Speaker 1: The following is a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com
Speaker 1: and the Dallas Cowboys Football clubs. Are you ready for
Speaker 1: a break? Yes? Are you ready for a break? Absolutely?
Speaker 1: Ready for a break? Yeah? And so much for that.
Speaker 1: It's time for The Break on Dallas Cowboys dot Com
Speaker 1: wa with Nick Eatman, David Hellman, and bar Garcia and
Speaker 1: Derek Eagleton. It is Thursday, April nineteenth, twenty eighteen, Season fourteen,
Speaker 1: April Episode number five. Welcome to another edition of The
Speaker 1: Break Live the s WBC Mortgage Studios at the Star
Speaker 1: And I'm so happy and I know you guys are
Speaker 1: so happy to have me back on the air talking
Speaker 1: about Cowboys football. Do you feel like you still belong here? Wow?
Speaker 1: I thought I was talking about like I come fightsty today?
Speaker 1: So that did, Junior? Feels kind of weird. How long
Speaker 1: did it take you to remember whatever stupid episode number
Speaker 1: that was? Actually it took me like about five minutes. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I had to. You're like, I think one year? What year?
Speaker 1: Does it say? Twenty eighteen? No? But what season? What? Fourteen?
Speaker 1: Season fourteen? Yeah? So what were your season six before
Speaker 1: mister eighty eight got here? Oh? How many years? How
Speaker 1: many seasons have gone by here. That would be right.
Speaker 1: He was here eight years, so yeah, that would be right.
Speaker 1: That was a segue, so we can get into that
Speaker 1: the news. Thanks Nick, all right, so let's talk about that.
Speaker 1: Is that news or the olds at this At this point,
Speaker 1: it's the news because, as if Twitter is any judge,
Speaker 1: if you say anything on Twitter about Dez Bryant, it
Speaker 1: lights up, and I think that means it's still relevant.
Speaker 1: People are still talking about it. It's one of those
Speaker 1: people still care, but they'll be quick to say, like,
Speaker 1: why are we still talking about that, but then they'll
Speaker 1: go on to tweet their opinions about it, right, so,
Speaker 1: and and to be honest with you, I think this
Speaker 1: is probably going to continue until Dez Bryant is signed
Speaker 1: by a team, which we'll get into that a little
Speaker 1: bit later about where we think he could end up.
Speaker 1: But I want to start first just kind of with
Speaker 1: the basics of the fact that, you know, a week
Speaker 1: ago this time he was still on this team. And
Speaker 1: then obviously the news comes down last Friday, and the
Speaker 1: big question I have for you guys, and it seems
Speaker 1: like the one that's predominantly predominantly what I see that
Speaker 1: fans are still kind of wrestling with is what was
Speaker 1: the reason. Why was it performance? Was it money? Was
Speaker 1: it his locker room presence? Why is does Brian no
Speaker 1: long on the Dallas count Clearly wasn't about the money.
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm just saying just because Das did say
Speaker 1: that Jerry didn't even offer him any, like, you know,
Speaker 1: to cut down his salary, so it wasn't even on
Speaker 1: the table. I'm not buying that. I'm not saying that
Speaker 1: they did offer him. I think his agent and Dez
Speaker 1: made it perfectly clear that don't come with that mess.
Speaker 1: Don't don't try this when you look at the other
Speaker 1: players around the league. I mean, I think money was
Speaker 1: a factor, and I believe the fact that they didn't
Speaker 1: even get that far because I mean, we watched the meeting.
Speaker 1: It wasn't very long. We will watch the arrival and departure. Yeah, right,
Speaker 1: So I don't know. I just I think money is
Speaker 1: a factor here. I really do think it's I don't
Speaker 1: think it's everything you just said. I think it's the
Speaker 1: fact that and you put up with certain things. There's
Speaker 1: a lot of expensive players out there. There's a lot
Speaker 1: of players. The productions declining a little bit. And there's
Speaker 1: players that are disruptive in the locker room, but when
Speaker 1: you kind of put them all in one teo, then
Speaker 1: you end up having to make a decision. And I
Speaker 1: think that's kind of what happened here. Yeah. No, I mean,
Speaker 1: I don't know why. I don't think you can single
Speaker 1: out any one factor, but I don't I don't think
Speaker 1: it was purely about money. I don't think it was
Speaker 1: purely about performance. I don't think it was purely about
Speaker 1: the Molotov cocktail that is Dez's personality. But you bring
Speaker 1: all that together and it brings enough people on board
Speaker 1: that they decide they want to make a decision. Like
Speaker 1: if if Dez was declining and he could be a
Speaker 1: pain to deal with and he only costs six million
Speaker 1: dollars a year like Alan Hearns, then maybe you keep him.
Speaker 1: Or if he is costing twelve million dollars a year
Speaker 1: but he's a model citizen and a guy you never
Speaker 1: have to worry about, maybe he's still here, or if
Speaker 1: he's still catching sixteen touchdowns and he's a pain in
Speaker 1: the butt and he's you know, and he costs seventeen
Speaker 1: okay with it. It takes all of those things to
Speaker 1: combine to get enough people on board to decide to
Speaker 1: cut him. So I don't think you can single out
Speaker 1: any one factor. I don't think it was purely about money.
Speaker 1: I don't think it was purely about his attitude. I
Speaker 1: don't think it was purely about his production. I think
Speaker 1: it all kind of holds hands together. I just think
Speaker 1: that even after Jerry saying how they could afford that money,
Speaker 1: you know they could afford that technically, but in someone
Speaker 1: that is productive. Aside from that, you go into a
Speaker 1: meeting and the fact that you don't even discuss that
Speaker 1: possibility with someone that has been here for eight years,
Speaker 1: I mean, it tells you a lot that at the end,
Speaker 1: money was one of the lower factors of this whole issue.
Speaker 1: But I do think that when you start talking about
Speaker 1: the money from that standpoint, I think a couple of
Speaker 1: things have to be factored in. One. Des made it clear,
Speaker 1: and I remember him making it clear back when he
Speaker 1: was asked by media during that at the end of
Speaker 1: the season, will you take a pay cut? And remember
Speaker 1: he kind of talked himself right out of that pay
Speaker 1: cut really quickly. He was like, well, I don't, well
Speaker 1: not hell no, like so hilarious. He made it clear
Speaker 1: that paycut was not an option for him at the time,
Speaker 1: and I think it's kind of convenient for him to
Speaker 1: come back now and say I would have taken a
Speaker 1: pay cut. That wasn't what he was saying at the
Speaker 1: time when the season ended. And I think the other
Speaker 1: thing has to be factored in is if you have
Speaker 1: a guy that you already think is somewhat volatile and
Speaker 1: a little bit unpredictable, and then you say, hey, by
Speaker 1: the way we're gonna make we're gonna ask you to
Speaker 1: take a pay cut. We're gonna ask you to do
Speaker 1: it at a time when maybe you feel like we're
Speaker 1: kind of forcing your hand to do it. Are you
Speaker 1: going to get a guy that's even more volable, volatile,
Speaker 1: and more unpredictable once he's on your team the next
Speaker 1: year at a lower salary. So maybe it becomes a
Speaker 1: situation where it's like either we're gonna have him here
Speaker 1: at the Mountain we're paying him, or we're not gonna
Speaker 1: have him here. There isn't an in between. It kind
Speaker 1: of makes me think of the Mafia, like it's like, well,
Speaker 1: you don't have to kill me, I'll just move away,
Speaker 1: and it's like, yeah, but like you're still you know,
Speaker 1: might come back, like still might be a problem. Like
Speaker 1: you once it's true, once you make a decision that
Speaker 1: you can live without a guy, I feel like the
Speaker 1: pay cuts off the table at that point, which I mean,
Speaker 1: I don't think I think you're right. I don't really.
Speaker 1: I don't know that money was the biggest factor. I
Speaker 1: think it was about more than that. But money partly
Speaker 1: precipitated the conversation exactly. The salary is what starts the conversation,
Speaker 1: and then you get working into the rest of the
Speaker 1: dynamics and you're like, all right, let's just is it worse,
Speaker 1: Let's just move on. Yeah, okay, So yeah, I was
Speaker 1: just gonna say that, you know, the timing of it
Speaker 1: has been in question. You know, they tried to get
Speaker 1: Sammy Watkins on the first day of free agency and
Speaker 1: they didn't land him. If they did, they would have
Speaker 1: had to cut him on the second day of free
Speaker 1: agency just to probably get him on the salary cap.
Speaker 1: So I yeah, I mean I think that they tried
Speaker 1: to make this work, but um, you know, I know, Dave,
Speaker 1: you think that they could have done it a little earlier.
Speaker 1: Or a lot earlier, and they probably could have, but
Speaker 1: you know, it is what it is. They did try
Speaker 1: to cover their basis, and you know, I think getting
Speaker 1: Alan Hearn's probably helped with that too. It's like, Okay,
Speaker 1: now we've got players in here and that we can
Speaker 1: go ahead and do this, and but I don't think
Speaker 1: they're a better, better football Teare's question. My question was
Speaker 1: going to be, as of today, are they a better
Speaker 1: worse or are they the same than they were a
Speaker 1: week ago. They're worse than they were a week ago,
Speaker 1: but that's okay. It's like if you sold your car
Speaker 1: for ten thousand dollars, Okay, that's that's pretty good. But
Speaker 1: if you don't go get another car, you know, I mean,
Speaker 1: then you're not really in good shape. I mean you
Speaker 1: obviously obviously obviously need to get another car. You need
Speaker 1: to get another receiver. They're not better right now. But
Speaker 1: if they use that money to something that will help them,
Speaker 1: like a safety or another free agent in any position
Speaker 1: out there that can really help them, then I think
Speaker 1: that you can say this could be a good move.
Speaker 1: But as of right now, I don't think they're better
Speaker 1: because of this bothered. I saw you tweet that the
Speaker 1: other end, I was like, oh, okay, you kept saying
Speaker 1: that all over see it. I'm like, oh my god, Okay,
Speaker 1: we get it. It's the you are. It's not the
Speaker 1: type of thing that an unbothered person does, is just
Speaker 1: tweet about an unbothered person that's kind of unbothered so
Speaker 1: they don't have time to tweet about it. Has he
Speaker 1: been unbothered about anything? I'm the type of pathetic loser
Speaker 1: that sets up draw notifications for like the Cowboys, big
Speaker 1: time players, because I want to know what they're saying
Speaker 1: and when they're saying it. Typically, like Dez might tweet
Speaker 1: or retweet something like once or twice a month, and
Speaker 1: starting last week around the time that the news about
Speaker 1: the meeting came out, I mean, he's tweeted ninety times
Speaker 1: since then. I'm like, you don't seem very unbothered. For
Speaker 1: a guy who keeps saying that you're unbothered, Well, all
Speaker 1: you gotta do is look at one of the tweets,
Speaker 1: one of the first tweets he put out after the
Speaker 1: decision was made, which kind of said basically, I need
Speaker 1: fans to know. I think those were the exact words.
Speaker 1: I need fans to know that this wasn't my decision.
Speaker 1: And it's very clear that he has a I think
Speaker 1: he wants to make sure that he maintains his reputation
Speaker 1: with Cowboys fans and what for whatever reason, I think
Speaker 1: that's important to him. Um, And so he's going to
Speaker 1: be kind of all over this thing, I think, to
Speaker 1: protect whatever he can protect of his relationship with Cowboys fans.
Speaker 1: Well maybe not Cowboys fans, but I think that's very
Speaker 1: perceptive on your part. I hate, I hate to plug
Speaker 1: something that we didn't make, but I highly and and
Speaker 1: you saw me tweet about it last night, I highly
Speaker 1: recommend anybody who likes this team to watch this show
Speaker 1: all or nothing that's coming out. I think it's it's
Speaker 1: very coincidental that the not it's smart, but coincidental that
Speaker 1: they knew to focus on Dez as much as they
Speaker 1: did with all the hours. If you got an opportunity
Speaker 1: to focus on anybody on this team last year, who
Speaker 1: would you have been focusing? But I mean, and I
Speaker 1: think the storyline showed itself, you know, and there's I mean,
Speaker 1: if you want to know about the Dez dynamic, it's
Speaker 1: all in there. You know. God what I wouldn't give
Speaker 1: to have like a thirty minute off the record conversation
Speaker 1: with Derek Dooley, just that I mean, and you know it,
Speaker 1: it's nothing scandalous, but you just get a better sense
Speaker 1: for what that relationship is like. And the reason I
Speaker 1: bring it up right now is because you're talking about
Speaker 1: worried about his reputation with fans. I think never like
Speaker 1: Dez was never able to get over like perception, Like
Speaker 1: it bothered him that people thought he was falling off,
Speaker 1: and it bothered him that he wasn't getting opportunities to
Speaker 1: prove them wrong, to the point where it becomes a
Speaker 1: factor in his attitude with the team and the attitude
Speaker 1: of the way people deal with him, and the types
Speaker 1: of conversations that are being had, and the ego massaging.
Speaker 1: And you know, it's funny because like, I don't I
Speaker 1: don't think of Dez in the way of like a
Speaker 1: typical receiver, like I need my catches, I need my stats.
Speaker 1: It's more like I want to win so bad and
Speaker 1: I don't feel as though I'm being given enough of
Speaker 1: an opportunity to help us win. And it comes to
Speaker 1: the point where, at a point it starts to be
Speaker 1: a detriment, and you can see all of that play
Speaker 1: out on that show. I really recommend if you're really
Speaker 1: curious about the dynamics at work there, it's well worth
Speaker 1: your time. So now it sounds like it sounds like
Speaker 1: you all kind of agree, because nobody stepped up to
Speaker 1: disagree with Nick that the team is worse off at
Speaker 1: this moment than they were with Dez. But I want
Speaker 1: to do one. And I've brought this up before, I
Speaker 1: want to bring it up again because I want to
Speaker 1: get your opinions and see if it's something I'm making
Speaker 1: too simplistic or if it really does matter. You go
Speaker 1: back two weeks four through six of twenty sixteen, when
Speaker 1: Dez was out with injury, and you look at how
Speaker 1: this offense performed. First of all, the team went three
Speaker 1: and on that stretch they went to Green Bay and
Speaker 1: gotta win, which I thought was obviously the most impressive
Speaker 1: of those three wins. During that time, they averaged twenty
Speaker 1: seven points per game. Zeke had one hundred and forty
Speaker 1: three yards rushing per game. Dak put up two hundred
Speaker 1: and forty yards and two touchdowns on average. Per game.
Speaker 1: Offense was working really really well. Is there at least
Speaker 1: some thought that maybe you can get additioned by subtraction
Speaker 1: here removing, and we saw this at the beginning of
Speaker 1: last year. It seemed like in some of the games
Speaker 1: early the season, there was this concerted effort, whether it's
Speaker 1: by Dak, whether it's by the offensive coordinator whomever, to
Speaker 1: try to get Dez the ball, and they were trying
Speaker 1: to feed him. It wasn't connecting, but they were giving
Speaker 1: him a lot of targets. Do you think that maybe
Speaker 1: taking that out of the mix and allowing the young
Speaker 1: quarterback to just sit back, look for the open guy,
Speaker 1: and get the ball to whoever that is, rather than thinking,
Speaker 1: I gotta get the ball to eighty eight. Do you
Speaker 1: think there's something that helps this offense on top of
Speaker 1: the fact that this is a running offense and this
Speaker 1: is all about Zeke in my opinion, So what are
Speaker 1: your thoughts from that standpoint on how this team is
Speaker 1: relatively what they were a week ago. I loathe the
Speaker 1: term Dak friendly, like I'm so tired of hearing it.
Speaker 1: I don't want to hear it ever again. So I
Speaker 1: hate the fact that I just said it. But a
Speaker 1: Dak friendly offense is like five receivers who are gonna
Speaker 1: shut up and do their job and take what he
Speaker 1: can give them and let the running game be what
Speaker 1: it is or what it should be. And Zeke's gonna
Speaker 1: take top billing and Dak's gonna throw to the guy
Speaker 1: that's single covered, and it's going to be hunky dory.
Speaker 1: And Dez was cool with that in twenty sixteen because
Speaker 1: they were winning games. And I mean, I really do
Speaker 1: think that is his bottom line. Like I said, I
Speaker 1: don't think of him as a diva in the sense of, like,
Speaker 1: I don't care if we're losing as long as I
Speaker 1: get my one hundred yards. But again, he cares in
Speaker 1: the sense that he wants to win and wants to
Speaker 1: be a part of that. So when you're winning thirteen games,
Speaker 1: it's no big deal. When you're trading wins and losses
Speaker 1: and getting your doors blown off, it's a little bit
Speaker 1: bigger of a deal. And I think when I think
Speaker 1: of Dak friendly, I think of guys who aren't going
Speaker 1: to make noise about what kind of role their plan.
Speaker 1: It's like, I got three catches for twenty today, cool,
Speaker 1: I got eight catches for one twenty today cool? And
Speaker 1: know that you are not the primary function of this offense.
Speaker 1: So in that regard, I'm reluctant to say that they're
Speaker 1: better right now, but not because of their receiver corps.
Speaker 1: Like they need a linebacker, they need a left guard,
Speaker 1: they need us Like that's the stuff that I'm worried about.
Speaker 1: If you tell me they come out of the draft
Speaker 1: with that stuff, and if you tell me that they
Speaker 1: improve their defense and maybe get a guard and don't
Speaker 1: improve the receiver cord, Like if they don't draft a receiver,
Speaker 1: I still think this team could win games. I think
Speaker 1: they should draft a receiver, but I think this receiver
Speaker 1: corp could could do the job fairly well within the
Speaker 1: structure of how they want to play offense. I think
Speaker 1: Dak friendly. I mean, first of all, the whole Romo friendly,
Speaker 1: Dak friendly. I think Jerry created that every quarterback in
Speaker 1: the league Breeze friendly in the Saints, I mean, that's
Speaker 1: what that is. I mean, it's it's the receivers that
Speaker 1: mesh with your quarterback, and in this case, with Dak
Speaker 1: being the quarterback, I mean, they need receivers that know
Speaker 1: where they're supposed to be. That's one thing that Romo
Speaker 1: helped Daz more than anything. Be told him where to
Speaker 1: line up and he did it for eight years. And
Speaker 1: that's you can't expect Dak to do that with all
Speaker 1: the players on the field in his rookie year and
Speaker 1: in his second year, and he should be able to
Speaker 1: do that now. But also, you know, I mean Dad's
Speaker 1: not one hundred percent there yet. I mean he's he's
Speaker 1: still learning. He's still got to be a better quarterback.
Speaker 1: They took away the short and intermediate easy throws for
Speaker 1: him last year and he couldn't beat him. So they
Speaker 1: need players that can get open nowhere to line up,
Speaker 1: run good routes and be able to kind of move
Speaker 1: the ball down the field. Maybe some deep threats what
Speaker 1: will help as well if he can you know, make
Speaker 1: that throw. But you know, he's not Troy Aikman. He's
Speaker 1: not Romo. He's not Romo at the end of his career,
Speaker 1: which is that what everybody's trying to compare him to
Speaker 1: is what Romo was at the end, not what Romo
Speaker 1: was two years ago. But he's a different player. He
Speaker 1: gets it done different ways. He's a runner, he can
Speaker 1: he can flip over the Cardinals defense. He can make
Speaker 1: plays like that. So it doesn't have to be the
Speaker 1: exact same way. But I think what made Dez great
Speaker 1: it just didn't mess anymore. Dez could have a great
Speaker 1: career somewhere else. I just wasn't going to happen here, right,
Speaker 1: not where this quarterback is in just developed they made.
Speaker 1: They made the decision. They've grown with Dak, which is fine,
Speaker 1: and I don't think it messes that well with des
Speaker 1: and needs to go and find a quarterback that he
Speaker 1: can mesh with the receiver. The receivers that they have
Speaker 1: here I think can be fine. I mean, I said
Speaker 1: it the other night. A lot of people disagreed with me.
Speaker 1: I don't care. They didn't have a thousand yard receiver
Speaker 1: when they won thirteen games. Dads caught fifty balls and
Speaker 1: he was clutch. I'll argue until my dying breath. Das
Speaker 1: was great in twenty sixteen. His numbers weren't, but he
Speaker 1: was great, right, which is what you want in this offense.
Speaker 1: You just want to play well receiver that can make
Speaker 1: plays when necessary. Yeah, right, absolutely, yeah, And that's I mean.
Speaker 1: So I would draft a guy, but I don't. I
Speaker 1: certainly don't think they need one at nineteen. UM. I
Speaker 1: think I'm very intrigued and excited by what Alan Hearns
Speaker 1: might be able to do here. Um and and the
Speaker 1: guys they have here are fine. I don't you know,
Speaker 1: like defensive coordinators aren't losing any sleep about them, but
Speaker 1: I think they can do the job, because defensive coordinators
Speaker 1: should be losing sleep about your line and your running
Speaker 1: back hope. I mean, that's the hope, right if the run,
Speaker 1: if the line resumes what it was in two thousand, well,
Speaker 1: and that's you know, I don't care about the wide receivers.
Speaker 1: If you tell me that they have a badass left guard,
Speaker 1: you know, that's that's what I care about. Ye. All right,
Speaker 1: We're gonna take our first break when we come back.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna ask these guys if they think Dez Bryant
Speaker 1: was set up to be the scapegoat in this situation,
Speaker 1: because I think that's another thing that fans are wrestling with.
Speaker 1: And then we'll talk a little bit about some of
Speaker 1: the other players on this team and how the Cowboys
Speaker 1: move forward after this release. Do that women come right back?
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Speaker 1: of the action. Back to the Break Welcome Back. It
Speaker 1: is the second segment of The Break Lock from the
Speaker 1: s WBC Mortgage Studios at the Star. It's been explosive
Speaker 1: from first little segment of the show. It's that time
Speaker 1: of year, and before it was pretty explosive too. If
Speaker 1: you remember the Eagles ower, Yeah, it was amber once again.
Speaker 1: So let's let's get back into this. One of the
Speaker 1: things I've noticed as I've been talking to fans over
Speaker 1: the last couple of days on Twitter, couldn't help yourself
Speaker 1: last night talk the same thing happened last week, Like
Speaker 1: after this happened, like I just had so much I
Speaker 1: wanted to say, but it's hard sometimes to say it
Speaker 1: all too. But anyway, I what I kept getting from
Speaker 1: a lot of fans was that there was just this uh,
Speaker 1: this narrative that Dez was set up to be the
Speaker 1: scapegoat here that if you look at Dez and if
Speaker 1: you want to say he dropped off, then you have
Speaker 1: to say all the receivers dropped off, and Dak isn't
Speaker 1: taken enough of the blame, and Jason Witten certainly isn't
Speaker 1: the player he used to be, so why is he
Speaker 1: still here? And it's just all these narratives about that
Speaker 1: that really point to the fact that this was so
Speaker 1: unfair for Daz and why does versus all of these
Speaker 1: other guys. What do you guys think about that? Do
Speaker 1: you think that this was a situation where where there
Speaker 1: should have where other guys maybe should have been the
Speaker 1: guys that will let go and you keep Daz Or
Speaker 1: do you think that Dez really was kind of the
Speaker 1: scapegoat for whatever reason? Yeah, I mean probably, but that's
Speaker 1: that's the way the business works. Two thousand and ten,
Speaker 1: the Cowboys came off a playoff win and they went
Speaker 1: one and seven to start the year. Wait Phillips gets fired,
Speaker 1: White Wade Phillips only gets fired. He's the head coach,
Speaker 1: He's the scapegoat. Offense wasn't doing well. Defense wasn't stopping anyone.
Speaker 1: Somebody gets fired. All those people that you just named,
Speaker 1: they don't make sixteen million dollars or count sixteen on
Speaker 1: the salary cap. That's just the way that it goes.
Speaker 1: And he is the most volatile of him as well.
Speaker 1: And nobody knows what's going on. And don't let a
Speaker 1: former player that played in nineteen eighty six and one four.
Speaker 1: I mean, they don't know what the locker room is either.
Speaker 1: They know locker rooms in their day, but they don't
Speaker 1: know this one. They don't know what Dez was causing.
Speaker 1: You know, and this team, you know, this team was
Speaker 1: good to Deaz. Let's don't act like, let's not say
Speaker 1: that they weren't. They were really good to him over
Speaker 1: the years. He had an issue, he went a wall,
Speaker 1: he cut himself with soup. They they did a nice
Speaker 1: job with him, and so you know, it wasn't the
Speaker 1: first time he was cut was Friday. Okay, that's really
Speaker 1: I mean that that's a really good point. And I'll
Speaker 1: be the first to say I think I think they
Speaker 1: botched the way they did this. I just there's got
Speaker 1: you there's because I don't know, Now do you say
Speaker 1: they botched it. I just we had this argument already,
Speaker 1: I think, and I know, I know it's a business.
Speaker 1: It's a cutthroat business. I get that, but I just
Speaker 1: think they're there are better ways you can handle guys
Speaker 1: who have been the face of your franchise, especially, and
Speaker 1: you disagree with me, that's okay. I think the writing
Speaker 1: has been on the wall forever that you probably weren't
Speaker 1: going to get anything for Dez. You've been talking about
Speaker 1: cutting him forever. His salaries enormous, He's gonna be thirty
Speaker 1: this year, and he's been declining. That's why you're talking
Speaker 1: about getting rid of him in the first place. Who's
Speaker 1: gonna give you anything for that? And so rather than
Speaker 1: to hold out for a month hoping that you can
Speaker 1: get a sixth round pick, I just think maybe you
Speaker 1: could have done a nicer thing and been like, look,
Speaker 1: your future's not here. Best to I mean, they did
Speaker 1: the same DeMarcus, where's the franchise sack leader? He's gonna
Speaker 1: be in the ring of honor one day. They cut
Speaker 1: him right around the start of the league year. I
Speaker 1: don't remember if it was before or after, but they
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, he came in, they had they
Speaker 1: hugged it out. He was in Denver three days later. Dez,
Speaker 1: they like, we haven't met with him, even though they
Speaker 1: talked about they needed to meet with him in January
Speaker 1: and February and March. Like, I just I think that's
Speaker 1: a little ridiculous, and I think there's a better way
Speaker 1: they could have done it. Having said that, to Nick's point,
Speaker 1: this team spent the last ten years helping him grow
Speaker 1: into an adult, because Lord knows he needed to help.
Speaker 1: I mean, even as recently as twenty sixteen, the guy
Speaker 1: disappeared for two days because he was afraid what an
Speaker 1: MRI was going to show on his knee, Like literally
Speaker 1: just bailed on the facility, Like didn't come to work
Speaker 1: because he was afraid of what the doctors were going
Speaker 1: to tell him. And that was at twenty eight, let
Speaker 1: alone at twenty twenty one, twenty two, twenty three. So
Speaker 1: I mean, that's there's a little bit of both sides there.
Speaker 1: But what you don't know is what were the things
Speaker 1: happening behind the scenes. Were they looking at let's say,
Speaker 1: for example, in this draft, Let's say that they were like,
Speaker 1: you know, we kind of think we want to make
Speaker 1: this move, but there were a couple of people saying, hey,
Speaker 1: if we make these move, this move, we really believe
Speaker 1: that we got to feel good about the fact that
Speaker 1: we can get a receiver in this draft that we
Speaker 1: think and provide this whatever this is right, whether that's
Speaker 1: in the first round, whether that's in the second round.
Speaker 1: And I'm not saying any of this happened. I'm saying
Speaker 1: I'm just painting the picture. What you don't know behind
Speaker 1: the scenes is there could have been those kinds of things,
Speaker 1: and until they had guys that they brought in that
Speaker 1: they spend some time with, until they had a chance
Speaker 1: to really fully evaluate the draft class, until they had
Speaker 1: a chance to maybe convince some people in this building
Speaker 1: that had to sign off on it as well that
Speaker 1: this was the right way to go. I think there
Speaker 1: are a lot of things that could have been happening
Speaker 1: behind the scenes on this, and I don't think that
Speaker 1: they owe it to a player to say we're not
Speaker 1: going to do our due diligence just to let you
Speaker 1: go early. They I think they got to a point
Speaker 1: where on that Monday was when the team was going
Speaker 1: to show up to do workouts, you couldn't have him
Speaker 1: on the team at that point if he was not
Speaker 1: going to be a part of the team going forward.
Speaker 1: And so they gave themselves all that time to kind
Speaker 1: of figure out all the things they needed to figure out.
Speaker 1: And then they got to that Friday and we're like,
Speaker 1: we can't wait any longer. We got to go ahead,
Speaker 1: make a decision. Here's what we're gonna do. I went
Speaker 1: to LSU and it is a bad school. Is absolutely bad.
Speaker 1: I mean, we got an awesome football program. I can't
Speaker 1: do basic math. On March twenty third, I said, Alan
Speaker 1: Hearns is here. Now he does this, and he looks
Speaker 1: like that. And Deonte Thompson's here too. He looks a
Speaker 1: lot like Bryce Butler. And now they have seven receivers.
Speaker 1: Something doesn't add up. And sure enough a month later
Speaker 1: I was right, and so was any other dummy who
Speaker 1: can look at the depth charge. Yeah, but if they
Speaker 1: if they draft a receiver in this draft and they
Speaker 1: get the guy that they've been targeting, then what you
Speaker 1: don't know is was that a part of the equation
Speaker 1: And they wouldn't have known. This team they don't pay
Speaker 1: about the fact, so they went through this process. Team
Speaker 1: pays people hundreds of thousands of dollars to go and
Speaker 1: look at these guys all throughout the fall, and then
Speaker 1: they kick it into high gear as soon as the
Speaker 1: season's over. I think they probably had a good idea
Speaker 1: that these guys were available long. That's why it's called
Speaker 1: due diligent. Is because they had a good idea doesn't
Speaker 1: mean that you don't take every opportunity to learn more
Speaker 1: and do all the things you feel you can do.
Speaker 1: Before they wanted Sammy Watkins, they wanted, and he was
Speaker 1: cut if they got him. Absolutely in their mind, Dez
Speaker 1: was cut. Now I get it that you don't get
Speaker 1: that player. You still you still think, well, maybe we
Speaker 1: hold on to him, but not when they get Hearns.
Speaker 1: They get Hearns maybe, but Hearns is not the same caliber.
Speaker 1: I don't think, and I don't think they looked at
Speaker 1: Herns in the same caliber as the way they looked
Speaker 1: at Sammy Watkins. But so getting him, I don't think
Speaker 1: that necessarily immediately said okay, this is our replacement for Dez.
Speaker 1: I think it was more like, okay, well maybe that's
Speaker 1: a piece, maybe that works, Maybe there's some other things
Speaker 1: that we can do. I just don't think that that
Speaker 1: we know everything to be able to make that to
Speaker 1: be able to say that they could have cut him earlier.
Speaker 1: You're absolutely met earlier. I mean not because it wasn't
Speaker 1: a negotiation. They were meeting to tell him at some
Speaker 1: point that he was going to be gone. But they
Speaker 1: have to make sure everything was set up the right
Speaker 1: way in order for them to make that final decision.
Speaker 1: I'm not I'm not gonna go with him. We don't.
Speaker 1: We don't have to agree. And you know, hey, a
Speaker 1: or what do you think? They don't know him anything,
Speaker 1: but they left, They left the Ring of Honor candidate
Speaker 1: twisting in the wind for six weeks that they did that,
Speaker 1: and they don't. They don't owe it to him, not
Speaker 1: too you're right, but then don't throw C. J. Anderson
Speaker 1: at me either, because he's not a Ring of Honor
Speaker 1: candidate for the Denver Broncos. That's my only point. But
Speaker 1: either way, Dez is gonna still come back here, is
Speaker 1: still gonna be a ring of onund a guy, still
Speaker 1: gonna have him on that great jacket, and he's still
Speaker 1: gonna you know, he's still gonna go up there and
Speaker 1: wave at the fans and most like things. Because guess
Speaker 1: what when when it's all said and done. Jerry kept
Speaker 1: that relationship in Tech and I'm sure he and Desmit
Speaker 1: still continue to be close like they've always been close.
Speaker 1: You're You're probably right, but it's I mean, I just
Speaker 1: think I think they could have handled it better. But
Speaker 1: it's over now, and they're gonna draft somebody next week
Speaker 1: and it'll be a new era of Cowboys receivers and
Speaker 1: it's whatever. And and like I said, I don't I
Speaker 1: don't think this team is screwed without him. But my
Speaker 1: my dumb self has known Dez is probably gonna get
Speaker 1: cut since February. I think we all saw the writing
Speaker 1: on the woods. Zac absolutely so, we all saw the writing.
Speaker 1: But again, we want the ones having to make the decision,
Speaker 1: so we don't know how complex that decision was. The
Speaker 1: vast majority of NFL teams have this stuff figured out
Speaker 1: way quicker. That's my only path. I don't know about that.
Speaker 1: There are there are other guys that get cut, and
Speaker 1: during this time of the year, there are guys that
Speaker 1: will get cut. In June, there will be guys that
Speaker 1: get cut going into training camp. There will be veterans
Speaker 1: that get cut. Wing training camp is done, like it happens.
Speaker 1: That's the NFL. That's how it works. I guess these
Speaker 1: aren't guaranteed contracts. I guess we'll just have to agree
Speaker 1: to disagree, Darren, I don't know what else to say.
Speaker 1: All right, let's go on. And actually you kind of
Speaker 1: led into the next question. The next question really is
Speaker 1: about the draft. Do you think that the Cowboys? I
Speaker 1: guess let's look at it both ways. Do you think
Speaker 1: the Cowboys will? Do you think the Cowboys should draft
Speaker 1: a wide receiver with one of their first two picks
Speaker 1: this next weekend in the draft. I definitely think that
Speaker 1: they will. I don't know about that if they should,
Speaker 1: I think if if there's some other options there, a
Speaker 1: linebacker or a safety, if that falls into them, maybe
Speaker 1: even guard. But I do think that they will. I
Speaker 1: think they're gonna take a wide receiver in the first
Speaker 1: two picks, and they brought in a bunch in the
Speaker 1: thirty visits, and they've worked some others out, and there's
Speaker 1: a lot of names out there. It's a pretty deep
Speaker 1: class I think, so I do think that they will.
Speaker 1: It doesn't have to be pick nineteen, but it needs
Speaker 1: to happen. I think they will and they should. And
Speaker 1: like I said, it's not for twenty eighteen, it's for
Speaker 1: the four years beyond that, because if you take a
Speaker 1: look down the depth chart, it's kind of scary to think, like,
Speaker 1: none of those guys really have a concrete future here.
Speaker 1: Hearns is on a two year deal, Thompson's on a
Speaker 1: one year deal, Beasley's in a contract year. What Terrence
Speaker 1: is the guaranteed portion of Terrence's contract is over starting
Speaker 1: after this year, So the last two years of his extension.
Speaker 1: I mean, if you want to, you could release. Yeah,
Speaker 1: where's witness on his deal? Well, it's like changed, it's something.
Speaker 1: I mean, he's here through twenty twenty three if he
Speaker 1: wants to be or something like that. But so the
Speaker 1: wide receiver corps there, there's not much there. And Ryan
Speaker 1: Switzer and Noah Brown, but you could cut them and
Speaker 1: there's no ramifications for doing that. Those are miniscule contracts
Speaker 1: in the grand scheme of the NFL. So, yeah, they
Speaker 1: need a guy. It doesn't have to be nineteen, but
Speaker 1: ninth Thursday or Friday, pick nineteen, pick fifty, pick eighty one.
Speaker 1: I would bet I feel comfortable betting a substantial amount
Speaker 1: of money that one of those picks will be a receiver,
Speaker 1: all right. I think it depends. I mean, am I
Speaker 1: thinking about the future or am I worrying about this year?
Speaker 1: It depends on what's Garret or Stephen Joe. I don't know.
Speaker 1: If I'm Jason Garrett, I think you always worry about
Speaker 1: this year. I think I think your personnel guy can
Speaker 1: think about the future, but better if you think about
Speaker 1: this year. Because we've seen quick turnarounds, you've also seen
Speaker 1: quick plummets, so things change quickly in the NFL. Well,
Speaker 1: if that's the case, if I'm focused on this year,
Speaker 1: then honestly, wide receiver is not so much of a
Speaker 1: priority to me, at least not for the first and
Speaker 1: second round. You guys seem like you buying large. You
Speaker 1: guys seem like you're pretty okay with what the Cowboys
Speaker 1: have right now. If you think if they lined up tomorrow,
Speaker 1: you feel good about where they are, wives there would
Speaker 1: be positions that are in more trouble than that. Yep. Now,
Speaker 1: does Alan Hearns know the offense like you want to?
Speaker 1: If you, you know, throw that part in there, the
Speaker 1: same it would be with a rookie, with a guy
Speaker 1: you bring in you know, Yeah, so the same story there,
Speaker 1: and I don't think they're any worse, but they're not
Speaker 1: any better. We haven't seen them play yet, but I
Speaker 1: think right now they're just neither way good. That Well
Speaker 1: said bring yeah, I mean today, And that's the point
Speaker 1: I will, you know me, I run the risk. I
Speaker 1: don't want to sound like a Homer. I'm not. I'm
Speaker 1: not sitting here trying to say Alan Herns is gonna
Speaker 1: put up twelve hundred yards. But the last time you
Speaker 1: saw dis put up twelve hundred point well, and that's
Speaker 1: that's part of it too. I Mean, we spend all
Speaker 1: this time talking about how he's dropped off, so it's
Speaker 1: not crazy. It's not crazy for me to think that
Speaker 1: Alan Hearns can have an eight hundred yards season if
Speaker 1: he's healthy for sixteen games, which is what Dez was
Speaker 1: doing in the first place. So I like, yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean the guard spot, the safety spot, the linebacker spot,
Speaker 1: that's where if they're playing a game tomorrow, that's where
Speaker 1: I'm freaking out. I'm not. I mean, wide receiver could
Speaker 1: be better, but it's far from being the biggest problem
Speaker 1: spot on this team. I think Dez Bryant was set
Speaker 1: up for failure, but not not by anyone's doing. I
Speaker 1: mean he signed the deal, but the contract he signed
Speaker 1: and the offense that they adapted, and to get this
Speaker 1: line and to get Zeke and to be run oriented
Speaker 1: and have all these options, it wasn't suited for a
Speaker 1: guy that to make sixteen million a year. He's never
Speaker 1: going to justify those number, his numbers with the contract.
Speaker 1: So it's it's not I mean in a setup for failure.
Speaker 1: Sounds kind of harsh, but I'm just the reality of
Speaker 1: it is, he can't get those numbers in this offense.
Speaker 1: When you've got Written, you've got Beasley, you've got Terrence
Speaker 1: on the outside, you're trying to run Zeke to the ground.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's just not going to happen. And then
Speaker 1: we saw in two years it didn't happen. It was
Speaker 1: okay when they won thirteen games, it was not okay
Speaker 1: when they won nine. And now he's cut for it.
Speaker 1: It's it's the same thing he wanted, was the same
Speaker 1: thing that almost that pretty much got him cut. I
Speaker 1: said this on the Monday Draft show I did with
Speaker 1: Brian that I mean, when you have Tony Romo, I mean,
Speaker 1: when you know he's capable of making those throws and
Speaker 1: doing those types of things. A receiver makes sense to
Speaker 1: have a seventy million dollars receiver. And we said this
Speaker 1: way back in January. They signed Dez to a seventy
Speaker 1: million dollars contract, thinking him in Romo had at least two,
Speaker 1: if not three or so more years together. They played
Speaker 1: two less than two complete games because Dez got hurt
Speaker 1: in the season opener. They and then they played the
Speaker 1: Miami game together half so give or take three full games.
Speaker 1: They got three games out of that duo. Before you know,
Speaker 1: life changed their situation. And in the narrow where your
Speaker 1: running back cost twenty million dollars, your left tackles one
Speaker 1: hundred million, your right guards about to be seventy million,
Speaker 1: your center's sixty million, and your right tackle is twenty
Speaker 1: million or whatever Lyles contract is, it doesn't make a
Speaker 1: ton of sense to be paying a receiver seventy million dollars.
Speaker 1: It's just it's not the way they decided to construct
Speaker 1: this team. The resources are all invested in the running
Speaker 1: back and offensive. It reminded me of Joey Galloway back
Speaker 1: way back in two thousand. They traded two first round
Speaker 1: picked for him, and like what did they do? And
Speaker 1: I mean, and you think about it now, but they
Speaker 1: traded him to be with Troy Aikman and EMMITTT. Smith,
Speaker 1: and then Galloway got hurt in the first game, and
Speaker 1: then Aikman got hurt after that, and they never really
Speaker 1: played more than one game together, and then it didn't
Speaker 1: look like a good trade, and he's playing with Quincy
Speaker 1: Carter and Chad Hutchinson, and it's like, well, what a
Speaker 1: bad trade. But it wasn't set up that way, So
Speaker 1: you're right they You're right, Romo Dez pretty the twenty
Speaker 1: fifteen Miami game was the only complete game that Dez
Speaker 1: and Tony ever played together after Dez signed his extension.
Speaker 1: It's like I said, Dez got hurt in week one,
Speaker 1: broke his foot, Romo broke his collarbone in week two,
Speaker 1: and then they played Miami together. Romo broke his collarbone
Speaker 1: in the next game and never played again. And there
Speaker 1: was a touchdown pass in that game by Romo to
Speaker 1: Dez that was, if I remember correctly, was Let's had
Speaker 1: two in that game, diddie. I know Terrence had one.
Speaker 1: I don't think Charrens had one. Dez had one, but
Speaker 1: it was one of those plays where it was they
Speaker 1: were kind of on sync again. You know, they were
Speaker 1: about to run the table and get in the playoffs. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's what somebody would have you believe. All right, looks
Speaker 1: like our let's like our final break. When we come back,
Speaker 1: I do want to ask the question, what do you
Speaker 1: think Dez ends up he wants to be in the
Speaker 1: NFC East. Is that possible. We'll talk about that when
Speaker 1: we come right back. This is Dallas Cowboys dot com. Radio.
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Speaker 1: So let's get back into this. The final topic I
Speaker 1: wanted to hit on, Dez Bryant is around where he's
Speaker 1: going he had me made it clear from the moment
Speaker 1: the decision came down that his preference is to stay
Speaker 1: in the NFCC wants to play the Cowboys twice a year.
Speaker 1: In my opinion, that's making a kind of an emotional decision.
Speaker 1: I don't know if that's the best thing for him,
Speaker 1: but I want to hear what you guys have to
Speaker 1: say about that from the standpoint of emotion. Where you
Speaker 1: think he actually does end up thinking about the teams
Speaker 1: in the NFC East um and where he could possibly fit.
Speaker 1: Where do you think he ends up? Jerry Cutler cue it.
Speaker 1: Don't care? Oh, I was wondering. I was like, you
Speaker 1: don't care. Really, I don't believe you. I don't care.
Speaker 1: Go to the Giant. I mean, you're not. Why don't
Speaker 1: you care? Because he's not gonna do anything with it?
Speaker 1: You don't you think he's just done. Don't think he's done.
Speaker 1: I don't think he's gonna hurt the Cowboys. Oh no,
Speaker 1: But what happened to care about it? And that what
Speaker 1: happened fourteen when he went up there, he made this
Speaker 1: great catch. They called it no catch. He lived with it.
Speaker 1: Twenty fifteen, he goes to Green Bay, what happens. He
Speaker 1: was he was a problem. He dropped passes, he was
Speaker 1: thinking too much, he forceded, he pressed. He does that.
Speaker 1: And I think if he goes and plays the Cowboys,
Speaker 1: I don't think he would really gonna be so amped
Speaker 1: up that. Yeah. I mean he's not. He's not done
Speaker 1: and washed up. He's gonna be a good player for
Speaker 1: somebody esprecially if he gets a really good quarterback. I
Speaker 1: think Baltimore is a great fit for him. I'm just
Speaker 1: not thinking he's gonna hump back quarterback. I think he's
Speaker 1: a good quarterback. I don't think he's a great quarterback.
Speaker 1: He's a good quarterback. He's I kinda thinks he's a
Speaker 1: great quarterback. Though personally was Tony great. I think at
Speaker 1: what at what Dez did well? I think, yes, I think,
Speaker 1: And I think Fla Flacco has flirted with greatness, especially
Speaker 1: in the postseason. There's not many quarterbacks better than him.
Speaker 1: I'm not a Flacco fan. I think I think I
Speaker 1: think Stafford's better than Flac. Okay, I was about to
Speaker 1: ask you that because I was gonna call you crazy
Speaker 1: if you didn't know. I think Flack, but I think
Speaker 1: he's good. He's been only ten years. He knows the offense,
Speaker 1: he knows what they're trying to do in Baltimore, and
Speaker 1: he would be good for him. Um, you don't have
Speaker 1: to have remarkable you don't have to go to play
Speaker 1: with Brady and Rogers. But I just think it would
Speaker 1: help him. I don't. I just don't think he would
Speaker 1: come back to Dalla and just absolutely annihilate them. I
Speaker 1: think he'd be so amped up he'd take an ivy
Speaker 1: in the second quarter. I okay, I don't care either
Speaker 1: in the sense that, yeah, I don't think Dez Bryan's
Speaker 1: going to hurt the Cowboys. I just you know, I
Speaker 1: worked with the guy for five years. I want the
Speaker 1: best for him. I'm interested to see what happens next
Speaker 1: in his career all out in the AFC. The I mean,
Speaker 1: this is just purely selfish, but the football fan and
Speaker 1: the native New Orleanian in me, God, that would be
Speaker 1: exciting to see him in New Orleans. Absolutely, it doesn't. Honestly,
Speaker 1: I think that's probably of all the teams I can
Speaker 1: think of in the NFL, I think that's one of
Speaker 1: the better fits. It is because of the quarterback. It's
Speaker 1: a great fit for him. I don't think it's a
Speaker 1: very good fit for the Saints. Why because they have
Speaker 1: a younger, better Dez named Michael Thomas. That's true. They
Speaker 1: just got Cam Meredith out of Chicago. Willie sneed's back
Speaker 1: like they have, and Drew Brees doesn't need marquee receivers
Speaker 1: he never has um So I would love to see
Speaker 1: that selfishly because I'm a des fan and I grew
Speaker 1: up a Saints fan. But I don't think it'll happen,
Speaker 1: but it would be cool. I think I think you
Speaker 1: would see that fifty fifty ball completed at a higher
Speaker 1: percentage if you were with a quarter backs and so
Speaker 1: from that, I think he would go right back to
Speaker 1: doing what he was doing with Romo right. And the
Speaker 1: way I think that helps that team particular is the
Speaker 1: last year, what we saw is that team was starting
Speaker 1: to transition into a run heavy team, like they had
Speaker 1: a lot of They had two really good running backs,
Speaker 1: They ran the ball very effectively, offensive line played well.
Speaker 1: This forces teams to respect at least that fifty fifty ball,
Speaker 1: which teams weren't doing last year against the Cowboys, they
Speaker 1: weren't respecting that for whatever reason, whether you want to
Speaker 1: say it was Dak or whether you want to say
Speaker 1: it was dead for whatever reason, they weren't respecting it
Speaker 1: like that, they would be forced, I think, to respect
Speaker 1: it with a better quarterback. I just think Breeze already
Speaker 1: has a back shoulder jump ball monster and Thomas and
Speaker 1: to that guy, you don't need Danna's gross If I
Speaker 1: was putting money on it, Houston just makes too much sense,
Speaker 1: it really does he. I mean, he wouldn't have to
Speaker 1: leave Texas. They have an exciting young quarterback. He wouldn't
Speaker 1: even be the focal point of the offense because Hopkins
Speaker 1: is there. I just I mean, if I had to
Speaker 1: handicap it, I think that would be what I would
Speaker 1: look at. I'm just not really sure Houston. I think
Speaker 1: he might have the same issues in Houston that he
Speaker 1: had here with a young quarterback. I just don't know that.
Speaker 1: I don't know that that quarterback is better than Dak
Speaker 1: necessarily as a passer. So I'm not sure that he'd
Speaker 1: be able to take advantage of what does Dez does
Speaker 1: well in the same way that I don't think he
Speaker 1: and Dak could get on the same page to take
Speaker 1: advantage of it. He did say I'll see you guys twice,
Speaker 1: and Houston would be a team that he would you
Speaker 1: would see him twice. He ain't playing in that preseason.
Speaker 1: I was gonna say, I would hope he's not in
Speaker 1: the PAS. He didn't say, I'll play it twice twice.
Speaker 1: That's good point. What do you think, camer I just think.
Speaker 1: I mean, you guys keep talking about having great quarterbacks
Speaker 1: to help him. If you're a veteran eight years, you
Speaker 1: don't need the ball being put right on your hend. Like, yes,
Speaker 1: you need to make good throws, but it depends on
Speaker 1: what kind of receiver you are. Dez has never been
Speaker 1: a guy that just gets a lot of separation. So
Speaker 1: the quarterback has to throw it to him knowing he
Speaker 1: looks covered sometimes and you have to throw the ball
Speaker 1: in a spot where he can make a play on it.
Speaker 1: But how many times did we see Okay forgot the
Speaker 1: bath throws from Dak. Let's focus on the good throws.
Speaker 1: What he did, throw it right at him and he
Speaker 1: still dropped a ball. How many of those did we see?
Speaker 1: It was plenty, I think does and that's I mean,
Speaker 1: nobody is completely blameless. Dak has a lot of stuff
Speaker 1: to work on. But yeah, you know, I'll plug all
Speaker 1: or nothing again. I forgot about the Giants game where
Speaker 1: it literally hit him in the face. Mat. I mean,
Speaker 1: there were plenty of balls that were right where they
Speaker 1: needed to be that did not get caught. That a
Speaker 1: receiver that good, making that much money, you know, people
Speaker 1: want you know the one that really I feel like
Speaker 1: that was the one where everybody was like, something's got
Speaker 1: to happen with this dude, which was the Seattle one
Speaker 1: which turned into a pick and people are like, Dak
Speaker 1: threw that too hard and it was behind him. Yep,
Speaker 1: both true. He makes seventy million dollars, make the catch,
Speaker 1: catch the damn ball like that, and you gotta make
Speaker 1: that catch. Absolutely got to make that call. And more
Speaker 1: than anything, I'm just really curious to see how he's
Speaker 1: going to be able to handle these emotions because we
Speaker 1: know that he's a super emotional guy, and we've known
Speaker 1: we've seen that team on the game to the bad
Speaker 1: to the worst, but then we've also seen, for example,
Speaker 1: remember when his dad passed away, the game he had, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean he had a pretty good game. Yes, that's
Speaker 1: so I'm trying to see. I'm curious to see how
Speaker 1: he's gonna filter this emotion, like is he gonna be
Speaker 1: in a good way or is this really going to
Speaker 1: affect him? And that's I mean, don't just go to
Speaker 1: the NFC East so you can try to get revenge
Speaker 1: against the Cowboys. That's because you're gonna wind up in
Speaker 1: Washington and that's that hasn't worked well for very many
Speaker 1: other former Cowboys. Um, I would hate to see that.
Speaker 1: As somebody who likes Dez, I would hate to see that,
Speaker 1: not just because they would have to play him twice
Speaker 1: a year. Yeah, that quarterback's not gonna yeah, neither one
Speaker 1: to help him. And I think all of this, I mean,
Speaker 1: he hasn't don't. I haven't even heard about him going somewhere,
Speaker 1: and I think, you know, we're a week away from
Speaker 1: the draft. I think at this point teams probably want
Speaker 1: to take a look and see what they can get.
Speaker 1: So he could be waiting a little while. But I mean,
Speaker 1: why would Baltimore want to sign him if they love
Speaker 1: Ridley exactly? And Ridley sitting there for him at what
Speaker 1: sixth Yeah, yeah, so I mean it's gonna be kind
Speaker 1: of quiet right now, but somebody's gonna sign him. Training
Speaker 1: camp with somebody if you have a wide receiver need,
Speaker 1: and you can sign Dez on a one year, nine
Speaker 1: million dollar deal, or you can draft DJ Moore for
Speaker 1: five years at eighteen million dollars. What's the better deal?
Speaker 1: I mean, I just I was about to say, I
Speaker 1: wish that when the schedule comes out tonight, which we
Speaker 1: haven't really talked about both the schedule comes up, I
Speaker 1: would like to be, Oh, that's where they're gonna play Deaz,
Speaker 1: you know, but we won't really know that. Yeah, unless
Speaker 1: you know, but that'll be an extra piece of content
Speaker 1: for us later when he does sign, and we can
Speaker 1: write the story like, well, stretch this thing out. Yeah No,
Speaker 1: I mean, we're just gonna beat this thing in in
Speaker 1: the ground. Get ready Cowboys Nation. Specific to the NFC, still,
Speaker 1: do you think that there's any team that he fits with?
Speaker 1: I mean, he said he keeps mentioning the Giants. Obviously,
Speaker 1: the Eagles just finished paying alshon Jeffrey, So my assumption
Speaker 1: is they're not necessarily in the market to spend more
Speaker 1: money on a receiver. I think he would be great
Speaker 1: in Philly. I don't think they'd need him. I don't
Speaker 1: think they would want a great Yeah, So you look
Speaker 1: at it. From that standpoint, I don't know that he's
Speaker 1: a great fit in Washington in my opinion, but I
Speaker 1: guess it could be an option if he wants to
Speaker 1: be an mcst the Giants. He keeps saying that that's
Speaker 1: the one he wants to go to, and that's when
Speaker 1: he would think be most intrigued by. But I look
Speaker 1: at it as they already have that headache. And what
Speaker 1: I mean by that they already have that guy who
Speaker 1: is really good, who's a good wide receiver that's asking
Speaker 1: for more money, already making a pretty good amount of money,
Speaker 1: and now you're going to bring in another guy who
Speaker 1: can be equally as they did that monstrative on the
Speaker 1: sideline in the locker room whatever, they did that lacrosse
Speaker 1: combine to raise awareness for the Rattlers who are opening
Speaker 1: their season here two sundays from now. Yes, um, and
Speaker 1: one of the lacrosse players was a Giants fan, and
Speaker 1: they were like, you want Daz on the Giants And
Speaker 1: he was like, well, you got enough Dred on a
Speaker 1: receiver already, We're good. I thought that was really funny, man.
Speaker 1: I don't first of all, you said they got a
Speaker 1: good receiver who wants more, he's a great He's great, Okay, yeah,
Speaker 1: what I was meaning, Yes, I should have said a
Speaker 1: great receiver. I mean probably among the best two in
Speaker 1: the league. Two A. Yeah, who's one? Just Abe Abe
Speaker 1: by himself and then him and Julio. Julio and Odell
Speaker 1: would be two A. In fact that ab doesn't miss
Speaker 1: gang like he plays and he's as good as he is.
Speaker 1: I think he's either one of those three. Yeah, honestly,
Speaker 1: I don't. It's there's not a lot of separation there.
Speaker 1: And you wonder if Dez wants to go to a place,
Speaker 1: like ho said, anywhere he would be the second guy.
Speaker 1: He'd be the second guy with the Giants? Is that
Speaker 1: where he is in his career? I mean, and there's
Speaker 1: nothing wrong with that. I mean, those guys get paid too,
Speaker 1: and they could make plays and make a difference. I
Speaker 1: just I don't know if does he or does he
Speaker 1: want to go and where he could be the number
Speaker 1: one guy. I can't see him being the second guy,
Speaker 1: like just because of how he I mean, yes he
Speaker 1: can be, but just because of him and who he is,
Speaker 1: his personnelity. Go back and want to go back to
Speaker 1: your point about channeling his emotions, though, I mean, this
Speaker 1: is is one of the first times Dez Bryant has
Speaker 1: been humbled in a long time. If I had to guess, so,
Speaker 1: I mean, how he reacts to that is probably going
Speaker 1: to say a lot. Like if I mean, if he's
Speaker 1: not willing to be the number two, he's probably going
Speaker 1: to be in for a rough time. If I had
Speaker 1: to guess, I mean, I don't think anybody at this
Speaker 1: point's gonna pay him number one money. No, nor do
Speaker 1: I think any I don't think there's any team out there.
Speaker 1: I'm just saying no, no, absolutely, But that's he's probably
Speaker 1: going to need to readjust his ego a little bit
Speaker 1: and maybe he can get that back, you know. But
Speaker 1: right with Alshan Jeffrey, he took a one year proved deal,
Speaker 1: he proved it and they paid him good money. Which
Speaker 1: how well he manages this speed bump is probably gonna
Speaker 1: say a lot about how the second phase of his
Speaker 1: career goes. Right. So we'll see, let's talk about that
Speaker 1: NFL schedule it comes out tonight. We'll find out what
Speaker 1: the Cowboys schedule looks like, anything especially interesting that you
Speaker 1: guys are will be looking for when the schedule comes out. Tonight.
Speaker 1: I do not think. Yes, oh, get in there, see
Speaker 1: just top. I'm just work New Years. I don't want
Speaker 1: to in Philly. That's what I'm looking at. Tired of
Speaker 1: years for New Years. No, not Philly. The rest time.
Speaker 1: I don't care. Let's just let's just do it. Let's
Speaker 1: just do it. I don't think they'll the Giants in
Speaker 1: Week one year, Please God, I just don't. Please God.
Speaker 1: The Giants were horrible last year. The Cowboys were average.
Speaker 1: I mean, but there's still great ratings. Okay, Well, if
Speaker 1: it's the great ratings, I mean, he's it great ratings
Speaker 1: because it's up there, or is it? I mean, if
Speaker 1: if the Giants and Cowboys are so great, then they'll
Speaker 1: be great on October the eight understood. But you always
Speaker 1: want to open with something that's gonna bring people in
Speaker 1: the tin. Well, you know what I want, the big
Speaker 1: game that's gonna bring I'm gonna bring it. I mean,
Speaker 1: I think they'll be just don't know. I don't want
Speaker 1: to see that again. It's been it has been. I've
Speaker 1: worked here since twenty thirteen. It's been the Week one
Speaker 1: game five of those years, or four of those five years,
Speaker 1: or whatever it is. Honestly, how both teams were last year,
Speaker 1: especially the Giants. I mean, now, that doesn't sound like
Speaker 1: a much exciting game to me, Like, yes, season opener, Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was bad last year. You were the first one
Speaker 1: to admitute. You guys didn't believe me. That was like no, no, no,
Speaker 1: no no. You said they didn't play well. They beat
Speaker 1: a team in the NFL by sixteen points. That's all
Speaker 1: I said. That's a good game. That's a good such
Speaker 1: thing as Week one guesses I'm gonna I'll start it
Speaker 1: off because I know I said no the Giants they
Speaker 1: go to Seattle, right, Yep, I'm gonna say Week one
Speaker 1: Sunday Night Football. The Eagles will get the first one.
Speaker 1: On Thursday. They'll play whoever, Falcons maybe or Vikings. I
Speaker 1: think the Cowboys play at Seattle Week one Sunday Night Football.
Speaker 1: That would be so great because I could go to
Speaker 1: a Mariners game. Hope you really think Seattle, because y'all
Speaker 1: has had a lot of changes too. You really think
Speaker 1: they didn't make the playoffs either? Yeah? Do you think
Speaker 1: that brand's big enough for opening weekend Sunday night football?
Speaker 1: It definitely is. Or maybe it's a Monday night football.
Speaker 1: But we hadn't played on a Monday to start a
Speaker 1: year in a long time. Didn't they do that in
Speaker 1: twenty eleven Jets? I think it was Sunday was Sunday.
Speaker 1: I don't remember number eleven. I wasn't here. I just
Speaker 1: know we've we've never opened on the road in the
Speaker 1: time I've worked here. So I just one of these
Speaker 1: years they're gonna make us do it. Seems weird have
Speaker 1: years in a road. We've been home Giants, Niners, Giants, Giants, Giants.
Speaker 1: It's yeah, So I think I think they opened on
Speaker 1: the road. Seattle is a good guess, um, Panthers. How
Speaker 1: about pant Sunday night doesn't look good for Seattle. You're right,
Speaker 1: that would be more of the three o'clock Yeah, I
Speaker 1: just I don't see that as a Sunday night opener,
Speaker 1: opening weekend Sunday night. Earl Thomas, now that can always
Speaker 1: before any of that happened. I mean, he'll be a
Speaker 1: tough safety for them back there like he always has been.
Speaker 1: Cowboys at Panthers Week one. Okay, I don't, I don't know.
Speaker 1: I just I feel like they're gonna they got they
Speaker 1: gotta go on the road. One of these years they
Speaker 1: have to and then the other I said this to Nick,
Speaker 1: this is more about us than about the team, but
Speaker 1: it would be interesting. But I just Christmas. Christmas Day
Speaker 1: is a Tuesday, so week whatever. That'll be Sunday, the
Speaker 1: twenty third, we're playing Christmas Eve. Monday night football. We're
Speaker 1: playing Christmas Eve. I just feel it in my bones.
Speaker 1: We're at home, all right with that. I don't see
Speaker 1: it on Christmas Eve. I'm not all right. Not one
Speaker 1: host Christmas Eve at Houston. I could deal with that.
Speaker 1: You could deal with I could deal with that now.
Speaker 1: I could deal with that. In fact, you'd put all
Speaker 1: your whole family in Houston. You always just do it there. Well,
Speaker 1: Houston is already going to be a trip where the
Speaker 1: whole family goes down, so might as well. Yeah, Christmas Eve,
Speaker 1: I'm okay, Well thanks, I'm out Thanksgiving. Probably an NFC team,
Speaker 1: but it doesn't have to be. That's we were arguing
Speaker 1: about that the other day and arguing, no, well, we
Speaker 1: were having a discussion about it the other day because
Speaker 1: it used to be like, oh, well that'll be it's
Speaker 1: on CBS, so that'll be an AFC team. But it
Speaker 1: doesn't work that way anymore. So it could be anybody.
Speaker 1: It's Fox. Could you could you see though? It? Are
Speaker 1: we going to Jacksonville? Jacksonville coming here? Jacksonville coming here?
Speaker 1: Could that be a Thanksgiving game? Sure? Any literally, any
Speaker 1: that could be. That's the kind of game that I
Speaker 1: think could be kind of interesting for a Thanksgiving game.
Speaker 1: Because of the success of Jacksonville last year. You know,
Speaker 1: I don't know, you certainly wouldn't put him on Opening Night.
Speaker 1: But when you got a brand as as high up
Speaker 1: there as far as ratings as the Cowboys, and you
Speaker 1: got a young, up and coming team that you're trying
Speaker 1: to get a little bit more than I'm thinking as
Speaker 1: a marketer right now, you're trying to get a little
Speaker 1: bit more eyeballs on this young, up and coming team
Speaker 1: and a brand that's consistently been down at the lower
Speaker 1: half of the of the league. Maybe this is the
Speaker 1: way to kind of put those brands together and lift
Speaker 1: the one that's that's lower. My favorite, it's funny that
Speaker 1: it's funny that the team that just lost the AFC
Speaker 1: title game is the low brand and the team that
Speaker 1: didn't make the play yea, but it still is what
Speaker 1: it is. The sexy Cowboys Thanksgiving games that I can remember,
Speaker 1: or Division games like the I mean RG three and
Speaker 1: as going Toto toe in twenty twelve. The Redskins game
Speaker 1: in twenty sixteen was phenomenal. That's That's the game where
Speaker 1: I think I really and truly brought bought into DAK
Speaker 1: because Cousins was just zipping them up and down the field,
Speaker 1: and Dak was answering right back, like making all the throws.
Speaker 1: Terrence Williams made that great catch in the corner. Um.
Speaker 1: I just I think it's fun when division teams play
Speaker 1: on Thanksgiving. Are you got certain that going back to
Speaker 1: the opening weekend? Are you certain that the Cowboys, since
Speaker 1: they've played the Giants so many times, you certain they
Speaker 1: wouldn't put the Cowboys against the Eagles opening weekend. The
Speaker 1: rumor is that that's gonna be a Minnesota Philly. I
Speaker 1: get it. I'm just saying, are you are you certain
Speaker 1: that that wouldn't be something that the league would consider.
Speaker 1: I know they don't often do division games like that,
Speaker 1: but they've put the Cowboys up against the Giants opening
Speaker 1: weekend for I'm positive they considered it. But it just
Speaker 1: seems like there's a lot of smoke about Minnesota being
Speaker 1: that team and here the schedule day is always kind
Speaker 1: of annoying for a couple of reasons, just how much
Speaker 1: they keep it so tight, you know, yeah, um, but
Speaker 1: also when fans, you know, like, oh man, we got
Speaker 1: a hard schedule or have an easy schedule, or I mean,
Speaker 1: just imagine if you were a team last year fast,
Speaker 1: I mean, rewind a four year and your last four
Speaker 1: games of the season, Like, who do we end with
Speaker 1: in December? Like, well, we got the Saints at home,
Speaker 1: we got the Eagles at the Vikings, and the Rams. Yes,
Speaker 1: that's nice, those fourteen that's yeah, it's four teams that
Speaker 1: none of them had more than seven wins last year. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and they all win the division and they're all you know.
Speaker 1: So my point is is that regardless of who's you
Speaker 1: know what it looks like forty nine Ers, Cardinal ho mean,
Speaker 1: whoever Cowboys, We've seen teams jump and teams go one
Speaker 1: way or the other. I mean, the Giants looked like
Speaker 1: a really tough, tough matchup and then they weren't last year.
Speaker 1: So you just never know about about all that stuff.
Speaker 1: That's why I never get worked up. We look way
Speaker 1: too much fun to daydream about the possibilities to ignore
Speaker 1: it them. But the things that we look at, like
Speaker 1: our whereas Christmas gonna be, Where's New Year's gonna be?
Speaker 1: You know, like you know, yeah, I liked. I'm like,
Speaker 1: all right, what Saturdays of LSU games? Am? I gonna
Speaker 1: have to be traveling? That's what. That's the first thing
Speaker 1: I look at, Like, if we're flying, we have to
Speaker 1: fly on Bama game day. I'll get my own flight,
Speaker 1: I really will. I'll fly on Friday night or whatever,
Speaker 1: and make sure it's just important to be sitting somewhere.
Speaker 1: I don't want to be on an airplane having Mickey
Speaker 1: giving me a score updates. Ill it's thirteen to ten
Speaker 1: and the third quarter, Thanks Mick. This is my life
Speaker 1: like it's life or death, I hope. So I don't
Speaker 1: know it'll be that close in the third quarter. By
Speaker 1: the fourth it'll be way worse. All right, guys, we
Speaker 1: appreciate you joining us. It was a fun show. We'll
Speaker 1: be back next week on our normal time Wednesday at
Speaker 1: eleven am. Told then for Nick Even, Dave Helm and
Speaker 1: Amber Garcia. I'm Derek Eagleton. This has been the Break
Speaker 1: Live on Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio. This has been
Speaker 1: a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas
Speaker 1: Cowboys Football Club.