00:00Well, I thought that Bill Clinton walking into the Cowboys press conference would be the lead headline today until Stephen
00:08Jones said this.
00:11Yeah, I think we've made a decision that we're going to have George play under the franchise tag, which won't
00:18be a first for us.
00:19So there won't be negotiations on a long term deal.
00:24But, you know, that's certainly not a first for this organization and certainly won't be a first in the league.
00:30In terms of, you know, this decision as we move forward.
00:34But whether it's Dak Prescott, who played under one and got tagged a second time, whether it's D-Law, whether
00:41it's Tony Pollard, you know, we've certainly had those those situations.
00:45We're so fired up to have George on this football team.
00:48And obviously he's been here for a year.
00:51We gave up a third round pick for him and certainly he's made tremendous progress.
00:56And the year that he's been here, I think he'd be the first to tell you that this is a
01:00great situation for him playing with CD and Dak and in Coach Schottenheimer's offense.
01:06I think he loves Coach Schottenheimer and what he brings to the table, but certainly a conscious decision that we've
01:13made.
01:14Whoa, Steven just announcing it.
01:18Now, of course, George has not signed the tender.
01:21Why?
01:22As Cowboys PR tried to shut down.
01:25Come on, Ted.
01:26Come on, Ted.
01:27You can't announce that and then go back to Jermon McCoy's leg.
01:32Um, and Nick Harris and Jane Slater breaking the rule of no more George Pickens questions.
01:39Why?
01:40Why are you shutting it down with negotiations?
01:43Steven said business and newness.
01:46He did make sure to mention David Mooligeta's name multiple times.
01:52I think Jerry had gone to have lunch with the former president.
01:55Um, he did say that Jerry and Shottie recently met with George.
02:01They had a call with David Mooligeta last week.
02:04Five to ten minutes.
02:06Oh, wow.
02:06They brought the agent involved.
02:07Okay.
02:07But still, the negotiation is done for this offseason.
02:11Cowboy insider Bobby Belt.
02:14Uh, yeah.
02:15I would...
02:16I'm always interested whenever they say,
02:19Oh, yeah, we've communicated this.
02:20If the other side feels like it was communicated that way or not.
02:25Not what I did there.
02:25I'd like to see if they would have the exact same representation of it.
02:29Um, but this is ultimately what was the expectation.
02:33We've been talking about it since they got out of Indy,
02:35that they weren't going to get a long-term deal done this offseason.
02:37They weren't even going to offer one.
02:39Uh, it's just a matter of...
02:41And you've been saying that at this point, is this it?
02:44What I think this is, I'm stunned they would say it into a microphone at this stage.
02:48Like, I would think they would just kind of go,
02:50Ah, you know, we want to get something done at some point
02:51and just kind of be a little vague about it.
02:54But them saying it directly is just kind of surprising to me.
02:59But this is...
03:00There's an expiration date here, I think.
03:02I don't think he's ever getting the long-term deal here.
03:05I just don't think they're going to do it.
03:07Why couldn't he just be under his best behavior, go out and ball, and then the deal gets done?
03:16Well, why one more year with the, let's see it, let's see the good behavior again in the production.
03:23Why wouldn't it happen then?
03:24Because I wonder how much it's about, let's see the good behavior versus just like,
03:29well, let's get one more year out of it.
03:30Like, we can tag him, we don't have to negotiate anything, he can hang around, we can get his contribution.
03:36If we intend to be competitive this year, we can get that contribution.
03:39Otherwise, we'll lay the groundwork for a replacement receiver and we'll take a comp pick maybe tonight.
03:44My issue with that is, he's not 30.
03:47It's not a, let's get one more year out of it mentality.
03:51It shouldn't be.
03:52He's freaking 25.
03:53Let's get seven more years out of it.
03:56I mean, they said, he said it in the clip, we've only known him one year.
04:01That's their thing, man.
04:03They don't give out big money to people they don't know.
04:06I think, I think they do know him though.
04:09Like, I think they feel like they do know him and they don't want, they don't necessarily want that around.
04:14What is that?
04:16Yeah, what is that?
04:16The third best receiver in the NFL?
04:18The independent stops saying that.
04:20You need to stop saying third best receiver.
04:22Last year.
04:23Was he not last year?
04:24It's such an exaggeration job.
04:25Let's be real.
04:26Let's be real.
04:27You were also the king of last year, last year, last year, not being enough that you want to see
04:31multiple years to say something about somebody.
04:33This is the thing.
04:34They look at it as though they don't like the independent streak.
04:37That's what they don't like.
04:38Yeah.
04:38And then he's an independent type of player.
04:42So look, from afar, I'm the one who said this is what I would do.
04:46So, from afar, ideal situation, play in a non-disruptive mood under the tag.
04:57Let's see it one more time.
04:59The Detroit game that Ross Tucker referenced the other day.
05:02Showing up late to the meetings and all that stuff.
05:05Let's just make sure he is the right type of dude to give the money to from a character standpoint.
05:11That's from afar.
05:13What's really interesting about this, though, it appears and seems like the Dallas Cowboys front office is not listening to
05:21their locker room.
05:22Because if you listen to the locker room, CeeDee Lamb is best friends with him.
05:28Dak Prescott could not vouch for him more.
05:32Brian Schottenheimer, over and over and over again, this guy loves football.
05:38So, your head coach, your quarterback, and another superstar on your team have been front and center, at least in
05:46the media, saying he is the man.
05:49We absolutely love him.
05:51And, again, from afar, I'm saying, I'd like to see it one more time before $30-plus million a year
05:57and you're committing all those resources.
05:59But we do, in a second, have to take into account chemistry, putting another black cloud over a Dak window
06:07season, jeopardizing that from within.
06:10But it appears like they're not taking the word of their most important people inside the locker room.
06:16Well, it's, I mean, look, they need to, we need to switch places right now.
06:20We need to send the Jones boys to New York to not listen to that clubhouse when it comes to
06:25changing the uniforms and the Steinbrenners here to listen to this clubhouse to get George Pickens signed up.
06:32So, this is their, this is their MO, though.
06:35They're not going to be made to feel like they're being pressured into giving them a contract.
06:42If, if, if, if, if Mooligeta and Pickens want to take the approach of, hey, we're not, we may not
06:47sign this, I don't know if we're going to play.
06:49You know, we may not show up to anything.
06:51We may show up week eight.
06:53They're, they're going to like, they're not going to acquiesce to that.
06:55They're going to be like, okay, go ahead, do it.
06:57We, we will not be told when we're going to sign you.
07:02That's the reality.
07:03And I think it's the wrong decision to make.
07:05I mean, I think that you're looking at it and this is a guy who in the only year he
07:09had a quarterback, he went out and he dominated the NFL.
07:13The only year he had a quarterback.
07:15Yeah.
07:15Is there some stuff that you don't like about his independence?
07:19Oh, darn.
07:21Oh, you don't like.
07:22But you do acknowledge because it's two separate discussions.
07:25I think you always come at it from the point of what he's doing on the field.
07:28You do acknowledge that before they traded for him and got an absolute steal props to the front office.
07:34He was arguably the biggest problem child in the National Football League.
07:37Now, I know you'll say he was playing with bums.
07:40Well, you didn't have to act like George did just because he didn't have the best quarterbacks throwing to him.
07:46There's production and then there's attitude.
07:50Hey, look, I get it.
07:51And it is a dangerous thing to give $34 million to someone who they think could implode on you.
07:58That is dangerous.
07:59I have no doubt.
08:00You sit there and you give him $30 million, he's going to put up numbers.
08:03But this apparently is about behind the scenes.
08:06I get it.
08:07You know, now I could say in Pittsburgh, they've got a history of wide receivers that, you know.
08:14I mean, they had the great Mike Tomlin managing them.
08:16Maybe not so great because Antonio Brown, did Juju have problems before he left?
08:22Isn't that an example, though, of it?
08:24It's like we didn't know how bad a guy like Antonio Brown was until he got out of Pittsburgh.
08:29And they were able to keep it under wraps.
08:31Possibly.
08:32A lot of Pittsburgh receivers go elsewhere.
08:34They have really good years.
08:36And I understand the off-the-field stuff.
08:39I get what they're doing.
08:40But what is riskier?
08:44Signing up a guy who you think might be a little bit, let's say quirky.
08:50Okay.
08:51All right.
08:51Or not retaining him, upsetting him.
08:57Like, what do you think is going to cause more problems this year?
08:58Having him be on a franchise tag or giving him $35 million on a three-year deal?
09:03Well, this year.
09:04This year.
09:05And then, is he going to play as well?
09:07Like, what's he going to be like, you know?
09:10And then it's like, are you now wasting the window?
09:12What are you doing more harm to?
09:13Are you doing more harm to your locker by signing him up or more harm to your football team?
09:17What about harm to your cap, too?
09:19We've got to factor that in.
09:20I mean, we're not talking about $20 million.
09:22No.
09:22This is harmful to the cap at $28 million and you're locked in.
09:27But to commit mid-30s to him for years to come, that's harmful, too, if it doesn't work.
09:32But you can manipulate it, right?
09:33You can't manipulate this.
09:34This is a hard $28 million.
09:35Yeah.
09:36If it's $35 million, you can make it into, what, $18 million?
09:40That's the balance, Bob.
09:42That's so tough.
09:44And sometimes it feels like the Cowboys, they don't care about—
09:48You know, there's a lot of companies like this.
09:51They're like, sometimes I blame this company, where it's like, this is the bottom line.
09:56We're not playing Madden.
09:58There's emotions involved.
10:01And, yeah, you can make me sign this and I'm probably going to sign it, but I'm not going to
10:07be happy about it.
10:08And you're going to get somewhat of a disgruntled employee.
10:11And I'm not going to do all the extra credit stuff if I was in this great, fantastic mood.
10:17When you rewarded me for what I am owed, and instead, you're going to make me feel a certain type
10:25of way.
10:25During a Dak-Prescott window year, it's all here, the Dak window, the Dak window.
10:29Now we're going to draft people that can't play in—that could play in year two, year three, maybe year ten
10:35because we have this Dak window.
10:37Well, like, now this is a potential problem that really has an impact on the season from a negative standpoint.
10:48But on that other side, it's like, okay, so does that mean we have to commit 35 a year because
10:54we're scared about how he's going to act right now for this season?
10:57It's a tough tug of war.
11:00Yeah, I think they would look at it and say, if making him play on the tag, which teams do
11:05all the time, if making him play on the tag makes him that much of a concern, he's not a
11:12guy we're going to sign here long term.
11:13Yeah.
11:14And so I think that they would say it's a little bit of like, you know, an indicator of how
11:21he is.
11:21I think when you hear them talk about this yesterday, it makes sense why you've started to hear and why
11:27it's not smoke when they've talked about, or when the discussion's been about, if there is a receiver in range
11:34that's highly graded, that they wouldn't just automatically pass up.
11:37And that's why I tell you, listen to Bobby.
11:41I'm not happy with him right now because he left us up last night watching the Stars double overtime.
11:46You guys did a great job during the first segment.
11:48Listen to Bobby when he says certain things.
11:51Three weeks ago, he told me he's not going to go ahead and pat himself on the back about it,
11:57which I know is surprising.
11:58Three weeks ago, he talked about this Jordan Tyson option.
12:03And I was like, what?
12:04He's like, there's a wipeout scenario where they take a receiver.
12:08Then Todd Archer mocked him as well.
12:11And now, what do you do if you are David Mooligeta, Micah and GP's agent?
12:20Is your advice to George, hey, your back looks a little strained.
12:27That's the MO.
12:28That's what happens.
12:29We don't play under tags.
12:31Jalen Ramsey, Micah Parsons, you can show up in week 10.
12:35I think you can show up in week 10 and get the full salary.
12:3810 would be the last week he could show up.
12:40And then you weigh that, right?
12:43Throw in that tantrum to maybe get you dealt and paid somewhere else versus, and Bobby, you have brought this
12:49up.
12:50And I've disagreed with you.
12:52Sending that message to other teams and having them not bite to pay you.
12:58We already know that nobody called to try to offer up the two first-round picks, which you could stretch
13:03to justify, would be a worthy price and a justifiable price after Jalen Waddell and some other moves that have
13:10taken place.
13:11Just go ahead and look at Dexter Lawrence.
13:13Does David Muligeta feel confident enough that they can raise hell again and still have another team go ahead and
13:21pay him?
13:22Or, George, we do have to prove it one more year and then we'll get up out of here.
13:27But if we sabotage, someone else may not come to swoop in.
13:31I think it's probably that one.
13:34But, see, the other problem is if they were to draft a receiver, you're then saying, all right, you've got
13:39to go on a prove it year again.
13:40It's a little bit of like what they ran into Schultz.
13:44Schultz got tagged and had to play on the tag and was in a year where they had started to
13:50de-emphasize him in the passing game.
13:52And so he didn't stack up some of the numbers that he did.
13:54If they draft a replacement and then you've got Flannoy, Lamb, whoever they draft, and Pickens,
14:01Pickens is not going to put up a 1,500-yard season next year, especially if Lamb's healthy the whole
14:05year.
14:06It's just not going to happen.
14:07There's not going to be enough opportunity.
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