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Speaker 1: This is the Dallas Cowboys dot Com Draft Show. Cowboys

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Speaker 1: your war room for incenter news and draft analysis from

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Speaker 1: deep within the confines of Cowboys Headquarters at the Star

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Speaker 1: in Fresco, Dallas Cowboys Select Lad and now your hosts,

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Speaker 1: Dane Brugler, David Hellman and Brian brought us. Well, you

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Speaker 1: didn't think you could get rid of us that fast,

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Speaker 1: did you? After seventeen hours and twenty five minutes of

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Speaker 1: draft coverage all weekend, We're back for a one final

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Speaker 1: episode of the Draft Show for the season. It's Brian

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Speaker 1: brought us, Dane Brugler, and David Hellman with a special

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Speaker 1: guest here. Guys, we're very fortunate to have the vice president,

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Speaker 1: a player personnel I think, one of the great personnel

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Speaker 1: men in this league. You know, a guy that we

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Speaker 1: all have a lot of respect for. I know guys

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Speaker 1: around the league have a lot of respect for him

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Speaker 1: as well. And it's Will McClay and Will welcome to

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Speaker 1: the program. Um. Excited to have you for a number

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Speaker 1: of reasons. Because we we had an opportunity this past

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Speaker 1: draft with with no first round pick, there was a

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Speaker 1: lot I mean, we as a group, we were having

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Speaker 1: to discuss h the you know what direction could this

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Speaker 1: team go? Well, you know, without that pick, how do

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Speaker 1: you find a way to map out a road to

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Speaker 1: get to fifty eight and then to ninety and then

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Speaker 1: too the picks after that? When you were setting your

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Speaker 1: board and stuff like that and looking at your board,

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Speaker 1: you obviously you went through and said, okay, we're gonna

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Speaker 1: rate these guys from one to one fifty and play

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Speaker 1: it like a normal draft. But was there anything different

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Speaker 1: that you had to do when you're when you're making

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Speaker 1: that direction, There is there anything different you say, Okay,

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Speaker 1: I got to make sure that I got to cover

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Speaker 1: this or I got to cover this. Without the first

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Speaker 1: round pick, it was any different. No, we addressed it

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Speaker 1: the same as if we had a first round pick,

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Speaker 1: because first of all, you never know what's going to happen,

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Speaker 1: and then you have to look at every draft the

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Speaker 1: same what we try and do, and you know, we

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Speaker 1: talk about the Garret process, but we it's the same

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Speaker 1: thing that we have. It's a process that you go through,

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Speaker 1: you grade your players, you rate them from you know,

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Speaker 1: top to the bottom, right, and to have that consistency

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Speaker 1: within the process. Yeah, Well, we were sitting there because

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Speaker 1: we're trying to We're sitting there trying to map out, okay,

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Speaker 1: how they're going to get to fifty eight, you know,

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Speaker 1: and then and we just kept throwing names and but

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Speaker 1: it is it so it's not a wider scope. It's

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Speaker 1: really you just say, Okay, we're focused in on these guys.

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Speaker 1: You know, it's it's the first round, guys, it's the

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Speaker 1: second round guys. There was really no deviation from that

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Speaker 1: at all. There's no deviation from it. The thing that

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Speaker 1: changed a little bit is, uh, you know, when you

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Speaker 1: have a pick in the first round, you're trying to

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Speaker 1: look to see where you're top guys or guys that

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Speaker 1: you targeted, they're gonna fall pay a little bit more

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Speaker 1: attention to the chatter around and whatnot. But uh, you

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Speaker 1: keep it the same. Uh. You know, it's when we

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Speaker 1: had the fourth pick with Zeke, well we're picking early,

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Speaker 1: you know, different level there. I think what we did

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Speaker 1: during the process we kind of changed our approach as

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Speaker 1: opposed to bringing in guys that we're going to be

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Speaker 1: drafted in the top fifteen, we felt like we kind

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Speaker 1: of scattered it around a little bit to you know,

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Speaker 1: the thirty visit guys to where the coaches were, you know,

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Speaker 1: who they were going to go see where we put

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Speaker 1: our resources, not essentially at the top fifteen to twenty guys,

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Speaker 1: but kind of filtered it through the draft at different levels.

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Speaker 1: Is that a hard conversation to have trying to evaluate

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Speaker 1: you know, again, you don't pick till fifty eight, so

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Speaker 1: you're trying to evaluate, like, is this worth the resources.

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Speaker 1: Jonathan Abram comes to mind, a guy that y'all obviously

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Speaker 1: liked a lot, and you know, you're like, this guy

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Speaker 1: probably won't be there, but we still want to take

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Speaker 1: a look at him. I mean, yeah, just kind of

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Speaker 1: weighing those risks because as you see the draft, the

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Speaker 1: NFL draft has changed so much over the past five

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Speaker 1: to eight years, where you know, when the cap changed

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Speaker 1: and you don't pay rookies as much money and all that. Well,

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Speaker 1: you're also seeing the value of the trade chart and

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Speaker 1: that stuff. So a lot of that stuff is altered.

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Speaker 1: It's changed. It's not the way that it's not the

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Speaker 1: NFL that we grew up in, where people stood where

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Speaker 1: they were, they had their picks or so you don't

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Speaker 1: know where things are gonna go. So Abram was anywhere

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Speaker 1: in our minds from fifteen to in the second round,

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Speaker 1: depending upon what people were looking for. So that was

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Speaker 1: the calculated kind of risk that we took in looking

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Speaker 1: at guys and when we brought them in and who

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Speaker 1: we spent those resources on. What you thought about is

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Speaker 1: that maybe a trade up situation too? That if you

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Speaker 1: if you think Abram might be saying, okay, he said

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Speaker 1: top fifteen, but what if Abram got to forty, say,

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Speaker 1: I mean and you're sitting at fifty eight, do you

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Speaker 1: bring guys in thinking okay, maybe we're gonna have to

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Speaker 1: maybe trade up for this guy. So I need to

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Speaker 1: know that background information. Absolutely, you got to be prepared

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Speaker 1: for every situation. So again, those guys that you felt

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Speaker 1: like we're first to top a second round, when we're

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Speaker 1: down towards the bottom of the second let's look at

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Speaker 1: some of those guys at positions of need or players

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Speaker 1: we really liked and wanted to get in front of

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Speaker 1: and kind of look at it there. So when you

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Speaker 1: talk about the you know, potential of trading up, well,

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Speaker 1: we go through the exercise, we look at the points

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Speaker 1: and you know, what do you have to give up

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Speaker 1: and where we ad and the contracts in the future

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Speaker 1: and all those things kind of went into putting this

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Speaker 1: picture together. How much do you look at other teams

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Speaker 1: and who they bring in for thirty visits and interest? Like,

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Speaker 1: how does that work in terms of the process of

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Speaker 1: tracking all that information to understand Okay, well we need

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Speaker 1: to get in front of this guy if or this team,

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Speaker 1: if we want this player. How does that process work

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Speaker 1: for you? Yeah, we look at you know, the thirty visits.

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Speaker 1: I mean there's a number of different things at track

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Speaker 1: where we track our you know, on our own. It's

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Speaker 1: the guys that we bring in where they're going. Uh,

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Speaker 1: you know, there's some sources out there that tell you

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Speaker 1: who's bringing who in for visits and you kind of

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Speaker 1: you know now and analytics get involved in it too.

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Speaker 1: We go through a number of different processes to go okay,

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Speaker 1: systems who guys have drafted da da da da da,

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Speaker 1: and say okay, here are the guys that you know

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Speaker 1: kind of we target based on doing all that research.

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Speaker 1: Let me ask you something about the Okay, you don't

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Speaker 1: have a first round pick, but can you walk us

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Speaker 1: through though the determination of coming about making the trade

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Speaker 1: for a Maury Cooper? I mean, at what point in

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Speaker 1: time do you know you start off the season, you're

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Speaker 1: three and four. It was it something that you saw

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Speaker 1: very early in the season. You said, man, I've got

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Speaker 1: to get these coaches some help here, and you know,

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Speaker 1: and then maybe your pro guys, you know, get involved,

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Speaker 1: and all of a sudden you're like, Okay, this is

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Speaker 1: this is how this is going to this is how

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Speaker 1: it's going to go down. Because I've been with Jerry

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Speaker 1: Jones when he didn't have first round picks two years

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Speaker 1: in a row. So whatever you did to make that work,

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Speaker 1: congratulations because that is like, again, Stephen talked about it,

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Speaker 1: you need an Act of Congress, and I've seen him

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Speaker 1: agonize in draft rooms without a first round pick. I'm

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Speaker 1: sure you've felt that too yourself. But talk about though

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Speaker 1: you made a big commitment to go and get a

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Speaker 1: Maury Cooper and to give up a first round pick,

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Speaker 1: When did you make that determination that you needed to

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Speaker 1: go do something. I think we're always evaluating our roster,

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Speaker 1: and so we went into last year receiver by committee.

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Speaker 1: We brought these guys in and you know, there was injuries,

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Speaker 1: there was you know that the plan didn't work right.

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Speaker 1: And if you put your head in the sand and say, okay,

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Speaker 1: we're gonna, you know, out some way rectify it. But

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Speaker 1: it's also about opportunity. So we're all, you know again,

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Speaker 1: just like right now, we're always looking for ways to

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Speaker 1: improve our roster. So when the situation came about and

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Speaker 1: they were talking about different receivers and trade deadline was

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Speaker 1: coming up, we had done our homework. We had guys

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Speaker 1: that were coming out of contract or people who were trying,

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Speaker 1: you know, looking at the trends they were moving guys

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Speaker 1: da da da da dah. And then you look at

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Speaker 1: it and then there was Amari Cooper and there's a

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Speaker 1: couple of other guys that names that were being thrown around,

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Speaker 1: and so we looked at how do you improve that position?

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Speaker 1: The Amar situation came up, So then we go and

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Speaker 1: we look at you know, our our our scouting grades

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Speaker 1: and what's coming and you know where we are there

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Speaker 1: and what's the right opportunity cost to make that pick.

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Speaker 1: So we make pick and then you know, we we

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Speaker 1: go to a string of success and we felt like

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Speaker 1: at the time when we were looking at it, is

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Speaker 1: there going to be a first round receiver to the

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Speaker 1: level of Amari Cooper. And then we went through everything else.

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Speaker 1: It's like, you know, if he's twenty eight or twenty

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Speaker 1: nine years old, is that something that's beneficial for the

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Speaker 1: long term of the team, you know, as opposed to

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Speaker 1: right now. And so we try and look at all

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Speaker 1: those things that way, and through the course of planning

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Speaker 1: with Stephen and Jerry, when we talked about it, we

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Speaker 1: sat there and we looked at it. Okay, what's the

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Speaker 1: opportunity cost and you know, hey, it could be if

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Speaker 1: we don't correct the ship, it could be a high

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Speaker 1: first round pick. Sure, you know, all of those things

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Speaker 1: kind of went into it, and you roll the dice

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Speaker 1: and you look at a twenty four year old guy

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Speaker 1: who's different, you know, and you go through this draft

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Speaker 1: and every draft and looking for those top ten players

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Speaker 1: that will be difference makers in your organization. So if

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Speaker 1: you have an opportunity to do that, you just received

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Speaker 1: the benefit of a first round pick earlier rather than later. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: and Dane came in. Dane evaluates about five hundred more

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Speaker 1: players for us and stuff like that, and I catch up.

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Speaker 1: Dane very early said no receivers, I don't see a

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Speaker 1: first round. This was very early in January. You know,

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Speaker 1: he's evaluating we're going to the Senior Bowl and going

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Speaker 1: into the combine and stuff in Dangels, I haven't seen

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Speaker 1: a first round receiver yet, and then Dane very astutely says,

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Speaker 1: there's not a receiver on that board that's even close

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Speaker 1: to a Mary Cooper. So all of a sudden, now

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Speaker 1: you're sitting there now by what you just said, the

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Speaker 1: justification is we had to have a receiver. We weren't

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Speaker 1: going to get a receiver even if we had a

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Speaker 1: top ten pick. We're not going to get the right

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Speaker 1: receiver here. So so then you also look at the

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Speaker 1: impact of first round receivers when they come into the NFL.

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Speaker 1: There hasn't been a great deal of talk about they

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Speaker 1: have to learn the game, right, you know, guys with

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Speaker 1: all the ability, and you know, everybody goes to the

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Speaker 1: draft process and you got the draft nick saying oh,

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Speaker 1: this guy should go here and there and he's going

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Speaker 1: to be great. Yeah, that position is really hard to

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Speaker 1: impact the NFL, especially the way college football is being

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Speaker 1: played now. Yeah, there's no press coverage. They don't read coverage.

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Speaker 1: There's a lot of RPOs. So the windows and the

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Speaker 1: landmarks and the ability to run the route tree, they're

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Speaker 1: not there. So there's that development in that process too,

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Speaker 1: So that's going to take two sometimes three years before

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Speaker 1: you see the benefit of that pick. Was there was

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Speaker 1: there some consideration, Scum, that was there some considerate consideration?

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Speaker 1: And I come from a program in Green Bay and

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Speaker 1: other places where you I always follow teams that had

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Speaker 1: new coaches, new general managers. And did you maybe take

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Speaker 1: a little bit of advantage of the Raiders situation with

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Speaker 1: Gruten being a new coach and you know, maybe some

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Speaker 1: flux the general manager that you said, okay, we can

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Speaker 1: I know, you give a first round pick, but they're

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Speaker 1: willingness to give up a player of that quality though.

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Speaker 1: I mean, that's that's pretty significant on their part, no question.

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Speaker 1: But you gave up a premium pick. Yeah, so yeah,

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Speaker 1: we did. But that's but that's what we do. As

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Speaker 1: you look at like right now, you know, when we

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Speaker 1: were going into the free agency process, um, and we're

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Speaker 1: looking at after the draft. There's new regimes. They want

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Speaker 1: their people, right um. And and so you're aware of

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Speaker 1: those rosters and those positions of need and the personalities

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Speaker 1: of those people that are coaching or running those teams

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Speaker 1: and looking at their track record and everything else, and

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Speaker 1: know when to start up a conversation if it's worthy

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Speaker 1: of it. All that stuff, I totally lost my Oh no,

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Speaker 1: I remember now, no, no, less, You're good. Thank you

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Speaker 1: don't have that rights education and y'all, y'all have said

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Speaker 1: this a couple dozen times since you traded for Amari.

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Speaker 1: You know you looked at it. You know there's not

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Speaker 1: a first round receiver. There's not a guy that's on

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Speaker 1: his caliber. But maybe it's just me. I'm fascinated by

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Speaker 1: the actual mechanics of how that works. So you gotta

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Speaker 1: I mean, you got a million things going on all

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Speaker 1: the time. You're worried about your roster during the season.

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Speaker 1: How does that work? I mean do you do you

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Speaker 1: get your scouts on the phone? Do you? I mean,

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Speaker 1: how do you go about gathering that information that you

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Speaker 1: know that when Stephen and Jerry ask you for that information?

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Speaker 1: It's you just plan ahead. I mean, you look ahead.

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Speaker 1: The process of building the football team is three six,

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Speaker 1: especially nowadays, and so you look at it, and you know,

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Speaker 1: the pro side, we grade every player on every team

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Speaker 1: during the season. We look at that. We have an

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Speaker 1: updated database and we make sure we know who's who.

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Speaker 1: We look at the depth, we look at who they drafted,

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Speaker 1: so we're prepared for that. So the situation comes about, Okay,

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Speaker 1: pro guys, was our last pro grade on him? You

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Speaker 1: know how much has he played this year? You look

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Speaker 1: at statistical things. We have our analytics that we look

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Speaker 1: at all that stuff. And so when the different situations

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Speaker 1: present themselves, now it's informant Jerry and Stephen as soon

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Speaker 1: as I possibly know something so that we can start

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Speaker 1: discussing and saying, Okay, how does this affect this? And

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Speaker 1: you know what's our game plan. So it's kind of

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Speaker 1: an ongoing thing. And I think my position here is

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Speaker 1: a little bit different than most where the general managers

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Speaker 1: out worried about the college and dada, da, da da,

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Speaker 1: and you don't know your team. The benefit of the

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Speaker 1: way that we're structured is I'm here most of the time.

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Speaker 1: I know our team, our team, what we're looking for,

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Speaker 1: you know the differences, and you know what's playing in

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Speaker 1: the league. Right. That's one of the hardest things for

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Speaker 1: people who our lifeblood is the college draft. But if

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Speaker 1: you don't know your team, or you're reliant upon the

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Speaker 1: coaches or whatever, there's a different way of looking at it.

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Speaker 1: The way that we're structured. Here, I'm looking at it

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Speaker 1: globally and I'm around and I can have those conversations

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Speaker 1: so that the communication can be better and we're ahead

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Speaker 1: of those opportunities or at least there when those opportunities

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Speaker 1: come up. Yeah, I've always found the guys, the general

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Speaker 1: managers that have the pro backgrounds because college. Sometimes these

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Speaker 1: college general managers and nothing against these guys that are

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Speaker 1: college guys and become general managers. They don't know who's

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Speaker 1: playing in the league right, they don't know who the

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Speaker 1: nickel corners with the Atlanta Falcons. They don't know who

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Speaker 1: the backup right tackles at Minnesota. And sometimes though, when

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Speaker 1: you're building your team, all you're thinking about is the draft,

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Speaker 1: and give me more picks, Give me more picks, give

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Speaker 1: me more picks, and stays saying, wait a minute, I've

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Speaker 1: got to find a way to compete with my division now,

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Speaker 1: and then I've got to find a way to compete

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Speaker 1: with some of the other teams around the league. So

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Speaker 1: to me, the guys that have the pro backgrounds are better.

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Speaker 1: And I shouldn't say this, I think are better general

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Speaker 1: managers because they're better prepared to handle the situations, not

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Speaker 1: because no, no, no, no, no, because I here's a

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Speaker 1: guy that was on the pro side of things. I

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Speaker 1: started Green bayd in college and with the pro. But

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Speaker 1: I always respected the guys that were and again some

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Speaker 1: of my best friends, you know, Thomas Demitrof, John Snyder,

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Speaker 1: those guys, we're all college. Snyder was a pro guy

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Speaker 1: at one time and he knew the league, and I

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Speaker 1: think that helps you as you trying to build your

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Speaker 1: team and answer those questions. This is why you're able

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Speaker 1: to make a trade, I think for a first round guy,

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Speaker 1: a wide receiver, because you know him at Oakland. Okay,

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Speaker 1: I've got the college reports, but now I know, wait,

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Speaker 1: I've seen in the league. Yeah, I've seen this guy

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Speaker 1: and what he's done. And okay, the fact he's a

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Speaker 1: twenty four year old guy makes a lot of sense.

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Speaker 1: And the college. In the college side of it, you

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Speaker 1: are always projecting. I think the key is having a

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Speaker 1: sense of what you're projecting that player into as opposed

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Speaker 1: to his upside. But you've got to project them into something.

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Speaker 1: You know, it's easy to say that this guy is

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Speaker 1: a great receiver and he belongs here. Well, if it

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Speaker 1: doesn't fit the system, or if the personality doesn't fit

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Speaker 1: with who you're putting him into or whatever. I feel

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Speaker 1: like all of those things have to go into because

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Speaker 1: we're taking people from one situation putting them into another,

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Speaker 1: so you better be aware of what you're putting them into. Well,

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Speaker 1: let me ask you this. So it just about a

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Speaker 1: mare though, and again I'm gonna get into some of

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Speaker 1: these other draft picks as well that you made. But

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Speaker 1: as far as a mare, you know, I remember my

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Speaker 1: experience of working with the Cowboys is that Jerry and

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Speaker 1: Stephen really relied on opinions from outside and I know

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Speaker 1: we still hear that. You know, oh, we talked to

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Speaker 1: this guy, or we talked to this guy, we talked

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Speaker 1: to coach Sabin and all that has that change over

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Speaker 1: the year. Is it really more about your opinion? And

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Speaker 1: again I'm not trying to short change your opinion. I'm

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Speaker 1: trying to say that, is it more about watching the

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Speaker 1: tape and hav an opinion within, whether it's Alex Loomis, yourself, whoever.

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Speaker 1: Is that kind of way that Joneses are now operating more.

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Speaker 1: I think we're getting getting better that they trust us.

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Speaker 1: And what I tell our group is so I don't

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Speaker 1: know if they trusted me. That's probably why I'm doing

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Speaker 1: radio right now. No, it's it's it's evolved into uh,

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Speaker 1: the you know, I keep saying the process right, the

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Speaker 1: way that we do things, and not trying to slant

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Speaker 1: one way or the other. I want to know. We're

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Speaker 1: the lawyers. We're presenting the case, and my objective in

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Speaker 1: being that lawyer is I'm presenting all the facts, good, bad,

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Speaker 1: or indifferent, right, and they make the decision based off

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Speaker 1: of all the information as to what's best for the organization.

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Speaker 1: That's them. You know, the job that we're tasked with.

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Speaker 1: So the guys go out. We have a specific way

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Speaker 1: of doing things, and as long as we do it

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Speaker 1: that way, you know, the information that's coming in as

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Speaker 1: a certain way, you know that we've checked all the

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Speaker 1: boxes that we can. That they're getting information that is pure,

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Speaker 1: it's raw and uncut, and now you make the decision

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Speaker 1: based off of that. You TALKO, Go ahead, Dan, I'm sorry, Well, No,

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Speaker 1: I was going to kind of swing it to this

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Speaker 1: draft class and with Tristan Hill, that's what it's about

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Speaker 1: to coach. You know, it's He's really interesting because you know,

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Speaker 1: on our end, we can watch it we can see

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Speaker 1: what he does, what maybe he needs to work on

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Speaker 1: things like that. But you know, one of the most

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Speaker 1: fascinating parts is a player's journey, and you know everything

364
00:17:08,359 --> 00:17:11,240
Speaker 1: goes through and with Tristan Hill, part of his journey

365
00:17:11,359 --> 00:17:13,840
Speaker 1: is only starting one game last year. And you know,

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Speaker 1: football character, personal character, that's something that is a big

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Speaker 1: part of every evaluation. And so how handicap there right exactly?

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Speaker 1: And that's something from the outside looking in. We only

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Speaker 1: have so much information and so it makes it difficult

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Speaker 1: on our end. But how does that work? From you?

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Speaker 1: Is it just trusting your scouts that they're doing thorough

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Speaker 1: enough information when they're on campus, and trusting your coaches

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Speaker 1: when they go and work out at a pro day

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Speaker 1: and they're talking to the right people. How does the

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Speaker 1: character conversation? How does that work within the building? It's

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Speaker 1: it's everything. It's to try and find out as much

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Speaker 1: as we can about the player, especially if we you know,

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Speaker 1: you can turn on the tape and you can watch

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Speaker 1: it and see all the traits that you like, but

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Speaker 1: now you you want to dig into who it is

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00:17:56,240 --> 00:17:59,360
Speaker 1: and we talk about football character, and so our scouts

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00:17:59,359 --> 00:18:02,000
Speaker 1: go and they're ask all the questions that everybody else asks.

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Speaker 1: And you know, each scout is in an area, they

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00:18:04,720 --> 00:18:08,359
Speaker 1: have their sources that they draw from, and you know,

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00:18:08,480 --> 00:18:10,240
Speaker 1: the coaches are going to talk to the coaches and

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Speaker 1: people that they're familiar with. Again, it's about gathering all

387
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Speaker 1: that information and then being aware that you know the

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Speaker 1: people that you talk to. We tend to go talk

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Speaker 1: to people that are like us, that we're comfortable with.

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Speaker 1: So I know that that's upset of information I get

391
00:18:24,240 --> 00:18:27,160
Speaker 1: from this guy. He probably talked to somebody that's like him.

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Speaker 1: The coach is going to talk to a coach that's

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Speaker 1: like him that sees it differently. I'm going to talk

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Speaker 1: to somebody else. And then you pull all that together

395
00:18:33,720 --> 00:18:36,080
Speaker 1: and then you bring the kid in and if you

396
00:18:36,200 --> 00:18:38,400
Speaker 1: like him, and you start to figure out who he

397
00:18:38,640 --> 00:18:42,000
Speaker 1: is for your own sake, you know, now we make

398
00:18:42,040 --> 00:18:46,080
Speaker 1: an organizational evaluation of who the guy is. Who do

399
00:18:46,200 --> 00:18:48,040
Speaker 1: you know, do we want him? What's he all about?

400
00:18:48,359 --> 00:18:52,639
Speaker 1: And take into account. Okay, twenty years old, twenty one

401
00:18:52,720 --> 00:18:55,320
Speaker 1: years old. And I always say this is if I

402
00:18:55,400 --> 00:18:59,280
Speaker 1: go back to when all of us were sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen,

403
00:18:59,320 --> 00:19:03,480
Speaker 1: twenty years old, and you know, be doing and then

404
00:19:03,520 --> 00:19:06,600
Speaker 1: you look at our society is a little bit different.

405
00:19:06,600 --> 00:19:09,199
Speaker 1: If you're a star athlete and things happen, you know,

406
00:19:09,240 --> 00:19:12,080
Speaker 1: there's a there's a certain level of whatever you want

407
00:19:12,080 --> 00:19:14,040
Speaker 1: to call it, that you get away with, or a

408
00:19:14,080 --> 00:19:17,520
Speaker 1: certain feeling that you have, and so we all have

409
00:19:17,600 --> 00:19:20,199
Speaker 1: to be directed. So when we brought Tristan and we

410
00:19:20,400 --> 00:19:23,240
Speaker 1: felt good about who he was, and then another sign

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00:19:23,400 --> 00:19:25,720
Speaker 1: is what people do, not only what they say to you,

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00:19:25,760 --> 00:19:28,440
Speaker 1: but what they do. You take into account the things

413
00:19:28,480 --> 00:19:32,040
Speaker 1: that happened at Central Florida, but now his experience with us,

414
00:19:32,080 --> 00:19:34,800
Speaker 1: that's really the strongest point that I can go off of.

415
00:19:35,640 --> 00:19:38,400
Speaker 1: Excuse me, it's what did you do? How how did

416
00:19:38,400 --> 00:19:42,080
Speaker 1: he interact? What? You know, what was his body language? Like, uh,

417
00:19:42,119 --> 00:19:45,280
Speaker 1: you know, to for coach Marinelli to tell him, hey, listen,

418
00:19:45,520 --> 00:19:47,479
Speaker 1: put on a coat. You come in here, and you

419
00:19:47,480 --> 00:19:49,760
Speaker 1: represent yourself. Don't put on your best suit because it's

420
00:19:50,080 --> 00:19:52,520
Speaker 1: you know that, but but but represent yourself the right

421
00:19:52,560 --> 00:19:54,480
Speaker 1: way and show you want to be here. The kid

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00:19:54,560 --> 00:19:57,760
Speaker 1: did that. It's spending his twenty first birthday in a

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00:19:57,840 --> 00:20:01,840
Speaker 1: hotel room with ride um, you know, having conversations with

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00:20:01,920 --> 00:20:04,760
Speaker 1: him and sitting and asking him about those things and

425
00:20:04,800 --> 00:20:07,600
Speaker 1: looking at him in his eye and going, hey, I

426
00:20:07,640 --> 00:20:09,719
Speaker 1: believe him or I don't believe him. And that's so

427
00:20:09,800 --> 00:20:13,600
Speaker 1: much a part of the process, and it our evaluation

428
00:20:13,640 --> 00:20:17,639
Speaker 1: of a player. It all depends on who's talking to

429
00:20:17,720 --> 00:20:22,800
Speaker 1: him and what their interpretation of that conversation is to

430
00:20:22,960 --> 00:20:25,680
Speaker 1: go going off that which and I know y'all turn

431
00:20:25,720 --> 00:20:28,080
Speaker 1: over every stone, but kind of the flip side of

432
00:20:28,080 --> 00:20:31,040
Speaker 1: that's Connor McGovern. He didn't come in. I'm you know,

433
00:20:31,080 --> 00:20:33,560
Speaker 1: I'm you know, the scouts and coaches talk to him,

434
00:20:33,600 --> 00:20:37,040
Speaker 1: but much less contact with him. How does that work?

435
00:20:37,080 --> 00:20:39,400
Speaker 1: And you know, Jack Garrett said it during the draft,

436
00:20:39,640 --> 00:20:41,760
Speaker 1: he's a blinking light, like it's just obvious that he's

437
00:20:41,800 --> 00:20:44,840
Speaker 1: so much better than your other options. What's that conversation

438
00:20:44,920 --> 00:20:47,960
Speaker 1: where you're like, we haven't really had as much experience

439
00:20:47,960 --> 00:20:50,200
Speaker 1: with this guy, but this just feels like a no brainer.

440
00:20:50,400 --> 00:20:52,840
Speaker 1: You know, you trust your people when you don't bring

441
00:20:52,880 --> 00:20:55,480
Speaker 1: them in. And then if there's through every box that

442
00:20:55,600 --> 00:21:00,000
Speaker 1: you check, if there's four people that go into that school,

443
00:21:00,440 --> 00:21:03,439
Speaker 1: and there's so many varying opinions and we do you know,

444
00:21:03,480 --> 00:21:07,560
Speaker 1: like you you use language like very good, good, you know, okay,

445
00:21:07,600 --> 00:21:10,680
Speaker 1: but when all that stuff comes back as very good,

446
00:21:10,720 --> 00:21:12,840
Speaker 1: excellent or rare in the way that we do things,

447
00:21:13,000 --> 00:21:15,280
Speaker 1: and there's consistency in it. If we're all doing it

448
00:21:15,320 --> 00:21:18,280
Speaker 1: the same way. We feel pretty good about that. And

449
00:21:18,320 --> 00:21:20,800
Speaker 1: we spent time enough with him to know that there's

450
00:21:21,800 --> 00:21:24,520
Speaker 1: you know, he fits right into what we do. Was

451
00:21:24,560 --> 00:21:27,159
Speaker 1: this a move more will about we were kind of

452
00:21:27,200 --> 00:21:30,960
Speaker 1: speculating and probably wrong, but we'll see that this was

453
00:21:31,000 --> 00:21:33,639
Speaker 1: a move about something for the future. Or was this

454
00:21:33,720 --> 00:21:36,320
Speaker 1: the fact that this guy was just so highly rated

455
00:21:36,400 --> 00:21:39,359
Speaker 1: on your board that you said, hey, we've got to

456
00:21:39,400 --> 00:21:41,840
Speaker 1: trust with these tags we put on this board, and

457
00:21:41,920 --> 00:21:44,119
Speaker 1: that's our guy, and we're going to go that route.

458
00:21:44,359 --> 00:21:46,480
Speaker 1: Damn the position, We're going to add a guy to

459
00:21:46,520 --> 00:21:49,880
Speaker 1: the position and trying to improve this team. Even going

460
00:21:49,960 --> 00:21:53,720
Speaker 1: that round, it's he was the blinking light that was there.

461
00:21:53,800 --> 00:21:56,000
Speaker 1: You go through the process, and you know, you build

462
00:21:56,040 --> 00:21:57,879
Speaker 1: a draft board and there are players that are taken

463
00:21:57,880 --> 00:22:00,320
Speaker 1: from your draft board, and you know, after the first round,

464
00:22:00,359 --> 00:22:03,040
Speaker 1: your draft board looks a lot different than even you

465
00:22:03,119 --> 00:22:05,840
Speaker 1: thought it was going to look there at the end

466
00:22:05,840 --> 00:22:09,000
Speaker 1: of it, Yeah, Thanksgiving, and we went through it, and

467
00:22:09,240 --> 00:22:10,679
Speaker 1: you know, when you go through the draft, it's a

468
00:22:10,680 --> 00:22:14,879
Speaker 1: combination a best player available in position to need and

469
00:22:15,080 --> 00:22:16,720
Speaker 1: when you went through it, Yeah, you didn't need a

470
00:22:16,800 --> 00:22:19,240
Speaker 1: cynder guard. Okay, we didn't think we needed one last

471
00:22:19,280 --> 00:22:23,320
Speaker 1: year and Travis went through his deal. And if the

472
00:22:23,320 --> 00:22:27,000
Speaker 1: best player is there, you're never one player away. If

473
00:22:27,000 --> 00:22:29,199
Speaker 1: that player is there, and then the guys around it

474
00:22:29,359 --> 00:22:31,800
Speaker 1: or at a lower level, and that might be they

475
00:22:31,880 --> 00:22:34,320
Speaker 1: might be at that round value that we placed on him.

476
00:22:34,359 --> 00:22:37,000
Speaker 1: But if we valued this guy this high and we

477
00:22:37,040 --> 00:22:40,679
Speaker 1: did this work, why not take that shot and that

478
00:22:40,760 --> 00:22:44,960
Speaker 1: opportunity to improve your strength to be prepared for what's

479
00:22:45,000 --> 00:22:48,280
Speaker 1: coming down the line, not only what can happen today,

480
00:22:48,320 --> 00:22:51,000
Speaker 1: but what's going to happen from a business standpoint down

481
00:22:51,000 --> 00:22:54,800
Speaker 1: the line. If I could circle back real quick about Hill,

482
00:22:54,840 --> 00:22:57,520
Speaker 1: a lot of folks in the draft world and the

483
00:22:58,600 --> 00:23:01,200
Speaker 1: draft Knicks, we're talking about a need for safety here.

484
00:23:01,440 --> 00:23:04,520
Speaker 1: We talked about, you know, Thornhill. We talked about Adderly,

485
00:23:04,600 --> 00:23:07,000
Speaker 1: we talked about rap Rap. I felt like kind of

486
00:23:07,000 --> 00:23:09,120
Speaker 1: eliminated him with the fourth seven. Some of the tape

487
00:23:09,200 --> 00:23:12,640
Speaker 1: was really really good, but all those guys went behind

488
00:23:12,760 --> 00:23:15,520
Speaker 1: you was there and we were kind of hearing some

489
00:23:15,560 --> 00:23:18,880
Speaker 1: whispers of maybe that there was a discussion about Thornhill

490
00:23:19,200 --> 00:23:21,119
Speaker 1: in the room when you went on the clock, and

491
00:23:21,359 --> 00:23:23,520
Speaker 1: again you had your board set for how you were

492
00:23:23,520 --> 00:23:25,840
Speaker 1: going to do it. But talk about that a little

493
00:23:25,840 --> 00:23:28,520
Speaker 1: bit though that you know it was it the Hills

494
00:23:28,600 --> 00:23:33,000
Speaker 1: trades and all just so much better than Thornhill that

495
00:23:33,160 --> 00:23:35,880
Speaker 1: or was there something that swung that in a way

496
00:23:35,920 --> 00:23:38,119
Speaker 1: that like, no, we've got it. We've just got to

497
00:23:38,119 --> 00:23:40,639
Speaker 1: stick with what we've got right here. We followed our

498
00:23:40,720 --> 00:23:42,760
Speaker 1: draft board and both of those guys are there, So

499
00:23:42,800 --> 00:23:45,959
Speaker 1: we talked about the scenario and as the pit got closer,

500
00:23:46,000 --> 00:23:48,840
Speaker 1: we're looking at it. So within the board you have

501
00:23:49,040 --> 00:23:52,720
Speaker 1: positions evaluated as well. And so when you look at

502
00:23:52,840 --> 00:23:58,600
Speaker 1: the scarcity of a three technique, right, and the value

503
00:23:58,640 --> 00:24:01,800
Speaker 1: of that three technique to your defense compared to a

504
00:24:01,960 --> 00:24:04,520
Speaker 1: safety and the impact that he can have on your team,

505
00:24:04,680 --> 00:24:09,719
Speaker 1: and then what's behind that one safety or that defensive tackle?

506
00:24:10,040 --> 00:24:13,440
Speaker 1: And you look at the league in the draft, how

507
00:24:13,480 --> 00:24:16,520
Speaker 1: often have you seen that many defensive tackles go in

508
00:24:16,560 --> 00:24:20,159
Speaker 1: the first round? Yeah, that's any guards your centers first round.

509
00:24:20,200 --> 00:24:22,199
Speaker 1: And you look at it and you say, well, the

510
00:24:22,280 --> 00:24:25,280
Speaker 1: game is changing with the RPOs and all the different things.

511
00:24:25,280 --> 00:24:28,119
Speaker 1: The way that the game is, you still value the

512
00:24:28,200 --> 00:24:30,800
Speaker 1: edge rushers. You value all those guys, but as the

513
00:24:30,880 --> 00:24:35,080
Speaker 1: game changes, you look at your value of players and

514
00:24:35,280 --> 00:24:38,280
Speaker 1: your scheme and does that change, and then what's available

515
00:24:38,640 --> 00:24:42,000
Speaker 1: before or after that player at that position. You're kind

516
00:24:42,040 --> 00:24:45,440
Speaker 1: of playing that game to see, Okay, if we do this,

517
00:24:45,680 --> 00:24:48,080
Speaker 1: then what's after that? That's really part. So there's no

518
00:24:48,160 --> 00:24:50,960
Speaker 1: question about even saying with all those players there you

519
00:24:51,000 --> 00:24:54,159
Speaker 1: had a nice little stack. There was no no consideration

520
00:24:54,160 --> 00:24:55,800
Speaker 1: of moving back at all. You said, oh, you know

521
00:24:55,920 --> 00:24:58,160
Speaker 1: our guy, that's our guy right there. I mean, we're

522
00:24:58,160 --> 00:25:00,480
Speaker 1: going to talk about a couple of guys that sarry,

523
00:25:00,480 --> 00:25:02,160
Speaker 1: but we're gonna sit right there and make this pick,

524
00:25:02,359 --> 00:25:06,320
Speaker 1: right because those guys that we liked came down to

525
00:25:06,400 --> 00:25:08,359
Speaker 1: that level. So now you look at you go, okay,

526
00:25:08,359 --> 00:25:10,280
Speaker 1: do we move back. No, we don't want to lose

527
00:25:10,320 --> 00:25:13,600
Speaker 1: this guy or this guy. Stay where we are after.

528
00:25:13,680 --> 00:25:16,520
Speaker 1: You know, if you stay where you are, things come

529
00:25:16,560 --> 00:25:19,280
Speaker 1: to you and you have an opportunity to address it,

530
00:25:19,400 --> 00:25:21,760
Speaker 1: especially if your board is constructed the way that you

531
00:25:21,800 --> 00:25:25,119
Speaker 1: like players, and then those players are there. This is

532
00:25:25,119 --> 00:25:28,600
Speaker 1: a favorite pastime of fans and media, and you got

533
00:25:28,600 --> 00:25:30,439
Speaker 1: to make the best decision and live with it. I

534
00:25:30,480 --> 00:25:33,359
Speaker 1: get that, but as the years go on, do you

535
00:25:33,440 --> 00:25:36,080
Speaker 1: keep an eye on wan Thornhill, maybe more so than

536
00:25:36,119 --> 00:25:38,760
Speaker 1: other prospects. Just be I mean, that likely would have

537
00:25:38,760 --> 00:25:40,600
Speaker 1: been that pick if it hadn't be interested and help me,

538
00:25:40,600 --> 00:25:42,919
Speaker 1: you know, T. J. Watt is obviously a name that

539
00:25:42,960 --> 00:25:45,760
Speaker 1: always gets mentioned with the Cowboys for that very reason. Yeah,

540
00:25:45,800 --> 00:25:48,680
Speaker 1: you watch it and you bring it up, and you

541
00:25:49,480 --> 00:25:52,760
Speaker 1: take all the experiences from the past to help you

542
00:25:52,880 --> 00:25:55,840
Speaker 1: make decisions or at least consider those when you make

543
00:25:55,920 --> 00:25:58,800
Speaker 1: the next decision. So we yeah, we look at I mean,

544
00:25:58,840 --> 00:26:01,240
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna if we're good, look at Thorn and go, boy,

545
00:26:01,240 --> 00:26:03,439
Speaker 1: he could have been ours because I feel happy with

546
00:26:03,480 --> 00:26:05,480
Speaker 1: the guys that we have here. If we would have

547
00:26:05,520 --> 00:26:07,280
Speaker 1: made that pick and he would have been here, we'd

548
00:26:07,280 --> 00:26:09,159
Speaker 1: have been happy to have him. But you know, I

549
00:26:09,200 --> 00:26:12,080
Speaker 1: can't worry about what's gone. Let's keep building this thing now.

550
00:26:12,480 --> 00:26:14,960
Speaker 1: And this might be more philosophical than anything. But in

551
00:26:15,000 --> 00:26:17,320
Speaker 1: the fourth round it was interesting because you had two

552
00:26:17,320 --> 00:26:20,760
Speaker 1: picks within what eight picks of each other, say, there's

553
00:26:20,800 --> 00:26:23,320
Speaker 1: two to four players really like. What goes into that

554
00:26:23,359 --> 00:26:26,159
Speaker 1: decision about who to take first? Is it more just

555
00:26:26,400 --> 00:26:28,600
Speaker 1: who we like the best, or is it do you

556
00:26:28,640 --> 00:26:31,520
Speaker 1: look at who's picking in between those picks to say, okay,

557
00:26:31,520 --> 00:26:34,159
Speaker 1: well maybe this guy has a better shot of lasting. Like,

558
00:26:34,280 --> 00:26:38,320
Speaker 1: how does that conversation? Yeah, it's it's okay, who's who's

559
00:26:38,359 --> 00:26:42,200
Speaker 1: before you? What if they drafted? Okay, what were their needs?

560
00:26:42,200 --> 00:26:45,639
Speaker 1: What if they drafted? What's the likelihood of this happening

561
00:26:45,720 --> 00:26:49,080
Speaker 1: or this happening. So you have those conversations, and you

562
00:26:49,119 --> 00:26:52,320
Speaker 1: know a lot of times there's a based on the

563
00:26:52,320 --> 00:26:54,920
Speaker 1: way the board is, that there might be a two

564
00:26:55,160 --> 00:26:58,040
Speaker 1: to four or five point difference between the players are

565
00:26:58,040 --> 00:27:01,080
Speaker 1: in the same round. So then that's you start considering

566
00:27:01,440 --> 00:27:04,639
Speaker 1: position a need or best player available, and then again

567
00:27:04,720 --> 00:27:07,320
Speaker 1: going down to okay, what's left? You know, what's the

568
00:27:07,359 --> 00:27:10,440
Speaker 1: best spot? You know all those things, so it all

569
00:27:10,520 --> 00:27:13,359
Speaker 1: goes into it. But you're looking at okay, what's the

570
00:27:13,359 --> 00:27:16,000
Speaker 1: possibility of this guy getting down to us, what's the

571
00:27:16,040 --> 00:27:19,280
Speaker 1: possibility of your second choice getting down to you if

572
00:27:19,320 --> 00:27:21,919
Speaker 1: we move down or whatever. Then that all all that

573
00:27:21,920 --> 00:27:24,280
Speaker 1: stuff kind of comes into play. So with Tony Pollard thing,

574
00:27:24,320 --> 00:27:26,000
Speaker 1: and I'm looking back through it that you had to

575
00:27:26,040 --> 00:27:28,800
Speaker 1: sweat that a little bit because then Bryce Love goes

576
00:27:28,840 --> 00:27:32,359
Speaker 1: at four one twelve, Justice Hill goes at four one

577
00:27:32,560 --> 00:27:35,160
Speaker 1: thirteen and now you're starting to think, oh, here comes

578
00:27:35,160 --> 00:27:38,800
Speaker 1: the run. So was there any thought about with a

579
00:27:38,840 --> 00:27:40,760
Speaker 1: little bit Dane's talking about, like, Okay, can we make

580
00:27:40,760 --> 00:27:42,920
Speaker 1: a small move up or we just consider and ride

581
00:27:42,960 --> 00:27:46,120
Speaker 1: this thing, because again, you if Bitty Snell went ahead

582
00:27:46,160 --> 00:27:48,040
Speaker 1: of you too, so all of a sudden you have

583
00:27:48,119 --> 00:27:50,960
Speaker 1: three running backs. Was there any thought alike, Okay, we've

584
00:27:50,960 --> 00:27:52,480
Speaker 1: got it. We're just gonna let this thing ride, or

585
00:27:52,480 --> 00:27:54,359
Speaker 1: are we gonna have to make a small move Our

586
00:27:54,400 --> 00:27:57,040
Speaker 1: approach at that time was to let it ride because

587
00:27:57,119 --> 00:28:00,040
Speaker 1: there were other running backs that we felt like it

588
00:28:00,200 --> 00:28:03,480
Speaker 1: help us that we had in that same cluster. Yeah,

589
00:28:03,520 --> 00:28:06,000
Speaker 1: there's a cluster, so you let it ride, and then

590
00:28:06,119 --> 00:28:07,800
Speaker 1: you still have that other pick. I mean, you know,

591
00:28:07,840 --> 00:28:12,000
Speaker 1: when you give a pick away, you lose an opportunity

592
00:28:12,080 --> 00:28:16,000
Speaker 1: to add another player to your roster, and especially if

593
00:28:16,000 --> 00:28:18,679
Speaker 1: there's guys there that you like, you make the decision

594
00:28:18,760 --> 00:28:20,480
Speaker 1: either move up and get the guy you want or

595
00:28:21,000 --> 00:28:23,520
Speaker 1: there's enough depth. And you know, that was a thing

596
00:28:23,520 --> 00:28:26,239
Speaker 1: about this draft there. I felt like there was a

597
00:28:26,240 --> 00:28:29,399
Speaker 1: lot of guys. Uh more, the middle of this draft

598
00:28:29,600 --> 00:28:32,480
Speaker 1: was stronger than the top part of it. So within

599
00:28:32,560 --> 00:28:36,480
Speaker 1: that you still feel like you can get quality players

600
00:28:36,520 --> 00:28:39,720
Speaker 1: to add to your roster with again the business side

601
00:28:39,720 --> 00:28:42,280
Speaker 1: of it coming up as well as winning. Now when

602
00:28:42,400 --> 00:28:43,840
Speaker 1: when we when we come back, I want to get

603
00:28:43,880 --> 00:28:45,880
Speaker 1: into that if we can about the middle, middle part

604
00:28:46,000 --> 00:28:48,320
Speaker 1: of this raft, because I'm going to ask you because

605
00:28:48,320 --> 00:28:50,320
Speaker 1: I think it's I think we understand what the top

606
00:28:50,360 --> 00:28:52,280
Speaker 1: half of the draft, or the top half of your

607
00:28:52,480 --> 00:28:54,840
Speaker 1: selections were. I think I want to I understand what

608
00:28:54,880 --> 00:28:56,480
Speaker 1: the bottom half. I just want to get into that

609
00:28:56,560 --> 00:28:58,200
Speaker 1: middle part when you kind of went with the two

610
00:28:58,240 --> 00:29:00,360
Speaker 1: Miami kids and the Texas A and M kid. So

611
00:29:00,400 --> 00:29:02,080
Speaker 1: we'll be right back with the Draft Show after a

612
00:29:02,080 --> 00:29:04,280
Speaker 1: short break. We'll get into that. And I want to

613
00:29:04,440 --> 00:29:06,640
Speaker 1: want to talk to Will McClay. It's been three years

614
00:29:06,640 --> 00:29:10,040
Speaker 1: since his twenty sixteen draft that he had with the Cowbus.

615
00:29:10,080 --> 00:29:12,640
Speaker 1: I think one of the top drafts in Dallas Cowboys history.

616
00:29:12,640 --> 00:29:14,600
Speaker 1: And we'll discuss that a little bit later on. So

617
00:29:14,600 --> 00:29:16,080
Speaker 1: we'll take a break from the Draft Show. From the

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Speaker 1: or USA dot com. That's or USA dot com terms

650
00:31:12,240 --> 00:31:16,440
Speaker 1: and conditions. Applying a man's stepson doesn't just protect him

651
00:31:16,440 --> 00:31:20,480
Speaker 1: from life's elements, It projects an unstoppable and legendary spirit,

652
00:31:20,760 --> 00:31:23,080
Speaker 1: just like the men wearing silver and Navy on the

653
00:31:23,080 --> 00:31:26,800
Speaker 1: field every Sunday Sends eighteen sixty five. Stetson Hats are

654
00:31:26,840 --> 00:31:30,000
Speaker 1: American made with pride right here in Texas. They are

655
00:31:30,040 --> 00:31:33,600
Speaker 1: still the official crown of all self prospecting Cowboys, and

656
00:31:33,840 --> 00:31:37,040
Speaker 1: Stetson is proud to be on the field with America's team.

657
00:31:37,200 --> 00:31:40,080
Speaker 1: Find steps and hats in the Pro Shop or at

658
00:31:40,080 --> 00:31:47,920
Speaker 1: Stetson dot com. Today is the Dallas Cowboys dot Com

659
00:31:48,080 --> 00:31:51,560
Speaker 1: Draft Show. Swboys are on the clod. We're back here

660
00:31:51,560 --> 00:31:55,200
Speaker 1: in the SWBC Mortgage Studios, Ken Witskin, always presented by

661
00:31:55,200 --> 00:31:59,320
Speaker 1: Miller Lite, Brian broad As, Dain Burglar, David Hellman, and

662
00:31:59,720 --> 00:32:02,640
Speaker 1: our guest today, a very special guest, Will McClay coming

663
00:32:02,640 --> 00:32:04,840
Speaker 1: in there and really give us a lot of knowledge

664
00:32:04,840 --> 00:32:06,920
Speaker 1: and insight of what's going on, not only with again

665
00:32:06,960 --> 00:32:09,160
Speaker 1: the philosophy. You know, we're talking about the picks, but

666
00:32:09,200 --> 00:32:10,880
Speaker 1: how you get to the picks. I think this is

667
00:32:10,920 --> 00:32:15,480
Speaker 1: always fascinating stuff. Okay, uh well, I think this draft

668
00:32:15,520 --> 00:32:19,040
Speaker 1: for you and because you made moves, it was really

669
00:32:19,080 --> 00:32:21,600
Speaker 1: fun to watch you keep backing up, backing up because

670
00:32:21,640 --> 00:32:23,440
Speaker 1: you you know, you're thinking, Okay, how can I get

671
00:32:23,480 --> 00:32:25,800
Speaker 1: more picks? We were we were we were thinking as

672
00:32:25,840 --> 00:32:27,680
Speaker 1: we were watching, it's like, Okay, he's trying to set

673
00:32:27,760 --> 00:32:30,400
Speaker 1: himself up to where he doesn't maybe have to fight

674
00:32:30,440 --> 00:32:32,120
Speaker 1: for guys. We were thinking, oh, maybe these picks are

675
00:32:32,160 --> 00:32:34,200
Speaker 1: going to come in the seventh round or so. But

676
00:32:34,280 --> 00:32:36,560
Speaker 1: you manage you pulled, you know, you pulled six round

677
00:32:36,640 --> 00:32:38,560
Speaker 1: picks and stuff like that and really helped your team.

678
00:32:38,960 --> 00:32:40,920
Speaker 1: When you looked at you said the draft was very

679
00:32:40,920 --> 00:32:44,560
Speaker 1: good in the middle though, what the going into going

680
00:32:44,600 --> 00:32:47,560
Speaker 1: into it though, when you did make the selections, you know,

681
00:32:47,600 --> 00:32:50,600
Speaker 1: with with Mike Jackson and then with Joe Jackson and

682
00:32:50,640 --> 00:32:54,400
Speaker 1: then with Donovan Wilson, kind of walk us through how

683
00:32:54,440 --> 00:32:58,160
Speaker 1: you came to those particular players. Again, you know, it's

684
00:32:58,400 --> 00:33:01,360
Speaker 1: you're helping you you're helping your your your defensive line,

685
00:33:01,400 --> 00:33:04,440
Speaker 1: but you're also kind of helping you know, your secondary

686
00:33:04,440 --> 00:33:06,840
Speaker 1: with the safety in the corner as well. Yeah, I

687
00:33:06,880 --> 00:33:09,040
Speaker 1: think that, you know, as we went down there was

688
00:33:09,080 --> 00:33:12,880
Speaker 1: a number of players on the defensive side. You know,

689
00:33:12,920 --> 00:33:15,480
Speaker 1: we do this analytics deal and you talk about the

690
00:33:15,520 --> 00:33:18,560
Speaker 1: strength of the draft and this draft based on how

691
00:33:18,600 --> 00:33:21,040
Speaker 1: we did it from I think we go from two

692
00:33:21,080 --> 00:33:24,400
Speaker 1: thousand and seven to the current draft looking at information

693
00:33:24,440 --> 00:33:28,840
Speaker 1: and say where's the strength. Well, defensive ends, defensive tackles

694
00:33:29,040 --> 00:33:33,800
Speaker 1: was higher than some other positions. So we felt like, okay,

695
00:33:33,880 --> 00:33:36,800
Speaker 1: you addressed a couple of things early. Now as we

696
00:33:36,840 --> 00:33:39,400
Speaker 1: go down, where's our board? Where do we need help?

697
00:33:39,640 --> 00:33:43,880
Speaker 1: So when we picked Mike Jackson, it's you know, we

698
00:33:43,960 --> 00:33:48,040
Speaker 1: have contracts coming up. You can never have enough corners. O,

699
00:33:48,160 --> 00:33:50,680
Speaker 1: there's a profile that you're looking for and Mike Jackson

700
00:33:50,680 --> 00:33:52,560
Speaker 1: fit that. And Mike was one of the guys that

701
00:33:52,920 --> 00:33:55,640
Speaker 1: we had the coaches go look at because of the parameters.

702
00:33:55,880 --> 00:33:57,800
Speaker 1: Now we studied the tape, we gave him a grade.

703
00:33:58,080 --> 00:34:00,320
Speaker 1: We like them from the scouting side based on what

704
00:34:00,320 --> 00:34:02,800
Speaker 1: the coaches are looking for, what we're looking to putting

705
00:34:02,840 --> 00:34:05,840
Speaker 1: this system. Now, Chris Rashard, go out and spend time

706
00:34:05,840 --> 00:34:07,800
Speaker 1: with him, ride go out and spend time with them

707
00:34:07,920 --> 00:34:11,360
Speaker 1: so that we'll find out if you know, the stuff

708
00:34:11,440 --> 00:34:13,800
Speaker 1: was there that we wanted. So we picked Mike a

709
00:34:13,800 --> 00:34:18,160
Speaker 1: big long corner inside outside last two years playing at

710
00:34:18,160 --> 00:34:21,160
Speaker 1: Miami starting and then there are times on the tape

711
00:34:21,160 --> 00:34:25,280
Speaker 1: where you watched him eliminate a guy, you know, because

712
00:34:25,320 --> 00:34:27,960
Speaker 1: of those physical traits. So now you start looking and

713
00:34:28,080 --> 00:34:32,640
Speaker 1: going okay, and we understand, you know how Byron Jones

714
00:34:32,719 --> 00:34:35,600
Speaker 1: had his greatest year with this Chris Rashard coaching him,

715
00:34:35,800 --> 00:34:37,560
Speaker 1: and he liked those traits and he knows how to

716
00:34:37,600 --> 00:34:40,000
Speaker 1: coach those traits and get the max, you know, get

717
00:34:40,040 --> 00:34:42,160
Speaker 1: the max out of that. So that was that, and

718
00:34:42,160 --> 00:34:45,280
Speaker 1: then you know, we all know we've we've piece mailed,

719
00:34:45,600 --> 00:34:48,560
Speaker 1: piecemeil this thing together for several years on the defensive

720
00:34:48,600 --> 00:34:51,360
Speaker 1: line and not made a lot of investment from a

721
00:34:51,440 --> 00:34:54,360
Speaker 1: draft pick standpoint in it. And so if there's depth

722
00:34:54,400 --> 00:34:57,440
Speaker 1: there and there's quality players that play the way we like,

723
00:34:57,960 --> 00:35:00,160
Speaker 1: why not take that opportunity to get them. So when

724
00:35:00,160 --> 00:35:03,919
Speaker 1: we got to Joe Jackson, Joe is your classic guy

725
00:35:03,960 --> 00:35:06,680
Speaker 1: that we have had great success with because they play

726
00:35:06,760 --> 00:35:10,480
Speaker 1: like Rod wants to play, and they have those physical traits. Um,

727
00:35:10,719 --> 00:35:12,359
Speaker 1: so he was there. And then you go to the

728
00:35:12,360 --> 00:35:15,000
Speaker 1: safety we were looking for, and people are talking about

729
00:35:15,000 --> 00:35:17,880
Speaker 1: safety for the Cowboys. Number one thing is uh, I

730
00:35:17,960 --> 00:35:20,480
Speaker 1: think what started that is Earl Earl Thomas wanting to

731
00:35:20,480 --> 00:35:24,840
Speaker 1: be here when there was the value might talk about that.

732
00:35:25,080 --> 00:35:28,120
Speaker 1: Yeahs out there, you know, and we all didn't. You know, Hey,

733
00:35:28,880 --> 00:35:31,200
Speaker 1: it's it's the NFL, it's twenty four to seven, and

734
00:35:31,280 --> 00:35:34,120
Speaker 1: whatever's news. Somebody's gonna put it on somewhere. Thank you

735
00:35:34,200 --> 00:35:36,480
Speaker 1: for it, you know, and we you know, we derive

736
00:35:36,640 --> 00:35:40,399
Speaker 1: content and conversation from that. So then, Okay, this guy

737
00:35:40,440 --> 00:35:43,880
Speaker 1: didn't play great according to Pro Football focused, we realize

738
00:35:43,920 --> 00:35:46,200
Speaker 1: the strengths and weaknesses of our player. I think that

739
00:35:46,280 --> 00:35:50,160
Speaker 1: we have a great deal of of high regard for

740
00:35:50,760 --> 00:35:53,520
Speaker 1: where we think Xavier Woods can go and all of

741
00:35:53,560 --> 00:35:57,160
Speaker 1: those traits and all those things. We won eleven twelve. However,

742
00:35:57,239 --> 00:36:00,239
Speaker 1: many games we won last year with Jeff Heath playing

743
00:36:00,239 --> 00:36:03,759
Speaker 1: for us. Sure, we want to improve that, but hey,

744
00:36:03,840 --> 00:36:05,920
Speaker 1: we feel like we can be okay there. That's why

745
00:36:05,960 --> 00:36:08,600
Speaker 1: we address the defensive line. If you look at if

746
00:36:08,600 --> 00:36:11,400
Speaker 1: the line plays good, then the other pieces around it

747
00:36:11,400 --> 00:36:14,520
Speaker 1: are going to play well also. So when it come

748
00:36:14,560 --> 00:36:17,399
Speaker 1: to Dunavan, when it came to Dunovan Wilson, he has

749
00:36:17,880 --> 00:36:22,400
Speaker 1: box safety traits we have, you know, at the right value.

750
00:36:22,760 --> 00:36:24,799
Speaker 1: Let's give this kid an opportunity to come in and

751
00:36:24,800 --> 00:36:27,040
Speaker 1: see what he can contribute because we like the physical

752
00:36:27,080 --> 00:36:30,000
Speaker 1: things that he does. Now you know, now it's he's

753
00:36:30,000 --> 00:36:31,920
Speaker 1: gonna come and have to fight in battle. But we

754
00:36:32,680 --> 00:36:35,320
Speaker 1: took care of that position and addressed it. In free agency.

755
00:36:35,400 --> 00:36:37,680
Speaker 1: We saw some things from a guy George Iloka that

756
00:36:38,360 --> 00:36:41,120
Speaker 1: gives us some of that presence to battle with the

757
00:36:41,160 --> 00:36:44,640
Speaker 1: guys that we have. We drafted Cavon Fraser. Cavon was

758
00:36:45,000 --> 00:36:47,279
Speaker 1: hurt a little bit last year. Wasn't the same guy

759
00:36:47,600 --> 00:36:51,239
Speaker 1: battled through. They're still promised there with Jeff Heath has

760
00:36:51,280 --> 00:36:53,759
Speaker 1: performed well and he does his things well too, So

761
00:36:54,120 --> 00:36:57,480
Speaker 1: let's add somebody else to that mix. Sure, Hey, survival

762
00:36:57,520 --> 00:36:59,759
Speaker 1: of the fittest. I keep saying, competition brings out the

763
00:36:59,760 --> 00:37:03,279
Speaker 1: best to everybody, Darwinism as you said the radio, right, Yeah, yeah,

764
00:37:03,360 --> 00:37:06,439
Speaker 1: I mean, and it's survival of the fittest and if

765
00:37:06,520 --> 00:37:08,960
Speaker 1: guys come in and compete and make this thing strong,

766
00:37:08,960 --> 00:37:10,840
Speaker 1: and that's what we feel like Donovan can do too.

767
00:37:11,280 --> 00:37:13,520
Speaker 1: I want to be careful not to be too specific

768
00:37:13,560 --> 00:37:15,600
Speaker 1: here because I don't want to get you into a

769
00:37:15,600 --> 00:37:19,000
Speaker 1: blog post somewhere on the internet, but mentioning that, you know,

770
00:37:19,880 --> 00:37:22,280
Speaker 1: I think this is probably as deep as the Cowboys

771
00:37:22,400 --> 00:37:24,200
Speaker 1: roster has been in the six years I've been I'm

772
00:37:24,280 --> 00:37:26,920
Speaker 1: covering the team. Y'all are thrilled with your draft class,

773
00:37:26,960 --> 00:37:29,080
Speaker 1: if it's possible, it sounds like you might be more

774
00:37:29,120 --> 00:37:32,160
Speaker 1: thrilled with your undrafted class, like seven guys that y'all

775
00:37:32,160 --> 00:37:35,160
Speaker 1: had grades on or something like that. Yea, with all

776
00:37:35,200 --> 00:37:38,960
Speaker 1: that depth, with all that competition, Is it possible maybe

777
00:37:38,960 --> 00:37:42,120
Speaker 1: you're more aggressive trying to use pieces of your current

778
00:37:42,200 --> 00:37:45,640
Speaker 1: roster to upgrade, whether it's trading player for player, player

779
00:37:45,680 --> 00:37:47,680
Speaker 1: for pick. Is that y'all haven't really done that in

780
00:37:47,680 --> 00:37:50,160
Speaker 1: past years. Is it's something you're more interested given how

781
00:37:50,200 --> 00:37:52,279
Speaker 1: strong your roster is right now. I mean, you don't

782
00:37:52,280 --> 00:37:55,720
Speaker 1: want to give anything away. We want we feel stronger

783
00:37:55,760 --> 00:37:57,760
Speaker 1: about our depth, and so you want to stay strong

784
00:37:57,840 --> 00:38:02,080
Speaker 1: about you know, with your depth. If you move something,

785
00:38:03,040 --> 00:38:05,359
Speaker 1: you better be getting something for it. And I think

786
00:38:05,360 --> 00:38:07,719
Speaker 1: that all the possibilities are there because we feel like

787
00:38:07,800 --> 00:38:11,120
Speaker 1: we have depth than we are strong. When you're you know,

788
00:38:11,200 --> 00:38:14,080
Speaker 1: you've got a few more holes, it's a little harder

789
00:38:14,120 --> 00:38:16,359
Speaker 1: to you know, kind of put some things out there.

790
00:38:16,400 --> 00:38:20,040
Speaker 1: But we love the players that we have here, that

791
00:38:20,480 --> 00:38:23,080
Speaker 1: we've drafted before, that we signed before, and then you

792
00:38:23,120 --> 00:38:25,799
Speaker 1: add these guys in now we get to get into

793
00:38:25,840 --> 00:38:30,560
Speaker 1: a competitive situation if somebody needs something. We have resources

794
00:38:30,560 --> 00:38:32,160
Speaker 1: and we have things that we might be able to

795
00:38:32,160 --> 00:38:35,480
Speaker 1: look at improving position A, position B. But we're always

796
00:38:35,480 --> 00:38:39,640
Speaker 1: looking at that. This is kind of more of an

797
00:38:39,640 --> 00:38:42,600
Speaker 1: overarching thing. But you know, I know, as an evaluator

798
00:38:42,640 --> 00:38:44,359
Speaker 1: and evaluate these players, I know one of the most

799
00:38:44,360 --> 00:38:46,919
Speaker 1: important thing for me is self evaluation and looking back

800
00:38:46,920 --> 00:38:48,640
Speaker 1: at me and what did I get right, what do

801
00:38:48,680 --> 00:38:51,640
Speaker 1: I get wrong? And understanding, you know, take a temperature

802
00:38:51,640 --> 00:38:54,080
Speaker 1: of the NFL and understanding how the game evolves and

803
00:38:54,080 --> 00:38:57,200
Speaker 1: what fits now compared to in the past. So I'm

804
00:38:57,239 --> 00:38:59,680
Speaker 1: just kind of interested with you. You know, you've been

805
00:39:00,120 --> 00:39:02,400
Speaker 1: personnel with the Cowboys were by a decade. Now. What

806
00:39:02,480 --> 00:39:05,000
Speaker 1: do you think is the biggest difference between Will McClay

807
00:39:05,040 --> 00:39:08,239
Speaker 1: two two thousand and nine and Will McClay today. Is

808
00:39:08,239 --> 00:39:10,720
Speaker 1: there any big difference for you that you know, you've

809
00:39:11,120 --> 00:39:14,040
Speaker 1: you know, learned along the way, you've evolved as an evaluator.

810
00:39:14,120 --> 00:39:17,600
Speaker 1: What do you think is the biggest difference from your perspective? UM,

811
00:39:17,719 --> 00:39:22,080
Speaker 1: I would say the biggest difference is, um being aware

812
00:39:22,400 --> 00:39:26,279
Speaker 1: of how the game has played and what other people

813
00:39:26,400 --> 00:39:30,719
Speaker 1: do when you when you're just evaluating talent, when you're evaluating, Okay,

814
00:39:30,840 --> 00:39:33,600
Speaker 1: this guy can do this, this guy can do that. UM.

815
00:39:33,640 --> 00:39:36,200
Speaker 1: I think I've gotten better as an evaluator to look

816
00:39:36,239 --> 00:39:38,880
Speaker 1: at you know, there's cause and causation. Why is this

817
00:39:38,920 --> 00:39:42,160
Speaker 1: guy good at this? Or what players are similar you know,

818
00:39:42,239 --> 00:39:44,760
Speaker 1: and and and how they fit. I think I've gotten

819
00:39:44,800 --> 00:39:47,360
Speaker 1: better at that, just as opposed to you know, great, no,

820
00:39:47,520 --> 00:39:51,280
Speaker 1: this guy's big, fast, he should be done. Well, what's

821
00:39:51,280 --> 00:39:54,000
Speaker 1: he missing? You know, what are his strengths, what are

822
00:39:54,000 --> 00:39:56,480
Speaker 1: his weaknesses and how do they fit? Uh? And and

823
00:39:56,480 --> 00:40:01,320
Speaker 1: and then I've gotten better Uh understand ending the impact

824
00:40:01,600 --> 00:40:08,359
Speaker 1: of character over physical ability. Um, you know you got

825
00:40:08,360 --> 00:40:10,960
Speaker 1: to have the physical ability to do that. But when

826
00:40:11,000 --> 00:40:14,600
Speaker 1: I say character, it's the football character. Again, everybody's a

827
00:40:14,600 --> 00:40:17,080
Speaker 1: little bit off here or there or whatever. I mean,

828
00:40:17,120 --> 00:40:20,000
Speaker 1: all of us, But it's how do they fit into

829
00:40:20,160 --> 00:40:23,279
Speaker 1: what you're you know, what you're projecting to putting them

830
00:40:23,320 --> 00:40:27,719
Speaker 1: into culture and culture and yeah, it's it's you know,

831
00:40:27,760 --> 00:40:30,879
Speaker 1: we do stuff with personality tests from the guys coming in,

832
00:40:30,920 --> 00:40:33,920
Speaker 1: but we're also aware of the personalities that we're putting

833
00:40:33,960 --> 00:40:36,239
Speaker 1: them with, right, you know when we take those things

834
00:40:36,239 --> 00:40:38,440
Speaker 1: into consideration, and at the end of the day, we

835
00:40:38,480 --> 00:40:41,720
Speaker 1: want guys to make plays to win football games. But now,

836
00:40:42,480 --> 00:40:44,320
Speaker 1: how is it all going to drive Because you're putting

837
00:40:44,360 --> 00:40:46,960
Speaker 1: a team together. It's not a golf match or a

838
00:40:46,960 --> 00:40:48,960
Speaker 1: tennis deal, which one on one, it's how does it

839
00:40:49,040 --> 00:40:52,640
Speaker 1: interact with the whole team? Well, you know, David brought

840
00:40:52,719 --> 00:40:55,279
Speaker 1: up the fact that you know about the the undrafted

841
00:40:55,280 --> 00:40:57,480
Speaker 1: free agencies signed. But again I'll focus just a little

842
00:40:57,520 --> 00:40:59,359
Speaker 1: bit on the On the end of the draft with

843
00:40:59,360 --> 00:41:01,560
Speaker 1: with Webber the pick from a house state, there's some

844
00:41:01,600 --> 00:41:03,920
Speaker 1: people saying, well, wait a minute, why are they drafting

845
00:41:03,960 --> 00:41:07,000
Speaker 1: two running backs, and we talked about poll earlier what

846
00:41:07,160 --> 00:41:10,400
Speaker 1: he could potentially bring to the organization. But the Webber

847
00:41:10,440 --> 00:41:11,960
Speaker 1: pick was add another one of those where you look

848
00:41:11,960 --> 00:41:13,799
Speaker 1: at your board and you're like going, Okay, I'm here

849
00:41:13,840 --> 00:41:15,239
Speaker 1: in the end of this draft, and give me a

850
00:41:15,239 --> 00:41:17,359
Speaker 1: guy that's got some trades, give me a guy that

851
00:41:17,360 --> 00:41:19,759
Speaker 1: I've got a high grade on get you know. I

852
00:41:19,800 --> 00:41:22,600
Speaker 1: mean again, was that like we've talked about with McGovern,

853
00:41:22,719 --> 00:41:26,040
Speaker 1: the blinking light that hey, yeah, let's add another guy here.

854
00:41:26,480 --> 00:41:28,160
Speaker 1: It's it's more about I mean, yeah, you got one

855
00:41:28,200 --> 00:41:30,120
Speaker 1: of the best running backs in the National Football League.

856
00:41:30,239 --> 00:41:33,239
Speaker 1: You added a unique piece with Pollard. But this kid

857
00:41:33,239 --> 00:41:35,200
Speaker 1: probably was just too good to pass up at that time,

858
00:41:35,239 --> 00:41:37,080
Speaker 1: wasn't it. Yeah, he was too good to pass up.

859
00:41:37,120 --> 00:41:39,160
Speaker 1: And one of the goals we had in the draft

860
00:41:39,320 --> 00:41:42,680
Speaker 1: was improving the running back room if we could, you know,

861
00:41:42,719 --> 00:41:45,279
Speaker 1: and there's you know, in the NFL now, there's a

862
00:41:45,280 --> 00:41:47,600
Speaker 1: lot of kids that play in contribute that to get

863
00:41:47,640 --> 00:41:51,279
Speaker 1: drafted in the fourth, fifth, sixth round free agent the

864
00:41:51,360 --> 00:41:54,399
Speaker 1: running back position, you always have that veteran out there

865
00:41:54,800 --> 00:41:56,880
Speaker 1: that can come in and can fill a role. And

866
00:41:56,880 --> 00:41:58,600
Speaker 1: so when we look at the running back room, you

867
00:41:58,640 --> 00:42:02,160
Speaker 1: look at the ability to play on first and second down,

868
00:42:02,440 --> 00:42:04,520
Speaker 1: the ability to play on third down, and the ability

869
00:42:04,560 --> 00:42:07,160
Speaker 1: to play on fourth down. So there is a player

870
00:42:07,200 --> 00:42:09,800
Speaker 1: there that has a similar running style, and whether that

871
00:42:10,320 --> 00:42:12,040
Speaker 1: Zeke does, he kind of learned some of the things

872
00:42:12,120 --> 00:42:14,560
Speaker 1: under him. You watch tape and there's certain moves and

873
00:42:14,640 --> 00:42:17,440
Speaker 1: certain things where you go, boy, that's a lot like Zeke,

874
00:42:17,520 --> 00:42:21,279
Speaker 1: And so you know, adding him added depth to that

875
00:42:21,360 --> 00:42:24,440
Speaker 1: position group and youthful depth to that position group because

876
00:42:24,640 --> 00:42:28,200
Speaker 1: the running back you know, life shelf for the most part,

877
00:42:28,280 --> 00:42:31,120
Speaker 1: unless you're rare like Zeke, it normally lasts for two

878
00:42:31,160 --> 00:42:33,920
Speaker 1: to three years, and you're always trying to find that guy.

879
00:42:33,960 --> 00:42:36,399
Speaker 1: It's the guy who can perform on special teams or

880
00:42:36,640 --> 00:42:39,400
Speaker 1: what his role is. So the more options that we

881
00:42:39,560 --> 00:42:42,640
Speaker 1: have there, the better we can construct this roster to

882
00:42:42,800 --> 00:42:44,600
Speaker 1: fit all those things you need to do. When you

883
00:42:44,680 --> 00:42:47,440
Speaker 1: got a forty six man roster, you're fifty three, all

884
00:42:47,480 --> 00:42:50,839
Speaker 1: that stuff. Don't be diplomatic. We know you love all

885
00:42:50,880 --> 00:42:53,880
Speaker 1: these guys because you drafted him. Who's your pet cat

886
00:42:53,960 --> 00:43:00,279
Speaker 1: in this class? My pet cat is all of them. Now.

887
00:43:00,560 --> 00:43:03,200
Speaker 1: I mean there are guys that like when when I

888
00:43:03,239 --> 00:43:07,480
Speaker 1: went to the Senior Bowl, Um and we were watching guys. Uh,

889
00:43:07,960 --> 00:43:11,200
Speaker 1: Tony Pollard stood out because when you watch you know,

890
00:43:11,200 --> 00:43:13,640
Speaker 1: when I watched him, I was like, boy, there's something

891
00:43:14,719 --> 00:43:17,160
Speaker 1: different about this dude. And you know, there was a

892
00:43:17,200 --> 00:43:19,759
Speaker 1: play in the Senior Bowl game where in the game

893
00:43:19,840 --> 00:43:23,080
Speaker 1: now watching him a practice different, No, there was a

894
00:43:23,120 --> 00:43:29,360
Speaker 1: play where he's running between the tackles and linebacker decletes

895
00:43:29,440 --> 00:43:31,719
Speaker 1: him and you know, he hits him from the side

896
00:43:31,719 --> 00:43:33,839
Speaker 1: and he sends him about five yards. That bowl. Well,

897
00:43:33,960 --> 00:43:37,640
Speaker 1: two plays later he runs the ball, same play and

898
00:43:37,680 --> 00:43:40,440
Speaker 1: that linebackers there and he runs right through him, right

899
00:43:41,520 --> 00:43:43,360
Speaker 1: and you know, we started talking about going. You know,

900
00:43:43,400 --> 00:43:45,160
Speaker 1: this kid's fearless. You know, how do you run back

901
00:43:45,239 --> 00:43:47,080
Speaker 1: kicks and do some of the things in lineup? It's

902
00:43:47,080 --> 00:43:50,799
Speaker 1: a lot. I just liked the explosiveness in his play

903
00:43:50,880 --> 00:43:54,280
Speaker 1: and then there's just a natural temperament that you see

904
00:43:54,400 --> 00:43:58,120
Speaker 1: because I mean, he got whacked and then he came

905
00:43:58,160 --> 00:44:00,319
Speaker 1: back and gave it to that same guy. And thing,

906
00:44:00,640 --> 00:44:03,600
Speaker 1: you know, he never complained about his role at Memphis.

907
00:44:03,800 --> 00:44:05,680
Speaker 1: They have three running backs and all those things. So

908
00:44:05,760 --> 00:44:08,520
Speaker 1: there's something about the character that kid that showed up

909
00:44:08,520 --> 00:44:10,479
Speaker 1: on tape and then we brought him in here and

910
00:44:10,680 --> 00:44:13,160
Speaker 1: it reinforced that what I saw on tape, I was

911
00:44:13,160 --> 00:44:16,080
Speaker 1: gonna go ahead. Da. I'm fascinating by that. We talked

912
00:44:16,080 --> 00:44:18,560
Speaker 1: about it during the draft. Is you know, the layman,

913
00:44:18,680 --> 00:44:21,000
Speaker 1: the average fan that turns on the draft on Thursday

914
00:44:21,040 --> 00:44:22,960
Speaker 1: and maybe they're not paying close attention. You know, there's

915
00:44:23,080 --> 00:44:25,640
Speaker 1: there's seven hundred guys that they got a list of,

916
00:44:25,640 --> 00:44:28,120
Speaker 1: like you know, there's twenty safeties that they want you

917
00:44:28,120 --> 00:44:31,680
Speaker 1: to draft. But in reality, you'll have a few dozen

918
00:44:31,760 --> 00:44:33,600
Speaker 1: names that you really like. And I mean you're at

919
00:44:33,600 --> 00:44:35,359
Speaker 1: the mercy of what these other teams want to do.

920
00:44:35,520 --> 00:44:39,000
Speaker 1: But I'm fascinated by the you know, how do you

921
00:44:39,040 --> 00:44:40,879
Speaker 1: get to that point where you know, these are kind

922
00:44:40,920 --> 00:44:42,879
Speaker 1: of the names we've gotta like, these are the guys

923
00:44:42,920 --> 00:44:46,880
Speaker 1: we love. And how how soon before the draft you

924
00:44:46,960 --> 00:44:49,000
Speaker 1: kind of have that idea in mind. I mean, we

925
00:44:49,040 --> 00:44:51,560
Speaker 1: go through the process for three weeks with meetings to

926
00:44:51,600 --> 00:44:54,359
Speaker 1: set the board, and we talk about guys and then

927
00:44:54,400 --> 00:44:57,000
Speaker 1: we put together our final board and if they're on

928
00:44:57,040 --> 00:45:00,600
Speaker 1: the board, ninety nine percent of them we'd love them.

929
00:45:00,600 --> 00:45:02,799
Speaker 1: Because they're on the board, there's something about them that

930
00:45:02,840 --> 00:45:06,040
Speaker 1: they can contribute. Now you have your you still but

931
00:45:06,080 --> 00:45:08,640
Speaker 1: you see Tony Pollard at the Senior Bowl and you're like, oh,

932
00:45:08,640 --> 00:45:12,719
Speaker 1: this guy, right, I mean, and yeah, I'm gonna go

933
00:45:12,760 --> 00:45:16,040
Speaker 1: through the whole process of Okay, here's everybody's opinion. They

934
00:45:16,080 --> 00:45:18,279
Speaker 1: know more than I do. This is just what I see.

935
00:45:18,360 --> 00:45:21,120
Speaker 1: But you go through there's certain guys that you like,

936
00:45:21,400 --> 00:45:24,000
Speaker 1: things about them that you think can add a value

937
00:45:24,120 --> 00:45:26,640
Speaker 1: to your team. That so they're a little bit above.

938
00:45:27,040 --> 00:45:29,279
Speaker 1: And every scout has a pet cat. All of our

939
00:45:29,280 --> 00:45:31,760
Speaker 1: area guys, we tell them they're the GM of their area.

940
00:45:32,040 --> 00:45:33,759
Speaker 1: They're going to go on the room and you know,

941
00:45:33,800 --> 00:45:35,799
Speaker 1: they might have a second or a third round grade

942
00:45:35,840 --> 00:45:38,959
Speaker 1: on a guy as an individual scout. Now, everybody else

943
00:45:39,000 --> 00:45:42,040
Speaker 1: goes around, opinions might be different, but that scout's gonna

944
00:45:42,040 --> 00:45:44,160
Speaker 1: go that's my pet cat, that's my guy, and you

945
00:45:44,239 --> 00:45:46,919
Speaker 1: listen to all that um. But but yeah, it's it's

946
00:45:47,200 --> 00:45:49,239
Speaker 1: as we come down and you go down the draft, Okay,

947
00:45:49,239 --> 00:45:51,680
Speaker 1: who's available? Who do we really like? What positions? That's

948
00:45:51,840 --> 00:45:54,239
Speaker 1: all a part of the conversation and speaking to that

949
00:45:54,280 --> 00:45:56,360
Speaker 1: of having guys on that board, how do you guys

950
00:45:56,360 --> 00:45:59,680
Speaker 1: do It's amazing the undrafted free agents for years. I

951
00:45:59,719 --> 00:46:01,759
Speaker 1: give Chris Hall a lot of credit for when I

952
00:46:01,880 --> 00:46:04,440
Speaker 1: was working with you guys over on that side. Chris

953
00:46:04,480 --> 00:46:06,680
Speaker 1: always did a great job of maintaining the integrity of

954
00:46:06,719 --> 00:46:09,080
Speaker 1: the board. He never allowed scouts to drop guys and

955
00:46:09,120 --> 00:46:10,920
Speaker 1: stuff like that. Keep the board the way it is.

956
00:46:11,400 --> 00:46:13,279
Speaker 1: But you guys, it's still the same way where you

957
00:46:13,320 --> 00:46:16,040
Speaker 1: go after guys first, on those undrafted guys, I mean

958
00:46:16,080 --> 00:46:19,080
Speaker 1: the recruiting and all that with those tags that are

959
00:46:19,080 --> 00:46:22,160
Speaker 1: still draftable tags, right, yes, yeah, I mean you know

960
00:46:22,360 --> 00:46:24,680
Speaker 1: the first place you start. Yeah, that's the first place

961
00:46:24,719 --> 00:46:26,600
Speaker 1: we start. We put a draftable grade on a guy,

962
00:46:26,600 --> 00:46:30,759
Speaker 1: and for each grade there's a definition and expectation of

963
00:46:30,760 --> 00:46:33,400
Speaker 1: that round, and so we go through the process. Okay,

964
00:46:33,440 --> 00:46:36,600
Speaker 1: we feel like this guy's a fifth round player for us.

965
00:46:36,680 --> 00:46:40,040
Speaker 1: He's a you know, a backup who could develop into

966
00:46:40,080 --> 00:46:43,600
Speaker 1: a potential role player, potential starter, contribute on teams. Okay,

967
00:46:43,920 --> 00:46:45,880
Speaker 1: these are the guys that are that. So we have

968
00:46:46,040 --> 00:46:48,640
Speaker 1: a vision of that role and they're up there. So

969
00:46:48,680 --> 00:46:51,640
Speaker 1: the draft goes. It's our board. Maybe guys didn't see

970
00:46:51,680 --> 00:46:55,080
Speaker 1: them that way, but those are our other blinking lights

971
00:46:55,080 --> 00:46:57,719
Speaker 1: when you start the free agent process. And again when

972
00:46:57,719 --> 00:47:00,719
Speaker 1: you talk about the depth of this draft, we had

973
00:47:00,760 --> 00:47:03,000
Speaker 1: maybe a few more names on the board this year

974
00:47:03,040 --> 00:47:05,600
Speaker 1: because the depth of the draft, you felt like there

975
00:47:05,600 --> 00:47:08,319
Speaker 1: were three to four to five players a position that

976
00:47:08,400 --> 00:47:13,160
Speaker 1: could potentially fill that role from an expectation projection standpoint.

977
00:47:13,680 --> 00:47:15,279
Speaker 1: Now they get here, we'll see where they are. But

978
00:47:15,320 --> 00:47:17,440
Speaker 1: there are guys that had the physical traits and all

979
00:47:17,440 --> 00:47:20,719
Speaker 1: those things to belong on that board. Yeah. Well, Dame

980
00:47:20,840 --> 00:47:23,560
Speaker 1: was talking about when we first started the process. He said, hey,

981
00:47:23,600 --> 00:47:26,239
Speaker 1: you got to watch all these Toledo wide receivers. Yeah,

982
00:47:26,280 --> 00:47:28,799
Speaker 1: and then one of the first ones he watch this

983
00:47:28,880 --> 00:47:31,239
Speaker 1: John Bay Johnson play Yeah, and he goes, they got

984
00:47:31,239 --> 00:47:32,799
Speaker 1: a lot of good ones, but watch this kid play

985
00:47:32,840 --> 00:47:35,880
Speaker 1: speed speeds exactly. He was talking about that, And this

986
00:47:35,960 --> 00:47:38,040
Speaker 1: was very early in the process. And you did, you

987
00:47:38,120 --> 00:47:41,399
Speaker 1: go through and then you continually add guys. I don't

988
00:47:41,400 --> 00:47:43,799
Speaker 1: know how you do it. I mean, it's amazing to

989
00:47:43,840 --> 00:47:46,200
Speaker 1: me that with the roster depth that you do have,

990
00:47:46,640 --> 00:47:49,360
Speaker 1: that you're able to add as many quality but I

991
00:47:49,520 --> 00:47:51,640
Speaker 1: mean high at the kid. I talked to some teams

992
00:47:51,640 --> 00:47:53,359
Speaker 1: around the way. How did y'all get high? A Yeah,

993
00:47:53,440 --> 00:47:55,319
Speaker 1: that's what I doesn't make sense to him. I talked

994
00:47:55,320 --> 00:47:58,440
Speaker 1: to I talked to probably five teams that said there

995
00:47:58,440 --> 00:48:00,480
Speaker 1: were I think there were. They said, there were twelve

996
00:48:00,520 --> 00:48:03,799
Speaker 1: teams maybe more that were battling for him, and here,

997
00:48:03,880 --> 00:48:06,080
Speaker 1: you guys, you end up with him with the deepest

998
00:48:06,080 --> 00:48:08,560
Speaker 1: though lining the league. Yeah, exactly, Well how does that?

999
00:48:08,600 --> 00:48:10,279
Speaker 1: I mean, it's part of the you know, the kid

1000
00:48:10,280 --> 00:48:12,879
Speaker 1: and having the conversation. It's recruiting him, you know, it's

1001
00:48:12,880 --> 00:48:14,680
Speaker 1: recruiting him. Hey, you're not gonna get drafted. That's a

1002
00:48:14,719 --> 00:48:17,000
Speaker 1: hard thing to say to. My guys were told me

1003
00:48:17,040 --> 00:48:18,880
Speaker 1: he should have been drafted. Yeah. Every one of my

1004
00:48:18,920 --> 00:48:20,920
Speaker 1: guys were saying, wha wait, wait, that guy went undrafted.

1005
00:48:20,960 --> 00:48:22,960
Speaker 1: And I started four years at Clemson, you went two

1006
00:48:23,080 --> 00:48:28,680
Speaker 1: national championships and you're not drafted. And again that's where

1007
00:48:29,000 --> 00:48:31,279
Speaker 1: everybody's boards a little bit different. But then we have

1008
00:48:31,880 --> 00:48:33,759
Speaker 1: you know, we we recruited him. You know, he got

1009
00:48:33,760 --> 00:48:37,120
Speaker 1: on the phone with Mark Colombo. We addressed our process

1010
00:48:37,120 --> 00:48:39,399
Speaker 1: and getting free agents, and he was a guy that

1011
00:48:39,480 --> 00:48:41,759
Speaker 1: was there that we're like, look, we got to add

1012
00:48:41,760 --> 00:48:45,160
Speaker 1: that depth. And it just kind of it happened that way.

1013
00:48:45,160 --> 00:48:47,160
Speaker 1: And it's from the work of the college scouts that

1014
00:48:47,600 --> 00:48:50,239
Speaker 1: established the relationship. When they go in the school, uh,

1015
00:48:50,360 --> 00:48:53,080
Speaker 1: you know, it's the contact that they have to communicate

1016
00:48:53,120 --> 00:48:55,799
Speaker 1: with the player to tell them about our situation. It's

1017
00:48:55,800 --> 00:48:58,279
Speaker 1: our coaches being on the phone, and it's a guy

1018
00:48:58,360 --> 00:49:00,240
Speaker 1: wanting to be a cowboy. At the end of the day,

1019
00:49:00,360 --> 00:49:02,680
Speaker 1: you signed a bully too in that Brandon Night. Oh yeah,

1020
00:49:02,719 --> 00:49:04,640
Speaker 1: that got Indiana as a bully. Oh yes, I mean

1021
00:49:04,680 --> 00:49:07,200
Speaker 1: I watched him play and he's playing Michigan those people,

1022
00:49:07,239 --> 00:49:09,720
Speaker 1: and he's bullying those guys. And again those the guys

1023
00:49:09,719 --> 00:49:11,840
Speaker 1: that are all getting drafted, you know, the win of

1024
00:49:12,040 --> 00:49:14,319
Speaker 1: Ches and the Garys and those guys, and that guy's

1025
00:49:14,320 --> 00:49:15,680
Speaker 1: a bully. Yeah, there was a big that was a

1026
00:49:15,719 --> 00:49:17,439
Speaker 1: big part of the deal. It's like, okay, we send

1027
00:49:17,440 --> 00:49:19,080
Speaker 1: our scouts out to you to get a second look.

1028
00:49:19,080 --> 00:49:21,000
Speaker 1: He didn't go to the combine, right, you show up

1029
00:49:21,280 --> 00:49:23,400
Speaker 1: the kids pissed off that he didn't go to the combine,

1030
00:49:23,480 --> 00:49:25,640
Speaker 1: and that nature of who he is on the field

1031
00:49:25,640 --> 00:49:28,319
Speaker 1: that showed up in his natural personality, and we're like,

1032
00:49:29,760 --> 00:49:31,719
Speaker 1: here's a guy that can compete as a guard and

1033
00:49:31,800 --> 00:49:37,160
Speaker 1: a tackle, right, and there's not there's not enough offensive

1034
00:49:37,200 --> 00:49:40,640
Speaker 1: linemen to go around to thirty two teams, uh and

1035
00:49:40,640 --> 00:49:43,919
Speaker 1: and and and play good football if you lose one.

1036
00:49:44,080 --> 00:49:48,000
Speaker 1: So we feel fortunate that you know, our processes. We've

1037
00:49:48,000 --> 00:49:50,440
Speaker 1: invested in them, and then there's guys that want to

1038
00:49:50,480 --> 00:49:52,239
Speaker 1: come here and be a part of it because of

1039
00:49:52,760 --> 00:49:55,719
Speaker 1: the way our offensive line has thought of and so

1040
00:49:55,760 --> 00:49:57,279
Speaker 1: many guys want to be a part of that and

1041
00:49:57,320 --> 00:49:59,080
Speaker 1: compete to be a part of it. Well, the second

1042
00:49:59,080 --> 00:50:01,600
Speaker 1: half of preseason games are gonna be fun to watch

1043
00:50:01,719 --> 00:50:04,640
Speaker 1: because what they've done is they're gonna be able to

1044
00:50:04,640 --> 00:50:07,080
Speaker 1: evaluate their young quarterbacks. They'll be able to evaluate their

1045
00:50:07,080 --> 00:50:09,440
Speaker 1: young running backs because you have legitimate offensive lineman that

1046
00:50:09,520 --> 00:50:11,680
Speaker 1: can freaking play and block people, and now you get

1047
00:50:11,719 --> 00:50:14,319
Speaker 1: a full evaluate to your team. That's the right way

1048
00:50:14,320 --> 00:50:16,440
Speaker 1: to go. Yeah, it's always been a big part to

1049
00:50:16,480 --> 00:50:18,000
Speaker 1: me because Brian, like you, you know, we go to

1050
00:50:18,040 --> 00:50:20,279
Speaker 1: those preseason games. I call them on the radio. Well

1051
00:50:20,320 --> 00:50:22,040
Speaker 1: I'm hoping, you know, I'm gonna see players out there,

1052
00:50:22,080 --> 00:50:23,839
Speaker 1: but I will see the quarterback get killed. I want

1053
00:50:23,880 --> 00:50:25,480
Speaker 1: to be able to evaluate the game. Yeah, you go

1054
00:50:25,520 --> 00:50:28,440
Speaker 1: to that third and that fourth preseason game. How can

1055
00:50:28,520 --> 00:50:31,960
Speaker 1: I evaluate a position that's very valuable to us, like

1056
00:50:32,040 --> 00:50:34,719
Speaker 1: the quarterback position. Right, he's on his back half the

1057
00:50:34,719 --> 00:50:38,000
Speaker 1: time running a running back or whatever. And then you

1058
00:50:38,040 --> 00:50:42,560
Speaker 1: know it's just you gotta have depth in the offensive

1059
00:50:42,600 --> 00:50:45,279
Speaker 1: and defensive line. You look at the Washington Redskins last

1060
00:50:45,320 --> 00:50:47,680
Speaker 1: year and I applaud them even though they're the hated enemy,

1061
00:50:47,920 --> 00:50:50,560
Speaker 1: and the great Bill Callahan for bringing guys in on

1062
00:50:50,600 --> 00:50:53,399
Speaker 1: Tuesday and at least being able to play a good

1063
00:50:53,400 --> 00:50:56,759
Speaker 1: product out there and play a game. We don't want

1064
00:50:56,760 --> 00:50:59,080
Speaker 1: to be in that situation. And then also, you know,

1065
00:50:59,800 --> 00:51:01,960
Speaker 1: we talk about draft capital and everything else, and you

1066
00:51:02,000 --> 00:51:04,799
Speaker 1: brought it up if you're a strong team, Uh, people

1067
00:51:04,840 --> 00:51:07,640
Speaker 1: are gonna need things. And then that's also another way

1068
00:51:07,640 --> 00:51:10,160
Speaker 1: that you can continue to strengthen your team. Well, thanks,

1069
00:51:10,160 --> 00:51:14,440
Speaker 1: you're going to get bullies. It's hard glumbos. The line

1070
00:51:13,760 --> 00:51:16,799
Speaker 1: that it's not I don't want to put words in

1071
00:51:16,840 --> 00:51:19,360
Speaker 1: your mouth or anybody's mouth. Is it too simplistic, Like

1072
00:51:19,400 --> 00:51:21,799
Speaker 1: you get on the phone with this kid and say, hey,

1073
00:51:21,920 --> 00:51:24,279
Speaker 1: come be in our room for you know, during training camp.

1074
00:51:24,280 --> 00:51:26,120
Speaker 1: Even if you don't get a roster spot, if you

1075
00:51:26,160 --> 00:51:28,320
Speaker 1: do good work with the Cowboys line, that's going to

1076
00:51:28,360 --> 00:51:31,080
Speaker 1: carry weight around the league. I mean is that? I mean?

1077
00:51:31,120 --> 00:51:33,279
Speaker 1: I think that the players perceived that our job and

1078
00:51:33,400 --> 00:51:36,400
Speaker 1: recruiting was going, Look, here's the opportunity you're gonna have

1079
00:51:36,440 --> 00:51:39,399
Speaker 1: to compete. Yeah, and you want a kid that you're

1080
00:51:39,400 --> 00:51:41,120
Speaker 1: gonna say, hey, we got so, you know so, so

1081
00:51:41,200 --> 00:51:44,440
Speaker 1: and so and so. Uh, But it's about competition. Do

1082
00:51:44,480 --> 00:51:46,600
Speaker 1: you want to come and have the opportunity to be

1083
00:51:46,719 --> 00:51:49,680
Speaker 1: part of the best. And the guys that say yeah,

1084
00:51:49,719 --> 00:51:52,440
Speaker 1: I'm you know, and they you know, Mitch Hyatt and

1085
00:51:52,080 --> 00:51:54,320
Speaker 1: and and and other guys had other opportunities to go

1086
00:51:54,400 --> 00:51:57,200
Speaker 1: other places. They wanted to come here and compete. That's

1087
00:51:57,239 --> 00:51:59,880
Speaker 1: the difference between me and top level football players. I'm like,

1088
00:52:00,040 --> 00:52:01,759
Speaker 1: I want to go where it's the easiest to get

1089
00:52:01,800 --> 00:52:03,480
Speaker 1: on a team, and they're like, no, screw that, I

1090
00:52:03,520 --> 00:52:05,279
Speaker 1: want to go against the best. How early do those

1091
00:52:05,280 --> 00:52:08,760
Speaker 1: conversations start? Like in the draft at fifth, sixth round

1092
00:52:08,600 --> 00:52:11,279
Speaker 1: and we just seventh, probably started about the fifth round.

1093
00:52:11,280 --> 00:52:13,120
Speaker 1: But what we do is, you know, we go through

1094
00:52:13,160 --> 00:52:16,360
Speaker 1: and again our college scouts. Once we set the board

1095
00:52:17,120 --> 00:52:22,400
Speaker 1: and every after every position group, at the end of

1096
00:52:22,440 --> 00:52:25,520
Speaker 1: the day, we meet and we sequenced the PFA's Okay,

1097
00:52:25,560 --> 00:52:28,520
Speaker 1: we start to formulate our plan there. And then what

1098
00:52:28,600 --> 00:52:31,120
Speaker 1: we did was a week before is we got the

1099
00:52:31,160 --> 00:52:34,720
Speaker 1: scouts together at their cross check position. They're like, let's

1100
00:52:34,719 --> 00:52:38,279
Speaker 1: watch the six seventh round guys, the PFA's and let's

1101
00:52:38,320 --> 00:52:40,719
Speaker 1: sequence them the way that we like them, with the

1102
00:52:40,920 --> 00:52:43,399
Speaker 1: coach input and the scout input. So there was a

1103
00:52:43,440 --> 00:52:45,759
Speaker 1: clearer plan as to who we liked and didn't like

1104
00:52:46,680 --> 00:52:48,719
Speaker 1: or what level to kind of and you know, if

1105
00:52:48,719 --> 00:52:50,759
Speaker 1: that guy fell, we're on top of them. So we

1106
00:52:50,800 --> 00:52:54,640
Speaker 1: started recruiting them prior to the draft. Just let them know, hey,

1107
00:52:54,680 --> 00:52:56,600
Speaker 1: you know we're yet you know, da da da da dah,

1108
00:52:57,239 --> 00:52:59,080
Speaker 1: just to kind of get a feel for him and

1109
00:52:59,360 --> 00:53:02,080
Speaker 1: let them hear voice and associate the Cowboys. You know,

1110
00:53:02,440 --> 00:53:04,719
Speaker 1: my guess is my guests, just my guests, and maybe

1111
00:53:04,719 --> 00:53:06,640
Speaker 1: you'll confirm it. I think you added if you could

1112
00:53:06,719 --> 00:53:09,440
Speaker 1: draft abill grade, you added fifteen guys probably off your board,

1113
00:53:09,560 --> 00:53:11,880
Speaker 1: off your draft board if you had to guess if

1114
00:53:11,880 --> 00:53:14,640
Speaker 1: you can include your draft and guys would draft will grade.

1115
00:53:14,640 --> 00:53:17,080
Speaker 1: So think about that, guys, that doesn't happen very often

1116
00:53:17,200 --> 00:53:21,160
Speaker 1: and either that was already play, either they're gonna be

1117
00:53:21,160 --> 00:53:23,239
Speaker 1: really right or where we're like. But no, if you

1118
00:53:23,640 --> 00:53:27,040
Speaker 1: I have never heard a team add fifteen players off

1119
00:53:27,080 --> 00:53:31,160
Speaker 1: their draft board that do it to a roster, think

1120
00:53:31,239 --> 00:53:33,040
Speaker 1: I mean that is that that is some work. I'm

1121
00:53:33,080 --> 00:53:36,279
Speaker 1: always excited for camp, but extra shows this year, all right,

1122
00:53:36,600 --> 00:53:39,239
Speaker 1: with the last few minutes we have here, hopefully keep

1123
00:53:39,280 --> 00:53:41,279
Speaker 1: a little extra two minutes. Maybe I want to get

1124
00:53:41,320 --> 00:53:43,879
Speaker 1: into we always we hate grade and drafts. I hate,

1125
00:53:43,920 --> 00:53:46,239
Speaker 1: I hate. I don't like it. I know Dane hates

1126
00:53:46,280 --> 00:53:48,040
Speaker 1: it when he's asked to do stuff. You know, tell

1127
00:53:48,040 --> 00:53:49,440
Speaker 1: me what's happening in three year Like I say, I

1128
00:53:49,440 --> 00:53:51,680
Speaker 1: had an experience in Philadelphi where Scout told me we

1129
00:53:51,719 --> 00:53:54,040
Speaker 1: had the worst draft in NFL history and for the

1130
00:53:54,040 --> 00:53:56,439
Speaker 1: eight picks made the Pro Bowl four years later. So

1131
00:53:56,800 --> 00:53:58,839
Speaker 1: I don't I'm not going to grade drafts. I want

1132
00:53:58,840 --> 00:54:01,560
Speaker 1: to get your thoughts though about the twenty and sixteen draft,

1133
00:54:01,640 --> 00:54:03,920
Speaker 1: because we're doing this thing on Dallas Cowboys dot com

1134
00:54:04,000 --> 00:54:07,759
Speaker 1: about the great drafts and the history of this franchise,

1135
00:54:07,920 --> 00:54:10,600
Speaker 1: and it goes back to the draft with the Ezekiel

1136
00:54:10,600 --> 00:54:13,520
Speaker 1: Elliot draft, the Jalen Smith draft, who I was dead

1137
00:54:13,520 --> 00:54:18,520
Speaker 1: ash wrong about though Molie Collins, Anthony Brown, Charles Tapper,

1138
00:54:18,760 --> 00:54:22,799
Speaker 1: Dak Prescott, Cabon Frazier, and Darius Jackson that that right

1139
00:54:22,840 --> 00:54:25,319
Speaker 1: there in itself as a hall and then I kind

1140
00:54:25,320 --> 00:54:27,040
Speaker 1: of want to get into it just a little bit

1141
00:54:27,080 --> 00:54:29,520
Speaker 1: about the process. But you said you had the early

1142
00:54:29,600 --> 00:54:33,279
Speaker 1: pick with Zeke And was it all along? Was the

1143
00:54:33,360 --> 00:54:36,000
Speaker 1: thought about there trying to help Tony Romo or was

1144
00:54:36,000 --> 00:54:40,200
Speaker 1: it a situation you're like, this is like a generational player,

1145
00:54:40,239 --> 00:54:42,840
Speaker 1: a once in a lifetime kind of guy. What was

1146
00:54:42,880 --> 00:54:47,439
Speaker 1: the thought about drafting Ezekiel Elliott that early in that draft. Well,

1147
00:54:47,480 --> 00:54:50,880
Speaker 1: as you know, we started this deal, talk about the

1148
00:54:50,920 --> 00:54:52,880
Speaker 1: draft and people saying you needed this and that, and

1149
00:54:53,000 --> 00:54:56,279
Speaker 1: it was as we put you know, went into the year,

1150
00:54:56,320 --> 00:55:00,200
Speaker 1: you're thinking, Okay, there's some good quarterbacks in this draft.

1151
00:55:00,000 --> 00:55:02,560
Speaker 1: At some point in time, you have to get a

1152
00:55:02,600 --> 00:55:05,279
Speaker 1: replacement for Tony. So you know, we looked at all

1153
00:55:05,320 --> 00:55:07,640
Speaker 1: the quarterbacks we had went and worked all those guys out,

1154
00:55:07,680 --> 00:55:11,240
Speaker 1: looking at the quarterback position, looking at the corners, looking

1155
00:55:11,239 --> 00:55:14,080
Speaker 1: at the running backs. You know, all those guys. Joey

1156
00:55:14,120 --> 00:55:18,040
Speaker 1: Bosa was in that draft, and you know, as picks came,

1157
00:55:18,120 --> 00:55:20,399
Speaker 1: we had our feelings about those guys. But as picks came,

1158
00:55:20,520 --> 00:55:25,000
Speaker 1: we boy, there's Dallas Cowboy football is running the football

1159
00:55:25,040 --> 00:55:28,200
Speaker 1: and you know, having an impact player there. We had

1160
00:55:28,200 --> 00:55:30,520
Speaker 1: just gone through the deal where people said, you know

1161
00:55:30,520 --> 00:55:33,879
Speaker 1: you kind of the the devaluing of the running back

1162
00:55:33,920 --> 00:55:36,719
Speaker 1: position because DeMarco had performed well. We decided to let

1163
00:55:36,800 --> 00:55:40,360
Speaker 1: him go with the money got outrageous. So there was

1164
00:55:40,440 --> 00:55:43,880
Speaker 1: Zeke there and that was the pick number four. Checked

1165
00:55:43,880 --> 00:55:46,680
Speaker 1: all the boxes. We were good there, and you know,

1166
00:55:46,719 --> 00:55:49,400
Speaker 1: we got a great player and a generational player. We

1167
00:55:49,480 --> 00:55:52,200
Speaker 1: think from that um and then as you go down

1168
00:55:52,239 --> 00:55:55,080
Speaker 1: the draft again, there was that sometimes you'd rather be

1169
00:55:55,200 --> 00:55:58,760
Speaker 1: lucky than good. Uh, you know, there was that opportunity

1170
00:55:58,840 --> 00:56:01,560
Speaker 1: to uh, you know, we tried to get you know,

1171
00:56:01,640 --> 00:56:03,960
Speaker 1: trade for Paxton, and you know, then there was the

1172
00:56:04,040 --> 00:56:05,879
Speaker 1: Connor Cook talking Dad da da. And then you get

1173
00:56:05,880 --> 00:56:07,560
Speaker 1: into the fourth round there's a guy that we all

1174
00:56:07,719 --> 00:56:12,840
Speaker 1: loved that came from a system that wasn't NFL friendly,

1175
00:56:13,320 --> 00:56:15,400
Speaker 1: so to speak. When you're drafting a quarterback, it's just

1176
00:56:15,440 --> 00:56:17,759
Speaker 1: like the Daniel Jones thing. Oh well, he's been in

1177
00:56:17,800 --> 00:56:21,000
Speaker 1: the Cutcliff system, he's id the mic, he's call plays

1178
00:56:21,000 --> 00:56:24,839
Speaker 1: in the huddle, checked all the boxes. Well, we're very

1179
00:56:24,880 --> 00:56:27,359
Speaker 1: fortunate to get a guy in the fourth round that's

1180
00:56:27,360 --> 00:56:29,759
Speaker 1: our quarterback today and he's got more wins and the

1181
00:56:29,760 --> 00:56:32,319
Speaker 1: guys that were picked higher than him. Yeah, is there.

1182
00:56:32,680 --> 00:56:35,839
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm not trying to throw shade like that's unbelievable. Yeah,

1183
00:56:36,080 --> 00:56:38,359
Speaker 1: better to be lucky, than good sometime. But is there

1184
00:56:38,400 --> 00:56:40,200
Speaker 1: something to learn from that or you just chalk it

1185
00:56:40,280 --> 00:56:44,120
Speaker 1: up to the practicability of the draft. It's the draft, guys,

1186
00:56:44,120 --> 00:56:47,360
Speaker 1: and at the end of the day, we're so many

1187
00:56:47,960 --> 00:56:50,840
Speaker 1: of us are, especially that aren't in our side of

1188
00:56:50,840 --> 00:56:53,200
Speaker 1: it that get all the information. You're watching clips on

1189
00:56:53,239 --> 00:56:55,239
Speaker 1: YouTube or you're doing stuff and you don't get all

1190
00:56:55,239 --> 00:56:59,000
Speaker 1: the information on who the guy is. Now we're gonna

1191
00:56:59,040 --> 00:57:01,360
Speaker 1: have our When we pick a player, we're trying to

1192
00:57:01,400 --> 00:57:05,879
Speaker 1: get the highest return on the lowest investment. So there

1193
00:57:05,880 --> 00:57:09,040
Speaker 1: are things that you go through that checklist and maybe

1194
00:57:09,080 --> 00:57:12,080
Speaker 1: all of them aren't there. So there's the value of

1195
00:57:12,120 --> 00:57:14,040
Speaker 1: the player that you place on there. Then you get

1196
00:57:14,120 --> 00:57:17,560
Speaker 1: him in your building and he turns out to be

1197
00:57:17,640 --> 00:57:20,200
Speaker 1: more than what you expected him to be because now

1198
00:57:20,280 --> 00:57:23,760
Speaker 1: you got to really dig under the hood. So the

1199
00:57:23,880 --> 00:57:26,360
Speaker 1: lesson from that is, hey, you know, that's what we're

1200
00:57:26,360 --> 00:57:28,600
Speaker 1: getting better at now is understanding the character and who

1201
00:57:28,640 --> 00:57:30,600
Speaker 1: the guy is. But you don't know until you get

1202
00:57:30,640 --> 00:57:32,920
Speaker 1: him in the building. Do you have time to just

1203
00:57:33,040 --> 00:57:36,640
Speaker 1: sort of let that take your breath away. Well, I mean, like,

1204
00:57:36,760 --> 00:57:38,800
Speaker 1: I mean, it's kind of crazy when you think about it,

1205
00:57:38,840 --> 00:57:41,240
Speaker 1: and you know, y'all tried to trade for Lynch. You

1206
00:57:41,320 --> 00:57:43,680
Speaker 1: wanted Connor Cook, and Oakland took him out from under you,

1207
00:57:43,760 --> 00:57:46,160
Speaker 1: and then you wind up with Dak Prescott. I mean,

1208
00:57:46,720 --> 00:57:48,280
Speaker 1: like I said, it can kind of blow your mind

1209
00:57:48,280 --> 00:57:50,320
Speaker 1: if you stop and linger on it. Yeah, but it

1210
00:57:50,360 --> 00:57:53,360
Speaker 1: also makes us realize that we're not as good as

1211
00:57:53,360 --> 00:57:56,840
Speaker 1: we think we are in this opinionated business. You got

1212
00:57:56,840 --> 00:57:59,040
Speaker 1: to get him in your building and all that stuff,

1213
00:57:59,040 --> 00:58:02,400
Speaker 1: and you can discount of guy's heart and determination and

1214
00:58:02,440 --> 00:58:04,920
Speaker 1: all that other stuff. I think you learn those things,

1215
00:58:04,920 --> 00:58:07,040
Speaker 1: but you don't really know it until you get him

1216
00:58:07,080 --> 00:58:08,920
Speaker 1: in your building. He might have been a great leader

1217
00:58:08,960 --> 00:58:11,760
Speaker 1: in Mississippi State where everything was perfect. So but you

1218
00:58:11,760 --> 00:58:13,640
Speaker 1: get him under your building and you go, that's truly

1219
00:58:13,640 --> 00:58:16,680
Speaker 1: who the guy is. Yeah, it's Jalen Smith that way.

1220
00:58:16,760 --> 00:58:18,959
Speaker 1: Did we did we on our side or my side?

1221
00:58:18,960 --> 00:58:21,920
Speaker 1: Did we? Did I misevaluate what Jalen Smith's heart was,

1222
00:58:22,760 --> 00:58:24,680
Speaker 1: his his passion? I think I think we all did.

1223
00:58:24,960 --> 00:58:27,120
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, I don't know if you did

1224
00:58:27,240 --> 00:58:30,240
Speaker 1: well drafted him thirty fourth, well you know what's in there.

1225
00:58:30,480 --> 00:58:33,760
Speaker 1: But there's also been those players that you know, it

1226
00:58:33,800 --> 00:58:36,320
Speaker 1: was the kid, the great running back from South Carolina

1227
00:58:36,400 --> 00:58:38,680
Speaker 1: that San Francisco took early, you know, and there was

1228
00:58:38,760 --> 00:58:42,160
Speaker 1: these teams that do this and yeah they did. Yeah,

1229
00:58:42,200 --> 00:58:44,960
Speaker 1: but because for whatever reason, be it physically or whatever,

1230
00:58:45,080 --> 00:58:48,240
Speaker 1: that they don't make it. Well, we were sure that,

1231
00:58:48,760 --> 00:58:51,400
Speaker 1: you know, there's a possibility of the kid coming back.

1232
00:58:51,440 --> 00:58:53,000
Speaker 1: And we didn't know if he was going to be

1233
00:58:53,040 --> 00:58:56,360
Speaker 1: that player that we graded high, you know, from his

1234
00:58:56,440 --> 00:59:00,680
Speaker 1: college tape. But there was something there and we roll

1235
00:59:00,800 --> 00:59:02,760
Speaker 1: the dice and we got a great return at that

1236
00:59:02,920 --> 00:59:04,440
Speaker 1: you would have had to take if he was healthy,

1237
00:59:04,480 --> 00:59:07,080
Speaker 1: you'd have had to taken him when you took Zeke. Absolutely, Yeah,

1238
00:59:07,360 --> 00:59:11,600
Speaker 1: he's the top eight. I don't think I don't think

1239
00:59:11,600 --> 00:59:13,680
Speaker 1: Will will mind me sharing this story. It's it stands

1240
00:59:13,680 --> 00:59:15,840
Speaker 1: out to me big time. Um, I guess it was

1241
00:59:15,840 --> 00:59:23,160
Speaker 1: twenty seventeen. This is the longest you've gone being nice

1242
00:59:23,160 --> 00:59:27,320
Speaker 1: to me. I appreciate that. Um, it's twenty seventeen. You know.

1243
00:59:27,480 --> 00:59:30,440
Speaker 1: We training camps over Jalen. He's out there. He's got

1244
00:59:30,480 --> 00:59:33,480
Speaker 1: like ten pounds of tape on his leg. Everybody's analyzing

1245
00:59:33,520 --> 00:59:35,600
Speaker 1: the way he runs. He kind of he doesn't look

1246
00:59:35,640 --> 00:59:39,000
Speaker 1: totally fluid yet. And he made his preseason debut against

1247
00:59:39,000 --> 00:59:41,760
Speaker 1: the Colts and I'm I'm down on the sideline anyway,

1248
00:59:41,800 --> 00:59:44,240
Speaker 1: I take pictures, I talk to people. Blah blah blah.

1249
00:59:44,240 --> 00:59:46,920
Speaker 1: Will's down there, which is not to like you're not

1250
00:59:46,960 --> 00:59:49,600
Speaker 1: down there every Yeah, that's not normal. And I'm like,

1251
00:59:49,720 --> 00:59:52,120
Speaker 1: you know, and he's like fixated on Jalen. I'm like

1252
00:59:52,400 --> 00:59:55,360
Speaker 1: pretty big night, and he's like, hold onto your butt

1253
00:59:55,440 --> 00:59:58,040
Speaker 1: like this, yeah, this is this is the guy we

1254
00:59:58,040 --> 01:00:00,479
Speaker 1: thought we were getting. Like he was like the just wait,

1255
01:00:00,640 --> 01:00:03,840
Speaker 1: just wait for John Smith and low and behold yeah,

1256
01:00:03,880 --> 01:00:06,600
Speaker 1: and to be as great as he was in college.

1257
01:00:07,760 --> 01:00:10,720
Speaker 1: There's the physical traits that he already had, but you know,

1258
01:00:10,760 --> 01:00:12,760
Speaker 1: there was something about him there and then that's what

1259
01:00:12,840 --> 01:00:16,000
Speaker 1: helped him get through that whole injury deal and to

1260
01:00:16,080 --> 01:00:18,400
Speaker 1: fight back. And he wanted to be the best and

1261
01:00:18,520 --> 01:00:20,800
Speaker 1: wants to be one of the best. And you know,

1262
01:00:21,200 --> 01:00:23,000
Speaker 1: you know there's a you see our guys walk around

1263
01:00:23,000 --> 01:00:26,360
Speaker 1: with the shirt driven. He was driven to come back

1264
01:00:26,360 --> 01:00:28,560
Speaker 1: from that injury. That's what he's doing now. You know

1265
01:00:28,760 --> 01:00:30,480
Speaker 1: when you look back at that though, and then grabbing

1266
01:00:30,600 --> 01:00:34,080
Speaker 1: like Anthony Brown when you did, I mean, that's incredible

1267
01:00:34,160 --> 01:00:35,720
Speaker 1: that the way I mean the sixth I know that

1268
01:00:35,800 --> 01:00:37,280
Speaker 1: was one of the guys when we were doing the show,

1269
01:00:37,360 --> 01:00:40,200
Speaker 1: we were all like, you know, best available. Dane kept

1270
01:00:40,320 --> 01:00:42,600
Speaker 1: going best availble best. Well, Anthony Brown, somebody's got to

1271
01:00:42,600 --> 01:00:44,920
Speaker 1: take this. Anthy Brown. He runs too well. You watch

1272
01:00:45,000 --> 01:00:47,400
Speaker 1: the produe tape, He's just this and this, and then

1273
01:00:47,440 --> 01:00:49,680
Speaker 1: you know, you have to be proud about those picks

1274
01:00:49,720 --> 01:00:51,720
Speaker 1: that you know that you make in the in the

1275
01:00:51,880 --> 01:00:54,560
Speaker 1: sixth round, seventh round, and all sudden, I mean, yeah,

1276
01:00:54,880 --> 01:00:56,880
Speaker 1: you look just like that turn out. Well, it's like

1277
01:00:56,920 --> 01:00:59,040
Speaker 1: we talked about, you know, this draft, well you look

1278
01:00:59,080 --> 01:01:01,480
Speaker 1: at it when you go down on we have these players,

1279
01:01:01,520 --> 01:01:04,400
Speaker 1: if we have them evaluated the right way. We had

1280
01:01:04,480 --> 01:01:07,800
Speaker 1: Anthony evaluated higher than they're in the people picked who

1281
01:01:07,800 --> 01:01:09,800
Speaker 1: they picked. And then there he was right there and

1282
01:01:09,800 --> 01:01:12,000
Speaker 1: I got you know, hey, he runs really well. There

1283
01:01:12,000 --> 01:01:15,080
Speaker 1: are some there were some issues, are some things that

1284
01:01:15,120 --> 01:01:16,760
Speaker 1: he didn't do well in college, but we felt like

1285
01:01:16,760 --> 01:01:19,160
Speaker 1: they were correctable and not terminal. And when you can

1286
01:01:19,240 --> 01:01:21,840
Speaker 1: run like that and the type of kid that he is,

1287
01:01:22,280 --> 01:01:25,160
Speaker 1: you figured that's the right opportunity. And you know, it's

1288
01:01:25,200 --> 01:01:27,400
Speaker 1: panned out well, and he's been through a couple of

1289
01:01:27,400 --> 01:01:30,120
Speaker 1: different coaches and he's continued to grow. And I think

1290
01:01:30,560 --> 01:01:32,919
Speaker 1: Christopher Shard has helped him too. Do you know where

1291
01:01:32,960 --> 01:01:35,800
Speaker 1: he's going to continue to get better? Go ahead day.

1292
01:01:36,080 --> 01:01:38,400
Speaker 1: I've never thought to ask you this. I mean you

1293
01:01:38,400 --> 01:01:40,840
Speaker 1: you help find these guys. You're a guiding voice in

1294
01:01:40,840 --> 01:01:45,240
Speaker 1: that discussion. What's your role, if any, in these financial

1295
01:01:45,240 --> 01:01:47,720
Speaker 1: decisions that come now that these guys are coming up

1296
01:01:47,720 --> 01:01:51,640
Speaker 1: on their next contracts. My role is to say what

1297
01:01:51,800 --> 01:01:54,160
Speaker 1: their value is, what other players in the league are like.

1298
01:01:54,240 --> 01:01:56,919
Speaker 1: I don't get into the numbers. Hey, thank goodness, because

1299
01:01:56,960 --> 01:01:59,280
Speaker 1: I couldn't do that because the way contracts are now. Yeah,

1300
01:01:59,520 --> 01:02:01,560
Speaker 1: I'm chief for the most part, so it would be

1301
01:02:01,600 --> 01:02:04,400
Speaker 1: hard for me to kind of wrap wrap my arms

1302
01:02:04,400 --> 01:02:06,280
Speaker 1: around the total package. I think we do a great

1303
01:02:06,360 --> 01:02:08,400
Speaker 1: job with that in the front office, led by Stephen,

1304
01:02:08,440 --> 01:02:11,440
Speaker 1: to figure that out and figure out how to do contracts. Um.

1305
01:02:11,800 --> 01:02:13,800
Speaker 1: But I just want to say, this is where this

1306
01:02:13,840 --> 01:02:16,320
Speaker 1: guy is valued, this is how he is and you

1307
01:02:16,360 --> 01:02:19,040
Speaker 1: know the things that I can do from a personnel

1308
01:02:19,120 --> 01:02:21,440
Speaker 1: side and a team building side to say how does

1309
01:02:21,440 --> 01:02:23,360
Speaker 1: it affect this, this and this and throw that two

1310
01:02:23,360 --> 01:02:27,120
Speaker 1: cents in? Well, Well, well, thank you so much for

1311
01:02:27,280 --> 01:02:30,440
Speaker 1: spending time with us. It was awesome to get such

1312
01:02:30,480 --> 01:02:33,120
Speaker 1: a perspective. Actually, a bonus for us with you being

1313
01:02:33,120 --> 01:02:37,720
Speaker 1: here today. Dane Brugo, this is your last last Draft show. Yeah,

1314
01:02:37,800 --> 01:02:41,160
Speaker 1: I refuse to believe that. Yeah, Dane's moving one family

1315
01:02:41,200 --> 01:02:43,800
Speaker 1: moving on to Ohio. I've been with us the last

1316
01:02:43,840 --> 01:02:46,600
Speaker 1: five years and doing this stuff, so honor not only

1317
01:02:46,680 --> 01:02:49,680
Speaker 1: have a great personnel man, a guy that gets growing up,

1318
01:02:49,680 --> 01:02:51,960
Speaker 1: here's a personnel man with us here. We appreciate you

1319
01:02:52,440 --> 01:02:54,520
Speaker 1: being such a part of the Draft show. Thank Ohio.

1320
01:02:54,680 --> 01:02:56,600
Speaker 1: Are you sure you want to move to Ohio? Have

1321
01:02:56,680 --> 01:03:00,560
Speaker 1: you seen the weather living? He's an Ohio kids family state. Yeah,

1322
01:03:00,640 --> 01:03:03,000
Speaker 1: go out hang out with my buddy John Dorsey up there. Yeah,

1323
01:03:03,680 --> 01:03:05,720
Speaker 1: we're getting you. We're getting you back for the next draft.

1324
01:03:05,760 --> 01:03:08,520
Speaker 1: Don't even worry about it. Yeah, hopefully hopefully It's not goodbye,

1325
01:03:08,640 --> 01:03:10,680
Speaker 1: just kind of see you soon. Okay, I like that,

1326
01:03:11,080 --> 01:03:13,680
Speaker 1: But thank you for all you das. Cowboys Nation has

1327
01:03:13,680 --> 01:03:15,240
Speaker 1: been great to me and it's been an awesome being

1328
01:03:15,280 --> 01:03:17,360
Speaker 1: part of this, learning a lot from you guys, and

1329
01:03:17,560 --> 01:03:19,960
Speaker 1: it's been a lot of fun. So it's uh something

1330
01:03:20,040 --> 01:03:24,240
Speaker 1: that leave with. It's a little bitter sweet, but excited

1331
01:03:24,240 --> 01:03:25,960
Speaker 1: for the next show. We'll find you down the road somewhere.

1332
01:03:26,040 --> 01:03:28,840
Speaker 1: Absolutely Senior Bowl combine. We'll bring it back for the

1333
01:03:28,920 --> 01:03:32,440
Speaker 1: j I guess still got to cook crawfish for everybody here.

1334
01:03:32,880 --> 01:03:34,520
Speaker 1: I do I wanted. I got my Houston guy over

1335
01:03:34,600 --> 01:03:37,000
Speaker 1: here and lead some crawfish way. Well okay, well that's

1336
01:03:37,000 --> 01:03:38,400
Speaker 1: all the time we have for the Draft Show. Again.

1337
01:03:38,440 --> 01:03:41,240
Speaker 1: Thanks to Will McClay, vice President Player Personnel with the

1338
01:03:41,240 --> 01:03:43,920
Speaker 1: Cowboys for spending a lot of his time with as

1339
01:03:43,920 --> 01:03:45,560
Speaker 1: a busy man, but he wants to be a part

1340
01:03:45,600 --> 01:03:47,800
Speaker 1: of this and we really do appreciate that. So that's

1341
01:03:47,840 --> 01:03:50,400
Speaker 1: it for the Draft Show for two thousand and nineteen.

1342
01:03:50,440 --> 01:03:52,680
Speaker 1: Thanks everybody out there and made this possible, and we

1343
01:03:52,720 --> 01:03:55,160
Speaker 1: will see you next January as we start the journey

1344
01:03:55,240 --> 01:03:57,440
Speaker 1: or the bye week. Don't forget about the bye week exactly. Well,

1345
01:03:57,480 --> 01:03:59,440
Speaker 1: we'll see you. We'll see you here real soon though.

1346
01:03:59,440 --> 01:04:23,440
Speaker 1: Thanks for everybody out there. Take care. This has been

1347
01:04:23,440 --> 01:04:26,680
Speaker 1: a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas

1348
01:04:26,680 --> 01:04:27,880
Speaker 1: Cowboys Football Club.