August 15, 2026 • 33 mins
Colin’s top takes of the week.
First, Colin is joined by Danny Parkins, host of “First Things First” on FS1.
They start with Colin attending Bears practice and Caleb Williams looking incredibly fast after dropping 15 pounds and looking far more accurate with his throws and they look for him to make a big jump in his second year with Ben Johnson (3:30).
They also discuss how they each prepare for the NFL season as broadcasters (10:00).
Then, Colin is joined by Matt Mosley, Cowboys insider and host of the Doomsday Podcast.
They discuss Brian Schottenheimer outperforming expectations in the 2025 season, and what his secret sauce is as head coach (22:30). They laud Dak Prescott for his leadership skills and his ability to rise above the pressure of playing quarterback for the Cowboys (27:30).
Finally, they break down how the Cowboys will use their prized rookie safety Caleb Downs and Matt explains why Downs could become one of their best defensive players but shouldn’t be expected to be the savior for the defense (35:00).
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Episode Transcript
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until nine twenty seven, twenty twenty six. All right, if
(01:06):
you turn into this podcast and I looked like one
of the Beatles. It's because I've been wearing a baseball
hat all day at Bears practice. So I apologize for that.
But I still have that smooth, silky, rich professional broadcaster
of voice, which you know I always lean in. Not
as nice as Danny Parkins, who was I was talking
about with one of the pr people for the Bears
(01:26):
today about Danny Parkins and I do in the podcast
Chicago Boy. So I went to the practice. There was
a massive storm, so they moved it indoors. And the
first thing I was looking for is everybody said Caleb
Williams lost fifteen pounds. So I talked to him after practice.
He said thirteen. But there was a breakdown on one
play and he moved left. And I am not joking.
(01:47):
He looked like a wide receiver. He was always a
good runner, he is. He looked so fast and he
was out like the corners had angles and they couldn't
they couldn't, they couldn't catch up on the angle. And
I was like, and you know why I lost weight.
He wants to be faster, right, he wants to everybody's
(02:08):
faster in the sport. The second thing that jumped out
Danny is and it was noticeable, and I talked to
Ben Johnson after practice. He's much tighter like post practice
during practice. Accuracy it's different. He's always been a little
bit of a streaky accuracy guy, like he'll be great
in the fourth struggling in the second. But his speed
(02:29):
was noticeable. He's much tighter with his accuracy. I was
just kind of blown away. The offense dominated practice as
far as I can tell.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
So first, I mean, it's rare for offenses to dominate
defenses early in training camp, right Normally, like offense is
more timing, defense is more just like pure reaction and athleticism.
So normally defenses are ahead of offenses early. But the
Bears offense needs to dominate because their defense is not
very good and they've invested a ton on the offensive
side of the ball, with draft capital, with head coaching,
(03:00):
HighRes et cetera. So like it's good that the offense
is beating the Bears defense, Like the if the Bears
are gonna win, they're going to be doing it with
the top ten, maybe top five offense in the sport.
So like that that's that to me, was like a prerequisite,
Like they need to be beating the Bears defense in camp,
Slim's down Caleb, like faster Caleb is a scary thought
(03:24):
for the league.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Oh because it looked so he looked like a wide receiver.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
Great, bring it on and listen. I people have been
like like the producers on the show, and like, let's
do the like are the Bears a regression candidate?
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Topic?
Speaker 3 (03:42):
Like, it doesn't offend me to suggest that the Bears
could regress. You have to be good in order to
be a regression candidate, Like the Rams are a regression candidate,
The Patriots are a regression candidate. The Broncos are a
regression candidate. The offensive line will not be as healthy,
they will not lead the league in takeaways, they will
not have seven fourth quarter comebacks. I agreed, agreed, agreed,
(04:03):
point conceded, Point conceded, point conceited. But if you have
one of the most talented quarterbacks on Earth with one
of the best offensive coaches on Earth, and it's year
two of them together, that's when the jump happens. Like,
that's when the leap happens. So you know how you
can cover up for areas of obvious regression by Caleb
(04:27):
being awesome and the Bears offense being awesome, which is fully.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
What I expect to happen for the Bears this year.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
Well, we all know it's a quarterback coach league, and
it was Albert Breer was standing next to me during
the practice and we were talking about this. We're like,
there's not that many combinations where you have a coach
that everyone agrees that's an elite coach and a quarterback
everybody goes that's an elite quarterback talent. You have Vrabel,
(04:56):
Josh McDaniel who runs the offense, and Drake May Harbor,
Herbert McVeigh and an older Stafford. I think Dan Campbell
and golf qualify is very respected both sides. It's like, okay,
Ben Johnson and Caleb and then you start saying, well,
Kyle Shanahan, I don't think Brock Purdy is I think
(05:19):
Brock Purty is efficient. I don't think he's in the
Herbert class. Now I would have said Demko Ryan c J. Stroud,
but c J. Stroud regressed badly last year, So the
reality is now now there's an argument. Matt Stafford, Jordan Love,
they've had bad Septembers that probably in that class. Yeah,
(05:40):
Matt Leafleur, Jordan Love. But there's about eight of them,
nine of them in the league. In Chicago's one of them.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
Yeah, listen, I think that. Like, so I covered the
Chiefs when Andy Reid got to Kansas City, and I
want to read Mahomes right exactly, and one of the things,
but I was there before Mahomes got there. But one
of the things, like when I really dug into Andy
Reid that was so impressive was like, man, look at
all of these different guys who had their best.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
Season with Andy Reid.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
Sure, Donovan McNabb, Alex Smith, but also Jeff Garcia, Kevin Cobb,
Mike Vick. It was like, whatever level of quarterback talent
you had, when you got with that coach, you had
your best season or seasons.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
Then he got the homes.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
And it was five thousand yards, fifty touchdowns, MVP's Super Bowls,
like the great offensive minds. So yeah, brock Perty is
an elite processor. He's very accurate, but he doesn't have
the biggest arm. He's not the biggest, he's not the fastest,
he's not the strongest. But when you but like when
you have Kyle Shanahan, your floor is really high. But
(06:44):
like I have no doubt Kyle Shanahan traded three first
round picks to try to go get Trey Lance, like
he he wanted the elite, super talented player because if
you can blend, if you could blend the ninety nine
percent talent with the ninety nine percent.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
Coach, that's when you get MVPs and Super Bowls.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
And I think that's what Stafford and McVeigh have shown,
That's what Reid and Mahomes have shown, and I think
that's what Ben Johnson and Caleb are going to show.
Like I think that Ben Johnson is in that McVeigh Shanahan.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Level of coach. And by the way, like I'm a
little closer to that one.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
I have somewhat of a relationship with Ben Johnson, not much,
but like he's been on the show, We text a
little bit whatever. Like I think, if you're a Jaguars fan,
you're hoping that Liam Cohen is also in that group.
He helped Baker Mayfield, he got you, you know, Trevor
Lawrence to have one of his best season ever and
be a top seven MVP guy. Like I'm not saying
(07:44):
there's only three or four of them, but if you
have top flight offensive coaching mind who is a play caller,
and that gives you stability of system and all of it,
and then you inject them with top flight talent.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
I just think your floor is so damn high as
an offense in a.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
Football team that I don't think there's many outcomes where
it can be a disaster or the team could be bad.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
Yeah, it was interesting. They drafted this kid out of Stanford,
sam Rouch, who was viewed as a blocking tight end.
First of all, it's just he he looks like an
NFL eight year tight end. He is a big, strong
It's like, oh, he'll play.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
They want to move, they want today.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
They want to be the leaders in the trend right
of two and three tight end sets. And you know,
if you put small guys on the field, we will
run at you. If you put big guys on the field,
we will pass at you. Like they want to be
among the leaders in that evolution of football. How do
you prepare for a football season?
Speaker 1 (08:42):
So I like afternoon drinking in the summer, I do
not like it, and the winter in the fall. In
the summer it's almost a problem. I really enjoy an
afternoon cocktail and turning on a sporting event. So over
the last Now I got about three or four weeks.
Now I've got to ramp up. I've got to be in.
I've got to like, you know, the sauce. It just
(09:05):
can't be sauce day every Tuesday. Do you prepare differently?
Speaker 2 (09:09):
So? I mean I wasn't thinking about the drinking component
so much.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
No, like I I obviously footballs are bread and butter.
They want us to take some vacations ahead a football season,
some of us on this call more than others. I
think I'm filling in for you.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
A few whoa, Hey, that's standing.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
I'm filling in. You've earned it.
Speaker 3 (09:30):
I think I'm filling in for you on a couple
of days coming up, of which they still haven't told
me which ones not better?
Speaker 2 (09:37):
Which city am I going to be in?
Speaker 3 (09:38):
No, but like I what I try to do, even though,
like when I did local radio in Chicago, it felt
like we were sometimes, you know, three feet wide and
a mile deep. Like all fifty three guys on the Bears,
every position battle, absolutely, position co coach, the whole thing.
(10:01):
Right now, this job at FS one, it's more a
mile wide and three feet deep. I try very hard
to be a mile wide and like one hundred feet deep,
because I think that that's like what I bring to
the table, right. I didn't play in the NFL. I'm
more I'm the smart guy. I'm the guy who watches
the game and knows the numbers, and I know people
(10:22):
will be like, you're dumb, but whatever, Like that's like
my lane, right, And so I try right now to
be consuming the stuff that I'm not going.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
To actually need, like I'm not.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
I just got back from a week in San the
San Jose, San Francisco area with my sister and brother
in law and their kids and my kids, getting the
cousins together for a week of vacation.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
So six hour flight, I consumed.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
A lot of like NFL podcasts of different markets of
teams that we're going to talk about, like Eagles podcast,
Chargers podcast, Cowboy podcast, like things like like like with
like beat writers, things like that, whether they were going
on national shows, division preview shows, whatever the case may be.
To try to like have a deeper understanding of what
(11:12):
the things are for the team because then when we
do it, it's you know, Joe Burrow against Lamar Jackson.
But hopefully I can bring a little bit more context
into it. So I try to because I know I'm
not going to be able to do that once the
season starts and we're doing all the topics and all
of the games and all the teams. But so I
try to have a really deep knowledge base going into
(11:36):
the season, and then during the season, I just watch
every game and go from there. What about you, like,
what do you like? I mean, how do you prep
it out? Is that what you were asking? Or were
you literally saying, Danny, do you drink less in football season?
Speaker 2 (11:55):
Was that your question? No?
Speaker 1 (11:56):
I it No. It is funny because I I I
in the summer, like I golf. I am recreational. I
like when I take a two week break in July,
the first ten days I do not watch TV, like
I give my wife ten days of just because then
in the last four or five days I go back
to watching stuff and doing stuff. But no, I I'm like,
(12:19):
you know, I just what I just constantly do is
just watch football stuff. And like I'll watch you know,
I'll watch the games. I'll watch preseason games, even though
I know I watched every second of Arizona in Carolina,
every single second, and most of those players almost all
of them will have no impact. Not a single player
(12:41):
there was worth half a point in the NFL game.
But I like the sport, but I would say, I
go yeah, I would just say it's I did feel
like last year because I do think the gap between
good and I think what's happened to the NFL because
of the importance of the quarterback that if you don't
(13:04):
have one, it used to be you'd kind of watch
everybody until Thanksgiving. But I do feel like there are
about six teams that by October fifth, it could be
over sure, Like I think Arizona Jets it could be
over like three to four games. In Yeah, Miami. I
(13:24):
like Malik Willis, but he is probably their second best player,
and we don't know if he's going back close two.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
But like they have no talents anyway.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
I would say what's happened to the NFL is a
little like college football or the NBA, about thirty percent
of it. I know a lot about in the NFL.
I always felt it had to be about eighty percent.
But what I found over the last two to three
years is the bottom of the NFL is growing. Now
next year is a great college quarterback class. So that'll
(13:56):
be fascinating because even bad teams will have rookie quarterbacks.
But this year, some of the bad teams are just
bad teams, uh, and they're not terribly captivating. I don't
think the Jets or Arizona. I just don't think those
are really interesting teams. But I will say if Minnesota
finishes fourth, that's about as good a fourth place team.
(14:19):
I think the Raiders will finish fourth and it'll be
really interesting. That's one of the things the NFL has.
There are bad teams that are good watching. That's not
the case in baseball, hockey or the NBA.
Speaker 3 (14:32):
Like the the NBA has it a little bit and
like I want to see a great player, like like
I feel like if you went to a Mavericks game
last year and you saw Cooper Flag, you got you
got your money's worth, even though they were a bad team. Right,
So like I've I've but like, but that's more like
you're watching Wemby's Wemby's first two years exactly. Like so
(14:54):
I think it actually happens in the NBA. But it's different.
It's not at all like the team is interesting or
an expectation of winning. It's just like I want to
see how this individual gets through the game, how he interacts,
how he plays, how he does he hang his head,
does he whatever? No, Like listen, football is like we
don't think Arizona or the Jets or the Dolphins, but
(15:17):
like every year there is a surprise team or injuries
happen or luck happens. I mean, the Broncos won eleven
one score games last year. It's an NFL record. Now
it's tied with a couple of other teams. Like, I
think the Broncos are good. I think it's a really
talented roster, great coach, great defense, great offensive line.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
I'm not saying it's a complete.
Speaker 3 (15:37):
Fluke, but they want eleven one score games like that
could go the other way.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
If that, if they go five and.
Speaker 3 (15:44):
Six in one score games this year, all of a
sudden they are a nine win team and we're not
talking about them very very much. So there's a there
is a lot of variance in the NFL. You mentioned
the vikings, like the Lions finished in last place week,
the Lions ruined the Who's the Worst? The first team
segments that we all do in August, because every single
(16:04):
person would say that the Lions are going to be
the worst the first team, even if you pick the
Bears or the Packers, like, they're clearly the best candidate
to go to go worse to first.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
So, like the there's.
Speaker 3 (16:15):
A almost every fan base goes into an NFL season
with hope, maybe not hope of a super Bowl, but
hope of things could go our way. We could win
ten games and we could make the playoffs. I would say,
like twenty seven teams go into this.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
Yeah, Jets Arizona, No Jets Arizona, Tennessee, Tennessee probably know
everybody else, Like I think the Saints are going to
shock people and win ten to eleven games. Could be wrong,
but I think Jets Arizona, Tennessee, you kind of know
it's a nine. Would be great, great, but it's not
(16:55):
gonna I'm going to.
Speaker 3 (16:56):
Keep throwing Miami, and I think I know it's new
coach news. They have no talent. You're creating so much
dead money. I think Miami. If I had to pick
a team right now to get the number one pick,
I think I'd picked Miami. But like Tennessee is a
good example. Yeah, they don't have much hope except it's
year two of a number one pick, like cam Ward
(17:16):
could be great. I didn't see it. He didn't have
much around him. He's dealt with coaching turnover and instability
and alsot, you know what I mean. But like I,
cam Ward could be great, And so like you you're
a Titans fan going into this year, I still would
imagine there's a decent level of opted. We got Carnel Tate,
we got him at number one target. We spent money.
(17:37):
We brought in Franklin Myers, the defensive tackle from the Broncos,
who was awesome on the huge deal to put him
next to Jeffrey Simms. Like, we've got a defensive line,
we got a young quarterback, we got a young wide receiver, Like,
let's roll the ball out there and see. We got
a winnable division, Like, let's see what we got?
Speaker 2 (17:55):
You know?
Speaker 3 (17:55):
So, I think a lot almost every fan base can
at least talk themselves in into hope, which is just
an amazing thing that the NFL has created, which is
why it's the best product.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
I think, almost to a person, the Brian Schottenheimer higher
was puzzling. He was not being interviewed for top OC jobs.
Jerry gives him the job, and I think you know,
the Cowboys record wasn't great, but I think by and
large I can acknowledge. Listen, the offense was good, his
(18:36):
side of the ball was good. You can't blame him
for defense. Is there a secret sauce with shots Shotty?
Is there kind of a thing he does maybe that
I don't recognize or unless you're in the building. Jerry
saw it. Jerry Jones obviously saw it, but maybe outsiders
don't see it.
Speaker 4 (18:56):
Well, Jerry is enambered with like he would always I mean,
even back to parcels his Jerry would always.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
Say his people skills, his people skills.
Speaker 4 (19:08):
Well, I mean Bill would just grind on people and
so his people's skills they were there, but it also
involved like huge sarcasm. That's not Shottenheimer. Now, Schottenheimer is
a much better like I think if we got Dak
to be really honest, he would just say yeah. I mean,
(19:31):
like dealing with Mike McCarty on a daily basis and
dealing with Shoddy is like night and day. Not that
he dislikes McCarthy at all, but McCarty is more in
tune with the modern player, more in tune with like
building this incredible culture being one of the guys, maybe
(19:53):
even occasionally having a drink with some of the guys.
And again, none of those things matter if you start
losing an all of that. I think the thing that
validated the hiring of Shodi was the offense being great,
Pickens year one being off the charts, and now the
makings of the best. I mean, I don't know if
(20:15):
it's the best, but from a wide receiver trio standpoint,
and even with Flinoy pretty good, they're pretty it's pretty
unbelievable and and Pickens has sort of that. Okay, So
that's when you give a guy like Shoddy credit because
this Pickings thing could have gone either way. And I
(20:36):
think Shody got in his ear and just said, I'll
do anything for you. You know, I'll run, I'll I'll
try to negotiate the deal for you. But I need
you to show up. I need you to be here
at these mandatory things, and I need you to I need,
I mean, I really need. I can't have I mean shot.
He got undermined in a hurry by Micah and then
(20:59):
and then that thing got ugly and then Eva Flus
God love him.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
A week before the season.
Speaker 4 (21:07):
I'm sorry buddy, Yeah, this guy that you had like
planned your whole defense around. Oh, you're not going to
have him. Let's remember Quinnon wasn't there from day one.
Quinnin was a haymaker. Let's try to get them some
help like they they had to do. The interesting thing
about Jerry right now is that he seems more willing.
In the past, Jerry liked to wait and then have
(21:30):
to go get like Amari, you know, five or six
weeks in the season when they were losing, the season
was falling apart and they were either two and four
or three and four whatever. Jerry seems to be of
the mindset right now is we could be really good.
Let's go get somebody. Now, Let's go get somebody to
(21:52):
add in here now.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
Now. You know.
Speaker 4 (21:54):
The thing I've kind of been trying to keep an
eye on is like, how will Pickens take it? If
it's like, okay, they're gonna like give up more draft
capital or more players or whatever to go get a
pass rusher.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
And then Quinn Williams gets.
Speaker 4 (22:08):
Thirty five million dollars a year, and I mean Pickens
is getting what twenty eight million eight and so it
does have to occur to him it's like, Okay, they're
kind of going after all these people and taking care
of all these people, but not taking care of me.
(22:29):
But again, I got off the track a little bit,
but I brought that up to say Shoddy was responsible,
I think, and really helpful in getting Pickens to kind
of be calm through this whole thing and to understand that, hey,
a one year franchise tag is not the end of
(22:49):
the world. And by the way, they've done this with Dak,
like it's not like he's the first player they've ever
tried to do the franchise tag thing with.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
I think Dak is so you universally respected in the building.
I mean, the Cowboys is a high maintenance job to
play quarterback. I think I don't know, I'm not in
that building, but they're I mean, most of your great
Cowboy quarterbacks Staubach, Aikman, and Dak, they're one common thread
is they had absolutely great leadership skills. I mean Staubach
(23:20):
was more mobile, Aikman was more pocket Dak doesn't have
a huge arm. All of them are great leaders. So
I mean that's always just been kind of the cowboy
quarterbacks like just they're like I mean, Navy for you know, Staubach,
I mean Aikman NFL films, legendary calling out coaches and players.
I mean, you're at practice. I think Dak is one
(23:42):
of those guys in this league and there may not
be twenty five at any one time that literally every
player in the league respects him. Would that be accurate?
Speaker 4 (23:51):
Yeah, I think it is accurate, And it's it's you know,
I tried to make that point to you for years
when you were kind of like a little bit iffy
on Dak, And I mean you've said that even recently
that it took you a while to kind of come
around on him. But it was like the thing with
Dak or these all these intangibles and things that are
sort of hard to measure, those things did not always
(24:14):
match up with what was happening on the field. I
think the thing for some of us that's been weird
with Dak's career is that he overcame, like fourth round
pick steps in for Romo, Romo gets hurt, Romo never
gets his job back, may not get this other job back,
but he this was an amazing thing for us that
(24:39):
had a front row view to that to watch. And
what's really interesting too, in bringing up Romo, if you
go back to when Romo took over as a starter
in two thousand and six for two quarterback, how many
years is that twenty years? For twenty years, Jerry and
the Cowboys have lucked into quarterbacks because if they did not,
(25:04):
Romo was undrafted as Sean Payton and David Lee another
coach kind of wanted and in Romo, I was like,
I mean, that was amazing, and they wanted the people
they wanted instead of dak Are. It's kind of embarrassing.
Like there was a guy from Michigan steak at a
state I think his name.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
Was Connor Cook.
Speaker 4 (25:22):
There was that guy that went to the Broncos that
was like six or eight or something or maybe that's
the guy that.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
Was yeah, Ausweiner.
Speaker 4 (25:28):
It wasn't Brock, but it was post Brock, but it
was somebody that was just like, oh my Paxton, Paxton Lynches.
I feel like all these people that I'm mentioning are
like Michigan State people. But anyway, they they just for
twenty years they lucked into quarterbacks and.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
Danny White, I mean, you can go a long way.
Stabauch Clint Longley on a Thanksgiving Day against Washington, remember
that they had Danny White was I think Arizona State,
I think I'm not sure. No, they've always done quarterback well.
I've said this before. The Bengals and the Chargers have
always done quarterback well. Like there are these organizations that
(26:11):
just get I mean, Cincinnati's cheap. Their scouting departments always
felt like at second tier, you can go back to
Ken Anderson, Boomer Asiason, Andy Dalton won the Division, Joe Burrow,
like certain Cowboys have always gotten quarterback.
Speaker 4 (26:27):
Right by luck though, I mean, you know, from the
draft process because they backed into those quarterbacks.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
Now, once they got there, they made the best of it.
Speaker 4 (26:37):
And like based on where he came from and how
he was thought of, Romo, I mean, his career was
insanely good, and Dak is the same. But the thing is,
and you've made this point plenty of times, but when
you play that position for the Cowboys and it's shortstopped
for the Yankees and everything, at some point it wears off, like,
(26:58):
oh my gosh, this is an incredible story. He's exceeded expectations. No,
at some point you're the quarterback for the Cowboys. So
those expectations of eightman and Stallback are there, and I
find it fascinating that Dak did decide to come to
camp this year.
Speaker 2 (27:17):
With the Super Bowl thirty t shirt.
Speaker 4 (27:21):
Now again, these people have not sniffed an NFC title
in thirty years. They have not made it there. So
it's funny to me that they want to bring up
the Super Bowl. It's like, guys, just get to a
conference championship game, like, do something along those lines.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
Think about it. Even during all these pretty good.
Speaker 4 (27:40):
Teams the Cowboys have had, they've only been close to
an NFC title game twice, once in two thousand and
seven against the Giants and once in the did he
catch it?
Speaker 2 (27:50):
Did he not catch it?
Speaker 4 (27:52):
Des Bryant game against Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay when
Mike McCarthy was the head coach of.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
Green Bay twice thirty years.
Speaker 4 (28:01):
So anyway, I get a little these, you know, and
I know the writers get caught up in it. And
believe me, when I get to Oxnard and Ventura and
those beat those breezes start to hit me, I start
to do that kind of stuff, Oh could this be
the year? But when I get removed from it, I
do have all these years of perspective that tell me,
(28:25):
this is kind of ridiculous that they're even talking about
it now. Dak is very interesting to me because he
just turned thirty three and he's arrived at camp and
you saw it. Jory Epstein Albert Breer had a story today,
who's a good friend of ours, and Dak is just
(28:45):
it's a very interesting not that Dak's I'm not saying
Dak's never dropped an exploitive or something, but man, it's this.
It's this, John Wayne Bravado, I'm not gonna hide it anymore.
Speaker 2 (28:59):
We've got and we got what.
Speaker 4 (29:01):
We need here. Jerry's got a sense of urgency. I've
got a sense of urgency. And he all that said
in one of these stories I was reading this morning
from Dak that like Jerry, you know, Jerry gave me
he didn't say it exactly like this, but what he
was getting at he you know, we had this great
offense I put up like some of my best numbers ever,
and they rolled out one of the worst defenses ever.
(29:25):
And so now it seems to be a respectable looking
defense to the point where like today's reaction from a
joint practice with the Rams is like, oh my gosh,
oh my gosh, they they held up and Stafford and
Bennett and all the Rams who last year just sliced
(29:45):
and diced.
Speaker 2 (29:46):
Them did not do that.
Speaker 4 (29:48):
And somebody named like Justin Barron had three interceptions for
the Cowboys today a linebacker. So it's a different feeling
around these Cowboys teams. But I just I just want
to remind you that this is the time when everybody's
always excited about the Cowboys, and then generally the season
(30:10):
starts and it doesn't always go the way you think
it's going to go. I do think they have a
little bit better foundation right now than they usually do.
Speaker 1 (30:21):
How how is Caleb Downs? I mean, I think it's
universally believed that he was the steel of the draft.
He could have easily gone the year before in the
top fifteen picks. Just a tremendous player for Ohio State.
How's he looked in camp?
Speaker 2 (30:36):
She looked really good. He's looked versatile.
Speaker 4 (30:42):
I think for now, I think they're going to have
to decide, you know, I think they want to use
him in a lot of different areas, but you don't
want you want him to be I thought that was
interesting that Nick Saban said play him back off the
line of scrimmage, like he's a great safety. I think
the Cowboys love this idea of him being a slot
(31:05):
corner and being so unbelievably versatile, and I think he
is that guy. I mean against the faster, I mean
like the seed lambs of the world who line up
in a slot and actually some guys that have some
size because he is not very big. No, he's gonna
have some struggles, so you know, I think it'll be
(31:28):
about like putting him in the right situations. That said,
you know, I think I think he is capable of becoming,
you know, one of their best players. I would say,
to ask him to be that day one is a
little much. And I sometimes since watching some of these
training camp practices and I'll be out there soon.
Speaker 2 (31:51):
In the middle of all that, I think.
Speaker 4 (31:54):
A lot is being I mean, you know, you hear
it over and over or the Cowboys got this unbelievable
draft pick, maybe the safest pick in the draft. Like
being asked to be the savior of what was historically
horrible defense is a lot to ask of a safety.
Speaker 2 (32:17):
Think about that.
Speaker 4 (32:17):
We don't usually hear of a safety being drafted and
just like, oh, this guy's gonna be. I mean, when
was the last somebody that came in. I remember Jalen Ramsey.
Ramsey coming into the league and the Cowboys were deciding
between him and Zeke Elliott and they took Zeke back
in twenty sixteen. But it's not often you need a
(32:40):
cornerback or a safety to be your leader day one.
That's not a great situation. Now, fortunately they have Quentin
Williams and some others, but I think right now they're
expecting huge things from downs and that worries me to
a certain extent.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
Yes, I was talking to a GM in the last
week and he said safety is the hardest position to
scout as a general manager in the NFL. He goes,
sometimes you can watch two hours of film and they're,
you know, they're never they never make a play. He goes,
you know, they can face a physical team there with
a line of scrimmage. The next week they play a
(33:20):
you know, a rpo team, he said. He said, it's
really really hard to scout safety's in college. He said,
Kyle Hamilton is one he looked at. Kyle was great.
People forget ed Reid went late first round, like, so
it's no I think Caleb's a really special player. In
my take, Sowa has been on a me small but instinctive,
and I think safety is one of those center field
(33:41):
positions were instinct matters a lot
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until nine twenty seven, twenty twenty six. All right, if
(01:06):
you turn into this podcast and I looked like one
of the Beatles. It's because I've been wearing a baseball
hat all day at Bears practice. So I apologize for that.
But I still have that smooth, silky, rich professional broadcaster
of voice, which you know I always lean in. Not
as nice as Danny Parkins, who was I was talking
about with one of the pr people for the Bears
(01:26):
today about Danny Parkins and I do in the podcast
Chicago Boy. So I went to the practice. There was
a massive storm, so they moved it indoors. And the
first thing I was looking for is everybody said Caleb
Williams lost fifteen pounds. So I talked to him after practice.
He said thirteen. But there was a breakdown on one
play and he moved left. And I am not joking.
(01:47):
He looked like a wide receiver. He was always a
good runner, he is. He looked so fast and he
was out like the corners had angles and they couldn't
they couldn't, they couldn't catch up on the angle. And
I was like, and you know why I lost weight.
He wants to be faster, right, he wants to everybody's
(02:08):
faster in the sport. The second thing that jumped out
Danny is and it was noticeable, and I talked to
Ben Johnson after practice. He's much tighter like post practice
during practice. Accuracy it's different. He's always been a little
bit of a streaky accuracy guy, like he'll be great
in the fourth struggling in the second. But his speed
(02:29):
was noticeable. He's much tighter with his accuracy. I was
just kind of blown away. The offense dominated practice as
far as I can tell.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
So first, I mean, it's rare for offenses to dominate
defenses early in training camp, right Normally, like offense is
more timing, defense is more just like pure reaction and athleticism.
So normally defenses are ahead of offenses early. But the
Bears offense needs to dominate because their defense is not
very good and they've invested a ton on the offensive
side of the ball, with draft capital, with head coaching,
(03:00):
HighRes et cetera. So like it's good that the offense
is beating the Bears defense, Like the if the Bears
are gonna win, they're going to be doing it with
the top ten, maybe top five offense in the sport.
So like that that's that to me, was like a prerequisite,
Like they need to be beating the Bears defense in camp,
Slim's down Caleb, like faster Caleb is a scary thought
(03:24):
for the league.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Oh because it looked so he looked like a wide receiver.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
Great, bring it on and listen. I people have been
like like the producers on the show, and like, let's
do the like are the Bears a regression candidate?
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Topic?
Speaker 3 (03:42):
Like, it doesn't offend me to suggest that the Bears
could regress. You have to be good in order to
be a regression candidate, Like the Rams are a regression candidate,
The Patriots are a regression candidate. The Broncos are a
regression candidate. The offensive line will not be as healthy,
they will not lead the league in takeaways, they will
not have seven fourth quarter comebacks. I agreed, agreed, agreed,
(04:03):
point conceded, Point conceded, point conceited. But if you have
one of the most talented quarterbacks on Earth with one
of the best offensive coaches on Earth, and it's year
two of them together, that's when the jump happens. Like,
that's when the leap happens. So you know how you
can cover up for areas of obvious regression by Caleb
(04:27):
being awesome and the Bears offense being awesome, which is fully.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
What I expect to happen for the Bears this year.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
Well, we all know it's a quarterback coach league, and
it was Albert Breer was standing next to me during
the practice and we were talking about this. We're like,
there's not that many combinations where you have a coach
that everyone agrees that's an elite coach and a quarterback
everybody goes that's an elite quarterback talent. You have Vrabel,
(04:56):
Josh McDaniel who runs the offense, and Drake May Harbor,
Herbert McVeigh and an older Stafford. I think Dan Campbell
and golf qualify is very respected both sides. It's like, okay,
Ben Johnson and Caleb and then you start saying, well,
Kyle Shanahan, I don't think Brock Purdy is I think
(05:19):
Brock Purty is efficient. I don't think he's in the
Herbert class. Now I would have said Demko Ryan c J. Stroud,
but c J. Stroud regressed badly last year, So the
reality is now now there's an argument. Matt Stafford, Jordan Love,
they've had bad Septembers that probably in that class. Yeah,
(05:40):
Matt Leafleur, Jordan Love. But there's about eight of them,
nine of them in the league. In Chicago's one of them.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
Yeah, listen, I think that. Like, so I covered the
Chiefs when Andy Reid got to Kansas City, and I
want to read Mahomes right exactly, and one of the things,
but I was there before Mahomes got there. But one
of the things, like when I really dug into Andy
Reid that was so impressive was like, man, look at
all of these different guys who had their best.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
Season with Andy Reid.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
Sure, Donovan McNabb, Alex Smith, but also Jeff Garcia, Kevin Cobb,
Mike Vick. It was like, whatever level of quarterback talent
you had, when you got with that coach, you had
your best season or seasons.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
Then he got the homes.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
And it was five thousand yards, fifty touchdowns, MVP's Super Bowls,
like the great offensive minds. So yeah, brock Perty is
an elite processor. He's very accurate, but he doesn't have
the biggest arm. He's not the biggest, he's not the fastest,
he's not the strongest. But when you but like when
you have Kyle Shanahan, your floor is really high. But
(06:44):
like I have no doubt Kyle Shanahan traded three first
round picks to try to go get Trey Lance, like
he he wanted the elite, super talented player because if
you can blend, if you could blend the ninety nine
percent talent with the ninety nine percent.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
Coach, that's when you get MVPs and Super Bowls.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
And I think that's what Stafford and McVeigh have shown,
That's what Reid and Mahomes have shown, and I think
that's what Ben Johnson and Caleb are going to show.
Like I think that Ben Johnson is in that McVeigh Shanahan.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Level of coach. And by the way, like I'm a
little closer to that one.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
I have somewhat of a relationship with Ben Johnson, not much,
but like he's been on the show, We text a
little bit whatever. Like I think, if you're a Jaguars fan,
you're hoping that Liam Cohen is also in that group.
He helped Baker Mayfield, he got you, you know, Trevor
Lawrence to have one of his best season ever and
be a top seven MVP guy. Like I'm not saying
(07:44):
there's only three or four of them, but if you
have top flight offensive coaching mind who is a play caller,
and that gives you stability of system and all of it,
and then you inject them with top flight talent.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
I just think your floor is so damn high as
an offense in a.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
Football team that I don't think there's many outcomes where
it can be a disaster or the team could be bad.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
Yeah, it was interesting. They drafted this kid out of Stanford,
sam Rouch, who was viewed as a blocking tight end.
First of all, it's just he he looks like an
NFL eight year tight end. He is a big, strong
It's like, oh, he'll play.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
They want to move, they want today.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
They want to be the leaders in the trend right
of two and three tight end sets. And you know,
if you put small guys on the field, we will
run at you. If you put big guys on the field,
we will pass at you. Like they want to be
among the leaders in that evolution of football. How do
you prepare for a football season?
Speaker 1 (08:42):
So I like afternoon drinking in the summer, I do
not like it, and the winter in the fall. In
the summer it's almost a problem. I really enjoy an
afternoon cocktail and turning on a sporting event. So over
the last Now I got about three or four weeks.
Now I've got to ramp up. I've got to be in.
I've got to like, you know, the sauce. It just
(09:05):
can't be sauce day every Tuesday. Do you prepare differently?
Speaker 2 (09:09):
So? I mean I wasn't thinking about the drinking component
so much.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
No, like I I obviously footballs are bread and butter.
They want us to take some vacations ahead a football season,
some of us on this call more than others. I
think I'm filling in for you.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
A few whoa, Hey, that's standing.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
I'm filling in. You've earned it.
Speaker 3 (09:30):
I think I'm filling in for you on a couple
of days coming up, of which they still haven't told
me which ones not better?
Speaker 2 (09:37):
Which city am I going to be in?
Speaker 3 (09:38):
No, but like I what I try to do, even though,
like when I did local radio in Chicago, it felt
like we were sometimes, you know, three feet wide and
a mile deep. Like all fifty three guys on the Bears,
every position battle, absolutely, position co coach, the whole thing.
(10:01):
Right now, this job at FS one, it's more a
mile wide and three feet deep. I try very hard
to be a mile wide and like one hundred feet deep,
because I think that that's like what I bring to
the table, right. I didn't play in the NFL. I'm
more I'm the smart guy. I'm the guy who watches
the game and knows the numbers, and I know people
(10:22):
will be like, you're dumb, but whatever, Like that's like
my lane, right, And so I try right now to
be consuming the stuff that I'm not going.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
To actually need, like I'm not.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
I just got back from a week in San the
San Jose, San Francisco area with my sister and brother
in law and their kids and my kids, getting the
cousins together for a week of vacation.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
So six hour flight, I consumed.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
A lot of like NFL podcasts of different markets of
teams that we're going to talk about, like Eagles podcast,
Chargers podcast, Cowboy podcast, like things like like like with
like beat writers, things like that, whether they were going
on national shows, division preview shows, whatever the case may be.
To try to like have a deeper understanding of what
(11:12):
the things are for the team because then when we
do it, it's you know, Joe Burrow against Lamar Jackson.
But hopefully I can bring a little bit more context
into it. So I try to because I know I'm
not going to be able to do that once the
season starts and we're doing all the topics and all
of the games and all the teams. But so I
try to have a really deep knowledge base going into
(11:36):
the season, and then during the season, I just watch
every game and go from there. What about you, like,
what do you like? I mean, how do you prep
it out? Is that what you were asking? Or were
you literally saying, Danny, do you drink less in football season?
Speaker 2 (11:55):
Was that your question? No?
Speaker 1 (11:56):
I it No. It is funny because I I I
in the summer, like I golf. I am recreational. I
like when I take a two week break in July,
the first ten days I do not watch TV, like
I give my wife ten days of just because then
in the last four or five days I go back
to watching stuff and doing stuff. But no, I I'm like,
(12:19):
you know, I just what I just constantly do is
just watch football stuff. And like I'll watch you know,
I'll watch the games. I'll watch preseason games, even though
I know I watched every second of Arizona in Carolina,
every single second, and most of those players almost all
of them will have no impact. Not a single player
(12:41):
there was worth half a point in the NFL game.
But I like the sport, but I would say, I
go yeah, I would just say it's I did feel
like last year because I do think the gap between
good and I think what's happened to the NFL because
of the importance of the quarterback that if you don't
(13:04):
have one, it used to be you'd kind of watch
everybody until Thanksgiving. But I do feel like there are
about six teams that by October fifth, it could be
over sure, Like I think Arizona Jets it could be
over like three to four games. In Yeah, Miami. I
(13:24):
like Malik Willis, but he is probably their second best player,
and we don't know if he's going back close two.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
But like they have no talents anyway.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
I would say what's happened to the NFL is a
little like college football or the NBA, about thirty percent
of it. I know a lot about in the NFL.
I always felt it had to be about eighty percent.
But what I found over the last two to three
years is the bottom of the NFL is growing. Now
next year is a great college quarterback class. So that'll
(13:56):
be fascinating because even bad teams will have rookie quarterbacks.
But this year, some of the bad teams are just
bad teams, uh, and they're not terribly captivating. I don't
think the Jets or Arizona. I just don't think those
are really interesting teams. But I will say if Minnesota
finishes fourth, that's about as good a fourth place team.
(14:19):
I think the Raiders will finish fourth and it'll be
really interesting. That's one of the things the NFL has.
There are bad teams that are good watching. That's not
the case in baseball, hockey or the NBA.
Speaker 3 (14:32):
Like the the NBA has it a little bit and
like I want to see a great player, like like
I feel like if you went to a Mavericks game
last year and you saw Cooper Flag, you got you
got your money's worth, even though they were a bad team. Right,
So like I've I've but like, but that's more like
you're watching Wemby's Wemby's first two years exactly. Like so
(14:54):
I think it actually happens in the NBA. But it's different.
It's not at all like the team is interesting or
an expectation of winning. It's just like I want to
see how this individual gets through the game, how he interacts,
how he plays, how he does he hang his head,
does he whatever? No, Like listen, football is like we
don't think Arizona or the Jets or the Dolphins, but
(15:17):
like every year there is a surprise team or injuries
happen or luck happens. I mean, the Broncos won eleven
one score games last year. It's an NFL record. Now
it's tied with a couple of other teams. Like, I
think the Broncos are good. I think it's a really
talented roster, great coach, great defense, great offensive line.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
I'm not saying it's a complete.
Speaker 3 (15:37):
Fluke, but they want eleven one score games like that
could go the other way.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
If that, if they go five and.
Speaker 3 (15:44):
Six in one score games this year, all of a
sudden they are a nine win team and we're not
talking about them very very much. So there's a there
is a lot of variance in the NFL. You mentioned
the vikings, like the Lions finished in last place week,
the Lions ruined the Who's the Worst? The first team
segments that we all do in August, because every single
(16:04):
person would say that the Lions are going to be
the worst the first team, even if you pick the
Bears or the Packers, like, they're clearly the best candidate
to go to go worse to first.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
So, like the there's.
Speaker 3 (16:15):
A almost every fan base goes into an NFL season
with hope, maybe not hope of a super Bowl, but
hope of things could go our way. We could win
ten games and we could make the playoffs. I would say,
like twenty seven teams go into this.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
Yeah, Jets Arizona, No Jets Arizona, Tennessee, Tennessee probably know
everybody else, Like I think the Saints are going to
shock people and win ten to eleven games. Could be wrong,
but I think Jets Arizona, Tennessee, you kind of know
it's a nine. Would be great, great, but it's not
(16:55):
gonna I'm going to.
Speaker 3 (16:56):
Keep throwing Miami, and I think I know it's new
coach news. They have no talent. You're creating so much
dead money. I think Miami. If I had to pick
a team right now to get the number one pick,
I think I'd picked Miami. But like Tennessee is a
good example. Yeah, they don't have much hope except it's
year two of a number one pick, like cam Ward
(17:16):
could be great. I didn't see it. He didn't have
much around him. He's dealt with coaching turnover and instability
and alsot, you know what I mean. But like I,
cam Ward could be great, And so like you you're
a Titans fan going into this year, I still would
imagine there's a decent level of opted. We got Carnel Tate,
we got him at number one target. We spent money.
(17:37):
We brought in Franklin Myers, the defensive tackle from the Broncos,
who was awesome on the huge deal to put him
next to Jeffrey Simms. Like, we've got a defensive line,
we got a young quarterback, we got a young wide receiver, Like,
let's roll the ball out there and see. We got
a winnable division, Like, let's see what we got?
Speaker 2 (17:55):
You know?
Speaker 3 (17:55):
So, I think a lot almost every fan base can
at least talk themselves in into hope, which is just
an amazing thing that the NFL has created, which is
why it's the best product.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
I think, almost to a person, the Brian Schottenheimer higher
was puzzling. He was not being interviewed for top OC jobs.
Jerry gives him the job, and I think you know,
the Cowboys record wasn't great, but I think by and
large I can acknowledge. Listen, the offense was good, his
(18:36):
side of the ball was good. You can't blame him
for defense. Is there a secret sauce with shots Shotty?
Is there kind of a thing he does maybe that
I don't recognize or unless you're in the building. Jerry
saw it. Jerry Jones obviously saw it, but maybe outsiders
don't see it.
Speaker 4 (18:56):
Well, Jerry is enambered with like he would always I mean,
even back to parcels his Jerry would always.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
Say his people skills, his people skills.
Speaker 4 (19:08):
Well, I mean Bill would just grind on people and
so his people's skills they were there, but it also
involved like huge sarcasm. That's not Shottenheimer. Now, Schottenheimer is
a much better like I think if we got Dak
to be really honest, he would just say yeah. I mean,
(19:31):
like dealing with Mike McCarty on a daily basis and
dealing with Shoddy is like night and day. Not that
he dislikes McCarthy at all, but McCarty is more in
tune with the modern player, more in tune with like
building this incredible culture being one of the guys, maybe
(19:53):
even occasionally having a drink with some of the guys.
And again, none of those things matter if you start
losing an all of that. I think the thing that
validated the hiring of Shodi was the offense being great,
Pickens year one being off the charts, and now the
makings of the best. I mean, I don't know if
(20:15):
it's the best, but from a wide receiver trio standpoint,
and even with Flinoy pretty good, they're pretty it's pretty
unbelievable and and Pickens has sort of that. Okay, So
that's when you give a guy like Shoddy credit because
this Pickings thing could have gone either way. And I
(20:36):
think Shody got in his ear and just said, I'll
do anything for you. You know, I'll run, I'll I'll
try to negotiate the deal for you. But I need
you to show up. I need you to be here
at these mandatory things, and I need you to I need,
I mean, I really need. I can't have I mean shot.
He got undermined in a hurry by Micah and then
(20:59):
and then that thing got ugly and then Eva Flus
God love him.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
A week before the season.
Speaker 4 (21:07):
I'm sorry buddy, Yeah, this guy that you had like
planned your whole defense around. Oh, you're not going to
have him. Let's remember Quinnon wasn't there from day one.
Quinnin was a haymaker. Let's try to get them some
help like they they had to do. The interesting thing
about Jerry right now is that he seems more willing.
In the past, Jerry liked to wait and then have
(21:30):
to go get like Amari, you know, five or six
weeks in the season when they were losing, the season
was falling apart and they were either two and four
or three and four whatever. Jerry seems to be of
the mindset right now is we could be really good.
Let's go get somebody. Now, Let's go get somebody to
(21:52):
add in here now.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
Now. You know.
Speaker 4 (21:54):
The thing I've kind of been trying to keep an
eye on is like, how will Pickens take it? If
it's like, okay, they're gonna like give up more draft
capital or more players or whatever to go get a
pass rusher.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
And then Quinn Williams gets.
Speaker 4 (22:08):
Thirty five million dollars a year, and I mean Pickens
is getting what twenty eight million eight and so it
does have to occur to him it's like, Okay, they're
kind of going after all these people and taking care
of all these people, but not taking care of me.
(22:29):
But again, I got off the track a little bit,
but I brought that up to say Shoddy was responsible,
I think, and really helpful in getting Pickens to kind
of be calm through this whole thing and to understand that, hey,
a one year franchise tag is not the end of
(22:49):
the world. And by the way, they've done this with Dak,
like it's not like he's the first player they've ever
tried to do the franchise tag thing with.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
I think Dak is so you universally respected in the building.
I mean, the Cowboys is a high maintenance job to
play quarterback. I think I don't know, I'm not in
that building, but they're I mean, most of your great
Cowboy quarterbacks Staubach, Aikman, and Dak, they're one common thread
is they had absolutely great leadership skills. I mean Staubach
(23:20):
was more mobile, Aikman was more pocket Dak doesn't have
a huge arm. All of them are great leaders. So
I mean that's always just been kind of the cowboy
quarterbacks like just they're like I mean, Navy for you know, Staubach,
I mean Aikman NFL films, legendary calling out coaches and players.
I mean, you're at practice. I think Dak is one
(23:42):
of those guys in this league and there may not
be twenty five at any one time that literally every
player in the league respects him. Would that be accurate?
Speaker 4 (23:51):
Yeah, I think it is accurate, And it's it's you know,
I tried to make that point to you for years
when you were kind of like a little bit iffy
on Dak, And I mean you've said that even recently
that it took you a while to kind of come
around on him. But it was like the thing with
Dak or these all these intangibles and things that are
sort of hard to measure, those things did not always
(24:14):
match up with what was happening on the field. I
think the thing for some of us that's been weird
with Dak's career is that he overcame, like fourth round
pick steps in for Romo, Romo gets hurt, Romo never
gets his job back, may not get this other job back,
but he this was an amazing thing for us that
(24:39):
had a front row view to that to watch. And
what's really interesting too, in bringing up Romo, if you
go back to when Romo took over as a starter
in two thousand and six for two quarterback, how many
years is that twenty years? For twenty years, Jerry and
the Cowboys have lucked into quarterbacks because if they did not,
(25:04):
Romo was undrafted as Sean Payton and David Lee another
coach kind of wanted and in Romo, I was like,
I mean, that was amazing, and they wanted the people
they wanted instead of dak Are. It's kind of embarrassing.
Like there was a guy from Michigan steak at a
state I think his name.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
Was Connor Cook.
Speaker 4 (25:22):
There was that guy that went to the Broncos that
was like six or eight or something or maybe that's
the guy that.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
Was yeah, Ausweiner.
Speaker 4 (25:28):
It wasn't Brock, but it was post Brock, but it
was somebody that was just like, oh my Paxton, Paxton Lynches.
I feel like all these people that I'm mentioning are
like Michigan State people. But anyway, they they just for
twenty years they lucked into quarterbacks and.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
Danny White, I mean, you can go a long way.
Stabauch Clint Longley on a Thanksgiving Day against Washington, remember
that they had Danny White was I think Arizona State,
I think I'm not sure. No, they've always done quarterback well.
I've said this before. The Bengals and the Chargers have
always done quarterback well. Like there are these organizations that
(26:11):
just get I mean, Cincinnati's cheap. Their scouting departments always
felt like at second tier, you can go back to
Ken Anderson, Boomer Asiason, Andy Dalton won the Division, Joe Burrow,
like certain Cowboys have always gotten quarterback.
Speaker 4 (26:27):
Right by luck though, I mean, you know, from the
draft process because they backed into those quarterbacks.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
Now, once they got there, they made the best of it.
Speaker 4 (26:37):
And like based on where he came from and how
he was thought of, Romo, I mean, his career was
insanely good, and Dak is the same. But the thing is,
and you've made this point plenty of times, but when
you play that position for the Cowboys and it's shortstopped
for the Yankees and everything, at some point it wears off, like,
(26:58):
oh my gosh, this is an incredible story. He's exceeded expectations. No,
at some point you're the quarterback for the Cowboys. So
those expectations of eightman and Stallback are there, and I
find it fascinating that Dak did decide to come to
camp this year.
Speaker 2 (27:17):
With the Super Bowl thirty t shirt.
Speaker 4 (27:21):
Now again, these people have not sniffed an NFC title
in thirty years. They have not made it there. So
it's funny to me that they want to bring up
the Super Bowl. It's like, guys, just get to a
conference championship game, like, do something along those lines.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
Think about it. Even during all these pretty good.
Speaker 4 (27:40):
Teams the Cowboys have had, they've only been close to
an NFC title game twice, once in two thousand and
seven against the Giants and once in the did he
catch it?
Speaker 2 (27:50):
Did he not catch it?
Speaker 4 (27:52):
Des Bryant game against Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay when
Mike McCarthy was the head coach of.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
Green Bay twice thirty years.
Speaker 4 (28:01):
So anyway, I get a little these, you know, and
I know the writers get caught up in it. And
believe me, when I get to Oxnard and Ventura and
those beat those breezes start to hit me, I start
to do that kind of stuff, Oh could this be
the year? But when I get removed from it, I
do have all these years of perspective that tell me,
(28:25):
this is kind of ridiculous that they're even talking about
it now. Dak is very interesting to me because he
just turned thirty three and he's arrived at camp and
you saw it. Jory Epstein Albert Breer had a story today,
who's a good friend of ours, and Dak is just
(28:45):
it's a very interesting not that Dak's I'm not saying
Dak's never dropped an exploitive or something, but man, it's this.
It's this, John Wayne Bravado, I'm not gonna hide it anymore.
Speaker 2 (28:59):
We've got and we got what.
Speaker 4 (29:01):
We need here. Jerry's got a sense of urgency. I've
got a sense of urgency. And he all that said
in one of these stories I was reading this morning
from Dak that like Jerry, you know, Jerry gave me
he didn't say it exactly like this, but what he
was getting at he you know, we had this great
offense I put up like some of my best numbers ever,
and they rolled out one of the worst defenses ever.
(29:25):
And so now it seems to be a respectable looking
defense to the point where like today's reaction from a
joint practice with the Rams is like, oh my gosh,
oh my gosh, they they held up and Stafford and
Bennett and all the Rams who last year just sliced
(29:45):
and diced.
Speaker 2 (29:46):
Them did not do that.
Speaker 4 (29:48):
And somebody named like Justin Barron had three interceptions for
the Cowboys today a linebacker. So it's a different feeling
around these Cowboys teams. But I just I just want
to remind you that this is the time when everybody's
always excited about the Cowboys, and then generally the season
(30:10):
starts and it doesn't always go the way you think
it's going to go. I do think they have a
little bit better foundation right now than they usually do.
Speaker 1 (30:21):
How how is Caleb Downs? I mean, I think it's
universally believed that he was the steel of the draft.
He could have easily gone the year before in the
top fifteen picks. Just a tremendous player for Ohio State.
How's he looked in camp?
Speaker 2 (30:36):
She looked really good. He's looked versatile.
Speaker 4 (30:42):
I think for now, I think they're going to have
to decide, you know, I think they want to use
him in a lot of different areas, but you don't
want you want him to be I thought that was
interesting that Nick Saban said play him back off the
line of scrimmage, like he's a great safety. I think
the Cowboys love this idea of him being a slot
(31:05):
corner and being so unbelievably versatile, and I think he
is that guy. I mean against the faster, I mean
like the seed lambs of the world who line up
in a slot and actually some guys that have some
size because he is not very big. No, he's gonna
have some struggles, so you know, I think it'll be
(31:28):
about like putting him in the right situations. That said,
you know, I think I think he is capable of becoming,
you know, one of their best players. I would say,
to ask him to be that day one is a
little much. And I sometimes since watching some of these
training camp practices and I'll be out there soon.
Speaker 2 (31:51):
In the middle of all that, I think.
Speaker 4 (31:54):
A lot is being I mean, you know, you hear
it over and over or the Cowboys got this unbelievable
draft pick, maybe the safest pick in the draft. Like
being asked to be the savior of what was historically
horrible defense is a lot to ask of a safety.
Speaker 2 (32:17):
Think about that.
Speaker 4 (32:17):
We don't usually hear of a safety being drafted and
just like, oh, this guy's gonna be. I mean, when
was the last somebody that came in. I remember Jalen Ramsey.
Ramsey coming into the league and the Cowboys were deciding
between him and Zeke Elliott and they took Zeke back
in twenty sixteen. But it's not often you need a
(32:40):
cornerback or a safety to be your leader day one.
That's not a great situation. Now, fortunately they have Quentin
Williams and some others, but I think right now they're
expecting huge things from downs and that worries me to
a certain extent.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
Yes, I was talking to a GM in the last
week and he said safety is the hardest position to
scout as a general manager in the NFL. He goes,
sometimes you can watch two hours of film and they're,
you know, they're never they never make a play. He goes,
you know, they can face a physical team there with
a line of scrimmage. The next week they play a
(33:20):
you know, a rpo team, he said. He said, it's
really really hard to scout safety's in college. He said,
Kyle Hamilton is one he looked at. Kyle was great.
People forget ed Reid went late first round, like, so
it's no I think Caleb's a really special player. In
my take, Sowa has been on a me small but instinctive,
and I think safety is one of those center field
(33:41):
positions were instinct matters a lot
Host
Colin Cowherd
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