Draft Show: Vision of the Future

Is the Dallascowboys dot Com Draft Show, your war room for insider news and draft analysis from deep within the confines of Cowboys Headquarters at the Star Infrasco.

Today is Wednesday, January sixteenth, and we are now officially ninety nine days from the twenty twenty four NFL Draft. Welcome into the Draft Show for the first time in twenty twenty four, presented by Miller Lte. We will be here twice a week from here on out. Unfortunately a couple weeks early, but we're here.

Nonetheless, you think you're so funny, don't you think.

Ninety nine days? I looked that up this morning and I had a mini heart attack myself.

I will mention that it's January seventeenth and not sixteenth, but it's fine.

What it's I say, sixteenth, It's okay. It's Wednesday, January yesterday. Welcome in the Draft Show. Nick's already cut off. We've got Zach Wolchuk, Nick Harris, the Great, Brian brought us Ayisha Morrison, I'm Kyle Yeomen's Chris Beame in the back. We will have Bobby Belt in the rotation as well throughout the Draft Show here this season and his draft.

Season, so we will have all those guys.

But Brian, it's always, uh, it's always bittersweet to be back in here because one we're getting the talk draft season, but two, it means the Cowboys season has come to a close.

Yeah, that's usually the way things work. And you know, you felt like that maybe that you'd have a couple more opportunities to to kind of see this football team play, but it really is you know, all year long. They have your season, but the scouts are working on the draft, you know, and we just pick it up. We we cover the season and then we try and catch up with the scouts and what's going on.

But you know, this is the way, you know, this is the way you make your team better. You go out and you evaluate. We always talk about in the show.

We educate and investigate are the two things that we do here and so, you know, looking forward to doing that with all you It's always a fun time of the year for me because I lived this, this has been my life and I'm so happy that I have teammates here that have a passion for it as well.

Can't wade and it's always a lot of fun.

The more you dive into the draft process, and I usual got her first taste of it last year, Zach got his first official taste of it.

Nick, you're the rookie of the show this time around.

So the deeper you get into it, the more fans enjoy the learning, and the more learning that's had on our side as well. Investigate and educate all day every day. And Nick, you've you've been around a lot of these prospects from the recruit root trail. Excited to see how you kind of bring that extra taste into it on the draft side too.

Honestly, me too, just kind of give everybody some perspective on where I come from. I started working for the Dallas Cowboys. This was the first day, was the first day of the draft for me last year. So while I was getting everything since you wait to give him my hr paperwork in, I was watching you guys trying to handle who's going to get trapped in the first round. But yeah, this is my first time going through the

Oh, I can't wait for that. That's gonna be fun.

Yeah.

Well, well I was going to be a three star in the first round and we're real look at Nave and be like, what were you doing?

I will say twenty twenty six draft is when my evails will start coming around. So I'll save the BEA for that. We'll save the be for that.

That's awesome. I issue year number two.

How is it different for you this time around?

Well, if I'm being human and being very honest, I'm not nearly as nervous as I was. It's it's this is not an easy feat coming up here, and Brian used to tell me, like, you can't fake it doing this, and so the you know the work that you have to put in to be precise with it, and people will hold your feet to the fire.

You know, and you guys will too.

So I think coming into this season, I'm far more just comfortable being with you guys, because I know you at this point, and as far as the process goes, I'm just learning to I can trust myself more, you know, because I have done it, and so now I'm like, I trust my eyes and we can go for it.

So I'm excited. That's actually I.

Think it's be pumped up the fact that you're going into your number two and you already feel that comfortable like and you're back into your rhythm that you already had last year, and I think everybody can speak to you did a phenomenal job and your number one, your number two is going to be even better.

I can't wait.

I will say this, The anxiety never goes away, That's true, it never really does.

But I mean because like you say, you're you feel responsible, you really do, and especially when you're sitting in that chair across the hall up there when you're drafting players, you feel responsible for what's going out there, and so yeah, that's that's the great thing about it. And you you your your missus uh resonate with you more than your makes. And it's nice when people remind you about the makes though, because that's that makes you feel a little bit better about the job you're doing.

It happens every once in a while you'll get one where it's like, hey, you have this guy right, appreciate all the insight.

But more often than.

Not, it's why did you guys have this guy so high or why did you have it so low?

And it always turns into that Zak you had that a couple times last year.

Oh yeah, Yoshivash ended up making me look pretty good. Princeton kid from Bengals.

I got a cup.

But then yeah, there were some you know, Emmanuel Forbes. I think we were all high on and I definitely got the gotch. You guys loved Emmanuel Forbes. Look at me getting benched over there in Washington, what do you know? But hey, it's part of the process, and I don't think that you can go ahead and just write a kid off after a rookie season. Though, I know we'll talk about that with some of the Cowboys from this past draft as well.

Yeah, there's a lot to dive into. I do want to get into the recent reaction though, with the way that the season ended.

You give up.

Forty to forty eight points, almost had forty two. I'm giving six points to this Dallas defense, forty eight points in the wildcard round to Green Bay. You fall forty eight to thirty two. You get bounced in a round that you anticipated to win. And things really do change on a dime. I mean, one week we're talking about Mike McCarthy and extensions and everything that can happen there.

Dan Quinn's a shoeing.

For head coaching jobs around the league, and then all of a sudden you put a halt on him, really every conversation, and you don't know what the future of this franchise really looks like, Brian when it comes to the draft and really the team's perspective, how much can things change just over the next couple of weeks.

It can change quite a bit, you know.

And now everybody goes they'll have their meetings, they've dismissed the team, you know, the coaching staff, you'll get everything kind of squared up with see what happens with DQ in his interviews. You know, you have to maybe prepare for him being gone. Do you have to get a different defensive coordinator? Does that change the philosophy? Is there a coordinator coming from the outside. If that's the case, is he a four three three four? You know, does

They have to go back now and.

Bring back potential players that they might not have liked or graded well enough.

For the team. But you have a new defensive coordinator.

So any type of tweak with the coaching staff could be a little bit of a stress on your scouting staff.

How much does that put a pressure on adential hire coming in because there's already an infrastructure laid from the draft picks you've made from the roster that's been put on the field recently. But Nick, whenever you look at maybe even potential candidates, whether it's at head coach or defensive coordinator, how much does that put a pressure on them to come in and immediately either change or keep things the same.

Yeah, I think there's going to have to be a pressure to change, right because if they're brought in, they're brought in to change. That's what kind of the whole conversations are this week about. You know, how much change do you want to instill on the cornerstones of this roster,

Man, it really does change things pretty quickly. But how did it change your perspective on the way that this roster's been the way that they were bounced out of that wild card round and really dismantled by Green Bay.

I mean, yeah, I think that, and really I don't want to upset anybody, but listen, this league is ever changing, evolving. I feel like I personally felt like the big nickel in the way that it's been used and just kind of with some of the things they do on the defensive side of the ball has been really good for

So for me, it's like if there's a new coordinator coming in.

I thought Brian made a really good point about even looking at some of the players. Now, I'm like, I don't know the foundation of what this defense might look like next year, as opposed to we went into last year looking at for as like this is a ballhawk guy, Yeah, press all that lengthy corner. That's the prototype for what you know, this defensive staff likes or that side of the ball. But now you're like, well, man like, if

To do that.

But I'm I'm just being honest, man like, because the way that you lost in these games was because of not that side of the ball.

To me get out of it, I.

Think there's a really good point to make on the defensive side that you made because you already made the changes on the offensive side. You figured those out last offseason, and feel like the offense had a pretty strong year from from by any measures, especially if you look at Week six going into the bye week and what they did coming out. I think there was a lot of

And as she gets a philosophy question coming out of ox Star, did we all think that they went short at linebacker?

Yes?

Absolutely, everyone was concerned about seed line.

To me, that's where I felt like the House of Cards was right. Yeah. And and I think Gan was trying.

His best to put what I would say a band aid on an amputation.

Oh absolutely, you know.

I mean, and you know and Bell, and you talked about Bell and and and what he could do and all that you brought up. I think he gave a great thumbnail about the player and all. But see This is where I you know, you wonder about philosophy. They made a determination to go short at linebacker, and they trusted that Van dersh would stay healthy.

You know.

The Overshown injury was just a thing. Was tragic from what we saw during training camp.

There were some.

Things philosophy wise that they chose to do that the end of the year really just showed its ugly head. And you know, and I think that's what they have to go back and study. Like when we were coming out of camp, what did we think? Why did we think this? Yeah, and I think that put a lot of stress on the defense for some of the things that some of the decisions that they made.

I think we were pretty excited about overshowing. Right, So that's that the right point. Like for dan Quinn, you look at the undersized nature of this defense and you're absolutely right, Ayisha teams were exploiting that. But you were hoping to have LV right, you were hoping to have Overshown. But I think that this this team is very well

Well, we all evaluated Mossi Smith, right, yeah, and Massie Smith was supposed to be the three hundred and thirty pound defensive tackle. And next thing I know, I'm watching tape and I call Aisha, I go, Massi Smith looks small.

To you, you know, and we all were kind of yeah.

He looks small and playing at like three oh seven.

Yeah.

See, that's what I'm saying. All of a sudden, there's some philosophy things on defense, and yeah, they absolutely do need to get bigger, tougher, I think is something. But we talked about toughness two years ago against San Francisco. Right, you know, some things have to change, you know what exactly what you're saying.

Yeah, I said on our show yesterday, I said one of the one of the changes I'm looking to see. Hey, man, listen, if you keep the head coach in the OC, fine, for the love of God, bring an advisor of somebody in here that understands the Shanahan tree, because defensively and off offensively, they give you trouble and it's not getting any better.

The Rams have turned it around and figured their life out.

Green Bay looks like an up and coming team. You got to see these people you're gonna have to see and the forty nine ers could possibly be just as good next year. You're gonna have to keep seeing these

There's no avoiding them at this point.

So it's like, to your point, broadening the matchups and the personnel I think is going to be important. But also find an identity, identity and philosophy on both sides of both sides of the ball that's conducive to be successful in the league is going to be important moving forward.

Agreed.

And they got to figure out an offense. How do you run the football? And it's a little bizarre. You look up and you've got two first team All pros at guard? Have you got a second team All Pro at tackle?

Yeah?

You could not run the ball all year.

Do you think they look at that?

Do you think they look at the coordinator position, even though a lot of the players love Salari?

Is that something that maybe you look at the inability.

To run you have to But if anything, I think it's a philosophy from your head coach, if your play caller, not just the head coach specifically, but you.

Sold as the idea that we're going to run the ball right.

All training camp long, run the ball, run the ball, run the ball, and then you can't run the ball. That's troubling to me. If you're saying there's an emphasis on running the football and you've got three All pros up front to first team one second team, you should be the best running team in the country and or at least top five, and you barely crack the top fifteen and you're just man in terms of running the football.

Is there one specific position of need?

I asked the question yesterday on Twitter, and it was resounding linebacker as the number one. But I think we could all kind of look around the table and say linebackers maybe not what twenty four overall is gonna institute. That's not a spot for twenty four overall unless it's the perfect player and it's somebody that you feel like is going to be a starter for twelve years in the league, and YadA, YadA, YadA, But where is the position of need.

Right now for the Skallas Cowboys team?

For me, I'm looking offensive line. I want a guy that has versatility up front. I want a guy who could play multiple positions. I want a guy that can come into the building and be able to Okay, we could fit you in there. If you work there, If Tulers moves to tackle, maybe we can keep Tyler Smith and Gard and move you to tackle. You look, get a guy like Graham Barton out of Duke.

I mean, he's a guy.

In the first player let's go.

Four.

He's a guy that could play all five. I'm almost confident he could play all five up front. And you look in the second round, a guy like Jackson Powers Johnson. He's a guy that's played four of the five up front for Oregon in the last two seasons. So you know, I want to bring in a guy that has a ton of versatility, and they've shown to do that. Austin Richards they were hoping to have that little versatility with him.

The deepest position groups are offensive tackle and wide receiver. In the first round this year, I think, without question, now linebacker, a lot of people you're right, they're gonna want want a back er. I think maybe Edrin Cooper from Texas A and M could be your top guy. I love Cedrick Gray from North Carolina. I watched him last night. That dude flies around, makes a lot of plays. But I think day two, maybe early day three, that's

What let Briano.

No, he just said drop that ass on the ground, to put your ass on the ground, but he drops that ass.

I just wanted to look at Aisa and if we could, wanted to throw back.

One of the best scouting terms I've ever heard.

Of, that telling me the guy from Doukie drops.

His A's not a family friendly show anymore.

We're taking exactly not.

Listen.

I don't want to be the cliche and mentioned linebacker, which you already took into You've already taken offensive line man.

Listen to take a linebacker. I'll dance with you here.

Yeah, I mean you talk about you know, late later down in the in the rounds, you know, maybe not taking one day one, maybe not even day two, depending on I like Maurice Lefu from Notre Dame outside linebacker.

I took a lot.

I took a look at him. I like his lateral quickness. He has the ability to rush the passer. But his y'all, he plays that line of aggressiveness like very very well.

He stays.

He's even tempered, but he can be a little hot headed, and he's his motor is crazy. He's listen. Yeah, he's someone he has the hair and everything.

But he was a buckets.

Ward finance as well, so he's he's People know that this guy can play.

They didn't. They didn't. They were top ten in defense and this crazy guy was a part of it because he plays with his hair on fire.

But I just like how he comes downhill and tackles. He's physical, and he also has coverage instincts. Yeah yeah, I mean, honestly, when you look at this linebacker class, a lot of them can't come and it's it's kind of cool because we talked about it last year, just kind of the evolution of the position.

But he's a good.

Balance of I can cover, but I can come downhill and I'm gonna make you pay. And I do think that that's something you want to look for. But I look at the lateral quickness too. When you're talking about how you beat some of these guys that do a lot of motion and all that stuff or attack your linebackers.

He has some of that in them.

So I was looking at him last night and I was very impressed by what I saw.

So maybe if you want to.

Get a guy, maybe like the third round or fourth round, if that's what you decide to do.

This guy can ball.

Yeah.

And one thing to add about Mary's lula foul. He comes trump on file. I believe luifoul pronunciation. We're getting on that. But he comes from Punaho, Hawaii, which is a north Honolulu, and those guys are known for being run stoppers. I mean Notre Dame loves to go get those Samoan guys to fill into that second level. There's another one we'll talk about next year in Nuafe tou Halamaca, but talking about Luifal.

For this year.

He started he started as a bit nick. He started as to be in high school and being able to add that weight, get up to two forty and add that run stopping ability that he trains with down in Honolulu because they can't throw the ball down there. I mean I'm sorry too. What was the only one that really to really come out of there that could So having to go through those four years run stopping and being able to fill that and then also having that dB background, it really helped him once he got to

Lo raw, he's still to me.

To me, I think he still has some stuff that he has to work on. But I like that because I think he has all the tools and you can just put him out there and.

Let him go.

That sounds sad, Yeah, sounds right.

You got some hit stake to him.

So the one position group that I think is drastically different from last year that is pretty thin is running back, and that's another.

Spot hey looking at that.

Was a group that last year we were talking about ten deep at running back.

We're like, man, you can get a guy on day two. You're feeling really good about it.

This year, the best guy that I've watched so far Trey Benson from Florida State.

I think he can do everything you want.

But I mean a Jonathan Brooks out of Texas I think is a really good player, but he's coming off of the injury, right, A lot of these guys decided to go back. I was high on Donovan Edwards from Michigan. He's going back to school, Trayvon Henderson from Ohio State going back to school. You know, Blake Quorum now has put himself in the conversation of being and he's five to eight. Do you want to go with another smaller

And even like Jonathan Brooks at the top of that, I mean, he's up there on the list, but he's coming off of an injury as well. So it feels like this entire running back class has questions. And this is a team that was in the market for a running.

Back last year. They took Duzwan in the sixth round.

But even before that, we were sitting in this podcast studio and looking at guys like just Zach sharbonnet Chan, Tank Bigsby. It felt like every round they were looking at a guy and then he would he would get slipped out.

From underneath them. Yeah, they didn't end up getting anybody.

There's value, there's value in the and that that you guys, you're right though. That position was so deep, it was a fun group to study. I'm gonna throw a guy out at you real quick here if I could, I know were up against on a break here.

We can we can get one guy in.

How about this?

I drafted this guy's dad at Philadelphia and Jeremiah Trotter Junior.

If you're talking about linebackers, he liked this.

Yeah, this guy's my Nick Bolton from Mckansas City Chiefs.

We loved Nick Bolton in twenty How.

I feel today Frisco lone star.

I'm and it's only gonna get better.

Kid. But yeah, this kid, like you said, draft his dad in ninety eight and while I was with the Eagles, and he plays with fire and past and he's super competitive the way he moves now. People say, watch the Duke game. He had some problems in that game. He absolutely wasn't one of his best games. Watch Notre Dame, watch North Carolina, watch some of these other games. You'll kind of figure some things out. But this guy plays down hill, he plays fast, He knows how to cover.

At the sticks.

He's hitting the guy and is stopping right there. This guy's a powerful player. His dad was a powerful player. He's got instinct too. This guy's a wrap up tackler. He can finish and all that. He's six foot though. I don't know where teams are going to look at him, but when you watch him play again, it reminded me of Nick Bolton when he was at Missouri.

That he was shorter, but he was making every single play.

And so Jeremiah Trotter junior my guy h And I'll say it right now because I think he's a hell of a football player.

So you drafted his dad?

Yeah, who was?

I know the draft great are not complete as a whole, but he's a better prospect, more well well rounded.

Took his dad in the third round. His son's better, His sons would probably go a lot higher. Yeah, exactly, did I see him right?

Yeah?

I watched him.

I watched him last night and uh, I literally wrote down. I said, if you're gonna chip him, you better bury him because he's not. He's hair on fire. Steal that, yeah, you can definitely steal like you you better bury him.

And I was looking at to your point.

I said, his turbos are crazy turbos being the closing speed he has.

You know how you watch Michael and you see him close on.

People downhill acceleration.

And it's it's crazy. He just jumps on people so quickly. I did write down some people may worry about his side.

They're worry about have we.

Not learned our lesson from Ivan Pace?

Oh?

Yeah, I just respectfully, have we not learned our lesson?

There?

We're talking about successes as a show. That was one. Yeah, I was went on the whole one. I was the he was talking about it. He was texting me last last year.

How thattairs?

Yeah?

Yeah?

And also to with Trotter, what stood out to me was are the ball skills when the ball's in the air.

Yeah, he's snatching that thing.

Yeah, he's good at under. I mean he plays with his eyes.

Really he snatch that.

His dad had nine interceptions in his career.

His dad was a badass.

He really was four time pro bowler. So has a better prospect.

I'll take that.

I'll take a four time pro bowler.

Yeah, yeah, he finished this.

He finished his career at thirteen sacks, thirteen PBUs as a yeah, all right.

Boss moving around.

Wait till we start talking about Frank gor versus Frank cor Junior.

Oh yeah, little Southern miss action.

All right.

When we come back here on the Draft Show, we'll continue on with some tell me we've got some pet cat abilities early on, some some guys that we just feel like we're gravitating toward. We're gonna talk about it when we come back with more of the Draft Show right after this.

I'm Dak Prescott, quarterback of the Dollars Cowboys.

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Yes he is the Dallas Cowboys dot Com Draft Shows.

Back here on the Draft Show.

We are ninety nine days away from the twenty twenty four NFL Draft. Alongside Nick Harris, Brian brought us Aisha Morrison, Zach Wildchuck. I'm Kyle Yeoman's man. It is crazy. Ninety nine days. It feels like we have zero time, and it's even closer to the Senior Bowls coming up in it to get your credentials already.

Yep.

I'm ready to fly out here in about twelve days. So that'll be fun.

That'll be fun. Nick Harris will be on the way to the Senior Bowl.

I'll be at the Shrine game down the down the hallway here at the Star first year that.

The Shryne Game is gonna be in town, so yeah, it's gonna be really cool.

But Dave Burgler's gonna be in town.

He told me so, he's coming to the Shrine Games.

Coming in. He's coming to check it out. We have a show. We might have to pop him in.

We'll make sure he's in here.

I mean, as much as these All Star Games are gonna show, they're gonna start popping up pet cats left in. They're gonna start popping up these players of interest, guys that you just love and practice. He love their tenacity, you love their their fight. And then it's also going to take a knock on some guys at the same time. So before we even get into All Star Games, I want to know some of the guys that you guys are looking at. And we'll start with Zach Waltschuk who's

What you got So?

I mentioned Cedar Gray, linebacker from North Carolina earlier. But probably my favorite player I've watched so far as Javon Boller, the defensive bag from Georgia.

Like this dude's just a dog. You saw action as a freshman.

He was named defensive MVP of the national title game against TCU and the semi final against Ohio State. So big game player. He will thump you, super physical downhill player. And you know he's not a guy that's gonna throw his body in there. We've seen that a lot. He will wrap up and he will run absolutely through you. He's got a reckless abandon about him. He's really good against the run, can come down cover the slot as well.

Period, like this year and.

Just this year.

Oh, just this year. I was about to say, I was like, oh my good.

But I've watched a lot of the top corners in this draft so far, and there's some good ones like Arnold from Alabama. I think he's the best corner in the draft. But Bullard just as a pure defensive back prospect. To me, he's my most fun tape study so far.

It may not bother many because he does play safety and he has some safety nickel flex. But he's five foot eleven and he's listed at a buck nine five, so it may even be smaller whenever.

The combine comes around. Does that bother you at all?

He just plays bigger and like for his frame. To me, he doesn't look skinny like it's not when you're looking and last year we saw Emmanuel Forbes and you're like, dang.

That guy is wiry.

To me, he's filled out pretty well, and he could probably put on some weight. I'm sure that teams might want him to do so, but the way that he moves and the way he's just so physical and tough to me, the size is not an issue for him at all.

Love that there's another one of those light corners weight wise. Has anybody seeing Abrams drain from Missouri?

Yeah, that's that's funny because I was I was about to mention your guy. I was gonna mention the other Missouri corner.

Okay, go ahead, no, go ahead.

No, I'm gonna take an innest Rakestraw from from Missouri. He's a he's a Duncanville guy. Yeah yeah, yeah, so that I wanted to throw out a precursor here. Not every pet cat I'm gonna have is gonna be a guy I used to cover.

From the guy.

But there's two legitimate corners here from Missouri that are going to bed one day. Two type guys. I look at inn this Rakestraw. I want to start from the top with him. He was a guy back in the twenty nineteen or going into the twenty twenty recruiting class. He had zero offers going into the final two weeks of the recruiting cycle. Nothing. He was looking at FCS options. Alcorn State was one that was popping out for him.

Those Missouri corners are fun. They're they're a good group to watch. You're gonna help me with this name from U C. L A the edge Rusher. That's my guy's first second.

I want to see if I can find it like Laatsu. I believe it's Latsu. But again, we're gonna'm about to go through all of these.

Is it lot Tolatchu? For sure?

I feel embarrassed because, like I said, I'm trying to learn these names. But I'll tell you what. You watched his tape. He's an edge from a U c.

L A.

He transferred from Washington. He's a no nonsense player. He's really lentless, effort, pursuit, NonStop. Most of his work is done from the two point stance. This guy's sixty five two sixty five, you know, so you're kind of thinking, oh, well, maybe he's got a three four defensive end kind of a build. You know that that that just that that you know, five technique head up guy.

Now, this guy could play on the edge.

And when you start to talk about him, it's the speed, it's the quickness, it's the length. He gives blockers trouble. He breaks guys down. He's a swat swim. Hands are always going, NonStop technique. He's got diverse pass rush moves too. And I really do like this kid. I know Dallas might not be looking at an edge, but if you want to talk about a guy, if you if you're one of these fans that maybe another team that's looking at edge, look at Latou from from UCLA.

Where's number fifteen? Now?

The thing about him is he's dealt with some injury history. He's he's had a medical history and he had to like step away from the game and then got clear back to being able to play. So we'll see how that affects him. But man, this guy as a run defender, pass rusher, the way he plays is just really really outstanding, And I think the Indie combined will tell the story

Maybe a little bit better player, I think.

I would definitely say I think a.

Little more Ben Yeah, definitely like lotch you. To me, I think is the best pass rusher in the draft in terms of edges him and versus two for two. To me, I think the guy that I'm gonna lost again that I could be totally wrong on. And I know I've talked to Brian about this, and he's getting love like he's the best edge rusher in the draft is Dallas Turner. Okay, I don't think I'm an Dallas Turner guy. To me, I'm taking Lat two over Dallas Turner.

Is also a little bit weird and know why you're doing that sometimes with him.

But to me, I just didn't see as hyped as he is as a top ten type of player. I didn't see that when I watched him play as a freak athlete. And I think scouts will look at that and be like, gosh, I can make him an absolute Pro Bowl All Pro player.

But give me a lot too.

If I had to, if I had to pick between the two of them, I think the guy. If you filled the twenty four goodness, I mean.

The medicals are going to be. The medicals are going to be.

That's what it's gonna be.

So much fun.

Well, if you're comparing him to Lucas van Ness, I mean Vanas was taken by the Packers at thirteen.

Yeah, so I mean he.

Was not and we was.

Yeah.

I remember our reactions.

Yeah yeah, yeah, no, yeah, because we didn't love like but that's what people comparison.

I think. I think, I think he's I think, did you kids a better player than yeah?

Last year when we were it was so many edges, If I'm not mistaken, it was a lot of edges. And I can't remember what his name was, but there was one that everyone was so high on early and we was.

Like Tyree Wilson, Tyred.

We were like, we all kind of talked about it, like good player, top ten pick maybe not.

I mean that was kind of the thing.

That's what I felt like about Dallas Turner. He's the that's what that's Wilson.

Cowboys fans are worried about Mazie Smith and his rookie year. Go go talk to a Raiders fan about Tyree Wilson. Yeah, lots who kind of gives me. He has a little bit of Joey bo said, he's got that crazy size sixty five to sixty five coming off the edge. He's but he's athletic. He used that in athleticism and he's got a lot of power. May need to improve a little bit on technique because it's clear that he's used power his whole life, but he's athletic as hell. That's a guy you would love to have.

It's funny you brought up lots as a transfer from Washington. My guy is currently finishing his Washington tenure. Brailan Trice ed Rusher, where's the single digit technician? He's strong, six foot four, two seventy five, gets off the line of scrimmage. He's working guys backwards. He does have a run stuffing ability, he can move laterally, he knows how to close things out. The one thing is he doesn't have a great change of direction. He's not very bendy.

That's not his game though. His game is a power game.

Top heavy.

Yeah, he's very strong up front, but that's that's where I've got him. I haven't watched a ton of ed Rushers, only three at the moment, but he was my first watch, and.

I really did like, I'm with you on that.

There's something about him that stands out that you're like, okay, right, And I put out a tweet that is probably gonna get con on old takes exposed years from now. But I would give me a Brailn Trice over Dallas Turner.

Well, wow, yeah, who do you got?

I don't no, no, no, come.

I haven't watched Dallas Turner yet, but just hearing the hype with him, I.

Feel like that would be a tough top ten guy.

I'm thinking of Braylan Trice at like twenty five like that, like back half of the first I'm not gonna be a better pro.

I think Tries might be that guy.

I like it. Brian took my pet cat.

It was a lot.

No Jeremiah Trotter, talk about it, please, I talked about.

Him enough I wanted to. This is another guy that caught my attention.

Y'all.

Don't don't roast me. But I know we talk about running back and maybe that it's not nearly as good as it was last year. But Marshaun Lloyd out of USC stood out to me a little bit. Transferred from South Carolina to usc.

USC to USC.

Y'all make me so sick.

Believe that just happened us.

They're both gonna show up in an l s U Jersey next week.

It's just gonna be great.

Please.

But now he stood out to me.

He just the shiftiness and his cut back ability, it stands out to you. I was looking at the just the overall foot quickness was there, and but the specifically the short area of quickness is off the charts to me. And I feel like he also too. If he sees it, he can go. I like the acceleration. The top speed is not elite or it's not like super high, but again I think you you can deal with it with the short area quickness. The lateral agility is crazy. He's strong too, Like his lower half is crazy.

Now he's five to nine, so I don't know if anybody would care about that. He's two ten. He's two ten five to nine, so.

But I can rock with five nine.

He's very stout. He's very stout. His lower half of his body is really strong. To that point he is not afraid to pick up a blitz. He is not afraid to get his nose in there.

Would pass pro That's a huge point.

So some you know, because when people look at smaller running backs, they're like.

You know, are people going to be trampling him?

No, Like he's his lower half allows him to be able to stand in there. And do some of these blitz pickups and things like that. I think you would thrive his own scheme because again, like some of his lateral quickness is off the charts.

So he got my attention.

There's not a like I said, we talked about it, there's not a lot of the running back classes, not what it was last year.

But this guy I think can play the game.

My question for you on Marshawn Lloyd, and I know we're early in the process here, so it might be tough to make a comparison, but you look at a guy like Blake Koram who has similar size, a little bit better production, a little bit more speed, how do you kind of different differentiate the too For me.

Now, when you look at Blake, because I watched him for quite a bit of time, obviously there's a lot of a lot of tape on him a touchdown, he's been doing a lot. I think that Marshan is a little bit more punishing as far as power, and I like Blake and I like what he's able to do. But at the same time, I do I think Marshan has a good balance of the power and the speed in the lateral quickness. I know Korn could do a lot of stuff and bounce to the outside, and he

So that would to me be the distation between the two.

They both don't have like crazy breakaway speed like I said, but even so, I still think that Marshaan has a little bit more juice as at that top.

Speed, and then that plays say I plays into past protection as well.

So yeah, the similar cup back ability as Korn.

Like to your point, I'm.

Glad that you brought that up, because, yeah, their cup back ability is similar to me, the lateral quickness and stuff like that.

You mentioned the production and all that stuff.

But if you go look at him, he will look at Marshan as see the year he was there or the time he was there, he was decently productive.

But to average seven point yards of carry.

This past season is let you know, this guy can rumble if he needs to rumble, And can I.

Slid one more? Dude in one more because I'm geeking over here for it.

You guys, watch Jersey Newton from Illinois.

I have a hilarious story about it.

I watched him last year. I think I forgot my notes in him.

I'd love to hear the story.

But as far as defensive tackles go, like, man, what would I like to see the consistency with his get off a little bit more? Yes, but holy moly, this dude was a fun watch. I mean and and I love his awareness. He puts that big pop he has swatting balls the line of scrimmage. He takes on double teams. I think he play three tech. I think kick out and play some five tech. He's got some versatility, plays with tremendous leverage. It was one of my notes on him,

To Newton was a fun study.

Yes, interesting, you put him next to a ham, He's gonna go.

Yes, he's he's to your point. I watched him.

I remember watching him last year because we were so impressed by the Illinois defense in general, so well coached and that secondary back there. Maybe you think they was you think they was thriving just because No, that that front four was steady for Illinois as well. And so yeah, i'd like his hands too. The violence in his hands, I think that's what helps him. Yeah short, Yeah, it's hard, right, the hand fighting is there. So he's he is an interesting watch. I'm gonna find my notes there.

Ben was more impressive than I was anticipating. When I first started watching, it was like, man, this guy's got some bed to him.

You know what this sounds like.

It sounds like Elijah Chancey from Pitt last year a certain extent what it was, Okay, Chancy was like to eighty Yeah he was a.

Little bit of a smaller guy. But yeah, this guy's super disruptive. You guys are right about that.

Uh. The chase is excellent and when he gets in position.

I mean, this guy, I always say it in my notes, like this guy's he's got like a dynamic initial burst.

Yes, the way he comes off the ball and gets into these blockers love it.

A lot of names flying around. That's what we wanted.

This first aid don't worry fans, we will have Twitter on the twenty tomorrow.

It will happen.

We will have Twitter on the twenty. Whenever we were sending out the rundown, it's like, I want to get names out here. I want to just start hitting as many prospects as possible.

You guys are on your today.

When we come back, though, you'll have to be on our game a little bit more because it's time to grade the twenty twenty three class. And does the lack of production change your draft philosophy for the Dallas Cowboys.

More Draft show right after this.

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Is the Dallascowboys dot Com Draft Show.

Always back here on the Draft Show, presented by Miller Hight Here from the SWBC studios at the Star in Frisco. I Hate Shamorrison, Zach Wolchuck Brian brought us Nick Harris, Chris Beam in the back. I'm Kyle Yeoman's all right, this is the uh the segment that I feel like all of us are probably going to uh we regret talking about at some point. Just but we have to talk to struggle. Yeah, just gotta talk about it. Twenty twenty three draft class for the Dallas Cowboys. Unfortunate breaks

Here.

You've had ups and you've had down.

I'm doing radio with you guys, right, Yeah, where does this change things, if at all?

Yeah, in terms of your philosophy moving forward, Well.

What's disappointing to me is though I think you had a clear plan for what you wanted to do with Mazzi. I think that you had an idea and then all of a sudden it switched and you know the thing with Mazie and we all.

Watched the games.

The one problem that Mozzi has is when he doesn't get off the snap quick enough, he gets blocked, you know, and then maybe the weight loss was trying it in his way of saying, oh, I could be quicker, I could get off the ball quicker if I'm smaller, But that's really not what I felt like the vision for Mozzie Smith was, you know, so the vision, let's be honest. Before the draft, remember we were talking about tight ends in the first round. They were talking about Laporta.

Yeah.

Remember we were all kind of looking at You're like, damn, they might take Laportera here in the first round. They were smart about that. They obviously had a vision for what Luke Schoonmaker. We all saw Luke Schoonmaker as more of a blocker, a guy that.

When Blake Korum ran the football, who is it going behind?

Is behind Schoonmaker in this offensive line and those they're getting pushed and all that.

So you had a vision for that overshown. Unfortunate what happened for him.

I'm doing a preseason game, he's six plays, he's got three tackles. I'm going, damn, this guy needs to be on the field more. You know, you just kind of go down through it and it's it's a really good roster. But the young players that the top players that they had visions for it didn't work out. I can understand the Eric Scott's and people like that down the Brooks down there, you know, down the line, because you're kind

A lot worse than it really is, you know.

And I they had vision for these players and what they could do. It's just they did not. They were not They did not live up to the vision I believed that the front office had for what those guys, uh could could give them And and and they're playing from behind. Scoon Maker was injured, but in mini camps and stuff like that, awesome.

You know, I'm not making excuses for the guy. But he was at Michigan.

You watch him, man, he was a physical player, and I thought, well, he's gonna you know him Ferguson, They're gonna be fine.

You know.

One of the reasons why you don't run the ball particularly well is point of attack. Blocking at the edge, you know, with your tight ends has not been great, you know, and that's why you tried to go schoon Maker and it didn't work out. Right Now, you know, hey, we've seen Dalton Schultz here not do anything, you know, and then two years later he's you know, he's off doing great things.

So you know, that's my hope for guys like that.

It's unfortunate that they got no production out of the really the top three.

Guys that they drafted. I mean, I think that's important. I think it's you know, take it, take a beat.

You know, did you get the production that you wanted from these guys year one?

No.

I think the Dalton Schultz comparison is a brilliant one. There were questions is he going to make the roster? Then he turns into one of them, but your most reliable players. And I think Schoonmaker is a guy you were watching him on film. I think the blocking started to come along. You started to see him do a better job as the season went. You know, as a receiver, you've got a guy in Jake Ferries and that's emerging as one of the best tight ends in the NFL.

So I mean that that can come along nicely, but you know you.

Wanted him to try and help your running game as an inline blocker. The Mazie thing with the weight loss fascinates me. I think you saw flashes from Mazie this year at time, and he's a guy that naturally is not going to just fill up the stat sheet, right. He's not going to be a Micah Parsons for you or a Fowler with the splash plays that they talked about on post game shows before. But you know, you want Mazi to do some of the dirty work. And I think that maybe some of it was frustration on

I agree, And I think you're also the frustration's probably amplified a significant margin because you look at the last couple drafts. You've had immediate impact from your previous three drafts. Yes, Ceedee Lamb, Trayvon Diggs, Neville Gallimore, Tyler Battish.

In twenty twenty, twenty twenty one, it was.

Micah Parsons, Oh Say Digizua, twenty twenty two, it was Tyler Smith, Jake Ferguson, de Ron Bland. Immediate production from those three draft classes. And then you get into twenty twenty three, and like you said, the vision was there. Yeah, the effort was there in terms of putting those guys on the field and making them fit into.

A certain role.

It just didn't work out.

But does that mean the vision changes this time around whenever you go into a separate draft process.

Yeah.

But you know what, this organization does a good job now of taking the best available player on the board.

Yeah.

And I trust them for that because.

I mean, to me, I don't think they I think they have an idea of going in what they would like to get, but they they've done a good job of saying, you know what, this is our stack.

We're gonna take this guy right now.

You know.

I mean we talk about, oh, they need an edge, Oh, they need a linebacker. Oh, and then they take a ceed lamb or something like that, and you're like going, wow, Okay that I applaud them for what they've done. I think that approach will always work here. I think that's why they're one of the best draft in teams. I think it's unfortunate that the top three guys didn't get any production, real production this year. I don't think that changes for them. I think they're gonna stack their board.

Since it is the first draft show, and then we may have some new listeners along the way. Window dressing a board. What does that mean terminology, Yeah, you don't want to.

Just put guys in spots just because if you know, if you really don't believe a guy's a first round player, don't just put them up in the first round up there because everybody else in the lead thinks he's a first round player, if you really believe that, or or if somebody's got a guy in the third round, for example, Travis Frederick. Everybody has Travis Frederick as a as a third round player. They took him at pick thirty, you know, yeah, that's still below probably our cut line.

We probably had.

Twenty three first round grades, so he was more like a second round player, but they they took him at thirty.

See that's that's.

If you believe that a guy is that player, put him where you would take it.

You know, don't window dress your board.

Don't just put him up there because you all the scouting services said that's what you.

Have to do.

And this is not a team that window dresses there. But they will not window dress their Tyler Smith.

They took him above the pay grade at the time, Smith, Steamaker, some of them have worked, some of them at least did this, but have not.

I'm with Zach.

I'm not giving up on Monzie Smith and Luke Schoolmaker just yet. I think Demarvey and Overstrown can be a guy, but this is not an organization that in the past has window a dressed their board, and.

I think you should take comfort in that.

Yeah, moving forward, Yeah, I mean when you talk about this this draft, this past draft class, and like you guys talked about the lack of production, I know we are giving them some time and stuff because development is important, but it did hurt especially I mean you mentioned Juni and Fojoko.

I was really sad, low key that.

We didn't get to see him this season because one thing that stood up stood out about him on tape was how he can contain the edge and defend the edge. And I baby, look, where do people attack you this year on the edge have mercy because I feel like his I felt like his size didn't take away from his speed and to your point, the explosiveness, his ability to shed and tackle, his power was a problem for tackles. And so I was looking at him because if you're smart,

And so I was really looking forward to him.

So to see, you know that this year, to see him not have that opportunity to be on the field where he just.

Didn't get on the field, was that stood out to me.

But also with Schoonmaker, Doug, twelve personnel could have helped you a lot this year.

And it wasn't that they didn't run it. It's the fact that there's an element of football that matters, and people know Big.

Homie ain't catching no passes for real, So it don't matter if you running them out there and you're doing some twelve personnel type stuff people are. They're focusing on Ferguson and having another receiving tight end could have made a hell of a difference and the way this offense was run.

And don't get me wrong, I did.

Like some of the things that Schoolmaker did in the blocking game and stuff, but of the lack of receiving from that second tight end, it hurt this year. And I do think it could have opened up this offense a little more if you got some production there.

Yeah, they started treating Ferguson like a wide receiver. You're seeing shit orders playing on him, you know, and stuff like that.

Yeah, I think I'm with you guys on the jury still being out for this class. But I think you also have to look at the results and what's on paper, and it's the fact that you had eight draft picks and only two of them were active for every game this season, and only two of them were really, uh key players that were on the field quite a bit.

You know.

I look at Schoonmakers being probably the best draft pick, and you know, based on his production, that's probably not the best thing in the world. I think, Well, I think t J. Bass is the best rookie in this entire class. Yeah, what TJ. Bass was able to do and bring to the field. You also got to look at Hunter Lippy and what he was able to do. I know that fun with Sammy was tough. TJ. Bass. I think he was kind of the saving grace of the rookie class and.

Him, right, we're talking about you should have been drafted. I mean there's a lot of people that you know, like, damn, we missed on that guy.

Put some put some respect on Jalen Brooks a little bit. I he didn't get to he didn't get to do a whole whole bunch.

But I feel like the times we did see him, he was productive. But he's showed you more than what I think people expected of him, especially like coming in I'm thinking, i mean we thought, like, all, this guy's going to be his body, and then he comes in and he's sure, hands, strong, hands, really weird, sneaky quickness which makes no sense.

He uses his length really well, those long strides.

I personally do think he does have some upside as a receiver, and we could see maybe what he's capable of.

You have something.

Yeah, I'll say he's probably the only draft pick that overperformed.

That was just about to say that if you were looking at top to bottom one through through eight of the draft picks last year, he's the only one that went over show asterisk.

But yeah, got to be fair to him.

He's the only one that that went above the expectations. Everybody else was probably below expectations.

Have y'all heard anything about Eric Scott? Has there been any like? And don't get me wrong, I caught.

Up with him early on, because when you looked at him on tape, you said, Okay, this guy compressed, he's sticky, got that little you know, that velcrow little.

He plays the them absolutely love.

Them, yes, right, And so obviously we didn't get a chance to see him. He did have a little bit of a point in a preseason where he was struggling.

I caught up with him.

I asked him they were working, If I'm not mistaken, they were working a zone concepts with him, because you got to be able to do both from this place.

You know.

So did y'all hear anything throughout the season or any updates on him?

Not specifically?

I think I think what you what you were outlining is is about the rundown on Eric's okay. They're trying to get him more comfortable with his own concepts. He played a lot of man at Southern Miss. He was mostly press corner. I mean, he was up top and physical. They want him to be able to track at the same time and cover, and I just think he wasn't ready for that as a rookie.

But if you're a six round pick, you're.

Expected to have a little bit of leeway get into a development, a side of things, come back from camp.

This year, he's going to have to have a big camp.

And well for him strap.

That's why I'm asking they clearly they can.

Pick this draft to move up and get him. Talk about Scott.

This year, Well, is the DC gonna be designed because of the same he might not like.

He might not like him. Now, let's tell you what talk about this tomorrow.

I'm sorry, I know we're going over here, but really quick. I think there is an opportunity for Eric Scott to be able to jump in if they decide to move on from Jordan Lewis. I think there's an opportunity for him and.

Nicol Okay, good to think about it, Yeah, okay, And there's there's opportunities that could line up for a lot of these rookies, the twenty twenty three rookies specifically spots at edge rusher for Villiami for Hookos, spots on the offensive line for Austin Richards. Is it foregone conclusion that that's where they're gonna end up plugging in?

Absolutely not.

There's a lot that can happen between now.

And then, including from a coaching staff standpoint, like I should just eloquently put a couple of moments ago, who's your DC, who's your head coach? Who is going to be on the opposite side of the building. We will continue to monitor that as we go on Tomorrow, We're we're going to dive deeper into this twenty twenty four draft class. I want to do some more telling me more.

That does it for us here on the initial episode here in twenty twenty four for Chris.

Beam, Zach Walchuk, Nick Harris, Brian brought us Aisha Morrison, 'm Kyle Yeoman saying so long from the Star in Frisco.

We'll see you tomorrow.

This has been a production of dallascowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.