00:00Things I'm wondering about OTAs, gentlemen, Brian, I don't know if you saw it or you heard it, but last
00:05night in the Football's Finest, we talked about Ted Wynn's article updating where the Cowboys are in this journey to,
00:12you know, turn over their D.C. and, you know, hopefully become at least an average defense.
00:18And I think one of the cautionary tales in that article, guys, for me was him talking about Deron Bland
00:25and Kobe Durant, you know, Bland gave up the fifth most yards on explosive plays in zone last year.
00:32I think that was the stat. And then, you know, Kobe Durant is is is a player that probably raised
00:41the floor.
00:42But, you know, Ted made the point that the Rams moved on from him because they wanted to build a
00:48championship secondary.
00:49So if your goal is championship secondary, a team that knows their way to the Super Bowl has decided that,
00:56you know, one of one of your better free agent signings is somebody they should go go without.
01:01So I think going into the OTAs and how many corners the Cowboys have, I think it's 11 or 12
01:06of their 90 players.
01:08Where where could some of these guys emerge? Like, is it is it revel in year two or Devin Moore?
01:13But if it's not Bland and Durant, how would you handicap it?
01:16Or who are the guys to be optimistic about maybe saying, hey, my brain works.
01:21I can do this zone stuff. You might not have heard much about me, but I'm good to go.
01:25I kind of feel like, though, to me and one of the questions I was going to ask you guys
01:28at three 40, it was about.
01:31You know, the expectations of a year to leap and and I actually put him in the category of when
01:41you start to talk about Booker, when you talk about Azaraku and you talk about Ravel.
01:47And to me, the question was going to be of those guys, who's the guy that might not have the
01:56year to leap?
01:57Who's the guy? And I think if you look at that to me, when you ask the question about Ravel,
02:02he's the guy that probably has the least known about him.
02:08He's got the most to prove.
02:09Yeah, he's got the most to prove, but he's also one of these guys, too, that and I'm and I'm
02:15guilty of this.
02:16I think he's an incredible player. I saw that guy at East Carolina, but I'm also a little bit like
02:24I'm not too sure right now.
02:26Is the knee brace going to be fine? Is his knee going to be fine? Has he been working out?
02:31Is he, you know, how's the how's the transitions been for him to to kind of work on his craft
02:36and stuff like that?
02:38I think he's the cornerback that has the most questions about him.
02:42You know, he's the guy that can honestly be the boom of the bust.
02:47You know, you know, you could be like, wow, look at this guy.
02:50All health, full camp, full health, full camp, full confidence, all that stuff.
02:55But right now, he's the guy that has the most questions.
02:59And I know we were talking about, you know, guys like Butler and others that, you know, Carson, Carson that
03:05we're not talking a whole hell of a lot about.
03:08But man, this rebel could be the guy that when it's all said and done, they were like, OK, all
03:16he needed was this offseason.
03:17But but also there's that side, too, where people are like, Broadus, you're just you're blowing smoke.
03:23You're blowing smoke right now.
03:25Now, this guy, he is what he is.
03:26He's not going to get better.
03:27I don't believe that.
03:29But if he's that bad, I think there's lingering knee stuff like he's going to be the ACL that wasn't
03:35right on the other side of it.
03:36That it didn't work out.
03:37Yeah, that it didn't work out that way.
03:39But he's the guy that when it's like I say, when we get out of training camp, it's like, damn,
03:45he needs to be playing more or he needs to be a starter or he needs to, you know, boy,
03:51coming out of camp.
03:51He was one of our best guys in camp.
03:54I did wonder how much Kalen Carson played zone in college.
03:57And I guess that's a project to go look back on.
03:59But yeah, obviously a bit.
04:01Did he?
04:01Yeah.
04:02Yeah.
04:02Quite a bit at Wake Forest.
04:03He's played like two good games for the Cowboys and like a bunch of them where it's like, oh, my
04:07goodness, what is he doing out there?
04:09What a total scheme change.
04:10You know, put him in a better position to have more good games.
04:14And then Devin Moore, you know, the fourth rounder who said when he was drafted, if I'd been healthy, I
04:18might be the best corner in this draft.
04:20And if, you know, if that's a schematic fit and he stays healthy, I think there's some hope.
04:28Revel year two and a rookie showing up who stays healthy that is designed and scouted by this actual coaching
04:35staff.
04:35I think we're holding our breath on Bland, too.
04:39You know, I mean, we're hopeful that the foot is something that just talking to some people over there.
04:44Yeah, he's not going to do much for the OTAs, minicamp things.
04:47But training camp, he should be ready to go.
04:50But they have a lot of, they have a lot of, clearly a lot of questions.
04:54I feel like we've been talking about the cornerbacks maybe more than any other position group here.
04:59You know, it's leading up.
05:01I mean, it was so bad last year and you've got so many injury questions.
05:04Right.
05:05I mean, with enough respect, and I know you asked us this question last week, Brian, and maybe I was
05:11too dumb to think about it thoroughly through or not informed enough, as I'm sure the text will jump all
05:17over.
05:18But, you know, after reading what Ted said yesterday, he made the point that corner is their biggest problem.
05:25Yeah.
05:25You know, and I was like, really, is it?
05:27Is it a bigger problem than linebacker or edge?
05:30But because of the fits and the, you know, the Deron Bland stat that he had, you know, I do
05:38think Deron Bland could be a really good player again in this league.
05:42But maybe it's just going to have to be for a different team.
05:45But I'll end with this, because I started it with let's be optimistic about corner.
05:50Fangio runs a lot of man on third down.
05:52So can you survive in zone on first and second if you're Deron Bland, get to third where you can
05:57do your thing?
05:58And is Christian Parker going to copy that template?
06:00Yeah.
06:01I think that, I will say this, I think we're really into connecting the dots.
06:06And I'm interested to see if this guy takes elements of what he's learned, but tries to find his own
06:14way.
06:15Yeah.
06:15That, like, where you think, well, man, he's going to be just like Vic Fangio and he's going to da
06:19-da-da-da.
06:19And maybe that's not going to be his case.
06:22You know, him, Mike Elko, those guys, you know, like, they are, they are, he's probably going to take elements
06:29of everything that he's learned.
06:31Yeah.
06:32And say, but he's got a whole new staff, too.
06:34He's got guys that he's brought in, and they're like, bro, you can't do that.
06:41And so, but that's where the adjustments come.
06:44Yeah.
06:44That's where all of a sudden it's like, and then the Ted wins and these guys that all watch tape
06:49during the year are like, well, they're not playing the same thing.
06:52Yeah, he's added this wrinkle.
06:53He's doing this differently.
06:54He's added that.
06:54I think the post-snap disguising is something that he's really going to be big on.
06:58And I mentioned that yesterday.
06:59I wonder if you agree, Brian.
07:00Yeah, I know.
07:01I do.
07:01I think he's going to try and create his own defense here.
07:06I think he's heard enough about, and he's even come out and said, no, this is the Dallas Cowboys team.
07:12This isn't, this isn't.
07:13So to me.
07:14A lot of guys are saying that.
07:16I feel like that might have come from this symposium that they do or this forum for the up-and
07:22-coming coaches.
07:23What's that called?
07:24Oh, yeah.
07:24The Coaches Academy.
07:25I think they're all being told, have your own identity.
07:28Right.
07:28You know, because that is an important thing.
07:30You don't want to just be a robot that's copying Fangio.
07:33You want everybody in the media to be talking about how you've done your own thing.
07:38Because that's a consistent talking point with Patrick Graham and the Steelers right now.
07:42It's like, oh, no, we're using our own language, and this is our defense.
07:45It's not that we're borrowing from anybody else.
07:47So, you know, to me, that's like branding or marketing on who I am as a guy.
07:52I don't want Fangio to get credit for this.
07:54So if I keep saying Fangio's name, he's going to get all the credit for me turning this thing around.
07:59Right.
07:59And I just, you know, I don't think it's in the best interest of, you know, the upward trajectory of
08:05a career that these guys want.
Comments