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: Wall with Nick Eatman, David Hellman, and bar Garcia and
Speaker 1: Derek Eagleton. It is Thursday, May tenth, twenty eighteen, Season fourteen,
Speaker 1: episode number seven. Welcome to another edition of the Break
Speaker 1: Block from the s WBC Mortgage Studios at the Star
Speaker 1: and we appreciate you guys taken some time with us
Speaker 1: today to talk some Cowboys football. How's everybody doing this morning? Great? Great?
Speaker 1: Doing great? Awesome? Get a fun golf outing yesterday? I
Speaker 1: don't know if you guys after listening, we're able to
Speaker 1: check out from Okay, we had a lot more fun
Speaker 1: than than what it shows. Seriously, I've never seen understand
Speaker 1: how that more miserable looking for people in my life. Well,
Speaker 1: Dave just said that he was almost asleep. You know,
Speaker 1: Dave kind of already has kind of the lean bad
Speaker 1: sort of my vibe. Any yeah, so it was it
Speaker 1: was natural for you. Yeah, But the rest of you
Speaker 1: guys if you watch, didn't want to be a podcast.
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, a lot of we had a
Speaker 1: good time, you know what. I still don't know, and
Speaker 1: I don't know it was in the glass. No, I
Speaker 1: know it was in the glass. I don't know if
Speaker 1: it was on camera. When Nick was dancing with his drink.
Speaker 1: Did that get on camera? I think so? Okay. I
Speaker 1: kind of thought closer together was right behind you and
Speaker 1: he had his drink and he was kind of doing
Speaker 1: the broadest at Rob's wedding kind of dance. You know,
Speaker 1: I got my drink. It was that kind of thing.
Speaker 1: But I didn't know if it got on camera. I
Speaker 1: think it did. I didn't see that. Go back and
Speaker 1: check it out. I want to say it was. It
Speaker 1: was before I got on the air, so it was
Speaker 1: like roughly about the twenty minute mark. I didn't realize
Speaker 1: that that camera was with the third camera. Obviously. It's
Speaker 1: all good. Yeah, it was a good day though. Cowboys
Speaker 1: went out there, played a little golf with some sponsors.
Speaker 1: We were able to talk to a few guys on
Speaker 1: the show. It's really nice lineup that we had there,
Speaker 1: with guys like Zach Martin, Dak Prescott coach Garrett came
Speaker 1: by Tyren Smith. When you planned something for three to
Speaker 1: four weeks like that, it results show. Yeah. Usually when
Speaker 1: you plan it overnight, that's even better. That worked out.
Speaker 1: It worked out well, yeah, and we'll do a little
Speaker 1: bit more of that next year. But I wanted to
Speaker 1: hit a good including going on as well, because Jason
Speaker 1: Garrett did not want to be on there. That's the
Speaker 1: fifth time, and he said, all right, I'll do it
Speaker 1: anything for you Amber. Yeah, I'll think you had a
Speaker 1: good time, right, Probably not, but we're doing guys. Honest,
Speaker 1: I think everybody had it. Like I think all the
Speaker 1: guys that came on the show seem to not be
Speaker 1: like they left with a good impression. I don't think
Speaker 1: Jason Garrett walked away like, man, you know what, I
Speaker 1: didn't want to do that, but that was pretty great. However, however,
Speaker 1: like he did bring food to us later in the afternoon,
Speaker 1: did on his own just walk through like, hey, guys,
Speaker 1: I got some food. You guys wanted food, And he
Speaker 1: came back a second time and said, hey, you sure
Speaker 1: you don't want more? That was pretty nice of him,
Speaker 1: Very on Garrett. So he did enjoy the interview. He
Speaker 1: enjoyed the interview, wouldn't want to see me and they're
Speaker 1: still out at the golf course drinking and dancing. Yeah. True,
Speaker 1: we was working. I don't know, maybe I was looking
Speaker 1: looking back. It's probably what will happen. All right, let's
Speaker 1: jump in. Let's talk actually today. What I want to
Speaker 1: do at the bulk of our time, UM is I
Speaker 1: want to I've had a couple of people hit me
Speaker 1: up on Twitter, uh to ask, you know, if we
Speaker 1: if we have some grades for the draft, um, And
Speaker 1: my my retort is always it's dumb to grade a
Speaker 1: draft after the draft. It's more apt to grade drafts
Speaker 1: years after it happens, because that's when you know whether
Speaker 1: the picks were actually good picks or not. So what
Speaker 1: we're gonna do today, UM is, we're gonna go back.
Speaker 1: We're gonna go back to two thousand and fourteen. We're
Speaker 1: gonna have back to two thousand and fifteen, um, and
Speaker 1: maybe look a little bit at two thousand and sixteen,
Speaker 1: but I really want to focus on fourteen and fifteen.
Speaker 1: And we're gonna go across and talk about the different
Speaker 1: guys that were drafted, UM and give our own unders.
Speaker 1: I guess grade of what we think the cowboy always
Speaker 1: did in those drafts and doesn't have to be an ABC.
Speaker 1: I'm just saying kind of gets an assessment. It's too
Speaker 1: early for sixteen or like you don't want to talk
Speaker 1: about it's a little bit early for sixteen. Arguably, I
Speaker 1: mean we could have that last in history. Well, well,
Speaker 1: we don't know that. That's the point. Like I think
Speaker 1: a lot of times you get to this point after
Speaker 1: a draft you're like that guy could be something, that
Speaker 1: guy could be, and then two years from that you're like, yeah,
Speaker 1: he didn't here anymore. Two thousand and eight too early.
Speaker 1: The best draft? Yeah, in the first layer two thousand
Speaker 1: and eight was I mean, yeah, Felix, yah, Felix, rookie yere,
Speaker 1: Mike Jenkins is gonna be really good already be seriously
Speaker 1: man Scandrick in the fifth round. Great draft, and then yeah,
Speaker 1: so fair. I think sixteen might be a little early
Speaker 1: to give it a grade just yet, because I think, yeah,
Speaker 1: it does look good and we it's promising, I guess,
Speaker 1: I would say, But I think the other two we
Speaker 1: really can kind of dive into and really assess how
Speaker 1: well they did into that Your first and fourth round pick,
Speaker 1: basically cutting the Rookie of the Year or award right
Speaker 1: down in the middle. Like, that's that's a good start,
Speaker 1: very good start. Right. But before we get there, I
Speaker 1: thought there were a couple news items from yesterday that
Speaker 1: I wanted to hit real quick. Um. First thing is
Speaker 1: Terrell McClain. He is going to be in the building
Speaker 1: today if he's not already already here, um, and he's
Speaker 1: visiting with the team. He's potentially could come back. M
Speaker 1: was here for a few years, played pretty well when healthy,
Speaker 1: went to the Redskins for a year, and then the
Speaker 1: Redskins cut him first. I guess, tell me, what do
Speaker 1: you think from the standpoint of what he can bring
Speaker 1: to this team if the Cowboys were to sign him,
Speaker 1: where does he fit and what does it give them
Speaker 1: that they may not have Right now? We get our
Speaker 1: Friday dance parties back. That's what I want the most.
Speaker 1: That's I mean, that's not have him last year, No,
Speaker 1: I mean Joe Looney tried a couple of times, but
Speaker 1: it wasn't the same. Terrell mcclin used to like break
Speaker 1: it down every Friday. Better than Byron Bill, Yes, way
Speaker 1: better than Byron Yes better, Yes, Terrell mcclein better than
Speaker 1: Terrell McClean can break dance. I don't care about You're
Speaker 1: just biased because you're in that dumb fraternaty. Sorry that
Speaker 1: was marsh That was too Sorry, whoa whatever, whatever, you
Speaker 1: got one coming later. It's fine Terrell McClain. Honestly, it's
Speaker 1: it's a good point that you bring up because I
Speaker 1: remember the first two years he was on this team,
Speaker 1: we were like, is this guy any good? Like he
Speaker 1: couldn't get on the field. Um, But twenty I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, a lot of stuff went in line in
Speaker 1: twenty sixteen, and uh, and he was one of them.
Speaker 1: I mean he was. He was great. He was He started,
Speaker 1: he played all sixteen games, he played the three he
Speaker 1: played the one. He was disruptive. I think he had
Speaker 1: four sacks. He was a big part of that D line,
Speaker 1: which and you know, the D line around here hasn't
Speaker 1: been awesome over the last five six years. So he
Speaker 1: was a bright spot on a unit that hasn't been
Speaker 1: amazing in recent memory. Um, and and the like the
Speaker 1: dance thing is important because it was you know, team camaraderie.
Speaker 1: He was a big part of that special locker room
Speaker 1: that everybody talking well, really, what it is it shows
Speaker 1: what Mary Nelly likes about him the most, which is
Speaker 1: his feet. He always says he's like he calls him
Speaker 1: the dancing barrel. I mean, he can do that kind
Speaker 1: of stuff until I guess to be a good dancer,
Speaker 1: you gotta have the feat. But from football standpoint, I
Speaker 1: think he uses it to his advantage. I think it's depth.
Speaker 1: Though I've never been a big fan of him. Honestly,
Speaker 1: I did never see why he's a well we make
Speaker 1: a big deal out of it, because I don't think
Speaker 1: he really has played that well when he when he
Speaker 1: was even was out there, it was like okay, but
Speaker 1: didn't didn't play that well to me. But I think
Speaker 1: this is a David Irving move. This is like, hey,
Speaker 1: can we count on Irving? Can we count on him
Speaker 1: to play? Let's let's get a guy we know that,
Speaker 1: we like that Rod knows how to use him, and
Speaker 1: let's let's put out there. But I don't think this
Speaker 1: is a difference maker. If he if he comes in,
Speaker 1: does he not become kind of your does he become
Speaker 1: immediately your one technique starter? And do you make And
Speaker 1: that's why I kind of a three solidly a three technique.
Speaker 1: I'm not trying to sell anybody that he's gonna Yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean Nick has a point that I mean, he's
Speaker 1: not in Dominican sue no. But um but I think
Speaker 1: he's better than that because I think he's a one
Speaker 1: technique who can be disruptive. I think Malie Collins had
Speaker 1: a great year because he got to play the three.
Speaker 1: And then I always thought it was a revisionist history
Speaker 1: last year when everybody was like, well, they like him
Speaker 1: at one, and I was like, no, they don't. They
Speaker 1: just don't have a better option at one, and that
Speaker 1: and plus stuff, the price went down. Yeah, And so
Speaker 1: I think, you know, if he can start at the
Speaker 1: one and let Malik and David Irving both play three
Speaker 1: when they want to or need to, I love that.
Speaker 1: I think that would be great. Ye all right, Um,
Speaker 1: one other thing I wanted to hit real quick, Dave,
Speaker 1: you had a tweet last night I thought was really interesting.
Speaker 1: Stephen yesterday had a quote and I don't have the
Speaker 1: quote on me, but it was a quote specific to
Speaker 1: Dak and what they expect from him this year, and
Speaker 1: he was talking a lot about and I actually, I'll
Speaker 1: let you kind of lay out kind of what he
Speaker 1: was saying and what you took from it. What did
Speaker 1: you hear from Steven yesterday on Dak and what they're
Speaker 1: expecting from him? Well, uh, Stephen kind of pulled a nick.
Speaker 1: He implied some stuff a little bit there, which I mean,
Speaker 1: and that's you know, it's it's wrong to say that
Speaker 1: those you know, front office types and coaches never give
Speaker 1: you anything. Sometimes you just kind of have to read
Speaker 1: between the lines, which you know something. It was a
Speaker 1: question about, you know, how do you replace the leadership
Speaker 1: of Dez and Witten? And then Steven kind of went
Speaker 1: off in a completely different direction about how the offense
Speaker 1: is going to look different, and basically, you know, he's like, well,
Speaker 1: you know, we're gonna let Dak play quarterback this year,
Speaker 1: and you know, Dak loves to go through his progressions
Speaker 1: and read the play and throw the ball to the
Speaker 1: guy who's open, as opposed to feeling pressure to get
Speaker 1: the ball in one specific place. Never said anybody's name,
Speaker 1: but it was a name written all over. If you
Speaker 1: got probably two names written, maybe yeah, if you got
Speaker 1: a signapse in your brain, you should be able to
Speaker 1: connect the dots there that he's talking. I mean, he's
Speaker 1: certainly talking about Dez, and maybe to a degree he
Speaker 1: was even talking about Jason Witten. And I think you know,
Speaker 1: I've said it a million times. I hate the phrase
Speaker 1: Dak friendly. I just it's one of those stupid soundbites
Speaker 1: that just nobody even knows what it means. They just
Speaker 1: throw it out there and it's fun to jabber about.
Speaker 1: But if you're DAK friendly, to me, means a guy
Speaker 1: who's just gonna get open and shut up and not
Speaker 1: complain about the production he gets. That's kind of that's
Speaker 1: what I look at. And they've lined it up that
Speaker 1: that's what they're poised to do right now, and getting
Speaker 1: rid of certain elements of the offense from play a
Speaker 1: role in that. And one thing that you mentioned right there,
Speaker 1: and I think somebody was mentioned this to me on Twitter. Well,
Speaker 1: why couldn't he just tell those voices to be quiet?
Speaker 1: I don't even know if this is that Stephen was
Speaker 1: necessarily saying. This is pointing the finger at Dez for
Speaker 1: being vocal that he wasn't getting the ball. If the
Speaker 1: offense was really predicated on, Hey, we're gonna really focus
Speaker 1: on trying to get Dez the ball because we feel
Speaker 1: like he can win this matchup, rather than hey, we're
Speaker 1: just gonna go through the progression. On each play, you
Speaker 1: follow the progression order, when you find the open guy,
Speaker 1: you get the ball out right. That could have been
Speaker 1: the case too. We don't know that, But I'm just
Speaker 1: saying it's not always just about saying. I don't think
Speaker 1: it's as simple as just saying, well, Dez was complaining.
Speaker 1: I think he could also be other things that the
Speaker 1: offense may have dictating in scenarios that he was trying
Speaker 1: to get the ball. We know there were several games
Speaker 1: there an early in season when he was just trying
Speaker 1: to forcing you saw. And it's so useful having all
Speaker 1: or nothing to go back and look at, because there's
Speaker 1: even a clip in there where Lenahan's talking to Dad
Speaker 1: and he's like, remember, just because there's a guy on
Speaker 1: Dez doesn't necessarily mean he's cover. I mean just little
Speaker 1: stuff like that. Well, I mean, Dez is the only
Speaker 1: guy that's really gonna make a play on the ball.
Speaker 1: I mean, if nobody's open, Cole's not open, he's not
Speaker 1: making a play on the ball. Terrence isn't making a play,
Speaker 1: Whitten's not really going to go make a play on
Speaker 1: the ball. So I mean, who else are you going
Speaker 1: to throw it too? If you have to get the
Speaker 1: ball out? I mean, Dez is the one guy that's
Speaker 1: gonna win a jump ball one on one battle. And
Speaker 1: he didn't do it all the time, but he does.
Speaker 1: I mean, so this is the other guys that have
Speaker 1: got to get open as well and help him. And
Speaker 1: we talk about Dak friendly or whatever. A guy that
Speaker 1: can go make a play for you is would be
Speaker 1: friendly for any quarterback, and so he's gonna have somebody
Speaker 1: needs to do that more. Bet. This is my perspective
Speaker 1: as far as Dez. He's such a vocal guy and
Speaker 1: so passionate that he's one of those guys that sometimes
Speaker 1: you just cater to him just to like, okay, here
Speaker 1: you go here, you fine take it, but kind of
Speaker 1: like calm down a little bit. There are people like that,
Speaker 1: like you just go over the flow to let him
Speaker 1: do his thing just because you want them to calm down.
Speaker 1: So I and talking back about all or nothing. You
Speaker 1: kind of get a sense of that too watching what
Speaker 1: it's inside. Even with Dooley, the way the interactions, it
Speaker 1: was very weird, Like Dooley wasn't the one in power
Speaker 1: type of thing. It's like Das kind of went over
Speaker 1: him and it's like, okay, well here comes this. Let's okay,
Speaker 1: let's do whatever death says type of thing. So it'll
Speaker 1: be a good thing for Dak definitely in the game
Speaker 1: and concentration and focus and figure out exactly what he
Speaker 1: needs to do with that that kind of pressure. There's
Speaker 1: only gonna be one player on this offense that you know,
Speaker 1: you know, you go to halftime and you look at
Speaker 1: the stats and you're like, like, why it isn't this
Speaker 1: guy more involved. There's only one guy on this team
Speaker 1: that fits that description out and it's Zeke uh And
Speaker 1: And in the passing game, there's nobody. Nobody here has
Speaker 1: the skins on the wall to command that type of
Speaker 1: respect or attention Witton or does I mean shut up
Speaker 1: Alan Hearns, Like who's I mean? I mean not really,
Speaker 1: you know, Alan Heurns is actually a really nice guy,
Speaker 1: But like Alan Hearns isn't just dictating what the game
Speaker 1: plan is. Neither neither is Cole Beasley, neither's Michael Gallop,
Speaker 1: neither's Dalton Schultz or Rico Gathering. I mean, it's so
Speaker 1: like I said, I think a Dak friendly receiverco or
Speaker 1: well you according to everybody else, h they're just I
Speaker 1: mean a Dack friendly receiver as a guy who's going
Speaker 1: to take what's given to them and not worry about it.
Speaker 1: That's which is what they want at this point. It
Speaker 1: sounds like what they're looking for is and this day
Speaker 1: it might be Terrence's day. You're gonna you're gonna catch
Speaker 1: the bulk of the balls on this day. It's gonna
Speaker 1: be Cole On this day, it's gonna be gallop this offense, right, exactly,
Speaker 1: That's exactly right. One of the quick questions before we
Speaker 1: move on to our draft analysis, Um, you guys at
Speaker 1: all surprised that Dez is still out there and not
Speaker 1: on a team and that there isn't more interest for
Speaker 1: a guy that I'll say for myself, I truly expected
Speaker 1: within a couple of weeks of him being released, somebody
Speaker 1: was going to jump on that and say we got
Speaker 1: the quarterback that can take advantage of his skill set. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I thought somebody would sign him by now. So I
Speaker 1: don't know the deal what's going on. I know that
Speaker 1: the Ravens were interested, it didn't sound like that's what
Speaker 1: he wanted if from a contract standpoint, didn't want a
Speaker 1: two year deal, that's just what the story said. I
Speaker 1: don't I don't know, but yeah, I'm surprised. I thought
Speaker 1: he'd maybe be on a team by now. Yeah, I'm
Speaker 1: not going to pitch it like I'm smarter than everybody. If,
Speaker 1: like the day he was cut, I would have guessed
Speaker 1: that he would be signed by now for sure. But
Speaker 1: if you think about it, I mean, what did the
Speaker 1: Cowboys just say yesterday? They're like, well, we like our
Speaker 1: tight ends and we like our safeties. We're not ready
Speaker 1: for all that. And also keep in mind that up
Speaker 1: until recently, I think, like yesterday, you couldn't sign free
Speaker 1: agents without it affecting your compics strategy. So that thing,
Speaker 1: combined with the fact that you know, you just had
Speaker 1: your draft, everybody's high on you know, they're like, we
Speaker 1: like our guy, Like we got our guy Michael Gallup
Speaker 1: in the third round. He was a second round about
Speaker 1: like that type of thing. So you know, teams kind
Speaker 1: of have rose colored glasses at this time of year.
Speaker 1: But let OTAs start, let somebody get hurt or what
Speaker 1: I mean, He'll be on a team by the time
Speaker 1: training camp roll you think before training camp, because I'm
Speaker 1: starting to think at this point maybe it's one of
Speaker 1: those things where teams wait till they get to camp,
Speaker 1: and as soon as they have that first major injury,
Speaker 1: then his phone starts ringing, but not far. I'm wondering, like,
Speaker 1: I think Day's right, Like after you get past that
Speaker 1: first first couple of weeks of him being a free agent,
Speaker 1: then I think teams kind of look at it like, well,
Speaker 1: nobody's really beating down his door, so we don't have
Speaker 1: to make a decision right now. So I think it's
Speaker 1: gonna be It's gonna have to be something that spurs
Speaker 1: them to do it. I don't think they just do
Speaker 1: it to do it. And what may spur them to
Speaker 1: do it is you get that injury. Maybe it happens
Speaker 1: in OTAs or mini camps, maybe doesn't happen until training camp. Injuries,
Speaker 1: arrests and and just the I mean, you go through
Speaker 1: twelve offseason practices and you're like, he's not like, you know,
Speaker 1: these guys aren't as good as we thought they were.
Speaker 1: So how many teams do you think he'll be on
Speaker 1: the radar? I mean, do you think there's thirty one
Speaker 1: teams or thirty two. No, I think there's I think
Speaker 1: there's honestly about four teams he's on their I really don't.
Speaker 1: I don't He's not coming back here. I don't think
Speaker 1: so either, But I think there's probably four teams where
Speaker 1: he's probably on their radar, honestly. Now, of course, what
Speaker 1: could change it once again, you get some injuries to
Speaker 1: key receivers, and now he becomes you know, let's say
Speaker 1: a team like Atlanta that would never be in the
Speaker 1: market right now with what they got, Let's say Julio
Speaker 1: goes down, maybe they consider that, you know. So, I
Speaker 1: think right now, as it stands, I don't think there's
Speaker 1: a lot of people who have him on the radar,
Speaker 1: But I do think that that likely will change once
Speaker 1: you get the training camp. And at this point it's
Speaker 1: probably a smart idea for Desk to wait because his
Speaker 1: options will open up more the more they have Teams
Speaker 1: have a chance to evaluate their players, see if anybody
Speaker 1: gets hurt, that kind of stuff, and then he goes
Speaker 1: in saves the day. You know, Yeah, it happens every summer.
Speaker 1: Like I wouldn't guessed he'd be on a team by now,
Speaker 1: but I bet he'll be on a team before four
Speaker 1: teams go to training camp. Ye wait too long? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean he needs to get in there and learn
Speaker 1: the offense, workout all those things matter, only the workout stuff,
Speaker 1: But I mean get in there. I mean, this has
Speaker 1: been the same offense for seven or eight years now,
Speaker 1: and he had issues sometimes with moving around to different places.
Speaker 1: So he needs to learn the offense. Ye. All right,
Speaker 1: So let's take our first break. When we come back,
Speaker 1: we're going to dive into draft recap and we're gonna
Speaker 1: talk about first two fourteen names like Zach Martin, DeMarcus Lawrence,
Speaker 1: Anthony Hitchins and the whole host of the two and
Speaker 1: fourteen picks and tell you what we think of that draft.
Speaker 1: We'll do that when we come right back. This is
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Speaker 1: limitations apply, so you love for details. Back to the Break,
Speaker 1: Welcome back. It's the second segment of The Break, live
Speaker 1: from the SWBC Mortgage studios at the Star. We're gonna
Speaker 1: talk a little bit of draft. I want to go
Speaker 1: back a couple of years and we're gonna give draft
Speaker 1: grades at the time. The draft grades really should be
Speaker 1: given a few years after we've had a chance to
Speaker 1: see these guys play. I want to start with twenty fourteen,
Speaker 1: and I think the best way to handle this is
Speaker 1: I'm going to go through the list and I want
Speaker 1: you to tell me each of you to tell me
Speaker 1: if the player was above, at or below stand expectations. So,
Speaker 1: based upon the expectations of where they were drafted, what
Speaker 1: you thought of where they were drafted, did they exceed that,
Speaker 1: were they right where they should have been, or were
Speaker 1: they below that? All right, before we get started, I'll
Speaker 1: let you guys handle this because fourteen you were still
Speaker 1: I don't know what their expectations were back then. I know,
Speaker 1: I mean the players they are now. But to be honest,
Speaker 1: this was my first draft that I was fully involved
Speaker 1: and not knowledgeable of all the players. So you'll sit
Speaker 1: back with me and I'll say this. You can't have
Speaker 1: a complete cop out here because you know what expectations
Speaker 1: are of a first round pick, a second round pick,
Speaker 1: a seventh round pick, and so you know now you
Speaker 1: know that they were actually has a great Yeah, that's
Speaker 1: a really good point. I can just give you the
Speaker 1: number of the round and you can let's go, okay,
Speaker 1: all right, here we go, first round, Zack Martin above
Speaker 1: at or below expectations? What's above above? Can you go?
Speaker 1: Three above? One of the best picks of all time,
Speaker 1: one of the best picks in Cowboys history, especially give
Speaker 1: reasons the alternative exactly. That's it, tell me the alternative.
Speaker 1: It was Johnny Manziel and it was the owner who
Speaker 1: wanted him, and he really wanted Johnny Manziel and he
Speaker 1: had to be talked out of It was one of
Speaker 1: the turning points I think of Steven Jones really taking
Speaker 1: over a little bit more of this, not not completely,
Speaker 1: but just having a little bit more, say more control Jerry.
Speaker 1: And you gotta give Jerry credit too. It's hard for
Speaker 1: somebody like his age to say I'm gonna step back
Speaker 1: and do things differently. He would have picked him ten
Speaker 1: years ago. He wanted him that bad, just they wanted
Speaker 1: Jack Martin and to pick flashy quarterback and a guard
Speaker 1: who doesn't like to talk totally different was one of
Speaker 1: the best picks of all time. He's one of those
Speaker 1: players that, I mean, he has everything you would want
Speaker 1: in a player as far as how he plays, work ethic,
Speaker 1: the way he behaves off the field, doesn't really have issues,
Speaker 1: just a great guy on and off the field. I
Speaker 1: tried to ask him yesterday about his new contract and
Speaker 1: just threw it out kind yeah, I mean, I'm you know,
Speaker 1: it was kind of weird. Shedding the impliyer ye strikes
Speaker 1: back mentality. Let's say, let's let's get after it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: all right, second pick that year, that number thirty four
Speaker 1: is defensive end Marcus Lawrence above at or below above.
Speaker 1: But also you have to consider that you don't have
Speaker 1: a third round pick from that draft because of him too,
Speaker 1: so it's even more pricey for a second and third
Speaker 1: essentially is it above this this past season? Really? I
Speaker 1: mean you could debate about this if he hadn't just
Speaker 1: posted fourteen and a half sacks. I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: although I will say one you playoff game, one you
Speaker 1: one of two playoff games in recent memory. Um, he
Speaker 1: had a very solid season in twenty fifteen that kind
Speaker 1: of gets forgotten about because people Randy Gregory and Greg
Speaker 1: Hardy just kind of torpedoed that pass rush Um played
Speaker 1: through injury like they all, I mean above, And he's
Speaker 1: a good locker room guy, good character guy. UM pro
Speaker 1: bowler last year kind of I mean, like I said,
Speaker 1: he's been trending even higher later in his career and
Speaker 1: you'd prefer to not have to put the tag on him,
Speaker 1: but definitely well worth that move to get him, for sure.
Speaker 1: What run did you say? Second? High second? Second pick
Speaker 1: of number thirty four, the first rounder. Give me another
Speaker 1: year to make my whole analysis. No, I was just
Speaker 1: gonna say, it's just reliability type of thing, you know, Um,
Speaker 1: can you fully rely on him? We're starting to find out.
Speaker 1: And last year obviously was awesome and amazing. He's an
Speaker 1: amazing player. But is he long term reliable? I don't
Speaker 1: know yet. Yes, we don't know if he's got a
Speaker 1: long term future here either. For that matter, in twenty
Speaker 1: sixteen he was that is that the year? Suspend it
Speaker 1: for the four year? Did he miss other games due
Speaker 1: to injury that year? No? And that's thirteen. No, I
Speaker 1: know that I'm saying now here though, I guess what
Speaker 1: I'm trying to see? His thirteen high missed like eight.
Speaker 1: He came back in November, okay, miss he played seven games? Yeah, yes,
Speaker 1: I guess My point is I'm trying to figure out
Speaker 1: the string. So if you're talking about reliability, it's now
Speaker 1: been it's now been a year a season plus, which
Speaker 1: is twelve games that he's been reliable, reliable, reliably there
Speaker 1: and those four games at beginning season were not about injury.
Speaker 1: That was to me kind of an adbiration. That's why
Speaker 1: you know, those guys go so far out of there
Speaker 1: and I'm all credit due to him, but they make
Speaker 1: sure to praise him, like he could have gone on
Speaker 1: I R in sixteen or at the very least sat out,
Speaker 1: and he didn't, and his numbers were down because of it.
Speaker 1: But he was there to be to play and start
Speaker 1: and be a part of that team. Sorry, I think
Speaker 1: he's at the expectation. I think he is because if
Speaker 1: you would he they move up to trade him, and
Speaker 1: that night that they're excited about getting this second round
Speaker 1: pick at high second round and they lost their third
Speaker 1: and to say, hey, in four years, he's going to
Speaker 1: average less than six sacks a year. He's at twenty
Speaker 1: three and a half. That he hasn't. I mean, he's
Speaker 1: not sitting there even at six a year. I think that, Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's a monster year and there's reasons for it. But
Speaker 1: I think that he's he's at expectations pretty end of
Speaker 1: the season. Ranked was it in sacks? Was a third
Speaker 1: at the end of this season? Yeah? Yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: any second Campbell beat him out. Yeah, I think as
Speaker 1: he was second, it was him, Chandler Jones and Campbell.
Speaker 1: If you would have said the night of that draft. Hey,
Speaker 1: this guy in four or five years whatever it is,
Speaker 1: five years, Yeah, he's going to lead. He's gonna be
Speaker 1: second in the league in sacks. I would argue that
Speaker 1: that's probably a little bit above what you would expect
Speaker 1: from a second round pass rusher. Would you guys agree
Speaker 1: with that? But again, thirty thirty, you're talking thirty four
Speaker 1: or not fifty, and that's a different We also know
Speaker 1: we all sat pick seventy whatever. We also know in
Speaker 1: most drafts first round grades in the round nineteen eighteen, seventeen.
Speaker 1: But he was as great as he as they thought
Speaker 1: he would be before that that year, this last year,
Speaker 1: they wouldn't have needed to draft Taco. They wouldn't need
Speaker 1: more depth there. So you're saying, if you take the
Speaker 1: body of the body of not just that one year,
Speaker 1: if you take the body, and I think I'm glad
Speaker 1: that we're going this way as opposed to a great
Speaker 1: rookie year that's gone down. So, I mean, I'm not
Speaker 1: we're not hating on him. I just think this is
Speaker 1: it's at at is probably fair at maybe a little
Speaker 1: bit above, especially because of the strength. I mean, how
Speaker 1: good last season was, I mean it was phenomenal highest
Speaker 1: sack total since Steaware was on the team. So okay uh.
Speaker 1: Next one's fourth round pick at one nineteen was lineback
Speaker 1: at a linebacker Anthony Hitchins above a way above fourth
Speaker 1: round pick. Fourth round pick criticized that nobody, nobody liked
Speaker 1: that pick when it was made, And I mean even
Speaker 1: you know, me and Brian like who covered that? You're like,
Speaker 1: we were like, I guess I know who this guy is. Whatever.
Speaker 1: H Kelvin Smith was still on the board. Which Telvin
Speaker 1: Smith has had a better career than Anthony Hichins. That's
Speaker 1: another conversation. Pick one nineteen to be a four year starter,
Speaker 1: never miss due to injury until his final year, jumped
Speaker 1: right in as a rookie, played all three spots. I mean,
Speaker 1: I don't know what else you want from a fourth
Speaker 1: round pick. Now, I will say this, and I was
Speaker 1: talking to Brian about this yesterday. He said, in the
Speaker 1: scouting world, typically if you have a draft, when you
Speaker 1: get three players and what I mean or three guys
Speaker 1: that are contributed contributing to your team in a significant
Speaker 1: way offense or defense in that in their first contract,
Speaker 1: then you feel like that's a hit, that's really funny
Speaker 1: that you say that, because look at the rest of
Speaker 1: this draft. Yes, that's why I brought it up, because
Speaker 1: I want to make sure we put this in context.
Speaker 1: Now when you start talking about the grade of the draft,
Speaker 1: you're gonna have, missus. It's a part of having fit
Speaker 1: six seventh round picks is that most of them are
Speaker 1: not going to make it. The statistics across the league
Speaker 1: say most of them are not gonna make it. It's
Speaker 1: a bonus when you find one that does. You've got
Speaker 1: five Pro Bowls in your first three picks in four years. Yes, right,
Speaker 1: So that's if Zach was the only guy from this
Speaker 1: draft that was still on the team, it would still
Speaker 1: be an a in mind of how good he is. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: he's the best Garden football um. And but but he's
Speaker 1: not because you have your best pass rusher too, So
Speaker 1: I mean, and then you know, Hitchin's obviously moved on.
Speaker 1: But again, like that's what the draft is, and you
Speaker 1: got years of good production. Like you're not gonna keep
Speaker 1: every player, but if you can get good production from
Speaker 1: them during the time that they're under contract, that's still win. Yeah, right,
Speaker 1: Devin Street Men Street Ben Gardner never made the team. Oh, sorry,
Speaker 1: I know, and I think it's right. The Devin Street,
Speaker 1: Ben Gardner, Will Smith the linebacker team, modd Dixon defensive back.
Speaker 1: kN Bishop was a defensive tame who played a little
Speaker 1: bit Kim Bishop, right, he was a bit player for
Speaker 1: like a year. Yeah, and then you got Terrence Mitchell
Speaker 1: the defensive back. Good great pick for the Kansas City Chiefs. Right,
Speaker 1: turned into a pretty decent kN Bishop layer. I forgot
Speaker 1: about bebop and rock Steady Hey when he Hey, you
Speaker 1: know who he is. He's a guy that rock that.
Speaker 1: This is how we do. When we did the media
Speaker 1: day and Mindsel Jordan came out, are we allowed to
Speaker 1: say that? Yeah? Anyways, Uh, we just couldn't we use
Speaker 1: the music. Kid Bishop was rocketed. Yeah, one day we
Speaker 1: may actually show you guys at videos. We have better
Speaker 1: videos we've ever been. We just never could release it.
Speaker 1: Oh well, it was disappointing that Devin Street didn't do more.
Speaker 1: I think he finished with one touchdown um. But then
Speaker 1: I mean you're talking about seventh round picks um, and
Speaker 1: he didn't do anything anywhere else either. That's always a
Speaker 1: good nat I shouldn't say good, but that's that's something
Speaker 1: that letting Terrence Williams go or Terrence Mitchell go and
Speaker 1: have him become a decent starter for another team. Right,
Speaker 1: and then you're like, yeah, maybe we screwed that one up.
Speaker 1: Maybe we just didn't do the right I'm made Dixon
Speaker 1: made the team and got cut the next day. Ken
Speaker 1: Bishop kicked around for like at least a year. Man,
Speaker 1: I just remember that night they he went Terrence Williams.
Speaker 1: The story is that they went to Waco, that they
Speaker 1: made the team on Saturday. Yeah, because Baylor was opening
Speaker 1: its season like that night or when Taylor played a game.
Speaker 1: He went down. They were Terrence and they were like
Speaker 1: we gotta get back eight am Sunday morning. You gotta
Speaker 1: get back. And Terrence got back and the mod was like,
Speaker 1: I'll get a ride there and he didn't. And that
Speaker 1: was the last straw. And that was his rookie year.
Speaker 1: And so he was that your rookie year as a
Speaker 1: seventh round pick who made the team. And he he
Speaker 1: just sleep. He was just a head hunter. He would
Speaker 1: have lost so much money though, because he was gonna
Speaker 1: get fined. He didn't know how to play any other way. Yeah,
Speaker 1: all right, let's move on. Let's talk about twenty fifteen.
Speaker 1: So I guess, just to wrap that one up, if
Speaker 1: you look at the two thousand and fifteen draft, let's
Speaker 1: do it just for the heck of it. Let's give
Speaker 1: it a grade. Let's go around the table, lamber ay A, okay,
Speaker 1: A plus, okay A. Because you've got your one of
Speaker 1: your your top two defensive players on the team, and
Speaker 1: you're I don't know, it's hard to say Zach marge
Speaker 1: one of your top offensive players, but he's the most
Speaker 1: consistent if you look at if you was that hard
Speaker 1: to say, No, Well, yeah, you've got You've got Tying,
Speaker 1: and you've got and you've got Zeke and all this
Speaker 1: stuff right now in terms of production, availability, Yeah, everything.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think he's he's probably the best player
Speaker 1: on this team. Yeah, I mean, we had that argument.
Speaker 1: We had that argument about Zeke and Tyring last year.
Speaker 1: It's been an All Pro every year, first or second
Speaker 1: team All Pro, not Pro Bowl All Pro. Yeah, that's
Speaker 1: that's huge, Like that's and then then to have one
Speaker 1: of the top pass rushers in the league, that's great.
Speaker 1: Now Hitchens is on another team, but but you got
Speaker 1: the use of production very great. That was a good draft. Okay, good,
Speaker 1: let's move on fifteen. Um. Let's start first the first
Speaker 1: round pick Byron Jones at above or below expectations. Hello, Hello, Hello,
Speaker 1: but not as drastically below as the hive mind wants
Speaker 1: you to think like. It's. I mean, it's been a
Speaker 1: disappointing run for him to this point. He's got two picks,
Speaker 1: he's had to move positions, but he's been available, he's played,
Speaker 1: he's made contributions. Again, you're talking about d Law is
Speaker 1: a second round Go well, this dude was only picked
Speaker 1: five spots or six spots in front of d Law,
Speaker 1: So I just I'm not letting him off the hook.
Speaker 1: He's below what you would expect from the twenty seventh
Speaker 1: overall pick, but he is not this like Mo Claiborne
Speaker 1: style horrifically no good, terrible bust in my opinion. And
Speaker 1: that's because of placement, right, more so because play well.
Speaker 1: Placement is well, you have to go up and get
Speaker 1: him at sitting. Not only that, but he's never missed
Speaker 1: a game. He's great at covering tight ends. He can play,
Speaker 1: he's played in the slot, he's played dime, he's played safety,
Speaker 1: he's played corner like he can He's done a lot
Speaker 1: of different stuff for you, so have a hard time
Speaker 1: just saying he's terrible. He's clear. I mean, he hasn't
Speaker 1: been benched. He's played every game of his career. He's
Speaker 1: again like a good locker room dude. He's never given
Speaker 1: you cause for concern off the field. Well, I have
Speaker 1: a column idea that I was I've been thinking of.
Speaker 1: I don't know if I want to throw it out here,
Speaker 1: but yeah, let's go and write it right here on
Speaker 1: the air. I'm basically comparing him, possibly comparing him to
Speaker 1: flows Ll Adams. Here's why Flozell Adams played four years.
Speaker 1: He was a thirty seventh overall pick, not far from
Speaker 1: where this is where Byron was picked. Mood positions a
Speaker 1: little bit was guard, and he knew he was gonna
Speaker 1: be a tackle, moved him to guard. It was not
Speaker 1: very good. After four years, it was like, okay, Parcel
Speaker 1: shows up two thousand and three, says, what's your top priority.
Speaker 1: He's like, well, my top priority is the sign flows
Speaker 1: Ll Adams and everyone was like, what he's like his
Speaker 1: premiere left tackle. You can't that. They don't grow on trees.
Speaker 1: You can find him like wow, Okay, and he was
Speaker 1: really and he was right obviously. After that kind of
Speaker 1: gave them the confidence. Flows out went five Pro Bowls
Speaker 1: of the next six years. The only year he didn't
Speaker 1: because he got hurt. I mean, he was a premiere
Speaker 1: left tackle, one of the best enfranchise history. And I
Speaker 1: wonder if Christopher Shard came in and said, oh, okay,
Speaker 1: well let's let's let you know, Byron go why didn't
Speaker 1: you write this go up right now, get off and say,
Speaker 1: dear option And I was like, no, no, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: we need this guy. That's the kind of corner. I like,
Speaker 1: how many small corners did you see from Seattle? Not really,
Speaker 1: you saw big bulky corners, long arms. He's like moving
Speaker 1: the corner. This is a guy, and maybe this is
Speaker 1: we'll see you know. But I mean, Christoph Shardon knows
Speaker 1: what he's doing. He looked at him and I've seen
Speaker 1: it before, right, guy everybody was kind of down on
Speaker 1: could totally change things around. So I'm wondering about that.
Speaker 1: That's really that's great. It's a great point. And now, um,
Speaker 1: Byron is one of the smartest dudes on this team. Uh,
Speaker 1: he's a good guy. He's he's the most absurdly athletic
Speaker 1: person I've ever met, Like his career is gonna last
Speaker 1: as long as he wants it to, Like he could
Speaker 1: be playing up to toward forty like Terrence Newman as
Speaker 1: far as I'm concerned. So I have a hard time
Speaker 1: in closing the book on his viability heading into year four. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm very excited. That's one of the guys. I'm very
Speaker 1: excited to watch a training camp this year because I
Speaker 1: want to see if given be careful though, because he
Speaker 1: was lights out at training camp last year. I mean,
Speaker 1: it was amazing. The only thing, the only thing I
Speaker 1: want to see though, is I want to see how
Speaker 1: he adapts to playing. If them saying you are going
Speaker 1: to be a cornerback, how does he adapt to that?
Speaker 1: And I want to see how does that affect those
Speaker 1: other younger guys, Like are they how do they work?
Speaker 1: Are they going to try to work them all in?
Speaker 1: Or is it going to be Byron's gonna solidify one
Speaker 1: of these spots, which means one of those other two
Speaker 1: guys will not be starting. Maybe one gets pushed back
Speaker 1: to safety. Who knows all I'm saying is I think
Speaker 1: that's going to be one of the more intriguing things
Speaker 1: to follow this year at training campus, how Byron adjust
Speaker 1: and how that affects all the other younger guys that
Speaker 1: are on this roster at cornerback. You know, that's something
Speaker 1: I don't get, Like, how do you get to play?
Speaker 1: You're doing super good at training camp and then it
Speaker 1: just kind of disappears throughout the season without the presence
Speaker 1: of an injury, you know, affecting the way he plays
Speaker 1: because because he goes up and he shuts down Alan
Speaker 1: hearns and everyone thinks of this is really great, and
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, Larry FitzGeralds on the other side,
Speaker 1: and it's like, wait a second, like a little different
Speaker 1: we don't have. That's one way that happens. We've all
Speaker 1: been burned by Mold Claiborne. You're right, Mo Claiborne a
Speaker 1: couple years ago. It's no different than if you're if
Speaker 1: you play somebody the same, the same person every day,
Speaker 1: no matter how good they are, you're gonna get good
Speaker 1: enough to cover them. Right. So it's like the vision
Speaker 1: playing why the teams in the division plays so well
Speaker 1: exactly Like if I'm playing my brother when I was
Speaker 1: a kid, my brother might be able to kick everybody
Speaker 1: in the neighborhoods. But whatever. But if I'm playing him
Speaker 1: every day, even though he's older, I'm gonna get better
Speaker 1: at playing him because i know what he likes to
Speaker 1: do and I'm gonna be able to stop that. So
Speaker 1: God can look really good in training camp and then
Speaker 1: he gets the other teams and had Olympics. I believe
Speaker 1: that we went all in sounds exhausting, all in, Dave,
Speaker 1: that's not your thing. No, You're like, I'm so out
Speaker 1: on that. No, all right, um, let's move on. Let's
Speaker 1: talk about the second round pick at number sixty, Randy Gregory.
Speaker 1: Obviously Bello. I mean this a who's the next one?
Speaker 1: Nobody nobody loves, Nobody loves Will McClay more than I do.
Speaker 1: I think he's one of the best things that's happened
Speaker 1: to this franchise. But I mean this, spoiler alert, this
Speaker 1: is not a great draft. It's just not because following
Speaker 1: Randy Gregory ran third round, Jazz one is Jazz Green.
Speaker 1: So you got I mean Randy Gregory, who has played
Speaker 1: in like nine career games with one sack. Chaz Green,
Speaker 1: who I believe the line of logic on him when
Speaker 1: he was picked, was that he would be the air
Speaker 1: apparent to Doug Free. Uh. He missed his rookie year
Speaker 1: with an injury. He played in two games in twenty sixteen,
Speaker 1: and then last year we know what happened. He's the
Speaker 1: only U you know, the quarterbacks have records. He's got,
Speaker 1: He's oz and one. He has an L on his name. Well,
Speaker 1: to here's the fans, it wasn't because of the way
Speaker 1: he played. What I'm talking about Randy Gregory. Oh I
Speaker 1: was talking about Oh, I thought he went back to
Speaker 1: Randy Oh. I mean we can go back to want
Speaker 1: to sorry, but they talked, well, I'll talk crap about
Speaker 1: Randy Gregory all the time. I mean, not really crap,
Speaker 1: but because of you know, the excitement people have bringing
Speaker 1: him by him. But again to his defense, what I
Speaker 1: was saying, it wasn't necessarily an issue of him being
Speaker 1: a bad player on the field. No, who wrote the
Speaker 1: story astray you? Yeah, well, let's talk about it. But
Speaker 1: that's but he didn't fall in the draft because he
Speaker 1: was a bad player, right yeah, well yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: his name came up in the press conference. There's not
Speaker 1: really it's I mean, Gregory's gaining steam in his attempt
Speaker 1: to apply for reinstatement. I know, you know a lot
Speaker 1: of people in and around the organization are going to
Speaker 1: bat for him, Tyrone Crawford, Shaun Lee Um. He has
Speaker 1: not applied yet, and bait. I mean, the Cowboys did
Speaker 1: not offer a lot of clarity about that process. It
Speaker 1: sounds like Stephen Jones said, we're just bystanders until further notice.
Speaker 1: M So that's between Randy and the league and I
Speaker 1: don't really know a whole lot other than that. I
Speaker 1: I mean, it sounds like he's got a good shot
Speaker 1: at it. Whenever it actually happens, well, you know, we'll
Speaker 1: see if he's at training camp. That's pretty much. But
Speaker 1: I mean I made my thoughts on it pretty clear yesterday.
Speaker 1: I mean, if he can get back, you don't have
Speaker 1: a whole lot to lose by giving him a chance. So,
Speaker 1: but you'd be making an awfully big mistake if you're
Speaker 1: like counting on it as a key to your success, right.
Speaker 1: I would have said zero percent chance, but you know
Speaker 1: it's still kind of small percent chance. But I like
Speaker 1: what we saw out of Cleveland. Josh Gordon was able
Speaker 1: to do it. He was able to play. I never
Speaker 1: thought that would happen, and he played pretty well. He's
Speaker 1: a freak. But you know what, so Randy Gregory can
Speaker 1: be kind of considered that too, wasn't he wasn't he
Speaker 1: better before that than Randy. Yes, Josh Gordon led the league,
Speaker 1: And that's my point. Like so, I think it, and
Speaker 1: I think yesterday that was the point of the question
Speaker 1: that I ask you guys when I say it, are
Speaker 1: there And I know Rob came back and said, Dwight Freeney,
Speaker 1: but yeah, Blake Freeney's going to Hall of Fame. Like,
Speaker 1: I don't think we've seen yet Randy Gregory before that,
Speaker 1: he hadn't developed yet to where you even say he's
Speaker 1: a good player now. Like so now him coming back
Speaker 1: after being out, that's the part where I just have
Speaker 1: very low expectations of what that's fine. Throw him in
Speaker 1: on that mix of preseason games he was he was
Speaker 1: destroying second and third team tackles, getting all these sacks,
Speaker 1: and then didn't get one the rest of the season.
Speaker 1: So he did get hurt in the season opener, Okay,
Speaker 1: but I'm just I mean, okay, other ten games, I
Speaker 1: feel like, well, he didn't he missed like the month
Speaker 1: and a half half. He actually he did well with
Speaker 1: some pressures. He wasn't bad guys. Guys like the guys
Speaker 1: that big who can bend like that don't grow on trees.
Speaker 1: That's all I know. And that's why he's gonna get
Speaker 1: another shot at this if they I mean, that's and
Speaker 1: should like, I don't think anybody's saying that he needs
Speaker 1: to put on weight. I'm just gonna keep the joke there.
Speaker 1: I mean, he does, he needs to put on some weight. Well,
Speaker 1: I haven't seen the guy since December of twenty six
Speaker 1: just as a player. He needed to add yeah, yeah, frame,
Speaker 1: And there's probably a reason why he couldn't. I don't know.
Speaker 1: It's I don't Jerry Jerry Jones had a great quote
Speaker 1: about it a month or two ago where he was like,
Speaker 1: you know, he needs to do this, this and this
Speaker 1: and get better as a player in YadA, YadA, YadA,
Speaker 1: And he was like, but he's a hell of a
Speaker 1: football player, and like that's where this whole conversation goes
Speaker 1: back to. So anyway, all right, let's take our final break,
Speaker 1: we'll come back, we'll finish up the twenty fifteen draft.
Speaker 1: We'll also take some questions from you guys, if you've
Speaker 1: got to hit us up, hit us on Twitter at
Speaker 1: Cowboys Break will take questions during that final SEGM. We'll
Speaker 1: be right back. This is Dallas Cowboys dot com. Radio.
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Speaker 1: to the Break, Welcome back to the final segment of
Speaker 1: The Break, live from the SWBC Mortgage studios at the Star. Dave.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, Nick, I wasn't ready for that talk about
Speaker 1: some underwear, all right. You know when we go on
Speaker 1: the road for road trips, they give us our hotel.
Speaker 1: Even they have different messages, sometimes that cowboy themed one
Speaker 1: and sometimes they say like win or focus or squeeze
Speaker 1: the rock, which could be in something else, but that
Speaker 1: protect the Ball is one that we get and nobody
Speaker 1: really does that better in underwear than Tommy John. Tommy
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Speaker 1: Protect the Ball. I like that. I don't think I
Speaker 1: ever got that on one of my room keys though.
Speaker 1: Did you pick the ball? Just whatever those messages are,
Speaker 1: we get all the time. I fight I just like
Speaker 1: it when it says be relentless, good night's sleep or whatever. No,
Speaker 1: the ball doesn't really mean much for you. I'm not
Speaker 1: I'm not playing. Yeah, yeah, okay, all right, let's jump
Speaker 1: back into this. Tommy John is and Tommy John always
Speaker 1: protects the ball. We got it, Nick, Thanks appreciate good
Speaker 1: twelve And it was twelve that was that was up there.
Speaker 1: That was like a nine. Tell me to nine point three?
Speaker 1: All right, all right, nine point three. We really have
Speaker 1: to start doing that. We should. If you want it, twelve,
Speaker 1: hand it over here. Hey, they did come out with
Speaker 1: some female underwear. They did. Apparently haven't received any, but
Speaker 1: I want to know what all the fuss is about. Well,
Speaker 1: we'll just wait because if that's the case, somebody on
Speaker 1: this team, we'll figure out a way to get some
Speaker 1: to everybody. So I would imagine we're on it. We'll
Speaker 1: make a phone call, see what we can do. How
Speaker 1: about that? All right? All right, let's jump back and
Speaker 1: let's talk about two thousand and fifteen. Uh, the twenty
Speaker 1: and fifteen draft we've talked about Byron Jones, Randy Gregory,
Speaker 1: and Chaz Green, all three you guys said performed below expectations.
Speaker 1: Let's move to the fourth round pick at one twenty seven.
Speaker 1: The Cowboys select Damien Wilson above below or at expectations?
Speaker 1: This is an interesting one. Is he below because he
Speaker 1: really hasn't been that good? Or is he below because
Speaker 1: he was drafted in the same spot a year later
Speaker 1: from the same conference, at the same position as Anthony Hitchins,
Speaker 1: who was above. We all agreed vastly exceeded his expectations.
Speaker 1: I don't know. I mean, he's okay, he's been. He's
Speaker 1: been a spot starter and a contributor all four years
Speaker 1: he played, or all three years to this point. He's
Speaker 1: big on special teams. Like I said, he's started at
Speaker 1: SAM He's played pretty well there at times, He's filled
Speaker 1: in in a couple other spots. Never been good enough
Speaker 1: to earn more of a role. And by this point
Speaker 1: in his career, if he was going to he I
Speaker 1: feel like he would have made that leap. The thing
Speaker 1: with the arrest last summer kind of not great. So
Speaker 1: I just I've said this a while ago. Nothing has changed.
Speaker 1: I mean, those to the top three moments or that
Speaker 1: you think of anything relating to Damian Wilson are all negative.
Speaker 1: You know, he had the paintball incident before he had
Speaker 1: parking lot incident, which was a lot more than that,
Speaker 1: gave up a game winning touchdown and you know to
Speaker 1: running back out of the backfield of the Saints. I mean,
Speaker 1: he hasn't had when the difference making things have not
Speaker 1: been a good thing for him. So no, that's I
Speaker 1: was laying all that out there for the sake of
Speaker 1: playing Devil's advocate. It's still probably fair to say below,
Speaker 1: but it's like a little bit more production. When he
Speaker 1: was drafted, I think the expectation was, at the very
Speaker 1: least if and when Hitchens was no longer here, he
Speaker 1: would step right in instead. The Cowboys been a first
Speaker 1: round pick on Layton vander Esh to me around the
Speaker 1: year before. Yeah, to me, those are the things that
Speaker 1: suggests to me that the Cowboys see him as not
Speaker 1: living up to what they're there. Their greatest expectation for
Speaker 1: him would have been. Now, of course, fourth round picks
Speaker 1: or fourth round picks, some of them pan out, some
Speaker 1: of them don't. But I think that coming off of Hitchens,
Speaker 1: it makes it even more apparent that he just wasn't
Speaker 1: that guy. It's more of a contrast, but I mean,
Speaker 1: you need you need players that are gonna like you know,
Speaker 1: he's knew Kyle Wilburg as far as I'm concerned, Like,
Speaker 1: he can start if you need him too, he can play,
Speaker 1: he can do stuff on special teams. Um, and that
Speaker 1: doesn't make him a bad pick because he's still on
Speaker 1: the team and contributing. He's just not He's not Anthony Hinchins.
Speaker 1: That's so at that point, do you think it's at
Speaker 1: do you think do you think a fair assessment for
Speaker 1: him is that he's at expectation for a fourth round pick.
Speaker 1: I think he's below expectations. They draft like you said that,
Speaker 1: they drafted Vanderesh, they signed Joe Thomas in the offseason.
Speaker 1: He's been more productive than then. Um, I mean they
Speaker 1: went back to get Durant Wilson, they went, They've gone.
Speaker 1: You're right, you're not gonna put you don't want to
Speaker 1: put super high expectations on your fourth round pick. But
Speaker 1: that's still a guy that you're hoping can develop into
Speaker 1: a starter. Okay, i'd say below, you're trying to find
Speaker 1: somebody that's not below. It's it's kind of tough. These
Speaker 1: next three will lump him together. Defensive end Ryan Russell, linebacker,
Speaker 1: Mark Zacha, offensive tackle Lawrence Gibson. I take a little
Speaker 1: bit of offense to that, okay, because Lawrence Gibson never
Speaker 1: played a game for this team, and Ryan Russell was
Speaker 1: cut like one week into his rookie season. I think,
Speaker 1: wasn't he was it that quick? So now he's in
Speaker 1: the practice squad for his rookie year that he played,
Speaker 1: he played one career game here, That's all I know.
Speaker 1: And he's but that's below expectations, right, Well, No, the
Speaker 1: reason I take exception is because Mark me Zacha was
Speaker 1: better than that as a as a seventh round as
Speaker 1: a seventh round pick who was a red shirt because
Speaker 1: he had torn his ACL and was basically a wash
Speaker 1: for his rookie year. He came back, was on the
Speaker 1: team in sixteen, played a role on special teams, made
Speaker 1: the team, um made some plays, and they brought him
Speaker 1: back again until they eventually cut him the year after that.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's so for him, you think it was
Speaker 1: above expectations round pick. I call that above expectations considering
Speaker 1: Lawrence Gibson did not even make the team. I mean,
Speaker 1: seventh round picks don't make the team all and really
Speaker 1: that's at expectations. Seventh round pick is a flyer. You're
Speaker 1: just bringing a guy and you gone, especially a hurt player.
Speaker 1: I put Mark above, and they tried to put him
Speaker 1: on their practice squad this year and he was poached,
Speaker 1: so it's not even like they wanted to get rid
Speaker 1: of him. Yeah. So so Ryan Russell, where do you
Speaker 1: put him below or at expectations below below? Yeah, that's
Speaker 1: a fifth round pick that that was a guy that
Speaker 1: they liked, probably at a Dallas day, and you know
Speaker 1: it probably was never as good as should have been
Speaker 1: taken that high. Okay, and now the highlight of this
Speaker 1: draft Jeff Swain that when the best pick of your
Speaker 1: draft is the last one, that's not great. And he
Speaker 1: hasn't really been good. He's been good enough to I know,
Speaker 1: but I think he has not been good and you
Speaker 1: don't have to raise that high. He hasn't been that good.
Speaker 1: He was picked two thirty then, okay, that sounds good,
Speaker 1: but he's not a difference maker. He had, but a
Speaker 1: seventh pick is not typically going to be a different
Speaker 1: I'm going to give him the arrow up expectations. Yes,
Speaker 1: I thought he was drafted because he was a friend
Speaker 1: of Stephen Jones's daughter or whatever. I thought that was
Speaker 1: the connection or whatever. He was drafted because he played
Speaker 1: a stellar school. You didn't even know who he was,
Speaker 1: and he did not know he was. But that's beside
Speaker 1: Brugler didn't know who he was, right, I mean, but
Speaker 1: Texas didn't use him. They didn't use him at all.
Speaker 1: He has he been better than he thought? Yes, because
Speaker 1: I didn't think he'd even make the team. But has
Speaker 1: he been good? Nobody's played a role. He's played a role.
Speaker 1: And that's the thing. I'm the seventh rounder that can
Speaker 1: play a role. To me, that tighten is going to
Speaker 1: be allowed to be good with With Whitten him back,
Speaker 1: I didn't call him back. Hadn't been good, that's not bad,
Speaker 1: not bad. What he hasn't been good, it's not bad.
Speaker 1: That means he was picked two thirty something. He made
Speaker 1: the team on a team where the tight end never
Speaker 1: comes off the field. I remember vividly he converted a
Speaker 1: fourth down in Washington when this team was oo and
Speaker 1: one in twenty sixteen. Right, He's a big part of
Speaker 1: Deck's play action and waggle stuff in twenty sixteen until
Speaker 1: he got hurt, until he got second You can't have
Speaker 1: big part of it. If he can't, can you pull
Speaker 1: up his staff, pull up his damn stats. He was
Speaker 1: he was a part of it. Was he was a
Speaker 1: part like he had a part to play. There's a
Speaker 1: different mass haters right now. There's a big difference of Wait,
Speaker 1: why why does it have to be one or the other?
Speaker 1: I mean, why does that have to be black or
Speaker 1: white here? Why if he's not good, does it mean
Speaker 1: he's bad? No? Okay, on a team, it's great, he's been.
Speaker 1: He's been on a team where Jason Witten plays ninety
Speaker 1: seven percent of the snaps. He started six games and
Speaker 1: caught six passes for seventy yards in in in nine weeks.
Speaker 1: What's that? Did you say he was targeted to say
Speaker 1: times and caught six? Now he was his target. He
Speaker 1: was targeted eight times and caught six passes for seventy
Speaker 1: yards nine six starts, nine games, got hurt in Pittsburgh
Speaker 1: and couldn't finish the season. So it gets start. I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm not hating on the guys. End. Yeah, I think
Speaker 1: on this team with who you had a t say
Speaker 1: it was bad either. Remember I'm not saying it's bad.
Speaker 1: I don't know This goes bad, drawing little arrows up
Speaker 1: and down Wilson's name and Jeoff Swain. For me, I
Speaker 1: would just drove a flat arrow, like a flat horizontal line.
Speaker 1: This goes bad. It's not his fault. It's like okay,
Speaker 1: like okay, okay, he no, he what's an arrow? For me?
Speaker 1: He gets an arrow. I didn't think he'd make the team.
Speaker 1: I didn't think he'd be here in three years he has.
Speaker 1: He gets an arrow. But I'm just saying, let's just
Speaker 1: call it what it is. It hasn't been good yet.
Speaker 1: It might be he's gonna get a chance now Again again,
Speaker 1: I'm saying it's bad. Guy the seventh round pick drafted
Speaker 1: before him never meant. He didn't get a jersey? Was
Speaker 1: rush good last year? Was he good? Yeah? He was
Speaker 1: good in the season and the games and all. That's
Speaker 1: not good. How many backup quarterbacks get to play in
Speaker 1: a game because when it's not because of an injury.
Speaker 1: This is an argument we've had like a dozen times
Speaker 1: on this show. Nick doesn't great on a curve and
Speaker 1: I do Nick. Nick is just like are you good
Speaker 1: or are you're not good? And I'm like you were
Speaker 1: picked ten spots away from the end of the draft
Speaker 1: and you're still here contributing four years later. What's the
Speaker 1: test is? The test is get in the league. Go
Speaker 1: I come from Central Michigan and get in the league
Speaker 1: and make the team. If that's the test, he gets
Speaker 1: an A plus. If the test is now, we've got
Speaker 1: a different test. The test is how you play on
Speaker 1: the field. He gets an incomplete because he didn't get
Speaker 1: to play. That's not his fault. The test is where
Speaker 1: were you take? Like, where did they find you and
Speaker 1: what did you do? That's like Tony Romo gets a
Speaker 1: better grade than quarterbacks that are taken one overall in
Speaker 1: my opinion, again because of where it all, how it started.
Speaker 1: He didn't. Over his course of his career, he didn't.
Speaker 1: He didn't get it. But when when you're evaluating it
Speaker 1: in terms of a draft, I'm not saying Tory Romo
Speaker 1: had a better career than Troy Aikman. Don't get me wrong.
Speaker 1: I'm saying, Okay, I think we're all saying the same thing.
Speaker 1: I think would have thought that Swain was Sparks touch up,
Speaker 1: who swam slander. That's pretty much. Oh, I'm sure I'm
Speaker 1: gonna get the you know, I'm gonna get the Jeff
Speaker 1: Swain's parents or whatever. But what I'm saying is is
Speaker 1: that at this point it hasn't been good, it hasn't
Speaker 1: really been productive, but he's made the team and he's
Speaker 1: now he's got a chance to really be good because
Speaker 1: he's got an option. But that's all I'm saying. I
Speaker 1: do I think, I do think I agree with Dave
Speaker 1: from standpoint. I think it's above expectations because I didn't
Speaker 1: expect him to be able to come in. And I
Speaker 1: do think he has a role on this team. Now
Speaker 1: that doesn't mean that he plays Jason's role. He didn't
Speaker 1: play Jason Witten's role, but he's played his role, and
Speaker 1: I think his role has been you're gonna be that
Speaker 1: second tight end, You're gonna block some gonna go out
Speaker 1: and catch a few passes like that's been his role.
Speaker 1: And again, done it decent? Okay. But if if you're
Speaker 1: if your child comes at home and you, for whatever
Speaker 1: the reason, you expected them to really fail the test.
Speaker 1: You expect them to fail that because they didn't study
Speaker 1: or this is not their subject or whatever it is,
Speaker 1: and they got a sixty seven or whatever, that's not good.
Speaker 1: But that's better than you thought it was. It's still
Speaker 1: not good. We're gonna get too good. We're gonna keep
Speaker 1: working to get too good. But this isn't the opposite.
Speaker 1: But don't you expect that everyone you draft why to
Speaker 1: be to do their role? Don't you expect it? Because obviously,
Speaker 1: I mean, that should be the expectation if you're drafting someone, anyone,
Speaker 1: that should be your expectation that they are able to do.
Speaker 1: Let's let's compromise. Let's compromise and acknowledge that these are
Speaker 1: two different conversations. They really are in this frame of
Speaker 1: like what are you doing for the Cowboys? That's completely
Speaker 1: different than looking at the twenty fifteen draft class again
Speaker 1: like ninety percent of seventh round picks never make the
Speaker 1: team right, And again you go back to you don't
Speaker 1: have a role. You go back to that, you go
Speaker 1: back to the drafty. I married the two. What I
Speaker 1: said was, it's just to put them a kapper on
Speaker 1: how bad that was your Your best draft pick of
Speaker 1: that of that group is Jeff Swing. That is your
Speaker 1: best draft pick. I think Byron Byron is still better,
Speaker 1: but Byron is playing more. But I think but I
Speaker 1: think the how is a better pick is he's getting
Speaker 1: the arrow to say the things that Byron has done.
Speaker 1: He hasn't been great at safety, but as Dave was
Speaker 1: saying earlier, he's shown us something when it comes to
Speaker 1: covering tight ends. He's done something well. Who has exceeded
Speaker 1: expectations the most Jeff swam So the guy that's exceeded
Speaker 1: the expectations the most is still not somebody that's contributing
Speaker 1: hasn't contributed much at all. That just goes to show
Speaker 1: how bad the draft was. That's all I'm trying to say.
Speaker 1: It was he's going to be better, He's going to
Speaker 1: get the chance that he's not good, he hasn't been good.
Speaker 1: Six catches for seven yards good, there's nothing to move
Speaker 1: on to. We're done. I thought they did some good things,
Speaker 1: but did they do bad things? It was this is
Speaker 1: an atrocious draft. I mean, it's just it's not good.
Speaker 1: But I like Jeff swiam too. Like the other day
Speaker 1: when you were up your mind, if I told you
Speaker 1: I think I think Jarwin's gonna start if I, oh yeah,
Speaker 1: I wouldn't surprised you. I wouldn't be surprised if any
Speaker 1: one of those guys. I really wouldn't. If I told
Speaker 1: you Connor Williams was the pick at nineteen two weeks ago,
Speaker 1: how did you feel about it? Pretty good? If I
Speaker 1: tell you Connor Williams is the pick at fifty, how
Speaker 1: do you feel about There we go and when you're
Speaker 1: talking about a guy two thirty, I get still doing stuff?
Speaker 1: What third? Right? What if I told you Connor Williams
Speaker 1: was the pick at fifty, but you could have had
Speaker 1: Earl Thomas? Still okay with that? Yeah? I am too,
Speaker 1: actually yeah with that, with that scenario. Yeah, but that
Speaker 1: scenario now, and if you would have gotten the safety
Speaker 1: that that was maybe on the on the board, and
Speaker 1: you tell me I could have gotten Earl Thomas or
Speaker 1: the safety didn't not take Earl Thomas? Right? Yeah, that
Speaker 1: Conor Williams. That was a Justin Reid. Yeah, oh crap.
Speaker 1: I want to say, third round Houston? He went to Houston?
Speaker 1: Um like end of the second beginning? Um, yeah, I
Speaker 1: think Nick, somebody's paying Nick to just mention Earl Thomas
Speaker 1: once per show. I feel like I know he's gonna
Speaker 1: keep doing it until we get written up for tampering
Speaker 1: or something. I don't know. Fine, all right, we appreciate
Speaker 1: you guys joining us. We'll be back next week for
Speaker 1: another episode of The Break. Till then for Nick Eatman,
Speaker 1: Dave Hellman, Amber Garcia, I'm Derek Hughltson. This has been
Speaker 1: The Break live on Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio. This
Speaker 1: has been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and
Speaker 1: the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.