00:00Are the Cowboys going to have to look at drafting a running back later in the selection process
00:07because Jaden Blue's the fourth string?
00:10This is not good.
00:12I thought we had solved all this.
00:14Choppy was ready to basically throw every other running back on the team to the trash pile
00:19after he saw Jaden Blue tear it up against the Commanders in a meaningless game.
00:23But there's somebody tapping the brakes on it.
00:25It's one John Machoda.
00:27John over at The Athletic was taking a look at the Cowboys projected depth chart.
00:30We've talked about this a lot.
00:31If you had to roll the ball out there tomorrow, who's playing where?
00:34And that's what John was trying to take a look at.
00:35Where 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,
00:44other than he has Joe Milton ahead of Sam Howell on the depth chart right now,
00:47which I think signing Sam Howell might be an indication that he,
00:51if they had to play tomorrow, would do that.
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,
01:03but there are plenty of questions about the two spot and beyond.
01:05Blue and Moffat didn't make much impact as rookies,
01:08but both could see an increase in opportunities,
01:09especially if this is the group entering the season.
01:11With the defense expected to be the focus in next month's draft,
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.
01:20If you're just talking about snaps, Lipke may seem more like he'd be third in that rotation
01:24just because of the other stuff they have to do.
01:26Should Lipke be RB3 or FB1?
01:29Lipke should be FA1.
01:31Like, he should be a free agent,
01:32because I just don't see what Hunter Lipke brings to the table, to be honest.
01:35I've 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.
01:42So, I mean, who will and should get the second most carries next season?
01:51Answer both.
01:53Who 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.
02:09Okay.
02:10I was thinking about just being a troll and saying Javante Williams
02:12and predicting disaster, but...
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 receiver is exactly who you'd think it would be.
02:26Tight end, Jake Ferguson, Brevin Spanford,
02:29definitively on the depth chart ahead of Luke Schoonmaker.
02:31Luke Schoonmaker's 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...
02:40They've had a pretty good run of getting the ball.
02:43Spanford has been...
02:44Schultz was a hit.
02:45Jarwin as an undrafted free agent was a pretty good player.
02:47Yeah.
02:48They didn't work here, but, I mean, they got Martellus Bennett.
02:52Ferg.
02:53So, they've...
02:54I mean, they've had guys...
02:55They've done a decent job.
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, but they've done okay.
03:08They're in Spanford as somebody they really, really like.
03:10This is the one that caught my attention the most.
03:13Offensive line.
03:13Shout out, Coach Wells, in case you're listening.
03:16Tyler Smith.
03:17Tyler Booker.
03:18Cooper Beebe.
03:19That'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, the new free agent.
03:27Johnny Cornelius.
03:28And Trevor Keegan.
03:30John 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
03:52in Indy.
03:52Was him talking about, 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.
04:42Then 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.
04:57It'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 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, CP hates gray area.
05:41Yeah, and I think they also did a hilarious thing with the new guys that you would love, RJ Choppy.
05:47They had all of them draw the state of Texas on a whiteboard, and it was hilarious.
05:53A really smart idea.
05:54They did that last year in the regular locker room with everybody.
05:58And the guy who got the closest is the guy they ended up trading.
06:01So, Oso Diggie Zou is the one who actually drew it correctly.
06:04And then they ended up shipping him off town.
06:05And Logan Wilson just retired, so Iber Flus ended him.
06:08Look at that.
06:10I think that what PJ Locke's getting at there, I think you're seeing some of it in what we were
06:14talking about recently
06:14about how narrow I think some of their criteria is for certain positions.
06:19That is definitely the mindset of somebody who does not like living in gray.
06:23Where it's like, well, I can maybe use him to do this.
06:25You can clearly see Christian Parker has ideas of like, that guy may be a decent player for somebody else.
06:30It doesn't fit what I need.
06:31And so we're not going to keep him around.
06:33And the fact that they've had trouble seemingly nailing down what kind of a linebacker they want here
06:37and how they want to add to that position.
06:39Yeah.
06:39And how they want to add to that position.
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