00:00What is the ideal pick or picks in round one for the Dallas Cowboys?
00:07Let's talk about it right here in Below the Belt.
00:10Shout out to Bobby.
00:11Back from vacation tomorrow.
00:12I'm Eric Chiafalo with the Gbag Nation.
00:14In for Bob and Sean.
00:17Dealing with a little strep throat action.
00:18Dealing with some streppy.
00:19That hurts, dude.
00:20Strep throat's no joke.
00:22I'm feeling for him here.
00:23Yeah, it sucks.
00:24But we got choppy.
00:25I don't know if he's going to be back tomorrow or not.
00:27Yeah, if you got strep throat on Sunday, hard to imagine you're hosting on Tuesday.
00:33I would think it's hard to imagine.
00:35That steroid shot can do a lot for you, though, I will say.
00:38He's got to get on the Amox.
00:40The Cillins.
00:40He's got to get on the Cillins.
00:42And, you know, we'd love to have you back tomorrow.
00:45Just a double dose of morning action with Bobby back in the saddle.
00:50And we also got to come up with a name.
00:51Get this thing off the rail a little bit.
00:53Yeah.
00:54Bobby's going to come in with takes.
00:55He's going to be fired up.
00:57Probably re-upped on the Adderall.
00:59He's going to be zooming.
01:01He might be out of Adderall.
01:03He's been gone for this long.
01:05Oh, that's a good point.
01:06Yeah.
01:06Used it all up on the family vacation.
01:09Oh, you've got a 14-hour drive, 17-hour drive.
01:11You've got to stay alert.
01:12Gosh, that is too much driving with the kiddos, bro.
01:15It's a lot.
01:15I didn't mind it with my kids.
01:17We drove to Knoxville last year.
01:19And we did not turn the radio on one time on the way there.
01:25You were just in silence and a little chit-chat?
01:28Me and the wife were just talking.
01:30They were in the back.
01:32We rented an SUV.
01:34We rented like a Denali or whatever.
01:36I love those.
01:37Or a Yukon, whatever it's called.
01:39And they were in the second and third row on their phone, headphones in.
01:43I got 12 hours of silence.
01:46It's bliss.
01:47Can't really beat that.
01:48It's bliss.
01:48Yeah, at that age, teenagers, they're just locked in on their own deal.
01:52I got some good daydreaming in, baby.
01:55There's nothing better.
01:57Especially if you've got a scenic route.
01:58Yeah, and we did.
01:59You did.
02:00Yeah.
02:00I love it.
02:01All right, so we have ESPN, Matt Miller, one of their draft guys.
02:05Yeah, like Matt.
02:05Actually, he just cranked out another seven-round mock.
02:08That's hot off the presses.
02:09But I saw over the weekend, ESPN was doing, they were answering a bunch of draft questions.
02:15And then they picked the teams that have multiple picks in the first round.
02:20So you have the Cowboys with 12 and 20.
02:23You have the Chiefs with pick 9 and pick 30.
02:26You have the Dolphins with 11 and 30.
02:29And you have the Jets and Browns.
02:31So you have quite a few teams with two first-round picks.
02:35Yeah.
02:36And so they went with their ideal picks for each team that has two in the first round.
02:43And for the Cowboys, I mean, do you have something in your mind that you're saying,
02:49this is my home run round one scenario for the Cowboys?
02:56Well, I would love for them to be able to take 12 and 20, trade down on both of them.
03:01Okay.
03:01And pick up extra stuff.
03:03I'm totally here for that.
03:05So I don't really have a go-to guy.
03:08Or position.
03:10I mean, look, if you told me that they walked away from this draft with two corners at 12 and
03:1520.
03:16Corner 12, corner 20.
03:18I'm static.
03:19I'm ecstatic.
03:19I'm not static.
03:20I'm ecstatic.
03:21You're ecstatic.
03:23I'm ecstatic.
03:36I'm ecstatic.
03:38Now, if you told me that Stiles or Downs is there, it's not going to be.
03:42But if you told me they are.
03:44Hey, Daniel Jeremiah leaving the door open with the Kansas City Masterpiece last week saying,
03:48Downs, he could get to 12 to the Cowboys just because of the position that he plays.
03:55And the tape is outstanding.
03:59Everyone who scouts is just like, yeah, this is a plug-and-play, guaranteed, really, really good player.
04:07But he's not the most physically gifted dude.
04:10Yeah, I got a guy who's a scout for one of the teams.
04:13I call him a Bucs guy.
04:14I'm just trying to throw that out there.
04:15I'm not saying which team he's with.
04:17And he is, I mean, he's got, he works with that area.
04:24He said you'd be surprised how much smaller he is than how small he is.
04:27Yeah, yeah.
04:28I mean, he's not, like when you see some of these Kyle Hamiltons or these guys that have been drafted
04:34super high.
04:35The Sean Taylors of the world, if you want to go back that far.
04:38I mean, he's an all-time physical freak.
04:40Eric Berry was a physical freak.
04:44You had, I mean, guys like Earl Thomas, not the biggest dude, but he was stout.
04:49He was super fast.
04:51And he had great production with like eight interceptions in his final year at Texas.
04:55Kyle Hamilton with the Ravens.
04:59Physical outlier.
05:00Derwin James, same thing.
05:01So, like if you get an elite, and I mean elite safety, you know, it's really good for your defense.
05:09It's amazing for your defense.
05:10But like.
05:10Especially in Christian Parker, who's trying to play with like three safeties.
05:15Like, yeah.
05:15You need dudes.
05:16But do you, you know, do you still draft that at 12?
05:19You know, like that's the question that left on a lot of people's minds.
05:22I absolutely would.
05:23Obviously, people aren't going to, because a lot of people think he's going to go to the top eight.
05:27Yeah.
05:28He very well could, but if Downs is there, that would be a no-brainer.
05:30Another guy that could easily go well before the Cowboys pick.
05:34This is another kind of volatile guy.
05:36Could he go, some would say he's warranted at two to the Jets.
05:41And in this scenario, he falls all the way to 12 to the Cowboys.
05:45And that's Reuben Bain Jr., the edge from Miami.
05:48And another guy with some measurables that you don't love with the short arms or whatever.
05:52But he's stout.
05:54And the production is through the roof.
05:56I love him.
05:57He's phenomenal.
05:57I think that would be like Downs or Bain at 12.
06:01That's a perfect scenario.
06:04Any of those guys, Downs, Bain.
06:06Yeah.
06:06Any of those guys that trade down fine.
06:08I don't want them to trade up.
06:10I don't want them to trade up.
06:11I understand that.
06:12I don't want them to trade the picks for Max Crosby.
06:17Don't want that.
06:18You want volume.
06:19You want to trade down and turn two picks into four or five.
06:23We are not.
06:24We get Miles Garrett or Max Crosby.
06:27We are not any closer to winning a championship.
06:31Got a lot of guys you got to get.
06:33They need, I believe, going into the offseason, seven new starters on defense.
06:38Six, maybe.
06:39I'm with you.
06:40We're not close.
06:41That's why I wish they would have done a little bit more in free agency.
06:43Yeah, we're not close.
06:44And linebacker, like if you go two corners in the first round, it's like, okay, I guess
06:48you're taking a linebacker in the third round at 92.
06:50Fine.
06:51Okay.
06:52Hopefully he's a guy that can come in and, is he your green dot?
06:55That's a tough ask.
06:57But can he come in and be a legit starting player for you?
07:00Because that's what you're asking of him.
07:02And that's part of the problem is they've left themselves a little bit too open because
07:05they still need edge rush help.
07:07That's why Matt Miller is saying ideal picks for the Cowboys in round one.
07:10I love it.
07:1012, Reuben Bain.
07:12That's awesome.
07:13And then at 20, he's going with the Oregon safety, Dylan Thienemann.
07:17And he's a guy that people really like athletic as all hell.
07:21Like on tape, you can see it.
07:23But at the combine, I mean, he just lit that thing up.
07:27What do you think of the people that have him going at 12?
07:31That feels a little rich.
07:32Like Caleb Downs at 12, I'm cool with.
07:35That sounds like great value.
07:36Any other safety at 12, no, I'm looking at trading down if possible.
07:42But they could be in that scenario.
07:43Now, the other guy that I really like is Toledo's safety.
07:50And Christian Parker took Quinion Mitchell corner from Toledo.
07:53Out.
07:54You're out on this guy?
07:55Out.
07:56Emmanuel McNeil Warren.
07:58Whatever.
07:59Because he played at Toledo?
08:00Yeah.
08:01Okay.
08:02Well, I mean, this dude is 6'4", rangy, he's a pterodactyl.
08:07And he's physical.
08:09And I think he could play some of that.
08:12But I think he could play some of that hybrid nickel spot that you're talking about.
08:16Or that Christian Parker's talking about.
08:18And he's a guy that creates a lot of turnovers, splash plays.
08:21I like him a lot.
08:23I like him more than McNeil.
08:24Or I like him more than the Oregon safety, Thienemann.
08:27But not everybody agrees with that.
08:29I mean, Wolchuk and Broaddus would tell you Thienemann for sure.
08:32In the NIL era, all right, in the NIL era, in the transfer portal era, Yank, I don't believe
08:41you're going to find a whole lot of great value at smaller schools anymore.
08:46Anybody worth it, you know what, is already at a big boy program.
08:50Unless they had some kind of an issue where they had to be close to a fandom number.
08:59Extenuating circumstance.
09:00Or they got booted out of a school for stealing a laptop.
09:04Whatever, right?
09:04You know, Cam Newton had.
09:06Right.
09:06And they get extenuating circumstances.
09:08Other than that, I don't think you're just going to find a whole lot of guys at small schools.
09:12Not anymore.
09:13I actually, I do think that's a fair point.
09:15I do think that's a fair point.
09:17And so, and especially as we continue pushing forward through this era, it'll become, I
09:23think, even more that way, where really the best talent is at the bigger schools.
09:30Go look at the tournament.
09:33The tournament's just littered with, every team's got 11 new guys every year.
09:39Look at Michigan.
09:41Look what Michigan's got right now.
09:43Yeah, it was, like, Michigan State was the only Sweet 16 team to have five homegrown starters.
09:50Every other team had Portal.
09:53At least one Portal guy as a starter.
09:55Michigan?
09:56Michigan State.
09:57Michigan State, yeah, yeah.
09:58Was the only Sweet 16 team.
09:59Michigan State, yeah.
10:00Yeah, they did it in their way.
10:03But, like, you know, Michigan didn't.
10:05Michigan had, I think, one or two guys.
10:06But, you know, Landenburg was at, what was it, UAB, of all places.
10:13Dang, and he's a dog.
10:15That's the right guy.
10:15Yeah, yeah, he was tearing people up over there.
10:18Now, Matt Miller, in his brand new mock draft today, has the Cowboys taking the Tennessee
10:22corner.
10:23Jermon McCoy, who we haven't seen play since 2024, but he was nasty in 2024.
10:29Yes, he was.
10:30Off the ACL.
10:30He actually has his pro day tomorrow.
10:33Yeah.
10:33So, that'll be all eyes on Tennessee and Jermon McCoy tomorrow for his workout, recovering
10:40from the ACL.
10:41And then, at 20 in this latest mock, he does have the Cowboys taking the Toledo safety,
10:46Emmanuel McNeil-Warren.
10:47So, that's your mock draft roundup, where the Cowboys might go.
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