- 13 hours ago
The K&C Masterpiece broke down key Cowboys’ free agency options, focusing on safety Cameron Curl, edge rusher Jalen Phillips, and linebacker considerations like DeMario Davis. They analyzed player fit, age, injury history, contract expectations, maximizing talent while navigating salary cap flexibility, and more.
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00:00We are but five days away from the legal tampering period, and so people will be like, oh, free agency
00:07starts on Wednesday.
00:08Free agency for the NFL starts on Monday. Make no mistake about that.
00:13So we have some more players to kind of run through and see if any of these would be considerations
00:23that y'all would like
00:24and that the Cowboys would be interested in. Where would you like to start today?
00:30You know what? I wanted to start with linebacker Demario Davis, if you're cool with that.
00:35Demario Davis is a dude that, as the man, I love the man.
00:40He is a stand-up individual. He does some phenomenal work in the philanthropy world, New Orleans,
00:48and he's just one of those dudes that guys like to play around.
00:52That is a person right there that I really like.
00:55However, he is 37 years old, and running up on 38 years old as a linebacker.
01:01Last year, I saw him kind of get chumped out one time on a deep ball down the field,
01:07and maybe were really good at stopping the run, but not so good in coverage.
01:12And right now, Kevin, I'm not sure how I feel about a 37-, 38-year-old linebacker that might not
01:18be able to keep up at that.
01:20Now, again, stuff's the run. Good at getting up into the lanes and making stuff happen there,
01:24but when it comes to the overall body of work, I think you're going to need a little bit more
01:31out of some of these guys.
01:32But he's got the attitude and toughness that comes along with being a really good linebacker in this league,
01:38and he's done it at a high rate for a very long time. We're at 14 years now.
01:43Would you assume any scenario with him would automatically be just a one-year deal?
01:48Yes. It would be Eric Kendricks, Anthony Barr, you know, those things that you're just kind of like,
01:54all right, Kenneth Murray, but hopefully you get the play that you got out of Eric Kendricks.
02:00Eric Kendricks, it finally clicked for him in the rest of the defense,
02:04and when it finally started to, that thing actually looked like a good signing.
02:08But the addition of Kenneth Murray just was not, and that's where you're not looking for this.
02:15Again, this is a dude who has produced at a high level for a long time,
02:20so it's not like he's just a one-year-he's-done-some-things guy.
02:23He's a really good linebacker. It's just 38 years old is a little too much tread on my tire.
02:29Alec, do you want to jump in on this one or just move to the next?
02:32I can jump in a little bit. I can also give you some Cowboys news as Adam Schefter reports
02:38that the Cowboys have tendered cornerback Reddy Stewart per his agents, so he will be returning.
02:47I told you last year that dude can play on my team anytime.
02:51The effort that he gave, I'm curious what position they're going to want him at
02:57because he looked like he could play safety if they wanted to put him out there at safety, too.
03:02So that dude, I really liked watching him play.
03:06He stuck his nose in there on the run.
03:08He wore a lot of different hats for this team last year when they lacked at the cornerback position.
03:12So nice work.
03:14Tendering him, obviously, that's for he.
03:17They want him back.
03:18Yeah.
03:18But he has options to go look around, but I'd like to have that dude on the roster for sure.
03:24Yeah, I need to go see what that number is on that tender.
03:28Yeah, and based on what we saw with Dak Prescott, Tyler Smith, and CeeDee Lamb this morning, Kevin,
03:33it sounds like they're $10 million under the cap right now.
03:36And so we'll look at how much more they need to do.
03:39Kevin laid out an awesome plan about a month and a half ago for what they should do.
03:46And you could open up a significant amount of money to go spend on some of these guys.
03:50And sometimes it's like a little bit different from different places.
03:55But right now, Spotrack has them at about $7 million under the cap, but then still says
04:01has plenty of simple solutions to gain a significant amount, $50-plus million of space,
04:06by the start of the league year.
04:08Look, we've talked about it in a variety of moves to get you at $70 million.
04:12So, look, and that's important.
04:14By the time Monday starts, you need to be ready to go.
04:17And I would imagine Kenny Clark is pretty high up next on that list.
04:22You don't want to go buy something needing loans if you can always just have liquid cash on you at
04:29the moment.
04:29You don't want to go be like, oh, man, we actually have to go do this now.
04:34You want to do it ahead of time, know what your pot is, and then go attack free agency with
04:39the entire pot.
04:39That's what we're hopeful the Cowboys do.
04:41Absolutely.
04:42Let's dive in on Cameron Curl, because we talked about Jalen Thompson yesterday.
04:46Cameron Curl being available, and this is a list we got from Yard Barker.
04:50Kevin, nice work on this.
04:51I went and looked at him, watched him and what he did with the Rams, and I was just like,
04:54oh, man, this might be the dude right here.
04:57This might be the favorite in the bunch at the safety position, 26 years old, and this dude can put
05:04some thumps on people.
05:05There were times last year the Rams, people were considering their safety tandem to be elite, and he was one
05:11of the big reasons for it.
05:13He is, you know where you are at safety right now.
05:17And he can do free or strong.
05:19Yeah, yeah, because I think he was drafted with Washington, and he played free safety predominantly there, and then he
05:24rolled over in, oh, no, he was playing free safety with the Rams,
05:29and he was playing strong safety a little bit with Washington.
05:32That was a good draft pick on their part.
05:33That's a Ron Rivera guy.
05:35I like Ron Rivera's ideas on defense.
05:37I don't like Ron Rivera's ideas on entire package.
05:40Right.
05:41But, you know, this is a dude that he knows how to play within this system, too.
05:45So that's a big factor in that this defensive system is something he can play in.
05:50So Cameron Curl, Kevin, you have options at safety.
05:52This is the really good thing is maybe you don't get downs because I've been telling you all you're not
05:59going to.
06:00But maybe that doesn't happen, and maybe you don't have to go find one of these other guys, and this
06:04opens things up because you can sign a pair of safeties.
06:07Now, Kevin, this would be about $10 million is the market value I see on Spotrack for him.
06:12You put Petrie at about $13 million.
06:16He's actually got better numbers overall than Petrie.
06:20So I'm wondering if that number is a little bit higher for him.
06:23But at $10 million, if I could do that, I would be very happy to have a player like him.
06:28Okay.
06:28So I just had a thought because obviously we've spent a lot of time discussing like, oh, can you have
06:33two super high paid wide receivers and all of that?
06:36Do you think you can have, like realistically, I know you could do it, but I mean, and keep rocking.
06:42Do you think you could have two $10 plus million safeties?
06:47I don't know.
06:48And see, that look is kind of where I'm at.
06:51Especially since I'm probably spending, you know, we were discussing yesterday how much it might cost to get a N
06:56'Kobe Dean or a Devin Lloyd.
06:58I don't want just Devin Lloyd.
07:00I need to have Devin Lloyd and something else to go.
07:03I need more linebackers than just one, too.
07:06So I need more linebackers and more safeties, and that's one of the reasons, Kevin, you have to open this
07:10thing up completely.
07:12You can't just be like, well, we're just going to get section.
07:14We're going to have a partition here and have just a little set to the side.
07:17No, open it all up and figure out how to get as many studs on that side of the ball
07:22as you can.
07:23Obviously, you'd love to get them for a deal, but nobody gives you a Super Bowl trophy for the deal
07:28that you got on a player.
07:29Sure.
07:29Nobody gives you a Super Bowl trophy because you were able to save the most.
07:32They gave you a Super Bowl trophy because your guy is the most talented.
07:35Right.
07:35Went out there and kicked everybody's ass.
07:37So you don't think on Monday there's going to be a whole bunch of low-budget contracts that are getting
07:41started?
07:41I absolutely think that's going to happen.
07:43I'm concerned about it.
07:44Oh, no.
07:45I mean across the agency.
07:46You don't think everyone's going to be like, I did it.
07:48One year, $3 million.
07:50You did it.
07:51And I think if the Cowboys are really honest with themselves, which they seem to have been honest with themselves
07:56this offseason,
07:57and the moves that they're making are kind of telling me that they're about to be honest with themselves about
08:02what it costs to actually play this game,
08:05if they're being honest with themselves, they know they can't just go sign $1 and $3 million dudes this year.
08:10That's not going to be a big thing that's going to help them.
08:13Those are your backups, not your starters.
08:15All right.
08:15You need to sign starters.
08:16So easy power ranking thus far is we're going curl over Davis.
08:22Yeah, can't curl over to Mario Davis.
08:24That's easy to do thus far.
08:25All right, who is next on the list, and do you want to skip the super big ticket fella?
08:31You want me to?
08:32Yeah, we'll get to him.
08:33Jalen Phillips would be the next one, who has had a tradition of being injured in Miami.
08:40This dude has physically built exactly how you want him to.
08:44He's very good at getting to the quarterback.
08:46He is a talented player with the ability to stand up offensive tackles and also run right past him,
08:52has fantastic moves to go along with it.
08:54And, Kevin, you look at the body and you're just like a physical specimen of what I want my defensive
08:59end edge guy to be.
09:00He is a edge rusher.
09:02However, he gets hurt.
09:05And he's had a number of times where he's had knee and ankle and lower body injuries.
09:11And so, like, it doesn't have to just be this combination of two players, but since these are, like, who
09:17we're talking about right now.
09:18But it feels like, don't you think the club would be hesitant?
09:22Wouldn't you be hesitant to, say, sign Jalen Phillips and Kobe Dean?
09:27Like, what I'm saying is to sign the two guys that you're like, eh.
09:30I get if you sign one that you're like, I don't know, but.
09:34This is an interesting thing, though, because I've told you how much I trust this year I'm putting in Christian
09:39Parker.
09:40I trust Christian Parker until he tells me not to.
09:44Okay.
09:44Or shows you not to.
09:45That's exact.
09:46He'll show me by telling.
09:47He'll tell me by showing me.
09:49And when it comes to Jalen Phillips, he had him last year.
09:52Now, obviously, his eyes were focused on his secondary, but he knows how important the guys in front of them
09:57are.
09:57He's talked about that front seven and their importance to what they do in the backside of this game because
10:02if your front seven is strong, you can change things up a lot.
10:05And so he knows that he had 44 pressures in nine games with him last year.
10:09He knows that he's the kind of guy that can get there.
10:12He knows the Kobe Dean well enough, too.
10:13So if he's looking, I don't know if he's looking for leadership, my kind of guys that I already am
10:18familiar with, if that's the case, bring both of those dudes in.
10:22But I think that, yes, having a couple of injured dudes is a concern.
10:26And in case you're curious, we're not behind a metal door and someone is trying to break in.
10:32In case you're wondering if that's what that is.
10:34They're building a shelf over there.
10:36Man.
10:37Because, Kevin, there's the Brazil game today, and I can't.
10:40No, it's not a shelf.
10:42I think there's going to be some cameras up.
10:45They're building a stand for some more cameras.
10:47I could, because if it was a shelf, I was like, I think you guys might have the wrong tool.
10:51You can't just hammer your whole shelf together.
10:54All right.
10:55So then it would be Curl, then Phillips, and then Davis.
11:01At the moment, yes.
11:02Okay.
11:02If you were adding N'Kobe Dean in, where would he go?
11:06Curl, Dean.
11:07Okay.
11:08So Curl, Dean, Phillips, Davis.
11:10And now I've got to ask Alec how he feels about Curl versus Thompson, because, I mean,
11:15obviously the work Alec did yesterday was phenomenal.
11:20A lot of people, it's very similar with Thompson, where a lot of people are going to be like,
11:23who's Cam Curl?
11:25Yeah.
11:25Hold on.
11:26You didn't go get Ed Reed.
11:27I only know Ed Reed's name at safety.
11:29Who's Cam Curl?
11:30And so we'd have to kind of look at the balance there.
11:33Well, I got another name that I know Cowboys fans know.
11:38Nashawn Wright.
11:39What do you think?
11:40Man, we might have to shut these windows.
11:42I don't know if that's going to work out.
11:44Oh, no.
11:44I will tell you this.
11:45I hope that guy's in charge, because he is loud.
11:49Nashawn Wright.
11:50This is a name we all know.
11:52It didn't totally work out here.
11:53Clearly, he has thrived elsewhere, although I know a lot of people give that credit to Al Harris.
11:58Look, Al Harris is not coming back.
12:00What, what, what do we think about Nashawn Wright?
12:04Why was Al Harris not able to get that out of him while he was a Cowboy, is what I
12:08want to know.
12:09Like, what changed?
12:10And maybe it was Wright just needing a different, a change of scenery or whatever it was.
12:14Maybe it was the Cowboys DC.
12:16That absolutely could be it, too.
12:18And the way that this thing is right now, he had one really good year.
12:24And a lot of people liked him out of the draft.
12:27A lot of people did like him out of the draft.
12:28Are you hesitant about the free agent who's had that one good year?
12:32Yes.
12:32Now, if it's the, it was a one good year, especially on a free agency, on being a free agent.
12:40Because, Kevin, there are three great motivators.
12:42And contract season is definitely one of them.
12:44So, this is one of those things where he was playing for money.
12:48He was motivated also by that money to do it.
12:51So, there was an extra motivation.
12:52And he had Al Harris there.
12:54I think that we're fine there.
12:56I would not, I wouldn't go tap this well.
12:59I would just say, man, great job by him.
13:01He's probably going to be asking for a significant amount this year after the year that he had.
13:06I would try to capitalize on this season alone, especially with the Bears.
13:11I would be telling the Bears right now, you want me back.
13:13Jack, you need me on that wall.
13:15Okay.
13:15So, you're going to skip him.
13:18You're going to skip Davis.
13:21I would take the other two guys, though.
13:23Okay.
13:23So, you would go Curl and Phillips.
13:25Yep.
13:26And you'd feel pretty good about that.
13:27I feel like, did you look a number up for Phillips?
13:30No.
13:30I did.
13:31I'm sorry.
13:31I feel like when it comes to price on him, I feel like his price is going to be significant.
13:37And that's going to be the one thing that kind of deters you from that, because it's going to be
13:40a competitive market for him.
13:42And the asking price is probably going to be pretty high.
13:45And I don't think that anybody, whenever you have a pass rusher that gets, what, 76, 78 pressures last year,
13:52he's one of the really good ones, top 10 kind of guy.
13:54I don't think he's going to be asking for just a little money.
13:57I got you.
13:58So, that market value on him might be out of the Cowboys' price range.
14:02And there are still other options on that edge that I think you, we just talked about one yesterday with
14:08Minnesota.
14:08You can make a sweet trade there if you can get that going.
14:12Okay.
14:12I'm going to throw you one that you're going to love.
14:14The numbers for him are all over the place.
14:16And this draft, and I'll talk about it a little at one today, this draft is chock full of edge
14:23rushers.
14:23Yeah.
14:24All shapes and sizes.
14:25If Jalen Phillips wanted to do a prove-it-one-year, $15 million deal.
14:31I don't.
14:32Okay, sure.
14:34Yes.
14:36Prove-it-one-year, $15 million.
14:38We need you this year anyway.
14:39Other projections.
14:40That is a real projection, I believe, from Pro Football Focus.
14:43Others have it at four for $100 with $60 million.
14:45Yeah, see, that's where I'm not going to do that.
14:47Yeah.
14:47And that's what I think is going to be his situation.
14:50Somebody wants, he's still young enough.
14:52Yeah, yeah.
14:52And right in that space where, hey, look, if we can keep him healthy for two or three years here,
14:57he's going to be a productive player for us.
14:58We're the KNC Masterpiece right here on 105.3.
15:02The fan in the middle of the surprise stadium work zone.
15:06I hope you enjoyed this video.
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