00:00So Calvin Watkins over the Dallas Morning News had written about the five things we learned about the Dallas Cowboys
00:05at the NFL's annual meetings.
00:07And we obviously, what's actually new from some of these comments?
00:11What is just the same old, same old?
00:14What are slight deviations from the way the Cowboys are talking about things?
00:17So Calvin is tackling those five things.
00:19The first thing he says here, George Pickens' future is now.
00:23He said the wide receiver is seeking a long-term contract.
00:25Club officials expressed a desire to achieve this, but their actions are saying something different.
00:30The club hasn't started any substantial contract talks with Pickens' agent.
00:34The only accomplishment is the non-exclusive franchise tag placed on Pickens.
00:38Team owner Jerry Jones said the club is content with the receiver playing on the franchise tag for the 2026
00:43season.
00:43But why even say you want Pickens here long-term without starting any real contract talks?
00:48Jerry had said, well, I don't and won't get into our planning and structure of our team and our cap,
00:53but the franchise tag is an integral part of all teams,
00:56but certainly an integral part of our strategy over the next two or three years.
00:59See, there's that two to three window we've talked about.
01:01As we look at how to keep the best players we can have relative to the cap.
01:06They're not getting anything done with George.
01:09I don't think so.
01:10He's going to play on the tag.
01:11Or he's going to hold out and they're going to move him.
01:13That's what will happen.
01:15You've talked about, what do you think his value is again?
01:18You say two ones?
01:20Look, I think, would Waddle get a one and a three and a five?
01:24No, Waddle got like six ones or something.
01:27Let me see exactly what it was.
01:28It was a lot.
01:28I mean, to me, he is, if Waddle is a seven, right?
01:35George is what, a nine?
01:36Yeah, you're right.
01:37First, third, and fourth for Waddle.
01:39That's, I mean, I think George Pickens is worth considerably more, right?
01:43Are you surprised then that with the non-exclusive tag on there, teams haven't called?
01:46Like, we've heard no rumblings of people reaching out to Pickens.
01:49Yes, a little bit.
01:50But then again, you've mentioned that there's just, the league may not.
01:54It could be a one.
01:55It could be that a team would say, I'll give up a one even, or a one and a three,
01:59but I'm
01:59not giving up two ones.
02:00Yeah, maybe.
02:01I mean, look, if you were to say, if you said that they got, that they wound up settling
02:07for a one and a two, I'm fine with that.
02:10Everybody correct me.
02:11Yeah, sorry, 45, not 35.
02:12I was just stuck on 35.
02:13When I was going through Conroe, I was going off 45.
02:15Yeah, so I think his value's higher than what everyone's kind of throwing out there.
02:23Next item.
02:24Item.
02:25From Calvin Watkins over at the Dallas Morning News on the things we learned from the NFL's
02:28annual meetings.
02:29Tyler Guyton improvements.
02:31He says, injuries have slowed the development of left tackle Tyler Guyton.
02:34The first-round pick from Oklahoma played right tackle for the majority of his time in college
02:38and is now being inserted at the premier position along the offensive line.
02:42Brian Schottenheimer used the word raw when describing Guyton.
02:44Guyton's health has been an issue in his two NFL seasons.
02:48At one point during the offseason, Cowboys officials noted Nate Thomas would compete with
02:52Guyton for the starting spot at left tackle.
02:54Schottenheimer was asked what improvements are needed from Guyton, and he said it starts
02:57with his footwork, getting more comfortable, getting more balanced at the point of attack
03:00and his hand usage.
03:01He's really young, raw left tackle.
03:04I still would like to know what was going on at the end of the season because they shut
03:10him down.
03:11They're like, no, you know what?
03:12Pack it in.
03:13We're shutting you down for the end of the season, and we're kicking Tyler Smith, who
03:16doesn't want to seemingly doesn't want to go out to tackle.
03:19We're kicking him outside there and creating kind of an awkward push at the end of like,
03:24yeah, we're going to see it.
03:25We're just evaluating.
03:25There is some push inside that building from somebody.
03:30I don't know who.
03:31I don't know if it's Schottenheimer.
03:32Don't know if it's Connor Riley.
03:34Don't know if it's the personnel department.
03:36I have no clue.
03:36There is a thought that exists in that building.
03:39It seems like that people think Nate Thomas could potentially be just as good as Tyler
03:42Guyton, and I don't know if that's an indictment on Guyton or praise for Thomas or a little
03:48bit of both, but they have been willing to give Thomas these opportunities to try and push
03:55him a little bit, and I do think that we're going to enter next season with that job being
03:59up for grabs.
03:59I don't think they're just going to give it to Guyton.
04:02And the competition would be Thomas.
04:06It'd be Nate Thomas and Tyler Guyton, I think, or potentially Tyler Smith if they want to kick
04:11him outside, or we've talked about how the draft board could fall knowing they want to
04:15open that up potentially the competition, I would think would make some people feel like,
04:19yeah, okay, then go ahead and draft a tackle if that's the best player blinking light
04:23at one of your picks.
04:25And then with Guyton, didn't he play right at Oklahoma?
04:29Yeah.
04:29He played right.
04:30But I mean, so here's the thing.
04:31He was a tight end, I think, when he got to TCU initially.
04:37Tight end or defensive tackle, one of them.
04:39He was not playing offensive line.
04:43He moved to the offensive line while he was in college, and then he transferred to Oklahoma.
04:47So, I mean, yeah, he played right tackle at Oklahoma, but it's not like he's been playing
04:52right tackle all his life.
04:53Like, his tackle is still a new position to him.
04:56Ooh.
04:57I mean, look, if the board falls that way, to me, I don't think it's a big deal to take
05:02him.
05:02Well, and you've always felt like they draft the position well.
05:05They draft the position well, too.
05:06I mean, yeah, you could say you don't want to pick offensive players.
05:09That's fine.
05:09But would you rather have a lottery ticket on defense or an 80% first-round tackle?
05:20Right.
05:21I think the instance we're talking about here is you've got a lottery ticket on offensive
05:29line potentially staring you in the face, and you've got a $20 scratcher for defense.
05:35The board could fall that way, where if you've lost the top defensive players, then it's
05:39like, all right, well, all these guys have risks associated with them, but the offensive
05:45lineman might be a good enough player and a high enough ceiling that it trumps what we
05:50have in value with these defensive linemen.
05:52Is there an offensive lineman that's going to go before 12?
05:54So would they be getting the top tackle on the board or not?
05:57Uh, probably not.
06:00But, I mean, that's what could potentially push it down.
06:03So right now, everybody is mocking Francis Malinoa from Miami, number three to Arizona.
06:07And he's the best one?
06:08I think so.
06:09A lot of people like Spencer Fano more from Utah, but I like Francis Malinoa more.
06:16I look at that, though, and I wonder if he doesn't go to Arizona, I don't know where
06:21the next obvious spot ahead of Dallas is for Malinoa.
06:25So he could slide, I mean, there have been some drafts that have slid him down all the
06:29way to 13, like some of these mock drafts.
06:32I mean, everyone could use an offensive line.
06:34I mean, Giants could use one, right?
06:35I mean, if I tell you that the guy who everybody's projecting to go third as a tackle is there
06:40for you at 12, then it might be something to consider.
06:43Because if that offensive tackle's there at 12, that also means they swiped all the defensive
06:47players in all likelihood.
06:47It does, and also, you'd be picking a position that you know, or that you pick well, to me.
06:54And I think that matters, so I'd be okay with it.
06:57Five things we learned at the NFL meetings from Calvin Watkins of Dallas Morning News.
07:01No compensatory picks expected in 2027, because this is what they've set themselves up for.
07:06They were more aggressive in terms of signing veteran free agents and different things like
07:09that, and the comp pick formula kind of breaks out that way, is they use this, they've got
07:15this proprietary formula that they don't release to anybody.
07:17It's great.
07:18Like, even the teams don't know exactly what it is.
07:20The teams have figured out how to manipulate it?
07:21They've got it close, but they don't know exactly.
07:25Because it's, like I said, it's some combo.
07:26They don't want people knowing.
07:27They tell you everything that's involved in it, but they don't tell you how they weight
07:30it.
07:32Steven Jones had said, at the end of the day, when you don't win games, I think that speaks
07:35to everything.
07:36Everybody takes accountability in a situation like that.
07:39They wanted to get better.
07:40They wanted to address things with free agents, and so that's what they did.
07:43But next up here on the five things we learned at NFL meetings, most valued team with no
07:49salary cap.
07:50Calvin Watkins says, baseball is possibly headed to a labor dispute with management.
07:54The push for a salary cap by baseball's owners might lead to a lockout when the 2026 season
07:58ends.
07:59Of course, baseball players don't want a cap.
08:00When you look at the big market teams like Los Angeles, New York, New York, large payrolls
08:05don't guarantee a World Series title.
08:06The Mets miss the postseason.
08:08Boy, Calvin is a baseball writer at heart at times.
08:11But after that, he goes, what if the NFL didn't have a salary cap?
08:14The Cowboys are the most valued team in the NFL, according to Forbes, at $4 billion.
08:17So if there was no salary cap in the NFL, would that impact the Cowboys in any way?
08:21Steven Jones weighed in on this, saying, I'm very comfortable in our system.
08:23I think we've got a great system.
08:25The NFL is a great league.
08:26I think we've got a great system.
08:28Our players thrive in.
08:29Organizations thrive, and I think it's very competitive.
08:31So that was not, yeah, if there was no cap, you wouldn't believe the checkout rate.
08:34That's, I kind of like the cap.
08:35Yeah, I kind of like the cap.
08:36I kind of like that.
08:37Listen, don't discount, and this is not the Diamond Cavs here, but baseball owners want
08:45the cap just as much for the valuations of their franchise as they do to keep the cost
08:51down for competitive balance.
08:53Because they believe that the cap will allow their franchise values to rise.
08:58Yeah.
08:59Which, I mean, there's a track record that shows that may be true.
09:04I mean, the NBA is bypassing, not bypassing, but they're just blowing by all these baseball
09:10teams.
09:11Smaller market NBA teams are valued at higher than bigger market MLB teams because of the
09:17cap.
09:17Because they know exactly how much money they have coming in every year and how much money
09:20they have going out.
09:21Whereas baseball, the owners cook the books.
09:24They don't show you what they're losing or what they're making.
09:26And they're fudging everything.
09:28And then by hook or crook, their values just aren't going up because it's not as good of
09:34an estimate.
09:34And finally here, the thing we learned, the third round pick that they got for Oso Digizua,
09:39roster management.
09:40Resource management is what that was all about.
09:42Steven Jones saying it's one of those situations with our resources and two defensive linemen,
09:46Clark and Williams.
09:47A lot of resources there.
09:49And to be able to not only from a pick standpoint, it was nice, but obviously financially cap-wise,
09:54it was a lot of resources tied up there, too.
09:56When we sat down and had conversations with Christian Parker and where we needed to emphasize
09:59certain areas, we had to make a tough decision there.
10:01That's why when I've said, when you've said, what if you take a receiver at 12, if that's
10:05the best player?
10:06Because in all likelihood, the best player on the board is going to be a receiver at 12.
10:10In my opinion.
10:11So if that's the case, you hear them talking about resource management here.
10:14If they draft a receiver at 12, I think they have to trade pickings then.
10:19Or rescind the tag.
10:20Does that impact his value?
10:21But rescind the tag means he's just a free agent.
10:24Yep.
10:26If teams just stand off with him and go like, well, he's got to sign that before we can
10:29make a deal and blah, blah, blah.
10:30Like, if they look at it that way, then in theory, they could just rescind the tag like
10:35Carolina did with Josh Norman years ago.
10:37God, I would hate that.
10:39That would be bad roster management.
10:41Okay, a little inside the star here for you.
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