00:00The top news that's been developing over the last hour is the Caleb Downs No. 13 news, as you can
00:06order that now on the Pro Shop.
00:10It feels like there's probably some permanence to this.
00:13If he wore 18 at rookie minicamp and now it's 13, I don't imagine you're going to change again before
00:18the start of the season.
00:21As I said last segment to Wolchuk when we were breaking the news, it feels like if the team was
00:27going to intervene and broker an arrangement between you and Durant, that would have happened.
00:32You've definitely had plenty of opportunities at this point to negotiate yourself with Durant.
00:38And you don't want to do it, right?
00:40Or you don't want to give what he's asking for.
00:44I mean, if you missed when he joined us last week, unprompted, he said he was spending the day doing
00:51financial planning stuff.
00:53And I think that's an important part of this story.
00:56You know, the jersey number really does not matter, you know, unless it really means something to you.
01:04But that's like, again, I would just say it doesn't matter, you know, as much as the financial freedom of
01:11what that $20,000 could represent for you.
01:15You know, it's not just $20,000, but it's what a financial advisor can do with that $20,000.
01:21And at the end of your career, it'll probably be closer to $40,000 or $50,000.
01:25But it's also the mindset of how frivolous I'm going to be with $20,000, you know?
01:30Now, you have $27,000 coming to you, but we all know by now with taxes, it's closer to $15
01:35,000 or $17,000, somewhere in there.
01:37About half of it, I think, in that tax bracket is going to get chewed up.
01:41So, I mean, some really rough math, $20,000 is like 0.15% after taxes.
01:48It's 0.15%.
01:49That means you could make an expense like that 700 times over the next four years.
01:55And you'd be essentially living check to check.
01:57You could drop $20,000 on something 700 times.
02:01But how many times are you really going to just bleep off $20,000?
02:05And right now, you're making a statement at the end of your career,
02:08I'm trying to throw a shutout on this thing, right?
02:11Because even if I only bleeped off $20,000 10 times, that's $200,000.
02:16And in a financial advisor's hands, that's a half million dollars when I'm heading for retirement.
02:22If I did nothing else right financially between now and the end of my contract,
02:28what if I get hurt?
02:29What if I suck?
02:30What if NFL wide receivers are too good for me?
02:33Or my crazy reaction speed at my 207 pounds isn't enough to be that much of a force against the
02:39run?
02:39And I never break out beyond where I am now.
02:45I'm a great college player, but I'm not a great pro player.
02:49And as a result, my long-term income is limited.
02:52So I love it.
02:54I think Caleb Downs is probably going to be an example and a leader for his teammates in a lot
03:00of ways.
03:01Yeah, for sure.
03:02This might be the most impressive for a 22-year-old to walk in here and say,
03:06hell no, I'm not dropping $20,000.
03:08What do you think?
03:09I am a damn fool?
03:10Do you think I don't understand the power of compounding interest in the hands of a qualified financial advisor?
03:16I think that's what we're looking at.
03:17Yeah, I think the financial stuff, totally fair.
03:19I mean, I do think that the numbers matter.
03:22I mean, look, LeBron wears 23.
03:24Why for Michael Jordan?
03:25Like, you grow up, you associate numbers with certain players.
03:28And clearly the number two is the only number that he's ever worn.
03:31So that's his number.
03:32It is special to him.
03:33And I just think it's a matter of time until he eventually gets to wear that number.
03:36And heck, I mean, we saw Jameer Gibbs goes from 26.
03:39He's now No. 0.
03:41Jameson Williams on his own team was No. 9.
03:43He's now No. 1.
03:44So with these now new number changes in the NFL,
03:47players are changing jerseys a little more regularly than what we've seen previously.
03:51Agent 0, right?
03:52DeMarvin Overshone, 13.
03:53Now he's No. 0.
03:54So it's not crazy for him to have to wear it for a year or however long at the 13.
03:59And then he switches to 2.
04:01But I can understand why he wants his number.
04:05I mean, I don't think...
04:05And I get why fans, including myself, are like,
04:09it's no disrespect to Kobe Durant.
04:11It's a player who's just never played it down as a Dallas Cowboy.
04:14And he just was given No. 2 less than a month ago.
04:17To me, it's a little bit bizarre.
04:19Like, why is this even a talking point?
04:21Why is it a thing?
04:22Kobe Durant, step aside, man.
04:24You can pick...
04:25You've never worn 2 either.
04:26You were 14 last year with the Rams.
04:28Let the Rook, who's about to be your leader on defense, go ahead and get his number.
04:32That's just how I feel about it.
04:33But I respect him saying,
04:35Hey, I'm not overpaying.
04:36I'm not playing ball with you, dude.
04:37If you want to be a D-bag about it, then fine.
04:40Wear the 2.
04:40I'll get it in a year.
04:42Yeah, I just think there's a protocol to it.
04:44It's like first come, first serve.
04:45I understand.
04:46Seniority.
04:46It might be Durant's dream to wear No. 2.
04:48Maybe.
04:49You know, he's been happy to wear 14.
04:50Maybe that was his childhood favorite jersey.
04:52It's a far cry from Jalen Smith, though, if you remember him.
04:55Remember he bought out all the 54 jerseys so he could wear No. 9,
04:59and then like halfway through the season he's being cut.
05:01Yeah.
05:02Yeah, that's something I'd really want to manage if I'm Caleb Downs,
05:05and I'm sure he will, is like, how many of these are we going to print?
05:10True.
05:11Don't go printing 200,000 extra of these and then expect me to buy them out
05:15when I'm switching to No. 2 next year.
05:17Like, let's keep these things sold out pretty good.
05:19Yeah.
05:20You know?
05:21Don't make a ton out there.
05:22And we'll get switched to No. 2, I don't know, in a year or two
05:25whenever Kobe Durant's out of there.
05:28But Dennis Rodman made 91 cool for a while.
05:31You know, I think if you're good enough,
05:34whatever number you're good in is going to become pretty damn iconic.
05:38Yeah, that's true.
05:40Okay, how much better do they make the defense?
05:42Mishota wrote today about how the Cowboys' defense has changed so much.
05:46You know, building off the Christian Parker quote
05:48about how this isn't the Eagles' defense, this is their own thing,
05:51and what all that means.
05:52And the quote from Jerry is,
05:54the facts are that we have executed on a dramatic change.
05:59He's got the angle from Schottenheimer.
06:01He noted that this year's rookie minicamp group
06:04spent more time practicing on the field than last year's
06:07because they expect more immediate impact from their defensive rookies.
06:12Probably should have had Ezra Raku on the field a little bit more last year,
06:14but I guess he would have been the only one on defense
06:17that had a chance in HE Double Hockey Sticks of being impactful.
06:22You know, I love another piece in here from Shottie as well.
06:25He says,
06:26he and I have had these conversations from the minute he got hired
06:29that we wouldn't be able to finalize the foundation
06:32of what we're going to build on until after the draft.
06:35It really put the picture in the frame
06:37as far as how specifically tailored the defense is
06:41to what players do well.
06:43You know, they couldn't finalize the scheme
06:45until they knew the rookies that were coming in.
06:48I think that's pretty cool,
06:49but that's a really key piece here.
06:52The coaches have to be flexible to their scheme,
06:55and they all talk about it,
06:56but could you actually do it
06:58and be confident that you're going to be able to teach
07:00whatever needs to be taught?
07:01But the bottom line here,
07:02I think as I was reading the article,
07:04is just the takeaway of how many young players
07:07that they're leaning on.
07:09And I just wouldn't be surprised at all
07:11if it's going to take 2026 and then into 2027
07:15because of how many young players you're depending on.
07:18How much better do you think they made the defense?
07:19Let me just ask that simply for you guys.
07:23I mean, I think they've made it a fair amount better for sure.
07:26I mean, just with the Christian Parker switch of Eberflus,
07:31like that right there was going to put you
07:33in a better position for sure.
07:35And then they've added a fair amount of talent
07:39to where you should be quite a bit better,
07:41but it is hard to know when you are depending
07:42on so many young guys.
07:44It's like just how much better are you really getting?
07:48Because I think we all know you weren't going to be worse
07:50than what you were last year.
07:51You will be better.
07:52But we've seen before, new defensive coordinators come in
07:54and it can take some time.
07:56Even if it's the first half of the season
07:57where things are a little bit, you know,
07:59you're sort of a note off.
08:01But then by season's end, I would expect them,
08:03hopefully, if they're healthy, to be peaking
08:05by the end of the season with all these young guys
08:08just learning on the fly.
08:10First time D.C. young players.
08:12It could be young guy chaos,
08:14or it could be young guy excitement.
08:16Like, these young guys are so athletic and good
08:19and coached by Christian Parker.
08:21And I don't know which way that pendulum is going to swing,
08:24but I think you nailed it.
08:25It'll be better the next year.
08:26We just don't know by how much.
08:29Landry Hat wrote about the Baylor tight end Michael Trigg,
08:32free agent signing of the Cowboys after the draft.
08:35Are you buying it?
08:37Or are the Cowboys taking risks on a bad character guy again?
08:42But the source in the piece said
08:44he's the third most talented tight end in the class.
08:47So I guess you would have Sadiq, you would have Stowers.
08:52In terms of a receiving tight end, yeah,
08:53I would have gone Sadiq, Stowers, and then Trigg.
08:56Really? Even more than Delp?
08:57I think, man.
08:58Wow.
08:59Yes.
09:00He did more than Delp did in college as a receiving tight end.
09:03I think Delp is a little bit of a projection.
09:04And I do like him a lot.
09:05Don't get me wrong.
09:06Delp's a much better all-around player.
09:08Can block.
09:08Trigg can not block.
09:09But just as a receiving tight end,
09:12Trigg was better in college than what Delp was.
09:14So are you buying that?
09:16Apparently you guys are.
09:18And then are you buying that he's gone through a maturity
09:21being at Baylor?
09:22Like the story that I read said he got into like a prayer group,
09:27like a Bible study group last year, kind of centered him.
09:29All right, cool.
09:30Okay.
09:31But he did get kicked out at Ole Miss, right?
09:34Yeah, he did.
09:35And I don't think that the prayer group did much for him at Baylor.
09:37Really?
09:38There was some stuff that I, it lasted throughout the whole season.
09:41I saw the interview from Rookie Minicamp.
09:43He said the deal with the AD was a big misunderstanding.
09:46You know, they were just talking about things.
09:48Yeah.
09:48There might be some other stuff there that he's got to figure out.
09:51That, I mean, it's not probably for me to even speak on,
09:55but I do think that it might not just be maturity.
09:57I think it might be some other things that, you know.
10:00Could you say, is it something that would probably keep him from,
10:04would he get suspended if it gets out?
10:08No.
10:09No.
10:10It's not availability.
10:11It's just how professional he's going to be?
10:13Yeah.
10:14Okay.
10:15Well, I mean, you hope going undrafted is one of the things that lights a fire under you
10:19a little bit.
10:19Yeah.
10:20Right?
10:20I mean, and that's what he talked about.
10:22The talent's there 100%.
10:23That's what he talked about was, you know, just that he's going to take this opportunity
10:29and make the most of it.
10:31He said all that stuff's behind him, you know.
10:34But he also said he didn't want to talk about it, which can sometimes be a red flag, you know.
10:38I just think a lot of it's not really out.
10:41Yeah.
10:41It might be some stuff he's also getting a little bit more understanding of himself.
10:46Okay.
10:47That he was kind of, I don't know, maybe unaware of.
10:50There's a stripper pole involved.
10:51No.
10:52It's nothing along those lines.
10:53Sounds like we've got a work in progress.
10:54I think that Kyrie Irving would be a good person to kind of look at in maybe some of
10:58the ways that he's been helped since coming to Dallas.
11:00I think that Michael Trigg is going to have that same type of support system with the
11:04Cowboys and will be able to get maybe some things that, issues that he's dealt with in
11:09the past can be corrected.
11:11Okay.
11:11So he's probably not going to get concussed on his day off.
11:13No.
11:14That's encouraging.
11:15Very much so.
11:16All right.
11:16I asked that question.
11:17No legal stuff.
11:18I said the stripper pole involved.
11:20He said no.
11:20Yeah.
11:21I just wanted to make sure.
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