Wednesday: Dak’s Wish List

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
We are switching things around here. We have him Sheppey
now as one of our audio disseminators. I feel me
to be with us here in a little bit. But
I got to get to this subject first because Dak
Prescott has come out and said, I want to have
more say in what we do with a roster personnel
and what our roster looks like coming next year. I'm

(00:25):
the leader of this team and it should be my
opportunity to have that voice when Jerry and the guy
who's in the front office, Steven, decide who we're going
to draft. As he should.

Speaker 2 (00:36):
He absolutely should, because Dak has been there for a
decade this point, He's already seen the personnel they brought in.
Why wouldn't you take a first hand experience with I
don't have.

Speaker 1 (00:46):
A problem with him saying, hey, give me a running back,
get me a wide receiver, get me a tight end,
get me an offensive lineman. What I don't think Dak
Prescott has done is evaluate talent. And just because you
can play this doesn't mean that you can evaluate somebody else.
I think we all have a bias when it comes

(01:06):
like I'll give you an example. I think Robert Henry
is an NFL running back at UTSA. I think he's
better than Rico O Daddle write this minute. I think
he's better than half the running backs in the NFL.
I think he's better. I'm getting to the point here.
I think he's better than half the running backs in
the NFL. But that's just my observation from watching him

(01:29):
play an American conference schedule. I am not an NFL scout.
I'm a fan of his and I'm a fan of
UTSA as I am their broadcaster, and I want him
to be that. But I'm sure there's an NFL scout
out there. Though he tell me he doesn't do this,
he doesn't do this, he doesn't do this, and he
does do this. This is what his strengths are, this
is what his waitnesses are. He's going to be a

(01:49):
seventh round draft pick, or he's going to be a
roster invite. But I think if he's given an opportunity now,
the difference between him and Sincere McCormick, who was here
a couple of years ago, is that Roberts faster. Roberts
about two and a half seconds faster. In the forty
since here was around a four five four to six guy.
Robert's a four to three, four to four guy, And
that two tenths of the second matters when you get

(02:10):
to the way that scouts want to measure who you're
going to uh how you're going to fit into to
their offensive schemes. And that's the thing about Dak Prescott.
He may love the running back at Mississippi State because
he's followed Mississippi State and he's watched them play every game,
but there's a scout out there that's likely to tell him, Hey,
these are the things that he does not do well.

(02:32):
This is why we're not going to draft him with
the first pick. And I think if you are an
NFL scout, or if you're a general manager, or if
you are going to all these schools and doing these
pro days and watching these teams practice, you can talk
to coaches and you can get an idea of how
you're going to evaluate players. And I don't know that

(02:54):
Dak can evaluate specific players. Yes, I think he should
have a saying, Hey, I think we should get a
better we should get better running backs, or hey make
sure you sign Pickens, or hey that right guard in
that right tackle spot. We got to get better at
let's see if we can draft somebody there. I'm one
hundred percent on board with him doing that, But if
he's going to be in the war room and go
this is the guy we need to draft, when he

(03:15):
has zero opportunity to go out there and actually evaluate
them as a scout would. And that's my biggest issue
with Jerry. Sometimes I don't know that Jerry is an
evaluator of talent. I don't think Steven's an evaluators are
of talent. And I think they are exceptionally good business people,
way more than ever they're ever going to get credit for.

(03:35):
They take risks on things, they gamble a lot. All
of these things are good when it comes to be
running a business. They have run a successful Dallas cowboy
business and turned a franchise that was worth two hundred
million into one that's worth twelve billion. That is a
success story. But I don't know that they know how
to evaluate talent. And that's why they've got to listen

(03:57):
more to those in their employment that do well.

Speaker 2 (04:00):
See that's that right there is the reason why I
not entirely but kind of disagreed, because just because you
had the job of an NFL scout doesn't necessarily mean
you know how to evaluate talent from the perspective of
like first through seventhron.

Speaker 1 (04:14):
Picks, and you should be fired and somebody should be hired.

Speaker 2 (04:16):
But they don't do that. But listen because the Cowboys
the last couple of drafts have missed on a lot
of picks. That twenty twenty three draft, Mazzie Smith, Louke Schoonmaker.

Speaker 1 (04:24):
How many of those picks where Jerry just going, I
like the guy.

Speaker 3 (04:27):
It's not about that, and not the personnel listened to
the scouts first.

Speaker 1 (04:31):
I don't think they do.

Speaker 3 (04:32):
They absolutely do.

Speaker 1 (04:33):
I don't think listened to the almost drafted Johnny Manzelan's
instead of evaluate talent. He's not Italian about it.

Speaker 2 (04:40):
He put the picks in, but he listens to the
coaches and the scouts.

Speaker 3 (04:43):
I don't think he listens to them enough. I think
he does, and I think that's the problem.

Speaker 1 (04:46):
And that's the problem because if Steven hadn't been in
the room, he had written on the card we're gonna
draft Johnny manzelt ten years ago, right, Because if Steven
pour it up and that I was on marketing.

Speaker 2 (04:56):
Stephen Jones, that's problem. Stephen Jones listened to the scout
that said that guy is.

Speaker 1 (05:00):
That Dak Prescott's going to walk into that room and go,
I want to draft Joe Smith from Missippi State because
I watched Missippi State play and he scored six touchdowns.
I don't think Dak Prescott has evaluated talent enough to
be able to tell me a specific player it's going
to help the Cowboys. And if Jerry listens to the
scouts and the scouts say that guy's good, or the
scouts say, hey, you should draft Robert Henry in the

(05:22):
fourth round, then that's what they should do. But Jerry
Jones should not be picking players any more than I
should be just because I like somebody. I mean, I
never thought that Ramandre Stevenson when he was at OU
was ever going to be the running back that he
even has been in the NFL with the Patriots, and
he's been a lot better than I ever thought he
would be. I am not an evaluator of talent. It's

(05:44):
the same thing I always talk about when fans criticized
coaches for play calling. I mean, the UTSA Twitter board
was on fire this year about how terrible of a
play caller Justin Burke was every time they lost. He
was pretty good play caller when they beat Tulane and
when they beat East Carolina, but nobody wanted to give
him credit for it. It's always he was terrible when

(06:06):
they lost. He called the same game. He wasn't trying
to call bad plays. The other team out executed you
offensively and defensively when it came to those matchups. And
it's the same thing with selecting players. When Jerry has
this idea that I'm going to go buy a drafted
player that I can sell his merchandise over, He's gonna
help my team win. That's always been a problem. Andy.

Speaker 2 (06:29):
He doesn't make those decisions like that anymore. You're you're
the mindset you have is pretty much.

Speaker 3 (06:33):
He drafted Zee Smith. That was based on the scouts.

Speaker 2 (06:36):
The scouts said draft Montie Smith wasn't gonna sell Jerseys
Monzee Smith was a way cerebral pick. They said, hey,
we need we need someone who can sup the run.
That was the guy they went with. A splash pick
in that draft honestly would have been Duncan Kaid at
the time, the tight end that went to Buffalo.

Speaker 1 (06:50):
That was a splash pick. He didn't go with the
splash pick. They don't make splash picks anymore.

Speaker 2 (06:53):
If a player like that falls in their laps, like
Seedee Lamb did, that's different.

Speaker 3 (06:58):
But he hasn't made those splash picks in years.

Speaker 1 (07:00):
And we're gonna see where the Cowboys end up in
the pick, and we'll get these mock drafts coming out
probably as early as January as to who the players
will be, and we'll talk about it for three months
up until the draft. But the most important thing for
the Cowboys if if Dak is correct and I need
a running back and the scout goes that running back
is the one we should get, and that's there, then

(07:21):
that's the input I want to hear from Dak. Sure,
but I don't want Dak to go in there and go, well,
I watched seven Mississippi State games this year, and this
is the guy I think we should take because he
is not an evaluator of talent.

Speaker 2 (07:30):
I think what Dak really wants, just because I saw
what we were talking about. I think he wants more
input in terms of like the play style on which
they run because too often, and I think you saw this,
their favorite running play was an outside zone whe they
had a pulling guard or something.

Speaker 1 (07:43):
Like that, and team's picked up on it.

Speaker 2 (07:44):
Their favorite pass play was when George Picks running inside
slant and see them run over the top and defense
has figured that out. That was the most common play
that everyone got to pick up on that. I think
he wants more say in how the scheme is run,
necessarily than personnel.

Speaker 1 (07:58):
Here's the other thing I want Dak to do. I
want him to walk into Steven and Jerry and go,
you know you're signing George Pickens. Please don't wait till
August twenty fifth to do it. Please do just just
get hit done before the draft. Get this drama out
of this idea that we have to be talked about
on all the talk shows the year round is ridiculous.
I agree, And that's where Dak needs to step in

(08:19):
his leader of this team and go, you know you're
gonna pay him X. Just tell him you're paying m X.
There is no negotiation. This is the deal. Let's get
it done. You're not getting Ceedee Lamb money. You're not
getting Chaser or he might might he might get Chase
money or or I think real he's gonna get thirty
million dollars at thirty three million.

Speaker 2 (08:35):
I think the market you're looking at right now is
like Tara McLaurin a j Brown that twenty range, maybe
thirty because his agent, by.

Speaker 1 (08:42):
The way, but he's gonna mess around with this until
August twenty fifth, right before the first week of the season.
If that's the way Jerry does it, so we could
talk about him all year long. I think that's where
the leadership of Dak Prescott's got to come in and say,
we don't need this drama. Let's get rid of the drama.
Will play better come September.

Speaker 2 (08:59):
Especially because I was like, I think right now and
I think I've told you this plan before that if
they were to agree to a contract early, whether it's
three or four years, because nowadays people want the shorter contracts.
I think that that franchise tag which people thrown out there,
that needs to go to Javonte Williams. Do not give
the Please, for the love of God, don't get the
franchise tag to George Pickens. You know the number is
going to be next year twenty nine million, hard on

(09:21):
the cat. Remember that franchise tat we talked about this.
You can't finagle that like you can do a contract extension.

Speaker 1 (09:25):
It's a hard hit sign get it over and then
the franchise attract some reds. But even with Sanders and Williams,
they need better running back.

Speaker 2 (09:34):
And I think will Sanders is gone. Remember that they
releasing me when on IR. I think right now, if
I had to guess just based on like how it looks,
I think the Cowboy's biggest needs would probably be defensive end,
probably be cornerback.

Speaker 1 (09:46):
We'll see what they do running back and off to
tackle and defense. The defense had good moments when it
was healthy. It did not have good moments when it.

Speaker 2 (09:54):
Was best moment was those ten days they played the Raiders,
the Eagles and the Chiefs.

Speaker 1 (09:57):
Sure, and that was about it. Well, I want I
want the offense to score thirty six points a game.

Speaker 2 (10:02):
Which is which is why I think I think Terror
still might be on its way out.

Speaker 1 (10:06):
Go get Yeah, well, Ibra flu Is probably is two.
Oh thank god, but they got to get. I think
the defense has pieces that can work. Sure, I think
the offense needs offensive line and running back help and
to sign Pickings.

Speaker 2 (10:17):
So I would use the money that they haven't for
agency but still have a lot of to keep your
offensive guys, draft defense.

Speaker 1 (10:23):
Please draft draft defense, and sign Pickens and get me
a running back in the third round. And if it's
Robert Henry, great, and if it's somebody that's better than him,
that's fine too, all right. Yesterday we learned that Brooks
Kopka is coming back or is wanting to come back,
after leaving Live