Training Camp Opening Press Conference | Dallas Cowboys 2025

Training Camp Opening Press Conference | Dallas Cowboys 2025

Welcome to camp again. Uh same format as we typically use. Uh flag me down. I’ll make a note and I’ll call on you. Okay? So wait till I call on you and uh we’ll roll through here what we need to get done. So that we will start off with Calvin. Good morning Calvin. How we doing, buddy? Dallas Morning News. Uh Tyler Smith said yesterday he thinks he has this is a Super Bowl team. This is for Jerry and Stephen. Your thoughts of all the moves that you’ve made. You think this is a roster that can help you achieve your goals. Tyler’s one of the most intelligent guys in the NFL. And if he’s thinking that way, I’ll go right along with him. But uh I think that we’ve done um we’ve addressed many areas that u uh bit us as I look at what last year was about. Y’all are going to ask about some of those I’m sure here today. But I think we’ve addressed them in a good way that will make us better. Uh having Dak under center is a good place to start to begin with. I got one more. Um, Michael Parsons. Uh, do you expect him, even though he’s here, do you expect him to practice until he gets a contract, uh, finalized? Well, everybody here is under contract. Everybody. Yes. Yes. And so uh uh that’s that’s what that is. uh from the standpoint of uh let’s say u what happens relative to I’m looking at the entire NFL when I say this and that’s players that are under contract u and and teams looking to uh make it better for the team and for the player in terms of that u that that is incumbent if you’re in that price range when you’re up there in that top 10% so to speak of the league and that top quartortile of your team, leadership is really big. And leadership exhibits himself when you’re negotiating as well. And so uh I’m appreciative of Micah being here. I am. And uh it’s incumbent upon us all. We’ve got a player that we’ve uh docked him for not being here during offseason workout as you well know and we will uh find him for that because those parts of a contract to go directly toward the leadership that he’s uh is as a player relative to the rest of the team and certainly obviously to our fans as well. So, u uh I’m big into uh and not alone either. I’m big into uh showing anything you can do for leadership if you’re going to be one of these guys that are in the top drawer of all the money. Clarence Hill all city DLS. Uh I know it takes two to tango and every contract is different. Uh but in March you talked about Micah and that you had everything in place as far as an agreement mentally on the numbers. Uh here we are in a July and you still haven’t had a deal. Any frustration of why a deal has not been done? Not at all. Not at all. I’ve have uh we do and I don’t mean this. I have things undone, dangling participles. I bet I have 20 of them every day in some pretty serious areas. You can’t have it all done at the same time. It doesn’t work that way. And so this is just a part of it. Uh we’ve got uh again I want to mention that we’ve got we’re here with everybody under contract. Uh two years ago we were here and I think Zach Martin wasn’t here. He had his situation although he had a contract. So you work through that. I was looking at this documentary and uh it spent some time going back in the Emit Smith negotiation and uh what was going on there. There’s nothing new about what we’re talking about here today relative to contracts. That’s been going on a long time now. Uh if we uh you say, “Well, if you don’t get him in, are you going to lose the first two games and then go on to win the Super Bowl?” Well, we’ll take that. And you brought up that’s what happened with Emit, of course. You brought up EMTT, you know, from the outside looking in, it seemed like this has been a pattern of waiting and not getting guys done. It wouldn’t be hard to uh because uh uh personally I’ve been around, Steven’s been around relative to anything to do with a contract or money since 1989. It wouldn’t be hard to uh uh characterize anything in there as a pattern. Now, if you can make some sense out of that, all that period of time and the ups and downs and the nuances of individual player and a contract and of those times, then that’s getting pretty good. Uh we we uh and uh when you’re charting trends, you take those tops and you go and you get your trend from all those tops, but underneath them is all this up and down, up and down. Looks like a a recording of a voice, high and low. And so, uh that’s just what it is. And you just look at a trend. U I’ve had times when I uh should have gotten up. I had times when I did get up and I should have sat down or have times when I should have shut up. So all of that comes to bear. Some of them’s been real good. Some of them I’d uh would do over again. So that is not a that’s a wondering way of saying I am not the least concerned about having any dangling participles out here on a contract anywhere. in and the idea that the numbers have gone up as you taking time still haven’t gotten it done but with Watt signing and and certainly after some of the guys signed off seasonason it doesn’t matter that the longer you wait it seemed like the money has gone up on Michael used to could price a let’s say a Buick for I can remember when they were $5,000 believe it or not and today I don’t know what they sell for but that’s a lot more than $5,000. I’ve seen them go dead at $5,000 and I’ve seen them go dead at $50,000. It’s just the times you’re in and it’s the money you’re not trying to be cute, but it has it’s all relevant to me and u again I I don’t have any issue. I’m not concerned at all about what our team uh can be this year and evol and develop into and what uh we make of our training camp. Uh I’m not at all concerned about a contract that involves and will affect that in any way. I can’t emphasize that enough. Todd Todd Archer with the ESPN. Stephen, uh in the past you guys have been able to work deals here uh long-term extensions with guys. Are there plans to talk to Mike’s agents while you guys are here and maybe other players as well? Well, obviously uh when you’re together here at camp, uh you know, it makes for a good environment to uh get some things done before the season starts. Uh you know, at the end of the day, I think Clarence, you said it best, it it does take two. And uh a lot of times uh you might be surprised where we might be and where they might have been uh where they were wanting to hold. And obviously, I think most players do understand if you’re willing to take risk, you’re willing to go out on the field and wait a year to do your contract and you play well and you bet on yourself, then usually that that will happen, you know, in a positive way for the player. They understand that. But, uh, no, this is a great environment to look at, uh, uh, you know, not just Micah’s situation, but, uh, uh, all situations in terms of players that are probably going to be, uh, up for contract next year, uh, you know, be in a year where, uh, you know, they’re either, you know, could be franchised or tendered or whatever that may be. So, we’re always looking for, uh, for for those opportunities. And certainly the players, uh, we have players that are interested in that and we’ll be working on that while we’re here at camp. And Brian, with with Micah, um, if he doesn’t practice while he’s doing he has a hold in, what do you do? Work every day. I mean, you know, however this thing plays out, it’s going to play out. Uh, the fact that Mike is here, he’s talked all off season about wanting to take more of a leadership role. He’s talked about wanting to be great. We know he’s a great player. And uh again, I think that we’re excited he’s here and uh there’s a lot of ways to get this thing done, but like we’ve said, we’re committed to having him take that next step, not just as a player, but as a leader. Just because we signed him doesn’t mean we’re going to have him. He was hurt six games last year. Seriously. Uh we’ve signed I remember signing a player for the highest paid at the position in the league and he got knocked out twothirds of the year, Dak Prescott. So there’s a lot of things you can think about when you just as the player does when you’re thinking about committing and guaranteeing money on on the tango part of it. Michael said in the podcast that ownership is over complicated this thing in your mind. You guys think this has been over complicated. Of all of the people that I’ve sat down with as a player, of all the players that I’ve ever negotiated with, Michael Parson is as savvy and knowledgeable and understanding of his financial business relative to football as any player I’ve ever been around. John, now he’s smart. John Micho with the Athletic. Uh Jerry, have you had a chance to actually talk to his agent yet? the um uh I’ve talked with um um people that have talked to him. Let’s put it like that. You know, I don’t necessarily talk to these agents or I don’t necessarily talk to attorneys and I do stuff everywhere and I don’t necessarily talk to the people that are hired to do certain things. I talk to the principles 90% of the time. And for Brian, when you’re getting ready to come out here, your first training camp as head coach, what what’s like at the top of your list of what you want to get accomplished over the next three and a half weeks? You know, we were talking about that last night with the staff a little bit. Just, you know, we want to have a very physical training camp. You know, there’s limitations to what you can do, but um you know, we we want to come out of this thing knowing the emphasis of winning the line of scrimmage. Like that’s really important to us uh both offensively and defensively. you know, how we want to play, be a physical style team both offensively and defensively. And so I would say that maximize our padded practices. Obviously got the work coming up against the Rams here in a couple weeks. And that’s that’s the big emphasis right now. Tommy, Tommy Y, stylescowboys.com. Jerry, you kind of brought it up a little bit earlier with Trayvon Diggs. What went into that decision and then what do you want to see from him as a leader like you mentioned and where do you feel like he is in the recovery process? Well, we expect a player paid like Trevon to be here all the time. We expect him to be leading. We expect him to be leading. Uh but that’s not new. That goes all the way back. Dion Dion was not necessarily given to come to the weight room. And I explained to him that it meant a lot for him to be in there. He said, “Does the fact that I have more weight trainers and more equipment and I work hard every day have anything to do with it?” And I said, “It needs to have a needs to have some show with it and so that all the team and everybody can do it.” He said, “You’re wrong. Done. I get it.” But the uh it’s important it’s important to uh have the right body language in every respect when you are one of those uh uh rare rare uh financially paid and gifted players. You’ve got to have some leadership about you. But the deescalation is contractual spelled out. So he understood when he decided he was going to train in South Florida, he understood what would be that what the con consequences would be. Jane Jerry, I was just curious because you know how these headlines can blow up. You said you don’t always talk to the principles. In other words, David Muggaletta, Mah Parson’s agent. Why have you not spoken to him more directly the way you have Todd France or David Caner in the past? Jerry didn’t speak to Tide France. Okay. And Jerry, as he said, doesn’t speak to many agents. I do. So, what is your what is your relationship with Mal Edin so far? We’ve always had a good relationship with Mulligetta. What would you say? And specifically, you know, Adam speaks to the agents as well. So, uh, but Jerry’s typically, whether it’s a coach or a player, speaks directly to the principal. And I don’t talk to the attorneys and all of the other stuff that goes on too now. Really wouldn’t be time for everything if you did that. So I do talk to the principles. So we talked about the fact that sometimes we drag these out. I know last year you guys have disputed whether there was any rust with CD Lamb when he wasn’t here at camp. For those of us who aren’t in the rooms or aren’t talking to the agent like you are, Stephen, what’s holding it up? Is it APY? Is it injury language? What are the little nuances that are preventing a contract getting done since you talked to Micah, which is something you guys have done pretty early on with the player more so than you have in the past? Well, first of all, it uh we’ve always felt like it wouldn’t, you know, it’s not productive to talk about any details about what’s holding what up. I mean, obviously, we don’t have a deal with Mike and we have work to do. That’s the only thing I would comment on. The other thing I would say is uh contracts are four or five years. Okay. Uh there’s a lot of water under the bridge. If you step out there and do something in the first two or three, you can get hit by a car. Seriously. And so there’s a lot to look at over a lot of years that could make a big difference. Have you ever heard of any clubs committing to players and then they didn’t pan out after they committed to them? we have. And so my point is there’s of of all the reasons in the world to uh when you’re under contract, if you’re not under contract, one of the things that exacerbates this is that you have a kind of a a policy or a practice to have contracts but have like it’s some kind of of of uh uh obligation to do something before the contract is over. Okay? In other words, not have the benefit of the contract. Well, that goes completely against the benefit of the club, which ultimately should be to put a winning team on the field. And the more that you can husband, the more that you can spread it out and put it around and and have other good players rather than all going to a few players, uh, the better team you got. So, there’s a lot of reasons. Timing is a lot of reasons. And and in fact uh uh why would you go out and uh uh basically spend money uh just to spend money and not have had to spend it. But uh you can spend it three years later. Money costs money. There’s a lot of reasons why this old business of thinking, well my goodness, it’s pretty obvious to me everything goes up. So why don’t you catch it when it’s low? Have you ever thought that when it’s low, they’re counting on it going up and those are the numbers that are coming out? Not the ones that are going on right there. Have you ever thought about that? That’s it. 90% of the time they are not dealing with you in those numbers today. They’re dealing with projected numbers which also usually have more fluff than reality. They’ve usually got an imagin not an imagination but an expectation that those numbers are going to be higher than they are. And there is a debate, okay, what if we’re sitting here putting the club together and we’re trying to get them and we don’t believe they’re going that high. Only God really knows, you know. So, all of that comes to play. Joe, Joseph Boy, Dallas Morning News. Jerry Connie just talked about, you know, the things that can happen before a contract’s up and that’s why you kind of wait for it a little bit. You’ve done deals though early with Trayvon Digs with Terrence Steel before it was time for it. What’s the difference between those situations and a situation like CD Lamb and Micah Parsons? Frankly, u frankly, uh should we have waited on Digs and Steel? Oh, you brought them up. I didn’t wait. Well, the the other thing is the willingness. I mean, you have players who are, you know, who decide, hey, I’m willing to wait and I’m going to wait on bigger numbers and then you got other players who want to be more conservative and say, “Hey, I’d like to have my money now.” And uh that’s every every person’s different. Every player is different. And you respect both sides. And like I said, we’ll talk to four or five other guys other than Micah who are going to be up next year. Some will say, “Hey, I want to wait and play.” and I think my numbers will go up. I’ll play better. I’ll do better. I’ll uh you know the numbers will be up from last year. And uh we certainly respect that. And then you have some players who say, “Hey, I’m ready to take care of my family and and decide to go now.” And they they very they’ve been varying for 30 years. Who wants to go ahead and do it early and who wants to wait? Stephen, on that note, would you like to open conversations with Tyler Smith and his representation? What makes you think we had like I said we you know you always hate to comment on this their private and personal business and it’s not for me to talk about they want to talk about whether we’re having talks with them then that would be up to the player. I don’t think it’s productive for me to share, you know, who are the guys we’re talking with and who’s decided, hey, I’m going to wait. I’d rather do this after the season than now or back last spring. Uh, you know, we have to respect that. Patrick, good morning, gentlemen. Football question for Shotti. Um, when you’re talking about starting training camp with several of your quarterbacks going on, injured legs, Trayvon Diggs, uh, Rebel, uh, Josh Butler, Kaylin Carson is working his way back, just talk about the challenge of trying to build continuity in the secondary when you have so many unsettled pieces at corner. Well, I I see it as a positive. I mean, I can see where there’s issues, but it gives you a chance to look at some of the younger players. I think, you know, our our objective to come out of these first two weeks really before we get into the the joint practice against the Rams is we want to see all these guys compete. We want to see who’s developing, who took the things that we taught in the spring and who carried it over. The installation is going to be exactly the same. So, OTAA1 is going to be training camp one tomorrow and then day two and day three. But, so I think it’s really not, you know, you could look at it, oh, it’s a negative for continuity. We’ll get that figured out. But at the most part, we need to figure out and make the right evaluation of these guys to make sure that when it comes time to trimming the roster that we’re keeping the guys that we feel like fit our football team, not just based as a player, but as a person. Nick Nick Harris for Star Telegram. When you guys were looking at last season, obviously not the campaign you guys wanted. What were the big problems that you took away in your reevaluation? And do you think you’ve solved those problems going into training camp now? Well, I’ll speak to the first couple things. Obviously, when you look at the the turnover issues last year, that was a problem for us. We have to be better better there. Uh injuries are part of the game, we know that. Uh but again, I just think at the end of the day, the consistency for us last year was not very good. And that’s why I feel like the importance of this training camp, I think there’s no better training camp spot in the world than here in Oxnard, Ventura County, and uh the weather, the the work we’re able to get done just, you know, in terms of just focus solely on football. Uh that’s why you come out here. that’s what you love about it. And uh again, it’s it’s more about what we need to do moving forward. We came out of the spring saying, “Okay, these were some of the areas that we got better at. We felt like we got the system in place with flu coming in, with Saenson coming in, and uh now is a chance for the coaches to really perfect it.” That’s what you try to do. You look at really, you teach it in in the starting point of phase one, phase two. You detail it in OTAAS, and then you really your job is to perfect it as a coach and a player during training camp. It’s no secret you guys need more out of Mosy Smith and Tyler Gayton this next coming year. What’s your confidence in each of those guys right now? Mazy looks great. Saw him last night. Uh he looks great. He’s excited. He’s ready to go. Uh he looks awesome. Uh again, young player. And then Tyler Gayton. Uh I saw the the thing of him training in the rain doing some boxing. Uh but again, he’s worked his ass off. And uh again, why is training camp different? Because these guys actually get to hit each other. They get to lean on one another. And then when you play the game in the trenches, that’s what matters. It’s it’s not what you do in OTAAS. You know, I thought we had really good OTAA practices, but there’s limitations. Um the key of training camp is uh you’re able to do things that uh as close to simulates what you’re going to do on game day. Joe Shotty, we we Dak Prescott entering year 10. We know about what he’s gone through in term of in terms of injuries. What’s your philosophy in terms of the work you need to see out of him and how much work you will give him? Yeah, that’s a great question. I think, you know, now that he’s in the over 30 club, we’re going to be smart with some of the things that we do with him. Uh he is anti that. He wants to do as much as possible. Luckily, we have the trump card with him on that. But, uh, in all seriousness, Dak understands that again, there’s a there’s a smart way to train. Um, we’ve got, you know, two other quarterbacks we’re really excited to evaluate. You know, Joe Milton’s a guy that we’re really excited about. We want to see him play a bunch. And then, you know, Will Greer is a guy that’s been around. So, um, although Dak’s not going to like it as much, he’s very aware that, uh, we’re going to be intelligent with what he does. And then one more I got for you in terms of your message to the team in the first meeting. What are some of the highlights of that? And do you have any kind of a camp motto for these guys this year? No, I mean, the motto is going to always be compete every day. I mean, that’s what we’re all about. Uh, it’s not going to change. I’ve been other places where there’s a theme of the year. Um, I don’t believe in that. I believe in that you should have a a central theme of your program and that’s compete every day. And again, that’s not just uh on the practice field, that’s in the meeting rooms, it’s time away, being smart, things like that. And um again, the guys that I’ve seen and been around, they’re excited and they’re excited to build off what we did in the spring. The spring was terrific for us, but it was just the spring. Now you’re getting into July and August and the real dog days of summer, and that’s where you’re going to see the massive growth in this football team. Tim. Yeah. Tim Kalashaw, Dallas Morning News. Uh Jerry, I wanted to say first of all, and I’m late on this, uh you were great in Land Man and that to some extent made me look differently at you things you do. Seriously. Now, having said that, uh you brought up charts and Washington did go to the NFC Championship game. So, this is the first time you’ve come to camp as the team that’s been the longest in the NFC without championship game. I mean, you see that chart in 29 years. Is that embarrassing? What What do you think when you see that and think about that? I’ve spent a lot of those 29 years looking up, not looking back. I really have. And uh uh this thing has had some great peaks uh since u 1989, but like football, they’re few and far between. And so, yes, there have been some rough bumps along the way and some dis disappointments. Last year was one of them. I have always though known that you can’t live off of last year or the year before. You’ve got to go do something and make some changes. Uh something’s got to happen differently. uh if I sat around and dwelled on the past and especially the negatives of the past, then uh I I couldn’t even get out the front door. And so I don’t think about it. I do not think about it. I work on uh in my case, I work on what I can do different in that mirror, how I can change some things that I think will help things. I don’t apologize at all for the fact that I’ve got the passion to be in the spot I’m in or I have the background or I have the qualifications. I don’t apologize about that at all to my mirror. What I say to that mirror is change this, act better there, do a better job there. Now, u we didn’t do well at quarterback last year because Dak got hurt in my mind. Just to show you how simple this is for me. and we didn’t block them up very good. Either pass protect or open the holes up there. I think we’re going to do better. Do I know better if we don’t have Dak? No. But if we got Dak, one thing that that I’m so optimistic about is the guy sitting right over there because the minute the season was over, we wanted him to have the most influence on the offense and the most influence of getting the best out of Dak. He knows the personnel and he knew where obviously where we could have done better and what circumstances we could have done better on. When I first was thinking about him and with Stephen and with everybody involved, I really didn’t think about him being the head coach. I did think about though about him really being involved in helping us be a better offensive football team if in fact we were able to have some better uh combinations of things, personnel or what have you. So, it’s not hard for me after not going to a playoff game or not going to an NFC championship game or not going to a Super Bowl. It’s real hard for me to feel the pain you feel last year and feel the elation and the hope to this year at all. This is going to be exciting to see of what a man that’s spent 30 years, grew up in this game, never had a chance to head coach, and has got some of the finest, highest paid athletes in the world to step out here and uh go to war with. I’m excited about that, and I’m proud that he’s getting this opportunity. He deserves it in my mind. It became very clear to me that he would deserve it. What I’m trying to say, Tim, man, that makes me go here this year. That makes me feel good of I had no problem at all in the spring being excited about coming to training camp and thinking about it all. Do you think I really dwelled How much do you think I dwelled on EMTT going in and being the most valuable player over in the Super Bowl when he was? How much do you think I dwelled on that? or not the souk bowl but the player that he was and when we played at Atlanta. How much time did I I’m thinking about that because I just watched an episode on that going back that far. But I’m not doing that to get over there and live in the past. If anything, everybody in this room should know that I’ve got to live more in today than I’ve ever had to because that old time’s running out and that’s just the fact. That’s just what it is. So I’m living for now. You ask me how I rationalize it. That’s exactly how I rationalize. I know how lucky I am. I’ve looked forward to sitting here with you guys. You think, well, we’ve done this 15, 20 times in our lives. I’m going to tell you something. You could, too. We could be anywhere we want to be, but our ass is sitting right here because we want to be. Cuz we want to be and be a part of it. Now, that’s enough for me. And I have paid the price. Personally, I don’t have any problem justifying when somebody says, “Well, do it differently. Why don’t you just watch it on TV? I don’t have to. I paid too high a price in my mind for doing what I’m doing.” And I’m ready to do it again. And I’m ready to walk up here and get that trophy if we could possibly get it. So, that’s a long- winded way of saying it doesn’t daunt me at all to sit here. Face music. This isn’t music. I’m glad to be here. And I know you know that I don’t uh cut my throat every time somebody writes something bad about me. I know you know that. And so that’s that’s not an issue either. So I’m glad to see everybody. I’m glad to be with I’m excited about out here and what this camp could mean by and through what we’ve done. Have we done some things with our players and our personnel that could really give us a chance to uh shock the hell out of them and be better than most people think we’re going to be this year? Absolutely. We have and it could happen and that D go out here and light it up and a lot of good things could happen with us. Okay, that’s exactly the rationale I used really last year when I made him the highest paid player in the NFL. And you don’t think I didn’t think about him getting hurt and not having him after doing that? That would be criminal had I not thought it out. Well, it happened. It happens. That kind of stuff happens. And get ready. You’re going to get some knots when those kinds of things happen. We got a great chance to put together a team here this year that could be where we would like for it to be. I’m excited about that. That was basically landman, too. So, I appreciate that. Why? Yeah, it was good. Well, they didn’t give me enough uh time on it. My best scene was uh when I was talking to what’s his name laying up there in the bed. I said, “The good news is that they say you’re going to live.” And so, don’t make me have to come up here and visit with my rubber glove and get you out of that bed. Now, they took that out and I thought it’s the best scene in the whole thing. Well, ladies and gentlemen, Tim Kalisha with the question of the day. We might need to pause and recover a bit from the compliment that you Thank you, Tim. Thank you, Tim. Yeah. Uh Pat, I’ve got to follow that. Thanks, Tim. Pat Dhoni, NBC BFW. Brian, you’ve talked about wanting to have the best culture in all of pro sports is what you said. The players were really excited about the energy in practice in the offseason. How do you maintain that through the dog days of training camp when we’re here? And what do you think practices and the vibe here will feel like compared to what they’ve been like the last few years when you’ve been on the staff? Um, you know, I think the biggest thing for me, number one, I really do believe that practice is what’s going to separate us from the rest of the league. The way we practice, like that’s how important we believe that it is. And it’s the energy and the way we start it from not just stretch with the music, but going through the bags and and everything’s being evaluated. Everything’s being graded. There’s going to be a winner and a loser in every period that we have and and that kind of makes it fun. But um it’s the type of guys that we have. Um I’m an upbeat, positive person. That’s that’s my personality. I think I’ll speak to what Jerry said. I feel blessed to be sitting in this chair. Um I’m excited about the guys that I get a chance to work with, both the players and the coaches. I think you look at the staff, having had a chance to work with the staff all spring, it’s a dynamic staff. I think these guys know how to teach. They know how to demand. They get the best out of their players, but they’ve also learned to connect with their players on a higher level so you can have those real hard conversations and and push them to the limits. Uh when the days get hard and the practices get tough, that’s where we need to excel. And I think we’ll do that because of the culture and the connection, not just that we’ve set, but that the players have adopted. and and they’re excited about it. Anything quirky like the basketball stuff or that you’re planning on to try and keep competitiveness going through the meetings? Is there anything you’re willing to share with us? Yeah, always. Uh I’m not going to share it with you guys because the players don’t know what it is yet, but uh there’ll be uh multiple sporting uh competitions that we’ll be we’ll be doing. Mike, Michael, KTV East Texas. You talked about your policy regarding Dak being over 30 on a younger player, the Marvon overshow, his injury situation. What will your policy be regarding him? Yeah, each player is different. You know, obviously we trust the the training department. I think Jim and Brid do a terrific job with our doctors, but um again, there’s a lot that can be learned from a knowledge standpoint by watching, by teaching. What I like to do with the guys that are out is actually let them coach some of the younger players. So like a guy like Demo, I mean he can take, you know, some of the younger linebackers that we have, Shamar James, and spend time teaching them things and coaching them uh while they’re watching. So uh we don’t see it as missed opportunities. Of course, you’re not going through the physical aspect of it, but there’s a lot that can be um learned and taught when you actually teach something instead of just doing it. Sometimes players that are these elite athletes, they just you ask them to do something, they’re like, “Okay, that’s easy for when they have to explain how to do it to someone else, uh, they really learn the insight that goes along with it. Deuce, Mike Ducey, Fox 4. Hey Jerry, I think you answered this in Tim’s question, but I’m going to ask it anyway. When you talk about changes in the willingness to make wholesale changes, has stepping away as GM even ever crossed your mind momentarily as a possibility through all these years? And again, repeat that. I think I know what you said, but repeat it. Has stepping away as general manager ever been even a momentary consideration for you through the years? Uh, yes. Momentary. How long a moment? Now we’re getting down to it. Small fractions of seconds. I promise you that. Why Why did you talk yourself off that ledge? Well, I didn’t have any trouble talking it off because uh uh those were obviously painful moments when I would be thinking like that. And u I just u uh that that’s not why I’m here. That’s not uh uh what the uh from my my part that’s not what it’s been about. And uh from that standpoint and plus uh what is such a misnomer and uh I I really want to emphasize this probably unlike most general managers for instance uh Mike he’s not here so uh I’ve talked about him when he was here and talked about him nicely and everything else but Mike hadn’t spent much time in the draft room when he was at Green Bay. That’s not how I’ve operated as general manager of the Cowboys. I have Shotti. I have Stephen right at this particular time. Hell, Tad might even be in there. But my point is, my point is there is such a uh inclusion and discussions and u as you know, you see it. I’m uh and senior bowls, combines, all of that. Uh, all of that melds into a real good feeling about where we are so that I’m not sitting up there throwing darts about a player or I’m not sitting here logically addressing financially about whether to extend the contract going forward. But I have huge incentive to do it right. And so I ask these guys to the no end constantly whether we’re drafting a player, whether we’re getting one in free agency. I mean, I’m covering it with them and going over detail about why, why not, why, why not all the time. I don’t know that I would put my inclusiveness of input with anybody in sport relative to uh the general manager duties. uh being where I am, I have a good feel for risk and the tolerance for the risk. And so that’s an advantage for me being there rather than somebody else there. Uh there is no question that in sports a general manager if he is the one that can spend the money, if he’s the one that can spend the money, and I emphasize that. But those guys can have bad runs of it and then somebody else is there to take care of it when it’s gone. There’s not not been any of that in 35 years here. There’s not somebody else to have to take it on because it’s a mess or something like that. That is a good governor of helping you make decisions. So I like it this way but candidly. And if you watch this Netflix, you’ll see I gave every frigin thing in my life and then exposed probably two or three times that to get to set up here. And I did that when a lot of of things weren’t going right financially for a lot of things, sports, NFL, a lot of things. And I danced with that devil and and I’ve danced with it a few other times along the way. So if you think a little bit of what you write is going to deter me from sitting up here doing what I want to do, you’re wrong. It’s just not going to do it because I’ve danced with the devil, the financial devil, and lived to tell about it. And so that resolve is there with me as well. Just real quick, you’ve obviously had this job for a while now, but to be sitting here today, just personally, what does it mean to you to be on the uh the eve of your first training camp as a head coach? No, I’m just thrilled, man. I think uh why the people I get to do this with day in and day out uh Stephen and Jerry the entire you know Jones family you know you take these couple weeks off right and everybody kind of goes all over the map and then you know you’re about a week or two away you start realizing like man I really miss I miss the guys I miss CD you know I miss seeing Sandour I miss seeing those guys and then you start shooting them texts and then you kind of you you work yourself into a frenzy the excitement and the the the the man, I can’t wait to get started. So, um again, just thrilled to get started. Uh it’s going to be an awesome camp. We feel great about where we’re at and um truly seeing these guys makes me feel like the luckiest man in the world that I get to lead those those young men. KJ Doyle, KRGB. Coach Shottenheimer, you know, you heard just a few minutes ago Jerry talk about how he feels like you’ve earned this opportunity and what is the support that you have from him kind of mean to you and and how are the emotions kind of different heading into your first training camp as a head coach rather than an assistant on the staff? Uh, it’s a good question. Uh, number one, the support from from both these guys has been amazing. We’ve had some incredible conversations going back through the interview process and then through free agency and the draft and and I will piggyback off what Jerry said. I mean, the give and take is is outstanding. How does this player fit? What’s the what’s the role? What’s I mean, those conversations happen 24/7 and that’s been awesome. Um, you know, and just in terms of this opportunity, uh, do I think I deserve it? Absolutely. Uh, do I do I think I’m ready? There’s no question. and um uh it can’t get here soon enough. I guess it’s here, but uh to get in front of the players and get started a little bit later today is going to be great. I look real closely at U uh in Shotti’s case, but I look real closely at the incentive to do everything he possibly can do to help our Cowboy fans, help us have a success. and he’s got so much riding on him. He’s got that dad in the sky. He’s got his mom. He’s got family. But more important, he’s got a lifetime of work. So when I go into anything, I want to know what they’ve got at risk or what they’ve got at stake. When Johnson and I got together, okay, I knew exactly what I had at stake. Okay. When he came, we were sick probably 6 months before we ever did a contract on his salary. And he brought staff with him cuz my point was that that was an incentive for us to do everything we could. And we did reach out stuff. And by the way, unbelievable. This guy was sitting right there. And look, Jimmy told me one day, he said, “You’re a pain in the ass.” But he said uh uh I can work with Stephen for 20 years. And uh so the other thing I’ve got to remind everybody here is that from day one, this guy’s been sitting there and other family members that I have just like him. We we have evolved to this particular point. So it’s not just me, but it is but it is we. And the other thing is that that u at the end of the day I believe it is the best way to win a Super Bowl. I believe that Jonah Jonah Javad WFAA quick two-parter. I guess I’ll start with Jerry because Tim brought up Land Man. Were you upset that you didn’t get nominated for a guest appearance for for an Emmy? I didn’t know they’d had to vote. I’m teasing. I am teasing. No. No. No. No. Not. Well, no. Let’s be real clear about that right there because I have no idea what qualifies you uh in that particular area. But uh uh I will say this that uh it was a great pleasure to work with those guys that were there. And one of them, Billy Bob, had uh he was raised about 30 miles from where I grew up in Arkansas. And his dad was a great coach, one of the greatest legendary baseball coaches ever. And he thought he was going to be a great baseball player. So you can imagine what our days were like. I spent about six, seven hours doing that, believe it or not. And what we talked about about uh baseball, and it was so funny. He said, “Uh, uh, I saw it wasn’t going to work on the baseball thing, and I’d spent some time in the California Leagues playing, and he said, I had another good guy that was a top top director, and he said, “You’re too ugly, Billy Bob, to be a major actor, but he said, you could make one heck of a character actor.” And he said, “That’s what you ought to be.” And that’s how he that’s how he ended up going that way. But, uh, really really, uh, good experience. said, “No, to be very candid with you, I didn’t keep up with it and don’t even know where those nominations are or what have you. I’m sure you’d have seen it if something like that had happened.” And totally unrelated, Shotty, just your level of communication with Micah Parsons over the last 24 hours. I know you guys were trading calls or texts going back to mini camp and OTAAS, but over the last maybe 24, 36 hours, what’s that been like? No, it hasn’t changed. I mean, he and I have been in communication just like I have with most of the guys. And uh I knew where he was this weekend and he was coming in. And um again, this time of year is a dead period, so you can’t talk football, which we don’t. You know, you guys know me. I’m a big connection guy. I’m a big culture guy. So, it’s more just checking in. Uh telling guys, I miss him. What are you up to? What do you need? Let me know if you need anything. And um it’s been no different. I’m not surprised he’s here. Uh I know what he’s all about. I know he’s about winning. I know he’s about being great. And I would say my communication with him is no different than it was in the beginning. Any level of frustration because you guys have preached kind of leadership and some of them some of the guys have preached wanting to be leaders but not being present or not being on the field for certain things. Uh is it frustrating at all when some of your star players are not fully committed so to speak on on certain aspects of what you’re trying to build? Well, leadership is definitely a commitment. I wouldn’t say that I wouldn’t look at our locker room and say there’s anybody that’s not committed to being uh a leader. I think part of leadership that makes it so hard is you can try to lead and guys don’t want to follow. And so I think that’s where the work ethic and being out there and doing the stuff and there’s a lot of different ways to lead. But uh I look at that that that locker room. There’s a lot of guys that have leadership capabilities that get me excited and get me uh looking forward to letting them speak. I’m not the only one that speaks out there after practice. I let those guys speak. This is their team. They’re the ones that step in between the white lines and have to go out in there to battle. And uh I think we’ve got a dynamic group of young men that are really ready to take that next step of leadership. You’ve got a huge uh you got a dynamic going on. You’ve got 10% 10 12% of your people making twothirds of the money. And so it’s incumbent upon that group right there to walk, walk and lead, walk and lead. And it covers a lot of ground what that is to make that work. And um uh this is all this is all a part of it to make it happen. But that’s not uh uh that’s nothing new. I’ve talked to people all over the league and uh uh that’s that’s what you’ve got. You’ve certainly got players that are going to make more money than other players make. And uh but they’ve got to wear it. Calvin, um any frustration because you talked about leadership and that kind of thing and it’s in his contract, but any frustration that hey, we had to take money away from Diggs because he’s not showing up working out at the facility the way you want him to? No, he didn’t earn it. He didn’t he didn’t come. That’s in his contract that uh he doesn’t get that unless he’s going to be here. And um think about it a minute. Uh do you have to go to work and show up? All that kind of stuff. Of course you do. We all do. And uh bottom line is that uh those are are contractual things as Stephen said and uh it would be very detrimental to the team not to abide by the agreement. Keith of the ticket in Dallas. Uh since my esteemed colleague from the state of Texas Tim Khaw derailed us in the land man talk, I’m going to continue that derailment and ask about your uh Hollywood career. Are you aware that there is a cartoon in which you appear as a character and uh were you approached to do a voice for any cartoons or cartoons? Now repeat the last part. I really didn’t hear it, but there is a cartoon in which you are a character that’s going to be on the Cartoon Network. Were you ever approached as becoming a voice actor for that cartoon? We’re getting drowned out. But um the um [Music] I’m I’m going to make sure this goes by. But listen, I’m not it’s not new to me to uh show up in some character tour. Uh it it really isn’t. and um uh they’ve used a few in the whole whole thing there. So, I’m not sure that I understand. Uh was it um uh risque or what was it? It’s not really risque on your part. No, that’s good. That’s good. No, no. And I can tell you no, too, buddy. Yeah. And I can tell you he wasn’t approached by Yeah. Yeah. I have seen it. Are you aware of the fake Jerry that’s on the ticket? Just out of curiosity. I’m very aware. Yes, sir. I sure am. And uh for years did some of the best laughing especially when u I think they did things in there about Jerry Jr. and we used to really fall out over that and uh and Jean owned me hard and fast for not having Jerry more involved. So get all that kind of stuff. Listen listen. I haven’t worked in 35 years, okay? I’ve had the damnedest run and the most fun that you could ever imagine. And I’ve got I’ve really got to it. This isn’t Kalashaw talking here or not talking, but I’ve got to do it with this big boy. Uh that wasn’t a big boy necessarily when we started, but a big boy. And I’ve got to do it with his sister and other sister and our family. And u uh uh I don’t have any trouble getting a little heat. Promise you that. That’s petty stuff. It’s been too good. Brad Brad Sham, Cowboys Radio 1053. The fan. I’m not sure it’s even appropriate to ask a football question anymore, but Ryan, you mentioned it’s all football, Brad. That’s what I’m trying to say. It always has been. We just introduced it more like that when we got here. Tell that to the people watching the Cartoon Network. But uh Brian, you mentioned Sandborn. Short list of new veterans who you are expecting to be significant who maybe people are not talking about. Good question. Uh love Jack and what he what he brought to the team this this spring. Ky Elum is a guy I’m really excited about. Um, I mean, Javvante Williams, Miles Sanders, um, Pton Charming, the list goes on and on. I think you look at what we were able to do, not only signing our free agents that we wanted back, but adding some of the depth pieces that we wanted to do. And, um, those are some names that pop off the list. But, um, we’ve made a very competitive roster. And that’s why again the importance of practice and the evaluation and when we go through the drills making sure we’re getting guys paired up with the right guys for matchups and things like that that’s all part of the process and uh you know Tyler Gayton going against Micah Parsons is great for Tyler Gayton and um something that we were doing last year before Tyler got dinged up a little bit but um couldn’t be more excited about the roster of players and young men that we’ve that we’ve uh accumulated. Patrick, I want to thank Brad for this alley position question for coach Shotti. You’d have to go back, I mean, you can go back 14, 15 years or so, and it’s a rare occurrence in which the Cowboys don’t even have an indication of who their lead running back might be. You guys added four new guys, two rookies, two veterans. You mentioned Javvante, you mentioned Miles. Through OTAAS and mini camp, has either of those running backs kind of started to take the lead as front runner, or are all of those guys going to get fair shot at first team? Yeah, I think they’ll all get fair shot. The problem with OTAAS for a running back is the game is meant to be played very physically, you know. So, the way you run through the hole is different when you’re wearing pads or you’re in a in a nine on seven period than it is when you’re running around in shorts and t-shirts and OTAAS. Uh they’ll all get reps, but I will say again of the two uh veteran guys, they both they’re very different. You know, Javvante looks great, Miles looks great. We’re excited about Jaden. Um, Hunter Lepki, I always talk about him just with his versatility and what he can do and of course there’s, you know, deuce. But, uh, that’s one of the matchups and one of the position rooms that we’re very excited to watch and see where it develops, not only through practice, but in through the preseason games. Clarence, one quick for Stephen, have you talked to uh, little guy at all or was just Adam? Just Adam up to now. And u obviously shy we know about Jerry Stevens angst to win 30-year drought and all but can you dad talked about your hunger and how you want to win for your dad and your family and you know this is what you’ve been born to do. Can you speak to your hunger to win and win a Super Bowl for your family for yourself? Yeah. Uh one thing I would say you know Clarence is you know the hunger I have now is for the young men in that locker room. It’s for the Joneses. um when we win a Super Bowl, my dad will get a ring. I can promise you that. Um but uh you know, look, this is something where I grew up with a father that there was one goal and he was very open talking about Super Bowls and winning a world’s championship and he never did it. It doesn’t change his legacy and and how good of a coach he was and the type of impact he had on people’s lives. But um you know, these guys over here, they have Super Bowls. you know, they they they’ve won rings. I don’t have one, and I want one in the worst way. And um I’m willing to work my ass off and lead this group of guys whatever way it takes to help them achieve that. But it’s really not just for me. If anything, it’s more for them. Nick, last one. Nick, a quick question. Did you guys have a chance to speak with Kavonte Turban since his arrest? And how do you guys plan on going about discipline? Spoke to Turpp. Um talked through it with him. He explained a lot of things. He understands that there’s a standard uh the way that we conduct ourselves and um he knows that he needs to be better, but we won’t get into all the uh specifics. All righty. Thank you very much, guys. Thanks, guys. Thank you.

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