WEBVTT - Talkin' Cowboys: Combine Check-In 0:00:03.560 --> 0:00:06.080 The following. He's a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com 0:00:06.080 --> 0:00:15.960 and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club Cowboys. This he's Talking Cowboys, 0:00:15.960 --> 0:00:19.360 screaming live from the Dallas Cowboys World Hours at the 0:00:19.440 --> 0:00:31.000 Star in Frisco. And now your hosts Isaiah stand Back, heck, 0:00:31.080 --> 0:00:38.480 My Harrison, Rob Phillips, and Kyle Yeoman's Well, well, beat 0:00:38.560 --> 0:00:41.839 me up. It is Tuesday, March first, thank you for 0:00:41.920 --> 0:00:47.360 joining us on a TCT Talking Cowboys Tuesday. And I'm 0:00:47.440 --> 0:00:50.839 joined by my guys that are always here, uh in 0:00:50.960 --> 0:00:56.000 the studio minus one Rob p Island Island Boy himself 0:00:56.280 --> 0:00:59.360 is in the building. Beat me up, Scottie, beat me up? 0:00:59.640 --> 0:01:03.400 And Uh, the guy that always remind the reminds us 0:01:03.480 --> 0:01:07.800 that we are built like busted bags of biscuits. Isaiah 0:01:07.880 --> 0:01:12.319 stand back, Champ, what's up? Good? That's great alliteration. I 0:01:12.360 --> 0:01:15.000 love that. Yeah, busted bags of biscuits. That is how 0:01:15.000 --> 0:01:16.680 I feel, right, I mean, I mean he comes in 0:01:16.760 --> 0:01:18.520 here with a new muscle. He comes here with a 0:01:18.520 --> 0:01:20.600 new muscle every week. You know, I don't I've never 0:01:20.600 --> 0:01:22.880 met anybody that just hey, is that a new muscle? 0:01:23.040 --> 0:01:24.880 Is the muscle in his zero lobe? He has it 0:01:25.000 --> 0:01:29.600 covered up, you know, I don't know, sure, soups, tell 0:01:29.880 --> 0:01:32.039 what was that? You had a soccer jersey on the 0:01:32.080 --> 0:01:35.160 other day, a bright yellow sock soccer jersey. And I 0:01:35.280 --> 0:01:38.399 was like, come on, dog, give us a chance. I 0:01:38.440 --> 0:01:40.720 covered up the bright shirt today. Oh man, different bright 0:01:40.720 --> 0:01:42.240 shirt on the day, but I covered it up. But 0:01:42.319 --> 0:01:45.080 so he gets he puts the cover up over there. 0:01:45.120 --> 0:01:48.680 Yeah on, man, give us a shot here. But guys, 0:01:48.840 --> 0:01:51.320 I am so uh thankful to being able to host 0:01:51.360 --> 0:01:55.320 today in Kyle Yeoman's absence. He is down in Indie 0:01:55.680 --> 0:01:59.440 covering the combine him, you know, with his pinky in 0:01:59.480 --> 0:02:02.760 the air and asking questions, the big questions. They had 0:02:02.800 --> 0:02:06.280 the draft show at ten o'clock, which was awesome. I 0:02:06.360 --> 0:02:08.960 believe Dame Brugler was on in my correct the Christoper 0:02:09.080 --> 0:02:10.760 fer Beam in the back on the ones and twos. 0:02:10.840 --> 0:02:13.280 I don't know it has been posted yet. Okay, it 0:02:13.320 --> 0:02:15.480 from there. My bad, My bad, my bad. It's gonna 0:02:15.560 --> 0:02:18.600 post it later, so just stand. It'll be on Tuesday. 0:02:18.680 --> 0:02:22.240 Wasay Thursday this week, So as we speak, I think 0:02:22.320 --> 0:02:25.320 Kyle is at the podium listening to Mike McCarthy addressed 0:02:25.320 --> 0:02:26.960 the media for the first time in six weeks and 0:02:26.960 --> 0:02:29.680 Big Mike's just breaking news on us right now, you know, 0:02:29.880 --> 0:02:32.959 fire Sun gosh man, it's uh. The offseason is in 0:02:33.080 --> 0:02:34.960 full effect. We got so much stuff going on, and 0:02:35.040 --> 0:02:37.800 obviously the Cowboys are not going to be without controversy, 0:02:37.800 --> 0:02:42.120 which we have had. But on Monday, Stephen Jones had 0:02:42.120 --> 0:02:44.600 an opportunity to stand up in front of the media 0:02:44.760 --> 0:02:48.680 and address some concerns, and so I'm gonna start with you, Rob. 0:02:48.760 --> 0:02:53.040 He said some very interesting things about the future of 0:02:53.080 --> 0:02:55.959 the Dallas Cowboys, and obviously, with the mind state being 0:02:56.000 --> 0:02:58.239 that the Los Angeles Rams won the Super Bowl, going 0:02:58.360 --> 0:03:01.359 all in and mortgaging off their few, it did not 0:03:01.480 --> 0:03:04.760 sound as though Steven Jones was in that vein. He 0:03:04.840 --> 0:03:09.760 sounded like someone that is going to be very physically 0:03:09.760 --> 0:03:14.359 conservative about putting this roster together for twenty twenty two. 0:03:14.400 --> 0:03:16.520 What were your takes on the interview? You're exactly right. 0:03:16.560 --> 0:03:18.760 And I've been writing this in the last couple of 0:03:18.800 --> 0:03:21.080 weeks when everybody's talking about the draft and free agency, 0:03:21.160 --> 0:03:24.440 just get ready, prepare yourself. They're not going to spend 0:03:24.480 --> 0:03:25.880 a bunch of money there. And he even said it 0:03:25.960 --> 0:03:28.399 yesterday to the media, like we're gonna try, we want 0:03:28.400 --> 0:03:32.919 to resign a lot of guys, our guys, and probably 0:03:32.960 --> 0:03:37.200 do some restructures, most likely Dak Prescott, and find some 0:03:37.240 --> 0:03:39.440 space to get all this stuff done that they want 0:03:39.440 --> 0:03:41.800 to get done. But this is the way they operate. 0:03:41.880 --> 0:03:45.320 They're going to they they have their top end guys 0:03:45.320 --> 0:03:47.640 on the roster to long term deals and they try 0:03:47.640 --> 0:03:50.839 to fill in the back with one year contracts and draft. Well, 0:03:51.040 --> 0:03:53.880 that's that's exactly what they're gonna do, especially this year 0:03:53.920 --> 0:03:56.600 with the cap crunch that they've gotten. And Steven spoke 0:03:56.600 --> 0:03:59.400 to that once again yesterday. So Isaiah, I want you 0:03:59.440 --> 0:04:01.760 to kind of code that you gotta little, you gotta, 0:04:01.800 --> 0:04:05.640 you gotta little quick synopsis of the interview. But here's 0:04:05.640 --> 0:04:08.440 the thing that I was really kind of taking a 0:04:08.520 --> 0:04:12.440 back about, and that was his I guess Stan committed 0:04:12.520 --> 0:04:17.960 to not commenting on Amara Cooper and he just wouldn't 0:04:18.000 --> 0:04:19.839 talk about it. And we have a deadline of March 0:04:20.040 --> 0:04:22.760 twenty second. I believe once that money becomes guaranteed, so 0:04:23.040 --> 0:04:25.240 a decision has to be made by the end of 0:04:25.279 --> 0:04:28.040 Clarence Hill. Try to take him to task on answering 0:04:28.040 --> 0:04:30.640 that question, but he wouldn't. How do you feel about 0:04:30.720 --> 0:04:34.200 that being that Obviously, we know that Coop is a 0:04:34.320 --> 0:04:36.800 number one receiver in this league. You're gonna need a 0:04:36.880 --> 0:04:40.559 number one receiver. We know how good Cooper is making 0:04:40.680 --> 0:04:43.479 Dak Just what are your feelings about that? As a player, 0:04:43.480 --> 0:04:45.479 do you believe that he is sending a message to 0:04:45.560 --> 0:04:47.560 this locker room as he's sending a message to guys 0:04:47.600 --> 0:04:50.640 like Tank, that he will not comment on what's the 0:04:50.680 --> 0:04:54.080 future for these guys. I don't know what he's doing. 0:04:54.520 --> 0:04:56.880 I don't think anybody ever knows what the Cowboys are 0:04:56.880 --> 0:04:58.880 doing in that regard. I don't think that he's trying 0:04:58.920 --> 0:05:02.040 to send a sen some form of a hidden message 0:05:02.040 --> 0:05:04.440 to those guys. But I do think that he is 0:05:04.480 --> 0:05:07.039 given he's hinting towards what they may be thinking in 0:05:07.080 --> 0:05:10.640 regards to Amari Cooper and their lack of commitment to 0:05:10.760 --> 0:05:13.719 Amari Cooper going forward. Now, we sat up here last 0:05:13.720 --> 0:05:15.720 week and I already expressed myself in terms of how 0:05:15.760 --> 0:05:19.040 I feel in terms of them not utilizing an amazing 0:05:19.080 --> 0:05:21.680 asset that they have on their team, and they're seemingly 0:05:21.720 --> 0:05:23.720 gonna use him as a scapegoat to kind of get 0:05:23.760 --> 0:05:26.640 around the salary cap issue. That's what it feels like 0:05:26.640 --> 0:05:28.960 they're like they're headache towards. So that's why I think 0:05:28.960 --> 0:05:32.440 he will not address that verbally in terms of Amari Cooper. 0:05:32.640 --> 0:05:34.920 But as you mentioned, Dak not a problem talking about 0:05:35.000 --> 0:05:36.680 Dak a little bit. You know, Zeke not a problem 0:05:36.720 --> 0:05:38.720 talking about Zeke a little But those that are guys, right, 0:05:38.720 --> 0:05:40.760 these are our duels. These are the kind of the 0:05:40.960 --> 0:05:43.640 face of the franchise. I don't think that they see 0:05:43.640 --> 0:05:46.320 Amari Cooper in that same light, and that's really unfortunate. 0:05:46.600 --> 0:05:49.880 But as a as a former player, if you're sitting 0:05:49.880 --> 0:05:53.159 there and you're you understand, you signed the contract, you're 0:05:53.200 --> 0:05:56.080 a year end, how does that make you feel? I mean, 0:05:56.080 --> 0:05:58.280 how would that man just putting your feet in and 0:05:58.320 --> 0:06:01.839 coop shoes hearing him not comment on your status with 0:06:01.880 --> 0:06:04.920 the team going into next season. Now, as a former player, 0:06:05.279 --> 0:06:07.719 I can stand back and understand the business aspect of 0:06:07.720 --> 0:06:09.800 it and not get my emotion and my emotions involved 0:06:09.839 --> 0:06:12.520 in it as a player at that at that particular time. 0:06:12.720 --> 0:06:14.600 Maybe the position that he's in, he's a savvy vet, 0:06:14.720 --> 0:06:17.080 so he probably understands the business aspect a little more 0:06:17.120 --> 0:06:20.040 than most young uns in the league. But you know, 0:06:20.080 --> 0:06:22.880 when you're committed to an organization, you know, And this 0:06:22.920 --> 0:06:25.280 is where you're starting to really see this parting of 0:06:25.400 --> 0:06:28.479 ways in this in this league. Right now, they're starting 0:06:28.480 --> 0:06:31.440 to guy players are starting to understand their value much 0:06:31.480 --> 0:06:34.840 like NBA players, much like MLB players, and guys are 0:06:34.839 --> 0:06:37.919 starting guys are starting to understand how much they affect, 0:06:38.080 --> 0:06:41.320 how much how much power they have or over these organizations. 0:06:41.360 --> 0:06:43.680 So now you take somebody into Mario Cooper's position where 0:06:43.720 --> 0:06:45.280 he's like getting paid with twenty million a year or 0:06:45.279 --> 0:06:47.200 somebody that eighteen a year, twenty year, somewhere around the 0:06:47.240 --> 0:06:49.400 twenty years. Okay, so you're gonna paid twenty million dollars 0:06:49.400 --> 0:06:51.440 a year, and he recognizes that they're starting to kind 0:06:51.440 --> 0:06:54.320 of use this rhetoric as if you're the reason why, 0:06:54.440 --> 0:06:56.479 you know, or we're paying you too much money. You know, 0:06:56.480 --> 0:06:58.880 you're not making enough plays. And you can sit and 0:06:59.800 --> 0:07:03.159 be still understand that I don't have a lack of performance. 0:07:03.600 --> 0:07:05.640 I have a lack of opportunities, right, I don't have 0:07:05.720 --> 0:07:08.479 a lack of ability. Right, I'm not getting presented with 0:07:08.480 --> 0:07:09.920 the with the with the chances. I need to go 0:07:09.920 --> 0:07:11.680 out there and make play. So if they don't want 0:07:11.680 --> 0:07:14.320 to pay me, somebody else will pay me, and I 0:07:14.320 --> 0:07:16.720 think that's where your mind has to go. He can. 0:07:17.200 --> 0:07:19.400 I'm again, we're all just kind of just speaking in 0:07:19.440 --> 0:07:21.040 general right now. I don't think that he's going to 0:07:21.080 --> 0:07:24.160 be emotionally tied to the Cowboys, because you could obviously 0:07:24.160 --> 0:07:26.440 see that the Cowboys don't seem to be emotionally tied 0:07:26.440 --> 0:07:29.080 to him. Well, I think they value what he can 0:07:29.120 --> 0:07:31.520 bring as a player. Um, they wouldn't have signed him 0:07:31.520 --> 0:07:33.360 to one hundred million dollars deal if they did, real quick, 0:07:33.400 --> 0:07:35.840 real quick. Chris just texted me and Mike McCarthy had 0:07:35.880 --> 0:07:39.280 some breaking news just now an Indie Dak Prescott clean 0:07:39.360 --> 0:07:42.240 up surgery on his left shoulder, non throwing should be 0:07:42.280 --> 0:07:43.920 ready for the start of the off season program. So 0:07:43.920 --> 0:07:45.080 we can get back to that if we want to 0:07:45.160 --> 0:07:49.960 admit it. But I mean, yeah, thank you, mystery meat moment. 0:07:53.320 --> 0:07:56.280 It's not his throwing shoulder at least. Um. Okay, So 0:07:57.080 --> 0:08:00.000 and and and Stephen was asked about Amori multiple times, 0:08:00.280 --> 0:08:03.800 and in fact, his role in the offense was brought 0:08:03.880 --> 0:08:06.040 up as well. It's it's a good question whoever asked it? 0:08:06.080 --> 0:08:07.640 And he said, he said, I think it's more of 0:08:07.680 --> 0:08:11.160 a system deal where we go somewhere else based on 0:08:11.200 --> 0:08:14.400 what the coverage dictates. And so if you're gonna play 0:08:14.480 --> 0:08:18.280 that way and that's your style of offense, then I 0:08:18.320 --> 0:08:20.400 think you do have to look at Okay, why are 0:08:20.400 --> 0:08:23.600 we spending this much on our number one receiver? And 0:08:24.360 --> 0:08:26.560 because I agree with you guys, they're better with him 0:08:26.600 --> 0:08:29.960 on the roster, they're better with him being the go 0:08:30.040 --> 0:08:31.800 to guy. But that hasn't been the way this thing 0:08:31.880 --> 0:08:34.520 is built. And actually the follow up question was to 0:08:34.559 --> 0:08:37.160 the effective does that system mess with what you invest 0:08:37.240 --> 0:08:39.319 in your contracts? And he said, we go through all 0:08:39.320 --> 0:08:40.679 of that. Like I said, I'm not going to get 0:08:40.679 --> 0:08:43.400 it into individually that stuff, but that plays into how 0:08:43.440 --> 0:08:45.680 we invest and that's not what they're getting based on 0:08:46.000 --> 0:08:47.960 what they pay to Mario. It's not all his fault, 0:08:48.160 --> 0:08:52.320 but it's it's the system. And I would not be 0:08:52.360 --> 0:08:54.760 surprised if based on what we've heard from from the 0:08:54.840 --> 0:08:58.320 Joneses twice now Senior Bowl combined, it's definitely on the table. 0:08:58.440 --> 0:09:01.960 I just because the cap is a challenge. The cap 0:09:02.120 --> 0:09:04.760 is is probably it went up to two o eight, 0:09:05.120 --> 0:09:07.600 but it's probably ten million dollars less than it should 0:09:07.600 --> 0:09:11.719 have been. Pandemic aside and so they're trying to make 0:09:11.800 --> 0:09:14.079 up for that loss. Are you okay on this roster 0:09:14.200 --> 0:09:18.400 without a Mari I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. But 0:09:18.440 --> 0:09:21.280 I think it's a reality that Ceedee Lamb may have 0:09:21.320 --> 0:09:22.920 to say. They may have to look at Ceedee Lamb 0:09:22.960 --> 0:09:26.040 and say, hey, seventeen pick in the draft two years ago, 0:09:26.400 --> 0:09:28.520 it's your time if I mean, that's got to be 0:09:28.760 --> 0:09:31.160 the transition if there's no Mari. And the reason why 0:09:31.160 --> 0:09:34.400 I say I'm not is because I recognize how much 0:09:34.559 --> 0:09:38.880 better Mari Cooper made Dak and how much the offense 0:09:39.000 --> 0:09:43.040 was struggling without Amari Cooper, his effect on the offense 0:09:43.080 --> 0:09:46.480 immediately once he came on, And so you know that. 0:09:46.760 --> 0:09:48.600 My other thing that I kind of went back on 0:09:48.720 --> 0:09:51.800 was that if we're not gonna use him, it's like 0:09:51.960 --> 0:09:53.840 having the bands in the driveway and you don't have 0:09:53.920 --> 0:09:56.040 keys to it. If I can't drive it, get it 0:09:56.040 --> 0:09:58.480 out of my driveway. But that's us the word can't. 0:09:58.760 --> 0:10:02.200 Yeah there in the other C word. They're choosing choosing 0:10:02.360 --> 0:10:04.800 not to use Amari, right, And I think it would 0:10:04.800 --> 0:10:06.520 be a totally different conversation that we were sitting there 0:10:06.600 --> 0:10:09.160 talking about his route runnings, bad, his speed is dropped off, 0:10:09.200 --> 0:10:11.600 he's dropping balls. We're not saying any of those things. 0:10:12.040 --> 0:10:14.800 We're saying that because of the system, we're not going 0:10:14.880 --> 0:10:16.880 to utilize him the way in which we originally had 0:10:16.880 --> 0:10:18.559 thought we were going to when we signed him for 0:10:18.600 --> 0:10:21.920 one hundred million dollars. So because of that, sorry, we 0:10:22.080 --> 0:10:24.280 might have to cut bait on you, and by cutting 0:10:24.320 --> 0:10:27.200 bait on you, we become a weaker offense. That makes 0:10:27.280 --> 0:10:30.600 zero sense to me. Change the system. Change the system. 0:10:30.760 --> 0:10:33.120 If that's your system, change the system, because every other 0:10:33.200 --> 0:10:35.400 organization that has the number one receiver is doing it. 0:10:35.400 --> 0:10:37.040 It reminds me so much of my time when I 0:10:37.120 --> 0:10:40.160 was here and TiO was having issues. Right with Jason Garrett. 0:10:40.280 --> 0:10:42.319 There's a lot of issues internally in the locker room 0:10:42.320 --> 0:10:44.400 that I'm not going to speak to that we're revolving 0:10:44.440 --> 0:10:48.440 around the quote unquote system. And when teams and when 0:10:48.480 --> 0:10:51.640 teams would understand that Jason Garrett was unwilling at that 0:10:51.679 --> 0:10:55.000 time to change his system, they said, Okay, since you're 0:10:55.040 --> 0:10:57.360 not going to change your system, we'll roll the discoverage 0:10:57.360 --> 0:10:59.480 and we'll take TiO out the game because you're gonna 0:10:59.520 --> 0:11:02.160 stay with your system. And what end up hap with TiO, 0:11:02.720 --> 0:11:04.720 all right, now, bye bye. Then they cut him after 0:11:04.760 --> 0:11:07.520 the eighth season, and they were fortunate that Miles Austin 0:11:07.720 --> 0:11:10.400 developed into a correct franchise guy because at the time 0:11:10.440 --> 0:11:12.160 they didn't. It's like when they cut Does, they didn't 0:11:12.200 --> 0:11:17.160 have an answer. They signed Alan Hearns and Deante Thompson 0:11:17.200 --> 0:11:19.640 and nobody emerged until they traded for Amar. Because to 0:11:19.679 --> 0:11:23.160 your point, like Dak took off when Amari got here. Now, 0:11:23.200 --> 0:11:28.800 Stevens thought he sounded cautiously optimistic throughout the interview, but 0:11:28.840 --> 0:11:30.640 there was another part of the interview that really kind 0:11:30.640 --> 0:11:33.079 of threw me off. As he mentioned it several times 0:11:33.480 --> 0:11:36.200 that you know what teams have a franchise quarterback that 0:11:36.320 --> 0:11:39.080 has the size of contract that we have. These are 0:11:39.080 --> 0:11:41.240 the kind of things that you have to maneuver around, 0:11:41.559 --> 0:11:44.319 basically pointing out that if we're looking at a pie, 0:11:44.520 --> 0:11:48.160 Dak has the lion's share basically of that pie, and 0:11:48.200 --> 0:11:51.080 so fitting other pieces into that is going to be hard. 0:11:51.120 --> 0:11:54.679 Now you've outlined the cap and how you can kind 0:11:54.679 --> 0:11:56.280 of kick the can down the road, this is an 0:11:56.280 --> 0:11:58.840 immediate thing that you have to do. But in saying 0:11:58.920 --> 0:12:01.200 that to me, I felt like that was a little 0:12:01.240 --> 0:12:06.960 shade Throne at dak subliminal whatever. It was basically saying, look, 0:12:07.000 --> 0:12:09.000 you got this big contract, we're having to make this 0:12:09.040 --> 0:12:12.480 work around you. Did you think that when you heard it? 0:12:12.520 --> 0:12:14.400 Did you kind of think that was a little shady 0:12:14.679 --> 0:12:16.560 or did you think, hey, this is he's just basically 0:12:16.559 --> 0:12:20.079 saying the realities of football right now. I think it's 0:12:20.120 --> 0:12:22.440 the latter, I really do. I think he's pointing out 0:12:22.480 --> 0:12:25.200 that because he's getting aske about him. Are he's getting asked? 0:12:25.200 --> 0:12:27.440 But he got asked about de Marcus Lawrence and they 0:12:27.480 --> 0:12:30.280 he said, look, not naming names. We got decisions to 0:12:30.280 --> 0:12:31.880 make on certain guys that make a lot of money 0:12:31.880 --> 0:12:34.319 into I think he even said something Isaiah said last week, 0:12:34.360 --> 0:12:37.559 like what's the value you're getting based off of that contract? 0:12:37.679 --> 0:12:41.200 So no, I think I think Steven is just outlining 0:12:41.200 --> 0:12:43.920 the challenges and maybe getting fans ready again for the 0:12:43.920 --> 0:12:45.680 fact that, look, they're not going to be huge players 0:12:45.679 --> 0:12:49.120 in free agency. He did have a quote here he said, 0:12:49.160 --> 0:12:50.880 we could do some things that could allow us to 0:12:50.960 --> 0:12:53.040 keep most of our guys if we wanted to push 0:12:53.080 --> 0:12:54.800 it all out, like down the road, kick the can 0:12:54.840 --> 0:12:57.160 down the road, but we'll have a much bigger problem 0:12:57.160 --> 0:12:59.720 than next year and the year after that. They're looking 0:12:59.760 --> 0:13:02.560 long term, and not only they look in long term. 0:13:02.559 --> 0:13:05.120 You know, for this year, it's Michael Parson is going 0:13:05.200 --> 0:13:07.160 to need a new deal at some point, Trayvon Diggs 0:13:07.200 --> 0:13:08.559 is going to need a deal at some point. So, 0:13:08.640 --> 0:13:11.240 like he talked about having to, they look at their 0:13:11.280 --> 0:13:14.240 cap three years out and the pandemic has screwed some 0:13:14.360 --> 0:13:17.560 of that up. Because you've signed guys in the past 0:13:17.960 --> 0:13:20.480 two that will fit a certain slot in the cap 0:13:20.960 --> 0:13:23.600 based off more revenue than the league's getting. They don't 0:13:23.640 --> 0:13:25.880 have that. That's what he's trying to say. And the 0:13:26.200 --> 0:13:28.200 reality is that, Yeah, Dak has taken up a huge 0:13:28.200 --> 0:13:30.440 part of it. Isaiah, you have been more critical than 0:13:30.480 --> 0:13:33.960 anyone about Dak and his performance. He's gotten the big payday, 0:13:34.200 --> 0:13:37.000 but if you don't put the type of talent around 0:13:37.120 --> 0:13:39.760 him to help him win. Is he the kind of 0:13:39.880 --> 0:13:43.120 quarterback that could wield this team to victories by himself. No, 0:13:43.960 --> 0:13:46.440 he's not, and people will hate that, but he's not. 0:13:46.760 --> 0:13:48.960 That's the reality people. I'm sorry, Dak is a really 0:13:48.960 --> 0:13:51.760 good quarterback. He's not an elite quarterback. There's a difference, 0:13:52.000 --> 0:13:55.840 and there's only a handful of elite quarterbacks in this league. Okay, 0:13:55.960 --> 0:13:57.959 well we got that out perfect. Everybody can take you 0:13:58.000 --> 0:13:59.679 to side a relief now. And that's not a shot 0:13:59.679 --> 0:14:01.920 at that, that's just telling you where exactly where he's at. 0:14:02.360 --> 0:14:04.559 Dak has a lot of development. As good as he 0:14:04.760 --> 0:14:07.520 is under the contract that he signed, he still has 0:14:07.559 --> 0:14:11.319 a lot of development in terms of attaining the status 0:14:11.360 --> 0:14:14.079 and the impact in this league and on his team 0:14:14.240 --> 0:14:15.760 and in this league the respect that he did with 0:14:15.800 --> 0:14:18.760 that he wants in this league. Now he can go 0:14:18.800 --> 0:14:21.240 back and work on those things and he can improve 0:14:21.320 --> 0:14:24.200 upon his throwing accuracy. He can improve upon his ball location. 0:14:24.240 --> 0:14:26.480 You can improve upon his velocity. These are all things 0:14:26.480 --> 0:14:28.960 that he can improve upon, and he's gonna have to 0:14:28.960 --> 0:14:31.960 improve upon because in order for him to play potentially 0:14:32.040 --> 0:14:34.280 without Amari Cooper, his ball location is gonna have to 0:14:34.280 --> 0:14:36.400 get better. Right, He's gonna have to get the ball 0:14:37.000 --> 0:14:39.400 be better because CD's had a bunch of drops and 0:14:39.480 --> 0:14:42.160 some of that just because the location of the ball. 0:14:42.320 --> 0:14:44.920 Sometimes it's not always just a CD all the ball 0:14:45.080 --> 0:14:46.800 touch your hands, old school rules and touch your hands, 0:14:46.800 --> 0:14:49.520 you gotta bring it in catch. Sometimes there's some bad situations, 0:14:49.520 --> 0:14:52.320 some bad locations where against your body, you know, momentum, 0:14:52.360 --> 0:14:53.960 all that kind of jazz. So he has to get 0:14:54.000 --> 0:14:57.920 better with putting, throwing better, more receivable balls, catch you know, 0:14:58.000 --> 0:15:01.040 catch friendly balls, and then his velocity has to improve 0:15:01.080 --> 0:15:02.320 because if you want to be able to push this 0:15:02.360 --> 0:15:05.160 thing down the field like we know, you know Keller 0:15:05.200 --> 0:15:07.440 Moore wants to do, he has to improve upon that 0:15:07.480 --> 0:15:08.920 aspect of the game because you're not gonna be able 0:15:08.960 --> 0:15:11.680 to take advantage of those big plays with whatever receivers 0:15:11.720 --> 0:15:13.560 ever gonna have on those roster because right now we 0:15:13.640 --> 0:15:18.320 have one. Yeah, okay, so impossible. Yeah, we got a 0:15:18.360 --> 0:15:24.120 semi photo and he's in the contract and Amari, right, 0:15:24.160 --> 0:15:26.160 those two are in the contract. That's it. I think 0:15:26.200 --> 0:15:28.840 that's it. That's it, Okay, So we don't know what 0:15:28.840 --> 0:15:31.040 the heck is gonna be down there. So there's aspects 0:15:31.040 --> 0:15:33.280 of his game and I think he is do what 0:15:33.360 --> 0:15:35.560 he's getting paid. Let me let me stand and say that, 0:15:36.000 --> 0:15:38.400 because you're gonna pay somebody that kind of money to 0:15:38.440 --> 0:15:40.240 be the quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys. I don't care 0:15:40.240 --> 0:15:42.520 who it is. They're gonna get that much money because 0:15:42.600 --> 0:15:47.080 they're stepping into that huge role of lineage of great 0:15:47.120 --> 0:15:49.800 quarterbacks that I've been here. But just because there's been 0:15:49.840 --> 0:15:51.440 great quarterbacks that have been here doesn't mean that the 0:15:51.480 --> 0:15:54.040 quarterback that you have it's necessarily great. Now I think 0:15:54.080 --> 0:15:57.000 that he can be, but he has some work to do. Now, 0:15:57.560 --> 0:15:59.120 do you have something to peak well? I just I 0:15:59.200 --> 0:16:04.600 mean this new report about his left throwing shoulder. Do 0:16:04.640 --> 0:16:06.680 you think that does that affect a guy when he's 0:16:06.760 --> 0:16:09.360 right handed, right arm? I wonder and I'm not now 0:16:09.360 --> 0:16:11.440 I need to go ask these questions, but like he 0:16:11.440 --> 0:16:13.800 had the shoulder strain on his right shoulder in training camp, 0:16:13.880 --> 0:16:17.200 is that related to this? And you know, to me, 0:16:17.560 --> 0:16:20.320 like it's it's hard to evaluate Dak because those first 0:16:20.360 --> 0:16:23.160 six games I think I said, Okay, this is a 0:16:23.240 --> 0:16:25.600 top five quarterback in the league right now. Like MVP 0:16:25.760 --> 0:16:29.000 discussion down the stretch, other things around him were not 0:16:29.040 --> 0:16:33.040 as clean and he wasn't as clean. So yes, I 0:16:33.080 --> 0:16:35.920 agree with you. It's got to be the pieces around 0:16:36.000 --> 0:16:38.280 him helping. But I wonder if he can get healthy 0:16:38.360 --> 0:16:41.440 this offseason and not spending off season worrying about his 0:16:41.560 --> 0:16:45.080 leg and apparently this this non throwing shoulder deal will 0:16:45.120 --> 0:16:47.120 not affect his offseason work. I wonder if just getting 0:16:47.120 --> 0:16:49.440 a full off season work, provided he stays healthy, will 0:16:49.440 --> 0:16:52.120 help him as well. What aspect of his game do 0:16:52.120 --> 0:16:54.720 you feel that he needs to improve most to in 0:16:54.840 --> 0:16:56.880 order to put him into that a whatever he was 0:16:56.920 --> 0:16:59.800 at the first five games, say take the running game out. 0:17:00.280 --> 0:17:01.960 You want that deck that he that you that that 0:17:02.200 --> 0:17:03.760 shows up when he has a running game, that's the 0:17:03.800 --> 0:17:06.040 deck that everybody wants, right, But when the running game 0:17:06.119 --> 0:17:08.520 is not presenting, when it's not there, what does he 0:17:08.560 --> 0:17:10.760 need to work on to be that guy? You just 0:17:10.840 --> 0:17:14.080 hit on it? His location throwing the ball. There were 0:17:14.119 --> 0:17:16.879 definitely several balls throughout the year that were behind receivers, 0:17:16.920 --> 0:17:20.080 just not He's not throwing guys open. And we've made 0:17:20.080 --> 0:17:22.560 the comparison between other quarterbacks that are in the league. 0:17:22.560 --> 0:17:24.560 And maybe that was a byproduct of all of this 0:17:24.960 --> 0:17:27.399 strain that we're talking about the calf and all the 0:17:27.400 --> 0:17:30.040 things that happened within the season. But real quick, just 0:17:30.080 --> 0:17:32.280 going back to what you were just saying, the running game. 0:17:32.480 --> 0:17:37.399 I found it ironic that executive vice president Stephen Jones 0:17:37.640 --> 0:17:40.560 was more willing to talk about Zeke and saying, you know, 0:17:40.640 --> 0:17:42.840 Zeke Zaga that's on our team is you know, obviously 0:17:42.880 --> 0:17:46.480 paid guaranteed money twelve and half a million is done. 0:17:46.480 --> 0:17:49.119 He's gonna be on your team. But as we've seen, 0:17:49.840 --> 0:17:54.359 his production is trending down, it's not trending up, and 0:17:54.440 --> 0:17:57.800 everyone's kind of waiting on him to rekindle the fire 0:17:57.920 --> 0:18:00.800 that he had from twenty sixteen, seventeen and now those years. 0:18:00.920 --> 0:18:02.720 When you look at Zeke right now, even in the 0:18:02.840 --> 0:18:07.000 seventeen game season and muscling through the knee injury, do 0:18:07.080 --> 0:18:09.480 you think that there is a potential for him to 0:18:09.600 --> 0:18:13.080 return to form. Are we delusional in this situation, especially 0:18:13.200 --> 0:18:15.520 with Tony Pollard sitting behind him with all of that 0:18:15.560 --> 0:18:17.879 production waiting him. I don't want to go back. I 0:18:17.920 --> 0:18:19.520 hate to go back to the first sixth game because 0:18:19.520 --> 0:18:22.320 it's not a full seventeen game seasons for plus playoffs, 0:18:22.320 --> 0:18:24.520 so it's not the full body of work. I just 0:18:24.560 --> 0:18:28.800 go back to, though we've seen that rotation work that 0:18:28.920 --> 0:18:32.440 first half of the season almost they were averaging five 0:18:32.520 --> 0:18:35.760 yards of carry plus together. He looked great. I thought 0:18:35.800 --> 0:18:37.520 he looked That's the best I've seen him look going 0:18:37.560 --> 0:18:40.240 into a season in a couple of years, and then 0:18:40.240 --> 0:18:42.679 he got hurt, and I think that probably was a factor. 0:18:42.920 --> 0:18:45.439 If you want to point. But I think, kind of 0:18:45.440 --> 0:18:48.240 like Dak being healthy again, I think you could see 0:18:48.400 --> 0:18:52.080 a productive Zeke again next year. But they got to 0:18:52.119 --> 0:18:54.960 build some things around him better, and they need to 0:18:54.960 --> 0:18:56.960 take a look at their system too and see how 0:18:56.960 --> 0:18:59.200 are we using guys. We're using guys that correctly the 0:18:59.320 --> 0:19:01.359 right way to Tony Holler getting enough touches last year, 0:19:01.440 --> 0:19:04.200 Like I think, especially with Zeke being banged up down 0:19:04.200 --> 0:19:06.440 the stretch, that's probably something they could have done more. 0:19:06.480 --> 0:19:08.360 And I wonder if they're having that discussion right now. 0:19:08.600 --> 0:19:10.680 I believe that Zeke is a very dominant running back 0:19:10.680 --> 0:19:12.280 still in this league. But the question you have to 0:19:12.280 --> 0:19:14.840