Cowboys Report: Live News & Rumors + Q&A w/ Tom Downey (Aug. 11)

Cowboys Report: Live News & Rumors + Q&A w/ Tom Downey (Aug. 11)

Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Welcome back into the Cowboys Report. I am Tom Downey. Producer Aiden in charge for the first time behind the scenes on today’s Cowboys Report. We’re going to discuss everything going on around the Dallas Cowboys. We’re coming out of week one of the preseason going into week two now. So, how do you grade what the Cowboys did in that first preseason game? Wasn’t too much fun uh in that one. Vote at the pinned poll and in the comments section of today’s show. 8% voting uh seven sorry, 7% voting A or B. Now, 37% voting C, 41% voting D, 14% voting F. Uh some shout outs from the comments section as well. Ecuador’s giving it an F. Doney Cowboys fan has a D. Uh, Jacobe Mitchell has A. Ecuador man has F. You know it says, can I grade it a P for the preseason? I don’t mind that one. He was like a C in the actual grades in that scenario, but I I get where coming from. So that’s right in vote for C’s are fine. Uh I see E for effort. It’s always a good one. A+ uh D C F C C D C C D minus D. Lots of low grades. I elements looked good. I thought the offensive line played pretty well. Um I would argue that in the end this is probably like a C minus at best. I think that like the the running game did did well. Your receivers got open. Your defense struggled though, like they didn’t first half they couldn’t cover. Second half they had a tough time stopping the run especially in the the fourth quarter there. So I I am of the mindset that you know what this this was like a C minus and probably more like a D plus in the end. So I I I think and then that’s what most of the votes indicate as well. We got a $2 super chat coming in from Ecuador. man. We’ll get to that here in just a second. We’ll also run you guys through what today’s super chat menu is, which will be relatively consistent uh for what the regular season or for what the preseason week 2 menu is going to be. He says, “Sick of hearing the backups, Rams backups were playing too.” I actually completely agree with this. Now, I I think that we should probably like adjust our expectations of like, you know, these guys aren’t going to be out there, but like we we can have, you know, conversations on the back certain backups didn’t did not play well. Like, yeah, they had issues. They were also playing supposed to be people of their skill level. So, I like I think I saw it, too. Like, it’s just the backups. It’s like, yeah, but you’re playing the backup. So, I I agree. Like, it wasn’t like the Rams played didn’t play Jimmy Garopppolo, played Stson Bennett. like Blake Cororm got some run. Okay. And Devonte Adams wasn’t out there. Other guys were still cooking the Cowboys. So I I I I do agree that the they were just backups kind of doesn’t work as a claim when you know it was all backups playing. This is the super chat menu on today’s show. Any super like the one we just got from Ecuador, man, equals a shout out. $5 does get you in for our pre-season week 2 raffle entry. I don’t know what I’m going to do yet. I have to clear it with the bosses. It’ll be something signed. Uh is the tenative plan right now. $10, three raffle entries. 50 bucks. We’ll do a shotty. $100 we will do a beer bong. We’ll have some fun on that if you guys want to. It can be a uh fun afternoon instead. By the way, the top three finishers on the top fans leaderboard get free raffle entries as well. So, right now it’s Ecuador, man, Timothy, and Jacobe at the top. We’ll talk corner on today’s show because one of my thoughts coming out of the preseason game against the Rams was you don’t have enough competent corners. Like, Andrew Booth is who he is. Troy Pride is who he is. Robert Michelle didn’t last very long. I wasn’t overly impressed by Kaman Hall’s play. I I am of the belief that another corner is is probably needed for this Dallas Cowboys team. So, get your votes in. One for yes, zero for no. I already see mention of Stefan Gilmore. We’ll discuss him. I see mentions of getting a defensive tackle. We’ll discuss that as well. Uh Chris, can you grab my laptop charger? I forgot to grab it. That’s my bad, bro. Thank you. The Cowboys need another corner. Y for yes. N for no. And we will or has one for you here for now. We’ll also discuss Micah Parson’s latest on that front, which feel like it might be no news until something actually happens in late August, which is what history normally tells us there. What will the Cowboys end up doing with Micah Parsons? T for trade, K for keep. Let me know in the comments of today’s show. I am inclined to believe this ends up being a keep. scenario and like it doesn’t make sense for the Cowboys to even really consider a trading mic at the time of the year is you don’t get max value by I’m plug it in so you don’t me jumping off screen here you don’t get close to max value doing a trade in mid August like that just it it doesn’t doesn’t make any sense I I would lean towards they they keep him and they pay him in the end and it’s another example of this was a stupid mindset and how did this drag out again blah blah blah blah so get your votes What will the Cowboys end up doing? T for trade, K for keep. Let me know in the comments section of today’s video what you think the Cowboys will end up doing with Micah Parsons. I want to get to Jacob’s $5 super chat as well. Thank you very much, Jacob. Uh that is an entry into the raffle. So, let me get you plugged in there. Thank you, Jacob. Puts him in first place for the top fans leaderboard, too. Uh, when do you think it’s a good time to panic? We need help everywhere and we still won’t sign our defensive player. I don’t know if you actually need help everywhere. Like your quarterback room is pretty stable relative to what you’re going to actually do, right? Like that’s all relative here. Like the receiver room is in good shape. Offensive line is is you’re hoping it’s going to be good. I think you I think the main areas you hope are defensive tackle, corner, maybe running back, but we haven’t seen the top three guys play yet, so I can’t judge that necessarily. Um, so I’m not going to panic yet on that front. I if they don’t if they have if they drag this out into like week one and there’s no mic, like I will be upset and I will be worried about that. I think the big thing is where we can’t judge it yet. I didn’t love what I saw in week one. How good is Brian Shotthammer? How good is he actually? Because like it’s week one of the preseason. That’s where you can say the backups were in. Like I I I can’t judge a head coach based on how the backs I don’t think think that’s fair. But like hey I got to like I thought kicking the field goals the last one was like but but why is that is that good process? Like we he made a big deal about like we we we practice hard and we we want to be prepared like he quotes Albert Brerier about that and they got punched in the mouth in the first quarter by the Rams backups. Kind of raises some red flags for me. um that honestly probably wouldn’t be there if it was my McCarthy because I know what McCarthy is for better and at times for worse. So like that’s where I’m like okay. Let’s see how things play out in the end. If you have not already done so, do me a favor, like today’s show. Free, simple, and easy to do. Goal is always that 50% like ratio. We’re not really close to being there. We’re like at 20%. So please and thank you. Like the video if you haven’t already done so. Coming up on today’s live edition of the Cowboys report, we’ve got Cowboys rumors and news updates on that front. Really defensive focused as it turned out uh on that side of the ball. Look at two players defensively who haven’t really seen yet on the field in the preseason, but I think have a chance to be really impactful pieces for the Dallas Cowboys. A mailbag. Two ways to get on the show for that. # Cowboys or skip the line all together via the super chat feature. And we’ll discuss some defensive tackle room concerns that I think many of us, I know I certainly do, still have specifically when it comes to stopping the run. All that’s coming up live right here on the Cowboys Report. Coming up on this afternoon edition of the Cowboys Report, we’ll discuss Stephven Jones saying Cowboys actually might need some quarterback help. And that directly ties into potentially signing Stfan Gilmore and the latest updates, multiple of them on the Micah Parsons front. Before we dive into that, the Micah decision pool is still ongoing. You pick the date Micah gets signed or gets traded. You Venmo me at Going Downey. $5 to enter. We’ll do a 5050 split the pot for the winner. By the way, uh all but I’m doing this right now. One, two, three people are actually out because their dates have already passed. So, you got a great shot to act to actually win the takehome right now. The next person who enters, bump it up to 30 bucks. So, at what going down on Venmo, $5 is the date you think Mike gets signed or gets traded. Closest one ends up winning. Let’s go to what Stephen Jones had to say. This one kind of buried coming in before the first game of the preseason, which as went into I don’t think made at least didn’t make me feel any better about the quarterback room. He mentioned two areas of concern, defensive tackle and corner. And specifically corner stood out with the way he said that, saying, “Look, the corner position only because look what’s on injured reserve. We got three corners over there.” Uh mentioning Diggs, Butler, and Revel with them not ready to go yet. is certainly think about improving there if we get an opportunity. The Cowboys right now and I did the clip of Devonte Adams cooking the Cowboys. People were like, “Ah, it’s the third stringers he’s beating, which is my point because right now those are not your third stringers.” Hopefully Trayvon Diggs is back soon, but that’s unknown. I don’t think Ky I don’t think Son Rebel is going to be good to go for week one. We’ll see about Josh Butler. Right now you have to start one of Izzy Muamu, Andrew Booth, Troy Pride, Kaman Hall, and or Zion Childress probably. Robert Rashelle nursing a hamstring injury, too. Now, your corners, I don’t think played great against the Rams. Kaman Hall did a couple okay things in run support, but he also, I don’t think, took the best angles, and he allowed every single target his way in coverage to be completed per PFF stats. Andrew Booth got beat one time deep downfield, was mostly fine beyond that, but you know, one bad play at out of two essentially targets. It’s kind of rough. Robert Rashelle wasn’t playing great before he tweaked his hamstrings. Zion Childris was solid nickel, but who here wants to bank on an undrafted free agent from a crappy defense at at Kentucky to be a key part of your team? I I don’t I don’t want that to be the case. I thought Israel Muamu played super well. I want him to be the next man up, but they don’t seem to be as high on him. And Troy Pride’s a journeyman. Like right now, two of your starters, you’re gonna play three are Kaire Elum and Don Bland. That third starter, hopefully it’s shortterm, but injuries also happen is unknown. So yeah, that room has me worried. I am concerned when I look at the reality of your the second string corners first string other starting corner isn’t healthy. Kaylin Carson’s also b forgot to touch that and he’s not either. I I don’t know how you score room go yeah we’re fine like I don’t think you are. I I would love to see them do something. So do you agree? Do you think the Cowboys need another corner? One for yes, zero for no. This is the pin comment, by the way, on today’s show. Head down there and go vote one for yes, zero for no. Stefan Gilmore, I think, is the most obvious choice. Then, you know, Mike Hilton’s off the board. He would have been a good fit at Nickel. You can go like a Kendall Fer, Asante Samuel, I don’t think, is healthy with the with the next injury. I know what Gilmore is. He’s a stop gap. He’s a short-term option. He is not a 2026 solution. I don’t need him to be. As long as he’s on board, potentially kind of getting phased out of the defense, which, you know, maybe that is the main issue. Go call. Like, I think Gilmore makes a lot of sense. He’s a name we know and he’s named the Cowboys, though. He’s got that familiarity with the organization, with the team. Like, he they know who he is. I don’t think the value is crazy high right now for Stefan Gilmore. He’s he’s old. He was good last year. fine last year. Does the job the Cowboys need right now, but he’s not going to get better. He’s he’s on the decline. Not steeply, but he is on the decline, but you know that going in. In theory, all the medical stuff checks out. Do I want him going one-on-one week one against Devont Smith on the outside downfield? Not really. But I would rather put him out there against like AJ Brown, for example, than I want to put out Kaman Hall in the nickel. I I just I think Gilmore offers you more right now. So, would you sign him? Why for yes, N for no? Let me know in that comment section of today’s show. Would you go out and pursue Stfan Gilmore? Why for yes, N for no in that comment section of today’s video? And by the way, assume the money is is reasonable for this one. Let’s go to the Micah Parson’s latest. Sean Sharief reported, that’s 105 through the fan, Sean Sharief, that Micah had met with Jerry for four plus hours. He said he was unsure if David Muletta was involved remotely because he wasn’t in person for that one. And I’ll give Sean credit for this when he discussed it on the on the show. He mentioned Jane Slater had reached out and said, “Four people told me that was inaccurate.” And then Brian Bradish out and said people told me that that wasn’t accurate. And Bobby said he had heard by said he’d heard that it probably wasn’t accurate either. And since then, no one else has picked up on that. Now, I’ll give Sean credit here. He was the first one right on the Brian Shottenheimer stuff. He he was ahead of the curve on that front and he said it was the same source. So, noteworthy as far as I’m concerned. Also, two conspiracy theories here, which I think are fun and like actually are worth mentioning like with this whole conversation as to whether the 4-hour meeting happened. Look, it’s it’s been several days. They clearly didn’t get a deal done. But first up is this. They can’t admit it. Even if everything was true, both sides would actually want to say it didn’t happen because they already did the secret meeting thing once and it went terribly for both sides. Micah’s camp doesn’t want to admit, especially with the agent not present and it kind of becomes like if you are talking with the police and you ask for a lawyer, you have to stop everything. Well, Cowboys didn’t stop everything again. Cowboys probably don’t want to admit it because it’s like giving up some leverage. you actually probably would want to keep it quiet. The Cowboys are bad at keeping things quiet though, like the Micah meeting leaves in like 48 hours the first time. So, like, who’s to say? Also, relevant timing. Uh, the Netflix documentary about the Jerry Jones Cowboys drops August 19th. The cynical a-hole in me wants to bring up the fact that, boy, wouldn’t Jerry want to have more positive momentum his way right when that documentary drops. Remember when they paid Zeke and that morning Jerry Jones was going out to New York? I think it was to ring the bell for the stock exchange. I remember stuff like that. Just throwing that out there. I don’t It’s not a guarantee, but I think it’s at least worth having a conversation about given how the Cowboys foolishly operate. This Cowboys hoodie is on sale. It was 55 bucks. Now it’s just 33. Links in the comments section and the description of today’s show. That’s chatsports.comd hoodie on sale. Don’t how long the sale is going to last. So get yours today. chatsports.com hoodie. Now you had the Sean Shrifie update. This is the Adam Shfter. I might put update in air quotes frankly. Uh he said h there’s no real updates on the Micah Parson’s contract front saying quote he issued his trade request roughly 10 days ago. This is on Git Up. and he said very similar stuff on the Pat McAfee show. He issued a trade request roughly 10 days ago. There has been nothing that has transpired on a new contract new contract since then. Nothing. Shfter also continued to say there’s no deal in sight. They were closer than they were back in April which again he said before the the rest of it was predominantly the same stuff because well if nothing has transpired how can there be an update, right? Like the lack of an update is the update in this case. He rehit some of the same previous ideas that have been discussed that the Cowboys aren’t going to trade him. They’ve got two franchise tags as an option. The third one becomes impossibly uh impossible to afford if he’s going to play week one, which I I would be shocked if Michael skipped game checks. He’s still supporting his boy Sam Williams on social media. Like I I don’t really think skipping week one is in is in the cards. And if it were be I’d actually call his bluff if if I had the Cowboys, but it’s how it goes. So, what eventually ends up happening? Couple more thoughts on this one to come. What will the Cowboys do with Micah Parsons? T for they’re going to trade him. K for they will keep him. Let me know in the comment section of today’s show. In the end, I think this Micah Parson saga turns out the exact same way we’ve seen all the other big-time contracts play out. Cowboys eventually get the deal done and they get it done later than they ever needed to, should needed to, should have, could have, etc. Until that doesn’t happen on a big-time contract until they actually stand their ground and don’t cave on one of these topofthe-market players that they actually do want to keep. like they they let DeMarco Murray and Byron Jones leave, but if they don’t eventually they always cave for Zeke, Dak, and Amari the first time around and Michael Parsons, all that stuff. If they if they actually cave on don’t cave on that, okay, different conversation. But until that happens, I think it’s more of the same old business strategy, which is a bad strategy. Make no mistake, this has been another failure by the Dallas Cowboys, by the organization. It hasn’t been good enough. It it frustrates me. It bothers me. It annoys me that we’re doing the same song and dance all over again. But until it actually ends differently, why would I think it’s not going to end the exact same way it has before, right? Who was the biggest winner for the Cowboys against the Rams? Let me know in the comments section of today’s show. As your comments come in, a reminder of what the super chat menu is. We got a couple raffle entry. Super chats we’ll get to here in a second. Any super, we’ll give you a shout out. Uh $5 raffle entry. $10 is three raffle entries. I don’t know what we’re going to raffle yet, but it’ll be something good similar to what we’ve done in previous preseason games like jerseys or something signed. 50 bucks for a shotty. $100 for a beer bong. Next up is George Norwood. Let me get you entered right now. There. George says, “You need to sign Micah and the Dallas Cowboys need to sign a true GM and let the owners and the GM make the and let let the owners own and the GMs make those football moves.” Look, I agree. Will Mccclelay can do that stuff, but like they there’s still that always semblance of Jones Boys involvement that I think at minimum muddies the waters and really I think like they’re the ones putting the mud in the water and causing issues there. So, I completely agree on all of that. Uh, on your end, George. All right, JL Channel. Silly question, but is there any chance the Cowboys could pursue Deshun Watson, Cleveland to be our backup? What would it take? Um, a guarantee from God himself that the Cowboys would win the next Super Bowl. Like, that’s that’s what it would take. Um, a Deshun Watson’s contract is a nightmare. you don’t want to touch that in any capacity. And B, he’s also bad at football. I I I kind of feel like Jay was just was just having having some fun. Um, but the the interest level in Deshun Watson, it’s it’s really how many first round picks is Cleveland going to give me to take that the worst contract in football? That was a fully guaranteed contract. And Deshun Watson has literally been terrible his entire time in Cleveland. Like a you can go back and wind the tape on some of our NFL shows. I said I think Deshawn’s a little overrated. He he got a lot of buzz for having a good season when his team won four games. Remember that? Remember when when he had a good season when his team won four games and it’s like, “Oh, it wasn’t Deshawn’s fault.” He did play well that year. Just one good year. Like one like actually elite level like top end season. Uh in Cleveland, the man’s got 19 touchdowns in 19 games, completing a fraction of his passes. He’s he’s been bad. Um he’s I I will always take time to slander Deshun Watson on any show. I just think it’s it’s entertaining. So, keep the comments and those super chats coming. Coming up on today’s show, we did a similar video last year about the Cowboys finding some success at a relatively cheap rate in the offseason. We’re doing it again this year. I think the Cowboys, Will Mcclelay, I’ll give the Jones boys credit to, Stephven Jones, Jerry Jones, I think they may have found a couple of noteworthy additions on the defensive side of the ball based on what we’ve seen so far in training camp and in the preseason. We’ll break down what those or who those two players are and why they’re such valuable assets. Before we get into it though, if you are excited for football to be here for the 2025 Cowboys season and at least the hope of it being different this time around, show it by liking today’s video for me right now. I think there were a couple two really offse moves that were impressive. two offseason additions that I think could really benefit the Cowboys that we could look back in two years, even this year, and go, “Wow, that was a steal.” The first one, Ka Ela. The Cowboys gave up next to nothing to acquire the former Bills corner. And so far, I think has been one of your biggest offseason, mostly training camp winners for the Cowboys. We’ll break down him. And really, if you go back and watch our draft coverage, one of the most excited times I’ve had on air in a couple years now, actually, since since CD Lamb, frankly, Donovan Ezrau, I I thought that one was a steal in the moment. I thought Elum was a fine gamble, and I am now even happier with how he’s done so far. I think both these guys could end up being massive, under the radar, significantly impactful additions for the Dallas Cowboys relative to what they gave up to get them. So, of these two, who are you more excited about going forward for the Dallas Cowboys? K for Kier Elum, D for Donovan Ezaraku. Let me know at the pinned comment of today’s show. K for Kier Elum, D for Donovan Ezaraku. Let’s begin with Kaire Elum since he was acquired first, right? He was a former first round pick by the Buffalo Bills. Came out of Florida. unfortunately has been on the uh recent run of man that Florida corner everyone liked wasn’t that good in the NFL train but he struggled in Buffalo. He he never really got going the way that I hoped that we all hoped he was going to be. At least those of us in the draft community, not so much non Bills fans, but like I thought he was going to be good. But since he got to Dallas, maybe this ends up being a true a change of scenery helped and that was what has unlocked him because he has been consistently impactful in the secondary and training camp and in the offseason workouts. He’s not the one getting coached to everybody else around him. And when Bland was out, he was by far the number one corner. Coming out of Florida, I was pretty high on Kyer Elum. Very almost identical to where he went. I had a first/ second round cheater aka coward grade on him. He was my number fourth ranked corner. He was the fourth ranked corner. He was taken four spots after where I had him overall ranked. So again, no real differences on that front, but he struggled. He he wasn’t good in in Buffalo. I don’t know if if it was the schematics, if it was the confidence as a result of some early struggles, which you know, corner, you have to be a dog. like you have to be borderline mentally ill to play corner. I think linebacker you actually have to be corner you want to have in almost an over-the-top self value and like ego because you’re going to get beat half the time. Like the best corners still allow about a 50% completion percentage about like so you you got to always think you’re better than everybody else though without it deteriorating too far into like sheer unabashed arrogance. It’s a very it’s an almost impossible line to straddle frankly but I think Elum in Dallas has had a little bit more confidence and you know Shottenheimer has said similar stuff as well. The trade itself, nothing. Cowboys got Ka Elum. They got a fifth and future picks. And the Bills got a fifth round. Essentially, it was a pick swap. It was a day three pick swap to go get Ka Elum. If he can even be competent, that’s a big deal. So, what is your confidence level in Ka Elum as a starter on the outside? Scale it for me from one to 10. one on the low end, 10 on the high end. What is your confidence level in Caillar Elum? I I’m I’m prefacing all of this or I guess not prefacing because that’s before, but I say all of this on Elum with I think what I consider proper expectations. I don’t need him to be a superstar. I don’t need to be a top 20 pick impact player. if he can be an average starter, which I do think is in a realistic range of outcomes where he’s not perfect, but he at least is serviceable relative to what you gave up for him, that ends up being a pretty big win. I mean, the what you gave up to get him really wasn’t any different than what you used to draft Eric Scott. And Eric Scott’s out of the league already. So, if you can get, you know, even below average starter caliber play, that’s a win for the Cowboys for what they gave up to acquire him. And I think you need that right now in this secondary. Don Bland is healthy. He’s one starter. We’ll see when Diggs is back. We’ll see when Savone Revel is back. If Caleb Carson can ever stay healthy. I You kind of need Elum to be a a key part of this defense. You don’t have to be elite. He doesn’t have to be the succcom coming of a Deion Sanders or a Terrence Newman, but if he’s better than boss man fat, that’s a huge win for the Cowboys. Again, the bar is kind of low at the moment. So, do you want Kaire Elum to be good? This should be every single person who hasn’t already liked the video. This should apply to you. Like the video if you haven’t already, please. And thank you. Let’s go to Donovan Ezaraku here. and he was a second round pick at a Boston College by the Cowboys. I put him in the round in pretty much all of my round one mock drafts. He was impressive at Cowboys training camp. He was good. He was impactful. I I I I thought that he’s done a good job so far. He was awesome at Boston College, especially this past year after kind of a a downish year in terms of like sack to pressure rate, etc. But 16 and a half sacks, 60 pressures. Ezaraku played well. like he he looked good. He he did a lot of fun, impactful stuff of being able to get around the corner, be a pass rusher as a rock against the Rams. He only played 17 snaps. He actually I thought did a good job against the run when I went back and watched the all 22 and I thought he had the one nice pressure in a in a game in which like the other players around him weren’t particularly well. I think he’s got day two steel potential. Now, if you want more free Dallas Cowboys YouTube videos, let or show it by subscribing. Free, simple, easy. We got Cowboys videos for you each and every single day right here on the channel. So, if you haven’t already, hit that sub button for me right now. The Cowboys, like a lot of people, including me, were high on Davin Ezrau going into the NFL draft. They they did their pre-draft scouting. They evaluated him. The takeaway was this guy’s really good. I think the biggest thing he’s lacking right now is figure out what his go-to move is. And the Cowboys often do this where sometimes they overinflate how high they were on a player, but the the message is accurate from Stephen Jones, even if maybe the exact details are a little a little uh murky. He says, “I give defensive line coach Aaron White Cotton credit. He was on the table form at pick 12 in the first round. He was jumping up and down saying, “This guy’s a 12th pick. Let’s get him.” The Cowboys did not. They took Tyler Booker instead because he was graded higher on the board. I I would say Ezrau was probably, you know, four, five, six spots back, give or take. I had Ezrau as my sixth graded edge coming out of of Boston College. He was 28th overall on my board. The Cowboys got him at pick 44, which was one of the better value picks actually for me in round two, period. And it’s been a while. Uh the Cowboys did it a lot in the CD Lamb, Trayvon Diggs, uh Biottish class that turned out pretty damn well, but they took the best or second best player on my board. It doesn’t always happen. Historically, when that does happen, uh especially if it’s not like two rounds later because there was injury I didn’t know about, that player ends up turning out pretty good for the Cowboys or for whoever. So, predictions. How many sacks will Donovan Ezaraku have this year? Let me know in the comments section of today’s show how many sacks you think Ezrau ends up with. We’ll see how many like real chances he gets, like high quality chances he gets and the volume of those, but I think he could be a year one impact guy. You know, I’m not saying he’s suddenly going to be a top 20 pass rusher in football, but Micah Parsons is obviously going to command a majority of the attention for the Dallas Cowboys. Dante Fowler will be involved. Marshon Nean, Sam Williams, Ezrau will all be involved, but I think long-term Ezrau has that like potential like like Harold Landrew is my player account coming out Wilkins went to Boston College, similar builds. Harold Landryesque production. Harold Landry who the Cowboys reportedly considered taking the year he came out too. Harold Landry has been a you know four and a half sack guy in his first season but then nine sacks had multiple years with nine or more sacks in the NFL. I think you could see Azaraku put up similar production sooner, hopefully sooner rather than later for the Dallas Cowboys. It’s mailback time here on the Cowboys Report. Two ways to get on the show. Number one, use Cowboys puts you in the queue for producer Aiden to find your question and bring it up on screen or and I will make note we have a lot of super thanks we have to get to on today’s show. Uh, super chat, super chat. No matter what the question is, I guarantee we will get you up at some point and answer it. I will make note that there’s a lot of super thanks. So, hashtag cowboys, there might not be too too many of them. So, super thanks though or super chats we’ll get to. This is the super chat menu by the way. Any super equals a shout out. $5 you are entered into our preseason week 2 raffle. Jacob, George, and Jay are already in. Plus, one of the super thanks that came in after the game on Saturday. $10, three raffle entries, 50 bucks for a shotty. $100 is a beer bong. Get your super chats in. Get your #cowboys questions in like Ecuador man just did. And we’ll dive into the mailbag here on the Cowboys report. a $5 super thanks here on our mailbag from Empire we are. This was in reference to our winners and losers video says biggest winners and losers. [ __ ] that’s why I’m here. Tom, I don’t have time or the inclination to watch the preseason. I get it. I got you guys covered though. We will still have winners and losers after each Cowboys preseason game. Hopefully more winners than what there were in week one. Now, every super thanks, $5 or above, gets you in to our pre-season week two raffle. Empire we are is in already. The rest of the super thanks you’re about to see on the mailbag actually were eligible for last week’s. They were all included. Uh, one of the super thanks we’ll see from William actually was the winning entry by the way for one of the raffles from Rick just says, “Thanks. Got you, Rick. I appreciate that.” from Richard. Uh says, “Thanks in for the jersey.” So Richard and uh and um Rick were both in. I guess Rick and Rich kind of similar. Skeptical fans. Got a couple here. He says, “This is in reference to the Malik Davis signing. Another great move by the Jones family. I feel so much better.” He says, “Recycling garbage players. I’d rather stick with Dawn. I’ll say this. A, this came in before Malik Davis actually played pretty well in the preseason game, but also the purpose of adding Malik Davis was not to make the 53man roster. It was to give the Cowboys someone who knew the offense kind of a chance to get in tight with a with a an instant day turnaround and help out the sheer lack of numbers the Cowboys had. That’s what that was. You know, relative to expectations, it made sense. But, you know, it it gets an A grade for what it was, but the grading scale was out of 10 out of 100. So, you’re not getting a high grade anyway. Andre Yarvo, one day again, these all came in before kickoff. Uh, present kickoff. I mean, whose dentures do you have to pull to get a Micah Parson’s deal already? and similar our winner from William Cook uh says at some point this whole thing meeting the Micah Parson’s situation will be over and look back it on it as stupid. Jerry is more interested in winning the deal than winning the games. Also Colin Coward hates the Cowboys. He does. The issue with Jerry trying to win the deal is that they don’t win the deal. That’s the problem. It you say you’re going to win the deal and by waiting you actually lose it worse. That’s that that’s the crux of the issue. Mighty Ant says the effing Jones Boys, which yeah, I I feel you there. And also said, “When are we going to get a playable DT end corner?” Look, the Jones Boys, I’ll answer the playable DT one here um in a second, but like the frustration over the Jones Boys is always is always something. So, this is your chance, a safe space to vent. One word to describe your feelings about the Jones Boys. I guess there are YouTube sensors you have to be aware of, but you know, keep that one in mind. Give me your one word to describe how you feel about the Jones Boys. Pin comment of today’s show. By the end, we’re going to get a playable DT and corner. I mean, they did it in mid August last year, right? They went out and got Lynval Joseph and they went out and got the disaster class from from the Giants. I don’t even feel like mentioning his name. It’s board Phillips, but like I I would not be surprised if in a week, two weeks, they’re just going to go down this this road again and say, “Well, got to get somebody in mid to late August.” That’s actually a topic of the defensive tackle room breakdown we had. Feel like they’re doing the exact same thing they did in previous seasons. Christopher doing a bit of trolling. Trade idea. 2026 fourthrounder for Panthers wide receiver TJ Luther. he can be our compliment uh to Jonathan Mingo, which I appreciate the the the joke here. It was it was fun. Um obviously the Cowboys are not going to pursue that one. Luther, I think had a couple catches against the the Browns in the preseason game, so it was fun. Christopher also asked, “Are websites like sports, like spo are the contracts accurate with what the salary cap is? Does the Cowboys $3 million in cap as people say it would be hard to pay Mike who would get 40 if only have 32?” So the numbers are right, but the numbers don’t mean anything or at least they can be misinterpreted if you don’t have the the true I can say it because I know it nerd, you know, analysis knowledge of what it is. So yes, you got around $32 million in salary cap space. By paying Micah, say it’s 45, you actually create like $10 million in cap space. Like pretty much all contracts these days, the Micah deal is going to be backloaded. It’s going to be cheaper in year 1, a little bit more in year two, a little bit more in year three, a little bit more in year five. There are exceptions to that. Sometimes it’s not. Sometimes there’s a weird quirk to the salary. Maybe they didn’t restructure a deal, but you would actually create cap space by paying Micah Parsons. You would then roll that over to next year. The Cowboys rolled over a bunch last year. They’re going to roll over a bunch this season. So, don’t let the salary cap numbers say you can’t pay Micah. You absolutely can. Now, today’s show, you can get this Cowboys short sleeve hoodie. chatsports.com/dhoodie. Link will be in the comments section and the description of today’s show. That’s chatsports.com hoodie from Xavier Worthy. I think it was originally Xavierworthy Burner and they updated it to FAM. Uh, I am excited for our backs this season. I think blue will separate himself from Sanders by mid-season and he Williams will be a decent one-two combo. If you can get that outcome, you’re probably pretty happy with it. Um, I am nervous about it. I I I question just how good this running back room ceiling can be. I think you can get by. I think you can survive. If Javvante looks more like he did early in the script, that that’s huge. If Miles Sanders, you know, doesn’t have the juice anymore, that’s a huge concern. Lipkkey is going to be involved. Jaden Blue does have the juice. But look, two of those three guys at the top of the running back room with Lipkkey being a fullback are banged up right now. You got to get him healthy and I want them to play in the preseason, too. I I do. From Chris, hey Tom, probably have missed it in prior videos. Try to watch him, but what is it for how Tyler Brooker has been adjusting? Remember hearing about him in in rookie mini camp, but nothing since. he isn’t going to be another Tyler Gayton, right? I don’t think so. I think those two play styles and where they were at as as prospects are very different. Like, you know, Booker is is much more of a Mauler in the run game. I kind of want to again, I want to see him play at least week two of the preseason. I want to see what he’s got. I I just want to see it in live action that’s not, you know, against backups and stuff. I I thought he did a pretty good job. Um against the Rams in joint practice, I you know, there have been It’s not always been perfect. It’s never going to be like speed guys might give them issues but I don’t have the same concerns about Booker as I had about Gayton coming out. I think that the the the weaknesses are quite quite different. So what is your confidence level in Tyler Booker? Let’s say one is that one Chaz Green game. 10 is what Zack Martin has become, which I guess puts like Tyler’s with like a seven or an eight relatively speaking. So, let me know in the comments section of today’s show. Stephen, week one. Is Micah at Philly or at home? Also, does Jerry focus too much on the past success? Reverse order. He absolutely does focus too much on the past. I forget. I think it was William who said in a super thanks or super chat, it was that the past drives Jerry and limits his future. Spoton. Um Micah, I think he’s he he’ll be there against the Eagles. I I would be surprised if Micah, who’s not passing on 50k in fines, passes on like $1.4 million game checks? Like I just I don’t I don’t really see that one being an option from Daniel. Hey Tom, do you think we will sign Stfan Gilmore before the regular season starts? I wouldn’t be shocked. Um I’m not going to guarantee it or say it’s even 50%, but like I I don’t think that one should be ruled out. It makes sense. The Cowboys have the need. They have the desire to add help at corner. Like I they think they do. At least they think that they should. Like I I would strongly consider that. $5 super thanks from William Cook. By the way, this is on the Rams Cowboys joint practice. See, just practice in general. CD and Dak Cooking. O line needs work. Jared Verse. It was bad. He was he was so good that that day. Run game not good nor run defense. Sign Gilmore for quarterback help. He and I are on the same page. I I very much agree with that with that mindset. So, would you sign Stfan Gilmore? Why for yes, N for no? Let me know in the comments section of today’s show. Would you go out and add Gilmore to help out the cornerback room? It’s Fatboy Roy. Is that a Rico Dout profile picture in there? I can’t can’t quite tell. Uh trade for Bree Hall. I know that. um not credible Twitter accounts have tweeted out Brace Hall might be available. Um they they propagate a lot of like accord according to reports that have never been published essentially. Um that Paul’s available. I would be surprised if the Cowboys went down this route. I I I available right now for the Jets. Now I I’ll say this too. Let’s check in again at the trade deadline. Like I I think that is something that is you know, worth considering and just monitoring like, okay, how how do the Jets look? Are they bad or not at that point? Like Brie, you know, didn’t do a lot in the first preseason game. I don’t think that’s too impactful. Um, but like Isaiah Davis had six carries for 14 yards. Brilen Allen actually ran the ball pretty well, but like, yeah, let’s let let’s just let that one play out a little bit more. Got a Darkwing Duck username, guys. You guys ever watched our Darkwing Duck? Great show. Great show. Uh, we need to play our starters. The Chiefs do it every year and all they do is win and go to the Super Bowls. Jerry’s got PTSD from playing Romo and getting him injured. I get it. I again, I don’t I don’t know if there is a right or wrong answer. There’s there’s as long as there’s like reason behind it. I understand like what the mindset is. Like Eagles didn’t play Jaylen Herz in the preseason last year. I think Herz play like two preseason games in his career. They won the Super Bowl twice in recent memory. Like I So I if the mindset is, you know, these guys need reps going to handle that. Sweet. I think you’re right. They are a little bit traumatized and I am too, frankly, by watching Romo go down and never play again. I understand that. If you don’t want to play the quarterback, okay, I get that. I think it at at times this kind of becomes like the same arguments on different sides. Like if you’re scared about like let’s say it’s a two dozen plays from Dak getting hurt. If you’re scared about that, don’t you have a big underlying issue? But also, if you think two dozen plays, it’s like a half a game of the reg season. If that totally changes your outcome for the season, don’t you have a bigger problem there, too? So, it’s kind of like the same argument on both sides, both of which are kind of valid. Um, I I’ll say this. If you want to play Dak or Lamb or Micah, okay, you got to play Tyler Booker this week. You got to play Marshian. Those guys should be playing. We’ll see if Shanheimer takes that approach. And we’ll be live for every single Cowboys preseason and regular season this game this year. and beyond. Hit that sub button so you don’t miss out. I haven’t corrected that Romo did play again uh in the 2020 2016 season. Yes, but like also no. He didn’t play a meaningful game, but you you you are correct there. Uh KHY. Anyway, Token says, “You think the C that this was shot hitting the seven iron? I think it has fallen on rough play from our boys.” Look, they weren’t calling all the plays. They they called a lot of seven iron shots, but they missed the green from 155 out with the with the seven iron or 165 out with the seven iron. That that’s on them. Like, yeah, they didn’t call the best plays. The quarterback didn’t hit the seven iron well because turns out he spends all his day at the range hitting driver and he doesn’t have a good feel for the iron game. That analogy works pretty well for Joe Milton. That’s what happened, too. Last one from Denell Graves. Cowboys trade for Derek Brown from the Panthers before the trade deadline. Sure would be fun. I wouldn’t assume he’s actually available, though. We’ll see how Carolina looks by then. Um, but I would, you know, it’s a it’s a fun idea. I I wonder if he’s actually going to be on the market, though. This is the super chat menu today. Any super chat equals a shout out. $5 for a raffle entry. $10 equals three raffle entries. 50 bucks for a shotty, $100 for a beer bong. As a reminder, the top finishers uh on the top fans leaderboard all get extra raffle entries uh for the jersey ra or the whatever the raffle is for preseason week one. Right now, JL, Chanel, and or Channel and George are tied for first place. Looks like Jay’s got the tiebreaker there. Jacob is in second. So very much available uh to win on that front. Super chats and comments help you win that. So our next comment chance, who is the biggest loser for the Cowboys against the Rams? And this is pre-season obviously. So let me know in the comments of today’s show who was the biggest loser for the Cowboys against the Rams. Let’s get some shout outs here. So, stand by. Excuse me. I see Mazy from one. I think that I thought Jay Toya was actually worse than Mazy Smith was. Now, I think I think Jay kind of got negatively impacted. I think 38 snaps just too many for him in a real game. But I we’re about to talk a lot about the defensive tackle room and why I don’t like it. A big factor in that is the fact that Mazy Smith is like I think one of your top three defensive tackles and that’s not a good thing. Like and people get mad and say Mazy’s your third best D. Like he’s bad. I’m like that’s the issue. That’s where we’re at. Um I Jay does have less expectations, but like again that’s the issue. We’re doing the exact same thing we did previously. So we’re we’re kind of all in the in the same same mindset there. Uh Andrew Booth is in there. I thought um thought your offensive line penalties were pretty big losers, too. They did not. I I’ll say this, too. Mazy having to play in the first preseason game when like Sam Williams wasn’t, it’s probably a bad sign, too. Again, we’ve done this before, but that is where we’re at. So, get your comments in for me right now. Biggest loser between the Cowboys and the Rams. On a recent video here on the Cowboys Report, we broke down how the Cowboys have some arguments, some hope that they have fixed their run offense. Today, we’re going to look at why I don’t think we should have the same hope for fixing that run defense. The run game defense I I have huge concerns about. I think the unit has me a lot more worried about what their plan to fix it was when much like the run offense, it has reared its ugly head repeatedly in big moments. The goal today is to beat the shares on the fixing the run offense video. 36 was what we had on that one. Can we get more on that video today? Help us out. Share today’s show on social media, Twitter, Instagram, whatever. help us out by sharing today’s show. Let’s look at the Cowboys run defense last year. Look, they were they were around a little bit below league average of like run plays faced just percentage-wise. Despite that, they were last in touchdowns allowed. They were bottom three in yards per game. They were bottom or sorry, bottom bottom four in yards per game. Bottom three in yards per carry. Bottom 10 in explosive runs. These are all per NFL’s NextGen stats, by the way. Bottom two in stuff rate, i.e. no gain or or tackle for loss. Dead last in EPA per rush, bottom five in yards before contact, just outside the bottom 10 in yards after contact. And they did that stacking the box at the 10th highest rate. What does that tell us? The rund sucked. What have we learned in previous years? Runy is an issue in their losses, which I acknowledge is a bit of a chicken or the egg debate because if you get behind, you’re just going to allow more yards on the ground because opposing team gets get opposing teams get to run the ball against you. But 24 loss with a healthy Dak, by the way, healthy Dak Prescott, which I think is fair to include, otherwise it gets really out of hand, frankly. 35 almost carries per game, averaging almost 4.9 yards per carry. only five games under four yards per carry allowed. The median yards per carry was 4.5. They were allowing almost 170 yards per game. Look, the Cowboys, by the way, in those games sometimes they got behind, you know, that’s how it goes. So, how about just above 500 teams? Some wins in there. They went 15 and 17 in this time frame. I could have just done since 2020 to ignore three games. That felt like cheating. Uh that 2020 Cowboys defense was dog water. But in games against the 500 teams, 28.8 carries per game. Still f 4.6 yards per carry. They allowed a couple more games under four yards per carry, but the median was still 4.3. Some of those teams were good run offenses, some of them were not, but they just weren’t very good. To put that number, those numbers there in perspective, the Cowboys would have ranked 24th in carries per game, 24th in yards per game, tied for nine touchdowns per game. Yay. 22nd in average yards per carry. It does include playoff games, by the way. So those numbers might be a little bit more favorable. What does that tell us? Look, when the Cowboys have played competent football teams, their run defense is a bottom 10 unit in football. And when you’re playing fringe top 10 teams or near top 10 teams, that’s what those playoff teams are. Above 100 teams are, and you have a bottom 10 unit, that makes life really hard for you. Makes life really hard. So, do you agree with me? I I think the numbers bear it out, that the run defense has been a problem for the Cowboys. A for agree, D for disagree. Let me know in the comments of today’s show. A little bit more on the Cowboys. And I am hesitant to say it’s all on the defensive tackles. It is an ecosystem where they all interconnect with each other, but the Cowboys actually faced the fewest amount of inside runs last year. Teams push them on the outside. The numbers on only inside runs last year. Again, thank you uh NFL’s NextGen stats. Yeah, last in in what they faced. So, that’s nice. But they were still 19th in yards, but they were dead last in yards per carry, actually, which is bad. Tied for 19th in explosive runs, having faced the fewest amount of carries. They did not get stuffs. They allowed the most EPA per rush, expected points added. They were dead last in yards before contact. That’s bad. They were 18th in yards after contact. They stacked the box at the 10th highest rate. So teams push them to the outside, but they still sunk on inside runs. On outside runs wasn’t much better. They faced the most teams figured out what I said two years ago. Run the ball to the outside. They they can’t stop them. Um they were tied for 31st in touchdowns allowed. 30th in yards per game. Better yards per carry was 23rd. Again, the Cowboys run defense has had issues. So how did they fix it? I don’t know if they actually did. We’ll break that down in a second. But you can get this Cowboys hoodie on sale. It was 55 bucks. Now it is just 33. Link will be in the third paragraph of today’s description. And I’ll put it in the comments section, too. It’s chatports.com hoodie. Again, links in the comments section and the description of today’s show. chatsports.comd hoodie. So, how are the Cowboys changing things up front? Oh, they got a new head coach. Okay. I don’t know if that really changes things. He’s an offensive guy. New defense coordinator. They’re banking on Matt Eberloo and Aaron White Cotton and everyone else to really overhaul this team. And there was some player shuffling. So, leaving the Cowboys defense last year of note, Eric Kendricks, whose PFF run grade has been a pretty consistent mid to upper 70s. Jordan Lewis didn’t grade out well against the run. I would frankly disagree. I thought he was actually very good against the run last year and he certainly was in 2023. Tank Lawrence was banged up a lot, but he was awesome back in 2023. I would argue two of your best run stoppers the past two, three, four, five years have been Jordan Lewis and Demarcus Lawrence. That’s a big loss. How do they replace him? Well, two new linebackers come in. Jack Samborn, a part-time player who has shown some promise. Kenneth Murray, who I have very real concerns about, great athlete, misdirection gets him a lot. Solomon Thomas has literally never been a good run support player. Hasn’t been. Dante Fowler hasn’t been a great run support player. Now, you’re going to bank on guys like Marshon Neland to really essentially help replace Demarcus Lawrence up front, but you’re still replacing Chanty Goston. Did the Cowboys add more players that are good against the run? I don’t know if they did, actually. I think like talent-wise they may have gotten worse. So, do you think the Cowboys run defense will be better this year? Why for yes, N for no? Let me know in the comments section of today’s show. My biggest area of concern right now though is that defensive tackle. Remember, they still got gash at the middle. OSA’s back. Hoping he’s good in this new Matty Rafu scheme. Mazy Smith who we will discuss is back. Solomon Thomas, Jay Tobia, Tommy Yakasote, Perion Winfrey maybe are in for the defensive tackle room replacing guys before they went out and signed guys like Lynval Joseph and traded for um for Jordan Phillips, Justin Rogers, Carl Davis, Junior for Hoko. To put this in perspective, those three guys are out of the NFL. Rogers, Davis, and uh and Foko don’t have teams. Foko was cut by the Commanders on Monday. My concern here is the Cowboys are doing the exact same thing they did last year where it’s Mazy Smith and the Funky Bunch as run stopping defensive tackles. They’re probably better at three technique behind uh Oso with Solomon Thomas. That one guard, that one technique spot looks bad. And the Cowboys are simply saying we actually don’t want fatties anymore. Jay Towi is a fatty. And I mean that in in a positive sense. It’s body positive. Mazy Smith though has lost weight. More on that in a little bit. A Kimbas Denzel Daxon are maybe 300 lb. Peron Winfrey best as a three technique. Osa Odigizua is a three technique. Solomon Thomas is listed at 256. He’s they essentially did the Patrick Star meme. What if we took 20 pounds from Mazy Smith and put it on Solomon Thomas? It’s essentially what they’ve done. But like that’s not runto stopping nose guards. Mazy has allegedly lost weight. Not as much as I think maybe had been reported. He said around 3:15, but like that’s still like you wanted Mazy to be this power player and you’re going, “Hey, now we don’t need it.” We did this one already. We did this already where we’re like, “Yeah, Mozzy can lose weight.” which like the the how we got here was different but like we did it before. It wasn’t good. It might be better this time, but the bar is super low. I am worried here. I when when that news came across the wire, we’re going to have Mazy lose weight to play three technique and one technique, I went, “Oh no, we’re cooked.” Like that for me was like, you know, sitting on on a balloon and someone popped it. like he was better last year as a run stopper. He didn’t do much as a pass rusher. He wasn’t asked to, but it wasn’t like he was good as a run stopper. The Giants game was great actually. But like I I have concerns here. And it’s only one game. It’s against the Rams. It’s all backups. No OSA, no Solomon Thomas. They didn’t play well. The run defense grades, which you know, it’s a data point. Don’t take it as gospel from PFF. Mazy 58.3. I thought he was the best run stopping defensive tackle. Now wasn’t always like that for the entire game. I thought maybe Pon Winfrey should have a higher grade, but again he’s a he’s a disruptor. Akimbas, Denzel Dax, Jay Tia. The Cowboys did a good job against thron in the first three quarters. The fourth quarter they got gashed. I think Jay Toya probably played a little bit too much, but Willie Lamkin was pancaking dudes. like that defensive tackle room got gashed in the in the second quarter or in the second half and it’s great they played good for three quarters. Well, if you flunk the fourth semester, you still fail. Like, you have to do everything else in the end. So, what is your confidence level in this Cowboys run defense? I’ll mention a couple other spots here in just a little bit. What is your confidence level in the Cowboys run defense? 1 to 10 is your scale. It’s not just defensive tackles. I want to mention other positions here. Defensive end. You missed Tank Lawrence last year. That backside run support he offered was so good. Can Can Marshon Nean take a step forward this year? Can Sam Williams otherwise you’re banking on undersized edges in Micah Parsons, Dante Fowler, and Ezrau to be key run stoppers? They can help. They’re good players, great players in Micah’s case, but they it’s not like this is best version of Tank Lawrence. Linebacker also has me worried once over saying that’s going to be a big deal, but I mean I saw it in the Rams game. So Leah Fal look great in the Rams game, but like he’s in line to be linebacker three right now. Kenneth Murray, Jack Sambour, you know, I trust Sambour’s instincts. The athletic ability is a bit bit limited. Kenneth Murray’s instincts or instincts are limited, but his athletism is great. I saw Deone Clark get completely turned around again in the preseason game. I think John didn’t get the clip. He just like dove in and had had to retreat back because he bid on a play fake. I am worried about this aspect again because it’s the same team. We swapped out, you know, Kenneth Murray for and and I guess Jack Sambore in exchange for Eric Kendricks and Nick Vigil. Is that actually better? Maybe, maybe not. Like will this run defense actually be better? the defense as a whole might end up being better. But I am concerned that after having multiple levels in all three phases, the safeties, the nichls, the corners, the linebackers, the DTS, that we go right back to couple, you know, 2023 Cowboys, 2022 Cowboys of, hey, you know, when we have the lead, we’re great. In the end, pass rush is a privilege. You can have the best pass rushing team in football, but if you get to December, if you get to January, if you get to a week four and you’re playing a good team and you’re down by 10 in the third quarter, you don’t get that privilege anymore. So, if you can’t stop the run and make teams throw it on you, you’re going to be in a dangerous spot. It’s why you can’t be onedimensional. And when we talk about offense on that, can’t be onedimensional on defense in terms of what you’re able to stop either. So, if you want more Cowboys YouTube coverage, not quite done this conversation, hit that sub button right now. youtube.com/cowboys TV for more free Cowboys YouTube coverage. Multiple videos each and every single day right here on the Cowboys Report. So, now we’re in mid August. You know, what can you do to make this team better? You can always bring back Eric Henderson. I think that race has probably been run though. I think with what you’ve invested with what you haven’t invested, defensive tackle should be your main area of focus. But just like last year, it’s not like there’s a lot of great options out there. So, we’ll mention them. We’ve mentioned some of them before. Rayquan Davis is a big body. He’s tall. He’s like 66 310. The Colts cut him after a year. I don’t know why he’s unsigned. They’ve been pretty quiet. Maybe there’s an unknown injury, but I this you I’m looking for serviceable at this point. You could always just bring back Lynval Joseph who by the end of the year was a contributing force but like you know forces and we’re talking like times 1.1 where you are a multiplier but like barely. Um Austin Johnson, I’m curious how many names you guys know here. Khalil Davis. Um, Armen Watts, who I thought might sign last year because he’s had ties to to Mike Zimmer. It’s not a great group. Maybe you wait till time, which is what you did last year with Jordan Phillips. Again, you want real help, you got to do it in March or April. You can’t do it in in August. So, with your best efforts, realistically, name a defensive tackle who you want to add. Let me know in the comments section of today’s show. some trade targets. Um, Zack Pickkins, you know, Bears got Grady Jarrett and Javon Dexter and Shamar Turner and maybe they move on from Andrew Billings, but Zack Pickkins knows Matt Eberloose. He’s undersized as a noseguard, but I’m trying here. Um, I the Lions, you’re not going to get DJ Reer. I think that pipe dream is gone, but Ali McNeel’s still coming off of injury. Um, they already put uh Levi Levi on IR for the season, but Brick Martin, a former third round pick, might be available from the Lions. That’s that’s a name you could try to consider. The 49ers have been shuffling around their defensive line room. If CJ West and Alfred Collins are hims them, I don’t know. Jordan Elliot, uh, Carolina overhauled their defensive tackle room, you’re not going to get Derrick Brown. But Shai Tuttle, these are kind of like journeyman nose guards. Aan Robinson fits this mold, too. The other Florida defense tackle, Cam Jackson, makes sense. Uh, I know you guys all wanted um, everyone’s favorite 400 pounder, but he’s not playing yet because he still needs to lose weight because people didn’t want to listen to me in the pre-draft prospect. So, Desmond Watson’s not an option either. Uh, Tyler Lacy for Jacksonville. It sounds like he’s actually had a kind of a decent camp so far, but he might be the odd man out. It’s It’s a weird group. Um it’s just there’s not there’s not good options at this time. So, grade the Cowboys against the Rams A, B, C, D, or F. You’re like, bargain buys in August? Yeah. That’s all you got? the the uh the top-of-the-line models are already off off off the lot and sold. That’s that’s all you got. I didn’t even put Christian Wilkins on there because I don’t know what the health and off the- field stuff is. We we did a video on that. I just I don’t I don’t know what the hell is actually going on there. So, I I essentially just left him off. So, grade the Cowboys against the Rams, A, B, C, D, or F? Let me know in the comments section of today’s show. Grade the Cowboys against the Rams. D is winning in the pinned poll side. Reminder, if you have not already to subscribe to the Cowboys Report. Hit that sub button. YouTube.comcowboys TV. More videos throughout the week. Live on Thursday, Saturday for the Cowboys Ravens preseason game. Hope to see you guys in the comments.

The Cowboys Report is LIVE on August 11th, 2025 as host Tom Downey discusses all the latest on the Cowboys! Week 1 of the NFL Preseason is over and the Cowboys are on to Week 2, where they’ll play the Ravens. Before then, we’ve got Cowboys rumors to discuss on players like Micah Parsons, Stephon Gilmore and more! Is the DT room still a massive issue for the Cowboys? Plus, are Donovan Ezeriuaku and Kaiir Elam going to be steals for the Cowboys?

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Stephen Jones mentioned two possible areas where help is needed: DT and Cornerback. So that’s led to plenty of Cowboy rumors on signing Stephon Gilmore, especially after the secondary struggles vs. the Rams.

Cowboys news on Micah Parsons:
– Shan Shariff reported Micah Parsons met with Jerry Jones for 4+ hours
– Wasn’t sure if David Mulugheta was involved remotely
– He also said others (Slater, Belt, Broaddus) told him they heard that wasn’t accurate
– Adam Schefter said there was no real update on the Micah Parsons contract front: “He issued his trade request roughly 10 days ago. There has been nothing that has transpired on a new contract since then. Nothing.”

Even if you’re watching Law Nation, Mike Fisher, Attack! On Cowboys, FootsDaKing, Mark Holmes, Locked On Cowboys or 105.3 The Fan too, don’t miss these other Cowboys Report videos:
– Cowboys News After NFL Preseason Week 1: Phil Mafah, Mazi Smith, Jay Toia, Injury News & Rookies – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GOLn9A0YHY
– Cowboys Winners & Losers vs. Rams Ft Joe Milton, Brian Schottenheimer, Marist Liufau, Israel Mukuamu – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qt3OBC5fYs8
– INSTANT REACTION! Cowboys vs. Rams NFL Preseason Week 1 Ft. Joe Milton Injury + Traeshon Holden – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUw1nW2B2DM

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Cowboys 2024 Run Defense stats:
Opponent Run %: 46.1 (11th)
Touchdowns Allowed: 25 (32nd)
Yards Per Game: 137.1 (29th)
Yards Per Carry: 4.8 (30th)
Explosive Runs: 63 (25th)
Stuff Rate: 10.8% (31st)
EPA/Rush: +0.14 (32nd)
Yards Before Contact: 1.81 (28th)
Yards After Contact: 3.08 (20th)
Stacked Box: 23.2% (10th)

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Agree or disagree with Cowboys Report host Tom Downey by commenting on today’s video:
– Grade the Cowboys against the Rams! A, B, C, D or F!
– Do the Cowboys need another CB? Type ‘1’ for Yes, ‘0’ for No
– What will the Cowboys do with Micah Parsons? Type ‘T’ for Trade, ‘K’ for Keep

2024 Cowboys Stats Leaders (Rushing):
Rico Dowdle: 235 carries, 1,079 yards, 1 TD
KaVontae Turpin: 16 carries, 92 yards
Deuce Vaughn: 17 carries, 70 yards
CeeDee Lamb: 14 carries, 70 yards
Dak Prescott: 13 carries, 54 yards, 1 TD
Hunter Luepke: 12 carries, 38 yards

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