00:00I think, Kevin, the first thing we have to do, though, is announce the breaking news of George Pickens receiving
00:06the franchise tag from your Dallas Cowboys.
00:10Now the clock is on whether they can get a deal done.
00:14But you know how the Cowboys work in this situation.
00:16They will probably most likely take as much time as they can use use this and lots of different avenues
00:23for for marketing, for one, but also for the negotiation process.
00:27But they've been very adamant all along.
00:30This is very different, in my opinion, than it was with Micah.
00:34Tell me.
00:34It seems like they really do want Pickens.
00:37And you thought Micah was just like, let's delay this as long as possible and keep him on the team?
00:43Yeah, but it does seem like they really do want it.
00:46And they already have had a meeting, according to Todd Archer, with his people to have general conversations about the
00:53future of this.
00:54But that's where we are right now with the George Pickens news, which we did learn pretty much like three
00:59months ago that he was going to get the franchise tag.
01:02Fair enough.
01:02I will say, I think it was two days ago, Nick Harris said something that, I mean, he's a wealth
01:07of information, and I'm sure he's right about this.
01:09But I hated what he said, because he goes, and then it becomes a scramble, and let's see if you
01:17can get it done before the July 15th deadline.
01:19No, no, no.
01:22The deadline is March the 9th.
01:25Mm-hmm.
01:26All right?
01:26Because that, I believe, that is when you can start the legal tampering period.
01:34March the 10th.
01:35Okay.
01:35Maybe it is March the 9th.
01:36I'm sorry.
01:37March the 9th or March the 10th.
01:38It's the Ides of March or something.
01:39I will get this figured out.
01:41Hopefully it turns out better for us.
01:43But, like, I hate the idea that you need to get it done by July 15th.
01:47Why?
01:48So what are you going to do with that money now?
01:50I want them to get it done by July 9th, because let's talk about this real quick.
01:54It's $28 million on the franchise tag, right?
01:58And here's the thing.
01:58You can't manipulate that whatsoever.
02:00Now, maybe George Pickens wants a four-year, $128 million deal.
02:05Maybe it's $132 million.
02:07I don't know.
02:07But we've been kind of equating it to Terry McLaurin in terms of $32 million per year.
02:12And I know you might be like, oh, franchise tag is 28, not 32.
02:16That's better.
02:17But if you do a long-term deal, you can manipulate those numbers and, I think, get them down to,
02:23like, $17, maybe $18 million.
02:26So what's really happening, and sorry if I'm a broken record on this, but I believe this a lot,
02:31is if you get the long-term deal done for somebody that everyone's like, oh, yeah, we want to have
02:36them here for a really, really long time and all that great.
02:38That's great.
02:39You can save $10 to $11 million on your salary cap by doing the long-term deal versus the franchise
02:44tag.
02:45And you can put it into action now, not put it into action in July when you're like, put it
02:50into action for who?
02:52Put it into action now.
02:53Whether, you know, you have people that you're nervous about, about N'Kobe Dean, or whether it's somebody that, you
03:01know, Devin Lloyd,
03:03maybe you're going to go and get, like, put that money into action now if this is really somebody that
03:09you really want to keep.
03:10I realize it takes two sides to make that happen, and I don't know the insides of what the specific
03:17demands are right now.
03:18But I would love to see the Cowboys make a real push to get this done before March 9th.
03:24Okay, me too.
03:25And because, like, you just dropped all the names of people that I'm interested in that we could possibly sign.
03:31We're going to be going through those next week, as a matter of fact, Kevin.
03:34Yes!
03:34Some of the free agents that we're hoping to steal, snag, and have on this team that could be leaders,
03:41depth, whatever it is.
03:42I would like to sign starters if possible.
03:45Sign starters, draft starters.
03:46Devin Lloyd.
03:47That would be a nice—do not—do not do this.
03:51I am going to do this.
03:52What are you doing right now?
03:53Look, fine.
03:54Let's stop.
03:54Do not—do not—
03:55I'm going to do it.
03:56Tease me like that.
03:57Okay, we can make it happen.
03:58By the way, we'll probably skip—
04:00I would—
04:02Okay.
04:03Yeah, for Devin Lloyd, whatever it takes.
04:05Man, I don't know what that—
04:07I almost said cut off my arm, but then I was like, well, hold on.
04:10When that actually happens, I don't want to have to cut my arm off.
04:12From the 9-4-0, again, I'm going to try not to be a broken record here,
04:16but somebody asked, are we really over the cap by $55 million right now?
04:20That's a fake number.
04:21The way—
04:22Fake news.
04:22Yeah.
04:23I'm not going to say that.
04:24That's what Kevin said.
04:25The way the Cowboys set up their contracts and flip the switches,
04:28we've talked about this numerous times,
04:30can easily have you $70 million under the cap,
04:33but we've gone over that in long form.
04:36I'm going to skip that rehash right now.
04:39And instead, you know what?
04:41Since we were going to talk about it,
04:42let's talk about it with Devin Lloyd right now.
04:48Estimates, between three years, $48 million and $60 million.
04:52Now, those estimates, whether they come from Pro Football Focus or SpowTrack
04:56or wherever else, doesn't necessarily mean that has to be the way it's going to play out,
05:01though they were pretty spot on.
05:02SpowTrack was with Javante, said three for 22, and it ended up being three for 24.
05:07And Javante is a great example of three for 24, $8 million per year, right?
05:13His cap hit for this upcoming season is $3.95 million.
05:16So that's a great example of how you can manipulate the salary cap to do your bidding.
05:21And I don't really care if it screws you over in the future,
05:23because we don't win anything when we're not screwing over our salary cap,
05:26so why not try something different?
05:28That's exactly what the Cowboys should be saying to themselves.
05:31Agreed.
05:32Devin Lloyd has posted a, take this for what you will,
05:37Pro Football Focus overall grade of 75 each of the past three seasons.
05:41Culminating this year, this past season,
05:44we had a career-best 89.1 mark.
05:47That was second-highest among all qualifying linebackers.
05:50He was second-team All-Pro and, shifting back to Pro Football Focus,
05:56the only linebacker to have an 80-plus grade as a run defender, pass rusher, and in coverage.
06:01Oh, what did he do in coverage, Kevin?
06:04He had five interceptions, right?
06:06Seems pretty good.
06:07That's, for that position, that seems pretty damn good.
06:11A 99-yard touchdown return.
06:13That's right.
06:13That's right.
06:14Would you be willing, let's push the envelope here,
06:18would you be willing to do the three for 60, maybe four for 80 on Devin Lloyd?
06:23I'll have to crunch some more numbers to determine the guarantee,
06:27but let's go with that as an outline for now.
06:29Yes.
06:30You want me to add a second-team All-Pro to this team that has no All-Pros
06:34on the defensive side of the ball except for a guy they traded for?
06:38Yes.
06:38Give me another All-Pro.
06:39Give me two more All-Pros if you can find them.
06:41I'd love it.
06:42His responsibilities did change a little more last year.
06:45Fair.
06:45Which kind of changed some of the numbers that he had.
06:48Kind of seems like it made him better.
06:49Yes.
06:49Those numbers are going to be what you would see if he was here.
06:52Now, I know kind of the same position that he can play the same position that
06:59Lee Fowl and S. Raku can play.
07:02So maybe they're looking at that going, no, that's a perfect fit for here.
07:05But he also can do other responsibilities across the entire linebacking group,
07:10which makes him very appealing and attractive to me.
07:13I have a couple more questions for you guys as we've learned a lot of new Cowboys information
07:17at the NFL Combine.
07:19Big, big thank you to Brian Broaddus, Sean, RJ, and Bobby for bringing us a lot of that
07:26information.
07:27All right.
07:27I asked you guys this question in our text chain last night, and I would love for you
07:31to illuminate it with the audience.
07:33So the Cowboys are planning to use a second round restricted free agent tender on, excuse
07:40me, sorry, I didn't push the button on TJ Bass.
07:42That's for $5.8 million.
07:45So essentially that would be the slot for his salary this season, unless another team came
07:50in and was like, oh, I can do that.
07:52I can do better than that.
07:53And then they would have to pass along their second round pick for this upcoming draft.
07:57So the option is this, either no team picks up Bass or Aubrey, or I tell you both of them
08:09sign elsewhere with a team that has a pick in the first half of the second round.
08:15Because you get their corresponding second round pick, so somebody who's at the top of
08:19the second round could feel way different about that compensation than at the bottom
08:23of the second round.
08:23For both Aubrey and Bass or just Bass?
08:26Yeah, so either, for both.
08:27Okay.
08:29So we have to keep both or send both.
08:32Correct.
08:33I'll take two second round picks.
08:35Now, it does sound...
08:37I get it, because then you'd have two first and two second.
08:39It does sound like there's a different conversation happening.
08:42It sounds like there's a lot of miscommunication.
08:45Am I wrong about this regarding Brandon Aubrey's numbers?
08:48See, I actually don't think there...
08:50I mean, look, I'm going to go off for Broadus, who said what he heard was $10 million was,
08:55in fact, the initial asking price for Aubrey.
08:58The part where I believe it was him and his wife came in and said fake, and Calvin Watkins
09:05put out a nice apology video about it is, he said 7.5.
09:09It sounds like it's closer to 6.7 or 6.8 is what they offer.
09:14Okay.
09:14And the 10 may have been an agent start.
09:18Sure.
09:18But not necessarily what Brandon Aubrey even thought.
09:21But again, this is...
09:23So, where all that is, if he's paid a reasonable price, I'd love to have him back.
09:27$10 million ask is a lot for me, but...
09:30And we talked about, he doesn't have leverage in this situation.
09:33Right.
09:33But if I have to...
09:34I need two second-round picks.
09:37I need two second-round picks.
09:39Because you would lose depth with Bass, and obviously you would lose a weapon with Aubrey.
09:44You'd go into the draft with two firsts and two seconds.
09:46Yes.
09:47Which that changes the dynamic quite a bit.
09:48We can go get us a Caleb Downs if we want to, boys.
09:51Yes!
09:51Alex, should I...
09:52Right now, hold on, right now, I want everybody to know...
09:55You told me yesterday we can't have him!
09:56I want everybody to know, you cannot go get Caleb Downs.
09:59You're not going to, if you don't have any second-round picks, all right?
10:02He's not falling to you.
10:04Give up on it.
10:05Most people in the NFL should give up on the idea that they're going to have a Caleb Downs.
10:10Okay.
10:11Alex, should I assume, given all the draft prep and the potential for second-round grades
10:15we've been handing out, you would also be okay with letting them both move on down the road?
10:21I responded to your text by saying they can both catch the quickest flight to Cleveland
10:26out of DFW for all I care if I'm getting two second-round picks.
10:30Yes, give me Jacob Rodriguez.
10:31Rodriguez, you can package those and go get Caleb Downs.
10:34So many options open up if I have that capital.
10:37And then one more quick question.
10:39We have a lot more Cowboys questions, but we'll move that for another segment.
10:43Were you concerned at all that Shoddy didn't talk to George Pickens or hadn't talked to
10:49George Pickens prior to them making the decision to put the franchise tag on him?
10:53Or do you think they talked at the end of the year and they're like,
10:56we're probably going to put the franchise tag on him?
10:57Yeah, I'm not concerned about it because everything to me sounds like Schottenheimer's
11:03very open to these guys about everything along the way.
11:07He's also keeping in touch with them for the same purposes of this isn't just a job we do
11:12and then leave.
11:14It's a brotherhood.
11:15He wanted to build that.
11:17You've got to build a winning culture, Kevin, from Jorge all the way up to Bob.
11:21You know, you've got to make sure everybody in the room has talked to at some point.
11:26So no, I'm not concerned about it.
11:28He's the kind of guy that does that kind of thing.
11:30Now, whether or not he's convinced George to be the same kind of person, different deal.
Comments