Speaker 1: The following. He's 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, March twenty first two Thy eighteen, Season thirteen,
Speaker 1: episode number one oh six. Welcome to another edition of
Speaker 1: The Break. I am Derek Eagleton, joined by our normal
Speaker 1: cast here. And actually I just thought about something. I
Speaker 1: got that wrong. It's actually season fourteen. Yeah, it is
Speaker 1: an episode number two because the NFL year has changed
Speaker 1: now we're into a new NFL season. Um, and it
Speaker 1: is not to mess. Marshall did not tell us about
Speaker 1: and he didn't mention it was actually last week should
Speaker 1: have been episode one, and he didn't get that right. Fire.
Speaker 1: Literally nobody cares gone gone, Season fourteen gone. He'll never
Speaker 1: host again in this city. Wow, that's not true. Actually,
Speaker 1: next Thursday being the show. Actually for the next three
Speaker 1: weeks he's gonna be hosting the show. So Ken, I
Speaker 1: was hoping you would save that drop for a little
Speaker 1: bit later on when we talked about other people. Well,
Speaker 1: see you later. That one took. Yeah, all right, so
Speaker 1: we got a lot to talk about. Free agency is here.
Speaker 1: There have been a lot of moves around the NFL. Ironically,
Speaker 1: there have been zero moves here with the Cowboys, although
Speaker 1: there are things. I'm sorry, yes, they're not. Forget about
Speaker 1: that fullback trade. I'm sorry, I'm right, You're right, there
Speaker 1: has been, but that wasn't a free agent move. It
Speaker 1: was a move a guy that agent, guy that wasn't
Speaker 1: on this team is on this team. Now we'll get
Speaker 1: into that and talk about that. But there's been a
Speaker 1: lot of stuff around the league, and I really want
Speaker 1: to start this conversation just getting you guys opinion, because
Speaker 1: I think if you, if you listen to what fans
Speaker 1: are saying, and really just the general media as well,
Speaker 1: I think the Cowboys are taking a lot of a
Speaker 1: lot of just negativity because they haven't been very active.
Speaker 1: What are your thoughts of kind of what's transpired so
Speaker 1: far um here at the beginning of free agency with
Speaker 1: the Cowboys. Well, can we just say also that Alan
Speaker 1: Hearns is here. I mean, he's here, He's in the
Speaker 1: buildings in the building, Yeah, Alan Hearns and two other guys.
Speaker 1: As soon as you said that, I knew it was coming. Yeah.
Speaker 1: But also, I mean Joe Thomas is also here, and
Speaker 1: he's a linebacker that was actually on the practice squad
Speaker 1: at some point here. Did not really know I was
Speaker 1: going to ask you to elaborate. I was like, I
Speaker 1: thought Joe Thomas retired, right, I figured that I was
Speaker 1: kind of going for the pause there. And then Deonte Thompson,
Speaker 1: a wide receiver who was with the Bills. Sorry, those
Speaker 1: three guys. So to answer your question and we'll get
Speaker 1: to Alan Hearns a little bit. I want to talk
Speaker 1: a little bit about him. Um, I think I think
Speaker 1: the cowboy. I think fans are upset about nine and
Speaker 1: seven and no no playoff, you know, no not making
Speaker 1: the playoffs, not doing anything for the last you know,
Speaker 1: fifteen twenty years. That's what they're upset about. So they
Speaker 1: just feel like they want to get better. They see
Speaker 1: other teams thinking that they're going to get better. Who
Speaker 1: knows if they really are, but you know, they just
Speaker 1: want to see you guys do something here that's not
Speaker 1: a fullback. I kind of understand it. But you know,
Speaker 1: people are just bitch into bitch. I mean that's just
Speaker 1: what they do other people, other players that other teams
Speaker 1: have signed that you wish the Cowboys would have made
Speaker 1: more of a play, Don't ask Dave that why why not?
Speaker 1: Because of course yes, yeah, absolutely sure, badge who It's
Speaker 1: not even where my mind went at first, But right, well,
Speaker 1: that's it. You know, when this whole thing starts every year,
Speaker 1: for the first three days, you're like, all right, calmed down, everybody, like, no,
Speaker 1: they're not gonna throw eighty million dollars around. But then
Speaker 1: you start to see some of these other things. And
Speaker 1: I've said it on this show before the trades that
Speaker 1: happened before free agency even kicked off. I just I'd
Speaker 1: like to see a little more aggression on behalf of
Speaker 1: the Cowboys. And that doesn't mean dropping eighty million dollars.
Speaker 1: That means signing a freaking Pro Bowl safety named Tyron
Speaker 1: Matthew to a six million dollar deal about one year,
Speaker 1: one year? How about commitment? How about Morgan Burnett on
Speaker 1: a three year, fourteen and a half million dollars deal
Speaker 1: less than five million dollars a year? How about you know,
Speaker 1: I always go back to that we talk about how
Speaker 1: this team doesn't have a great one technique. The Patriots
Speaker 1: got Danny Shelton for a third round pick. He's a
Speaker 1: first round one technique defensive tackle. I think you make
Speaker 1: your off your defensive line a heck of a lot
Speaker 1: better adding that guy to it. And it's a It's
Speaker 1: a relatively highly priced draft pick, but you can pay
Speaker 1: dividends immediately if you put the other talent on your
Speaker 1: defensive line next to a guy like that, free stuff
Speaker 1: up for your linebackers. There are some other ones, you know.
Speaker 1: You know, we talked about Sammy Watkins last week. I
Speaker 1: think that would have been dumb. I'm not this fifty
Speaker 1: sixty million dollar contracts. I'm not interested. But there are small,
Speaker 1: calculated things that other teams are doing that I think
Speaker 1: this team could be doing that I think would be smart.
Speaker 1: And I don't blame fans for being frustrated that that
Speaker 1: they're not doing at least some smaller type of things.
Speaker 1: You know, I've decided to take this another route, and
Speaker 1: usually I would be frustrated for not seeing anything happening,
Speaker 1: just as everyone else is. But at the same time,
Speaker 1: I'm thinking, Okay, well, patient is a virtue, and we've
Speaker 1: seen that the Cowboys having been very successful at acquiring
Speaker 1: or the guys they've gone been a good hit, so
Speaker 1: they haven't hit on good guys during free agency. So
Speaker 1: I keep trying to take it back and say, Okay, well,
Speaker 1: maybe this is a good move. But then at the
Speaker 1: same time it's so back and forth because at the
Speaker 1: same time you only get essentially two ways of bettering
Speaker 1: your team through free agency and then the draft. They're
Speaker 1: letting free agency go by without doing really anything, So
Speaker 1: I don't know. I'm trying to give them the benefit
Speaker 1: of the doubt and let them handle this and expect
Speaker 1: them to know what they're doing and expect that maybe
Speaker 1: one it would have been too much money and we
Speaker 1: know how they have money problems right now in a way.
Speaker 1: But two, if the guys that they did go for,
Speaker 1: would those be a waste and would be would we
Speaker 1: be here later on the year talking about this free
Speaker 1: agent guy. Is that sucked and didn't do anything for
Speaker 1: the Cowboys. Yeah. The fact of the matter is when
Speaker 1: you go for and I think Dave you hit on
Speaker 1: the same thing. When you go for the high price
Speaker 1: free agent, typically you're overpaying, You're overpaying for free agency
Speaker 1: that when you're when you're on that first wave of guys.
Speaker 1: You look at just the history of the Cowboys, this
Speaker 1: is rare you find a high price free agent the
Speaker 1: Cowboys pay for that actually pays dividends. That doesn't happen
Speaker 1: a whole I think it happens the other way. Happens
Speaker 1: that often in the NFL. Yeah, maybe not right. And
Speaker 1: you look at just the most recent one. I don't
Speaker 1: know if this is the most recent one that can come.
Speaker 1: Think of Brandon Car. Brandon Car is a good player.
Speaker 1: Problem is you overpaid for him. And that's what free
Speaker 1: agency does. It takes a good payer and makes you
Speaker 1: pay him as though he's a great player, rather than
Speaker 1: paying him as a good player. And that I think
Speaker 1: is the challenge of being in that first wave of
Speaker 1: free agency. There's probably only two or three guys every
Speaker 1: year in free agency that's in that first way that
Speaker 1: actually get money that they're worth. The rest of them
Speaker 1: are getting overpaid because they're the best guy available, right,
Speaker 1: I think, Yeah, But I think the vast majority of
Speaker 1: intelligent fans understand that and don't want the Cowboys splashing
Speaker 1: eighty million dollars on play okay, but forget those eight
Speaker 1: people about the rest. I don't. I don't. I am
Speaker 1: not under the impression that they're I mean, okay, you know,
Speaker 1: people get excited any people get excited anytime a guy
Speaker 1: gets released. So you know, like in Dominican Sue, he
Speaker 1: gets released out of one hundred million dollar contract, you
Speaker 1: think you might be able to get him for cheaper.
Speaker 1: But you talk about the unrestricted free agents, like the
Speaker 1: guys who were really the cream of the crop of
Speaker 1: this free agent class, Like you didn't hear a whole
Speaker 1: lot of you know, complaining that the Cowboys should be
Speaker 1: chasing after those guys. And when the Cowboys did reveal
Speaker 1: that they went after Sammy Watkins, people were kind of surprised,
Speaker 1: Like really, you know, a lot of times unrestricted free
Speaker 1: agents like a senior in the NBA, like because you
Speaker 1: probably would have been released earlier. I think the guys
Speaker 1: that are released are probably better players because they're released
Speaker 1: because of because they had a high contract. I think
Speaker 1: if you just let it go all the way to
Speaker 1: the end of unrestricted, I don't know if you're gonna
Speaker 1: get that many great players. I think the best ones
Speaker 1: are the ones that are getting cut. Yeah, yeah, and
Speaker 1: I would agree with that. And well, the point I
Speaker 1: was gonna make is I don't feel like we have
Speaker 1: to sell fans on not buying eighty one hundred million
Speaker 1: dollars players. But again, it's the smaller, smarter, more reasonable content.
Speaker 1: Like you know, I already brought up Morgan Burnett. Pittsburgh
Speaker 1: put him on a three year, fifteen million dollars deal,
Speaker 1: even if he's not good. Is that really going to
Speaker 1: ruin your your finances? Probably not. Green Bay added Moe
Speaker 1: Wilkerson one year, five million dollars. The one year deals
Speaker 1: are the ones that really stand. He's got a bad reputation,
Speaker 1: but if he you know, if he doesn't make good
Speaker 1: on it, nobody's gonna care tyed Matthew again. And it's
Speaker 1: that type of stuff. I think, for the most part,
Speaker 1: that's how you can really improve your team without thinking
Speaker 1: an absurd amount of money into it. And the fact
Speaker 1: that we haven't seen the Cowboys really even sniff at
Speaker 1: any of those situations, I think is what's got people frustrated.
Speaker 1: And I think when you look at DeMarcus Lawrence and
Speaker 1: obviously you know, fans don't look they don't really think
Speaker 1: about that as something that counts like that, I don't
Speaker 1: really count like that they got him. But I think
Speaker 1: the issue with DeMarcus and what the Cowboys did is
Speaker 1: that they didn't get him on a long term deal.
Speaker 1: I don't think they want to. And by the decision
Speaker 1: of not trying to get him on a long term deal,
Speaker 1: and they're gonna have seventeen million just sitting there for him,
Speaker 1: you know, that's that's gonna be problematic to sign other guys.
Speaker 1: And so when when fans say, oh, that doesn't really count, unfortunately,
Speaker 1: it really does count to the cap, and it's eating
Speaker 1: into it their decision. And I don't know if I
Speaker 1: blame him. The guy's really probably I don't know if
Speaker 1: he's a one hit wonder, but he's a one and
Speaker 1: a half hit wonder. He's really had one and a
Speaker 1: half really good seasons, and I don't know if that's
Speaker 1: something you want to throw all that money into. So
Speaker 1: I kind of understand why the Cowboys did that. It's
Speaker 1: DeMarcus Lawrence in that situation that's kind of holding this
Speaker 1: thing up. Along with this. Now, they do have room, correct,
Speaker 1: I mean, they did restructure Travis Fredericks, so they have
Speaker 1: some room to be able to do some things right,
Speaker 1: do some stuff, and they and they cut Scandrick for
Speaker 1: June one. That saves him what three million that you know,
Speaker 1: that's just signing your draft picks really because he can't
Speaker 1: do that until June one. But let me ask you this,
Speaker 1: going back to the Scandrick thing, were you're a little
Speaker 1: bit surprised, and this goes along with what Dave was
Speaker 1: saying as well, from the standpoint of you know how
Speaker 1: teams are making some of these shrewd moves with the
Speaker 1: guards to trades and stuff like that, where you're a
Speaker 1: bit surprised the Cowboys weren't able to structure some kind
Speaker 1: of trade and get some value out of Orlando rather
Speaker 1: than just cutting him out right. Not really, No, that's
Speaker 1: I mean, he's thirty one, or he'll be turning thirty one.
Speaker 1: He's had extensive injury problems. He missed the last month
Speaker 1: of this season with an injury. And his contracts. I mean,
Speaker 1: what did he sign in Washington for two years ten? Yeah,
Speaker 1: something like that. He was on the hook for like
Speaker 1: two more years at four million dollars. So I thought
Speaker 1: he had a tradable contract. Yeah, I don't think the
Speaker 1: contract was a Problemly, No, his contract's not a problem,
Speaker 1: but when you factor everything else in there, and just like,
Speaker 1: why are you scrambling to to take that on when
Speaker 1: you could just sign him after they can't? I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't think there's a huge market for him in
Speaker 1: terms of teams being and if they if there was,
Speaker 1: it certainly wouldn't have been anything. I mean, Robert Quinn
Speaker 1: is going for a fourth and a sixth. What's Orlando
Speaker 1: Scander gonna get you? Yeah? I mean, this guy loves
Speaker 1: the West Coast and you know, ideally you would think
Speaker 1: he would sign with somebody over there, but I mean,
Speaker 1: we know him, we haven't. He has an agenda. I mean,
Speaker 1: he had three teams he wanted to sign with. And
Speaker 1: I don't know this personally because I haven't talked to him,
Speaker 1: but I mean it definitely makes sense that he looking
Speaker 1: for the red Skins or the Eagles or the Giants.
Speaker 1: He wants to play the Cowboys again. Those chips on
Speaker 1: his shoulders were never going to be as big as
Speaker 1: they are next season. Good for him, but you know,
Speaker 1: I think more than anything, it was it was time
Speaker 1: for him to go. He knew it, the team knows it,
Speaker 1: and apparently his teammates did as well, because I mean, Dave,
Speaker 1: can you spend the next one second, um talking about
Speaker 1: all the guys that that wished him farewell? Right? I mean,
Speaker 1: and you know that Smith leaves and it's like, oh
Speaker 1: my god, Beef, I mean, good luck in Oakland. And
Speaker 1: then Scandrick leaves after ten years and writes this long
Speaker 1: thing that nobody really believes and then he sends it
Speaker 1: in you know, peace out, and everyone's like, h yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think it was his time. He was
Speaker 1: a good player and a great draft pick. He was
Speaker 1: a great that's value fifth round pick, the stick around
Speaker 1: for years, that's about, especially playing the slot. And I
Speaker 1: think and I think he is a very intelligent player.
Speaker 1: He's a smart player. He learned the game, learned the craft.
Speaker 1: But I think, you know, he probably rubbed people just
Speaker 1: you know, the wrong way, just enough to kind of like,
Speaker 1: you know what, it's been good, it's been real time.
Speaker 1: We'll see we'll face you one time next year. And
Speaker 1: the interesting thing is when you look at all the
Speaker 1: guys that have left the Cowboys to go to the Redskins,
Speaker 1: particularly Cowboys haven't gotten burned on the right. So I
Speaker 1: think I think you're probably not. You're probably betting in
Speaker 1: the direction that he might be okay for them. I
Speaker 1: don't know that the Cowboys are feeling like, oh my god,
Speaker 1: we gotta play him twice a year. Ever, is there ever? Oh,
Speaker 1: I mean Jason Hatcher, random Noble, Um, I mean row McClain,
Speaker 1: like our list, The Cowboys really haven't gotten burned by it.
Speaker 1: You know, the guys end up playing there and they're
Speaker 1: just guys who was ad I'm sorry Kent, Devin Harris
Speaker 1: when he was the Giants, Dwayne Harris, Jwayne Harris, sorry,
Speaker 1: Jayne Giants. Yeah, but we were talking specifically. I think
Speaker 1: about the Redskins. Dwayne Harris burned him that one game
Speaker 1: he did Billyne Harris did beat them like almost single handedly.
Speaker 1: One can't He actually had a decent, decent time with
Speaker 1: the Giants. Yeah, but I just just the Redskins. Think
Speaker 1: about the Redskins and how they do free agency. It
Speaker 1: rarely has come back to bite the Cowboys. Well, Dion's
Speaker 1: the biggest one, and he didn't. He was toward the end, Yeah,
Speaker 1: much closer to the end than the beginning. At that point,
Speaker 1: when the Cowboys released DeMarcus Ware, you kind of had
Speaker 1: a feeling in the back of your mind that that
Speaker 1: might come back on him, but he specifically said, I'm
Speaker 1: not going to the NFC. No, and no, I'm money
Speaker 1: with the Eagles. On thinking out loud here, I'm not
Speaker 1: talking yeah, No, I'm saying I nobody's worried that Orlando
Speaker 1: Scandrick is just gonna make life difficult for it. No,
Speaker 1: we've seen him in training these receivers. I like Orlando
Speaker 1: Scandrick more than most people do, but I'm not buying it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: all right, let's move on. I do want to talk
Speaker 1: about a couple of guys that Cowboys lost. Let's talk
Speaker 1: a little bit about Keith Smith and Kyle Wilber. I
Speaker 1: know that they are not huge players, but when you
Speaker 1: start thinking about special teamers for this team and some
Speaker 1: of the better special teamers for this team, you were better.
Speaker 1: Now you were joking around, But like, let's talk about
Speaker 1: that trade. Yeah, let's talk about that whole because I
Speaker 1: think I think there's a couple of things here. First,
Speaker 1: the fact that you've lost two core special teams players
Speaker 1: to Oakland, and then just the way the whole thing
Speaker 1: went down with losing Keith Smith, who signs with Oakland,
Speaker 1: and then Oakland trades you the guy that they probably
Speaker 1: are not going to have a place for because they
Speaker 1: signed your guy, and you give up a fifth round
Speaker 1: pick and get a sixth round pick for it. What
Speaker 1: was your thought about just that whole overall trans set
Speaker 1: of transactions. That doesn't really bother me too much. I
Speaker 1: think that I think you're you're losing a better special
Speaker 1: teams player obviously in Keith Smith. Yeah, you know, but
Speaker 1: but you're probably gonna get a little bit more from
Speaker 1: an offensive standpoint with Ala Wally, and I think that
Speaker 1: look for this to be. I don't think they're done
Speaker 1: when making moves on the tight end position. I think
Speaker 1: this is more of an h back type guy. If
Speaker 1: they'll use them that way, I think you'll you'll see
Speaker 1: a little bit more. You'll see him actually lined up
Speaker 1: more out. I think so slat than just in the
Speaker 1: backfield is full. I think so. But you are losing
Speaker 1: some special teams and probably just a better online blocker.
Speaker 1: You know. But I haven't had any conversations about people
Speaker 1: to affirm this theory. But I don't think that the
Speaker 1: Cowboys thought there was a market for Keith Smith, like
Speaker 1: he's their pet project. He's there a linebacker turned fullback,
Speaker 1: special team or they expect him to come right back.
Speaker 1: They're the only team that values him in their minds.
Speaker 1: He you know, he plays twelve percent of the offensive snaps.
Speaker 1: He's caught like three passes in his career. They didn't
Speaker 1: tender him. They didn't think it would be a big
Speaker 1: it would be a big deal. They didn't think about
Speaker 1: the fact. Or maybe maybe they did and they just
Speaker 1: figured it was worth the risk. But his special team's
Speaker 1: coordinator works somewhere else now. I think they were probably
Speaker 1: surprised by how much he got in the grand I mean,
Speaker 1: he got kind of was too. He got made nicely
Speaker 1: for a fullback, which an end today's NFL, that's a
Speaker 1: that's an anomaly. So, like I said, maybe they saw
Speaker 1: it coming, maybe they didn't, but I don't think they
Speaker 1: fully thought that he might actually leave. It makes a
Speaker 1: ton of sense for him. He's from the West Coast,
Speaker 1: he went to college up in the Bay Area. His
Speaker 1: daughter lives out there, and so you don't have a
Speaker 1: fullback Jason Garrett clearly wants to play that style of football.
Speaker 1: So they did what they thought they had to do.
Speaker 1: To get the next best option, because and I went
Speaker 1: through all this yesterday, I was like, Okay, why don't
Speaker 1: you just get an undrafted free agent? Just get some
Speaker 1: guy to come in. It well, might take them a
Speaker 1: while to get up to speed. I mean they've brought
Speaker 1: in fullbacks in other years. I remember my guy J. C.
Speaker 1: Copeland from LSU a couple of years ago. Figure, what's basically,
Speaker 1: what's twenty spots in the draft for a guy who
Speaker 1: can do the job and do it well right away?
Speaker 1: And so I think that's what they did. And you know,
Speaker 1: you know, people on Twitter kind of criticize it, like
Speaker 1: they never should have let Keith go. They should have
Speaker 1: waited for the Raiders to cut him, because obviously they
Speaker 1: probably would whatever they might wait till September to do that,
Speaker 1: you might get outbid by somebody else. They did what
Speaker 1: they thought they had to do to just get it done,
Speaker 1: and they didn't spend a lot to do it. So
Speaker 1: lose a draft pick, I mean no, they move, they
Speaker 1: lost n they lost nineteen spots. I think the value
Speaker 1: is like two point seven points on the draft chart
Speaker 1: verse like one point two or it's it's miniscule, it's nothing. Um,
Speaker 1: so I would I'd rather have Keith Smith. Yeah, probably personally,
Speaker 1: just that's mainly familiarity. Yeah, and I mean, well me personally,
Speaker 1: I like him as a dude, But I don't think
Speaker 1: this is a big deal or like, you know, I
Speaker 1: don't think the Cowboys got screwed. It's just kind of
Speaker 1: yeah whatever, all right, yeah, I think so, yeah, well,
Speaker 1: let's also just player to player. Yeah yeah, yeah, but
Speaker 1: don't don't forget this aspect too, because a lot of
Speaker 1: people will say and have said, well, you know, the
Speaker 1: Raiders didn't want Ola Wally. You know, they want to
Speaker 1: Keith Smith, So you're gonna take what the Raiders didn't want.
Speaker 1: Don't forget that when a new coach comes in, especially
Speaker 1: a special team's coach, and a guy like Besaccia, I
Speaker 1: mean he's gonna come in. He doesn't want to win
Speaker 1: with Olah Wally, you know, he wants to win with
Speaker 1: Keith Smith. I mean, hey, guys, look our special teams.
Speaker 1: I brought Wilbury and I brought Keith Smith, and I
Speaker 1: want to win with my guys. That He's no different
Speaker 1: than a lot of coaches. So yeah, if if if
Speaker 1: another let's just hYP hypothesize that a Cowboys coach leaves
Speaker 1: here next year and and just goes all out to
Speaker 1: get Jeff Heath on his team. Yeah, you know, like
Speaker 1: that's his guy. He knows the ski, he can do
Speaker 1: what he's supposed to do. He can help the other
Speaker 1: guys understand what they're trying to get accomplished. Cowboys fans
Speaker 1: are you know, you know whoever, the Steelers fans are
Speaker 1: gonna be like, well, the Cowboys they didn't want him,
Speaker 1: and Cowboys trains will be like he's terrible, he's Jeff
Speaker 1: he ha ha ha. But like coaches do that, they
Speaker 1: like to surround themselves with familiar players and get guys
Speaker 1: who know how to run the things they want to run.
Speaker 1: It's just first. But Jeff a good player. Keith I
Speaker 1: think he plays. Keith Smith is a great story. He
Speaker 1: is a phenomenal story. But I mean, is he is
Speaker 1: he really a good player? I mean, I think for
Speaker 1: what they ask him to do, yes, I think. Now,
Speaker 1: now that doesn't mean he's all pro cow What I'm
Speaker 1: saying is as a fullback, as a special teams player,
Speaker 1: I think he's a good player. Now, you know, the
Speaker 1: question becomes Jay is Jamay No? Maybe not? But is
Speaker 1: Jamay's old Whalley a good player. I know that I've
Speaker 1: seen moments when I've seen good play from him. He
Speaker 1: was here at one point, um and in Oakland he's
Speaker 1: done some decent things for them. It's hard to know
Speaker 1: because I don't watch fullbacks a whole lot, right, So
Speaker 1: I don't know what he's a better player, worst player,
Speaker 1: or not. I guess, you know, it really is going
Speaker 1: to come down to how much of the Cowboy's gonna
Speaker 1: use a fullback? Let use him and how do they
Speaker 1: use him? You're talking, it's when you're talking twelve percent
Speaker 1: of the snaps, it's six to one and half a
Speaker 1: dozen to the other. That's I refuse to get up
Speaker 1: in arms about it. And I like Keith Smith, and
Speaker 1: like I said, I wish he was still here, but
Speaker 1: it's it's what and there there's not many players that
Speaker 1: can score seventy five yard touchdown out there. I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, he's got a little bit of of more
Speaker 1: offensive game to him than Um, than Keith Smith. So
Speaker 1: if they're gonna use him that way, then that's fine.
Speaker 1: But if he's just got more offensive game, but you're
Speaker 1: not gonna you're still gonna play him in the same role,
Speaker 1: then that's not good. I think what was once what
Speaker 1: the seventy five yard touchdown? Yeah, yeah, I mean, well
Speaker 1: one of them wasn't a tight He's He's had a
Speaker 1: few long receptions. I'm saying, I'm you don't just base
Speaker 1: your no, I'm raiding on him just by one or two,
Speaker 1: And I didn't. I did not do that. What I
Speaker 1: said was is he was just a better offensive player,
Speaker 1: and he's probably got more skills offensively. If that's how
Speaker 1: they're gonna use him, if they want to line them
Speaker 1: up in front of Zeke and just blast these linebackers,
Speaker 1: I don't know if that's his game, so at his
Speaker 1: Keiths game. Again, what I'm saying is, I think they're
Speaker 1: gonna cut James Hannah probably or James Hannah's gonna have
Speaker 1: a hard time making this team, and they're figuring out
Speaker 1: a way that Ola Wally plays fullback. But we you know,
Speaker 1: you have to have Rico on this team for a
Speaker 1: while at least, and then you've got You've got Swam,
Speaker 1: and you've got all these other tight ends in the mix.
Speaker 1: This is a way to kind of get him on
Speaker 1: the field and do similar thing. Yeah, I think the
Speaker 1: more important thing that I'll get that I'll personally keep
Speaker 1: an eye on is how much does the Special teams
Speaker 1: take a hit losing two corese special teams players who
Speaker 1: fills in that gap, and we'll see, like it may
Speaker 1: mean nothing. You may have guys that can easily replace them,
Speaker 1: it may mean something. And that's the thing we've noticed.
Speaker 1: I think over the years of watching this team. It
Speaker 1: takes subtle changes. Sometimes you'll see big differences in how
Speaker 1: a Special Teams unit play. So that'll be something to
Speaker 1: keep an eye on this next year. It's take our
Speaker 1: first break. When we come back, I do want to
Speaker 1: dive in a little more on this Alan Hearns thing.
Speaker 1: Let's talk a little bit about him and what he
Speaker 1: could mean to this team if the Cowboys go that
Speaker 1: route that when we come right back. This is Dallas
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Speaker 1: to the break Welcome back. It is the second second
Speaker 1: of the Break Life from the s WBC Mortgate Studios
Speaker 1: at the Star. Talking free agency, Let's get into this
Speaker 1: this topic of Alan Hearns. He's a wide receiver that
Speaker 1: has been playing in Jacksonville the last three year, four years,
Speaker 1: I'm sorry. In two fifteen had a really really great
Speaker 1: season the numbers. In twenty fifteen he had sixty four
Speaker 1: receptions for one thousand and thirty one yards and ten touchdowns,
Speaker 1: really really great season. The downside is over the last
Speaker 1: two years he's had some injuries. Played ten games last year,
Speaker 1: eleven games a year before. In both seasons, had thirty
Speaker 1: five and thirty nine receptions for four and seventy seven
Speaker 1: and four hundred and eighty four yards, and then only
Speaker 1: three and two touchdowns in those two seasons. So the
Speaker 1: question becomes, what are you getting. Are you getting the
Speaker 1: guy that you saw the last two years? Are you
Speaker 1: getting the guy that you saw in two thousand and fifteen?
Speaker 1: And you know, you said a really really great season
Speaker 1: that was for a guy that you've been like, who's
Speaker 1: Alan Hearns? Like when can I get him on my
Speaker 1: fantasy team? Like and wow, Jacksonville actually has a player.
Speaker 1: But but sixty four catches for a thousand yards and
Speaker 1: ten touchdowns was was actually a down season for Like
Speaker 1: I mean when Dez put up those numbers and Dess
Speaker 1: numbers were one a thousand yards and in that many touchdowns.
Speaker 1: But I mean Dez has had some numbers like that
Speaker 1: would have said some pretty good years. But that's still
Speaker 1: a really good season. Like also, keeping you go with
Speaker 1: a thousand yards and ten touchdowns. That's a good season.
Speaker 1: It's a good right, that's good season. That's a thousand
Speaker 1: yards as a number two. Yeah, Alan Robinson was their
Speaker 1: number one. He's yeah, he was a quarterback for that year.
Speaker 1: That was the one year that Bortles had like a
Speaker 1: great season. Everybody thought, Okay, they're rolling now. He came
Speaker 1: in with Bortles. Yeah, and that would have been his
Speaker 1: second year with Portals. But which that is really I
Speaker 1: don't know what to make of this thing, because all right,
Speaker 1: he hasn't signed. First of all, there's that but here
Speaker 1: he's here visiting, but he hasn't yet. He does not
Speaker 1: fit the mold of the other receivers that we've been
Speaker 1: talking about, Dontrell in Men, Justin Hunter, and then you
Speaker 1: can even throw in Bryce Butler as a candidate to
Speaker 1: sign back. He's much more accomplished than those guys and
Speaker 1: he will probably fetch a far higher price tag. He
Speaker 1: also is not what I would think of as a
Speaker 1: number one receiver. I mean, if you're gonna sign Sammy Watkins,
Speaker 1: you're cutting des Briant. That's what you're that's going that's
Speaker 1: going down. He's gonna be your number one. You're gonna
Speaker 1: rebuild the receiver cord behind him. What are you doing
Speaker 1: with Alan Hearns? I mean, you're gonna make him the
Speaker 1: most expensive number four receiver in the league or are
Speaker 1: you signing him to replace DEAs and saying, hey, big guy,
Speaker 1: go get it be the number one even though you've
Speaker 1: never done that. And by the way, injury now using
Speaker 1: letting everybody know that you're going to use an early
Speaker 1: pick on a wide receiver. In addition that, because I
Speaker 1: wouldn't which you're gonna get rid of Deaz even if
Speaker 1: you sign Hearns and not get a priority. And I
Speaker 1: completely agree, I think, I mean, if Hearns, if Hearns
Speaker 1: signs here, and I don't know anything, I'm not you know,
Speaker 1: nobody told. The hypothesis is all me just trying to
Speaker 1: make sense of why they would be interested in him
Speaker 1: if they were going to sign him. I would imagine
Speaker 1: they signed him, give him a decent paycheck, and then
Speaker 1: draft a receiver highly next month, and then writings on
Speaker 1: the wall that does is at I mean, if you
Speaker 1: watch a little bit of tape, and I know brought us.
Speaker 1: I was looking at him um last night and this morning,
Speaker 1: and I watched a little bit he looks a lot
Speaker 1: like this. I mean, forget the eighty eight. I mean
Speaker 1: he he does bigger version though, right, a little big, right.
Speaker 1: I mean he don't think he's as thick he looks.
Speaker 1: He looks just like I mean, I mean he runs.
Speaker 1: His routes are kind of the same, you know, which
Speaker 1: isn't necessarily a good thing. Um. You know, his quarterback
Speaker 1: doesn't always put the ball where it needs to be,
Speaker 1: which is similar. Uh here, Um, you know, it's it's
Speaker 1: a lot. There's a lot of des to it. And
Speaker 1: if you and if you look at the last three years,
Speaker 1: you're like, uh, what I'll tell you this morning. If
Speaker 1: fans that want Alan Hern or people that want him
Speaker 1: are gonna say, well, you know, Alan Hearn had fifteen
Speaker 1: touchdowns last three years and this guy's had Doz had seventeen.
Speaker 1: If you take it back four years, it's like thirty
Speaker 1: three to nineteen. So, I mean I just think that
Speaker 1: it's I don't I don't see how you have Hearns
Speaker 1: and Daz on this team. That's I don't get this.
Speaker 1: But even if Daz was gone and they have him,
Speaker 1: and I haven't looked at his stape or anything, but
Speaker 1: based on Brian already did his report and all that,
Speaker 1: and I read it based on all all the things
Speaker 1: that he wrote down. I mean, why would you have
Speaker 1: won this guy? Does he really have the qualities that
Speaker 1: you're looking for in a wide receiver? Yeah, he has
Speaker 1: the qualities. I think. I think what you get, you
Speaker 1: get a younger dad. You're just getting at You're not
Speaker 1: really improving anything, really not getting younger. You're not younger,
Speaker 1: and you I personally think you're saving money. I know
Speaker 1: you said you think it's a heft of year prices.
Speaker 1: I don't know if I necessarily agree with that. I
Speaker 1: think you might be able to get that guy on
Speaker 1: that kind of one year deal, that kind of two
Speaker 1: year deal, because again, the last two years it's gonna
Speaker 1: be hard for him to convince the teamies. I'm not sure,
Speaker 1: but he missed what six games one year in five
Speaker 1: games the other It's I mean, there is that if
Speaker 1: if if you really don't think there's that much of
Speaker 1: a market for him and you can get him to
Speaker 1: a super team friendly deal like that, go for it.
Speaker 1: But I know where he's going after this Jets, right, Yeah,
Speaker 1: they got a boatload of a lot of money, a
Speaker 1: lot and the need for playmakers. Yeah, I mean he
Speaker 1: could be, but I think again, I think that these
Speaker 1: numbers are why it's hard to convince me that a
Speaker 1: team's gonna say, oh, he's the playmaker, we need to
Speaker 1: go and spend what did what did we just say though? Teams?
Speaker 1: Teams are doing that. Teams do that in free agency.
Speaker 1: And if you've got eighty million dollars in cap space
Speaker 1: and quincy and none, you is your only wide receiver
Speaker 1: and you're about to draft a quarterback of the future,
Speaker 1: and you got the money where you can overpay this dude,
Speaker 1: who cares? I'm just saying. I just I look around
Speaker 1: the league and I see some of these other deals
Speaker 1: that you mentioned earlier in the show, where there are
Speaker 1: much better players that are on one year deals, prove
Speaker 1: it type deals. To me, this they prove it type guy.
Speaker 1: The Ravens tried to give Ryan Grant eight million dollars
Speaker 1: a year. I haven't anything's possible. I know didn't work out,
Speaker 1: But at any Taylor Gabriel got seven and a half
Speaker 1: million dollars a year. I mean, not Taylor Garret. He
Speaker 1: does have some extraordinary speed that you can say, hey,
Speaker 1: we can use him in a lot of differentulties. All
Speaker 1: I'm saying is, you know, for the Cowboys, it has
Speaker 1: to make sense because they don't have that much cap space.
Speaker 1: But the Jets could give this guy eight million per
Speaker 1: year on a shorter deal just because they need somebody. Honestly,
Speaker 1: I don't think I could name more than one Jets none.
Speaker 1: You I don't even know if I'm saying his name right.
Speaker 1: That's how to little I know about the Jets. Lucky
Speaker 1: Whitehead's up there. Good for him. They got Crabet, they
Speaker 1: got you know, there's no Wayne Kurbett, there's no Key Sean.
Speaker 1: They're about that. They're going to draft a quarterback. They
Speaker 1: need to have a reason for people to be excited
Speaker 1: about their offense. I'm so I agree with Dave on
Speaker 1: this one. I'm just saying I think this guy will
Speaker 1: command a higher price tag than your and you know,
Speaker 1: and I honestly, I hope the Cowboys don't overpay for him.
Speaker 1: I don't and it doesn't sound like they they're willing
Speaker 1: to overpay for anybody, But I hope they don't overpay
Speaker 1: for him because I do think he's the kind of
Speaker 1: guy that needs to prove it. Kind of deal he
Speaker 1: has not proven in the last two years that he
Speaker 1: is a guy that's worthy of a big contract in
Speaker 1: my opinion. But to Amber's point, let's just say you
Speaker 1: did that. Alan Hearns is twenty six, that's is turning thirty, Um,
Speaker 1: so you're basically getting a younger, similar player. And then again,
Speaker 1: if you did this, I would have to assume you're
Speaker 1: going to spend a top fifty draft pick on a receiver.
Speaker 1: So you turn your receiver corps over basically, just like
Speaker 1: you did with your cornerbacks. You make your top two
Speaker 1: receivers twenty six or younger going forward, and then you
Speaker 1: can figure out what you want to do. And last
Speaker 1: year you have a receiver let that you drafted last
Speaker 1: year as well. So I mean, if you were to
Speaker 1: do this, then I believe Terrence Williams would become your
Speaker 1: oldest receiver and he can't be any older than like
Speaker 1: twenty seven, twenty maybe not even that old. Oh yeah too, well, well,
Speaker 1: but you we already drafted somebody that he's like, Yeah,
Speaker 1: Beasley's also in a contract year, So I meant, I mean,
Speaker 1: I don't know how it's gonna play out, but it
Speaker 1: seems like they're very much interested in doing to their
Speaker 1: receiver corps what they did to their cornerback group. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and I just I agree with Dave. I think that
Speaker 1: somebody liked the Jets, which you ask them, Okay, what
Speaker 1: do you all need? We just need a guy that
Speaker 1: can play, we need we need you. You could come
Speaker 1: in and help us. But there's more questions with the
Speaker 1: Cowboys doing what's up first of all, like if I'm
Speaker 1: if I'm his agent, and Alan Hurns, I'm like, what's
Speaker 1: going on with this? I mean, what what's up there?
Speaker 1: What rolled am I am? I? You know, walking into
Speaker 1: here um, which it's it's very intriguing because and you know,
Speaker 1: I'll eat Crow. March isn't over. But I think I
Speaker 1: said at the beginning of March, I thought the dead
Speaker 1: situation would have resolved itself, because I guess I went
Speaker 1: into it thinking they were going to answer the dead
Speaker 1: question first and then do what they had to do
Speaker 1: after that, and they're clearly not doing that. They're either
Speaker 1: going to try to do it simultaneously, or they're going
Speaker 1: to try to answer the dead question after they bolster
Speaker 1: the rest of their receiver group. I think they had
Speaker 1: a free agent list, and I you know, I think
Speaker 1: Sammy Watkins was at the top of it. I don't
Speaker 1: know if there was another guy, but I bet Dez
Speaker 1: was in there as well. It wasn't like we cut
Speaker 1: does or we don't. We don't like, let's see if
Speaker 1: we got someone better, if we can do, I guarantee
Speaker 1: if Sammy Watkins would have come here, is going to
Speaker 1: be cut. I don't think that there's any way around that.
Speaker 1: I don't know about Herns. I don't know if if
Speaker 1: they're seeing you know, if he can if he comes
Speaker 1: into this mix or not. But you've got a lot
Speaker 1: of guys that are the same type of player to me,
Speaker 1: des Terrence, and now if you signed Alan Hearns, I
Speaker 1: think they would be all similar type guys. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: just I think it would would be a I think
Speaker 1: it would probably be a mistake to think that if
Speaker 1: you're gonna that you're gonna get rid of Dez and
Speaker 1: that Alan Hurns would be his replacement. I don't think
Speaker 1: you're better doing that Hearns and you're drafting a guy
Speaker 1: you have to do. Yeah. But but I'm a believer
Speaker 1: personally that the chances of a rookie wide receiver. I
Speaker 1: know we've seen some of the last few years that
Speaker 1: have bucked this trend. But I'm a believer that a
Speaker 1: first round draft pick at wide receiver, you cannot count
Speaker 1: on them to be a significant contributor in their first
Speaker 1: year unless and when we've seen it work, typically they
Speaker 1: have a really great gal on the opposite side. That
Speaker 1: won't be the case in this instance. You'll have some
Speaker 1: good guys. I don't know. If you have a great
Speaker 1: guy on the opposite side is going to take a
Speaker 1: little bit of attention. So I don't really factor that
Speaker 1: in for this year. Yes, for the future, I don't
Speaker 1: factor it in as much for this year. And again,
Speaker 1: we're trying to figure out Dak. You know, we still
Speaker 1: don't know how he's going to be in his third year,
Speaker 1: and then bringing in and rookie and trying to put
Speaker 1: everything on that rookie and trusting him and this hears
Speaker 1: how do you say, urns. I don't like that idea
Speaker 1: at all, and the whole fac I understand being younger
Speaker 1: and in a way being cheaper obviously, but why does
Speaker 1: that matter really at that point? If you were talking
Speaker 1: about like a rookie guy, then that's different because that's
Speaker 1: way younger, and yes, you have more time to develop,
Speaker 1: but this guy, you're at this point, you're wanting a
Speaker 1: wide receiver that can actually do something, not to test
Speaker 1: on the field and put him out there and see
Speaker 1: how he does and try to connect him with Dyke
Speaker 1: and see how he goes with them. I mean, if
Speaker 1: I haven't been able to see that with Dez, I
Speaker 1: sure wouldn't want to be able to see this with him,
Speaker 1: or I wouldn't expect something better through him. The one
Speaker 1: thing I think that's a caveat to this whole thing is,
Speaker 1: at least from the way the Cowboys could be thinking
Speaker 1: about this, they could be thinking of this as a look,
Speaker 1: if we have Zeke for a full season, we believe
Speaker 1: that we don't need a true number one if they're
Speaker 1: going to make that move right, Yeah, they could be
Speaker 1: looking at this. And I was the one that talked
Speaker 1: about it in two thousand was a two sixteen. Those
Speaker 1: games it does miss, they're often still kept going. And
Speaker 1: I think the reason why the offense still kept going
Speaker 1: is because you had Zeke back there and you had
Speaker 1: a great offensive line. And they may be looking at
Speaker 1: this and saying, look, if we have Zeke for sixteen games,
Speaker 1: and we've got our offensive line clicking. We believe that
Speaker 1: our quarterback can make the few throws he has to
Speaker 1: make per game, that the receivers we have have right now,
Speaker 1: even without Dez, can make the catches that we need
Speaker 1: to make during the game, and our offense is still clicking.
Speaker 1: So also how it went in and Cole yeah open
Speaker 1: and being able to make those plays, I mean not
Speaker 1: at this point, or we didn't see that last year. Well,
Speaker 1: but I think their their argument will probably be, well,
Speaker 1: we didn't have Zeke the whole season, and once we had.
Speaker 1: When we had Zeke, by the time right before he
Speaker 1: got suspended, this offense was clicking. And I think they
Speaker 1: believe if we have him for a full season without
Speaker 1: the distraction of this thing hanging over his head, and
Speaker 1: we can get back to what we were. We think
Speaker 1: our offense can be efficient even with the receivers that
Speaker 1: we have. We don't necessarily have to change out a lot.
Speaker 1: We can go cheaper and have an Alan Hearns that
Speaker 1: we think could be maybe comparable. And that's well, and
Speaker 1: that makes sense, and that's probably why they're you know, Jerry.
Speaker 1: Probably my favorite jerryism is the tolerance for ambiguity. I mean,
Speaker 1: like this whole thing is just nebulous right now, and
Speaker 1: it doesn't seem like it bothers him too much. I
Speaker 1: mean it'll, you know, by the time the draft's over,
Speaker 1: I feel like we'll have a much better idea of
Speaker 1: what their plan is. But they don't seem like they're
Speaker 1: in a hurry one. I mean, whether it's Dez and
Speaker 1: a rookie, or Alan Hearns or somebody else that hasn't
Speaker 1: been cut yet. I don't know one alarming trend. I
Speaker 1: just looked at his stats. Hearns sixteen, fifteen, eleven ten,
Speaker 1: that's the game's played in that order. He's you know,
Speaker 1: he's rookie year sixteen and fifty. I mean he's always
Speaker 1: trending downward. I mean sometimes four years. That's still somewhat
Speaker 1: of a small sample size, but I mean he you know,
Speaker 1: we'll see what happens with his career. But he's starting
Speaker 1: to get injured a little bit more. You'd like to
Speaker 1: kind of see a full sixteen in there, you know lately, which, well,
Speaker 1: to Derek's point, maybe his market won't be as great
Speaker 1: as I think it is because of that. I don't know. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I gotta figure out what what they do with Deaz
Speaker 1: I mean, and they have a plan. They're just they're
Speaker 1: just not having a press conference every week telling us
Speaker 1: about yeah yeah, all right, let's take our final break.
Speaker 1: When we come back, I do want to talk about
Speaker 1: Jonathan Cooper. He signed with the forty nine ers, and
Speaker 1: I want to talk about what kind of hole, at
Speaker 1: least for the Cowboys. He was a start of last
Speaker 1: year at guard. This offensive line is the best of
Speaker 1: what the Cowboys do. What does that mean now for
Speaker 1: the rest of this offensive line of what the Cowboys
Speaker 1: will have to do in either free agency or the
Speaker 1: draft in orders sure in order to secure that offensive line.
Speaker 1: We'll talk about that when we come back. Is Dallas
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Speaker 1: to be a Dallas Cowboys fan. It means you've got
Speaker 1: the passion of the heart to do your part supporting
Speaker 1: the Boys no matter what. That's why when the game's
Speaker 1: on the line, you're on your feet, whether you're at
Speaker 1: home or in the stands. Actually, you're more than a fan.
Speaker 1: You are a member of Cowboys Nation, and so is
Speaker 1: AT and T doing their part to keep you connected
Speaker 1: to America's team all season long. Is a proud member
Speaker 1: of Cowboys Nation. Back to the Break, Welcome back. It
Speaker 1: is the final segment of the Break, Nick take it away.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yeah, hell yeah. Let's talk a little bit
Speaker 1: about Tommy John and you know what, we have different
Speaker 1: reads about it. The one thing that I don't think
Speaker 1: we talk about a lot is true Cowboy fans love
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Speaker 1: We have other fans on the other teams, fans that
Speaker 1: listen to our show. Yeah, but they're just haters. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but they listen. Who there are people? Oh well, I
Speaker 1: guarantee welcome on board. Sometimes we talk about your team,
Speaker 1: Yeah we do. We do. So we'll talk about the
Speaker 1: forty nine ers for a second. We do need to
Speaker 1: talk about that trending upward. They've made a lot of
Speaker 1: moves and you look at what they were year and
Speaker 1: a half ago. They are a completely different team. And
Speaker 1: yesterday they pick up one of the Cowboys. I guess
Speaker 1: one of the guys that Cowboys were okay with losing
Speaker 1: in Jonathan Cooper, who started for them all last season
Speaker 1: and I thought played pretty well, and I think it
Speaker 1: does leave a significant hole for them now that they
Speaker 1: have to feel as far as a starting guard. What
Speaker 1: do you guys think about losing Jonathan Cooper cool? I mean,
Speaker 1: I don't. I don't think that it affects them at all.
Speaker 1: I really don't know. I wasn't one of those one
Speaker 1: year deals that that Dave mentioned earlier, so it wasn't
Speaker 1: like they committed a lot to him. Yeah, they get
Speaker 1: they want him. I don't know the number they watched.
Speaker 1: I heard an interview this morning they said it. I
Speaker 1: forgot it. I know it's a one year deal. They
Speaker 1: want to see what he looks like when he doesn't
Speaker 1: have an all Pro center and all Pro left tackle
Speaker 1: next to him. I think the Cowboys are looking at
Speaker 1: this going Ron Leary was pretty good, and then he
Speaker 1: comes in there and he does does really well, you know,
Speaker 1: and then lyell, okay, can he play guard? He's never
Speaker 1: played it, and he played pretty well. And then Leary
Speaker 1: comes back and then he's done well. And then Jonathan
Speaker 1: Cooper has been around three teams and he does well.
Speaker 1: I think they're kind of seeing that. You know what,
Speaker 1: let's get that you just plug in whoever. I mean,
Speaker 1: not whoever, But I don't know what we're not gonna
Speaker 1: Um a little slight. Maybe it's a little bit you
Speaker 1: think you can play left guard? Who Derek, No, No,
Speaker 1: too slight. You don't have an ass at least not
Speaker 1: compared to some. First of all, why are you looking
Speaker 1: we work closely together. I'm sorry. Still, I don't look
Speaker 1: at yours, don't look at mine. Well you do buy up.
Speaker 1: That is pretty inappropriate, rich coming from you. But you
Speaker 1: did to Tommy john Ry last week. It was fantastic,
Speaker 1: That's what I heard. I heard it was really really
Speaker 1: well done. Um. I've said like three dozen times this
Speaker 1: offseason that I thought they should bring Cooper back because
Speaker 1: i've you know, you get him on a very inexpensive,
Speaker 1: like one or two year type of deal. But again,
Speaker 1: like I'm not heartbroken that it didn't come to pass, because,
Speaker 1: like Nick said, I mean, I'm glad you did say
Speaker 1: anything inappropriate right there? Yeah, oh well yeah, good, um.
Speaker 1: But it's yeah, like to nixt point, it's whatever he's
Speaker 1: playing between two pro bowlers, you can you can find
Speaker 1: damn near anybody to do that job for you, so
Speaker 1: you know, best to luck to him. I thought it
Speaker 1: made sense to bring him back, But there's any number
Speaker 1: of other guys who can do that for you. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So I mean it's not so much that that it's
Speaker 1: Jonathan Cooper as much as to me, it just creates
Speaker 1: one more hole you gotta fill, and this time it's start.
Speaker 1: It doesn't create anything though. That hole's been there since
Speaker 1: the season. But let's yeah, I gave him like a
Speaker 1: Brich guy or like one of those fan day again.
Speaker 1: But but if you are, but if he is a
Speaker 1: bridge guy, then the question becomes typically, when you got
Speaker 1: a bridge guy, you got somebody else that's kind of
Speaker 1: coming up next, And they don't really have anybody coming
Speaker 1: up next. And I think the more important part of
Speaker 1: it is the part that Nick wants to talk about here,
Speaker 1: which is does this now affect what you're doing at
Speaker 1: right tackle? Does your right tackle? And Lyle Collins now
Speaker 1: become the guy that ultimately has to move again down
Speaker 1: to guard because you got a hole at guarden And
Speaker 1: that's the part I think is more important to consider here.
Speaker 1: There they've looked at three different offensive lineman yesterday Cameron Fleming,
Speaker 1: who was a starter the last year. Um, kind of
Speaker 1: a journeyman, but but he's been a starter last year
Speaker 1: for the Patriots start of the Super Bowl. That's something
Speaker 1: can't see, you know, like out boys on this team
Speaker 1: have not said, um, they he is. He's not really
Speaker 1: a swing guy. He's gonna play tackle, probably right tackle
Speaker 1: as his best position. So if they signed him and
Speaker 1: they're in some negotiations with with him, then yeah, Lyle
Speaker 1: would probably move to left or at least they're going
Speaker 1: to figure that out and see if that's the that's
Speaker 1: the best option. So they're also looking at some other guy,
Speaker 1: was it Adrian wad Waddle. He's more of a swing
Speaker 1: tackle option there. They also looked at a guard, Marcus Martin.
Speaker 1: I don't know if he's necessarily in the mix to
Speaker 1: be signed. Also a couple of receivers too, Um yeah
Speaker 1: in Men and Hunter. But well, Dave, I know you
Speaker 1: have a problem with the idea of Lyle move and
Speaker 1: talk to about why I have a problem. You just do, Okay, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I just I don't love it. Uh, Like they're they're
Speaker 1: like schizophrenic. Because for the first for forever, fans wanted
Speaker 1: him to play tackle, and we're sitting here having these conversations, like, look,
Speaker 1: they like him at guard. They said it a million times.
Speaker 1: We like him at guard. We think he can be
Speaker 1: really amazing at guard. So we say that for a
Speaker 1: year and a half, anticipating that's where he's gonna be
Speaker 1: low and behold. They changed their mind. They try to
Speaker 1: move and tackle. They paid him very well to move
Speaker 1: out there. And I've thought he did an awesome job,
Speaker 1: like they like, nobody had a harder job than Lyle
Speaker 1: last year, Like he had to play Vaughan and Carrigan
Speaker 1: and Mac and pretty he would facing off against badasses
Speaker 1: week after week after week, and I thought he was
Speaker 1: hurt and with Annie had a bum foot and a lot.
Speaker 1: I don't think you can and you guys know more
Speaker 1: than I do, but I think there was a game
Speaker 1: where he just got beat up. Well he got He
Speaker 1: got pretty beat up in Denver in week two and
Speaker 1: that's about it. Well, everybody got the most remarkable stats
Speaker 1: A little different to me. One of the most remarkable
Speaker 1: stats of all years the fact that he was on
Speaker 1: the injury report almost every week. He missed a lot
Speaker 1: of Wednesday practice, missed a lot of Thursday practice miss
Speaker 1: some were miss Thursday Friday. You know what me snaps
Speaker 1: he missed last year ze Row zero snaps in the game.
Speaker 1: Travis Frederick and him are the only two offensive players
Speaker 1: to play every single snap. That's amazing to me because
Speaker 1: there were some times where he couldn't even walk off
Speaker 1: the field, so that that was probably should have Now
Speaker 1: it's playing him at guard the best spot for that. See.
Speaker 1: I don't think he's a guard, I really don't. I
Speaker 1: don't think he played guard. He played well. They were
Speaker 1: also the worst team in the league at third and
Speaker 1: one rushing. I don't think he gives you that kind
Speaker 1: of push that you need. I think he's I think
Speaker 1: he's strong, but I think he's better at right tackle. Honestly,
Speaker 1: I think he can do either. No, so my problem
Speaker 1: isn't I don't think he's necessarily worse off putting him
Speaker 1: at guard. I just think at some point you gotta
Speaker 1: give this guy a chance to just let something. If
Speaker 1: it's tackle, yeah, keep him at tackle, guard, keep him
Speaker 1: at guard. Figure it out. But my man live Yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean they recruited him to come here like they
Speaker 1: wanted him so they wanted to be a part of it,
Speaker 1: And to be fair, I mean, he's been a starter
Speaker 1: when he's been healthy for most of his career, but
Speaker 1: let him get better at something like he's making all
Speaker 1: this great progress at right tackle. You have him at
Speaker 1: a bargain right now. I mean, if he's you know,
Speaker 1: I gotta believe he's at least in the upper half
Speaker 1: of starting right tackles and you're paying him seven million
Speaker 1: dollars a year. You got him for two more seasons.
Speaker 1: What if he does falter when he moves back to guard,
Speaker 1: or what if he's just not as good, or what
Speaker 1: if you have to pay your starting your new starting
Speaker 1: right tackle more money to do that? What if none
Speaker 1: of it makes sense to me? And I don't think
Speaker 1: any of it's well, what if we sorry go ahead?
Speaker 1: What if they decide to just let Zack Martin go
Speaker 1: and not resign him. Maybe that's the issue they haven't
Speaker 1: signed him yet. Than now you need a guard that
Speaker 1: would surprise. It's not an option that's not enough. A
Speaker 1: lot of things are a lot of things are options
Speaker 1: cut off your point for that. I was just gonna say,
Speaker 1: maybe the way that the cowboy, And again, this is
Speaker 1: not a for sure thing or anything, but maybe the
Speaker 1: way that the Cowboys started taking a look at this
Speaker 1: and it is that it's easier for them to find
Speaker 1: a tackle than a guard. And maybe there that's how
Speaker 1: they're looking at it. Okay, can we find a better tackle?
Speaker 1: And we don't have many guards out there right now
Speaker 1: that we're looking at That goes against widely accepted football theory.
Speaker 1: Tackle is one of the hardest positions, and hey, a
Speaker 1: good one. You might be right there. Might not be
Speaker 1: a guard. They feel good about him free agency Marcus
Speaker 1: Martin was here, maybe they don't really love him. Draft
Speaker 1: a guy then, right there, this is a good draft
Speaker 1: class for guards. We've I mean, Hernandez and when are
Speaker 1: the names that you know? But there's any have to
Speaker 1: do it in the first round. No, you can get
Speaker 1: a guy, and I mean a guy that can start
Speaker 1: to get a starter for next year. Do you have
Speaker 1: to do it in the first round this year? No,
Speaker 1: and you shouldn't. If you you got all pros everywhere
Speaker 1: else and a first round pick at right tackle, you
Speaker 1: should be able to plug in a third round pick
Speaker 1: and have him be okay and maybe not great, but fine,
Speaker 1: I don't buy that. So no, we've seen it before.
Speaker 1: We've seen a seventh round pick start for this team.
Speaker 1: You know, a guard? How good was he? It was? Okay?
Speaker 1: Are you talking about Bill Nagy? It's okay, he was
Speaker 1: out of the league in two years, but I mean
Speaker 1: he was okay. I was about to say, I don't
Speaker 1: know if I think he's good, but whatever for that man?
Speaker 1: I mean, Johnson was a center at second round pick?
Speaker 1: Was that right? Yeah? Nobody wants to hear this, but no,
Speaker 1: I'm not even gonna say it. No, I'm gonna say,
Speaker 1: who's gonna be behind Tyren Smith? Whoever? The guy that
Speaker 1: they try to sign in the next week or two.
Speaker 1: Not not. If you're talking about Lee and now he's starting,
Speaker 1: he won't be. That means now, what you've done is
Speaker 1: essentially you've created kind of three spots you gotta which
Speaker 1: is why if Cameron Fleming wants to be the starting
Speaker 1: right tackle for this team, I would say thanks, but
Speaker 1: no thanks, we're good. I would pay Waddle to be
Speaker 1: my swing tackle. I would keep Eyele where he is,
Speaker 1: and I would I would probably still sign an el
Speaker 1: Cheapo veteran guard and then try to draft somebody. That's
Speaker 1: what I would do and what I was gonna say
Speaker 1: is if push absolutely comes to shove, you could play
Speaker 1: Chaz Green at guard. If you do realize by the way,
Speaker 1: you're creating just one more guy. You got a draft.
Speaker 1: We already talked about the possibilities of what you do
Speaker 1: with Does does that mean you gotta go get a
Speaker 1: wide receiver? If you already think safety is in a position,
Speaker 1: you gotta go and draft? Right, signed Fleming and I
Speaker 1: signed Waddle and I probably we'll see if you sign
Speaker 1: him both. You could do that. Looney's a free agent. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he's a free agent. Well, I know, I mean, we
Speaker 1: don't don't have one the backup center. Um, if you
Speaker 1: sign both, that's fine. I just let's talk about Amber's
Speaker 1: point here that she's trying. I mean, she really wasn't
Speaker 1: joking around because look around the league. I mean, look
Speaker 1: at what Joe Thomas did ten years, right, and he
Speaker 1: was done. The injuries were just too much and he
Speaker 1: decided he wants to do something else. I mean, you
Speaker 1: told me something. Tyrn Smith is his eighth year. Where
Speaker 1: did that time go? Eighth year for Tyron Smith? Right?
Speaker 1: And you know starting to I'm not starting to. He's
Speaker 1: had a lot of issues with his back and neck
Speaker 1: and stuff. So I mean, that's why I would sign
Speaker 1: all those guys. I'm not gonna let an Atlanta game
Speaker 1: happen again. Yeah, that's a good point. I'm just not
Speaker 1: getting And so that's a great point. I guess back
Speaker 1: up there, I guess that's true. I mean, we we've
Speaker 1: known they need a swing tackle. Yeah. Uh, you know,
Speaker 1: maybe this bites you on the butt later, but like,
Speaker 1: I'm not ready to draft a tackle in the first
Speaker 1: round because I'm worried about Tyrn. I'm gonna give yet,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna give him the benefit of the doubt for
Speaker 1: at least another year or two. If you have the
Speaker 1: same issues next year, then do you, I mean think
Speaker 1: then yeah, then that's that's a problem for sure. Um,
Speaker 1: But for the I mean, yeah, they need a swing tackle.
Speaker 1: And whether that's the draft for free agency, it looks
Speaker 1: more likely to be free agency than the draft. To
Speaker 1: your point, if it's March twenty first, then you didn't
Speaker 1: realize that guard was a draft need. That's on you.
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm not I'm not saying I'm not saying that.
Speaker 1: What I'm saying is with letting the starting guard from
Speaker 1: last year go now, you've got multiple things you got
Speaker 1: to consider it, and they all become draft. And if
Speaker 1: you're gonna if by the way, as we talked about earlier,
Speaker 1: if you're gonna take Lyle and flip him down the guard,
Speaker 1: now you gotta you gotta find a tackle and a
Speaker 1: swing tackle. It's not just getting one tackle. Now you
Speaker 1: need two tackles. So my whole point is just that
Speaker 1: this just complicates things and gives you even more and
Speaker 1: you keep putting, pushing it back to say, Okay, we'll
Speaker 1: have to address that in the draft. We'll have to
Speaker 1: dress that in draft. Well, there's only so many picks.
Speaker 1: Whether it's whether it's Fleming and Why or two other
Speaker 1: guys whose names we don't know. I bet you they'll
Speaker 1: sign two offensive line free agents to help shore that up,
Speaker 1: and then we'll have it, and you think they'll be
Speaker 1: they'll be good quality. Though I guess that's the question.
Speaker 1: I didn't say that. I don't I said, I mean,
Speaker 1: it can't be. It can't nothing. I shouldn't say it
Speaker 1: like you don't have many. It can't be guys that
Speaker 1: are like Chazz, Like you need guys that are capable
Speaker 1: and that that have the ability to come in. As
Speaker 1: we talked about before, you got to secure your swing
Speaker 1: tackle has to be a guy that can come in
Speaker 1: a minutes minutes notice and be able to play well
Speaker 1: because you don't know what Tyren status will be. Necessarily
Speaker 1: because history so far showing that he's getting to a
Speaker 1: point where the Indies are mounting on him. You're walking
Speaker 1: into a situation where a guy has coached twenty seven
Speaker 1: years at this position in Paul Alexander, and I think
Speaker 1: that that is going to prove to be a pretty
Speaker 1: good get for this team. Yes, they've got talent, we
Speaker 1: know that. Um. You know, Frank Pollock was the coach
Speaker 1: here and he was inexperienced at the time doing it. Um.
Speaker 1: But I think I think you're given a really good coach,
Speaker 1: some really great players, and then I think he can
Speaker 1: develop some as well. He's developed some guys over at Cincinnati,
Speaker 1: and I'm not saying that Pollock didn't, because you know,
Speaker 1: Lyle that was a project and they did a nice
Speaker 1: job with him and some other players. But I think
Speaker 1: Paul Alexander is taking it up a notch or two
Speaker 1: and I think that's really gonna help him. All right.
Speaker 1: I think we get one question here. We got got
Speaker 1: any questions over there coming out of Twitter? We do that?
Speaker 1: Oh I forgot about that. Yeah, let's see hold on, Well,
Speaker 1: this one is going back onto the wide receiver stuff.
Speaker 1: I don't want to get into that again. We should
Speaker 1: throw it out there, all right, we know how Amber feels. Well,
Speaker 1: let's go with this one. Do you think I was
Speaker 1: could get a guard in the first round if Hernston
Speaker 1: sign is sign? Okay, so you're saying that they get
Speaker 1: the wide receivers. Now you know to answer that. The
Speaker 1: point I was gonna make is and I don't love
Speaker 1: this theory. Really. I've never been a big fan of
Speaker 1: draft best available because I think it's really a lie.
Speaker 1: I don't think most teams do that. Um, even when
Speaker 1: they say it. I don't think you're drafting the best
Speaker 1: of it. You're drafting the best available need. Yeah. And
Speaker 1: so at nineteen, though, I think that they have a
Speaker 1: chance to really do that. I mean, there's gonna be
Speaker 1: a lot of needs here. I don't think a quarterback
Speaker 1: will be a pick. I don't think a cornerback will
Speaker 1: be a pick there. That would be a real or
Speaker 1: a tight end. Maybe I don't see running back either.
Speaker 1: Everything else I could. I could see if it's a guard. Yeah,
Speaker 1: if they're wiped out on you know, linebacker and receiver
Speaker 1: and defensive end and safety and tied end. I mean,
Speaker 1: is there a stud tight end that would fall to them?
Speaker 1: I think all the tight ends will still be on
Speaker 1: the board when they pick. Because that being said, I
Speaker 1: don't think then, I don't think that they would go
Speaker 1: tight end. Tight End is deep, but not not at
Speaker 1: the time. There's not a lot of great first round
Speaker 1: they have great well, speaking of tight ends real quick,
Speaker 1: here another question this guy is asking, wouldn't it be
Speaker 1: a good move to release this is crazy, release a
Speaker 1: Witten and use his seven million dollars cap hit. Now
Speaker 1: that guy an no disrespect to that guy. He's never
Speaker 1: really walked, probably walked in the Star and actually seen,
Speaker 1: you know, sound insane. That's a big old mural that
Speaker 1: they got up there. I don't think that's good. I
Speaker 1: don't think it's gonna happen. Cut Jason Witten. There's a
Speaker 1: whole there's a cop making the Pro Bowl, and then
Speaker 1: then we need to talk about it. But you can
Speaker 1: continue to make the Pro Bowl regardless of if he
Speaker 1: was an altered or not. I mean he's still playing
Speaker 1: at a relatively high level. He's not the same guy
Speaker 1: he was, And I think that they could do a
Speaker 1: better job with mixing in, you know, some rotation, a
Speaker 1: little bit more um because they need they need more
Speaker 1: playmaking tight ends. But I just don't see how you
Speaker 1: cut him. Yeah, No, who's the leader on this team?
Speaker 1: I mean they need that, they need that guy. We
Speaker 1: still need to find out about Recal. I'm still wondering
Speaker 1: what's going on with him? You and everybody, Well, no
Speaker 1: until we get to training camp, right forgot looks like
Speaker 1: all right, we appreciate you, guys, Joan us. We're back
Speaker 1: next week for another break. Till then for Nick even
Speaker 1: Dave helm At Amber Garcia, I'm Derek Eagleton. This has
Speaker 1: been The Break live on Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio.
Speaker 1: This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com
Speaker 1: and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.