FIRST TAKE | Dallas Cowboys Are Reborn New Era Begins with Legacy Leadership and Super Bowl Ambition

FIRST TAKE | Dallas Cowboys Are Reborn New Era Begins with Legacy Leadership and Super Bowl Ambition

Looks like a whole lot of fun there. That’s where we found out Kevin Durant got traded to the Houston Rockets. But to the grid iron we go where the Cowboys are looking to bounce back from a Capital Rough season last year. Dak Prescott missed nine games after suffering a season ending hamstring injury. And the Cowboys watch the playoffs from home after finishing third in the NFC East. But now the star has a new head coach and he’s looking to bring back the winning culture. Brian Shottenheimimer told our Todd Archer that he wants Dallas greats from the 1990s in the building, saying, quote, “I think the more guys that are around, the more we see their Super Bowl rings, which they wear very proudly. I think that’s great for our guys because that’s why we do it. We don’t hide from that.” End quote. Kevin, your reaction to Broton Shot, Brian Shottenheimimer’s comments are, first of all, it’s good. like there there are some organizations that shun their former players or or keep them at at arms length and don’t want them around. It’s good to embrace your history. There’s a couple things about it. Number one is the Super Bowl ring guys are going to come around and say, “Oh, this team is not even close to the level of talent that we had 30 years ago or 50 years ago depending on when you won those rings. But no, I think that a lot goes into winning culture and you don’t really know what it is, but I I think that they’re they’re they’re the third best team in the division.” And that’s not you don’t get a ring for that yet. I guess you could they could they could they could print some. I know Jerry Jerry could make money. He’d print third place ranks. Mike T.
Yeah. No, look, I I agree. Similar to Kevin, like I think Brian Shabber is going to do a great job. I worked with him for a long time in New York. He’s very relatable to the players. And let’s face it, Dak Prescott at $60 million a year had to sign off on this hiring. So, that’s a great start. Their defense is going to be a work in progress, but this is a team that I think will play better than expected, probably in third place. um far cry from where the expectations were a year or two ago, but maybe that gives him a little time to build things the right way.
You know, I have a personal story. It’s kind of kind of similar this. I was earlier this week, I was a little bit nervous about first take and how I was going to feel about doing doing this thing. And then I um saw Kevin Clark in the green room and I said, “This guy’s been on here a lot. He’s a, you know, world champion first take person.” I said, “Oh, well, if Kevin Clark could do this, I can definitely do this. This is something that’ll motivate the Cowboys. They see other champions out there, then maybe that’ll make them feel like, hey, I could do this, too.” So, I think that this has a could have a similar impact on them.
Come collect your first take summer Friday ring.
There you go. We got it.
Doesn’t that have diamonds on it? Lots of diamonds. Yeah. Yeah. Diamonds. Yeah. Very nice.
All jokes aside, does did Mike McCarthy not embrace the history enough? Because it feels like every Cowboys coach has to like go through this and and and and play to the past, which you should do, but like does this actually translate to wins? Do you think this is more just like a feel-good sort of story that we’re talking about in the off season, or can this actually have a tangible effect? Yeah, I think Mike McCarthy is a very good coach, but the expectations were just too much and they really never got over the hump. And let’s face it, at this point, Philadelphia certainly has surpassed them and Washington is certainly well on their way. And that’s why I think the difference is, hey, you can embrace your past. You can learn from the all-time greats Troy, Emtt, and the like. But it’s the expectations that again, this is beyond, you know, Dak there. The nucleus is very young now. They got to figure out what to do with George Pickings. But that’s why I think he has a chance to have a good first season and establish a program here.
I think part of it, Courtney, is it speaks to how much goes into being the Cowboys coach that’s not football. It’s not only embracing the history. You go to an Oxnard training camp practice and you got to go gladand with CSI actors and and embrace 5,000 fans who all came from all over America to see it. It’s different in Dallas. It really is. And so I think it’s just about, hey, bring everybody back. Embrace the community. embrace the job because it’s it’s a oneofone job.
Well, that’s the lore of the Dallas Cowboys. Now, whether it’s relevant today or not, I think remains to be seen. And since we love leaning into a theme here on First Take where we’ve have to ask on America’s birthday, who is the real America’s team? Is it Dallas Mike D?
Yeah, I think it is for now. I mean, because we talk about them a lot. the owner is out has press conferences almost every day to Kevin’s point. But I think if we would spin this question forward, I’m going with the Kansas City Chiefs over the next decade because they have the Michael Jordan of this era in uh Patrick Mahomes. They have a Hall of Fame coach. They have sort of like the foundation of being a dynastic team and geographically they are right smack in the middle. So I’m saying Dallas for today but Kansas City for tomorrow.
Okay.
Okay. So I mean they they also have the benefit of the Taylor Swift thing. I mean you got Swifties on board that helps too. The idea that winning is part of what makes you America’s team. I don’t think that’s necessarily the case. If that was the case, the Cowboys would not have been America’s team for a very long time. I think America’s team is just about the fanaticism, the fandom, and you’re not going to wrangle that away from the Cowboys. If you go on here, if I look in this camera right now and say the Cowboys are trash, my mentions are going to be on fire with some of the mo worst things I could ever imagine people being said because there’s so much fanaticism about the Dallas Cowboys. They are America’s team. All they’re not a good team and they’re all over prime time. All every single year they bring in the ratings. Everybody has an opinion about the Cowboys. Love or not. People don’t watch sports. They either love the Cowboys or they hate the Cowboys. They are quintessentially America’s team and it is sort of baked into America’s culture so much that I don’t know how anybody can just rip it from the claws of the Cowboys. So David, I agree with you in that you’re never going to have a bigger fan base than the Cowboys. It is unbelievable. We all work in media or the internet. We we understand what the numbers are. Okay. That’s why we talk about the Cowboys so much. But when I talk about what it means to be America’s team, what it means to be American, I don’t think there’s any team more American than the Detroit Lions. What it means to be a football fan in America and to just hope for something better, know something, just have the faith that something is going to happen that is great. That’s been a Lions fan fan base for 50, 60 years. It’s finally happening. I spent time with Dan Campbell when he first took the job and he was choking up thinking about all that Lions fans have been through because he’s talking about he was a player there in 2008 when the housing market crashed and and the the car company started to go go uh under and he understood their pain. That’s what he wanted to say. He said when he took the job he wanted Detroit fans to know he understood their pain and felt it. It’s just a community thing that spreads through the entire country. If they make the Super Bowl it is going to be a national event. You could be describing the Cleveland Browns though based on your logic there of like team suck. So I think winning should be a big qualifier for why you’re America’s team cuz I remember literally 365 days ago I did this exact topic sitting in this chair here on first day and I said it was the Kansas City Chiefs because they were coming off of a Super Bowl. Right now I’m saying it is a Philadelphia Eagles and it’s not just the fact that they won a Super Bowl. That’s obviously a big one. They are they’ve been there multiple times since 2017. They also have three of the most likable players in the NFL. Jaylen Herz, AJ Brown, Saquon Barkley. Like you guys are looking at me like I have five heads. Tell me I’m wrong on any of that. This these
rough offseason for our guy Saquon, but that’s
these people are a brand in their own right. The team is becoming a brand in its own right. A national brand, an international brand. So you combine all of those things together, they have every single makeup that the Dallas Cowboys have. yet they’re actually successful. Like that to me is what makes America’s team. Who in America are the hunted? And who in America are the is the team that’s winning the most? That’s that is the Philadelphia Eagles. No, I don’t think I I just don’t think that the Philadelphia Eagles are ever going to surpass the Dallas Cowboys. I’m going to go back to this Detroit thing. I think Detroit I don’t want them to be America team. I don’t think Detroit necessarily wants to be America. They embody the city of Detroit. That team embodies one team, one city more than Detroit does. I think it’s good to keep them insulated into Detroit because that like Detroiters, I’m not sure Detroiters want all these other people coming in and hopping on the bandwagon for their team. They love that team.
One thing about Detroit though and Dan Campbell, I I work with Dan. He is unbelievably relatable. He is the common man’s head coach. And again, I don’t know if they’ll have the platform of a Kansas City or a Dallas, but there is a likability about Detroit starting with their head coach. Yeah, I mean certainly they live up to the grit and grind nature that is Detroit. I feel like every, you know, they’ve got Eminem out there pretty much every single game. There’s not a bigger celebrity in the city of Detroit than the guy who made the
NFL we go. Max Crosby of the Raiders attending the annual sack summit told The Athletic, quote, “Anytime you go go out there, you want to be in a position to win. Individual success and things like that are awesome. We just saw it in the NBA. OKC just a couple of years ago was one of the worst teams in the league, but they had a lot of young guys. They trusted the process. They developed and now they’re world champions. A lot of optimism around the Vegas Raiders right now and from the Vegas Star. So guys, Mike T, we’ll start with you. Which NFL team will have the biggest turnaround this year? Cincinnati Bengals. And you go back last year, it started an opening day when Mike Caseeki kind of fumbled the ball through the end zone and they lost to a New England Patriot team that they had no business losing to. Look, this team is going to be prolific on offense. I don’t think anybody would disagree with that. I think the key is going to be Trey Hendrickson obviously getting his contract situated and then guy Shamar Stewart who again they got to work out his contract. I believe they will. Those are two great pass rushers or one with a lot of potential I should say. Bill Walsh, the all-time great quarter uh coach of the 49ers used to talk about pass to score and then have fourth quarter pass rushers. That’s sort of the way Cincinnati’s built. I think Al Golden will do a really good job as the first year defensive coordinator. So, if they’re even middle of the pack on defense, this will be a hard team to beat.
How many times they get off to a slow start and we just make excuses for them like they’re going to they’re going to get off to a quick start this year? Yeah, I look I offensively this will be a team that should score in the 30s every week, Evan. And again, if Hendrickson and Stewart are there, I think they could close out games.
I don’t know why we’d assume they would be at this point, but I you’re probably right about that. Graz,
where else they going to go?
Well, no, I I agree, but it’s probably not a good thing that that’s happening right now with two hold outs. The turnaround team for you,
uh, the 49ers. I I actually think this is an easy answer. They won six games last year because of injuries, uh, and were in the Super Bowl the year before. So, I I see a bounce back. A lot of the attention this offseason has been about the guys that they no longer have, right? Right. I mean, Debo Samuel and the the guys on defense that are with in Denver now, right? Green law and Hufanga, but there’s still so many good players on this team and and great one. I mean, you know, Nick Bosa, Fred Warner, George KD, Christian McCaffrey coming back healthy. They have Brock Perie locked up and they believe in him at quarterback, losing Debo, trading away Debo, and Brandon Aayuk coming back off injury, but they’ve drafted at receiver uh to an extent that they’ve been anticipating this. I the schedule looks again very difficult to tell but but based on you know last year’s records and all that schedule looks pretty soft for the 49ers I see them bouncing back in a big way. It’s a it’s a coaching staff and a core group that has proven it can win at an extremely high level.
I’m so glad you said that. Everybody talks about the mass exodus. Oh, Brock Perie’s lost all these guys. Who who are we talking about that’s the mass exodus for them? You mentioned Debo but they drafted Ricky Pierol to replace him. Dwan Jennings is excellent and they signed him to a very team friendly deal at that wide receiver position. David Dennis Jr., is there one for you?
I’m gonna I’m gonna do something. I’m gonna break a tie here. I’m gonna dock dance points. I feel like the 49ers are just too obvious. I feel like they’re I don’t know if it’s a turnaround if everybody’s going to be healthy and they’re going to be good against I think they’re going to be I think it’s a little obvious.
Wait, why is that obvious when when so many people are saying, “Well, Brock Pury can’t carry a team.”
I don’t think he’s going to need to carry a team. They just they’re they’re just getting healthy. They’re just getting health being a healthy team. Like this happens to NFL teams all the time. they have these deluge of injuries and they come back and everything’s fine. I think the 49ers are just seem like a, you know, seem like a no-brainer that they’re going to be competitive again this year. Right. For me, I we might hear about the Bengals. I think that they’re going to be a turnaround because their defense, if you just have a marginally better defense, just a little bit that offense can care and you know, we talked about the Bengals last time I was here. I compared them to the Drew Brees Saints and all you need is a marginal defense to go someplace with that team and there have the pieces to do that. That offense is going to be unstoppable. And just to add to David’s point, you know, taking away Patrick Mahomes, like arguably you would say if you were starting a team today, Joe Burrow is certainly in that conversation. That’s how good he is. I the assignment was turnaround. I didn’t look at any teams that had winning records last year. Like the Bengals did. The Niners were six and 11. I mean, that that’s something to turn around from. So that was why I went with that. I think the Bengals would be better.
Yeah. Maybe you should have taken a deeper dive.
I guess I just think a turnaround because it has to be somebody who’s bad last year. Bengals weren’t.
Bengals could win one more game, make the playoffs. Is that a turnaround?
Yeah. Yeah. How is that a turnaround?
I’ll bet you I’ll bet you that the Niners win total this year is is greater than last year’s by a more significant number than the Bengals is. Right. But I think going non-playoff to playoff is the definition of a turnaround.
The 49ers were in the playoffs.
I didn’t say they were.
All right. I’m just saying.
But that’s one that’s it’s a one game improvement. Yeah.
Why are we copying them at 10 wins? Evan,
do you think they’ll win 11 games?
If if ESPN bet has the over under picking this up at 10 and a half, you would take the over.
Two game improvement. you would take the over in that division in the AFC North.
But what I’m saying is once they get into the playoffs, who’s going to want to play that offense?
Yeah, we’ve got to stop with this. The Bengals had one run one time, they beat Mahomes. I get that. And that’s impossible to do. And yet we somehow rank Joe Burrow and that team over the team that actually beat Mahomes in the Super Bowl and competed in with him in the first. It’s mindboggling to me.
Welcome back to Dallas Insider, your home for everything Dallas sports. From the grid iron to the hardwood and everything in between. If you’re a diehard Cowboys fan or a Maverick supporter trying to make sense of life after Luca Donuch, you’re in the right place. Hit that subscribe button if you haven’t already. This is where real Dallas fans stay informed. Today, we’re diving into a bizarre trade rumor that has Cowboys Nation shaking their heads in disbelief and honestly maybe laughing a little too. We’re talking about the wild idea that the Dallas might trade rookie quarterback Joe Milton for none other than the Browns firstround pick Shadur Sanders. Yes, that Shadur Sanders. We’ll break down why this trade idea sparked a massive online backlash, how it exposes deeper questions about Dallas’s quarterback future, and what it all means as we move deeper into the 2025 off season. and we want your take, too. So, don’t forget to drop a comment at the end. We read everyone. Let’s start with the basics. The Cowboys acquired Joe Milton from the Patriots this past April. He’s a physical specimen with one of the biggest arms in college football history. Seriously, the guy can throw a football 80 yards flatfooted. He’s raw, no doubt, but Dallas sees real upside in him as a developmental backup behind Dak Prescott and Trey Lance. Now, let’s flip the script to Shador Sanders. He’s fresh off a stellar college career at Colorado under the watchful eye of his father, Dion Sanders, and was taken in the first round by the Cleveland Browns in this year’s draft. Sanders is not just a quarterback. He’s a future franchise centerpiece for the Browns, a guy they’re building around. So when the rumor started circulating online that the Cowboys might trade Milton straight up for Shador Sanders, fans went off. Cowboys supporters weren’t buying it. Browns fans called it football nonsense. One commenter asked bluntly, “Why would the Browns give up Shadur for a backup?” And that’s the thing, it doesn’t add up. We’re talking about two completely different trajectories here. Sanders was a firstrounder with expectations skyhigh. Milton is a developmental player taken via trade with a lot to prove. While Milton has physical tools, Sanders has proven production and franchise investment behind him. Even if Milton becomes a quality NFL QB down the road, this trade would be like trading a winning lottery ticket for a scratchoff with potential. But what’s really interesting about this situation is what it reveals about the current state of the Cowboys quarterback room. Here’s what we know. Dak Prescott is entering a contract year and the long-term outlook is, let’s just say, murky. Negotiations haven’t made headlines, which tells you either they’re being extremely private or they’re not happening at all. Trey Lance, meanwhile, is still a mystery. He’s talented, but we haven’t seen enough at the NFL level to say definitively whether he can lead a team. Enter Joe Milton. a flyer, sure, but the kind of raw prospect that teams love to develop quietly. The Cowboys bringing him in wasn’t just a depth move. It was a strategic step in what could be a reshaping of the Cowboys quarterback identity. So, when fans hear talk of trading Milton away before even seeing what he can do in preeason, the natural reaction is, “What are we doing here?” And even if the rumor is pure fiction, just a fan daydream or a clickbait generator gone rogue, it struck a nerve because fans are already asking tough questions about this team’s future at QB. But here’s the thing, and Cowboys Nation, this is where we need to rally. This entire situation proves one thing. Dallas has assets, options, and most importantly, they have a plan. Say what you want about Jerry Jones, but the front office is thinking two or three moves ahead. Bringing in Joe Milton isn’t just a camp body move. It’s a strategic step in what could be a reshaping of the Cowboys quarterback identity. While other franchises are in chaos, like the Browns juggling Shadur Sanders and Kenny Picket after mini camp, Dallas is stacking talent, building depth, and giving themselves options. That’s how you build a winning franchise. Even if the path isn’t obvious at first glance, and here’s the cherry on top. Dallas still has a top five defense, a healthy Micah Parsons, and CD Lamb entering his prime. The window to contend is wide open. If Milton develops, great. If not, the Cowboys still have pieces to go deep into January. And speaking of for the future, let’s pivot real quick to the Dallas Mavericks because the Luca Donuch era is officially over. And yes, it still stings. But hope is far from lost. The Mavericks are entering a new chapter built around Anthony Davis, who arrived this off season in a blockbuster move that’s already reshaping how the team plays. AD brings elite defense, veteran leadership, and championship experience. And maybe, just maybe, the kind of interior presence Luca never had to work with. It’s going to be a different look this season. grittier, more physical, and potentially more balanced. They’re not rebuilding, they’re retooling. And that’s a key difference fans should be excited about. So, Dallas fans, let’s hear from you. What do you think of the Joe Milton Shadur Sanders trade rumor? Total nonsense, or is there any scenario where it could make sense? Are you buying into Milton’s potential, or do you think the Cowboys should stick with Prescott no matter what? And on the basketball side, can Anthony Davis be the centerpiece Dallas needs post Luca? Or do the Mavs still have more work to do before we start dreaming of a finals run again? Drop your thoughts in the comments below. We want to feature some of your takes in the next episode of Dallas Insider. Thanks for watching and remember, whether it’s the Cowboys on Sunday or the Mavericks at the AAC, Dallas sports are always worth talking about. Until next time, stay proud, stay loud, and keep it locked right here on Dallas Insider.

New coaching leadership and a focus on a winning culture fuel the Cowboys’ rebirth.

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