WEBVTT - Talkin' Cowboys: George Chahrouri 1-on-1 0:00:01.840 --> 0:00:04.400 The following is a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com 0:00:04.440 --> 0:00:15.800 and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club. This He's Talking Cowboys 0:00:15.800 --> 0:00:19.160 training live from the Dallas Cowboys World Hours at the 0:00:19.280 --> 0:00:31.360 Star in Chris Jody, Hello again, and welcome to another 0:00:31.520 --> 0:00:34.239 edition of One Talking Cowboys one on one. My name 0:00:34.280 --> 0:00:38.080 is Heckman Harrison, and today I have a very special guest. 0:00:38.240 --> 0:00:40.640 This guy is a part of a company that is 0:00:40.720 --> 0:00:45.640 taking over pro football football in general. Uh these initials 0:00:45.680 --> 0:00:47.600 p f F. If you don't know the name, I 0:00:47.760 --> 0:00:50.680 promise you you should. And they are standing at the 0:00:50.720 --> 0:00:53.760 finish line waving the flag on their competition. And this 0:00:53.800 --> 0:00:59.000 guy is amazing. He's a jose A degree from Loyola 0:00:59.080 --> 0:01:03.680 merrimonth In mat Madox, a former teacher and now currently 0:01:03.960 --> 0:01:07.760 the chief revenue Officer, data scientist and co host of 0:01:07.959 --> 0:01:11.959 PF Forecast. This guy's a genius. He's gonna play humble 0:01:12.040 --> 0:01:15.240 and deny it. However, the one thing that he cannot 0:01:15.280 --> 0:01:17.920 deny is that he has the best hairline and all 0:01:17.959 --> 0:01:22.039 of analytics. Man, my guy, mister George Jory, how are 0:01:22.040 --> 0:01:24.839 you saying? I don't know how I'm gonna ever talk 0:01:24.920 --> 0:01:27.160 that intro that was the nicest thing that just about 0:01:27.160 --> 0:01:31.399 anyone's ever said about me. But man, I appreciate. I'm 0:01:31.440 --> 0:01:36.280 excited to talk Cowboys, to talk to football, and everything 0:01:36.319 --> 0:01:38.800 you said about PFF I think is true, and I'm 0:01:39.160 --> 0:01:41.679 I'm happy and excited and thankful to be on a 0:01:41.760 --> 0:01:44.280 great team with a lot of people around me that 0:01:44.319 --> 0:01:47.440 are honestly doing some really cool and awesome stuff. So 0:01:48.200 --> 0:01:49.680 it should be a lot of fun. Man, I'm looking 0:01:49.680 --> 0:01:52.440 forward to talking to you. Oh good, George. Man, Well, listen. 0:01:52.560 --> 0:01:54.360 One of the things I gotta tell you, I'm a 0:01:54.400 --> 0:01:56.760 big fan of you guys. You and Eric, you guys 0:01:56.840 --> 0:02:00.480 are it's ere Gas mcgold listening to you guys. I 0:02:00.520 --> 0:02:02.840 get a lot of my facts from you and Eric, 0:02:02.880 --> 0:02:05.040 and I don't know how you maintain a straight face 0:02:05.120 --> 0:02:08.480 with that guy, because I'm telling you here is hilarious. 0:02:08.800 --> 0:02:10.800 But look, one of the things that I've been doing, 0:02:10.800 --> 0:02:13.480 and I've argued about this part in the segment because 0:02:13.480 --> 0:02:15.680 I think it's very important, man, But if you could 0:02:15.760 --> 0:02:18.960 tell me, give me your quarantine chronicles, give me the 0:02:18.960 --> 0:02:23.440 cliff notes to what it's been like dealing with COVID nineteen. Man, 0:02:24.240 --> 0:02:28.400 First off, I would say, Man, I I thank God 0:02:28.440 --> 0:02:31.959 above for the fact that I still have a job 0:02:32.080 --> 0:02:37.360 and my health. So that part has been fantastic, And 0:02:38.840 --> 0:02:41.440 I don't know what's been harder, keeping a straight face 0:02:41.560 --> 0:02:44.760 when Eric makes some sarcastic comment that like two people 0:02:44.760 --> 0:02:47.760 in the world will get, or the fact that I 0:02:47.800 --> 0:02:51.840 am without a gym, which has honestly been one of 0:02:51.840 --> 0:02:54.280 the hardest parts of the whole quarantine. I've been quarantining 0:02:54.280 --> 0:02:56.400 here in DC. I live in since Stan that's where 0:02:56.440 --> 0:02:59.880 pfact is. But my girlfriend works and lives in DC 0:03:00.080 --> 0:03:02.880 see and can't really pick where she's going to be 0:03:02.880 --> 0:03:05.840 because of her job. So I have been annoying her 0:03:05.880 --> 0:03:09.960 to no end in her small little studio without a gym, 0:03:10.320 --> 0:03:12.959 and so I've been doing all kinds of weird body 0:03:12.960 --> 0:03:17.800 weight workouts in this small, like tiny, cramped space. And 0:03:17.840 --> 0:03:20.240 so that's been a huge part of my quarantine. In 0:03:20.320 --> 0:03:23.720 addition to look, every night you sit there and you go, 0:03:24.320 --> 0:03:25.560 you know, I don't have to I don't have to 0:03:25.600 --> 0:03:29.000 go anywhere tomorrow. Maybe one glass of tequila or a 0:03:29.000 --> 0:03:31.639 glass of wine won't kill me. So that's basically been 0:03:31.680 --> 0:03:35.480 my quarantine wrapped into one man. Listen, I feel you 0:03:35.520 --> 0:03:38.840 in the quarantine. Fifteen is for real, and I'm a 0:03:38.960 --> 0:03:42.920 sufferer fifteen myself. I mean, look times like these Knat 0:03:43.000 --> 0:03:45.560 chocolate chip cookies. Okay, so let's be real about it, 0:03:46.080 --> 0:03:50.200 or another shop tequila, whichever you prefer. You're so spot on. 0:03:50.320 --> 0:03:52.760 I feel like everyone when the quarantine started, and I 0:03:52.920 --> 0:03:54.880 was one of these people, was like, Okay, I have 0:03:54.920 --> 0:03:57.320 all this opportunity ahead of me. I'm going to learn 0:03:57.360 --> 0:03:59.800 a new language. I'm gonna read three books that I'd 0:03:59.800 --> 0:04:01.800 never have gotten to read, and I'm gonna get in 0:04:01.840 --> 0:04:05.000 great shape. And then all of a sudden it was like, oh, wait, no, 0:04:05.160 --> 0:04:07.600 that's not gonna happen. I'm gonna be lazy. I'm gonna 0:04:07.640 --> 0:04:11.080 watch some show that I've already watched three times, and 0:04:11.240 --> 0:04:14.720 when it comes to ordering ice cream, I'll probably get 0:04:14.760 --> 0:04:19.919 four point four pints instead of three, because why not, George, 0:04:19.920 --> 0:04:23.000 I feel you man, Listen, let's get down to it. 0:04:23.040 --> 0:04:26.320 And the one thing that I am so fascinated about 0:04:26.360 --> 0:04:31.040 the PF, and I am a pinging subscriber to PF. 0:04:31.080 --> 0:04:34.599 I love you guys in by the way, yeah, of course, 0:04:34.800 --> 0:04:38.120 of course listen. And the other thing is you and 0:04:38.240 --> 0:04:39.880 Eric have got to mention me as a friend of 0:04:39.920 --> 0:04:41.760 the show. Boy. I'll talk about that later, all right. 0:04:42.680 --> 0:04:46.000 But the thing about PFF that I find so fascinating is, 0:04:46.120 --> 0:04:49.200 you know, the vision of Neil Hornsby that started in 0:04:49.240 --> 0:04:52.679 twenty seventeen or two thousand and four, and with Chris 0:04:52.720 --> 0:04:56.520 collins Worth the partnership and taking this thing to the 0:04:56.520 --> 0:05:00.280 next level. What you guys have brought to foot and 0:05:00.400 --> 0:05:03.640 your motto of judging every player, every play, every game 0:05:04.160 --> 0:05:09.240 has added a completely new dimension to evaluating football. Like 0:05:09.560 --> 0:05:13.720 for guys like Will McClay, Senior vice president of Player Personnel, 0:05:13.920 --> 0:05:18.160 this is invaluable. And you see coaches endorsing PFF. You 0:05:18.200 --> 0:05:21.720 see you know in the NC double A endorsing PF. 0:05:21.839 --> 0:05:25.400 How have you guys been able to capture this large 0:05:25.560 --> 0:05:29.200 market in such a short period of time, you know? 0:05:29.400 --> 0:05:33.720 And you mentioned Neil, and Neil had a hobby honestly 0:05:33.800 --> 0:05:35.640 that he was super passionate about it. And I feel 0:05:35.640 --> 0:05:38.680 like that's something that you always hear in stories where 0:05:38.720 --> 0:05:41.280 there's a success at the end, is someone's just really 0:05:41.279 --> 0:05:45.160 passionate about something. And I don't know anyone that loves 0:05:45.200 --> 0:05:49.080 football more than that crazy englishman Neil Hornsby, who if 0:05:49.120 --> 0:05:53.320 you've ever heard his accent is startling, as as is 0:05:53.360 --> 0:05:56.760 his football knowledge. And Chris tells a great story about 0:05:56.760 --> 0:05:59.240 the first time that he ever talked to Neil. He 0:05:59.240 --> 0:06:01.920 had heard about I think after the Giants won their 0:06:01.960 --> 0:06:05.800 first Super Bowl and a super Bowl and mentioned PF 0:06:06.120 --> 0:06:08.440 I think it was actually maybe their second one, and 0:06:08.600 --> 0:06:11.039 had mentioned PF because they've been using it. And he 0:06:11.160 --> 0:06:13.160 calls up Neil and he tells the story. He goes, 0:06:13.200 --> 0:06:15.680 I thought I'd dialed the wrong number because when I 0:06:15.760 --> 0:06:17.839 heard him say hello, I was like, this can't be it. 0:06:18.000 --> 0:06:21.120 Some Brits gonna tell me about football, and he says, 0:06:21.160 --> 0:06:24.159 you know, within ten minutes, he goes, this guy knows 0:06:24.200 --> 0:06:27.320 more about football than I do. And it's a testament 0:06:27.360 --> 0:06:32.039 to what analyzing every player on every play and every 0:06:32.080 --> 0:06:36.240 game can do, and also being humble about it, saying, look, 0:06:36.279 --> 0:06:39.960 I'm not going to let my preconceived notions or beliefs 0:06:39.960 --> 0:06:42.960 about a player draw me in any direction. I'm going 0:06:43.040 --> 0:06:46.080 to be brutally honest with how they've performed on that 0:06:46.120 --> 0:06:48.440 play and in that game and in that season. And 0:06:48.480 --> 0:06:51.000 I think it's helped, you know, it's obviously helped our 0:06:51.040 --> 0:06:53.800 company a ton that Chris has invested, and you know, 0:06:53.839 --> 0:06:56.560 it's such a hands on I talked to Chris more 0:06:56.560 --> 0:06:59.560 than just about anyone. He has a wealth of knowledge, 0:06:59.560 --> 0:07:04.640 obvious slee but he leverages PF. He really cares so 0:07:04.720 --> 0:07:08.280 much about when he's calling a game, being right and 0:07:08.360 --> 0:07:10.760 being accurate and doing a service to the game that 0:07:10.800 --> 0:07:14.040 we're watching the best game of the week. Um. And 0:07:14.400 --> 0:07:19.200 I hear the impact of PF in basically every game 0:07:19.200 --> 0:07:21.960 that he calls, if not every play. UM. And it's 0:07:22.000 --> 0:07:24.080 it all comes down to passion, you know. Neil is 0:07:24.080 --> 0:07:27.800 passionate about it. Chris is passionate about um, you know, 0:07:27.960 --> 0:07:30.320 calling the game of football. And I'd like to think 0:07:30.360 --> 0:07:33.280 that myself and all the people that work um, you know, 0:07:33.400 --> 0:07:36.400 kind of under the cover of darkness in Cincinnati, we 0:07:36.480 --> 0:07:39.960 all love football too. And so it makes grinding those 0:07:40.040 --> 0:07:43.560 extra few hours, whether it be coding something up or watching, 0:07:43.960 --> 0:07:47.520 you know, an extra few games of film, makes it easy. 0:07:47.600 --> 0:07:50.080 So I appreciate all the kind things you said. We're 0:07:50.120 --> 0:07:52.240 gonna we're gonna hook you up. Though you have been 0:07:53.560 --> 0:07:55.080 very kind. We might even have to get you on 0:07:55.120 --> 0:07:57.400 the forecast. I don't know how you feel about that, man, 0:07:57.440 --> 0:07:59.920 I feel real good about it. But listen, I got 0:08:00.160 --> 0:08:03.120 to ask, well, no, I have to ask this question. 0:08:03.640 --> 0:08:07.960 And you know, if you watch Sunday Night Football, Chris Collinsworth, 0:08:08.440 --> 0:08:11.320 it's shameless plug for PF every Sunday night. You know 0:08:11.840 --> 0:08:15.000 he's saying something about a PFF stat But the thing 0:08:15.000 --> 0:08:18.000 that I find very remarkable is the fact that coach 0:08:18.040 --> 0:08:21.239 like coach Mike McCarthy, and you know, the year before 0:08:21.400 --> 0:08:24.760 before he received the job as the Cowboys coach, he's 0:08:25.160 --> 0:08:27.160 that was one of the things that he delved into. 0:08:27.320 --> 0:08:29.840 He talked to Peter Peter King about that in an 0:08:29.880 --> 0:08:34.760 in an interview, saying that how valuable Pro Football focus 0:08:35.000 --> 0:08:38.760 was to him revamping his strategy as a coach and 0:08:38.880 --> 0:08:43.640 optimizing his play calling, everything from that to grading players. 0:08:43.679 --> 0:08:47.040 And like I said, for you guys, as an organization, 0:08:47.520 --> 0:08:50.600 coaches swear by you. How did you earn that trust 0:08:50.880 --> 0:08:54.640 so quickly? Well, one of the things that Chris does 0:08:54.679 --> 0:08:57.280 every single week, and this is a part of the 0:08:57.320 --> 0:09:00.079 production of Sunday Night Football, is but he talked to 0:09:00.200 --> 0:09:03.600 every coach and I mean the Packers were on a 0:09:03.640 --> 0:09:06.679 few Sunday night games in their day, so you know 0:09:06.720 --> 0:09:09.880 he's talked to Mike McCarthy plenty of times. And that's 0:09:09.920 --> 0:09:13.000 how they prepare, and so coaches have become familiar with 0:09:13.080 --> 0:09:16.360 us in really two ways. Their departments, whether it be 0:09:16.480 --> 0:09:20.120 analytics or scouting, or their coaches are leveraging it on 0:09:20.120 --> 0:09:24.160 a daily basis to help prepare for games, to evaluate players, 0:09:25.160 --> 0:09:28.400 you know, just to watch film more efficiently. And then 0:09:28.559 --> 0:09:31.120 on the other side of things, they see, okay, well, 0:09:31.280 --> 0:09:33.160 you know, people calling the games and you're you're right 0:09:33.160 --> 0:09:36.679 about this are using it to talk about the game 0:09:36.720 --> 0:09:41.360 more eloquently, and so coaches have become very familiar with it. 0:09:41.440 --> 0:09:44.320 And Mike McCarthy, who I had the pleasure of sitting 0:09:44.360 --> 0:09:47.760 down with and talking to for about an hour when 0:09:47.840 --> 0:09:52.360 he came to Cincinnati. You know, they're able to let 0:09:52.400 --> 0:09:54.240 their hair down and just be like, Hey, I'm going 0:09:54.280 --> 0:09:56.959 to come here and I'm going to talk football, and 0:09:57.000 --> 0:09:59.480 I might learn a few things. I might push back 0:09:59.480 --> 0:10:03.120 on a few. We learned so much. I think it's 0:10:03.160 --> 0:10:05.199 always fun to talk about how much you teach other people. 0:10:05.200 --> 0:10:08.560 But I've learned a ton from listening to, you know, 0:10:08.559 --> 0:10:11.480 the different coaches we talked to at the combine as well, 0:10:12.640 --> 0:10:17.760 and I am excited to see what this Dallas Cowboys 0:10:17.840 --> 0:10:21.200 team can be because Mike McCarthy did a lot of 0:10:21.240 --> 0:10:24.120 things that were innovative. I mean everyone thinks about that 0:10:24.280 --> 0:10:27.319 end with Aaron Rodgers, and it was ugly. I mean 0:10:27.720 --> 0:10:31.360 I talked to some people that were questioning whether Rogers 0:10:31.480 --> 0:10:34.480 was realistically kind of throwing them under the bus with 0:10:34.520 --> 0:10:37.280 some of his play. So that's about as ugly as 0:10:37.280 --> 0:10:41.199 it gets. But before that, there was this offensive explosion 0:10:41.320 --> 0:10:42.800 that Green Bay had. I mean, they had a great 0:10:42.880 --> 0:10:46.079 quarterback play. Obviously they had great receivers, but that was 0:10:46.120 --> 0:10:48.520 one of the best offenses year in and year out. 0:10:48.920 --> 0:10:52.320 And now in Dallas, he's got a nucleus that honestly 0:10:52.480 --> 0:10:54.800 is not that dissimilar. I mean, they've got three stud 0:10:54.840 --> 0:10:57.480 wide receivers that you're excited to watch, they have a 0:10:57.520 --> 0:11:01.360 great offensive line, they have a quarterback look. Dak Prescott 0:11:01.440 --> 0:11:04.160 is not Aaron Rodgers from the talent perspective, but he's 0:11:04.360 --> 0:11:07.640 pretty darn good. And if he brings some of these 0:11:07.720 --> 0:11:11.120 new efficiencies that he is fine tuning with, whether it 0:11:11.200 --> 0:11:14.320 be situational play calling, whether it be going forward on 0:11:14.400 --> 0:11:18.559 fourth down things that he has, you know, maybe he'll 0:11:18.559 --> 0:11:21.080 admit in some situations has messed up on in the 0:11:21.120 --> 0:11:25.960 past that could make for a really exciting season. So um, 0:11:26.320 --> 0:11:28.319 you know, not not to get too carried away with it, 0:11:28.360 --> 0:11:30.880 but I am really the Cowboys are one of the 0:11:30.920 --> 0:11:34.600 teams that I'm most interested in seeing this season. God 0:11:34.640 --> 0:11:38.520 willingly have one. Yeah, we're gonna have one. Man, We're 0:11:38.520 --> 0:11:40.760 gonna have Well, I'm just claiming it right now. But 0:11:40.920 --> 0:11:43.520 you you kind of segue into something that I really 0:11:43.600 --> 0:11:46.520 want to talk about, and that's Dak Prescott. And you know, 0:11:46.600 --> 0:11:49.520 Pro Football Focus has a very interesting perspective on how 0:11:49.600 --> 0:11:54.360 you guys grade quarterbacks. I mean from formation to empty 0:11:54.520 --> 0:11:57.719 you know, to no pressure or two pressure, things like that. 0:11:57.800 --> 0:12:00.439 And when you look at Dak's grade from his first 0:12:00.520 --> 0:12:04.280 year all the way through the fourth year, pretty much average. 0:12:04.320 --> 0:12:07.120 He's about high seventies, but first year in the eighties, 0:12:07.400 --> 0:12:09.680 fourth year in the eighties as well, and that's indicative 0:12:09.679 --> 0:12:13.600 of all the yards that he's had. Looking at the 0:12:13.720 --> 0:12:16.960 lack of an extension and Dak playing under the franchise tag, 0:12:17.000 --> 0:12:19.840 and the thing that's alarming about it is historically franchise 0:12:19.920 --> 0:12:22.440 quarterbacks have never had to play under the franchise tag. 0:12:23.160 --> 0:12:25.840 Were you and it's too I guess there's questions two sided? 0:12:26.080 --> 0:12:31.360 Were you surprised that Dak didn't receive an extension based 0:12:31.400 --> 0:12:34.800 off of those numbers, And what do you believe Dak 0:12:34.800 --> 0:12:38.480 Prescott has to do to be considered amongst that upper 0:12:38.520 --> 0:12:45.400 echelon of quarterbacks in the NFL. Great question. I was surprised. 0:12:46.160 --> 0:12:49.880 I guess I'm less surprised this year than I was 0:12:50.040 --> 0:12:52.640 surprised that he wasn't one of the first players they 0:12:52.679 --> 0:12:56.920 went to lock up. And you know, I think sometimes 0:12:57.240 --> 0:13:00.640 you are faced with a ton of different situations, and 0:13:00.640 --> 0:13:03.760 obviously the Cowboys were, and you kind of, you know, 0:13:03.880 --> 0:13:07.040 you maybe lose track of which one is really the 0:13:07.040 --> 0:13:09.600 most important. If I looked at all those players that 0:13:09.640 --> 0:13:13.080 the Cowboys had to lock up, Dak was one with 0:13:13.120 --> 0:13:17.480 a bullet Because it doesn't matter who your stud receiver is, 0:13:17.520 --> 0:13:19.920 it doesn't matter who your running back is, doesn't matter 0:13:20.000 --> 0:13:23.079 who your edge defender, your best edge defender is if 0:13:23.120 --> 0:13:25.360 you can't have a quarterback throwing the ball accurately and 0:13:25.440 --> 0:13:29.720 making plays. So I thought that following looking just at 0:13:29.760 --> 0:13:32.600 the Philadelphia Eagles what they did with Carson Wentz, which 0:13:32.640 --> 0:13:35.880 I thought was a really shrewd move, which is to say, look, 0:13:35.920 --> 0:13:38.760 I know, the price for quarterback play maybe the hardest 0:13:38.800 --> 0:13:42.480 to fined skill in the world is only going up. 0:13:42.520 --> 0:13:45.000 I mean, it's only there's no way that it's going down, 0:13:45.360 --> 0:13:48.680 and so locking a guy up early would make sense. 0:13:48.920 --> 0:13:51.599 So after they decided, you know, they're not going to 0:13:51.679 --> 0:13:54.880 do that, it then made me less surprised this year 0:13:54.960 --> 0:13:58.240 that they couldn't come to an agreement because clearly the 0:13:58.280 --> 0:14:00.520 Cowboys had a view of Dak press Scot that he 0:14:00.600 --> 0:14:03.440 was not as valuable as Dak thought he was. And 0:14:03.480 --> 0:14:05.280 if you look at what the Frank Guise tag gives 0:14:05.360 --> 0:14:07.960 him this year, which is about thirty two million, and 0:14:08.000 --> 0:14:10.360 then you go, okay, well next year, I mean, how 0:14:10.400 --> 0:14:13.480 bad does he have to play? Cannot be worth another 0:14:13.480 --> 0:14:17.360 franchise tag because there aren't quarterback options growing on trees. 0:14:17.440 --> 0:14:20.320 We saw with Kirk Cousins he didn't have that great 0:14:20.360 --> 0:14:23.000 of a year after his first franchise tag and tag 0:14:23.080 --> 0:14:25.440 him again. You just don't have that many options. So 0:14:25.480 --> 0:14:28.760 to me, the Cowboys put themselves behind the eight ball, 0:14:29.160 --> 0:14:32.720 and Dad Prescott is now the guy with the leverage. 0:14:32.720 --> 0:14:36.080 I mean, he's got an amazing supporting cast around him. 0:14:36.120 --> 0:14:39.160 He's already had, you know, arguably his best year. His 0:14:39.240 --> 0:14:40.960 rookie year was great. But I thought last year, he 0:14:41.160 --> 0:14:42.760 kind of put the team war on his back. He 0:14:42.800 --> 0:14:46.520 was our third most valuable player using wins above replacement 0:14:47.040 --> 0:14:49.680 over the course of the regular season, which is you know, 0:14:49.920 --> 0:14:52.160 I mean that is a testament to what he kind 0:14:52.160 --> 0:14:55.480 of took on himself. And now as a coach, I 0:14:55.480 --> 0:14:58.600 thought Kellen Moore did a great job of leveraging the 0:14:58.680 --> 0:15:01.680 passing game and the right sit and now I think 0:15:01.680 --> 0:15:04.280 with McCarthy there's going to be an extra bit of innovation, 0:15:05.240 --> 0:15:10.320 willingness to let Dak shine. That betting on yourself in 0:15:10.400 --> 0:15:15.120 that situation sounds pretty appealing to me. So so yeah, 0:15:15.120 --> 0:15:18.400 I guess what I'm saying is I'm surprised the Cowboys 0:15:18.640 --> 0:15:21.240 missed it a year ago, and at this point I'd 0:15:21.240 --> 0:15:23.920 be very surprised if they are able to get Dak 0:15:23.920 --> 0:15:28.960 Prescott at any sort of discount. Ever, again, yeah, everyone 0:15:29.040 --> 0:15:31.720 knows the price is going up, it's not going down. 0:15:31.920 --> 0:15:34.240 And like you said, the frenchise sac thirty two million 0:15:34.240 --> 0:15:37.720 dollars and next year, I believe is thirty seven million dollars, 0:15:37.760 --> 0:15:41.160 And that's sixty nine million dollars in two years. And 0:15:41.200 --> 0:15:44.680 I don't think Dak would be disappointed with that. Neither 0:15:44.720 --> 0:15:48.560 would none of us would, George, none of us would. 0:15:48.640 --> 0:15:50.720 But the truth of the matter is is that you 0:15:50.720 --> 0:15:53.600 you know, you've seen this circumstance with Kirk Cousins, but 0:15:53.720 --> 0:15:55.760 at the same time, when you find a young guy 0:15:55.960 --> 0:15:58.800 like Dak prescotting, you just look over the years at 0:15:58.840 --> 0:16:01.600 the numbers. It's, in my opinion and based off of 0:16:01.600 --> 0:16:05.480 what I'm getting for Pro Football Focus, deck is trending 0:16:05.960 --> 0:16:09.440 in the direction of your upper echelon quarterbacks in the NFL. 0:16:10.560 --> 0:16:13.280 And it's it's hard because you go, Okay, well, I 0:16:13.360 --> 0:16:16.240 just saw the Kansas City Chiefs win a Super Bowl 0:16:16.240 --> 0:16:18.800 with Patrick Mahomes and Patrick Holmes is transcendent. I mean, 0:16:18.800 --> 0:16:21.920 you're not going to find a Patrick Mahomes just you know, 0:16:22.040 --> 0:16:24.280 in the next draft, right or the next ten drafts, 0:16:24.280 --> 0:16:25.960 so the next twenty I mean, how often did those 0:16:25.960 --> 0:16:28.960 guys come around? And so you say to yourself, Okay, well, 0:16:29.000 --> 0:16:32.800 where's the cutoff? Like where can I win with a quarterback? 0:16:33.000 --> 0:16:35.840 And I'm looking for a guy that can have a 0:16:35.920 --> 0:16:39.960 top ten season, and I believe that Dak Prescott is 0:16:40.000 --> 0:16:42.600 a guy capable of having a top ten season. I mean, 0:16:42.600 --> 0:16:45.960 if you were drafting quarterbacks right now, and we did 0:16:46.120 --> 0:16:49.520 at PF a few weeks ago, which I thought was 0:16:49.520 --> 0:16:52.920 a really interesting exercise. We redrafted the league. Here was 0:16:52.960 --> 0:16:54.880 a guy that went in the top ten, and I 0:16:54.920 --> 0:16:56.560 think that's right on. I don't think he's a guy 0:16:56.600 --> 0:16:59.680 you've taken the top five, but you're not going to 0:16:59.720 --> 0:17:03.760 find those guys. Uh, you know, just at will. You 0:17:03.760 --> 0:17:05.480 can't say I'm gonna get rid of Dak Prescott and 0:17:05.520 --> 0:17:07.639 go find myself a top five guy. That's not going 0:17:07.680 --> 0:17:10.920 to happen. So um, I think you have to pay 0:17:11.240 --> 0:17:14.240 for a top ten quarterback and you have to understand 0:17:14.760 --> 0:17:17.920 that you're probably going to set, you know, some sort 0:17:17.960 --> 0:17:22.040 of standard. I think Mahomes was interesting and that it 0:17:22.119 --> 0:17:25.400 was definitely a bar that was right, you know, raised 0:17:25.400 --> 0:17:27.600 a bit, but it wasn't as much as people want 0:17:27.640 --> 0:17:29.640 to believe. I mean, it was a ten year deal. 0:17:29.720 --> 0:17:32.600 It was basically kind of these two five year deals. 0:17:32.680 --> 0:17:36.160 Obviously the total figure was massive, but it also allowed 0:17:36.200 --> 0:17:39.879 them to sign Chris Jones. You know, like the money 0:17:39.920 --> 0:17:41.719 that that Patrick Mahomes is getting over the next two 0:17:41.800 --> 0:17:45.520 years is about what Miles Garrett is getting, so you know, 0:17:45.560 --> 0:17:47.879 so there are different ways to look at these things 0:17:48.320 --> 0:17:52.720 than just kind of the overall macro view and and 0:17:52.920 --> 0:17:55.520 with quarterbacks, you're just going to have to set you know, 0:17:55.600 --> 0:17:58.160 some of those um you know those parameters, you're gonna 0:17:58.119 --> 0:17:59.480 have to extend them a little bit and you're gonna 0:17:59.480 --> 0:18:01.600 have to accept it. And not every guy is going 0:18:01.640 --> 0:18:05.320 to be Patrick Mullins. But if you can get top 0:18:05.400 --> 0:18:08.280 ten play, it's worth it because there are ten guys 0:18:08.280 --> 0:18:10.159 in the world that can give that to you. And 0:18:10.720 --> 0:18:14.119 Dak Prescott it was weird his rookie year. He had 0:18:14.200 --> 0:18:18.800 such a good supporting cast, and then kind of throughout 0:18:18.840 --> 0:18:21.960 the organization. I felt like from coaching on down, it 0:18:22.040 --> 0:18:24.760 really petered out in those next two years. And with 0:18:24.800 --> 0:18:27.240 a Marti Cooper coming in, a receiver that could actually 0:18:27.280 --> 0:18:30.360 get open, and now he's got three of them, he's 0:18:30.359 --> 0:18:33.760 got a solid offensive line. I would say what we 0:18:33.800 --> 0:18:36.360 saw last year is way more indicative, but we'll see 0:18:36.480 --> 0:18:40.720 going forward than anything else. Now we're going to switch 0:18:40.760 --> 0:18:44.000 over to the other side of the ball, and the 0:18:44.119 --> 0:18:48.200 question is about our linebacker linebacking corps. The thing is, 0:18:48.240 --> 0:18:52.040 two years ago PFF had Jalen Smith and Layton vander 0:18:52.119 --> 0:18:56.320 Ess ranked as the top duo of linebackers in the NFL, 0:18:56.400 --> 0:18:59.480 and that's saying a lot with the kind of youth 0:19:00.320 --> 0:19:04.359 and talent that there is at the linebacker position. Obviously, 0:19:04.480 --> 0:19:08.159 last year man not the same, all right, the percentages 0:19:08.160 --> 0:19:11.320 away down Layton Vanderas obviously dealing with the neck issue. 0:19:11.640 --> 0:19:14.160 And also I'm sure Jayala Smith would agree that last 0:19:14.200 --> 0:19:18.720 year wasn't possibly his best year statistically. Going forward and 0:19:18.800 --> 0:19:21.680 looking at this new Cowboys defense, and you and Eric 0:19:21.680 --> 0:19:25.840 have made a lot about pass rush versus pass protection 0:19:25.880 --> 0:19:28.840 and things like that, but just the efficiency of the 0:19:28.920 --> 0:19:32.080 linebacking group from for the Dallas Cowboys, how do you 0:19:32.119 --> 0:19:35.080 see the improvement there being something that asks to the 0:19:35.080 --> 0:19:39.359 overall success of the Cowboys defense. Something that we try 0:19:39.400 --> 0:19:43.600 to talk about is going from season to season, people 0:19:43.640 --> 0:19:45.960 are really tied to what they saw the last year. 0:19:46.240 --> 0:19:48.560 So they see a defense play well the last year 0:19:48.600 --> 0:19:50.960 and they go, all right, they're going to be dominant 0:19:50.960 --> 0:19:53.560 again the next year. And there's a way to test 0:19:53.600 --> 0:19:57.159 this mathematically. How confident should you be? And defense is 0:19:57.200 --> 0:20:00.000 something that you just don't have a lot of confidence. 0:20:00.040 --> 0:20:02.560 It's in from season to season things fluctuate, and a 0:20:02.600 --> 0:20:05.119 lot of that is because they're playing defense. The offense 0:20:05.200 --> 0:20:07.040 is the one that decides where to go. With the ball, 0:20:07.160 --> 0:20:09.359 so they control a little bit more of these things. 0:20:09.680 --> 0:20:12.720 And so just by its very nature, defense is more volatile. 0:20:13.080 --> 0:20:15.920 And then you've got things like injury. Right, Layton Vanderesh 0:20:16.000 --> 0:20:17.920 was great and then he was injured and he wasn't 0:20:17.960 --> 0:20:20.880 so great. I want to say his mistackle rate doubled 0:20:21.440 --> 0:20:25.560 last season. Jalen Smith was not quite himself either. But 0:20:25.720 --> 0:20:30.520 we just came out today with our linebacker unit rankings. 0:20:31.040 --> 0:20:34.080 My man Steve Palozzolo put them together. I have a 0:20:34.119 --> 0:20:37.280 couple of beefs with him. There's you know, let's not 0:20:37.359 --> 0:20:41.520 mix that up. But he has the Cowboys at number two. 0:20:41.960 --> 0:20:44.480 I'll let everyone listening go find out who number one is. 0:20:44.800 --> 0:20:47.440 I'm not sure I quite I guess I kind of 0:20:47.480 --> 0:20:50.639 agree with it, But that tells you the potential for 0:20:50.760 --> 0:20:53.879 these guys. Now it comes down to health, and it 0:20:53.960 --> 0:20:56.280 also comes down a little bit to luck. Are you 0:20:56.440 --> 0:21:00.199 playing a bunch of great offenses that can take advantage 0:21:00.200 --> 0:21:04.080 of you? Because the offense ultimately dictates things. But here's 0:21:04.080 --> 0:21:06.680 what I like about both those guys. They're both athletic 0:21:06.720 --> 0:21:09.480 and they can cover. And if I am thinking about 0:21:09.480 --> 0:21:13.000 a linebacker in today's NFL, I know we are you know, 0:21:13.320 --> 0:21:15.480 sort of tune to think about linebackers. The guy that's 0:21:15.480 --> 0:21:18.920 a hard hitting, you know, football player, if their ability 0:21:18.960 --> 0:21:22.359 to cover is the number one thing that I'm looking for, 0:21:22.440 --> 0:21:24.800 and both those guys have shown the ability to do that. 0:21:25.320 --> 0:21:28.360 So if I'm looking at what could be, Yeah, they 0:21:28.359 --> 0:21:32.160 could be the best linebacking unit in the NFL this year, certainly, 0:21:32.200 --> 0:21:33.720 and they're one of the teams that has the best 0:21:33.760 --> 0:21:38.280 chance to do it. Okay, now, I'm telling you, I've 0:21:38.320 --> 0:21:40.800 heard a lot of fascinated arguments from you and Eric, 0:21:40.840 --> 0:21:43.480 and I think that one, when it comes down to 0:21:43.760 --> 0:21:46.840 pass coverage versus pass rush, is very intriguing. And I 0:21:46.880 --> 0:21:51.640 think you used the example of us an illustration of 0:21:51.880 --> 0:21:55.440 Aaron Donald beating his guy and create and getting a sack. 0:21:55.880 --> 0:22:02.359 But you attribute Jalen Ramsey value add to Aaron Donald 0:22:02.359 --> 0:22:05.320 getting the sack because you, on average, quarterbacks passed the 0:22:05.359 --> 0:22:08.760