Cowboys Break: Roster BREAK-down | Dallas Cowboys 2025

Cowboys Break: Roster BREAK-down | Dallas Cowboys 2025

The following is a production of DallasCowboys.com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club. How about you? [Music] Let’s go. Are you ready for a break? Yes. Are you ready for a break? Absolutely. Ready for a break? Yeah. And um so much for that. It’s time for the break on dallascowboys.com. We were on the break with Ambar Garcia, Brian Bris, Vach Lombardi, and Derek Eagleton. All right. Well, we’ll change up the names a little bit, but uh I’m used to I’m used to this before the Cowboys break. I’m Nick Eatman. It’s been a while since I’ve been on it, but I I think I’m just playing referee today. I’m just tossing the ball up. We got Brian Bratus. We got Vatch Lombardi. Derek is on his way back. I think Amber’s traveling as well, but I’m glad to be here with you guys. It’s been a while since I’ve heard the uh we’ve been on a break. Uhuh. Well, on here I watch Friends all the time, but first time I’ve I’ve seen it heard it on here. Glad to be with you guys. We’ll talk a little bit about Cowboys football. Brian, you came in ready to roll. So, let’s let’s let’s go watch. How you doing, man? Hey, man. You know, we just uh you know, working making a little bit of money on.com, but you know, I don’t I don’t work here, you know what I mean? So, just a little bit behind the scenes. Nick was like, “Hey, man. one of y’all wanted to host and I was just sitting back like y’all did not let me in the but they have to pay me more to do something like that so I’m just sitting back kicking it man what’s good yeah we don’t need any more contract negotiations going on here so we’re not doing that Brian man good to good to be with you as well I know you guys were at camp we all were at camp at at some point still watching kind of from afar what’s let’s let’s just kind of go off the top what what’s kind of on your mind right now what what are some of the things you’re thinking of yeah you know I think that to me putting aside the Michael Parson stuff you know, you got to kind of look at that as a different way as an evaluator. What you have to do is like, hey, the guys that are here, how can we evaluate them? And, you know, I think going forward now, you have to kind of figure out some things with the wide receiver group. You have to figure out some things with the running back group. What’s going to happen at corner, you know, the defensive tackle rotation. How’s that going to play out? So, there’s still really things that we can can look at going into this Baltimore game. You know, we’ll see what happens in that final game, how they play it, but there are still clearly some some roster spots that have to be determined. And there’s some how is the order of how these guys are going to play on the depth chart. We always kind of talk about the unofficial depth chart and all that, but there’s going to be a real depth chart here coming up in a couple of weeks and the Cowboys need to find a way to figure that out and that’s what this game’s going to allow them to this week. Sure. And you know, when you watch the Ravens last week, you go, “Boy, they got a bunch of third and fourth team guys that might be a little better than us, man.” So you so you want to get those younger guys ready, but I’m just sitting here curious, biting my time, tapping my watch, going, when are we going to see some first team guys? Because this team is is topheavy, you know, and you could tell that if you go out there and you mess around and you throw I ain’t going to say nobody name cuz I’m on.com right now. But if you throw some third, fourth string guys out there, you likely to look a little sloppy. You look a little bad. What is it going to look like when you throw some of the second teams out there that are going to play against the Eagles? I want to see those guys. You know, Deuce Vaughn was the first running back out there. He may be the fourth guy on the depth chart right now. Maybe five. So, what is the second running back like, the third running back like? Me and Brian always talk about the old man running backs. They need to play. Last year made me sick. Zeke sat down the entire preseason. The whole thing did nothing, right? I need to see what some of these older guys look like. My Sanders is allegedly the old Juice guy in the room, but we need to see what that looks like pad-wise. You know, Dak hasn’t played a preseason game since 2019, and we see it around the league some of the stars that that do that. What’s your stance on that? Both I wanted to ask you this question because you’ve been around you’ve been around. We’ve all been around a long time, Nick, but we used to like I remember oh getting off a trip where I didn’t have to go to the Hall of Fame game and you guys had to deal with five preseason games. You know what I’m saying? There was a time, Nick, that we dealt we dealt with four to five preseason games and there was a way to say, “Oh, the dress rehearsal game.” We It was always the cute Yeah. cute buzz word that we used when we were doing these things and we don’t have that opportunity now and some teams have taken advantage of like listen I’ll throw my guys out there in week one of the preseason and kind of figure some things out and get him some work you know I I really am honestly in my heart of hearts I wanted to believe that Brian Shottenheimimer was going to play some of his guys and to Vach’s point though like you know you you want to see I don’t want to be circling around here on the break in week four and Vach and I are having a discussion with you or Amber or Derek about why is this offense doesn’t look any good? Why is the offense struggling? Why is CD Lamb having to complain about the offense? And then but then you watch some of these other teams that might, you know, that might be playing their starters. That to me is kind of where, you know, it it maybe that’s where you kind of go, okay, there’s a little bit of an advantage here. But I could also see the disadvantage where everybody’s like scared to death of losing players, right? I was going to ask you what would you what would that question be like if it’s like why is so and so in a walking boot against the Eagles like well cuz he played against Baltimore and he got hurt and I mean we’ve seen it but I mean it it’s it’s one of those things like I I just don’t believe that they have been that poor in the first month of the season for me to say wow they’re so rusty they should have been playing cuz I go back to the last five or six years and their record is still above 500 in September which makes me think, you know, I’m I’m okay with the riskreward because they’re not that if if every remember that Tampa game at home where Dak gets hurt and it was the worst game ever. If every game was like that, then I’m like, “All right, they need to play some in the preseason.” But because they seem somewhat sharp, I’m okay with it because I I just the risk is just too much. I don’t want to see Romo, you know, like with that injury in Seattle. When I think about that, I think, well, that that’s that’s what could happen. There’s a lot on the line this season, you know, and I think you look for any small advantage you can, you know, and there’s a difference between craps and shooting dice in the bathroom, right? Like we can go, all right, Pat Mahomes went out there and did some stuff and that’ll give him an advantage and he’ll jump out early in the season, but man, Jordan Love uh, you know, tore a little tendon in his thumb or, you know, Richardson uh, missed a read and got hurt or whatever, right? So, it’s just like how do you how do you balance that? And yeah, there are risk and you don’t want Dak to be hurt. But if we were some, and I say we because I’m a Cowboy fan. I’m not like reporting. Well, so if the Cowboys are like this team that is building and they’re trying to figure stuff out, then maybe yeah, you can mess around and maybe see here or there. But I think the Cowboys are in this situation where they’re trying to go past what they’ve always gone. They’re trying to go into conference championship game, Super Bowl. And I think with this schedule, this difficult schedule with a Eagles division game, conference game, like this stuff is happening to you early. the Bears after that, the Giants. Like these are these are important games early. So I yeah, you don’t want that to get hurt, but boy, you don’t want to lose a division game that you supposed to win, right? I mean, last year like, oh, the Saints conference game, we’ll go out there and deal with the Saints and the Saints make you look crazy in week two. I just think that you should look for any advantage you can. And that may be Dak not playing or that could be Dak playing. Nice for you to say crazy cuz I thought it was terrible. I wanted to cuss, but I can’t cuss on. I mean, that that Saints game I always mention. I haven’t done a show with you guys in a while. I always mention when everyone says injuries last year. Well, injuries, the Saints game, they were all healthy and they were all terrible and the Saints were bad. That’s the one I always think of. Don’t don’t sit here and blame injuries because you you have no explanation for the Saints. Yeah. No, I I think to me though that it’s one of those things where you go into this with the mindset of like it is a the one thing and this is where I could respect him maybe not saying, you know, okay, we all we’re all worried about injuries. He might not want to show Philadelphia anything. He just might not want to show anything. You know, does is does he want to play vanilla with that with Dak Prescott? I don’t know if he necessarily wants to do that, but that could be the one thing if he were say, “Listen, I don’t want to play my starters because I do not want to show Vic Fangio anything to work on.” So, Brian, that’s fair, but my only retort is we’re all at camp. Well, I’m agreeing with you, but I’m just trying to I’m just trying to play the other side of the fence. I get the turping part. I want to see that Booker. We were all at camper and and sometime like we noticed there was a lot of emphasis and attention on breaking the huddle, right? Why? because they’re doing things now differently than the Mike McCarthy administration, right? We got a lot of shifts, a lot of motions, a lot of dudes lining up. Austin Richards is lining up at tight end and left tackle sometimes. So, you know, you you know, you sometimes you got to be uh on the line of scrimmage, but in the preseason game twice in a row behind the line of scrimmage, right? Yeah, you got those issues that you might want to work out in a game type setting. You don’t want to roll this out there the first game versus Super Bowl champions, do you? No. In a in a division game, in a conference game. That’s what I’m saying. Like if if if you were playing the silly nannies week one, maybe you can mess around. Browns or something, maybe you can mess around. The Super Bowl champions week one at their house in Philly in damn Philly. Dak don’t need to play a whole half or nothing like that. And I wouldn’t let him run around do no boots and rolls to get him hit or nothing like that. But I think they at least need to work on the infrastructure of the offense at least. I love it. What What are um I’m going to go. You really don’t love it, but Well, no, I love that. No, what I’m saying. I love I love how deep you’re you’re diving into that. You’re kind of a personal guy in heart because I always tell you this and all the years we worked together, I would say, “Hey, Nick, if I get that guy hurt, I can’t replace him.” Right? You know, that was always my argument that like as a personnel guy, you want to put that guy, you want to put Deion Sanders as a punt returner and you want to do all these things, punt return, punt returner, put Dez Bryant back there. Fine, do all those things. But just know that if you get him hurt that way, I can’t replace him. And I think that’s what we’re kind of going through right now. With as much bad luck as this team seems to have had, they haven’t lost anybody, you know, but it’s they’ve had some kind of bad luck along the way. And maybe that’s where people are a little bit, you know, a little worried that like, okay, we throw somebody out there, it’s we’re going to press that. Vot, what’s your favorite position right now? Your your best position on this thing. Oh, why did you go here? Like you mean would I like to evaluate or you just mean where where do you feel like the Cowboys are the best right now? About no no yeah you got to clarify about say offensive line. No I know I heard some some conversations you and Patrick you guys are you’re one time I walked by you guys and you were talking about Adeny versus Charles. No he’ll tell you he offensive. What position are they the strongest right now? The top three I would say edge wide receiver quarterback. No order edge, wide receiver and quarterback. Quarterback. So you might not want to play Michael Parks, Dak Prescott, CD Lamb, and George Pickkins. Basically, basically to your point, Tyler Booker needs to play regardless. But to Brian, don’t give me her point. I mean, maybe you hold by the way, I hate my point. I understand. Maybe you hold Dak. Look, if if I need some to knock on if 88 three four catastrophic, we all sick. I don’t even want to say it. We all sick. If anything, Tom Moore, we don’t work on eft. You know what I’m saying? But you can you can roll out some of Terence Steel needs reps. Tyler Booker needs reps. Uh, all the running backs can go. All the old guys can do this one. Terrence Steel and Tyler Booker together. Together. I mean, next to each other. Can I give you a position real quick? Ne rep. Yeah. Can I give you a position I feel good about? Yeah. I want I was going to ask you next. Offensive line. So, I mean, you you watch the all 22. The offensive line didn’t play bad and it got down to the Cornelius and guys like that. I think Vaj will tell you that the offensive line, they they gave they gave Joe Milton time. They created some running lanes. I mean, and this is usually you get Nick and again, you’ve been at this a long time. You get in those preseason games and you’re like going, “Oh my gosh, this is falling apart. We can’t move the damn ball.” The old because of the offensive line. I I think to the if you ask me a little bit of a strength and that’s without that’s without guys those are backup dudes out there playing like Hoffman and Bass and and some guys awesome Richards you know I think you got a little taste of what Thomas can do out there and by the way can I ask a real quick offensive line question yeah let me start with you Nick Eatman okay you’ve got you’ve got Gayton who’s could be coming back week one right could be coming back but no preseason reps no training camp reps you going with him or you going with Nick and Nate Thomas. Better dudes. Brian, we we talk about this all the time. Continuity. I didn’t ask you, sir. It’s all right. Okay, my bad. You’re right. I do this all the time. You and you and I you and I are about to do this after this show. Mick, please go ahead. Tell him. I actually I actually needed a second to like wipe the sweat that was coming down my brow just thinking of that scenario. Neither one sounds really good. Um, I am going with Nate Thomas and and I don’t think I don’t think my tight ends are gonna catch a pass because they’re going to be blocking for me. Oh, play max protection. Yeah, I think I think so. I I trust Gayton, man. What? You really I trust I I knew he trusted Gayton. So, look. I knew this. That’s why I tried to I cut him off. If if Gayton had to deal with Miles Garrett week one, I’d be sick. I’m more worried about the interior guys like week one. like like didn’t he deal with Miles Garrett week one last he did but it it wasn’t the best and we had to do a lot of things different on offense but but Nolan Smith isn’t the scariest guy on that Dline he’s cool he made some plays in the postseason whatever but I can deal with that matchup Tyler Gayen versus uh Nolan Smith but the Jaylen Carter versus Booker that’s the one that I need to see it first I know what Jaylen Carter looks like versus big Tyler I can live with big Tyler versus Jaylen Carter it’s that right guard the young let me let me change my answer then for Wednesday. Uh well, shoot. What is a Wednesday for this Thursday game? A Sunday, I believe. Yeah. Sunday, the Wednesday practice, and I think it’s going to be on the Sunday right before the game. If G if I can get Gayton there. If I can get two or three full practices back, then probably Gayton. But if he’s just coming back and his first football is Thursday night against the Eagles on No, I’ I’d go with I’d go with the next best guy, which I believe is Nate. I think even this is something I’ve told Brian Broad as many times this me and your first show, but uh common opponents matter to me when I’m breaking down guys evaluating and things like that. So when we’re at camp, I can say names now because it’s just competition. When we’re at camp, if you see Marshon Nean, Peyton Turner, Donovan, Sam versus Nate. Nate’s fighting for his life to keep up with those guys. Nate will lose to some of those guys, but he’s fighting for his life. He’s hanging in there. Da da da. Tyler Gayton, I don’t think lost a rep to Pton Turner. pass rush rep to Marshan Neand this is a big change in your life. Sam Williams huge Sam Williams he didn’t lo he he didn’t lose reps to none of those guys. Donovan Ezaraku got him a couple times but even after that last practice it’s on my Twitter y’all go find it by the way that last practice when when Tyler got hurt. He didn’t lose a rep to um Donzaraku that that whole day. I believe common opponents matter. So the guy that does better against this group of dudes I’m going to go with that guy which is Tyler Gay for me. So, you’re saying that Nate Thomas versus Micah Parsons is probably not going to go well? Uh, it’s gonna look, it’s g both are going to look terrible versus Micah. It is what it is. But who gives you the better shot? And u that’s one of the more upsetting things about this contract situation is that we can’t see that. Uh, but Gayton gives you and not only does does Gayton have experience with with Micah, but Gayton has a lot more tools than Nate to deal with a guy like Micah. I ain’t saying it’s always going to go great, but at least you have the tools to kind of deal with that. 100% believe Gayton is the better option. I just he’s got to get a few more reps of practice. I tell you what, Nick, I like what you’re saying there because like I say, I’m not throwing him out there cold. If it’s all of a sudden it’s a questionable, questionable, questionable, and we we start to get the practice reports and it’s limited and all that stuff like that. Man, that to me is and if he if he dresses and all, I think I’m playing Nate Thomas. One last one last point before we go to break. Tyler Gton’s played games in the NFL. Nate Thomas is not. Does that mean Yeah. No, it matters. He wasn’t great, but he got there. You you you make a matter you make a very good argument there. I just worry about like I say the thing you you’re right about the way that Gayton has played in in training camp. I mean that that might be the saddest thing that’s happened. He’s the one guy that all of a sudden it’s like, wow, he came back a different looking player. So, but yeah, I just worry about that a little bit. All right. Well, you alluded to it. Let’s just go to the break here. Let’s go to our first break here on Cowboys Break. Be right back after this. 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 items 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 supply. Visit att.com/garantee for details. AT&T connecting changes everything. Hey y’all, Matt Pitman here. As the official pitm of the Dallas Cowboys, you know, I take cookware seriously, especially when it comes to America’s team. So, when the Cowboys are away, I’m putting my Yeti cast iron skillets to work to make my game day favorites for friends and family. I’m talking chicken fried steak, skillet queso, and peach cobbler. 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We’re talking all we’re kind of all over the map here, which is fine. That’s kind of what what this team is has been. Welcome to the doing all right. Right. Right. Nick Eman. Yes, sir. Is Tay Sean Holden really going to take everybody’s job like social media is saying, you know? You know, you you know, you know, when we’re breaking down this thing, we have to evaluate. Is it the the big picture of what you bringing to the table or are you just a few highlight plays? Are you just a big catch here and there and we just know is is is Tan Holden really taking Jaylen Tober’s job? He’s about to give you a good answer. I think I I don’t I don’t think so. Honestly, I don’t think he is. I I think that when you see the success of the quarterbacks, you see the success of the receivers, you look at who’s playing quarterback and who’s not playing quarterback. And I I’m not not too happy with what I’ve seen there from the backup backup cornerbacks. Mhm. So, I just I I feel like one through five at receiver is pretty solid. That six, seven, and eight, I I think we’ve got some practice squad material there that I think those two guys, Kelly and Holden, I think are going to be this year’s uh Craropper and uh Harmon. Give me your Give me your top f You can only keep five wide receivers because they have to go short at a position. Just say they do it. Give me your five guys. Ter counts. Yeah. Give me Give me your five wide receivers. Turpin Turpin counts as receiver. Turpin counts as a receiver. Well, damn. Go ahead, CD CD picking Sturp Tolbert and um Mingo. Is that the way you’re going? Let me ask you this. When we’re No, no, no, no, no. You can only keep You can only I’m saying you can only keep five because of all the injuries and stuff like that. Are you asking me as a coach or as the GM? Because that’s two different That’s That’s two different questions, Brian Brought. Cuz if I’m the coach, I’m keeping Jaylen Tolbert cuz he was your leading touchdown guy last year. This kind of stuff. But if you asking me to GM, I’m going, man, that dude got one more year in my contract. I don’t know how much he gonna play. Okay. You have to think as a GM though, you have to think you don’t want to do anything to hurt your coach. If I’m the GM, Brian Bris, I’m thinking about years left on contract. That’s that’s what’s important to me. How much is See, look, that that’s why this picking Let me look at that’s why this Pickins thing was massive. Massive. I’ll say this in front of Nick because he never heard me say this. Pickings bumped everybody down two spots, right? Once upon a time, this thing was gonna be 11 personnel, Lamb, Tolbert, and Mingo. And we was all gonna be happy to. They was all gonna be happy. Yeah, brother. I got you. But now they got to fight against each other. Now they got to compete against each other. Now you are you are you are getting sets. We’re in camp. We see sets where it’s uh uh CD Pickings, Turpin, Mingo, and Tobin on the sideline sitting around chilling. So now you got to look at your offense like, man, how much do we need to Bert? Pre-pickings, you needed Tobe Bert bad, your leading touchdown guy. Now you like, man, this dude with one left, one year left on his contract. I don’t know. I don’t know how much is how much of my offense going to revolve around him. And Turpin may not be your lead receiver guy for you, but you got parts of your offense revolving around him. So now I’m looking at, okay, well, there’s my big three, then my development guys. And Mingo is is technically a guy that you’re still developing. He got two years left on his contract or something like that. Man, Jaylen Toba got one. Uh you can keep holding for three. Uh like Florida got three left. I think it comes down to contract length. Six wide receivers, one four. Let him talk. Let him talk cuz he’s shaking his head and I was talking. Well, the only thing Turpin to me is a solid three all the way. If you first two guys, knock on the biggest oak tree ever. But if the first two guys and something were to happen, I think that’s where you see Tolbert play more. Mingo Turpin’s always going to be my three. I don’t think he’s ever going to be a one and two. So, he’s just kind of in that weird spot. But Tolbert is I I I hear what you’re saying and if you have if you get a trade offer or something, I have to listen. But but I I the seventh get that six or seven round that seven. Oh yeah. Who’s gonna be trying to get Tolbert? I mean, not that much. I I think he provides value like a backup quarterback would that that he could you throw in there. He’ll play some special teams for you if he if you need him to. But you know the Jaylen Brooks Florenoi I mean Holden they’re all they’re all right there. I mean Josh Kelly maybe if he does something this week. I I don’t doubt it. I like Holden. But let me say something that’s going to be real weird to think about. Uh if you go back and watch Holden’s college film back in Oregon he was a real good blocker man. He was. And Noah Brown made a lot of teams. He didn’t have no make just cuz he was a real good blocker. And in this offense where the head coach play call is preaching wide receivers blocking on offense. If if if he’s a guy that can find use in this offense in that kind of way like they come out in 22 some weird 22 where uh you know Turpin’s the running back or something. They need an extra blocking receiver something like that. I can see a world where Holden not even breaking the bank as like a catching guy but just hey we value him as a as a as a mover of DBs type. I don’t think Brooks has been bad. No, Jaylen Brooks. Yeah, I don’t think he’s been bad. I think that I think when you start to talk about guys that probably had the most consistent practices every single day that I was watching, Brooks was not doing anything wrong, right? And you know, and all of a sudden now he’s going, you know, and and I’ll ask you guys this question. Six wide receivers or four running backs? Oh, cuz see that’s what I think is going to happen. Where’s Lipkkey fit into that? Is he one of your four? See, I think Lipkkey I think I think Lipkkey is my really kind of my I think he’s my fourth tight end. Yeah. Okay. So, I’m kind of like I’m not going to carry I’m going to carry three and a four carry. But I’m curious because I think they’re going to get stuck. I think they’re going to get stuck on this. They’re going to they’re going to fall in love with these running backs and we’ll see how it all shakes out. But I think they’re going to fall in love with those guys and I think they’re going to fall in love with these wide receivers. When you were a GM, Brian, how often did the tiebreaker come down to the wide receiver coach or the whatever coach? I’ll tell you what, it came down to I know that the times that I was in meetings where it always came down to what we tried to help the head coach and that’s why I asked you that question earlier like the head coach had to tell us, hey, this is my plan. This is what I want to do. This is how I want to play and let’s see if we can. But I I think Dallas is gonna get stuck and I think they and I think it’s there’s always that one time. Explain that a little bit more to the the stuck. Yeah. Just kind of explain. I think they’re going to I think they’re going to go in there and they’re going to fall in love with their wide receivers. I don’t think they want I don’t I don’t think they want to get rid of Brooks or Florenoi or or Tolbert. I don’t think they want to get rid of Holden, you know. I don’t think they want to expose these guys to waiverss. They always, oh, it’s a tough cut. But uh it really, you know, but this one is one of those things where I believe that they’re going to fall in love with their wide receivers and I could see them all of a sudden saying, “Damn, Mafa looks good.” Yeah, we got blue Williams. Did you see Williams in pass protection today catching the football, man? That Sanders has got some juice. You know what I’m saying? That’s the kind of things that are talked about in a in a in a meeting. And then all of a sudden you do your 53 and you’ve got problems at corner and you’re like we’ve got to carry some extra corners because we don’t have healthy enough guys or we have to carry extra defensive linemen because we we feel like that if we put them out there we’re not going to get them back. I just I just think they’re going to they’re going to struggle with and and they’ll keep a position long that they probably shouldn’t. And I’m trying to get you guys to tell me if it’s the wide receiver or it’s the running back. Malik Davis is your sixth running back right now. something like that. Something crazy like that. He You can only have so many 70 yard preseason games before you just not the six running back no more. You know what I mean? So, how many more good games do you need to to see from a guy before they take a spot from a veteran that’s not playing? Well, I think Malik Davis’s has a role. I don’t know if it’ll be the Cowboys, it’ll be another team, but he will definitely be on a practice squad and and he’ll be that elevation guy. He can play special teams. He can be he can come in and he he proved in this game that he can stay ready when he’s not even on a team. He can stay ready and go in there and perform. He will be on someone’s practice squad and probably elevated for the first game. Man, you guys didn’t answer my question. No, I didn’t. But I think running back I think running back You think they’re going to go long at running back? Yeah, because that’s where they drafted two players and I think that Blue’s fine and I think they’re going to keep Mafa. It’s the Miles Sanders things for me is where does he fit? I want to see him. like you’ve been saying, I want to see what this guy is. See, I kind of feel like that Miles Sanders to me might be the starter because I mean just I mean Williams to me and I’ve Vot and I have talked about this a bunch. I kind of see it reversed. I see Sanders blue and this is before the game before the preseason game, but Sanders blue and then Williams as the third down back. That’s kind of how I envisioned it. Picks up the blitz better. Yeah, it picks up but Maf did a nice job picking up Blit. I mean, are you guys willing to get rid of one of these veteran running backs then? Is is is even if you if you don’t see Sanders, do you think if you don’t see Sanders, they’re going to keep him? I don’t think the veteran running backs are so good that it makes you move on from a draft pick you really love that’s showing up and doing something. Yeah, I agree. I agree with you on that. So, my if if any the first name I would think of is is like Williams might be the the first guy like if because we always break it down into types of guys, right? So if Williams is your thumpy, catch the ball sometimes blocky guy, that’s what Mafa kind of is. If Mafa can prove to you that he’s a solid thumpy picking up blocks, catch the ball guy, then Williams might be redundancy players, right? You want to limit as many redundancies as you possibly can when you’re a team building. That’s just something I always say, Nick. So you you just can’t have five of the same guy in your running back room, your wide receiving room. So, uh, if if everything is gonna revolve around Blue, which I think it will be. I think Blue is like the he he ain’t like the bellcow back or anything like that, but he’s one of your more talented young guys. He’s around, right? So, he’s there. Sanders could be your old dude. I think the competition now is Lipkkey safe. I I would assume if Lipkkey safe, you only got room for one more thumping, blocking third down, catch the ball guy. Yeah. And they’re probably going to go with the young dude if that’s the case. And I think he will play special teams for you probably even better. And he big as hell, too. He tackle. He looks like a linebacker. Yeah, you know that type of body type. I’m trying to figure out I’m trying to figure out if Holden Brooks and Florenoi are better than Mafa. Who else you got in that? Ma, I mean, I’m not going to include Blue in that, but is is or is it better than Mafa Williams and say Malik Davis? I think the bottom of your receivers are more talented, but the top of your receivers are so crazy that they don’t really matter. Yeah. The bottom of your running backs have to get used at at some point. And and even if you account for like the wear and tear of running back, you’ll probably go through a lot of those guys. Your fourth running Hunter Lip could probably get a carry for you at some Oh, yeah. And and in the um in the joint situation with the Rams, he was getting goal line work. Looked good as a goal line type type guy for you. So, the whole running back room is going to have to get used. I don’t see a You ain’t taking City Lamb off the field to put Brooks on the field. Yeah, but you’ll take Sanders off the field to put Blue in there. You know what I mean? Something like that. So, you know, all right. Get get another spam call. Yeah, they’re blowing us up. They getting that money. Yeah, definitely. No, I think that’s so funny about the running back because it’s like nothing is is solid. Like a receiver, you’re like, “Okay, one, two, three, boom. Let’s talk about four, five, and six.” But but I I got was thinking that Javvante was probably good and Miles might be the one that’s gonna be tough. And nobody is safe. Nobody is like except for Jaden Blue. Blue is safe, but we don’t know his role yet. Sure. He’s definitely going to make the team, but nobody else at that position. And they could be the starter. I mean, Blue could be the starter. No, that’s that’s my fear. It’s so my my fear is they they won’t evaluate the running back room, right? That’s my fear. and you got to play somebody in this game. That’s my fear that all of a sudden that they don’t know and then they keep guys that they probably shouldn’t keep and it affects the rest of the roster. Yeah. I think they brought in those older running backs prior to the draft because I think they made the mistake last year of waiting and waiting and like, well, damn, I guess we’ll sign Zeke now. I think that’s why the old man running backs are here. So, I’m not operating as if the old man running backs are untouchable. I’m not operating. You know what I’m saying? Like I’m not I’m not I’m not here like, “Oh boy, we signed Javvante Williams in the you know what I’m saying? I’m not moving.” Like Pickkins is a guy that’s untouchable like that. These old man running backs are not they they got to they they got to do something in in the um in the game versus the Ravens coming. Was Javvante like 26. I love Javant. Well, he’s 26, but he’s running back old because because of his run style and his knees hurt, so he’s technically running back. I get it. I mean, you know, Marian Barber, rest his soul bit. I mean, he was he was in that boat like in his second or third year, too. I remember that. But it’s funny how 25 he’s a young man, but he’s been in the league. This is his fifth season. Look, Brian, running back 21 way younger than 25. A lot of years in between. I mean, it’s funny how it it all depends on what you can do, you know, like years. He can’t rent a car until just just now. But now he’s old, you know? He’s he’s old. That’s all All right, game. That’s the game. Um, I’m just I’m just looking in the chat cuz I love to engage the chat. Everybody’s in here kind of vouching for Mafa in there. And shouts out Landlord in there. Uh, you know, it seems like the fan base is is Mafa and and Davis all day, every day, but they’re still the fifth and sixth guy. So, definitely. All right, got to figure out. Let’s take a break here. Let’s talk defense when we come back here on Cowboys Break. If you can’t be at the stadium, there’s no better way to watch your Cowboys than on an LG OLED EVO TV. That’s because everything you see is more lifelike. Every play, every hit. I mean, you might as well be on the sidelines. That’s how clear it is. It’s all thanks to LG’s legendary technology. Perfect black. Over 8.3 million self-lit pixels. No one comes close. 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AT&T connecting changes everything. Back to the break. AT&T connecting changes everything. All right, that’s it. That’s the read. That’s it. All right, let’s read. All right, let’s go. Uh, we’ve been talking off. We have some that go AT&T. We’re badass. Yeah, we got ones like that as well, man. on. I got reads that are just like paragraphs and it’s like, “All right, we’re good.” Uh, let’s talk defense here. We’ve talked a lot about the offense. What’s What’s the position that you think is um you know, we talked about receiver like one through eight. What’s the deepest position on the defense that you think looks pretty good? You would say corner, but everybody needs hurt, so uh that that don’t really count. Um not for the Philly game. I mean, you know, you’re right. Sure. Sure. Sure. Um yeah, in the in the in the big picture, sure. Uh cornerback. Yeah. But I mean, I I still vouch for this edge group. You know, me and me and uh Brown were talking about the other day, like guys like James Houston. Guys like I I didn’t even know who the hell James Houston was, but turn out he had eight sacks in the league. He’s played, he’s done things, and now he’s here. And I thought he was a miscellaneous young guy and shows out and and and actually gets pressure and practice and shows up in the in the game. And if the Rams didn’t get rid of the ball so damn fast, James Houston may have been uh may have been, you know, gotten his name called or something like that. So him on top of, you know, Sam Williams, Peyton Turner, Donzaraku, Micah still has to come back. Uh there’s a lot of edges in this room and I think the Cowboys have to kind of figure it out. I think ultimately you just have to when you’re roster building these guys, you have to look look for the most balance. You you look at the pass rush guys like which one of y’all can do better versus the runner. You look verse those rundown guys. But hey, which one of y’all can rush the passer a little better? And you just kind of keep the the six best balanced guys you can. You think Ezaraku is active in week one? Yeah, you better be. I do. So, so from an I’m just assuming Mike is going to be there and complain. I mean, I’m not even going down. Yeah, I think I think to me that um that’s interesting because it kind of comes down to him or Sam Williams, right? Doesn’t it? And and you know, because Nean will and Nean will be Nean will be active and then now it’s like, okay, who do you feel better about? And this is where I talked about them maybe going long at a position. Maybe they feel like that, hey, we got to get after, you know, if you’re if you’re worried about Saquon Barkley, you’re going to need to put run defenders on the field. And the one thing that Donovan Ezaraku can do is feel like he could play the edge. We saw a clip yesterday from camp where they tried to get outside on him. And he was able to take the block and then keep the outside arm free and then go get the football. So he he’s he you have to determine who is more capable of handling a steady diet of Saquon Barkley and then maybe with Jaylen Herz running the ball. I need a new number for him as a rock. Yeah. Because I just keep seeing a bigger Terrence Newman and so I in my mind I’m just like you’re just you’re you’re not you don’t seem big enough. He said he needs another number. I think in in we got some 90s, right? Well, he I don’t think he wants to be that. Yeah. Yeah. He don’t want he don’t want to be Oh, he wants a he wants a single. Yeah. The young kids are swaggy these days. And you know the the corners don’t even wear 40s anymore. So we always talk about uh Zion um Children’s. He’s he’s wearing 48. Like man, is that a linebacker or something? You know how many conversations you think Mike McCor the equipment manager has to say to to talk to these young guys and go no no no. See Troy Aman was really really good. Like no I’m sorry. Well, what about eight? No. What about 12? No. 8 12 22 not not happening. Yeah. So I’m I’m glad that they do that. Yeah. Um I know some people aren’t too happy about 33. Javvonte Williams in 33 at running back. But all right, man. They be all right. People got to play. But as uh as far as um the pass rushes go as far as Donovan, I think the coaches are excited at the idea that Donovan gets to be the third pass rush guy. You know, like if he’s in the game now and you know, he’s he’s the primary pass rush, you can throw you can throw things at him. Tight ends and running backs get rid of the ball quick. You can kind of deal with him in that way. But if you’re a coordinator, you got to deal with Michael first and then Dante Fowler and then the Cowboys just sneaking Donovan Ezaraku in there. I think that’s that’s, you know, gonna matter even more. And Brian, to your point, yeah, you do have to worry about dealing with Saquon, but the Eagles have have proven to you that they’ll pivot, get away from Oh, no question. I was just I was just thinking of like you’re worried about this guy being fresh, you know, and they just go ahead and try and wear you down that way. Also, also too, Brian, if if I have faith in the world that this offense is going to go out there and do what it should be doing, it’s going to make other teams not run the ball as much, that’s what we hope the other team. Look, man, the Bills, Josh Allen threw the ball 12 times against us and blew us out, of course. But it it how I think it it will go. If the Cowboys offense really goes out there and track meet this thing up, then you make Jaylen Herz throw the ball. You don’t want Peyton Turner being one of your pass rushers out there, you know, just is what it is. Who has been your best linebacker? Because I’ve seen I asked this question and I’ve gotten three different answers. I know overshirt, but I’m talking about the guys that have been there. I have three different answers. I don’t think there’s any other position that you can get that much um variety in your answers. Who has been your best linebacker at training camp so far? Overon’s been hurt. Uh Murray’s just had a baby in them, so he hasn’t really been there. It’s either Maris, but in real in in real life. in real life. And this where it sucks, Brian. Yeah. De Mo Clark’s been good at practice. I That’s I This is the problem. He’s one of the answers that I keep. This This is This is the That He’s right. Dean Clark’s been really good at practice, but when you get to game, all that that we saw at practice went away. Oh, yeah. It went away. No disrespect to nobody over there. At least with Leopile, what we see from him is he’s at practice. He’s a little better when game day gets here, right? So, I would imagine that we, you know, if we’re in college, we’re grading the game a lot higher than than than what we’re grading practice here. It’ll have to be Leafoul. I mean, S Sanborn is fine, but I just like Maris and what he does a little bit more. Um, Eberloose is going to have to make that call. He’s probably going to lean Sandborn a little more than than Maris, but uh, if I had to make a pick, it’s been Leile. I agree. I mean, the thing that’s been disappointing was I was thinking that Clark had got over the hump of, you know, of Yeah. and he kind of reverted back to not being aware, not having spatial awareness, not being this kind of he looked very ordinary and very much like the guy we’ve seen before. And when they’ve asked him to play, hey, play with instincts, read, react, go cover, uh, carry guys, don’t let guys get behind you, that kind of he looked very much like the guy that we’d seen the last couple years. And that was really disappointing because when I watched in the all 22 as we all have, it’s just you’re like, man, this guy at practice was playing downhill. He was playing in coverage. He was blitzing. There were things about him that were like, okay, this is good, man. Mattlus has got to him. Here we go. They got him. They got him on the They got him on the track. Well, he it hasn’t been. U Maris Leafoul has been by the the best. The interesting one is James from from Shamar James from Florida. Okay, this is where Vach and I, if you watch a draft show, will tell you like, listen, the guy didn’t play with a lot of instincts at Florida. He’s a downhill player. You blitz him, things like that. He made a nice play the other day in coverage. You know, he got he got in the throwing lane, was able to knock the ball down. You know, I don’t think I want him playing in a lot of coverage. I want him being They use Meris Leaf as an attack linebacker. Use this guy the same way. I think he’s got a feel. I think that’s that’s how you kind of play to his strengths a little bit, but he flashed more in that game than I think Deone Clark did. I I was thinking that Baron was going to do a little bit more when I saw him in OTAAS. He just looks apart. He looks smooth. He looked better in some of the drills than Shamar James, but he hasn’t maybe he hasn’t had a lot of opportunities. To me, he hasn’t he hasn’t flashed like I thought he might in in the in the practices. Y’all agree on Baron? Yeah, I think to me, it’s funny. I noticed Darius Harris more in the game than I had in practice. Even though Darius Harris, you see sometimes where he he looks like he can really run. He’s a physical player. He’s a good special teams player, but he showed up in in the game more than like you say, I I saw Baron get nicked up in a practice and and it kind of he just hasn’t looked like he’s recovered from that. Let me ask y’all a weird question about James. Just something to make y’all think a little bit. I’mma ask something. I’mma add something to it. I’m going ask y’all again. Is he on your day one um 46 uh man roster for the uh for the game for week one versus the Eagles? Shamar James. Yeah, I got to figure out I don’t Yeah, I got to figure out exactly. You’re going to need special teams players because what’s going to happen is you don’t there’s going to be guys that we’re going to have active that are running backs. Sure. That aren’t going to play. So, you have to make up for that. And what other tight ends I mean Hunter Lipkkey is going to give you work. Who else is going to play on that? Let me add one thing to the party that makes him special for week one. Who’s a better Jaylen Herz spy guy on your roster right now than him? Well, as far as running people down, it used to be overshown. Yeah, it be over and and so Brian, we talk about draft, right? We we talk about draft. Shamar James’ style is similar to overshown, right? As a downhill kind of chase you around. No, you’re you’re right about that. You don’t want Sambourne chasing around Jaylen Herz. So just just in a way if we can be coaches for a second, coordinators for a second, right? Do you say, “Well, I got this special job for you, Israel. I want you to go cover the slot in the Tampa Bay game. There’s one job I got for you.” Is is James that kind of guy to chase around Herz and that’s his third down job. Go out there, blitz, and chase him around. Do you have a roster spot for him? Do you have a Do you have a game day? I listen to you tell me about instincts and you’re absolutely right about that. Do you worry about him? Maybe I mean quarterback spy is the easiest job you got. No, but but I but I’m worried about like all of a sudden the play fakes and stuff like that, you know, the ball handling and all a sudden it’s coming out the back door and so I mean I just Yeah, you got to play the guy, but he he has got the tools to handle the job you’re absolutely talking about. I think he’s I think he’s the best guy for the job on this roster in terms of athleticism, flying around and just chasing a dude down. I I like Maris Bell in that role, too. Um Sure. and and he did some linebacker stuff in the in the game too. But I hear what you’re saying and it’s so important that you know you would say just just one one job is just to to to stop Jaylen Herz in this game. It’s a big job. It would be worth it. It would be worth it. Um we looks like we’re running out of time. So Baltimore game, what’s the one thing I say? Give me one thing you didn’t see in the last game you want to see in this game. Jaydon Blue and I’ll move on. Go ahead. Yeah, good start from Joe Milton throwing the football. He’s got to reward the receivers for getting open. If they can get open, make sure they get the ball so we can evaluate them. I mean, I can I just go easy and just say Tyler Booker. I mean, I just I want to see him. Yeah. Yeah. All right, guys. Well, anything else y’all want to throw out there? I mean, it’s been good. It’s been fun. Thanks for letting me uh join it. Cowboys break. It’s been a while, so it’s good to be back. I got the story line coming up in a couple hours, so this kind of gave me a little preview of what we can talk about. You know, the fans are feisty, too. And so, I’m sure that you’re seeing it there on the chat as well. All right. Well, we’ll check the schedule. I know this is a little different. Guys are breaking camp tomorrow. They’ll be coming back in. Check the schedule on the website on exactly what we’re doing at the end of this week and next week though. But for Vach Lombardi, Brian Bratis, Paul, thanks for pushing the buttons in the back. I’m Nick Eatman. We’ll see you next time on Cowboys Break. This has been a production of DallasCowboys.com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club. How about this? [Music]

Another new lineup for the show, but still strong opinions about who the Cowboys need to keep at different positions and what we want to see on Saturday vs. Baltimore.

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