00:00This is Inside the Star and your official home of the Dallas Cowboys.
00:05The Dallas Cowboys defense is now what?
00:10877-881-1053.
00:13Brian Schottenheimer over the weekend at rookie minicamp assessing the defense post-draft.
00:20I heard Christian comments and it's funny.
00:23I mean, you know, he's learned so much from Vic,
00:26but he's going to put his stamp on this based off of, you know, what fits our personnel
00:34and whether that's playing nickel 51, whether it's playing nickel 4-2,
00:38how much base we play, all of that.
00:40But he and I have had these conversations from the minute he got hired that, you know,
00:44we wouldn't be able to finalize the foundation of what we're going to be built on until after the draft.
00:51Not that the talent acquisition piece ever stops.
00:54It doesn't stop, but, like, now we know for the most part what our roster is going to look like.
01:00Now is when those big decisions are made.
01:02And, you know, just being around him these last couple days since the draft,
01:07it's very clear we've got a starting point in a direction of what it's going to look like.
01:11And it's no different than what he sat up here and said with his introductory press conference.
01:16We're going to be multiple.
01:17But in terms of the starting point, is it potentially nickel?
01:20Yeah, I mean, there's a really good chance that that's what it is.
01:22And we'll see how much these guys handle.
01:26Yeah.
01:26Like, I mean, the amount that they're going to be in any sort of just one look,
01:34I think, is not going to be often.
01:38Sorry, I thought I had to sneeze there.
01:41The amount that they'll be in any one look is not going to be very free.
01:45Jeez.
01:46The boy is hanging right there.
01:48They're going to be in these different.
01:50I needed a Zyrtec this morning.
01:51I was like, are they still downstairs?
01:53Because I forgot to grab one driving into work.
01:55That's just the worst spot to be in, though, is that little, like, half spot between where it's like,
01:59is it going to come out or not?
02:02But, no, they're going to have a ton of different five down looks.
02:05They're going to be in base.
02:06They're going to be in just general 4-2-5 nickel looks.
02:10They're going to change it up.
02:11That's why they needed as much flexibility as they did.
02:13They need guys who can do a lot of different things so that they can morph their personnel moment to
02:19moment.
02:19I'm a sucker for when a lot of changes are made and someone tweets out your new lineup.
02:24Like, when baseball moves are made, I love just looking at it.
02:27That's why, you know, in Madden, I loved Dan Snyder early on because I was just putting Bruce Smith
02:34and Jeff George and Deion Sanders, I was moving and shaking, and I'm just dreaming of the possibilities.
02:41And I got one sent to me from a TOLO with pictures and the Cowboys' names and everything.
02:47Give me their starting lineup of, and I know you're saying they're going to shift and they're going to move
02:54and they're going to be multiple and all that, but just give me the one that we'll probably see out
03:00there the most
03:01with new names included, of course.
03:04Week one, probably, if we're just, they'll be in nickel most frequently.
03:09They'll be in 4-2-5.
03:11So that would probably be Rashawn Gary and, assuming health for everybody, Rashawn Gary, Donovan Azaraku,
03:19Kenny Clark and Quinnen Williams on the interior.
03:21Now right there, that sounds exciting with Azaraku being, to me, the biggest question mark.
03:28Now Kenny Clark is going to be a question mark for me as well because I was hoping for a
03:32little bit more from Kenny last year.
03:35But when you say Gary, new.
03:38Quinnen, he's getting forgotten in this whole thing with what an absolute freaking monster and beast the entire league knows
03:44that he is.
03:46Kenny Clark, Christian Parker, what he said about him from the Green Bay days,
03:51and then Azaraku, three of that four to me is really exciting.
03:56Yeah, you're getting somebody who knows how to optimize Kenny Clark and use him to the best of his abilities
04:01and has a really clear idea of how he wants to use him.
04:04So that front right there, your linebackers, again, if healthy, it's Overshawn and D-Winters probably is what it looks
04:11like right now,
04:11which, as long as Overshawn bounces back, D-Winters is a good NFL starting linebacker.
04:16Like, he is a capable linebacker.
04:18That works for you if that's what it is.
04:19And then your safeties are Malik Hooker and Jalen Thompson.
04:24Your outside corners are probably Bland and Revel.
04:28And then your Nicholas Downs is probably what it looks like with, obviously, some rotation in there for Kobe Durant,
04:34P.J. Locke, guys like that.
04:36But that's the primary look on the field.
04:37And that's going to be Overshawn and Revel.
04:40Like, the number one thing I want to hear about them this offseason is not picking up the defense
04:47and not being one with Christian Parker.
04:49I need to hear that they are good to go health-wise when we are in California.
04:54From a combined health and ability standpoint, where do you rank your confidence in Bland, Revel, and Overshawn?
05:09Um, Bland's one, in terms of the most confidence.
05:13Okay.
05:14And then I was probably just going to go in that order with Revel, then Overshawn.
05:21That's my order.
05:21Ooh, so Overshawn's last just because of all the injury concerns?
05:25I think I'd still have Revel last.
05:27Are you asking how they're going to end up or how they're going to be?
05:30Just your confidence in the season starts.
05:32Yeah, your confidence in being able to count on them.
05:34Like, I know they're going to be healthy, and I know they're going to give me good football.
05:37Like, how do you—because neither—none of those three, you can be totally confident in that equation.
05:42Like, I believe in the Overshawn ability more than Revel, but—
05:46Yeah, because Overshawn's got to show me he can be healthy and he can be good.
05:49Because he hasn't shown me either yet.
05:51Well, Overshawn showed more, in my opinion.
05:55That rookie year was way—
05:57Did I just say Overshawn?
05:58I thought so.
05:59Oh, my bad.
06:00I meant Revel.
06:00Revel's got to show me he can be good and healthy.
06:02Totally agree.
06:02I've not seen him do either yet.
06:04Totally agree.
06:05Brian Schottenheimer, first impressions of hearing the new defensive coaches teach?
06:11It was great.
06:11It was great for me just to hear the type of teachers they are with the guys,
06:14the way they preach fundamentals and teach fundamentals,
06:17and the cool thing with the small numbers like we have right now, Todd,
06:21is you're able to kind of—you know, you teach the drills in the classroom,
06:25then we go and we'll go into walkthrough, and we'll do the walkthrough,
06:27we'll kind of teach them half speed, then you go out there.
06:30I do have to remind a few of those guys, the coaches, that these guys haven't been doing much.
06:36I use a guy like Malachi Lawrence, who had 16 or 17 top 30 visits.
06:41We've got to be smart with these guys with what we do.
06:43And as coaches, we're just so excited to have them in the building.
06:47But I think the defensive staff as a whole, tremendous teachers, tremendous motivators,
06:54but what excites me the most is their ability to teach the fundamentals on the grass.
07:01Yeah, Shadi elaborated even more over the weekend, saying none of these guys are in great shape right now.
07:06You might have seen a few getting sick yesterday, a little bit of vomiting going on.
07:10Just a little.
07:11A little bit of correction there, too, for that young coaching staff on the defensive side.
07:15Very subtle, but he is talking about, like, I have to kind of gently remind them, like,
07:20guys, remember how much they've actually been doing field work here.
07:24This is first day back.
07:25Like, let's not get over jacked up to, like, oh, let's really come out here and make our mark.
07:30Which, those are the sort of little things that a new coaching staff is going to struggle with.
07:34Like, it's such a young coaching staff that doesn't have a lot of experience
07:37in the areas that they're being asked to do.
07:39I mean, you look at their linebackers coaches new to the NFL.
07:42Their secondary coach has never managed an entire secondary before.
07:45Their defensive coordinator is a first-time play caller.
07:47Like, there are a lot of new things about their defensive coaching staff.
07:51How comfortable does Christian Parker look in his first time as D.C.?
07:56What helps him, Nick, is the conviction.
07:58He knows what he wants.
07:59He does a great job getting his staff together and painting that picture.
08:02But I will say, like, he's very, very comfortable walking around and observing his staff.
08:08You know, I know when I became a coordinator at 32, I was probably a little bit more of a
08:12micromanager.
08:13It's not a good thing, but, like, I was coaching the quarterback still and all that stuff.
08:17But I think, again, it shows some of his maturity that, hey, I've trained these coaches on what I want,
08:22what I expect.
08:23And I'm going to go make sure they're, you know, giving me what I've requested.
08:27But at the same time, you know, it was really cool to see him grab Caleb after Caleb did some
08:33of the safety training with Smitty, Ryan Smith,
08:36and Rob Muschamp and Derek Ansley to see those guys kind of watch CP take Caleb into the nickel stuff
08:42and some of the pattern match stuff and footwork stuff.
08:45And the guy's an elite coach.
08:47And I told him last night, I said, hey, you know, you can't do enough of that.
08:50Because, again, he is an expert.
08:52And the guys he's trained, you know, speaks for itself.
08:54The quote that got me over the weekend, Shottie saying, I can't get Christian Parker to leave the building.
08:59I kind of see myself as a grinder, and I'm always out there before he is.
09:04I'm always out of there.
09:05He just loves it.
09:06So cannot get CP out of the building.
09:08Man, he is that little note he had there, too, about the way that he lets his staff work,
09:15which that sounds like a small thing.
09:18But, like, where Shottie's saying, like, you know, I micromanaged too much early in my career.
09:22And CP's not doing that.
09:24When you talk to people over there, that is one of the more consistent feedback items you've heard so far
09:30about Christian Parker,
09:30is that he had a clear vision of what kind of assistants he wanted to hire under him.
09:37And he has let them all do their jobs.
09:39And not just let them do their jobs, but done it in an empowering, like, you take responsibility sort of
09:45way of, like,
09:45I'm not holding your hand.
09:47I got a lot to do around here.
09:48You were hired to do this.
09:50And so not like he's needed to do a lot, but just very communicative to guys of, like, hey, I'm
09:55going to trust you.
09:55Let's make sure we're all unified in the vision.
09:58And then I can just trust you to implement that because I know what kind of a coach you are.
10:02And he's gotten a lot of high marks for that so far with people over there.
10:04Here's Christian Parker on how the rebuilding process of the defense has gone so far.
10:10I think we've done a good job.
10:11I think, you know, the Joneses and Will and their staff over there, they've done a good job just assessing
10:16and evaluating talent.
10:18You know, bringing players to us.
10:19We're having great dialogue on what the schematic fits are, what we're looking for, what we expect those guys to
10:24do in different situations.
10:26If we have this, then maybe we don't have that and kind of how to piece it all together.
10:30You know, because the defense is going to get formed about the personnel that we have.
10:33But their process has been very thorough in terms of just accumulating the talent.
10:37I feel like it was a very collaborative approach, you know, from Will to the Joneses to Kline Kubiak to
10:44Shadi to the position coaches.
10:46I mean, there's a whole lot of dialogue.
10:47You're getting different perspectives.
10:49People are responsible for looking at certain things and gathering certain information.
10:53So I think as we...
10:57The number one word that has defined Christian Parker as a Cowboy defensive coordinator to me is versatility or versatile.
11:06With all these different draft picks, when they flash the profile on NFL Network or ESPN, I'm usually seeing the
11:14V word.
11:15Why so much emphasis on that CP?
11:18Yeah, I think naturally, like, really good football players that are smart and play the right way and play with
11:24intensity, like, those are naturally going to be versatile players.
11:27Now, you don't need everybody to play versatile.
11:29You know, like, everybody doesn't have to play in multiple spots.
11:31You want guys to get good at one spot.
11:33If they can do multiple jobs and wear multiple hats, that is what it is.
11:37But I wouldn't say we were seeking to find as many players that could play, you know.
11:41It's not like, you know, other sports where you've got to play both.
11:44You know what I'm saying?
11:45If we can have a guy just play safety and we have the best nickel, we're going to do that.
11:47If it's a guy that we want to play in one position in base, one position in nickel, we're going
11:51to do that, too.
11:52So I think we just wanted as many good players we could find.
11:55That's interesting, too, to think about, just that he's saying that we all look at it as though they're targeting
12:01this sort of multiple versatile player,
12:04which I think in a lot of ways they are.
12:07But he's, again, saying he's just like, no, it's generally if you're going to talk about you have to have
12:11somebody smart
12:12and you have to have somebody with this kind of ability, well, then naturally they're going to be able to
12:17do both.
12:18It's more like it's just, well, if I'm describing this naturally, it's also going to be this.
12:21Because if you're smart, you generally can do other things.
12:24If you're athletic, you can do other things.
12:26As long as you can couple those things together, we can get you to do both.
12:33You can't just, you know, your build can stop you from doing certain.
12:39I feel bad for Jadeveon, man.
12:41I feel bad for Clowney.
12:42It's amazing after having someone here for one year, because I always looked at him as this soulless mercenary
12:50going around the league, kind of an underachiever overall from the freak college highlights.
12:57And he came here, he balled out.
12:59In it for a buck.
13:00I'll go get the quarterback for you for a year, give me my check, and I'm out of here.
13:04Yeah, and then they're like, you can't do everything we want.
13:06Get up out of here.
13:07Poor Jadeveon on the street.
13:08And you can't do everything.
13:10Yeah, you're right.
13:10You can't do everything if you have those things.
13:12But I think what he's saying there is just naturally like you generally, if you're smart and athletic,
13:15you can do more than one thing at least, and we can get you to do some other things.
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