00:00Are the Cowboys going to have to look at drafting a running back later in the selection process because Jaden
00:08Blue's the fourth string?
00:10This is not good. I thought we had solved all this.
00:14Choppy was ready to basically throw every other running back on the team to the trash pile after he saw
00:19Jaden Blue tear it up against the Commanders in a meaningless game.
00:23But there's somebody tapping the brakes on it. It's one John Machoda.
00:26John over at the Athletic was taking a look at the Cowboys projected depth chart.
00:30We've talked about this a lot. If you had to roll the ball out there tomorrow, who's playing where?
00:33And that's what John was trying to take a look at. Where does the depth chart stand right now?
00:36And where do you find really clear vacancies that you need to fill?
00:41So that's the first one that probably caught my eye, other than he has Joe Milton ahead of Sam Howell
00:46on the depth chart right now,
00:47which I think signing Sam Howell might be an indication that he, if they had to play tomorrow, would do
00:52that.
00:52But at running back, fourth on the depth chart is Jaden Blue.
00:56It's Javante Williams, Malik Davis, Hunter Lipke, and then Jaden Blue.
01:01He says Williams is the clear number one, but there are plenty of questions about the two spot and beyond.
01:05Blue and Moffat didn't make much impact as rookies, but both could see an increase in opportunities,
01:09especially if this is the group entering the season with the defense expected to be the focus in next month's
01:13draft.
01:14It's unlikely that Dallas will spend a valuable pick on this position group.
01:17Lipke should continue to help as a running back, fullback, and tight end.
01:20See, that's the thing. If you're just talking about snaps, Lipke may seem more like he'd be third in that
01:24rotation just because of the other stuff they have to do.
01:25Should Lipke be RB3 or FB1?
01:29Lipke should be FA1.
01:31Like, he should be a free agent because I just don't see what Hunter Lipke brings to the table, to
01:34be honest.
01:34I just never understood it, to be completely honest.
01:38But he is somebody that they like.
01:40They have always really, really been fond of him.
01:42But, I mean, who will and should get the second most carries next season?
01:51Answer both.
01:52Who will and should?
01:54Rookie third rounder.
01:57No.
01:58You get rid of Jaden Blue like that?
02:00No, it should be Jaden Blue.
02:02I will say...
02:04And who will it be?
02:05I'm going to say it's going to end up being Malik Davis.
02:09I was thinking about just being a troll and saying Javante Williams and predicting disaster.
02:15Well, everyone's healthy.
02:17I'm going to tell you everyone's healthy.
02:18Everyone's healthy.
02:19Yeah, it'll be Malik.
02:22Tight end.
02:23Next spot receiver is exactly who you think it would be.
02:26Tight end, Jake Ferguson, Brevin Spanford definitively on the depth chart ahead of Luke Schoonmaker.
02:31Luke Schoonmaker is just running out of his rookie deal at this point.
02:34Do we need to worry about them evaluating tight ends?
02:38No, like they've actually...
02:39They've had a pretty good run of getting the...
02:42Schultz was a hit.
02:44Schultz was a hit.
02:45Jarwin as an underactive free agent was a pretty good player.
02:47Yeah.
02:48They didn't work here, but I mean, they got Martellus Bennett.
02:52Ferg.
02:53Ferg.
02:53So they've...
02:54I mean, they've had guys...
02:55They've done decent drives.
02:56Tight end is one of those sneaky positions that can take like five years to click.
03:00Usually you've shown something.
03:01There's like breadcrumbs.
03:03Schoonmaker's shown none of that.
03:04They've given him opportunities and he just hasn't come through.
03:06But they've done okay.
03:08They're in span four to somebody they really, really like.
03:10This is the one that caught my attention the most.
03:12Offensive line.
03:13Shout out Coach Wells in case you're listening.
03:15Tyler Smith.
03:17Tyler Booker.
03:18Cooper Beebe.
03:18That's exactly what you think.
03:19Left guard, right guard center.
03:21Left tackle Tyler Guyton.
03:22Right tackle Terrence Steele.
03:23And then behind that, Nate Thomas.
03:25TJ Bass.
03:25Matt Hennessey.
03:26The new free agent.
03:26Johnny Cornelius.
03:28And Trevor Keegan.
03:29John says if Guyton can stay healthy, this is a solid group.
03:32But that's been an issue the last two seasons.
03:35He'll get competition from Nate Thomas for that starting left tackle spot.
03:39If there are no other options, Smith will move out to left tackle.
03:43But Dallas would like to avoid that.
03:44Keeping the interior three together as its strength up front.
03:47Depth could still be added here in the draft.
03:48That was one of the big things that I took away from our talk with Clayton Adams when we were
03:51in Indy.
03:52Was him talking about, I just, I really like having Tyler Beebe and Tyler there as like the middle.
03:59I think that's really, really strong.
04:00But he mentions there's kind of, in passing, like, hey, there's probably going to be a starting left tackle competition
04:06here between Nate Thomas and Tyler Guyton.
04:09And if they don't feel good about either one of them, now you might see them say, sorry, it's a
04:13strength.
04:13Tyler Smith has to play left tackle.
04:15So we're trying to figure out at the end of the season what's going on with playing Tyler Smith out
04:20here randomly.
04:20And it was super unclear about how committed they were to Guyton at times when I thought he played pretty
04:28well overall.
04:29But this is John saying he thinks that Nate Thomas is going to get a crack at it.
04:32And I think that if they believe that he's played well enough, Nate Thomas, or has played close enough to
04:38Tyler Guyton to say, yeah, that should be a real competition.
04:41Then that is troubling to me, because I don't think Nate Thomas has been anywhere close to as good as
04:47Guyton.
04:47And it's not like Guyton has been taking leaps and bounds.
04:50I got one leftover cowboy quote from the new guys that I thought Bobby would just not be able to
04:55stand up over.
04:56It's from P.J. Locke.
04:58And he was talking about his time with Christian Parker in Denver.
05:03CP hates gray area.
05:05The gray area creates miscommunication.
05:08It makes you play slower.
05:09He's just really big on details, teaching you the game.
05:12He's a technician in that type of way, how he goes about teaching his techniques.
05:16That's everything I love as a player.
05:17There's a reason a lot of people have gravitated towards him.
05:21He demands a lot.
05:22He wants the best for you.
05:23There will be some days where it's tough.
05:25You have to have those tough conversations, which I had a bunch of, of those while I was younger.
05:31And I can honestly say he helped shape me into the player I am today.
05:35But I just love that quote with the four words.
05:38CP hates gray area.
05:41Yeah.
05:41And I think they also did a hilarious thing with the new guys that you would love.
05:46RJ Choppy.
05:47They had all of them draw the state of Texas on a whiteboard.
05:51And it was, it was hilarious.
05:53A really smart idea.
05:54They did that.
05:55They did that last year in the like regular locker room with everybody.
05:58And the guy who got the closest is the guy they ended up trading.
06:01So, oh, so diggy zoo is the one who actually drew it correctly.
06:04And then they ended up shipping him off town.
06:05And Logan Wilson just retired.
06:06So, uh, Eber Fluse ended him.
06:08Look at that.
06:09You know, but the, uh, the, I think that what PJ locks getting out there, I think you're seeing some
06:13of it.
06:13And what we're talking about recently about how, how narrow, I think some of their criteria is for certain positions.
06:19Like that is definitely the mindset of somebody who does not like living in gray where it's like, well, I
06:24can maybe use them to do this.
06:25You can clearly see Christian Parker has ideas of like that guy may be a decent player for somebody else.
06:29It doesn't fit what I need.
06:31And so we're, we're not going to keep them around.
06:33And the fact that they've had trouble seemingly nailing down what kind of a linebacker they want here and how
06:38they want to add to that position.
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