Speaker 1: The following is a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com
Speaker 1: and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club. This is Mick Shot
Speaker 1: screaming live on Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the official
Speaker 1: Dallas Cowboys apt now Here are Bill Jones, Everson Wolves,
Speaker 1: and Nicky Spagnola. And it is a Tuesday at eleven
Speaker 1: thirty and that means one thing and one thing only.
Speaker 1: It is time for another edition of Mick SHOT's Bill
Speaker 1: Jones along with Mickey Spagnola inside the SWBC Mortgage Studios
Speaker 1: at Ford Center at the Star in Frisco. Everson can't
Speaker 1: be here this week, he will be back next week.
Speaker 1: And Mickey, I will tell you right off the top.
Speaker 1: I have spent a busy morning. Let me get it,
Speaker 1: Let me get it out of my briefcase here inside
Speaker 1: my big green NFL Draft scouting notebook, and I am
Speaker 1: getting into this stuff now. I sment this morning on linebackers,
Speaker 1: outside linebackers, inside linebackers, and I've got some opinions to share,
Speaker 1: and I know you do also, and I want to
Speaker 1: hear your thoughts and all that stuff. But first off,
Speaker 1: how you doing on this fine Tuesday morning, the day
Speaker 1: after the Baylor Bears went a national champion. How about
Speaker 1: those Baylor Bears. That was pretty surgical last night, wasn't it,
Speaker 1: the way they were able to play? And boy, you know,
Speaker 1: after I saw Saturday's games and kind of in the
Speaker 1: back of my mind, I was going, no, Gonzaga could
Speaker 1: be in trouble because I don't know how well they're
Speaker 1: gonna match up if Baylor plays as well as they can,
Speaker 1: and they played better than I thought they could. That
Speaker 1: was unbelievable offense defense. I guess I don't know that
Speaker 1: their special teams in basketball, but that was pretty darn
Speaker 1: impressive the way their guards were able to play, and
Speaker 1: then their big guys inside kind of dominated the board.
Speaker 1: So yeah, surprising a little bit, but you know what,
Speaker 1: they were pretty darn good. If they hadn't had that
Speaker 1: their little pause there, they may have been the team
Speaker 1: that went undefeated this entire season, that's right. I mean,
Speaker 1: they had the COVID issue that set them out for
Speaker 1: a few weeks in the middle of the season, and
Speaker 1: they were unbeaten going into that and weren't obviously weren't
Speaker 1: as sharp and lost a couple of games and then
Speaker 1: but they got over it soon enough to make their
Speaker 1: run and get back on track. You know the thing
Speaker 1: with when watching Gonzaga throughout the tournament, I felt like
Speaker 1: I was watching in most of their games up until
Speaker 1: the Final four, and UCLA just played a fun nominal
Speaker 1: game on Saturday night, But it was like I was
Speaker 1: watching the varsity against the jv when Gonzaga was playing.
Speaker 1: In fact, you know, they played Oklahoma in the second round,
Speaker 1: and Oklahoma they were missing their second best player of
Speaker 1: the point guard, but they probably played as well as
Speaker 1: they could play in that game against Gonzaga and still
Speaker 1: lost by sixteen points. But that's the way Gonzaga had
Speaker 1: played all season. It was at twenty seven straight games
Speaker 1: where they had won by double figures. But then when
Speaker 1: you get to the Final four and that Saturday night game,
Speaker 1: Ucla shot fifty eight percent and Gonzaga shot fifty nine
Speaker 1: percent in that game and Jalen sugs Switching it back
Speaker 1: to football here, Mickey, Yes, when I find so interesting
Speaker 1: not only about when I start digging into the Big
Speaker 1: Green NFL draft scouting notebook, but then even in March madness,
Speaker 1: when you start learning about the players. I hadn't followed
Speaker 1: college basketball very closely throughout the season outside of the
Speaker 1: one kid from from Dallas drew Timmy from Richardson Pearce.
Speaker 1: I didn't know much about their team. Then I started
Speaker 1: digging into Jalen Suggs. You know, Suggs was mister football
Speaker 1: and mister basketball at Minni Haha Academy in Minneapolis, and
Speaker 1: he was going to go to Clemson and he was
Speaker 1: gonna be Trevor Lawrence's or he would follow Trevor Lawrence
Speaker 1: at quarterback at Clemson if he had gone that route.
Speaker 1: And so when he becomes draft eligible, I'm going to
Speaker 1: have him inside my big green notebook here in a
Speaker 1: year or so. And I'm already proposing right now that
Speaker 1: the Cowboys select Jalen Suggs in the seventh round as
Speaker 1: a quarterback, even though he will be starring in the
Speaker 1: NBA at that point. Yeah, he's a boy, just a
Speaker 1: polished individual as a freshman. By the way, the way
Speaker 1: he can play, the way he can move, and you
Speaker 1: could imagine if the moves he had as when he's
Speaker 1: driving with the ball in basketball, what he would do
Speaker 1: if the football was in his hands. Um, yeah, pretty impressive.
Speaker 1: I don't know that. Uh, we'll see another shot like
Speaker 1: that to win a game and overtime the way he
Speaker 1: did in the semi final game against UCLA. And you know,
Speaker 1: the I thought the best part about it is after
Speaker 1: he let it go, he knew it was going in
Speaker 1: because he started running sideways like, okay, this is going
Speaker 1: even though it banked it right, even though it banked
Speaker 1: did he was he was running. I know it hadn't
Speaker 1: gone through the basket yet, and he was he was
Speaker 1: running to go celebrate, h But he just knew that
Speaker 1: he had the right arc on it and it was
Speaker 1: it was going in. Um. I mean, don't you don't
Speaker 1: you remember? Don't you remember practicing basketball and and and
Speaker 1: goofing around before practice started and taking half chord shots.
Speaker 1: You knew when it's going in? You know, you you
Speaker 1: could tell after I don't know if your hands, I
Speaker 1: don't know if I knew that if it was gonna
Speaker 1: bake in. I'm not sure right I knew, But you know,
Speaker 1: but what set Baylor apart not only their three point shooting. Okay,
Speaker 1: so you had offense there, and I'm getting it back
Speaker 1: to football here, mickey. Okay, they've got they had firepower
Speaker 1: on offense. But what the difference in that national championship
Speaker 1: game was defense. Yes, And Gonzaga is known to be
Speaker 1: able to shoot threes also, and Baylor was ten for
Speaker 1: twenty one on threes at one point in that game,
Speaker 1: so shooting basically fifty percent. But they were closing out
Speaker 1: on the Gonzaga three point shooters. And that's what That's
Speaker 1: what Baylor did all season long, is they did it
Speaker 1: with defense, which gets us back to the Cowboys and
Speaker 1: doing it with some defense. You have to be able
Speaker 1: to play defense to win some championships too, Yeah, or
Speaker 1: at least halfway decent defense. It's unlike last year. It
Speaker 1: was a total collapse and you basically we're needing to
Speaker 1: score thirty to forty points a game to be able
Speaker 1: to win, and that's no way to do business in
Speaker 1: the NFL. So you're right, this whole thing this year
Speaker 1: going forward. You figure, as as soon as the offensive
Speaker 1: line gets back together the way it was supposed to
Speaker 1: be last year, this offense will be fine. The question
Speaker 1: mark will be can Dan Quinn make a huge difference
Speaker 1: on what goes on defensively? All right, So we had
Speaker 1: there's so much to talk about the draft where the
Speaker 1: Cowboys set after basically what has been the second tier
Speaker 1: of free agency. Now the quarterback carousel in this league
Speaker 1: which continues on Monday as Sam Darnold is dealt to
Speaker 1: the Carolina Panthers, and it's obvious that Zack Wilson is
Speaker 1: going to be the guy, looks like for the Jets
Speaker 1: at number two, and that we're gonna have at least
Speaker 1: three or three quarterbacks taken in the first three picks,
Speaker 1: if not four in the first four, maybe even five
Speaker 1: in the top seven or eight. We'll see. But what's
Speaker 1: on your mind as we kick things off here on
Speaker 1: mix shot? You know when you when you mentioned the
Speaker 1: trade with Donald and what's lined up in the NFL,
Speaker 1: and you said that, you know you could have three
Speaker 1: quarterbacks go off the board immediately, could be the first four.
Speaker 1: So I was like, has that ever happened before? The
Speaker 1: first four picks in the draft were ended up being quarterbacks?
Speaker 1: And I went back and looked real quickly, and the
Speaker 1: best I could find. In nineteen ninety nine, the first
Speaker 1: three picks were quarterbacks Tim Couch, Donovan McNabb, and Achille
Speaker 1: Smith uh And there was also five taken in the
Speaker 1: first round with Culpepper and and uh McNown and then
Speaker 1: in nineteen seventy one before. I guess we knew that
Speaker 1: quarterbacks were so valuable. The first three picks in the
Speaker 1: draft were Jim Plunkett, Archie Manning, and Dan Pastorini. Uh
Speaker 1: so it's been three in a row, but I'd never
Speaker 1: found four in a row in the in the first
Speaker 1: first four picks of an NFL draft, And that very
Speaker 1: well could happen this year. Uh if were if we
Speaker 1: assume that San Francisco is gonna take Mac Jones, and
Speaker 1: then there's you know, possibility that Atlanta goes with Trey Lance.
Speaker 1: So uh and who knows that the fifth else right exactly?
Speaker 1: And you know, and and there's other teams that, uh
Speaker 1: maybe trading picks, you might get five quarterbacks in the
Speaker 1: top ten for the Cowboys or the top nine before
Speaker 1: the Cowboys ever picked. So the way this thing's break,
Speaker 1: and that's with with uh, you know, a couple of
Speaker 1: wide receivers, a couple offensive linemen. If all these quarterbacks go,
Speaker 1: the Cowboys are going to have their choice of the
Speaker 1: best defensive player in the draft. And I didn't mention
Speaker 1: the tight end too. Uh, there's a chance that they'll
Speaker 1: have the opportunity to pick the best defensive player in
Speaker 1: this draft, if they indeed decide to go defense. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean with the with the with the receivers that
Speaker 1: are up there as well. Um, you know there's about
Speaker 1: three receivers that are that are kind of lumped together,
Speaker 1: kind of like in last year's draft, but they were
Speaker 1: in the teams. Uh. And I don't know if it's
Speaker 1: because there's such an emphasis on offense in the league,
Speaker 1: or if it's just there's some question marks about some
Speaker 1: of the defensive players or they or they play because
Speaker 1: you don't have the edge rusher h Miles Garrett or
Speaker 1: Boss or Chase Young in this class that would normally
Speaker 1: be a top five, you know, or even number one pick,
Speaker 1: And so maybe that is what's pushing down the defensive
Speaker 1: class a little bit. But there are some really good
Speaker 1: defensive players in this draft, and the Cowboys are gonna
Speaker 1: be sitting pretty I mean, even if you know there's
Speaker 1: such a debate on the quarterbacks. And how about the
Speaker 1: fact you you'd mentioned Mac Jones to San Francisco and
Speaker 1: a week ago or nine days ago when the trade
Speaker 1: was made where San Francisco moved up and then people
Speaker 1: started talking about Mac Jones, Well, well, nine days ago,
Speaker 1: Mac Jones was considered like a top fifteen pick, and
Speaker 1: now all of a sudden, he's a top three pick.
Speaker 1: And it's just funny how things change as we lead
Speaker 1: up and get closer and closer to draft Day and
Speaker 1: people find out more information about who teams are interested in.
Speaker 1: But it's not unusual to have a quarterback climb like that.
Speaker 1: Uh as far as the uh we in the media
Speaker 1: or the fans are concerned, you know, the teams know
Speaker 1: who they're interested in or are really high on early
Speaker 1: on in the process. But once things start leaking out, um,
Speaker 1: here Mac Jones is. He's he's the number three pick
Speaker 1: in the draft, and we don't even blink at it now. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and if you look at him, you know, I can
Speaker 1: understand it. They're looking for a quarterback that has played
Speaker 1: a lot in college, a heady guy doesn't make a
Speaker 1: lot of mistakes. It's very accurate. You know, everybody gets
Speaker 1: all enamored with arm strength, right or size, and just
Speaker 1: watch this kid play quarterback. He knows how to play quarterback.
Speaker 1: And you're right about the evaluation process, because I'm sure
Speaker 1: when Carolina traded for Darnold, everybody's like, what do they
Speaker 1: want with him well, Matt Rule and in their offensive
Speaker 1: court Nader Brady. They know a little bit about quarterbacks,
Speaker 1: and so maybe they saw something in him that's like, hmm,
Speaker 1: we could work with this, get him in the right environment,
Speaker 1: get him around some other good players with a good
Speaker 1: coaching staff, and maybe we can get something out of
Speaker 1: a guy that what did he go like number three
Speaker 1: in the draft when the Jets took him? Um, I
Speaker 1: mean people were two. Yeah, people were high on him.
Speaker 1: And then he gets to the Jets, and I don't
Speaker 1: know if the Jets should be the litmus test test
Speaker 1: for the quality of a quarterback since they seemed to
Speaker 1: struggle with the quarterback position since Joe Namath. It seems like,
Speaker 1: and I believe I heard this, uh right, Um, someone
Speaker 1: said he's young. He's actually younger than Trevor Lawrence. I
Speaker 1: don't know if that's true. I think he's I think
Speaker 1: I think I was ready he was twenty four. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he's older than Trevor Lawrence. Lawrence's turns twenty two October six. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think he's twenty four, I think, but it's still
Speaker 1: a similar age. I mean, or he'll be twenty four
Speaker 1: when the season gets going, and you know, and think
Speaker 1: about talk about the school of hard knocks being the
Speaker 1: Jets quarterback. You know, he's he's you would think if
Speaker 1: he is going to make it eventually in this league.
Speaker 1: You know, the schooling that he has gotten the last
Speaker 1: couple of years with the Jets puts in a position
Speaker 1: where you feel like you can do more with a
Speaker 1: guy that's already has had as many NFL snaps as
Speaker 1: Sam Darnold has had than a rookie coming in. And
Speaker 1: so I think Caroline, I can understand why Caroline is
Speaker 1: doing it. And you know, they'll pick up his fifth
Speaker 1: year option, so they'll have him for two years and
Speaker 1: then they'll be able to make an adjustment. And the
Speaker 1: beautiful thing for Matt Rule at Carolina is that he
Speaker 1: signed a seven year contract and so yeah, they want
Speaker 1: to win as as soon as possible. But he's got
Speaker 1: some job security there too. Yeah, absolutely, And and and
Speaker 1: you know in this and he he comes relatively cheaply, right,
Speaker 1: I mean I understand it was three picks in a
Speaker 1: second in and four next year, but only a sixth
Speaker 1: this year. Yeah, sixth rounder. Yeah, and his and his
Speaker 1: his base salary. He's still on his rookie his rookie contract.
Speaker 1: So they're from a financial standpoint, all they got to
Speaker 1: do is deal with the base salary. So I think
Speaker 1: it's just a little over four million. That's that's nothing.
Speaker 1: Now they've got to decide if they want to pick
Speaker 1: up the fifth year option, which will be eighteen million.
Speaker 1: But you could also you know, when a guy gets
Speaker 1: traded like that and he understands basically his football mortality,
Speaker 1: you know, he restructure that if they like what they
Speaker 1: see once he gets there, and restructure the next year.
Speaker 1: And this is why you know, and we've talked about
Speaker 1: this bill about what took the Cowboys so long to
Speaker 1: sign Dak Prescott. Right, Well, these quarterback contracts, boy, they
Speaker 1: will they will put your hands around the neck, right
Speaker 1: because if you don't get it right. And just look
Speaker 1: at what Carolina did with Teddy Bridgewater. They signed him
Speaker 1: to a three year, sixty three million dollar contract with
Speaker 1: a fifteen million dollars signing bonus in thirty three million
Speaker 1: dollars guaranteed. Now, if they just cut them outright, get
Speaker 1: rid of them, it's a twenty million dollars of dead money.
Speaker 1: They need to trade them if they don't want him
Speaker 1: to count an enormous amount against the cap. If they
Speaker 1: trade him, it's down to twenty million. But can they
Speaker 1: keep the guy at what he's costing up seventeen million
Speaker 1: this year as a backup? Be interesting to see how
Speaker 1: they treat that. But I'm just saying, this is why
Speaker 1: the quarterback contracts are so significant in your salary cap
Speaker 1: and how you dole out the money. Well, but to
Speaker 1: your point on that's the big thing about Darnald as
Speaker 1: opposed to say the Lions or the Colts. Colts picking
Speaker 1: up WinCE, the Lions picking up Golf, who are They're
Speaker 1: already on their second contract and already making upwards of
Speaker 1: twenty million up to thirty million um. That's where the
Speaker 1: beauty of picking up Darnald with two years of two
Speaker 1: years left on his deal. Uh, you know they can,
Speaker 1: They don't. They don't have to get rid of Bridgewater.
Speaker 1: Obviously they will, but from a salary cap standpoint, they're
Speaker 1: they're in the same boat as everybody else as far
Speaker 1: as there the amount of money that they are paying
Speaker 1: the quarterback position. Even if Darnald making so much less
Speaker 1: than Bridgewater is the starter, but he's But to your point,
Speaker 1: I mean, Bridgewater is not going to stay there and
Speaker 1: they and trading him is the way they can manage
Speaker 1: its salary cap wise where it doesn't have as big
Speaker 1: of an effect. Yeah, and so basically, you look at
Speaker 1: what Carolina did, you get a free It's almost like
Speaker 1: a free look right for one year. And even if
Speaker 1: you decide, well, let's just roll the dice and see
Speaker 1: how he does and not pick up the fifty year option,
Speaker 1: if you indeed want to do that, well, you can
Speaker 1: also negotiate with him. You get, you know, into the
Speaker 1: season and he's playing well, and it's like, oh, okay,
Speaker 1: let's sign him to a long term deal. But it's
Speaker 1: almost like for that little bit of money and draft picks,
Speaker 1: you know, you get a free look at the guy
Speaker 1: and see if coaching makes a difference indeed how he
Speaker 1: plays and the players you have around him. And of
Speaker 1: course they'll have to make that decision on the fifth
Speaker 1: year option right after the draft, by May third or
Speaker 1: whenever that day. Yeah, Hey, of course the Cowboys have
Speaker 1: a decision to make on Layton Vanderish as far as
Speaker 1: his fifth year option. What are your thoughts on that, Vicky? Yeah,
Speaker 1: and his isn't quite like a quarterback, right His fifth
Speaker 1: year is nine it's just a little bit of I
Speaker 1: think it's nine point three million. H I would think
Speaker 1: that they would pick it up just looking at the
Speaker 1: quarterback situation they have and everybody's like, wow, he's injury prone. Well, okay,
Speaker 1: the next thing you fixed it, you can't deal It's like, oh,
Speaker 1: did he have a weak collar bone? Is that why
Speaker 1: he broke it? You know that that's silly. So to me,
Speaker 1: once they got the next thing taken care of and
Speaker 1: he didn't seem to allow that to affect him once
Speaker 1: he got back on the field and was playing, I
Speaker 1: think you get you got to pick that up. Because
Speaker 1: you don't pick that up and you don't fortify the
Speaker 1: linebacker position this year in the draft, you're gonna you're
Speaker 1: gonna have some significant problems the following year. And nine
Speaker 1: million for a starting quarterback, I mean a linebacker is
Speaker 1: not outrageous. You you should be able to handle that,
Speaker 1: and you've already factored that in at the time that
Speaker 1: you drafted him or anybody in the first round. You're
Speaker 1: factoring in as far as your budget goes going forward,
Speaker 1: that you're picking up the fifth year option on that
Speaker 1: guy in the in the fifth year of his contract.
Speaker 1: So I think unless there was an injury or poor
Speaker 1: play that that told you that we were not picking
Speaker 1: it up. From day one, when you draft the guy,
Speaker 1: you're expecting it to be a picking up the fifth
Speaker 1: year option. Now, you do have some some people that
Speaker 1: you're you're out on early, and twenty seventeen was one
Speaker 1: in Taco Charlton. But you know, Layton has played at
Speaker 1: a high level and the only thing that is setting
Speaker 1: back has been the injury issue, which is a significant concern.
Speaker 1: But as long as you've got that resolved in your
Speaker 1: own mind, and apparently they do after the surgery, um,
Speaker 1: you know that, I think it's a no brainer. You
Speaker 1: you pick it up because, as you say, it's not
Speaker 1: that big of a financial burden for one year next year,
Speaker 1: Hey Bill, before we go, just one last thing on Darnold.
Speaker 1: Unfortunately the Cowboys got to face him again, right Yeah,
Speaker 1: I thought of that about that. That's right. Well, what
Speaker 1: a second they played Carolina. Yeah, that's that's right, that's right, yeah,
Speaker 1: and he he kind of did it was that was
Speaker 1: his first game back. It was his first game back
Speaker 1: after Mono, right about was it Mono? Yes? Yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: that's right, And what did he throw? A did he
Speaker 1: throw one hundred and five yard touchdown pass? I was like,
Speaker 1: what ninety something touchdown? Yeah? I see, it was like
Speaker 1: ninety six, ninety five, ninety four something like that, and
Speaker 1: that's all he needed to do to win? Yeah game? Yeah,
Speaker 1: so yeah, I'm sure that would be on the Cowboys
Speaker 1: mind when they have And he actually played the rest
Speaker 1: of the game pretty well too, by the way, All right,
Speaker 1: linebacker position. How important is the linebacker position in this draft?
Speaker 1: How high do you take a linebacker in this draft?
Speaker 1: Let's look at some of the linebackers and who Mickey
Speaker 1: might still be high on when we come back here
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Speaker 1: see Geek. Back back to Mick Shots, The Star District
Speaker 1: is the perfect place for the whole family to enjoy.
Speaker 1: Support local Frisco businesses by visiting us to dine, shop,
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Speaker 1: all the Star has to offer, visit the Star District
Speaker 1: dot com. You know, Mickey since the season has been over,
Speaker 1: and during the season as well, making my way to
Speaker 1: the Star in Frisco after the pandemic last offseason. And
Speaker 1: you know, it's just amazing how things have been built
Speaker 1: up around the Star District in Frisco. I mean even
Speaker 1: you know, I you go out there on a more
Speaker 1: daily basis even now, and I'm I go out there
Speaker 1: usually once a week, once every two weeks, and even
Speaker 1: from week to week, I see new things that have
Speaker 1: been built out there. It's pretty amazing. Yeah, And I
Speaker 1: was here on Friday working and I went out to
Speaker 1: grab something for lunch and there was people all over
Speaker 1: the place on Friday was a beautiful day and there
Speaker 1: were so many choices for people to make. So, yeah,
Speaker 1: the Star District is open. Let me tell you that.
Speaker 1: You know what, Globe Life Field was opened yesterday? Did
Speaker 1: you go there opening day for the Rangers. I was there. Yes,
Speaker 1: I was there, and an announced paid crowd of thirty
Speaker 1: eight thousand, two hundred thirty eight was there too. The
Speaker 1: new ballpark seats around forty thousand. I think it's forty thousand,
Speaker 1: five hundred and so with the cop tickets as well,
Speaker 1: it was it was close to a sell out. You know,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of areas like AT and T Stadium
Speaker 1: where people can mill around. Uh. There's a great area
Speaker 1: in a left field where you can basically socialize out
Speaker 1: there and still see the game, much like the different
Speaker 1: levels like in the end zone at AT and T Stadium.
Speaker 1: And so when you look at the stands, there are
Speaker 1: empty seats all around. But I think that it was legitimate. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, they consider it a capacity crowd to sell out,
Speaker 1: even though they didn't reach the paid attendance of forty thousand,
Speaker 1: five hundred. But it was interesting to see the attitudes
Speaker 1: of people getting out and about and um, and there's
Speaker 1: a sense of a returned to some sort of normalcy
Speaker 1: going on now. And the you know, they they built
Speaker 1: up the area, the entertainment district there in Arlington where
Speaker 1: people can go to restaurants and bars prior to and
Speaker 1: after the game and during the game. Uh, those seemed
Speaker 1: to be full yesterday too. So and I'm sure we
Speaker 1: are and I'm sure everybody wore a mask for nine innings, right, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I didn't see anyone without a mask on. You know.
Speaker 1: It's it's it's I did see one guy. He was
Speaker 1: working on the same hot dog the entire game. I
Speaker 1: heard about that he nursed a hot dog to so
Speaker 1: that when the usher came by and said, can you
Speaker 1: put your mask, I'm eating my hot dog. It was
Speaker 1: a nine inning hot dog. And it wasn't it wasn't
Speaker 1: the three footer or whatever, that big old dog they
Speaker 1: sell out there is by the cheapest hot dog, which
Speaker 1: is still you know, probably eight dollars, and uh, and
Speaker 1: work on that, you know, And and I caught a
Speaker 1: couple interviews, and it might have been on your station.
Speaker 1: They interviewed some guy about being out there and he goes, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's great to be outdoors at the game, and you
Speaker 1: don't have to wear a mask anymore. And I'm going
Speaker 1: where where this guy's missing out on something? Mirror? But
Speaker 1: he that's what that was the cut. Yeah, you don't
Speaker 1: have to wear a mask anymore. It's like, Okay, you know,
Speaker 1: there's a lot Bicky. There's a lot of people in
Speaker 1: this world, including I've got three daughters and three son
Speaker 1: in laws. They don't watch the news very all. No,
Speaker 1: people don't. That's why when I see stuff on the
Speaker 1: news or these or these type of news shows on television,
Speaker 1: and I hear people preaching and I said, oh, it's
Speaker 1: finding Dandy j. You're saying all this, But the people
Speaker 1: that need to hear this, I'm sorry they're not watching.
Speaker 1: Having said that, I will say this, my youngest daughter
Speaker 1: is she has a mask on more than anybody in
Speaker 1: the family. Um, and I mean she's uh and so,
Speaker 1: and I don't know, I don't know that she knows
Speaker 1: what channel I'm on. That shows how little she has
Speaker 1: watched the news in her life. In fact, let me
Speaker 1: this is this is a when she was in college.
Speaker 1: She called me one Friday night and said, Dad, what
Speaker 1: is it again that you do for a living? She
Speaker 1: was with friends out and I exaggerate. She didn't know
Speaker 1: what I do for a living, but she didn't know
Speaker 1: exactly what I do for a living anyway. All right,
Speaker 1: after I throw her under the bush, let's throw the Dallas.
Speaker 1: Let's throw this Cowboys defense under the bus from last year. Um,
Speaker 1: all right, we's been told and retold most points given
Speaker 1: up in Cowboys history. Y'all want to ask you specifically though,
Speaker 1: about the front seven. We talk a lot about cornerback,
Speaker 1: and obviously there's a need there. There's a need at
Speaker 1: safety as well, but let's talk front seven, and what
Speaker 1: do you think the biggest need is for the Cowboys
Speaker 1: right now as they set three weeks away from the draft,
Speaker 1: in the front seven on their defense. I still think
Speaker 1: it's linebacker. I think with what they have up front
Speaker 1: that they could play tomorrow with Lawrence and Randy Gregor
Speaker 1: defensive end. And you know they let me rephrase that.
Speaker 1: Let me rephrase that not only this year but in
Speaker 1: the coming years too. Okay, right when we're talking about
Speaker 1: the draft. We're not just talking needs this year, but
Speaker 1: we're talking needs when you look at contracts and so
Speaker 1: forth going forward, what is the biggest needs? Yeah, and
Speaker 1: if you're looking at the biggest need meeting first round, right,
Speaker 1: because you can get, by the way, a starter in
Speaker 1: the second round Sean Lee. You can get a starter
Speaker 1: in the third round if you look at what they
Speaker 1: found with MALIEK. Collins. And I think MALIEK. Collins and
Speaker 1: Neville Gallimore are pretty comparable type players. But if you're
Speaker 1: looking to get the best defensive player in the first round,
Speaker 1: to me, there's a couple of linebackers there that are
Speaker 1: going to go in the first round. I think Micah
Speaker 1: Parsons is good enough to go at number ten, but
Speaker 1: there's other linebackers. The Cowboys were at the Ohio State workout,
Speaker 1: and you know, they saw a couple really good linebackers
Speaker 1: that could go in the first round. Maybe not as
Speaker 1: high as ten, but again, there's always trade down to
Speaker 1: get to somebody you want to get. Ce Travis Frederick.
Speaker 1: I just think that linebacker cord needs to be, you know, restructured.
Speaker 1: We mentioned Layton Vanderish, and you can have him for
Speaker 1: another year or two Jalen Smith, if you get him
Speaker 1: in the right spot. But to me, this and you know,
Speaker 1: we talked about it in the break. From what I
Speaker 1: saw of Michael Parsons. You know, boy Lawrence Taylor comes
Speaker 1: to mind. And I know the comparisons and people that
Speaker 1: compare the draft, it's more Luke Keikley and guys like that,
Speaker 1: the guys in in Seattle, but the guys do and
Speaker 1: that probably didn't see Lawrence Taylor play. But that's what
Speaker 1: this guy reminds me of because I also see some
Speaker 1: pass rush capability out of him from the linebacker spot.
Speaker 1: He doesn't need to be on the line of scrimmage.
Speaker 1: He's got instincts that you can't teach. So to me,
Speaker 1: I think it's worth their consideration. While everybody's just assuming
Speaker 1: they're gonna take a corner, well take a look at
Speaker 1: this guy and see if he can come in and
Speaker 1: be one of your I mean, he instantly would be
Speaker 1: one of your top three linebackers. And I got no
Speaker 1: problems taking a linebacker that high, you know. And the
Speaker 1: thing on Michael Parsons when he was in high school,
Speaker 1: he was a hand in the dirt. My understanding is
Speaker 1: he was a hand in the dirt rush defensive end.
Speaker 1: I was listening to Ross Tucker, former cowboy Ross Tucker,
Speaker 1: who does a really good job with his podcast and
Speaker 1: so forth, and he is. Michael Parsons went to high
Speaker 1: school not far from where Ross Tucker apparently lives, so
Speaker 1: he saw him play in high school. And so he
Speaker 1: has made the adjustment to be a stand up linebacker
Speaker 1: at Penn State. And of course he did not play
Speaker 1: he opted out this past season, but it was played
Speaker 1: at an All American level, and so there are some
Speaker 1: things as a linebacker in coverage where he obviously has
Speaker 1: the athletic ability to do it. He just hasn't as
Speaker 1: far as being able to read things and so forth.
Speaker 1: He hasn't played the position as long as some others
Speaker 1: and doesn't have the reps as some others have. But
Speaker 1: when I mean, when you're talking about a guy who
Speaker 1: runs a four three nine, which is what he timed
Speaker 1: with a cone drill under seven, and just he looks
Speaker 1: like when he sniffs out a play, the play is
Speaker 1: sniffed out mickey right when when you look at his
Speaker 1: highlight tape, you know, but I do think that you
Speaker 1: need to and I haven't been able to do this
Speaker 1: yet with him. I think you have to look at
Speaker 1: full games to see exactly, you know, light not highlights, right, yeah, right, exactly.
Speaker 1: I mean you can you can see things on a
Speaker 1: highlight tape, how is closing speed, and it's impressive stuff.
Speaker 1: But there is any number of these linebackers or any
Speaker 1: position where you can put a resume tape together and
Speaker 1: look really, really good. And so so I'm still in
Speaker 1: the process of st dying Parsons as far as is
Speaker 1: you know, snap in, snap out what he has done.
Speaker 1: For instance, there's another guy out of Notre Dame, Jeremiah
Speaker 1: wos Karamara. Yeah, we don't want that. We don't want that.
Speaker 1: And you know what, And I do think it's funny
Speaker 1: you say that. I do you know I did that.
Speaker 1: At first, I was like, Okay, I'm looking at my list.
Speaker 1: I'm looking at Parsons. I got Zavin Collins here, I
Speaker 1: got Nick Bolton out of Missouri. And then I get
Speaker 1: to the fourth guy on my list, Jeremiah Oosu what
Speaker 1: and I'm like, I left him off. I said, ah,
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna mess with him. Hopefully they hopefully the
Speaker 1: Cowboys don't draft him. I don't want to have to
Speaker 1: learn that name, and so I just kind of put
Speaker 1: him out of my mind. Well, Mickey, I started looking
Speaker 1: at him this morning. Jeremiah oh Woosu Koramoa from Notre
Speaker 1: Dame six one, two twenty one pounds. Apparently he didn't
Speaker 1: run the forty yet his pro day, but he had
Speaker 1: a six eighty cone drill and thirty seven vertical. But
Speaker 1: the biggest thing on him. Go look at him, and
Speaker 1: I'm making an animized guy as a second rate pro
Speaker 1: football focus as him as a second rted to play
Speaker 1: as a Buckas Award winner. The thing, he's a different
Speaker 1: tight player than Michael Parsons though where I talk about
Speaker 1: Michael Parsons was an edge rusher handing the dirt high
Speaker 1: school player and then became a linebacker at the college level.
Speaker 1: Ousu Coamoa came from the other way. He's a safety
Speaker 1: who has become a linebacker, which is when you look
Speaker 1: at what the NFL has has become over the course
Speaker 1: of the last ten years or so, those hybrid safeties
Speaker 1: who become linebackers, and you know, seventy five percent of
Speaker 1: the time you're in a nickel package his sub packages.
Speaker 1: This guy there's a lot of times where I'm looking
Speaker 1: at his tape, I'm going, where is number six on
Speaker 1: the field. Well, he's lined up, he's covering the slot.
Speaker 1: He's way out on the on the perimeter, and he
Speaker 1: comes up and makes place. I mean, he's got some
Speaker 1: brutal hits that he has laid on guys Um. And
Speaker 1: but I am really impressed with Ousa Cooramoa. And uh.
Speaker 1: But it's but again, it's a he's got some of
Speaker 1: the same elements qualities that that Parsons has, but he's
Speaker 1: got some other stuff too where you can use him,
Speaker 1: you know, or as Parsons, you can use him maybe
Speaker 1: as an edge rusher at times whatever. Ousa Cormoa has
Speaker 1: that ability too, but he can also cover and uh.
Speaker 1: And so I suggest you take a closer look at
Speaker 1: Ousa Cooramoa and get past the name and dive in
Speaker 1: on him. And and he's a he's a very intelligent
Speaker 1: guy too. I was listening to his interview, but a
Speaker 1: very versatile player has a lot of intelligence instincts. I
Speaker 1: mean he is a I mean people people throw around
Speaker 1: them the word great a lot. He's got a lot
Speaker 1: of potential to be a really good player in this league. Yeah.
Speaker 1: His his highlights. They're playing right now. Pretty impressive. UM
Speaker 1: and yeah, and you know and he so what is he?
Speaker 1: Is he a junior out or has he been there
Speaker 1: four years? Do you have that he's been there four years?
Speaker 1: He red shirted? He you know, it's interesting on that too.
Speaker 1: He red shirted his uh fresh true freshman year and
Speaker 1: at Notre Dame. Uh. I believe he got hurt his
Speaker 1: second year. Okay, and only he only played in two games.
Speaker 1: But he is the last two years, he has started
Speaker 1: twenty five games with twenty four and a half tackles
Speaker 1: for loss, UH seven sacks, UM, five forced fumbles, and
Speaker 1: UH seven pass breakups. UH. And I mean he is UH.
Speaker 1: There are some really good things that I've I've seen
Speaker 1: from him in coverage where he looks like he's got
Speaker 1: no problem at all, even covering a guy in a
Speaker 1: slot or a running back coming out of the backfield. UH.
Speaker 1: And again, I mean there are some there are some
Speaker 1: uh formations where he is way out on the perimeter
Speaker 1: in coverage where I mean I'm looking for him in
Speaker 1: a linebacker spot and he's like covering a wide slot
Speaker 1: on the on the wide side of the field. See
Speaker 1: and when you said it, I'm saying, well, he's a
Speaker 1: little under size, but I guarantee you in a year
Speaker 1: or so after he gets into the NFL, he'll be
Speaker 1: playing at two thirty two thirty something, which is fine,
Speaker 1: and that's the beauty of it. A week side line,
Speaker 1: that's right, and in the sub packages. I mean, I
Speaker 1: mean that's that's what they're doing with Keyan O'Neil. I
Speaker 1: mean Keyan O'Neill when they when they say they're working
Speaker 1: him with the linebackers to start off with. I mean,
Speaker 1: what's going to be very interesting is how the decisions
Speaker 1: they make on vander Esh and Jalen Smith and the
Speaker 1: nickel and who comes off the field or who finds
Speaker 1: a different role. If they're going to have Kean O'Neil
Speaker 1: as one of those nickel linebackers, which I assume that
Speaker 1: they're looking at, it won't just be as a dime linebacker.
Speaker 1: I think it'll be as a nickel where he's he's
Speaker 1: alongside vander Esh. And then what do you do with
Speaker 1: Jalen Smith? Do you sometimes use him as a edge
Speaker 1: rusher or at times as he standing by Dan Quinn
Speaker 1: on the sideline yeah, and to me, the best spot
Speaker 1: for him, meaning Jalen Smith is a strong side linebacker
Speaker 1: if you're going to have three on the field, and
Speaker 1: so there's room for another linebacker. I like Layton vander
Speaker 1: esh in the middle. I think he has good command
Speaker 1: of the game, he sees things. And so now what
Speaker 1: are you going to do on the week side, because
Speaker 1: I just don't think I think that is a that
Speaker 1: is not Jalen Smith's position. I just think if he's
Speaker 1: not in the middle, then he's got to be on
Speaker 1: the strong side. Uh. Okay, And you know the way
Speaker 1: I the way I interpreted what he said about Neil uh,
Speaker 1: he said he would start off at linebacker. I think
Speaker 1: he said it in the vein that he knows the
Speaker 1: safety position. You know, he doesn't need to train there.
Speaker 1: We need to see what he can do at the
Speaker 1: linebacker spot, right and U and tell yeah, it remains
Speaker 1: to be seen how he is uh employed Uh once
Speaker 1: the season gets going. I mean it may just be
Speaker 1: right during the offseason, uh and learning the linebacker spot,
Speaker 1: uh and see what he can do there. Okay. So
Speaker 1: along those lines, then all right, if let's say they
Speaker 1: just they decide, like you that Jalen Smith's best position
Speaker 1: is as a SAM linebacker. What about in the nickel?
Speaker 1: Then for Jalen Smith, what are they do with him? Yeah,
Speaker 1: what I'm saying is if they if they draft a
Speaker 1: Parsons or on Nousu Koramoa or someone who can be
Speaker 1: the will and you got Layton as a as a
Speaker 1: MIC linebacker, where is Jalen Smith on the field or
Speaker 1: is he on the field in the nickel? He's next
Speaker 1: to Dan Quinn and unless he can show you know,
Speaker 1: you mentioned his ability to maybe rush from a defensive
Speaker 1: end spot, but if you go back and look at
Speaker 1: when he is uh kind of rushed the quarterback, you know,
Speaker 1: when he's standing on the line of scrimmage, he didn't
Speaker 1: get there. He did a better job of blitzing from
Speaker 1: a linebacker spot than he did I think from a
Speaker 1: stand up defensive lineman spot or the other thing I
Speaker 1: thought where he was effective is when they would they
Speaker 1: would mess around with the defensive alignment on definite passing
Speaker 1: downs and you had an extra linebacker on and you
Speaker 1: didn't know who was coming and who wasn't, and he
Speaker 1: would he would blitz. I thought he did a better
Speaker 1: job with a running start than he did playing off
Speaker 1: a three hundred and thirty pound offensive tackle. Head up God,
Speaker 1: and that's where he's Jeeves your walk around uh Blitzer.
Speaker 1: And that way, he takes this spot of one of
Speaker 1: those four down linemen where you got your two your
Speaker 1: two linebacker I'm talking in the nickel, where you got
Speaker 1: your two linebackers, and then he takes one of the
Speaker 1: spots of a d tackle where he's a walk around
Speaker 1: guy and kind of like the way Clowney's been used
Speaker 1: in his career. Yeah, exactly, and work because because you can't.
Speaker 1: You cannot, even though he may have the traits to
Speaker 1: be an edge rusher, unless you train him as an
Speaker 1: edge rusher meeting snaps in practice where he's working against
Speaker 1: an offensive tackle as an edge rusher, you can't expect
Speaker 1: him to be successful doing it. And so you have
Speaker 1: to make the decision from day one of the dan
Speaker 1: Quinn era as the defensive coordinator that Jalen, we think
Speaker 1: you're going to be most effectively used in this role,
Speaker 1: and so we are going to work you there are
Speaker 1: times you're going to be working against an offensive tackle
Speaker 1: and pass rush drills. Yeah, absolutely, and you know, and
Speaker 1: we've talked about guys in the first round, but second,
Speaker 1: third round. Dig into that green book and give me
Speaker 1: some names that it might be available in the second
Speaker 1: or third if you don't do it in the first.
Speaker 1: But you still need to address that linebacker position, all right,
Speaker 1: And I've got a couple of other names I want
Speaker 1: to throw at you and mix shots continues in a moment,
Speaker 1: we got about fifteen minutes left to discuss more about
Speaker 1: what the Cowboys should do in the NFL Draft, which
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Speaker 1: they're it's not the big Green notebook, but it's the
Speaker 1: Star Draft Guide that is now available, So you can
Speaker 1: go on Dallas Cowboys dot com to be able to
Speaker 1: find it, and the print issue you can get it
Speaker 1: off of email. You can also find it on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram,
Speaker 1: and the web. So the link for the digital issue
Speaker 1: should be on the Cowboys website. And uh it's the
Speaker 1: official Cowboys Star Magazine Draft Guide and there's over three
Speaker 1: hundred and fifty guys analyzed in it, and there's other
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Speaker 1: Cowboys Draft Guide. All right, and I should have mentioned
Speaker 1: this towards the beginning of the show, but here in
Speaker 1: the last ten minutes or so, if you've got any
Speaker 1: questions you want to ask a tweet at me at
Speaker 1: CBS eleven Bill Jones, and I will pose that question
Speaker 1: for Mickey Spagnola. Very good if it's a good one,
Speaker 1: of course, yes, yeah, all right. A couple of other
Speaker 1: linebackers that I want to ask you about. I've got
Speaker 1: one that I really like who I'm gonna save. But
Speaker 1: first I want to ask you about Nick Bolton, a
Speaker 1: Missouri Tiger out of Frisco, Texas lone star high school,
Speaker 1: right there in the Cowboys backyard. A linebacker, Nick Bolton.
Speaker 1: What can you tell me you, Missouri Tiger. I can
Speaker 1: tell you that he probably will be a late first
Speaker 1: round pick. But he's one of those guys that sort
Speaker 1: of remind me, and this used to be a term
Speaker 1: for guys that are really scrappy, tough linebackers back in
Speaker 1: the day. He's like a junkyard dog. The guy reads
Speaker 1: plays awfully well. He's not the biggest guy. He's pretty quick,
Speaker 1: and he's pretty darned strong, and when he hits you,
Speaker 1: you'll know you've been hip. So I think that's a
Speaker 1: guy that if somebody gets him in the twenties, it's
Speaker 1: gonna be a steal. He was the Missouri defense this year,
Speaker 1: and a couple of times when he was out, if
Speaker 1: he had an injury or he got had to sit
Speaker 1: for a hit or something, they were lost without him
Speaker 1: on the field field, and he is a team leader.
Speaker 1: Whoever ends up with him, it's gonna fall in love
Speaker 1: with Nick Bolton. Yeah. Well, he's another one that I
Speaker 1: was watching this morning. I said, WHOA, I gotta ask
Speaker 1: Mickey about Nick Bolton. I like that kid, I mean,
Speaker 1: and he ran a four or five nine at his
Speaker 1: Pro day twenty four bench reps, and that that strength
Speaker 1: and assertiveness shows on tape and his high football IQ
Speaker 1: shows up too. Uh. You know where you can just
Speaker 1: see on tape where his read and react uh is
Speaker 1: up there amongst the best in this class and against
Speaker 1: high quality competition. I mean, this is a two time
Speaker 1: first team All SEC linebacker. When you're the best linebacker
Speaker 1: in the SEC, that says a lot about you right there.
Speaker 1: Uh and uh. He is a he seems like a
Speaker 1: workmanlike type player, not flashy, and he gets from point
Speaker 1: A to point B in a hurry because he knows
Speaker 1: what he's doing. He's read he in fact, I was
Speaker 1: reading some stories on him even as he was selected.
Speaker 1: This shows what kind of work ethic, what kind of
Speaker 1: study habits he has where he's gonna. You know, Sean
Speaker 1: Lee is the ultimate as far as a guy who
Speaker 1: studies tape. But I think especially for a linebacker, you
Speaker 1: have to live in that room where on your iPad
Speaker 1: or whatever, studying your opponent. And here's an example of it.
Speaker 1: As he was choosing his college. You know, he'd get
Speaker 1: a letter from a school or a call from a school,
Speaker 1: and he immediately is googling exactly what that school had
Speaker 1: on their depth chart at linebacker and you know, and
Speaker 1: finding out about their coaches and everything. I mean, he's
Speaker 1: got those study habit. It's that you want in a linebacker.
Speaker 1: I mean, because you can look at and I've run
Speaker 1: across even at just at the linebacker position, and I'm
Speaker 1: just scratching the surface of some of these guys talent wise,
Speaker 1: you can see that they've got the ability that they
Speaker 1: can they can play. But what's going to set them
Speaker 1: apart at the NFL and what's gonna make him successful
Speaker 1: at the NFL is right up here. And as far
Speaker 1: as being able to to study and be able to
Speaker 1: like quarterback on offense, the ability to process quickly as
Speaker 1: a linebacker on defense is huge, Mickey. And I'll tell
Speaker 1: you what. It will take him one year, no more
Speaker 1: than two to end up being a team captain. I'll
Speaker 1: guarantee you that. All right, love it, love Nick Bolton
Speaker 1: right and right in the backyard of the Cowboys Frisco
Speaker 1: lone Star High School. And he's a young guy too.
Speaker 1: I mean he's three years and out his true freshman year,
Speaker 1: played in thirteen games at Missouri, then was a starter
Speaker 1: his sophomore in junior years. All right, and now here's
Speaker 1: the guy that I have fallen in love with. Zaven Collins,
Speaker 1: number twenty three for the Tulsa Golden Hurricane, six five,
Speaker 1: two hundred and fifty nine pounds. He ran anywhere between
Speaker 1: you know these these pro day times, Yeah or Jay
Speaker 1: fluctuate anywhere between a four or five four or five
Speaker 1: seven and a four to six seven. He is a playmaker.
Speaker 1: On What intrigues me the most about him though, I mean,
Speaker 1: you talk about the Missouri defense not having anything when
Speaker 1: Nick Bolton wasn't on the field. How about the Tulsa
Speaker 1: defense when Zaven Collins wasn't on the field. He won
Speaker 1: outside of the Buttkas Award, which was won by a
Speaker 1: Wusu Coromoa, he won the Nagurski Trophy, He won the
Speaker 1: Betneric Award. He won the Lombardi Award, which says a
Speaker 1: lot about his production. Eight games, four sacks, four interceptions,
Speaker 1: eleven and a half tackles for a loss. He had
Speaker 1: Tulsa plan in the Tulsa played in the conference championship
Speaker 1: game and lost, I believe in overtime on the last
Speaker 1: second field goal. This guy what intrigues me the most
Speaker 1: about him though, is when you talk about a guy
Speaker 1: like a Jalen Smith, you know we're wishing that if
Speaker 1: Jalen could just be able to rush the passer and
Speaker 1: use that athletic ability. Zavan has done it at Tulsa,
Speaker 1: and amongst those four sacks, it wasn't There were some
Speaker 1: instinctual sacks timing a blitz from a linebacker spot, but
Speaker 1: there are a couple where he's been in his shoulder
Speaker 1: coming around the edge as an edge rusher. And I
Speaker 1: mean he is six foot four and seven eights, so
Speaker 1: six five, two hundred and fifty nine pounds, And I
Speaker 1: mean you look at his testing numbers and compare it
Speaker 1: to Marcus Ware very similar. And so I would I
Speaker 1: would consider if Zaven Collins can prove and if the
Speaker 1: Cowboys scouts look at him and say we can make
Speaker 1: an edge rusher out of him, I got no problem
Speaker 1: taking him as high as you want to take him.
Speaker 1: Because this guy from a little school and from a
Speaker 1: little town in Harmony, Oklahoma, graduating class of forty seven, Mickey,
Speaker 1: he was valedictorian of his class, wants to be a
Speaker 1: doctor someday. So he's got the smarts too well, you know,
Speaker 1: class of forty seven, but he was valedictorian. Until you
Speaker 1: told me about wanting to be a doctor, I thought
Speaker 1: you were describing Rolando McClean for me. You know what
Speaker 1: yell size wise and everything, McClean go to fifty. I
Speaker 1: mean this guy was too sixty. Yeah, he was probably
Speaker 1: round two. He was too sixty after it was he
Speaker 1: was a few pancakes away from being two six sixty. Yeah,
Speaker 1: McClain was probably two five, two fifty, but he was
Speaker 1: tall and rangy, uh and and just athletic the way
Speaker 1: you're explained. So I think we've come to a conclusion
Speaker 1: that somewhere in those first couple of rounds, if not
Speaker 1: the first, that linebacker needs to be addressed. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: and it all depends on what you're saying. Okay, so
Speaker 1: this guy versus another defensive tackle or a defensive end, um,
Speaker 1: you know, or an offensive tackle. So it all depends
Speaker 1: on what's there. But you know, you kind of name
Speaker 1: the position, and the Cowboys need one, uh you know,
Speaker 1: short of a high pick on a quarterback. Um, maybe
Speaker 1: not a running back, but other than that, yeah, why not.
Speaker 1: So I think the you know, the pictures wide open
Speaker 1: for him in this draft. And I think the other
Speaker 1: thing about it is, you know, Beck, when Parcels coached,
Speaker 1: even when you coach the Cowboys, the NFL was a
Speaker 1: defensively it was a I'm running a three four. I've
Speaker 1: got my prototype, guys, and you're not coming off a
Speaker 1: three four and three four as your base and in
Speaker 1: a nickel, I've got my four man front, two linebackers whatever.
Speaker 1: Throw all that stuff out Now in the NFL, everything
Speaker 1: is hybrid, and the more versatile players that you can have,
Speaker 1: the better you can. You can find ways to employ
Speaker 1: these highly athletic players that we've mentioned here now the
Speaker 1: ones we've mentioned today, Michael Parsons, Jeremiah Usu, Kormoa, Zaven Collins.
Speaker 1: Nick Bolton is the one that I think he is.
Speaker 1: He's probably you plug him in he's a linebacker and
Speaker 1: not take nothing away from him. I don't see as
Speaker 1: much versatility from Nick Bolton as what I can see
Speaker 1: the how you can use Parsons of Woosa, Cormoa, and Collins,
Speaker 1: which means those other three they intrigue me even as
Speaker 1: first round draft picks. I think from the Cowboys sake,
Speaker 1: you talked about Bolton being a late first round and
Speaker 1: I think as an inside linebacker, unless you're Luke Keekley,
Speaker 1: you're probably late mid to late first round or later.
Speaker 1: You can find really good inside linebackers in the third round.
Speaker 1: But with guys that have position flexibility like these other linebackers,
Speaker 1: I think that even with your existing linebacking corps that
Speaker 1: you have, you can find ways where they can make
Speaker 1: a huge impact even in their rookie year, if you've
Speaker 1: got a creative defensive coordinator. Yeah, I think you're You're
Speaker 1: absolutely right. And the one thing I was going to
Speaker 1: ask you, Bill, and I don't know if you've gotten
Speaker 1: to the offensive lineman, but there's a lot of people
Speaker 1: looking at the problems that Cowboys had on offensive line
Speaker 1: last year without the knowledge of who they had missing
Speaker 1: and who it will be back. A lot of people saying, well,
Speaker 1: you got to take an offensive tackle, these guys are
Speaker 1: too good. Well, my opinion on that, I want to
Speaker 1: see what you have to say is how many first
Speaker 1: round picks do you need on your offensive line? At
Speaker 1: some point you have a glutton of of you know,
Speaker 1: precious resources in the same spot. To me, the Cowboys
Speaker 1: would not have restructured the contracts of those offensive linemen
Speaker 1: had they worried about Tyrant Smith and Lell Collins being
Speaker 1: recovered from their surgeries and ready to play football still
Speaker 1: in the draft. If they had worries about their physical condition,
Speaker 1: they would not have extended their contracts. So to me,
Speaker 1: taking a offense tackle at number ten, I think that
Speaker 1: you're it's it's just too high. But somewhere in the
Speaker 1: top four rounds, I think you've got to bring in
Speaker 1: a young guy and start grooming them, uh for the future. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and uh, I agree with you. I think you know
Speaker 1: that's where the Cowboys have the medical knowledge. Uh. They
Speaker 1: they've got the information that we don't have. But but
Speaker 1: if you just follow the money, you follow what they
Speaker 1: are have done, like what you're saying with Collins, with
Speaker 1: Collins and Tyren Smith, Uh, it tips you off how
Speaker 1: they the medical reports that they have on those players. Uh.
Speaker 1: And as you've said, they do have a fallback where
Speaker 1: Zach Martin can play right tackle if Lyle Collins doesn't
Speaker 1: come back or has a setback. Uh. You know. The
Speaker 1: other thing is even with the tackles that they had,
Speaker 1: you know, the undrafted guys they had last year, at
Speaker 1: least they've got, you know, a season of NFL snaps
Speaker 1: under their belt, you know, Terrence Steele and Brandon Knight
Speaker 1: of where they could fill in maybe for a game
Speaker 1: or two if if something happens with Tyring for a
Speaker 1: couple of games. And so Yeah, and I think that
Speaker 1: the beauty of this offensive line classes with those guys
Speaker 1: that are projected higher, those offensive tackles, and with the
Speaker 1: quarterbacks going early, those guys are going to get pushed down,
Speaker 1: and so you might even I think you can get
Speaker 1: a quality offensive tackle who can also play guard, and
Speaker 1: you might be able to plug in at left guard
Speaker 1: to start in his career, and he can be your
Speaker 1: swing tackle in case there's an injury at tackle or
Speaker 1: you have Zach Martin go out and play tackle. So
Speaker 1: because the guy's a rookie and you don't want to
Speaker 1: over train him at too many different positions to over
Speaker 1: taxes his brain, but I think that they're to your point.
Speaker 1: I think there are offensive linemen that can uh start
Speaker 1: immediately in the second or third round at an inside
Speaker 1: at a guard position. And think about what the Cowboys
Speaker 1: did previously with some of their offensive tackles. They started
Speaker 1: at guard, right the guys in the second third round did,
Speaker 1: yeah Collins did. If you go back to um guys
Speaker 1: like flows Al Adams, I think started, I want to say,
Speaker 1: started inside and then moved out. So did Solomon Page,
Speaker 1: and we're going way back. But you know, now, Larry
Speaker 1: Allen did it the other way. He was inside and
Speaker 1: they moved him outside and necessity and then moved him
Speaker 1: back in. But yeah, I think I just think doing
Speaker 1: that in the first round as an embarrassment of riches.
Speaker 1: Uh to to have another first round pick as an
Speaker 1: offensive tackle when you need help defensively, Uh, you can
Speaker 1: get And it's not like these guys are going to
Speaker 1: be the last first round offensive tackles in the history
Speaker 1: of the NFL. Right, there's always next year. Uh. So
Speaker 1: I just think that you know what happens when you
Speaker 1: do that, Mickey, what's that? You know what happens when
Speaker 1: you do that when you ves so many first rounders
Speaker 1: in offensive lineman that eventually you're going to have a
Speaker 1: season in which your defense gives up the most points
Speaker 1: of franchising. No, you're yeah, and you don't have those
Speaker 1: guys on the field. So when you mentioned le Collins,
Speaker 1: I've got the ability that at times to see him
Speaker 1: working out and he's moving awfully, awfully well and h
Speaker 1: and another guy moving awfully well is is Dak Prescott.
Speaker 1: He can do you a for for cone drill right
Speaker 1: now and moving awfully well too. So they I don't
Speaker 1: think they have any reservations about him being ready. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, for some stuff in the offseason, if there
Speaker 1: is some stuff in the off season, but for sure
Speaker 1: for the start of training him. Okay, Mickey, do we
Speaker 1: wrap this up? What position group would you like for
Speaker 1: me to study for next week's edition. We'll just be
Speaker 1: two weeks away from the draft. Where do you want
Speaker 1: to explore next week? Well, you've done a good job.
Speaker 1: Do your own research too. How about how about um
Speaker 1: inside like defensive guys, defensive tackles, not not first round guys,
Speaker 1: maybe second, third, fourth, somewhere in there. Because you know,
Speaker 1: if you look at the guys they signed in free agency,
Speaker 1: these guys are all on one year deals. They're they're
Speaker 1: just kind of like putty right now, and they are
Speaker 1: cheap one year deal. Yes, right, So there's nothing that
Speaker 1: says they're making so much money. They gotta they gotta
Speaker 1: be on the field or they you know, they get
Speaker 1: the first chance. You know that there's going to be
Speaker 1: some competition, So give me some competition at the defensive
Speaker 1: tackle spot along with Tristan Hill, who is moving awfully
Speaker 1: well too, by the way, coming back for him his
Speaker 1: torn acl All right, Uh, we got Hiah, We're already
Speaker 1: over Triston Hill. Can you can you see can you
Speaker 1: see Dan Quinn playing Tristan Hill at the one technique?
Speaker 1: I think he I don't know that he has the
Speaker 1: style in gallabor on the field. At the same time, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't know if he's got the size to depending
Speaker 1: on a guess on how you're playing that one technique, right,
Speaker 1: are you playing a true one technique nose tackle or
Speaker 1: do you want a guy uh sort of the way
Speaker 1: Marinelli liked and you know, even though you had a
Speaker 1: nose tackle or a one technique, this guy was getting
Speaker 1: up the field. He wanted guys getting up the field
Speaker 1: and being disruptive. I think Hill can do that, but
Speaker 1: I don't know how well he would hold up, uh,
Speaker 1: play after play against the run in that spot if
Speaker 1: he's getting double team. But what we're looking for, we're
Speaker 1: looking for the Dallas d defence up front of the nineties,
Speaker 1: where you're rotating guys in there and and so what
Speaker 1: I'm gonna find for you next week is Dan Quinn's
Speaker 1: fifth round three technique Grady Jarrett that he found in
Speaker 1: twenty fifteen. That's what I'm going to be looking for.
Speaker 1: And I'll tell you some possibilities for later in the
Speaker 1: draft defensive tackle. Next week, we might, Mickey, we might
Speaker 1: have to do a draft show yew that's right, kind
Speaker 1: of did one today? Yes, absolutely talk at you next week. Thanks,
Speaker 1: thanks for joining us on mix shots. This has been
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Speaker 1: Cowboys Football Club.