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Speaker 1: Stephen Jones joins us now here on your Home of

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Speaker 1: the Cowboys and good afternoon, Steven. How you doing good.

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Speaker 1: I'm doing well. Thanks so much for joining us here

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Speaker 1: on a Monday. We've had a lot of fun already

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Speaker 1: reacting to the draft. Before we get into the details

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Speaker 1: on that. Can you've confirmed this report about not picking

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Speaker 1: up the fifth year option on Laton vander Esh. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: that's that's accurate. I will say that our intentions are

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Speaker 1: to keep Layton around here for the next four or

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Speaker 1: five years. We've just got, you know, obviously some unknowns.

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Speaker 1: Not unlike Shine Lee, Layton's had some bad luck with

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Speaker 1: injuries that we were able to work through with Shine,

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Speaker 1: and then of course not knowing what our cap situation

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Speaker 1: is going to be next year, you know where the

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Speaker 1: league's gonna peg the cap, how all this is going

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Speaker 1: to work out. We just felt like, you know, unfortunately

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Speaker 1: we needed needed to do this. But we've you know,

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Speaker 1: been with Layton, had a good visit with his agent,

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Speaker 1: and they know to keep him. Marian and Steven, I

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Speaker 1: want to ask you a question Mike Bassett would ask

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Speaker 1: if he were here, did you guys draft all the

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Speaker 1: good players? Of course, we did Okay, well, a great

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Speaker 1: job on that. Congratulations. Okay. It's it's kind of the

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Speaker 1: draft is a great thing because when it's all of

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Speaker 1: a sudden done, most teams really feel like they did

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Speaker 1: well and if they followed their board, then they'll do well.

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Speaker 1: And bigger question years Stephen, I think we're losing you

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Speaker 1: a little bit. Is is there any a better cell

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Speaker 1: area that maybe you could get into or could we

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Speaker 1: call you back or climb a tower something like that better?

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Speaker 1: Oh that's good? Yeah, here you get there. Okay, Okay, yes, sir,

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Speaker 1: I think so. Uh So, let me ask you this.

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Speaker 1: You guys, you guys brought in Kean Uneil, You have

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Speaker 1: Layton Vanderesh and Jalen Smith. You drafted Michael Parsons and Jabrils.

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Speaker 1: Michael Parsons, I'm assuming being the twelfth overall pick. The

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Speaker 1: plan is for him to be on the field for

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Speaker 1: a lot of snaps. Do you have any idea what

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Speaker 1: that looks like? Yeah? I mean, obviously we had long

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Speaker 1: discussions with Dan Quinn and Mike McCarthy about, you know,

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Speaker 1: how this was gonna look. And we feel really good,

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Speaker 1: you know, as you know, between Sean and Layton and Jalen.

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Speaker 1: You know, we ended up having to use Joe Smith

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Speaker 1: and some others. I mean, there's gonna be I think

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Speaker 1: at the end of the day, they're gonna really figure

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Speaker 1: out how to utilize these guys. Micah brings the very

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Speaker 1: unique skill set he can obviously, you know, plays the

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Speaker 1: behind the line of line of scrimmage as a four

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Speaker 1: three backer, but he also brings some serious DPR rushing

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Speaker 1: ability with his great speed and link that he brings

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Speaker 1: to the table. So we're not concerned that all these

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Speaker 1: guys are gonna We're gonna need every one of them,

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Speaker 1: and they're all gonna play alive. Last year, we talk

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Speaker 1: about the good fortune of Ceedee Lamb making it to seventeen,

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Speaker 1: and I know, if I was doing simulations, I would

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Speaker 1: just cancel the simulation if he made it, because I

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Speaker 1: was like, that's not realistic. And I think you told

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Speaker 1: us that you didn't really see that happening either. This

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Speaker 1: year going into the draft, how prepared were you that

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Speaker 1: the top two cornerbacks could be gone before you picked?

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Speaker 1: We were very prepared. We actually we spent most of

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Speaker 1: the last two days going over what happens if these

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Speaker 1: two corners come off the board on us, and we

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Speaker 1: knew if it happened to probably be late. And the

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Speaker 1: other thing we discussed at length is just what it

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Speaker 1: would cost to move up to ensure you got a corner.

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Speaker 1: And as you know, up there in the top ten,

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Speaker 1: you saw what we got from moving just two ticks

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Speaker 1: down from ten to twelve. You can imagine what it

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Speaker 1: costs to go up for or four picks. And then

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Speaker 1: on top of that, these guys, these teams were picking

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Speaker 1: players they love, so you're going to have to pay

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Speaker 1: a premium, whether it's Detroit, can the big Oregon tackle

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Speaker 1: any of those guys? And of course both the teams

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Speaker 1: in front of us that pick corners knew what we were,

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Speaker 1: what we would have been moving up for, and so

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Speaker 1: you know, we had long discussions about if the corners go,

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Speaker 1: what are we going to do here? And that's where

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Speaker 1: we spent a lot of time on Micah, not to

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Speaker 1: mention a couple of other players that we really felt

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Speaker 1: like that we could get real comfortable with if the

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Speaker 1: two corners went, which obviously that happened. Well, I loved

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Speaker 1: that you guys got to add a pick and still

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Speaker 1: pick the guy that I think you would have wanted

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Speaker 1: at number ten overall. But my question is is it

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Speaker 1: who Howie Roseman or whoever calls from Philadelphia? Did you

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Speaker 1: did you make them tell you who they were going

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Speaker 1: to pick? And would you feel differently if they were

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Speaker 1: going up for Saint justin fields? Of course it would

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Speaker 1: have been I mean, if they were well now, it

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Speaker 1: didn't make us feel any different whether it was justin fields.

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Speaker 1: The key was what side of the ball. And certainly

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Speaker 1: we knew, you know, we had had discussions with Philly

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Speaker 1: earlier in the week, and uh, you know, in spite

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Speaker 1: of what you heard, and maybe they were interested in

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Speaker 1: moving up to get a corner two, but they were

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Speaker 1: also interested and jumping the Giants to get a receiver.

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Speaker 1: And we just felt like, you know, at the end

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Speaker 1: of the day that we were, you know, want either

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Speaker 1: the Giants or the Eagles. We're going to get the

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Speaker 1: receiver one way or the other. And uh so we

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Speaker 1: didn't concern ourselves about that. And the point was, hey,

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Speaker 1: we can move back, pick up a pick and and

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Speaker 1: get our bikers. So you know, we felt really good

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Speaker 1: about that. So you guys, aren't you guys wouldn't be

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Speaker 1: concerned about helping a division rival potentially get a potential

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Speaker 1: franchise quarterback. You just want to make sure they weren't

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Speaker 1: taking your guy. As long as they weren't taking our guy,

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Speaker 1: we weren't going to concern ourselves with that because they

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Speaker 1: were probably gonna get him anyway, because we weren't going

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Speaker 1: to take him. And then the Giants and Eagles or that,

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Speaker 1: and they're gonna get whatever they choose to pick. Awesome

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Speaker 1: stuff here with Stephen Jones on your Home of the Cowboys. Okay,

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Speaker 1: round two. What makes you feel comfortable with Kelvin Joseph

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Speaker 1: as far as the concerns about coachability or things of

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Speaker 1: that nature, We don't think it's a coachability issue. It's obviously,

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Speaker 1: I think it's pretty well documented that he had, you know,

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Speaker 1: an off the field. You know, he had some off

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Speaker 1: the field stuff that we had to get comfortable with,

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Speaker 1: and you know, we really feel like we're comfortable with it.

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Speaker 1: We think as far as his football character is, competitiveness

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Speaker 1: is desire to be great is all there. And at

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Speaker 1: the same time, we feel good that he's got his

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Speaker 1: off the field under control. One of the big things

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Speaker 1: we looked at when we looked at a player is

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Speaker 1: you know how they conduct themselves after they have an

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Speaker 1: incident and u and in this particular case, in other

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Speaker 1: cases where we've drafted people, uh, you know, we feel

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Speaker 1: like there is up and they're in their hands around it.

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Speaker 1: You got to remember when some of these kids make mistakes,

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Speaker 1: and our kids at the time, they're probably teenagers some

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Speaker 1: of them, and as long as they learn from it

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Speaker 1: and they mature and you feel like they're heading in

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Speaker 1: the right direction, then you know you've you've got to

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Speaker 1: make a call there, and we've certainly done that both ways.

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Speaker 1: We make calls where he said, hey, we don't feel

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Speaker 1: good about it. We've made calls where we do feel

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Speaker 1: good about it. Obviously we've had a history with it.

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Speaker 1: We've got a great player on our team, Randy Gregory,

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Speaker 1: who we have so much respect for, such a good

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Speaker 1: young man who obviously has struggles off the field as well,

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Speaker 1: but he continues to work to do better in those

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Speaker 1: areas and we have nothing but the utmost respect for him.

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Speaker 1: You guys picked eleven guys in this draft, which is awesome.

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Speaker 1: If you had to make a wild guess right now,

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Speaker 1: could you make a wild guess on how many could

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Speaker 1: make the roster. They all eleven could make it. It's

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Speaker 1: a stretch, but they could. And uh, certainly we've got

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Speaker 1: a scenario where all eleven step up make our football team,

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Speaker 1: and uh, you know that would be you know, so welcome.

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Speaker 1: With our salary cap situation. Uh, you know, obviously we're

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Speaker 1: paying some really really good football players a lot of

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Speaker 1: money and it's you know, well deserved by those players

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Speaker 1: who are getting the money. But in order a function

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Speaker 1: under a salary cap, then you've got to you've obviously

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Speaker 1: got to hit on on your draft. And we had

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Speaker 1: long discussions and you know, we had some opportunities to

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Speaker 1: maybe make that eleven pikes, nine picks, ten pick tight picks,

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Speaker 1: and uh, you know, maybe could have moved some picks up.

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Speaker 1: But we you know, we really felt good about our board,

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Speaker 1: really felt if we hung in there and took the

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Speaker 1: players that we felt for quality players, that we could

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Speaker 1: really improve our football team and also help our salary

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Speaker 1: cap situation. Did having the eleven picks change your draft

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Speaker 1: strategy in any way? Not really. I mean, you know,

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Speaker 1: you just you gotta trust that board. You gotta say, hey,

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Speaker 1: are you gonna find the players throughout the draft, And

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Speaker 1: you know, at the end of the day. That's what

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Speaker 1: happened for us as we just you know, guys kept

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Speaker 1: coming to us. I mean a Jabril Cox, I mean

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Speaker 1: he was in consideration certainly in the third round, and

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Speaker 1: you know, just a really good football player in there.

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Speaker 1: Here he comes. And same thing with Fajko. I mean he's, uh,

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Speaker 1: you know, a guy we had that we really liked.

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Speaker 1: Every part of what he's about, whether it's the person

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Speaker 1: off the field or the player on the field, is maturity,

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Speaker 1: what he stands for. You know, those guys just kept

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Speaker 1: coming our way, and uh, you know that's why we

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Speaker 1: chose not to necessarily get a pick, and we probably

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Speaker 1: should have, you know, taken care of another need by

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Speaker 1: giving up one of those thirds, but we just felt like, hey,

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Speaker 1: you know, two players are better than one here, and

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Speaker 1: we're gonna get two really quality players versus one, and

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Speaker 1: just felt like that was the right thing to do

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Speaker 1: for our football team. There's so many people now, Steven

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Speaker 1: that are that are covering the draft so hard, and

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Speaker 1: I know that you guys at least see and hear

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Speaker 1: some of what's written or said. So when you have

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Speaker 1: a third round pick like Nishan Wright and a lot

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Speaker 1: of the media community is going, wow, that was a

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Speaker 1: big reach. Do you guys care in any way or

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Speaker 1: even acknowledge that. It's like, yeah, we like this guy

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Speaker 1: more than maybe a lot of other people do. No,

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Speaker 1: not at all. I mean, it only takes one another

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Speaker 1: team to like them. And you got to trust what

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Speaker 1: our scouts say about it. And you know, you go

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Speaker 1: through the exercise of hey, if we don't get him,

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Speaker 1: are we gonna be sick? And our guys did a

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Speaker 1: great job. And it wasn't just one guy, was just

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Speaker 1: two guys. I mean, we had consistency across the board

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Speaker 1: with our scouts and on Nashan. And the only thing

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Speaker 1: I can tell you is I remember a player named

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Speaker 1: Travis Frederick that the whole world said, hey, he should

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Speaker 1: have been third, four, fifth, sixth round pick, and last

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Speaker 1: I checked, Travis had a great career in which to

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Speaker 1: six or seven Pro Bowls. So you know, everybody's gonna

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Speaker 1: you know, there's always gonna be a little consensus of

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Speaker 1: what you know, maybe twenty teams think, but you gotta remember,

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Speaker 1: it only takes one other team that sees what we

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Speaker 1: see to take him. And then you're sick about it.

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Speaker 1: We think Hey, Shan can come right in here and

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Speaker 1: be highly competitive. Obviously, this game's turned into a space game.

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Speaker 1: You're playing against who drafted Fajko, who's six four two twenty.

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Speaker 1: I mean, these guys are long. You're trying to cover

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Speaker 1: the Kelsey's of the world, the Pits of the world,

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Speaker 1: who just got drafted will play him this year, and

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Speaker 1: you need long guys to cover these tight ends. And

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Speaker 1: we think this guy's got a unique skill set that's

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Speaker 1: really going to be a big help. Guest, Stephen, thanks

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Speaker 1: so much for your time. Congrats on the draft, and

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Speaker 1: we look forward to catching up with you soon. Sounds great, guys,

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Speaker 1: great being on with you. Thank you, sir. There he

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Speaker 1: is right here on your Home of the Cowboys, Steven

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Speaker 1: Jones