The Dumb Zone FREE - Cowboys State of the Team reaction 7-25-24

Episode Date: July 25, 2024

Subscribe to The Dumb Zone Patreon - Patreon.com/TheDumbZoneWe listened in to the Cowboys opening press conference live from Cowboys training camp and tried to decipher what Jerry, Stephen, and McCarthy were trying to say ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

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I won't be commenting any more about it. You've got another check. I certainly are where I want to be. Yep. I'd have to take care of it. From a football standpoint. Is that what it was all about? The worst place. Just wanted more money. Yep. Not having to take care of her. Is that what it was all about at the end? Just wanting more money?

Yeah. Or like extend it later in her life? Yeah. A man's even a factor deal. Look at that. Right, we have a new sponsor being on. They're great great They are great

They said they were great There's a promo code There is a promo code There is a promo code And it's dumbzone50 Dumbzone50 35 A little disky helping with my

mathematics here we're not doing disky five years um we're gonna try i've seen several faces i saw 35 years ago here and uh but uh after 35 years uh i need to water, guys. The one thing that's for sure is ambiguity. Okay. Ambiguity. Bingo. And just the nature of what being a part of sports and part of football is, is very ambiguous. Of life. The reality of it is, is that you are continually, continually dealing with much unfinished business. There's almost no way to...

Unfinished business like this kid? Parts of the running and the evolving of a team from one year to the next. Sometimes you have specific agreements and those agreements have all the terms in them. And yet you still might have a non-execution of the agreements. Does Jerry have his rug on people with contracts that didn't come to camp. There was one time he didn't wear it under his cap. Yeah, it was during the anthem.

That's what happened. He wouldn't take his hat off during the anthem. Oh, you've got to respect the anthem. You can't be and do what I have the privilege and opportunity to do, and that's be a part of the Dallas Cowboys and run the NFL. Come on, say it. It reminds me just how lucky I am

and how wonderful this is. Run the NFL. But it is more ambiguity in Bob than I ever could have imagined. Is he Biden-ing? There's always going to be dangling participles out here of unfinished business. Hey, dangling participles out here of unfinished business.

And that's the reality of it. There will never be a time with the NFL and sports. We don't have a lot going on that give you reason to say, this is the time of year when you're just supposed to do football. Well, there's a million, not a million things, but there's so many things going on at all times. And more so today than when I first got involved. He was going to correct himself, but not a million. And so if I can be specific, I was kind of ready with my thoughts for you.

Weren't you? I know we've been talking about what kind of offseason we had, what kind of season ending we had. Well, the facts are that I'm going to need a little bit of help here, but how many bowlers do we have out here? 14.

Pro bowlers on this field right now. 12 all pros. And 12 all pros. We have an outstanding team. Is that Tad? Or maybe Will. We've got a lot of ambiguity in the team.

Big go times two. I have ambiguity everywhere in things that I look at and do. And so I'm the best thing that I look at and do. And so I'm Why are we panning? The best thing that I ever

Get a look at his wiener. That God gave me was a tolerance for ambiguity. Dude, did he hear ambiguity in court all week? Why is he I just hit it four times in the first two minutes. Obviously, it frustrates fans to not have closure or to not have bright lines.

He definitely heard closure in court. That's not in my life. Me too. And so I don't ever anticipate it getting any better with the NFL and the Cowboys. As a matter of fact, since we last met here last year, there's been even more ambiguity thrown on the table. Hello, NFL. Good to be with you today. Clarence.

Clarence Hill, Forrest Hill Telegram. I've been here 35 years, but about 28. But there were times when you did know what you had coming into the after. And I know you said you got the pro bowls and the all pros but they didn't finish the job to go this year is to finish the job and go further than it did last year well all this ambiguity talk about what you did in the off season it's a statement that you could take a resolution that is not explicitly defined and can be interpreted in multiple ways.

Nobody was looking it up. I am. It's a general state of uncertainty. Never gets old. Is that a Big Mac laugh? That is Ted. That's Ted. I've forgotten your question.

Oh, yeah. Seriously. Hey, quit asking questions that I haven't got on my notes here. I feel that. It's like being on the stand. I mean, it's been ambiguity. Certainly, we know that. Okay. When you talk about the Pro Bowl, the goal is to take the next step, though.

You know, you have your same guy back here. Why should fans be excited that you can take the next step? It's not all ambiguity. Oh, my gosh, enough. Thank you. Open camp. What do you want to have to do with your players? Gosh, enough. I think you're hoping to camp with even more ambiguity with your players.

Well, I'm probably because of the way we ended the season last year. I'm more about winning the award for the best way to end the season than I am winning the award for showing up at camp with my house in order. I'm more worried about... You weren't going to win that award anyway. ...that I have a fast start. This was supposed to be yesterday. You're absolutely right.

I'm worried more about... I'm all in... Oh, my God. ...to having that game come out different the last one we played. That's how I'm all in. I look at our roster when I look at where we are, when I look at the quality of our coaching, I will say that I like as much or better than any time

how we're going to be hanging around the rim so that when we get to that game, we can come out of there with a different result. So I think we're very, very positioned, i.e. hanging around the rim, again, which you have to be up there and around there to have a better result at the end. Now, the big question you pointed out, and appropriately so, is do you think you've got a chance to come up with better results when you get there?

I don't want to sound, though, and be pride about getting there. That's a good deal. And I do. I want you to know, as much as you might criticize me for it, I take a lot of solace in the fact that we've had the 12 game seasons that wins that we've had over the last several years. The fact that we've got the personnel we've got here at camp. The fact that we've got

the coaches we've got at camp. I take a lot of solace that we're going to be there to get a chance to go to that playoffs and do better. I'll tell you what. Everything they're saying sounds like they're missing the playoffs.

They're just so already in the playoffs. If we get in, just be happy that we were able to do that with what we had. I'm just saying they're not going to get in just based on that they're already all talking

as if we are already in. We're underdog. Oh, okay. They're already kind of like, you know, when we get to that game. We already know we're in that game. We just need a better result this year. He knows what he's talking about. Counts of the ball here and there.

Was it Martin who wasn't here last year? Correct. Pretty big deal. Okay. All buttoned up, contract and all. Maybe Daniel Jones will be in that corner. Does that ever happen? Of course it does.

Look all over the league. It happens all over the league. Yeah, it's a fucking guard. So I don't flare when it's happening to us. It's a quarterback and your head coach. I'm aware of it. You must give me that, that I'm aware. I've seen the news. You've got to give give me that i'll give you credit for that as far as i'm concerned that's the point of that diatribe

i just had before this i'm i'm used to this i can live with this and uh i feel confident if you look at the fundamentals here we can get back to the shot we were. I hope that we'll be in better shape. So that's January. See, this is July. Shoo-in. They already know they're in January. They're out of shape over the fact that somebody is not here at all.

Calvin. I'll add to that, if you don't mind, Ted. at all. Calvin. I'll add to that, if you don't mind, Ted. I think at the end of the day, if we had these two guys done, it would be somebody else, I can assure you. They kind of wait in line and see when it's their turn. No, I think if we had your three best players done, nobody would be like, what's going on with Holy Cooker?

I'm calling the helmet here. You know, decided, hey, I've been under a long-term contract and I'm underpaid and I want to be paid. It's going on. San Francisco, you just look around the league. As Jerry said, it goes on everywhere. We have a very unique situation.

We have a quarterback unique situation. A quarterback at the top of his game last year. How are you guys going to survive the loss of Tyler Bionic? And then we've got two players. We're all wanting to know. Theoretically, if we didn't sign either one of them, I guess we couldn't franchise one

three years from now. Why didn't you even say that you have three years? That's a double franchise. Of course, obviously, we could say why didn't you even say that you have three years that's a double franchise of course obviously one of them they should be the highest paid nine quarterback in the league and totally respect that so very difficult situations that we're negotiating in the media now yeah right now i mean i'll put a ring on their finger and they understand the difficult situation we have with the high priced quarterback going into his high priced contract. He was the highest paid when we paid him three years ago.

And then we got two other guys that we're trying to work through. It just takes time. You've had a lot of time having great conversations with with the representatives in terms of cd and back and uh obviously uh micah's a year removed from where cd is today you know it'd be crazy if they paid a star player three years into his contract uh yeah show that he is the best that's something they just don't do he gonna hope he does it. But these things just take time, and we're having great conversations with them. It's certainly not easy. I asked him what he thought about the finale of the Bear.

He drafted well enough to have one of the best quarterbacks in the league, one of the best pass rushers. I wonder if their conversations are like our business meetings. It's not the best procedure. There's like 45 minutes to just bullshit. It's great that we draft like that. But it does take time. And then we all kind of like adjourn and like, well, next time we'll.

Well, we got a few things done. Yeah, but they're drinking. Yeah. For us, it's like the morning. The problem with us is we have females involved. Yeah, that's what I mean. There's a lot of talk. We can hire Charlotte.

From an economic standpoint. And certainly when you're trying to pay three guys like that, it certainly does. Oh, shut up. Every time they have a contract, this is the exact same template. Improve the roster down the line. Remember when it was Zeke? Well, but we got Dak and we got DePay. It makes it difficult to keep up.

Marcus Lawrence. Yeah. And we just got a draft. I mean, we think we drafted two great prospects. I thought Jake's cup disappears when he drinks. Yeah. And I think they'll step in and they'll do a great job. Our history says that we drafted well.

You don't want us to see where you are. And I think they'll both step up. I don't know. I've been talking to you for a long time. You hate to lose a Biotic, but, you know, that's the nature of this business. We're not here for fun. Let me both step up. I'm just talking about the money. You hate to lose a biotic, but that's the nature of this business. We're not here for money. Let me follow that up. Oh, that is the world's smallest family.

McCarthy doesn't get to say a goddamn thing. Okay. Nobody's feeling sorry for themselves around here. As a matter of fact, I want to tell you how it is. How long has this been going on? He hasn't said a word. We are. He laughed once, but we're in 50 minutes.

To get up in the morning and have these problems. I wouldn't take anything for it. Kind of a dope hat, though. I'm emboldened. It puts gas in my tank to basically have these problems. I feel like the Cowboys have everything, right? I was negotiating directly with the players in our last labor agreement. In our last labor agreement.

I was in with them, just me, and the players were negotiating. And we were down to the gnat's ass where there was not much left in the agreement. From the makers of Circumcising Mosquito? Oh, no. Uh-oh. Is somebody trying to watch too much Bluey? Okay. That's on my website too, Blake.

It's not just yours. Yeah. Oh, no. We're stuck. The Cowboys stream has paused. Down to a gnat's ass. Did they dump Jerry? They've never done it before.

Well. I've never done it before Well Ambiguity also says here means A medical condition where genitals Don't clearly fall into male or female categories What do we do then? Well, I mean, to me that Figures into definition one It's unclear Yeah, it's unclear There's uncertainty, you know To me, that figures into definition one. It's unclear.

Yeah, it's unclear. There's uncertainty. Yeah, but what do we do when we say you have to go to the bathroom of your gender of birth, but you're one of these things? One of these. Well, in my decision, what you do is you move the NBA All-Star game. Was it the NBA or the baseball? NBA was first.

It was in Charlotte. And then I believe MLB was after that. The Atlanta one? Yeah. And that's when Greg Abbott had a really weird double-party flip-off. That's right. I'm not going to show up because of that. Yeah, but we're letting 80,000 people in during COVID. I thought you would think this was cool.

How about their YouTube page, Blake? Pull that up. Yeah, that's what I'm checking. It looks like it's on. Looking for the most comprehensive wearable market? No, I'm not. I'm not at all. No. Comprehensive what? You may have to pay for preemie.

Yeah, that's... Future. Here we are. And you narrow it down to where all we're talking about is right now in the next playoff season. And that's it for everybody. We're all in. We're all in. It's all right there. That's how I ended up with that kid I was in court with the other day. We've got some things out here in the future, another two or three years on contracts, all that stuff.

Let's all get in here. Zero right now in this. Dak's got his year. Contract. Let's focus right here. We all got a lot on the line for that playoff game. A lot of it. So you've got to understand a weird way of looking at it A little bit with that time

Now having said that I want to say this to our fans Okay I know that I have had a lot of mistakes In these years Sure, I get it But the same guys making this decision That has the Cowboys

and really got there by the skin of my teeth. And it was a miracle that I was able to pull it off. What, the credit card thing? What is he talking about? The same imagination, the same risk-taking, the same taking risk but being pragmatic, being inconsistent, sometimes looking like you're a Mississippi Riverboat gambler and then sometimes looking like you're trying to guard the National Ball. Those inconsistencies are how we got here. That is what you're seeing going on right now.

And I don't know for sure if it's going to work, but I am giving it everything I've got, and I'm all in to have it everything I've got. As sensitive as our fans are, they got a full-time me. I'm all in. Jesus Christ. All right, Calvin.

So our wishing watching this over the years, that's how we got to here, are no real plans. We've never had a real plan. But that's the plan. Yeah, and that's got us to this point, so why are you saying it's been bad?

Alright, Calvin. So he's basically, I haven't made, he's saying, I haven't made sense all along, but I'm trying really hard. The fact that I don't make sense is the only thing that makes sense. There you go. Hey, Big Mike.

You don't have a consistent drafting strategy. Can we bring it back to football? Who would do that? We got 12 all pros. Without a consistent strategy. We'll be on a limited schedule. Just want to be smart.

Obviously, we're in a ramp-up phase here. God, bring it back to football. Looks a little slim, boys. You know, he looks great. I love his hand body. Oh, dude, this part? Steven and Jerry, will you talk to your season ticket holders?

Yeah, so shut up. Do they express frustration with the lack of success, or are they all in like you guys? We had our highest rate of renewal that we've ever had on season tickets. And the fastest, fastest it's ever happened in the league, in the NFL. Excuse me, Steve. Now there's no one more.

Look, we're but a small shop. Traded than we are. I mean, at the end of the day this is all about as jerry said that last game it's our uh postseason success and no one's more frustrated than we are and they wouldn't be great fans if they weren't frustrated with the success we've had in the in the postseason so just keep buying it's duly it's duly respected in terms of what their frustration is. He's too old for that hat. The good news is,

I think Todd, you don't want them not to care and they do care. And they spoke, you know, they want to, they want to come watch these games. They know we're competitive. They know we're,

we're right there, but we got to get the job done and we hadn't gotten the job done. to come watch these games. They know we're competitive. They know we're right there. But we've got to get the job done. And we hadn't gotten the job done. And we can go out and win a lot of games next year. And they're still going to be pointing to that first playoff game. They're already in the first playoff game, man. They're not making the playoffs this year. I'm changing all my predictions here.

It's our success in the postseason. Sean Watson is going to smack him in the mouth. We know that. Our fans know that. Everybody knows that. These players know it. Mike knows it. His staff knows it. That's elephant in the room. We've got to go take the next step. And until we do it,

there'll be frustration. I'll add to that, we want to beat Arizona last year. We want to beat Arizona. Well, they fucking – A guy who signed to the team a week before. To where we'd like to get to even be eligible to mess up against Green Bay. We want to beat Arizona's on the way.

Of course, we want all that, and we all understand that. We want to beat the worst team in the NFL. Our fans. Let's go this year. We wanted to win every game. We understand that. But when we go to league meetings, NFL meetings, We wanted to win every game. But when we go to league meetings, NFL meetings, they don't put the team name on the overall league information. So the team is anonymous.

Anonymous. But when they put up on that sheet last month, where clubs are in renewal, numbers of renewal, total percentage of renewal and total percentage of anything new. Because the fans love them. The Cowboys are so far ahead of the rest of them, it's unbelievable. When they put that up there. And that's my answer to you. That's what they care about, man. You know it.

How are our fans reacting to where we are today? Now, what I want to be clear with y'all, that puts gas in my tank. Or money in your pocket. That can sanitize me other than anything that could happen. If you think I don't want to show them and reward them, and if you think something called a dollar bill

is standing in my way to do it, you're very wrong. What we deal with with cap money is not a dollar bill like you and I sense it with our bank account. It is a tool that each that cap money is a tool that everybody has the equal amount. And what you know, we're going to use a credit card and spent some of it in the future. All of that is the art of the deal.

And you're saying I know you are and they're all aware of it. the future. All of that is the art of the deal. And you're seeing, I know you are, and you're all aware of it. I read what you write. You know that we've spent money in the future to get the supporting cast that we've got on this field out here. Yeah, he doesn't say I don't listen to the noise. And the games they played the last four or five years, we're still paying for some of that this year in the cap. That's the way it works.

Like Zeke? That's the way it works. Like Zeke? That's the way it works. If you missed the game and didn't get Green Bay win out of it, then you wish you had it back so that you could use it this year, but that's not the way it works either. That's the art of the deal. I will say this. If I'm anything, I want to say to our fans, I'm good with math. I'm very good.

And I can stretch a dollar because I can put a lot of energy, juice, and bullshit with it. Okay. Funny. He said bullshit. He said bullshit. I like to think as well as anybody in sports. I think the word shit will be not dumped from the radio in five years. I think you're probably right unless you're like, I took a shit.

Is this going to be his last season with the Cowboys? I don't think so. Just to be very specific. I do not think that this will be his last year with the Cowboys at all. He said that. Am I being psychotic relative to my mirror? No. No.

It's pretty clear, I think. I want to say it if it hadn't been clear. Brother, I've been psychotic relative to my beer so many times. To this team in a positive way. No, it's probably good. And the players do play better when he's out there. He does make his teammates play at a high level. The players probably play better when he's there.

So I'm right there in line. I mean, they did go like three and one without him. Yeah. So I'm right there in line. I mean, they did go like three in one without him. Believe it or not, in my life, I've had a lot of things I wanted. I couldn't get because I couldn't afford it. Now, have I learned to live with that in 80 something years?

You better have. And life does go on. And sometimes when you get a bump like that, you turn around and do better than you would have had you got what you wanted. That's not signing that. You never known it had you not had to go get there. There's been some of my life with the Dallas Cowboys that that's reflected, that had I gotten what I was sick about and ready to jump that I didn't get, had I gotten it, it wouldn't have turned out as positive as it's turned out.

So much of this thing we do specifically with putting rosters together, when you're dealing with availability injury, when you're dealing with availability, injury, when you're dealing with talent fluctuations, when you're dealing with the competitiveness. So much of it creates a level where you've just got to go and see what happens. Now, that's not unique. Millions of your readers and your fans that you communicate with, millions of them live that every day. There's nothing new about a human being having to live with ambiguity. Nothing new about that. It's been 20 minutes since I said that. dealing with every day. Again, it's a privilege to be here dealing with it now. This isn't the smallest violin.

But what the point I'm trying to make is there is nothing new about not having these questions answered that you reflect, and we've reflected in this offseason. And, yes, I've gone in with not my wish list fully completed, and I've been a part with the Cowboys and been a part of it in the other parts of my life, ended up being the best I ever did. Nick? Nick Harris, Dallas Cowboys.

You mentioned there was a lot on the line. That was a banger. There's 30 players on expiring contracts, big names with expiring contracts, coaching staff as well. It's clear that a certain success threshold will need to be met to feel comfortable about the core in the future. What does that success threshold look like for you guys as you discuss the future? If you look over the last 30-something years,

you will see that everything's not predicated on the exact one loss. One loss. What you're counting on, the people involved in the inside that are there every day and are there with the staff and are there with the players and the coaches, you're counting on, by the way, you do play a game that's with an oblong ball. What is he saying? When it hits the ground. And so you cannot make some bad mistakes when you totally base your decisions

on results of Green Bay Cowboys last year. You can make mistakes. Now you can't ignore it, and you've got to realize, just like our fans do, that it's something to think about. You've got your head kicked in. But you can't just be that bright-lined. I'm going to say this to try and answer your question. There's nothing bright-lined about the kinds of things that you have noted in this offseason that are not happening.

That's not bright lines. No. It's got a lot more ambiguity to it. I hope you're ready to have a question for Mike. Yeah, I'll go back to it. Start here, Patrick. Patrick Walker, DallasCowboys.com. And football question, but Stephen, feel free to weigh in from the perspective of Brad Shannon.

But, Captain Hunter, look, you guys have a— Why don't you just ask the question and not preface it in any sort of way? Over the next several weeks, how are you planning— not necessarily how you plan to, but the challenge of rotating those guys into a point where you have enough data to make a decision on, you know, shaping that down. Yes, definitely. I mean, when you look at the whole running back group, I think number one- Going back to McCarthy?

Sorry, guys, I'm really back to- Obviously, looking at all of our players, particularly once they get up around the 30 years- We're talking running backs, Dan. In the number of reps they have in the league. Did we ask about Zeke? We'll definitely be smart with him. No, we asked about Hunter Lepke.

In practice, so with that- Look out. On the other side of that is younger players get more opportunities. And specific to your question about Hunter, you know, if you look at the direction of the offense last year, you know, we- Who's asking that question? Primarily a one-back team. A question about the full-back. How have we not taken the question about Zeke?

We do want to expand- DallasCowboys.com. Two-back concepts and things like that. That's a good question too. You know, Hunter has shown the ability to- What kind of shape has shown the ability to be a contributor in a one-back offense. So just having that flexibility is important as far as how we want to challenge our opponents. But also I think it's important to – you always want to create opportunities, particularly with the running backs, to give them flexibility and diversity because that's what really, when you get down to it,

is the more that they can do not only in one back or two backs, but also special teams is always a huge factor when you get down to it. How's Deuce going to figure it out? At the end of these tough, tough roster decisions. Saad. Saad, you mentioned that you guys are in a unique situation with all these contracts. Just what is unique?

I mean, we've seen other deals get done around the league this offseason. What do you feel is unique about the situation for you guys? All right. I just think it's very unique that you have a top quarterback on your team as well as two players either side of the ball, offense and defensive player, that feel like they're, and rightfully so, the best non-quarterback football players in the league. So you add that up and certainly it, you know, stresses the cap, if you will.

But we think we can get them both done. We think we can get Dak done. We think we can get all these things done. No way. Go to dmagazine.com slash sports. Tough decisions in other places to draft and develop and play your draft picks. That's why, like you said, it wasn't easy. You know, a guy we drafted, a Biotich, a Tony Pollard we drafted.

A Biotich. You know, think the world of both of them. Have to let a Hall of Famer like Tyron Smith walk out the door. The sixth highest paid quarterback, the second highest paid wide receiver, the eighth highest paid wide receiver,

the fourth highest paid tight end, and two of the top players. And I think we're fortunate that we have this issue. Steven, I think as you were making that statement,

you could be 70% of all the money you got. 70% of your payroll. Wide receiver, what's his name? AJ Brown. Now you need a need a little money yeah but they did the policy too yeah does steven ever get to say something without jerry when you've used some of the very money that you're working with you've used it for you that's not singing the blues and it wasn't unanticipated what is a pleasure is i gotta get water you're dealing with that quality in that situation how to keep the top quarterback and how to keep on

either side of the ball as he just mentioned add it up and you'll see about anywhere from 70 to 80 percent of your whole payroll there now how to figure that and keep the kind of supporting cast that dac has had in his career all right how to keep that supporting cast so that that can maintain and improve on where he is and be spending a little bit on those three players that% of your money, that's a challenge. How do you keep a supporting cast like the one we're talking about out here right now, plus three players spend 75%? Yes. And plus have spent a little bit of that on your credit card for years past.

That's not singing the blues. I'm privileged to get to sit here and try to make it work out. But it's real. It's real. And you look around the league and everybody does it. If somebody on any one of those players happened to not have to be paying

a quarterback or happened not to have two players on each side of the ball that they're paying they've got more money to spend for that play are there other clubs that don't have what we're just outlining you bet there are and so they have got more of their cap that they might allocate for any one of those players and there's 31 other other clubs. That's what happens. With Justin Jefferson's deal getting done, what other leads are you waiting to see fall

for CD to get done? Well, let me see what today brings and I'll talk to you tomorrow. Can't you imagine Jerry walking up to Sodby and, like, specifically, specifically, we are so in love. He doesn't know the other contracts that are out there.

You know, we talked about this with the Giants GM. That is a major problem. I forget, bro, but just like every other GM, he knows everything that's happening. Like when his safety got signed somewhere else. I saw that episode. It puts him... He named off the top five highest paid

safeties. I did see that. When he's asked, what are we waiting for here? Justin Jefferson. I wouldn't think we want to wait for Justin Jefferson. No. How are we going to have to pay him

more? I have run that ball and kept it and not hand it off to the back, not pitch it back, not throw it. And I have run that thing all the way out to the sideline before I made the decision. Because I couldn't get whatever it took to,

it wasn't right for me, to make the decision. So I just ran out of bounds? What you're saying, what we deal with is we're buying time. We're option quarterbacking and we're going on out toward the sideline. He's talking about running the play. We're trying to make our mind up what to do. Does that sound like my homes? Do you know?

No, it sounds like my homes is for the play app and what he was going to do. And he had to get an idea. So having said that, I'm just trying to give you a description here. That's what we're doing. We're running the option. We're waiting for something to happen in the morning

uh i'm gonna first start with mike i'd like to start with you jerry and then mike if that's okay jane slater nfl network just get to your question that's a lot about you know circling around the rim and the negotiations and the option quarterback. I've circled that rim. I've seen this play before. Zach pulled out last year. He got paid. Ezekiel Elliott held out.

He got paid. So why not just slam dunk it so you can start camp with these guys? Because to your point, we've been talking about this since April. Good question. That is a good question. Well, I can go back hundreds of times and look where I should have pitched or handed it off to the back. We're still doing the – And I can do that not just with the instance you're talking about on players,

but I can do it in my life many times and say, man, I should have handed that ball off. I feel that brother. And then keep on towards that. My point is that, uh, that's still, that's a bad sign. Anytime you're like, my point is to send it off. And you're like, freeze, freeze bug.

The negatives in my world have outweighed. I mean, the positives has outweighed the negatives. And you have to look at it. I heard one time to use every decision, the Ben Franklin method. And Ben Franklin said, when you're worried and tired and can't sleep, Ben Franklin said, get up in the morning and list on one side all the positives, everything good. And then get up and take on the left side all the negatives,

everything bad. And if that positive side beats that negative side by one, you're doing good. He's explaining a pros and cons list. Jerry said that guys – Ben Franklin invented the pros and cons list. Can you share the same tolerance as it relates to your contract and not having your star wide receiver here to start camp in a year

where you don't have an extension? I really view this question the same, you know, my whole tenure as a head coach. I mean, you know, and particularly most of these questions here today. I mean, that's part of the business of the National Football League, and that's what it is. Yeah, it's super common to have a head coach and a quarterback both on a lame duck here.

And my focus and really the players and the coaching staff is not even close to what we've been talking about here the last 30 minutes. I mean, we're excited and energized by this opportunity. Dude, you guys are bullshitting. He looks good. It starts with this training. I said he looks good. I'm with you.

Just to be here in Oxnard again and excited about the next opportunity, and that's just the reality of competing in a national football league. I don't know. I guess what's the game of course? Contract conversations. I think he looked better last year at the beginning. And then he kind of – Where it lies with me.

I really don't have any – Yeah, I mean, I think it's like anything right here. I don't know if I've mentioned the word contract prior to talking about it right now. Sometimes he gets sued and then he gets fat. That's not the way we're wired, and we can't be wired that way. Because there's almost so much time and energy, and we're on an 11-hour workday. He wants to be anywhere else. But he's a good good coach that goes on in the meetings yesterday and today yeah but i can't wait to get out there and get the first time this year uh and that's how that's how you

get it done get another job and i get what's happened in the past and the frustrations of the past but we're we're past that we're energized what's in front of us and the reality of the work that we have to do to put ourselves in position to answer those questions. Can you picture his barn actually having like eight eggs? And that's our work. A couple of reel-to-reel tape machines. And that's the beauty that we have as an ineffective football team, but more importantly the specialty of being a Dallas Cowboy.

So this opportunity in front of us, we want to maximize it and get to work today. And that's where our minds are. I love that about barn. Like everybody in anybody's house, it's kind of like what George says. We accomplished in the off-season program. It's so much – Yeah. When Barnard just talked about an individual that may not be here

or a contract or situation, but the reality of it is when we presented our off-season program awards, we had a 9% increase in workouts last year. The strength levels were an all-time high in our five years here under our program. So our program has improved our off-season program. What is it? Strength levels? Overall strength level for the team is the highest it's been. You improve from within. Like as a composite or an index. And my personal experience, you improve from within. The biggest improvement of our football team will be from the fact that we're here throughout the spring and through training camp.

And trust me, the business part of it is critical. It's important. Obviously, Jerry and Steven have addressed that in depth. But our focus is on winning with this roster and this locker room we have. We have a hell of a locker room. We have a hell of a locker room. And the love and energy that's in place here, that's what it's all about. That's really the reflection of what we're talking about.

Love and energy? Tim. Tim Kalashow, Dallas Morning News. Hey, Tim. Jerry, as far as you being all in, Mike's job is on the line. That's been discussed. The other coach's job is on the line. The general manager's job is not on the line. Steven's job is not on the line. 31 other organizations

don't do it this way. The only thing that happens here is coaches get recycled and you've made eight coaching hires. Why does this make sense for the Cowboys when nobody else does it this way? I think the Cowboys have had two general managers, Tech Sram and me. In the history. Even I wouldn't have fucked that up. And I'll bet, I don't know, I really haven't studied this,

but I'll bet you they've had 30. They've had as many general managers maybe sometimes as they've had coaches. Yeah, but most of them have been to the conference championship. Since the reality of it is, which was from the day that we walked through the door, that I knew that I was going to have to be responsible for any and everything that went on. Nobody said that. So that if that is going to be the case, then I, uh, me, uh,

I'm trying to be was obviously the GM view somebody else's commenters this way. I'm only comfortable doing it that way. Well, Tim just got his column. I can't delegate that. That's what it's all about. And you can do this. What that implies is that this thing is a product of me sitting up there throwing darts.

I think so. I'd love to give it up on the RV. the case yeah i like to think that the reason that i've enjoyed some success in my life is that i've had people like mike and steve yeah that'd be great in my ear hard he wants something in his ear hard and he wants to run in his ear hard work together all right uncle i heard a father's prayer one time that says, please don't let me be a bully because I can be.

They will let me because they love me. And so that I lay up waking nights making sure that my ears are open and that I'm not too willfully strong.

So believe you me, I listen and I get a lot of input. And when this guy to my right talks to me, you notice in a draft room who I'm sitting by, I'm sitting by Mike. When he talks to me,

it's going in and it's not coming out. I'm a lot of things, but I'm sitting by Mike. When he talks to me, it's going in and it's not coming out. I'm a lot of things, but I'm not slow. So I do listen to the people around me. Otherwise, I wouldn't even be sitting here, Tim. I wouldn't even be sitting here. You can't get here and get to be a part of this, just me. And so I've had lots of input. Jimmy Johnson gave me a lot of input. Did anybody else have to make the final decision?

The decision. Do you punch the button or not? Not one time in history that I've been involved with this team. Now, if my butt has got my mind out someplace else and not on this, then you have to trust me that I know how to, since I'm not on top of the issue, trust it when Mike says we're going to do it this way. Steven says we're going to do it this way. Don't trust me.

That's the way it is and it's been that way since we got the Dallas Cowboys. A fight at a press conference or on the bank bust or in Vegas with a couple chicks in the bathroom. Come on. I got other people to take care of stuff. In the NFL.

And with Mike as our coach, we've had to grab in my mind, we've had very really good among 32 teams about what we've done. Does anybody think that good for me is folding it up and not having gotten to a Super Bowl? No. And I hope you all know me enough to know that if you could write a check and I had it and it had actually guaranteed me, whatever it is, you got you a Super Bowl.

Yeah, but it doesn't work that way. I hope y'all know I'd write that check. I'm embarrassed to tell you that I would. There's no such thing. And you got the greatest people, greatest coaches, greatest guys you've ever seen. It doesn't guarantee you a Super Bowl. I apologize for it. I want you guys guys know something.

If I could take out a loan and get us to 100,000 subs, I would. I do and have. Does that make you think I'm better at this job? This is not your normal GM situation. I mean to tell you, I will change on a dime

if Steven reaches over and says, let me tell you this, I'm going strong here. Or Mike, go strong. Will, go strong. God, I bet he's so glad he doesn't have to be up there. All right, that's going to wrap it up. Thank you. Thank you.

Let's play the song. That's a good point in the comments. He's the perfect combination of Biden and Trump. Because he kind of rambles insanity, but then he kind of sounds like he's dying. Yeah, and also, like, that's a good comparison. I wasn't looking at it during, but also, like, constantly reminding you that he's been really good at something that kind of he hasn't. that kind of he hasn't.

Like, if you go back to, like, the whole Trump, like, bit of, you know, the whole if he would have just taken his inheritance and invested it in the S&P or whatever, that he would have had the exact same or more money than he has now. Like, I kind of feel like that's Jerry's Jimmy. Like, he inherited this thing that was, first of all, it's the Cowboys brand, and then he inherited the Jimmy, you know, knowledge and roster and drafting and whatever. And then if literally anybody else in the world would have been handed that, they could have done no worse. Probably better, frankly, at what they've done, at least football success wise.

Maybe not like brand value wise. Yeah, football success-wise. Maybe not like brand value-wise. Yeah, football success-wise, yes. And I think he also has a problem confusing like what he's done for the NFL versus what he's done for his team. Boy, that was crazy telling right out of the gate, right? We'll have to play that on tomorrow's show, but he's like, you know,

for what I've done running the NFL. Yeah. That was nuts. I mean, you probably you have to give him credit for probably overpaying like Will McClay. To not to not go take another GM job. But is that overpaying? He's done what he's had to keep him here. Overpaying someone for being not the

GM. I'm sure he's paying him like a GM. Yeah, but okay. So I guess we're quibbling about semantics. I don't think he's overpaying him. I think he's paying him like a GM. But he's not letting him go. Like he's... Will McClay has had overtures to come run this team or come run that team.

The Jets most recently, yeah. Like he's made sure I'm going to keep him happy. Yeah. And maybe that's a little lucky too because he wants to keep his family here and all that. But he's making sure like, hey, whatever, you know, you're not going to be able to beat the offer out there. We're going to match any offer type thing.

Yeah. And he keeps that all out of the news because he is smart enough to know that I need all these other people to run this thing. Yeah. I think I need to be called the GM because he realizes that was a big mistake letting Jimmy go because see what happened to the team right after that. When I was actually being the GM. Yeah. And so i got

parcells in he straightened things out we got some good people in here and we made sure we just keep kind of keep them now yeah the only problem with that is that the person who's still managing most of their cap and their contracts is his son and he was not really proven all that adept at doing it i mean think about the DeMarcus Lawrence deal from whether it was a year ago or two years ago where DeMarcus Lawrence straight up went on a podcast and said, yeah, Stephen told me what they were offering and I said, call your dad.

Like, what a cuck situation. You're just like, why don't you call your dad, bro? And the Dak situation, he didn't pay him early and he ended up way overpaying Dak. Yeah. He did pay, who was our sunglasses linebacker? Jalen Smith. This is Steven choosing, okay, we're going to get him done early.

Yeah. And it didn't work out. And if you remember one thing about that press conference, I remember exactly where I was when I heard it, both Steven and Jalen, because it was during Zeke's holdout. Yeah. Like highlighted, hey, if you want to be here, you know, we want to be here.

We want you to be here. Like there was a PR message like attached to Jalen signing. And it was clearly aimed at everyone else of like, hey, if you hold out and I don't fault Zeke for what he did, I fault them for capitulating to it. Because Zeke still ended up getting exactly what he wanted. There was no less or more. No, but that was always the message now that we've signed. And maybe it was Tyron that offseason. I can't remember, but they signed a couple of guys.

Yeah. And they were like, well, that's the pie keeps shrinking. Well, no, it didn't. Zeke still got exactly what he was asking for in the beginning. And I don't know if we never really talked about this on the show, but there's a guy. I think his name. I know his name is Joey, but I think it's Joey X. I see K.E.S.

And he's like a brilliant Cowboys guy. And he broke down probably two months ago. The cap is not real, and I know everybody says that and everybody laughs at it, but the point is the Cowboys never want to be in a position where they might lose a little bit of money on their roster. So their whole deal is like it's the way that they treat oil and gas it's the way that they treat blockchain com or whatever there's a way that you can do this and build a team and like dude if you pull up the eagles cap sheet right now like their top five players by average annual value are less than five% of their cap, but all of their money is guaranteed.

And the Cowboys don't want to do that because they're worried that like, Hey, you know, maybe two, three years from now, this guy's not going to work out. We don't want to guarantee that much of it because that would cost them money. And that's why the Eaglesagles again are able to have you know two of the top 10 uh tackles two of the top 10 wide receivers they signed saquon and they have a top you know five paid quarterback but I don't know everything about that was awesome it was awesome but it's also like it's just an updated version of everything we hear every year it's just that this year is a little bit more you know absurd um but I'm excited we're going I'm excited for the first time somebody puts a microphone on Micah's face to be honest with you

about the money about everything because I don't think he has it in him to be like jaylen where he's just like uh i don't know i'll leave that to them how about that we never got we didn't get one z question nah you're right yeah it kind of just danced around it with like the running back room and the depth chart there But look, that's coming You forget, they do this every day Well, McCarthy will Jerry doesn't do it daily

Jerry doesn't do it daily But he'll do the car wash So that's like spaced out Like four times over maybe eight days. He'll do all four local networks. He'll probably do NFL Network. He'll probably do the fan.

At some point, even though he's not tennis courting it, you're stacking up to one out of every 1.5 days he's giving a long-form comment. Where would you rank on the priority list that they wanted to get done before camp? DAC, CD, or the paternity lawsuit? Like, clearly, he wanted this lawsuit done so i can give my quick answer at the beginning and

then say i will not address this again all of camp okay because if it was still hanging out there it would just be that would be yeah you'd always be talking about so again we have a show tomorrow we have an anniversary show that'll be posting whenever blake says it'll be posting the craziest thing to me about that is it's very clear he's her dad right yeah like does anybody have any doubt about that like are you buying somebody a range rover on the 16th so many people yeah yeah of course so the weird part it's an nda he's he's not. He's just said they broke the NDA. Yeah. It would just seem weird to me not to come forward and be like, hey, I have a zillion dollars. It would just be weird to me to have a kid that you just straight up didn't want anything to do with.

Other than money. I just can't fathom that. I'm not like a great dad, but it would be weird. Yeah, but just can't fathom that. I mean, I'm not like a great dad, but it would be a lot of kids and they all have their own problems too. Does he need another one? Yeah. If he only had two kids, maybe he'd think that way.

And how many others does he have like this? That you don't get a point. That's a good point. So I would put only one. I would put that one at the know. That's a good point. There's only one? I would put that one at the top. Yeah. Hey, Jason.

What? Jalen Hurts is the seventh highest paid quarterback by average annual value. So if I said top five and I meant not top five, are you reading the comments now? I thought you don't read the comments, dude.

I didn't even know they were there. I didn't even know they were there until you told me. Oh, man. But they're not going to get Dak or McCarthy done during camp. Like, how weird would that be? Not McCarthy. I wouldn't think,

well, you know, when McCarthy will be done when there's six and one, it'd be very Jason kid, right? Um, but like, when's the last time you heard of a head coach?

I mean, I'm sure it's happened, but a head coach or a quarterback, let's stick with head coach, I mean, I'm sure it's happened, but a head coach or a quarterback, let's stick with head coach, being signed or negotiated and signed during camp before their last year of their deal for a good team. That just seems really, really unprecedented to me, perhaps without precedent.

Maybe I'm thinking of Drew Brees because it wasn't during camp, though. It was before camp, wasn't it? Yeah, if we're talking quarterbacks, it's definitely happened. It's definitely happened, but it's not common. Yeah, I don't mind McCarthy being on the last year of his deal. I know. You're always Ken Hitchcock. Although McCarthy might. I mean, let's say they do well, and he just says,

I want to look out. I want to go elsewhere. Our resume is scintillating right now. He should. Yeah. Let's say he has 48 wins in four years. Let's say they won the Super Bowl, and he says, Oh, come on.

I want to look around. Why not? Somebody that might give him control. Back in the day, and he says, Oh, come on. I want to look around. Why not? Somebody that might give him control. Back in the day it was like... Dude, if they win the Super Bowl, Jerry will give him $20 million a year. The Browns call and say, you have total control over

your GM, your everything. Do you think he even wants to do that? I don't know. Seems like a lot of work at that age. Or you get to hire the GM, like Shanahan or Belichick. Okay, then let's talk Dak then. You mentioned Drew Brees, who was extremely established at the point, but that's like the one example both of us can think of, of a guy who is going into camp,

established winning quarterback, franchise quarterback, not first contract extending into rookie contract, extending into second contract, established guy who's 30. What are they doing? Are they going back to the hotel every night and Todd France is coming over and telling him what Steven proposed today? How are we supposed to do install? And when you talk about the pie and the players we could have had and this

and that, had they gotten Dak done, because right now he's counting like a straight 40 million against the cap. Dak? Yes. No, 55. 55. the cap. Dak?

Yes. No, 55, 55. So the, but it's all cash against the cap. Whereas had they gotten a deal done, they could have reduced that considerably and had 20 more to go here, 20 more to go there or whatever.

Yeah. Let me look this up real quick. So that's, that's the point of getting the quarterback on the longterm deal. And they could, they could have doneeeDee last year as well. I mean, CeeDee has all of his statistics have improved every single year. So if they would have got in before he really blew up in his fourth year, they could have got it cheaper. Jalen Hurts' cap hit this year is 13-5.

Damn. And he signed a five-year $255 million contract. So whether you want to subtract that from $40 or from $55, you're still talking about a ridiculous amount of savings for the same deal that they're probably going to have to give Dak and then you can sign Barkley you can sign whoever yeah you can you can trade for uh Stefan Diggs yeah and you can or you know uh in their case like give a good deal to Devante Smith and in the Cowboys case what it would have meant was they could have done this last year with Dak. Maybe they give him a $48 million deal. It's backloaded. They reduced the cap hit down to 13 to 15, just like they did with Jalen Hurts.

You hope to do the same thing with CD before you're... I mean, obviously the Devontae Adams stuff had already happened. The Tyreek Hill stuff had already happened the tyreek hill stuff had already happened but there were a number of receivers that signed this offseason you could have got him in before that and then this offseason you could assign micah and you could assign micah to a decent deal and your cap would have been fine you could have participated in free agency um which they didn't outside of what eric kendricks yeah who zimmer probably wanted yeah they got one player and then they still would have been in a fine situation instead they wait until the very end the way i put it in my article the other day dmagazine.com

slash sports was it would be like going to a car dealership and saying, all right, I know it's the morning. I'm going to wait here for all the cars to be sold, and then I want to pay the most for the car that I want. I just want to find out whatever.

They're like, why? Why would you want to just sit here and wait? They're like, well, I kind of want to see the most somebody's willing to find out whatever. Supply and demand is there. They're like, why? Why would you want to just sit here and wait? They're like, well, I kind of want to see the most somebody's willing to pay for this. It's kind of hoping it starts hailing at some point. And it's like, yeah, well, I bet it's going to be more than it is in the morning. Like once the inventory starts going, I bet it's going to get higher. It doesn't make any sense. So they get the worst of both worlds.

They get no cap relief, no cap relief at all in the previous years of these contracts, and then they have to outbid themselves going forward for every single one of them, except for Diggs, basically, which is kind of remarkable if you think about it. Anyways.

So is that our show for today? Yeah, I mean, we didn't even really plan on having one, so be grateful. This came out of nowhere. It did. Sorry to Jason that Jake yelled at you. Yeah, I feel bad. I'm sorry, Jason.

I'm sorry. It's Dan's fault because Dan's the one who told me to look at the comments. Yeah, it's all my fault. Always. Shout out to Blake's anniversary show. We're going to blow up a microwave tomorrow. That's right. We might live stream show. We're going to blow up a microwave tomorrow. That's right. We might live stream that.

We might. Might not. Also. Hit like and subscribe or something. Yeah. Mash. I don't think we promote ourselves enough.

We're like, we don't jig the algorithm or whatever. They say that that's why people tell you to do all that stuff. We're working on it. Yeah, we're not working on anything. All right, I'm leaving. Okay.

Blake, you want to stay here? You want to riff? Sure. I can debut the anniversary show, you want to stay here? You want to riff? Sure. I can debut the anniversary show if you want. Talk about the Lady Kegels? Yeah, if you want. I got to check back in and see how they're doing. Right now it's Argyle football time.

You know that. All right, well, let's go. It's coming up. back in and see how they're doing right now it's argal football time you know that all right well let's go july it's coming up okay i'm gonna end it prove it well that's it for us today we gotta go before this becomes a zoo i'll see you next time take care bye