Speaker 1: The following Here's a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com
Speaker 1: and the Dallas Cowboys football clubs. Are you ready for
Speaker 1: a break? Yes? Are you ready for a break? Absolutely?
Speaker 1: Ready for a break? Yeah, and so much for that.
Speaker 1: It's time for the Break on Dallas Cowboys dot Com.
Speaker 1: Were with Nick Eatman, David Hellman, and bar Garcia and
Speaker 1: Derek Eagleton. It is Monday, August fifth, twenty nineteen, Season fifteen,
Speaker 1: episode number twenty. Welcome to another edition of The Break.
Speaker 1: We're life on Hottar, California right Sunday morning, Monday morning,
Speaker 1: and the Cowboys have the day off. They will be
Speaker 1: chilling the day. They'll be back at practice tomorrow tomorrow
Speaker 1: at three thirty their normal time. They got a week
Speaker 1: of practice Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday this week, and then on
Speaker 1: Friday they head off for their first preseason game against
Speaker 1: the San Francisco forty nine ers. Before that, though, yesterday,
Speaker 1: they had their Blue White scrimmage. Some interesting moments from
Speaker 1: that day. We'll go around the table in a little
Speaker 1: bit and get some observations from these guys of things
Speaker 1: that they saw, things you guys should be aware of.
Speaker 1: We'll also talk a little bit about some injuries. There's
Speaker 1: some pretty high profile names that if that are on
Speaker 1: the injury report. Now we'll talk about how important those
Speaker 1: injuries are and the status of those guys. And then
Speaker 1: we're gonna get into the defensive backs, which I believe
Speaker 1: has been the best unit so far out here at
Speaker 1: training camp in my opinion. We'll talk about the cornerbacks
Speaker 1: and the safeties and get some opinions on that where
Speaker 1: those two positions are as far as positions and starters
Speaker 1: and in depth. How's everybody feeling this morning? I feel great. Great,
Speaker 1: It's Monday, and we don't really have to work as
Speaker 1: hard as we usually do, and that's an awesome way
Speaker 1: to start the week. And mind, you feel great because
Speaker 1: of SODA's soda? Like, have you like energized? Soda has
Speaker 1: me hungry? Um, but hey, I weighed myself this morning.
Speaker 1: I'm down seven pounds since I started. So yeah, that's
Speaker 1: what I'm talking about. For those of you don't know
Speaker 1: what soda is, it's a weight loss program that you guys,
Speaker 1: You and Brian are, yeah, me and the big guy. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he's down twenty five so h yeah. Amber was supposed
Speaker 1: to be on it and I didn't even want to
Speaker 1: mention that she was liked. I got on the scale
Speaker 1: and I've gained because you're not following the diet. I
Speaker 1: a diet, that's part of the whole thing. Yeah, you
Speaker 1: don't need it first, but say I'm working out more.
Speaker 1: So when you worked out more, it's a muscle. So
Speaker 1: you got a gain weight when you hit. When you
Speaker 1: get muscle, right, I hope it's a muscles up. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm out on diet and work out. We're just trying
Speaker 1: to get you right, like we gotta get you right.
Speaker 1: I felt a bud for Cody Wickman. What kind of
Speaker 1: calf injury? And you know what that feels like? You
Speaker 1: said something the doctor said, are meaning the Some of
Speaker 1: the coaches were saying they could linker a whole week.
Speaker 1: It's like a whole week shot three months. For those
Speaker 1: who don't know Nick, Well, I'm sure he's treatment. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you on the head. You just like limping around and complaining,
Speaker 1: yeah instead of actually getting treatment. Dam all right, starting
Speaker 1: it off very simple. No, it's not me. He needs
Speaker 1: treatment and he doesn't get it. That's a good point.
Speaker 1: It's fair. I've been to the emergency room three times
Speaker 1: since this whole thing. So no, I've had plenty of treatment.
Speaker 1: It's all good. All right, Let's talk about some of
Speaker 1: these uh some stuff around the Cowboys. Let's start with
Speaker 1: the blanket coverage. I have one question for you guys today.
Speaker 1: Rod Marnelly said about the defensive depth. There's not a
Speaker 1: lot of defensive line depth. I'm sorry, there's not a
Speaker 1: lot of difference between first, second, and third with some
Speaker 1: of these guys. Of the depth guys. Blank has had
Speaker 1: a better camp of the of the guys that are
Speaker 1: not the starting type players, the guys that are lower
Speaker 1: than that. I'll throw a couple of names for you. Armstrong, Hill, Jolks,
Speaker 1: Covington talk, Oh, Wise, gotcha give me give me a
Speaker 1: name of a guy that you think is at the
Speaker 1: best camp of those kinds of guys. Wow, best camp
Speaker 1: is obviously Don's Armstrong. Absolutely, yeah. I think that's the
Speaker 1: answer to that. But if we're gonna go to the
Speaker 1: next way, Daniel Wise has been really good and Jock
Speaker 1: says too. I know Jokes is a guy I talk
Speaker 1: about a lot, But both of those Wise I think
Speaker 1: I feel like they're not that far off from each other.
Speaker 1: I think Wise is a guy that they it's like
Speaker 1: a young like Tyrone Crawford in training because he can
Speaker 1: play everything. I mean, you see him on the end,
Speaker 1: you see him a tackle. I think he could probably
Speaker 1: get into a one technique. He's I just think he's
Speaker 1: he's a versatile player that they had him coming off
Speaker 1: the edge a couple of days ago. Joe Jackson is
Speaker 1: another one who actually he hasn't had this amazing camp,
Speaker 1: but they let him tackle out there yesterday and all
Speaker 1: of a sudden, he was all over the place. So
Speaker 1: I mean that it's a cliche, but it's a very
Speaker 1: real thing. You know, some of these guys need the
Speaker 1: contact aspect to really kind to show their game. And
Speaker 1: maybe Joe Jackson's one of them because he looked good yesterday. Yeah,
Speaker 1: or take a step back, because that's the other thing.
Speaker 1: When you start hitting and then you got you see
Speaker 1: a little bit more about what they can do, especially
Speaker 1: offensive guys as far as being hitting out I meaning
Speaker 1: on the ball, all those kinds of and there's like
Speaker 1: they've said, I mean, there is something to it, because
Speaker 1: when you get to the NFL and you practice all
Speaker 1: summer and what's one hundred, what's fifty percent? Like I
Speaker 1: don't know what you tyrants fifty percent? What's my fifty percent?
Speaker 1: But when you get to a game or practice like
Speaker 1: this and you're like, just tackle, it's everyone's one hundred percent.
Speaker 1: So it doesn't matter because that's where most fights happen
Speaker 1: at practice. It's a guy that hits harder than he's
Speaker 1: supposed to and they're like, wait, and now you hit
Speaker 1: my guy. It's a cheap shot, and now you start fighting.
Speaker 1: You get to a game and it's just like it's
Speaker 1: all in, let's go. That's also why you know you
Speaker 1: have these teams that Cowboys used to this where you
Speaker 1: pull two teams together to practice during training camp. I
Speaker 1: think that's a recipe before disaster because if you've been
Speaker 1: practicing at one level, like your team, you know kind
Speaker 1: of how hard you hit, and you know how fast
Speaker 1: you're going, some of it's not on the same page,
Speaker 1: and the other team might be. They might be going
Speaker 1: all out and you, and then all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: you have that collision of these two different mindsets and
Speaker 1: then guys take personal, take it personal, and then they
Speaker 1: really don't care about it. Their George chuns exactly like
Speaker 1: you just we will hit him hard. Yeah, so I've
Speaker 1: been terrible every time I've ever seen it. I mean
Speaker 1: Chargers and we went to San Diego. That was just
Speaker 1: a fight fest. Denver flows out Adam ripped his helmet
Speaker 1: off and threw it and and basically hit a player
Speaker 1: in the head with it. Um I hear the Raider
Speaker 1: thing like that was Yeah, Raiders and Rams like malice
Speaker 1: at the Palace and it's terrible. Yeah, that's crazy. But
Speaker 1: I saw this one on the NFL network. There are
Speaker 1: several teams a day they're starting practices with each other,
Speaker 1: and I was just like, good for them. I'm I'm
Speaker 1: glad that. I don't know why I always laugh about
Speaker 1: it's an inside joke. When the Rams walked out the
Speaker 1: practice that day. Day was so mad at those people.
Speaker 1: Were people just their their version of us. They just
Speaker 1: walked out on their their media team rubbed me the
Speaker 1: wrong way. And it was weird because Dave, that was
Speaker 1: a point where your first second, thirty year, third year,
Speaker 1: and he was, you know, nothing really gets David like rattle. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's wondered, like this guy's just walked out and that
Speaker 1: it was like our group, you know, but they come
Speaker 1: out like what we got here? They just were they
Speaker 1: were kind of acting like they owned the place. I
Speaker 1: was like, who the hell are y'all? Oh man, that
Speaker 1: would have been funny if you first time I've seen you,
Speaker 1: because he's always the guy that's like, doesn't really matter,
Speaker 1: like calm down, who cares? You know, which is true,
Speaker 1: which is a good attitude. But that particular day, those
Speaker 1: rams wasn't having it. Should have been in there helping
Speaker 1: my guys. Yeah I didn't, though I don't know what
Speaker 1: how much help I would have been. Let's talk some injuries.
Speaker 1: There are a couple of guys that have popped on
Speaker 1: the injury report this weekend while we weren't doing shows
Speaker 1: or want to catch up on Zach Martin and Mark
Speaker 1: Cooper to be exact, and then also just for kicks,
Speaker 1: give me an update if you have one on shout Lee.
Speaker 1: Start first with Zach Martin. What are we hearing about him? Um?
Speaker 1: I think here and that it's enough for him to rest,
Speaker 1: you know, I mean, he's an injury, he got a
Speaker 1: back injury, and he's you know, I just think it's
Speaker 1: a situation where he's had something in the in the summer,
Speaker 1: or this isn't the first time he's had a little
Speaker 1: irritation there, so this might be a manage a thing
Speaker 1: they have to manage, which is good. It's a thing.
Speaker 1: It's a thing they're gonna have to manage. It's just
Speaker 1: just it just is. It's a back problem for an
Speaker 1: offensive lineman like you. Your whole the whole position is
Speaker 1: about like leveraging your body and having people push back
Speaker 1: against you, like that's gonna hurt your back when you
Speaker 1: sit down, which is literally I'm not saying sit but
Speaker 1: I'm saying when you when when guy's rushing an interior lineman.
Speaker 1: The point is they want to basically get to a
Speaker 1: point where they get a stalemate, and they just have
Speaker 1: this guy. The nature of that is your back is
Speaker 1: arched and you're being bent backwards. So it's that's there's
Speaker 1: no way around to be good. YEA. Luckily, you know
Speaker 1: from the MRI it sounds it's not a big deal.
Speaker 1: It's not like this herniated disc or some major problem.
Speaker 1: It's just an irritation. But you know, every time he
Speaker 1: plays his position, it's probably gonna get irritated. Luckily, he's
Speaker 1: one of the toughest mofos around, so I have no
Speaker 1: doubt he can fight through that, but it's just probably
Speaker 1: gonna be something he has to manage. But how much
Speaker 1: does that concern you? Knowing that again, talking about the
Speaker 1: fact that every play that's probably gonna be something that's
Speaker 1: gonna happen to him. And when you start talking about
Speaker 1: a full season, his availability, his effectiveness, We've seen other
Speaker 1: guys with back injuries. Do you think he'll be as
Speaker 1: good as he has always been or do you think
Speaker 1: this affects him just knowing that that irritation is there
Speaker 1: and it may not be anything they can really do
Speaker 1: about it. Both. I think he'll be as good as
Speaker 1: he's been, and I think it will affect him. I
Speaker 1: think he's that type of guy. I also think the
Speaker 1: next time he hits any one, they'll be wearing a
Speaker 1: Giants jersey. That's what There's no point putting him out here.
Speaker 1: How many times did Jerry mentioned the word the giant Giants? Yeah,
Speaker 1: he's mentioned a few times. Yeah, I mean the Giants.
Speaker 1: Oh it was another injury Cooper. Yeah, he said He's like,
Speaker 1: if we were lacing up doctor Jerry, you know, if
Speaker 1: we were to play the Giants, he'd be out there.
Speaker 1: But what's you know, why risk him transitioned right into
Speaker 1: your Cooper, which I'm Mariy Cooper's fine. He's he's fine.
Speaker 1: He bruised his heel, and again it's Oxnard. He's a
Speaker 1: Marii Cooper. Let's not be silly. He's fine. I'm very
Speaker 1: confident about that. So you know, he might be out
Speaker 1: there tomorrow. He might not be, but he's fine. But
Speaker 1: whether he's out there or not, the the idea is
Speaker 1: that he's fine. It's just mean he's not out there.
Speaker 1: They're just not put him out, you know what they're
Speaker 1: really going on here, right, But I mean we've been
Speaker 1: hearing about how small this plane is from Dallas, I
Speaker 1: mean from Oxnard to San Francisco, trying to get some guys. Yeah,
Speaker 1: if guys are kind of banked up, they're like, okay,
Speaker 1: you're not playing in the game. You stay back, you
Speaker 1: stay back there. They're just working on the itinerary if
Speaker 1: I'm smart. Honestly, Sean Lee dinged his MCL He says
Speaker 1: he feels good, he's progressing well. Um, he's working through
Speaker 1: his rehab. He doesn't know when he'll be back. It's
Speaker 1: like we talked about, it's probably one of those things
Speaker 1: where if there was a game on Sunday, it would
Speaker 1: probably be a different story. But again, why are you
Speaker 1: a thirty two year old veteran with an injury history.
Speaker 1: Why are you trying to rush him through? Just be patient. Um,
Speaker 1: I'm curious to see when we see him again, because
Speaker 1: I don't know the answer to that. Injury provides opportunity,
Speaker 1: That's what I always say. And uh, basically just giving
Speaker 1: these young linebackers a chance to do something. Luke Gifford's
Speaker 1: a guy that gets to do some things there a linebacker.
Speaker 1: I think he's making making some plays just since they
Speaker 1: were they were able to have a little bit more
Speaker 1: contact yesterday. Was there a guy a linebacker that that
Speaker 1: maybe stood out to you a little bit when we
Speaker 1: talk about opportunity, you know? Not not really. I don't
Speaker 1: think that they those guys did a lot. Maybe Brian
Speaker 1: Scott Scott's eye has you know, some linebackers there. I
Speaker 1: haven't seen that yet, but I will say this, I
Speaker 1: think linebacker is a position that is a little bit
Speaker 1: It's not as deep as you think it is because
Speaker 1: it's very top heavy. But after two, I really just two.
Speaker 1: The questions start at three. The questions start with on
Speaker 1: Lee's hell, then after that, who Who's Who's a lot
Speaker 1: to make the team? Oh see, I think I feel
Speaker 1: pretty differently about that. I think Joe Thomas is a
Speaker 1: lot to make the team. Vers I forget him every
Speaker 1: single time he's on the roster. I just forget he's
Speaker 1: on the team, which I don't know why. Well, it's
Speaker 1: fair because there's not omous there's not a lot of
Speaker 1: snaps for him. But like he's a solid he is
Speaker 1: a solid player. I remember me of Durant like in
Speaker 1: that way, like he's just a solid guy, not a
Speaker 1: great guy. Is the number get out of the forties?
Speaker 1: I can't. I can't take you seriously, And I don't
Speaker 1: know why. I don't know why. That's stupid. That's a
Speaker 1: dumb Is there any good linebacker in the NFL? That's Jones?
Speaker 1: He's a boss? Yeah, he is a cockl. Yeah, Devin
Speaker 1: White LSU also going to be a boss in the forties,
Speaker 1: just saying LBU. He's just gonna run off the LSU guys.
Speaker 1: Um no, I will, I mean, no, let's keep it
Speaker 1: on the tracks because I think I think justin march
Speaker 1: Lowar's a lot to make this team, a lot a lot.
Speaker 1: He has been good out here. Did you see his
Speaker 1: one handed interception the other day? It was great. He
Speaker 1: made an awesome play. He can play multiple positions. He's
Speaker 1: a special teams guy. He's a Garrett type of guy,
Speaker 1: just a you know, good attitude, good dude. I mean,
Speaker 1: you know you can't. I can't definitively say Locke because
Speaker 1: it's the NFL. Dan Bailey got cut last year. But
Speaker 1: what do I think of five or six? I guarantee
Speaker 1: you six and I think seven. Maybe. Yeah, they love
Speaker 1: they love linebackers because that's who does the heavy lifting
Speaker 1: at special teams. Sean Lee's got an injury history, all
Speaker 1: that good stuff. So if you're right, really there's only
Speaker 1: one spot, one to two spots left for the other guys,
Speaker 1: because I think they already think that those five five
Speaker 1: are here. And then you're looking at Luke Gifford, looking
Speaker 1: Chris Covington. Um, you know, Nate Hall has done some stuff.
Speaker 1: I don't know if I'm ready to put him on
Speaker 1: the team, but there's Yeah, it's kind of an open
Speaker 1: competition between a bunch of those young, cheap guys. Ye,
Speaker 1: but I think I think Gifford is the guy. The
Speaker 1: next guy there. I mean, I think he's guy right now.
Speaker 1: I think he's you know, and we talked about him.
Speaker 1: It's like, what do you gotta do. All you gotta
Speaker 1: do is really be better than Chris Covington or maybe
Speaker 1: Justin Marshallelard. But I feel I feel like you keeps six.
Speaker 1: I just feel, you know, right now, in August fifth,
Speaker 1: I'll be surprised if Justin Marshall Lollard isn't on the team.
Speaker 1: All right, let's take our let's take our first break.
Speaker 1: When we come back, we're gonna get into some observations
Speaker 1: from the Blue White scrimmage that happened yesterday afternoon. Really
Speaker 1: fun time. These guys will tell us what they saw,
Speaker 1: some things that stood out to them, so that when
Speaker 1: we come right back. This is Dallas Cowboys dot com.
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Speaker 1: Slash football. Back to the Break, Welcome back. It is
Speaker 1: the second second of the break, live from Hawksdock, California.
Speaker 1: It's DOLF Cowboys training camp. It is day I think
Speaker 1: like nine or something. I'm so lost, well I even
Speaker 1: know what day of the week it is. Yesterday was
Speaker 1: practice eighth, makes this is probably day twelves, the halfway day.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, like it's we're you know, like we're up
Speaker 1: at the top of the hill if this is you know,
Speaker 1: the roller coaster, and we're about to go down real
Speaker 1: fast because we got an off day. There's there's two
Speaker 1: travel days in the next five, there's a game, and
Speaker 1: then all of a sudden, we're hopping a plane to
Speaker 1: Hawaii and going back to Dallas. Yes, I'm mixed, I'm excited.
Speaker 1: I feel like we've been here forever. Yeah, all right,
Speaker 1: let's let's get into some observations from the Blue White scrimmage.
Speaker 1: Why want you guys to tell me some things. We'll
Speaker 1: go around the table. Tell me some things you saw
Speaker 1: yesterday that you thought were really, really interesting. Nick, let's
Speaker 1: start with you. Yeah, number one, I'd like to change
Speaker 1: the word and not call it a scrimmage anymore. But
Speaker 1: it's a scrimmage, Nick, Okay, Um, just just a few
Speaker 1: plays of tackling out there. But sorry, I do that
Speaker 1: after the fact. I get all your promotions him nitpicking
Speaker 1: right now, because that's always Nick though. Well, everyone's like,
Speaker 1: where's the scrimmage start. I'm like, it is starting. It's
Speaker 1: just tackling, so stop. It's not like a kickoff. There's
Speaker 1: no heads tails or whatever. But we call it a scrimmage,
Speaker 1: all right. Anyways, um, there were some some tackling going on.
Speaker 1: I thought the running backs, Um, I thought a Jordan Chun,
Speaker 1: that's a thing. Now I think he's a guy. Jamaine's
Speaker 1: all the Walley was supposed to be the thumper back.
Speaker 1: That's not happen and we don't see that happen. And
Speaker 1: Jordan Chun, I think, is the one taking the most
Speaker 1: advantage of Zeke not being here, because Tony Pollard is
Speaker 1: going to do what he does and that's good, and
Speaker 1: Webber did some nice things too, But I think Jordan
Speaker 1: Chun is a guy. He's a big, powerful back, and
Speaker 1: I think he's making a difference. You know. That's interesting.
Speaker 1: I actually thought that Pollard was the guy who's making
Speaker 1: the most of it, because when we first started camp,
Speaker 1: it seemed like the first team reps are pretty much
Speaker 1: going to Gerald Jackson, sorry Uma Jackson, Jaris Jackson and
Speaker 1: h and to Chun. And it seemed like as it's progressed,
Speaker 1: you're seeing Pollard more and more at the first team,
Speaker 1: And I thought maybe, and Dave you, you and I
Speaker 1: talked about this yesterday and you kind of had this
Speaker 1: opinion too. It almost felt like at first they were like, well, yeah,
Speaker 1: let's just keep Tony you kind of in that that
Speaker 1: secondary role, and as time when they were like, huh,
Speaker 1: it might be pretty good. We might want to give
Speaker 1: him a little bit more and see or else we
Speaker 1: can use him. And I thought, maybe it it lets
Speaker 1: them know, you know, is this a situation where he's
Speaker 1: a guy that's a third down back. Maybe not. Maybe
Speaker 1: he's a guy that can take a series rather than
Speaker 1: just down. I think, really what I'm saying, he's a
Speaker 1: lock to make this team, regardless of steaks here or not.
Speaker 1: And yeah, if the more he can prove, the more
Speaker 1: snaps he'll get. But a guy Derrius Jackson's not a lock.
Speaker 1: They went and got offered more as Chun. I think
Speaker 1: Chun's the guy from that group that's moving him more
Speaker 1: into consideration of maybe making the team. Yeah, and everything
Speaker 1: you just said about Pollard is right, but he is
Speaker 1: so entrenched that he was really more part of the
Speaker 1: non contact first team or scrim practice as opposed to
Speaker 1: the scrimma. He would get hit. They left to young
Speaker 1: guys get after it. Uh, Mike Weber, really I thought
Speaker 1: showed some stuff. He had a great touchdown run, he
Speaker 1: spun out of a dog pile and and beast mode
Speaker 1: and prompted the first this is the age we're living in,
Speaker 1: but the first public comments by Ezekiel Elliott since he
Speaker 1: started his holdout. You know, he retweeted our video of
Speaker 1: Mike's touchdown and sent three h steaming face emojis, which
Speaker 1: now all these lame sports writers are in a TIZZI
Speaker 1: trying to figure out what that means. It means he's
Speaker 1: proud of his Ohio State teammates. I don't see people.
Speaker 1: I've heard so many people are like, Oh, he's mad
Speaker 1: because that's not him, or he's mad because they have
Speaker 1: another running back. No, that's not what that means. It
Speaker 1: means look at my guydown. Not a lot of not
Speaker 1: everybody understands emoji culture. As it turns out, it's okay,
Speaker 1: that's fine. Um, I didn't see it, so why would
Speaker 1: I talk about But so that was that was cool
Speaker 1: to see. But really, if you want me to be honest,
Speaker 1: my number one impression from yesterday is kicker a problem.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, that's what I was gonna talk about,
Speaker 1: Kicker a problem because that is a big problem. Two
Speaker 1: minute drill Cowboys offense is down nineteen to seventeen. There's
Speaker 1: like a minute and change. Dak guides him down the field.
Speaker 1: It wasn't beautiful, but you know, throws it to Witton,
Speaker 1: he gets it to gallop on the other sideline, beautiful
Speaker 1: little slant to Randall Cobb who takes it. Probably would
Speaker 1: have been a touchdown in a real game, but in
Speaker 1: this environment, he's down to it like the two. And
Speaker 1: Brett Maher comes on for the game winning thirty two
Speaker 1: yard field goal with three seconds left and shanks it
Speaker 1: way left. And not only that, but it was like
Speaker 1: a low kick. It was just ugly. And uh, you know,
Speaker 1: I'm I'm worried about the kicker position, if I'm being
Speaker 1: honest with you, because it's a trend now it's and
Speaker 1: he's he's missed kicks. He's had one perfect day Saturday,
Speaker 1: he went nine for nine. That was great, But every
Speaker 1: other day he's missed at least one. And as we've
Speaker 1: seen with Brett Maher, it's not the forty eight yard
Speaker 1: or that he's missing out here, it's the thirty three,
Speaker 1: thirty five forty yard kicks like the guineas right. But
Speaker 1: when you say when you say it's a trend. In
Speaker 1: my opinion, that was a trend last year. It was,
Speaker 1: which was why it was so shocked. It's not any
Speaker 1: better here. And that's my point. That's why it's somewhat
Speaker 1: shocking to me that they have they didn't bring in
Speaker 1: more competition for him this year during training camp than
Speaker 1: a guy that, let's be honest, is not gonna displace him. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And that that to me is the part that's really
Speaker 1: really you know, I've always defended the kicker because of
Speaker 1: other reasonings I don't know, But then yesterday, after getting
Speaker 1: a little taste of what is to come, I'm like, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: I don't want any of that this year. I don't
Speaker 1: want to deal with that stress again, and especially in
Speaker 1: the day that matter. I mean, yesterday was the closest
Speaker 1: to like a real game, you know scenario, and yeah,
Speaker 1: he aft it up, put it bluntly as you do,
Speaker 1: heft it up. And that's not good, that's not and
Speaker 1: that when you talk about bringing in competition, it's mind
Speaker 1: blowing that they haven't really Like how why well, I
Speaker 1: will say that. Let me say that that I think
Speaker 1: most kickers understand. You should understand that you are this
Speaker 1: is a competition. They don't need to see the guy
Speaker 1: next to you to know that there's somebody better than that.
Speaker 1: He doesn't have to get that. I understand what you're saying,
Speaker 1: but I would imagine the scouts over here have this list.
Speaker 1: They know, Okay, this guy now, he's not out here kicking,
Speaker 1: and he probably needs to be because that would be
Speaker 1: better for both of them, right That would be My
Speaker 1: thought is more just to show him here's who you're
Speaker 1: competing against and create competition, because they do it at
Speaker 1: every other position on he knows, and I heard Will
Speaker 1: It Do an interview earlier this week where he was
Speaker 1: talking about he was like, our goal is to get
Speaker 1: as many good guys at every position as we can
Speaker 1: because it ups the value of the competition. Not only
Speaker 1: are the younger guys competing against each other, they're pushing
Speaker 1: the older guys. And so in this instance, it's just
Speaker 1: having that guy beside because this guy deside here right
Speaker 1: now is not pushing him. I think Nick is right,
Speaker 1: like Brett Maher, he's been a professional kicker for a
Speaker 1: long time because I remember he was in the CFL
Speaker 1: for four or five years. He understands, like you're not
Speaker 1: gonna last long in any league missing thirty two yards. True,
Speaker 1: but it's very different than knowing that versus actually having
Speaker 1: someone standing right next to you that's about to kick
Speaker 1: right after you. Yea. So the pressure of I like, honestly,
Speaker 1: I like putting kickers in pressure situations because that's what
Speaker 1: their whole job is, it's pressure. So the more you
Speaker 1: can put them in pressure situations and they learn how
Speaker 1: to kick through pressure, the better they're going to be.
Speaker 1: It's something to keep an eye on. I bet you
Speaker 1: Casey Redfern's not going to kick much in these preseason games.
Speaker 1: And if if it's a shaky if it's a shaky
Speaker 1: set of games, then then we'll see what happens. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and you remember Brett Maher has been on that list,
Speaker 1: the list of here's ten guys available. I'm sure Maha
Speaker 1: has been on there two or three years ago as
Speaker 1: a guy he's in the CFL. He's kicking up there.
Speaker 1: And you know, yeah, Edmonton, I don't remember. I want
Speaker 1: to Winnipeg Blue Bombers may know. Kick up there. You're
Speaker 1: probably pretty good. But you're right about it's the extra points,
Speaker 1: it's the thirty five yarders. It's the forty one yard ers.
Speaker 1: It's the ones, you know, fifty nine yards. Yeah, he
Speaker 1: can make it into the net, and that's great, and
Speaker 1: it'll be in the media guide as the all time
Speaker 1: sixty two yard field goal. That's great. But it's if
Speaker 1: it's set nineteen to seventeen and he missed a kick
Speaker 1: like that from the two. I mean yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: thirty two yard field goal, that's yeah, that's not good. Yeah. Uh.
Speaker 1: Somebody on Twitter. I was tweeting about this yesterday and
Speaker 1: somebody responded to me and said the Maharati doesn't go
Speaker 1: below fifty and I laughed really hard. It was really good.
Speaker 1: Whoever sent me that that was inspired? That's extra way
Speaker 1: to go. All right, let's sorry. That's actually like a
Speaker 1: twenty one yard or isn't it if it was from
Speaker 1: the two yard line? Five? Well, extra points? Oh, because
Speaker 1: extra points are pushed back. You're right, I'm sorry. So
Speaker 1: what yard line? If it was from the two, he
Speaker 1: was probably it was a thirty two yard kick, so
Speaker 1: what's that twenty two minus? So it was from the
Speaker 1: fifteen yard line. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Observation, yes, give
Speaker 1: me your observation. Okay, thank you. You know, I don't
Speaker 1: feel good what they're doing at the red zone. Uh.
Speaker 1: I was expecting to see things better, and when I
Speaker 1: see the competition like there, there are times I feel
Speaker 1: good about the balance that is being created between the
Speaker 1: offense and the defense. I feel that although the defense
Speaker 1: has been able to step it up a little more
Speaker 1: than the offense, it's kind of pretty well balanced, which
Speaker 1: is essentially what you're looking for when you're competing out
Speaker 1: here at training camp. But when they came down to
Speaker 1: the red zone, the things that they were doing, I
Speaker 1: mean to me that I don't see that much improvement
Speaker 1: or anything that better than what we saw last year.
Speaker 1: I don't know from you guys perspective, but what they
Speaker 1: were doing yesterday did not excite me at all. Was
Speaker 1: it the first play of red zone when they hit
Speaker 1: when he hit Tony in the end zone? Was that
Speaker 1: the first play? I know it was in the first
Speaker 1: period of red zone that they did. Definitely he hit him.
Speaker 1: He hit Witten for a touchdown in the red zone.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, Okay, yeah, yeah, there were a couple of plays,
Speaker 1: but for the most part, it wasn't that good. He
Speaker 1: kept missing and then um not just not just stack
Speaker 1: even the backup guys too. It's like they're having time
Speaker 1: to scramble and run around and not finding any guy.
Speaker 1: I mean, shout out to the defense, we're doing a
Speaker 1: great job for covering. But when he came down to it,
Speaker 1: it just wasn't enough to meet in the red zone area.
Speaker 1: I actually asked Dak about that yesterday because he talked
Speaker 1: to us and I'm I was like, you know, here
Speaker 1: a training camp, you want to beat the defense, but
Speaker 1: like you could, it's a bad thing if you're beating
Speaker 1: them too much, right, Like you want to be able
Speaker 1: to count on them. You want them to help you
Speaker 1: during the season. So how do you kind of balance
Speaker 1: your frustration about not having success with what that might
Speaker 1: mean about your defense? And he was like, yeah, it's
Speaker 1: you know, it's been a lot of give and take.
Speaker 1: I think his direct quote was like, you know, we
Speaker 1: haven't come up and we haven't come out and bullied them,
Speaker 1: but they damn sure haven't been bullying us either, which
Speaker 1: I think the defense is. If I had to give
Speaker 1: an edge to one side of the ball so far
Speaker 1: as camp, I would give it to the defense, which
Speaker 1: is naturally I think it most camps, the defense usually
Speaker 1: starts a little ahead of the offense. But remember we
Speaker 1: have watched many training camps here where it was just
Speaker 1: embarrassing for the defense. Yeah, like they weren't very days,
Speaker 1: just doing whatever he wants to do, Witten being open
Speaker 1: all the time, all that good stuff. So I mean
Speaker 1: you can say the same for the defensive line. But
Speaker 1: I mean, the red zone is gonna work if you
Speaker 1: can run the football, So nothing, no play action to
Speaker 1: Pollard or anything like that. I mean it's hard. It's
Speaker 1: hard to gauge in right now. When Zeke is back there,
Speaker 1: that'll change things. And I'm sure that they say, well,
Speaker 1: Crawford delob will change things as well. But it's not
Speaker 1: even just Zeke. It's Zeke. It's the fact that the
Speaker 1: quarterback legitimately can run. The defense has to pay attention
Speaker 1: to that. Out here. They don't really work because they
Speaker 1: can't tackle him anyway, right, So that isn't as big
Speaker 1: of a concern, I wouldn't think. And then you didn't
Speaker 1: have Cooper out here. I mean, yeah, Mark Cooper out
Speaker 1: here yesterday. So I think when you think about all
Speaker 1: those things, I'm a little less concerned with what I saw.
Speaker 1: I was actually excited to see the touchdown to Witten,
Speaker 1: because that's one of the things we talked about that
Speaker 1: he could maybe provide for this team was a little
Speaker 1: extra help in the red zone. If they can figure
Speaker 1: that out. I think that does create a little bit
Speaker 1: more of an eye option for you in the red zone.
Speaker 1: But your horses, the guys that are going to really
Speaker 1: get you to the end zone, weren't out there yesterday,
Speaker 1: not in the way that they'll be out there if
Speaker 1: they're back and healthy for the regular season. I get it.
Speaker 1: I mean, yeah, when you start plugging in those guys
Speaker 1: in there, obviously things are completely are going to change completely.
Speaker 1: But I guess I just had more expectations at this point,
Speaker 1: you know, seeing what the things that Kellen Moore has
Speaker 1: been doing with the offense and getting creative and all that.
Speaker 1: I was just excited to see that yesterday. And I
Speaker 1: didn't get what I wanted just yet, So that was
Speaker 1: more of it. You know, I do think I agree
Speaker 1: with you for the record. Is it honestly just across
Speaker 1: the board, the offense like it's it's been a little
Speaker 1: lack luster. They haven't been kicking butt, and again it's
Speaker 1: I'm trying to juggle how I feel about that is like, well,
Speaker 1: is this encouraging for the defense or should I feel
Speaker 1: like the offense doesn't have it together? But I've seen
Speaker 1: enough to give me optimism. Like offensively, yeah, yeah, Cedric
Speaker 1: Wilson took a reverse out in from twenty five yards yesterday.
Speaker 1: It was a beautiful little I think Jordan Chunn started
Speaker 1: off with it. I mean the defense was completely clueless.
Speaker 1: It was a really pretty play. And you see things
Speaker 1: like that. You know that the throw from Dak to
Speaker 1: Randall Cobb that set up Maher's miss was gorgeous. So
Speaker 1: there's enough there to have me feeling optimistic, and I'm
Speaker 1: sort of trying to find my way to the middle, like, well,
Speaker 1: maybe they're just really evenly matched. Maybe this is just
Speaker 1: good for both sides. One of the things that stood
Speaker 1: out to me yesterday, my big observation that rides with
Speaker 1: that is a number of defensive turnovers. And that's been,
Speaker 1: in my opinion, a theme throughout camp. This defense is
Speaker 1: getting a lot of turnovers relatively speaking, interceptions, forced fumbles
Speaker 1: your woods again yesterday, Yeah, And that to me, I
Speaker 1: think that's the area where I'm very excited that if
Speaker 1: that can translate for the defense into the season. That
Speaker 1: would be probably the biggest knock you had on them
Speaker 1: from last year. They were good in a lot of areas,
Speaker 1: getting the ball and giving it back to the offense
Speaker 1: was not one of them. So if they can get
Speaker 1: that and become more consistently can do that, I think
Speaker 1: it's really a good thing for the team. How has
Speaker 1: it been in the past training camps. I don't remember. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't recall a time when I've seen this mik
Speaker 1: turnouts as seen this year. Now, maybe I'm just missing it,
Speaker 1: but it seems like this year, every day there are
Speaker 1: a few, Yeah, there are a few. Every day. It
Speaker 1: seems like their guys are knocking balls out and you
Speaker 1: gotta fumble. There are guys that are intercepting the ball
Speaker 1: like and again, this is all being done and we'll
Speaker 1: talk about that when we get into the secondary. Without
Speaker 1: what I think is their best cornerback. Um, I think
Speaker 1: I think there's something very positive about what's going on
Speaker 1: to human. He doesn't, but maybe he would out here.
Speaker 1: Maybe maybe maybe he would out in this camp because
Speaker 1: they're they're getting their hands on balls and they're actually
Speaker 1: turning it over. So UM, I think it's a really
Speaker 1: good thing for him. Right now, All right, let's um,
Speaker 1: you know what we're gonna do. We're gonna go ahead
Speaker 1: before we get to our final segment. We're gonna talk
Speaker 1: about the defensive backs. We're gonna go ahead and take
Speaker 1: our final break. We'll come back. I do want to
Speaker 1: talk about the cornerbacks and the safeties. As I say
Speaker 1: that at a cornerback, the best cornerback walks around the corner.
Speaker 1: But let's take great timing. Yeah, let's take a break.
Speaker 1: When we come back, get into it is a Dallas
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Speaker 1: Back to the Break Welcome Back. It is the final
Speaker 1: segment of The Break live from Ox Dark California Cows
Speaker 1: having the day off today, they would be back in
Speaker 1: practice tomorrow that I'll walk through tomorrow morning and men
Speaker 1: their normal afternoon practice at three thirty specific time. We're
Speaker 1: going to talk about defensive backs for this team, And
Speaker 1: as I said in the earlier part of the show,
Speaker 1: I believe this has been the best unit. If you
Speaker 1: were going to say who's been for me, who's been
Speaker 1: the best unit throughout training camp? I think it's been
Speaker 1: the defensive backs, not only because of what they've done
Speaker 1: with Byron Jones out, but just because every day guys
Speaker 1: are making plays. And it's not even just your top
Speaker 1: line guys. You got your top line guys guys making plays,
Speaker 1: you got depth guys making plays. I just think this
Speaker 1: unit has been very, very solid. I want to get
Speaker 1: some opinions from you guys though, from the defensive backstandpoint,
Speaker 1: what have you? What's your overall perspective on what you
Speaker 1: think they've been so far going coming into camp, based
Speaker 1: on what you thought of them coming into training camp.
Speaker 1: I honestly, I think we're seeing a lot of the
Speaker 1: you know, every offseason there's like the you know, everything
Speaker 1: is as rosy as it could be, right, Like this
Speaker 1: guy is gonna make the leap and this guy's gonna
Speaker 1: play better and understand more. And every year everybody's supposed
Speaker 1: to get better. But that's sort of what it looks
Speaker 1: like out here with all these dbs, you know, going
Speaker 1: obviously we haven't seen Byron, but like going down the line.
Speaker 1: Xavier woods for my money, is having the best camp
Speaker 1: of anyone. Him and Malie Collins are like on a tear.
Speaker 1: He's got three or four interceptions. He's in the right
Speaker 1: place at the right time. It seems like he's reading
Speaker 1: the field. Jeff Heath is doing Jeff Heath things. You know,
Speaker 1: he's got two two of his patented takeaways where it's
Speaker 1: just like, well, he was where he was supposed to
Speaker 1: be and the ball popped out and there he goes.
Speaker 1: So they both look fantastic, and then on and on
Speaker 1: down the line. Cheeto Woodsier just looks solid, like he's
Speaker 1: glued to these guys. He looks like he's taken a
Speaker 1: step in the right direction. The young guys to me
Speaker 1: have really impressed. Uh. Mike Jackson, you know, he's the
Speaker 1: Rashard prototype. He's got these long arms. We feel good
Speaker 1: about him. He's out here showing it. He's had so
Speaker 1: many plays, especially on like short developing routes like comebacks
Speaker 1: and slants where he uses that length to disrupt the play.
Speaker 1: He's picked off two balls that way where he's just
Speaker 1: so long that he got in front of the receiver
Speaker 1: before the ball got there. Really impressive stuff. We didn't
Speaker 1: mention him when we were talking about the Blue White scrimmage.
Speaker 1: But Donovan Wilson is another guy, which you know, the
Speaker 1: scouts told me when they drafted him, this is a
Speaker 1: dude who needs pads to excel, and it sure as
Speaker 1: heck looks that way. He forced to fumble on Reggie
Speaker 1: Davis yesterday. He's just he's a physical guy. He's gotten
Speaker 1: in several, um, what would you call him collisions with
Speaker 1: running backs where you know he's just a physical dude.
Speaker 1: He looks like he brings that to the table. I'm
Speaker 1: struggling to come up with a dB who hasn't really
Speaker 1: done much to impress me. I guess Chris Westry. He's
Speaker 1: been obviously out for a decent portion of this. But
Speaker 1: other than that, I think most of these guys look
Speaker 1: really good. Sorry, I just kind of covered what else
Speaker 1: can you say? I was laughing because I was like,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna say, Chris Westley is the only guy you
Speaker 1: haven't mentioned. You know what I like though? Shoot, I
Speaker 1: forgot a maybe had the best single day of any
Speaker 1: dB just in terms of mad He made six plays
Speaker 1: in one practice on Saturday. I was gonna say that
Speaker 1: of what I really like from this whole group is
Speaker 1: that they don't give up. Even after you think that
Speaker 1: the plays over, they just keep going, you know. And
Speaker 1: usually when you get to this point of training camp
Speaker 1: sometimes and you feel like you didn't play that play well,
Speaker 1: you just stop and just like ah, put your head
Speaker 1: down and keep walking off. These guys don't do that.
Speaker 1: They just keep going. And how could they not, like
Speaker 1: when you got Chris Rashard out there yelling at you.
Speaker 1: So I love that that this whole group is just
Speaker 1: it just goes for it and keeps going. Even if
Speaker 1: they messed up, they just keep going. So here's a
Speaker 1: question for you, Nick. If Byron Jones were to miss games,
Speaker 1: what's your comfort level with the guys that are playing
Speaker 1: right now? One games, let's say two or three games.
Speaker 1: Doesn't sound like the Giants have anybody that receiver. Um,
Speaker 1: if that's a game that he's gonna miss, I mean
Speaker 1: not saying that he is again just yeah, um, you know,
Speaker 1: not not great because again and through all the stuff
Speaker 1: that Dave said, and Dave and he's going off of
Speaker 1: what you see over here, which is all you can do.
Speaker 1: I've just seen too many games in the preseason. We're
Speaker 1: gonna get to the game, and I just have this
Speaker 1: feeling that in the fourth quarter we're gonna have about
Speaker 1: four pass interference penalties or you know, give up some
Speaker 1: I mean, that's been an issue for this team. And
Speaker 1: so you think, wow, Almba's doing great, and Anthony Brown
Speaker 1: has done a good job, and Mike Jackson and then
Speaker 1: and then we're gonna get to a game and we're
Speaker 1: gonna be like, wow, some guy number their number number
Speaker 1: eleven for them. Johnson whoever, you know it just had
Speaker 1: two catches for eighty five yards and a touchdown, and
Speaker 1: you're like, well, now we're back to the drawing board again.
Speaker 1: The other thing, too, is you see so much more
Speaker 1: in practice, Like you know, they did red zone one
Speaker 1: on ones right here, and every single receiver and every
Speaker 1: single dB got at least four reps, if not five
Speaker 1: or six. So you know, like, oh, well, Jordan Lewis
Speaker 1: gave up a touchdown right there, but then he bounces
Speaker 1: back and breaks one up, you know, and you're so
Speaker 1: you're left with a favorable impression, whereas in the game
Speaker 1: that ain't. It ain't the same thing. If you give
Speaker 1: up the play or you might only get really one
Speaker 1: opportunity to make the play and if you don't do it,
Speaker 1: then sorry, that's it. So it's easier to make a
Speaker 1: favorable impression when you get fifteen opportunities per per practice.
Speaker 1: So I know it's not going to be as as
Speaker 1: it looks out here, but again, all you can go
Speaker 1: off of is what you've seen, and they all look
Speaker 1: pretty damn good. I didn't even mention Jordan or Anthony Brown,
Speaker 1: and they've both been solid out here too. Yeah, let
Speaker 1: me ask you that question. And then since you bring
Speaker 1: up Anthony Brown, who's been the best of the of
Speaker 1: those guys, Cheeto, Anthony Brown, Jordan Lewis has been the
Speaker 1: best those three, probably, I would say probably Cheeto has
Speaker 1: been the best. Again, we don't, you know, I'm not
Speaker 1: great enough a curve. I think he's the best. Jordan
Speaker 1: has been a guy that's maybe he's surprised people the most.
Speaker 1: But I think Jordan i mean, I think he's everywhere.
Speaker 1: He's all over the field. Everywhere you look, you see
Speaker 1: twenty seven pop up. Yeah, I would agree with that. Um,
Speaker 1: I think Cheeto, Yeah, Cheeto might be the best. But
Speaker 1: I would also say Cheeto gets his hands on the
Speaker 1: least amount of footballs, which is first of all, that's
Speaker 1: what pops off at you when you're when you're watching,
Speaker 1: And that's also you know, it's how you make Pro
Speaker 1: Bowls and get your name and noticed in league circles
Speaker 1: and stuff like that too. Anthony Brown. I don't know
Speaker 1: if he'll ever go to a Pro Bowl or ever
Speaker 1: be like in the upper echelon of NFL corners, but
Speaker 1: like he's just gonna play for a while and just
Speaker 1: have a really nice career. Like he doesn't get enough
Speaker 1: credit for being a pretty good football player. Ye have
Speaker 1: opinion on that one? Best of those three, I mean,
Speaker 1: it's not much different than that. I think the most
Speaker 1: solid one has been a Cheeto out of the whole group.
Speaker 1: And my guy I love um Jordan Lewis. And like
Speaker 1: I said, every time I look, he's he's everywhere. I'm like,
Speaker 1: what is happening? How can he keep popping out of everywhere?
Speaker 1: Jordan Lewis to me, is like, uh, Dorn's armstrong and
Speaker 1: that okay, Like he's he's covering you know these guys
Speaker 1: pretty well. He's covering Reggie Davis, well, he's covering John
Speaker 1: Vay Johnson well, like he needs to go up against
Speaker 1: a Mari, go up against Cobb and yeah, and gallop
Speaker 1: and and nothing. He doesn't. I think he gets to
Speaker 1: face some of that. But but I think that where
Speaker 1: that's we're in the same with Dorn's armstrong. Like you know,
Speaker 1: when he did that against Tyran, It's like, Okay, now
Speaker 1: he's really making a jumper. I'll tell you this, I
Speaker 1: don't want Byron to miss games, and I won't feel
Speaker 1: good about it if he does. But the first three
Speaker 1: weeks of opponents, you couldn't ask for a more favorable
Speaker 1: matchup with wide receivers. I mean, Sterling Shepherd's a good player. Um,
Speaker 1: DeVante Parker. It's Giants Washington and Dolphins DeVante Parkers all right,
Speaker 1: when he's healthy. The Redskins have doxin and uh, Paul
Speaker 1: Richardson like a question waterback. Yeah. I just they love
Speaker 1: making us play back to back, same schedule. We had
Speaker 1: a couple of years ago it was Giants at Washington sixteen. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they we They've opened with two straight East opponents like
Speaker 1: three of the last four years. I don't know why,
Speaker 1: but they like doing that. That's the year. How long
Speaker 1: do you see it is? That's the game of the year.
Speaker 1: That one right there, name of the year is like
Speaker 1: Nick is obsessed with the week week two, Like are
Speaker 1: you gonna be two and o or one and one?
Speaker 1: And that's like and I also believe I wouldn't. I
Speaker 1: wouldn't I just say that, but I do think that
Speaker 1: that I think the Redskins is that's gonna be a
Speaker 1: game because you're gonna have to be battling with the Eagles.
Speaker 1: What do you do against the red Skins? What do
Speaker 1: you do in your division games? Firstly, a road win?
Speaker 1: You lost that one before that game. I wouldn't say
Speaker 1: that if it was just Miami at home or whatever,
Speaker 1: but this year particularly, I think that is a huge game.
Speaker 1: All right, So which of the young guys thinks I
Speaker 1: have a question? But how long do you think it's
Speaker 1: gonna take Barron Jones to get back into like game
Speaker 1: to a shape because if it doesn't practice just walk
Speaker 1: past us. He looks fine. He's okay, he's just a yeah,
Speaker 1: he can walk around. Obviously, he's in pretty good shape.
Speaker 1: He is. He looks good. He's not gonna he's not play.
Speaker 1: It's very different getting in there and playing corn. I
Speaker 1: suspect he'll be practicing by the time the Cowboys get
Speaker 1: back to the Star. They'll have two weeks before the
Speaker 1: season begins. That's kind of in my mind when I'm thinking,
Speaker 1: I would hope and expect to see him back in practice,
Speaker 1: give himself two weeks of practice. Again, he probably won't
Speaker 1: play any of the other those preseason games, but I
Speaker 1: think he could. He could hopefully start getting in at
Speaker 1: death point and he's ready for Week one. Yeah, that's
Speaker 1: kind of the timetable I'm thinking about for him and take, like,
Speaker 1: as long as they can practice at some point when
Speaker 1: we're back at the Star, then I think it'll give
Speaker 1: him enough time as veterans, actually give him enough time
Speaker 1: to be ready to play when Week one starts. They
Speaker 1: don't need a preseason game to be ready to play.
Speaker 1: I tend to agree. Yeah, all right, So, so, which
Speaker 1: of the younger guys at cornerback has been more impressive,
Speaker 1: Mike Jackson or Donova Donova Alumba. That's a good one. Um.
Speaker 1: I mean Alumba had arguably the best day for any
Speaker 1: single player. I mean he broke up, He broke up
Speaker 1: everything they threw his way on one on ones. He
Speaker 1: picked off two passes in the same team period. Jackson's
Speaker 1: just been surprised consistent for a rookie though in my opinion,
Speaker 1: like he kind of you know, and he has one
Speaker 1: or two every days. Say, um, and you know he's
Speaker 1: a draft pick. I know, you know they always say
Speaker 1: it's not about how you got here, But that's a lie,
Speaker 1: it is, um, So I lean. I lean towards Jackson
Speaker 1: even though a long I mean that's not a knock
Speaker 1: on a LUMBI. I think he's been pretty solid out here.
Speaker 1: In six corners make the team, I don't know they've
Speaker 1: done it. That was actually gonna be. My next question
Speaker 1: is how many make it and who are there? Because
Speaker 1: again you're not talking about it, guys as we're going
Speaker 1: down this list. It was a pretty decent number of
Speaker 1: cornerbacks that are pretty good. Now, if you're gonna go six,
Speaker 1: you fuck you kind of got your guys. But if
Speaker 1: you're gonna go five, you gotta make a pretty interesting decision,
Speaker 1: you know, And you have to make a decision too
Speaker 1: for next year, which I know that sounds weird, but
Speaker 1: you do. But you look at the fact that Byron
Speaker 1: Jones is, you know, this is the last year his deal,
Speaker 1: will see if he gets a new one. I don't
Speaker 1: think they're in a real hurry to get anything done there.
Speaker 1: You also got the last year for Anthony Brown. Jordan
Speaker 1: Lewis will be in a situation where they could maybe
Speaker 1: do something with him next year. I mean, no, I
Speaker 1: think Mike Jackson is going to make this team because
Speaker 1: he's on a four year affordable contract. He's making that
Speaker 1: as long as he is passable. But I think I
Speaker 1: don't know if you can if you really like a lumba,
Speaker 1: I don't know if if you can get rid of
Speaker 1: that knowing that you might be in a situation next
Speaker 1: year where you need two or three more corners and
Speaker 1: you just let this guy go because he wasn't going
Speaker 1: to make an impact on this team, but he could.
Speaker 1: You know, they really they weirded me out last year
Speaker 1: because they only kept nine dbs, and I think that's
Speaker 1: the first time they've done that in the time that
Speaker 1: I've been here that it's you can usually count on ten,
Speaker 1: whether it's six corners and four safeties or five and
Speaker 1: five tight end. They've well maybe, but but will they
Speaker 1: I mean will they still? Will they go back up
Speaker 1: to ten dbs? I mean you got you got depth
Speaker 1: everywhere on the d line. We're talking about seven linebackers.
Speaker 1: Will they keep three quarterbacks? I think you're right, but
Speaker 1: I'm curious. Mike White hasn't done anything where you have
Speaker 1: to keep them. Mike White hadn't done anything where where
Speaker 1: the teams are going to be like, oh, I'm taking him.
Speaker 1: I don't think I think he Do you think Rush
Speaker 1: is the guy you keep over Mike White? Yeah, he's
Speaker 1: been better to this point. Yeah, he's been good to
Speaker 1: Rush has come on in the last two or three
Speaker 1: days and looked at I don't think anyone at cutdown
Speaker 1: day is gonna be like, oh, I gotta save a
Speaker 1: spot here, I'm gonna put Mike White on my team.
Speaker 1: I think he's practice squad. I think he makes it
Speaker 1: back to your practice squad. Again. That's before four games.
Speaker 1: All it takes is one sixty five yard throw on
Speaker 1: a rope for a touchdown. Devin Smith and here and
Speaker 1: then both of them are Okay, we're back here on
Speaker 1: the break. Devin Smith is your top three receiver. Can't wait,
Speaker 1: We're gonna get back from San Francilia. Always everything, because
Speaker 1: I'll ask you guys this question. It's a bigger picture question.
Speaker 1: Do you see a scenario where Byron I shouldn't even
Speaker 1: say like that. Do you think it's it's a it's
Speaker 1: going it's likely to happen that Byron Jones gets a
Speaker 1: new deal with this team, knowing that they already have
Speaker 1: to sign those other three Big three, They got other
Speaker 1: guys like Jalen Smith coming down the pike. Do you
Speaker 1: think that this is a situation where if he has
Speaker 1: a great year, he outprices himself to some degree, and
Speaker 1: if he has an not so good year, than the
Speaker 1: Cowboys may not necessarily want to do a deal. I
Speaker 1: don't want to do this to my guy, Byron, one
Speaker 1: of the nicest dudes on the team, but he is.
Speaker 1: He is screaming franchise tag to me, like that's what
Speaker 1: I think, and that's why I think I would not
Speaker 1: be against it. That's why it's important for them to
Speaker 1: get these other deals done, because you can't be franchising
Speaker 1: dak and while while you got Byron to worry about,
Speaker 1: I don't want to just let him walk. But I'm
Speaker 1: not convinced. He's obviously the last priority, Like nobody even
Speaker 1: talks about the poor guy, and he's got I mean,
Speaker 1: he deals up next year, right, yeah, and to his credit,
Speaker 1: Like I mean, he could be doing the same thing.
Speaker 1: He can be like screw you guys, pay me, and
Speaker 1: he's not. So he's on the fifth year of his
Speaker 1: deal though, which I mean he's like Amari Cooper. He's
Speaker 1: making much more than he was in the years prior
Speaker 1: to that. But I'm not convinced. I want to see
Speaker 1: him do it again before I give him a long
Speaker 1: term deal. Plus you know variety, and you know the
Speaker 1: number of other deals you gotta sign, So me personally,
Speaker 1: I want to see those other three deals done so
Speaker 1: that you have the option to franchise him if you
Speaker 1: want to. I would have I would have thought that, um,
Speaker 1: if he if he was up this year, I would
Speaker 1: have thought he would have been a better candidate for
Speaker 1: the franchise tech because he's only done it for like
Speaker 1: one year. But I think if he does it again
Speaker 1: this year, I think it's very similar to DeMarcus Lawrence.
Speaker 1: You know, with the one year, I don't know if
Speaker 1: he's done enough. Let's franchise him. Let's see, and then
Speaker 1: he performs again, and now you know you gotta sign him.
Speaker 1: So I think if he actually goes out and has
Speaker 1: a good year or better year, um makes a few
Speaker 1: more turnovers, still has still is a Pro Bowl level
Speaker 1: type guy, I think I think that's enough to say
Speaker 1: let's but yeah, you want to sign him. My question
Speaker 1: more is do you have the funds to sign himcause
Speaker 1: you've you've gotta sign those three got t How do
Speaker 1: you know I would bet the amount of money you're
Speaker 1: gonna sign those three. But then you got Tank that's
Speaker 1: making big money. You got three guys on your offensive
Speaker 1: line that are making big money. I mean, you got
Speaker 1: Jalen coming up. I mean, I think they're just so
Speaker 1: many you can only go you know, paying guys like
Speaker 1: up there in the top five in the league at
Speaker 1: their position, only so many times probably go off the
Speaker 1: books though, right, yeah, I mean you're going to go ahead.
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't know if Dyrone Crawford will be
Speaker 1: there for that money. I don't know if what Lyell's
Speaker 1: situation will be honestly, I think Lyle and Byron are
Speaker 1: kind of in the same position. I think if they
Speaker 1: have really great years, they might price themselves out of
Speaker 1: being with the Cowboys. And they have a bad year,
Speaker 1: then it's kind of like, well, do the Cowboys really
Speaker 1: want to sign them? Man? I wish when Governor was
Speaker 1: on the field, Yeah, McGovern could really answer some questions
Speaker 1: for you. It would have been really good because then
Speaker 1: that that pushes a lot of things around. You got
Speaker 1: now Connor Williams could maybe go out there, and so
Speaker 1: it's it's an interesting debate. You know, everything about modern
Speaker 1: football says you should value the cornerback right and also
Speaker 1: much like running back, like linebacker just seems like a
Speaker 1: dying breed. You know, Patrick Willis was amazing for five
Speaker 1: six years and then all of a sudden he was
Speaker 1: too beat up to play anymore. Like at your peak,
Speaker 1: you might get three to five years of elite play
Speaker 1: out of a linebacker. But it's the same thing with
Speaker 1: linebacker from a standpoint too, if you get a special
Speaker 1: one worth paying, That's where you got to find out
Speaker 1: this year, is Jalen special? Like that? Jalen and Layton
Speaker 1: both much like much like my guy, Dion Jones, Like,
Speaker 1: I think you're seeing a new breed of linebacker where
Speaker 1: if you can get side to side effortlessly and play
Speaker 1: a role in stopping how offenses are trying to spread
Speaker 1: you out, you become valuable. Again, You're not you're not
Speaker 1: plugging gaps the way that like Brian Urlocker used to do.
Speaker 1: But if you can erase, if you can turn a
Speaker 1: thirty yard gain into a two yard game because you're
Speaker 1: so damn fast to get out to the edge, that's
Speaker 1: really valuable. We've seen Layton and Jalen do it. And
Speaker 1: by the way, in the case of Jalen, if you
Speaker 1: can blitz well, because they're giving him opportunities to blitz.
Speaker 1: If he can blitz well, if he can put up
Speaker 1: a season where he does what he already does from
Speaker 1: a standpoint and making the tackles, but then throws in
Speaker 1: another four to six sacks, now you're really talking about
Speaker 1: something that can make him a very special linebacker that
Speaker 1: makes it worthwhile to pay him, Which is why I
Speaker 1: feel kind of crazy, like if you you know, and
Speaker 1: we'll have this whole season to watch it play out,
Speaker 1: But like if I had to pick right now, I
Speaker 1: think I'd rather keep my powder dry for Jalen Smith
Speaker 1: then try to sign Byron Jones to some sort of
Speaker 1: eighty million dollars deal. That's the part that makes this
Speaker 1: really really interesting. They've got so many contracts that at
Speaker 1: some point you have to make some choices, some hard choices.
Speaker 1: So are we not We're not buying into any of
Speaker 1: the kind of reports that are floating around that, you know,
Speaker 1: I said. Charles Robinson from Yahoo, who typically has pretty
Speaker 1: good information, was saying, not saying it will happen, but
Speaker 1: a worst case scenario would be you signed Cooper, you
Speaker 1: let Zeke figure himself out and franchise Dak. If you
Speaker 1: don't get something done by the start of this season, yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean you certainly hold in the franchise tech. I
Speaker 1: think for Dak if you don't get a deal done,
Speaker 1: because that's the one to me to make the most sense,
Speaker 1: because Dak is a guy still want to see a
Speaker 1: little more before I know kind of what I'm willing
Speaker 1: to pay him. I'm even of the opinion like, let
Speaker 1: him play this season. I don't think the number changes
Speaker 1: drastically even if he had a really great year. I
Speaker 1: don't I think the number is gonna be the number
Speaker 1: and but I think you can even put him on
Speaker 1: a franchise tag, and I'd even be willing to pay
Speaker 1: him the franchise and number four a quarterback for a year.
Speaker 1: But the point is that's the guy that you probably
Speaker 1: have more questions about than a Mario or Zeke. Well,
Speaker 1: so that's what you really want to hold that tag,
Speaker 1: I would think, which is why I'd rather get it
Speaker 1: done so I can use the tag on somebody else
Speaker 1: because I want to start the clock ticking, and you
Speaker 1: want to start ticking on Zeke, which is fair, but
Speaker 1: I want to start a ticking on Dak so in
Speaker 1: a worst case scenario, you can get out of that
Speaker 1: situation sooner rather than later. All right, let's go ahead
Speaker 1: and flip over to the safety position. We got have
Speaker 1: five minutes left. I want to hit this real quick.
Speaker 1: Are you guys more comfortable with safety now than you
Speaker 1: were at this time last year? Yeah? Why? Because Xavier
Speaker 1: Woods is Xavier Xavier Woods. He pronounces it that way.
Speaker 1: He's out here kicking ass, just taking names, reading the field,
Speaker 1: hauling ass across one side of the field and picking
Speaker 1: off a ball that he was nowhere near being in
Speaker 1: the right place at the right time, that type of stuff. Uh,
Speaker 1: and and he wasn't doing that this time last year.
Speaker 1: To be fit known, not at all. And to be fair,
Speaker 1: I mean, Byron Jones did a lot of that stuff
Speaker 1: a few years ago too, and it didn't translate. So
Speaker 1: and they brought in a veteran guy to push him
Speaker 1: and nobody's even mentioned mentioning him. That's I didn't think.
Speaker 1: I think he plays on third team now. George Iloca. Yes,
Speaker 1: I did a radio hit on Saturday and somebody was like, yeah,
Speaker 1: they were like, what's the how's that competition going at
Speaker 1: safety with George Iloca and Donovan Wilson fighting the So
Speaker 1: I was like, what competition are you talking about? Uh?
Speaker 1: This is this is locked in. Jeff Heath and Xavier
Speaker 1: Woods are the guys and honestly, through eight practices they
Speaker 1: look pretty good. Yeah. So it's the third best safety
Speaker 1: on this team right now. That is where it gets
Speaker 1: interesting because you got Cavon, you got the new kid Wilson,
Speaker 1: and you have George Iloca. Also, a guy that the
Speaker 1: team really loves that that we kind of forget about
Speaker 1: is definitely darry and Thompson, who made a nice play
Speaker 1: in the red zone the other day. Um, that's hard
Speaker 1: to say. I mean, Cavan's your special team's ace and
Speaker 1: your right kind of guy. Ilocas a seven year veteran Wilson,
Speaker 1: like I said, Wilson's looked good when he's had a
Speaker 1: chance to hit people. And Thompson it seems like the
Speaker 1: team likes him. I don't know what to do with that.
Speaker 1: And that goes back to how many of you keeping
Speaker 1: four or five? I mean, because you got to you
Speaker 1: gotta find a guy that can play safety if one
Speaker 1: of those guys gets banged up. And I say that,
Speaker 1: you know, I know what they what they how they
Speaker 1: think about Cavon Frasier, But I don't think they really
Speaker 1: want to put him out there and play a lot
Speaker 1: of defense. I think his value with special teams, so
Speaker 1: that sounds good, But at some point, who who's playing
Speaker 1: safety for you? Which it's not what he came here
Speaker 1: to do. But George Iloka could be that guy. And
Speaker 1: I mean he's been running with the threes. He's basically
Speaker 1: been a non factor out here, but as we go
Speaker 1: he might be the guy they feel the most comfortable with.
Speaker 1: Or Thompson. That's a fair one. Too. Is it somewhat
Speaker 1: alarming though, to say that he's a veteran, He's a
Speaker 1: guy has some excuse, lots of experience, and playing against
Speaker 1: the third team, he's not been noticeable. Well, he's playing
Speaker 1: with the third team, probably because they feel like they
Speaker 1: kind of have a good idea of what he can do,
Speaker 1: but they want to see what. No, and I get
Speaker 1: that what I'm saying, No, it's not like that. I'm saying,
Speaker 1: even playing against third team competition, he's not really flashing
Speaker 1: out here? Does that concern you? Does that alarm you
Speaker 1: about where he is at this point of his career?
Speaker 1: If you forget about him, right, it's like, who's this guy?
Speaker 1: Let's move on? Yeah, Yeah, it doesn't concern me because
Speaker 1: I'm just like, oh, this guy is a prime candidate
Speaker 1: to be a veteran cut. But I will if I'm
Speaker 1: trying to defend George at LOCA, I would say that's
Speaker 1: not his game. This isn't his game, Like he's another
Speaker 1: he's put the pads on as they want him to
Speaker 1: be a box safety, like they want him down there
Speaker 1: in the muck, and he's he's had some nice plays
Speaker 1: down by the line of scrimmage. No no interceptions or
Speaker 1: anything like that. But he's yeah, I'm not judging him
Speaker 1: off of these sort of practices. So they do need
Speaker 1: a backup safety. You can't just sit here and say, well,
Speaker 1: you know, special teams here are special teams there. I mean,
Speaker 1: he got have somebody because when Cavon Frasier came in
Speaker 1: the game for a few snaps in Seattle Week three
Speaker 1: last year, I think Tyler Lockett was in the end
Speaker 1: zone in like five seconds for a touchdown. And so
Speaker 1: I'm just saying it's a noticeable different. I love Cavon,
Speaker 1: we all do, but I don't think that's his strong
Speaker 1: stude is it's go out there and play defense. I
Speaker 1: don't know what to do with that position after the
Speaker 1: starting two. I have no idea, Like it's just something
Speaker 1: we're gonna have to see that they're going to be healthy,
Speaker 1: see how they work in the games, and maybe you
Speaker 1: know Dondran Wilson, the light keeps coming on for him,
Speaker 1: and like you said, when you know he's a physical
Speaker 1: player and he'll make plays in the games, all right.
Speaker 1: He reminds me of of a young Cavon Frasier actually,
Speaker 1: So we appreciate you guys, join us. We were back
Speaker 1: tomorrow our normal time ten am Pacific time. It's noon
Speaker 1: for you guys back in DALLASOO. Then for Nick, even
Speaker 1: Dave Hellman, Amigarcia, I'm Derek Eagleton. This has been the
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