00:00We decided to take a look at a couple of tight ends, or I'm sorry, linebackers that were on the
00:05Cowboys formal interview list.
00:08When I saw their formal interview list, I was like, oh, if these are real people they're interested in, let's
00:14check them out and see where they land.
00:17Let's start with Harold Perkins. Does that sound good to you? Harold Perkins out of LSU.
00:22So you know Broadus was mad at him at some point.
00:25That kind of skews my thinking immediately, because I'm like, I know Broadus watched every second of whatever he saw
00:33for LSU, so he knows every play on this guy.
00:36That being said, he looks like a second to mid-third round guy, which kind of puts you in a
00:45weird place, but I love the way that this dude navigates getting behind the line of scrimmage.
00:52It's the way that he moves his body, oily hips, if you will, but the way he'll navigate to get
00:59where the runners are or to get to where the quarterback is.
01:03This is something I love about this guy. He has a very good nose for where the football is and
01:08a very good nose for where plays are about to be.
01:11So this is one of those guys, not the hardest hitter on the planet. Great tackler.
01:15I really like his tackling, and I like the fact that this dude knows where the ball is about to
01:20go, and he gets to that area pretty quickly.
01:23And I feel like we've gone through a few different players where you're like, man, what a devastating tackler.
01:28And I'm not saying that's a bad thing whatsoever, but I don't hate the idea of having a nice little
01:33group of people where you're like, yes,
01:35they are fundamentally sound in their tackling ability, maybe a little boring.
01:39And I'm like, yes, those people.
01:42Do you happen to have a number, a height, or weight that linebackers that you're like, I need this?
01:50Because he's 6'1", 223.
01:54You think it's too light?
01:55Now, these numbers might be, I want to get the confirmation on numbers from the combine,
02:00but this is kind of where we're sitting on this is where he was.
02:03He also did say that if the Saints don't draft him, they're going to lose a fan, so he wants
02:08the Saints to take him.
02:09But 6'1", 223, as a middle linebacker in that range, it seems a little light to take on NFL
02:16blockers, in my opinion.
02:17A little bit, but it also depends where you're going to play him, because we've been talking about this,
02:22especially with Christian Parker coming into town a lot, the idea of the star position, as people call it.
02:29I'm going to line you up in four different spots on any given drive, and I'm going to ask you
02:33to attack the football nine times out of ten.
02:35If you're going to play him there like LSU did a lot, I don't mind it.
02:39I don't mind it.
02:40I'm not saying it's ideal, but I don't mind it.
02:42But if you are going to play him as a traditional linebacker, yeah, an inch or two taller and maybe
02:48a good 15 extra pounds would do a lot for him.
02:51Is that part of the reason that, theoretically, he kind of projects maybe as a late second, early third?
02:57Yeah, that could be part of it.
02:59Another part of it is the ACL tear in 2024.
03:02That's something that definitely took away from him, because his freshman year, he was a demon.
03:07He was an absolute demon on the field his freshman year, and everybody thought he was going to be that
03:13next big thing defensively.
03:15The ACL tear did not do much for him.
03:18Less in-game impact, for sure, in 2022 and 2023, because he did a lot of special teams work his
03:24freshman year,
03:25and people were like, oh, my God, this guy is a freak athlete.
03:28And the production dipped a little bit once they asked him to play real linebacker stuff.
03:33But, yeah, I think there's a few things that play into that.
03:36I think one of the other things I really like about him, like, we talk about closing speed.
03:42Yeah.
03:42This is something, and he's right about the injury a couple years ago.
03:46Everybody was just going insane about what he was projecting him.
03:49But the closing speed on tacklers, when you think you have a seam, he can seal it shut pretty quickly.
03:57And that comes from the angles that he plays with and the knowledge that he plays with as well.
04:03He plays a smart game.
04:05This is something listening to Christian Parker talk about that this morning.
04:08We've heard more and more of Will McClay, all these guys saying, basically, it cuts a half second off.
04:13It cuts off, you know, whatever it is, it changes the time because the guy's ahead of the play.
04:19When last year we saw Kenneth Murray delayed on plays, has all the physical attributes to go along with it.
04:26But he's one of those guys you're just like, okay, we'll see.
04:30How many times have you seen that half second be the difference between crap, I hate our defense, and what
04:35a stop?
04:36Yes, that's the difference.
04:38Again and again.
04:38And it's at every single position.
04:41And that's why, now, I did love this.
04:44Listen, man, you know I've been just ecstatic, excited about Christian Parker since his name was brought up.
04:51Sure.
04:52And I think I went out on a limb during the Super Bowl and I said he's one of the
04:56biggest stories the Cowboys have this offseason.
04:59And even though you hate press conferences, I wanted to hear more about it.
05:03One of the things he said today, he was like, look, it's not like we're going to roll out a
05:08YMCA team with a bunch of heady guys out there.
05:11You've got to be able to hit and do all the physical things, too.
05:14Right.
05:15But the YMCA guys, they're the smartest, right?
05:18I know how to play this game.
05:19I'm just not physically gifted.
05:20You just ain't going to make it on our team, chump.
05:22Parker also threw in the idea that he was a Whataburger guy.
05:28He said he loves spicy ketchup.
05:29So, Kevin, if you're trying to get on Christian Parker's good side, spicy ketchup is the approach.
05:34I mean, we have a Whataburger connection.
05:37We can get on that Whataburger box.
05:38I know a guy.
05:39If you're listening, Travis.
05:41But, yeah, instincts are significant for me, for Harold Perkins.
05:47Can he get past that and become the explosive player that we've seen before?
05:52It's the only question, I guess.
05:54So, that's my Harold Perkins take.
05:56Anything else you wanted to add, Alec?
05:58I think that's pretty much it because we just didn't get to see much of him, you know, in the
06:02past calendar year.
06:03But, yeah, you mentioned, like, the closing speed.
06:06And some of the instincts there are great.
06:08Like, his blitz ability, I think, is awesome.
06:11He's very quick off the ball.
06:13Well, he might be a little too linear in his pursuit sometimes to the football.
06:19Like, he might just go in a straight line.
06:20He might not take the best angles.
06:22But when he does get the angle right, you're not going anywhere.
06:27So, that's where the athleticism definitely comes into play.
06:30But, yeah, overall, he's a fun project piece.
06:32He really is.
06:33He's got a lot to learn still.
06:34But I like what's there.
06:36But right now, we're, you know, obviously with our first two picks.
06:41And Brada said this the other day.
06:42I really like the way he said it.
06:43You're looking for a guy.
06:44You're not looking for why is this guy playing behind three other players.
06:47You're looking for guys on this team right now with most of these draft picks that can play immediately.
06:53Otherwise, you better be spending tons in this free agency period getting the N'Kobe Deans and Will Blankenships to
06:59fill those roles for you if that's possible.
07:01Will Blankenship?
07:02Reed?
07:03Reed Blankenship.
07:04Gotcha.
07:04Yeah.
07:04I'm just making sure there was another Blankenship I didn't need to go look up.
07:07I think I went to high school with a Will Blankenship, so that might be where I am right now.
07:11All right.
07:11So, now we're going to go turn our attention to TCU Product, who I saw play when he was at
07:16Cal against UNT.
07:18And I was like, who the hell is this guy?
07:20And, like, that was the first thing I remember was being like, what's this dude doing out there?
07:24Why is he so good?
07:25Sideline to sideline game for Caleb Elam's Orr.
07:29All right.
07:29He is a 6'2", 234-pound linebacker.
07:33This dude can absolutely fly from sideline to sideline.
07:36Great range on him.
07:38And he's kind of bounced around just a little bit, but every single year got better.
07:43And that's, like, every single year of his career, he just, you would see more flashes out of this guy.
07:49He is a downhill dude.
07:51He can get to the quarterback.
07:53Whenever the play is downhill, he's going through that running lane.
07:56I love, look, Josiah Trotter for me, I just love the way that that dude plays.
08:01He's, this guy has a little more flash to his game than Trotter, but whenever that hole opens up, he's
08:06cutting through and he's making a play happen.
08:08And he can, he's a really good blitzer and tackles, like, one of those, I think he tackles better than
08:15Perkins when I was watching him.
08:17And he also has some pretty legitimate ball skills that I think can come into play as well.
08:21Alec?
08:22This guy's unique.
08:23He is really interesting.
08:25And he did perform at the Combine and performed very, very well.
08:304'4", 7'40", very fast.
08:33A 40-inch vertical jump and a 10'4", broad jump.
08:36Athletic.
08:37He is athletic.
08:38So now, he's kind of the inverse of some of these linebackers that we've been talking about, where I say,
08:44hey, he might need to put on some weight.
08:46He might need to get quicker, blah, blah, blah.
08:48But he's got all the instincts and everything.
08:50The instincts and the football IQ are lacking compared to his athleticism.
08:56So, he needs a lot more time in the film room.
08:58He needs a lot more time getting one-on-one coaching.
09:01But he's speedy.
09:03He triggers really quick off the ball when he is blitzing.
09:07And he's usually right there at the point of impact.
09:10He's one of those guys that likes to get dirty in that, you know, the gang tackle that we were
09:15talking about yesterday.
09:16He's involved all of the time.
09:18He's an excellent blitzer.
09:20I love his blitzing ability.
09:22But when it comes to instincts, he will lose track of plays sometimes, especially as they develop into longer situations.
09:29If the pass rush swings and misses and he's got to float in coverage a little bit more, he might
09:33lose track of some stuff that's happening outside zone concepts and zone blocking.
09:38He gets lost in traffic a little bit.
09:40So, he really just needs to learn a little bit more.
09:44But he's got all the tools in his bag physically.
09:47And that goes against a little bit of what Parker's saying he wants.
09:50But at the same time, he does want dudes that have this ability.
09:53Maybe this is one of the reasons you kind of find him in the 4-6 range, which would be
09:58right there for the Cowboys.
09:59Hey, we're back in play there.
10:01Yeah, we're back in play for something like this.
10:02He's in that range.
10:03I don't know if the combine numbers help him that much more.
10:06Right.
10:07But this would be the kind of player that I'd be like, all right, I would like to see him
10:11compete with Shamar James or some of these other guys we have.
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