Speaker 1: This is the Dallas Cowboys dot Com Draft Show, your
Speaker 1: war room for incenter news and draft analysis from deep
Speaker 1: within the conbines of Cowboys headquarters at the Star in Fresco,
Speaker 1: the Dallas Cowboys, Tyler Smith, and now your host, Kyle Yeomans.
Speaker 1: Hey there, everybody, Welcome into the Draft Show, presented by
Speaker 1: Miller Light. We are live from the Indiana Convention Center
Speaker 1: in the twenty twenty three NFL Combine on Radio Row.
Speaker 1: We are on site for day number three of the
Speaker 1: combine this year alongside Ayesha Morrison. I'm Kyle Yeoman's. We
Speaker 1: are pleased to be joined by a very special guest
Speaker 1: if you got Vice President of Player Personnel Will McClay
Speaker 1: joining us now. And Will, it's been a busy week
Speaker 1: for you already. How's it been going. It's great. You
Speaker 1: said it was day number three. I feel like it's
Speaker 1: a day number twelve. How it runs were during the combine?
Speaker 1: What is this combine been light compared to some of
Speaker 1: the ones that you've had in the past. Um, it's
Speaker 1: it's very very similar. I just think that what's changed
Speaker 1: is they're improving the player experience, which means it's a
Speaker 1: little longer day a little different for the rest of
Speaker 1: us that are trying to do our job, but it's
Speaker 1: the same old deal, oh man. Overall, I mean it
Speaker 1: really feels like that because they pushed everything back a
Speaker 1: little bit, the interviews, the drills, and it keeps you
Speaker 1: here longer, right, Yeah. I mean today we started interviews
Speaker 1: at eight in the morning and then we'll go till
Speaker 1: eleven o'clock at night with that break in between the workouts. Okay,
Speaker 1: what do you get to eat in the middle. That's
Speaker 1: that's what we got to talk about it. Whatever's up
Speaker 1: in the suite, and you know, we roll with it.
Speaker 1: You mentioned the player experiences being important and something you
Speaker 1: guys are prioritizing. What are ways that you folks are
Speaker 1: trying to prioritize and make the players experience better. I
Speaker 1: think what we're trying to do, the league is trying
Speaker 1: to do, and the Combine Committee is trying to give
Speaker 1: the players more opportunity to rest before their events so
Speaker 1: that they're fresher, um just giving them a better overall experience.
Speaker 1: And you know, in their introduction to the NFL overall
Speaker 1: you mentioned kind of the overall experience. Has that shifted
Speaker 1: from a league wide scenario through from your early days
Speaker 1: to what it is now and it's become more player centric.
Speaker 1: But how has it changed for an executive like yourself.
Speaker 1: You know, we have to adjust and you know and
Speaker 1: in this game and everybody has to adjust, and there's
Speaker 1: different things that you have to do to be able
Speaker 1: to figure out how to work within the conditions that
Speaker 1: you have. So you know, they're going to give us
Speaker 1: a set of rules. We've abide by those rules and
Speaker 1: we want to make the best of it. And the
Speaker 1: number one thing is for us is getting the opportunity
Speaker 1: to converse with the players, find out who they are,
Speaker 1: just get a little bit more information. Is that one
Speaker 1: of your favorite parts of the process is getting to
Speaker 1: know those guys. Yeah, you know, we're into people business.
Speaker 1: I've said this before. We're asking people about people. Uh,
Speaker 1: and you know we're gathering that information. So now is
Speaker 1: our opportunity to find out that information we gather as
Speaker 1: but also to put our own you know, feelings to
Speaker 1: what we think about the player from interacting with them. Yeah,
Speaker 1: put the face to the name. For me, it's also
Speaker 1: just seeing these guys myself, seeing their builds, seeing how
Speaker 1: they interact, just seeing how they interact with their peers,
Speaker 1: a lot of them just a lot of them just
Speaker 1: taking the time to talk about the connections that they
Speaker 1: have within some of the NFL teams already, and it's
Speaker 1: kind of cool to hear. Even from the Cowboys standpoint.
Speaker 1: So many of the players have been like, yeah, you
Speaker 1: know Jay Ferguson as a guy, I reach out too,
Speaker 1: and and there's it's cool to know that in the
Speaker 1: Cowboys locker room there's gentlemen that are really reaching out
Speaker 1: to these guys and being encouraging and to them about
Speaker 1: the process and letting them understand it. I thought that
Speaker 1: was something that stood out to me, is there seems
Speaker 1: like some real camaraderie that's here in this class as well. Yeah,
Speaker 1: there's a there's a brotherhood amongst these guys. And again
Speaker 1: they all kind of they know each other, like we're
Speaker 1: talking to guys in the room and uh, you know,
Speaker 1: they're like you said, there were players that say, Okay, hey,
Speaker 1: I reached out to so and so on your team
Speaker 1: to kind of give us some advice. But that's the
Speaker 1: unique part about it, and what we're trying to do
Speaker 1: is find those guys is that you not only you
Speaker 1: gotta be good football players. You have all that, but
Speaker 1: who fits into the culture, right, because the important part
Speaker 1: of the successful teams is that they have a culture.
Speaker 1: So uh, you know, you set that standard and you
Speaker 1: you know, we we we get that feeling from guys
Speaker 1: it's okay they would fit and you know those sort
Speaker 1: that sort of information. Is there a different type of
Speaker 1: guys guy that you guys target whenever it comes to that,
Speaker 1: when it comes to the off the field and the
Speaker 1: culture fit that you guys bring to the table. From
Speaker 1: maybe the Jason Garrett days into the Mike McCarthy days,
Speaker 1: has there been a switch on the type of personnel
Speaker 1: that you look for? Not really? I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: every system has type of players that they want. Um.
Speaker 1: Our objective on the scouting side is to evaluate guys
Speaker 1: regardless of the system, give them their value, and then
Speaker 1: we see if they fit in. Yeah. Overall, when you
Speaker 1: look at this draft class, what stands out to you
Speaker 1: the most about some of those individuals that you've gotten
Speaker 1: to talk to so far? Where do they rank in
Speaker 1: terms of uh, kind of some of the classes that
Speaker 1: you've had in the past. Um, you know, every year
Speaker 1: it kind of changes and now you have those those
Speaker 1: players that had the COVID year, they're a little bit older.
Speaker 1: I think there are players that are older that are
Speaker 1: now in the um, you know, up for the draft.
Speaker 1: You know, there's some twenty four twenty five year old players.
Speaker 1: So that's something that we take into consideration. But these
Speaker 1: guys are also very cognizant of their own personal brand.
Speaker 1: Uh So that's you know, it's a unique set of
Speaker 1: circumstances that we have to kind of figure out that
Speaker 1: the whole n IL And you know, players are getting
Speaker 1: paid now in college and why do they stay, why
Speaker 1: do they come out? And then how important is football
Speaker 1: to them? Because you know, when I was coming out
Speaker 1: way back in the day, you know, I got twenty
Speaker 1: bucks the last me two weeks. Well, now they were
Speaker 1: getting these uh you know, big money deals. So finding
Speaker 1: out just how important football is to them and and
Speaker 1: and being aware that they know about business. Yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: I want to circle back to that in a couple
Speaker 1: of moments. But while we do have Dane Bruckler on
Speaker 1: the headset as well, we're adding a fourth person. You
Speaker 1: were having some fun on Radio Row. It's Radio Row.
Speaker 1: It's a little bit hectic, but we're glad to have
Speaker 1: you on the show. Well, I want to circle back
Speaker 1: to the nil. Does that make your job harder? Does
Speaker 1: that make the scouting job harder? Because it's just another
Speaker 1: added element to throw into the table. It's something else
Speaker 1: you have to figure out that you have to dig into.
Speaker 1: And everybody's motivations different. It's like the COVID year. It's
Speaker 1: just another the COVID year. There were some guys that
Speaker 1: did not play that year that you know, you go
Speaker 1: into it saying, oh, well, we want guys to play. Well,
Speaker 1: as you got further along, what were the reasoning you know,
Speaker 1: excuse me, the reasons why you didn't And that gives
Speaker 1: you another layer of the player. What were some of
Speaker 1: the reasons that you still took Michael Parsons that year
Speaker 1: whenever he came off of a COVID year that he
Speaker 1: didn't play, well, you know his reasoning Big ten wasn't
Speaker 1: going to play and then they said they were going
Speaker 1: to play. I had made the decision. So they all
Speaker 1: had these different, you know, environments that they had to
Speaker 1: navigate through, and you want to hear the thought processes
Speaker 1: of why they did it and then check out the
Speaker 1: sincerity and dig and see if the information matches. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you mentioned how there some older players in this draft class,
Speaker 1: even from like offensive line, some of these dbs or
Speaker 1: five year starters. How is that something that you guys
Speaker 1: are looking at the experience of some of these players
Speaker 1: that are deciding to stay longer and finish and kind
Speaker 1: of perfect their craft in college. You look at it
Speaker 1: both ways with that the number of snaps they've taken,
Speaker 1: how long they've played, how many games they started. But
Speaker 1: then you also look at it from a longevity term,
Speaker 1: because when you sign a contract, there's a difference when
Speaker 1: a guy's twenty two when a guy's twenty five, and
Speaker 1: you start talking about second you know, second contracts and
Speaker 1: things like that, all you know, pieces of information that
Speaker 1: we throw into the mix. I'm really interested in how
Speaker 1: you guys look at positional value, especially when stick tight
Speaker 1: end for example, how much do you look at, you know,
Speaker 1: say the past fifteen years tight ends drafted in the
Speaker 1: first round, what that looks like compared to tight ends
Speaker 1: drafted in the third round, fourth round. And do you
Speaker 1: do you look at certain positions and say, you know what,
Speaker 1: we feel comfortable maybe waiting or is it just it's
Speaker 1: a draft by draft basis where you know, you have
Speaker 1: to really take each draft for what it is. To me,
Speaker 1: it's draft by draft basis. But you've also got to
Speaker 1: pay attention to the historical because that kind of gives
Speaker 1: you a balance and you know, how you look at
Speaker 1: and do things. I think, um, I really like to
Speaker 1: look at You know, every team goes into the draft
Speaker 1: with needs. Um, you look at your needs, you look
Speaker 1: at the value, you look at the depth, and and
Speaker 1: it kind of gives you an ideas to how to
Speaker 1: play that. You know that that that that market. That's
Speaker 1: interesting because is it different from team to team. Do
Speaker 1: you have your own set history that you go back
Speaker 1: on and you kind of rely on going back and saying, Okay,
Speaker 1: maybe it didn't work out with this guy initially, maybe
Speaker 1: the position value was a little bit skewed. Um. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think some of it's historical, but some of it
Speaker 1: is Um the conditions that your face with at the time.
Speaker 1: You know, we talk about the past, but we have
Speaker 1: to win now. So you look at those trends and
Speaker 1: you got to figure out how you get the best
Speaker 1: players at the right value for what you need. Looking
Speaker 1: at this draft, the offensive line, the offensive tackle position
Speaker 1: or the guard position. It seems kind of not then,
Speaker 1: but less top heavy. There are some and some good
Speaker 1: tackles in this draft. Doing what you did with Tyler
Speaker 1: Smith last year, he was able. The versatility that he
Speaker 1: showed being able to play garden and left tackle actually
Speaker 1: saved you in a lot of instances. Is that something
Speaker 1: that you guys are looking forward, looking forward, moving forward
Speaker 1: is the fact that you know you want some versatility
Speaker 1: from your offensive lineman. I think you have to have
Speaker 1: that because there's not enough quality offensive lineman for thirty
Speaker 1: two teams for everybody to have a solid offensive line.
Speaker 1: So what you look for is versatility. You look for
Speaker 1: guys that have the opportunity to grow and improve their
Speaker 1: skill set. The college game is different from the NFL game,
Speaker 1: So you want to get guys that come into the
Speaker 1: situation and that can pick up the trends and do
Speaker 1: the things and apply those techniques that they're being taught.
Speaker 1: Because the college game in the NFL game is still different,
Speaker 1: you want guys that can develop it. Do you see
Speaker 1: any tackles? Have you seen any tackles that you think
Speaker 1: you don't have to say the name. Have you seen
Speaker 1: any tackles that you think do have the ability to
Speaker 1: have some flex at guard or that you could move
Speaker 1: to guard it? Maybe a center that could be a
Speaker 1: guard also, yes, well, part of our deal, you know,
Speaker 1: you look for athletic people. The most athletic linemen are
Speaker 1: usually on the outside, and now do they have the
Speaker 1: ability to move inside? And the process. The further you
Speaker 1: move inside, the more information you got to consume and
Speaker 1: you know, dissect. So you want to find out or
Speaker 1: they athletic enough, but then can they handle the other
Speaker 1: things when they go down inside? So you're looking for
Speaker 1: those versatile guys. It's a little broad, But what's the
Speaker 1: number one objective of this week for you and your staff?
Speaker 1: It's you know, obviously you want to find out more
Speaker 1: about these players, but if you're leaving Indianapolis, what's the
Speaker 1: one thing you want to make sure that you have
Speaker 1: accomplished as a group. I think you want to verify
Speaker 1: the information that you already have. You want to confirm
Speaker 1: that and then but I think we also I talked
Speaker 1: to our group, and you know, we get our coaches involved.
Speaker 1: We want to find our feelings about the guy, not
Speaker 1: what somebody else has told us, but how to at
Speaker 1: least from this experience and which guys do we want
Speaker 1: to dig further on from this exposure, from the information
Speaker 1: we already have. It's just kind of adding stuff to
Speaker 1: make sure that we have the right guy for us.
Speaker 1: It's the whole Tyler Smith situation. We went through it,
Speaker 1: and we spent enough time with them to know maybe
Speaker 1: people didn't, you know, realize what we realize. So you know,
Speaker 1: we go through our process to say that's a Dallas cowboy,
Speaker 1: and you know, we want to hit all the markers.
Speaker 1: That's an important part about the draft. Like, that's one
Speaker 1: thing that I'm learning myself is to block out other
Speaker 1: people's opinions and really focus on what I see and
Speaker 1: what I believe in the player and compiling all of
Speaker 1: the information to come to a conclusion. So you're you're
Speaker 1: just doing your due diligence. That's a big part of it.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's why I enjoy talking to Dane, you know,
Speaker 1: because this is an information deal. So people gather their
Speaker 1: opinions that you see on you know, NFL networking, ESPN
Speaker 1: or they're top well they're talking to people about players
Speaker 1: and so that's how they formulate their deal. But they
Speaker 1: don't have much information and we have to talk about
Speaker 1: what's important for us. Every organization is different and they
Speaker 1: have different elements and there's different you know, there's players
Speaker 1: that can fit in in some spots and players that
Speaker 1: can Is there an added element of this? This is
Speaker 1: a draft and develop organization. They have been for quite
Speaker 1: some time and it's been successful for quite some time
Speaker 1: in that regard as well. But is there an added
Speaker 1: element of the drafting has gone so well as of
Speaker 1: late that at some point it won't hit that again? Well,
Speaker 1: what helps you continue pushing to try and not let
Speaker 1: that happen. Well, I think we're hoping that it continues
Speaker 1: to go that way because we have a system that
Speaker 1: we believe in. You know, I love the way that
Speaker 1: our scouts go out on the road. They they're the
Speaker 1: gems of their areas and they feel that importance and
Speaker 1: value to the organization by approaching their job that way.
Speaker 1: We have a way that we do things. You follow
Speaker 1: that way and then you come to conclusion and then
Speaker 1: not having an ego, because part of our process is
Speaker 1: everybody's involved in it. Go from you know, September when
Speaker 1: they go out until up until you know, the draft
Speaker 1: meetings and everything else. So they have that input and
Speaker 1: we feel like with that recipe that nobody's an expert.
Speaker 1: I mean, if we were batten sixty percent, you know,
Speaker 1: we'd be doing great, pretty good. We'll be doing pretty
Speaker 1: like baseball players. So it's it's the collective process. Everybody
Speaker 1: has a grade. They put their grade on. We don't
Speaker 1: talk about the grade. And if there's variants, then it
Speaker 1: the way I feel about it. There's variants, they're somewhere
Speaker 1: in the middle, and that's where that grade. Usually you know,
Speaker 1: you average them out and that's probably where that player is.
Speaker 1: Because we value the input of everybody. You've been doing
Speaker 1: this for so long now I'm really interested in how
Speaker 1: what have you what's the biggest thing you have learned
Speaker 1: since you started in this role compared to now that
Speaker 1: you know, because obviously every year brings something different, you
Speaker 1: learned the most important thing, most important aspect of an
Speaker 1: evaluators to self evaluate and understand. Okay, maybe did we
Speaker 1: get this wrong? Did I see this right? But what's
Speaker 1: one thing? Maybe it's from when you started in this
Speaker 1: role till now that you've really learned. Um, I've become
Speaker 1: more and more willing to understand my biases, you know,
Speaker 1: everybody has biases. There's you know, there's there's Uh, I
Speaker 1: was a dB. I know it look like a nose guard,
Speaker 1: but I was. I was a corner. And there are
Speaker 1: certain ways that I was taught and learned the game
Speaker 1: that I see somebody doing it and when I was coaching,
Speaker 1: I wouldn't coach it that way, and so I would
Speaker 1: have a bias. And I still have biases. There's just
Speaker 1: certain things that I believe in. Now that's my bias.
Speaker 1: And each individual person in our in our department, based
Speaker 1: on where they came from, based on what they've done,
Speaker 1: they have their biases. So recognizing that and you know,
Speaker 1: understanding you know what biases you have and saying all right,
Speaker 1: maybe I'm not right on this, and being able to
Speaker 1: listen to everybody else and kind of figure it out.
Speaker 1: I'm still going to have my principles, my beliefs, but
Speaker 1: I know when I have a bias, I have a
Speaker 1: deal that, Um, there's a certain position and if you
Speaker 1: play that position and you wear a towel, that's like
Speaker 1: my bias. I'm like, no, you're supposed to you know,
Speaker 1: it's not supposed to be coming out of you know,
Speaker 1: you're supposed to be nasty. That's an initial bias. I
Speaker 1: know it when I see it. I'll take ye interesting.
Speaker 1: Are there any other biases you could share, because I'm
Speaker 1: intrigued by that that first one. The first one was that, Yeah,
Speaker 1: that was kind of out of the blue. I like it.
Speaker 1: There's some technical things like, um, again, it's it's it's footwork.
Speaker 1: I mean maybe because I have seen things a certain
Speaker 1: way and I was taught football way back in the day.
Speaker 1: It's leveraging angles, and so I look at the game
Speaker 1: differently than somebody who might be you know, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: maybe not as well versed and you know, being around
Speaker 1: the game as long, but they're really good at their job.
Speaker 1: They might not see what I see, or I might
Speaker 1: not see what they see. I think that it there
Speaker 1: are some things that uh, I won't I won't reveal. Right, Oh,
Speaker 1: there's so many wheels turning right now, and I wish
Speaker 1: I wish we could hear it would do kind of
Speaker 1: along those same lines, but not necessarily exactly along the
Speaker 1: same lines. This is a front office. This is a
Speaker 1: staff that hasn't necessarily drafted undersized players in the path.
Speaker 1: That's certain positions, most notably wide receiver. There are a
Speaker 1: lot of really good wide receivers in this draft class.
Speaker 1: Is that something that is still on the table moving forward.
Speaker 1: Is that something that the staff would look into if
Speaker 1: the right guy fit. Well, yeah, it's it's if the
Speaker 1: right guy fits. I mean, you build your team football,
Speaker 1: you know, this game of angles and leverage, and you
Speaker 1: were all looking for the you know, that's why we're
Speaker 1: at the combine. We want to measure and want to
Speaker 1: see how tall they are, how long their arms are,
Speaker 1: how fast they run. That builds a profile, but then
Speaker 1: you know, you have to figure out what you're looking for,
Speaker 1: but not just for that situation, but for the long run.
Speaker 1: So typically the bigger, longer, more athletic players they play
Speaker 1: in the league. There's more of those guys. But the
Speaker 1: game has become so different now it's spread out, it's
Speaker 1: played latterly and vertically, is not as much you know,
Speaker 1: run games, So you have to look differently and you
Speaker 1: kind of assess the trends and kind of figure out,
Speaker 1: you know, what fits what you do. And you also
Speaker 1: have to have which I think we do have as
Speaker 1: a coaching staff that's willing to use the abilities of
Speaker 1: the guys that you pick because it's you know, there's
Speaker 1: you hear about systems. Well, if there's a system and
Speaker 1: you're trying to fit pieces into a system, well then
Speaker 1: you eliminate guys. So you really want to find people
Speaker 1: that have in our coaching staff and you know, the
Speaker 1: offensive and the defensive side have done a great job
Speaker 1: of finding that. You using the players talents you know
Speaker 1: to be able to contribute and to contribute early. That's
Speaker 1: why we draft and develop. We tell them what the
Speaker 1: guys can do and what the ears are concerned are.
Speaker 1: We've got to be exact on that so the coaches
Speaker 1: know when they put the guy in, we at least
Speaker 1: know we're getting this. And to your point, I from
Speaker 1: the dB position, it really feels like a lot of
Speaker 1: these these defensive backs are they have the ability to press.
Speaker 1: It seems like it's an emphasis on press. Do you
Speaker 1: is that Do you think that's a result of just
Speaker 1: how they is being played on the offensive side of
Speaker 1: the ball. Also to the length of cornerbacks. Now, from
Speaker 1: my understanding, like being under six foot was well, being
Speaker 1: under six foot wasn't a huge deal, but these guys
Speaker 1: are like six too, lengthy, long arms and it's it's
Speaker 1: almost like a norm. Now, what what do you think
Speaker 1: about that? That change in the cornerback position. You know,
Speaker 1: I think college football is so spread out and it's
Speaker 1: played so differently, and you know, you have all these
Speaker 1: different schemes. That's the hurry up pace. There's a lot
Speaker 1: of different things that you have to be able to
Speaker 1: slow the offense down. So how can I slow the
Speaker 1: offense down by delaying releases? By doing certain things? That's
Speaker 1: why the corners you see longer corners and the athletes now,
Speaker 1: you know, back in the day, you'd see a six
Speaker 1: foot corner and you would say they can't bend, they
Speaker 1: can't change direction. Yeah, I mean it's it's incredible the event,
Speaker 1: like it's seeing twenty pounders run under five flat. You know,
Speaker 1: there's the chemicals in the milk or something. Also what
Speaker 1: it is, that's what it is. Yeah, it's the almond milk.
Speaker 1: You know, everybody drinking almond milk, oat milking everything. Now,
Speaker 1: I'm fascinated with how you how do you handle outliers?
Speaker 1: You know, how do you brace being the ultimate outlier?
Speaker 1: With this size We've never seen h the status the
Speaker 1: last twenty five years have been three hundred and one
Speaker 1: quarterbacks drafted two we're under six foot an under two
Speaker 1: hundre pounds, so we're talking about complete outlier. But even
Speaker 1: at okay, Peter Scronsky, look the left tackle who has
Speaker 1: great left tackle tape, but his arms are probably gonna
Speaker 1: be thirty two and a quarter thirty two and a half.
Speaker 1: So how do you handle those outliers where he doesn't
Speaker 1: Not just those two players specifically, but maybe a player
Speaker 1: doesn't hit the exact arm length that you're looking for,
Speaker 1: or you know, the testing might not match up perfectly,
Speaker 1: but you know what, the tape shows a darn good
Speaker 1: football player. How do how do you balance that? I mean,
Speaker 1: you look at the production. You got to throw it
Speaker 1: all into the mix, and there's you know, reasons why
Speaker 1: guys performed. There's um you know if if if like
Speaker 1: my father, you say just because said he would say
Speaker 1: that blind people hear better. Okay, So depending upon your deficiencies,
Speaker 1: you develop some way to overcome and to be able
Speaker 1: to do what your job is. Um it's like looking
Speaker 1: at every situation, looking at guys and trying to go
Speaker 1: through the steps of you know, how did this guy
Speaker 1: achieve this? Who was he playing against? Da da dah
Speaker 1: and there's some people that are just outliers. We're playing
Speaker 1: the percentage game, but there are some people that are
Speaker 1: outside of that percentage and then you have to value that. Yeah, overall,
Speaker 1: I need you to just cancel the rest of your day.
Speaker 1: Well you're not, You're you don't need anything else to do.
Speaker 1: You're just gonna sit here and talk football with us
Speaker 1: for the next hour. Is great to do, Yeah, Will Wills, Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: you would probably make that switch any day. Will's gotta go.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for taking some time. This was
Speaker 1: awesome as always, Good luck the rest of the way.
Speaker 1: Go find some good, good players. There he goes, and
Speaker 1: there's Will McClay. Will be back with more of the
Speaker 1: Draft show right after this. Hey Cowboys fans, if you're
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Speaker 1: the Dallas Cowboys. I'm Darren Wood's former Dallas Cowboy player
Speaker 1: and Super Bowl champion. When I played in the NFL
Speaker 1: at a high level, I relied on my vision to
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Speaker 1: Cent you they got me back on my game. What
Speaker 1: do you call a group of grown men and women
Speaker 1: with their faces painted silver and blue who get together
Speaker 1: every week to share a three hour long ritual of jumping, sinking,
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Speaker 1: Draft Show. Welcome back into the Draft Show, presented by Millerlite,
Speaker 1: the only beer of the Dallas Cowboys. It's Miller Time
Speaker 1: and it's draft time. Here on the Draft Show, We've
Speaker 1: got Dame Brugler, Aisha Morrison of Kyle Yeoman's. We just
Speaker 1: wrapped up with Will McClay great as always. I mean,
Speaker 1: anytime you get to pick the brain of the guy
Speaker 1: who really runs the draft ship for the Dallas Cowboys.
Speaker 1: It's always going to turn into something. He doesn't always
Speaker 1: want to really give out a ton of information, but
Speaker 1: he gave out some really good stuff there. I really
Speaker 1: value his perspective, just you know, the position that he's in,
Speaker 1: the experience that he has, you know, because he's player, coach, evaluator,
Speaker 1: like he's he brings a really diverse background to his job.
Speaker 1: And you know, I was just asking him how how
Speaker 1: his job has evolved over time and what he looks
Speaker 1: for and you know, how he handles outliers all those days.
Speaker 1: It was just a really fun conversation. What do you think?
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I mean it was dope hearing him talk
Speaker 1: about just the process. Man, It's so it sounds so
Speaker 1: thorough and just step by step by step by step,
Speaker 1: and I was so just liked hearing him talk about
Speaker 1: how the Cowboys want to make their own decisions, they
Speaker 1: want to make form their own opinions. Like, yeah, we
Speaker 1: value some of the information that's been given. But he
Speaker 1: talked about coming to the combine. He was like, we're
Speaker 1: trying to put get definitive information, you know, based off
Speaker 1: of the stuff that we've been thinking or searching or researching.
Speaker 1: So I just I enjoyed hearing about kind of the
Speaker 1: process and barnacles. It's one of the well and like
Speaker 1: I said, Will McClay is really really good. It's saying
Speaker 1: a lot but saying a little, and that's something he's
Speaker 1: done throughout his Career's pardon why he's good at his
Speaker 1: job throughout his career. One thing he did say there
Speaker 1: that I've never really heard of, but you can see
Speaker 1: a trend with was when asked about your outlier question,
Speaker 1: I love that question, by the way, that's a good
Speaker 1: question when weighing the outliner liars. He said, we value
Speaker 1: the production right off the bat. That was his first
Speaker 1: couple of words, production, production, production. You can see that
Speaker 1: with the trends that they've drafted with throughout the years.
Speaker 1: You talk about guys like treyvon Dix, Tyler Smith, Micah Parsons.
Speaker 1: It's important to point out that production doesn't always just
Speaker 1: mean what's in the stat sheet. Production can be you know,
Speaker 1: watching him on the field and seeing, Okay, he's creating
Speaker 1: disruption out there, or you know, he's getting the job
Speaker 1: done it. Productions not just oh, did he have at
Speaker 1: least ten sacks? You know, so when he said, I
Speaker 1: do believe when he said production, it wasn't just speaking
Speaker 1: of just the stat sheet for sure. And it looks
Speaker 1: like there's a lot of times that Cowboys Nation will
Speaker 1: look at and say traits or what they look to
Speaker 1: the most, and traits are a teams you could say
Speaker 1: that about you look at traits, that that's always going
Speaker 1: to be the case, or else we wouldn't have even
Speaker 1: asked the conversation about shorter players and undersized players. But
Speaker 1: the production, the way that he sounded like he was
Speaker 1: weighing it is that the production outweighs the traits, which
Speaker 1: is an interesting thought process, something something that not a
Speaker 1: ton of teams do, I mean, but some teams certainly
Speaker 1: rely on it. Well and I'm okay Tyler Smith. Last year,
Speaker 1: UM talk about the traits. He certainly had those traits
Speaker 1: that you're looking for, UM, But you know, it was
Speaker 1: a little bit up and down, but you look at
Speaker 1: the production, you look at the good things that he did,
Speaker 1: and you're like, you know what, we're willing to bet
Speaker 1: on that that with some added coaching, he's going to
Speaker 1: get better and better and better. And so it was
Speaker 1: also interesting, you know, kind of alluded to this, but
Speaker 1: how what's good for them might not be good for
Speaker 1: somebody else. And you know, like they're drafting for one team,
Speaker 1: one culture, one roster. The way things are, it's going
Speaker 1: to be different than what another team's looking for. And so,
Speaker 1: you know, we I think we seem to in the
Speaker 1: draft space. You know, Okay, well, this guy's clearly the
Speaker 1: top receiver or this guy's you know, it's this, there's
Speaker 1: no such thing as a consensus when it comes to
Speaker 1: the draft, and there's no such thing because every team
Speaker 1: is looking for something a little bit different that suits them,
Speaker 1: that that that fits their strengths. So you know, I
Speaker 1: think that he that's something I think he made sure
Speaker 1: to point out. Yeah, and he talked about even the
Speaker 1: locker room fit, like we talked about it before we
Speaker 1: even started recording, just how important the locker room fit
Speaker 1: is too. Is this gentleman's personality going to fit in
Speaker 1: with the guys we already have here. You don't want
Speaker 1: someone coming in disrupting, you know, some of the chemistry
Speaker 1: that you have. So we were talking about just how
Speaker 1: you kind of pay attention to how they interact with
Speaker 1: their peers, how they are at the podium when they're here.
Speaker 1: He also mentioned NIL and just how that that was
Speaker 1: super dope, because well, I hopefully we can get into that,
Speaker 1: but yeah, I would. I wanted you guys as thoughts on, like,
Speaker 1: I'm still learning about NIL and all that stuff, But
Speaker 1: how do you think it's affected how the scouting process
Speaker 1: goes and even the drafting process goes. It's even more
Speaker 1: so like the transfer portal, you know, because I think
Speaker 1: it was you know, ten years ago. If a guy
Speaker 1: couldn't was blocked on the depth chart and he transferred,
Speaker 1: it's like, oh, does this guy is afraid of competition?
Speaker 1: You know, Like, but now it's like, Okay, I don't
Speaker 1: blame him for going to go to a better situation
Speaker 1: where he could get on the field show what he
Speaker 1: can do. And so yeah, the mindset has really changed
Speaker 1: because of the way the college football game has changed.
Speaker 1: You know, either you evolve with things or you're gonna
Speaker 1: be stuck playing catchup because in the college game, very
Speaker 1: different in the NFL game, and there's so many different
Speaker 1: things you have to weigh. NA L just another one,
Speaker 1: and everybody is still learning the NIL. The transfer portal,
Speaker 1: whether it's collegiately or at the professional level as well.
Speaker 1: You talk about the adjustments that need to be made there,
Speaker 1: not everybody will adjust the same. Everybody's gonna have a
Speaker 1: different opinion on how to hit it at least at first,
Speaker 1: and then it's a copy to cat league. Everybody will
Speaker 1: kind of come together on a consensus based off of
Speaker 1: what you've seen the last couple of years. For the Cowboys,
Speaker 1: do you feel like they're in a good spot to
Speaker 1: make those adjustments compared to the rest of the thirty
Speaker 1: one out of the teams? Yeah, and I think that
Speaker 1: they Okay, you know, we've talked about it in the past,
Speaker 1: how the Cowboys, you know, like they're not gonna draft
Speaker 1: a defensive tackle in the first round or we've talked
Speaker 1: about how you know, there's certain trends, whether it be
Speaker 1: they're not going to draft a small school player, and
Speaker 1: I think it's important to pay attention to those trends.
Speaker 1: But it's also important to, you know, understand that they
Speaker 1: just they want to get better and they want to
Speaker 1: get the players that are going to best fit this
Speaker 1: team and best get them make them a better roster.
Speaker 1: So it's important to have an open mind to who
Speaker 1: they might go after, especially in a draft like this
Speaker 1: where you know you're again picking later in the first round.
Speaker 1: We don't know how those first twenty five picks you're
Speaker 1: gonna play out. You know, last year it's you know,
Speaker 1: Tyler Smith would have been different outlook if a certain
Speaker 1: you know, say Zion Johnson is still available or you know,
Speaker 1: how does that change things? And so you know, I
Speaker 1: think it's important just have an open mind to how
Speaker 1: they might be attacking this specific draft. Yeah, and when
Speaker 1: you talk about, well, the last couple of years, I
Speaker 1: do feel like in the first round they've taken best
Speaker 1: player available for them. Yeah, Like when you mentioned Tyler Smith,
Speaker 1: like he mentioned here Will McClay, like a lot of
Speaker 1: people had different opinions about Tyler Smith, but they felt
Speaker 1: like this guy is a good get fit for us
Speaker 1: and it actually paid dividends for them because of his
Speaker 1: flex that they felt like he had that we I know,
Speaker 1: I wasn't too sure about myself, so so so best
Speaker 1: to your point, best player available to us may not
Speaker 1: be best player available to them. Yeah, and you know
Speaker 1: a lot of that comes from the interviews, the meetings,
Speaker 1: you know, understanding, hey, is this guy really going to
Speaker 1: put everything he has into being the best version of himself,
Speaker 1: because you know, if you don't believe that with Tyler Smith,
Speaker 1: you can't draft him. If you don't think that he's
Speaker 1: gonna work and put his best foot forward and try
Speaker 1: to get every ounce of talent that he has out
Speaker 1: of that out of his ability, you just can't draft
Speaker 1: him in the first round. But obviously through their interactions,
Speaker 1: through their meetings and interviews, you know they felt like
Speaker 1: he would do that, and that's something that you know,
Speaker 1: the interview process is different from team to team with
Speaker 1: the questions they ask or you know, how they feel
Speaker 1: about the players. So you know, that's just another wrinkle
Speaker 1: to the whole evaluation process that makes it a very
Speaker 1: inexact science and different from team to team. Oh and
Speaker 1: it makes the interviews that much more imperative to the
Speaker 1: one on one the scouting department getting to sit down
Speaker 1: and Will McClay getting to sit down and talk with
Speaker 1: him up until eleven o'clock at night, like he said
Speaker 1: a little bit earlier. With that being said, there are
Speaker 1: some confirmed Cowboys meetings that we have had throughout the
Speaker 1: interview process. This week, I'll name some of these guys.
Speaker 1: Felix on your DK Zama from Kansas State. Practicing, I
Speaker 1: have been practicing. Thank you, Derek Call out of Alabama
Speaker 1: linebacker day on Henley, Oh, Auburn, I'm meant to say Alabama.
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm meant to say Auburn dayon Henley out
Speaker 1: of Washington State to marve An over Shown out of Texas,
Speaker 1: Emmanuel Forbes from Mississippi State, Joey Porter Junior from Penn State, TREYE.
Speaker 1: Dean from Florida, J. L. Skinner from Boise State, and
Speaker 1: Israel Abanconda got it again running back. So what do
Speaker 1: you think about this short list of names? This is
Speaker 1: still very This is what one, two, three, four five.
Speaker 1: That's like seven or eight names out of eighty or
Speaker 1: not eighty forty five formals and countless informal interviews. So
Speaker 1: do you think interesting names there? I mean, we we've
Speaker 1: talked about Emmanuel Forbes quite a bit before, but you know,
Speaker 1: he's he's a guy that with that body type you
Speaker 1: just every teams to you you looking at a little bit differently.
Speaker 1: We'll see what he officially weighs in at here at
Speaker 1: the combine, but probably we're talking under seven hundred and
Speaker 1: seventy five pounds for a guy that's gonna be six
Speaker 1: one and a half six two. Um, you know, that's
Speaker 1: that's we talk about outliers, talk about certain thresholds that
Speaker 1: each team wants. How our team's gonna look at that. Um.
Speaker 1: So with Emmanuel Forbes, when you sit down an interview him,
Speaker 1: just finding out, hey, is this just your body type?
Speaker 1: Is this you know, trying to get a better understanding
Speaker 1: of uh, you know, the growth potential there. So, Um,
Speaker 1: that's interesting. Um, a couple of first round potential first
Speaker 1: rounders on there. Joey Porter Junior. Um, you know, he's
Speaker 1: he's a really interesting corner who I don't think it's
Speaker 1: out of the top twenty twenty four picks, but you
Speaker 1: never know. He's he's a guy that is a true
Speaker 1: press corner. He wants to get up, park his chin
Speaker 1: right underneath, uh, the receiver, and he's gonna make contact
Speaker 1: and he's gonna ride that receiver up and down the field. So, um,
Speaker 1: a certain type of corner compared to maybe some of
Speaker 1: the other guys who maybe offer a little more versatility. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and with with the all the visits they had, it
Speaker 1: looks like there's DB's a thing. DV in general is
Speaker 1: a thing I mean there's five on that list alone, now,
Speaker 1: three corners, two safeties, jail Skinner being one of them.
Speaker 1: I was actually state, you know, you know, cowboys got
Speaker 1: the boys state fever. That's the thing with Jail Skinner.
Speaker 1: I've never seen a safety with an identical body type
Speaker 1: as aj Green the receiver. Yeah, it's it's it's uncanny.
Speaker 1: It's identical. It's the sixty four or sixty three and
Speaker 1: three quarters whatever it is. Um, but how lean he is,
Speaker 1: like through his legs like there, he doesn't have calves.
Speaker 1: It's it's it's I don't know, sorry, but it's just
Speaker 1: it's just uncanny. How he's identical body type. So sorry,
Speaker 1: cutting no, no, no, I was. That's just one of
Speaker 1: the things that I definitely noticed, like the Cowboys clearly
Speaker 1: understand that they need to get more d I was
Speaker 1: surprised by, not surprised, but the d Some of the
Speaker 1: d n's I'm not I'm not saying. I'm not saying
Speaker 1: I don't think that d N is not like a
Speaker 1: need or anything like that. But some of these guys
Speaker 1: are gentleman, like, you know, I'm not gonna want to
Speaker 1: mess up his name. Derek call Byron young those. I'm like, okay,
Speaker 1: can you say Felix. I'm say Felix, Yeah, I got you,
Speaker 1: Felix on Udique Zama. So I'm at the practice. That's
Speaker 1: a good That's a good thing though, because you look
Speaker 1: at edge rusher, what does the future look like for
Speaker 1: a DeMarcus Lawrence Dorance Armstrong is going into a final year.
Speaker 1: They can maybe extend him if they really wanted to.
Speaker 1: You've got Mica that contracts coming up to So drafting
Speaker 1: edge rusher isn't out of the question. It's probably not
Speaker 1: an overall arching need. It's not gonna be a first round,
Speaker 1: certain round pick, but if there's a quality edge rusher,
Speaker 1: maybe middle of the draft. And all three of those
Speaker 1: names aren't first round names for the most part, probably not.
Speaker 1: But you know, ed drusher is always weird because you
Speaker 1: know it's a premium position. Sure, so there's no such
Speaker 1: thing as having too many of those guys, especially with
Speaker 1: the way that you know defenses work these days in
Speaker 1: sub and you just want to get guys, get get
Speaker 1: guys that can get get to the quarterback on the field.
Speaker 1: You know, nobody knows that better than Cowboys with Michael Parsons,
Speaker 1: who is not your traditional uh ed rusher, but you
Speaker 1: know what, he can get to the quarterback and so
Speaker 1: you figure out a way to make that happen. And
Speaker 1: so if they find another guy like that, a quarterback hunter, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, I think you, you know, you at least
Speaker 1: consider that in the first round, because I think it's important.
Speaker 1: We don't, you know, you don't narrow your focus in
Speaker 1: the first round and say, you know, we have to
Speaker 1: get a corner guy. That's where this team has gotten
Speaker 1: in trouble in the past. You know, Tacos, That's where
Speaker 1: this team has gotten in trouble in the past, where
Speaker 1: they say, we need to get exposition here in the
Speaker 1: first round. Oh man, you have to keep your you know,
Speaker 1: you have to make sure you're drafting the best player
Speaker 1: at an impact position that's going to help your roster.
Speaker 1: In fairness, I really do feel like since Mike McCarthy
Speaker 1: has been here that that is kind of fizzled out.
Speaker 1: Also too, Dan Quinn, like you can see his influence
Speaker 1: on on these past few drafts. Now, I will ask you, guys,
Speaker 1: so DT is something that I definitely feel like is
Speaker 1: a is a need given the fact that you've seen
Speaker 1: with the Cowboys. I feel like they've drafted guys that
Speaker 1: had pass rush ability on also a DIGGI zuas like
Speaker 1: those gentlemen that have passed rushability Nevill Gallimore. But having
Speaker 1: Hankins come in this past year and be a true
Speaker 1: nose seemed to really help this defensive line. Not sure
Speaker 1: if he's coming back next season. Is there a dt
Speaker 1: that you're like, you know what, man, that is maybe
Speaker 1: that you're okay with. Besides you know the obvious that
Speaker 1: you're okay with maybe at a first round because we
Speaker 1: didn't get to talk to him about that, but it
Speaker 1: was clear that Hankins as a nose and just having
Speaker 1: a true nose made a huge difference in the run
Speaker 1: defense and just the edge rushers being free, being able
Speaker 1: to stunt all that stuff. So how do you guys
Speaker 1: feel about that? Are you talking about a true nose
Speaker 1: or any type of defensive I mean, when we talk
Speaker 1: about the last few drafts and the way that they've drafted,
Speaker 1: I feel like they've drafted guys at the d D
Speaker 1: position that had that could get up field, but that
Speaker 1: has not helped sir of them and run defense. So
Speaker 1: do you shift your thinking as a coordinator or and
Speaker 1: you're scouting like, hey, we love guys that like to
Speaker 1: rush the passer from that position, but it's hurting our
Speaker 1: run defense. Do you now convert to we have enough
Speaker 1: edge rushers or we're gonna put stock into edge rushers
Speaker 1: and we're gonna really get some gentlemen in here that
Speaker 1: can clog up this middle of this defense. And I
Speaker 1: think that it's a great question. I think it's ideally
Speaker 1: you try to find the guys that can help you
Speaker 1: in both areas. You know, the interchangeable like if you
Speaker 1: want to kick him inside, play him as a as
Speaker 1: a nose or a one. Uh, you know he can
Speaker 1: handle a double team, but you also want to be
Speaker 1: able to keep him if you want him over the
Speaker 1: B gap and you want him getting up field, he
Speaker 1: can attack gaps. So you know a guy like Keanu
Speaker 1: Benton from Wisconsin and if you've watched him, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: he's a he's a good player who he was a
Speaker 1: nose at Wisconsin. But you feel like there's pass rush
Speaker 1: potential there. So I think ideally for a team like this,
Speaker 1: that should be the you know who, you're who, you're
Speaker 1: gunning for, the guys that could play either role. I
Speaker 1: completely agree with that, because that's what dan Quinn has shown.
Speaker 1: I mean, he's basically like, give me a guy, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna make him work. I'm gonna make it work. The
Speaker 1: only place that that hasn't necessarily happened is the interior
Speaker 1: of the defensive line. I'm saying, and it's not because
Speaker 1: the Nevil Gallimos of the world aren't the best players.
Speaker 1: It just might not fit what they're trying to do
Speaker 1: with the interchangeability, So versatility could work. Nevil Gallimore is
Speaker 1: not gonna be a one tech. He's not gonna line
Speaker 1: up on the nose. He's not gonna have that ability.
Speaker 1: Oh say, dig Zoo as great as a pass rusher
Speaker 1: as a three tech, but he's also not gonna be
Speaker 1: a nose Go get you a guy who's got that versatility,
Speaker 1: but maybe was with it a little bit more of
Speaker 1: a nose tackle background. Because who made the biggest impact
Speaker 1: on the run defense this year. Jonathan Hankins, big Furley
Speaker 1: nose tackle. He was only a nose tackle, but he's
Speaker 1: the one that really made the biggest impact throughout the season. Well,
Speaker 1: if they want to know more about um Kenn Benton,
Speaker 1: they just need to go call up Jake first, and
Speaker 1: they were they were roommates for a little bit there,
Speaker 1: mentioned going up Againstian practice and how they talk and
Speaker 1: Iron Sharpen's iron. That Wisconsin offensive line, obviously is they're
Speaker 1: known for their offensive line. So for Keano to be
Speaker 1: going toe to toe with them, I think helping improved
Speaker 1: his game. He was a lot smaller than what I
Speaker 1: thought he was going to be. No small guy. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but when he was at the podium, he plays don't
Speaker 1: get me, he just take her favorite player. It was
Speaker 1: like the first but he just he I just expected
Speaker 1: to see this like early human. And he's he's pretty
Speaker 1: lean to be as big as he is. He's got
Speaker 1: a he's got a big body, but he's he's not
Speaker 1: like three. He's not Mozzi Smith, who's you know, three
Speaker 1: thirty three, three thy five. He's more three fifteen. Um.
Speaker 1: He might even slim down even more here too, so
Speaker 1: he can run better. Um. So yeah, well I don't Yeah,
Speaker 1: I guess he did measure this morning, but I haven't
Speaker 1: seen an official uh wait for him yet. What do
Speaker 1: you think about Massy Smith's fit. I know we talked
Speaker 1: a little bit about him yesterday, but you think about
Speaker 1: the versatility between a one in the three both potentially. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean he's not just a strictly a stocky plugger.
Speaker 1: You know you're not, but that's what he does best
Speaker 1: in terms of taking on doubles, and he's so good
Speaker 1: with his leverage the way he understands it. He like
Speaker 1: every player has a level of play strength or power, MASI,
Speaker 1: Smith accesses his power better than most players in this draft.
Speaker 1: Having the understanding of your body and how to access
Speaker 1: that power to maximize it. He's so good at that.
Speaker 1: So um yeah, I think that that's what makes Mozy
Speaker 1: a potential first round picking this draft. Now, this is
Speaker 1: a second great day. We've talked about Smith, and everything
Speaker 1: you're saying is just blinking light to me. I mean,
Speaker 1: I know it's early. I know it's early, but that
Speaker 1: just sounds like a fit. I don't know if it's
Speaker 1: the fit of twenty six. We have a long way
Speaker 1: to go up until that, but at least in the
Speaker 1: early couple days. I think a lot of this first one.
Speaker 1: I think a lot of teams are thinking that way too, though,
Speaker 1: you know, to add a maybe not the last year's player,
Speaker 1: but then I had someone that you're just gonna plug in.
Speaker 1: It's gonna help everybody else in that front seven. You're
Speaker 1: gonna help your run defense from day one. So yeah,
Speaker 1: I do think there'll be several teams looking at that
Speaker 1: in that late one early two window and saying, hey,
Speaker 1: maybe not the sexiest pick, but and he's gonna make
Speaker 1: us a better team. Yeah, And Carl Brooks from Bowling Green.
Speaker 1: It's also a guy that has some versatility. They used
Speaker 1: him on the outside and used him, they pushed him
Speaker 1: into the inside. Now I do feel like, not by
Speaker 1: the way, the biggest combined snumb this year. Yeah, yeah, Yeah,
Speaker 1: he didn't get snubbed, didn't get in. Yeah, it doesn't
Speaker 1: mean he won't get drafted, but but it was a
Speaker 1: big snub. Yeah. Like I guess I was actually looking
Speaker 1: for him. But he's hard to get hands on as well.
Speaker 1: And I think he is also a guy that has
Speaker 1: some pass run. He can develop into a better pass rusher,
Speaker 1: but he has some nos ability and you can move
Speaker 1: him across the line. I thought he was a guy
Speaker 1: that maybe you can keep your eye out for him.
Speaker 1: Now he's only three oh five, which is not tiny,
Speaker 1: but with him being out used on the outside and stuff,
Speaker 1: I think that has to do with a size. So
Speaker 1: I guess it depends on what a team wants from him.
Speaker 1: But I was just saying, when you talk about a
Speaker 1: versatile you know DT that maybe can do that as well.
Speaker 1: Maybe you know Brian brought us is listening to this
Speaker 1: and he's just thinking so many harsh things to us
Speaker 1: right now about position flex. We're not talking about position flex,
Speaker 1: about versatility, Brian y all right, tax season can be
Speaker 1: more stressful than the last second. Hell Mary, with the
Speaker 1: game on the line, overcome your taxiety today with Liberty Tax,
Speaker 1: a proud partner of the Dallas Cowboys. Book an appointment
Speaker 1: at Liberty tax dot com slash Cowboys. When we come back,
Speaker 1: we're gonna do some Twitter on the twenty and we'll
Speaker 1: wrap up Draft show coverage here from the Combine and
Speaker 1: twenty twenty three presented by Miller Lite will be back
Speaker 1: in just a moment Twitter on the twenty I'm Dak Prescott,
Speaker 1: quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys. Blockchain dot com is one
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Speaker 1: Jimpac Motorsports Experience in the World returns that Arlington this
Speaker 1: Sunday had the AT and T Stadium on March fourth
Speaker 1: for Monster Jam. Tickets are on sale now at Sekgeek
Speaker 1: dot Calm, the official ticketing provider of AT and T Stadium.
Speaker 1: I know you're bummed that you're gonna be out here
Speaker 1: in Indianapolis. You're gonna miss Monster Jam. Dane. Yeah, that's
Speaker 1: all right. They come to They come to Northeast Ohio.
Speaker 1: So I'll get a chance. It's just not a state
Speaker 1: that's true. It's I'll tell you what. I was fascinated
Speaker 1: the first time ever. Uh saw that stadium with just
Speaker 1: dirting in it. Yeah, oh my wow. Like that's the
Speaker 1: operations people there. Man. They do some big time work
Speaker 1: that is wild, like the monster cards awesome. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: want to go to there. That'd be fun. They had
Speaker 1: like motocross there last week, big event, and then they
Speaker 1: had the they have monster trucks all the time. Take
Speaker 1: some headphones or your plugs just case, because it's it's
Speaker 1: that bad. It's fun. We took my six year old
Speaker 1: and he cried, oh no, that's what I'm gonna do.
Speaker 1: As soon as we're done with this segment because it's
Speaker 1: our last segment here for the Draft show at the Combine,
Speaker 1: Dane Brugler I used to Morris said, I'm Kyle Yeomen's
Speaker 1: let's wrap up with a little bit of twitter. On
Speaker 1: the twenty Twitter Twitter, Brandon said, who is one prospect
Speaker 1: that you think the Cowboys would regret passing on in
Speaker 1: the first round? I know, again super early. However, there's
Speaker 1: some names there that have been mentioned kind of thrown
Speaker 1: into the mix. Is there's one that sticks out that
Speaker 1: they could pass on and that that would regret. I
Speaker 1: think the obvious name is Bijean. Yeah, I mean that's uh,
Speaker 1: that's one of those realistic you could see him being
Speaker 1: there and you could see them passing um and then
Speaker 1: you could realistically see Bijeon having a uh, you know,
Speaker 1: fifteen hundred yard rushing season as a rookie. And I
Speaker 1: mean that that seems like the most obvious name there. Um,
Speaker 1: who's another less obvious name? Maybe, um, one of these receivers,
Speaker 1: reiver Jordan Addison, maybe you know, doesn't give you the size,
Speaker 1: but man, he can get open, he can he can
Speaker 1: make plays for you. So what about one of these
Speaker 1: tight ends telling you, man, I don't know, but I
Speaker 1: don't know about but I don't know wide receiver. When
Speaker 1: you mentioned the size thing and stuff like that. I
Speaker 1: think some of these speedy guys, like even like a
Speaker 1: Jalen Hyatt, who I think he's gonna put the burners
Speaker 1: on plenty of times in this league and we might
Speaker 1: look back and be like, dang, because he can just get,
Speaker 1: he can just run past people. We can just get.
Speaker 1: And vertical verticality is like we see it with the Chiefs.
Speaker 1: Like teams that can play vertical, they're they're flying past
Speaker 1: these dvs. It makes a different speed is something that
Speaker 1: people want. So if they pass up on a speedy receiver,
Speaker 1: I think that that would make me send. Did you
Speaker 1: like Will's answer to that question the way that he
Speaker 1: outlined it? It kind of felt like he kind of
Speaker 1: went around it a little bit, and I expected him
Speaker 1: to do so. Sure, I asked the question just to
Speaker 1: throw it out there. Maybe he'd give us a little nugget,
Speaker 1: but it kind of felt like he didn't want to address, Yes,
Speaker 1: we will draft it if it's the right guy. Didn't
Speaker 1: really sound like we didn't want touch word receiver like this.
Speaker 1: People was not falling for it well, talking about like
Speaker 1: tight ends for example, like how do you you know
Speaker 1: talking to Will about and asking about first round tight
Speaker 1: ends waiting on tight ends, UM, it's it's a really
Speaker 1: interesting philosophy because this is a team that, um the
Speaker 1: last first round tight end was Matt ninety eight, so uh,
Speaker 1: you know, and the last tight end they drafted top
Speaker 1: fifty was Gavin Escobar over ten years ago, so you know,
Speaker 1: it's it's a position they like to wait on. We've
Speaker 1: seen it time and time again the last few years.
Speaker 1: So and they've had decent you know, I think Dalton
Speaker 1: Schultz and you know what he's brought to the team,
Speaker 1: and so it's not like they've totally struck out doing
Speaker 1: with that mindset. But it'll be interesting if one, you know,
Speaker 1: going back to the original question about where they going
Speaker 1: to regret passing it if their top tight end, whoever
Speaker 1: that may be, whether it's Michael may or whether it's
Speaker 1: Dalton Kinka, Luke Musgrave, Darnel, whoever is their top tight end.
Speaker 1: If he's there, if then in the first round, that
Speaker 1: will be awfully tempting to go ahead and just take
Speaker 1: him right there. But you know, it could be something
Speaker 1: they end up regretting if they pass. I wanted to
Speaker 1: ask you guys, since we're talking about tight end. He
Speaker 1: got two two tight ends right now, right now and
Speaker 1: Um and Jake Ferguson that both have the receiving qualities
Speaker 1: kind of the you know, like they both are blocked.
Speaker 1: They're both better at blocking now. But do you put
Speaker 1: a just appeer blocking tight end or a guy that
Speaker 1: is specialized in that. Do you mix it up or
Speaker 1: do you want to you think that they're going to
Speaker 1: continue to go the route of we kind of want
Speaker 1: a guy with some of that elusiveness, that receiving quality
Speaker 1: type stuff, or are they going to be in a
Speaker 1: place to where they're more like maybe when we want
Speaker 1: a guy more like a Sean McCune who came in
Speaker 1: and it's just really active in the blocking game. We
Speaker 1: talk about Mike McCarthy talking about I want to run
Speaker 1: the ball. I want to run the damn ball, and
Speaker 1: he loves tight ends four plus guys. He loves those
Speaker 1: types of guys on your football. So I wonder if
Speaker 1: that plays a role in whether you go for a
Speaker 1: guy like Kincaid a Musgrade instead of a concase because
Speaker 1: of the block in Darnel Washington, Washington. But and then
Speaker 1: the question becomes, Okay, is the value there where we're
Speaker 1: drafting a sixth offensive lineman? And it depends because every
Speaker 1: team is different. Exactly exactly this scheme and the way
Speaker 1: that it's being talked about, and just kind of some
Speaker 1: of the things that Mike McCarthy liked to do before
Speaker 1: he don't play your tight end's gone block? Well, what
Speaker 1: did you think about the way Will McClay answered the
Speaker 1: tight end question? And the way he kind of addressed it,
Speaker 1: because that might give you a little insight or zero wins.
Speaker 1: It felt like they go wait right, It felt like
Speaker 1: they're gonna wait. Do you guys think this is a
Speaker 1: draft where you can't wait? I think so? Uma, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think it's a really deep group. Do you have
Speaker 1: a favorite maybe after that first their second tier that
Speaker 1: you like. I'm looking at a couple of guys not
Speaker 1: not sticking out paying Durham from Purdue. Maybe get seeing
Speaker 1: one of those guys. Yeah, you had a great senior
Speaker 1: bowld um. What do you think about Will Mallory out
Speaker 1: of Miami as a guy another singer bowl guy? Yeah?
Speaker 1: His tape just I don't left me wanting more, you know,
Speaker 1: I just he looks he's a good looking athlete, but
Speaker 1: I don't know, I just wanted to see more out
Speaker 1: of him, didn't. I didn't love him much. I thought
Speaker 1: a guy who if he falls to say, like the
Speaker 1: fourth round. Luke Schoonmaker from Michigan is a guy that
Speaker 1: I really like. He's I don't think he gets enough
Speaker 1: credit for the athlete that he is, but he can
Speaker 1: also block um and so I Louse Schoonmaker from Michigan's
Speaker 1: a really good player who I have a third round
Speaker 1: grade on him, But if he were to fall into
Speaker 1: that early fourth maybe that's a that's a guy the
Speaker 1: Cowboys would go get somebody Brian mentioned on one of
Speaker 1: the previous shows because I marked it down BB and
Speaker 1: I went back and watched a couple of games. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: you let him know. Brian's got a good eye. No
Speaker 1: he does, but uh yeah, there's a couple of guys there.
Speaker 1: What about Cameron lot too as well? Yeah, it's so
Speaker 1: damn yeah, he was if the ball wasn't going to
Speaker 1: Jamire Gibbs, brace Young was trying to find uh, Cameron
Speaker 1: lat too. He didn't. He did a nice job before
Speaker 1: her pass rusher made that transition to a tight end,
Speaker 1: and I thought he did a nice job this year
Speaker 1: work in the middle of the field. Not a ton
Speaker 1: of yak, not a ton of big plays, but a
Speaker 1: guy that can work the middle of the field, get open,
Speaker 1: give you those little windows. And so yeah, he's also
Speaker 1: I think in that fourth fifth round range. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: actually feel like, listening to some of the conversation, I
Speaker 1: think that Laportza from Iowa, his stock is not gonna
Speaker 1: say it's dropping, But I'm just saying that it doesn't
Speaker 1: seem like it's as hype as it was, So I
Speaker 1: feel like he could be a guy that's there in
Speaker 1: the later rounds Now people are really hung up about
Speaker 1: his drops. I think that was when you look at
Speaker 1: the Iowa offense, there was a lot going on there
Speaker 1: at a little bit. There's a little bit of a
Speaker 1: struggle there. Whatnot a bit of a struggle there? Sometime
Speaker 1: I wonder if you get in with some coaching and
Speaker 1: see how he does or whatever. But he's one of
Speaker 1: the guys that I feel like in a lot of
Speaker 1: the conversation started too to not dwindle down, but it's not.
Speaker 1: I don't hear people as excited about him as opposed
Speaker 1: to many these other tight ends because of the receiving
Speaker 1: ability and things like that. Here's a quote from a
Speaker 1: scout on Laporta. I was ready for this. Sam isn't
Speaker 1: quite Fan or Hawkinson to former EYO with tight ends. Yes,
Speaker 1: but he's tougher than both of them. He competes like Kittle,
Speaker 1: oh wow, wows very high praise, and so a guy that, yeah,
Speaker 1: he won't be as athletic as Hawkinson or or fan
Speaker 1: and you know, be that imposing target out there, but
Speaker 1: he competes a basic guy. He had a meniscus injury
Speaker 1: and then he came back for the bowl game. How
Speaker 1: many how many guys in today's you know, college football
Speaker 1: seniors have a meniscus injury and then they're gonna work
Speaker 1: their way back to get back on the Most guys
Speaker 1: are shutting it down. Yeah, I mean especially injury. Yeah yeah,
Speaker 1: especially like Iowa who's not playing for them college football playoffs. Yeah,
Speaker 1: this is a guy that I mean, you talk about grit,
Speaker 1: you talk about this. That's what Scott's talk about with
Speaker 1: with Sam Laporto. So that's why how be shocked if
Speaker 1: he if he falls too far right? I think that
Speaker 1: he's just he's a guy you want your locker room. Um,
Speaker 1: I still think somewhere top one hundred. I think laport
Speaker 1: ends thank you for that information because that's what that's
Speaker 1: literally what Will was just talking about is like we
Speaker 1: can watch all the film all day, but to hear
Speaker 1: the toughness, some of the behind the scenes stuff, just
Speaker 1: some of the things he's he's worked through, you know,
Speaker 1: throughout his career. Put some stuff in perspective for him
Speaker 1: as a player. Yeah for me, so thank you for
Speaker 1: that second straight date. We've talked about tight ends as well.
Speaker 1: This might be it's a theme I'm coming around, guys
Speaker 1: coming around, because when I first started watching him, I
Speaker 1: was like, okay, sometimes exciting. Some of these guys are
Speaker 1: exciting to watch. So oh man, well this has been
Speaker 1: a whole lot of fun. YEA three shows here over
Speaker 1: the last couple of days, A couple with our friend
Speaker 1: Dame Brugler from the Athletic. Be sure to check him
Speaker 1: out because the next time we'll probably hear from Dane
Speaker 1: the Beast will probably be out there. Hopefully. What's the
Speaker 1: due date? Are you? What are you getting that out there?
Speaker 1: It's that first weekend April. That's always the goal. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, I really a month from now hopefully we're
Speaker 1: putting the final touches on. I want to get all
Speaker 1: the prote information in there, and that goes up until
Speaker 1: that first week in April. Um, you know it's important
Speaker 1: to get all that data in there. So it's the
Speaker 1: month of March. The month of March doesn't happen for me.
Speaker 1: It's it's just it's strictly finishing in watching these guys
Speaker 1: bring sunlight. No, no such thing in March. But once
Speaker 1: the draft guy's out in April, then I can. I'll
Speaker 1: hit send on that tweet that says hey guys, here
Speaker 1: it is, and then put my phone down, take the
Speaker 1: dog for a walk, try to take a deep breath,
Speaker 1: come back, and my phone will be blowing up with
Speaker 1: why'd you have him here? That's all right, we'll deal
Speaker 1: with that. Then we'll get there. No, it's crazy. I
Speaker 1: went to the draft last year on my own, before
Speaker 1: Yes started doing any of this. Funniest thing was people
Speaker 1: carrying around the beast like it was a bible. They
Speaker 1: had it like like like it was a Bible like
Speaker 1: it was. It was so many people out there caring around.
Speaker 1: I'm like, that is not no bible. The funny it
Speaker 1: is it basically like I always enjoy when they show
Speaker 1: snapshots from a war room or an NFL team and
Speaker 1: and then you have all humble about it. I mean, yeah,
Speaker 1: there's only a couple more years left of Dane Brugler
Speaker 1: doing this media stuff being a normal guy. He's gonna
Speaker 1: be interviewing like, yeah, that's fair, that's fair. Everything's on
Speaker 1: the table, Dane, Thanks so much. It's always a pleasure,
Speaker 1: We'll talk to you again down the line for Asia Morrison,
Speaker 1: I'm Kyle Yeoman's for our producer Alex Lilly behind the camera,
Speaker 1: setting all of this up this week on Radio Row,
Speaker 1: saying so long from Indianapolis. We'll see you back at
Speaker 1: the Star in Frisco on Wednesday with more of the
Speaker 1: Draft show, presented by Miller White. This has been a
Speaker 1: production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys
Speaker 1: Football Club.