The following is a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club. This is the Players Lounge, broadcasting live from Dallas Cowboys World headquarters at the Star. Now your hosts Barry Church, Danny McCrae, Hecma Harrison, and Newie Shrugs.
Good by Tostitos, the official chip and Dip of the Dallas Cowboys, And we're here at the taj Mahall of Football. You're rocking with the best. I'm Heckmharrison, he is Danny McCrae and out in Oxnard, our guy with his ear to the street. Mister Newe shrugs, Newie, how are you sir?
Hey man, it's good they got another practice today. More Pad's gonna be hitting and let's see what they do. And I'll be once again Kelvin Joseph to see what he is going to do in the past covers.
Yeah. Well, well, look, guys, as I always do when we get started, I guess this is the wrong time to check everybody's mental health. Is this a good time to check everybody's mental health? I'll start with you, d Matt, how are you brother? Because you actually missed me yesterday. Yeah, yeah, I'm good man. You know, I'm just hanging in the Cancil over with So now I get to hang with the boys. I missed the first couple of shows. I was back last last show. Now I'm back here again. Okay,
two in a row, two in a row. We can Attendance is good. But we are missing We are missing Barry Church. Today. Barry is at the Dennis. He is getting his diamond and crusted grill. I'm just joking at
the Dennis and it's gonna miss the show. But as you alluded to Louis earlier, I want to make sure that I asked you about this because there's been some high praise coming from ox Art about one Kelvin Joseph, and he's been a favorite subject of the show, of course, But what did you think when you got that news, especially with coming from Coach Harrison coach with.
All right, So I chatted with Al Harris and I had chatted with Joe Witt, and they both seem to think that he was maturing and he was getting better. They're going to give this young man every opportunity to make this team and be a part of the Cowboys and don't forget he also is a special teamer, so he has an imports on his.
Team now he popped as a special teamer late in the season. For you, Danny, what do you think about what's coming out of camp and everything that they're saying about him and his chances because he's in a dog fight right now. Yeah. Listen, just like yesterday when we talked about these guys that are on the bubble, I always say, go be best friends with the special teams coach,
and he has been able to. Even though he hadn't played that well at cornerback, he's been able to make some very impactful plays and key plays on special teams that I think has allowed him to be able to still get those opportunities. Now he's gonna have to continue to do that. He's gonna continue to have to be a gunner on punt He's gonna continue to have to be a difference maker on kickoff team for him to remain on this team and then continue to get those opportunities.
The moment that he doesn't make those players, that's the moment that you stop hearing about Kevin Joseph. Now I am happy to hear that he's actually playing better, and the coaches are still coaching them. They have their oys on them, giving them those opportunities to play on defense. Because what we know about coaches is the day they stop coaching you, that's when they that's when they done
with you. Okay, So it's good to hear that he's still a special teams guy and the defensive coaches coaching staff are still looking at him saying, hey, this guy's getting better. We're gonna keep giving them more opportunities and newly for you, obviously you're down there.
What you're saying is if fans get tired of players, but coaches don't get tired of them, they're here to coach him. Al Harris is coaching him up. So fans could be frustrated about things, but at the end of the day, we still have to see preseason games from this young man, and he is going to get every opportunity to make this team, and in some ways he's gonna get every opportunity to fail.
They are not done with him now. And knew you looks at you. You actually called this Traymon Dings hundred million dollars second contract. You know a few years ago, back when Nolan was here and we kind of laughed at you a little bit, Me and Church did. So since you're so good at calling these contracts, what can you tell me about the possibility of my man, Kelvin Joseph getting his second contract here with the Dallas Cowboys.
As I just said, we got to see what he does in the preseason games, We got to see what everybody else does on this team. He is going to get like every opportunity to fail. So until we start to see the bullets flying and whatnot, Look, he's he's going. At this point time, I feel like this, I think he'll make the team. When's the last time they cut a second round pick before it's rookie deal ended.
I can't think of it.
I can't think of any either. But I'll tell you what the bigger question is. Because you're down there in Oxnard and you're able to see guys like Eric Scott Junior and even Nay Shun right that competition right now, how do you think that that's all forming out, especially with what the coaches are saying. But what are the optics telling you? Say? Again HEGNA Now I was saying,
what are your optics? What are the optics telling you, especially with Eric Scott Junior, Deron Bland, Nashon Wright and guys like that also competing for playing time.
Look, they love Nashan, you know they loved Nashan and Eric right as well. I mean right now when I just kind of forecast and I think of Kelvin Joseph being one of their top five cornerbacks, and then Wit also said he's got him playing inside now, so they're trying to utilize him in several different ways. They've got a great dB room, one of the deepest dB rooms I think we can go back to since their Super
Bowl years here. So once again, preseason games are gonna tell us a whole lot about what they got going.
And let me ask you this, Danny, I mean, you know how many how many corners are they gonna carry on the fifty three man? Listen more than they did when I was playing, Okay, just because the game. What was that number? I believe it was four for safeties, five cornerbacks depending on practice squad. And now they're passing me, passing the ball a lot more than have an extra game. So I can see them carrying seven, maybe eight, but
not on the fifty three. But you're gonna have some guys on practice squad who will be here and they will be more thought of as actually playing in the game versus just being those kind of experimental guys like we had Teddy Williams who had played football since he was in high school and they brought him as an experimental guy on the practice squad. They won't have those guys on the practice squad because the guys who are holding nose spots will be expected to play it sometime
during the season. And so if you're just ranking those players right now, you're looking at Gilmore Diggs, durrun Land and Jordan Lewis is gonna be one of those now C J. Goodwin automatically, so that I'm at five right there, and then you still have Wright, Eric Scott, and then Kelvin Joseph. So it may end up just being the numbers thing at the end of the they knew it.
It may but and my big thing here, I just I'm gonna sound like a broken record. We've seen dudes be all ox darn right, maybe good out here practice, Wow, this guy.
Look at this guy. Then it comes a preseason game and it don't happen.
So let's see what transplates to Jacksonville come August.
Twee yeah, and then you know, I just want to piggyback off that a little bit about why you see sometimes you see it all the time, Like they always talk about the all Oxen are the all camp guys, right, who go in there and they do everything they care during camp, and everybody comes out and says, man, he had a great camp, We're not sure why he had a rough season. Right. What happens in camp is that you see the same stuff over and over against the
same players over and over again. And sometimes you see the ones go through that same script that you were about to go through right after that, Right, So the unpredictability is not there. The needing to know the adjustments as much as not there. Right. A lot of times on the football field, and when the live bullets are flowing, you're probably gonna see that once you saw it one time when you were practicing made on film, and now it's gonna come up and you have to be able
to execute against that play. That's not how it is that training camp out. That's why sometimes you see guys, like I said yesterday, I'm gonna take advantage of if a person in front of me made a mistake. When I get out there, I know that same route with the same motion's coming. I'm not making that mistake. You don't get to see that when you're out there. You know, and love bullet's going against Aaron Rodgers or against the Jalen Hurts or any of those other guys that will
be seeing the season. So basically what you're saying is you won't know the answers on the tests to come down to those preseason games. But newly, I got to talk to you about one Zach Martin here in this first segment because we're a weekend. The camp in Zact is still not in Oxnard, and it's beginning to be
a problem. And I know that you've gotten there's been some interviews with Jerry Jones, and man, just what is your assessment of what's going on right now with the leverage that the team is exercising?
All right, the team stance is simply this, they have the leverage. Zach Martin doesn't have any leverage at all, so he needs to come to camp. Jerry has a plan about how he wants to go about paying Guys, he saw it with Diggs Lamb.
Is it up next?
Dak Prescott's numbers got to get reduced. Michael Parsons is coming up trying to adjust or do anything more to add to Zach Martin's contract, and his mind is going to disrupt what he wants to do. He's not trying to pay Zach Martin.
I think as we list those names, we also forget to imagine what happens if Tony Poler comes out here and has a sixteen seventeen hundred yard season. Right, what do you do then? Right? So you can continue to just add people who have to get paid onto this list before a Zach Martin does so. Unfortun for him, the team does have the leverage, and Jerry don't say you know that their ramifications for if you don't, you decide you don't want to show up or play play
during the season. So I guess we'll just have to see, you know, how how willing my man Zach Martin is to say, you know what, I'm I'm gonna take the stance and this is where I'm at. And guys, I don't mean to play the devil's advocate in this situation. But Josh Ball is a three year project of the Dallas Cowboys, six eight, three hundred and four pounds. He could be potentially your starting right guard. That doesn't bother you, at least when you talk about a potential holdout going
into the season with Zach Martin. If you don't get this resolved. He knows about this, Okay, get it.
But at the same time, they're willing to go into the Giants game without Zach Yard if he wants to continue to hold out.
Listen, the offensive line is going to continue to be an issue. So that just stacks on another issue that we have the offensive line, but a guy like Zach Martin who is a vet here for him to say that he wants to miss games, that is totally different than him not showing up the training camp. So I think the ownership and his coaches are still expecting him
to show up sometime before the first game. Look, I guess what baffles me in this situation is we've already seen those seasons where our offensive line hadn't been that productive because of the musical chairs. God's getting hurt. Here. You have a healthy Zach Martin, who the franchise has played paid early and often. But you can look at the numbers and see that he is what the seventh
highest offensive line in the league right now. If that's true and he is willing to hold out, it does not bowld well for the Cowboys if he takes that stance. We play the first game against the Giants, who has a formidable defensive line. Thibodeau guys like that. I mean they have some pressures that they and then the second game at home versus the Jets one Quinn Williams. Come on, now, there's something about this when we talk about leverage for
the Cowboys, and they have all the leverage. If you start the season without Zack Martin. You thought that the offense had some struggles last season, that's even gonna be more this season without Zach Martin. Well, listen, you weigh it this way. You can't you can't pay the big Bazukah and you can't pay a CD lamb with what
they want to get paid because of Zach Martin. You know, like you have the weigh your future versus this possible possible one season to me right, Like you said, there's a there's a list of people who have to get paid in his Jerry's mind, it sounds like he said, if I make this move and give into what Zach Martin's asking me to do, when it comes time for me to offer whatever it is to ce D Lamb and Michael Parsons, I'm not gonna have enough to be
able to do that. Then I think Jerry has a great argument for like, you know we're gonna hold off on that you love the big Bozuka. Well, you said you want Zach Martin to take somebody what I'm go ahead newing when you when.
You start saying yourself, what what can.
I not live without?
And that's what Jerry Sucker is saying. You know, he did not want to live without having he did. He does not want to live without having the CD Lamb. He knows he can't come in and carry Dak Prescott at fifty million dollars in the next year. He knows he's got He's got. These are playmakers and like Bart's playmates.
So if you add your your whole list here those four guys who are working your team loves Zach Martin, Dak Prescott, CD LAB like Marcion, you probably say that parsis the quarterback and.
The receiver right now are going to be of more importance to you man.
Your right bar as great as the right guard is with the Hall of Fame restaurant, he's not right now.
They are their stances. We're not going to redo you.
We have paid you when you've got the deal, You've got the top of the market, You've been well paid.
They're not trying to redo his contract with two years left.
Just don't want to, you know. I mean, and newing your your microphone has I believe it's slipped down a little bit. But I agree with you. I understand that they're especially in the salary cap era, that there's only so much money to go around. But when I look at Michael Parson's contract, he still has to he still has two more years left on his contract. CD is
a lot more pressing. I do understand that, And obviously you don't want to be in an out caf U situation with a star wide receiver who could have a monster year this season. But I have a problem with the thought process that we can actually get this done without Zach Martin. I mean, the leverages on both sides. For me, uh, that's that's basically what I'm what I'm arguing right now, Daddy, because I don't think we have
any success. But but newly, I got to ask you about one more player, man, before we get done with this first segment, Michael Gallup. Michael Gallup has had a pretty strong camp up until this point. Man. We're seeing him make catches down there. And what's the field that you're getting not only from the organization, but just from what you're seeing from Michael Gallup down there?
If we could see the best of Michael Gallup, if you've seen this time with sure, I also look at it.
And if people stands.
Helping with this scene, you're bury and then you've.
Talked about it, your safety's gonna happen.
You know, respect what to speak. Michael Gallup is receiving a lot of scene talks. May knows this kids, you Yeah, I got as much as as out of no No, listen, what we expect to see out of Michael Gallup this season is to be better coming out of the break. Really, I think that was the number one thing against Michael Gallup because as a defender, if you know a guy cannot get out of his breaks, then you can sit
on all his routes, right you know. So you say, man, I'm not gonna let this guy run deep on me. I know he can't run a comeback. Uh. I know he's having a hard time running slants and curl routes. So those are the routes I'm gonna make my money. Any if you watch the film from last year of
players playing against Michael Gallup, that's what they did. They got out of the break faster than he did and even got a couple interceptions off of them, off balls that backed through to him because they were able to get out of that break, or they saw him having a hard time getting out of that break, that one extra step that it took him to get out of it because he was coming off that injury and he
wasn't one hundred percent. That's my question. That's where That's where I think this year it'll be a little different. I hope it's different, because if it's not, then it's gonna be there's gonna be a problem, man. I Coach Mike McCarthy did an interview today one on five to three the Fan and another radio station, but he was
probably as insightful as I've ever heard. Coach Mike McCarthy b just talking about the offense and just the route concepts and the difference between last year's offense and this year's offense. He kind of alluded to exactly what you're talking about right there, as far as the way that defenses obviously aligned themselves to take away any vertical threat from the offense. And you bring in a guy like Brandon Carr, he knows that the pressure is gonna be
on because he's a vertical guy. Yeah, excuse me out to be Carr. Randony Cooks. He raised it. Randon Cooks a guy that can definitely get vertical in this offense. But when I hear him talk about that, and especially knowing that this is going to be essentially a West Coast offense, don't you think that those quicker pass concepts probably bowls well better for a guy like Gallup? Uh? Yeah,
as long as you know a quick slant here. Like I said, the issue that he had was, hey, five step drop, come back, five step drop, curl right, and he's trying to push the cornerback to make them think that he's going deep. And when he's not able to sell that, the cornerback's like, oh, I know exactly what's going on here and they're able to break down to
get out of that route. So yes, I think one Dak getting the ball out of out of his hands quicker is gonna boat well for the entire offense, all right, and especially a guy like Michael Gallup until you need to get those those deep balls, which I hope we see the return of Michael Gallup there because when the year before he got paid, that is what I thought was a bright spot for him. Like he's gonna get paid because he is our fifty to fifty ball guy.
He's gonna be able to go down the field and no matter what happens, he's gonna have an opportunity to catch it in back, puts it up there, and hopefully we see that again from Michael Galla. Well, I'll tell you what, man, The national media has been fishing for a Dak story, and we've been getting a few Dak stories, whether it be counting as interceptions or what's going on with Trayvon Diggs and Dak Man. The media is blowing
up right now. When we come back next we'll talk all about it in some hater ration brewing here in the locker room out in Osnad coming up next on the players Lounge.
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I'm Dak Prescott, quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys. Blockchain dot com is one of the most trusted ways to buy, sell, and trade crypto. Whether you're always on the go or stay closer to home, blockchain dot com is just a few types away put the power of crypto in your pocket, so no matter where you are, you can trade on your terms and build a crypto portfolio to fit your life. For crypto pros, rookies, and anyone in between, blockchain dot com makes.
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Hi, I'm Danny McCrae, Dallas Cowboys alumni player here with's Smoothie King and Smoothie King wants to ask you, what's that sound? That's the sound of you and everyone else absolutely loving new smoothie bowls from Smoothie King and Whoo Me too. These Smoothie bowls start with us II and Pataya and our handcrafted with fresh topics like sliced bananas, sweet berries, crunchy purely Elizabeth Granola and his savory peanut
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Back to the Players Lounge. Back in action Here on the Players Lounge, brought to you by Toe Stidos, Danny mccraem, Heck Maharrison, and Newie Scruggs joining us out in Oxnard. The Starback Training Camp Preview, the official twenty twenty three Dallas Cowboys Star Magazine Training Camp Preview, is now available this year is a addition featuring scouting reports, position analysis, a pull out schedule poster, and articles from your favorite
Cowboy writers. Get your Training Camp Preview today at Dallascowboys dot Com. Slash Star Guys. Look, you have to be death dumb and blind to have not seen all of the media attention that Trayvon Diggs and d are getting. And look, I don't want to call no names, Shady McCoy. Now, there's some guys out there that are saying some things that I just believe are reckless in the media about something just as small as two guys jawing at each other. Now,
I know you from Houston, Texas. I can't even get halfway in the studio without you saying something to me. But as a player where you've played, is this something that's just common that you do or is this, oh my god, you look at this as Trayvon Diggs losing respect for that. You want to have a great team,
this should happen all the time. You should have your best players caring about a moment so much that it gets that chippy, because then it aspires the next person who should have DA's back to say, you know what, I'm finna go out here and show these dudes that I got my quarterback back. And the same thing with Trayvon Diggs. Now Michael Parsons should be Anthum saying, oh, wait,
where are we going with this? All right? Now, it's defense versus offense for real, and that's when you get some of your best reps, right when everybody's going full till everybody's trying to get better and it remains respectful enough to where they're not throwing blows. All right, Say Travis Kelsey out there, Andy Reid got to come out and say he don't like that, versus like, hey, we having some really good strong competition. In football is a
physical sport. You're gonna have some of that sometimes, and if you don't, that's when you should be worried. And we haven't have We haven't actually seen that from the Cowboys in a long time. I can't remember a situation like that it used to be a lot worse with Dez and then whoever. But that's when you had guys on there who were hungry, and they were like, I don't care. I'm gon challenge you, but it's gonna stay out field. Louis, you saw it.
Here's something that I would say. Shady McCoy and I never watched the show. I bet never watched the show, but they do that show in Los Angeles.
We're a short drive up from that show.
If he had wanted to see or understand anything, he could come up.
Here and do it. Ryan Clark has been here at camp. He's seen what's going on here.
I tweeted about dan Orlowski once again. Something else. Another guy I don't watch. I'm like, hey, come to camp. Ask Mike McCarthy questions, come ask DA questions. Tad will bring them to you. Jared Bell came up here from USA today. He got one on one time with Jory Epstein from Yahoo Sports came up here.
They gave them one on one time.
So if these guys who are saying this stuff so passionately wanted to actually understand what's going on, they could see it and have conversations with the guys about.
And Lachelle McCoy is making this that's his whole mo at this point. Click yeah, whatever you say, it sounds the most ridiculous, right. And then, like I said, what happens we come on here and say, well, Shady McCoy will say I honestly don't believe that he believes some of the stuff that he's saying, but you know, it's working as far as getting clicks and getting a little notoriety for saying whatever it is. I remember Paul Pierce
going through the same thing. Everybody's like, oh, Paul Pierce saying something crazy again, right, And it was that's the only reason, you know, Paul Pierce. Nobody was listening to him for his basketball input or knowledge. They were listening to see what crazy thing was he gonna say next. And I think a lot of times that's what happens, especially on that show specifically, you know or Vlasky, he's on the Ryan Clark. I do watch him sometimes. I think he has a little bit more he's a little
bit more insightful than what Shady McCoy offers. And New either back and forth between the offense and the d has been on full tilt and display, and I think that was a mojo moment for the offense to be in the red zone and they went five for five. And so that's the competitive competitiveness that I think that you're asking for, that the team has that, and that going back and forth is it's just the nation of sports. It should be. It should be if you if you miss this is camp.
So so far, I feel like this camp is going the way they wanted to go. It's just interesting that so many people are paying attention to national folks who were not here versus consuming things from the writers here Dallas Cowboys dot Com radio or Todd Archer over ESPN, Clarence till Star Telegram, David Moore the Dallas Morning News and and Calvin Watkins are watching what I'm.
Doing on Channel five.
And you know, there's there's plenty of people who do this that are telling you what's going on, but people want to listen to folks who are nowhere near this place.
Yeah, so clickbait, like you said, definitely definite clickbait. But but Nuie, I got to ask you something specific to since we're talking about the media. The media, we're we're at the Jerry Jones party at Noble and I'm sure you drank all of the Shirley Temples that you could get your hands off. But tell me about that. Man, Was it a good time for you as a media member? What is it like to be in the presence of all of your your colleagues.
It's my third time going to it. I'm not a sushi person at all. It was always first class. The view was fantastic, so it was it was good. Got some good one on one conversation with the boss and.
Yeah, it was worth it. And saw d ll Hughblee on the way out.
You know, another Maga sift I remember here, so it was good.
Did you have some sushi? I did? Okay? All right? Yeah yeah that's like yeah, yeah, a little piece. I can't trust your palate because you don't like camp of those, so we could we could move on from that new he has no no input on the on the Yeah that's right, you know, you know he goes ely guy goes to Nobu and doesn't enjoy all excuse but my ass was it good?
Hey, look man, you're not turning down free food, and I hear it's very expensive, so I once a year I partake in it now, and so I went and had it, and you know I would never go there myself, but hey, Jerry Jones wont to.
Have a party there.
I'm going.
And knowing before we let you go, man, But just fishing for storylines, just on your own what you've seen. Who is the guy that a name that you can give us, maybe an underdog or underrated guy that you can point to that you can say, hey, this guy has been having a great camp.
Brooks the receiver from South Carolina.
And I measure that with let's see what happens in preseason games. And right now we know manager likes him, but let's see what happens when when Jacksonville comes to town.
I think I think my only question is it's going to continue to be this all camp. What does Mozzi Smith look like? Because we continue to say this, he looks.
It looks like a rookie right now looks and that's not a bad thing. It's just he just looks like a rookie right now.
Has he had any any any splash moments where you say, all right, that's that's why we got him here, or is he just really in that learning phase right now? Of how to practice, how to be a professional, and then learning the difference between college and the NFL.
He's right there the latter part of what you said.
He's learning.
He's learning.
Okay, I need I got to see something, man, because that's San Francisco. I still got nightmares two years in a row, San Francisco, our ability not to stop the running these teams that come in here and want to run the ball. So I need, I need, I need you one time to come on the show and be like, you know what I saw. I saw what I needed to see out of MAZI and I think we're okay.
Yeah, you know, I sit with Nate Newton to practices in Natives right over here behind me. So when I get done with this, I'm gonna go right over there, sit with Nate and get his perspective on it. But right now there's still he's a young pup, he's a young pop So look, well new It.
Man. We're gonna let you do your thing because I know practice is going on. But man, when we return, we're gonna talk about a position room that I know has Danny mccray's. It has all of his attention, and that's the tight end room coming up. The death on the play is louds Hi. I'm Danny mccraig, Dallas Cowboys alumni player here with Smoothie King and Smoothie King wants to ask you, what's that sound? That's the sound of you and everyone else absolutely loving New smoothie bowls from
Smoothie King and Whoo Me Too. These smoothie bowls start with Usai and pataya and are handcrafted with fresh topics like sliced bananas, sweetberries, crunchy Purely Elizabeth Granola and his savory Peanut butter Drizzle. New smoothie bowls only at Smoothie King, the official smoothie of the Dallas Cowboys.
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use the code word Cowboys. The Jack Black Playmaker ten Bucks free shipping.
I'm Dak Prescott, quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys. Blockchain dot com is one of the most trusted ways to buy, sell, and trade crypto. Whether you're always on the go or stay closer to home, blockchain dot com is just a few taps away put the power of crypto in your pocket, so no matter where you are, you can trade on your terms and build a crypto portfolio to fit your life.
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Star Sports Tools is the only efficient fan travel partner of the Dallas Cowboys, offering exclusive game weekend travel packages, the pregame, sideline access and photo ops with current players, cheerleaders and Cowboy legends. You want to stay at a team hotel, attend the best tailed gay party in Texas, tour the Star and talk x's and o's with me Everson Walls. With Star Sports Tours, you can visit cowboystravel dot com to book your travel package. Today.
Back to the Players Lounge.
And we're back for the final segment of the players' lounge here at the Star in Frisco. Danny McCrae is at the death I'm heck Maharrison. Barry Church had a dental appointment. That's what car is going to be, a dental appointment. We had Newest Drugs on giving us the blow by blow, play by play of everything that was going on down and Ox Snard and I wanted to wrap this up man by talking about a position group that I think that we've had a lot of questions over.
And the question has always been, obviously with Dalton Schultz last year being tagged, you know what were we gonna what we're we going to get from that group, especially with young guys like Ferguson and Hindershot now that they've moved on from Dalton shows there's a lot of responsibility now being put on that position group, especially those two second year players. But what does the Dallas Cowboys do
last season? They go into the first round and excuse me, second round and they go and get a tight end themselves and Luke Skrememaker and it's a Michigan man, a Michigan man. But also I think everybody was a little surprised by the pick and may have thought that there would be a tight end picked in the first round. But even all of that talk surprised me because I thought that this organization really had more faith in Jake
Ferguson than they did. When you think about that position room, do you think of it being competitive right now or do you think they're just waiting on Luke to come back from injury When I first of all, you know, in the first round, I was hoping we were offensive line, right. I know some people thought we were going to go tight end, which is fair. But when you lose a guy like Dalton Scholtz who was a big part of
your offense. Was he the second leading receiver on the squad last season and the season before he was the leading receiver from the squad. So when you look at losing a guy like that and how much of the offense he accounted for, you gotta find a way to make a significant pick or in the draft or free agency to make sure that you make up for that. And I think that's what they saw in that meeting
room right now. Though I believe as far as the two young guys that they have their Ferguson and Hindershot. I think they are auditioning for that second past catching role okay at this moment, because I think Schumacher is there. They said, we're going to run the ball more. You go, get you a guy who went to Michigan who they
specialized in running the football. That's what they did mostly, and he was a big part of that, being able to block and hold the edge on some of those and in some cases play fullback, which we don't have a full back. So I think he's going to be that versatile guy that they're waiting to get in and he's going to be a plug and play guy as soon as he's healthy and on the field. And then even hid the shot off firston is going to be hey, when we got when we're playing twelve personnel with two
tight ends, who's going to be the blocking guy? And then we need that guy to go out and be able to run those routes. And I think you saw some of that last season. You know, outside of Dalton Schultz, they did make a few plays. You saw that they were able to get out there, stress the field a little bit, have some yards after catch when they got out there. So the potential is there, but not there enough for them to say, you know, we're not gonna go pick this tight end up in the second round.
I think he's going to get ninety percent of the snaps and the other guys will be kind of you know, they're gonna get in where they fit in. And I think last year when I saw Jake Ferguson, I was in awe of his ability to run after the catch. I thought that that made the big difference between him and Schultz. It just especially in the you know things
in that he did in the red zone. But when you just circle and underline blocking and saying that maybe that, look, Shoemaker's strength is going to be his ability to block versus catch the ball, and maybe these guys Jake Ferguson and Hindershot will be then inserted into the offense to fulfill that part of it. I didn't see that they
were that. I mean, were they that bad at blocking that you would have to come you'd have to bring in a guy like Shoammaker to say that, look, he's gonna be our day one guy because he just does this so much better than all other guys. Well, I think it's one. Is he that much better at blocking than they are? Not or are they that bad. I don't think they were necessarily bad blockers. I also think when you say that you're gonna have a more of a run based offense, having two really good tight ends
is the way to go, right. So if you have two guys where you can stretch out, run the seams, and both both of those guys can get yards at the catch, then to me, that's a lot better than having a run eleven personnel out there, which is three receivers until everybody that you're about to run the ball and allowing the defense and then put Nickel out there with three defensive backs. If you can force a team to have to defend out of their base coverage, then
you got to win it formula. I mean it goes back to I think New England when they had Hernandez y Gronk, right, so they'll force you to stay out there in your base defense and then they would let Grink and Hernandez wrapped you up like receivers. I think if you have the opportunity to do that here, especially with Dak loving his tight ends, and actually the Cowboys have always been that way, right ro then you got
Dak with Shultz, you got Dak with whining. You give him his number one guy, his security blanket, who I think Shoemaker will be. I like it for Dak. I like that for him being able to protect the ball more. That gives him an option for when he gets in trouble and it helps you blocking, uh, you know, because we already don't know what the offense was. Anyway, Market might be playing, I mean, maybe be playing right guard as a thing man. We're gonna go twelve personnel for
the whole gas heavy four quarters twelve personnel. But that's an interesting conversation about the tight end room, and I want to see how that's going to play out, especially during camp. Okay, so we've talked about the cornerback position, we talk about the guys that were on the bubble. I think that the last thing that I want to just put your feet to the fire on, especially now that we have a guy like Jalen Brooks that we know and the wide receiver position is putting h some pressure.
He's putting some pressure. I read some good things about Jaylen Tober though. Okay, I read some good things about him that he's he's looking a lot better. He looks he's looking more professional, and he's taking advantage of the reps of these getting Simmy for Hoko. The only thing I saw about Simmy Fooko was he dropped that past the Dak that that ended up being in this county is an interception against Dak, but it was really a
drop pass for interception. I've been seeing things about Jaylen Tober and I'm more focused on him because of all that happened last season and then all that he did in the preseas in the off season where he said, you know, I'm gonna make sure I'm hanging out with Dak. I'm gonna make sure all those everything that Dak has where he's working with his receivers, I'm gonna be there. I'm gonna be around cooks, I'm gonna be around Ceedee Lamb to learn how to be a professional, because he
was aware of what he did wrong. Right, So when you see that and you hear him say that, and then the news that comes out of training camp is, oh, he looks a lot better, he looks a lot more focused. Then I have high expectations for him because we believe that he was gonna be a certain player last year when he got in and he knows what he did wrong. So now I expect to see that player that we
had all hoped to see. So I know they're putting pressure, but I think he's gonna get number one and those opportunities he's gonna, like I said, he's gonna have to lose that position on his own stuff versus yeah, another guy just playing better than him. If they're playing close, Jaylen Tobert is gonna be the guy who they're gonna give a shot too and given every opportunity to fail sc SC but it's gonna be up to him to make that happen. And not only him, but Jalen Moreno.
Cooper is another player that you're hearing a lot from. Dennis Houston is back, a guy that's been fighting and staying on the fifty three, getting cut and coming back. And he's also in the mix as well. Cavante Turpin. I talked about him and you quote him. You you air quoted me on Cavante Turpin. But it's turping time and he's a guy that's etching out a role that people have been looking for. We bought in some guys last season to try and stretch the field, but we've
always had Kavante Turpin. So things are heating up down there, and we got a lot of guys stretching the field. Okay, we got a lot for you, everybody. Or you put Kavante Turpin out there, you already got Brandy Cooks and Michael Gallup. Okay, how many guys do you? You need some guys to run those intermediate routes, all right? And I don't see, you know, no offense to him. I just don't see him being the guy who you're saying is going to be the Cole Beasley type of guy. Right,
That is a that is a one special type of talent. Right, So then you're gonna put Ceede Lamb in there. You're not putting Cavanti Turpin at number one until and run a go route, not not on a consistent basis. So that's why I think you have a you have a
slight issue with Wordy you put him. I think that's why I think he's going to be, you know, straight we a gadget guy, because Ceede Lamb is going to be the guy in there when when you want a slot or inside intermedia route ran, they're gonna put CD Lamb in there because he is probably most equipped to get open in those spaces. But the battle for the w R four wages on because we will find out, especially through these preseason games, who is going to capture
that spot. Man, mister, A lot going on in the show, a lot. You had a day, man had a day. We had a day, but we got through it. Be seeing you miss one. We did it for you. Hey. We'll be back on. I do believe it's Monday next week. The Players Lounge will be back on at one o'clock. A lot of action happening. Make sure that you dialed there to Dallas Cowboys dot com for all the podcasts or all the news, everything from Oxnard coming to you. Man,
this is it ain't doing anything but getting better. And you know what, football starts tonight with the Hall of Fame game is back on, baby, But for my man Danny mccraye for newest drugs out in Oxnard, and for Barry Church at the Dennis Man. I'm Hector Harrison. Thank you guys for tuning in to another edition of the Players Lounge.
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