Speaker 1: The following He's a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com
Speaker 1: and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club. This he's Talking Cowboys,
Speaker 1: screening live from the Dallas Cowboys World Headquars at the
Speaker 1: Star in Friscol says, go and now your hosts Isaiah Stanback,
Speaker 1: heck My Harrison, Rob Phillips, and Kyle Yeoman's It's a
Speaker 1: Monday morning edition of Talking Cowboys, presented by Geico from
Speaker 1: the s WBC Mortgage Studios here at the Star in
Speaker 1: frist Go. Glad you're with us. Everybody. Hope you had
Speaker 1: a fantastic weekend, because we're about to make your Monday
Speaker 1: a little bit better by talking some Cowboys. Is March Madness,
Speaker 1: of course still around for a couple of days in
Speaker 1: the basketball world, but the NFL free agency periods still
Speaker 1: just heating up, it seems like around the Star, and
Speaker 1: we're gonna talk about some of the recent movers and
Speaker 1: groovers in NFL free agency. Also going to talk about
Speaker 1: a little bit of the Mike McCarthy press conference that
Speaker 1: happened on Thursday. But first we gotta give a little
Speaker 1: props because our very own Isaiah Standback has done some
Speaker 1: of his homework this offseason and ink. And it's pretty obvious, gentlemen,
Speaker 1: because well, nobody predicted the Pac twelve domination in March
Speaker 1: Madness on the basketball floor, but our very own Pac
Speaker 1: twelve alumni has dominated our winners, losers and Cinderella segment
Speaker 1: we had a couple weeks ago because Isaiah predicted Keonamel
Speaker 1: to be signed, predicted Alden Smith to be moved on
Speaker 1: from and then he's his Cinderella. His dream pick is
Speaker 1: kJ Wright, who at the moment is still out there
Speaker 1: and is also being rumored connected me with the Cowboys. Rob,
Speaker 1: you're telling me so you're saying this chance, right, yep. Well,
Speaker 1: Isaiah has done very well in that segment, much better
Speaker 1: than we did in that segment. But whenever it comes
Speaker 1: to the NFL offseason, so far, Isaiah got it right.
Speaker 1: And really the reason for that, Rob, I think is
Speaker 1: mostly because it's been very predictable. Yeah, I mean it's
Speaker 1: been It's I didn't chat with you guys last week,
Speaker 1: but I mean it's been the first week and second
Speaker 1: week exactly kind of what we said it would be.
Speaker 1: And fans don't like it. And I think fans are
Speaker 1: probably a little bit happier this week than maybe last
Speaker 1: week after the Neil signing and some of the other
Speaker 1: moves they've made. But this is what they do. They
Speaker 1: are not going to be active the first two three
Speaker 1: days other than maybe resigning a couple of their own guys,
Speaker 1: and they're gonna look for opportunities, and this year in particular,
Speaker 1: there might be more opportunities after the first week than
Speaker 1: ever before because of the market so weird. And but
Speaker 1: they're doing exactly what they've done for like the last
Speaker 1: ten years. Guys. They're covering their bases. Not really anything
Speaker 1: that's going to prevent them from addressing any position in
Speaker 1: the draft. I don't think. I think they can still
Speaker 1: go anywhere they want to go, but they're doing a
Speaker 1: pretty good job of trying to cover some bases on defense.
Speaker 1: I like what they've done, particularly in the last week
Speaker 1: or so. Beckma so so. Robbie's saying, slow and steady
Speaker 1: wins the race. And we hadn't made any splash signings,
Speaker 1: and I think that's what everybody's looking for, that one
Speaker 1: or two splash signings. And you know, Isaiah did get
Speaker 1: it right with kJ Wright being rumored to be affiliated
Speaker 1: in some kind of way with the Dallas Cowboys and
Speaker 1: never thought than a million years if we'd see that
Speaker 1: Bobby Wagner and kJ Wright combo break up. But man,
Speaker 1: if we are able to land the guy like that,
Speaker 1: you know how special he is and how instinctive he's
Speaker 1: mostly one of the most instinctive linebackers that we have
Speaker 1: in the league right now. But you're right, pe Uh,
Speaker 1: just off season alone hadn't been a lot of splashing guys,
Speaker 1: nail and now with the addition of Cauzee, Um, you know, look,
Speaker 1: we're looking like we're going in the right direction. We
Speaker 1: are refilling or restocking the covers. But I think there's
Speaker 1: still a lot. Uh if I'm sure we're all of
Speaker 1: agree that there's still a lot that we love. Yeah,
Speaker 1: there's no uh, definitely no doubt about that, fellas hum
Speaker 1: And I appreciate you guys giving me a credit. I'm
Speaker 1: just trying to make up for my predictions this season. Um,
Speaker 1: they were a black luster, so my game pick from pigs.
Speaker 1: But uh, but no, overall, man, I think that the
Speaker 1: Cowboys are doing a good job. It's kind of like
Speaker 1: the It's kind of like the the girl at the
Speaker 1: or guy, you know, a girl or a guy at
Speaker 1: the at the at the at the pool party in
Speaker 1: the summertime. Heck, you know when they come out there
Speaker 1: and they got they got the shirt on it. They
Speaker 1: get into water, but they walk with their hands like
Speaker 1: this because they really don't want the hair to get wet,
Speaker 1: because they got somewhere to be after the pool party.
Speaker 1: So no, not making us flash, but you're still getting
Speaker 1: from one end of the pool to the other, right,
Speaker 1: so you still give them so love that, so you're
Speaker 1: still reaching your destination. But I think I think they
Speaker 1: have some things up their sleeves in terms of the draft,
Speaker 1: and I think that they're really addressing the areas that
Speaker 1: they needed to. They grab some some some d linemen
Speaker 1: that fit their needs. I think they got some competitive guys.
Speaker 1: They got some guys that are hungry um at this
Speaker 1: point in their career. I think at the safety position,
Speaker 1: we all knew that needed to be addressed. And I
Speaker 1: think that they did a great job getting veterans not
Speaker 1: only who are who are proving guys in the league.
Speaker 1: They're experienced guys, and they're guys who are having some
Speaker 1: things to overcome. Right, There's there are guys that have
Speaker 1: some things that they have some things to come back from,
Speaker 1: improve reprove who they are in this league. Um, and
Speaker 1: you're always looking for guys who can come in and compete,
Speaker 1: especially when you can get veterans to compete. Right. It's
Speaker 1: one thing to get young guys to compete, but getting
Speaker 1: veterans who are proven who just need to get their
Speaker 1: confidence back, that's a whole other deal. Oh and by
Speaker 1: the way, they're familiar with with the with their defensive coordinator,
Speaker 1: so really excited about the things that they're doing. I
Speaker 1: know it's not fancy, and the fans don't really like
Speaker 1: it because you guys mentioned it's not a splash, but
Speaker 1: I think they're being very strategic and the moves that
Speaker 1: they have made with these veterans are positioning them to
Speaker 1: be able to go the directions they really want to go.
Speaker 1: In the draft. You know, all Isaiah's analogies, we didn't
Speaker 1: want to show that. My favorite one, it was perfect.
Speaker 1: I mean the water, the waters of free agency. The
Speaker 1: mental image in my head is Heckma keeping his hands
Speaker 1: above water so that way he doesn't get his hair
Speaker 1: wet all the way. Yeah, that's that's my that's my
Speaker 1: visual that's going through my head right now. Don't don't
Speaker 1: get it. Don't get it twisted. I'm not a T
Speaker 1: shirt all. Just know that. And also, I never had
Speaker 1: no problems with worrying about getting my hair with so
Speaker 1: he was letting that six pack shine, letting the head shine,
Speaker 1: and it's a whole thing. Oh my goodness, it's a
Speaker 1: whole I'd say you brought up a really good point, though,
Speaker 1: and I don't want to go back and hit this.
Speaker 1: We're going to talk about all of these free agent
Speaker 1: signings throughout the course of the next hour. However, you
Speaker 1: brought up the point of veterans competing because you can
Speaker 1: go out and get veterans. Veterans are available readily on
Speaker 1: a market, and usually they will be pretty cheap. And
Speaker 1: that's exactly what we saw in twenty twenty when it
Speaker 1: comes to the Dallas Cowboys, as they went to Dantaripo,
Speaker 1: they went to Haha, Clinton Dix, they went to Mary's Kennedy,
Speaker 1: and I know Kennedy opted out for family reasons, but
Speaker 1: out of those three guys, the veterans that they went
Speaker 1: and signed, competition and competing that will that dog that
Speaker 1: we've talked about so many times on this show was
Speaker 1: lacking whereas you start looking at the guys that they've
Speaker 1: brought in here in twenty twenty one, then Brent Urban,
Speaker 1: he's known to be a guy that plays with a
Speaker 1: mean streak. Same thing with Royal Basham, same thing with
Speaker 1: Keon O'Neil. There are these guys that may have had
Speaker 1: some either past injury issues for it, maybe not played
Speaker 1: as well as they thought to have been played in
Speaker 1: the past. But they're going and getting guys Isaiah, that
Speaker 1: you think are gonna come in and compete and and
Speaker 1: and fight for those positions. Yeah, I mean, we just
Speaker 1: became too deep at safety last last year we were
Speaker 1: hoping to be one one deep. Right now we have
Speaker 1: Now we have Kazy and Curse gonna be competing, right
Speaker 1: and we have freaking Key O'Neill and freaking Wilson going
Speaker 1: to be competing those that's too deep. We're too deep
Speaker 1: as safety, just like that, right, just like that. I
Speaker 1: don't know if that's the thing about the guys that
Speaker 1: we have, but I don't know. That's a little too
Speaker 1: far for me to say we're too deep at safety. Whatever.
Speaker 1: You've got a guy like Kazi and what was the
Speaker 1: other signing that I'm completely blanking on his name from Detroit. Yeah, curse, curse.
Speaker 1: I mean those two guys, you could say that their
Speaker 1: bodies there, but I wouldn't say that we're deep at safety.
Speaker 1: I'm saying you're I'm saying you're too deep. I didn't
Speaker 1: say that you Oh like g W seems with talent. Yeah,
Speaker 1: like like two like two two, like two guys, two guys. Okay,
Speaker 1: I thought you were saying, like no, no, no, no
Speaker 1: no no t W. Let me classify that. Yeah. So
Speaker 1: at free safety and the strong safety positions, we went
Speaker 1: from having one guy that we were confident with because
Speaker 1: in Donovan Wilson coming up and hitting people right and
Speaker 1: that was pretty much it last year. Any anybody else
Speaker 1: have anything contested with that. So so we felt we
Speaker 1: felt good about one guy being on the field competing
Speaker 1: right now, you literally have four guys that you're like,
Speaker 1: you guess what if nothing else, I know, these boys
Speaker 1: gonna come out here and compete. If nothing else, They're
Speaker 1: gonna come out here, compete. They're gonna run around, the're
Speaker 1: gonna hit. At the free safety position, we have two
Speaker 1: guys that are gonna go out there and their ball hawks,
Speaker 1: their ball hawks. These guys are ball hawks. I'm not now,
Speaker 1: I'm not putting them in at a category with you know,
Speaker 1: some of the greats. Let's don't don't get mixed up. However,
Speaker 1: I'm not calling them at every reason that. But but
Speaker 1: these guys, these guys, these are guys that you will say, Hey,
Speaker 1: if these guys are on the field, I know, at
Speaker 1: least they're gonna play the ball, right, They're gonna play
Speaker 1: the ball, They're gonna run out, yes, sir. Let me.
Speaker 1: Let me just add to that point that you may
Speaker 1: is that you know, you talked about this at the
Speaker 1: beginning of the season, there being a necessity for competition
Speaker 1: and that breeding the kind of culture that you're looking for.
Speaker 1: And you could tell dan Quinn has already come in
Speaker 1: with that mind state that we're gonna have competition and
Speaker 1: OTAs two of days, all of that, and that's the
Speaker 1: way that this roster is going to be churned and
Speaker 1: not gonna go into Michcarthy's interview. But still you know
Speaker 1: that that's a necessity, and if you can go back
Speaker 1: to the season of twenty twenty, we didn't have a
Speaker 1: lot of that, and I think all of that was
Speaker 1: a by product too of COVID and everything that we
Speaker 1: had to go on. I mean, it wasn't a lot
Speaker 1: of contact or any of that. But still when you
Speaker 1: look at the Urbans and you look at the Watkins
Speaker 1: and guys that free agent acquisitions on the D line,
Speaker 1: you could tell there's gonna be some churning going into
Speaker 1: that final fifty three man roster. I think all of
Speaker 1: that is going to be interesting, but I look for
Speaker 1: a new look competitive defense going into twenty twenty one,
Speaker 1: for sure. One more thing about the safety position, you
Speaker 1: guys jogged my memory. I forget which game it was,
Speaker 1: but there was one game early in the season where
Speaker 1: Stephen Parker, remember him, was signed. He was promoted from
Speaker 1: the practice squad just to be active for the game
Speaker 1: and wound up getting like forty snaps in the game,
Speaker 1: you know, And it was it was indicative of them
Speaker 1: trying to find answers at that position. You know, they
Speaker 1: signed Haha last year and a week into camp it
Speaker 1: was like they threw him for a loop. They really,
Speaker 1: I mean, he was not getting it done for whatever reason.
Speaker 1: They weren't happy there, tried to go with darry and Thompson,
Speaker 1: and then like you said, I mean it wasn't until
Speaker 1: Donovan just kind of showed up that they had kind
Speaker 1: of one answer there. So I don't think they're done
Speaker 1: looking there. I think the draft could still be a possibility, sure,
Speaker 1: but they're bringing in I think Isaiah hit on it.
Speaker 1: You bring in a couple of guys that dan Quinn
Speaker 1: knows and can adjust to his scheme and have a
Speaker 1: comfort level in it right off the bat. I think
Speaker 1: that's important. One of the things that I mentioned, I
Speaker 1: think I mentioned it weeks back. I think actually when
Speaker 1: before when dan Quinn's name was mentioned as a deep
Speaker 1: potential defensive coordinator. One of the first things that I
Speaker 1: told you guys about was the fact that the culture
Speaker 1: he's trying to duplicate the culture in Seattle, Right, that's
Speaker 1: what happens. He's a He's a byproduct of Pete Carroll.
Speaker 1: It is what it is. And the culture with Coach
Speaker 1: Carroll is all competition. When it was at USC, it
Speaker 1: was competition, when it was the Seahawks, competition. That's all
Speaker 1: he breeds off of. And every day at practice there
Speaker 1: was a theme, Right, there's a theme that you would
Speaker 1: that whether it was takeaway takeaway Thursdays or whatever it
Speaker 1: is you know, strip mondays, like there's all kinds of stuff, right,
Speaker 1: Like every day had a theme. And he started to
Speaker 1: practice off with a one on one right with this
Speaker 1: defensive line versus over offensive line, and he would call
Speaker 1: guys out and everybody would circling around him, and like
Speaker 1: that was the environment. That was a culture. And I've
Speaker 1: mentioned that before and now you guys are awesome that
Speaker 1: you guys were starting to see this. Now he's doing that, right,
Speaker 1: He's doing that with the roster he's gonna bring in.
Speaker 1: He's gonna bring veterans that compete, that are gonna compete.
Speaker 1: Like this is where you guys are at in your career.
Speaker 1: If you guys want to get this money next year,
Speaker 1: y'all better come show up, right, And he's gonna bring
Speaker 1: in some young blood too, that's gonna compete with these guys.
Speaker 1: So I'm gonna take this old school blood, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: take this young blood, and I'm gonna mix it together
Speaker 1: and we're gonna see who comes out and wants to
Speaker 1: crawl to the top. And guess what, All the while,
Speaker 1: we're all getting better. You're getting better as a player
Speaker 1: because you're learning how to compete and elevate your game,
Speaker 1: and we're getting better as a team because now everybody
Speaker 1: has elevated their game. He's going to do that at
Speaker 1: every single position on that side of the ball. That's
Speaker 1: why he's nowhere near done to adding to this roster.
Speaker 1: And I think that's where it goes back to what
Speaker 1: we've talked about whenever we say that dan Quinn was
Speaker 1: the best acquisition free agency wise this offseason and Will
Speaker 1: I think all the way through that's exactly what we're
Speaker 1: gonna say going into next year because of the addition
Speaker 1: of dan Quinn and the step up from what was
Speaker 1: Mike Nolan, I think is going to be something that
Speaker 1: Cowboys fans will look at this year as a huge
Speaker 1: win for this organization. Now, what's that I want to
Speaker 1: ask you a question, Man, ask me, so when you
Speaker 1: say dan Quinn is the biggest acquisition in the offseason,
Speaker 1: what's gonna be the biggest difference between dan Quinn's philosophy
Speaker 1: that differed from Rob Mill, Rob Marinelli and Christmas Show.
Speaker 1: What's going to be the difference between what he brings
Speaker 1: as a defensive coordinat I think the simplicity of the
Speaker 1: defense from Marinelli to Quinn is similar. However, Marinelli tried
Speaker 1: to force round pegs into square holes in terms of
Speaker 1: scheme fit, and he said, let's fit these players to
Speaker 1: our scheme, whereas Mike McCarthy has already come out and
Speaker 1: said on Thursday, it's all about the players. It's about
Speaker 1: fitting your scheme to the players and allowing them to play.
Speaker 1: That's what we were excited about with Mike Nolan last year.
Speaker 1: That's what we were excited about because he said the
Speaker 1: same thing. However, it didn't end up looking like that.
Speaker 1: Actions speak louder than words, and the actions where that
Speaker 1: we're gonna try and do way too much. We're gonna
Speaker 1: try and do too much, especially out of a virtual
Speaker 1: ops season, and I think moving into twenty twenty one,
Speaker 1: even if there is a virtual off season, I think
Speaker 1: there's gonna be a step up because of the veteran
Speaker 1: ability of Dan Quinn and the success that he's had
Speaker 1: of running a simplistic defense and allowing these players to
Speaker 1: dictate what that defense is. Answer is that an answer
Speaker 1: did I stump you? Would you ever rebuttal? No? No, no,
Speaker 1: I absolutely have a rebuttal. And the deal is is
Speaker 1: that I think the same thing that you're saying about
Speaker 1: Mike Nolan is the same round pick square, whole mentality
Speaker 1: guys that don't fit the scheme that you're trying to
Speaker 1: run on the fly. And so look, the thing that
Speaker 1: I love about dan Quinn, and maybe not the simplistic approach,
Speaker 1: I think that his cell packages are going to be
Speaker 1: different than what you got from Marionelli, won't be asked, predictable,
Speaker 1: and the whole ideal of hybrid or guys that can
Speaker 1: play multiple positions in your scheme doesn't tilt your hand.
Speaker 1: So that's the thing that I like about dan Quinn.
Speaker 1: But I just wanted to know. I've heard this a
Speaker 1: bunch about dan Quinn being the biggest acquisition in the
Speaker 1: offseason and not people not the perception being that players
Speaker 1: coming in and actively, you know, executing the system being
Speaker 1: the difference maker. So just wanted to know, you know what,
Speaker 1: that's a That's a great point though, because it can't
Speaker 1: just be oh, we got a new defensive coordinator, everything's fixed.
Speaker 1: I mean, he he has a great reputation. Isaiah did
Speaker 1: a great job talking about it. I think I think
Speaker 1: the biggest point that Mike made last week in his
Speaker 1: press conference was a tighter blend of three to four
Speaker 1: four three, you know, using both because every defense around
Speaker 1: the league is pretty much doing that. Everybody's kind of
Speaker 1: multiple to some extent, but not and probably cutting down
Speaker 1: on the volume. If it's a virtual offseason. I don't
Speaker 1: think they're gonna overflow with major changes like they did
Speaker 1: last year because it just it was too much and
Speaker 1: it didn't work given the way the league worked last year.
Speaker 1: But you still got to have players. I mean, you
Speaker 1: got to have some upgrades, and I do think to
Speaker 1: to Heckma's point, I mean, i'm I'm I agree that
Speaker 1: quinn Is that's a huge acquisition and it may be
Speaker 1: the biggest one, but Neil has a chance to be
Speaker 1: the best acquisition they have from the player's side. I
Speaker 1: think has has been to a Pro Bowl. It's just injuries.
Speaker 1: Same thing with because he if they can stay healthy,
Speaker 1: you know, I think last year we talked about and
Speaker 1: I think we all kind of got excited about some
Speaker 1: of their additions. They were mostly guys in their thirties.
Speaker 1: He's he's twenty five years old. I think he could
Speaker 1: still play some good football. And I think I'm not
Speaker 1: going to use the word heck the hybrid world. I
Speaker 1: just used it the word, but he can be kind
Speaker 1: of that Swiss army knife and help you in a
Speaker 1: lot of different ways. That was That's an interesting signing
Speaker 1: the second week of free agency. I think it was
Speaker 1: a good one. And I do want to preface this
Speaker 1: by saying, we're not talking about dan Quinn coming in
Speaker 1: and taking this defense from the bottom of the barrel
Speaker 1: of the NFL and putting them all of a sudden
Speaker 1: in the top five and we're gonna see the legion
Speaker 1: of boom and this is going to be incredible. We're
Speaker 1: talking about dan Quinn going from thirty two to twenty
Speaker 1: two like that. That's the only jump you really need.
Speaker 1: And that's why you're so good on the offensive side
Speaker 1: of the football. It's because you don't need a defense
Speaker 1: to be in the top fifteen to be a Super
Speaker 1: Bowl contender, at least with an offense like this. So
Speaker 1: I'm not saying it's a it's a be all, end
Speaker 1: all fix with dan Quinn. I'm just saying that I
Speaker 1: think where you're going to see more disciplined football, You're
Speaker 1: going to see a more understanding football IQ from the
Speaker 1: defensive side than we saw in twenty twenty. That's my
Speaker 1: way of looking at it. And Isaiah, I know you've
Speaker 1: mentioned it in the past. The energy is another thing
Speaker 1: that I think dan Quinn is going to bring for
Speaker 1: this defense that at times lacked. In twenty twenty, we
Speaker 1: looked at the defense and said, where is that energy?
Speaker 1: It wasn't there, There was nothing, It was dead. And
Speaker 1: now it took almost to what week nine against the
Speaker 1: Eagles to finally see a little bit of a jolt,
Speaker 1: or Week eight against the Eagles or whenever that game was,
Speaker 1: to finally see a little bit of life out of
Speaker 1: that defense. That's not gonna happen this year, at least
Speaker 1: I don't think it will. Yeah, I think, you know,
Speaker 1: I know we're going back and forth. Heck between the
Speaker 1: how important that deep as a coordinator, If that's the
Speaker 1: greatest you know, pickup we've had, acquisition we've had this
Speaker 1: off season, I would say yes, absolutely, hands down, without
Speaker 1: a doubt. And yes, you you definitely need players obviously, right,
Speaker 1: you still gotta have talent. We can't. You can't just
Speaker 1: have an amazing coach and just sucky talent, right what.
Speaker 1: I don't think that we lack on talent on this
Speaker 1: team on that side of the ball. I really don't.
Speaker 1: I think we lacked in awareness, execution, just talent. It's
Speaker 1: not just talent, it's really not. It's confidence, right, and
Speaker 1: not only that, it's wanting to play for your coach. So,
Speaker 1: I mean, you got plenty of people out there say, oh,
Speaker 1: these guys are getting paid a lot of money, they
Speaker 1: shouldn't have no motivation? True that guess whether that checks
Speaker 1: coming regardless of that, coaches there or not. So here
Speaker 1: you go. Sorry, you don't like to hear that. That
Speaker 1: is what it is. Debt check's coming. So now what's
Speaker 1: your motivation? Do you have a coach that you want
Speaker 1: to play for? Do you have a coach that says
Speaker 1: that that makes you want to give more when you're
Speaker 1: going to receive the same check no matter what you do,
Speaker 1: the check's coming. The check is coming. Now, what is
Speaker 1: my motivation? Do I have somebody that I want to
Speaker 1: go out there and be a dog for? Do I
Speaker 1: love my teammates? Do I love the environment? Do I
Speaker 1: love the culture? Do I love the city? Is an
Speaker 1: organization treating me well? Or all these things really on
Speaker 1: one accord? Because if those things are on one a court,
Speaker 1: then guess what. Ah, Now, now we got a culture,
Speaker 1: Now we have an environment. Now we have something that
Speaker 1: I can I can I can get hyped off of. Right,
Speaker 1: I got some gutt, I got a young buck, or
Speaker 1: I got another veteran right behind me. If I slip up,
Speaker 1: guess what they coming to get my spot? Right, I'm
Speaker 1: not just getting this just because I'm getting paid X
Speaker 1: amount of dollars. Right, I have to earn my keep,
Speaker 1: and I gotta earn it every time I step on
Speaker 1: the field. Kind of reminds me of something like what
Speaker 1: like camp. Right, Guys get excited about camp because what
Speaker 1: you gotta earn your keep. You gotta earn your spot.
Speaker 1: You gotta earn your spot on the team. So when
Speaker 1: the season comes and you have that same culture that
Speaker 1: exists the camp culture during the season, that's when your
Speaker 1: team elevates. So, yes, the defensive coordinator has the defensive coordinator,
Speaker 1: officsive coordinator, special teams, all that stuff has a huge
Speaker 1: effect because now I now embody the personality of that
Speaker 1: potential of that particular coach, and it's so important. So
Speaker 1: don't let's not undervalue how important he is in the
Speaker 1: inspiration that he has the mentorship that he can that
Speaker 1: he can provide for these guys young and old, because
Speaker 1: now you're he's literally taking him and put it into
Speaker 1: the players. And you will see that represented in every
Speaker 1: single successful organization in this league. And if you can
Speaker 1: find one that doesn't embody their coach, show it to me. Yeah. Now,
Speaker 1: I think you're right, And I think that can't be
Speaker 1: understated enough the influence that a coach a coordinator has
Speaker 1: on this group of guys. But if you have a
Speaker 1: bunch of tomato cans out there, you can try and
Speaker 1: coach him up as much as you want. They run
Speaker 1: up against Yeah, that's gonna handle defense. That's what happened
Speaker 1: to them in a lot of situations where teams were
Speaker 1: just running it right at us and we didn't have
Speaker 1: the talent level to compete. Whether it be done Pole
Speaker 1: or other disagree, suspect, Well, I disagree. Check, I disagree,
Speaker 1: But I don't think it's a talent thing. It's not
Speaker 1: a talented These guys are the one percent of the
Speaker 1: one percent of Heck, that's a it's a it's a
Speaker 1: it's a one two. Paul did not want to play.
Speaker 1: Let's be honest. Pole did not want to play. Could
Speaker 1: he play? Hey, yeah, it's a light switch. He didn't
Speaker 1: want to play. You know why because he mentally, I'm
Speaker 1: assuming I don't know the man. I'm assuming in his head. Look,
Speaker 1: I hate this environment. I'm just gonna call a spade
Speaker 1: a spade. I hate this environment. This check is coming
Speaker 1: whether I go one hundred miles per hour or I
Speaker 1: don't go hundred miles power because guess what, I'm a
Speaker 1: veteran and I'm like, this is guaranteed. So I'm gonna
Speaker 1: get this check regardless. So if I'm not, I'm just
Speaker 1: telling you, sir, I'm telling you a certain people's mindsets. Heck,
Speaker 1: I mean it's a second. And he didn't deserve to
Speaker 1: be in the league anyway to be a part of
Speaker 1: that one percent off what he What you're saying is,
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna get this check. I can get paid
Speaker 1: and go back to the house, saying you're putting out
Speaker 1: bad You're putting out bad tape. And so for guys
Speaker 1: that are free agents on these that went to other places,
Speaker 1: they had no tape to talk about to dictate the
Speaker 1: terms with new teams because they sucked, right, And I'm
Speaker 1: just saying, if you had that kind of year, and
Speaker 1: you expect to get paid handsomely for your services, you're
Speaker 1: gonna have to put it on tape. And we had
Speaker 1: a guys that are not putting it on tape. Whether
Speaker 1: that's talent or whether that's coaching, all those things can
Speaker 1: be dissected, but I think they go hand in hand. Okay,
Speaker 1: And I don't want to jump ahead because Kyle's gonna
Speaker 1: slap me. But Xavier Woods is he does he like
Speaker 1: Let's see. I didn't say that because that's what I'm
Speaker 1: talking about it, But does he like telling in some aspects, yes,
Speaker 1: because somebody else wants them for what not for a
Speaker 1: lot to play the same position he was playing here.
Speaker 1: It doesn't somebody wants That's not what I'm saying. What
Speaker 1: I'm saying is Xavier was if he had balled out
Speaker 1: and put it on tape and all of that was there,
Speaker 1: his turns would have been different in free agent. No, No,
Speaker 1: I don't disagree with that. I do not disagree with that.
Speaker 1: But but what I'm saying is guys will put out
Speaker 1: what they're willing to put out, and if they have
Speaker 1: somebody who they want to play for, you're going to
Speaker 1: get better production out of that. I agree, that's that's facts.
Speaker 1: I think. I think y'all are both right because I
Speaker 1: think I think it comes it comes down to player execution. Obviously.
Speaker 1: I do think because a lot of people said, you know,
Speaker 1: this is the same defense that was middle of the
Speaker 1: pack the year before. So what happened. Well, I think
Speaker 1: they missed Malie Collins last year. I think they miss
Speaker 1: Jeff Heath at safety last year. I think they missed
Speaker 1: Byron Jones at cornerback last year. They didn't replace the
Speaker 1: guys they lost. They didn't replace them well enough last year.
Speaker 1: By the same token, though, like Isaiah's talking about culture
Speaker 1: and and what the defensive coordinator can can instill in
Speaker 1: you wanting to play for him, a confidence level, I
Speaker 1: think something was missing last year installing this thing in
Speaker 1: the virtual side things. Mike said it last week in
Speaker 1: the car, in the in the press conference, we got
Speaker 1: to do better in terms of our virtual component of things.
Speaker 1: They they didn't. They didn't reach a point defensively where
Speaker 1: guys were confident and fat playing fast now free and
Speaker 1: confident until late in the season. And so that that
Speaker 1: goes on coaching too, in terms of communicating a system
Speaker 1: and putting guys in the right spot. That's where dan
Speaker 1: Quinn comes in. But you gotta have players too. I
Speaker 1: think I think it's so rob if these guys, if
Speaker 1: these guys are these guys that were on our roster
Speaker 1: this year, heck right, if they come out and ball
Speaker 1: out this year just all of a sudden, these guys
Speaker 1: just we got eight all pro guys on this side
Speaker 1: of the ball. Were they that less talented this previous season? No? No,
Speaker 1: I think it's an understanding of the scheme and what
Speaker 1: your responsibilities are in it, and you can play fast
Speaker 1: and what I think and you know that too because
Speaker 1: you have player Yeah, you know the hesitant, the hesitancy
Speaker 1: and the scheme and the game plan going up to
Speaker 1: each week. Guys have to be confident and what the
Speaker 1: what the system is? Asked? Absolutely, and if last year
Speaker 1: I guys never had an understanding of that, us finishing
Speaker 1: last what's a by product of not understanding. But that's
Speaker 1: not talent, No no, But when you turn on the
Speaker 1: tape and you see your one tech getting pushed yards
Speaker 1: down the field, that was a choice. Hey man, let
Speaker 1: me ask you this. Do you think that pole is
Speaker 1: gonna keep playing this year, or you think he's ready
Speaker 1: to wrap it up, he's rap. It should be a rap,
Speaker 1: exactly exactly. He was good. He got past that first game,
Speaker 1: he said, check mark, money's coming. I'm done. Look no
Speaker 1: more guys like that then. So that's that's what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: So it's not it's not a talent thing. It's what
Speaker 1: can you get out of that player. That's what I'm
Speaker 1: saying is it's not talent. Everything that you just labeled
Speaker 1: was all about understanding the scheme, confidence, right, being able
Speaker 1: to play fast. Those things have nothing to do with talent,
Speaker 1: all right. You get to be lasting the NFL on
Speaker 1: defense for a reason. Yes, And and that's why I
Speaker 1: agree with Rob and I think it is a combination
Speaker 1: of the two. You can't have one without the other. However, everybody,
Speaker 1: tap gloves, go to your corners. We need to take
Speaker 1: a break whenever we come back. Whenever we come back,
Speaker 1: we're gonna keep this conversation going, but we're gonna throw
Speaker 1: in the recent news with Xavier Woods signing elsewhere. There
Speaker 1: were a couple huge draft trades that I kind of
Speaker 1: want to get your thoughts about. Whenever it affects the
Speaker 1: Dallas Cowboys. We're gonna talk about it on the other
Speaker 1: side of the break when we return on Talking Cowboys
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Speaker 1: out with both quiet Comfort earbuds, you'll experience audio at
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Speaker 1: earbuds of the Dallas Cowboys. Heck, what are those earbuds
Speaker 1: sound like? In that in that room of yours? It's
Speaker 1: like a symphony in my head. Kyle, dang it, thank you. Purpose?
Speaker 1: Come on purpose? Okay, I will say because I thought
Speaker 1: we would. I apologize. I apologize. I will give credited
Speaker 1: they I will give credit. Heck one did give a
Speaker 1: little pose to the camera. He had a little, nice,
Speaker 1: little smirk on his face. The presentation was better, the
Speaker 1: audio was not great at all. And remember this is
Speaker 1: a podcast. Wow, so I missed the presentation. Sorry yeah,
Speaker 1: wow Wow. Well, uh, let's talk about some more Cowboys
Speaker 1: free agency. Let's go ahead and move on. Yes, I
Speaker 1: flipped the reds on you guys just to keep your
Speaker 1: keep you on your toes. Uh. I want to talk
Speaker 1: about exactly what you guys mentioned and what Isaiah of
Speaker 1: course looked ahead to. And that's Xavier Wood signing a
Speaker 1: one year, two point two five million dollars deal with
Speaker 1: the Vikings up in Minnesota, replaces Anthony Harris after he
Speaker 1: of course left and signed with Philadelphia. Will Xavier Woods
Speaker 1: be missed in this defense? That's my biggest question, because
Speaker 1: I mean, you guys already kind of went back and
Speaker 1: forth on his want, his talent, and I want to
Speaker 1: kind of start that engine right back up because he's
Speaker 1: replaced by Demante Kazee, who, of course, like we talked about,
Speaker 1: reunites with Dan Quinn, has that familiarity and he's also
Speaker 1: on a one year deal to money. I don't think
Speaker 1: the money's come out yet, right, Rob, No money yet
Speaker 1: on Uh you know what I just saw a tweet about.
Speaker 1: I think it's just over a million bucks, like one
Speaker 1: point one one point two, um, like a nine hundred
Speaker 1: thousand dollars base salary. That's off for report. Okay, well
Speaker 1: that's a lot chamber back in the second wave. What'd
Speaker 1: he get? Did we see from Minnesota? One year two
Speaker 1: and two and two and change basically one year two
Speaker 1: and change for yeah, for for Woods. Now will he
Speaker 1: be missed though, Rob? Will he be missed? I mean
Speaker 1: if Casey because he can do what what the Xavier
Speaker 1: did well, then I'd say no. I think that. I
Speaker 1: think if he can stay healthy and again that's it's
Speaker 1: there's a caveat here with both Neil and because he
Speaker 1: I mean we're talking about Achilles injuries. Cowboys have done
Speaker 1: a great job working with guys coming back from those injuries.
Speaker 1: Buried Church, we can and go down the list, um
Speaker 1: Greg Ellis, But that's got to be proven, you know,
Speaker 1: if he can come out and again, we'll see what
Speaker 1: they do in the draft, but I think he might
Speaker 1: have an opportunity to earn that free safety spot and
Speaker 1: he is at his best, he does a good job
Speaker 1: of preventing big plays, you know. I think he can.
Speaker 1: He can be that single high guy, keep things in
Speaker 1: front of him, and when the ball presents itself, he
Speaker 1: goes and gets it. I think that's a difference. He's
Speaker 1: got ten takeaways in a two year span, ten interceptions.
Speaker 1: Cowboys been missing that. So that's where you know, that's
Speaker 1: another element that maybe the Cowboys can build off of that.
Speaker 1: Xavier a lot of times ball's coming right at him,
Speaker 1: he didn't catch it, and so maybe there's a difference there.
Speaker 1: It's never a good thing. Whatever. You have to repeat
Speaker 1: the question miss him? You say you said that gonna missim. Wait,
Speaker 1: hold on, they're gonna miss him? Yeah, yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 1: I don't let the heck around this one up. Yeah No,
Speaker 1: I don't know. I don't think we're gonna miss him.
Speaker 1: I don't think the Cowboys miss him. I think that um,
Speaker 1: I think that they replaced him with competitive, hungry veterans
Speaker 1: and uh for that for that alone. Um, and you
Speaker 1: can take his one quote that he had. Um, I
Speaker 1: think that we that we that we have an upgrade
Speaker 1: in terms at least if anything else mentality. So are
Speaker 1: we gonna miss him? Um? First of all, I just
Speaker 1: want to wish him well and relations on signing with
Speaker 1: the Minnesota Vikings. And we play the Vikings this year.
Speaker 1: So I'm gonna wish him well now because I won't
Speaker 1: be wishing him well in a few months. Uh. But
Speaker 1: you know, I think you know, coming from Louisiana Tech,
Speaker 1: there was some expectations for for Woods, I think you know,
Speaker 1: for us and just safety being an issue for the
Speaker 1: Dallas Cowboys for so very long that expectation or potential
Speaker 1: was never realized. He never took the next step. He
Speaker 1: did some special things and special teams. He also, obviously
Speaker 1: I'm hearing great teammate in locker room guy. But again,
Speaker 1: there was so much there that he left on the
Speaker 1: field just bad angles, bad playing. Like Rob said, ball
Speaker 1: coming right at you and blue blue blue, you know,
Speaker 1: just not here for to make a play. And you know,
Speaker 1: because he and just you talk about his twenty eighteen
Speaker 1: form and him being able to get seven interceptions. I mean,
Speaker 1: we hadn't had that and a very very long time
Speaker 1: a guy, a safety with or any dB with seven interceptions.
Speaker 1: So I just think, you know that is that is uh,
Speaker 1: that gives him one a leg up on any of
Speaker 1: the guys that we have on the back end. But
Speaker 1: look for our secondary with dan Quinn, he is he
Speaker 1: is trying to turn mud to marble and he has
Speaker 1: a huge undertaking at the safety position cornerbacks as well.
Speaker 1: And you know that the Cowboys are going to steal
Speaker 1: going to the draft, and you say we're too deep
Speaker 1: right now, and say, I think we may be three
Speaker 1: deep after the draft because there's gonna be competition all
Speaker 1: around and we have to get better at the back half,
Speaker 1: especially if we're going to be playing with that you
Speaker 1: know center fielder as Dad Quinn likes to play with.
Speaker 1: So you know, either way, I think you know, again,
Speaker 1: I wish Xavier Woods well, but no, won't be missed
Speaker 1: around here, Isaiah, break it down for me here whenever
Speaker 1: it comes to the cover three defense, that single high
Speaker 1: look that we're going to see a lot from dan
Speaker 1: Quinn's system, or at least what we anticipate to see
Speaker 1: a lot because he fits better than Xavier Woods because
Speaker 1: of blank What is that missing piece that Cauzee has
Speaker 1: that Xavier Woods didn't, Because I mean, the money ends
Speaker 1: up being cheaper, which is fine. I thought it would
Speaker 1: probably be right around the same for those two. So
Speaker 1: why was Kaze the guy they went and got, even
Speaker 1: though I know the money was a little cheaper as well, well,
Speaker 1: discount double check. First of all, right, I mean, well
Speaker 1: that's why i'm syscount. I mean everything, take the money
Speaker 1: out of it, I won't know why the player was
Speaker 1: chosen for sure. Yeah, so you talk about somebody. First
Speaker 1: of all, one of the things that we all keep
Speaker 1: coming back to in terms of our our defense's ability
Speaker 1: to perform or lack thereof last year was familiarity, right, Um,
Speaker 1: So you got a guy who comes right into the system, confident,
Speaker 1: already boom, handclap, just right off the back, confident, right,
Speaker 1: already already a hand up on what we had last year.
Speaker 1: So then you take them to the fact that he's hungry, right,
Speaker 1: you got injuries and all these things, and then you
Speaker 1: got another aspect that he knows how to find the
Speaker 1: ball right when you pull up his highlights. You know,
Speaker 1: if there's a tip ball. Right, if a defensive back,
Speaker 1: cornerback makes a great play chips the ball. Listen up,
Speaker 1: that's not just gonna hit the ground. If it does
Speaker 1: hit the ground, is gonna hit the ground after it
Speaker 1: hits his hands him trying to get an interception. So
Speaker 1: as you already heard of Heck saying like he's a
Speaker 1: ball hawk, he wants to try to get the ball.
Speaker 1: And that's what you need when you have that sit
Speaker 1: or fielder. You need somebody who has range. You need
Speaker 1: somebody who has awareness, and you need somebody who wants
Speaker 1: to go get the dog on ball when it presents itself.
Speaker 1: And that those are all things that I don't think.
Speaker 1: I mean, Xavier had a little bit of range, but
Speaker 1: that was about it, right, So this is that is
Speaker 1: the reason why they went out there and got Kazi
Speaker 1: versus versus versus Woods. The one thing I'll say about
Speaker 1: Xavier is he did have some some good moments, some
Speaker 1: good games here. I thought I thought last year. I
Speaker 1: thought last year he kind of played out of position. Honestly,
Speaker 1: I mean, they had him in the box probably the
Speaker 1: most that he's ever been in his career. Because you
Speaker 1: know you're you're only playing two linebackers and you're in
Speaker 1: a lot of sub package work, and I don't know
Speaker 1: if that's the best thing for him. I think he's
Speaker 1: a you know, he's a center fielder free safety type,
Speaker 1: that's what because he is probably going to be here
Speaker 1: if he wins the job. So again, it kind of
Speaker 1: goes back to what we talked about first segment. Are
Speaker 1: you putting your players in the best positions to be successful?
Speaker 1: I don't know. I don't know if they did that
Speaker 1: with Woods last year. Yeah, And as everybody's trying to
Speaker 1: get an understanding as to how important it is Kyle
Speaker 1: that center fielder, right, that free safety in a dan
Speaker 1: Quinn scheme is that much more important because there's only
Speaker 1: three guys that are responsible for getting deep right, if
Speaker 1: a ball is thrown deeper than than twelve yards, there's
Speaker 1: only three guys on that field that are responsible for
Speaker 1: getting to that ball. You got your right corner, to
Speaker 1: your left corner, and your free safety right. That's it.
Speaker 1: So when you talk about defending the whole back half
Speaker 1: of the field, that guy is responsible for literally a
Speaker 1: third of the field. And you know, when you have
Speaker 1: that scheme, there's eight guys underneath cover three scheme, there
Speaker 1: are literally eight defenders underneath. So pretty much dan Quinn's
Speaker 1: coming in and saying, you're not gonna run the ball,
Speaker 1: You're not gonna throw any of these little short routes.
Speaker 1: We're gonna get to you before you have time to
Speaker 1: drop back and throw the ball and actually threaten our
Speaker 1: three guys that we have deep, our defensive ends are
Speaker 1: gonna get to you. Our linebackers are gonna get to
Speaker 1: you before you have time to sit back there and
Speaker 1: have the time to throw. So if you do make
Speaker 1: that throw right, that ill advised throw of that risky throw,
Speaker 1: then I have a guy back there that can go
Speaker 1: catch the ball and make you pay for it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and I think that's ideal. I think that's what you
Speaker 1: as a defensive coordinator, that's what you want your guys
Speaker 1: to do. But if we put on the twenty twenty
Speaker 1: tape and we look at our safeties, there are a
Speaker 1: lot of times our guys were staring in the backfield
Speaker 1: and all they had was past protection, you know, and
Speaker 1: the ball goes right over their heads. So there was
Speaker 1: a lot of bad reads of our safeties last year,
Speaker 1: whether that's you know, playing out a position or just
Speaker 1: not being very sound in the scheme. Those two things
Speaker 1: cost us a lot. And I think with you know,
Speaker 1: because he his range, as you pointed out, Isaiah, is
Speaker 1: very important. He is ranging and his ability to go
Speaker 1: be patient back there as a cine fielder and read
Speaker 1: and react and and I guess reading and reacting achillings
Speaker 1: injury don't go together quite as well. So hopefully he's
Speaker 1: healed up. And obviously he's healed up, or I'll they
Speaker 1: wouldn't have signed him. So those are just things that
Speaker 1: I think that he brings to the plate for the Cowboys.
Speaker 1: And don't expect there to not be those blown plays
Speaker 1: because even with that that system and even with the
Speaker 1: like you said, the three people that are three players
Speaker 1: that are are assigned to that deep part of the field,
Speaker 1: there's gonna be lapses and it's gonna happen, especially whenever
Speaker 1: you have a player like Cazee who goes for the
Speaker 1: ball and his aggressive enough to try and go and
Speaker 1: force a turnover. He'll get some. I don't know if
Speaker 1: he'll get seven. That expectations should not be seven interceptions
Speaker 1: by any means. That's a great number to look back
Speaker 1: at twenty eighteen. But if you think you're gonna get
Speaker 1: seven interceptions, You're purely mistaken, and he's gonna give up
Speaker 1: big plays now and again. But it's something that I
Speaker 1: think you could look at as a defense you might
Speaker 1: have upgraded. I hope it isn't upgrade because last year
Speaker 1: I thought Xavier Woods, and I said it on this
Speaker 1: show multiple times, I thought Xavier Woods was going to
Speaker 1: take the next step. I was wrong. He didn't take
Speaker 1: him the next step. If anything, he took a step backwards.
Speaker 1: And that's why Minnesota signed him for much cheaper than
Speaker 1: I think his initial deal would have been if he
Speaker 1: would have actually taken that next step. Now, I do
Speaker 1: want to ask this before we get into the draft
Speaker 1: moves that happened. We may have to push that to
Speaker 1: the third segment, but really quickly here, does the lack
Speaker 1: of adding a corner speak volumes for this Cowboys defense
Speaker 1: right now? Because there is a huge glaring hole on
Speaker 1: that defense and it's called the cornerback spot. Does that
Speaker 1: kind of give away and show the hand of the
Speaker 1: Cowboys as they lead into the final month leading into
Speaker 1: that NFL draft, because well, heck, but they need a
Speaker 1: corner and they don't have any at all. So you're
Speaker 1: saying that they may need one just Sam Man, I think, yeah,
Speaker 1: thank you for you just walk me right into that one.
Speaker 1: I thank you, though, but no, I think, you know,
Speaker 1: I think corner is important for this team. But I
Speaker 1: pulled back from that too. I think there's still a
Speaker 1: need at a one technique. I believe that we still
Speaker 1: need to get better interior wise. And Isaiah's bought this
Speaker 1: up and we've said this a few times on the show,
Speaker 1: is that you know, if you can improve in your interior,
Speaker 1: guys don't have to hold so long on the outside.
Speaker 1: So what do you do? Do you put the egg
Speaker 1: before the chicken or the high over that saying whatever, terrible,
Speaker 1: whatever you gotta do, you gotta you gotta get your parties.
Speaker 1: You gotta get your parties in line. Where is that
Speaker 1: going to be. Is it gonna be fixing uh, your interior,
Speaker 1: your line or is it gonna be putting lipstick on
Speaker 1: a pig and fixing what you got on that? Really?
Speaker 1: You got that farm analogy right? Who couldn't you get
Speaker 1: the first one of correct? I'm a city I'm a
Speaker 1: city boyhouse that's all right, I'm I mean plays making stakes.
Speaker 1: I just made it with a smile on my face.
Speaker 1: What it's the best way to do it, right, Robber,
Speaker 1: They are they showing their hand before the draft of
Speaker 1: who they're looking at it ten If they don't, if
Speaker 1: they don't do anything in the next couple of weeks,
Speaker 1: then yeah, probably, I mean and look, I mean it
Speaker 1: could break their way where they might have their pick
Speaker 1: of a couple of different corners right in the first
Speaker 1: round if it works out for them. Um, there's some
Speaker 1: veteran corners still out there. I mean, you know, and
Speaker 1: again though, it comes down to what their cap looks like,
Speaker 1: what you know, what guys are looking for, and what's
Speaker 1: the name? Rob Oh, I'm just I'm just looking at names.
Speaker 1: I mean, what Richard Sherman's still out there, They were
Speaker 1: still out there. I'm just talking about talking about veteran
Speaker 1: veteran guys. But um, I mean, you resigned Jordan Lewis
Speaker 1: Kesey could probably help you in the slot if you
Speaker 1: needed somebody to do it. So you know, I'm thinking
Speaker 1: draft at this point. I mean, when I look at
Speaker 1: what they you mentioned, corner is a big hole. Do
Speaker 1: they need another linebacker like Neil can play linebacker? And
Speaker 1: they're talking about him starting off a linebacker week side linebacker.
Speaker 1: He's two hundred and fifteen pounds. Is he going to
Speaker 1: be exclusively a linebacker? Or do you need to find
Speaker 1: somebody else you lost Joe Thomas. We'll see what happens
Speaker 1: with Sean Lee. I'm looking at Isaiah's a free agent
Speaker 1: list and it's very interesting to me. You know, so, um,
Speaker 1: you know, is kJ right of possibility or are they
Speaker 1: looking at the draft potentially for for that spot as well?
Speaker 1: They've they've got other needs potentially too. What do they
Speaker 1: do a backup quarterback? I don't think they need to
Speaker 1: be done in free agency, but I don't know exactly
Speaker 1: how much space they have to really work with at
Speaker 1: the moment. It's a good point. And Michael Parsons ran
Speaker 1: a four to three. Yeah he did. There's another one.
Speaker 1: There's another. I don't stop it. Yeah, let's not let's
Speaker 1: not go into that. Let's go into the draft talk though.
Speaker 1: We're gonna go ahead and step aside when we come
Speaker 1: back here on talking Cowboys. The Cowboys are now picking
Speaker 1: in front of the entire NFC East, and we'll tell
Speaker 1: you exactly how that happened and how the Cowboys could
Speaker 1: maybe take advantage of that when we return on Talking
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Speaker 1: as always on Dallas Cowboys. My goodness, I threw me.
Speaker 1: I threw myself off the whole time. I mean like
Speaker 1: I threw a chage up to you guys to try
Speaker 1: and throw you off and keep you on your toes,
Speaker 1: and it messed me up. Anyways, the entire NFL draft
Speaker 1: order was thrown a curveball on Friday, to say the least.
Speaker 1: As well, there was some shifting and some moving, as
Speaker 1: the San Francisco forty nine ers trade up to number
Speaker 1: three with the Dolphins and they give up a haul
Speaker 1: to do so, moving up from twelve. The Dolphins then
Speaker 1: moved back to twelve or excuse me up, yes, that's
Speaker 1: what it was. Back to twelve. Then the Dolphins traded
Speaker 1: up with the Eagles to go back to six, where
Speaker 1: the Eagles now are picking at twelve, and the Eagles
Speaker 1: apparently wanted to go up and go get Zach Wilson.
Speaker 1: They said, we wanted to move up to three, but
Speaker 1: it was only for Zach Wilson. So it looks like
Speaker 1: Zach Wilson's not going to be on the board at three,
Speaker 1: or at least Philadelphia doesn't think so. So my question
Speaker 1: to you guys is now that the Cowboys pick in
Speaker 1: front of both the Giants and the Eagles, and then
Speaker 1: I guess we could throw Washington in there as well.
Speaker 1: They're a little bit further back at nineteenth. But how
Speaker 1: big of an advantage does this give Dallas the fact
Speaker 1: that well they're now picking first and picking before anybody
Speaker 1: in the division, at least in this first round. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, I think I don't know so much about
Speaker 1: picking in front of the division, but now it pretty
Speaker 1: much assures four quarterbacks in the top in the top nine,
Speaker 1: probably Kyle, Yeah, is that we're looking at. I mean,
Speaker 1: maybe you know who's being mocked now in the top
Speaker 1: three besides Trevor and besides Zach Wilson. Is it mac Jones?
Speaker 1: Is it Fields? Would it's probably either Trey Lance or
Speaker 1: Justin Fields at three? Okay, oh, Lance too, I've seen,
Speaker 1: but I've seen Mac CBS had a mock of Mac
Speaker 1: Jones at number three today, so I don't know about that.
Speaker 1: That seems kind of high. But but again, that to me,
Speaker 1: that's just like I never want to hear again that
Speaker 1: this is this is kind of a weak quarterback class,
Speaker 1: you know, because because we're hearing about that like for
Speaker 1: next year, and and just don't buy the hype man
Speaker 1: because teams it's too important a position. Teams are gonna
Speaker 1: fall in love with guys and they're gonna go in
Speaker 1: the top five, top ten. And that's good for the
Speaker 1: Cowboys in terms of just keep pushing defensive players down
Speaker 1: to them, whether it's a cornerback, whether it's I mean,
Speaker 1: heck heck mentioned a linebacker. Whoever, that is good because
Speaker 1: that's got to be the top top writer in my opinion.
Speaker 1: You could talk offensive tackle maybe, but they're they very
Speaker 1: well may have their pick of their top cornerback that
Speaker 1: they might want, which would be huge. And I mean
Speaker 1: we've mentioned last week on the show, Hrob, you weren't here,
Speaker 1: but we were talking about Denver in the fact that
Speaker 1: they signed a couple of veteran corners. Maybe they don't
Speaker 1: go after a corner at nine, and so that way
Speaker 1: you do get your pick of either Patrick's or Tan
Speaker 1: or jac Horn or even Caleb Parley still if you
Speaker 1: still want to throw his name into the mix. But
Speaker 1: I think all over, like Friday's moves, the biggest question was, now,
Speaker 1: all right, Miami's not gonna take a quarterback. But that's
Speaker 1: good for the Cowboys. They're probably gonna take an offensive player.
Speaker 1: Of course, the first three picks are all going to
Speaker 1: be quarterbacks. Maybe the fourth pick with Atlanta. You're right,
Speaker 1: everybody in front of the Cowboys is pushing these defensive
Speaker 1: players down the board, and I think these moves helped
Speaker 1: that out. Heck Bunn and I think it's something that
Speaker 1: the Cowboys could certainly benefit from. Plus I put this
Speaker 1: out on Twitter the other day, Kyle Pitts may not
Speaker 1: be in the division anymore, and Jamar Chase might not
Speaker 1: be in the division anymore. Yes, and that was my
Speaker 1: worry looking at six of who they may have chosen,
Speaker 1: and just knowing that Kyle Pitts may end up being
Speaker 1: the nfcast. But I think, you know, obviously every draft
Speaker 1: has his shake up, and there's a player that no
Speaker 1: one's thinking that will be in the top five. That
Speaker 1: will be and that may be Kyle Pitts. And so
Speaker 1: it really is intriguing to look at Zack Wilson and
Speaker 1: the way that he's ascended on everyone's draft board in
Speaker 1: the COVID year where he is, and a guy that
Speaker 1: is beating a lot of teams, big name teams that
Speaker 1: have been out there, and how some of these other
Speaker 1: guys like Justin Fields has kind of fallen. So really
Speaker 1: intriguing to see where that whole top five thing goes.
Speaker 1: But for us, you know, I'm not going with you know, BPA,
Speaker 1: As Rob would say, we gotta get we gotta get
Speaker 1: some defensive help. It's there unless you get a if
Speaker 1: there's just a guy there, it's just culture, generational changing
Speaker 1: talent there at ten. And that'd be the only way
Speaker 1: that I would take an offensive guy. So I'm looking
Speaker 1: at Pat Satan, he could be one. But also man
Speaker 1: Michael Parsons running at four three. That changed my mind
Speaker 1: by him Za, yep, that's Zach Roll is going with this. Heck,
Speaker 1: I know we need a corner. I know we need
Speaker 1: a corner. However, Michael Parsons pops up in your lap.
Speaker 1: That's a physical specimen. So yeah, I think, yeah, if me,
Speaker 1: yeah me, I'm gonna go give me some Michael Parsons.
Speaker 1: And I'm sure up that front seven because you are
Speaker 1: in the NFC East, So our understanding that and understanding
Speaker 1: where you need to be solid at. And again, who
Speaker 1: almost said a bad word, A nasty front seven, Let's
Speaker 1: keep it that way at nasty front seven can can
Speaker 1: beat a good secondary any day. A nasty front seven
Speaker 1: is better than a good secondary any day in this league.
Speaker 1: So you get to the quarterback, he doesn't have a
Speaker 1: chance to throw the ball, Da boom, there you go.
Speaker 1: So I think us being in the position that we're
Speaker 1: in now in terms of the NFC East, we're in
Speaker 1: a great position because, like you guys already hit on,
Speaker 1: we don't have to worry about anybody trying to grab
Speaker 1: some players that we're interested in, and we get to
Speaker 1: dictate the moves that they didn't have to make. And
Speaker 1: it's always, it's always always good to be in that position.
Speaker 1: So what you don't what don't you agree with Kyle
Speaker 1: the shelf life of a linebacker. I don't know if
Speaker 1: Michael Parsons is as good as a player. I'm scared
Speaker 1: about the opt out year. I don't like the off
Speaker 1: the field issues that he's had in the past. There's
Speaker 1: a lot of stuff I don't like about Michael Parsons
Speaker 1: going at ten. Now, if he falls and you trade back, sure,
Speaker 1: I mean late teens. If you're trading backwards and you
Speaker 1: want to give up ten, I would take him in
Speaker 1: the late teens, not a ten. And the shelf life
Speaker 1: of a linebacker in this league right now, we're seeing
Speaker 1: it a year in, year out. It started with Sean Lee,
Speaker 1: It's moved on to Laton vander Esh, even jayaln Smith
Speaker 1: a little bit here and there. The shelf life in
Speaker 1: a top ten pick, it's not worth it for even
Speaker 1: a guy that is a generational type of athlete, athlete.
Speaker 1: Let me throw that out there. I didn't say a
Speaker 1: player at that. Michael Parsons is yes, Isaiah cuts your
Speaker 1: question all right? Coming out of this right? I asked,
Speaker 1: is all you guys, I know we gotta get going.
Speaker 1: You get certain? All right? Yeah? You get him? Do
Speaker 1: you say, oh, hey, we're about to be nasty. I
Speaker 1: wouldn't say that with Parsons. I wouldn't say that with
Speaker 1: Parsons either. No, No, I wouldn't say that. You're you're
Speaker 1: telling me that a rookie linebacker who you're gonna replace
Speaker 1: with a guy you also drafted in the first round
Speaker 1: two years ago, is gonna all of a sudden make
Speaker 1: your front seven that was one of the worst in
Speaker 1: the NFL automatically nasty talking about I'm talking about your
Speaker 1: your Wow. Rob talked to him, Why is he getting
Speaker 1: mocked at high? Then? Because he's a good fight all
Speaker 1: the question, and he's very talented. He's a talented player.
Speaker 1: But I think there are too many question marks at ten.
Speaker 1: And I mean people are gonna mock linebackers high because
Speaker 1: they're the best linebacker. He's the best linebacker on my board.
Speaker 1: I'll tell you that he's above j ok. He's a
Speaker 1: better linebacker than anybody else in this draft class. I
Speaker 1: don't like drafting linebackers in the top ten. That's my things.
Speaker 1: A different scenario. No, it's a championship team. That's where
Speaker 1: you want to go, and that's where you want to be,
Speaker 1: And so you look around the league, especially when everybody's
Speaker 1: running this RPO, you have to have linebackers that can
Speaker 1: turn and run and that that costs us a lot
Speaker 1: of the time. In the comparison between Jalen and Michael Parsons,
Speaker 1: it has been fair. But I think as far as
Speaker 1: the ball ability, his ability to get to just apply
Speaker 1: pressure alone would be game changing for the Dallas Cowboys
Speaker 1: where he can go from Sam to Will and give
Speaker 1: you that size that you need. And he's a playmaker. Man,
Speaker 1: there's no other way around him. You can't say just
Speaker 1: because oh he's a linebacker, you don't want to go
Speaker 1: that that go that high on the guy. I'm talking
Speaker 1: about ability and his what he can do as far
Speaker 1: as changing he's got the game and like you said, Isaiah, Isaiah,
Speaker 1: like you said, dictating to the offense and not having
Speaker 1: the offense dictate to you. Absolutely seeing what that's been about,
Speaker 1: and that's why we have been punished on defense. When
Speaker 1: you get a difference maker like Michael Parsons, he can
Speaker 1: change the game from interior, not from the outside. You
Speaker 1: have Trey Von Diggs and then there's still a lot
Speaker 1: of guys out there, and there's still cornerbacks that you
Speaker 1: can get later in in later rounds as well. So
Speaker 1: come on, man, there's there's a lot. It takes it
Speaker 1: takes more. It takes more for a cornerback to be
Speaker 1: productive in this league than it does for a linebacker. Yes,
Speaker 1: but also corners can do it for a lot longer
Speaker 1: than linebackers can. But do you lie? Waw No, do
Speaker 1: you have time to wait? As a cowboy, as a
Speaker 1: Cowboys fan, do you have time to wait? You can solidify,
Speaker 1: not solidified. You can come very compared. You can improve
Speaker 1: your secondary. You can improve your secondary immediately. Patrick's tim
Speaker 1: and coming into the league would be an automatic better.
Speaker 1: He would be the best corner on your team right now.
Speaker 1: I'll say that one. He's better than Trayvon Dicks. We
Speaker 1: saw that because guess what, they played on the same
Speaker 1: deal much You just same You just hoisted as the
Speaker 1: number one corner on in the second What if Sherm,
Speaker 1: what if Sherman takes two million you bring shrim on
Speaker 1: a team? Is he the best on a team or
Speaker 1: is it gonna be certain? It's probably still gonna be certain.
Speaker 1: Sherm's I think Rode Sherman is a veteran dude. Come on, well,
Speaker 1: he's not prime Richard Sherman. Hey, Hey, that's good stuff.
Speaker 1: I'm mocks her tan to Kyle so I'll jump in
Speaker 1: the boat with you. But Isaiah and heck Do made
Speaker 1: good points in terms of just what does the linebacker
Speaker 1: position look like a year? What does it look like?
Speaker 1: I mean, you got you got Laton in the final
Speaker 1: year of his deal, unless they pick up his fifth
Speaker 1: year option. We'll see what happens there. Jalen got multi
Speaker 1: years left on his deal, but everybody wants to talk
Speaker 1: about cutting him this year. They didn't do that. Uman
Speaker 1: Shaun Lee's status is still up in the air. Francis Bernard,
Speaker 1: Francis Bernard's under contract. You got him, but lostep is
Speaker 1: that room. It's not very deep, it's not at all.
Speaker 1: Not on doesn't mean you have to spend a top
Speaker 1: ten pick on it. I'm just saying they're gonna have
Speaker 1: to address that position if they will, and I think
Speaker 1: they will. Rob as an offensive line, as an off
Speaker 1: as ave coordinator, and you played a Dallas Cowboys. You
Speaker 1: got those three motors at the second level. Your approach
Speaker 1: is substantially different than if you have two guys at
Speaker 1: that level and some okay corners. Get the heck out
Speaker 1: of here. Man, it's it's it's it's not even a
Speaker 1: competition and This is really not like you have an
Speaker 1: opportunity to solidify your D line. They will continue to
Speaker 1: get some more guys in there to make that that
Speaker 1: D line. They're gonna correct that. They'll figure that out, right,
Speaker 1: They got some guys on the age, they're gonna bring some. Sure,
Speaker 1: they'll clog up the middle with big body. Just got okay, Now,
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, you have an opportunity to put
Speaker 1: three freaking athletes, three vander esh and and him at
Speaker 1: the at Parsons are freaking huge. Put those guys in
Speaker 1: there and you and you take the responsibilities off Jalen
Speaker 1: and let him go out there and figure out how
Speaker 1: to swipe again. Right, do you let those three dudes
Speaker 1: run side this dude, that's a problem that scares you
Speaker 1: as a as an offense. Not freaking okay, corners that
Speaker 1: are young, Okay, so you would rather just kind of okay,
Speaker 1: put a band aid at the corner, signed, move some
Speaker 1: money around, sign another veteran corner at there's other picks
Speaker 1: and okay, okay, those other picks. I'm not saying to
Speaker 1: not draft a corner and say the same sick. You can't.
Speaker 1: You can't said that because the guys like Jabril Cox
Speaker 1: that's out there as well. Baron Browning, but they Bolton, whoa,
Speaker 1: they're not six four two forty five run and four threes?
Speaker 1: Thank you? Name another please name another history I've ever
Speaker 1: done six four two two forty five. I'm two thirty five. Kyle,
Speaker 1: he's an inch taller to me and tim pounds heavier.
Speaker 1: Oh and by the way, he runs a four three?
Speaker 1: Are you kidding me? If you're going by that logic,
Speaker 1: then let's go ahead and just draft Kyle Pits and
Speaker 1: let's figure it out because he's a generational talent more
Speaker 1: than Michael Parsons is. Let's I mean, if you're going
Speaker 1: for that, I'm just saying I don't. I don't like
Speaker 1: it if Micah Parsons is. If Michael Parsons is the
Speaker 1: pick at ten, I'm throwing my pin against the wall
Speaker 1: like that's my pin throw moment. If he's the pick
Speaker 1: at ten, I'm upset about that, and I will be
Speaker 1: upset about that on this show when we do it
Speaker 1: all point uh, you know, it'll be one of those
Speaker 1: like G two ones, like the really nice pins. That's
Speaker 1: how upset I'll be. I'm gonna chuck it straight at
Speaker 1: the wall and there's gonna be like a black mark
Speaker 1: in the baggas WBC MORTGT Studios logo. It's gonna be real.
Speaker 1: Unfortunately I won't hit the logo next to it. Heck,
Speaker 1: might be high five brothers in the corner. Oh well,
Speaker 1: we hope you enjoyed the last hour of debate because
Speaker 1: we had plenty of it on this show. It's been
Speaker 1: saying with your chess Monday again this offseason. Goodness grocious.
Speaker 1: We've got some aggressiveness. We're gonna hit it again next week.
Speaker 1: Plenty to talk about with this Cowboys offense or excuse me, offseason.
Speaker 1: Never a shortage of storylines. But that's gonna do it
Speaker 1: for us today. For Chris Beam in the backstay long
Speaker 1: because we went a little bit long. For Rob Phillips,
Speaker 1: Isaiah stand back in heck, my Harrison, I'm Kyle Yeoman's
Speaker 1: see you next week here on Talking Cowboys. This has
Speaker 1: been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the
Speaker 1: Dallas Cowboys Football Club.