Speaker 1: The following is a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com
Speaker 1: and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club. 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, January twenty seven, twenty twenty one, Season sixteen,
Speaker 1: episode number ninety five. Welcome to the latest edition of
Speaker 1: The Break. We are live from the s WBC Mortgage
Speaker 1: studios at the Star. We are presented by Geico. I
Speaker 1: got Nick in here with me, I got Amber in
Speaker 1: here with me. David's still remote, so he probably feels
Speaker 1: a little left out, but it's it's feeling a little
Speaker 1: more like like normal, having all three of us together
Speaker 1: and being able to talk a little Cowboys football. Here
Speaker 1: for a little bit of time with you guys today.
Speaker 1: Today we're gonna focus in on the offense. We're gonna
Speaker 1: do a series here and over the next few shows,
Speaker 1: we're gonna dive in a little deeper on each position. Today,
Speaker 1: starting with the offense, we'll get to the defense and
Speaker 1: a future show. But we'll go through each of the positions.
Speaker 1: I have two or three questions in each category that
Speaker 1: we all will discuss and see what our thoughts are
Speaker 1: on this offense and where it stands and how the
Speaker 1: Cowboys move forward going into twenty twenty two. How's everybody
Speaker 1: doing today? Good? We're good, and we're good. Awesome. Okay,
Speaker 1: so let's jump in. And as I looked at the offense,
Speaker 1: just to give it kind of a baseline, as bad
Speaker 1: as we thought this all was going at the moment
Speaker 1: that we saw Dak Prescott on the field at AT
Speaker 1: and T Stadium, they actually ended the season offensively right
Speaker 1: in the middle of the pack. They were fourteenth in
Speaker 1: total offense. Uh. The interesting part is they were eighth
Speaker 1: in passing offense. They ended up with averaging two hundred
Speaker 1: sixty yards per game, which pretty good to say you
Speaker 1: had a backup quarterback in some games where you had
Speaker 1: to back up to the backup. They finished seventeenth and
Speaker 1: rushing seventeenth in points scored. This is the interesting part,
Speaker 1: and I think it's probably no surprise to any of us.
Speaker 1: They were twenty seventh in turnovers lost. That was their
Speaker 1: big akill. At least heill not just as the offense,
Speaker 1: but as a team. Let's start first talking about the
Speaker 1: quarterback position. Now, assuming Andy Dalton's value is too high
Speaker 1: for Dallas to keep him, what do you think they
Speaker 1: should do at QB two? Keep Garrett Gilbert, develop him,
Speaker 1: look at Ben Jannucci, or go out in free agency.
Speaker 1: I'll start with you, Nick, No, I'm not doing it.
Speaker 1: I know what you're thinking. But here's why we're not
Speaker 1: Here's why we're not going there. We talked about it
Speaker 1: last show, we talked about it the show before that.
Speaker 1: We'll probably take a whole show to talk about it
Speaker 1: coming up. But we got to talk about the other
Speaker 1: things around this quarterback position. I mean, it's just obviously
Speaker 1: it's tough. It's tough when you're when you have so
Speaker 1: many question marks at the first spot. You know, no
Speaker 1: one ever really says, let's let's let's look at the
Speaker 1: second game of this season. Yeah, and we'll worry about
Speaker 1: the first um, but we have to in this inter instance. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, I think I think it was valuable to have.
Speaker 1: I mean obviously, so I mean I'm looking at that
Speaker 1: type of quarterback. I think that that's kind of what
Speaker 1: you need. Um, I think you need to bring a
Speaker 1: veteran in here, just because because of what we saw.
Speaker 1: We saw that Dak does get hurt and he does
Speaker 1: miss games, and so when that happens, you want a
Speaker 1: veteran in there. And then let's just say that it's
Speaker 1: Dak isn't the quarterback for whatever the reason. Even if
Speaker 1: they bring you, say the drafts and one, or they
Speaker 1: bring someone else in, I still think that veteran presence
Speaker 1: was needed there. So yeah, I would try to get
Speaker 1: Andy Dalton back if that works, or somebody like that
Speaker 1: that's had some starts. Amber that's just really tough to
Speaker 1: answer right now because you don't really know exactly what's
Speaker 1: going to happen with Dak, and then how much money
Speaker 1: are you going to invest there? And then at that point,
Speaker 1: how much would it cost to get Andy Dalton back
Speaker 1: or a veteran guy back. But if we were to
Speaker 1: take the money aspect out of the equation and just
Speaker 1: look at it, obviously, yes, of course you want to
Speaker 1: have a guy with the experience that it's able to like.
Speaker 1: I'd be happy with Andy Dalton. I thought he did
Speaker 1: a pretty decent job given the situation. But when you
Speaker 1: talk about Gary Gilbert, and also Bendy Nucci. It's tough
Speaker 1: because we didn't really get to see much of them,
Speaker 1: and usually, you know, we go to practice and we
Speaker 1: get to get a better idea, but this year it
Speaker 1: was just so different. Even though there was still a
Speaker 1: potion open to the media, it's still very hard to judge.
Speaker 1: The quarterbacks get out there later than the rest of
Speaker 1: the team. So it's like me, personally, I don't quite
Speaker 1: have a full idea of what these two guys could
Speaker 1: possibly do for you. Obviously the Cowboys should have a
Speaker 1: better idea, but we'll see what happens that I'm really curious.
Speaker 1: I mean, right now, with all these other veteran guys
Speaker 1: that all this trade talking that's starting to surface recently,
Speaker 1: it's just getting really messy and it's just getting really interesting.
Speaker 1: So the Cowboys got a better have a plan and
Speaker 1: soon and start figuring out their moves and not wait
Speaker 1: to the last minute. Dave, I don't think it's hard
Speaker 1: at all. Like, regardless of what happens with Dak, I
Speaker 1: think the Cowboys hopefully learned a valuable lesson about the
Speaker 1: benefits of having a capable backup quarterback. It's the first
Speaker 1: time they've really spent the money on one in a
Speaker 1: long time, and it paid off even better than it
Speaker 1: has in the past. In my opinion, I would certainly
Speaker 1: love to have Andy back, and honestly, it kind of
Speaker 1: works in the cowboys favor that the quarterback market looks
Speaker 1: so crazy right now. You know, there's rumors about half
Speaker 1: a dozen big time quarterbacks getting traded. There's guys hitting
Speaker 1: free agency. So maybe Andy Dalton's market isn't as robust
Speaker 1: as we think it is. So I would certainly try
Speaker 1: to bring him back. If he's too expensive, I would
Speaker 1: look at other experience insoptions. Robert Griffin the third comes
Speaker 1: to mind. He was recently released by Baltimore Tyrod Taylor,
Speaker 1: maybe looking for a new place to stay now that
Speaker 1: Justin Herbert's the man in Los Angeles. I would absolutely
Speaker 1: try to get somebody like that. If that doesn't work,
Speaker 1: you can always sign Garrett Gilbert on the cheap, which
Speaker 1: is something actually you don't even need to sign him,
Speaker 1: you just hold onto him. That wouldn't surprise me at all.
Speaker 1: Given this team's cap situation, the amount of money that
Speaker 1: they might have to spend on Dak, I would not
Speaker 1: be shocked if if they go forward with Garrett Gilbert
Speaker 1: because he's cheap. But I hope they don't. I hope
Speaker 1: they go spend some money and keep somebody experienced. Although
Speaker 1: we've heard from different people on the team that Dak's
Speaker 1: recovery is on schedule and he's doing the things that
Speaker 1: he should be doing at this point because he is
Speaker 1: coming off a really, really huge injury. Do you think
Speaker 1: Dallas should consider paying what would be I guess near
Speaker 1: market value for an Andy Dalton on a one year
Speaker 1: deal if he will willing to do it, Like, would
Speaker 1: you be willing to pay him twenty seven twenty eight
Speaker 1: for a one year deal knowing that Dak is coming
Speaker 1: off this injury and you know, not to say that
Speaker 1: this is what they've said, but let's assume that he's
Speaker 1: not quite back right and you got to start the
Speaker 1: season with someone else. Do you think it's worth it
Speaker 1: in a season like this to maybe pay that extra money? Nick,
Speaker 1: that's a lot. I mean, you're talking about signing Dak
Speaker 1: and then that, well, you'd have to do something, like
Speaker 1: you gotta do something with Dak. You got to give
Speaker 1: him the franchise tag or you gotta pay him. I'm
Speaker 1: saying in addition, to that. Is it that important knowing
Speaker 1: that he's coming off this injury. Is the quarterback position
Speaker 1: that important where you're saying, hey, for one year deal,
Speaker 1: we might have to eat And even if it wasn't
Speaker 1: Andy Dalton, let's assume it was one of those other
Speaker 1: guys that Dave just mentioned. Is it valuable? Is that
Speaker 1: position so valuable? And are you would you be so
Speaker 1: concerned about where Dak is and how ready he will
Speaker 1: be at the beginning season that you say we got
Speaker 1: to go out and get a capable quarterback to give
Speaker 1: us a little more insurance in a year like this.
Speaker 1: I don't think you can do that. I don't think
Speaker 1: you have the money to do that, and I don't
Speaker 1: think you need to, because we saw that when Dak
Speaker 1: went down and Andy Dalton comes in, they're not as good.
Speaker 1: So twenty seven million, twenty five million, whatever that number is,
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't think that's a lot of money
Speaker 1: for somebody that you know is going to be down.
Speaker 1: I think it's I think you you you know it's
Speaker 1: more about five million, you know, I mean, and that's
Speaker 1: that's the best that you that you really can probably
Speaker 1: do there. I mean, this is gonna be a tough situation.
Speaker 1: But from the cap, I mean it'll be tough for
Speaker 1: a lot of positions. I mean they're probably they may
Speaker 1: not even keep their long time deep snapper because they
Speaker 1: can cut a salary in half. We're talking like a
Speaker 1: half a million. It's gonna be that tough with dollars
Speaker 1: and cents. So I don't really see how you can really.
Speaker 1: I mean, if you're gonna pay Dak the money, then
Speaker 1: you just have to expect that he's going to be
Speaker 1: really good and if he gets hurt, you know, it
Speaker 1: is what it is like it was last year. Yeah, Amber,
Speaker 1: absolutely not. I mean you just cannot do that. You
Speaker 1: have so many other needs that you cannot just put
Speaker 1: all your money into the quarterback position. I mean, there
Speaker 1: are so many issues on defense, and I'm trying to
Speaker 1: get not just draft. I mean, i know we keep
Speaker 1: looking at the draft right now, but we need some
Speaker 1: veteran help on defense, and you need to go get
Speaker 1: someone through free agency. Might not be a splashy name
Speaker 1: or like fancy name or anything, but at the same time,
Speaker 1: you have to invest through free agency a veteran guy
Speaker 1: on defense and not let it be a bust like
Speaker 1: the many free agency free agent guys that the Cowboys
Speaker 1: got last year and then you got let go how many,
Speaker 1: like three or four of them? You had to let
Speaker 1: go of them and it didn't work out for you.
Speaker 1: So no, there's absolutely no way that I see them
Speaker 1: doing that and it no no, okay, Dave, I'd straight
Speaker 1: up don't think it's possible. Like Nick said, I mean,
Speaker 1: assuming you're somehow paying Dak Prescott, whether tag or contract.
Speaker 1: You know the cap. We all know the CAP's not
Speaker 1: going to grow, it might even shrink. We don't have
Speaker 1: the final number, but it's gonna be somewhere, like somewhere
Speaker 1: in the range of like one hundred and eighty million.
Speaker 1: I think. So if you're talking about the going rate,
Speaker 1: like like you said, twenty five twenty eight million for
Speaker 1: a quarterback, you're sinking forty percent of your cap into
Speaker 1: one position. As I don't think it's possible, not with
Speaker 1: all the other things, not only the needs this team has,
Speaker 1: but the contracts they're already on the hook for. I
Speaker 1: don't think you can do it. And that's kind of
Speaker 1: my point is if Andy's price is too high, then
Speaker 1: you got to go find the other Andy, Like the
Speaker 1: other quarterback that's willing to pay for play for three
Speaker 1: million dollars, because I don't think you can afford that
Speaker 1: even if you want it to. Okay, So here's another question,
Speaker 1: and this kind of got brought up. I think last
Speaker 1: week we started hearing that the Detroit Lions are looking
Speaker 1: at trading Matthew Stafford. They they're gonna mutually agree to
Speaker 1: part ways, is the way the report's going. Is there
Speaker 1: a scenario where you would consider trading or trying to
Speaker 1: acquire a veteran like Matthew Stafford and trading Deck because
Speaker 1: I think to this point we've kind of all assumed
Speaker 1: Deck's going to be here. He will have either the
Speaker 1: franchise tag or he will have a long term deal.
Speaker 1: Is there a scenario that could make you rethink that
Speaker 1: with someone like Matthew Stafford, who you would consider to
Speaker 1: be I think most of us would consider him to
Speaker 1: be a good quarterback in this league. Would you look
Speaker 1: at a scenario like that if you or what would
Speaker 1: that scenario be that would make you want to look
Speaker 1: at that scenario? Amber Well, I'll let Dave and Nake
Speaker 1: answer that, because I know that that has a lot
Speaker 1: to do with money in the cap and all that,
Speaker 1: and you know that's not my area of expertise, but
Speaker 1: me personally, I would try to do everything that I
Speaker 1: could to get this whole deal done. I liked I
Speaker 1: like his projection, I like the way he was going.
Speaker 1: I don't think that the injury is necessarily going to
Speaker 1: affect his future in the way that he performs. So
Speaker 1: I think that he has a really nice future and
Speaker 1: he could happen here in Dallas. But at one point
Speaker 1: you have to are you gonna be committed? Are you
Speaker 1: going to commit or not? If not, then move go away,
Speaker 1: live your life, separate ways, and move on, you know.
Speaker 1: But it's I think that the Cowboys and Dak are
Speaker 1: at that point where it cannot be just under the
Speaker 1: franchise stack. You have to make a commitment, and if not,
Speaker 1: then then okay, let's just figure out a future now,
Speaker 1: even if that's parting ways and moving though, but preferably
Speaker 1: stay with DAK. But with these other guys, I mean,
Speaker 1: those are great options, but again, you have to make
Speaker 1: a decision very very soon before you can't even explore
Speaker 1: those options. Dave, I'll just say this, I think the idea,
Speaker 1: I think it would be stupid. I think it would not.
Speaker 1: I don't think it would be a good idea to
Speaker 1: trade Dak for another quarterback. I made the point on
Speaker 1: Twitter last week that Cowboy fans would hate Matt Stafford
Speaker 1: if he had put together the resume that he has
Speaker 1: right now with the Cowboys, no playoff wins, very rarely
Speaker 1: making the playoffs. Don't come at me acting like he's
Speaker 1: never had talent because he played with Calvin Johnson, So
Speaker 1: I really don't want to hear it point, being like,
Speaker 1: there's a whole heap of evidence that says Matt Stafford
Speaker 1: is not necessarily as good as Dak Prescott, and he's
Speaker 1: on the way down in his career rather in the
Speaker 1: way up. Having said all of that, the reason that
Speaker 1: I say this is I do think the Cowboys need
Speaker 1: to make a decision about whether or not Dak is
Speaker 1: their quarterback, like in the next eight weeks. It doesn't
Speaker 1: benefit anybody to do another Tag season like jumping his
Speaker 1: salary all the way up to thirty eight million dollars,
Speaker 1: crippling your cap. By the way, you can't keep him
Speaker 1: on the Tag next year, so you're in the same position.
Speaker 1: So you either have to sign him for what will
Speaker 1: likely be an even more absurd contract next year, or
Speaker 1: let him walk for nothing but a cop pick sounds
Speaker 1: like a terrible idea in my opinion. So just make
Speaker 1: that decision right now, sign Dack to a long term
Speaker 1: extension or yeah, I mean, if they decide they want
Speaker 1: to deal him to Detroit, I don't. I can't even
Speaker 1: begin to imagine what that would look like. But I hope,
Speaker 1: I mean, Dak is too good to just trade him
Speaker 1: in like a player for player or trade. I would
Speaker 1: hope i'd get some compensation coming my way. I really
Speaker 1: don't like that idea at all, but I would rather.
Speaker 1: I would rather trade Dak and just try to start
Speaker 1: this thing over with a new quarterback, then play this
Speaker 1: thing out again on the tag, because I don't think
Speaker 1: that benefits anybody. Nick, Yeah, take a pote load of money.
Speaker 1: Yeah they what's the emoji where your head's exploding like that?
Speaker 1: That's where we are. I think so, because it's tough,
Speaker 1: because you know, the timing of all this is it's like,
Speaker 1: you know, like Dave said, I mean, you need to
Speaker 1: make the decision. You know, they both said that, you know,
Speaker 1: make this decision sooner than later. But you know, I
Speaker 1: think you're gonna try to get this thing done. You
Speaker 1: try to get it done before you have to tag him.
Speaker 1: But if they don't get it done and you do
Speaker 1: tag him, then then what then that's when who's available?
Speaker 1: You know, what are some of these guys that you
Speaker 1: wanted to maybe get I mean, are they are they
Speaker 1: still going to be available? Do you throw your hat
Speaker 1: in the ring for free agency? Do you start trading him?
Speaker 1: I mean, there's just so many, so many options. I mean,
Speaker 1: my preference would be to try to get to sign him,
Speaker 1: but you know, I do get annoyed with the people,
Speaker 1: and you see a lot in the media they're like,
Speaker 1: like the Cowboys are just not signing him, like they
Speaker 1: just don't want to sign him, Like what are they
Speaker 1: waiting for? Type of stuff, when in reality, it's just
Speaker 1: two sides to this, And you know, it's it's kind
Speaker 1: of funny with that this whole fourth year, fifth year
Speaker 1: thing has been a deal for two years. I mean,
Speaker 1: you know two years ago that that kind of chance
Speaker 1: to sign a deal for thirty five million for he
Speaker 1: could have done it for five years, but he wanted
Speaker 1: the four. Now here we are he would be he'd
Speaker 1: have three years left on that thing. If he would
Speaker 1: have done that, you know, and gotten a lot more
Speaker 1: money out of it. So I get it that he's
Speaker 1: trying to you know, it's it's a pride thing, and
Speaker 1: you're trying to be you know, up there high bitum.
Speaker 1: If I'm talking in circles, it's because I am. I'm
Speaker 1: getting dizzy just trying to figure this whole thing out.
Speaker 1: I don't know. I mean, it's cowboys had to come to,
Speaker 1: you know, down towards Dak. They realize they can't win
Speaker 1: without him, and Dad should realize, Yeah, but you get hurt.
Speaker 1: You get hurt sometimes, and well, but I don't I
Speaker 1: don't know if that's that's I look at Dak. He
Speaker 1: should I don't look at him as a guy that
Speaker 1: gets hurt like that. That was a one time thing.
Speaker 1: He's been very, very healthy before that. So it again,
Speaker 1: and see what happens on the tag? What happens if
Speaker 1: it happens again on the tag? Well, here's the deal.
Speaker 1: If he's on the tag, it's beside the point anyway,
Speaker 1: because he's gonna be a free agent next yeah, right,
Speaker 1: And so you basically at that point got a market
Speaker 1: value that and you're competing. Here's a question for everybody. Then,
Speaker 1: that being said, would you rather a guy like would
Speaker 1: you rather have Dak Prescott for one year? A disgruntled
Speaker 1: Dak for one year? I mean, I don't think Dak
Speaker 1: would be disgruntled, to be honest with you, would be
Speaker 1: He would be a free agent after this year, so
Speaker 1: I think he probably looked at that assist. Okay, great,
Speaker 1: give me thirty eight for this year and I'll see
Speaker 1: what happens. What kind of team leader do you have
Speaker 1: when you know he's out the door, you know he's
Speaker 1: out the door. I think Dak. I think Dak and
Speaker 1: the kind of person he is, I think he will
Speaker 1: still be a great leader. There's nothing I've seen in
Speaker 1: dat that suggests me any any otherwise. Okay, you got
Speaker 1: Dak for one year, or you or you have a
Speaker 1: Matthew Stafford or somebody for two years. What would you
Speaker 1: rather have? Yeah, that's that, and then I'd rather have
Speaker 1: does Scott, I'd rather have I'd rather have Dak be
Speaker 1: my quarterback. But that's my point is like that doesn't
Speaker 1: that does nothing for me? Like you can guarantee me
Speaker 1: they're gonna unless you can guarantee me they're gonna win
Speaker 1: the super Bowl. It's it's a waste of time. And
Speaker 1: that's like, I want Dak to be the quarterback of
Speaker 1: this team. But if you're telling me we're heading for
Speaker 1: another tag year and then free agency after that, then
Speaker 1: just rip the band aid off and do the deal. Honestly,
Speaker 1: and like I said, I think it would be a
Speaker 1: stupid decision, but at least you have long term clarity. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I agree with that, And I look at a guy
Speaker 1: like Stafford, I agree with Dave. I don't think Stafford
Speaker 1: is I don't personally think he's as good as Dak.
Speaker 1: I think Dak adds a third dimension that he doesn't have. Um.
Speaker 1: But I will say this, if you're telling me I'm
Speaker 1: only gonna get Dak for a year, um, then the
Speaker 1: way I look at that is give me a guy
Speaker 1: that I know is at least capable, which I think
Speaker 1: Matthew Stafford is capable. And I disagree with Dave a
Speaker 1: little bit on the talent he's played when yes, he's
Speaker 1: played one of the greatest receivers of all time, but
Speaker 1: you start getting below that. They are on a lot
Speaker 1: of guys you will mentioned that'll be like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: he had a really great guy and this guy and
Speaker 1: this guy and this guy Stafford, right, and you look
Speaker 1: at this Cowboys offense. They got some talent. They got
Speaker 1: a lot of skill position talent. So I think it's
Speaker 1: a little bit of a different situation. And I think
Speaker 1: you could probably edit his age. I think he's thirty three.
Speaker 1: You could probably expect you could get a few years
Speaker 1: out of him and playing at a pretty good level.
Speaker 1: So if you're telling me I can only have Dak
Speaker 1: for one year, I'm kind of with dave Man. Tear
Speaker 1: the band aid off and give me at least a
Speaker 1: guy for the next few years, and let me start
Speaker 1: figuring out what I'm gonna do beyond that and start
Speaker 1: seeing if I can develop someone. Maybe I gotta go
Speaker 1: draft somebody this year, Like I would just want to
Speaker 1: know right now, you know, before it gets into the franchise, tach.
Speaker 1: I want to know right now what I need to
Speaker 1: do a quarterback. That's the weird thing about goes all
Speaker 1: the way back to Andy Dalton situation. Let's say the
Speaker 1: Dack thing isn't gonna happen. He's gonna be on the tag,
Speaker 1: He's not gonna be here. Now you got to figure
Speaker 1: out what you're gonna do. You don't know. If the
Speaker 1: free agency, you know, say Stafford's not available or whatever. Now,
Speaker 1: maybe you do draft the guy number ten or trade
Speaker 1: up or whatever for seven eight and get one of
Speaker 1: these three really good quarterbacks. That's when you call Andy
Speaker 1: Dalton back and go whoa, whoa wait wait wait, pay
Speaker 1: you three year deal to be that. You know, and
Speaker 1: that sucks. I hate that guy. I mean, I know,
Speaker 1: I hate the guy. I hate it for the guy.
Speaker 1: I hate it for the guy. I hate it for
Speaker 1: Tyrod Taylor when he sits there and holds the bag
Speaker 1: and waits for this guy to get ready. Fitzpatrick's been
Speaker 1: doing it for his whole career. You know, John Kitten
Speaker 1: and did it a little bit too. I hate it
Speaker 1: for them, but you know they get paid. So yeah,
Speaker 1: and that's part of it when you get to that
Speaker 1: age in this league is you're gonna be a bridge
Speaker 1: guy in a lot of instances because people want to
Speaker 1: have steady play at the quarterback position until they get
Speaker 1: a guy ready to be their long term future. We
Speaker 1: didn't figure out that position, by the way, we didn't
Speaker 1: figure out anything. And this last talk and there's nothing
Speaker 1: to figure out, and you know, again, the dominoes have
Speaker 1: to start with what are you going to do with
Speaker 1: your starting quarterback? Right right? Everything else comes after that,
Speaker 1: and until you know what you're gonna do there, there
Speaker 1: really is no good answer, Dave, what do YEA? I
Speaker 1: will say that I think the one thing I've figured out,
Speaker 1: and I mean it's not new, but I guess I've
Speaker 1: just been mulling it over a lot since since the
Speaker 1: Stafford news and since people have started talking about that is,
Speaker 1: you know, theoretically, this could all play out the same
Speaker 1: as last year, where they tag him and nothing happens,
Speaker 1: and it goes all the way to July, and you know,
Speaker 1: maybe a deal gets done, maybe it doesn't. In my mind,
Speaker 1: if this team doesn't have this figured out by like
Speaker 1: mid April, then it's just a catastrophic failure of organizational
Speaker 1: direction for a lot of reasons. Because again, you got
Speaker 1: a top ten draft pick, You got a chance to
Speaker 1: draft a future quarterback if that's what you need to do.
Speaker 1: You got a chance to pursue more. There are more
Speaker 1: quality quarterbacks available this year, whether through trade or free agency,
Speaker 1: than like any year I can think of. So whether
Speaker 1: it's Dak Prescott or somebody else, they have a unique
Speaker 1: opportunity to set themselves up for the future, and if
Speaker 1: they don't make that decision in time to take advantage
Speaker 1: of it, then they're crazy. I mean, if you if
Speaker 1: you let this thing play out all the way to
Speaker 1: July and don't get a deal done, and then you're
Speaker 1: back here with a quarterback on a one year deal
Speaker 1: and this time he can enter free agency in twenty
Speaker 1: twenty two, that's a disaster. So I just I have
Speaker 1: to believe that this is all good and get resolved
Speaker 1: in the next eight weeks. Yeah, it has to. I
Speaker 1: just can't. I can't see a logical reason why it
Speaker 1: wouldn't be. Interesting. Thing there is that the leverage as
Speaker 1: this thing goes on diminishes for the Cowboys even more
Speaker 1: because with every quarterback that's lost in free agency that
Speaker 1: could have been someone they went after here, with every
Speaker 1: pick that happens in the draft that could have been
Speaker 1: a quarterback that they would have drafted, each one of
Speaker 1: those guys becoming unavailable makes it gives them less leverage
Speaker 1: in talking the deck, like they could always enter the
Speaker 1: negotiations right now saying, hey, if this doesn't work, we
Speaker 1: got other options. When those options are gone, then it's
Speaker 1: a lot harder to make that argument. R Right, March
Speaker 1: ninth is the key, right there, you get it done,
Speaker 1: and to you know, if you have to tag him,
Speaker 1: I think you still tag him, right, But then you
Speaker 1: know everybody knows the deal. At that point they get
Speaker 1: they may go and sign somebody else and try to
Speaker 1: trade him, and yeah, it's a it's a mess. All right.
Speaker 1: We're gonna take our first break when we come back.
Speaker 1: We're gonna jump into the wide receiver position. And the
Speaker 1: question I'll ask these guys is is it important to
Speaker 1: keep the three wide receivers that you have together or
Speaker 1: could you use one of them as potential bait to
Speaker 1: be able to upgrade your team in another area. We'll
Speaker 1: do it and do that when we come back. This
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Speaker 1: Welcome back. It is the second segment of the Break
Speaker 1: Life from the s WBC Mortgage studios at the Star.
Speaker 1: We are presented by Geico. We're going through the offense.
Speaker 1: We're talking about specific positions and players. We talked about
Speaker 1: the quarterback position. As Nick reminded us, we did nothing
Speaker 1: to clarify what should be happening at that position. We
Speaker 1: will wait and have that discussion at a later date
Speaker 1: when the Cowboys make some decisions at the quarterback position.
Speaker 1: I want to move to the wide receiver position, though,
Speaker 1: and I want to start with the top three wide receivers.
Speaker 1: You've got Cooper, Gallop and Lamb. I want each of
Speaker 1: you guys to for me. I want you to rank
Speaker 1: the three based upon how they performed this year. One, two, three, Dave,
Speaker 1: let's start with you, Cooper, Lamb, Gallop. That's not a
Speaker 1: knock on Gallop. They were all pretty damn good, especially
Speaker 1: considering they didn't have their starter starting quarterback for most
Speaker 1: of the year. You know, he wasn't perfect, but I
Speaker 1: can't say enough about how I impressed I was with Amari,
Speaker 1: you know, setting a career high for catches, hitting a
Speaker 1: thou and yards. Had very few down games, and one
Speaker 1: of them was the night that Ben Denucci was playing
Speaker 1: in a windstorm. So I just thought I thought he
Speaker 1: had a great year. CD was awesome. Would have been
Speaker 1: better if he'd had Dak consistency issues, drops and stuff
Speaker 1: like that, but so did Mike. Mike had a couple
Speaker 1: of really off games where he just couldn't seem to
Speaker 1: hang onto the ball um. But in general, they were
Speaker 1: all really good. But that's the order i'd put him in. Nick,
Speaker 1: I just keep it just like that. I don't I mean,
Speaker 1: we'll keep this thing moving. I wouldn't have disagree with
Speaker 1: anything of that order. I don't disagree with CD. He
Speaker 1: was a little bit inconsistent at times. You expect that
Speaker 1: as a rookie a Mari. You know, it was MARII
Speaker 1: was good. I mean, he looked at the numbers of
Speaker 1: the numbers show that it was good. It was sometimes
Speaker 1: you're like, wow, he did that. I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: kind of unforgetta forgettable at times, but I mean the
Speaker 1: numbers were there. And so in that order there, all
Speaker 1: three had their games, they had their moments. That would
Speaker 1: be my order too, Yeah, same order. Was there a
Speaker 1: game where the three of them were just bad a
Speaker 1: single Yeah, I can't remember, but it's like the Nucci game.
Speaker 1: That that's why they got any offense in that game.
Speaker 1: That game, Yeah, and I don't know if cut like
Speaker 1: six or seven passes because there was just a little quick,
Speaker 1: you know, maybe the Red Washington game whatever, the first
Speaker 1: one went in the rain. It was Red, you know,
Speaker 1: the redhead quarterback player. But I thinking for the most
Speaker 1: part for the whole season, I mean, they were pretty
Speaker 1: h consistent wise, like even you guys mentioned Michael Gallup
Speaker 1: or even see the being a little inconsistent at times.
Speaker 1: But I think that's where the other wide receiver pulled
Speaker 1: in and did their jobs, so that that was just
Speaker 1: h a nice break in that aspect of the wide
Speaker 1: receiver compared to the previous year, like where we were
Speaker 1: just all a wide receiver by comedie and trying to
Speaker 1: figure out what was happening there at the position. So
Speaker 1: just in general to how people that you can't rely
Speaker 1: on if someone is having a bad day, you still
Speaker 1: have two o their guys that can pull the weight
Speaker 1: and do their jobs. So yeah, same order. I think
Speaker 1: Cooper did sneak up on me. He's so forgettable to me,
Speaker 1: But at the same time he did such a nice job.
Speaker 1: And then Cee Lamb flashy plays. Obviously you cannot he
Speaker 1: cannot go unnotice unnoticed on the field. I did feel
Speaker 1: that at times they were trying to force the ball
Speaker 1: on him, a little too much at certain games. I
Speaker 1: can't remember. I have such a bad memory when it
Speaker 1: comes to specific games, but I remember there was one
Speaker 1: game where it was just like they kept trying to
Speaker 1: force it to him and it just wasn't working, and
Speaker 1: they just kept going to him. But I just think
Speaker 1: that the three of them create a very very nice
Speaker 1: balance for this offense. Yeah, I think it's interesting, and
Speaker 1: I'm glad you guys pointed out how good of season
Speaker 1: that Cooper had because everybody was talking last year about
Speaker 1: his struggles, particularly on the road, and I thought the
Speaker 1: best thing I could say about him this year was
Speaker 1: his consistency across the board. It seemed like every game
Speaker 1: or most games, he was showing up and providing productivity
Speaker 1: for the Cowboys. I'll ask this next question, and I
Speaker 1: want to put it in context. You look at the
Speaker 1: two teams in the Super Bowl and you see that
Speaker 1: they are offenses where they have multiple skill position players
Speaker 1: that are at the top, like really really great skill
Speaker 1: position players. And so when you look at this Cowboys team,
Speaker 1: there's been a lot of talk this season where people
Speaker 1: are like, hey, can you take up, you know, Michael
Speaker 1: Gallop and trade him off because you already got great
Speaker 1: other skill position players. Do you guys think it's important
Speaker 1: looking at what's working right now in the NFL, is
Speaker 1: it important to keep these three together and have that
Speaker 1: number of really talented skill position players, or do you
Speaker 1: think that it would be a better decision for the
Speaker 1: Cowboys maybe to look to take one of these guys,
Speaker 1: and again, it doesn't have to be Michael Gallop, any
Speaker 1: of these guys and decide, hey, let's see if we
Speaker 1: can move this guy and get some other pieces that
Speaker 1: can help us on other parts of our teams where
Speaker 1: we may need some value. Nicholas start, well, you know,
Speaker 1: if you're gonna if you're gonna judge the teams that
Speaker 1: are in the Super Bowl and even in the final
Speaker 1: four teams conversation. No, well, yeah, quarterback, you know, without
Speaker 1: a doubt. But also I hate to say it, you know,
Speaker 1: because this this is the situation the Cowboys are in.
Speaker 1: But you know, look at Buffalo's running back. Look at
Speaker 1: the Chiefs running back. Look at the Bucks running back.
Speaker 1: Look Chiefs got a running Who Hilaire was h Is
Speaker 1: he playing? He was the first round pick? Is he
Speaker 1: played played last week? Okay? But he's not the difference
Speaker 1: maker for them like he Yeah, but he's a good
Speaker 1: running player, a good player, Aaron Jones, a good player
Speaker 1: in Green Bay and all that. That's not right why
Speaker 1: they're winning though, So that particular case, so those four
Speaker 1: teams are kind of showing it there they're going to
Speaker 1: Are you trying to say this, because we're going to
Speaker 1: get to that conversation. Are you saying the running back
Speaker 1: here is the reason why they would be winning. Well,
Speaker 1: that they didn't win. I know what I'm saying. Do
Speaker 1: you think that when they get back to winning that
Speaker 1: he would be the reason. I'll answer your question, mat
Speaker 1: the question. I'm not I'm not messing up these three receivers.
Speaker 1: I got these three. They're they're good. They open up
Speaker 1: things for the title. Yeah, you got me confused. What
Speaker 1: are you trying to say with the running back versus
Speaker 1: the receivers that look like your face? Stop? I'm trying
Speaker 1: to say that the trying to say that the running
Speaker 1: back position in those four teams, that's not really the
Speaker 1: difference maker of them. Is that where the league is going?
Speaker 1: Is that where the cowboys are going. If the cowboys
Speaker 1: are they gonna have to try to do something in
Speaker 1: part ways with the running back. I'm not parting ways
Speaker 1: with these receivers. These receivers are good. They made my
Speaker 1: tight end who somebody wanted to be cut off this team,
Speaker 1: actually a Pro Bowl candidate. So these three receivers opened
Speaker 1: things up. I'm not cutting them, We're not trading them.
Speaker 1: We're gonna get to the running back conversation later, probably
Speaker 1: in the next next week show. But one thing I
Speaker 1: will note, and I want you guys to go look
Speaker 1: at this. Go to look at the rushing numbers this
Speaker 1: year across the NFL. There were only two running backs
Speaker 1: they have more than eleven hundred and sixty nine yards.
Speaker 1: Think about that, eleven or six nine yards. It's not
Speaker 1: a huge number as far as rushers are concerned. This
Speaker 1: year there were only two that had more than that.
Speaker 1: Because there eleven sixty four I mean, like, no, honestly,
Speaker 1: well that was because that was the highest one next
Speaker 1: to those other two. My point is, my point is
Speaker 1: I do think the NFL is changing, and I do
Speaker 1: think what you're starting to see more I think it
Speaker 1: preached your point. I think is that this is becoming
Speaker 1: more and more and you hear it all the time,
Speaker 1: but it really is starting to see you're starting to
Speaker 1: see it in the numbers. This is a passing league,
Speaker 1: and this is also a league where it's very rare
Speaker 1: to find one running back on a team that's productive.
Speaker 1: Most teams have a couple running backs that they use
Speaker 1: in tandem to be able to do what they want
Speaker 1: to do. Him Europe, I'm not ready to have that
Speaker 1: kind of conversation. I still think that Zig is very
Speaker 1: valuable and having a running back like him, and again
Speaker 1: and again, I get it he wasn't necessarily great last year,
Speaker 1: but that was just one year, and I'm still hoping
Speaker 1: that he can come back this year and go back
Speaker 1: to what he used to be prior to twenty twenty.
Speaker 1: But I still think that this team, even though they
Speaker 1: have three great white receivers, they still need to be
Speaker 1: able to run the ball effectively. And I don't think
Speaker 1: that you can just do that with Tony Polar, although
Speaker 1: he showed that, but that's not really what you're asking.
Speaker 1: You're asking him about these three wide receivers. I would
Speaker 1: not trade them. It's just it's like one of those
Speaker 1: scenarios where you finally have an area of the team
Speaker 1: that it's working, that it's good. Why mess with it,
Speaker 1: and I get it. You're trying to add value at
Speaker 1: other positions of need. But at the same time, it's like, men,
Speaker 1: let's just not create another unbalanced in there. You know,
Speaker 1: you could technically trade them and get something for them
Speaker 1: that you could definitely use on defense, for sure, But
Speaker 1: at the same time, I just I don't want to
Speaker 1: touch them. They're doing good. You don't need to work
Speaker 1: on anyone's contract. No one's is going out of contract
Speaker 1: next year, so let's just enjoy it for another year
Speaker 1: at least and just take advantage of them. Three Again, Dave,
Speaker 1: I hate what I'm about to say. I want to
Speaker 1: be clear. Michael Gallup is like one of my absolutely
Speaker 1: favorite people on this team. I love the guy. I
Speaker 1: think he's a really I think he's a really underrated
Speaker 1: player and a really nice guy. But if you're you're
Speaker 1: talking about Michael Gallop, I know you said it could
Speaker 1: be any of them. No, it can't Ceedee lamb Is.
Speaker 1: He has all pro potential on a rookie contract. You
Speaker 1: don't trade that. And Amari Cooper not only is the
Speaker 1: under contract, which makes him harder to trade. I don't
Speaker 1: think you can underestimate the impact that he's had on
Speaker 1: this team. I mean, maybe Dak would have taken these
Speaker 1: leaps without him, but it doesn't seem like a coincidence
Speaker 1: that he started taking these leaps when Amari showed up.
Speaker 1: He is uniquely positioned to be both a fantastic possession
Speaker 1: receiver as well as a home run threat. His separation
Speaker 1: ability is unique even among NFL receivers. I'm not trading him,
Speaker 1: so you're basically talking about Michael Gallop. I don't love
Speaker 1: the idea of trading him because I agree with everything
Speaker 1: they said, but I think you at least need to
Speaker 1: be open to the possibility. Because he's only got one
Speaker 1: year left on his deal, you probably can't keep him.
Speaker 1: It's hard to say that for sure. We'll see what happens,
Speaker 1: but you know Dak. If Dak signs, he'll lead up
Speaker 1: a lot of the cap you got other guys to
Speaker 1: worry about. It's not realistic to think you can pay
Speaker 1: three of those guys big deals. So if somebody wanted
Speaker 1: to offer me something good for him, a third round pick, maybe,
Speaker 1: I mean I would be I would I would jump
Speaker 1: to trade him for a second round pick. That would
Speaker 1: be fun. And you can I mean you can just
Speaker 1: turn around and draft another one. Mike was pick number
Speaker 1: eighty one in the draft. We saw look at the
Speaker 1: I mean, look at how many amazing receivers came out
Speaker 1: of this last draft, and this year's class looks to
Speaker 1: be kind of similar. Like there's gonna be a bunch
Speaker 1: of stud receivers in this year's class. So if somebody
Speaker 1: offered me something good for Michael Gallop, I would trade him.
Speaker 1: But I don't think you have to by any means. Like,
Speaker 1: I'm totally fine letting him play out his contract. But
Speaker 1: if somebody offered me something really good for him, I'm
Speaker 1: here for it. Let me add to this port. The
Speaker 1: thing that's unique about these these three receivers is the
Speaker 1: fact that you know, especially Gallop Gallop still they and
Speaker 1: I agree with Dave Gallops the one that would be
Speaker 1: tradeable in this situation. He's the guy that's like the
Speaker 1: least diva receiver on the team. Like he said the
Speaker 1: other day, I had one hundred and thirty yards in
Speaker 1: the first half. Hey, it was about time for someone
Speaker 1: else to get some Hey, we all can't get our
Speaker 1: numbers here. I mean, that's where it becomes a problem
Speaker 1: when you have three receivers and they all kind of
Speaker 1: want theirs and there they act like their friends and
Speaker 1: now they're cool, but really they you know, they wonder
Speaker 1: who's getting the ball and all that. I don't really
Speaker 1: since that happening at all on this team, and I
Speaker 1: think that's a good thing. When you have three guys
Speaker 1: and they're not really fighting over the ball and they
Speaker 1: get along. I do. I want to trade them for
Speaker 1: a third round pick. The second round you'd have to listen,
Speaker 1: but a third round pick, I mean, if you just
Speaker 1: throw in the way the Cowboys are drafting, you get
Speaker 1: rid of him. So now now you got to figure
Speaker 1: something else out. And who did you get? You got
Speaker 1: a Neville Gallimore, a Michael Gallup, another, you know, a
Speaker 1: Connor McGovern, Jordan Lewis, Malie Collins, Jaz Green, Terence Williams,
Speaker 1: J J. Wilcox. I mean, I'm just saying, you know,
Speaker 1: you have something really good special here, and you're gonna
Speaker 1: trade them so you can get this third round safety
Speaker 1: or corner might be good. Maybe he's really gonna help you.
Speaker 1: I don't know. The second round we'll talk, you know,
Speaker 1: but third I'll probably just be good with, you know,
Speaker 1: because you won with the third rounder right, playing better
Speaker 1: than a third round pick. Yeah, you know what I
Speaker 1: would say about the wide receiver position, though, I do
Speaker 1: think that players are coming into the league a little
Speaker 1: more accustomed to the idea that they don't have to
Speaker 1: be the only stud wide receiver on the team. You
Speaker 1: look at you look at college now. And I saw
Speaker 1: a picture the other day of that Alabama wide receiver
Speaker 1: group last year when they still had guys that went
Speaker 1: in the first round this year, and then all the
Speaker 1: guys that are gonna go in the first round, including
Speaker 1: by the way, a Heisman Trophy winner, and they were
Speaker 1: all in the same wide receiver room. Right. It's it's like,
Speaker 1: I think they're getting used to the idea that, hey,
Speaker 1: it's okay if there are more than one of us,
Speaker 1: because that means we're all going to get a shot,
Speaker 1: and we're all gonna get a chance because they're gonna
Speaker 1: have to pay attention to somebody else at some point, right,
Speaker 1: And so I think that probably is a little different
Speaker 1: than what you and I grew up on when it
Speaker 1: comes to football, where you had one stud wide receiver
Speaker 1: and then everybody else is just there to compliment him. Right,
Speaker 1: That's not the game anymore credit thing. He came from
Speaker 1: Colorado State. I bet he was. He was right, Yeah,
Speaker 1: he was, he was. I would assume he's just got
Speaker 1: a good it's just a good mindset. It's it's you know,
Speaker 1: they're those guys. I mean we saw the clip. I
Speaker 1: mean they're talking about. What were they talking about on
Speaker 1: the one of those clips we had on the sidelines
Speaker 1: sound from the sideline they were talking about, Yeah, something,
Speaker 1: it was something. Yeah, it was just like it was
Speaker 1: like what kind of pie kind? Yeah? All right, oh yeah,
Speaker 1: what favored pie? He goes And that's the problem you like,
Speaker 1: PuF said, that's your problem. Oh thinks let's go right,
Speaker 1: all right, last question, half of you guys on the
Speaker 1: wide receivers, Both Cedric Wilson and Noah Brown are free
Speaker 1: agents after this At this point, Brown will be an
Speaker 1: understricted free agent, Wilson a restricted free agent. Uh. They
Speaker 1: both had some moments this year where I thought they
Speaker 1: contributed to the team in very positive ways. If you
Speaker 1: could only keep one, which one would you opt to
Speaker 1: to keep? Let's start with you Ample, I think I
Speaker 1: would want to keep, uh Cedric, just you know, with
Speaker 1: Noah Brown, I mean he's been an interesting guy. He
Speaker 1: was someone that caught my attention ever since he stepped
Speaker 1: on the field. I think he has the ability, but
Speaker 1: he just he likes that consistency. He hasn't been able
Speaker 1: to give you, at least what I expected him to
Speaker 1: give me. And I know they don't use him every
Speaker 1: single time. But if let's say one of these wide
Speaker 1: receivers gets hurt and you gotta put a guy out there,
Speaker 1: I would rather have Cedric Wilson just because of the
Speaker 1: things that I've seen from him. And again, he hasn't
Speaker 1: been the most consistent guy either, but his ability down
Speaker 1: the field and the him being longer just attracts me
Speaker 1: more as to what I want from a wide receiver
Speaker 1: and the things that he can possibly do for you.
Speaker 1: I mean, Cedric Wilson is a guy that he made
Speaker 1: a huge leap last year. We saw it. He got
Speaker 1: along and I got along. But I mean like he
Speaker 1: had a good rapport with Dak he saw that was
Speaker 1: in the offseason that carried over to training camp, carried
Speaker 1: over to the game. He does a lot of different things,
Speaker 1: don't you know. As long as he's not running fake
Speaker 1: punts on fourth and ten back there, I mean as
Speaker 1: long as you're not doing that. I mean he left
Speaker 1: the team in quarterback rating, in percentage, you know, I
Speaker 1: mean he does other things. Uh yeah, he's the guy there.
Speaker 1: I mean, Noah Brown. Listen, it's been it's a good experiment.
Speaker 1: It just didn't work. And the very first minute of
Speaker 1: free agency, he's going to be on a flight to
Speaker 1: LaGuardia Airport in New York and he's gonna probably sign
Speaker 1: with the Giants. That's what's gonna happen because that coaching
Speaker 1: staff loved him and that's probably where he's gonna go. Ye. Nick,
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, Dave, I mean everything they said. But also
Speaker 1: just keep in mind Cedric's restricted, which means all you
Speaker 1: have to do is put the You could put the
Speaker 1: tender for the round, so it's first round, second round round.
Speaker 1: Originally drafted, Cedric was a sixth round. Oh yeah, keep
Speaker 1: him on a one year. Keep keep him on a
Speaker 1: one year deal for very very cheap. And I think
Speaker 1: that just makes too much sense. The reason why I
Speaker 1: say that is it never seems to be. Usually it's
Speaker 1: it's the original round, and it's it's not you didn't
Speaker 1: draft them, Yeah right, it's usually an undrafted free agent,
Speaker 1: but he was a draft pick, which so you'll take
Speaker 1: a six. I mean if somebody wants to sign him
Speaker 1: and take him and he was like, well, you're probably
Speaker 1: not gonna match that deal. So and by the way,
Speaker 1: you got three guys that we just finished talking about.
Speaker 1: So whatever happens beyond that is kind of just gravy. Right, Well,
Speaker 1: maybe maybe that's a question we could have asked. Two
Speaker 1: is okay, let's say that the let's say you did
Speaker 1: part ways with Gallop. Are you you like Cedric Wilson
Speaker 1: enough to slide him into that role? Let me ask
Speaker 1: you this, what you saw early in the year he
Speaker 1: was making a lot of those big plays when Dak
Speaker 1: was here. Didn't seem to make a lot of those
Speaker 1: once Dak was no longer here. So do you think
Speaker 1: that maybe that's the key? We go back to that
Speaker 1: first go back into house, let's go and you make
Speaker 1: a decision on him based on the Q. Do you
Speaker 1: think Brandy Dalton's not invited him into his house to
Speaker 1: go out there and throw a ball? I don't know.
Speaker 1: It just doesn't seem like he was as explosive as
Speaker 1: he was with sex. You know. All right, Let's let's
Speaker 1: take our final break. When we come back, we're gonna
Speaker 1: get some fan questions here in the final segment. Amber
Speaker 1: has those lined up. We'll do that when we come
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Speaker 1: Welcome back into the final segment of the Break Life
Speaker 1: from the s WBC Mortgage studios at the Star. We
Speaker 1: are presented by Geico. We're gonna get some fan questions.
Speaker 1: We've been trying to do this now for about two
Speaker 1: months and now we finally have a little time so
Speaker 1: we can get some questions in here. Amber. What do
Speaker 1: you have? Well, I had a question about the defense
Speaker 1: versus the offense and how much money the Cowboys have
Speaker 1: invested on one versus the other, which led me to
Speaker 1: think of this whole idea that I'm gonna propose to
Speaker 1: you guys and see what you think. I'm pretty sure
Speaker 1: you guys are going to disagree. But you know how
Speaker 1: years ago you used to say defenses one super Bowls
Speaker 1: and one championships, right, and now we're seeing a league
Speaker 1: where it's more on the offense. And what those guys
Speaker 1: are doing with the Cowboys having invested so much money
Speaker 1: on offense, is this maybe a time where they should
Speaker 1: be taking a turn and trying to invest more on
Speaker 1: their defense instead and reconstructing that to where now their
Speaker 1: power area is their defense. So that way, maybe maybe
Speaker 1: we start seeing them win more games than what we've
Speaker 1: seen in what the past five over five years? What
Speaker 1: do you guys think? And we know history repeats itself,
Speaker 1: so you never know when the league is going to
Speaker 1: turn back to going into having powerful defenses win championships.
Speaker 1: You could argue, I mean that these teams that are
Speaker 1: in the championship game, I mean they have good quarterbacks
Speaker 1: and they have some really good defenses too. Those defenses
Speaker 1: actually helped them. But I mean, I don't know if
Speaker 1: you could say that's the main reason of what they do.
Speaker 1: I just think it's a cycle. I think the Cowboys
Speaker 1: need to start drafting, I mean drafting for defense, drafting,
Speaker 1: you know, with their top pick, maybe the top couple
Speaker 1: of picks, you know, and the guys that they have
Speaker 1: hit in the first round, if they picked in the
Speaker 1: first round, haven't always connected, you know. Mo Claiborne didn't
Speaker 1: didn't work out, Taco didn't work out. The jury is
Speaker 1: still out on Layton Vander It's I mean, it's worked
Speaker 1: out for a while, but if he if he continues
Speaker 1: to get hurt, then you're gonna say that it hasn't.
Speaker 1: So they need to not only draft I think defense,
Speaker 1: but you know they gotta they gotta hit a home
Speaker 1: run with this pick. Yeah, you know, I'll say this.
Speaker 1: I don't think this is something that's cyclical that it
Speaker 1: will go back at some point to defense is unless
Speaker 1: the league makes out a priority. Because this is not
Speaker 1: by happenstance that the league has become offensive become an
Speaker 1: offensive league. It's because the league wanted it to be
Speaker 1: an offensive league, so they change the rules to make
Speaker 1: it more slanted in favor of the offense. And that's
Speaker 1: why the offenses have become so explosive, and that's why
Speaker 1: defenses don't. You cannot convince me that defensive players are
Speaker 1: just worse now than they were fifteen years ago. I
Speaker 1: think what's happened is they just made all the rules
Speaker 1: to where it's very hard to be able to play
Speaker 1: defense and not get a penalty. And so that all
Speaker 1: I mean, you think about the hits to the head
Speaker 1: and all that kind of stuff. That's about player safety,
Speaker 1: but it affects the defense and their ability. Nick and
Speaker 1: you and I grew up on Ronnie Lott, right, it
Speaker 1: was a whole different brand of football going across the middle.
Speaker 1: Every receiver couldn't do it because it took a certain
Speaker 1: level of crazy to be able to want to run
Speaker 1: across the middle and catch a ball because you knew
Speaker 1: you were going to get lit up. So the game
Speaker 1: has changed and it favors the offense. I don't think
Speaker 1: that's going back anytime soon, So I think this is
Speaker 1: going to continue to be an offensive league. I think
Speaker 1: the one thing you'll notice, Nick, and you're talking about
Speaker 1: these defenses, defenses I think that are successful in today's game.
Speaker 1: They're opportunistic. So you want to have yourself somebody in
Speaker 1: the secondary who can get you some turnovers when the
Speaker 1: opportunities present themselves. You want to have at least one
Speaker 1: guy on your defensive line that can create problems for
Speaker 1: the offense. You're Aaron Donald's, you know, Chris Jones is
Speaker 1: a guy in Kansas City. You want to find that
Speaker 1: one guy on your defensive front who can really disrupt
Speaker 1: things when when there are opportunities to disrupt things and
Speaker 1: in critical moments in games. But by and large, you
Speaker 1: want your defense is just basically hold the opponent to
Speaker 1: somewhere around twenty to twenty three points and have an
Speaker 1: offense that can score more than that, Right, that's today's game.
Speaker 1: And so I think, yeah, the Cowboys gonna have to
Speaker 1: add some some some pieces. But I also think it's
Speaker 1: it's extremely important. It's more important for them to make
Speaker 1: sure that they can maintain an offense I can put
Speaker 1: up a lot of points, because you just can't win
Speaker 1: without it, in my opinion. I'll just also add to
Speaker 1: that that And I mean, this isn't a this is
Speaker 1: not a it's not a blanket statement. That's completely true.
Speaker 1: Like right off the top of my head. You know,
Speaker 1: Green Bay signed Preston Smith and Zadarius Smith and free
Speaker 1: agency Kansas City, you know, Tyron Matthew was an amazing
Speaker 1: free agent signing for the Chiefs. But for the most part,
Speaker 1: like good defenses are built through the draft anyway. You know,
Speaker 1: people talk about that San Francisco defense that got to
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl last year. Yeah, they signed Richard Sherman,
Speaker 1: but the strength of that defense was that disgusting defensive line,
Speaker 1: which was all draft picks, you know, for the most part. Yeah,
Speaker 1: like you mentioned, you mentioned Chris Jones in Kansas City,
Speaker 1: another draft pick. Like, I just think we spent a
Speaker 1: whole segment talking about the legion of Boom in Seattle.
Speaker 1: The vast majority of that defense was just amazing draft picks.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I mean, obviously the Cowboys defense needs to improve,
Speaker 1: but I'm not going to ignore the offense for the
Speaker 1: sake of it. You got to have a good quarterback,
Speaker 1: and yeah, they just need a draft better on defense
Speaker 1: starting in April. Now, another question you talked to him
Speaker 1: about free agency, and this is on free agency. If
Speaker 1: you were to not look at the list of the
Speaker 1: Cowboys current free agent guys, because that's pretty long right now,
Speaker 1: but if you had to sign a free agent veteran
Speaker 1: guy to the Cowboys from the outside, what a position
Speaker 1: would you be looking at the most? Right now that
Speaker 1: you're like, Okay, we definitely need a veteran guy that
Speaker 1: can come in here and help instead of just draft
Speaker 1: for me, for me, I mean, age, you're gonna love this,
Speaker 1: I would probably say safety because they need they need them.
Speaker 1: They don't care about safety. They we know that. You
Speaker 1: asked me. You ask me, you asked me what I
Speaker 1: would say, not what they would do. Um, they they
Speaker 1: need one. I think it's kind of unrealistic to think
Speaker 1: that you're gonna find one immediately in the draft. I
Speaker 1: don't love the options that are available at safety, um
Speaker 1: at the top of the draft anyway. Obviously you can
Speaker 1: find some better ones later on. But you know, you
Speaker 1: think I mean, right off the top of my head,
Speaker 1: one that makes sense as Keane O'Neil, just because he's
Speaker 1: Dan Quinn's draft pick. Um. And and again, like we
Speaker 1: gotta be realistic, like there, this isn't gonna be a
Speaker 1: team that breaks the bank in free agency. They can't
Speaker 1: afford it and they hate doing it anyway, So you know,
Speaker 1: justin Simmons up in Denver would be fun, but I
Speaker 1: don't think that's realistic. Um. But yeah, like a guy
Speaker 1: like a Keyan O'Neil comes to mind, like I said,
Speaker 1: mainly because he played with Quinn for so long careful
Speaker 1: because you know, um, Mike McCarthy's draft pick was uh haha,
Speaker 1: Clinton Dix, you know. And I'm just saying, and we
Speaker 1: thought that was kind of, oh, it would be a good, good,
Speaker 1: you know pick, and it just he just wasn't ready,
Speaker 1: you know, I mean, it just wasn't. He wasn't a guy,
Speaker 1: and he didn't never never played right. He ever he
Speaker 1: played a game. He got cut before the season got here. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he didn't make the team. Yeah, I want to throw
Speaker 1: a name to you guys. I want to I'd be
Speaker 1: interesting to see what you guys to think about this.
Speaker 1: I saw this name pop up and it made me think.
Speaker 1: And they were talking about him as though he's a
Speaker 1: free agent, so excuse me if he's not. But what
Speaker 1: would you think about a guy like Richard Sherman. Uh.
Speaker 1: He obviously has played with with with with quinn in um.
Speaker 1: He is, by all accounts one of the better cornerbacks
Speaker 1: in the league over the last ten years. Um. Obviously
Speaker 1: at the end of his career. But you got a
Speaker 1: young guy that's coming up that you may want to
Speaker 1: maybe have him around, A guy like a Richard Sherman.
Speaker 1: What do you guys think about something like that? If
Speaker 1: the Cowboys had that opportunity to get a Richard Sherman,
Speaker 1: I love it. I love it. I mean, I think
Speaker 1: he uh and and in the media, we all would
Speaker 1: love it. You know, he's amazing. He's one of the
Speaker 1: smartest guys in the NFL. UM. You know, he's he
Speaker 1: really is. I mean, and and and I think that
Speaker 1: that savviness, that that those smarts has helped him become,
Speaker 1: you know, a really good player for a long time. Um.
Speaker 1: I didn't notice though, in that game that they played
Speaker 1: the forty nine ers, he wasn't. Oh no, he's not
Speaker 1: Richard Sherman. He's got the Richard Sherman. Yeah. But um,
Speaker 1: if he's willing to do that, you know, not all
Speaker 1: the veteran players are willing to be that guy. Know
Speaker 1: that helps the other ones. But if he is, he's
Speaker 1: willing to do that, yeah, I think so. I think
Speaker 1: he could be a good player. I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: Brandon Carr was like that for a while, and he's
Speaker 1: a better He's way better than Brandon Carr. But I'm
Speaker 1: talking about he was kind of that player and helped
Speaker 1: those younger guys as long as they treat it as
Speaker 1: a long term plan and rather than a solution, like
Speaker 1: don't sign Richard Sherman and be like, Okay, we're we're
Speaker 1: set at cornerback for the next two or three years.
Speaker 1: Like sign Richard Sherman and then go spend your first
Speaker 1: or second round pick on a cornerback and Richard Sherman
Speaker 1: can hopefully help him, you know, not just learn the defense,
Speaker 1: but learn how to be a pro. Yeah. I love that,
Speaker 1: as long as it's part of a larger plan. Yeah,
Speaker 1: because they already had that. They had it last year
Speaker 1: with shan Lee, like they had that guy. Yeah, you
Speaker 1: know that that isn't you know? He's a he's a
Speaker 1: veteran guy, he's there for presidents. He's kind of a
Speaker 1: coach on the field type of thing. So, but you
Speaker 1: talked about how how smart Richard Sherman is, and I
Speaker 1: think it's both on the field and off the field.
Speaker 1: I think the interesting thing here is you got a
Speaker 1: new defensive coordinator coming in. He will probably want somebody
Speaker 1: on the field who understands what they're trying to do.
Speaker 1: And I think Richard Sherman or a guy like that
Speaker 1: you talked about Kean O'Neil, same thing. You're bringing somebody
Speaker 1: like that into the mix. Is just somebody that can
Speaker 1: kind of reiterate what the coach is thinking that he
Speaker 1: may not have time to say, so that the other
Speaker 1: guys on the field kind of know what the defense
Speaker 1: is trying to do in a particular. And I wouldn't
Speaker 1: say this about all cornerbacks because I know people think
Speaker 1: this a lot, but you have to be smart to
Speaker 1: do it, but I think he is a cornerback as
Speaker 1: he's kind of aging a little bit and he's still
Speaker 1: got a good size to him. I think he could
Speaker 1: maybe rotate into a safety role. We've seen it, Rod
Speaker 1: Woodson type of guys. This guy, but you have to
Speaker 1: be smart enough to kind of understand people think because
Speaker 1: you've lost a step that you could just play safety.
Speaker 1: Doesn't work that way, but I think it could with
Speaker 1: a guy like him. So I'm curious if he you know,
Speaker 1: that's really interesting. I don't. I don't know if you
Speaker 1: know how he would feel about that, but that would
Speaker 1: be an interesting and interesting concept. I certainly would think
Speaker 1: it would be worth looking at, investigating if you think
Speaker 1: he could do it. Bring it in anyone, any veteran guy,
Speaker 1: don't care, just come on over. We need you. The
Speaker 1: next question we know with the changes in the changing
Speaker 1: the defensive coordinator, and we talked about the linebacker position
Speaker 1: Jalen Smith him possibly turning into a better player under
Speaker 1: Dan Quinn. Who know, we'll see, but after that, higher
Speaker 1: has the priority of linebacker changed for you as far
Speaker 1: as how much help you need their linebacker? Specifically looking
Speaker 1: at how bad the run defense was this year and
Speaker 1: even last year. In general, I don't know, Dave. I
Speaker 1: think I know more about the quarterback was just then
Speaker 1: than I know about the linebacker position. I mean, linebackers.
Speaker 1: I don't have any clue of what they're going to do.
Speaker 1: There is Sean Lee coming back? I saw, you know, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean yeah, we see things we're not always supposed
Speaker 1: to see. But whatever it was, it could mean. That
Speaker 1: could mean one hundred different things. Yeah, exactly is Layton
Speaker 1: vander is going to come back? Is Jalen Smith even
Speaker 1: on the team. I don't know anything about linebacker. Let's
Speaker 1: just assume that everybody that's under contract stays under contract.
Speaker 1: I mean that's only like, that's only two guys, one
Speaker 1: of whom Layton has had injury issues for two straight
Speaker 1: years and one of whom Jalen Smith had the worst
Speaker 1: year of his career. No, I don't feel better about
Speaker 1: it at all. I don't. I wouldn't want to spend
Speaker 1: the tenth overall pick on a linebacker. But you know,
Speaker 1: just getting into my draft study, I'm starting to find
Speaker 1: a lot of intriguing guys that might be there in
Speaker 1: the second or third round that I'm like, hell, yeah,
Speaker 1: sign me up. Even if he's not an immediate starter
Speaker 1: that say, okay with me, So no, I I feel
Speaker 1: like it's a very big priority. Maybe not a first
Speaker 1: round priority, but definitely still a priority. Even like I said,
Speaker 1: you know, Nick nixt totally right, we don't know for sure.
Speaker 1: I don't know what Sean's gonna do. I don't know
Speaker 1: what Jalen Smith's future is. But even if, even if
Speaker 1: they're all on the team, I'm still interested in upgrading
Speaker 1: is going to be a part of the Cowboys in
Speaker 1: some way, in some way, I'm I'm guessing that too.
Speaker 1: I'm guessing he's going to be in this building in
Speaker 1: some kind of the implier not not necessarily implying anything,
Speaker 1: but just I just I think they have a high
Speaker 1: regard for him, and I think he has a high
Speaker 1: regard for them, and I think typically we have those
Speaker 1: kinds of situations. I think it tends to work out. Yeah,
Speaker 1: But but if he's not everything y'all are sorry, go ahead,
Speaker 1: go ahead, Dad, Just everything y'all are saying is an implication.
Speaker 1: You're implying that he's going to either play or coach
Speaker 1: for the Cowboys. Like I mean, it's not a very
Speaker 1: subtle implication. It's an opinion implicate Okay, it's an opinion,
Speaker 1: it's not an implication. An opinion. That's not guessing the lottery.
Speaker 1: That's something that you could easily assume. That's not it's
Speaker 1: not a hard thing. But what we do know about
Speaker 1: it is he's not gonna be a starter. Yeah, so
Speaker 1: it doesn't really matter. Then let's figure out who's you know,
Speaker 1: who's gonna play, Who's gonna start, you know. And I
Speaker 1: know I've seen I've seen the clips, and I know
Speaker 1: there's some baggage to it, but I know there's that
Speaker 1: kid in Penn State looks like it looks pretty sam good,
Speaker 1: but I think there's some issues there with him. And
Speaker 1: here's my thing. Like, I know, Dave, you said you
Speaker 1: wouldn't necessarily go with a tenth overall pick on linebacker.
Speaker 1: I look around the league and I'm like, man, think
Speaker 1: about like the really good defenses, they usually start with
Speaker 1: a really good linebacker. And so I just look at
Speaker 1: it personally and I say, if you've got a guy
Speaker 1: you think is that good, I think go ahead and
Speaker 1: make the pick because I think right now one of
Speaker 1: the things that's holding this team, this defense back is
Speaker 1: their linebacker play. I think they got two guys out
Speaker 1: there right now that didn't play great this year, and
Speaker 1: I think if you can get that one position fixed,
Speaker 1: I think it makes a lot of other positions look
Speaker 1: a lot better because if you can get a guy
Speaker 1: that can cover as well, you know, rush at times
Speaker 1: as well as run sideline the sidline. I know that's
Speaker 1: not an easy thing to find, but you find that guy,
Speaker 1: it's worth it. You'll get more than the value back
Speaker 1: on that pick. What really sucks? Had I had a
Speaker 1: great argument. I was sorry, Amber, what I was just
Speaker 1: gonna say that what really sucks is that you actually
Speaker 1: recently spent the first round pick on a linebacker, and
Speaker 1: that hasn't necessarily behind you where you wanted to be
Speaker 1: because of the injuries and stuff. But it just sucks
Speaker 1: that we're still talking about the linebacker positions a few
Speaker 1: years out of them drafting a first round pick on
Speaker 1: a linebacker. Yeah. True, which goes to my kind of
Speaker 1: goes to my point. I got in an argument with
Speaker 1: Bucky Brooks on the Draft Show about this last week,
Speaker 1: which if you promise me you're getting if I am
Speaker 1: getting Devin White, the Tampa Bay linebacker, who has one
Speaker 1: hundred and sixty tackles and ten sacks and three picks?
Speaker 1: But how many? But it's a good question, that's a
Speaker 1: really good question. But I mean, go go back and
Speaker 1: watch that game. Though, like, the reason the reason Green
Speaker 1: Bay struggled wasn't necessarily linebacker. It was because Shack Barrett
Speaker 1: and sapp were eating Aaron Rodgers. They were eating Rogers alive,
Speaker 1: and I mean, yes, good linebacker. They also couldn't run
Speaker 1: the ball, and that had a lot to do with
Speaker 1: the linebacker. Right, Hey, who's who's beasting in Kansas City?
Speaker 1: Who's their beast linebacker? Guy by the name of and
Speaker 1: the hygens who was found in the who's found in
Speaker 1: the fourth round? You can find good Bobby Wagner was
Speaker 1: the second round pick, Like you can find those guys
Speaker 1: all over the draft. I would just rather spend a
Speaker 1: top ten pick on pass rush or coverage. That's just me.
Speaker 1: All right, we'll appreciate you, guys, Jonas. That's a rap.
Speaker 1: We'll be back next week. We're gonna finish up the offense.
Speaker 1: We'll talk about the running back position, which I think
Speaker 1: there are a lot of questions and a lot of
Speaker 1: conversations around that, we'll also get into the offensive line
Speaker 1: and the tight end position well that next week. Till
Speaker 1: then for Nick Eaton, Dave Hellman, Amber Garcia. I am
Speaker 1: Derek Heapelton. This has been The Break live on Dallas
Speaker 1: Cowboys dot Com Radio. This has been a production of
Speaker 1: Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.