Latest / 3 Guys, 6 Balls NFL Podcast / EP 61: Have The Dallas Cowboys Done Enough This Offseason To Contend In The NFC?

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EP 61: Have The Dallas Cowboys Done Enough This Offseason To Contend In The NFC? · 3 Guys, 6 Balls NFL Podcast

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3 lifelong friends, 6 trusty balls and endless NFL ticks.
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Welcome to Three guys 6 Balls NFL Podcast.
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Hello everyone, and welcome to episode 61 of the Three Guys 6
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Balls NFL Podcast. Joel ran off and had a birthday.
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So he's not here this week. Avery literally ran off and got
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married three days two days earlier than he was supposed to.
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So he's not here this week. He won't be here next week
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either because he will be in Mexico in his honeymoon.
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But joining us today, I have a guy who was made more than one
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appearance on this show, just never in picture or in work.
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And he is the guy who will constantly send me texts of hey,
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This is why you're wrong. This is why I agree with I
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constantly bounce feedback off him regularly for hey, this
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we're going to talk about what are your thoughts?
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And so his thoughts have appeared on this show probably
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just as much as mine. This is my own flesh and blood.
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My brother Zach Holtz and Zach, want to take a second Use
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yourself. Tell us about your NFL fandom.
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Tell us why and what and who and just just floor is yours.
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Yeah, I, I, it's amazing on listening back, you know,
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listening to episodes every week and then here in my, you know,
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things I might have texted you or whatever, or minor
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corrections or anything like that.
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You know, random things that like, hey, this is this this or
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this? I think my favorite one's the
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Jamal Adams one that we were talking about when you guys were
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talking about Emmanuel McNeil Warren, just on how like you're
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asking what kind of safeties is. I was like, well, kind of seems
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like a Jamal Adams edge safety basically.
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Let's see here about me. Will's one step up of older
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brother. We've got one more older brother
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than that from the now. A football fan, most times it
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won't be on the show. We don't even worry about.
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Him. Yeah, we probably won't see her
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ever hear from him. See here.
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Born and raised Cowboys fan as Will was.
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And then he felt the need to, you know, go all like Italy on
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us and switch teams and switch sides.
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But it's just part of who I am. Dad's been a Cowboys fan forever
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in a day and just we grew up watching the Cowboys and I've
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kept with it. And it comes with heartbreak.
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I think one of the most heartbreaking games that I can
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recall was it was had to been 2016 those playoffs against the
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Aaron Rodgers Packers in Dallas with that absolutely insane pass
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down the left sideline with was it Mercedes Lewis, I think
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caught it. Yeah, I really I don't remember
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it set up a it set up a game-winning field goal like
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that team. I felt like that team was so
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good. I was rookie year DAC and Zeke.
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That team was like 3 hall of farmers on the offensive line.
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Dez was still like playing well. It's just that one like legit
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felt soul crushing. Since then, haven't ever had a
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as high of hopes, but you know, hopes coming in here and there.
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Team, team gets better, team gets worse.
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You know, things happen, but I've, you know, closely followed
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the team for as long as I can remember and here we are.
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So probably to no surprise for anybody, today's episodes to be
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mostly about the Dallas Cowboys. Last week we talked a lot about
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the Bucks and the Rams with Joey Avery and I, about the draft and
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offseason moves and stuff like that.
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So say we're going to focus on the Cowboys because that's
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another team that gets huge publicity everywhere.
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Everyone has an opinion on. Everybody wants to have an
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opinion on whether good, good or bad doesn't really matter.
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People like to talk about the Cowboys.
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So Zach, this year Dallas had two first round picks where they
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got Caleb traded up 1 to get Caleb down to trade up again to
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get back up back. Yeah, back to Malachi Lawrence.
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They traded again around to get in a third round to get Jay
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Sean, Barman, Barham. Barham, yeah.
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And then they, they took their own pick and the, and the fourth
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round at #12 we had drew Shelton traded into the fourth round
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again, yet Devin Moore into the fourth round again, yet Lt.
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Overshown or Overton, excuse me. And then in the seventh round
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they drafted Anthony Smith. How we feel about the team after
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this year's draft. Some of things to also think
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about or look at a good to answer your question off the
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bat, good better for a variety of reasons.
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They didn't have a 2 because they trade out for George
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Pickens. So that was part of the George
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Pickens trade. So, you know, if you want to get
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would be one of those people you could look at.
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Oh, George Pickens is part of this draft class.
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And I know we'll talk more about him later because pretty hot
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topic right now since he did officially sign the franchise
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tag actually going into the draft.
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And so there's a lot of speculation he was going to get
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traded, did not get traded. I saw a report earlier.
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I guess I'm just going to get into it a little bit from one
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just. Off the RIP, just.
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Go with it. Yeah, just whatever floats your
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boat floats it. We're moving that way now.
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One of the Cowboys beat writers mentioned that after he's they
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allowed George Pickens to start to see like, you know, get
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feelers out on his trade value and all that.
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I think that's what really led to is him just signing it
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whether and it didn't sound like it went super far.
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And so they want him back. They've talked about how they
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want him back. And like a lot of the same beat
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writer also reported a lot of the smoke and stuff coming
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outside about of a from George Pickens isn't coming from the
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star inside the star. It's a coming from Lord knows
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who well, whoever else out there.
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So it's interesting. I'm curious to see how that
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whole situation plays out. We could talk more about that
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later draft class, though. Absolutely English there,
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though, which was always A.J. Brown, Jalen hurt stuff.
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All that seemed to be coming from inside.
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So it's it's kind of interesting you said it's that this George
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picking stuff is all outside noise.
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Where is inside the same division, big division rival.
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It is the opposite where it's it seems to be all from inside.
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Anyway, please continue. Yeah, that's going to be, that's
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an interesting situation to monitor.
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The whole A.J. Brown thing, I saw he's probably
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be a post tube 1 trade just for money purposes, right.
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So you can look at George Pickens as part of this draft
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class. I am a big fan of the fact of
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what they did right. So Caleb Downs was my player I
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wanted at 12 when they were first were 12.
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The entire time coming into the draft class, I thought there was
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officially a way he was. Making it to 12 I.
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Didn't think he had a chance either.
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Not a chance, absolutely. Like I went and did doing some
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research of a couple of the bigger named draft analyst to
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draft guys. Like a couple of them.
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Dane Bruegler from The Athletic had Caleb ranked at #5 well.
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We had him ranked at #2. Yeah, you guys had him at
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2djfromnfl.com, had him at #8 and Mcshay, Todd Mcshay had him
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at #5 And then Nate Tyson, Charles McDonald from Yahoo,
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both guys who probably see her on Twitter all the time, had him
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right to number 3. So like, the fact they got him
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at 11 was, you know, a huge steal.
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Like for what kind of player he is, Like huge, huge addition of
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like a major position of need. Like really, as everyone's well
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aware of, the Cowboys defense last season was abysmal on every
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single level. And people made fun of the the
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Mica trade and all that. Me, I'm people.
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Help them. Yeah, that's fine.
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I was. I was not happy with it when it
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first came out, but it seems to be playing more so in their
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favor right now because they I I'm all bored.
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Then jumping up the one spot with Miami, it is very clear
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Miami was never going to take him.
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They're going to take the tackle they took Proctor wasn't Kaden
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Proctor. Yes, Kaden Proctor.
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Yeah, yeah, they took Kaden Proctor.
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They won't race. At 12 and even worse at 11.
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I don't know why but then taking Kaden Proctor at 11 feels worse
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than them training back to get him at 12.
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I just think got something extra out of it.
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I I just yeah, I was, I was good with dumping 2 fives because all
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it did was guarantee nobody else, nobody else comes up and
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takes him. You got your guy Exactly.
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You give up to fifth round picks and you get the one of the best
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players in the draft. Like just the, the everyone
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talking about him is like just over the like just incredible.
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Like he just, I mean, there's a reason he was, you know, top
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five player on basically everyone's boards.
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Will Mcclay is the VP of player personnel for the Cowboys and he
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literally called him a football savant.
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There's a short clip out from this show where he is on talking
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about him and said we brought him in for a 30 visit.
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And in a 30 visit, he is talking about he was breaking down the
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Alabama defense from his freshman year, then he broke
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down the Ohio State defense from his last two years and then he
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broke down the Cowboys difference from last year as
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well, which is just absolutely crazy and how he fits and what
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he like all the pieces and everything there.
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So like absolutely incredible from draft night, he had Matt
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Patricia there with him, his defensive coordinator from Ohio
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State and they both were all excited that he was coming to
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Dallas. And they there's a video of them
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saying, you know, talking about the Eagles defense, Eagles
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defense because Cowboys new defensive coordinator Christian
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Parker, I think he was a secondary coach and all that at
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in Philadelphia and he's of the big Fangio line and all that for
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defense, which is a very good defense.
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Eagles have had a very good defense.
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Their problems haven't been there.
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And so like, and everybody like rants and raves about how
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intelligent this new defensive coordinator, Christian Parker
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is. So you're pairing a highly
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intelligent football savant in Caleb Downs with a highly
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intelligent, basically same kind of thing defensive coordinator.
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Like these two guys are going to be best buds and going to be key
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pieces into changing this defense.
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Like had this defense just been average, this Cowboys team would
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have won three or four more games easily.
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Like just being average league league, like middle of the pack.
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That's all they needed just because the offense was that
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good. So really excited.
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I'm really all that to say, I'm really excited for this Caleb
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Downs pick because he's just like really, really good.
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Like it's not every day you walk in and start as a true freshman
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in a Nick Saban defense and then transfer year later when Nick
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retires to go to Ohio State, be on a national championship team,
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be the best player in the defense that had eight players
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drafted and they come back and still be the best player on the
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defense. Doesn't matter that Arvel Reese
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was like people can argue that Arvel Reese was the bet or Sunny
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Styles were better. He was the the the true like had
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been the best best player. And it didn't doesn't bother me
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that he didn't do any athletic testing.
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His brain will overcome a lot of any athletic limitations, but I
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don't think he has that many actual athletic limitations.
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Like he returned a couple of punts for touchdowns.
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Like there's no real major concerns in my opinion.
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Yeah, I also really like with Alistair, that and a draft.
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I like moving up for Caleb, for Caleb Downs.
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One thing I had kind of questions and I kind of sent
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this to you kind of last minute today, is that one week before
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the draft, their number 21 pick, right?
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Yeah, 23. Excuse me.
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I picked 2023. They drafted Malachi Lawrence.
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Odds dropped from plus 400 down to -130 for him to go in the
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first round. And so either the the, and
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that's, that's betting gambling books.
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We're talking about gambling here, but that's the gambling
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odds for him to go in the first round or plus 400, which is not
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great to -140 which is almost a guarantee when you're talking
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about going in the first round specifically.
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And so for the casual lesson for a casual fan like I am this that
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seemed a huge reach because I didn't know these odds
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beforehand. So getting them out had learned
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in the first round there felt like a huge reach when more
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talked about guys, more recognizable names like Peter
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Woods started Felt, TJ Parker, Cassius How and even Zion Young.
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We're still on the board at this time.
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Have you had a chance to look into Lawrence at all and what is
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your hope Dallas does with him with their second first round
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pick they had this year? So before the draft came out, as
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I was, you know, spending, you know, my days person through
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Twitter or X, whatever you want to call it.
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I don't know how familiar you are with Chris Long.
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He's got a podcast, Green Light podcast.
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He had Daniel Jeremiah on a they're talking about pics and
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whatnot. And this video comes across DJ
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goes. I'm really tempted to put
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Malachi Lawrence at 20 to the Cowboys 20 at that time before
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they traded. And Chris like goes do it like
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Chris. I think he was #2 overall in his
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draft class as a defensive end out of Virginia.
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And like this guy, two time Super Bowl champion, played in
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the league for a number of years.
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I don't know how long he played. It's like this guy knows knows
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the position. And he was talking about how
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Malachi's Lawrence is one of his favorite rushers.
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Like in the draft, just talking about his bend, how his reading
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reaction. He's got a bunch of different
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tools in his tool bag to rush the passer and how like his
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upside is very high through the roof.
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And so I imagine like those kind of things coming out, more
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people talking, I think it was just more people talking about
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him is really what led to the flip.
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And like, you know, DJ has a lot of sources.
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Like a lot of these draft guys have a lot of sources across the
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league and different teams and all that.
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And stuff gets back to Vegas, which is why odds and stuff flip
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is more publicity and all comes out and more, you know, Intel is
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popping out. And I'm sure he had a source
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that was talking about how, you know, this is somebody who's,
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you know, probably going to be picked here, which is why he
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wanted to put him there. And you just felt good.
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And like, lo and behold, the Cowboys drop back three spots
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flipped with Philadelphia, which is always fun to me when you
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trade within division against, especially against heated,
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heated rivals flipped to Philadelphia.
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But in return they they got two fourth round picks back from
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from Philly. So like, that was a huge win in
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my opinion there. They gave up the fives to get to
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to go up to 11 and get 2 fourths back to go down.
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I think it was 2 fourths to go back to into the fourth round.
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Yeah. But Lawrence, though, I think
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it's going to be really good. All right.
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A lot of a number of different. I follow a bunch of different
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draft people. I follow the draft closely for
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years and years now, and it's one of my favorite times of
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year. Like all the different
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prospects. I love, love college football,
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as you're well aware. And so it's fun to see the
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transition and how, you know, everybody gets viewed and talked
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about, you know, throughout the whole process.
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But Malachi Lawrence like is he runs a 452 40 yard dash like
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that's. That's quick.
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He's a big man, yeah. Yeah, 6, four, 253 lbs.
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Yeah, I think he's just shy of 6/5.
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Like that's moving A15910 yard split.
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Anything under 1-6 is really, really good.
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Like it's elite. So the fact he's under that is
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elite. Chris talked about how initially
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he'll be more of a DPR like a designated pass rusher in the
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beginning because his run defense isn't great, but it's
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opportunity to grow. And so this is like while he
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averaged, I looked him up across those guys I mentioned earlier
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with with Caleb Dows, Drugler had him at 36, DJ had him at 40,
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Mcshea had him at 43 on their overall rankings.
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Not having a second round pick, you got to kind of make
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decisions there. But this guy's upside is
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significant comparatively to what where he was actually
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picked. So it's, it's an upside pick and
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it's a a lot like Christian Parker's influence had a lot, or
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he had a lot of influence throughout the entire draft.
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As you see every pick but two, like 5 of the 7 picks are
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defense and specific types of players that he wants to fit
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into his scheme and his defense. So I'm excited for it.
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I didn't have a problem with him going just given how everyone
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talked about him. And so it gets me excited from a
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from a fan perspective, like these guys who really know what
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they're talking about are excited all the more reason for
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me to get excited and the potential that's there.
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So it pick 11 or 12 I guess as it was and pick 20 or 23 as it
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as it was or as it is, I guess is there any different decisions
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you would make with how the board laid out now?
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It feels like pick 11 to feel like you're kind of set in
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there. This was the right move.
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Feel like everyone kind of agrees that even moving up one
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spot, getting Caleb Downs at 11,012 just to make that for
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sure this is our guy, this is our pick thing that feels like
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the right move. But but at 20 and then 23 is
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there? Is there a different choice you
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would have rather seen Dallas make?
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Not really given the players who followed 23.
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Like you can make an argument for Messidor but I don't know if
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that's the kind of body type. Also age is a thing there with a
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key Messidor right Because he went at 22 just before.
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So like they really forfeited the right to draft him by
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dropping back to 23. Sure, you could have made an
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argument for Makai Lemon, depending on the George Picken
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situation and all that. Which who Philly took, which I
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know. They had not yet signed by the
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scan at that point, or had they? No, that was recent like within
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the last couple days. Right.
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That was, that was April 27th, they did that.
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So no, they had not done that. OK.
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I thought it was more recent than that, but yeah, the draft
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was over. I mean that was.
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That was a week ago, so there's a lot.
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Monday. Yeah, pretty recent.
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Well, yeah, it's, I don't know, I lose track of time all the
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time, so I don't. I'm OK with it.
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Like, like, maybe I know you're not a big fan of him, but you
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know, Chris Johnson would have been like really the only other
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player. Like they weren't going to go
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double safety in the first round.
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I was a big, big Dylan Tiananmen fan, part of being a Ducks fan
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as well. But he's just, I mean, just a
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really, really good player, but you're not going to go to
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safeties plus signing the safety in the offseason and all that.
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And so that kind of that ship had sailed there.
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So like, you could make the argument for Chris Johnson, but
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Edge was just as big of a need. And so I don't think I would
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have changed any. I wouldn't have changed their
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first 2 picks there. I'm just looking at the overall
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draft board there. And I'm good with both of them.
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Even though Lawrence is a bit of a reach.
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It's the upside that really sure makes it easier to stomach, so
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to say. Sure, I mean, that's a lot about
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Rams taking Ty Simpson at 13 and what would you rather have done?
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And I, I don't, I can constantly say nothing.
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I love the pick. I I'm very high on that base
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that I've said multiple times in this show that how much in love
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with this pick I am. I, I just, it's hard to see as
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a, as a fan of a team who that you want them to win
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immediately. Yeah, you're, you wanted to win
18:31
right now, but you also want him to keep winning forever.
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And so they have to do this kind of stuff with, with the Malachi
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Lawrence. Get that question one with the
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Malachi Lawrence stuff. Maybe he doesn't have a great
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effect right now, but like in two or three years, he'll be
18:44
your starting defensive end and he's going to be the guy who
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carries you for the next, for the next seven years after that.
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And so it might not be the flashy move that you wanted your
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team to make, but hey, this isn't just for right now.
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This is for a long term SO. Yeah, and they're their edges
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were also, you know, older players as well.
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So they they need to get younger.
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Like I imagine at one point that I mean, they've talked about
19:09
wanting to bring back to Debbie and Clowny, but like, Clowny's
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been in the league for a while. He's getting a little longer.
19:14
The tooth. He played really well last
19:15
season. Dante Fowler also played more.
19:19
White. I could, I could if you really
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want me to. I got a couple zingers for you.
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You know, these are both players that have been around for a bit
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for a hot minute. And so it's like they needed to
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get younger. They they drafted Donovan as a
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Rocky last season. I think they're going to put a
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little bit of weight on him this year because like he played
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defensive end or edge at like mid to 20s is what he said,
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which is like pretty light. We'll see.
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He's going to be more of a more like a boundary guy like for on
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the defense, like rushing from the boundary side versus, you
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know, the short side of the field.
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They got a lot in front of them and they're it's I don't know, I
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guess we'll see. We'll see to be determined a lot
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of things right now, just with how rough, just how rough the
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defense was and all that. Yeah, absolutely.
20:07
So you kind of mentioned some some offseason pickups with with
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safeties and whatnot. You got Jalen Thompson in from
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Arizona, You got Kobe Durant in from the Rams.
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You drafted Kalem Downs, he goes through a bunch more traded for
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Sean Gary over the offseason. Now that Scanlon, some other
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depths as well go through every single piece.
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How are you feeling about the team right now in the offseason
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moving into the 2026 NFL season? Not just the draft, but like the
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whole the whole team. Right.
20:39
Yeah, I'm a say cautiously optimistic.
20:41
They didn't lose hardly anything on offense, like they lost wide
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receiver 3 or 4 with Jalen Tolbert.
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They had a number of guys that could rotate in and and fill
20:52
that that same exact spot. So it's not like a huge loss
20:56
there. And with all the focus and
20:59
attention that they put on fixing the defense.
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So that's where the optimism comes in.
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But you know, countless times as being a Cowboys fan is you get a
21:10
little too optimistic and this team would just reach out and
21:12
just crush your heart. Yeah, so cautiously optimistic
21:17
because of the moves and like this defensive coordinator in
21:21
Christian Parker, who, like by all reports, is like pretty Dang
21:26
incredible. Looking at their projected depth
21:28
chart, they've got 6 new Cowboys starting right now.
21:34
Now it's just projected right where we are.
21:36
We're only in the rookie offseason mini camps right now.
21:40
We're not in the actual training camps right into anything like
21:42
that. And so this is definitely too
21:45
early projections here and you can almost count Quentin
21:48
Williams and Kenny Clark actually in there is new
21:52
Cowboys, which would bring the total up to 8.
21:55
And so you are looking at a defense here who is not used to
21:58
playing with each other yet with a new defensive coordinator.
22:01
So I'm actually I'm actually right there with you.
22:04
I have still kind of held Dallas as a second team here.
22:06
So hate the Cowboys. I feel I had a hard time hating
22:09
the Cowboys. My my entire football watching
22:11
family is Cowboys fan and so I want them to be successful as
22:15
well. And so all of your offensive
22:17
starters have remained the same as of right now.
22:19
And then you've got 6 new up to 8 if Kenny Clark and Quentin
22:23
Williams in there are defensive starters.
22:26
And and so it gives me a lot of pause there and as a Rams fan
22:31
having you guys now have Kobe, Durant, Kobe Durant's great.
22:35
I just Durant's biggest problem was their secondary last year
22:38
and so I hope that you get more out of them than we did because
22:41
that's that's the last thing I want to do is Passover.
22:44
Hi, you got our trash now, not that Kobe Durant is trash by any
22:47
means, but you got our guy. I hope you can hope he does
22:50
better for you than us kind of thing.
22:52
Well, I wonder how much it's like with Kobe Durant was they
22:59
were asking a lot out of him versus what they had available.
23:03
And it maybe won't be asked to do as much in Dallas because
23:06
like Deron Bland is can focus on playing on the outside instead
23:11
of playing all over the place because like the secondary was,
23:13
they had, you know, issues and like injuries as well.
23:16
So it was just like just like he was kind of moved all over and
23:19
didn't wasn't able to really settle down.
23:22
I want to say he'll be able to have a more designated role
23:27
instead of be like in that fits his skill set instead of maybe
23:32
playing up a little bit like they're not going to be
23:35
expecting as much out of him as like maybe the Rams were.
23:38
We'll see. Quick here here Thoughts on the
23:41
Brain Armory contract attention? It's a lot of money for a
23:44
kicker, but when you're when you don't miss and you can hit from
23:53
the other side of the 50, that's a weapon that's that's a
23:57
offensive weapon right there. With the current kicking format
24:00
of the NFLI mean it's two first round, two first downs and
24:05
you're in his range and so it's like you're hitting six points
24:10
or three points every single time anyway.
24:13
So I I think it's worth it. Four years, 28 million is a lot
24:17
though. Steep for a kicker, but again,
24:21
he's been the one of the best kickers or the best kicker in
24:23
the league for the last several years and like hardly misses.
24:27
It's like it's it's legit shocking when he misses yes,
24:31
even the 60 plus yard kick. It's shocking that he when he
24:34
misses. So I we will revisit.
24:40
This question again in 2029 when he has a cap hit of 8.1 million
24:45
and again in 20-30 when he has a cap he got $8.6 million.
24:50
Those are not small cap hits, especially for a kicker.
24:53
Yeah. But at that point, what's the
24:55
cap going to be at? It's jumping every year.
24:57
It is jumping every. Huge every year at the.
24:59
Time, the patch of Mahomes contract was bonkers, 10 years,
25:03
$500 million, there's no way that's going to sink their team.
25:07
And now you're looking at how much he gets paid.
25:09
I think they're researched since then, but at the time.
25:12
I guess once. Or maybe it's just once, but now
25:14
you're looking to say, oh, that's like a really good
25:16
contract for the team, for the home.
25:20
It's like, like they're not paying him as much as we all
25:23
thought they they were so. And that goes into that goes
25:26
into the pay your quarterbacks as early as possible, like
25:29
making the highest paid player no big deal.
25:32
Like don't sit on that extension.
25:34
Don't sit on that which that we could like talk about.
25:39
Yeah. Or like talking about Dallas's
25:41
issues with extending some of these players.
25:43
Like they sit on it, sit on it, sit on it, take forever, have
25:46
problems like just bite the bullet, sign it, like get the
25:51
deal done. Because then guess what?
25:53
In a year or two, they've gone from #1 to #5 or 6 because the
25:57
next guy up gets paid more, next guy gets paid more, and the cap
26:00
just keeps going up. And it's like, OK, it's not as
26:04
hard of a a pill to swallow with paying this guy this much money.
26:08
Sure, it's the most important position in the field, but like
26:10
you just just just do it. Quit sitting on your hands.
26:14
I don't disagree. So preseason power rankings came
26:17
out. I don't know if you had a chance
26:18
to look at those yet. Depending on where you look,
26:20
I've I've seen Dallas rank from 16 all the way down to 20.
26:23
And so how do you feel about these preseason power rankings?
26:27
Do you feel like you're accurate?
26:28
And with that, will you follow into what is your as of right
26:32
now in May, what is your end of season outlook for Dallas?
26:37
What is your hopes? What is your aspirations?
26:39
What do you think is realistic? And what do you?
26:41
What is your opium and what is your copium here?
26:46
I hope you. I hope.
26:49
Yeah, I know at their finest, Opium is winning the division.
26:52
It's within reach. Like, they had a legit shot
26:55
actually to win the division even with an absolutely
26:59
atrocious, disgusting abomination of a defense that
27:03
they had. They were starting to pick up
27:05
steam. And then they were just
27:06
absolutely let down. Just need a couple players to,
27:08
you know, need the defense to not have the wheels fall off
27:12
even worse than it did. And, and here we are.
27:15
So Hopeium is winning the division in a playoff game or
27:19
two. Like the offense can do a ton of
27:23
damage. They just need a little bit of
27:25
help. And like, it's not they're not
27:28
far away. I'm not saying they're looking
27:30
to win the Super Bowl or able to win the Super Bowl.
27:33
Like, sure, anyone could win the Super Bowl this next year, but
27:35
Hopeium is absolute upside conference title game, which is
27:42
just you win the division two playoff wins.
27:46
Like is that crazy to say to be there?
27:48
No like above average defense with all these new pieces, new
27:53
coach with the offense remaining like getting more or maintaining
27:59
familiarity and even getting better, which is wild to say,
28:03
but like can put them right in that position.
28:07
Copium is I mean we're in the window of every four year cycle
28:14
where the Dallas Cowboys quarterback gets hurt and then
28:18
derails the season. Every presidential cycle the
28:22
starting quarterback gets hurt and then the season goes in the
28:26
in the pits. We're in between those cycles
28:28
right now. So I don't know I they they'll
28:31
miss the playoffs, but probably like down bottom side is mid
28:36
tier like very mediocre. I don't see them being
28:39
absolutely abysmal, but just the potentials there and then just
28:44
not realizing the potential and then just kind of just falling
28:46
short is the the copium part. I think that this year, even
28:52
more than last year, the NFC is a bit more open, like like for
28:56
the taking, like the whole NFC. I don't think the Seahawks
28:59
should be back the same way. I think the Rams are going to be
29:02
good, but I don't know if they're going to be as good this
29:04
year. I hopefully better in my
29:06
opinion, but that's a that's a fandom thing.
29:08
The Niners, I think are going to drop hops this year because of
29:11
their internal problems. NFC South Unfortunately for the
29:14
other two hosts of this show, that's just bad.
29:16
Right now. It is one of the worst divisions
29:19
in football. Although they did finish.
29:21
Actually, they had zero teams in the winning record.
29:24
I hate the Bears. It's not unknown.
29:27
I don't know why I hate the Bears so much.
29:28
I don't know where this actually came from that I hate the Bears.
29:31
I do think they're going to be good again this year, but I
29:35
don't I don't know if they're going to be as good.
29:37
And so they were left. The Lions expect to be better,
29:40
but not that much better. The Vikings are a joke and the
29:43
Packers will be good again, I would imagine.
29:45
And so then you're left with the East and and the commanders are
29:48
on the up. I think the Giants are on the up
29:50
right now. I think Dallas on the up right
29:52
now. I think the Eagles are actually
29:53
on the downs right now, not the Cato downs.
29:56
That would be Dallas. But but but they're they're not
29:59
looking as good as this have coming year.
30:01
And we're going to talk about this a little bit already with
30:04
with this whole turmoil stuff with A.J.
30:05
Brown over in Philly, who knows where, where they sit?
30:08
And they drafted Malachi Lemon in the first round.
30:11
I thought it was the wrong choice for them because they
30:14
it's not that they don't need the help, right, but that
30:17
they're kicking the one of the best hard receivers in the
30:19
league out because of personality issues.
30:22
Well, how many people do you get to kick out because of
30:24
personality issues until you realize this is an
30:26
organizational problem, not an individual player problem.
30:30
And so I think that you were hoping that maybe not conference
30:34
championship game, but I think the division for sure is is up
30:37
for labs. I think the NFC is a bit weaker
30:39
this year than it was last year. And so, so you're right seeing
30:42
here in May it is anybody's game.
30:45
I was a bit surprised that they resigned George Pickens the way
30:51
they did. And I actually think resigning
30:53
George Pickens, it's like one year, $23 million.
30:55
Is that right? It's the franchise tag, yeah,
30:57
whatever it is. So one year it's it's a little
31:01
bit over 20 million. I think that kind of solidified
31:04
him staying in Dallas. I think that he was amazing in
31:08
Dallas last year. He carried the team when CD was
31:10
out. He and Dak had an immediate
31:13
instant chemistry. And that was a bit surprising
31:15
because of the personality issues that we thought we knew
31:18
from from Pittsburgh. He came into Dallas and that
31:21
just kind of went away, which Dallas is, is a big show town.
31:25
And usually that's the opposite. When personality issue players
31:28
get to these big name towns that usually just multiply, say, oh,
31:32
I'm the I'm the star in Dallas. Well, he wasn't.
31:35
And when he needed to be because CD wasn't available, all George
31:39
Pickens did was lead that team to a crazy success.
31:43
And so I think George Pickens staying in Dallas, CD coming
31:46
back, the acquisition of all their defensive players.
31:49
I this team worries me a little bit in the NFC.
31:52
Yeah, the George Pickens thing is, is fun.
31:55
Like he's they. I don't know how they found a
31:58
way to reel him in because you could see, yeah, like a couple
32:01
plays a game. It's like he's looking to go
32:04
full George Pickens and do something a little wild, but
32:06
pulled it back in and, like held himself.
32:08
So I was like, oh, there it is. OK, we're good.
32:11
The thing that gives me pause, like with the Cowboys is just
32:15
schedule base because like, they've got some good teams on
32:17
their schedule. Like we don't know who when they
32:19
play everybody just yet. But like, I mean, we're looking
32:22
at, I mean, obviously the Eagles twice.
32:24
I'm sure the Eagles are on the downside because like I don't
32:27
like them. I mean, I personally, I love
32:29
them giving up A.J. Brown or looking at doing so
32:32
because like great, that's then I have what other receiver
32:36
besides Devonta Williams that I have to or Devonta, Devonta
32:39
Williams tell me the running, but Devonta wow, just meshing a
32:42
bunch of different players. But Devonta Smith, like, OK,
32:46
I've got him and none of your other receivers really scare me.
32:51
And like Dallas Goddard, he's good.
32:54
He's starting to get a little old.
32:55
And like they only signed him. Didn't they sign him just like a
32:59
couple years, maybe, maybe a one year contract.
33:01
I don't remember exactly. But it's like, OK, how much do
33:04
they really want him there? And honestly, Jalen Hertz
33:07
doesn't terrify me. Like no, you should.
33:09
And it's and maybe that's, you know, me putting my foot in my
33:13
mouth. But like, he hasn't really ever
33:14
scared me besides letting him loose.
33:17
You keep him contained and make him throw like he's shown time
33:20
and time again. Like he can't carry the team
33:22
with his arm like you need a quarterback to do.
33:25
Except for the one Super Bowl they stopped Saquon Barkley,
33:28
Jalen Hertz did throw what very well in that Super Bowl.
33:32
That's pretty much been the only game.
33:34
Now it's not the only game, but it's it's basically the only
33:38
one. Well, you know, it was the Super
33:39
Bowl. That's the only game that
33:40
matters. Sure, but then you had one a
33:45
following season and then now we're in the offseason, 2
33:49
offseasons later, I guess, and your team is saying, hey, yeah,
33:52
we're not going to resign you yet.
33:55
You need to prove it. Even though he just won the
33:57
Super Bowl on his arm. Now we're over here talking
33:59
about you need to prove it here. So obviously there's some sort
34:04
of stuff here where it's like, all right, his team doesn't even
34:06
trust him yet. That's already football
34:08
correctly. Prove it for a guy who's been in
34:10
the league for he's what, seven years in the league now?
34:14
It's like kind of, I don't know. It's just give give me a sign
34:18
that your to your own team isn't fully bought in on your your
34:21
front office isn't feel like sure, they pay, they're paying
34:23
them a bunch of money, but like I don't know enough of the
34:27
eagles talk though, like that's like looking at their schedule,
34:30
though, like play them twice. Those games are all it doesn't
34:33
matter how good or bad either team is.
34:36
That's a rock fight every single time.
34:38
Hertz is five and four against the Cowboys.
34:40
He's foreigner at home. He's one and four in Dallas.
34:44
Yeah. So he.
34:45
Shouldn't have scared you. Especially at home, you should
34:47
just expect to split those games.
34:49
I should just be the the we're going to split them.
34:53
And that's, that's the rock fight nature of them.
34:56
Like they've got Jaguars at home.
35:00
Are they going to play as well as they did?
35:02
You know, seem like they had a a horseshoe, you know, in places
35:07
getting lucky this last season. The Titans don't really scare
35:10
me. Sure, they're on, they're on the
35:12
upswing so to stay, but they don't scare me because they
35:14
they're still a number of pieces away.
35:16
They're on the upside, but they're they are a couple of
35:20
years away, yes. Yeah, like Baltimore, sure,
35:24
because Lamar's terrifying. But like, what all is going on
35:28
with their receiver room outside of they Flowers?
35:33
That's where Flowers is at. Cardinals don't scare me.
35:35
The Niners Lord knows what, like they have to like piece
35:41
everything together because everyone gets hurt year in, year
35:43
out. And honestly, it's sorry, Joel
35:45
and Avery, but the Bucks, I don't know.
35:48
I don't I don't buy the bucks. Like their defense was bad.
35:51
They just lost their quarterback of the defense literally just
35:54
retired Lavon to David. And so it's like, and they're
35:57
playing them in Dallas. So it's like, I don't know, but
36:00
there are away games. The Cowboys away games are
36:02
pretty rough. Like, they're playing in Green
36:04
Bay. They're playing the nasty
36:06
Houston Texans. CJ Stroud doesn't like, he needs
36:09
to figure it out or else he's not going to get any sort of
36:13
extension or money. He's hoping and expecting
36:15
because, like, he had that great rookie year and has been, you
36:19
know, Mike's chicken at best ever since.
36:23
That's just for you. Yeah.
36:25
Is the is the answer? There.
36:29
And what's going on with the Colts?
36:31
So like they play in Indianapolis and then Seattle
36:34
and Los Angeles against the Rams.
36:35
Like they've got some nasty away games splitting those.
36:39
Like if they were to go 3:00 and 3:00 and then in those six games
36:44
against like the Eagles, Packers, Texans, Colts, Seahawks
36:47
and Rams, like I'd be I'd be good with it because then their
36:52
home games like that really sets them up to be have a favorable
36:55
record overall. So looking looking to be good
36:59
and have a positive outlook there and what we can do.
37:02
But what they can do, I'm not playing, but we'll see you.
37:06
Kind of mentioned this earlier, but inside of the NFC East,
37:10
which team would you say is your biggest heated rivalry?
37:13
Biggest hated rivalry? Oh, it's Philly.
37:15
I said heated. The heated Oh you.
37:18
Know like like, like the gay. Hockey list?
37:20
Like the what? The Gay hockeyman Are you
37:25
unaware of heated rivalry? Yeah, I got nothing.
37:28
Oh, man. All right, so this is what I
37:30
want you to do is turn Google safe search off, go to Heated
37:35
Rivalry and just gaze upon butts on butts.
37:39
Oh, there we go have. You really never heard of heat
37:44
revelry? No, I I honestly haven't.
37:47
We're talking the other day. You said heated rivalry earlier
37:51
and I thought you were making the gay hockey show reference.
37:54
Not, not. Not even a little bit, huh?
37:57
No, not even once. And get that.
38:02
Quick Google search on my work computer.
38:05
That seems bold. It's silly though to answer your
38:09
question though. Anyway, that makes sense.
38:14
To me, that was really easy because like, Dak officially has
38:18
one loss to the Giants, and that's his last season.
38:20
Like as a starter, he has one loss.
38:23
He was like 14 and O against them.
38:25
And that's his last season when they were like, they pulled him
38:27
and they were taking the game like, yeah, it was the season
38:29
finale. So like, he has one loss.
38:31
So the Giants don't scare me. Plus, like, sure, John
38:34
Harbaugh's coming in and they're changing things.
38:37
And they had, they had a good draft.
38:39
Yeah, they better have had a good draft, having two top 10
38:42
picks and picking on the at the the high end of every round.
38:45
And the commanders we saw similar to CJ Stroud with Jalen
38:51
Daniels or Jayden Daniels. Excuse me?
38:53
And I'm having a hard time with names today.
38:55
Welcome to my name. He runs in the family.
38:58
Yeah, Jayden Daniels, great rookie season, he cannot stay
39:02
healthy. Like God just does not beat out
39:05
of him last season. And so and that was his big.
39:09
That was one of the biggest fears and concerns with him
39:12
coming in was how skinny he was and how like, like, sure, he's
39:16
tall enough, but like he's not a lot of meat on those bones.
39:20
And so, and he took a beating this last season and he paid for
39:24
it and they paid for it. That's why they picked at #7
39:26
We'll see. Like the those two teams I'm not
39:28
terribly concerned about because Dallas has always played pretty
39:31
well against them lately. But it's Philadelphia just
39:35
because, yeah, their fans are absolutely a troll.
39:38
Like just awful, just awful people in Philadelphia.
39:41
They're like just fan wise, just fan wise, they're just gross.
39:49
I, I don't disagree. I think I mean, as a Dallas fan,
39:53
growing up as Dallas fan, I hated the Eagles the most.
39:56
Everyone else had the same second rate.
39:58
I think if this were the 90s, maybe our dad would say
40:01
something different. He might say Washington because
40:03
of the, the constant back and forth from the 90s.
40:06
But for me growing up, Donovan McNabb, Michael Vick, I mean,
40:10
you just put your Eagles quarterback in there.
40:12
I hated all of them. So except for Carson Wentz, I
40:15
never hated that guy anyway. OK, so let's talk about the NFL
40:18
as a whole there. Let's take a step.
40:19
Away from Dallas for a second, but the NFL as a whole, 257
40:26
people were drafted this year, not kind of undrafted.
40:30
Which rookie do you think has set up the best to succeed in
40:33
the NFL in their rookie season specifically?
40:36
You want to split offense, defense, just go one way or just
40:39
one. Whatever you want, you can do
40:41
one of each, doesn't matter. Which rookie?
40:44
I mean, you got to take a first round guy, I don't know, that's
40:48
a you got. Carson back.
40:51
Oh, Arizona, you know, I I don't want to be biased.
41:05
I honestly think Caleb Downs is going to put up a really have a
41:07
really great season, right? And that's, I'm trying not to be
41:10
biased here, Sure, but like the player he is, where he ranked
41:15
overall versus where he was drafted, the situation he's
41:18
blocking into, really like he's going to have an immediate
41:21
impact and have a really good a really good season.
41:25
I do like this one surprised me when it happened.
41:28
I honestly do like Carnell Tate in Tennessee.
41:31
Oh, sure. Give Kim board a receiver like
41:34
these guys, hopefully they get in there already in the lab and
41:38
you know, working on that chemistry and all that.
41:40
I know I'm picking higher and guys here, but same same thing
41:42
with like Jordan Tyson, these receivers, these first.
41:45
Round receivers stay healthy. He's going to be good.
41:47
Yeah, but that's the big thing is that he's a big red flag guy.
41:50
What's that? They've got their quarterback.
41:52
They really like Tyler Shuck. He played pretty well last
41:55
season. Finished the season.
41:56
Finished the season well. He did not play well the whole
41:59
time. Pretty well is relative, but
42:02
yeah, he he finished the season well, right.
42:04
I shredded him apart, free draft and then when he started we
42:09
shredded him on the show. So I'd like my take to be a
42:11
little bit right still because he did finish the season pretty
42:14
well. Yeah.
42:15
And then last one I just want to pick at is Mansur Delane Mansur,
42:20
because that she's Steve, that she's secondary is non existent.
42:24
I wanted to go because they got rid of everybody.
42:27
Yeah, Chief, secondary is never Lamb secondary.
42:30
Yeah, yeah, they're paying a good amount of money for it's
42:34
like they're they're they're secondary is non existent and
42:37
he's like their only good player.
42:38
I'd have to look at their depth chart.
42:39
But like he was really, really good.
42:42
Like really, really good. Like he's not the crazy athletic
42:47
freak like that some corners are, but like a lot of his game
42:50
is mental and like playing at the corner position.
42:54
Like, sure, athleticism system matters, but if you're running
42:57
the route and in position well ahead of where the receiver is,
43:00
like your athleticism isn't as key.
43:03
So there's, you know, mix of both around the league,
43:06
different players that I like the potential there and they can
43:08
have really good seasons. Sorry, I started laughing Mill.
43:10
You're talking left side starting cornerback Projected
43:13
for the for the Chiefs is Noel Williams and he was drafted in
43:17
the third round of last year's draft.
43:19
And those of us that those of you guys that have been with us
43:23
for since last year's draft, I shredded no Williams apart as he
43:27
had a lot of interceptions, but every single one was off tip
43:29
balls that somebody else tipped. And so he just happened to be in
43:32
the right place at the right time until we get blinded by his
43:35
numbers without looking at the actual tape.
43:38
I think that that's going to be a huge, a huge target area
43:42
against the Chiefs. I agree with everything you
43:44
said. I'm going to go with a different
43:45
player. I'm going to go with Arvo Reese,
43:47
which mean I'm picking a top end guy, but he's a top end guy that
43:50
stepped into an already pretty stacked defensive front.
43:54
They've got Brian Burns, they've got they've got Tremaine
43:58
Edmonds, they've got Abdul Carter, they've got the players
44:00
in there already that he's been stepping into.
44:03
They got a new coach who is very fond of his defensive lines.
44:07
I think he's set up to have a pretty good, pretty good work
44:10
here over there for the Giants. If their offense can stay
44:13
healthy, the Giants should be pretty good this year.
44:16
So, Oh, interesting enough they've got Francis, man.
44:18
We know it listed as White Guard.
44:20
Oh, interesting. Oh yeah, they just signed.
44:22
Was it aluminor or they? Oh, yes, I don't remember.
44:26
Yeah, see. It's the main aluminor.
44:30
Yeah, it was a toss up between who was who's going to be right
44:33
guard, who's going to be right tackle from a lot of people who
44:35
were talking. Well, with his with his short
44:37
arms, now we know it should be moved in.
44:39
Yeah, I don't know. Where do you think they're going
44:41
to play our Val Reese? Wherever he wants.
44:45
What kind of player he is? What kind of the player he is
44:47
it's it's whatever they have the current need for.
44:49
I think that he will play all front seven.
44:52
I don't think they keep him down at all.
44:54
I think they wherever he wants to go.
44:56
They haven't currently listed as their their weak side
44:58
linebacker, their wheel linebacker, but I, I don't think
45:01
he stays there. I think he goes everywhere.
45:04
I'm going to relate this back to the Cowboys because the Cowboys
45:06
have a similar player they drafted this last year and Jay
45:08
Sean Barham, they're going to play him similar, similar to
45:11
that kind of thing. He's not going to play a ton on
45:15
the edge. But Schottenheimer's already
45:17
said he'll start working as an inside linebacker with a lot of
45:20
the rush capabilities there, right?
45:22
So it's like he's a light version of the R Valve Reese,
45:25
which is ironic because he went to Michigan back to here
45:30
rivalries. Yeah.
45:32
So I think another one, this is just for you here, another
45:36
player I think is going to play real well, Lee Hunter in
45:38
Carolina. I think he's going to he's going
45:43
to put up some serious stats. He's sorry, I was just for.
45:48
You some serious White Castle slider after slider.
45:55
Look, I know I have no room to talk.
45:57
Look at me. I'm aware.
45:59
So I'm not trying to be an NFL athlete.
46:02
I'm just trying to be alive to see my kids get married or
46:04
something like that. Whatever dads are supposed to
46:06
say anyway. Dallas made a significant amount
46:09
of free agency editions. I bring in back a quarterback,
46:13
secondary help, difference of line help, offensive line help.
46:16
They brought back Jomonte Williams, they brought back
46:18
George Pickens, they brought brought back TJ Bass in the
46:22
offensive line. Brad Aubrey, they resigned him.
46:24
And Jerry Jones is always in the media for one reason or another.
46:29
That's the way Jerry likes it. He likes to talk a big game.
46:32
Do you think Jerry has done enough this offseason and a
46:35
backup now? I have no specific quotes, but
46:38
he's constantly talking. And even last year before the
46:40
draft, before the Mica trade, it was just, wait, we've got more
46:45
moves coming or we're going to do something.
46:46
And then they did nothing. And then later the Mica trade
46:49
happened. Is it, oh, is this what you were
46:50
talking about? And so do you think Jerry's done
46:53
enough this offseason to kind of temper the haters a bit, or do
46:57
you think there's something else that he should do?
46:59
And then if you could make any choice moves, if he just reach
47:02
your hand out and say Dallas gets this player now or they
47:05
make this move now as they are available free agents, what
47:08
would you do and what is your outlook on Jerry Jones
47:11
currently? I sure Jerry loves the
47:14
attention. He loves talking because it puts
47:16
the attention on him. That's just who he is.
47:19
He's a businessman because the more eyes on him, more
47:24
reactions, more engagement, more money, right?
47:27
That's who he is. Like, that's part of like,
47:29
that's why the Cowboys like are always in the media.
47:31
He wants them in the media First off, because then it's it drives
47:35
revenue, drives money. And he's a big businessman.
47:38
So what big businessman doesn't love money?
47:41
I do feel like they've backed up a lot of their talk this
47:44
offseason, though, because they went out and like they missed a
47:48
couple of things. Like, I know they were really
47:50
after the name slipping me. The Eagles linebacker who went
47:54
to Vegas, played at Georgia. And this is usually on the pod.
47:59
I'm listening. I'm shouting the name while I'm
48:01
while I'm driving or whatever. Oh, my gosh, this is great.
48:05
Great to great way to hear for everybody.
48:07
Yeah. Signed him, played it, played in
48:10
Georgia. Nicobe, Dean.
48:12
Nicobe Dean was the correct name.
48:14
Yes, goodness gracious. Googling it.
48:17
Specifically Googling the specific question.
48:19
Who was this guy? I'm generally driving and
48:22
shouting the names when like in that instance, yeah, they wanted
48:27
to Kobe Dean First off, familiarity with Christian
48:29
Parker and helping be that, you know, the the middle of the
48:34
defense, the green dot, the leader and all that, which, you
48:37
know, Caleb Downs is also going to kind of play that that same
48:39
kind of role. It's like they missed their they
48:41
missed on like some of these trade opportunities for like
48:44
linebackers even they did trade for one in the middle of the
48:47
draft. But like overall, All in all, I
48:49
feel like they have backed up a lot of their talk and like, I
48:53
don't think given stuff I've read, I don't think Jerry's
48:56
doing as much of the driving with deals and stuff that comes
48:59
a lot of from Steven Jones. And like his son, he's passing
49:03
things starting to pass things off because Jerry is no spring
49:05
chicken. What?
49:08
80. 8 and so old, I don't know, I couldn't tell you he's just
49:12
old and so Stevens doing a lot of the things and driving things
49:17
there, which I think is, you know, he's maybe playing a
49:21
little too tough on some of his contract things because like we
49:23
saw the DAC stuff what last year, two years ago, right with
49:27
that extension Micah CD, like all these big players they want
49:32
to keep and they're paying more for because they're they're
49:35
being they're playing a little too hard so to say instead of
49:37
just pay it Cat goes up every year.
49:39
You'll be fine. But draft wise, I feel like they
49:42
backed up everything they were looking for what they needed.
49:45
And that comes back to Will Mclay, who's really like he
49:47
sure, he's the VP of player personnel, but he's the draft GM
49:52
and has been for a number of years a number of years now.
49:55
That's why they're like, and he's really, really good at his
49:57
job and they've had some really good draft classes with Will
50:01
Mclay, like leading the draft and all that and bringing like
50:04
bringing in the right kind of guys and the ones working with
50:07
the coaches and fitting players. They need to scheme and all that
50:13
and what they're looking at and like attacking properly.
50:16
Any offseason free agents that you are hoping Dallas signs or
50:19
you go with the team the way it sits or or any any trades you
50:22
would like them to make anybody you want off the team, anything
50:26
like that? No, it's hard to tell because
50:29
like we haven't fully seen, it's hard to tell exactly how things
50:32
are going to be. And I'm not super huge on the
50:35
exact X's and O's. I couldn't break down Christian
50:38
Parker's defense for you and what he's looking for.
50:40
But it's things that I've read. Seems like they've got a lot of
50:44
the pieces and then they went and got a lot of the pieces to
50:48
be able to play the way that he wants to play in the proto, like
50:51
the types of players he wants. Like one of them was drafted
50:55
this year, was the corner out of Florida that they drafted Devin
50:59
Moore. Like sure, at the combine he ran
51:03
A4 or yeah, 4-5 at the combine a 462.
51:08
But like I've heard numb on multiple people play or talk
51:11
about him. I saw the kind of athlete he
51:14
actually is. Like he note from Dane is like
51:17
he's injury prone and has been injury prone and like he got
51:21
hurt at the end of the season, a kid groin surgery in December,
51:26
right? So then that takes away a lot of
51:28
time. Like you got recovery time,
51:31
training time combine is in February and he had surgery a
51:36
couple months soon earlier. So like he, I don't know, I
51:39
don't, I don't fully think that's a solid.
51:42
Number for a combined. Yeah, so.
51:44
Wait, I'm sorry, he had surgery when?
51:46
Split December 2025. And then participating combined
51:51
in March. End of end of February.
51:54
End of end of February 2026. So, yeah, so you might say it's
51:58
actually reasonable to have surgery and still participate in
52:01
the combine a few months later. So like maybe maybe knee
52:05
surgery? Your mod maybe?
52:07
Knee surgery 14 months before the combine isn't actually a
52:11
reason to not participate in the combine.
52:14
I don't know how extensive the groin surgery was and how much,
52:17
but yeah, I. Oh weird how I had to slip that
52:20
in every single episode. Well, I mean, there there must.
52:24
There was clearly a lot more than that.
52:26
See that reason? Yeah, that knee was a lot worse
52:30
than what any of us knew. I mean, obviously teams get all
52:33
the medical everything. So.
52:36
But this like he was I think one of the pot, one of the many
52:43
draft pods I listened to was talking about this player and
52:46
how it's actually one of their favorite picks in day three.
52:49
Like, sure, he doesn't play. He doesn't play at that speed,
52:52
the 4-5 or the 462 from his pro day.
52:55
Like I want to say like he's got tape of him running with Deshawn
53:00
Stribling I think is the guy's name that went to San Francisco.
53:04
Who is fast. Yeah, I'm trying to pull it up
53:08
real quick. Like he's fast Stribling.
53:11
I cannot find it. Here we go.
53:15
Yeah, his forty time 436 and like he was turning around with
53:19
him just fine. Like that's not a 4-5 athlete.
53:21
That's not a 46 athlete. So like injury, obviously, you
53:25
know, or surgery and recovery plays a play in there.
53:28
And still I commend them for going out and still trying to
53:30
test. So like, there's a lot of.
53:33
There's mental toughness. Yeah, absolutely.
53:35
It's like there's a lot of a lot of good things for them and I
53:38
really think they have circling all the way back to the to
53:41
question have been able to back up a lot of their talk and their
53:45
their goals on this offseason. OK.
53:48
Any final thoughts? Anything, anything additional
53:50
you want to add here before we before we cut bait.
53:53
No, I mean, we've, we've hit like everything I'm looking at
53:57
my looking at some of my notes and things.
54:00
Oh, did you see? So yesterday DraftKings put out
54:05
a tweet. Not a sponsor for that out there
54:09
of the top 10 best selling NFL rookie jerseys so far.
54:13
I saw. Did you see that?
54:15
I saw that both Dallas rookies are in the top ten.
54:18
I don't know where they're at, but.
54:20
Well, yeah, they only put out the top 10.
54:22
Top 10 best selling rookie jerseys #1 is Caleb downs #2 is
54:27
Jacob Rodriguez, which I thought was hilarious #3 is Malachi
54:32
Lawrence. So one and three for rookie
54:33
jersey sales #4 blew me away. Any guess on #4?
54:39
And I laughed at it. Lee Hunter No, I'm just kidding.
54:43
There's no. How about Drew Aller?
54:47
Really. I kid you not, Pittsburgh, he
54:51
got drafted in Pittsburgh in round three.
54:53
Yeah. And the number one overall pick
54:57
was #5 on this quarterback going to be leading the team 5th on
55:02
the of the sales jersey sales. Kirk Cousins jersey sales
55:06
compared to Fernando Mendoza. Yeah, because Cousins, they
55:10
project the starter right now. Right.
55:12
They they, they should sit him. Why not?
55:14
It's not going. To hurt him, they said that
55:16
they're going to sit him for the first year.
55:18
It's not going to hurt him and like, they're still going to be
55:20
bad. Raiders to sit Mendoza at #1 but
55:24
it's not OK for the Rams to sit Ty Simpson and pick 13.
55:28
You know what? I'm just, I, I don't, I don't
55:31
make these decisions. I just sit here and yap into a
55:33
microphone and podcast. Equipment needs to be more
55:35
expensive, but weird how it's weird how it's OK for one team
55:40
to spend twice, at least twice as much money to sit a guy for a
55:44
year. No, no, it's fine though.
55:45
Yeah, I don't know. I I thought the Ty Simpson pick
55:49
was fine. I don't have any problem with it
55:50
because like, it's clearly a future pick, clearly a future
55:53
pick and like Stafford is got maybe two years.
55:59
Maybe. Maybe two years.
56:01
I'm thinking this is it for him. I'm thinking heartbreak class in
56:04
the 2 championship game again this year.
56:06
Maybe they don't, who knows. I, I I just It's a.
56:11
Little Wild. I yeah, I don't know.
56:15
That's just kind of where I'm at with it.
56:16
I would love for him to pull a full Peyton Manning, get the
56:19
Super Bowl win right off into the sunset, drinking Budweiser.
56:22
Not a sponsor, but just just have that moments that he used
56:28
to have with his four daughters. I think they have.
56:31
That sounds right. So that'd be that would be
56:33
really cool as a as a Rams fan, as just a fan of football to see
56:37
this guy who just suffered in Detroit and suffered his a bit
56:41
excessive, but just suffered in Detroit for years and years and
56:45
years and then wins the Super Bowl in 21 and then has injury.
56:49
They're not even service in the play plays exceptionally well,
56:51
wins MVP almost goes to the Super Bowl, except for the fact
56:54
they're secondary can't stop JSN, but who's could and then
56:58
additionally come back the next year and do it again.
57:01
That would be that would be great.
57:03
But that's again, that's my own hope.
57:05
I'm here. With the Peyton Manning thing,
57:07
hopefully he still has an arm. Stafford fills an armor team
57:09
this season. Peyton.
57:10
Peyton didn't. People.
57:11
Forget they probably got benched for multiple times.
57:14
That season, he got benched for Brock Hosrider multiple times
57:17
that season. Yeah, you know, yeah.
57:19
Peyton could hardly throw a 10 yard out.
57:22
I didn't know who Brock Hosrider is sideline reporting for
57:27
anymore. I want to say CBS, that sounds
57:30
right. That's probably wrong.
57:33
He's 6 foot 7. Yeah, he's huge.
57:36
Yeah. How to do it?
57:39
How to slip in? He's part of the he's part of
57:43
the whole narrative that quarterbacks can be too tall
57:48
because all the extra tall quarterbacks like aren't good.
57:53
And this was like big back when Herbert was coming out of Oregon
57:58
because he's just shy of 6/6 and the talk was like, OK, he's
58:02
probably too tall, but obviously he's not.
58:05
He's played really well. As long as it's not Diego Pavia
58:08
trying to attempt to play football in Baltimore, I think
58:11
every else will be fine. That is all we have time for
58:14
today. I'd just like to give two shout
58:15
outs here at the very end. Well, three actually.
58:17
First off, thank you to Zach for joining me today.
58:20
I was kind of short notice. I asked you last week, hey, what
58:22
are you doing on Sunday? You want to come guest on the
58:26
show? It's just going to be me and
58:27
you, by the way. And so thanks for stepping in.
58:30
You absolutely crushed today. Secondly, this week is Joe's
58:34
birthday. He turns 30 three that's the age
58:38
and so happy birthday to him And lastly, we won't record another
58:42
episode until after and said all the wonderful mothers out there
58:45
Happy Mother's Day. We're very happy to have you in
58:48
our lives, especially our mom. Zach and I share mom very
58:52
fortunate that way when to dad for that matter, but that's not
58:55
Father's Day. So happy Mother's Day to our
58:57
mom, Ellen, Joe's mom, Wendy Avery's mom Mona, appreciate you
59:02
so much. And our wives, the mothers of
59:05
our children, thank you so much for all that you do.
59:08
To all the mothers out there, thank you for all the hard work
59:10
and effort you put in. Raising kids is the number one
59:13
most difficult thing I've had to do consistently.
59:15
And so it is not an easy game and the mothers out there are
59:19
are absolutely questioning it. Unless you're not, then go kick
59:23
rocks. I guess so.
59:25
And with that said, as always, don't forget to keep the balls
59:27
played with. Have a good one.
59:29
Bye now y'all. Also, Mark Davis, this haircut
59:31
still sucks.