the team and tackles the last two years. But clearly they felt like more competition was needed, and the snaps show it.

He's playing fifty six percent of the snaps. He's playing half of what he normally does, and that's because other guys clearly they thought were playing better. I wonder if this move was made in March, there would have been a completely different mindset on the draft. Well, I mean to ross point I expected him to be gone then. Yeah, I was looking at that date like there's no way, there's no way. We talked about there's no way they're gonna let him get and give him guarantee. First of all,

bravo to his agent, dog On, I've never seen. I talked. I talked to Barry Church Raylier. We talked on the phone. We're like, bro, who is his agent? Because to get a guarantee, right, isn't he got a roster bonus? Pretty much? You got a roster guarantee when you're a starter. How do you get a roster guarantee as a starter right for a salary of that amount? Right? And then if I get injured, if I get injured at any point, my nine next year, my nine millions guaranteed. Bam, kudos signed.

Everybody who's a free agent signed that dude because he took care of Jalen. Well, you know, look, man, some people played chess, some people play checkers, and when it came down to it, the cowboys are sitting there looking at it. It may have looked favorable back when he signed the deal, but when they were sitting around and the Cowboy Club and said, you know what, we're not

gonna do this nine for US seven million dollars. As a matter of fact, kean On, Neil Curse and Michael Parsons make it where we don't have to do this, and so why would we keep that? And that's still is at nine on the cap for next year as well. So I mean, they're gonna pay for this move, but it was better for them just to go ahead and be rid of it, and you know, cut back, like I said, cut bait, go to another guy. Keana Neil makes what four men? I think it's less than that.

I'm not entirely sure. I don't have it up in front of him. That's expensive boy. You know, for him, he's got a chance because he's vested. He's got a chance now to be a free agent immediately and try to find a spot somewhere else where he might get to play more. I don't know if that's going to happen this point in the season, but it's possible. There's a lot a lot of injuries at linebacker, and so it's he's gonna get that opportunity. I feel like he has.

He hasn't done anything to ruin his reputation in the league other than just you know, just guys come with a reputation sometimes of being not good in the locker room, not being good off the field, and so that's not his reputation, and that's This is a guy that I gotta say this. This is a guy that does a lot of stuff in the Dallas community. He is a guy that goes to minority communities and take young kids and put them in these data camps and teach them

how to code. He's a guy that gives money to minority businesses. I mean, you don't find a Jalen Jalen Smith in your community. And any team that does get this guy, they're gonna get a quality person in their locker room. So I mean, look, the production wasn't there, the play wasn't there, but just keeping it classic. Jalen Smith's a good dude as well. Said yeah, I'm glad

you brought that up. I mean, you you remember back to last year he was the Walter Maten Band of the Year nominee from the Cowboys, and that's not an easy task. I mean, that is a high honor even to be nominated from a team, to be a part of that award process's at hey, But if being a good guy meant you had longevity in the NFL, rob P, you play for a lot of years, give you a bust. All right, let's take a break. When we come back,

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Witten has joined the Caliber Collision team. If you want to join him and do great work with great people for great pay, apply now at jobs at Caliber dot com. That's jobs at Caliber dot com. Second segment here of Talking Cowboys, presented by Tostitos the Great heck Ma Harrison, Isaiah Stanback, Rob Phillips. I'm Kyle Yeoman's let's hit the

phone lines. We are reacting to Jalen Smith news released by the Dallas Cowboys here this week prior to the game and the matchup with the New York Giants this Sunday. We've got Chris in Indie on the line. What up, Chris? What's up? Guys? Love the show? Hey, I think you guys are missing something. Now last year, this last offseason,

Jalen's contract was guaranteed for injury. He had risk surgery, so technically he couldn't pass his physical So the seven point two million was already guaranteed for the year, Isn't that correct? I can't remember if that's I thought it was because they just picked up the option. Right. Well, no, the contract was guaranteed for injury only, you know, if they didn't pick it up. But since he had risk surgery after the season, he couldn't pass the physicals, so

the money was guaranteed. Regardless whether he got waived or not, the money was guaranteed. Okay, you might be right about that. He might be right about that. He is, Yeah, Chris Beam coming in hot saying yeah he is. Yeah, he's right, Chris and Chris Yeah, that's a good point. Then, I mean that kind of changes your thought process with this whole deal, right, because it was already guaranteed going into that decision making process, right Yeah. And that's why I

mean I said what I was saying about offseason. I thought next year, they would do this in twenty twenty two, because then you're you're not you don't have to do that guarantee. It's kind of barring injury if you want to take the risk. And he's not playing as many snaps this year, so there's not there's probably less risk

of getting hurt. But yeah, that's I mean, if they're not putting that, if they put in a situation where they had to do it, then yeah, kudos to them for going ahead and saying, look though, we still got to potentially upgrade the spot, and that's what they did, you know, drafting Parsons, adding guys, So they weren't happy

with the death. Yeah, that brings up a whole nother wrinkle to it, because if he if that was already in you talk about how great as agent is, if he already had the risk surgery and it was gonna be guaranteed anyway, wasn't so much of a pickle as we think it is. But still, you know something about that March deadline, they still have to pick up his option from there, and so looks that's a great point. Chris appreciate that. Yeah, I'm glad glad he brought that up.

But I think it does go back to kind of what Rob was just saying of even if that money is guaranteed from an earlier date that we didn't necessarily think about, it's still surprising that they do it. Week four of the NFL season week five of the NFL season, rather than waiting and just letting it ride out a little more. How does that change the chemistry of your team when a guy like that, when a guy like that, that's a that's a staple in your in your locker room,

is cut after four games. Well, let me just let me start by saying this. We don't know what's going on in the locker room, right, so there might be other layers to this that we don't that we're unaware of. So let me let me preface it with that. But to your point, it puts everybody on notice. You already said that everybody's unnotice and that's something that we've talked

about in here. It's Quinn. It's a quinteffect. It's a Quint effect, right, I think in past, in the past, if you're a cowboy or anybody else, no matter where you're at, if you're getting paid a certain amount, you're on a team, especially if your contracts guarantee, Yeah, what's the what's the benefit? What's the benefit of me letting you go? Even if even if you were reverted all the way back to just a specialist. For me, I'm already I gotta pay you anyway, So you're gonna do

something to contribute to this team. Even if I don't have you on the field, I'm paying you seven millie or plus whatever he's already made, right, So to let him go, it lets everybody else know that you were not exempt, that you were not exempt. You understand that the owner of this organization has said that he is

a cornerstone player for us. If we're willing to let go of our cornerstone player and he's already do the money and we're just gifting him money to go home, everybody can get it, but can man, everybody can get it well, even with the cornerstone talk. I mean again, I don't know if that was just Yea, it would talk, you know at the time, but you know the way

that they responded. We're gonna give Quinn a lot of the credit for the competition part, but we have to give the front office credit for making the tough decisions. And if they're willing to make those tough decisions and say, look, we don't care about all of these other things, it has to show up production wise on the and if that wands, then we need to go in a different direction. We talk about the depth that we didn't have last year in conjunction with what we have right now. And

it's a nighting day situation. And I think you can't make those situations. You can't make those decisions last year because your hands were tied behind your back. You had nothing. Who was behind him, Louke Gifford or someone like that. So Joe Thomas who's now on the Texans, Yeah, I was about it. This is what happens too when you bring in a defensive coordinator. I'm not saying this is all dan Quinn, but he comes in and he's got

a fresh set of eyes and what he wants. And you know, he brought into a safety and a safety turn linebacker that he thought I played with them or I coached them. They're gonna help transform this defense that is that carries a lot of weight, you know, And that's that's a big reason why you're looking at the snap disparity from from from last year. And it's also Micah Parsons a guy you just can't take off the field, you know. Now, I'm curious now with this decision, does

that change his role at all going forward? Or you still just look at it like, you know, based on matchups wherever Mica needs to play, will play him there, and for whatever's best for that particular week. I would agree with just that. You know, you stay with Mica in his role of he does everything all right. You know, he's a sinner, he's a corner, he's the safety, he's all of those things. But it just shows the talent. I just believe that backside of the backfield tight ends.

And you look at our matchups going forward. I just look at what we're doing this Sunday versus the Giants. Man, they have a back that's going to be out of the backfield. And I don't think that we wanted to see Jayles Smith in open air with him and y'all laugh, and I appreciate that. Let's go to Sam in Atlanta. Sam, what's going on? You're on talking Cowboys? Hey, what's going on? Man? Hey? What I'm say? Yeah? Yeah, I UM. I just wanted

to time in a little bit. I know there's not a whole lot I can say to Heaven and said, but I was a little shock. I wasn't surprised at the mood because everybody's been talking about, you know, Jaylen and his speed and I was one of the biggest fans of his, you know, because of the injury and everything. But I wanted to just touch a couple of things,

and then I get off. You were talking about, you know, how it puts everybody on notice, and two names in particular that came up to my mind when you said that, And I want y'all to just kind of dive into First of all, Lyell Collins. I don't know what his contract situation is, but you know the fact that still has come on so much, and Lyle did such a you know, a stupid thing and what he did, and

the other ones being um Tank Lawn. I mean, everybody's talking about, yeah, thank great, you know, and run and all of this and that. But now we see that we played better without both of those guys. So I'm gonna hang up, but I would y'all just talk about that a little bit. So two people are even more people that may be on notice, appreciate the call. Thanks so much, Sam, Sam might be the bravest man in

Cowboys Nation. Sam and the old statement. But I mean it's a question that needs to be asked, right, are they playing better? Are they they're finding ways to get by? I think, are they're going to be even better when both guys get back. Yeah, you can talk, or you can factor in their salary and do a both way. You can say it's both ways. We don't know what's gonna happen when they come back, but you're right at the moment, that's what it looks like. Are they better

when they both guys get back? I think so? Yeah. I mean everybody should think so, right. No, I mean, like, Terry Steele has done a hell of a job, but I do not now he's not lyo Colin. We come a long way with Taryn Steele in the last three weeks.

I mean, seriously, what were we suppose everybody's saying dialogue, Yeah, get rid of him, you know, Like I just feel as though, you know, Terrence Steele has done a great job, but when lall comes off of that suspension, he going right back over there to the right side and do

his job. You know. But the other thing about Tank Lawrence is I think it's so easy to look at this organization and say, look at the production of guys once they get paid, and starting from the Cowboys, I look everywhere, but here specifically, guys get paid and production goes down and putting guys on notice is one thing, but asking guys to look, man, this is what you have,

be who you are. But if you don't have the guys next to you to help you, and you're getting double and triple teamed every time because you're the only thing that they have to look at, then that changes. Tank. Tank can't be tanked when he's taking on a triple team. Well, now, when you line up, when you're line up Michael Parsons, Chauncey Golston and Tank Lawrence on the same side of the ball, who the hell are you gonna throw team? Who are you going to double team? That is a nightmare.

And especially when you have hunters up front and not a bunch of guys that are pretending to be hunters. Also, not to mention Osa Odigi Zooa on the other side with Randy Gregory, maybe Neville Gallimore when he comes back. I agree, there's gonna be a lot of single team schemes go or a single person schemes going up against

the Marcus Lawrence. That was just and I point that out because that was one of the blitzes that Dan Quinn bought from the right side last week versus the Panthers, and you could tell if the Panthers were like, oh s shakerbobs, who are we? Who are we going to stop? Because Michael Parsons was lined up over the guard. He's lined up standing up over the guard, Chauncey's over the tackle, and then you have Randy Gregory on the outside. I do that's a night man. He's mugging the a gap.

That's what he's doing. Micah, Yeah, no doubt. All right, let's go to that's my favorite football termugging the gap. Man. Appreciate Sam and Atlanta for the call. Let's go to Fred in DC. What up? Fred? You're on talking Cowboys? What's up, gentleman? Um? So we were talking about the Jayalen stuff. I was thinking back in March and you and you kind of made this point as I've been on hold, is that you didn't have Kano, you didn't

have Micah, you didn't have Debrille. All you had was Jalen and Lde and injured Gifford and Joe Thomas maybe, but then he left, so you really had nothing and you had to start. But then other guy mentioned the injury settlement, which I didn't realize was the case. But you know, with all these things, I don't think there was actually a choice about having Jailed on the team. But I was actually proud that once they realized that there was no more utility or advantage to having him

on the team to let him go. And so that's that to me, that signifies the shift of mindset that we've been waiting on for so long, like this would never happened in Jason, and I'm just happy that somebody, you know, that people in the room or finally helping make the decisions as opposed to just you know, being put or whatever. So that was on the point I wanted to debate. I appreciate it. That's a great point

because they hadn't drafted two linebackers yet. And that's why previous caller I got a double check that because I that at that point that's a good thought. It's like, from a death perspective, let's just go ahead and keep him on the roster for twenty twenty one. Yes, it's guaranteed. I'm not sure if it was what the physical being

able to pass situation was by late March. I'm not sure because Zeke was the same thing Zeke was healthy, but it was like, if he's on the roster and March whatever, his salaries fully guaranteed it was the same thing. But I'm not sure where Jalen was exactly with his injury at that point. We'll see either way, they protected themselves depth wise at the time. Yeah, and they didn't have that that mindset of going into the draft saying

we heard, yeah, we're gonna draft two linebackers. We're gonna draft Michael Parsons first and then have jbial Cox slide to us the way that he was able to. So yeah, that's kind of what I was mentioning earlier is if you had made this move in March, do you go into the draft with the mindset of, oh, Michael Parsons is our guy, then do you trade or do you draft him right at ten and not risk going down to twelve? Or do you not draft Chauncey Golston because I was the pick you got for the Eagles from

moving from ten to twelve. So there's a couple domino effect things that could have happened, but I think overall, the Cowboys did what they needed to to protect their depth at that level. One last caller here and then we'll take our second break. Josh from Maryland. You're on talking Cowboys. Hey, what's alright? Alright, long time. It's the first time called appreciate question. Um yeah, I think that

that's another nine. Put too much on a fine light little Jameson because he was real fine for the whole season. That sounded funny here one time Sunday. So we oh, I think we lost Josh. Say what you just said again? Okay, can hear me? Filo? Sorry, I'm on the back room. You're good, okay. Yeah, So I was saying that number nine.

I think that put another spotlight on him and he didn't mean because, um, he stopped doing the swike this year, and in this Chast game he made one tackle and that one tackle he made he brought that swipe back out. But I've seen some reports saying that he might a guy who cut about two weeks ago. Um, but he on Neil had the COVID situation because he really was to get too many half percentages snacks. It only bumped up to fifty because ke On nil then out. So

appreciate you filers taking call. Hope to get to you next time. Oh good, Josh Man, give me a craft cake please in Maryland. Yeah, the old game, you hear me? Yea. They don't know about that obe all that stuff. So to that horrible state and we got I appreciate it, Josh. He brings up a point that a lot of Cowboys fans would like to mention. Then the swipe one last time. I don't think this cut had anything to do with

the swipe. Get that out of the way. But hey, let me ask somebody if you do something, if you do something and you say, baby, are you're okay and your wife go okay, I'm okay, what does that mean? Not okay? Okay? So I'm not mad. I'm just disappointed, you know right, somebody wasn't say it about that swipe. Okay, he got his last okay. Jerry was in was up there in his suite and he already said he said, now, Chili, here we go. If you swipe one more goddamn time,

oh you're out of here. And that was it. He saw tech all crap, here you go. He brought that arm back. That's it, get back if you hit if one more Aaron, that is not a cowbit. Yes, he's not a cowbit. Did he just wipe Stephen? Did he just swipe it clean? Michael, Rob, You and I are gonna be doing the show tomorrow just by ourselves. I don't know if any of us are. Chris Aaron's Hey do it again? All right, let's take our second break

special thanks to all the callers today. When we come back here on Talking Cowboys, there is an all pro cornerback now on the market or going to be on the market. Is that a move the Cowboys could make. We're gonna talk about it when we come back right after this. Hi, I'm Clint Tillison. Will you not at agin turf before you can park yourself in front of the game, park yourself in a John dear and power

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for everyone. Restrictions apply. Is it att dot com for details to Talking Cowboys? Whether you're watching from home, are you're cheering in the stands with lindsays? You can see every exciting play book an appointment at your local experts and see what can do for you. See more, do more on Talking Cowboys. What are we doing? What Chris can you? I don't know, Chris ground us. Yeah, we're gonna be We're gonna be it. We'll join you Monday

on Talking Cowboys. After our two days suspension, UM, okay, so we don't. It's got some men to do, so we don't actually have a suspension. NFL dot Com has reported that the Patriots planned to release cornerback Stefine Gilmore from New England. Gilmore and all pro cornerback it has been in New England for how long six years, seven years, pretty high amount of time in New England. It looks like that time's coming to a close as of this afternoon.

It is supposed to be coming down the transaction wire sometime this afternoon. But that means the cornerbacks on the market and there is an extra roster spot. I don't know if the cap has the room for it, but you can make it work, right, Isaac, We created cap room. Yeah, you guys remember a while back there structure how much? How much room do we have? Is about ten? Oh? They created a dozen million? Yeah, we got we have enough.

We haven't He was due I think five eight if I remember correctly this year, I think it was like seven, like seven, and then I think his pro rad of salary for the year would be something like nine to ten million. Okay, well, either way, we have enough, right, okay, um, would you basically do let's let's play let's play a

game of what if? Okay, let's play it. What if we had an opportunity with the season that we're having with the cornerback play, that we're having, the secondary, the whole defense, right, but we have a guy with Trayvon Diggs that that that my guy Hick him absolutely lest we all love. And he's playing really well ball, really really good ball. Um playing the best cornerback ball in the league right now. And imagine, just imagine he's a

second year of player. Correct, Imagine if we have the opportunity to pair him up with one of the two leagues considered considered by the league to be shut down corners Jalen Ramsey Stephanie Gilmore. Those are the only two that coming among when you talk about shutdown like I go where you go, I'm with you, I'm in your back pocket. Okay, imagine if we had an opportunity to add that to what we have going on right now.

Who not only is a proven leader, he's also a super Bowl champion, and he's a number one corner that needs to ball out one year to go out and get the big boy contract that he wants. Oh and by the way, Dallas happens to be the biggest market, the largest marketed team in the world. A lot of opportunity there, a lot of opportunity there. I would say,

why not. Jerry has alluded to him running out it kind of his time is kind of going right, kind of he feels that he's getting older, and I feel like he really want He obviously wants to go get that thing. He know, we know, we all know that's what he wants more than anything. It's a super Bowl. When he feels as if he's that close, this close, right four games in, he already feels we have a legitimate shot to go after this thing this year. Not

just Cowboys Nation hype. This is like legitimate. We have a solid roster, we're playing well. Why would you not add another chess piece that would even more make you more dominant on that side of the ball. You have no question marks on offense, you had no you had question marks and on defense before the season started? Why not secure that secure it were? It doesn't matter what side you go to. You gotta do with Diggs or you gotta deal with Gilmour. It really doesn't matter. It

really doesn't matter. And we're going to face teams that we need two guys that could shut down some people, because we saw in Week one you did a good job against one, but there's another dude on the other side named Antonio Brown that kicked our butt right every team that we face going into the playoffs and all that jazz down the road, We're going to need some other guys other than just Diggs, and if you have opportunity to secure him secure the back. That's my opinion.

I love what you just said, and I think Stephan Gilmore and Jalen ramsay you're absolutely correct. Those are guys that you have to mention in the same breath when you talk about shutdown corners. When I look at our team, I see Dan Quinn as the man that maybe did what Mike McCarthy did in his year off in changing everything that he did. Dan Quinn was a cover three defensive coordinator. That's what I'm gonna play because I don't believe that your guys can beat the guys that I have.

He's changed that, he's changing his coverages up all the time, going zone, going man, all of those things. Stephan Gilmore to me, is a nomad corner. He's like, we're turning Trayvon Digs into it. He'm traveling with the main guy. What system? You know. I think he could play in any every system because of Belichick, right, but I think thirty one at the age of thirty one right now, with the injury history, that he's the injury that he's coming off of which is a quad. We don't know

when he would be back. And obviously, whenever he did get an opportunity to come back off of our healthy then obviously you could use that. But look at what you have right now, and I think that if you look at the health and where this team is, we could use Stephan Gilmore, a guy of his caliber, but I think the money and his age isn't right to fit what we have right now. One year and look even for one year, if we went down that road, I wouldn't be mad. I wouldn't be sitting over. I'd

be like, yeah, let's get let's get it on. But I think, from from an internal standpoint, there are other things that we could do to make this team better. And I'm saying from AD tackle, we no and I'm saying the depth we have at d tackle, We've had guys that are coming back that we hope are going to be healthy. But again that's the great unknown in a lot of areas. Again, Stephan Gilmore is one of the players that I love in this league because he's

a straight up certified dog. There's no question you don't need to co sign that. All I'm saying is for where he is right now in his career and what we have we need it. Yeah, no, and that that those are all great points. I mean Gilmore still banged up, like you said, I mean he's on pup for a reason, he's physically unable to perform. But he does bring in that resume that could take Trey von Dix to the

next level. But do you really want that messing up a group because right now your defense has a bit of a group. Jerry was asked about, you know, would you have been in on another veteran cornerback who signed with Tampa Bay and he talked about progress stopping. So I don't know. I mean every case is different, and I get again this is not official, but the NFL media is saying this is going to happen. Officially, New

England's gonna do this. I think thirty one team's antennas are up because of the quality of player, and is no doubt about it. Money's the reason why he's not going to be there anymore. He wants more money. He wasn't willing to restructure his contracts. So, like you said, like what does he want to do? Does he want to take a kind of bet on myself deal to come back healthy, very serious injury. I mean it's a quad deal and he's out at least through week six,

I guess. So there's that, and then there's gonna be a lot of teams interested in So I mean it's there's there's money and injuries or the fact that's your Tampa on the phone right now. Oh, everybody's everybody, everybody is one of them. How many cornerbacks do you get to put your hands on that are of his calibernut? I mean it's hardly, ever, hardly ever. Again, he knows that he needs a prove it year. Nobody's gonna give him.

He knows he can't get the contract that he wants right now coming off of an injury unless he proves it first correct. He doesn't want to prove it with

a team that's crap. He wants to prove of what a team that's doing well and he wasn't doing in a highly touted market, highly exposed market, Dallas Cowboys, the greatest market there is in football right Dallas Cowboy is a very competitive team right now, probably the most energy on defense right now, playing well for a great defensive coordinator. Another great corner. I don't have to come in and be that guy because there's another guy that's already balling out,

So I don't. All the spotlight won't be on me, right, so he can come into a good situation. We know he's a team player because he's coming from freaking Belichick. He knows how to play all dusiness. He can travel if we need him to. If Diggs goes down, guess what, we still have a number one. There's too many positives. We have the money, we create a cap space. You're in a position. If I'm Jerry Jones, secure the freaking bag. Secure the bag. You have the best training staff in

the NFL. Do your homework, do whatever you gotta do. Check him out, doctor Cooper, all of them cats. Check him out, get him in the building. He's a team player, he's a leader. He's the one of the best cornerbacks, one of the best two cornerbacks in the league when healthy. That's we can say that about anybody, right Why not? No, I ain't he can mentor Trademond Diggs right now is the veteran at the corner position. Yeah, come on now, Yeah, but you know again, we signed up for this youth movement,

and here we are. And I also and I also feel I agree with you with that. I mean, what do you have to lose nothing? You got a Super Bowl to win, So make that move. Now you strike when the iron's hot. That is the m of the league. And you talk about and I can see this clearly. Yeah, he was a traveling corner in New England. That don't mean he has to do it when he's here, right,

he doesn't have to do it when he's here. And we see that the other weaknesses and teams are gonna just completely stop throwing to Trayvons guy, They're just gonna stop, and they're gonna try and start exposing the other side. Well, I think right now, Anthony Brown and the guy that we're talking about, it's not even the one A, one B situation. So I mean, everybody's shaking the head. I mean, if you just imagine this, imagine this right, because we're

gonna we're gonna face this right. Kansas City's coming up on the docket. Down the road. Okay, some weeks down the road. You come up, you're at Patrick Mahomes, you come up to the line of scrimmage, you look at one side, you're like Digs. You On the other side, you see Gilmore, you're look in the middle, you see Michael Parsons and you got d law in Gregory. Well what is going on? Yeah? What is going on right now? Coming hey and and Diggs and get more. Don't I

don't care who comes over here. Come on, come on, come come on, I don't care. I don't have the w I don't have to worry about who's going to what's side? We got you? No. I love that, I really do. I love that. But you know, man, it's it's not as three o'clock hits. I'm like, what you want? I got a million more than what you want right now. I want to get him do it? Yea yeah. But that's the thing, though, is it's never that straight never

that straightforward. I agree completely with everybody's thought process here, but it's gonna be a complex deal, just how we saw from the other side. Finally, don't stop it. That's a lot, bigger, a lot things just empty the wall. You got it? What are you saving it for? Yeah? Oh goodness, I mean in the market deal too. I mean you you mentioned it with you wants to go to a bigger market. That's why you went to New England from Buffalo. And I would imagine at his age,

he's I mean, he's won Super Bowls. He's just trying to play for a super This is a group of Cowboys earn a group of teams that earned that category after four games. But I will look again, though he's been out since December. What did I say? Did you hear that? Did you hear what he just said? Did I say it? What? Did I passed out for a sec? Said I actually say it? Did he black out? Did he say it? He said it? Well, that's it for

us on talk. Oh no, we got in there. We'll see you tomorrow, nine am Central Time for heck Ma Harrison, Isaiah stand back, Rob Phillips, Chris Beam in the backup, Kyle Yeoman saying so long, thanks for joining us. This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.