00:00All right, some of the observations from Tommy and Kyle.
00:03Sounds like it was a big day for the new defensive players
00:07or some of the players that you're wanting to get a look at.
00:10I know I saw Nick Harris said that Malachi Lawrence flashed in a big way yesterday,
00:14which is something that you were looking for.
00:16But Tommy and Nick both wrote about Kobe Durant, had the moment of practice.
00:20He intercepted Dak during 7-on-7.
00:23And there were a couple different times that defenders got hands on the ball too.
00:26D winners, the linebacker, obviously another new addition.
00:28And then Kalen Carson, the third-year cornerback, who was hurt most of last year.
00:35And if you get, obviously it's nice to see new additions like Lawrence and Durant
00:39and all those guys coming in and making plays early in practice
00:42and doing things like that.
00:43But if you're able to get Kalen Carson to do anything for you
00:47after they were hyping him up like crazy during that first training camp,
00:52just behind the scenes they were like, man, he looks so good.
00:55He looks so strong.
00:56That guy's got, like, super competitive, love his mentality.
00:58And then it's just been downhill ever since then.
01:01But if you can get something out of him, that would be fantastic
01:04and obviously change the dynamic of your corner room.
01:06When it comes to Durant, I love what Schottenheimer had to say about him
01:10in the presser, said his communication is elite.
01:14And that, to me, I'm loving hearing about communication these days
01:19just as much as athleticism, maybe even more.
01:21So I thought it was interesting that Schottenheimer highlighted that
01:24given the train wreck that this team was last year trying to figure things out.
01:29He said, I'm thrilled with where the pass defense is right now.
01:34Flexibility, versatility, and disguise.
01:36He loves, Schotten does, Schotten loves the ability to communicate
01:41from defensive backs because he wouldn't stop talking about Jalen Thompson.
01:45He wouldn't stop talking about Kobe Durant.
01:46We were trying to figure out who he was tipping off might be his green dot choice
01:49that he's like, I'm not telling y'all.
01:51It led me to believe he was talking about Jalen Thompson.
01:54And so that's clearly something that they've got a big focus for,
01:57especially with Parker looking for smart defensive backs.
02:00A couple different guys, I think, were wearing it and trying it out.
02:05Todd Archer saying that, even though Clarence, I think,
02:10tried to name over shown as the green dot yesterday.
02:13Clarence jumping the gun, you know, as usual.
02:16So it did not look like a great day from all the descriptions from everybody.
02:21It did not look like a great day for Dak Prescott.
02:23He could not handle the Carl Banks pressure of being named the best quarterback
02:26in the conference.
02:27He had some struggles.
02:27That will happen when you're starting receivers include Marquez Valdez-Scantling,
02:32who Hagee just could not stop, you know, going on and on about as a bit example
02:38of why OTAs are so stupid.
02:40Just like, oh, Marquez Valdez-Scantling, who cares about him?
02:44Well, Schottenheimer did open up making RJ Choppy proud, saying,
02:49this really isn't real football.
02:51This is seven on seven.
02:52It's not real football.
02:53And he was downplaying it, saying, I wish we could do more.
02:58But he's like, this is not real football.
02:59When it comes to Dak, and Bobby's having some fun over-exaggerating the struggles.
03:06But they did ask Dak about facing Christian Parker's new defense early on.
03:10A lot, starting with just their D.C. Christian Parker, obviously excited about when we got
03:15him, but now having spent time with him, having to compete against him, just his leadership
03:21for one.
03:21You can feel it amongst each and every one of the position groups on defense.
03:25You can feel their intensity.
03:27Probably just going against them, their communication.
03:30You know, when we motion or we make moves or calls, they're as loud as we are.
03:33They're echoing.
03:35And just a defense that communicates, communicates loud, usually a defense that's sound.
03:40So just excited about that.
03:41They've already made it hard on me.
03:44They've already made some of these practices very competitive.
03:46And the trash talking, the energy has been high.
03:51It's iron sharpens iron already.
03:53And I can tell you, it's only going to get better.
03:56Camp's going to be fun.
03:57And we're going to make it tough on each other the best we can.
04:00I mean, it's so difficult sometimes, whether you listen to him or you listen to him,
04:04listen to Brian Schottenheimer, you listen to anybody talk in the NFL, it's so difficult
04:07sometimes to tell, like, all right, what is genuine praise for a group of people or
04:13genuine praise for a player on your roster versus gassing him up or I'm saying the nice
04:20thing because he's a teammate.
04:22We're about to find out with a Schottenheimer clip here in a second.
04:25Yeah.
04:26And so I think on this front here, I think that's genuine.
04:31Like, the fact that he's specifically talking about how loud they are echoing the calls
04:35and different things like that, I think it probably is standing out to him specifically
04:38after the defense they saw last year where everything was so broken.
04:43Yeah.
04:43Everything in the way they communicate was so fundamentally broken that it's encouraging
04:48that I think it's encouraging that it's a refresher and they all hear it and it stands
04:52out to them.
04:53It's super troubling that it stands out that much to them, probably.
04:57It's 10 years in the league.
04:58If that stands out, that the defense is vocal and communicating during practice, that's troubling.
05:05It's not troubling for Dak.
05:07It's troubling for, like, the last 10 years.
05:09You mean to tell me they haven't been communicating?
05:11Yeah.
05:11Some clear wins for Kenny Clark.
05:14As you mentioned, Malachi Lawrence with a sack on the 11-on-11s.
05:20Rashawn Gary with a pressure against the first team as well.
05:24Maybe I should put my hair on the line for Malachi Lawrence, too, then, if he's going to do that.
05:29Where would you set it?
05:31What's the point of putting your hair on the line?
05:32Something much more attainable.
05:34Well, I could put my beard on the line.
05:36But Kristen would kill me if I did that one.
05:38But, no, this is the—Shotty was right, and there's a lot of the—the hardest ones to judge a lot of
05:44time are going to be the edge rushers.
05:46I mean, there's a lot here that's difficult.
05:48But you get the 7-on-7 stuff, you can, like, kind of see a little bit of things.
05:51They're not obviously in full pads, but trench work is going to be the most difficult to kind of project
05:55out.
05:56My favorite moment of the day, by far, though, was Brian Schottenheimer being asked—I love the answer so much.
06:05He was being asked about Texas Longhorn running back Jaden Blue in year two.
06:12I think he's doing great.
06:13You know, he came back with a different look than, you know, what he had his rookie year.
06:19I think, you know, most rookies have to figure it out.
06:23I thought, you know, he and I had a very candid conversation.
06:27You know, Joe at the exit interviews, you know, we just kind of put it all out there, you know,
06:32put all cards on the table.
06:34You know, he didn't like being inactive, and I was very honest with my opinion of why he wasn't active.
06:39And so we had some really great conversations.
06:42And he took that, and he, you know, ingested it, took it in, and he's come back with a great
06:50look on his face and a great work ethic.
06:53And intelligence is off the charts.
06:55I mean, the guy is football brilliant.
06:57He really is.
06:58And obviously, you see the speed and explosiveness.
07:01He's going to be a huge part of what we want to do.
07:04But he's got to continue to do his part, which he's doing great right now.
07:08Man, I love that answer because I think it was truthful.
07:13And it was encouraging with the arrow.
07:16Sounding like it's going the right way after all the Jaden rookie issues.
07:20I think it was definitely truthful.
07:23I think it was the first part of that definitely felt like it was softened a little.
07:28Like what he's like, we had a candid conversation.
07:31We put all our cards on the table.
07:32He ingested that.
07:34It's like, oh, you guys had it out.
07:36It's like, but that's why I think it is you can believe that's not him just talking to somebody.
07:41Because Shadi has built up, I think, enough credibility in the area of will he be critical of players publicly?
07:49Or will he just be direct and say, look, they're not there right now.
07:52And he was that way with Jaden Blue all last year.
07:54He would consistently say he's not there.
07:56He's not ready to do it.
07:57And he's been that way.
07:59Last week, he talked that way about Tyler Guyton.
08:02Tyler's been inconsistent.
08:02He knows that this is a big year for him and his career.
08:05Like he will press on that button if he needs to.
08:07So I think for him to say he's been great so far and football brilliant, I think those are all
08:11things Brian Schottenheimer probably genuinely believes.
08:13And it's not just fluff.
08:14Then he called him football brilliant, intelligence off the charts, night and day from last year.
08:20So let's see how much juice.
08:21That's what I'm looking for from Jaden Blue this season.
08:24How much juice can he give you?
08:26My expectations are pretty low.
08:29You know, it's like, you know, that is the one position where you should be able to go, you know,
08:36guns blazing day one.
08:38Day one, you know, if you're really good.
08:40Zeke came out of the gate.
08:42I mean, pass protection is really the biggest thing you have to figure out.
08:45See hole, hit hole, pass protection.
08:47But you should be able to be.
08:48It's one of the positions where you should have the least amount of growing pains with it.
08:52That wasn't the case with him.
08:54So I have low expectations, but sometimes I like the low expectations.
08:58That way I get more excited about it as it's happening.
09:00It's also one of those things where the expectations were him, I think, were probably too high.
09:07Because we're talking about like, they just, a lot of people saw, man, he's a 4'2 guy.
09:11We never have 4'2 guys who can run and do all these things.
09:13And oh my gosh, he can be a receiver and he can split out wide.
09:15He played in a big school too.
09:17I know.
09:17That matters.
09:17Yeah, but he played in a big school where he did not win the job and he never could.
09:21Like, I mean, it is a school where he never took hold of that job at Texas.
09:25He fumbled a lot at Texas.
09:27He had issues there.
09:28He was always having to rotate out with guys and he went in the fifth round.
09:30Like, I mean, he is all upside.
09:32There's not a whole lot of like, ready to go, kind of about Jaden Blue's game.
09:36Schottenheimer cross-examined over George Pickens showing up to the next phase of the Cowboys offseason.
09:42And then we got into some semantics with reporters as Schottenheimer said, yeah, I expect and hope that he'll be
09:50here.
09:50And they're like, well, do you expect or do you hope?
09:54And I think Schottenheimer was like, no, it's kind of the same thing.
09:56No, it's not.
09:56No, it's definitely not.
09:57It's not the same thing.
09:59And then I think Schottenheimer admitted, no, Pickens has not communicated that he will be here, but I expect and
10:03hope that he will.
10:04I expect to poop in two minutes.
10:06I hope I'm back before the end of the break.
10:08There's a difference.
10:09Yeah, I expect he will be there.
10:13I kind of hope he would drag it out a little longer because that'd make for compelling storylines.
10:19Why is George Pickens here?
10:20But no, I imagine he will be there as soon as the mandatory stuff comes in and money's on the
10:25line.
10:25He will be there.
10:26Inside the star with a full recap on your official home of the Cowboys.
Comments