00:00Is this already the end for Joe Milton?
00:03Maybe not.
00:04Let's talk about it here in Below the Belt,
00:07which is sponsored by Window Nation.
00:09That'd be a tragedy if Joe Milton were out the door
00:11before you got a chance to chat with them all
00:13because K&C swiped him and took him as a guest last year
00:16in Oxnard before we...
00:18They took like three guests of ours last year.
00:20I didn't appreciate that.
00:21That's why it was nice to take Steve Berline from them last week.
00:25John Machoda over at The Athletic
00:27is already jumping in to the 53-man roster projections
00:31and trying to take a look at who's the sleeper candidates
00:34who could be cut.
00:36And there's a couple things in here that I think are interesting
00:37that I would not have expected he was going to have in his cuts,
00:42especially on the offensive side of the ball.
00:43But we'll jump into it really quickly.
00:46Quarterback.
00:47Right now, as he enters...
00:48Before we enter training camp
00:49and we're in the middle of the off-season programs,
00:51he is projecting that they're going to carry two quarterbacks
00:54into the regular season depth chart
00:56and onto the regular season roster.
00:57And he does not have Sam Howell on the roster.
00:59Oh.
01:00Which I had...
01:01I opened the article thinking I saw two quarterbacks
01:03and went, oh, okay, he's going to cut Milton.
01:05Yep.
01:05I was wondering if he would keep two or three
01:07and keep Milton around.
01:08But he says no.
01:09He says it seems difficult to keep three quarterbacks.
01:12Joe Milton and Sam Howell will battle for the backup job
01:15throughout training camp and the preseason.
01:16Either one could win the job.
01:17Howell has the experience having started 18 NFL games,
01:20but Milton has the higher upside.
01:21It's hard to believe that the Cowboys would part ways
01:23with Milton after trading a fifth-round pick
01:25for him a year ago.
01:26And that's the biggest question about this.
01:28They did it with Trey Lance.
01:29That's the thing.
01:29That's the biggest question about this right now
01:31is the idea of what do you want in your backup quarterback?
01:36Do you want a lottery ticket
01:37or do you want a spot starter?
01:39And those are the two options that you have
01:41with Sam Howell and Joe Milton.
01:42Where Joe Milton very well could be somebody who progresses
01:46and the traits are so impressive
01:48that somebody may get interested enough and go,
01:49we'll give you something for him.
01:51You're probably not ever going to be able to trade Sam Howell,
01:53I wouldn't think, because Sam Howell kind of is what he is.
01:57Undersized guy who the NFL had already kind of determined
02:00we were done with before Dallas signed him
02:02or nobody was like clamoring around for him.
02:05But Sam Howell probably is in a better spot to be able to,
02:07if Dak goes down for two games,
02:10step in and play and keep you competitive in those games.
02:13And that's ultimately what I think Dallas wants.
02:15Yeah, Chopin, I've always been on different ends of this.
02:18He wants more unlimited wild card.
02:23I want more safety.
02:24But to me, it also depends on what your defense is.
02:27It depends on what the rest of your team is.
02:29And how many games you're going to miss.
02:31If you have a horrific, and how many games you're going to miss.
02:34If Dak's out for eight games, throw in the wild card.
02:38If he's out for two games, I want the safety.
02:41If your defense is horrific, give me the wild card.
02:45If your defense is really good, and the other team is going to score 20 or 17,
02:52give me the safe thing.
02:54And it's also like, who are they playing, too?
02:57So, give me the, who's the best offense?
03:00Give me just a great elite offense.
03:02Rams.
03:03All right.
03:03You're playing the Rams.
03:06You have a better chance of winning that game with Sam Howell or Joe Milton.
03:11Conversely, if you're playing a team like New Orleans, who you should beat, I don't want
03:16the wild card.
03:17I want the safe guy, right?
03:19I want the safe guy who's going to win that game.
03:21This exact question that you guys are going through right now is why I would keep three.
03:25Yeah.
03:25I would, and I know a lot of people are saying, it's just, it's too difficult.
03:28You don't want to keep it.
03:29That's so much, like so many resources to devote when you've got a team that is looking at depth
03:34concerns on defense and other things.
03:35Like, you can't afford to just have a quarterback who's definitely not playing the whole time.
03:38And you're just keeping her out.
03:40But to me, it's like, you did already trade a fifth rounder.
03:42There's so much upside with Joe Milton, but Joe Milton's also not going to win you a football
03:46game next year in all likelihood, if you need him to step out there and start.
03:49How might, like, I, I, I think of who are the, when you think backup quarterback, like,
03:57oh yeah, that's the guy who just steps in and wins you football games.
04:00Like, who do you think, like the guy that comes to mind for me instantly is Brian Hoyer.
04:03Like Brian Hoyer is never going to be a guy that I'm going to ask to start regularly for
04:07me, but I also feel generally competitive.
04:09Cooper rush was great at that being a generally competitive quarterback, structuring a game
04:15plan around him, but he's, he's never going to be more than that.
04:19Yeah.
04:19That's always who he's going to be.
04:20So I'd like to have that around because I do want to remain competitive.
04:23If I've got a couple of weeks, I got to get by, but also at the same time, I don't
04:29want
04:29to give up on a lottery ticket potentially.
04:31Cause there's so many teams, Belichick did that for years with the Patriots where they'd
04:35stash a quarterback and then just flip him for more capital in the future.
04:40And it's just a, a worthwhile investment to have.
04:43Uh, the next place where he has some surprise cuts is the very next position.
04:47He has them only keeping three running backs and one of them is Hunter Lipke.
04:52Hmm.
04:53The obsession with Hunter Lipke around here has reached Jamil showers levels where it's
04:58like, I don't know what he's really doing here, but he hangs around the roster for six
05:02years somehow, but he's got Hunter Lipke, Javante Williams and Jaden blue.
05:07Bye-bye Phil Moffa.
05:09Bye-bye Malik Davis.
05:10Malik Davis was a good player for them last year.
05:12And Malik Davis is just never will find a foothold.
05:15It's crazy.
05:16Cause I do think that he's got something.
05:18Yeah.
05:18He's a, he is such a Malik Davis is he's, it's sort of the blue and Davis are sort of
05:26the Milton how like comp when you look at the running backs.
05:30Cause Malik Davis is not really anybody who has any like one big time trade, but he is
05:36just kind of solid at everything.
05:37And he's just, all right, he can do everything kind of decently for you.
05:41And he can put, whereas blues, the guy who's like, yeah, he may fumble a bunch or drop passes,
05:44but my gosh, he can run for two.
05:46If he's got just a clear line of sight for 80 yards, it's like, okay, that's great.
05:50But he ends up saying that, uh, he thinks the third spot just comes down to a numbers
05:54game and that's why he's only keeping three running backs and ultimately thinks blue wins
05:57out because of where he was picked.
05:59He does have them keeping four tight ends, which Jake Ferguson, super positive over the
06:04weekend, talking to John Mishota about the tight end room and also the potential for
06:08the Cowboys offense.
06:09Feels like I say this every year, but this is the best talent I've seen in this room.
06:13And you know, that's our, that's our job is, you know, help each other out wherever
06:16we need it.
06:17And, uh, Linda Wells has been doing a great job of, you know, holding the young guys and
06:20getting them ready.
06:21What's your mentality this off season, just getting ready for the season?
06:24It's just, uh, you know, getting into the best shape of my life, uh, being able to run,
06:28being able to, you know, keep my endurance going, uh, making sure my body's good and,
06:32you know, just being able to play as many snaps as I can to win as many games for this
06:35team.
06:36The offense was so good last year.
06:37I mean, is the mentality just to try and even one up what you did or what, what have
06:40you approached that as a group as well?
06:43Yeah, last year is, uh, you know, that's the, that's the starting point for us.
06:47Um, you know, I think we, we barely scratched the surface of who we could be.
06:51And, uh, you know, we look back at a lot of tape right now and, um, we say, Hey, there
06:55is a lot we can clean up and we're looking forward to it.
06:57And you know what?
06:58That's something that we've talked about pretty extensively.
07:02And I, I know I've defaulted to it, Sean.
07:05I think you have to chop.
07:06I think you, you've been a little more open to the possibility, but the idea of just, I'm
07:11expecting regression on offense.
07:13I just think that's likely and then not like they'll be bad, but I just think it's likely
07:17that they're going to take a little bit of a step back, but there were absolutely things
07:21last year that could have been better offensively.
07:23There, there were so many different times where we'd look at their red zone execution was
07:28awful or, you know, the Panthers game where they were scoring great early in the game.
07:33And then it got down to it and they, they kept going like three and out in the final couple
07:37of possessions.
07:37There were going to address it.
07:38There were definitely some areas of the offense last year that could have been better.
07:42Yeah.
07:43The offensive line was not perfect.
07:44Guys on the offensive line can get better.
07:46Jake Ferguson can get better.
07:47Although I did think that was funny.
07:49Ferg better not become a complete cliche guy there.
07:51He ain't going to get in a, he won't, he's not going to get in that shape eating them
07:54Haley sandwiches.
07:56Dude, he is all over with the, there's a crunch that I got it.
08:00I got to find out from Jake or his fiance.
08:03They're not married right yet.
08:04No, not yet.
08:05How she's getting the crunch on this, on this toast.
08:08I mean, maybe his mic is turned up, but God, it's like, it's an envious
08:12crunch on these sandwiches.
08:13The mic is probably turned up and they've got to have some kind of old school
08:17panini maker.
08:19Yeah.
08:20Offensively, right.
08:21We got whipped by the lions.
08:23They ended up with 30, but then Brian Flores put shoddy in a pretzel.
08:29Yep.
08:30That this was three straight losses that ended things.
08:32And then they scored 17 against the chargers.
08:35Yep.
08:36So their offense also failed them at times.
08:40And then you talk about the Aubrey crutch that we battle about all the time.
08:44Those situations.
08:45Yeah.
08:45The highs were very, very high for them.
08:47And when they were, you have to do it against real, you know, do better against
08:50good defenses.
08:51I'm not going to say score 30.
08:52No one does.
08:53Again, there's a reason why defenses are great, but against the Houston Texans
08:57look more than competent when you face them this year that you can hold your own.
09:01Yeah.
09:01Show up.
09:02That over under is going to be 15 and a half for them against the Texans.
09:04You already talked about it last week.
09:06It was higher than we thought, right?
09:07It was.
09:07It was like 47 and a half.
09:08I don't know why.
09:10So that's a high number.
09:11The rest of the 53 man roster projection here from John Machoda.
09:15So he's got four tight ends.
09:16Jake Ferguson, Brevin Spanford, Luke Schoonmaker hangs around for another year.
09:20And Michael Trigg from Baylor, who he's the hot journey name of the undrafted free agent
09:23that'll stick around.
09:24Five wide receivers.
09:26So he goes arguably a little light at receiver because you could go up to six and nobody
09:30would think sideways at it.
09:32Lamb, Pickens, Flannoy, Turpin.
09:33And then Mingo holds on over the veteran Marquez Valdez-Scantling and the seventh round pick
09:39Anthony Smith.
09:40And the reason why he's going light at all these other places is because he's going full
09:44steam ahead with 10 offensive linemen.
09:45So he is all loaded up there.
09:48No surprises in terms of who he keeps, but some of the, in terms of the guys that there's
09:52no surprise, like, oh, waffle kind of cut, but he keeps an addition to the eight you would
09:56probably expect.
09:57He keeps Trevor Keegan, the veteran they brought in.
10:00And then a Johnny Cornelius, who was a day three pick for them last year.
10:03So he's going really deep on the offensive line.
10:06Defensive linemen, he's keeping five.
10:08That's Quinnen Williams, Kenny Clark, Jonathan Bullard, LT Overton, and Otito Obonia.
10:14And then the outside linebackers, which is the pass rushers coming off the edge, what you
10:19would typically think of as defensive linemen.
10:20Rashawn Gary, Donovan Ezraku, Malachi Lawrence, Sam Williams, James Houston, and Tyrus Wheat,
10:26of all people, Sam Williams actually had talked as well over the weekend about everything they're
10:32doing.
10:33He said he's pumped about the new defensive changes because he says, this puts me back
10:36in the kind of defense that I was playing in Ole Miss.
10:38I love the 3-4.
10:39This is the power of the Cowboys because this Sam Williams quote, like, blew up on Twitter.
10:44And it's like, he's Sam Williams.
10:46Yeah.
10:47And this is the power of the star.
10:49He said, this is what I did at Ole Miss, so I'm happy being an outside linebacker in
10:53the 3-4 on Christian Parker.
10:55He's not trying to play around.
10:56He's straightforward with what he wants, and that's the way it's going to be.
11:00Close quote.
11:01Five inside linebackers on John Machado's roster projection.
11:04DeMarvin Overshown, D winners, Ja'Shawn Barham, Shamar James, and Justin Barron.
11:08They really like Justin Barron.
11:09Or they did.
11:10Obviously, new coaching staff could think differently about it.
11:13Go super deep at cornerback, keeping six of them.
11:15I forget Darion Kendrick is on this roster.
11:18I've never heard of him.
11:19Former second-round pick out of Clemson.
11:21Second?
11:21Yeah.
11:21I forget he's here.
11:22They signed him during the offseason, but six corners, four safeties, and then they keep
11:26the three special teamers.
11:27Be low.
11:28Be bill.
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