NFL Stock Exchange: An NFL Draft Podcast - 284. Fix Your Franchise: Dallas Cowboys

Episode Date: November 12, 2024

Trevor Sikkema and Connor Rogers bring you the first ever Dallas Cowboys fix your franchise episode in pod history. The two talk about how the Cowboys has fallen so far, examine the organization structure, talk head coach candidates, give you a comprehensive free agency plan and aa 3-round Cowboys mock draft.

Welcome to the NFL Stock Exchange podcast. In this episode, we are fixing America's team. The Dallas Cowboys, they are down right now. After finishing 12-5 the last three seasons, it does not look good for the Dallas Cowboys, but we're going to get them back up. We're going to talk about head coaching candidates. We're going to talk about a free agency plan for them,

get you a little mock draft, everything to fix this team and get them back on their winning ways. Jerry, call us. We got the ideas. I'm Trevor Sycamore. With me, as always, is Connor Rogers. Let's ring the bell. Welcome to the opening bell of the NFL Stock Exchange podcast. Trevor Sycamore, Connor Rogers here with you guys

for another Fix Your Franchise episode of the program. It's an exciting one because, Connor, it's a first here on NFL SC. We've been doing this podcast for, what is this, year three? Year three of the podcast? So we've had a couple of seasons to do Fix Your Franchise. There have been a few repeat teams, and actually we might go for a three-peat with a couple of teams later in

in this offseason but we have not had the chance to fix every team in the nfl because a lot of times we are fixing teams they're just bad yeah well fixing the chiefs yeah we're not fixing you're right we're not fixing the chiefs we're not fixing the the detroit lions or the ravens or any of those teams but this is a first here on the show because today we are getting the pleasure of fixing what they call America's team. Not so sure it's America's team anymore, although maybe the ratings would tell me otherwise. It's the Dallas Cowboys.

If you are new to this program, what we do here is we take a deep dive into the entire franchise. We take it back a little bit. We don't just talk about where their failures have come up this year. We talk about why they are there. We dig up the roots.

We go back a couple of seasons. Some draft moves, some free agency moves, some coaches move, decision making of how this team got in this spot. We'll talk about potential head coaching candidates and sometimes GM candidates. But for the Cowboys, we know that that's not really a thing. We'll give you the head coach candidates because we think that Mike McCarthy's probably out of here.

We'll give you a free agency outlook. We'll go through the roster, tell you the key pieces, the guys that are going to be here, the the guys that aren't some future contracts down the road talk about a free agency plan this upcoming offseason give you a three round cowboy centric mock draft at the end of the show uh it's going to be a beautiful thing i cannot wait to dive into it just because connor like i said we have not had the chance about talk about the cowboys very much here in nflsc but how you doing my friend i? I'm good, man. This is a big one. There's no way around it.

Every once in a while, right? And it's no disrespect to, you know, teams that we fix a lot, whether it's the Panthers, you know, we talk about Jacksonville, I feel like, and the Cowboys are just such a global brand. I mean, there's a reason why the meme, the jokes are around people being Cowboys, Yankees and Lakers fans, right? Like they're the NFL team that, you know, people get accused of being front runners, although those days are long, long gone with the struggles that they've had in the postseason recently. Obviously, they are a primetime darling because they're a huge fan base and they generate big ratings. And if you follow the local media down there, it's,

you know, they have a large cover. They're covered in a large way for good reason. The interest is just significantly high in this team, not just local, but from a national. And like I said, now global way. And they have an owner that says really whatever is on his mind for better or

for worse, which makes it that much more interesting recently for worse. Recently, it's been for recently. It's been for much, for worse, which makes it that much more interesting. Recently for worse. Recently it's been for worse. Recently it's been for much, much worse. So this is a big one because the Cowboys, in a similar way, we've had a lot of different fixings this year, right? The Cowboys coincide with the Jets fixing this year because both these teams have just fallen so far below expectations.

All the other teams we've fixed, it's like, yeah, you can kind of see how that scenario happened, whether it's talent, retooling, a lot of different reasons. So this one is just huge, man, because it's not just how people care, but they also have a highly paid quarterback that's a fixture of this franchise. They have one of the best receivers in football. They have one of the best defenders in football who is extremely, extremely vocal in a way that, you know, we're not accustomed to necessarily seeing in the NFL.

We're going to get into all of that, how they got here, what they need to do. They probably fall in the bracket of, hey, a couple right moves this offseason, and they could be right back in the thick of it in the NFC. And that's not something we always get to say when we fix a franchise. If you're new to the show or the channel and you like what you hear as we kind of go through this episode, we would love for you to like the video and subscribe. We'd love for you to come back because certainly for Cowboys fans, it looks like you guys are going to be pretty in on the

NFL draft this year and we're going to have you covered. We're not just talking about NFL teams. We really dig into all these prospects and tell you guys, okay, not just the first round guys, but we dig pretty deep. We'll tell you who your team could target in the second, third but even those d3 guys too so if you are not subscribed to the show we'd really appreciate it if you if you would subscribe connor before we get into it what shirt are we wearing my dude what what is this what do we got

here we got this teal what the riptide what is this the new york riptide now defunct unfortunately wait what so it's vintage it is vintage now when I bought it it wasn't uh oh if they are this will be their first they're relocating to Ottawa how many times in your life have you heard what a New York a New York sports team having to relocate to Ottawa because of lack of interest hockey team this is box lacrosse my friend and for those of you obviously a lot of you listening to this know Trevor and I are big hockey guys box lacrosse is basically as close as you can get to hockey in terms of culture and the fact that fighting still exists in this sport like literally fighting is not a situation in box lacrosse where if you throw a punch in the NFL as we saw Puka Nakua two weeks ago you're out and you

don't even have to connect you just throw the punch in box lacrosse. You could literally take your helmets off, throw down and you get a major penalty like you do in hockey. And then when you serve your major unreleasable penalty, you can come back into the game. It's an indoor game. It is a smaller field. It is, you know, just a ridiculous sport in terms of. Yeah, please ask away.

Wait, hold on, because, OK ask away. Wait, hold on. Because, okay, for hockey fights, I promise we're going to get to the Cowboys. We won't spend a minute time on this. But this is fascinating to me. This is for the culture. So, hold on. So, hockey fights, though, you're on skates. So, it's like, yeah, okay, you get to fight.

But, you know, one hand is grabbing the other guy's, like, pads. They still do that, though. And jersey. And then one hand's just like, you you know like an old-timey black and white movie where it's just winding up and it's like why i oughta you know and it but right but you're on but you're on skates so even when you swing your momentum kind of like slides so i feel like they still allow fighting in hockey because it's not that devastating if if you're just on your feet this turns into a bare knuckle boxing match if

you throw the helmets off am i following this correctly yeah you are but they're still they still grab onto the jerseys they still try to grab control obviously it's like hockey where if you have better reach you want to get into that grappling match because you can use your reach to an advantage they're not always going ufc and like doing takedowns if you can make them tap you should get half the penalty time that's i would love that yeah they don't they don't do choke holds and stuff like that it is literally out of control though it's wild to watch the refs are still out there so they can get involved and break these up it's um it's a niche sport i played lacrosse most of my life uh i did not play box lacrosse i did I played lacrosse most of my life. I did not play box

lacrosse. I did play indoor lacrosse, though, in the winter, obviously, throughout the off-seasons, and that smaller field is where shit goes down, dude. It's basically the hardcore match of what we would call it. It's ECW all the time, as soon as lacrosse goes indoors. Great sport. Rest in peace to the New York Riptide. i don't know if i'll be following them to ottawa in their inaugural season we'll see uh two things one you didn't play box across so it sounds like you played soft lacrosse that's why that's basically that's what that's what i'm that's what i'm doing for you i wish we had box across in high school although it probably would have been a bad idea to you know like the savannah bananas like that minor league team where it's

like sort of a it's like a show it's like a spectacle as much as a baseball game what this needs very clearly because they're moving out of new york what this what they need to be popular is they need to lean into the wwe angle right if you drop the gloves and the hats yeah you got entrance music you got a guy coming in with a steel chair like a teammate just comes in with a steel chair out of nowhere that's what we need all right so this is actually thrown from the bench. Finishing moves. We should, you know what we should,

we shouldn't have said this on the podcast. Somebody's going to steal this from us. We know that we know that Dwayne, the rock Johnson listens. And I think we could do this. He might steal it from us. Dwayne leagues are starting to become a thing. There's like new basketball leagues.

And I don't know. I hope they all work out, but this might be our mix we're gonna make a mix of lacrosse and wwe which kind of sounds like the nhl on foot but we'll make it work we're gonna make it work all right we're eight minutes into this bad boy cowboys fans are already sorry cowboys fans uh hello to the addicts that are still listening to the show uh okay let's talk about how we got here with the dallasboys right uh major loss to the Philadelphia Eagles at home pretty embarrassing pretty soul crushing right there's no no Dak Prescott in this one it looks like he's going to be out for the year uh getting surgery to fix that uh that hamstring injury which sucks and we'll definitely get into

Dak in the conversation here on what we think about Dak Prescott but he just doesn't look good for this team they're sitting here at three and six they're currently picking number 11 in the NFL draft and uh let me tell you that that number is only going to go up. And so they're only going to get closer into the top 10, maybe even in the top five. It just does not feel like this is a very good football team. It didn't feel like they were a very good football team when they had their star franchise quarterback out there. They cannot defend the run. They cannot run the football. They're an imperfect and imbalanced football team. They are so top heavy. They're one of the most top heavy teams in the NFL. I think that that's playing out every single week now to talk a little

bit more about sort of how we got into this mess it is it is a major fall from grace but perhaps it's not one that uh people didn't see coming a little bit when you look at the past records you would say that this is a major shock of a season. Over the last three years with Mike McCarthy as head coach, they have finished 12-5 in each of the last three seasons. They have won the division in two out of those three years, and they have made the playoffs for all three of those seasons. This comes after the hiring of Mike McCarthy comes after Jason Garrett was the head coach of this football team for, I think it was nine seasons, nine seasons, nine seasons something like that where it felt like Garrett was just sort of flirting with this barely above mediocrity kind of a thing but Jerry didn't really want to

move on from him because very clearly they had a great relationship great cohesion when it came to team building and the vision that they had there they just could not get really into those deeper playoff runs that Cowboys fans and certainly Jerry Jones desperately wants to do. So what does he do? He goes out and he hires Mike McCarthy. McCarthy was the head coach of the Green Bay Packers from 2006 to 2018. Before that, he was the offensive coordinator with the New Orleans Saints and the San Francisco 49ers.

So he had that offensive background to build that firepower that Jerry probably wanted, right? When it came to getting this team to a Super Bowl. He probably wanted it to be on the offensive side of things, and certainly the presence of Dak Prescott really helped that out. Now, McCarthy's resume, Connor, we're going to bring this up as a theme a couple of times throughout the podcast. It's exactly what Jerry Jones wanted. He won. He was in the playoffs consistently. Nine total playoff appearances with Mike McCarthy, including eight in a row with the Green Bay Packers,

certainly with Aaron Rodgers as the quarterback, and they won the Super Bowl in 2010. That is exact. Jerry wants to be relevant, man. He wants the Cowboys to be in the playoff picture every time. He wants those preseason predictions to have the Cowboys getting into the playoffs. So that's the wild card of the division. Obviously he wants to win the division, but ultimately he wants the Cowboys to be talked about. He wants the profits to go up. He wants

the fan base to be engaged. He wants them to think that this could always be the year. And that starts with being a projected playoff team every single season. McCarthy had that kind of a resume. After the year he got fired from the green Bay Packers. He said that he, you know, it was all about like learning analytics and things like that. I think people brought up that like, Oh, he,

he trained at PFF by the way, a little fabricated there. It's not like he was in the PFF building all the time. I think he had like a meeting with PFF people. I don't want to go. You didn't explain the grading system. You didn't show him the filters on ultimate. think i i was not in the meetings i was not in the meetings for this this is before i got the pff but uh i was told that that was very much

overblown that oh you know he went on this analytics journey after he got fired by the sabbatical pack yeah essentially darkness retreat analytics, and PFF was part of like here at the PFF Aussies. And that was not quite the case. And I think that we discovered that very early on in his introductory press conference when he told Jerry Jones in his interview that him and his staff watched every single play of the 2019 season, even while he was not a coach. And he said to Jerry in the opening press conference, yeah, that was a lie. I just wanted the job. So I coach and uh he said to jerry uh in the opening press conference yeah that was a lie i just wanted the job so i told him what he wanted to hear and everybody

really and everybody kind of laughed haha wow that's great and uh nice move reaping sewing me and that's exactly i think what that was with just picturing game of thrones when aria is training for like a whole season which was just just a mistake. Number one that went on way too long, but Mike McCarthy just, just sweeping in this room every once in a while, somebody was at PFF. It was at PFF. Somebody from PFF comes out and they're like, who are you?

He was like the analytics. He was in the basement. He was in the basement at PFF. He was sweeping the floors. Yeah. And we were training him to be a faceless coach. Reception for seven yards, minus one. Mike McCarthy's just putting these in over and over again.

And they're like, actually, Mike, he wasn't responsible on that. It was cover three. Hey, it was, all right. Start sweeping again. It was. So, you know, he's, you know, I think we'll get into the coordinators in a little bit, but that sort of is an intro of kind of how we got here. We will get into the roster, but now Mike McCarthy,

he's on the final year of his contract. They're sitting here at three and six. I mean, you got Micah Parsons after the game. Now, I want to be very fair. I did not see the video of Micah Parsons saying this, but I've read the quotes. He says, quote, Mike can leave and go wherever he wants. Now, I don't think that part of the statement actually was a big FVU to

Mike McCarthy, but he goes on to say, guys I feel bad for here, and this is in reference to them losing and not playing well, guys like Zach Martin, who it might be their last year on their way out, because that's who I wanted to hold the trophy for. You want to win games, you want to do great things for those types of legends who put in more time and work than McCarthy ever did. Those are the kinds of guys that I have sympathy for and hurt for, Michael Parsons, when talking about the struggles of this season. So if the first line was taken out of context a little bit, I don't know how that last, that second to last line is where he goes, yeah, he did more work and put in more time than Mike McCarthy ever did ever did certainly sounds like this is gonna be his last year there but connor your thought of where we're at here with the cowboys i that was just i've never seen anything

like that before honestly have you can you recall such a like it's all i watched the video just to make sure you did so you found it i didn't i didn't see the video yeah okay mike mike's on the final year of his contract, so outside there's, of course, going to be questions. What's the sentiment inside the locker room, and what do you tell people who are wondering about whether Mike is going to be your coach next year? You know, that's above my pay grade about if Mike is coaching again next year. But, you know, all coaching aside, coaching, you know, Mike can leave and go wherever he wants, but guys, I, you know, I kind of feel bad for guys like Zach Martin and guys who might be on their last year on their way out, you know, because that's who I wanted to hold the trophy for. You know, you want to win games and do great things with those type of legends who put in more time and work than Mike McCarthy ever did. So those are the kind of guys that

I have so much sympathy and hurt for. The first part is better than the last part, I guess, is how I would say. In terms of him being nice? When you look at the... Nice is a funny way to put it. I think when you look at the first part, right, directly from Micah, I think the Mike can leave and go wherever he wants wasn't him saying obviously that he should do that he's saying that a coach can kind of have a new life somewhere else

right right you know where where I think he looks at Zach Martin who's dedicated his entire professional NFL life to the Cowboys and this is you know when you're done playing you're done playing that's it eventually father time catches up to the body but the last part's bad and i thought it was bad on camera i mean he basically tells him to pound sand basically i mean basically tells this guy to take a long walk off a short bridge right i mean like that's what he's telling this guy to do in that last second the last sentence put in more time and work than mike m Mike McCarthy ever did I think if he's arguing and he has a podcast so I'm sure we'll hear from him on it that they put in more of their life to the Cowboys well that's not wrong that's really poor delivery for a coach that has led the Cowboys the double digit wins in how many seasons say what you want about Mike McCarthy.

I know he's a punching bag for everybody. Like I get it. I'm not getting away from that, but why is this a conversation to the scrum? Like why, why is this a conversation to the media scrum? What, what is the best possible outcome in the range of outcomes by saying that to

the media scrum? That's, Ium that's i think that's what people often need to like evaluate things if i do this what is the risk reward and there's no reward here at all for an organization michael parsons is an incredible football player right and he cares a lot he absolutely does i think it's a brutal look when your team is in the position they are and you just completely roll over the coach like that to them. If you want to say that, like you want to meet with the coach or Jerry Jones or whoever it is, and you have things to say,

man, like you've earned that with how big of a part of the organization you are. I think the awareness is an issue to me but here's my thing do you think dak prescott or cd lamb would ever say something this direct i don't know any other player in the league that would say something like this yeah i think i think parsons is going to walk this back like what he already started to on he's already on twitter as we're recording this podcast saying that his words were twisted yeah yeah you can't believe player former players and coaches are saying what they're it's on video yeah if you meant something else then that's then say that you meant something else but you this you need to apologize for the delivery and that's and that's why like i i listening to micah over the

last couple of years when he has become more vocal as a leader and one of the best defensive players in the nfl just obviously like having the podcast and getting more media exposure in the offseason and things like that it doesn't sound like him to again tell Mike McCarthy to pound sand like for as bad as this year is so even reading that quote I thought dude I don't really know how much wiggle room you have here to say that your words were sort of twisted but I do think that he's gonna walk it back like I do think that he's gonna say i didn't mean to be like be this distraction i didn't mean to say this like they're gonna get through the season but i do think that to your point those words in that order with that inflection coming

out the way that it did only happens when you're that frustrated. So I think that obviously gets us to a point where Mike McCarthy is in his last year with the Dallas Cowboys. It is so disappointing. It's just, it's not really something where you're watching this team fight for this coach or play harder for this coach. And I think that you see that in other instances around the NFL or certainly we have over the last you know handful of years there

have been instances of this funny enough Dan Quinn to me is the first one that that pops into my head but these coaches or these players a lot of times like want to still fight for these coaches I don't see that in Dallas it just seems extremely frustrating um I wonder if the players are a little bit tired of Jerry Jones getting in front of the media and saying all this kinds of stuff, you know, refusing to take blame for the season and the team sort of being the way that it is. I mean, if you want to kind of get into just the roster of it, we can get a little bit into that. I know we'll break it down a little bit deeper when we get to that point of the podcast. But, you know, this team, the subtractions that they had from last year's group, I mean, the offensive line is night and day different than it was last year.

I mean, you got rid of, what, three starters on the offensive line? Tyler Biotis, Tyron Smith, and then who was the other one? There was one other one, wasn't there? I thought there was one other. They shifted a couple of guys, too. Maybe that was it. Maybe that was it other. They shifted a couple of guys too. Maybe that was it. Maybe that was it.

They just shifted a couple of other guys. Because, you know, obviously Tyler Smith is, they draft Guyton so Smith stays at guard. Right. Zach Martin, Terrence Steele, and Tyler Smith were all on this offensive line last year. Steele's, you know, quietly been a tackle for a little while now on the right side. Yeah, and he has struggled this year.

He really has. He's struggled. He struggled since they put them in and they're just kind of hoping he got better. But you know, you watch Dorrance Armstrong and Dante Fowler go over to the Washington commanders and they're good with that team. Cause it's the old coordinator. Didn't wasn't a Dorrance Armstrong that had a lot to say about the cow,

like playing for the Cowboys organization. I make sure I don't mess that up. I don't remember, but I can keep going. I mean like you lose Stefan Gilmore. So there's a veteran presence gone on your team late in banner. I just got to sure I don't mess that up. I don't remember, but I can keep going. I mean, like you lose Stephon Gilmore, so there's a veteran presence gone on your team. Leighton Banner actually got to retire. Okay, like that's unfortunate.

But then like Tony Pollard, for example, I mean, the malpractice of how they handled the running back room last year was unbelievable. I don't even, like you don't even have to say that Derrick Henry was the worst part of like the team building here because we talk about free agents all the time. Like, like all right they didn't want to give a lot of money to derrick henry was it the wrong move very clearly and obviously it was the wrong move for

them but even then i wouldn't have cared if they had any plan whatsoever they brought back ezekiel elliott who's bad who's been bad he was he was bad when he was on the cowboys before he went to new england and you brought him back two years three years later whatever it is and you went now yeah we're good the the big issue that i have is that the cowboys looked at what dak prescott did last year and i want to be very clear dak was second in in the NFL for MVP candidates, in my opinion. Lamar should have won it. Dak was number two, in my opinion. Dak was unbelievable last season.

And it's like the Cowboys went, okay, we're about to pay you, Dak. So because of that, we're just going to totally get rid of your offensive line, totally shift over your offensive line. We're not going to bring back a lot of veteran guys that we have on the defensive side of the ball. Obviously you lose Dick. We're not going to give you a good run game because we think that you can operate without a good run game. That's stupid. I just felt as though the way they went into this season saying hey great season Dak do it again with less was ridiculous to think that they would have anything close to the same year especially with Dan Quinn no longer there at defense coordinator and I wonder if that I wonder if they downplayed that more than anything

else what losing Dan Quinn would be like because Because they bring in Mike Zimmer, all right, a long-time head coach in the NFL. Maybe they thought, nah, we're good. We're all right. We got a veteran defense coordinator. It's not like some new hot shot guy, young guy. We'll be fine. And they absolutely are not fine. So when you look at how the Cowboys

operated last season specifically, it's no wonder they're here. They overachieved last season because Dak was unbelievable. The franchises in the NFL that have the most sustained success, we talked about this on last week's Fix Your Franchise episode when we were talking about the New Orleans Saints. It is the teams that have the ability to look in the mirror and see what is really there,

not just the best versions of themselves, not go on Instagram and put a filter over your picture and just make it look like you're an IG model all the time, right? You've got to look at that picture exactly the way that it is. And for the Cowboys, I don't think that they did that this past offseason. I think they looked at just what there was the good and did not think about the bad

and tried to just say, no, we're the Cowboys, we're good to go. Mike McCarthy, oh, Mike McCarthy, three 12-win seasons in a row. No, no, no, we're good. If you dug a little bit deeper, if you wanted to, if you really wanted to see the truth,

you would have seen that that was an overachieving 12 and 5. And you could have said to yourself, all right, we got to make a couple of changes here. We got to stay ahead of the curve, especially if you wanted to take that next step up. And instead, they decided to look at just the record, try to, you know, got back to a new corner,

drank their own Kool-Aid, you know, whatever you want to call it, and let so much talent out of that building. And they thought that it was still going to be all hunky-dory because they had won 12 games three seasons in a row. And that, to me, is the biggest indictment on where the Cowboys currently are. Now, I don't think that that means that they're in a terrible spot, and we'll get to that in a second. But, Connor, the Dallas Cowboys, to me, it's a similar conversation to what we had

with the New Orleans Saints, where the Saints are not able to fully accept where they are. And Jerry Jones, he wants to be popular. He wants to be talked about. He wants to make money. And those three things as his main goal, he has manipulated to get to the Cowboys, to get the Cowboys where they currently are. It just absolutely falling off the rails because it's not prioritizing the right stuff. And it is the inability to look in the mirror and accept really where you are as a football team.

I agree. And I mean, there we're going to talk about their salary situation, which is surprisingly pliable. You know, they didn't they didn't make a lot of all in moves or really any of this offseason. They've overlooked a lot of areas, like you said, that kind of finally caught up to them this year. I think bringing up the departure of Dan Quinn cannot be spoken about enough. This is somebody who,

not only the numbers back up his success, this was a team that was very good against the pass last year, and they were middle of the pack against the run, which when you're top 10 against the pass and you're middle of the pack against the run, and you have a quarterback playing at an MVP level and one of the best, if not the best receiver in football, you're probably gonna be okay. And that's why the Cowboys won 12 games, right?

It's easy to pick on the Cowboys and like I called McCarthy a punching bag because of how they've come up short in the playoffs. But let's be real. I mean, they were 12 and five, three years in a row. Like 12-5. That's impressive, right? Very good. Very good. Yes. That is very, very good.

Yes. The Cowboys were much better under Mike McCarthy than I thought that they would be. I have no problem admitting that. I think everybody feels that way. Especially for, not year one, year one under McCarthy, they weren't 12-5. But especially those six and 10, right? Those first two years that they were 12 and five, they were so much better of a football team than I thought that they were

going to be. They had Kelmore as the offense coordinator and they had Dan Quinn as a defense coordinator. And actually for a little bit, I thought that that probably would have been a reason why then brought in Sean and Heinrich comes in next year because they move on from Kelmore, which I thought was going to be a major mistake. And Dak still had an unbelievable season. I give a lot of credit to Sean and Heinrich. I give a lot of credit to Schottenheimer.

I give a lot of credit to Dak Prescott in that regard. But when Dan Quinn left, there was no doubt about it. You are seeing what has happened with the Washington Commanders with Dan Quinn now at the helm. That is an incredibly good football team, and they are only getting better. That allows you to look back at this time in Dallas and go, oh, okay, okay yeah it makes a lot of sense why when they lost Dan Quinn they took a major major nosedive on the defense side

of the football this year they dealt with injuries I get it I know I know I know but still Dan Quinn was such an incredible part of why that team was 12 and 5 and when you look at it maybe even a bigger part than Mike McCarthy was himself. He completely changed things. They were six and 10 in 2020. Now there's context needed. Dak only plays five games that year. They're two and three in those games. Andy Dalton starts another nine games.

They're four and five. So they're kind of just hovering with Andy Dalton. But then they had to get starts from Garrett Gilbert and Ben DiNucci. Gucci DiNucci. To you. That's fair. I'll accept that. The defense, obviously, for the most part,

they got gashed by the run that year. Then they get a healthy Dak. They get Dan Quinn. And they rip off three consecutive 12-5 seasons. And like you said, Trevor, sometimes the hourglass just the sand empties out to the bottom and that's how it feels like with the Cowboys I don't think this is an era here where you're going like oh my god they've just been building this disaster

they had their chance they were 12 and five for three years they came up short in the postseason only one team can win the Super Bowl and now the time has run out and by their lack of activity in this offseason like like you said, which is directed by the owner of the team, who no coincidence is also the de facto general manager. And we'll get into that structure in just a second here. Like you said, it's not shocking. Is it a little surprising that they're 3-6?

Okay, maybe that's a little bit much. But regression? That's the least shocking thing ever with this team. Again, watching the team as it was constructed last year, bit much but regression that's the least shocking thing ever yes this team you would again watching the team as it was constructed last year i would have told you that they were in for a regression like i would have told you that 9 10 wins much more realistic than anything close to another 12 and 5 season and then they had the off season that they did and it was one of my least favorite off seasons of any team in the NFL.

Now, I don't think the draft was necessarily terrible, and we'll get into draft history a little bit later. But in terms of what was lost on this team versus what they added, including the draft, I went, holy cow, this team's going to be worse than it was the year before. Did I think that they were going to be the worst run defense team and the worst rushing team in the NFL? No, but that's even a little bit of a, you know, a draft philosophy. That's, it's sort of interesting that I could just, I guess, talk about, um, really quickly here, Jeff Cavanaugh, who is a good friend of the show. Um, it covers the Dallas Cowboys. Yeah. He was on for our, um, guest mock draft series when we were doing the show the first year, and we were doing that series. So Jeff has his own YouTube channel.

He does a great job covering Dallas Cowboys. And I was watching a lot of draft stuff, too, from Jeff. So he's very interesting to listen to on the state of this team from that perspective, too. And I can't remember when he made this video, but I was listening to a video of him. And basically, he was talking about the struggles of the Dallas Cowboys and how a commenter, you know, reached out to him and was like, hey, Jeff, it's sort of ironic

that you talk about these positions of lower value, lesser value, defensive tackle, running back, linebacker as the ones that you shouldn't invest in. And the Cowboys sort of listened to that. And now it's a major demise of the football team, right? I mean, it's the reason why they're as bad as they are is because of those fundamental lesser premium value positions being so terrible on the team. And Jeff says this, and I totally agree with him. So I wanted to make sure that I brought this up. When we say that there are more premium and lesser valued positions, that does not mean that

they can be ignored. To me, it simply means that the price tag that the NFL has put on them via free agency and draft picks is lower. So they are less of a premium value. And I would say the replacement ability or availability for running back, linebacker, defensive tackle, run stuffing, defensive tackle, I should say, guard. Generally, you have the opportunity to pick more starting caliber players at that level quite often. So it's not that Jeff does a good job explaining this too. It's not that we're saying that those positions don't matter. The whole, Oh, running backs don't matter. You know, defensive tackles don't matter. It's, it's a, it's a phrase that's sort of taken

way too far. When you say it like that, these positions don't matter. They're just more easily replaceable and take generally less capital to find starting caliber floor players to be able to maintain now obviously when you find guys that are major difference makers obviously those things mean more but to the cowboys and to this situation specifically they are not average at those positions they are horrendous they They don't have NFL starters there. So this isn't like a, oh, you said to not invest in these positions and then they didn't and look what happened.

No, no, no, no. We, smart people who take this with a level-headed approach, never say like, oh, totally ignore running the football. Oh, totally ignore run defense. We just sort of say, hey, from a team-building perspective, when things are in a vacuum, it's easier to find these positions than others the cowboys let guys go and then did not

replace them with starting nfl caliber and there now you are sort of reaping what you're sowing with the cowboys they took this way too far and it has bit them really hard so i just wanted to say that is a uh sort of a follow-up to you saying uh you know what kind of like where they are this year and did you think it would be as bad and i know people bring up the team building part of it so i think that that was an important part here to to reiterate to the people it's an interesting combo right we did this segment on jets pre-game before they got absolutely smoked by the arizona cardinals while morale was still i wasn't gonna bring it up.

No, absolutely cooked beyond belief. I was going to bring it up. And the segment around our panel was we try to do like one NFL thing on an hour long pregame show outside of the jets universe every week. And it was a, I'm not buying and you could pick whatever you want. And what I picked was I'm not buying that running backs don't matter or are devalued entirely.

And my point was, yes, I'm not saying to use a top 10 pick on a running back or you need to go pay one twelve million dollars a year. But I just found it interesting that you look at the Eagles where they are on the back of Saquon Barkley. You look at how the Lions built their team with the Thunder and Lightning duo, right? And this list goes on and on. You look at James Conner with Arizona. Everybody looks at Arizona and they think of Kyler right away and they think of Marvin Harrison Jr.

That team's entire foundation is built on running the football with James Conner and a sprinkle of Trey Benson. And the irony was all these examples I used and I used more. When you look at the guaranteed Aaron Jones, I know he got hurt yesterday, but before that, Aaron Jones of the Vikings, you look at all these examples I used and I used more when you look at the guaranteed Aaron Jones I know he got hurt yesterday but before that Aaron Jones of the Vikings you look at all these examples all these guys are in the top 10 of guaranteed money paid to the running back position this year and that's

just no coincidence to me that the talent at the running back position and the emphasis on running the football and building a rushing attack does really really matter it's not the Cowboys are the perfect example of just completely not giving a shit about the position at all and blowing up in your face. Because I don't think this run blocking unit is great, but I also think when you're trotting out Ezekiel Elliott, Rico Dowdle, and Dalvin Cook, like you're clinically insane. There's a floor that you have to hit. Exactly. There's a threshold yes there's a threshold where you can't go it doesn't matter at all yes i mean kyle shanahan is viewed as the most running backs don't matter i could find a million on day three guy and he pays christian mccaffrey is the

top paid back in the league and look at what the niners have been without him this year which is so interesting but you know it's funny how that goes right it's yeah it's funny so i don't know i just i think they're a really unique example of completely mailing the position in and it's funny how that goes right it's yeah it's funny so i don't know i just i think they're a really unique example of completely mailing the position in and it's blown up in their face beyond belief the cowboys have also like done this the opposite way you remember when they paid not only they drafted but then they paid ezekiel elliott that was literally wet while the nfl was floating more towards a passing league like every year it was becoming much more of a passing league. Like every year, it was becoming much more of a passing league. And now the Cowboys are like,

all right, we're going to devalue the running back position basically entirely from what they did this off season. And now is the time that you would circle back to running back. Like you did this in the opposite order. You were paying running backs and prioritizing running backs

when the league was going the opposite direction. Now, as it often is, because it's a cyclical league, we're seeing teams teams like you mentioned but there's plenty of others around the NFL that are leaning much more into running the football because as we have seen passing really just take a leap over the last let's say three to four years because you know offenses have learned how to spread defenses out horizontally and flex things out very vertically especially when the league was primarily a single high type of a league. Now it's transitioning more to a two high league. Okay.

Now you can't pass deep as much. The passes have to be a little bit shorter. And when you're taking a safety outside of the box and you're putting them deep, so you're playing too high a lot more and you're playing off the line scrimmage more. Well, guess what?

It's lighter boxes. So when there's lighter boxes, what do you do? You run the football. That's where we are in the NFL. And the Cowboys are just, they're, they're in the wrong phrase they're they're they're they're like zigging while everyone is zagging but like in the worst way you're you're actually we want you to zig actually right here that's that's that's not the point so um I think that they've just they have

not done a good job of um sort of recognizing where the league is and recognizing their place in it when it comes to current trends, and that's why we see them as bad as they are this year. I want to get into the head coaching structure because, like I said, it's Mike McCarthy's last year. It does not feel like he is going to be there. So we're going to talk about head coaching candidates, maybe some offensive coordinator and defense coordinator candidates

before we get into their free agency plan take a look at their roster some guys that they could bring in like connor said it's actually a better situation than you would think for the cowboys and i think there's a real possibility that they can bounce back we'll do a three-round mock draft at the end of the show as well but before we get to that this show is sponsored by our friends over at better help think of a time recently when maybe you couldn't be yourself right we're sort of in this fall, Halloween type of season right now, and everybody, you know, wear the mask, the costumes, the things like that.

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You can take off the mask and the costumes with BetterHelp. Visit BetterHelp.com slash NFLSE today to get 10% off your first month. That is BetterHelp, H-E-L-P dot com slash N-F-L-S-E. Connor, I'll let you kick this one off. Let's talk about head coaching candidates here for the Dallas Cowboys. Who comes to your mind immediately? And do you think that that's more of like, okay, this is who? Because I think the question of who you would want versus who Jerry might go after might be a little bit different here.

So I'd love to hear sort of where your mind is at here with their head coach candidates. That's the tricky part, right? Is like going inside the mind of a jerry jones it's just it's elaborate i mean it's the you know the upside down it is the upside down you're absolutely right it's um i think every we have to say it because everybody's wondering it and thinking it will do you think he'll go after bill belichick i yes one i do too yes i do too i think i absolutely belichick will get a phone call yeah like a feel out of like hey would you even be really interested like for real interested in this i don't know if he gets like

fast-tracked to finalist or anything but belichick is absolutely getting a phone call from the dallas fort worth area jerry jones right it just it just shows up as jerry jones like even if you don't like even if you don't have the number saved in your phone you know it'll say like oh this is this phone call is coming from like this area and then it's just it's the number it literally just says jerry jones on it every single time that he calls anybody he wants people to know that they can't let him go to voicemail. It's a weird one, right? Because that's where my, really where my head is thinking Jerry starts this search is, hey, we're going to get Bill.

Because you look at the investments of the team right now, like this isn't a team that is nuking it. Dak Prescott is the foundation here. We're assuming they're going to pay Micah. They paid C.D. Lamb. The defense, the lack of organization and structure on defense, I'm sure is really pissing Jerry off. And that's a big selling point of Bill, right?

Preparation and discipline on defense. So I think it would. I think it starts with Bill. I think if you want to look at the coordinator route, we haven't used him yet for any of the fixings we do. Ben Johnson has to at least be curious about this job. It's the Dallas Cowboy. Laugh, make your jokes, your memes, whatever you want.

It is the Dallas Cowboys. We've done a couple of these fixture franchises already. And every single time we bring up Ben Johnson, we bring up the caveat that he has interviewed for multiple head coaching positions already over the last two years, and he has said no to all of them. Washington felt close. They did. This is a situation similar to Carolina last year

where money is not an issue. David Tepper, I got to think, would have paid Ben Johnson whatever he wanted. And I think Jerry will do the same for Ben Johnson. I think Jerry will say, I will make you the highest paid head coach in the NFL. Like I I will give you generational money to coach this team so where do I actually think that Ben Johnson says yes because it's an interesting dynamic that you have to work with Jerry Jones who is like you said the de facto general manager and basically Jerry runs that team right and I think that that's where the Bill Belichick might get into that part yeah because because I also think that that's where the Bill Belichick might— Want to get into that part? Yeah, because I also think, like, there's a handful of veteran coaches that I think Jerry will go after. Now, remember, you got to think about this when it comes to the Dallas Cowboys. Like, think about their head coaching history.

Jimmy Johnson, Tom Landry. Oh, shoot. Who was it? Was it right before Jason Garrett? Who am I blanking on? Well, Parcells was there. Yes, Parcells, right? Yeah, which is wild.

Parcells out of retirement. And so it's always like it's home run hitting stuff. Mike McCarthy, Super Bowl winning coach, longtime Green Bay Packers coach. He just happened to be available. That's a good point. You know, the only one really that was a sustained head coach was Jason Garrett. And he just, I think, was somebody who Jerry loved.

He was the Aaron Boone, like to the Yankees, where like he was in the organization. Right. He was a love between the top. He was the Eric Spostra. Right, exactly. So Garrett, like while we look at him as an outlier, there's context to why he wasn't that much of an outlier

because it was such a unique relationship where you nailed it, Trevor. Like football icons is how we look at this head coaching position. Yes. Really, football icons. Barry Switzer. I'm looking at it now. Wade Phillips, right?

I mean, like it's all like huge names. Barry Switzer. I'm looking at it now. Wade Phillips, right? I mean, it's all huge names. Dave Campo. It's all these dudes who are, like you said, icons in the NFL. So I have a hard time thinking that he's really not going to try to make a major splash, especially because how old is Jerry now? Jerry's 82, 83? How old is Jerry Jones? Jerry Jones is 82.

So he's 82. Like, this dude wants to win a Super Bowl, all right? Like, he's only going to get more desperate. Like, he wants to. We talked about this with, wasn't this the Arthur Blank conversation too? And we were talking about it a little bit with the Atlanta Falcons. It's like, he's fed up. Like, he wants to win a Super Bowl.

And I think Jerry's sort of in the same spot. So I think Belichick is somebody you call. Mike Vrabel is somebody that you call for sure. But then we get into, I thought of three very interesting ones. And I'm not saying that they're all 100% plausible, but these are three that came to my mind. One of them is Deion Sanders. Colorado's having an incredible season. They were bad last year. It's so wild, but you're not,

you're cooking. They are, they are, they are above expectations this year. They could be a team that can't, I mean, they could still win the big 12 title, right? Oh yeah,

big 12 is wide open. Like we're talking about this team as potentially being a college football playoff type of a team. Deion will be on Jerry Jones' mind. I guarantee it. I'm not saying it's 100% going to happen, but Deion is one of them.

Another one that I think could have been more realistic, if it wasn't for the way that they are playing this season, is Sean Payton. Right? We have talked about Sean Payton with the Dallas Cowboys when he was retired. I cannot remember how in he was on conversations with the Dallas Cowboys while he was retired.

Obviously, he goes to the Denver Broncos, but I thought of his name as well. Now, I think that is very unlikely now, given how well the Broncos are playing above expectations. But like you said, it's the Cowboys right there's only one Dallas Cowboys team and the third one it's the YouTube superstar himself John Gruden I think John Gruden is I think John Gruden is another name that Jerry Jones will think about and the reason why I actually brought this up is because something that happened this past weekend is John Gruden was back on the sideline with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Now he wasn't with the team. He was there in the owner's suite with the Buccaneers, with the Glazers. His name used to be on the ring of honor around the stadium in Tampa Bay. And they took it down when everything happened and the sexist and misogynistic emails went public and he got fired by the Las Vegas Raiders and he's been out of the game ever since but now the Buccaneers have welcomed him back as steps towards reconciling things and perhaps probably getting him back in the ring of honor so as we have seen before

whether it is right or not time makes people forget or you know makes things like that look less severe and i and i just i i am throwing it out there because i don't think it's impossible at this point and if you want to talk about a name you want to talk about somebody that's going to make the cowboys extremely relevant that's going to make everybody talk about this team, which it looks like Jerry Jones sometimes prioritizes over other things. John Gruden is somebody that I would throw out there. Those are the veteran coaches that I would throw out there that, uh, that Jerry could throw a curveball at and be crazy and go after. Well, I think everybody understands the thesis and the theme of this, this conversation is when you're talking about the Dallas Cowboys, and maybe we're wrong, but I think a good place to start is really just football icons that have been head coaches before that come with star power.

And, you know, I don't see Pete Carroll actually in the mix with it. I don't either. Because that's just oil and water. He's not going to do it. He's not going to do it. He's not going to leave Seattle to go to dallas he is such a different man when i look at pete carroll i just think like a coastal guy yeah 100 it's all the way west coast or it's all the way east coast he is not going to texas to take orders from jerry jones now what were you saying about team building though

so the structure of this team is fascinating right because we're talking about and i know i keep hammering football icons into the ground but like guys with full control right let's let's be honest here if you hire bill belichick what does he get trevor full control if you hire i mean as crazy as it sounds gruden gruden's getting full control these are unique guys that have entire control of the 53-man roster. And the GM, if there even is one by title, and obviously there wouldn't be because it's the Dallas Cowboys, but it's going to lead me to my next point, works for them rather than the GM. Jerry is the de facto GM, but in terms of the actual football roster, he is not the GM of this team.

That is Will McClay. And a crash course on Will McClay. I know Cowboys fans know all of this, but Will McClay, really fascinating guy, 58 years old. He played Arena League football, coached in football, and then got into more of the scouting side in the late 90s. His first professional organization he worked for was the Jaguars. He was an assistant director of pro scouting in 2001 moves over to the cowboys in 2002 as a pro scout he has been with the

cowboys for 22 years he has worked his way from pro scout to pro scout coordinator to director of football research to assistant director of personnel senior director of prone college scouting since 2017 he has been the vp of player personnel vp of player personnel is basically the closest thing to gm or assistant gm you you oversee the entire roster on the pro and college scouting side and for a team like the cowboys where the owner is the gm of the team jerry jones is not flying you know to these colleges and sitting behind the sidelines. That's Will McClay. Will McClay runs the drafts for the Cowboys.

Will McClay is in charge of the player evaluations. And that's been a really good thing for the Cowboys. Will McClay has been a desired commodity as a general manager in this league for many, many years now for a lot of different reasons. I think some of it is family-related and some of it is he just likes his job, and I would assume he's paid comparably to a general manager. He has stayed in Dallas rather than going to be the, you know, the he is the guy for the Cowboys, but he doesn't get the title of it. He doesn't get the PR of it. Right.

And he he teams would hire Will McClay as general manager. They would. He just hasn't wanted to leave. So the dynamic that's interesting to me is if the Cowboys go the head coaching route we think they're gonna go is this finally where the domino effect is will mcclay is gonna go be the general manager of another football organization because he's a damn good one like that combo we had about mike more morganzi and other guys uh spy tech from the buccaneers guys that haven't had the opportunity yet will mcclay jumps the line because he's done all the gm responsibilities without having the

title for it and he's had a lot of success honestly when you look at the moves the cowboys have made for the most part so he knows how to draft so that's a whole nother domino effect you might lose will mcclay finally if you go with the parcels kind of hire that's it that's a tough it's a tough blow man like this guy's this guy's a good football scout it's a really good call out by you it's it's it's really good context because you're right it does not get talked about enough behind the scenes um how much hiring one of those big name coaches would maybe mean the loss of mcclellan so yeah but you do have to take a risk at some point right the i mean the only other names that would bring to the table for head coach uh maybe cliff

kingsbury and um actually i think that's probably it right i mean vrabel belichick payton who i don't really think is on the list but i just wanted to throw his name out there um deon sanders john gruden and then ben johnson cliff kingsbury obviously i think that if ben johnson wants the job he's my choice there and then vrabel is probably second for me I don't I'm I'm I would I would rather have Vrabel than Belichick oh I don't even think it's close at this point yeah so those but I don't think I don't think I would be surprised if the order of operations for most NFL teams is that way but Vrabel is going to be a head coach next year it's just a matter of like jobs he's willing to take because things ended

really poorly in Tennessee from a structure standpoint that really pissed him off. Yeah. Right. Is he going to be more selective knowing how that ended or is he a guy that's like, man, I just got to get back in and get it right.

You do toe the line a little bit though. Right. I mean, I was listening to a podcast with Rex Ryan on there. And I can't remember who, where this was. And they were asking Rex Ryan. There was like,

they were like, Oh, why'd you never get back into it? Like, why'd you never gotten back into coaching? He's like, phone stop ringing. They really did.

He's like, he's like, I've wanted to coach for the last 10 years. I just, I have not gotten any offers. So Vrabel, where I agree with you, like top candidate and everything,

you weigh a little too long. this league forgets about you. And you become too big of a name that nobody wants to hire you because when you have a three-game losing streak, the fan base is screaming for you to get fired and for Rex Ryan or Mike Vrabel to be the interim coach. That's like, politics at the highest degree. Oh, you're saying you can only hire these guys as head coaches, not coordinators.

Rex Ryan would love to be a defensive coordinator in this league. He has been as public about that as possible, but teams don't hire Rex Ryan for a variety of reasons. I do think at the end there, unfortunately, you know, teams caught up to his scheme, but I still think Rex is a great defense.

I do too. And like 10 years, like 10 years like 10 years in the making like you don't think this dude's been paying attention to how defense has changed so right rex well it's actually fast so rex i didn't have a lot of defensive coordinator like ideas rex ryan maybe one of them can you imagine the thunderbolt that would be rex ryan on the dallas side the only reason the only real other one that i had was like wink martindale who's defense coordinator for Michigan right now. Yeah.

That's gone well. Well, I mean, it's not, are you saying that sarcastically? Yeah. I mean, I was a big fan of wink,

but man, like things flamed out with the giants in a real bad way. Him and Dable just, you know, and now it hasn't been a great year for wink in Michigan. Well, Michigan's offense is just bad. That's fair.

Yeah. That's I know. It's kind of ridiculous. ridiculous it's not i don't think it's not what i'm doing but but no i know it's just wink is at the college level because of some uh personality conflicts at the nfl if you go with offensive coordinator though i got all right you ready for this let's i got six names for you Pat Shermer with Deion no that's my favorite bit of the show if you hire Vrabel these are some offensive coordinators

one Chip Kelly Chip Kelly was the Eagles head coach he had to play the Dallas Cowboys at least twice a year from 2013 to 2016 Jerry watched him sometimes those offenses were really successful could be, he wants to get back in the NFL Chip Kelly's one of them two absolute home run the Giants fired Brian Dable and he didn't get a head coach job somewhere else that's

extremely obvious it could have as a big name as an offensive coordinator I think that's one less likely because either I think that he's going to be a Giants head coach or a head coach elsewhere but wanted to throw him out there. Dan Mullen's another one. Dan Mullen, high-profile coach, had three fantastic years at Florida, one of the best offenses in college football for, I think, two out of those three seasons. I think that's a sneaky one. Lincoln Riley, because Lincoln Riley stinks right now as head coach at USC.

It's not great. And he might not be there much longer. I don't know. I'm just saying. Somebody to think of. Another high-profile guy. And then I got two way-out-there offensive coordinators that I'm throwing out there.

All right? One of them is Drew Brees. Drew Brees, I think, wants to be a broadcaster, but he's sort of gotten out of that shuffle, certainly with Tom Brady there, Greg Olson there, right? I mean, like, not saying that he should be in there over these guys, but I think he wants to be a broadcaster, but that one year that he was a broadcaster,

it wasn't as good as maybe people thought, and then obviously Tom Brady comes in, and so Brees isn't there anymore. He's coaching a little football on the side. I think he's doing a little seven-on-seven coaching. He could possibly want to get into coaching. I don he's doing a little 7-on-7 coaching. He could possibly want to get into coaching. I don't think Drew Brees is a guy who could just step away from the game of football.

So if he wants to be an offensive coordinator, maybe. And then the one that I think nobody's thinking of, Phillip Rivers. Wow. Phillip Rivers has been coaching high school football as a head coach for, oh man, how many years now? What is this, three years? Two, three years? So he is a coach and he loves coaching. Like his dad was a coach. He loves coaching. And I think he loves coaching high school ball. But if the Cowboys call you and go, we want you to come call plays for us and be our offense coordinator.

Phillip's been around the NFL. Phillip gets it. He wants to coach. Long shot, total long shot. But again, Jerry's about making splashes. And Drew Brees and Phillip Rivers is your offense coordinator. It's a splash. So those are two guys to throw out there. There we go. Those are the coordinators.

It's definitely a, it's, I like that it's a list of like not traditional names. Yeah. That we've done. That's what we're trying to do. That's what we're trying to do here on the show. Especially, you know, I like that it's a list of like not traditional names that we've done. That's what we're trying to do. That's what we're trying to do here on the show. Especially, you know, when Jerry Jones is calling the shots. I think we realize that we have to do that, you know? Yes.

All right. Yeah, rule out nothing. Time to get in the roster? You want to get in the roster? Yes. All right, let's do it. Before we do that, when you're hiring for your small business out there, folks, you want to find high quality, professional people for the right role. All right, Jerry Jones, listen up. This one's for you. That's why you got to check out out there, folks. You want to find high-quality, professional people for the right role. All right, Jerry Jones, listen up.

This one's for you. That's why you got to check out LinkedIn Jobs, Jerry. LinkedIn Jobs. It's got all the right tools to help find the right offensive and defensive coordinators for your team faster and for free. We do a lot of hiring here at PFF,

and we realize that it's not just about a resume and how well you fill that resume. It's about who you are. It's about how you fit in with the team, the brand. You know, as the company evolves, is this person going to be there to evolve with you? That is the whole point.

That's what a great hire is all about. LinkedIn job, LinkedIn is not just a job board. Jerry, listen, LinkedIn helps you hire professionals that you can't hire anywhere else. Even those who aren't actively looking for new roles like Drew Brees or Phillip Rivers, but maybe they're open to the perfect role, you know? Maybe offensive coordinator at Dallas Cowboys is the perfect role.

I'm going to give them 70% of LinkedIn users don't even visit any of the job sites, Jerry. So if you're not looking on LinkedIn, you're just looking in the wrong place. 86% of Super Bowl winners, oh, sorry, small businesses get a qualified candidate within 24 hours on LinkedIn jobs. Hire a professional like a professional on LinkedIn. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com slash stock. LinkedIn.com slash stock. Post your job for free. Terms and conditions

do apply, Jerry. All right, free agency strategy. On the surface level, Connor, looks bleak. Not great. If you look at effective cap space for 2025. Hell of a start. You're looking at 9 million. I said surface level. We don't do surface. No, you're. Hell of a start. You're looking at 9 million. I said surface level. We don't do surface level. No, you're right. It gets better. You know? We're drilling for oil here.

Get it? Because they play in Texas? Yeah, correct. Correct. There it is. There it is. See? Smart guy.

Smart guy. History lesson of the day. I know we have some youngsters listening to this podcast. Smart guy. Smart guy. I didn't think you'd learn about fracking here, guys, did you? $9 million of effective cap space in 2023. That's 23rd most in the NFL, but I got good news for you.

Got a lot of potential moves they can make. First one, I think that Zach Martin's going to retire. I think that's kind of the mood. It's what a lot of people believe. Unbelievable career, Hall of Fame career. But I think this might be it for him. If they designate him for a post-June 1 cut, save about $1.25 million on the cap.

Terrence Steele, I understand, they signed him to the contract. I don't think he's been great. I think you could do better at right tackle, especially for the money that you're spending. Yeah. You can designate him as a post-June 1 cut as well. You could save $14 million on the cap.

So all of a sudden, that's an extra $15 million that you have right there. And then it gets even better. So you can do two of those, right? Two post-June ones. Yes, you can do two. And then for those that don't know, you can't just go post-June one with 75 players. Correct.

You can only designate two. And Zach Martin being in retirement, I think you might get a little bit more flexibility with that as well. Yeah, it should technically help you. Because he can announce that he is retiring, and you can designate him as a post-June one, and then obviously it doesn't go forward until the summer, but you could operate with cap space to get cap compliant.

Not that they're really in risk of being cap compliant. That's really only when you have to do that. But anyways, it gets even better though. So there, we just found an extra $15 million. So now we're sitting at $24 of effective cap space for next season, which includes signing the draft class that's going to be upcoming for them. That's all taken into account there. Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb's contracts right now,

it seems like as they are written, were built to be restructured. The way that they are currently structured, they were built to be restructured probably this offseason, to be honest with you. I think that they were probably smart in seeing that michael parsons contract was coming and they wanted to be able to okay like let's get the deals done and then we'll restructure them probably next year dak prescott you restructure his deal which you're spreading it out over five years you get 37 mil for next year and and cd lamb if you do same thing, if you restructure him and spread it out over five years, you get 20 extra mil.

So that is a lot of money. $57 extra million in cap space plus you add the 24. That's about $81 million that the Dallas Cowboys could have in effective cap space. Now, if you want to say, no, they're going to stick with Terrence Steele. They're not going to cut Terrence Steele. He's going to be there. All right, subtract 14 from it, right? So then you got 67 you got 67 million dollars to play with next season and that's

including the draft picks that you uh that you are projected to sign key pieces ready for it yep off inside of the ball you tell me where i'm wrong dakari prescott don't know if that's his name Dakota nah I'm going with Dakari CeeDee Lamb Tyler Smith Tyler Guyton and I have Cooper Beebe

which if you've listened to this podcast if you've listened to this podcast for a long time and you know that I'm a big hater I forgot how much you hated Cooper Beebe you said he couldn't play I just said he was he couldn't play i just said he was fine i just said he was fine and it turns out guess what fine is on the dallas cowboys offensive line it's a starter staple peace oh man all right not many not many centers built like cooper bb no

there's not so dac cd lamb and then on the offensive line, Tyler Smith, Tyler Guyton, Cooper Beebe. That's all I've got. Yeah. Okay. And then on the defensive side of things, Michael Parsons. You forgot Jonathan Mingo. Sorry. No, look.

Key pieces are different than, he's not going anywhere, obviously. It's not like we're cutting the rest of these guys. But no, I'm not, I'm not, I am not. We got to build the offense. We got to build the offense. We got to build the offense for our Jonathan Mingo. Five scheme touches a game. What are you doing to me, Jerry? Buying us to the deadline with this team?

What do you think that phone call was like? Like, do you think Dan Morgan actually kept it together? Or do you think it was like Anchorman when they pranked Veronica? And they're laughing in the background. It's like, no, it's impractical jokesters. You know, where it's just like, all right, now say you won't trade him for a fourth. And then it's just like they're all cracking up on the other side. Yep.

Yep. Oh, good God. Or it's the Anchorman one. I think that's a good, that's a good analogy too. We are laughing. This is Dr. What is it? it like red chin or something like that yep you're pregnant it's so good so uh all right defense side of the football michael parsons demarvian overshown yep duron bland Bland, and Trayvon Diggs.

Those are the four I got. What about DeMarcus Lawrence? I don't think they bring him back. Damn, what a run, though. He was great for them, but how old is he now? He's 32, man. You're right. Because he has not been as good this year. He's just hurt now.

And he's a free agent. He's got void years on his contract. So I guess technically, you know, like you can maybe bring him back and you can do some of those void years. But I think you just got to retool the whole defense. Because here we go. This is why I think that the Cowboys do have a decent chance to really turn this thing around.

Free agents for 2025. Guys that, well, I'll say most of them won't be on the roster next year. Brandon Cooks, Zach Martin, Demarcus Lawrence, Ezekiel Elliott, also Adigizu, who I think they bring back. So he's a free agent that I actually think that they bring back. Rico Daudo, Trey Lance, Eric Kendricks, Jordan Lewis, Cooper Rush, Chauncey Golsan, Izzy McQuamu, and then Limbaugh Joseph, and the other defense tackle, Wheat as well.

Tyson Wheat. Those guys are all free agents. I don't know if any of them are brought back other than Oso Odigizua. That's it. That's all I got. No, I'm with you. So we've got either $81 million to play with and we don't have Terrence Steele,

or we've got $67 million to play with and we do have Terrencerence steel or we've got 67 million dollars to play with and we do have terrence steel what do you think about free agencies here well you're attacking the offensive line obviously and i think you got to be really really calculated on like like letting steel go based on what's out there because it's not pretty right ronnie stanley's the dream i know but he's another guy like do we think it's gonna get better at age 32 next year he was good this year though he's good this year he was invisible for so much of that extension he signed with them he was hurt that's what i mean yeah like that's's the problem. But you might be able to get him for a little bit of a bargain. Yeah, I'm not against a Ronnie Stanley flyer.

Now, are you going to flip Guyton to the right side in that scenario? Yes, yes. Okay. Yeah, I always thought that was kind of the play. And then I'm drafting a guard. Yes. Right? Because then you got Tyler Smith at guard, you got Cooper Beebe at center.

So you'd have Ronnie Stanley at left tackle. You're drafting somebody to play guard. Tyler Smith's playing the other one. Cooper Beebe's playing center. And Tyler Guyton's playing right tackle. I'm good with that. That's good with me. Yeah, me too.

Or if you can get Trey Smith out of Kansas City, Trey Smith's the other guard. Yeah, he's a big fish. All of a sudden you get Trey Smith. And Ronnie Stanley will probably cost you, I don't know i'm guessing here guys but like trey smith's gonna be like 18 mil ish a year right ronnie stanley probably around the same amount because he's older but he plays offensive tackle maybe he's less i don't know probably should get brad on the show i think i have idea. All right. Why don't you draft a guard, but also sign more of a stopgap like Kevin Zeitler? How old is Zeitler?

Oh, 34. Sure. But he's been, like, it was a savvy move. Are you saying in addition to going after a tackle? Like in addition to? Yeah, I would still go for the tackle. I'd still go for the tackle, but... James Daniels?

Playing really good before he got hurt? Yeah, we've discussed him before. I just like the idea of Zeitler probably playing on a one-year deal. All right. I mean, the Lions will probably do what they can to bring him back, but what a steal he was. It's not a back. But what is like, what a steal.

It's not a super deep guard class is my only worry. Yeah, I got a really the weird thing when we say that is we've had this combo and I've been finally really catching up on more and more tape the last two weeks. The problem is it's like a lot of these guys that we'd like to tackles over summer really Might be guards. And that kind of changes the perspective of the class. For sure. For sure. Yeah, like, I think you could draft Emery Jones, because I think Jones is absolutely a guard at the next level. Right.

Maybe you get him, yeah, a little bit later. But that's my fear of, like, not signing a Zeitler, is that it's like, yeah, we're going to draft a guard, and it's like, oh, man, this was scary. No, it's fine. I like that. I think you're dead. I'd love for them to go after Ronnie Stanley.

If they could get him him that'd be fantastic if you can move kaiten all the way back to right tackle and get ronnie stanley they'd be great and if you can get kevin zeitler or um you know again like maybe i brought this up before like a lucas patrick i like the idea of that maybe he had a really good start to the season but he's he's been inconsistent i think people were um oh what which which fixture franchise episode was this where i suggested lucas patrick and people got mad at me they're like dude he's been like bad his whole career and it's like i i get it but he was good at the beginning of this year you know i know he's a little bit older but that means i think you can get him and get him for cheap and he might be able to overplay what you're paying him so i wonder if like okay it's a ronnie stanley it's maybe like lucas patrick and then you're drafting a guard i don't hate that

i like the emphasis on the offensive line though i'll go to defensive line as well because i think it's got to be heavy trenches for this team i'm gonna throw this out to you all right okay you got mozzie smith he's under contract he's got he's on his rookie year but he's been bad you bring him back also diggy zoo because i think that he's been productive enough for you so you're gonna bring him back too you can't just go into free agency needing like nine defensive tackles or whatever so you have those two guys there everybody else is going bj hill puna ford calais can believe in if he wants to keep playing a limb a lean mcneil andNeil. McNeil signed an extension. Oh, he did?

Yeah, he just got a monster extension from the Lions. Okay, so he's off the list. Which was very smart. Four-year, 97 big ones for Mr. Alim. Good for him. Cold ones. So Bobby Brown is another one. The defensive tackle for the Los Angeles Rams,

who's going underrated on that defensive line this year. A lot of people are talking about Kobe Turner, talking about Braden Fisk, talking about Jared Versch, talking about Byron Young. Bobby Brown's been a fantastic run defender. So he's somebody that I think you might be able to get for cheap because I don't know if he comes back to the Rams because the rotation's a little deep there

and they're letting those young guys play a lot more. So if you can go out and get yourself a Puna Ford and a Bobby Brown, boom, baby, you're bringing it back to Digizua. You got Puna Ford you got Bobby Brown Mozzie Smith's basically just uh yeah okay like if he's good cool like at this point you're you're at this point I don't know if it's this bad but you're basically saying like it's the Evan Neal situation right it's the Mekhi Becton situation you just go like yeah you're getting insurance yeah like yeah if you're good great you'll be able to play and he's I think

still the most athletic interior defensive lineman on the team at that point. So there's clearly a role for him to still play, but you can't go into next season with Mozzie Smith being a primary three-down defensive tackle for you. He's too much of a liability. He showcased that throughout the last two years of his NFL career. So, to me, Puna Ford, Bobby

Brown, those are the two dudes that I want from the interior defensive line. Beef it up. All day, I'm Puna Ford. up. All day on Puna Ford. All day on Puna Ford. I think that's the exact kind of player that they're missing. Honestly. Rico Dowdle is a free agent. Ezekiel Elliott's a free agent.

Goodbye and goodbye. I gotta assume Dalvin Cook was only on a one-year deal. He was like on the practice squad. Yeah, Dalvin Cook's not gonna be there either. You could go after a James Conner if you wanted to I don't think they need to spend that much money on a running back maybe they'll overcompensate and do so but I think like a Nick Chubb or a J.K. Dobbins makes a lot more sense to me and then you're drafting a capable back somewhere good running back class right right you know what honestly if I'm the Cowboys

maybe they don't want to do this because it's allocation of assets. I was going to say, I'm almost just drafting two running backs, honestly. Yeah, but you want to have that in there. Yeah, that's fair. You do need one kind of bit, but I'm not going to shop in the James Conner, Nick Chubb bracket for that. Yeah, but I don't know what Nick Chubb's getting, you know? You might be able to get Nick Chubb for a little cheaper that's fair maybe but i think jk dobbins could be a good spot for them

you know yeah so yeah that one like there's upside to that i would like to spend dallas has four fifth round picks i would like to spend like $3 to maybe $5 million on a running back for the cap this year. So that's how we're allocating that. So at least $3 to $5 million on a veteran running back for next year. Clearly, we're investing probably somewhere between like $25 and $30 million maybe on offensive line signs if we can so that's a big chunk out of it so that's let's just say 33 of our cap there is taken uh i think from the defensive lineman that i mentioned you know um who to afford bobby brown let's just say 12 yeah i think that that's a good number so now we're now we're sitting at let's just say we're sitting at 45 so now we've still got 22 million in cap space i think you know you could

go get a safety if you wanted to like javon holland's a free agent but i don't know if he gets out of miami you could make a linebacker addition like a dre greenlaw you could go after him you can get a terrell dodson who um is struggling a little bit this year in run defense but he was good in run defense last season just get a veteran that's sort of capable there to be able to play next to, uh, DeMarvian Overshawn. I actually really like Dre Greenlaw there. Man, how much would Greenlaw cost you? A year? I don't know.

I like the idea of maybe going out and getting Dre Greenlaw, too. You're, like, really flipping over this front seven, which to me is the goal. You have to keep in mind this is a division that you're dealing with Saquon Barkley and Jalen Hurts. You're going to be dealing with probably a new, I would think, mobile quarterback of the New York Giants, Tyrone Tracy, and the commanders with Jaden Daniels and Brian Robinson. The front seven has to be a priority for this team in this division. So I like that.

And then the Hail Mary for wide receiver, if you're going to go get one, maybe you can go get Stefan Diggs to play with his brother. That's actually a good call because coming off the ACL, he's going to be 33. You're probably getting him on like a prove it, bounce back, like incentives. Remember when OBJ signed that Ravens deal and it was just like, man, they overpaid. But the point is, it was like, you got to do all these things and you can make another $7 million.

Yes. That's probably the date, what the digs contract will look like. And digs will look around and be like, man, why don't I just go to Dallas? So as you can see guys, like there's a chance where even with just 67 million cap space,

like you can, like you can work with this. Shout out to Joe DeMeo for that idea with Stefan Diggs. Cause I didn't think of that before. Your, your co-host for the, for the Mets podcast. My Mets pod co-host that lives and dies with the Cowboys rebuild. You mean dies and dies with the Cowboys rebuild. So, okay.

Just to, just to, just to recap free agency before we get into the draft here. Cause I got three picks to work with. Those are the key pieces that we had on the team, but we're signing a veteran running back maybe jk dobbins somebody like that depending on what nick chubb is is how expensive nick chubb is we're spending three to five million dollars on a veteran running back just because i think you have to maybe you go get a stefan digs and a heavily incentive deal the wide receiver so it's him and it's cd land there we're retooling the offensive line devoting at least 25 to 30

million dollars to the offensive line to go get yourself a starting offensive tackle starting offensive guard you could prioritize it in different, and then we can attack the draft in different ways. Love to go get a Ronnie Stanley and then maybe a veteran guard there. So that's where we'll go into the draft sort of with that sort of strategy there. Defensive line, Puna Ford, Bobby Brown, those are my two targets there that I would love to help out the interior defensive line. You're bringing back Osa Adigizua as well well and then i think that you could throw in like a trey greenlaw or a veteran linebacker something like that um to help out right next to demar being overshown and i think that that is a really really good bounce back starting place for this roster to get us into the three-round mock draft let's rock and roll did it all right

pulling up the uh it's probably my my favorite free agency build we've done. I know. For a team. Because they're a team that should be big players in free agency. After last year, they just put their hands under their butt cheeks and said, we're out. Incredible visual. Thank you. Hands under butt cheeks.

Really? I'm not moving. I'm actually going to do this whole mock. Mock draft. Hands under butt cheeks. Getting warmed under cheeks here as we do this mock uh all right so the dallas cowboys are picking 11th overall as you guys can see on the screen if you're watching this on youtube this is the pff mock draft simulator go on over to pff.com get yourself a pff plus subscription and you can use

the fully unlocked mock draft simulator as well so let's enter the draft here dallas cowboys i don't think they're trading up or anything like that. I think we're standing pat at number 11. So we have three picks. Let's start the draft here. Who do we got? All right. Ted Jerome McMillan went number one of the Jags. Ted and Brian Thomas Jr. in the same offense.

It's amazing. All right. Jalen Miro is off the board. Hunter's off the board. Mason Graham's off the board. Kenneth Grant's off the board. Will Johnson off the board. Malachi Stark's off the board. Hunter's off the board. Mason Graham's off the board. Kenneth Grant's off the board. Will Johnson off the board. Malachi Stark's off the board.

That could have been an option for him. We got Cam Ward going to your New York Jets. Will Campbell to the New Orleans Saints. And then Ashton Gentry to the Panthers, which is objectively hilarious. When you pay Chuba Hubbard and draft Jonathan Brooks in the second round, you have to take a running back in the top 10. That's fucking great. I'm actually mad that this happened.

Obviously. No, I'm not. It's awesome. It's awesome. Oh, good. All right. So Dallas Cowboys at 11. I think Jenty is certainly an option for them at number 11.

If they're picking sooner, I think they've got a chance to pick Jenty. But I don't think they have to, right? No. I do not think they have to pick Ashton Jenty. I'm not doing that. Yeah, I'm not doing that. I love Jenty, but not Fidel. So you got Luther Bird in the third, Isaiah Bond.

Both of these guys are still here. We said that we'd try to go after a Stefan Diggs type, so we're trying to make a splash here so i think that's possible if they're not taking stefan diggs i think that um you know luther burden all of a sudden makes a ton of sense for this team but man i'm not gonna do it because we just did this but i love kelvin banks for this team kelvin banks would be excellent i don't know like it's it's almost like the prototype for this team kelvin banks would be excellent i don't know like it's it's almost like the prototype for this team because then then you really are covering your bases if you can't hit the home runs that you want to in free agency you're getting him to play left tackle for you

guidance right tackle or guard. Tackle. Tyler Smith at guard. You got a veteran at guard. Cooper Beebe. Man, I like this. Because if we get digs, I like Burden and Bond for this team, but at 11,

I'd rather take the offensive lineman and look at wide receiver later. I would too. I'd rather have an edge rusher as well. Same. I was going to say the edge class intrigues me here i mean you could run the penn state boys out there with carter and and brother abdul carter and micah yeah it's it's insane that's filthy yeah that actually is probably the play here i I agree with you. Carter's had some insane... His first year as full-time as an edge rusher. So Cowboys fans who might be listening to this,

Abdul Carter, who's going to be a little bit higher on the latest big board update that we have here, he's an edge rusher. He's a little bit smaller. Where's his measurables? 6'3", 250. He's bigger than you think, though, which always trips me up. The thing is, he's stronger than you think.

Yes. Yeah. I think he's going to play at 258 in the NFL eventually. The debates between him and James Pierce Jr., it's not even close. It's not a conversation. It's not. They're totally different bills. Because Abdul Carter plays so much stronger.

And Abdul Carter played off-ball linebacker for the last two years. So he's got, like, it's in his nature to be physical and hit. That's right. So I'm going to go Abdul Carter. Let's do it. I think this is awesome. This is crazy.

Okay, so we're going Abdul Carter there at number 11. Number 43. It's kind of worked out perfect for us, if I'm being honest. If they can get Wyatt Milam at 43. Or you take Milam, you have a day one starter. Damn, man. I know. This is sick.

And we spent money on the interior D-line. Like, TJ Sanders makes a ton of sense here if they didn't get those D-line guys. But they got, in my opinion, they got to spend there. They don't draft there and hope. Yeah, Wyatt Milam makes a ton of sense the only thing is like okay I think that he might um I think he might be gone at this point but I still think he's a late first early second type of a player and I don't think this is egregious and I think no not only do I not think it's egregious I think the Cowboys are going to be picking higher when it's all said and done so I think that they're going to be picking in the late 30s and a rush effect and i think that if they have the opportunity to make big splashes

like this they would trade up they could trade they could even trade up for them yeah they could trade their fourth round pick i'm doing it i i don't i don't think that we have anybody else who i mean like tyler booker maybe depending on how things went in free agency. I'd rather have the tackle. Well, I'd rather have a tackle for sure. Xavier Watson could be a great pick for them because they need impact safety help. Xavier Watson's been really nice.

He's been having a really good season. He's a big-time coverage guy, but I'd rather try to maybe hit safety later. They've kind of gotten by at safety without having to use serious assets at the position too yeah which a lot of teams do okay i'm gonna do mylam i'm taking mylam it's shaping into one of my favorite drafts if not my favorite draft here we go well i know what the hell i'm doing there's your boy travion henderson from he is he is specifically a player i have done my full tape

catch up this week because he's my NBC Sports Big Ten breakdown that hasn't come out yet. Man, what a season he's having, Trevor. It's the balance for Travion because they have Judkins now has brought out the best version of Travion. He's averaging seven and a half yards per carry. He's so explosive again. He is an elite pass protecting back. like he's blowing up blitzers

knockout blows to blitzers he had a play against purdue where they motioned him out wide he ran a double move against the coverage and beat the guy by three or four yards like travion has been phenomenal this i think travion is going to be the pick here caleb johnson from iowa is still here but i think he's going to go higher than this. He will be higher on my big board update that's going to be coming out in the next week or so. So I don't think that he will be there. DJ Giddens is going to be higher as well. Like I think he could be a selection here because Giddens has been awesome this season. I have really enjoyed watching him, but I'm not picking him over Travion. I think that Travion's the guy I'm looking

I mean I guess again Armage Reed Adams from Texas A&M because he's an offensive lineman Tyler Warren's going to be gone Jack Kaiser maybe if you need another linebacker but I don't think you got to pick Kaiser at 75 Barrett Carter I think he's probably going to be an early day three guy Donovan Jackson maybe if he maybe if he's here. Tate Ratledge, if they're there, but we already picked the offensive lineman in this scenario. Maybe Shamar Turner. I don't mind that.

I think Harold Fannin Jr. is somebody who could be a potential day two option for them if they want to really invest in the tight end spot. But Ashton Jaladi, if we did not pick an edge rusher in the first round, I think Jaladi is somebody that you talk about here in round three, the edge rusher out of Louisville because of how powerful he is. But I'm with you, man. It's Travion Henderson. It's got to be.

It's got to be. We're mailing it in. In a good way, actually. I don't think I used it. I was going to say, we didn't technically mail it in. I mean, like, it's in, and then we're physically mailing it. mailing it what do we get here b minus c minus for the dual carter pick who's great in this shit mike mccarthy in the basement of pff b minus welcome mike glad to have you i'm the king of the nerds now glad to have you back mike

all right man dude this has been one of my favorite Fix Your Franchise episodes that we have done. I agree. I'm actually so proud of us right now. We totally overhauled the offensive line. I think we got some really good coaches, coaching candidates in there, at least realistic for what we were thinking for the Cowboys. We totally overhauled both trenches.

We got some skilled position players in there. We freed up the cap by doing so. And then this is a home run draft, man. This is Barry Bonds deep over the wall into the water. Like steroids. Yeah, 100%. Not pirate spots. Yes.

Yes, the kayaks are all scrambling to get the ball in the water. 100%. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like there's 500 kayaks out there just waiting. Cause they know they're going to have an opportunity to get a bonds bomb. That's what we just did here with the Dallas Cowboys, but we would love to hear from you guys as well. What do you think?

How do you think we talked about the Cowboys? We ushered in what could be this off season, the lore that we talked about. We know the Cowboys fans, you are extremely passionate. So if there is something over the last three, four or five years of how the Cowboys set themselves up to get here some misses some mishaps whatever it is we would love to hear from you best way to do that is the youtube comment section youtube.com backslash at

nfl stock exchange to get your voice heard we go back and forth with people as much as we possibly can and certain you know fans who listen to the show all the time will go back and forth with you as well we have a really a lot of really fun and good conversations on here. Let us know what you thought of our free agency strategy, our assessment of the roster, the mock draft. If you've got a mock draft that you've done for the Cowboys that you absolutely love, fire it off. We'd love to hear it. We'd love to see it. All the good stuff.

If you are audio only, you can still hit us up. If you don't have a YouTube account, at TampaBayTrey, at ConnorJRogers on X and Instagram. But we would, of course, appreciate it if you guys do have a youtube account uh at tampa bay tray at connor j rogers on x and instagram but we would of course appreciate it if you guys do have a youtube account if you could like the show and subscribe to the channel uh by the way i will shout out new show handle on twitter uh we changed it to at nfl se show uh so that is the new handle that we have on twitter just in case you guys see that but uh yeah this is a lot of fun connor on twitter just in case you guys see that but uh yeah this is a lot of fun connor anything else before we get out of here i love this one it's you know it's just one of those it's new it's exciting it's the cowboys a lot of dollars around

this organization it's this is one that i am so fascinated to actually follow through yes this offseason yeah Who they hire, how they go about it, what their draft strategy is after free agency, where they should spend not hands under butt cheeks. And thank you everybody for not only the birthday wishes, which I really appreciate in the comment section. You guys are the best, but also thank you for everybody.

That's continued to watch this, fix your franchise is the reason we get to do it. I mean, we're keeping up with you, Trevor and I, we discuss everything off the air with the show. We want to make sure the shows are performing well because

that means you guys are interested in what we're talking about, which is the goal. This is a community and the Fix Your Franchises have retained our audience that people want more and more of it and it's something we love doing. So a huge thank you to the audience that keeps returning. A huge welcome to the audience that drops by when it's a team that they root for, they cover or they love or anything like that.

So just a big, big thank you as always to the sex addicts nation. Appreciate you guys so much. Cowboys fans are near the show. Be like, what did he say there? What was at the end there? NFL stock exchange figured out guys. Uh, uh, well we believe that you can figure it out there. Appreciate everybody watching and listening as Connor. So beautifully said i'm trevor sycamore uh that is connor rogers thank you guys so much for for tuning into the show and another episode of fix your franchise we will be back with you once again i think we'll probably do a stock up episode at the end of the show or at the end of the week it's probably time it's probably time we haven't done one a little bit we've been we've been heavy on the picture franchise which we're going to continue to

keep doing uh we know there's some shout-outs for the Tennessee Titans, the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Carolina Panthers, and recently, Chicago Bears. I think that we might be doing another

Chicago Bears picture franchise episode. But if you guys have suggestions on what you want to see and hear here on this show, of course, let us know in the comment section as well.

We will see you guys later this week. See you then. Bye.