Talkin’ Cowboys: Eze Does It | Dallas Cowboys 2025

Talkin’ Cowboys: Eze Does It | Dallas Cowboys 2025

The following is a production of DallasCowboys.com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club. Goowboy. [Music] This is Talking Cowboys streaming live from Dallas Cowboys training camp in Oxnard, California. Damn second. Touchdown keeps it and he bangs it in for the touchdown. And now your hosts, Isaiah Standback, Patrick Walker, Josh Rodriguez, and Kyle Yman’s. [Music] Welcome to Talking Cowboys. We are live from training camp in Oxnard, California. It is a nice sunny 73 degrees. I am Josh Rodriguez filling in for Kyleman’s. Isaiah Standback will also be back next week. I’m here with Patrick Nosy Walker. I’m here with Tommy Arsh. Christopher Beamer is in the front. And we are here live. We’re in the front. In the front. We always take Chris Beam in the front. And uh we’re here live from train Oxnard, California. We’re off. We’re doing our thing. We’re happy to be here. It’s nice and sunny. It was cloudy a second ago. And for the big boys out there, it was lovely. It was lovely and now it’s a little sunny. And now I’m a little uncomfortable, but that’s all right. We’re still doing our thing. We’re still doing a hoodie and we’re still doing shorts. It just means that God’s watching the podcast because it was cloudy about 5 10 minutes ago. Few minutes right before we went live. Clouds parted, sun came out. Yeah. Why do we do the podcast uh with a hole in the roof? Huh? Because so God can watch. So God can watch his favorite podcast. The number one rated podcast. That’s right. The people have spoken. Sources say you mentioned we are the people’s champs. You mentioned the hoodie and you know all that. I real quick as we get started here, I want to say thanks to our friends at the at the Cowboys Pro Shop for hooking us up with some great gear. You can get this like little short sleeve hoodie deal. I I love this. I’m going to wear the the the heck out of this. So, I love this. I love the material. So soft. So soft. What is this? Velvet. Yeah, it is. It is. I didn’t get that one. And I am green with jealous rage. Yeah. And thank you for joining. Relax, Bruce. I’m very happy. So, uh, thanks to our friends at the Cowboys Pro Shop and you can get one of these your own at the Cowboys Pro Shop. So, if you want to shop.com or Yeah, something like that. But if you want to be comfortable just like me up here, I love it. 73° weather. And you look great. I’m going to fight you for that hoodie. Thank you. It’s going to get a little chippy out here. Yeah, I guess where else it’s getting chippy? You like that? Good transition. On the practice field. Good segue. Quality. Getting chippy on the practice field. Quality segue. We’re getting into practice. We’re getting into was this day four, day five, something. Well, we we’re two practices down now. Okay, fair enough. Shotty addressed the fights that were happening at camp. We saw one early on. Day one, no big deal. Little skirmish, no big deal. Uh, day two was a little interesting. Things got real chippy. Maybe a punch or two thrown. I don’t know. Sources say maybe a punch. Per source informed there was a couple of punches thrown. Uh, Shotty talked about it. punches can’t be we can’t be throwing punches out there. Can’t do it. Uh is and I know he’s talking about a new culture and being intense, finding ways to be intense, but you have to be disciplined at the same time. Boys, this is this is toxic culture that we’re seeing Dallas and Brian Shottenheimimer. No, I mean this is normal. I This is football. I think you heard it from It’s contact sport. Yeah, it’s a contact sport and these are these are guys who have been wanting to go for a while now, right? And now they finally get a chance to kind of let it out a little bit and you know, not not as much as they should be. You know, pads come on on Sunday. There’s going to be plenty of opportunities for you to go and hit somebody. Y uh so, you know, you just got to you just got to know how to practice, right? And you got to know how to practice. This is their first time practicing under Brian Shottimer, I think. You know, as as well as you as well as he could. He he he shut everything down pretty quick and the Cowboys staff shut everything down pretty quick. But uh punches and stuff like that, you know, pushing and shoving, that’s one thing, right? Like that’s naturally going to happen. Like Kan Hall and CD Lamb got into it yesterday and they’re got into a shoving match, throw the ball, one that’s fine. These guys are going at it. They’re, you know, I think Dak put it really well in his in his press conference. He’s like, man, these guys are fighting for jobs. You know, they’re fighting for their livelihood out here. So it’s intense. It’s going to be high pressure and naturally is you know just human nature that stuff’s going to happen. So you just can’t let it boil over too far. Is it toxic? Absolutely not. You know what I would view as toxic? Uh a football team well of course but a football team that doesn’t show physicality, does not show intensity, shows some type of you know lack of dasical behavior toward what is another pivotal season for the Dallas Cowboys. I mean, this is a pressure-packed season for several reasons on several layers. Of course, the most prevalent is going to be the fact that you’re bringing in a new head coach, but on top of that, this is his first time as an NFL head coach. He has a lot to prove as early as year one. So, if you’re Brian Shottenheimimer, you want, and I love what Dak Prescott said yesterday about it. He said that it’s about walking the line. He said it’s a fine line. Excuse me. It’s about being competitive, but not being combative. And that’s what it needs to be. And but he said it’s healthy. And I agree with that Prescott. It is healthy. But I also agree with Brian Shenheimer in saying you can’t throw punches. You absolutely can’t throw punches. A shoving match here and there. Okay, fine. That’s called alpha males squaring off in a in a circle and getting their business on. Okay. But when it comes to, you know, what we saw in day two with the huge scrum and a couple punches were thrown here and there, that can’t happen because if you’re allowing it as a head coach to happen in practice, then you’re going to ultimately have a hard time policing it in a game when that third down is on the line, the quarter is on the line, the game is on the line, and that’s going to be the difference, especially in a division that’s as feverishly competitive as the NFC East. That can be the difference between you making the playoffs and you being on the outside looking in by one or two games. So, we talk about penalties, uh, self-discipline, being able to control what you can control. You can control what your hands are doing when when it comes time to, you know, get face to face with a guy. And on top of that, I am eternally on the on the level of one of the dumbest things I’ve ever seen in life, and I play ball. Why would you throw a punch at a guy wearing a helmet? Yeah, the helmet always wins. It’s always a good question. It’s an interesting decision. Always a good question. But as you’re saying, you know, emotions are high. You have men out here competing against one another, showing that there are dogs out there, which I love. Uh I I I like seeing it, but as Brian Shanimer said, that there has to be a way to discipline it. And another thing that you wrote in your article following up Brian Shottenheimer talking about it is that when you have uh aggressiveness to that level, when you control it, it is all the more dangerous. That to me is indicative of who this team. It’s a good thing that early on in camp we’re seeing these things, but you don’t want that to reflect on the field on Sunday when you’re going against teams, fines can be incurred and you can get players eliminated off the field, you know, thrown off the field for uh throwing punches. It’s it it’s not good. We’ve seen it before. We don’t want it to happen. Here’s what I said and feel free to check out the article on dallascowboys.com that I wrote um based upon what Shotti said about um how he’s policing and how he expects the Dallas Cowboys to act in practice. And for those of us that were present in real time, it was refreshing to see Shottenheimimer’s response. Oh, he got into he got into it. There were fbombs flying all over the place. Uh and then magically there were no other incidences thereafter in that particular practice. Of course, we had almost one yesterday. But then what do we see? Seanimer runs in. He helps pull Kiman Hall off. Kman had he had it cocked back. What did Seanimer say? Don’t do it. Don’t do it. Because Seanimer is going to penalize these guys as it would be in the game. You’re probably going to miss some reps out here in practice. You might get a fine by the team out here in training camp. So ultimately, to your point, Joshu, like I said in the article, intensity plus control equals wins equals success. That’s how you do it. You need to be the most intense you can be, but at the end of the day, you have to stand on that razor’s edge effectively. And holding players accountable, I think, is a huge part of it, too. And holding the coaching staff responsible uh for accountability word again, it keeps coming up. It keeps coming up with Shotimer’s culture. Okay. I like that. I like it. It’s tasty, spicy. Uh, another thing you guys can control or the the players can control on the field, turnovers. Yes. Oh, that’s been a big emphasis, at least for me, watching practice over the past couple of days. Uh, you’re seeing a lot of turnovers. You’re seeing the defense making a lot of plays. Now, I guess outside looking in, when you hear about interceptions, I think at practice, especially at training camp, when you’re instilling a brand new offense, those are it comes with the territory. You want those chances to be taken out here versus on Sunday against whoever it is. My thing is fumbles, ball security. We’re seeing quite a bit of that so far. First week of camp, couple first couple days instilling those things. Does that concern you at all about Shotti’s offense? Not necessarily. Um, you know, I think the the fumbles that we’ve seen, right, I think when you think about earlier in practice, these are way after the the play is blown dead, right? These are training camp reps to where they want everybody to run through the finish, right? They want everybody to run through the finish. I mean, I think back to uh the the one that Donovan Wilson knocked out. I don’t remember who the receiver was, but he was 20 30 yards down the field just thinking he was fine and then Donovan Wilson comes in and punches the ball out. So, there’s a there’s a catch between two, right? Because on one hand, when Matt Eberlu’s defenses have been at their best, they’re forcing turnovers. They’re stopping the run. We’ve talked about that extensively. And so when you see that, you know, Malik Hooker getting a one-handed pick, Zion Childris, the undrafted free agent out of Kentucky getting a pick, those are all things that, you know, encourage you. And those were two plays that and those guys just made it. It wasn’t necessarily a bad I guess you could say it was bad passes from Dak and Joe Milton who throw the picks. But those guys made a heck of a play. Absolutely. So interception play of the day yesterday. That’s an example of it was not a bad pass. Malik Hooker just made the play. H I think Dak under threw it a little bit and it allowed him to to make nonetheless. Nonetheless, it was it was a great play. And now I will say there have been a bad pass or two. The pass the uh the pick by Marshon Nan. Don’t make that throw. Yeah, that was just don’t throw that. That was that was a throw. You got to throw that. Don’t throw that. So it it’s a it’s a tomy’s point. It’s a mix of well, first of all, to answer your question, no, I’m not concerned with the offense because I believe the offense will get that cleaned up. Um, because we talk about Brian Shottenheimer taking over as head coach. Guess what? He’s also taking over as offensive play caller. You have new pieces in play, whether it be George Pickkins, whether it be, you know, uh, Tyler Gen going into year two, Tyler Bookie, Tyler Booker, a rookie, uh, right guard, four new faces in the running back’s room, the list goes on and on. So, they need time to kind of finish their installation in jail. from a flu standpoint that makes it easier for your guys to make plays on the ball. Right. Absolutely. And when you’re talking about punching the ball away, which is, you know, just one example of that’s not based on scheme, right? So, while the Cowboys offense is working on scheme and routes and timing and things like that, if you’re a defensive player, one thing that’s never going to be predicated upon what the scheme was, what the play call was, is if you’re near me and that that ball is near me, I can punch at it. Okay? If you make the throw and I’m in the vicinity, I can go up and try to get that ball. So kudos to the defense. I mean, they’re just taking the ball away time and time again. Malik Hooker, Kyrie Elum, you mentioned Zion Childris, Donovan Wilson’s punching the ball free. I mean, these guys are really getting after it on defense, and it’s going to what Shenheimer is predicting in that the Cowboys quote unquote will be one of the top teams in the league in takeaways. So far so good. We’ll see if it plays out in a very Dan Quinnish way, but so far so good. Well, keep me honest. Do the interceptions kind of give you guys any sort of like are you fine as far as like them learning this new offensive scheme? Are you fine with seeing an interception or two or is it just like literally I don’t want to see it at all. I’m fine seeing it in training camp. It’s training camp and it’s the first one. Get it out the way. It’s training camp. I I like I I I think that sometimes maybe we put too much stock into, you know, let’s say Dak has two Dak has two picks on the day. It’s the guy’s going to throw interceptions. He’s going to throw interceptions in the regular season. Every quarterback does. It’s going to happen. And you know, this is a guy who’s coming back from injury. He’s still I don’t know if he’s knocking the rust off at this point because he was there for OTAAS and things like that, but you know, he’s getting used to a new receiver and George Pickkins and trying to understand what Brian Shanimer wants. I don’t know if if Dak necessarily going into year 10 and he’s had several years working with Brian Shottenheimimer if there’s necessarily a lot that he has to pick up or a lot that he has to learn or a lot that he has to change at this point in his career. But nonetheless, it takes time to to mesh everything together and it takes time to get back up to training camp speed because I think training camp speed is different than OTAA speed. OTAA is a lot of install and you know getting these guys up to speed and you know it’s the guys around him too. George Pickkins getting comfortable and these running backs getting comfortable. Two running backs Dak Prescott’s never played with and right now they don’t have pads on. So, we can’t really tell a lot from the running backs. So, no, it doesn’t concern me at all. It’s going to happen and it it it it’s going to happen again. Like Dak Prescott’s going to throw more interceptions during training camp, but he’s also going to throw touchdowns. I mean, I thought the offense responded pretty well yesterday after those first couple of picks. It looked rocky at first, but they they made some good plays down the stretch. Well, wasn’t it after uh the Malik Cooker interception, immediately following that play was one of the best passes I’d seen all of camp. Dak to George Pickkins in a corner end out. Yeah, just insane, man. George Pick. That and not to mention just the relationship that and chemistry that Dak is already building with George Pickkins this early in training camp. I mean, that that’s like one of my favorite things to see is George Pickkins out here because it looks like he’s having a great time. I don’t know what was going on in Pittsburgh, but it seems like he’s very happy to be here. It it bears mentioning what you just said in that George Pickkins, again, don’t know where the narrative came from out in Pittsburgh. I’m not in Pittsburgh, so I don’t know. All I can do is based upon what I’m seeing. And George Pickkins is having the time of his life out here. And uh if you don’t believe us, there are plenty of videos that show him dancing and celebrating with CD Lamb. You know, the grenade celebration. He took that from us actually. We we we typically do that after the show and then they saw us doing it and they were like, “Oh.” And then I got it from Ronald Akuna. So, but um I mean, yeah. No, I got it from Ronald Akuna. Okay. I I Thomas got it from Ronald Akuna. But no, again, just to recap really quickly. I mean, this is an offense that not only are they looking to install uh a new scheme in Brian Shottenheimer, but Shotti keeps talking about multiple looks, multiple sets, right? So they’re trying to install multiple things under center shotgun. You saw uh Dak Prescott take off on a read option yesterday. So while they’re doing all of this and trying to get timing and everything down advantage defense because all you have to do is react to an offense that’s still working out a lot of tweaks. So are there some, you know, throws that Dak Prescott and Joe Milton and Will Greer want back through the first two practices? Absolutely there are. There are some bad throws there, but then there are some throws that it was just an athletic play. So kudos to the defense. But again, to your point, do I care about, am I worried, should I say, am I worried about interceptions in training camp? No. Because this is when you experiment. This is when you see what works so that when you get to the regular season and it’s September 4th and it’s against the Philadelphia Eagles, you know what to try and what to not try. What? Don’t do that. Don’t don’t do that. But do that. All right, boys. Uh, I have a big question for you guys when we get back from the break. Uh, I need you to pick one offensive player, one defensive player. Biggest standouts from camp so far, week one. When we come back, talking Cowboys on dallascowboys.com. AT&T has a new guarantee because most things in life are not guaranteed like getting through selfch checkckout by yourself. Warning, each item must be placed in the bagging area. Not guaranteed. Place item in the bagging area. Place item in the bagging area. You know what AT&T guarantees? Connectivity you depend on, deals you want, and service you deserve. or we make it right. Firms and conditions survive. Visit at.com/g guarantee for details. AT&T connecting changes everything. 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Kyle loves reading the YouTube comments and he always brings you back uh the the the comment of the day from YouTube. Um, shouts to my boy Al. Alf, excuse me. The elf. The alien. The uh Josh, if you’re on the show, I need an I don’t know Jim to start the show. Well, it’s the second segment, so I’ll just give you one real quick. I don’t know. Tommy does a really good one, too. I don’t know Jim. Tommy does an excellent idol. I think my favorite my favorite that’s like up there with the great like Tony Romo CBS sports moments, but I think my favorite moment was I think he’s calling a either when Tyreek Hill is either with the Chiefs or the Dolphins and he got the teleustrator out and he’s like then Tyreek Hill is going to do this like giant loop is hilarious. I love it. Touchdown. And he he finishes like touchdown. Shout out to my boy Tony Romo. Good friend of mine. I don’t know. good friend of the program. Also, real quick, shout out to Wrestling with the Bros. I’m I’m always going to shout out my felling my fellow wrestling afficionado. Shout out to my guy, man. All Cowboys fans who are also big wrestling fans, whether it be WWE, AW, TNA, whatever the case may be, we love you. RIP to the Hulkster, not the other guy. Um, all right, boys. One offensive player, one defensive player that stood out the most in week one. All right, I need you guys to give me just one one a piece. Tommy, you want to go first? Uh, well, defense is easy. Donovan is Rocku. Okay. Defense is Don’t take Well, defense is pull on purpose. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. What did I just It’s a bar either way. You did help. That’s actually exactly what I was going for. Um, no, defense is easy and Donovan is making it look very easy. Uh, see, that’s even better. Um, but you know, this guy’s, when we were talking about him on the draft show, I think a point that we made a lot of times was, hey, this is a guy who is one of, if not the more pro ready guys coming out of the draft, right? This is a guy who led the ACC in sacks last year. Uh, he won the award for the best college football defensive end last year and he was just dominant at Boston College. And I think yesterday was the day like his second practice was really good, but yesterday was a day where, you know, when I was doing training camp live with Mickey or just standing on the sideline on the back of the endzone, I’m like, man, he is beating everybody. I mean, his first step is unbelievable. He’s got great bend. The bend is something that we talk about all the time with him where he can just blow past you and he can use his his arms really well to just make the right move and beat the tackle. And you know, Tyler Gayton’s a guy who’s had some good reps, but man, Donovan Esaku had him beat bad a couple of times out there. And so, you know, as we’ve talked about a lot, the defensive end room, like this is one of the more deep rooms that the Cowboys have on this roster. Deep indeed. There you go. If Donovan Ezra, I’ll allow it, turns out to be the second best defensive end on this team behind Michael Parsons, the Cowboys are going to be set there for years to come because I I think this kid’s the real deal. He’s going to be a really good football player for a really long time and he’s just starting to show the flashes here early of what he can be. Patrick, before you give your defensive, give me a little bit more about easy what you’re saying. Well, it’s it’s it’s funny you me you say that because that’s also my biggest defense. I feel like I feel like there’s you guys who have had good days, but as a Rocket the last two practices just blows you away. It should be a consensus right now. and everything Tommy said, and let me add to this. He’s already, and I I tweeted this, as a rookie, no exaggeration, no hyperbole, as a rookie coming into the league, he’s easily one of Ely, one of the best uh or I should, yeah, one of the best technicians at his pass rush that I’ve seen. And not just so as a rookie, not just so technically sound in one or two moves. He has the array of pass rush moves and the ability and Shanheimer said this to me yesterday or the day before when I asked him about easy. He said he has the ability to set the edge as well, which we’re seeing as far as run defense on the edge goes. But when you talk about the dip, the bend, the first step is absolute insanity. His first step is instantly comparable to two players on this defense in this defensive end room, Michael Parsons and Sam Williams. Insane. And that is an insane compliment for a rookie who did not play at a huge program. But by the way, he’s a record setter at his program in Boston College. You see everything you need to see from this guy and more that not only justifies him being a second round pick, but you start to wonder why he fell out of the first round. But to that point though, when you’re choosing a defensive end, one of the most important positions in our game, but when you’re choosing one in the second round, you’re typically drafting a guy that has a move, maybe two traits, possibilities, high ceilings. What this guy is showing you out here is that he looks like he has sort of all of those things combined into one package. For a second round defensive end of his caliber to be picked that late in the second round, it’s impressive. You know, it I’m going to use a line from my good friend Vach Lombardi. Teams don’t know how to draft. Teams don’t know how to draft. And so, you know, when we look back at this draft three years down the line or five years down the line or something, you’re going to look at guys ahead of Donovan Azaraku if he, you know, continue. Obviously, we don’t know what kind of career he’s going to have, but I could very well see a scenario where it’s like, how on earth did you think this guy was going to be better than Ezrau? And you know, it it it just goes back to I when I talked to Bill O’Brien about this kid uh earlier in the offseason after the Cowboys drafted him, you know, there’s he’s a little bit undized. You know, he’s not necessarily the tallest guy at defensive end. He’s not necessarily the stockiest guy, but he’s just so technically sound. And that’s what Bill O’Brien, who has seen some very good defensive ends in his day, namely a guy like JJ Watt, you know, when he was with the Houston Texans, kind of good at what he did, I Think so. He’s going to be a Hall of Famer or something. But, you know, this is a guy who just finds a way to get into the back field and it’s a guy who’s, you know, was he’s the first person that Bill O’Brien met when he took the job at Boston College. This is a guy who loves football and he loves being a leader on his team. So, it wouldn’t shock me at all if this guy is a is a centerpiece for the Cowboys defense going forward. And I I’ll say this um one final in closing on Ezrau is his ability coming in and we’ll it’s early. We’ll see what his trajectory continues to look like, but my god is he off to a fast start. But what it does is we’re sitting here talking about a rookie after day two being the biggest defensive standout in a defensive end in room. Granted, Michael Parson’s not on the field right now, but oh by the way, Dante Fowler’s out there and Dante Fowler’s on a revenge tour. And Dante Fowler looks fantastic. And we’re still talking about Ezrau, a rookie. So, Ezra Rocku doing what he’s doing, it’s going to push Dante Fowler even more so than Dante’s already being pushed on his revenge tour coming off a career season. Sam Williams has more than enough motivation to get out there already having missed all of last season with a torn ACL. Talked to Sam yesterday and he said with a smile when it come when the pads get on, he was like, “I’m going to try to kill somebody at least once.” He was like he already Yeah. He said, “I want everybody to be safe.” This is his quote. He said, “I want everybody to be safe, but at least once I’m going to try to kill somebody.” He he killed Tyler Neville on the first day. He did. So point being, when you see this level of ability within this defensive end in room, including Ezrau, this level of competition where they’re looking at each other saying, “Anything you can do, I can do better.” And let’s not forget Marshawn Nean first camp interception. And he’s also going to look to challenge as well. He’s still my dark horse. Uh as far as breakout, potential breakout player in camp, this defensive end room, we talk about the concerns rightfully so about defensive tackle. Defensive end, I have no concerns. It’s very exciting. Okay, I’m going to change it up a little bit. Obviously, easy is the standout on defense and especially for a rookie at this point. Um, I want to be a little different and uh I want to look at uh one Maris Leaf, boys. He’s flying out here. He is. He’s flying. He looks lean. He looks so fast. Um, from his interview now on doscows.com, he was saying that the game is sort of slowing down for him. The way I’ve seen him diagnosing defenses so far is not typical in the way that you would see a secondyear player now learning a brand new defensive scheme. Uh I’m surprised to see that sort of jump from him so far having to learn a new defensive scheme. So um I really do want to give a quick shout out to to Maris Leau. Absolutely. But what are you guys seeing on the field? You guys are definitely on there a lot more than I am. So I kind of want your emphasis on this. Yeah. No, Maris Lee is a guy who, you know, towards the end of the year last year, got more opportunities and kind of made the most of him. This is a guy who is better as a blitzer than I think people give him credit for. Um, but super smart player like he he had all the the smarts coming out of Notre Dame and he was a five-year player, I think, at Notre Dame. So, this is a guy who’s played a lot of football. He’s played at a high level and who knows the game really well. And that’s what this coaching staff has always been very complimentary about him with. And you know, he’s got a coach in Matt Everloose that kind of has the mightest touch when it comes to linebackers, right? This guy has a very strong track record of producing high-end linebackers. I mean, you just look back in Chicago, Tmaine Edmonds, and um, of course, I’m blanking on the other guy’s name. I can literally see his number, but I beg your pardon. But, uh, this it’s a guy who who knows linebackers, who knows the position really well, and he has a past history of making sure that these guys play well in his system, but also making sure these guys know the position really well and can be leaders on the defense. So whether that’s Maris Leaf, who in his rookie season was the backup green dot to Eric Kendricks, which I think says a lot to about his football acumen and his knowledge of the defense already. Obviously transitioning to a new system may change things, but you know, this is a guy that the Cowboys are looking to hopefully continue to take the next steps and continue to get down so that he can get some more playing time. And and to uh to Tommy’s point as far as Maris being uh you know getting tutored and taught and coached by Matt Iberluse when I was here in his first stint with the Cowboys as linebackers coach. Yeah, he had an insane talent in Sha Lee. Unfortunately, um you know, 50 couldn’t stay healthy. However, the talent was there. You saw what Sha Lee was able to do when healthy. But then he coach up guys like Anthony Hitchens to getting big free agency deals, right? Being effective at what they were doing. So this is the type type of coach that Merist is is combining his ability with and the ability is through the roof because even coming out of Notre Dame, what was one of the biggest positives for him? It was football acumen. It it was his ability to read, diagnose, and absorb entire playbooks. And it it’s showing now because the game is slowing down for me. Uh, and it looks like on several fronts during, you know, a rep here or there that he knows to play before the offense knows to play because he’s there at the spot by the time the ball carry gets to the spot, whether it be a handoff or whether it be an outlet pass to the, you know, left or right of center. So, Merist is is poised, especially with the absence of oversh we’ll we’ll see, but a lot is going to be put upon Merly a foul. A lot was put upon him last year and what did he do? He stepped up like Tommy said and became the green dot um behind Eric Kendrick when Eric Kendricks went down. Sambourne is coming in with a particular role. Kenneth Murray is coming in with a particular set of skills. I like it. Liam Niss. Um but really going forward the future of the Cowboys linebacker core has two names written all over it. Maris Leaf foul to Marvio. And I think Meris is going to show as early as this season why that is. I think uh the entire I saw the entire Cowboys training staff collectively faint when Demarvian Overshawn started running yesterday. He he claimed it was only 70%. When I when I dropped the clip on Twitter and and thanks for pointing it out to me, Tommy, he responded. He said it was just 70% and then kind of funny off the off the cuff. Josh and I last night were uh getting ready to go and see Fantastic 4. And then who walks up to us with the biggest smile on his face, the Marv Overshon? And I said, Demo, was that really 70%. He was like, “Oh, it probably was less.” Yes, please. He’s blazing out there. Hey, just just take it easy, man. I think the coaching staff agrees with you, Tom. That’s what that’s what Brick Brown is probably telling him. Take it easy, buddy. That took up an entire segment. So, when we come back, we’re going to get to our offensive standout of camp so far, week one. When we come back, talking Cowboys on dallascowboys.com. They say champions are remembered, but legends are never forgotten. United A and Turf offers a winning lineup of John Deere equipment built to tackle any challenge on and off the field. Legendary John Deere tractors, combines, residential mowers, commercial mowers, compact construction equipment, Gator utility vehicles, and a full line of golf and sports turf equipment. 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Visit att.com/garant for details. AT&T connecting changes everything. If you’re looking for fresh American roasted coffee that gives back, you need to head to your local grocery store and pick up a bag of Black Rifle Coffee. That’s right. America’s Coffee is now available in the coffee aisle of a grocery store near you. Black Rifle Coffee Company is veteran founded with a mission to give back to those brave men and women who have served our nation. Every bag, box, or can you purchase helps support that mission. Head to your local grocery store and roast yourself some Black Rifle coffee today. Back to Talking Cowboys. Welcome back to Talking Cowboys live from training camp in Oxnard, California, presented by American Airlines. The 2025 fan of the year is presented by Captain Morgan. Did you guys know that? I did not. I did not know, but thank you for bringing up Captain Morgan because don’t mind if I do later this evening. Yeah, I was going to say me and Patrick are going to be singing Kumbaya. But don’t mind if I do leg up in everything. Yeah. Have my leg up in everything like Beamer is doing right now. I wish y’all could see Beamer. He was doing the Captain Morgan post. Beamer in the front. That’s the Captain Beamer. All right, boys. Uh it’s our last segment of F Talking Cowboys here in the first week of training camp. We will be back next week. We’ll be back next week on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday with Kyle Yman’s. Wait, right. Yeah. Beamer’s looking at me all strange. Are we Kyle’s Tuesday? Thursday. Tuesday. Thursday. Tuesday. Thursday. Today is Friday. I got my rotation. We’ll be back next week. Kyle. All right. He’ll do this better than I will. That’s fine. Great job. I was going to say, don’t don’t be so hard on yourself, bro. You’re cooking up here, man. Oh, God. Cooking up here. I’m happy to be here, guys. I really Even though you guys are kicking me off the show for Kyle Yman’s. I don’t know why. Huh? We should have time. Oh, I’m back. It’s four seats. Oh, I thought Isaiah was back. No, no, no, no. He’s still doing his I still miss you, Isaiah. Yeah, he’s doing his football going on next week. All right. Well, we won’t see Isaiah. We still We still miss and love you, Isaiah. Yeah, absolutely. Make your way back. Make your way out here. He’s all right. All right, boys. Uh, final segment. Let’s He’s all right. Let’s talk about offensive standouts. Now, I want to before you guys get into the the hot players, the the the what? The playmakers, the receivers. I’m not taking the low hanging fruit. The touchdown getters out there. I need a quick shout out. to a certain player that I think is carrying himself like a veteran while being the first round pick of the 2025 NFL season and that is one Tyler Booker. Yes, boys. What I’ve seen from Tyler Booker so far um just said it, he carries himself like a veteran. I think he’s the communication that he’s had so far with the offensive line, not necessarily on the line of scrimmage, but in the huddle off to the side, it’s genuinely feels like he’s been here before. He’s acting like he’s been there before and it’s something that I think is going to impact a player like Tyler Gayton who came in last year saying all the right things but I think kind of halfway through lost his confidence a bit um just kind of get the mental game around it all. So far, granted, first week, Tyler Booker seems to have that confidence in spades. And I think a player like Tyler Gen is going to feed off of that. And as long as the communication is there, and as long as they’re clanging and banging on the offensive line, you’re going to continue to see confidence grow across the line and become whole. Um, I’m really excited about it. What can you guys tell me about Tyler Booker so far? So far, he looks looks the part. I mean, obviously physically he looks the part, like you said, he’s carrying himself both on and off the field like a professional. He’s he’s holding up well um against, you know, guys like Solomon Thomas, for example. And by the way, Solomon Thomas looks pretty damn good out there. There’s a couple plays where Tyler Smith handled him because Tyler Smith is Tyler Smith. Um but there are a couple plays where Solomon twin Solomon Thomas, you know, there’s a couple twinsies. I see I see the resemblance. I know. We look exactly the same. And mostly in the chiseled form. Exactly. That’s really where it boils down. I’m wearing a long sleeve, but you don’t see these biceps going. That’s because you’re trying to get them to focus on what we’re saying and not detract from. And I respect and I appreciate that. Let share the camera with Tommy and I. I know I’m the eye candy of the podcast, but boys, there’s a limit and these nice shirts from a whole Starburst right here. A whole starburst. But um Tyler Booker, like you said, he’s he’s doing everything right. It is early in camp. Um, I can’t say that he’s as a rookie standing out as Ezrau is, but that’s not a knock to Tyler Booker. That’s simply more and more credit to Ezrau. And of course, these are different positions as well. So, you have to assess a def an offensive lineman differently than you assess an edge rusher. But, I like what I’m seeing from Tyler Booker. He’s I will say this, he’s not getting pushed around. He’s not getting pushed around. Well, he’s doing the pushing around. I think yesterday was the day where uh I I I saw the best rep we’ve seen from Tyler Booker. I mean, he tell us about it. He took Mazy Smith and just completely moved him out of the way and Cooper BB went up to the next level, took the linebacker out and Javvante Williams probably had the most running room in front of him that he has had since college. I mean, it was just the the sea parted and it was all because of what Booker did to Mazi. And and I’m not saying Mazy Smith is, you know, he he that’s a whole different conversation. He lost that rep. And he lost that rep. It’s one rep. you know, he still needs to take the next step. But man, that was the play where, you know, afterwards you you see the how just how giant the hole was for the running back to run through and you go back and say, well, how’d that happen? Tyler Booker, I mean, just completely threw him out of the club and that was the best rep we’ve seen. But he’s a road grader, right? That’s what he was at Alabama. This is a guy who is going to pave the way. He moves really well. when you see him run onto the field, you know, he’s not the most athletic guy. It’s not a problem. He is plenty athletic for a guy his size. You don’t need a gazelle playing right guard for you. I was going to say he’s also tackled. So you you he’s a strong dude and you saw it on that play because Mazy Smith’s not weak either. Like he’s a strong guy and he’s known for his strength. But that rep, man, Booker just it was telling it was unbelievable. And you know that’s both sides of the ball. But I think we need to address the defensive side on our next show. Right. Uh did you have any Yeah, I want using what you said as a segue about Tyler Booker and thanks for the alleyoop. Um I’m going to go to Tyler Gayton. There’s some easily lowhanging fruit that’s justified if I wanted to say George Pickkins for example. If I wanted to say CD Lamb, I could say those two things and be very well justified in doing so. But I want to give credit to a a young man who is taking strides that are much needed at Dak Prescott’s blind side to hopefully keep Dak Prescott clean, upright, healthy. It’s Tyler Gayton. What I’m seeing from Tyler Gayton in the offseason is in the first two practices at least, it’s beginning to translate over onto the field. We already knew that Tyler Gayton had exceptional footwork, particularly stemming from his days as a basketball player. His footwork is just fairly exceptional. It was his handwork. It was some of his strength. It was his ability to move his mass. Right. There was a little bit too much unnecessary mass on his frame last year. So what does he do? He changes his diet completely. Cuts out fried foods, goes mostly protein. I mean, we see the guy working out in the rain doing boxing drills. He’s working on his hands. That work that he’s put into hand placement, strength, ability to punch, ability to strike. He’s doing a lot of work with none other than Tyron Smith, okay, this off season trying to figure out how to get some of those techniques and and translate them. And you’re seeing it. Does he win every rep? No. But I’ve seen him win multiple reps against Dante Fowler. Didn’t we just say Dante was coming in hot and yet Dante’s not winning every rep against uh Tyler Gayton. I’ve seen him get stonewalled a couple times by Gayton. Uh there was another one. Marshon Neland just yesterday. Marshon G gave Gayton a fantastic dip bend. But Gayton used that against him because Gayton knew that it was an outside run. So all he did was use it to seal him off completely. And that was the play I believe that Deuce Vaughn basically just took off and ran. Right. So when you start to see Tyler Gayton take these strides and his confidence is definitely there. The motivation is there. I’m going to give the young man his due. We’ll see ultimately if he can continue to stack good days, but thus far he’s stacking some really good days. The technique for Tyler Gayton has improved on a huge level just seeing the way that he’s like stoic as the defensive end is bending around him and that he’s able to keep his back straight. Uh they talked about it yesterday on the break uh very impressively. Check that out on docowboys.com. Third rigged podcast under talking cowboys. But um really quickly before you throw to Tommy because we love our we love our commenters. We do. I got to say this call out says Tyler got and got destroyed yesterday. If you’re talking about that rep from Ezrau, anybody would have gotten destroyed. Did you see the get off? The get off was so good it looked like it was off sides, but it wasn’t off sides. Bottom line. Also, everyone’s not going to win every rep, of course. So Tyler Gayton lost that rep just like Mazy lost that rep when he got walked out of the club by Tyler Booker. It happens. So I agree with you. He got smoked on that particular rep. But I’m telling you, as those of us are out here that are clocking his reps, he’s winning far more often than he’s losing. Call out. Don’t try and call us out. Don’t do it. Just to clarify, I appreciate the comment, but let me let me add context to that. Fair enough. Fair enough. Yeah. Uh offensive standout for me is Jonathan Mingo. I thought he’s had I thought he stacked up some pretty good days here so far. You know, this is a guy who, you know, he’s taken some first team reps, some second team reps. So, I think it’s good that he gets, you know, a little bit of connection with Joe Milton and Dak Prescott. You know, this is a guy who I think can really play himself into that wide receiver four, wide receiver five range. I think, you know, when you look at behind George Pickkins and CD Lamb, you’ve got Cavante Turpin, Jonathan Mingo, and Jaylen Tolbert as kind of the three names to watch there. You know, is unless, you know, a guy like Jaylen Brooks or Ryan Fenoy starts to make a run or Jaylen Craropper. So, but Mingo the last couple of days, you know, we we’ve kind of joked about how, man, if Mingo could have gotten a good pass last year, maybe he’s, you know, maybe he gets a little bit better. I feel like every time they threw him the ball is like, man, Cooper Rush just threw it off the back of the defender’s helmet. Like, how how is this guy supposed to have a chance? So, you you’re seeing some of the reasons why the Cowboys felt that Jonathan Mingo was good enough to trade a fourth round pick for. And obviously, the last time they traded a fourth round pick for a player before Mingo, it didn’t work out the way they wanted it to. So, is this a guy who can find his role on this team and maybe tap into some of the potential that we saw coming out of Old Miss? because there was a lot of it. This guy’s a second round pick. He looked uh really good on film in college and you saw some of the flashes and now you’re starting to see some of it again. I think you know the this the one that throw I think he and Joe Milton have really connected a couple of times to where you say, “Okay, he’s having he’s having a solid camp.” There was one throw where Milton kind of put it maybe a yard or two past him and he dove out just couldn’t get there. That was I think it was more on Milton than it was on him. Deep throw down the scene. But yeah, Jonathan Mingo has been making more plays than not and I think it’s it’s a promising start and now we just see can he start mixing in with the first team and can he start connecting with Dak Prescott and building that trust with Dak Prescott a little bit more to where they trust him to go with that unit too and make plays. It’s interesting that I feel like we all picked really solid obviously offensive standouts. There’s one that I was just staying away from personally. No, you got it. I don’t know if you guys felt the same way about this and like you also didn’t want to choose the one that everyone else is going to choose. So, none of us choosed him, George Pickkins. That that was the lowhanging justified fruit that I didn’t want to pick. I didn’t want to pick him either because because it’s so easy to It’s Oh my goodness. It’s so easy. It’s so fun watching them out here. The chemistry that has we alluded to it earlier. We just have a few minutes, guys. What is it like seeing a wide receiver that can not only complement CD, but is almost just as dangerous as CD Lamb with the starting offense? Well, first of all, go dogs. Let’s let’s start there. Okay. Right. So, the fact that, you know, he’s a product of Kirby Smart is no surprise to me. It’s no surprise. It’s a product. He’s a product of the national championship program out in Athens. So seeing him hands right now. So seeing him So seeing him translate I even got the red and black on in honor of George Pickings. So seeing him translate that into onto the NFL field for the Dallas Cowboys in tandem with an a record- setting Allp Pro and CD Lamb. I call them the Terror Twins for a reason and it’s because I don’t see how you can defend both of them when it’s so difficult to defend one of them. And then by the way, there are other weapons that are going to step up like Jake Ferguson is looking to have. Okay, you can relax, Texas. We’re back. We’re back to talking. Wait, I thought I talked about Texas a lot. My goodness. You do. You do. But hey, you know, your your school is your school. As far as I know, no players are from the Art Institute of Seriously, man. Or else I’d be talking about them. Seriously, though, man. George Pickkins, like we talked about at the top of the episode, he’s having the time of his life. He he makes every catch look easy. Even in the drills when he did the the seam route and he just caught it with one hand and just left it in that it’s like come on come on guy and that’s what the Cowboys are getting with George Pickkins. It’s going to be a sight to behold. Yeah. Yeah. Pickings gives you an extra dimension and I don’t think we’ve really seen what George Pickins is best at yet because he’s the go up and get it guy. And I mean this part of training camp they’re not really throwing a lot of go up and get it passes. So well yesterday was a go down and get it. Dude, he caught it at his feet yesterday. Yeah, at his feet. And insane. Dak Prescott just putting it in the right spot on a quick out ride. I think George Piggin is a lot better after the catch than we’re giving him credit for. I’m not saying boosters, but he got I don’t know if I’d go as far to say turbo boosters, but he’s saying he’s turpin. I understand that he’s not he’s not the fastest guy on the field, but he is more than adequate after the catch. And I think that, you know, if he could continue to build on that aspect of his game and and do that just cuz I mean he’s a freak show athlete. So, you know, you add that component into it and, you know, Dak Prescott’s going to have a lot of fun this year, I think, with those two. And I I talked about it on the website when we did our 20 questions here is, you know, in terms of who makes the first their first Pro Bowl this year. I think it’s George Pickkins. I think he’s going to have that good of a year in the Cowboys offense to where he can go to Hawaii or wherever they’re having that thing now. I agree. And keep in mind, George Pickkins is now being uh moved around a lot more than he’s ever been in his career. So, you’re going to see him at multiple spots. You’re going to see him line up opposite CD Lamb. We’re going to see him go in motion to to be on the same side of CD and vice versa. They’re moving him around. They’re going to get him over the top for going get it balls, but he’s going to work underneath as well with these quick slants and these quick hitters to get him in position to do yards after the catch against some of these slower linebackers. So, George Pickkins, I agree this this is setting up to be a Pro Bowl season for him. It’s nice having options at for once. I mean, it seriously I’m sure Dak is going to have a Man, you going to give me You know how long it’s been? I can’t wait until Texas finally beats Georgia at some point. First, I’m never going to let him. We got to go. We got to go. All right, boys. Thank you so much for tuning in. We appreciate you. That’ll do it for this edition of Talking Cowboys from Oxnard, California. So long, Talking Cowboys on dallascowboys.com. This has been a production of DallasCowboys.com and the DallasCowboys Football Club. How about you, Cowboys? [Applause] [Music]

Patrik Walker, Tommy Yarrish & Josh Rodriguez put a cap on week one of Cowboys training camp, stand out players so far, and more

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