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Speaker 1: Joining us now right here with nine days to go

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Speaker 1: until the NFL Draft. It's cowboy ceoo Stephen Jones here

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Speaker 1: on one O five through the fan, and a good

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Speaker 1: afternoon to you, sir. How you been man good? Just

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Speaker 1: as you can imagine, this is that time of year

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Speaker 1: and between getting our draft preparations ready to go, finishing

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Speaker 1: up free agency, and then of course we continue to

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Speaker 1: work on signing some of our type players. Yes, so

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Speaker 1: we look forward to talking to you about all that. Now,

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Speaker 1: how how how far away are you from finalizing your

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Speaker 1: board at this point, Stephen, I'd still say we're another

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Speaker 1: week off of just putting every little last I dit

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Speaker 1: it and T crossed. Still a lot of data gathering

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Speaker 1: going on, believe it or not. And as you delve

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Speaker 1: in more into some of these players that we have

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Speaker 1: an interest in, there's always more questions that come up

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Speaker 1: that you feel like you can do a little more

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Speaker 1: research on, and we just continue to work away at

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Speaker 1: putting it together. We obviously have a board that's in

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Speaker 1: pretty good shape as it sets, but we continue to

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Speaker 1: modify it and make some changes. But once we get

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Speaker 1: into the you know, if we get into next week,

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Speaker 1: the last week, it'll be pretty much the way it's

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Speaker 1: gonna be. So i'd probably say another you know, five

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Speaker 1: or six days left before we hopefully by the end

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Speaker 1: of by the start of next week, we'll be done

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Speaker 1: with it. You just read us what you got right now,

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Speaker 1: starting at one down through about one hundred and eighty.

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Speaker 1: Absolutely sure. Where's Kyler? Well, Kyler's doing. He had a

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Speaker 1: good read, so he's doing real well. And Kyler found

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Speaker 1: his way into our first round. So at the start

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Speaker 1: of the off season you said, actually you're with us.

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Speaker 1: You said tight end looked like maybe the biggest position

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Speaker 1: of need or focus going into the off season. What

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Speaker 1: extent does that change with Witten? And how do you

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Speaker 1: look at tight end going into this draft now, well,

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Speaker 1: I think it was one of them. Certainly it's one

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Speaker 1: we'll keep our eye eyes on. But when you get

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Speaker 1: a you know, a Hall of Fame type player back

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Speaker 1: like Jason Wooden that you aren't necessarily counting on, then uh,

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Speaker 1: that does change. Now. Uh. You know what we try

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Speaker 1: to do, Uh, you know, try to verbalize that every

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Speaker 1: year is we really try to take care of as

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Speaker 1: best we can most of our needs in free agency.

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Speaker 1: It may not be in a high profile way or

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Speaker 1: you know, a way that you know you're paying big

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Speaker 1: money for guys that you know, get people on the

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Speaker 1: edge of their seats. But we do feel like we've addressed, uh,

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Speaker 1: you know, for the for the large part of this

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Speaker 1: most of our needs. And you hope going into the draft,

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Speaker 1: which is really the way we feel right now, as

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Speaker 1: you can kind of take the best player available and

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Speaker 1: that that's why we try to get situated. And I

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Speaker 1: think it's led to some some very successful drafts and

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Speaker 1: I think, uh, hopefully the same thing will happen this year.

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Speaker 1: So Stephen, from an offensive standpoint, Scott Lenahan is out

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Speaker 1: and Kellen Moore is in as the offensive coordinator. How

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Speaker 1: much leading up to a draft or slash free agency

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Speaker 1: do you have to talk to your new offensive coordinator

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Speaker 1: and get an idea of what he likes out of

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Speaker 1: certain positions on his side of the ball. Quite a bit. Obviously,

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Speaker 1: Kellen sits in on most of our offensive players and

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Speaker 1: as I don't think he's missed one. So yeah, and

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Speaker 1: as we go through each position on the offensive side

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Speaker 1: of the ball, we go through the traits that we're

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Speaker 1: looking for and any changes that we've made and what

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Speaker 1: we might be looking for in the past, where our

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Speaker 1: current players on the roster fit. If we did have

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Speaker 1: a certain skill set that we don't currently have on

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Speaker 1: the roster, then what that could do for us. And

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Speaker 1: then talk about what we're installing out here and how

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Speaker 1: we're going to be different and all those things are

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Speaker 1: taken into an account as we start to evaluate the

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Speaker 1: different positions and how we set up our board. So

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Speaker 1: tracking the guys that you guys visit with pre draft,

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Speaker 1: I think a lot of people were a little surprised

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Speaker 1: to see Damien Harris, the running back from Alabama, and

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Speaker 1: they're just because of where he's projected to be drafted

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Speaker 1: on Day two. There is there any chance that if

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Speaker 1: the right player is there, that you guys would pick

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Speaker 1: a running back in the first three rounds. Well, I

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Speaker 1: just think anytime you look at your situation and you

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Speaker 1: see how much we rely on Zeke in terms of

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Speaker 1: the number of catch a number of touches that he

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Speaker 1: gets game in and game out, and what that would

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Speaker 1: do to your team if you didn't have Zeke. You know,

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Speaker 1: I think we look back on last year and wonder

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Speaker 1: if maybe we were, you know, hanging out more than

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Speaker 1: we should have in the past was Zeke. We've had

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Speaker 1: guys like a McFadden like and Alfred Morse that can

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Speaker 1: come in there and really give you some good, solid carries.

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Speaker 1: And you know, on hindsight looking at that with Rod,

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Speaker 1: wonder if we had, you know, as high caliber a

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Speaker 1: guy as we should have. So certainly that's a position

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Speaker 1: that we'll look at and we'll continue to look at

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Speaker 1: as we move forward here. How do you like the

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Speaker 1: talent at at fifty eight? And how possible is a

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Speaker 1: trade up is next year's first round pick in playing

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Speaker 1: to what extent? Yeah, I don't think so. I mean,

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Speaker 1: we're It took an Act of Congress to give up

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Speaker 1: a first round pick, and we know how valuable those are.

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Speaker 1: It took a lot of discussion, a lot of a

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Speaker 1: lot of homework, a lot of really getting your hands

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Speaker 1: around to give up a first round pick, and that's

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Speaker 1: certainly something that you don't love to be without. We

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Speaker 1: certainly would do the same thing over again in terms

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Speaker 1: of what it did for us with a Maury Cook

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Speaker 1: or what it's going to do for our future looking

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Speaker 1: at this draft now even in more depth at what

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Speaker 1: would have been there for the future receiver, we're certainly

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Speaker 1: glad we made the deal, but I don't see us,

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Speaker 1: you know, making that a habit of putting first round

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Speaker 1: picks into play at the same time, you know, think,

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Speaker 1: you know, and without that, it makes it real hard

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Speaker 1: to think that you're going to make a you know,

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Speaker 1: some huge moves to move that second round pick up significantly. Well,

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Speaker 1: you know, obviously, what you guys have been doing in

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Speaker 1: the draft for like half a decade now has just

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Speaker 1: been outstanding, and those picks have such tremendous value for you.

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Speaker 1: My question, though, how how confident are you that you

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Speaker 1: can keep drafting like you have and how sustainable is

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Speaker 1: you know, this series of years of successful drafts that

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Speaker 1: you've been on. I think if we stick you know,

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Speaker 1: if we stick with our fundamentals, we can I mean,

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Speaker 1: you want to get better every year. You certainly want

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Speaker 1: to look at ways that you can improve. But I think, obviously, uh,

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Speaker 1: you know, in this uh you know, set a serumstances

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Speaker 1: that we have with the cap where it is and

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Speaker 1: the way these roster numbers are constructed, then you know,

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Speaker 1: I'd like to hope that we can continue to have

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Speaker 1: success even though we don't have a first round pick

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Speaker 1: that we're gonna, you know, pick some really good football

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Speaker 1: players in this draft that can help us. And I

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Speaker 1: do think there's going to be some good players sitting

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Speaker 1: there when we pick in the second round. So we've

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Speaker 1: just got to really do our homework and you know,

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Speaker 1: really look at each and ever player that might be

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Speaker 1: available there. We know there's probably you know, it'll start

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Speaker 1: to limit up pretty good as the draft comes to

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Speaker 1: us there in the bottom of the second but you know,

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Speaker 1: we're convinced and convicted, even though we're not through with

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Speaker 1: it yet, that there's going to be good players for us. Stephen,

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Speaker 1: last year's draft class really contributed for you with vander

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Speaker 1: ash and Williams and receiver and Dorance Armstrong gallup as

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Speaker 1: a receiver. What guy do you think can have the

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Speaker 1: biggest jump from year one to year two for you guys?

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Speaker 1: You know, that's a great question. I think you know,

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Speaker 1: there's a lot of guys doing a lot of good

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Speaker 1: work out here. You know, your linemen in particular are

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Speaker 1: hard to jump in because they're young, and Connor in

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Speaker 1: particular was really young. And my understanding back here is

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Speaker 1: he's taken some huge steps in terms of his strength,

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Speaker 1: his size, some of the things where he was a little,

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Speaker 1: if you will, a little short on in terms of

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Speaker 1: his play last year, that he's really focused on improving

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Speaker 1: those areas. Football is very important to him. He loves

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Speaker 1: the game. And my understanding is he's put on some

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Speaker 1: really good weight and added some really good strength and

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Speaker 1: you know, I think he can make a big jump.

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Speaker 1: It's certainly going to be competitive there with Sua Philo

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Speaker 1: in terms of the depth that we have there, getting

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Speaker 1: Cam and Sue La Philo and Joe Looney back, and

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Speaker 1: who knows what we might do in the draft. So

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Speaker 1: it's a very competitive situation. And then you mentioned Dorn's

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Speaker 1: armstrong too. Is uh certainly an edge type player that

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Speaker 1: you know learned a lot. But at the same time,

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Speaker 1: those guys can make big jumps. You look at guys, uh,

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Speaker 1: you know in the past like d law Uh, you know,

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Speaker 1: you look at their first year. You know it was

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Speaker 1: tough on them, and uh, they get in there and

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Speaker 1: they get a full offseason, they get stronger, and they

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Speaker 1: make a big jump. So you know, those interior alignement,

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Speaker 1: whether it's offensive or defensive, you know up there in

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Speaker 1: the fronts, they get a year, you know, a full

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Speaker 1: year and a pro style, you know, a pro organization,

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Speaker 1: strength and conditioning. It can make a big difference for

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Speaker 1: those guys. Stephen, you mentioned potential contracts with some of

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Speaker 1: your current players, Um so who could that be? We

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Speaker 1: got a real good kick out of David Canner's description

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Speaker 1: of how the deal came together. Is that is that

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Speaker 1: kind of part for the course with the heated conversations

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Speaker 1: and colorful language flying back and forth or is that

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Speaker 1: special with David? Yeah, well, I don't know that I

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Speaker 1: totally agree with his the way he recounts it, but uh,

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Speaker 1: and I don't get into talking about details like that.

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Speaker 1: But certainly the good news is we just power through

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Speaker 1: those things and we do the best we can to

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Speaker 1: negotiate and get to the right answer, and that's the

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Speaker 1: most important thing. And uh, certainly he did a good

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Speaker 1: job for his client. But uh, you know, as far

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Speaker 1: as the details of a negotiation, I don't get into that, nor,

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Speaker 1: as I said, I necessarily agree with the way he

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Speaker 1: Uh you know that he recalls the negotiation. So are

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Speaker 1: you open to discussing free agent contracts or extensions, I mean,

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Speaker 1: with with any of your players or do you have

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Speaker 1: a couple You're focused on right now. Yeah, we're always

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Speaker 1: open to looking at you know, looking at things and

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Speaker 1: certainly if there's opportunities there that makes sense, and then

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Speaker 1: we'll we'll progress. I mean, I think pretty much everybody's

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Speaker 1: on it pretty good that there's a you know, some

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Speaker 1: pretty active discussions now with Dick and Amari. But it

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Speaker 1: doesn't mean that we some can't pick up in short

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Speaker 1: order with other players that we have on our roster

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Speaker 1: that we certainly want to keep keep here in Dallas

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Speaker 1: and having remain Cowboys in the future. Stephen, we do

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Speaker 1: have to broadcast on Thursday during the first round. I

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Speaker 1: know you guys don't have a pick currently, could you

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Speaker 1: at least hint to breaking news that you might move

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Speaker 1: up into that round so that we could get better ratings? Well,

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Speaker 1: why'd never rule anything out with Jerry. He might just decide, hey,

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Speaker 1: it's time to do something big, and certainly you know

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Speaker 1: he'll have the final call on that. So I would

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Speaker 1: never count Jerry out on anything. Are free agents from

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Speaker 1: other teams signing still possible or have you kind of

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Speaker 1: closed the book on that at least when it comes

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Speaker 1: to significant signings. No, I wouldn't say they're closed. I

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Speaker 1: mean we'll continue to evaluate. I think a lot of times,

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Speaker 1: if you know, depending on how the draft goes, sometimes

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Speaker 1: you feel like, hey, there may still be a little

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Speaker 1: need for something that we want to shore up, and

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Speaker 1: the right guy happens to be out there at the

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Speaker 1: right price. Sometimes you know, they're asking price changes for

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Speaker 1: some of these veteran players. So no, I would never

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Speaker 1: rule out saying, hey, we're done with these. You know,

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Speaker 1: we're done with signing free agents from other teams. Jalen

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Speaker 1: Smith has stunned the media. Maybe not you guys, but

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Speaker 1: each of the last two training camps Innuxtionar, it was like,

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Speaker 1: holy cow, how different is he? Man? He's moving so

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Speaker 1: much better? Is there something else in story? Are you

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Speaker 1: hearing anything from the workouts about how Jalen Smith is

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Speaker 1: coming along other than just he continues to do great now?

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Speaker 1: I think certainly, I don't think we'll see the seismic

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Speaker 1: jumps that he made from year one to year two

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Speaker 1: and then year two to year three. But you know,

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Speaker 1: he's just a worker and he's what you're wanting a

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Speaker 1: Dallas Cowboy football player. He certainly has never questioned that

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Speaker 1: he was going to get back to his true form.

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Speaker 1: And he did that, and uh, you know, you never

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Speaker 1: know what you're going to get from him because he

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Speaker 1: is so focused on being the very best linebacker he

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Speaker 1: can be in the NFL. So when I go look

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Speaker 1: on the contract websites, I just want to verify with

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Speaker 1: you if I could. I know Jalen has played two seasons,

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Speaker 1: He's been in the league three seasons. Is he a

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Speaker 1: free agent after this year? He'll be under a tender

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Speaker 1: after this year. Okay, So looking at the defensive tackle

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Speaker 1: situation and your cornerback situation, Stephen, both of those look

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Speaker 1: pretty good as we go into the draft, but after

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Speaker 1: this season is over, you could possibly be losing a

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Speaker 1: lot of those guys. And I remember a few years ago,

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Speaker 1: obviously you had to redo pretty much your cornerback situation

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Speaker 1: in one draft. How are you feeling about those two

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Speaker 1: positions and the future that there's really not guys locked

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Speaker 1: up long term at those positions. Well, that's why I

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Speaker 1: say to you know, the laser focus on a couple

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Speaker 1: of guys, you know, can be miss leading. I mean,

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Speaker 1: we obviously going to continue to look at our future

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Speaker 1: in all those areas, and that's uh, you know, the

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Speaker 1: same hole's true for the draft. I mean, you look

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Speaker 1: into what we draft, and then you draft a couple

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Speaker 1: of guys and certain areas, and then you're young there again,

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Speaker 1: and you've got guys who are going to be with

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Speaker 1: you for the next four or five years, and you

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Speaker 1: don't feel you know, you don't feel like that's a

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Speaker 1: big issue, but you know this is gonna with the

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Speaker 1: young team that we have, this will be a continual

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Speaker 1: work in progress in terms of you know, time players

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Speaker 1: up and strategizing to keep you know, the guys who

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Speaker 1: we feel like make us the very best possible team

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Speaker 1: we can be so we can contend for a championship.

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Speaker 1: And then what do you think about the Russell Wilson

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Speaker 1: deal that he got put together? Our quarterback contracts growing

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Speaker 1: faster than the salary cap, and you know, what do

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Speaker 1: you think of the quarterback market as it sits right now?

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Speaker 1: I don't necessarily think so. I mean, you're talking about

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Speaker 1: two guys there who between Rogers and between Russell Wilson,

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Speaker 1: that have won Super Bowls, that have had success year

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Speaker 1: in and year out taking their teams to the playoffs.

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Speaker 1: Russells both have them been to a couple of Super Bowls. Uh, Well,

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Speaker 1: at least I know Russell has been and so yeah,

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Speaker 1: they those are guys who are going to make those

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Speaker 1: those type of jumps. But I'm not concerned. I mean,

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Speaker 1: I think at the end of the day, if any

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Speaker 1: if there's any position that has to keep an eye

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Speaker 1: out not only you know, for themselves, but they also

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Speaker 1: have to keep an eye out on their team in

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Speaker 1: terms of how much cap space they take up. These

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Speaker 1: quarterbacks are those guys because you know, at the end

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Speaker 1: of the day, you know they're gonna make a lot

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Speaker 1: of money. And the bigger thing for them in terms

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Speaker 1: of their career and what they're all about is you know,

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Speaker 1: how much did they win? How many Super Bowl rings

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Speaker 1: do they have on their finger fingers? Those are all

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Speaker 1: huge deals and they know you know, at some point

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Speaker 1: if they take out too much cap space at the

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Speaker 1: end of the day, then you know, it can hurt

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Speaker 1: their chances in terms of winning. Stephen, last question for

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Speaker 1: you to know he's not in this draft or next

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Speaker 1: year's draft, but watching Trevor Lawrence play last year and

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Speaker 1: then the National Championship game, we've compared him to kind

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Speaker 1: of the next Peyton Manning. I know this gets into

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Speaker 1: sports talk radio but how how great of a prospect

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Speaker 1: is Trevor Lawrence even though that he can't even be

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Speaker 1: drafted for the next few years. Well, we don't get

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Speaker 1: into habit about talking about those guys who aren't coming out,

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Speaker 1: but obviously, you know, him winning a national championship as

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Speaker 1: a freshman makes him a special, special young man. But

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Speaker 1: probably not the right thing for me to be commenting

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Speaker 1: on what their draft status might look like be like

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Speaker 1: in the future. Appreciate your time as always, or have

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Speaker 1: a great afternoon. Thanks a lot, guys,