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: with Nick Eatman, David Hellman, and bar Garcia and Derek Eagleton.
Speaker 1: It is Wednesday, March fourth, twenty twenty, Season fifteen, episode
Speaker 1: number one hundred and seventeen. Welcome to another edition of
Speaker 1: The Break. We are live from s WBC Mortgage Studios
Speaker 1: at the start, and we got a lot of things
Speaker 1: we're gonna get into today. We're gonna talk a lot
Speaker 1: about Combine. Last week. All three of my co hosts
Speaker 1: were there, and we'll be talking some about the time
Speaker 1: they spent with Jerry, some of the time they spent
Speaker 1: an indie there with Mike McCartney, and then some general
Speaker 1: observations about the combine, different players that are there, just
Speaker 1: different things they saw. So we're gonna catch you guys
Speaker 1: up on all those things. How does everybody feel today?
Speaker 1: I feel wonderful. Derek. It's nice to see you. It's
Speaker 1: nice to talk to you and do the show with
Speaker 1: you and just thrilled to be here. I know you
Speaker 1: guys have been been doing things like making big moves.
Speaker 1: I've been back here at the office the whole time,
Speaker 1: and so I've missed you guys, but I'm glad to
Speaker 1: have you back on the air, and I want to
Speaker 1: jump right in. Let's get started. I've got seven different topics. Actually, Nick,
Speaker 1: you wrote an article coming out of the combine that
Speaker 1: listed ten things that came from Jerry's talk that you
Speaker 1: thought were worth mentioning great observations. I took seven of
Speaker 1: those things and throw them out here, and I'm just
Speaker 1: gonna throw out the observation, and then I want you
Speaker 1: guys to just kind of jump in and talk about it,
Speaker 1: because I thought that a lot of the things that
Speaker 1: Jerry talked about created some interesting discussion points. So let's
Speaker 1: start first with let's talk on the CBA. Jerry basically
Speaker 1: said he voted for the CBA, and in voting for
Speaker 1: the CBA, he understood that the benefits were more about
Speaker 1: the NFL, the long term interest of the NFL, and
Speaker 1: we're not necessarily about the short term interest of the Cowboys.
Speaker 1: Explain that that statement, and let's talk a little bit
Speaker 1: about him. Well, I'd rather be careful with that. I
Speaker 1: think that there's a lot of things going on there.
Speaker 1: I mean, Jerry got put into the Hall of Fame,
Speaker 1: so you know, he's he's a patriot, you know. I mean,
Speaker 1: he's big for the league, and this is a league deal.
Speaker 1: It's not just for the Cowboys. He's trying to let
Speaker 1: everybody know that this is big for the NFL. This
Speaker 1: is very important for all the players, not just the Cowboys.
Speaker 1: There's parts that don't really work for the Cowboys because
Speaker 1: of the transition. Tag will be gone and he can't
Speaker 1: get Amari Cooper and dak to do that. But I
Speaker 1: also think it's very important for Jerry to establish that
Speaker 1: he is when he's in there voting, he's voting for
Speaker 1: the NFL, not just for the Cowboys. I think it's
Speaker 1: a it's a tough bat once there. I think I
Speaker 1: think he was trying to send a message there. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think he was trying to It was a it
Speaker 1: was a convincing sales pitch and that I mean that
Speaker 1: doesn't mean it wasn't true. But you know, everybody who
Speaker 1: follows the NFL on any kind of close level knows
Speaker 1: that Jerry is a very powerful and meaningful member of
Speaker 1: the community, and you know, when he endorses the CBA,
Speaker 1: it's kind of like, oh okay, like the most powerful
Speaker 1: owner in the league wants the CBA to go through.
Speaker 1: What else is new? And I think part of that
Speaker 1: was he's sitting there saying, look, this isn't this isn't
Speaker 1: just about what favors me like this, this deal is
Speaker 1: going to hurt us on some points as well. I
Speaker 1: still think it's in the best interest in the league
Speaker 1: as a whole, and I think he wanted to get
Speaker 1: that message across. It's like, I'm not voting completely in
Speaker 1: my own self interest. This deal will grow the money
Speaker 1: available to the league and to the players for that matter.
Speaker 1: He made a huge point. I actually thought it was
Speaker 1: it was really telling. He basically had a script. He
Speaker 1: had a sheet of paper with the salaries of his
Speaker 1: players and not you know, not the DeMarcus Lawrences of
Speaker 1: the world, but the guys on their rookie deals. He's saying,
Speaker 1: under this CBA, Layton vander esh would be making this
Speaker 1: much more money in year three of his deal than
Speaker 1: he is right now. And he went down the line
Speaker 1: of this guy would be doing this. This guy would
Speaker 1: be doing this, and I think he's trying to sell
Speaker 1: people on the idea that this isn't just good for
Speaker 1: the league, it's good for the everyman player, and it's
Speaker 1: not just good for me Jerry Jones, and I mean
Speaker 1: I think, you know, we get on the bus with
Speaker 1: him every year at the combine and he talks for
Speaker 1: a while. He was asked one question about the CBA,
Speaker 1: and he talked for about thirty five minutes uninterrupted. So
Speaker 1: he had a lot of stuff he wanted to say
Speaker 1: about it, for sure. Sure, And also the answers were
Speaker 1: kind of scripted because he had some notes, which is
Speaker 1: I think maybe unusual for the bus. Very the questions
Speaker 1: were scripted as well, so there were some there were
Speaker 1: some questions that were asked to be asked. I think
Speaker 1: he al saw that morbid lying too. I was saying like,
Speaker 1: this is probably my last contract, which could be right,
Speaker 1: or it was just something that it was kind of
Speaker 1: interesting to hear. It's a little dark. It makes it
Speaker 1: awkward for me when I hear, especially when I hear
Speaker 1: a person referring to themselves in that way, like it
Speaker 1: does seem a little bit off, but a CBA last
Speaker 1: ten years, So I get it's a long time for
Speaker 1: him to be in the room really being negotiating. He
Speaker 1: let Steven do all that. Yeah, he's hanging out, but
Speaker 1: as we all know, like if you've spent any time
Speaker 1: around Jerry, it's hard to think of a day when
Speaker 1: he won't be in the room. Like he's just as
Speaker 1: as old as he is. And I don't mean that
Speaker 1: in a bad way. I'm just saying for his age,
Speaker 1: like he's still very sharp man, still very much involved
Speaker 1: in a lot of things. It's hard to imagine that
Speaker 1: coming to an end, you know what I'm saying. That
Speaker 1: just seems weird, seem sure, But I do want to
Speaker 1: say this, just looking at all of this, I think
Speaker 1: that's the interesting part for me about the whole CBA
Speaker 1: is we've seen a lot of different um big players
Speaker 1: I'm talking about the faces of the league come out
Speaker 1: and say things that that kind of basically pointed to
Speaker 1: the fact that they didn't necessarily believe this was the
Speaker 1: best deal for the league. But when you start thinking
Speaker 1: about all those other players, and I think that's kind
Speaker 1: of the point of this CBA. Maybe the point that
Speaker 1: Jerry was trying to make is this deal is not
Speaker 1: so much about those players as much as it is
Speaker 1: those players that have that average three to five year
Speaker 1: career and then making a lot more money over the
Speaker 1: course of their career. It's I mean, I was gonna
Speaker 1: say it's no different than politics. It is different than that,
Speaker 1: But I mean, you know, when when you have different
Speaker 1: administrations come in some more you know, bigger for a
Speaker 1: middle class than it is for higher class. That's kind
Speaker 1: of what this seems to be. Is this the core players,
Speaker 1: and a lot of those people are getting votes as well.
Speaker 1: So it's really interesting to see who your player rep is.
Speaker 1: If Russell Wilson and J. J. Watt are your player rep,
Speaker 1: then that's one thing. But if Nate Soldiers your player
Speaker 1: rep and he kind of understands what it's good for,
Speaker 1: I think I think that's what's kind of the different
Speaker 1: dynamic here. I would hope, and I agree with you,
Speaker 1: but I would hope. You know, even I don't even
Speaker 1: is Russell Wilson their player up and see, but even
Speaker 1: I would hope he's talking to the guys in his
Speaker 1: locker room like you're not just voting for you, You're
Speaker 1: voting for the other fifty guys that are there. You are,
Speaker 1: But at the same time, we know how this goes,
Speaker 1: and you mentioned politics, it's the same thing from this respect.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's going to still be a situation where
Speaker 1: whoever is that rep they're still when they're talking to
Speaker 1: the players in the locker room, they're certainly giving their opinions,
Speaker 1: and so whatever whatever their lean is on this, they're
Speaker 1: probably going to have a little bit, not even a
Speaker 1: little bit, They're probably going to have a bias in
Speaker 1: how they present it to their to their players, and
Speaker 1: they're probably going to tell them the information and highlight
Speaker 1: the information that they think is most important and probably
Speaker 1: skirt over the information they think it's a little less important,
Speaker 1: although they it may be very important to those players.
Speaker 1: So either way, the point is they got to a
Speaker 1: seventeen fourteen I think was the breakdown. Yes, to know
Speaker 1: it was seventeen thirteen and one and one at yeah,
Speaker 1: And so it's going to the full body, and at
Speaker 1: this point the full body will have an opportunity to
Speaker 1: be able to vote on it, and we'll see what happened.
Speaker 1: They say they'll probably take a couple of weeks, but
Speaker 1: it looks like at least there's going to be a
Speaker 1: vote here in the next couple of weeks, and just
Speaker 1: from my own personal point of view, I hope it
Speaker 1: gets done because I just don't like labor unrest. It
Speaker 1: just makes things tough for Byron Jones. So what happens
Speaker 1: if very interesting? Right? What happens if this goes past
Speaker 1: March eighteenth and Byron Jones is not with the Cowboys
Speaker 1: on March nineteenth, Well, I'm assuming they make a vote
Speaker 1: really quickly as to replace him. One. I'm pretty I
Speaker 1: guess Crawford. I believe that you have there's like a
Speaker 1: you know, an alternate kind of like hockey has an
Speaker 1: alternate captain if your captain doesn't play right. You see,
Speaker 1: that problem is so many guys free agent, like that
Speaker 1: guy might also be a free agent. Who knows. I
Speaker 1: bet you there's a guy under contract who would assume that.
Speaker 1: I'm guessing Zach Martin, Travis Frederick, Tyron Crawford. UM, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's it's interesting, man, because and there's there's so many
Speaker 1: levels to it, Like, you know, the owners clearly seem
Speaker 1: like they're appealing to the everyman players. You know, you
Speaker 1: can grow your salary by fifty percent and they're going
Speaker 1: to relax substance abuse testing, and I mean, guys, it
Speaker 1: will be far easier to smoke weed and play in
Speaker 1: the NFL than it would have been under the old deal.
Speaker 1: You're also going to have a seventeen game season. You're
Speaker 1: also you know, from the sounds of it, it it sounds
Speaker 1: like the owners are going to have a lot more
Speaker 1: power in the holdout arena. Like you know, basically it
Speaker 1: won't be able to happen, which is something that would
Speaker 1: give me pause if I was a bigger name player.
Speaker 1: But I'm curious to see, you know. I thought I
Speaker 1: read that they were going to try to vote on
Speaker 1: it this week, but it doesn't seem like it's moving
Speaker 1: in that direction right now. But if I'm the Cowboys,
Speaker 1: I'm like sitting here like, hey, do I have one
Speaker 1: tag or two? And we get this thing decided right now,
Speaker 1: so I know what I'm working with on March eighteenth. Ye,
Speaker 1: all right, let's go out to the next topic. This
Speaker 1: one was I mean, Jerry basically said, I think we
Speaker 1: all know which is Dak's going to be here. It's
Speaker 1: really just a matter of them getting the deal done.
Speaker 1: What are your thoughts on where that all stands and
Speaker 1: after talking to him, do you have any more insight
Speaker 1: as to where you think this is all going or
Speaker 1: what maybe to hold up in the whole situation. I
Speaker 1: think the CBA it might be some of the hold
Speaker 1: up there, but I mean it's all the same. It's
Speaker 1: just he just says it in a different way. I
Speaker 1: mean sometimes they say, well, he's a franchise quarterback that
Speaker 1: can get the job done, or I mean this time
Speaker 1: he says, he's it's no different than my son, Like
Speaker 1: he's my son's not going anywhere, so figure it out.
Speaker 1: That's kind of basically what he said. He called Dak
Speaker 1: like his like his son. I mean, like I've already
Speaker 1: referred to you like that. I mean, it just happens
Speaker 1: as part of it now. Really, I think the CBA
Speaker 1: is one at this point. I'm not saying, you know,
Speaker 1: they might not be close they you know, it's not
Speaker 1: like they're ready to put the name on the paper,
Speaker 1: But I don't think they want to decide anything until
Speaker 1: they see what they're working with. Again, not only how
Speaker 1: many tags do you have? But if the projections that
Speaker 1: we're reading are true, the salary cap could literally balloon.
Speaker 1: Like they're talking about a four hundred million dollars salary
Speaker 1: cap within the next three years? How much it was
Speaker 1: it three or seven? Wait, I mean over the course
Speaker 1: of the deal, it'll get even bigger. But like there
Speaker 1: are some people projecting that the cap could jump by
Speaker 1: as much as like fifty percent in the next three
Speaker 1: or four years, which typically it jumps, you know, ten
Speaker 1: percent per year. You could see some massive jumps. So
Speaker 1: if you're about to sign a quarterback to a huge deal,
Speaker 1: don't you kind of want to have an idea of
Speaker 1: what your salary cap growth will look like over the
Speaker 1: years of the deal, Because I know I would. And
Speaker 1: that's actually an interesting point because I saw this morning
Speaker 1: there was a report coming from I can't remember the
Speaker 1: guy's name, was a guy from ESPN, but he staid,
Speaker 1: according to some of his sources in the in Das camp,
Speaker 1: they were actually pushing for a much shorter term. A
Speaker 1: three year deal was what he threw out there. And
Speaker 1: when you talk about it from the standpoint of what
Speaker 1: you're saying, that would make a ton of sense for
Speaker 1: them to say, hey, hey, let's shorten the term on
Speaker 1: this deal, because we could be looking up four years
Speaker 1: from now, and and because of the salary cap. But
Speaker 1: I could be pushing fifty easy, right, Like that's the
Speaker 1: part that makes us a little difficult. And for the Cowboys,
Speaker 1: they may be looking like, hey, yo, hey, we want stability,
Speaker 1: like it's our quarterback position. We want to be able
Speaker 1: to have a longer term deal. And by the way,
Speaker 1: when you're dealing with that much money, we want to
Speaker 1: be able to strapolate that signing bonus over a larger
Speaker 1: period of time so it hits lets of our cap.
Speaker 1: There's a lot of things. So so really the hold
Speaker 1: up could also be a part of that too, where
Speaker 1: you're talking about, you know, Dak side pushing for shorter
Speaker 1: term cowboys look pushing for a longer term if they're
Speaker 1: if they're also looking if guaranteed money is not the
Speaker 1: big deal there because and I think it has been.
Speaker 1: Guaranteed money has been has been one of the things
Speaker 1: that has you know, you know, separated all of these contracts.
Speaker 1: But it needs to be average per year if if
Speaker 1: they're only going to go for the three year deal.
Speaker 1: But I don't think that's a bad move for the
Speaker 1: Cowboys because there's there's some people that wonder if if
Speaker 1: Dak is even is he really the long term future,
Speaker 1: I mean of the team. I mean he's been he's
Speaker 1: been really good at times. But I mean I think
Speaker 1: three year deal might be good for the Cowboys too.
Speaker 1: Just like his agent says, well, we want to get
Speaker 1: a part of that fifty million, the Cowboys could say, well,
Speaker 1: we think he's pretty good, but what if he's not.
Speaker 1: You know, I don't think it's a terrible move. I
Speaker 1: don't at all. I mean I love short deals honestly,
Speaker 1: Like this whole That's how you know, the Cowboys didn't
Speaker 1: maximize finding Dak as well as they could have because
Speaker 1: they were stuck paying Tony Romo on a six year deal.
Speaker 1: They had to pay two years worth of insane cap
Speaker 1: hits that they got no play out of. So the
Speaker 1: short of the deal, I'm like, I love that because
Speaker 1: it's just less of a commitment on your salary cap
Speaker 1: three years, one hundred just I would, honestly, I would
Speaker 1: be I would be all in on that. Let me
Speaker 1: ask you this, would you be willing to guarantee all
Speaker 1: of that? Yes? For a guy that never gets hurt?
Speaker 1: I'm sure. Knock on wood. I mean, yeah, there's risk
Speaker 1: involved in these types of things, but it is what
Speaker 1: it is. But that's that's you know what, that's that's
Speaker 1: why you that's the guaranteed money that they want, right,
Speaker 1: that's the base. I mean, that's kind of the ballpark
Speaker 1: of what they're wanting. Right, we just solved this thing
Speaker 1: for them. Somebody run upstairs one on two, send a
Speaker 1: text one two, one out two. You want to go
Speaker 1: to one O two thirty four? Yeah that's thirty four, right.
Speaker 1: I can't do math, but yeah, it sounds about right.
Speaker 1: One or two divide about three I think is thirty four.
Speaker 1: I don't know, but some somewhere in that range on
Speaker 1: a three year deal with most of it, if not all,
Speaker 1: of a guarantee. I just up. I it's it really like.
Speaker 1: It gives me. It gives me anxiety to think about.
Speaker 1: And obviously I don't have any control over the situation.
Speaker 1: But so it's Wednesday. The franchise tag deadline is eight
Speaker 1: days away. Um, the league year starts six days after that.
Speaker 1: So the league years two weeks from today might do
Speaker 1: am I right on that. Today's the fourth Yeah, so
Speaker 1: you got two weeks till the new league year. You
Speaker 1: got eight days until you have to use the tag.
Speaker 1: You can't use it anymore after next Thursday and the
Speaker 1: CBA is not a proved Dak and amar are sitting there.
Speaker 1: You don't know right now if you can tag them
Speaker 1: both or just one. It stresses me out just talking.
Speaker 1: What I don't know is what the rules. I've heard
Speaker 1: different things. What the rule is if you give Amari
Speaker 1: the transition tag before the CBA has been approved, and
Speaker 1: then what happens to me? You have to take one away,
Speaker 1: as I understand it, if a new CBA is agreed to,
Speaker 1: the other tag just disappears, and all of a sudden
Speaker 1: that guy becomes an immediate free agent. I mean, that's
Speaker 1: a problem. If the league year has started, Yeah, that's
Speaker 1: a problem. Which that's well, Although now I'm talking out
Speaker 1: of my depth, but I believe if the new league
Speaker 1: year starts before a CBA is approved, then you would
Speaker 1: go through this final year on the old CBA like
Speaker 1: you can't enact a CBA once a new league gear
Speaker 1: has started, right you're sure about that? No, that goes
Speaker 1: back to the problem of how much do you pay
Speaker 1: DA and leave? You know, you don't give him new
Speaker 1: contracts and he just keep the franchise tag, But then
Speaker 1: does he hold out, does he not go to training him?
Speaker 1: What happens there? There's so many reasons why they should
Speaker 1: get Dack done right, they're just they just got to
Speaker 1: do it because of give Amari what he and Amari
Speaker 1: needs the franchise tag. I think for everybody's comfort level
Speaker 1: of who this guy is and what he's done. He
Speaker 1: needs the franchise tag because one more year to show
Speaker 1: because you know, it's scary because contract years usually get
Speaker 1: give people their best year. And you know, if he's
Speaker 1: got all this money, I don't, I don't know. I mean,
Speaker 1: is he is he gonna be on the field on
Speaker 1: fourth and eight in the biggest game of the season
Speaker 1: because that was a contract year. Yeah, I mean, I'm
Speaker 1: just saying, And I know people are scared in this building.
Speaker 1: They're scared to give him that much money because they
Speaker 1: don't really know what he's thinking. Sometimes. See I don't
Speaker 1: I could I could find The flip side of that, though,
Speaker 1: is because he's clearly not purely motivated by money. Like
Speaker 1: he said it eighty five times in the build up
Speaker 1: to last season. He's like, that'll take care of itself.
Speaker 1: He's like, I'm making more than enough. On the fifth
Speaker 1: year of my deal. Like he said that, how often
Speaker 1: do you hear that from football players? Where he's like,
Speaker 1: they're paying me thirteen million, that's plenty. I'm not worried
Speaker 1: about it. Nobody's ever said that. Uh. And and you know,
Speaker 1: he had a few bad, really bad moments fourth and
Speaker 1: eight against the Eagles. You know, not to knock the
Speaker 1: guy for being hurt, but the Jets game was bizarre.
Speaker 1: Ye for him to do that stuff during a contract
Speaker 1: at least, I'm just like, you know, like, well, Amari's
Speaker 1: a Mari regardless. You know, he's not putting on a
Speaker 1: front because he wants more money. And by the way,
Speaker 1: this these are the kinds of things that people said
Speaker 1: about him in Oakland, Like, these are the kinds of
Speaker 1: things that have haunted him, if you want to call
Speaker 1: it that, since he's been in the NFL. So I
Speaker 1: don't know that that's going to necessarily change. He's not
Speaker 1: going to turn around tomorrow and become des mentality, right,
Speaker 1: that's just not I can't I can't imagine was here
Speaker 1: and helped him. We'll get to that go ahead. I
Speaker 1: can't imagine him becoming a vastly different person because he
Speaker 1: got a second contract. I agree with it, M but
Speaker 1: I do. If I could plan this thing out like perfectly,
Speaker 1: just get a deal done with Dak by next Thursday
Speaker 1: at whatever time, probably three that's usually the deadline, and
Speaker 1: then tag Amary. That shouldn't be hard. We already told
Speaker 1: them how to like just it's so simple. They should
Speaker 1: have already gotten three text message from all three of
Speaker 1: you upstairs saying, oh, yeah, the break is it. We
Speaker 1: should go ahead and do this deal. Here's the framework, Stephen,
Speaker 1: do you go through dolivered? Is that bad? I don't know,
Speaker 1: but it was locked. It's it's absolutely fascinating to think
Speaker 1: what happens if something isn't agreed to by Thursday, because
Speaker 1: Dak will be tagged. Ya, we've Jerry Jones. The direct
Speaker 1: quote was he will I will not not have his
Speaker 1: rights for a single minute. And there's no doubt about
Speaker 1: who will be tagged if it comes to it. But
Speaker 1: if you tag Dak and I mean so you could
Speaker 1: tag them both next Thursday. But then if a CBA
Speaker 1: is agreed to, Amari Cooper said it for free agency,
Speaker 1: and that's scary, and I'm sure it doesn't. It might
Speaker 1: say this than the rules, can you can you move
Speaker 1: one tag to the other. Yeah. See, that's what I
Speaker 1: don't know either. If you should get a deal done
Speaker 1: with Dad, I think I don't. Well, but if you
Speaker 1: do that, do you risk the possibility of losing him?
Speaker 1: Well theoretically yes. I'm just saying, by that time you
Speaker 1: figure out which deal, can we get a deal done
Speaker 1: with quicker Marie or I will say this, This thought
Speaker 1: occurred to me too. And you know, I'm I'm always
Speaker 1: the guy that's like, well, they're they're gone in free
Speaker 1: agency and Amari Cooper is a fantastic player, and you
Speaker 1: would think somebody would offer him so much money that
Speaker 1: he would never come back. But we just spend a
Speaker 1: couple of minutes talking about how he's a different cat.
Speaker 1: So and he's mentioned many times how much he loves
Speaker 1: Dallas and he wants to be here. He could I
Speaker 1: could absolutely foresee him and hating free agency and just
Speaker 1: being like, no, I'm cool with with Like, me and
Speaker 1: Dallas are gonna work something out, Like that's not crazy,
Speaker 1: all right, So we're gonna take our first break when
Speaker 1: we come back, we got a lot more to hit.
Speaker 1: It hit. We're gonna talk about Jason Witten as Bryant
Speaker 1: Robert Quinn, Byron Jones, and Layton Vanderish. Jerry has some
Speaker 1: interesting thoughts there. We'll do that. Woman, come right back.
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Speaker 1: Back to the break, Welcome back. It is the second
Speaker 1: segment of The Break Live from the s WBC Mortgage
Speaker 1: studios at the Star. We're talking about Jerry's conversation last
Speaker 1: week with the media. There were so many little nuggets
Speaker 1: that he dropped in that we're going through and we're
Speaker 1: gonna talk about all those different nuggets. Let's start now
Speaker 1: with the conversation he had about Jason Witten. Jerry says
Speaker 1: he wants him back, he thinks he can still play,
Speaker 1: but he wants him at a different role. Talking about
Speaker 1: what would you think that means, and if you think
Speaker 1: that's something that Jason Witten would accommodate, it sounds like
Speaker 1: he's just, you know, he's gonna be He's not going
Speaker 1: to be a starter. That's what it seems like. I mean,
Speaker 1: you have to read between the lines there, but you know,
Speaker 1: it just it's not really adding up. Ken wish people
Speaker 1: would just say it, but they're not. I mean McCarthy
Speaker 1: didn't say it, and he didn't. Jerry just said, we think,
Speaker 1: you know, I still think he can play, and I
Speaker 1: don't want to him to play anywhere else, and Jason
Speaker 1: said he wants to play. So it was like, well,
Speaker 1: credit like it was great. Like Nick followed the script
Speaker 1: right from the break, like literally, Jerry said, I think
Speaker 1: he can still play. He wants to play, and it
Speaker 1: would be a shame if he played for anybody else.
Speaker 1: And Nick was like, well, you own the team, so
Speaker 1: say that he was. He was like, well, if all
Speaker 1: of that stuff is true, then why isn't he back?
Speaker 1: I said, you want him back? Jason wants to beat back.
Speaker 1: What's the hold up? Did you have Jason speed? Uh?
Speaker 1: Now I'm talking Before that, Jason was on speaker phone
Speaker 1: in his pocket and its like and then he said
Speaker 1: McCarthy's name, but he didn't really say that he was
Speaker 1: the hold up. He basically said, Jason is the hold up.
Speaker 1: Jason has to realize he has to accept this role.
Speaker 1: That's so essentially he has to accept the pot He
Speaker 1: has to accept the role of being a backup and
Speaker 1: not a starter. Yeah, that's the first time in sixteen years.
Speaker 1: Because that's the question, do you think Jason will accept
Speaker 1: that kind of role? See, no, I think I think
Speaker 1: the problem. I don't know if this is a problem. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I guess it is because you kind of you know,
Speaker 1: self awareness is always a problem in anything in life,
Speaker 1: and I think that you know, Jason could probably tell
Speaker 1: the listen, I'll sign this, but after the end of
Speaker 1: training camp, if I'm not better than Blake Jarwin or
Speaker 1: whoever you know, you should you should play the best guy.
Speaker 1: And even if it's clear to everyone in the world
Speaker 1: that Blake Jarwin is better, it won't be to Jason
Speaker 1: and that, you know, I think it was to Antonio Gates.
Speaker 1: Gates knew that this guy's better, Henry's better. I'll just
Speaker 1: kind of do my thing whatever, and Gates I asks,
Speaker 1: what's fine with that? I don't think Whitten will be
Speaker 1: fine with that, and I don't think he'll see it
Speaker 1: the same way. But the only thing I wonder if
Speaker 1: he would is he's made it quite clear that whenever
Speaker 1: he has done playing, he wants to get into coaching.
Speaker 1: So I'm wondering if this is kind of an entryway
Speaker 1: into being. I mean, he already is like a mentor
Speaker 1: in the role model and a leader in that locker
Speaker 1: room and to the tight ends and other positions. But
Speaker 1: I wonder if he could see this as like this
Speaker 1: could be a learning opportunity for me about getting ready
Speaker 1: to kind of being. And I'm not one hundred percent
Speaker 1: sure the door has been closed on him coaching this year.
Speaker 1: I don't think that's off the table yet. I still
Speaker 1: think they're just evaluating everything. It wouldn't surprise me. Well,
Speaker 1: I would surprise me, but it's not gonna be a
Speaker 1: shock if he is on the coaching staff this year. Well,
Speaker 1: some of the things I've heard you and I've had
Speaker 1: some talks about, some talks some other people who are
Speaker 1: close to Jason, it doesn't seem to me like he's
Speaker 1: looking for learning opportunities to become a coach. Like it
Speaker 1: looks like to me when he's going to be a coach,
Speaker 1: he wants to go in and be a coach like
Speaker 1: and we're talking about it, and I don't want to
Speaker 1: be a you know, an offensive assistant like he wants
Speaker 1: to be. You're saying when he goes to Disney World,
Speaker 1: he gets the fast path. That's exactly right. That's my
Speaker 1: expectation with what he wants. Yeah, based upon the conversations
Speaker 1: I've had with different people. So you know, again, I
Speaker 1: don't know that. I don't know that this worked. Just
Speaker 1: based on everything you guys are saying and what you
Speaker 1: thought you were hearing from Jerry, I don't know if
Speaker 1: this works. I've never seen Jason in a situation where
Speaker 1: he was willing to do that, where he was willing
Speaker 1: to take a lesser than role, like he was willing
Speaker 1: to not be the guy. And so if if that's
Speaker 1: what the expectation is going in like they haven't even
Speaker 1: played a down in the OTAs if that's his if
Speaker 1: that's the expectation going and you're going to be a backup,
Speaker 1: I don't know that he'd be willing to sign up
Speaker 1: for that. I mean, we'll see, but I don't know
Speaker 1: that he'd be willing to sign Maybe they sign him
Speaker 1: for another one year and it's you battle through training camp.
Speaker 1: But then again, if he's not the starter, I don't
Speaker 1: I don't know what the repercussions of that are. I
Speaker 1: just don't see the point at all. And I've I
Speaker 1: think I said this last time we were all here,
Speaker 1: is like we're having a five minute conversation about a
Speaker 1: guy who would be the backup tight end, Like even
Speaker 1: we'd get into the weeds with cowboys and even we
Speaker 1: don't do that, ye, Like we've never spent more than
Speaker 1: like thirty seconds at a time talking about Dalton Schultz,
Speaker 1: so or should we or would win and so he's
Speaker 1: been on the field case, and so I just if
Speaker 1: if this is what it's going to be, and he's
Speaker 1: not going to come back to be the starter, which
Speaker 1: it does not appear to be the case, Nor do
Speaker 1: I think it should be just just flip the page.
Speaker 1: That's my personal that's easy to say. But there's a
Speaker 1: mural over there, and that part of the building man
Speaker 1: sits up there. It's I don't know, maybe about not
Speaker 1: thy high. I just don't you know. That's that's why
Speaker 1: this whole discussion is even being had. But and and
Speaker 1: that is also why you know, when you say, flip
Speaker 1: the page, whose book is it? Is it Jerry's book
Speaker 1: or is this McCarthy's book, you know, because I think
Speaker 1: that I think there's some I think there's something there
Speaker 1: that that, you know, could he be detrimental to the
Speaker 1: team to what the message that they're trying to do?
Speaker 1: You know, does he really want to clean slighter? Do
Speaker 1: you want a guy in here that's kind of kind
Speaker 1: of wanted your job? You know, he wanted to be
Speaker 1: the head coach of the Cowboys. So I think those
Speaker 1: were things McCarthy has to kind of factor into all this.
Speaker 1: I'm not saying Jason would be bad. I mean, I
Speaker 1: think he's great. I don't think he'd be bad for
Speaker 1: the locker room or anything like that. But I think
Speaker 1: if you're trying to send a message in your own message,
Speaker 1: maybe you want a bunch of fresh voices and not
Speaker 1: a guy that's been here. That's why I could see
Speaker 1: why McCarthy would say I don't want one of the
Speaker 1: greatest tight ends to ever play the game, outside of
Speaker 1: the fact that he just may think honestly, like there's
Speaker 1: a better tight end there. That may be the truth.
Speaker 1: Here's another part of this factor too, when you look
Speaker 1: at the Packers teams. He's done a lot of different
Speaker 1: things so when he was with the Packers, but a
Speaker 1: lot of those tight ends were really athletic. They were
Speaker 1: athletic type guys. And I think he looks at it
Speaker 1: like I don't need that complete tight end because I
Speaker 1: got a fullback that plays a lot more so, you know,
Speaker 1: he doesn't have a finesse fullback like the Cowboys have
Speaker 1: a finesse Ola Wally type fullback. So that might be
Speaker 1: your difference there is that I want. I want athletic
Speaker 1: tight ends, and I want, really if I'm need someone
Speaker 1: to wham the nose, it'll be a fullback. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: wonder too, Wit and said it his award ceremony. They'll
Speaker 1: talk about this after the combine. Well it's after the combine.
Speaker 1: Maybe they'll wait and see what they can accomplish beforehand,
Speaker 1: you know, free agency, trying something in free agency, maybe
Speaker 1: look at the draft and if the positions not any
Speaker 1: better in late April, maybe you give him a call.
Speaker 1: Because there's no rush for Jason whatsoever. You think he
Speaker 1: would play somewhere else if they don't come to an agreement.
Speaker 1: I think Jason's one of those guys that loves football,
Speaker 1: and so I don't think he would ever want to
Speaker 1: necessarily do it. But I think if his hand was
Speaker 1: forced where it's like either you take this or nothing,
Speaker 1: and he felt like that wasn't the right move for him.
Speaker 1: And by the way, there was another team where they
Speaker 1: were like, you know, we'll bring you in and we'll
Speaker 1: let you let you be that starting guy. You know,
Speaker 1: we think we could value your experience, and our tight
Speaker 1: end position doesn't have much there. I think Jason would consider,
Speaker 1: especially if it's a team that has a shot at
Speaker 1: winning a championship, because remember, remember you only get Once
Speaker 1: your career is done, you can't go back and get
Speaker 1: a championship. You can have all the accolades in the world,
Speaker 1: but you'll be that guy that when all the other
Speaker 1: Hall of Famers are there together and they all have
Speaker 1: on their rings, you'll be the guy with only your
Speaker 1: wedding band on. So I'm just saying, like that matters
Speaker 1: to guys. I think it matters a lot to those
Speaker 1: those caliber football players. Gotta be a meaningful role. Doesn't
Speaker 1: necessarily have to be the starter, but it's got to
Speaker 1: be a meaningful role, and it's got to be a
Speaker 1: team that's got a chance to do something, a real chance.
Speaker 1: How long is that list? What's meaningful to you? Then
Speaker 1: if he's not starting, like like, you know, being on
Speaker 1: the field for at least thirty percent of the snaps,
Speaker 1: having a chance to catch play in the red zone, yeah,
Speaker 1: having a chance to catch twenty to forty balls, have
Speaker 1: an opportunity to score some touchdowns, contribute to wins. I mean, yeah,
Speaker 1: I think you would take a backup role with Kansas
Speaker 1: City or San Francisco. Yes, but do they want like
Speaker 1: they get that, I get that. I'm just saying, do
Speaker 1: you think that winning a championship is that important to him?
Speaker 1: Where he would say, I'll take a team like Kansas
Speaker 1: City where I feel like they can be in the
Speaker 1: championship every game every year, and I know they got
Speaker 1: to solidify tight in, but I can be his backup
Speaker 1: and I feel like it'll get me a champion. See.
Speaker 1: That's kind of my point though, is yes, I do
Speaker 1: think he would take that, but I don't think that
Speaker 1: role exists on the Kansas City Chiefs because he's Kelsey's
Speaker 1: not coming off the field in the red zone for
Speaker 1: Jason Witten, and neither's George Kittle. So again, gotta be
Speaker 1: a meaningful role. I don't see that in San Francisco
Speaker 1: or Kansas City. Gotta be a team that could win.
Speaker 1: You know, jeez, this is I shouldn't even say this
Speaker 1: out loud, But like New England, if like if New
Speaker 1: England wanted him to go in there and be one
Speaker 1: of their five tight ends, assuming Tom Brady's still there,
Speaker 1: I think he probably go for that. Yeah, but I
Speaker 1: just don't think the list is very long, and people
Speaker 1: are gonna say the Giants all day long. Are they contenders?
Speaker 1: First of all, how much is he gonna get on
Speaker 1: the field behind Evan Ingram and also are they going
Speaker 1: to be any good? So I just think you're probably
Speaker 1: talking about two or three teams Max where he would
Speaker 1: be interested in pursuing that opportunity. All right, let's go
Speaker 1: on to the next topic, Dez Bryant. Jarry says that
Speaker 1: he has not dismissed the possibility of bringing back this
Speaker 1: as he thinks about it often in the shower. And so,
Speaker 1: what do you think you think Dez is a possibility
Speaker 1: to show back up with the Dallas Cowboys. I do.
Speaker 1: I think, at least through camp. I think you give
Speaker 1: him a shot. No, no, no, no, that wasn't my question.
Speaker 1: Oh on the roster, No no, no. My question is
Speaker 1: do you think he has a real shot of the
Speaker 1: Cowboys bringing him back? That's what she's saying. She says
Speaker 1: he thinks he should come back now a chance. I
Speaker 1: think he has a chance. I think they get him
Speaker 1: a workout, and I think you see if he still
Speaker 1: has it. I think some of that too, is kind
Speaker 1: of the combination of Jason Winn and going back to
Speaker 1: a Mari of if they sign a Mari and they
Speaker 1: want him are to be their guy, and they're still
Speaker 1: liking what they're seeing for Michael gallup in the growth
Speaker 1: that he's making. What kind of role is Dez going
Speaker 1: to have and is he going to be okay with
Speaker 1: that role? Of they get a Mari and a maris
Speaker 1: that go to guy or I think it'll depend on that.
Speaker 1: But I mean, he seems to be in shape. He's
Speaker 1: very adamant about wanting to get back in the league,
Speaker 1: wanting to play for the Cowboys. I don't see why
Speaker 1: you wouldn't at least bring him in for a workout
Speaker 1: and see what he can do. He's right here, he's
Speaker 1: at the Start working out right in the facility next door. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you want to jump on this first, I don't. I
Speaker 1: just okay, I'll do it. I just wanted to make
Speaker 1: sure I wasn't cutting off go ahead. First of all.
Speaker 1: I want to stand up for the boss real quick,
Speaker 1: because the shower comment it's classic Jerry, and of course
Speaker 1: it wentn't but it wasn't meant like that, right. I
Speaker 1: do all of my deepest thinking and problem solving in
Speaker 1: the shower, Like that's where I try to tackle some
Speaker 1: the stresses of my life. So I understand what Jerry
Speaker 1: meant there, and I don't think it was meant in
Speaker 1: any kind of weird way. A right, I don't think.
Speaker 1: I don't think. I think everybody knows that. I think
Speaker 1: it's just fun when we go to break I have
Speaker 1: a theory on that that I think people need to
Speaker 1: be careful when they when they start saying that kind
Speaker 1: of stuff and they kind of insinuating that that that
Speaker 1: he was meaning something anything else than what it was.
Speaker 1: I mean, like he said, that's when you're you're thinking, yeah. Honestly,
Speaker 1: I don't think anybody was seriously do it's just fun, Like,
Speaker 1: it's just fun classic, it's just classical. It would be
Speaker 1: on the cocktail Napkins at his Hall of Fame already
Speaker 1: is because he said, Troy Aitman one of those guys
Speaker 1: that looks good in the shower right now, that's probably
Speaker 1: worse than it is. I would think so, yeah, I
Speaker 1: would think, so he's the best. Do you want back
Speaker 1: on the team? It's not about what I want. Here's
Speaker 1: what we're gonna get to that question. The question is
Speaker 1: do you think the Cowboys will have him back? I
Speaker 1: have a couple of thoughts. Jerry hasn't dismissed it, and
Speaker 1: I mean it starts with Jerry, so if he wants it,
Speaker 1: he can make it happen. But I think the people
Speaker 1: that are closer to the minutia of these things are like,
Speaker 1: they have taken a look at this and they're like,
Speaker 1: I don't think so. But then also, where is really
Speaker 1: the fit for this right now? And we don't know
Speaker 1: for sure what's going to happen with Amari. It sounds
Speaker 1: like it sounds for all the world like they want
Speaker 1: Randall cop back, but that's not written in stone either,
Speaker 1: But like, where is it after you got those three?
Speaker 1: There's eight million good wide receivers in this draft. I
Speaker 1: just don't see the use for a thirty two year
Speaker 1: old receiver coming off and achilles injury who's not going
Speaker 1: to play special teams. And by the way, we've talked
Speaker 1: about how much more of a priority they want to
Speaker 1: make that this year. That was their problem. Last year
Speaker 1: they had about eight guys veterans who have highly specified
Speaker 1: roles who don't play special teams. So what you're telling
Speaker 1: me is like the special teams suffer. They were awful,
Speaker 1: and everybody wanted to be wondering why special teams so bad?
Speaker 1: But that's part of it. I mean, that's part of it, right,
Speaker 1: a lot of guys that weren't on special And again,
Speaker 1: and I love Dez so much. He was He was
Speaker 1: probably my favorite player to cover during the time that
Speaker 1: he was here. Really absolutely you never knew what he
Speaker 1: was gonna say, and he would like he was very
Speaker 1: he was friendly and electric and you just it felt
Speaker 1: fun being around him all the time. And he also
Speaker 1: especially a training camp, he made practice fun. He did,
Speaker 1: you know, he made it like this is kind of boring,
Speaker 1: it won't be as practice and playing well and all that.
Speaker 1: He was like, oh, Michael Irvin. Then what you heard
Speaker 1: of Michael Irvin and what he was to them in
Speaker 1: the nineties when it came to practice time. And I
Speaker 1: never bought the theory that he was like this crazy distraction.
Speaker 1: I like, we've covered that, we've beaten it into the
Speaker 1: ground more times than we can. But it doesn't sound
Speaker 1: like a super big positive to me to have the
Speaker 1: most visible fourth receiver in the NFL. I just like
Speaker 1: a guy, you know, he's active on Twitter. He is
Speaker 1: capable of, you know, commanding the news cycle with what
Speaker 1: he says, and that just seems a little wild to
Speaker 1: me for a guy who you're hoping is going to
Speaker 1: play like eight to twelve snaps a game and just
Speaker 1: have a very limited role in your offense. I can't
Speaker 1: see how anybody and you didn't do that, But anybody
Speaker 1: that would say, on one hand, I don't think they
Speaker 1: need to bring back Witten, but then they would bring
Speaker 1: back des I just feel like it's it's very similar
Speaker 1: to declining players, you know that are now not going
Speaker 1: to be the forefront of things, And is there a
Speaker 1: chance that because they're so used to a certain role
Speaker 1: that they may not be great accepting a different role,
Speaker 1: and which I mean de Dez came out and said,
Speaker 1: he's like, all I want is like the role that
Speaker 1: Witten had is you know, I'll take a backseat. I
Speaker 1: can come in in the red zone. I can do this,
Speaker 1: I can do that. I get that, But like in
Speaker 1: the end, it's a young man's game, Like why wouldn't
Speaker 1: I just go draft Devin DuVernay, a badass who runs
Speaker 1: a four three nine out of Texas Kim take he
Speaker 1: can be my slot guy, slash jet sweep, slash, gadget
Speaker 1: slash or whatever, and I'm paying him six hundred thousand
Speaker 1: a year for four years as opposed to whatever one
Speaker 1: year vet sweetheart deal I gotta do with Dez. I
Speaker 1: just it just doesn't seem like pragmatic roster building to me.
Speaker 1: People love that storyline already with McCarthy about the catch
Speaker 1: no Catch game when he was still with the Packers.
Speaker 1: Can you imagine the question if they brought death back,
Speaker 1: which and that kind of goes to my point is like,
Speaker 1: how many fourth receivers in the league would have an
Speaker 1: eighty person press gaggle at their locker the first day
Speaker 1: they were available? Like yeah, and it's not like Dez.
Speaker 1: It wouldn't not like this like malevolent, like toxic situation.
Speaker 1: But it's just like, for lack of a better word,
Speaker 1: it's like a distraction you don't need. You're just like, why,
Speaker 1: like your fourth receiver should not be like the second
Speaker 1: most famous person on your team. That's that's strange to me.
Speaker 1: So take me back a little bit and the fit
Speaker 1: for the sake of the listeners, take me back to
Speaker 1: when the Cowboys made the decision to let him go.
Speaker 1: What was the reason why they decided? What do you
Speaker 1: guys think were the major reasons why they let him
Speaker 1: go when they did? And let's put in that as
Speaker 1: a caveat that they let him go when they really
Speaker 1: didn't have a replacement option, Like they went into that
Speaker 1: next year saying we're gonna do a by committee and
Speaker 1: we're not gonna have really a number one guy, Like
Speaker 1: we're just gonna have guys. We're gonna have some guys.
Speaker 1: So for them to be willing to say we're gonna
Speaker 1: move away from him for this other just kind of
Speaker 1: blob Why would they do that? Dak Prescott, they wanted
Speaker 1: things to be Dak friendly and they need Dak is
Speaker 1: a guy that he's not. He's not the most accurate
Speaker 1: down the field passer. We know that he's really good
Speaker 1: at a lot of things, but he needs a guy
Speaker 1: that can run routes. Okay, and amarn Cooper can run
Speaker 1: route I mean, and Cobb can run They run routes,
Speaker 1: and Gallup is getting there too. He's really good at it.
Speaker 1: That's never been a strong thing for for Dez, and
Speaker 1: so I think there was too many times that you
Speaker 1: were trying to force the ball. And when he was
Speaker 1: younger twenty five, six, twenty seven, he could just out
Speaker 1: Dez you I'm just gonna go up and catch the
Speaker 1: ball because I'm better than you, he didn't do that anymore.
Speaker 1: Now you need to be a route runner. It's working
Speaker 1: for Larry Fitzgerald because he can run a route and
Speaker 1: he can still do that, and Jason Witten sort of
Speaker 1: got by doing it as well. So now you just
Speaker 1: have this freelancer guy that's the climbing and he's also
Speaker 1: pouting when he catches one ball for nine yards and
Speaker 1: a loss. It's not Dak friendly, and I think that's
Speaker 1: why they moved on. So that being said, and the
Speaker 1: eight million they say, I'm gonna say that's also bloated contract,
Speaker 1: diminishing returns a game that relies mainly on athleticism more
Speaker 1: so than being a technician. And then on top, like
Speaker 1: all the stuff that made him charming when he was
Speaker 1: in All Pro becomes problematic, Like you skipped your MRI
Speaker 1: because you were afraid of what I would say, you're
Speaker 1: late for meetings this like we kind of like we're
Speaker 1: worrying about you more than we want to. Like it's
Speaker 1: charming when you're catching sixteen touchdowns. It's not charming when
Speaker 1: you're catching six and catching one pass for nine yards
Speaker 1: and stressing out the quarterback and all that type of stuff.
Speaker 1: And I also feel like there were times where, you know,
Speaker 1: games where he didn't have a lot of catches. One
Speaker 1: game and there are a lot of even you know, targets,
Speaker 1: and then he would say something and then the next game,
Speaker 1: surprisingly deck with those fourteen balls to him, but he
Speaker 1: only caught like five, and you know, it was forcing it,
Speaker 1: just because I think there was times that just felt
Speaker 1: like he had to get him the ball. Whether he
Speaker 1: said that it or not, that would happen. So I
Speaker 1: just thought, you know, overall, you know, and the Cowboys
Speaker 1: made him too, because they thought that their offense would
Speaker 1: be fine without a lead receiver and it wasn't. And
Speaker 1: they fixed it but with Cooper, but they did. It
Speaker 1: was Smigo going on there over We don't we don't
Speaker 1: need a guy like this. It's always interesting to me
Speaker 1: that he's been so open about wanting to come back
Speaker 1: to the Cowboys after like a breakup like that. Well,
Speaker 1: but also we've documentaries on thirty for thirty on guys
Speaker 1: you know, like, well he might need money. I don't
Speaker 1: want to complete like we don't know, and I don't know.
Speaker 1: I think guys get out sometimes and they realize you
Speaker 1: talked about it earlier about self awareness, you think everybody
Speaker 1: will want me, so go ahead and release me. I'll
Speaker 1: be fine. And then you get out there and you're like, huh,
Speaker 1: this market's not as lucrative as I thought it was,
Speaker 1: not as many teams see me as how as highly
Speaker 1: valued as I see myself. Right, So all those things
Speaker 1: start to factor in. And now, especially after having you know,
Speaker 1: sitting out the time he set out getting signed, and
Speaker 1: then having an achilles injury, now having to work from
Speaker 1: that back from that Achilles injury, right now, he's probably
Speaker 1: having to really push to get anything to take him
Speaker 1: seriously because of his age and because of his injury. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and he's also putting stuff out on social media and
Speaker 1: they say that phrase tape don't lie, It doesn't and
Speaker 1: I agree with it. And this will go full circle
Speaker 1: on the whole thing what Jerry said. I was also
Speaker 1: told later that day Jerry hasn't seen those videos. He hasn't.
Speaker 1: He just knows Deaz as he knows Deaz. I think
Speaker 1: the people that are in the building have seen it
Speaker 1: and they think this isn't really. I think fans look
Speaker 1: at that and they're like, oh my god, is this
Speaker 1: And as I was looking at I actually called a
Speaker 1: friend of mine who used to do scouting type stuff,
Speaker 1: and he's like, yeah, I'm not so convinced that he's
Speaker 1: in shape now. Shouldn't say in shape that he's actually
Speaker 1: better than he was before. And I don't think he's
Speaker 1: even close to where he was before. And by the way,
Speaker 1: and by the way, he never was a great route runner,
Speaker 1: like he never was at the height of his career.
Speaker 1: He wasn't a great route and beating his Twitter followers,
Speaker 1: isn't there something? I mean, did I dream that maybe
Speaker 1: he's beating his time? Thought? I saw where guys have
Speaker 1: like called him out and said like, hey, I could
Speaker 1: beat you. So they go up there. So the people
Speaker 1: that are actually the people that are covering him are fans,
Speaker 1: are fans covering There was a guy that called him
Speaker 1: out and then they went and he I mean he
Speaker 1: did abuse him like four or five times. Yeah, but
Speaker 1: she was probably in like high school or tis. I
Speaker 1: don't know, I don't know. But then of course you
Speaker 1: got to destroy them. I actually I asked Jerry, I
Speaker 1: was like, you know, the sort of toxic nature of
Speaker 1: the breakup, didn't that sour you? Like do you think it?
Speaker 1: Could you feel fine with that, and it was a
Speaker 1: great answer. He was, you know, he's like I, it
Speaker 1: wasn't that way for me. Me and Des are cool.
Speaker 1: But he also he ended it by saying, like the
Speaker 1: best of Des is the way that I remember him, right,
Speaker 1: And I think there are people further down the line
Speaker 1: who know what he is right now, and that is
Speaker 1: not There is not a more Jerry statement than that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: because any of Jerry's former players, Jerry believes the best
Speaker 1: in them. It's the reason why we see so many
Speaker 1: players around this building, not players, former players who are
Speaker 1: still around this building. A lot of them had questionable
Speaker 1: moments in their lives and he still has them around
Speaker 1: this building and around this organization because Jerry believes the
Speaker 1: best in this place. Also why the team struggled so
Speaker 1: bad at the late nineties and in the early two thousands,
Speaker 1: because he was given contracts to players for what they
Speaker 1: had done and not what they would do. And by
Speaker 1: the way, going into that number, I remember in two
Speaker 1: thousands the salary cap was sixty three million dollars because
Speaker 1: twenty one of it was dead money, and that was
Speaker 1: Dave Campbell's first season. Good luck Dave. Sixty three millions
Speaker 1: of the keys, buddy. Yeah, all right, in twenty years,
Speaker 1: it's gonna be what I mean, it's it's tooth, it's
Speaker 1: too something right now. But if the new CBA goes through,
Speaker 1: it's gonna jump into the fours and fives and this
Speaker 1: twenty years crazy. But I've been here long enough to
Speaker 1: know better than no mine neither really can we get
Speaker 1: we can do some work on that. Well mine did,
Speaker 1: I didn't know. I've been here long enough to know
Speaker 1: not to completely rule anything out, huh, but I do.
Speaker 1: I don't think that that's happening with Dez. I just don't. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I can't see I honestly can't see it at I
Speaker 1: think that this is a typical Jerry's gonna always believe
Speaker 1: the best about his players, and then that was what
Speaker 1: he was, that was the frame of reference that he
Speaker 1: was speaking when he when he had the glowing things
Speaker 1: to say about him. But I just I'll be shocked, honestly,
Speaker 1: I will be shocked if if Dez is on a
Speaker 1: roster in the NFL when the season begins, Um, I
Speaker 1: think his best shot will be season begins, get into
Speaker 1: the season, team has crazy injuries at wide receiver, and
Speaker 1: they say, hey, let's give it a shot, same way
Speaker 1: it happened with the Saints a few years ago. He
Speaker 1: kind of just have to wait and see how that
Speaker 1: plays out, and then he may get an opportunity there.
Speaker 1: All right, let's take our final break. We'll come back.
Speaker 1: We've got to talk about Byron Jones and his contract
Speaker 1: will do when we come right back. This is Dallas
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Speaker 1: for zero dollars down Based on GWS one score, September
Speaker 1: twenty nineteen, Back to the Break, Welcome back at his
Speaker 1: the final segment of The Break live from the s
Speaker 1: WBC Mortgage studios at the Star, Let's jump right into
Speaker 1: Byron Jones. Jerry Jones said during his time with the
Speaker 1: media last week that there will be challenges in bringing
Speaker 1: back Byron Jones again, nothing that we didn't know. What
Speaker 1: are your thoughts on where they stand with Byron Jones.
Speaker 1: I think we all kind of know it's probably not
Speaker 1: going to happen, right, Yeah. I think that I just
Speaker 1: don't feel like the Cowboys think that he is going
Speaker 1: to be worth what other teams do you know? And
Speaker 1: that's wow, I'm breaking news there. That's exactly That's what
Speaker 1: free agency is. You know. They just don't feel like
Speaker 1: they get It's not that they don't want them. I
Speaker 1: just I think they value interceptions more than that. And
Speaker 1: it's what sounds like when we when we got to
Speaker 1: talk to um oh Man defensive coordinator Mike Nolan. Nolan,
Speaker 1: you know, I just I feel like it's not they
Speaker 1: don't value him as high as as maybe the market will.
Speaker 1: So it's too many free agents, not enough money. I
Speaker 1: just it's interesting their thought process behind that decision because
Speaker 1: so many of their defensive backs are free agents, and
Speaker 1: not only that, but who's going to be your starter?
Speaker 1: I mean, like, do you trust Cheetoh after the way
Speaker 1: he played last year or Jordan Lewis. I just I
Speaker 1: guess maybe they have their eye on people to go
Speaker 1: after and free agency or maybe the draft that was
Speaker 1: just an interesting I'm like, well, they must have some
Speaker 1: plan if they aren't very hopeful of bringing back Byron.
Speaker 1: I just I guess I don't know how confident I
Speaker 1: am of what we have right now for what the
Speaker 1: future likelyholds. I'm gonna pick up the mantle for Cowboys
Speaker 1: Twitter because this is a debate that's been raging and
Speaker 1: I don't know where I come down on it, because
Speaker 1: it's tricky. I think you're making a grave mistake if
Speaker 1: you measure Byron Jones purely by the amount of interceptions
Speaker 1: that he gets. Because Bob Sturm all credit to him,
Speaker 1: he found the stat among cornerbacks that were targeted fifty
Speaker 1: times or more last year, only Richard Sherman gave up
Speaker 1: fewer passing yards. Byron Jones is credited with allowing I
Speaker 1: believe three hundred and twenty nine passing yards on plays
Speaker 1: where he was targeted. That's crazy, and there's something to
Speaker 1: be said for No, he doesn't get picks, but he
Speaker 1: also doesn't give up a ton of big plays or
Speaker 1: big gains. And he's just reliably there, hasn't dealt with
Speaker 1: a lot of injury issues, had a very good season
Speaker 1: considering he did not have an off season or a
Speaker 1: training camp at all. I don't think that gets talked
Speaker 1: about enough. And on top of that, if the new
Speaker 1: CBA's approved and these salaries jumped the way that you're
Speaker 1: supposed to, why can't you sign all three of these guys?
Speaker 1: Like is there really not enough money or do they
Speaker 1: just really not value what Byron Jones process the table?
Speaker 1: And that's sorry not to cut you off, but I
Speaker 1: think that's something that teams do all the time, where
Speaker 1: they're like, well, we can't pay everybody. It's like, no,
Speaker 1: you can. You just don't think signing him is that important,
Speaker 1: and that's your right. But those are two different things.
Speaker 1: I want to see what do they do with the money,
Speaker 1: because if they go out in free agency and they
Speaker 1: go sign Chris Harris, let's say then I'm gonna say
Speaker 1: they Basically what they said was, if we're gonna pay
Speaker 1: top dollar, we want somebody with a better, true, proven
Speaker 1: track record. Right that I'm okay with that. If they
Speaker 1: don't sign anybody, if they just sign Anthony Brown and
Speaker 1: they say, hey, we're gonna roll this out and we're
Speaker 1: gonna see how this works with Anthony Brown and Cheeto
Speaker 1: in the draft pick and the draft pick, but beend
Speaker 1: on where that draft picks. Ye know, if we're gonna
Speaker 1: make that your top draft pick and he is a
Speaker 1: and he turns out to be a really good player,
Speaker 1: then to me, then to me, I feel again, I
Speaker 1: feel great about it because what they said was, hey,
Speaker 1: we think Byron Jones a good player, but for that
Speaker 1: level of money, we think we can get comparable services
Speaker 1: for less. Right, And that's where I want to see
Speaker 1: what they do with the money and what they do
Speaker 1: this off season. That'll let me know whether this was
Speaker 1: a well, whether I agree with the thought process behind you.
Speaker 1: I'm completely with you, because that's I said that on Twitter.
Speaker 1: Is at the end of the day, I'm okay letting
Speaker 1: Byron walk because I have optimism that they will do
Speaker 1: something meaningful with the money. That money helps you bring
Speaker 1: back Robert Quinn ideal like, and this is ideal, Well,
Speaker 1: it helps you bring back Randall Cobb for stuff that
Speaker 1: as well, But then I would hope some of that
Speaker 1: money goes toward a good defensive tackle, not you know,
Speaker 1: not Stephen Paya from a few years ago, you know,
Speaker 1: not Nolan Carroll at cornerback like, and it doesn't necessarily
Speaker 1: has to have to be Chris Harris because that could
Speaker 1: be a huge contract, but a guy who's who's done
Speaker 1: it before. Same thing with safety, There's there's nine million
Speaker 1: experienced safeties out there, from Haha, Clinton Dix to Rodney
Speaker 1: McLeod to Trey Boston. I know I'm forgetting a couple
Speaker 1: of guys, but there are options there. And if you're
Speaker 1: not going to bring back Byron Jones, that money could
Speaker 1: turn into probably four players who are good enough to
Speaker 1: start for you and like really start again. We're not
Speaker 1: talking about Nolan Carroll, like better free agents than what
Speaker 1: we've been used to. If you're gonna do that with
Speaker 1: the savings, let him walk, right, But if you're gonna
Speaker 1: let him walk and try to bargain hunt this thing
Speaker 1: and then shoehorn your seventeenth overall pick into starting right
Speaker 1: away at cornerback. I think that's a recipe for not
Speaker 1: being as good next year as you were last year.
Speaker 1: I agree, you know, I also throw this. I want
Speaker 1: to get your guys feedback on this. Obviously, Byron Jones
Speaker 1: did what he did? You threw out the numbers there
Speaker 1: of kind of how he performed this year. In spite
Speaker 1: of that, the Cowboys defense was what it was, which
Speaker 1: I don't think any of us agreed that that it
Speaker 1: was a good defense. Is this maybe a situation where
Speaker 1: the Cowboys say, for what he does, it still doesn't
Speaker 1: make a big impact on our defense. We really need
Speaker 1: a cornerback who can get his hands on more balls
Speaker 1: because otherwise, if we just have a guy that can basically,
Speaker 1: even if you say he can take away half the
Speaker 1: feel we still got so many other problems that our defense.
Speaker 1: We really don't get the benefit of having that guy
Speaker 1: on that side because it's not really leading to us
Speaker 1: having a good defense. What do you think about that?
Speaker 1: I still just can't figure out what happened with the defense.
Speaker 1: You know, it wasn't I mean, statistically it was up
Speaker 1: at the top, it was six or seventh in yards allowed.
Speaker 1: They just couldn't get many turnovers. They weren't even you know,
Speaker 1: they were kind of in the middle of the pack
Speaker 1: and turnovers. Their linebackers played well at times, but not
Speaker 1: as well as you thought they would play. They got
Speaker 1: some pass rush with a guy like Quinn, but not
Speaker 1: as much as you thought from you know, I just
Speaker 1: I still don't know. I can't put my finger on
Speaker 1: what happened there. But so I to answer your question, yeah,
Speaker 1: he's a good player, but I mean he didn't help
Speaker 1: the bottom line of the defense. So I agree with Dave.
Speaker 1: If you're not gonna, you know, if you're gonna just
Speaker 1: let him go and kind of like they did a
Speaker 1: few years ago at receiver and just think they can
Speaker 1: piece it together. It's not gonna work. However, I'll say this,
Speaker 1: he's moved, He's he can he can be coachable. We've
Speaker 1: seen that. I mean, he can go from safety to
Speaker 1: corner and make it an all pro. If you if
Speaker 1: you love these corners is al coaches Al Harris and
Speaker 1: Marissa Linquist, maybe you know, maybe they can help him
Speaker 1: be what they wanted, you know, what they want for
Speaker 1: a cornerback. I would like to see how scheme changes
Speaker 1: this stuff, because I just looked it up. Ironically, Brandon
Speaker 1: Carr didn't have any picks for Baltimore this year, but
Speaker 1: he had six in his first two years and that
Speaker 1: which you know, he couldn't get one to save his
Speaker 1: life the final two or three years he was here,
Speaker 1: he had like six the first couple of years, and
Speaker 1: when he was in Dallas, right, yeah, Well, I feel
Speaker 1: like he remember that big Pittsburgh game. I think it
Speaker 1: was that he had three. He had three each his
Speaker 1: first two seasons. Then right around the time the Marinelli
Speaker 1: scheme kicked into gear, he didn't dried up, which I
Speaker 1: don't mean to throw dirt on Rod Marinelli. He's I mean,
Speaker 1: he's a fantastic coach, but how much of it is
Speaker 1: scheme and how much of it his player? Like have
Speaker 1: the Cowboys really just not employed a cornerback who's capable
Speaker 1: of getting an interception for the last five years. I
Speaker 1: don't think I believe that. So I'd be curious to
Speaker 1: see what Byron would do somewhere else or here, what
Speaker 1: he could do here. It doesn't sound like he's going
Speaker 1: to be back. I think, you know, there was even
Speaker 1: a report that he thanked the Cowboys for helping him
Speaker 1: get to this point, it sounds like everybody's in agreement
Speaker 1: that he's going to move on, and I don't hate it,
Speaker 1: but I will hate it if they don't do something
Speaker 1: with the money that they're saving, because he's a damn
Speaker 1: good player. And to that point, I mean, I think
Speaker 1: when you bring that up that like, well, they were
Speaker 1: still a bad defense. Is like Patrick Peterson's been on
Speaker 1: a lot of bad teams. That doesn't make him I mean,
Speaker 1: he's worth the money, or you know, he's a declining
Speaker 1: player now he's getting older, but he's been one of
Speaker 1: the best in the league for like ten years. It's
Speaker 1: not his fault. He's on a bad team. And that
Speaker 1: all makes sense. I guess what I'm saying more is
Speaker 1: is it a situation where for our current constructed are
Speaker 1: currently constructed defense. He may be a really good player,
Speaker 1: but to pay him that much money means that we
Speaker 1: can't pay some other positions where we make the whole
Speaker 1: thing better, and we may need to say, hey, let's
Speaker 1: spend a little less there so that we can maybe
Speaker 1: get that defensive tackle, maybe get that safety, maybe get
Speaker 1: that game changing linebacker, whatever the case might be. What
Speaker 1: are the things that we're going to miss out on
Speaker 1: if we have to pay now a really a large contract,
Speaker 1: a maximum type contract to this cornerback position. I'm a
Speaker 1: thousand percent comfortable letting him walk if it means you're
Speaker 1: significantly upgrading safety, d tackle, bringing back Quinn, all that stuff, right,
Speaker 1: But it's on them to do it. They've been reluctant to.
Speaker 1: I mean, that hasn't been their mo for a while.
Speaker 1: But it also forces them to do what they don't like,
Speaker 1: and that's you've got to go into a draft, you know,
Speaker 1: probably needing a cornerback, and they probably they could have
Speaker 1: done that even if they resigned. Byron Jones, you still
Speaker 1: think in your first two days, you know, first three rounds,
Speaker 1: you're gonna probably need to get a corner because you
Speaker 1: got two next year that are free agent. But that's
Speaker 1: also where I look at what Dave was saying about
Speaker 1: those some of those other cornerbacks that are out there
Speaker 1: in the free agent market. I'd be looking at one
Speaker 1: of those guys, maybe not the top guy. Maybe it's
Speaker 1: not Chris Harris. Maybe it's one of those other guys
Speaker 1: that are a little farther down that I get him.
Speaker 1: I get you know, maybe you go back in on
Speaker 1: Anthony Brown. And now that gives you a little bit
Speaker 1: of wiggle room, and so you're not forced to take
Speaker 1: up to cornerback if it falls to you, great, but
Speaker 1: you're not forced to take a cornerback at a specific
Speaker 1: pick and repairing apples to apples in what way? Eli Apple? No?
Speaker 1: I think it's okay. It's interesting there are there are
Speaker 1: bridge cornerbacks here, Like I think Byron is like the
Speaker 1: only guy out here that screams, you know, five year
Speaker 1: mega deal because you're talking about Josh Norman talking okay.
Speaker 1: Chris Harris is another one that could get a good deal,
Speaker 1: but Logan right, his age will be a factor for him.
Speaker 1: I keep to leave Prince Amukamara like, these are all
Speaker 1: guys that you could sign to a two or three
Speaker 1: year deal to cover you. I hope Anthony Brown is
Speaker 1: in their plans. He is, Okay, I guarantee he is.
Speaker 1: And I've said this before. That is my pick for
Speaker 1: the first player signed ellen March eighteen. I can already
Speaker 1: see the tweets. You know that if you could get
Speaker 1: Anthony Brown back and then a bridge veteran Jimmy Smith
Speaker 1: from Baltimore's available. He's old, he's had injury issues older,
Speaker 1: I should say he's he's my age getting up. It's
Speaker 1: all relevant, But you're getting up Anthony Brown and a
Speaker 1: bridge veteran with a draft pick. It ain't gonna be
Speaker 1: a corner by the way. I can't, No, I can't.
Speaker 1: I can't run a four yard dash. Um, it wouldn't be.
Speaker 1: It wouldn't be. I would love us, never will ever. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, it wouldn't be the best cornerback group in
Speaker 1: the league. But I could feel all right about it,
Speaker 1: especially if Robert Quinn's there, and maybe you sign up
Speaker 1: good defensive tackle to help you anchor that down. And
Speaker 1: there's ways they can make it work. They just got
Speaker 1: to be willing to spend the money that they're not
Speaker 1: spending on Byron Jones. All right, we appreciate you guys.
Speaker 1: Join us. We're back next week. We'll have more talk
Speaker 1: for you guys here on the break till then. For
Speaker 1: Nick Even, Dave Hellman, Danny Serek. I am Derek Elton.
Speaker 1: This has been the Break live on Dallas Cowboys dot
Speaker 1: Com Radio. This has been a auction of Dallas Cowboys
Speaker 1: dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.