Speaker 1: The following is a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com
Speaker 1: and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club. This is Mick Shot
Speaker 1: screening live on Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the official
Speaker 1: Dallas Cowboys at now Here are Bill Jones, Everson Walls,
Speaker 1: and Nicky Spagnola, and it is time for another edition
Speaker 1: of Mick Shots. Bill Jones, Mickey Spagnola, Everson Walls, and
Speaker 1: we will have a special gas coming later in the
Speaker 1: show as there's so much to get to with these
Speaker 1: Dallas Cowboys. On a Thursday, May twenty eighth, twenty twenty
Speaker 1: and if my calculations are correct, it's day number seventy seven.
Speaker 1: Now day number Jim, let me write down seventy seven, Okay,
Speaker 1: a seventy seven and there are less than seventy seven
Speaker 1: days before we're headed to training camp in Oxnard, California.
Speaker 1: I haven't done the math on that. Let's see twenty
Speaker 1: two and they're fifty three about We're about fifty seven
Speaker 1: days away from living on a jet plane for Oxnard, California.
Speaker 1: Doctor Fauci, what do you have to say about that?
Speaker 1: He is way too happy. He is way way too happy.
Speaker 1: I'm just I don't know what's going on with him
Speaker 1: this morning. He took a shower this morning. Now he's
Speaker 1: all bright and bushy tail. I'll look at you, Bill,
Speaker 1: you look great man. That's exactly right. But Micky, we
Speaker 1: got so much to get to Mike mc Mike mccarthurw
Speaker 1: with a car Prince call yesterday and were re established
Speaker 1: communication with Mickey spagnolan in a second Everson and so
Speaker 1: he talked with the media for oh, pretty much twenty
Speaker 1: five minutes or so. I didn't put a clock on it,
Speaker 1: but there were a lot of things that he went
Speaker 1: over as far as how he is handling things and
Speaker 1: how the team is their virtual offseason talked about Alden Smiths,
Speaker 1: by the way, coming up a little bit later. It
Speaker 1: will be the agent for Alden Smith, Ron Slaven, who
Speaker 1: will join us and talk about how things are going.
Speaker 1: As Alden Smith joined the virtual offseason program on Tuesday. Mickey,
Speaker 1: understand you are back. I am back. I'm not frozen anymore.
Speaker 1: But yeah, you're exactly right. Things really kind of moving
Speaker 1: along this week with some of the other teams opening
Speaker 1: up their facilities to just a certain amount of people,
Speaker 1: the Cowboys doing that, and then the NFL owners having
Speaker 1: their meetings today virtually of course, and also voting on
Speaker 1: a couple proposals, so we can also get to that.
Speaker 1: And you know, I thought Mike McCarthy was pretty good
Speaker 1: yesterday talking about the different things. And I'm not sure
Speaker 1: we all really realize that he went back to Green
Speaker 1: Bay after the shutdown, and basically he's been doing all
Speaker 1: the stuff with the team virtually from Green Bay, all
Speaker 1: the meetings, the teachings they were having, he was at
Speaker 1: his house and as he said, you know, he's anxious
Speaker 1: to get back, and he felt like his family was
Speaker 1: anxious for him to get back and get out of
Speaker 1: the house. So the little levity there from him, but yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, they're moving along doing the best you can.
Speaker 1: It's a tough thing for teams that don't have new
Speaker 1: head coaches, but regardless, everybody's kind of in the same
Speaker 1: boat trying to get prepared for a season. There's got
Speaker 1: to be a little strange. You know, your coach is
Speaker 1: not at the facility. That's a little bit unusual. I
Speaker 1: didn't know he had gone back to Green Bay as
Speaker 1: well as facts. That's kind of unusual when you're talking
Speaker 1: about getting prepared for meeting your team, working with your
Speaker 1: team and to do that virtually. I did read a
Speaker 1: quote where he said that it is affecting their preparedness
Speaker 1: because you just really can't do the same things while
Speaker 1: I'm in Green Bay. The players are here, we're not
Speaker 1: even practicing. We can't even meet really, not in a regular,
Speaker 1: normal standpoint. I just really think that this is going
Speaker 1: to be a challenging thing for McCarthy because this is
Speaker 1: a new team. Now, if he was still with the
Speaker 1: Green Bay Packers, it'd be a totally different thing. He's
Speaker 1: accustomed to the system. He doesn't have to indoctrinate anyone
Speaker 1: at this point. Everything is new, and he's doing it
Speaker 1: from a remote location. It's got to be weird, you know, Emerson,
Speaker 1: I heard something really interesting last trunk. Maybe it was
Speaker 1: the end of last week or is the beginning of
Speaker 1: this week. I've lost track of time days, but seventy seven, okay,
Speaker 1: so I don't know what day. They did the conference
Speaker 1: call with Anthony Brown, I mean Xavier Woods, and he
Speaker 1: was they were asking and he got asked about is
Speaker 1: it difficult to learn when you're doing everything virtually? And
Speaker 1: he goes, you know, it's different, he goes, but it's
Speaker 1: almost like being back in college. He goes, I took
Speaker 1: online courses and that's how we learned it was online.
Speaker 1: So he goes, this is kind of the same, Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, paying attention when you're online to listen to
Speaker 1: a professor. So for some of the younger guys, they
Speaker 1: might understand this better than you know, what we do
Speaker 1: because they kind of were used to that in college.
Speaker 1: So yeah, it's different, but everybody again is in the
Speaker 1: same boat. The problem is, yeah, he still hasn't had
Speaker 1: face to face meeting with all ninety guys on the roster,
Speaker 1: and as he pointed out, with whatever he's using zooming
Speaker 1: to stream or whatever, that you can't get ninety faces
Speaker 1: on the screen at the same time. So that's kind
Speaker 1: of the biggest difference, and just the personal contact you
Speaker 1: have with the players. So what you're saying, Mickey is
Speaker 1: the Johnny Manzil was a trend setter as far as
Speaker 1: college athletes are concerned, and now everybody takes all their classes. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he'd he'd fit in real good now going to summer
Speaker 1: school or finishing out the semester, right, because that's what
Speaker 1: most everybody had to do. The high school kids, elementary
Speaker 1: school and who knows. You know, you may end up
Speaker 1: doing that on a temporary basis when everybody goes back
Speaker 1: to school in the fall. You know, I've read different
Speaker 1: things about come on, doctor Fauci, we're gonna be back
Speaker 1: in cle everybody right, going two days and some going
Speaker 1: three days alternating next week. All of these, all of
Speaker 1: these colleges are turning into the University of Phoenix. That's
Speaker 1: right here. How much is University of Phoenix is going
Speaker 1: to benefit from this stuff? All right? Let's about as
Speaker 1: far as Dak Prescott is concerned, Mickey, Because back in April,
Speaker 1: when Mike McCarthy met with the media, of course he
Speaker 1: was he was not going to say one way or
Speaker 1: the other whether Dak Prescott was participating in the virtual
Speaker 1: off season. He as much as alluded to it yesterday,
Speaker 1: didn't come right out and say it. But when asked
Speaker 1: about Dak Prescott, I don't think he was asked point
Speaker 1: blank about whether Dak is involved in the virtual off Season,
Speaker 1: But he said that it's a business situation that Dak
Speaker 1: is going through right now. There is communication and it's
Speaker 1: something that they'll just have to deal with, and but
Speaker 1: he doesn't believe it will be set back any Yeah,
Speaker 1: and you know you would like certainly like your quarterback
Speaker 1: taking partner in anything. I still don't understand, you know why.
Speaker 1: It's not it's not creating any leverage. It certainly hasn't affected, uh,
Speaker 1: the negotiations one way or another. I mean again, you know,
Speaker 1: you roll out of bed. You don't even have to
Speaker 1: put a T shirt on to join the meeting, right,
Speaker 1: don't have to comb your hair, you know, take a shower.
Speaker 1: It's pretty simple. It's not like asking a lot. So
Speaker 1: that again does Yeah, everybody I know, and I understand agents,
Speaker 1: and you know they it's his their their client and
Speaker 1: telling them what to do. But to me, it doesn't
Speaker 1: make any sense whatsoever. That's always been the move. Though
Speaker 1: nothing's different here just because it's virtual. It's not going
Speaker 1: to make a difference to the player or to the
Speaker 1: agent themselves. They're still trying to take their stand and
Speaker 1: they're trying to show that they have resolved and that Okay,
Speaker 1: as long as we're gonna have these issues and this
Speaker 1: is going to be dragged out the way it is,
Speaker 1: then this is gonna be my punishment to you. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, that's just that's just the way it is
Speaker 1: I don't think at this point it's extremely urgent. I
Speaker 1: don't know how much they're changing up the offensive game
Speaker 1: playing spans. You might know more than I would, but uh,
Speaker 1: you know, when you come off of a season like
Speaker 1: Dak had, you know, all mistakes and bad games aside.
Speaker 1: You're talking about a guy who had a premier year,
Speaker 1: and uh, I would imagine he's thinking, I've been out
Speaker 1: there practicing with dead Bryant, so I'm ready, you know.
Speaker 1: You know. My thought on that though, is if what
Speaker 1: if I have to you know, what if we don't
Speaker 1: get a long term deal done and I got to
Speaker 1: play on the franchise tag. Well, if I'm playing on
Speaker 1: the franchise tag, boy, I want to have the best
Speaker 1: year I've ever had, and I want to be totally
Speaker 1: prepared because I don't want to have a down year.
Speaker 1: And then I'm either you know, trying to get the
Speaker 1: second franchise tag or they say, you know, don't know
Speaker 1: that we need this guy. I would and that's far fetched, right,
Speaker 1: I understand, of course. But if you're you know, maybe
Speaker 1: you do this if you're a quarterback, but say you're
Speaker 1: I don't know, an offensive lineman or a cornerback, or
Speaker 1: I would want to have the best year I could
Speaker 1: have to market myself just in case I had to
Speaker 1: go into free agency. I'm sure now as now I'm
Speaker 1: speaking as a player. When you're talking as a player
Speaker 1: and you come off the year that he just had. Now,
Speaker 1: team wise, of course, that was a lot of things
Speaker 1: left on the table, but as far as his own
Speaker 1: individual year, I think he's feeling pretty good about himself.
Speaker 1: And you know, just you know, one offseason camp won't
Speaker 1: really make a difference. Hopefully we won't have to deal
Speaker 1: with this the next time around. When is the next
Speaker 1: scheduled virtual offseason camp? Do you know how do they
Speaker 1: do this? You know, we're going to have more than one.
Speaker 1: Seems like they could have it every day since we're
Speaker 1: going to the University of Phoenix type of learning. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you don't. You don't want to overburden the players now
Speaker 1: in the off season, right, can't taxing them? Right? Plus
Speaker 1: you know, and Bill Bill mentioned you know that everything
Speaker 1: kind of moving forward. So I was going to ask
Speaker 1: mister optimism, So you think the players and coaches will
Speaker 1: be back in the building, say in two weeks the
Speaker 1: middle of June. You know, I'm not so sure. I'm
Speaker 1: not so sure about that. You know, my man Lincoln
Speaker 1: Riley up at Oklahoma, he said that it'd be crazy
Speaker 1: on the college level. It'd be crazy for the student
Speaker 1: athletes to be back on campus as they normally would
Speaker 1: be at the beginning of the summer on June first,
Speaker 1: and ou as they're bringing their players back on July first,
Speaker 1: even though conferences are now allowing players I believe to
Speaker 1: be back on campus as early as June eighth, summer
Speaker 1: June fifteenth, So in the abundance of caution, they've been
Speaker 1: advised at that particular university by their doctors to bring
Speaker 1: them back as late as possible, Which leads me to
Speaker 1: the question, I don't know that it necessarily matters right
Speaker 1: now outside of yeah, with especially with the Cowboys with
Speaker 1: a new coaching staff, you would like to have some
Speaker 1: hands on time with your players as early as possible,
Speaker 1: But Everson as a player has not had an offseason
Speaker 1: program hands on on an NFL in an NFL facility.
Speaker 1: How much time will these players need to get ready
Speaker 1: for the season. How different will it be from past
Speaker 1: years as far as physically being able to play a
Speaker 1: regular season football game in early September. You know, to me,
Speaker 1: I think you have to look at veterans versus rookies.
Speaker 1: You know, we've signed some very prominent rookies for this
Speaker 1: team through the draft, and if we want these guys
Speaker 1: to be involved in this game, in this team and
Speaker 1: in this season, that we're gonna have to get some
Speaker 1: some of these players a chance to play. So, having
Speaker 1: said that, it's very important at this point when you're
Speaker 1: talking about bringing in Ceedee Lamb, you know, this guy
Speaker 1: has to be ready to go. We're looking at him
Speaker 1: as one of my slot guys. He's gonna have to
Speaker 1: be ready to go. We're looking at the defensive ends
Speaker 1: that we signed, They're gonna have to be ready to go. There.
Speaker 1: You've got a because of the free agency and because
Speaker 1: of the draft picks, you're gonna have to have this
Speaker 1: team running on all cylinders if we want to make
Speaker 1: a move that we didn't make last year. Coming off
Speaker 1: of last season was not good. So these players are
Speaker 1: going to have to be really in tune to a
Speaker 1: new system, especially defensively the cornerbacks themselves. You know, it's
Speaker 1: about timing when it comes to cornerbacks. You can't just
Speaker 1: get out there and say, well, I've been looking at
Speaker 1: film of myself and now I'm ready to go. No,
Speaker 1: you have to go out there and compete against these
Speaker 1: other players, so you have the time that they need
Speaker 1: to get prepared for the season. Is very precious right
Speaker 1: now and definitely more precious than it has been doing
Speaker 1: other off seasons. But as far as training camp goes,
Speaker 1: normal length training camp should be good. Right as far
Speaker 1: as from a nautical nasical standpoint, get ready for the
Speaker 1: season or do they need more time? Now? They're gonna
Speaker 1: need more time. You've got different players, You've got newer
Speaker 1: players coming in. You got even though the veterans that
Speaker 1: came in from Carolina, You've got the free agent signings.
Speaker 1: I truly believe they're going to need more time because
Speaker 1: I'm still including this off season as a factor. You
Speaker 1: still have to get some work done in the off
Speaker 1: season as you prepare for the training camp. Right now,
Speaker 1: players are they're not like we were a bill. We
Speaker 1: used to come in off season. We didn't do jack.
Speaker 1: We came to training camp to get in shape. Right now,
Speaker 1: these guys are different. They're in shape all year round.
Speaker 1: They are having a bit of a problem doing that
Speaker 1: with the special situation with the disease going to happen,
Speaker 1: how do you think the Players Association is going to
Speaker 1: feel because there's an opportunity here. Let's say it all
Speaker 1: clears up and people can be back on campus by
Speaker 1: June fifteenth or so in a normal off season, that
Speaker 1: basically is when the off season program is ending June
Speaker 1: fifteenth or twentieth, and then the players have a month
Speaker 1: off before the start of training camp. Yeah. I don't
Speaker 1: know if the league will, if if the teams will
Speaker 1: propose this to the players, But how will the Players
Speaker 1: Union feel about, Okay, going ahead and that last month
Speaker 1: that you're normally off, you're back on campuses and you're
Speaker 1: doing you're doing an off season program, getting set for
Speaker 1: training camp. How will that go over with the players?
Speaker 1: You know? I think the players just wanted to work
Speaker 1: whatever it is. At this point. Everything is so unique
Speaker 1: Bill that we're all as players, as the as Players
Speaker 1: Association and management is concerned. We're all trying to make
Speaker 1: it work. Now there is no schedule that we are
Speaker 1: accustomed to. Everything has changed, the scheduling for the off
Speaker 1: season has changed. I think there will be a better
Speaker 1: meeting of the minds when it comes to management versus
Speaker 1: the union and how the players want to deal with this.
Speaker 1: Uh Now, the only thing that I think would be
Speaker 1: a problem as long as you don't talk about taking
Speaker 1: away some of my money. If you're talking about taking
Speaker 1: away some of my money, yeah we have an issue.
Speaker 1: But if we all coming together in a coordinated effort,
Speaker 1: I think I think they would they would all meet
Speaker 1: in the middle and they in regard to this this. But
Speaker 1: so you'd be fine with taking away your July beach
Speaker 1: time to get ready for the season. Nobody's going to
Speaker 1: the beaches, Bill, Okay, as doctor Foucci, no ones, you
Speaker 1: already had a right. They might. They might go to
Speaker 1: how it looks like we've lost Mickey there Everson. A
Speaker 1: little bit later in the show, we are going to
Speaker 1: in just a moment, we're going to be joined by
Speaker 1: Ron Slaven, the agent for Alden Smith. Will get into that,
Speaker 1: but we're also going to get into cornerbacks on this
Speaker 1: team coming up later in the show, and Mickey talked
Speaker 1: about the virtual owners meeting that is going on today
Speaker 1: and the big proposal that is out there. Mickey, I
Speaker 1: understand you're back with us now. The big proposal out
Speaker 1: there is the on side kick alternative, where a team
Speaker 1: can instead run a play a fourth and fifteen play
Speaker 1: from their own twenty five yard line in order to
Speaker 1: keep the football after scoring a touchdown. What do you
Speaker 1: think of it? You know, to me, it's quite intriguing
Speaker 1: that you get that option. I mean, you can still
Speaker 1: on site kick if you want and take your chances
Speaker 1: kicking off from the normal spot, but this kind of
Speaker 1: gives you and you can only do it twice in
Speaker 1: a game, and not in overtime. Uh. And it is
Speaker 1: not a time play. So if you're desperate and you
Speaker 1: think you got a nice fourth and fifteen play, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, why not? My? My? What I'm thinking though,
Speaker 1: is are the owners gonna do something like this so
Speaker 1: far removed from the tradition of the game to go
Speaker 1: ahead and say, okay, let's try this. Because this is
Speaker 1: sort of an AAF thing. This is sort of an
Speaker 1: XFL thing, And it really does sound like that. Facts,
Speaker 1: that's that is an XFL CFL thing, if I've ever
Speaker 1: heard it. I don't know. If I don't even see
Speaker 1: the validity of using that form of a special team,
Speaker 1: I guess I don't only see the I don't know
Speaker 1: who came up with that. I mean, we could pull
Speaker 1: something else out by butts, I guess, well and just
Speaker 1: come up with something like that. But what what is
Speaker 1: the basis of using that format. Well, here's here's what happened.
Speaker 1: They've looked at the last two years since they've changed
Speaker 1: what you can do on kickoffs, like no run up
Speaker 1: where you're kicking from the type of blocking that goes on,
Speaker 1: and they've discovered over the last two seasons only ten
Speaker 1: point two percent of the on side kicks have been recovered,
Speaker 1: so it's almost like useless. Uh. In twenty eighteen, seven
Speaker 1: point seven percent was recovered, and I'm told that from
Speaker 1: two thousand and one through twenty seventeen, on side kicks
Speaker 1: were the average of all those years were recovered at
Speaker 1: nineteen point five percent. So it's almost like the on
Speaker 1: side kicks it's not working the chances of recovering it.
Speaker 1: So that's why they this was proposed. I think it
Speaker 1: was Philadelphia, and I think there was one other team
Speaker 1: in the end. Wh Why go to the fourth and fifteen?
Speaker 1: Why go to the Why would that be used because
Speaker 1: the same percentage of success that that part. I don't
Speaker 1: know if they've looked at how many teams have converted
Speaker 1: a third and fifteen or a fourth and fifteen. I'm
Speaker 1: sure that right. The rewards pretty good. The downside pretty bad, right,
Speaker 1: because if nothing else, if you don't convert, you're basically
Speaker 1: saying I'm giving them a field goal. You know, if
Speaker 1: you don't recover ann site kick, well, okay, they're they're
Speaker 1: halfway there. They're probably around the fifty yard line or
Speaker 1: so forty yard line. It's not an automatic field goal attempt.
Speaker 1: But this basically is an automatic field goal unless you
Speaker 1: have Brett Maher. That's right. Don't bring that name up again, Bill, dude,
Speaker 1: not bring that name up ever again on this show, please,
Speaker 1: you know. And Patrick, well he can nail that sexty
Speaker 1: yard and said, I'm good. I've got a lot of
Speaker 1: fourth and fifteen plays i can complete. That's exactly all right,
Speaker 1: all right? Coming up next here on Mick Shuts, we
Speaker 1: will be joined by the agent for one Alden Smith.
Speaker 1: Ron Slaven joins the guys. Just remember, if you go
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Speaker 1: based on GWS one score September twenty nineteen. Back back
Speaker 1: to micked shots. Oh man, I'm I'm just so happy
Speaker 1: for who we're all in this right now personally, UM,
Speaker 1: I mean, he's such an impressive young man and you
Speaker 1: know in in his path uh to Dallas is special
Speaker 1: in unique. So it's just um thankful and blessed to
Speaker 1: be to be a part of this opportunity with him.
Speaker 1: So um, you know, he he wants to get back
Speaker 1: and you know, professionally and and be part of being
Speaker 1: part of the football play to be productive. He's in
Speaker 1: he's in great physical shape. I think it's gonna be
Speaker 1: exciting to see him get out there for the first time.
Speaker 1: He's you know, he's bigger and stronger, um than he
Speaker 1: was when Um, you know, we had a chance to
Speaker 1: compete against him with he was with the forty niners
Speaker 1: obviously playing at an elite level. So UM, I think
Speaker 1: it's gonna be exciting to see him get on the
Speaker 1: field and and and get back into it. But you know,
Speaker 1: he's in a great he's in a great place, and UM,
Speaker 1: very thankful and for his you know, for him and
Speaker 1: part of the Dallas Cowboys. Well, Mike McCarthy yesterday in
Speaker 1: the conference call with the Dallas media talking about Smith
Speaker 1: as the as the Cowboys defensive end reinstated last week,
Speaker 1: able to take part in those that virtual offseason program
Speaker 1: starting a couple of days ago. And here on mix Shots,
Speaker 1: we are now joined by Ron Slaven, the locally based
Speaker 1: agent for Alden Smith, practically a neighbor of mine. Ron,
Speaker 1: we appreciate you joining us here on Mick Shots. Just
Speaker 1: how excited is Alden Smith to be here with the
Speaker 1: Cowboys and being able to now to participate on a
Speaker 1: regular basis with the team. He's fired up. He had
Speaker 1: his physical yesterday, got sized up for his pads, helmets,
Speaker 1: all that type of thing. So he's excited and he's
Speaker 1: ready to go as soon as they open up for business. Ron,
Speaker 1: you know the fact that he's given this a shot.
Speaker 1: I was just worn ding. If you could walk us
Speaker 1: through just sort of how you got hooked up with
Speaker 1: Alden and what that process looked like for you even
Speaker 1: to have confidence in him to say, Okay, I think
Speaker 1: he's serious about doing this. In December, I was actually
Speaker 1: watching I don't remember, one of the Sunday night football
Speaker 1: games and I got a phone call from Jay Glazer,
Speaker 1: and Jay called me and said he had been training
Speaker 1: Alden since August, that Alden had been sober since then
Speaker 1: and wanted to know if I had interest and work
Speaker 1: with them. I made a few other phone calls, had
Speaker 1: actually a couple of people on that associate with the
Speaker 1: league side call me on it, and then Alden flew
Speaker 1: to Dallas. We met, and after spending a couple of
Speaker 1: days of them, I just felt it that he was
Speaker 1: serious and ready. And I think I've said this before,
Speaker 1: but you know, when he told me that he's not
Speaker 1: blaming other people anymore, he's taken upon himself. And when
Speaker 1: people with substant abuse issues taken upon themselves to get
Speaker 1: themselves right and quit blaming everybody else for their problems
Speaker 1: is usually the turning point. And when I heard that
Speaker 1: come out of his mouth, I knew that he was
Speaker 1: ready and couldn't put in the work and do everything
Speaker 1: he could to be right. And that was in That
Speaker 1: was the end of December, early January, and here we
Speaker 1: are at the end of May, and he's still on
Speaker 1: a great track, and he's bigger and stronger, like Coach
Speaker 1: McCarthy said, than I mean, when people see this kid
Speaker 1: it's he's he's different in his but the athleticism and
Speaker 1: you know, he's been working out with a defensive line
Speaker 1: coach here in Dallas, Brandon Tucker, who works with a
Speaker 1: bunch of NFL guys, and I went out and watched
Speaker 1: them a couple of times. It's in this park out
Speaker 1: in Plano, and his getoffs and the work with his
Speaker 1: hands and all the things that he does. He's an
Speaker 1: elite athlete. Ron this is that's and I wanted to
Speaker 1: ask you about his abilities. You know, with the standard
Speaker 1: that he's set when he was playing and at just
Speaker 1: one of the best players people have ever seen, did
Speaker 1: his abilities have anything to do with the decision that
Speaker 1: you made to representative besides the fact that you knew
Speaker 1: of his substance abuse problems and things of that nature.
Speaker 1: If he wouldn't have had that great ability, would you
Speaker 1: take the time and deal with someone like that. You know,
Speaker 1: every situation is different. I get phone calls with all
Speaker 1: different players that are either going through things or you know,
Speaker 1: maybe their agent wasn't you know, thought they were done
Speaker 1: and they want my opinion on if they could still play.
Speaker 1: So when Jay called me and said what Alldam was
Speaker 1: doing physically. It just made sense to take the meeting
Speaker 1: and see where he's at. I mean, if you're asking me,
Speaker 1: if a guy calls me that had two twelve, had
Speaker 1: one sack and I'm probably not there, but you you
Speaker 1: would probably take Everson Walls though when you look at
Speaker 1: his stats and he had fifty seven career stats, but
Speaker 1: maybe not at his age right now, well I still
Speaker 1: take him. You know, you never you never know. You
Speaker 1: might you might have a little juice in the system
Speaker 1: still and a little hair dial. You could be that
Speaker 1: you could be the original gray haired Glo bol Corner.
Speaker 1: There you go, man, You know ron it it seems
Speaker 1: like Dallas is the perfect fit for Aldon Smith when
Speaker 1: you consider the fact that Jerry and in this organization
Speaker 1: is one that is willing to take second chances on guys.
Speaker 1: Mike McCarthy, of course, it's been well chronicled. He visited
Speaker 1: that Jay Glazier's Jim his daughter works out there and
Speaker 1: had a conversation with Alden back in December. And uh
Speaker 1: in the fact that Jim tom Sula is former position
Speaker 1: coach with the forty nine ers, he's here with Dallas,
Speaker 1: and the fact that you his agent based here as
Speaker 1: far as accountability goes that sort of thing. It seems
Speaker 1: like the perfect fit, doesn't it. I always thought it.
Speaker 1: But I also didn't want to make the decision for
Speaker 1: all that, and I wanted him to be comfortable with
Speaker 1: the decision he made. So when I went to the
Speaker 1: combine and had a bunch of interest, I wanted him
Speaker 1: to go through it and talk to people and make
Speaker 1: the decision. And again I've said it before, but you know,
Speaker 1: Alden called me, I think it was March twenty nine
Speaker 1: or thirtieth, and said, you know, this is Dallas. Feels
Speaker 1: like the place that I want to be. So when
Speaker 1: I heard it out of his mouth, because I didn't
Speaker 1: want to coming out of my mouth. I don't want
Speaker 1: people thinking, oh, he lives in Dallas, so he's gonna
Speaker 1: push everybody the Cowboys. As much as I like to
Speaker 1: see the Cowboys win, when you live in the city,
Speaker 1: it's more bearable to live here, you know. To have
Speaker 1: him make the decision on his own just was the
Speaker 1: right thing to do. And all but all the pieces definitely,
Speaker 1: you know, added up and made sense. And um, the
Speaker 1: Jones are great to work with. They they are more
Speaker 1: willing to give people second chances and coach McCarthy and
Speaker 1: Alden hit it off, and Tom Seula having the familiarity
Speaker 1: with Alden. You know, all those things lined up me
Speaker 1: being here. But again, I wanted all them to make decisions,
Speaker 1: so he was comfortable with it. You know, Ron, that
Speaker 1: sounds like how you deal with your kids when they're
Speaker 1: getting ready to go to college. You kind of got
Speaker 1: to let them make that decision, and you know, if
Speaker 1: it doesn't work out or you don't agree with it,
Speaker 1: that's on them. You can't tell them, no, you're going here.
Speaker 1: So that's a that's a really good point. So I'm
Speaker 1: interested in the fact that, you know, when he last played,
Speaker 1: and it was five years ago and the end of
Speaker 1: the November fifteenth of twenty fifteen, I think he was
Speaker 1: playing at like two sixty two sixty five. And my understanding,
Speaker 1: I don't know what he weighed in yesterday, but reading
Speaker 1: from what some of the things Jay Glazer said, he
Speaker 1: was in the two eighties, but strong, a lot stronger. Uh,
Speaker 1: Is that the case? Do you think he still has, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, the the ability to be that pass rushing
Speaker 1: defensive end even though he might be twenty pounds heavier. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so Alden, you know, he literally didn't miss a workout
Speaker 1: since August. So even you, Mickey, if you showed up
Speaker 1: to workouts every single day since August, you're probably gonna
Speaker 1: get stronger, right, So Negg, but you know, I mean,
Speaker 1: he got off the plane here and I was like, Hey,
Speaker 1: I got to set up with Brandon Tucker to work
Speaker 1: with you on the D line stuff. And I had
Speaker 1: a bunch of stuff lined up for him. And the
Speaker 1: first thing you said was I'm gonna take a couple
Speaker 1: of days to chill because I literally haven't had a
Speaker 1: day off from workouts and those MMA workouts, you know,
Speaker 1: punching people, getting hit, all those things are tough, and
Speaker 1: he just wanted a couple of days to relax. But
Speaker 1: it's it's power and strength and if you you know,
Speaker 1: Jay Glazers talked about it, where he's worked with hundreds
Speaker 1: of guys there coming in and out of there, and
Speaker 1: I think he said the only guy that's physically as
Speaker 1: strong with his hands was Kyle Long and Alden's even
Speaker 1: stronger than that. And Coach Tucker he called me after
Speaker 1: his first workout with Alden and he's like, Ron, I
Speaker 1: had a pad in my hand, and every time he
Speaker 1: was striking me with his hands with these past rows moves,
Speaker 1: I felt like I was getting hit by a frying pan.
Speaker 1: So's I'm telling you guys, he's just different. You know
Speaker 1: the thing. I mean, forty two and a half sacks
Speaker 1: and forty three games wasn't for not And then people said, oh,
Speaker 1: that was five years ago, like you just said in
Speaker 1: your question. But there's this certain I mean I remember
Speaker 1: as in Adrian Peterson. I mean, there's a certain guys
Speaker 1: that it doesn't matter their age, they can just keep
Speaker 1: coming and their work ethic and their strength and all
Speaker 1: of those types of things just never go away. You know.
Speaker 1: I saw where Jay Glazer was talking about some apparatus
Speaker 1: they have the guys working on and it's on a wall,
Speaker 1: and he was the first one to pull the apparatus
Speaker 1: off the wall. He just didn't pull it off the
Speaker 1: wall is concrete. He dried it out of the wall.
Speaker 1: Like a lot of people down here like to drive
Speaker 1: pick up trucks and pull stuff. I mean, Alden could
Speaker 1: probably do some work for him in the yard if
Speaker 1: they need. With the strength that he's showed, uh pulling
Speaker 1: that thing out of the wall. So who has the
Speaker 1: stronger handshake Alden or Adrian Peterson, because Adrian's is legendary.
Speaker 1: Oh that's yeah, No, that's Adrian all day long. You
Speaker 1: know a lot of old linemen and d linman they
Speaker 1: don't have the firmst handshakes because their hands were always
Speaker 1: so beat up and sore, so they Sometimes you'll get
Speaker 1: a fish shake from a three hundred and twenty pound guy,
Speaker 1: but it doesn't matter for six in the morning or
Speaker 1: six at night. Adrian's trying to break your hand. How's
Speaker 1: that handshake, Everson? Now I have a great handshakes guy.
Speaker 1: My dad had the strongest handshake you've ever been around.
Speaker 1: I tell people out of time, he could change a
Speaker 1: tire with new tools, that's how big hands with all
Speaker 1: my life, so I'm prepared for that. But Ron I
Speaker 1: had to ask you. You know, it's great to be
Speaker 1: in physical shape. Of course, he's always been a physical specimen. Uh,
Speaker 1: and it. But his attitude is something obviously that that
Speaker 1: everyone's been worried about. Do you think of the loss
Speaker 1: of the game that being taken away from him? Uh,
Speaker 1: even though it took a while, do you think that
Speaker 1: was a big motivation in him being so so intent
Speaker 1: on coming back and finishing what he started. He just
Speaker 1: you know, he he said it in the reinstatement meeting
Speaker 1: that you know, he screwed up and he wants to
Speaker 1: not only be come back and be the player that
Speaker 1: he was, but be an influence for younger players coming
Speaker 1: into the league and younger players that might end up
Speaker 1: having problems and be, you know, a guy that they
Speaker 1: can come to. He wants to be that person in
Speaker 1: this league. And you know it's it's I mean ever
Speaker 1: since you played, and you know you've seen it, but
Speaker 1: guys coming to the league and it's tough. And people
Speaker 1: can sit at home and be armchair quarterbacks all they want,
Speaker 1: but you're twenty one, twenty two years old. You're giving
Speaker 1: a bunch of money. Um, there's a bunch of the
Speaker 1: attribute to players going down the wrong path. And he
Speaker 1: wants to help guys, you know, so that these same
Speaker 1: things don't happen. So the fires burning for him, Um,
Speaker 1: you know, him and I have had talks a lot
Speaker 1: too about you. You're thirty, You're not twenty five anymore.
Speaker 1: I mean, you know ever, so I'm sure you said
Speaker 1: it yourself. You guys came to training camp and got
Speaker 1: yourself in shape that way. Um, these guys work out
Speaker 1: all year round, but Alden was one of those guys
Speaker 1: where he bend over, touch his toes and he's warm,
Speaker 1: ready to go and go get five sacks. So you know,
Speaker 1: being to thirty instead of twenty five, you know, the
Speaker 1: warm up routine, get you know, taking care of your body,
Speaker 1: that extra work that needs to be put in. Those
Speaker 1: are the things too that he's gonna have to adjust
Speaker 1: because he wants to you know, he wants to play
Speaker 1: a long time now and he wants to get those
Speaker 1: years in. So it's also this team care of his
Speaker 1: body off the field and doing all those things. Because
Speaker 1: I always tell people NFL lives are like dog lives.
Speaker 1: For every one year in the league, it's like seven
Speaker 1: years on your body. So if you're not taking care
Speaker 1: of yourself, they're not doing things off the field, you know,
Speaker 1: you're not gonna last a long time. I think a
Speaker 1: lot of people, not just Cowboy fans, but there's a
Speaker 1: lot of people when they hear the story of Alden Smith,
Speaker 1: they're going to be rooting for him to have some
Speaker 1: success as he comes back into the league. Let me
Speaker 1: ask you about another client of yours, Layton vanderash Of
Speaker 1: course you had his season shortened to the neck injury
Speaker 1: and had the surgery after the season, and he sounds
Speaker 1: like he is one percent and rare to go. Give
Speaker 1: us an update on Layton. Layton feels great. We actually
Speaker 1: want fishing the other night and you pulled in a
Speaker 1: monster bath like the first five seconds before bowl in
Speaker 1: the water. I told me should quit while he was ahead,
Speaker 1: because then we sat three more hours and every guy
Speaker 1: but Layton's awesome. He does everything right, works his butt
Speaker 1: off in it. Again, armchair quarterbacks want to be like, oh,
Speaker 1: they drafted a guy with a neck injury. It's that's
Speaker 1: not the truth. That's not what it was. Mike Mayock
Speaker 1: said it on NFL Network and everybody took off and
Speaker 1: ran with it. Um. You know, he was born with
Speaker 1: a condition that a lot of guys play with. Some
Speaker 1: guys never have issues with it. Other guys, you know,
Speaker 1: get hit the wrong way or something happens. And injuries
Speaker 1: happened in this game. So got surgery says he feels
Speaker 1: better than he ever has in his life because he
Speaker 1: doesn't have that tightness in his neck anymore. I mean
Speaker 1: last year he was playing with one arm, and he
Speaker 1: was missing tackles that the guy never missed. I think
Speaker 1: the year, I think his rookie year, his tackling percentage
Speaker 1: was the highest in the league. He rarely missed tackles.
Speaker 1: And so now they's you know out there will be
Speaker 1: one hundred percent rare to go. And I think in
Speaker 1: this new scheme, he's going to be able to do
Speaker 1: a bunch of cool things because the guys in front
Speaker 1: of him are going to be a lot bigger, taking
Speaker 1: up a lot more space. And I have a feeling
Speaker 1: that Layton's going to have an incredible season and make
Speaker 1: a ton of plays for the defense. You know, and Ron,
Speaker 1: we talked about this last week on you know, anytime
Speaker 1: you have surgery on your neck, it's it's pretty serious surgery.
Speaker 1: And h you know, I had seen someone referred to
Speaker 1: him as having minor neck surgery, and I don't think
Speaker 1: there's anything, uh ever, that's minor when they're you're having
Speaker 1: surgery on your neck. Mickey, you needn't hire me to
Speaker 1: be your PR guy. You got to put off the
Speaker 1: statement that it's a minor injury. I don't care to
Speaker 1: put it otherwise. The fans pylon and everybody thinks it's
Speaker 1: the end of the world and cowboys suck at drafting. Yeah,
Speaker 1: blah blah blah. Well, yeah, it's not. No, And the
Speaker 1: reality isn't. This isn't agent talk. I don't like to
Speaker 1: b s people. It was minimal or a neck surgery
Speaker 1: is the actual I guess wording that was told to
Speaker 1: me from the doctors. It was an easy, get in,
Speaker 1: get out. It wasn't a you know, an eight hour surgery.
Speaker 1: They were in and out quick. They opened up the
Speaker 1: area that had the the issue and fix them up.
Speaker 1: And I mean the first couple of days were rough
Speaker 1: for him, because you're right, any surgery on that area
Speaker 1: is tough. But he's been raring to go. And I
Speaker 1: mean he's two hundred and fifty something pounds again and
Speaker 1: he looks great. Glad to hear that, because I was
Speaker 1: one of those guys that was really concerned about it.
Speaker 1: We saw how important he was for this team, and
Speaker 1: we saw that when he wasn't playing well defensively, we
Speaker 1: weren't playing well. So I wouldn't say so goes Vanderige,
Speaker 1: so goes the Cowboy's defense, but he's an integral part
Speaker 1: of that defense. And I like the way where Mike
Speaker 1: Nolan's going to come in with the activity of the
Speaker 1: front line, which is going to be amazing. Our linebackers
Speaker 1: are going to be even more active than they've always been,
Speaker 1: and I really look forward to to Van Durett doing
Speaker 1: a whole lot better than last year. We were very
Speaker 1: concerned about him, to be honest, and you've kind of
Speaker 1: alieved that concern a little bit the way you've talked
Speaker 1: about this surgery. So let's hope that that that's just
Speaker 1: the way it is and he can come back and
Speaker 1: be the guy that we saw when he was at
Speaker 1: Top Nights level. So I'm gonna take your word for
Speaker 1: a rounds are going to be you know when you're
Speaker 1: talking about Mike Nolan. Um. You know, during the draft processes,
Speaker 1: the whole time Layton wanted to come to the Cowboys,
Speaker 1: I was his team. Um, when I signed him here
Speaker 1: at the Cowboys Club, we are dinner and we were like,
Speaker 1: you're going to be a top twenty kid, in top
Speaker 1: twenty pick, and let's get you here to Dallas because
Speaker 1: that's all that was always his team. And but during
Speaker 1: the process, the other coach and team that he hit
Speaker 1: it off with was the Saints, and it was when
Speaker 1: he had his visit in New Orleans. Coach Nolan was
Speaker 1: the one who picked him up and took him around
Speaker 1: the facility and they hung out like pretty much the
Speaker 1: entire visit. So when coach Nolan was hired here, Layton
Speaker 1: was fired up because he had really hit it off
Speaker 1: with them during the draft process. And again, Everson, you
Speaker 1: know in this you know in the league there's certain
Speaker 1: you never burned bridges, and you always take advantage of
Speaker 1: the opportunities with the meetings you have because coaches move
Speaker 1: around a lot and never know who's going to be
Speaker 1: your next coach, And um, it's I got bailed out
Speaker 1: a whole lot. Yeah I got. He got an opportunity
Speaker 1: to spend it with UH coach Nolan, and now he's
Speaker 1: here coaching them. You know, Ron, before we let you go,
Speaker 1: I want you to relate his story to us. I
Speaker 1: don't know how much you got out there about Layton
Speaker 1: and we all know he's a great athlete, but his
Speaker 1: basketball playing ability growing up and AAU basketball is pretty
Speaker 1: legendary in the state of Idaho, isn't it. That's just
Speaker 1: not the AU is you know, he led his high
Speaker 1: school to two state championships. I think he averaged like
Speaker 1: thirty points and ten boards. Yeah, he evers thirty points,
Speaker 1: ten boards all the way through the tournament. His AU
Speaker 1: teams though they used to play, you know, because it
Speaker 1: was an Idaho AU, peopleouldn't give in respect. But then
Speaker 1: Layton showed up and they'd beat teams all on the
Speaker 1: West Coast all the time. And there's guys playing in
Speaker 1: the NBA now that Layton was dunking on. So uh.
Speaker 1: You know, his three older sisters were all really good
Speaker 1: basketball players. They played in college. One of them played
Speaker 1: overseas Um. They had an indoor basketball court there and
Speaker 1: Riggins growing up. So yeah, you know, I've said it before.
Speaker 1: If Layton wasn't an NFL player, he probably would have
Speaker 1: been an NBA player. And if he wasn't an NBA player,
Speaker 1: he probably would have been a Navy seal and killed
Speaker 1: Osama bin Laden. Like anything, anything Layton wants to do,
Speaker 1: he can get it done. The guy is multi talented.
Speaker 1: So Everson, don't you say bad things about Lake vaderish
Speaker 1: all right? He obviously that white man hand jump, So
Speaker 1: that's one to getting his way on guarantee, I'm moving
Speaker 1: out the way. Yeah, did you have that forty eight vertical? Whoa, Okay,
Speaker 1: anybody was too good? That's still amazing. Wow. Yeah, two
Speaker 1: hundred fifty six pounds of the combine jumps forty ridiculous. Wow. Well, Ron,
Speaker 1: will we appreciate you joining us? We'll have to do
Speaker 1: it again sometime, especially since you're writing. When we get
Speaker 1: back in studio at the Star, we get invite you
Speaker 1: right into the Star wear one of my sweet suits.
Speaker 1: All right, Ron Slavan the Agent and Alden Smith than others,
Speaker 1: we appreciate joining us here on Mick shot, say we
Speaker 1: continue in just a moment. Since eighteen sixty five, Stetson
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Speaker 1: things I ran into it was an announcement in the
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Speaker 1: Just yeah, they were alway saying in the nineteen if
Speaker 1: I remember correctly, that was for the second level at
Speaker 1: Texas Stadium. But all the all the seats down the
Speaker 1: bottom and the don't love him were twenty five dollars
Speaker 1: in matter you were on the fifty year of the
Speaker 1: line a goal line, they were twenty five dollars headphones,
Speaker 1: and please I hear feedback. It's like passes now, not
Speaker 1: even the party passes now. Yeah, right right, all right,
Speaker 1: all right, um, how about Broun Slavan. I love talking.
Speaker 1: That was good stuff. I could have talked to him
Speaker 1: my whole show. That was great shots. But you take
Speaker 1: from what he said, what anytime I tell you what, dude,
Speaker 1: they can anytime you get a white dude, they can
Speaker 1: play some basketball, a whole movie. I have a whole
Speaker 1: new respect. No idea, okay, I have no idea that
Speaker 1: he had those kinds of skills on the West Coast.
Speaker 1: When you're talking about go on the West coast, we
Speaker 1: have some basketball, and you're a white dude from Idaho
Speaker 1: and you know that. Of course Idaho is a basketball Okay,
Speaker 1: then we just didn't know about coast. But when you're
Speaker 1: going on the West coast, man, this is good. That
Speaker 1: is the man. This is some good news for me,
Speaker 1: especially with him explaining the intricacies of intricacies of the
Speaker 1: surgery actually makes me feel a little bit better going
Speaker 1: about what they were doing and hopefully the result is
Speaker 1: come out and making keep us is optimistic. It really
Speaker 1: have been. It really gives me a better look at
Speaker 1: what our linebackers might be able to do behind me.
Speaker 1: So I think the key word there that he explained
Speaker 1: about vander Esh's surgery minimally invasive, not minor surgery, mentally invasive.
Speaker 1: And Bill, now ever since got more respect for you. Right.
Speaker 1: Bill was a basketball player, now I remember that. No, no, no,
Speaker 1: when you think about Bill's burticle a little bit different
Speaker 1: from vanders Like, we played basketball at the same time
Speaker 1: back in Dallas Sport. He was at Burtner, I was
Speaker 1: at MacArthur. Didn't play against each other, but I played
Speaker 1: a Bill used to jump center. I used to jump
Speaker 1: center Bill, I don't think he used to jump center body.
Speaker 1: I was an outside shooter. I was a six four,
Speaker 1: three point shooter. Only problem was we didn't have a
Speaker 1: three point line. All that's right, that's right. No, I
Speaker 1: was a set shooter. That's worse. That's all right. Um
Speaker 1: about what he said about Alden Smith, and I really
Speaker 1: do think when you get to know. You know, before
Speaker 1: Alden Smith signed with the Cowboys, I didn't know that
Speaker 1: much about him. It's part what kind of person he is. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you see the reports and everything, but as the agent
Speaker 1: alludes to, I mean, he had issues that he has
Speaker 1: now taken account for and uh it sounds like he's
Speaker 1: turned his life around. And uh, you know it's going
Speaker 1: to be very interesting and absolutely and I think with
Speaker 1: people need to understand, you know, just because you get
Speaker 1: reinstated doesn't mean you're in the all clear, right. You know.
Speaker 1: They they give you a program and guidelines that you
Speaker 1: have to continue to follow, and you better meet all
Speaker 1: those uh you know objectives that they have in that
Speaker 1: program otherwise they can reverse it, you know, in a minute. Uh.
Speaker 1: So it's like he's got to continue to do what
Speaker 1: he's been doing for nine months. Uh. And you know,
Speaker 1: I thought it was uh interesting to hear that he
Speaker 1: would like to help other people that may have been
Speaker 1: going through some of the things he was going through.
Speaker 1: Uh and kind of met a saltsman or a mentor
Speaker 1: for guys that have started through some of that. That
Speaker 1: chance he got that chances this is the last chance. Uh,
Speaker 1: there's uh, you know when you talk about doing something
Speaker 1: like this. That's what I wanted to ask Ron about
Speaker 1: what is what the mental aspect was in regards of
Speaker 1: what the Alden is dealing with. You can be as
Speaker 1: physical as you want, you can get out there and
Speaker 1: work out, and you can Okay, I'm back physically, but
Speaker 1: when you go through some of the things that he's
Speaker 1: gone through, given the chances that he's been given, there
Speaker 1: comes a mental approach to what he has to do
Speaker 1: and all those things he has to make up for,
Speaker 1: because I'm sure he's given many promises in the past
Speaker 1: about how he's turned things around. You have to be
Speaker 1: mentally aware of where you are in life, not just
Speaker 1: physically aware if you want to come back and do
Speaker 1: this game again because all of the things that come
Speaker 1: with it, and Ron kind of talked about it. You know,
Speaker 1: you got young guys out there that can't really understand
Speaker 1: what's going on and they get taken a certain way.
Speaker 1: Just as Alden did. He has to make sure he
Speaker 1: doesn't repeat those mistakes that he made when he was
Speaker 1: twenty five years old. And it's easy to do that
Speaker 1: because now this is a brand new altar smith coming
Speaker 1: into his thirty years of age and he's going to
Speaker 1: have to deal with all those same issues that the
Speaker 1: twenty five year old Alton Smith had to deal with.
Speaker 1: That's what we have to look out for, you know.
Speaker 1: I also think the fact that Jim tom Sula had
Speaker 1: him during those days where he was racking up all
Speaker 1: those sacks in San Francisco and the issues arose, and
Speaker 1: I would imagine he gave his seal of approval to this.
Speaker 1: Otherwise he wouldn't have, you know, the Cowboys would have
Speaker 1: listened to what Tom Sula had to say because he
Speaker 1: was the one coach who had hands on experience with him.
Speaker 1: And the fact that I think that tells you that
Speaker 1: Aldon Smith was in Tom Sula's mind, is not necessarily
Speaker 1: a bad guy. He just had a problem that he
Speaker 1: had to deal with and get through, and so hopefully
Speaker 1: we'll see good things from him, you know. And Bill.
Speaker 1: One or the other interesting things they think Ron pointed
Speaker 1: out was it wasn't just the Cowboys interested in I mean,
Speaker 1: he made it sound like there were other teams that
Speaker 1: were going through an interview process and we're likely interested
Speaker 1: in sighting them. You know. I hear all this stuff
Speaker 1: out there with people that don't know talking about well,
Speaker 1: only the Cowboys would do something like this to take
Speaker 1: a chance on a guy. It sounds like there were
Speaker 1: other teams after they saw maybe what he's done and
Speaker 1: the shape he got himself in that we're interested in
Speaker 1: signing them. And really the Cowboys aren't taking a chance
Speaker 1: in my mind. I mean when you look at the
Speaker 1: contract and the way it is structured and with the
Speaker 1: incentives in it, and also what they did by drafting
Speaker 1: and I you know, we'll see what happens with Randrew.
Speaker 1: Gregory's coming back as well, and they've got several other
Speaker 1: defensive ends on their roster. They've got numbers at the
Speaker 1: defensive end position. Now we just have to see who
Speaker 1: can play. Yeah, absolutely absolutely, And you know when you
Speaker 1: haven't played for five years that you know that's that's
Speaker 1: a huge comeback. But again, and you know, to amplify that,
Speaker 1: he doesn't get maybe an offseason to get back into
Speaker 1: feeling like playing football. So this is going to be
Speaker 1: kind of a shotgun start for him, probably when training
Speaker 1: camp begins. All right, let's talk cornerbacks. Okay, I think
Speaker 1: everything we'd like to talk cornerbacks. Mickey, you want to
Speaker 1: get us started with your thoughts on where the Cowboys
Speaker 1: are at the cornerback position, of course, having drafted Treyvon
Speaker 1: Diggs in the second round, Reggie Robinson in the fourth round,
Speaker 1: Daryl Worley a new player coming in here as well,
Speaker 1: and then they've got the returning guys at cornerback with
Speaker 1: the exception of Byron Jones. Yeah, and I think that
Speaker 1: you know what they've done for sure, is you know,
Speaker 1: stock some depth at that cornerback position where there was
Speaker 1: no depth what soever heading into the offseason. You had Chitebeo, Woozier,
Speaker 1: Jordan Lewis, and they resigned Anthony Brown and that was
Speaker 1: really it. So the fact that they drafted a couple guys,
Speaker 1: I think this is going to be one of them
Speaker 1: more and I'm going to assume there's a training camp
Speaker 1: bill and they're going to start on time. This is
Speaker 1: going to be one of the more competitive positions I
Speaker 1: think going forward, just not only because of the number
Speaker 1: of guys that they've thrown at this position, but the
Speaker 1: fact that it's a new coaching staff. And we all
Speaker 1: know if you played athletics and you ended up on
Speaker 1: a team with a new coach man, you tried your
Speaker 1: hardest to impress that guy, and so that's what's going
Speaker 1: to happen. I just think there's been somewhat out there
Speaker 1: in some of the media a rush to judgment that
Speaker 1: just because the Cowboys drafted a guy in the second
Speaker 1: round or they got a guy in the fourth round,
Speaker 1: that these young kids are just automatically walk in starters.
Speaker 1: I think Chitebeo Roozier and Anthony Brown and Ordon Lewis
Speaker 1: might have something to say about that. So I don't
Speaker 1: think anything's just given to these guys. And certainly Everson
Speaker 1: understands that the situation he came into when he came
Speaker 1: into the league. Yes, speaking of that's facts. This is
Speaker 1: a piece of cake compared to what Mike Downs, myself
Speaker 1: and Brown fellas have to go through. We had twenty
Speaker 1: five k dvs, you know in training camp. Twenty five Okay,
Speaker 1: let's just think about that. So I'm not really concerned
Speaker 1: about the number. I really am concerned about the quality
Speaker 1: because you're talking about two good cornerbacks coming in that
Speaker 1: I think are going to play immediately. When you're coming
Speaker 1: into training camp and there's these young guys come in,
Speaker 1: hopefully they can really bring something new to the game.
Speaker 1: What what Mike Downs and myself and fellas brought in well,
Speaker 1: the fact that we were ballhawks. Okay, we we were
Speaker 1: going for the ball. We were hungry. You could see
Speaker 1: that in every drill that we did. And I want
Speaker 1: to see these guys, especially Diggs, come in and show
Speaker 1: me what he's learned and teach that bring bring that
Speaker 1: turnover minded ball playing ability back to the Cowboys. I
Speaker 1: was talking with Mike Downs the other day and all
Speaker 1: I did was just fussed about what happened to the culture. Okay,
Speaker 1: the culture of this Cowboys team has always been to
Speaker 1: get interceptions, always to get just turnovers. Even after Mike
Speaker 1: Downs and I left, that continue with Woodson and continued
Speaker 1: with Dean Sanders, that continued with some good players that
Speaker 1: they had a cornerback position. Now we're so I guess
Speaker 1: we're just content. We're not making plays, but just kind
Speaker 1: of I call it catch and release. You let the
Speaker 1: you let the guy kiss the ball, you follow on
Speaker 1: top of go back to the hull back. It does
Speaker 1: yes to me. That's not where cornerback is supposed to
Speaker 1: play football. And I like the way Diggs played. I
Speaker 1: like the way he deciphered plays in college football. It
Speaker 1: wasn't just the fact that he was trying to shut
Speaker 1: down the receivers. He had an idea of what the
Speaker 1: office was trying to do to him. And when you
Speaker 1: think about the players they brought in, I believe the
Speaker 1: other kid's name was Robinson, and I correct Robinson Robinson
Speaker 1: that that young man also has a nice head for
Speaker 1: the game. And that's what you want, some heads up
Speaker 1: players who can make the plays in the clutch when
Speaker 1: we need them. I don't need the guy just out
Speaker 1: there just running beside the receiver. Guys that realize, once
Speaker 1: the ball is in the air, I am the receiver.
Speaker 1: And that's what I saw from these two ball hawking
Speaker 1: guys that they drafted. All right, And Trayvon Diggs had
Speaker 1: three picks last year for Alabama. Reggie Robinson at Tulsa
Speaker 1: had four interceptions, all right. Now, and you've got returnings
Speaker 1: Arder Cheetoor Woozier who had one interception three in his career.
Speaker 1: You've got Jordan Lewis two interceptions last year, four in
Speaker 1: his career. You've got Anthony Brown no picks last year,
Speaker 1: of course, he was hurt quite a bit of the season,
Speaker 1: and four picks in his career. You've got Daryl Worley,
Speaker 1: who's been a starter throughout his time in the league.
Speaker 1: Fifteen starts for the Raiders last year, one interception, and
Speaker 1: five in his career. Maurice Kennedy is another veteran guy
Speaker 1: they brought in who started three games last year for
Speaker 1: the Jets. Who's your starters, the left cornerback, the right cornerback,
Speaker 1: and the slot corners. As this thing gets under way, Everson,
Speaker 1: I'm looking at Dick. I'm looking just to keep it simple,
Speaker 1: I'm looking at Dix to come in halfway during the season.
Speaker 1: I think he's gonna be started. I truly believe that
Speaker 1: as they started off because of his face fell ability,
Speaker 1: because of his size. I love I love Jordan, I
Speaker 1: really do. This guy can play. But I'm looking at
Speaker 1: physicality here, Okay. I'm looking at imposing players that can
Speaker 1: intimidate wide receivers. So I'm looking at Diggs to come
Speaker 1: in and play that slot position Woozier. If he continues
Speaker 1: to do well, he could be the cornerback and we're
Speaker 1: looking at Brown on the other side. Otherwise, that's going
Speaker 1: to be a change as the season goes on. I
Speaker 1: don't know. I never was. I never was impressed with
Speaker 1: Brown in regards to his recognition and play making abilities,
Speaker 1: not just interceptions, I mean tackles as well, I mean
Speaker 1: just making making plays on the ball. I don't know
Speaker 1: how long he would be able to last at that
Speaker 1: position without being able to make plays on the ball.
Speaker 1: So I think Diggs is going to eventually end up
Speaker 1: being a starting corner along with the Woozier. You know,
Speaker 1: it'll be interesting to see where they line up Diggs
Speaker 1: that are they going to put them left? Are they
Speaker 1: going to put them right? Because if we remember, Jones
Speaker 1: was on the right side, Shitubey was on the left side.
Speaker 1: And it'll be interesting and I think we'll be telling
Speaker 1: of what the coaches think on where they line these
Speaker 1: guys up when they initially finally get to go out there.
Speaker 1: And you know, and Bill, you mentioned Worly, you know
Speaker 1: to me, and he's done it a little bit, not
Speaker 1: a lot, but he's got a safety body and if
Speaker 1: somebody's going to be moving, it might be him moving
Speaker 1: to safety because they need some depth there. And I
Speaker 1: think there's going to be a lot of expectant of
Speaker 1: Donovan Wilson in his second year to come on and
Speaker 1: show something. You know, we think we know who the
Speaker 1: starters are, you know, with a Xavier Woods and Aha
Speaker 1: Clinton Dix, but you need another couple of guys back there.
Speaker 1: Worley could be one of them. And Donovan Wilson, you know,
Speaker 1: does he show up and give him something after really
Speaker 1: not getting much of a chance as year. Yep, that's right,
Speaker 1: and who knows Jamal Adams who's going to change the
Speaker 1: whole picture for everybody? All right? That does it for
Speaker 1: this edition of Mick Shots form Everson Walls and Mickey Spagnola.
Speaker 1: We appreciate Ron Slaven joining us this week, and we
Speaker 1: will chat at you again next week right here on
Speaker 1: Mick Shots. This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys
Speaker 1: dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.