00:00As we go to Oxnard to talk with our Dallas Cowboys insider, Mickey Spagnola.
00:05Howdy, sir.
00:07Hello there.
00:08We're beautiful Oxnard, California this morning.
00:11Indeed.
00:12Is it nice and cool again?
00:14I think it's probably got warmed up to about 70, but there ain't a cloud in the sky.
00:20There you go.
00:21Well, we appreciate you roughing it for your craft and for our show.
00:27Now, something that we have already kicked around a little bit today, where exactly has Malachi Lawrence been during training
00:35camp?
00:36So while we're all hyped about downs and everybody's talking about Barham, even with the injury yesterday,
00:42it feels like we haven't really heard too much of anything about Malachi Lawrence.
00:47Yeah, and I think it's been sort of a workman-like training camp for him so far.
00:52I mean, he's getting reps at the left defensive end position in the 3-4, or the linebacker spot.
01:08So they're kind of moving him from a defensive end in the 3-4 to a defensive end when they
01:16go with a four-man line.
01:18He's getting some first-team reps, and so that's a good thing for those young guys like that, that they're
01:26fitting him in.
01:28Now, I don't know that he's been outstanding, but I think as a three-pack, those top three guys are
01:38competing for starting jobs.
01:40Now, downs is going to get one somewhere, somehow, I guarantee you.
01:45I think so.
01:45Either in the slot, or, you know, and then they give him some snaps at the deep safety,
01:52and especially with Jalen Thompson missing a little bit of time, he's back there with Malik Hooker.
02:02And Hooker was singing his praises the other day when he did an interview talking about how not only is
02:13he talented,
02:14but he's sharp at knowing what he's supposed to do and the fact that he asks questions.
02:20And he goes, I always look at that as when you're a young guy, if you're asking questions, you're getting
02:27down the right route.
02:28So, speaking of Hooker, I'm glad you brought him up.
02:33How much of a change is this defense for him?
02:37Has he talked a little bit about what he's doing there, and how's he looking?
02:41Yeah, no, I think he's looked fine.
02:43I don't know that it's that much of a change when you're kind of the deep safety, kind of doing
02:50what you've been doing.
02:53Downs is more of the move guy.
02:55Same thing with Jalen Thompson, you know, who has played previously like a nickel linebacker or closer to the line
03:06of scrimmage.
03:07And what Hooker was talking about is that it seems like everybody better aligned with what they have to do,
03:19right?
03:19There's not a bunch of you see a play and someone's running wide open and somebody blew assignment.
03:26And he said, so that makes it easier on me when everybody knows what they're doing.
03:32It makes it easier on me when we got those three guys up front that are playing so well.
03:38You know, it's not like I got to come up all the time and run support.
03:43He can, and he does, but I think the thing he was trying to emphasize was the fact that the
03:50communication is better
03:52and the fact that these guys, even the young guys, have a better feel for what they need to do
04:00almost on every play.
04:03It's nice to hear.
04:04What have you thought so far about Deron Bland?
04:09Because you were like, he's healthy, he's ready to go, I will admit.
04:12You probably heard it in my voice at the time.
04:15I was skeptical, and I know we are still early in camp, but what have you thought about him so
04:21far?
04:21Yeah, I think he's been awfully good.
04:23I think, especially yesterday, and not specifically him, but the collective group, the coverage has been so much better.
04:34And everybody's going, well, how could it not, you know, because of last year.
04:40But he's been good.
04:41His coverage has been good.
04:43And you almost forgot a healthy Deron Bland, what that looks like.
04:49And I was thinking the other day when I saw him, and I kind of reminded myself, this guy's a
04:56big corner.
04:57He's not one of these little munchkin corners out there.
05:01You know, he's 6'2".
05:04Yeah.
05:04And we forget that, 200 pounds.
05:08And he has looked good.
05:09And I don't think there's any health concerns whatsoever.
05:14They slow played it in the offseason, knowing that, you know, you're not going to win a Super Bowl on
05:22May 16th or whatever.
05:25And, you know, and I watched him rehab, and he was the whole time running so well, so well, and
05:33working on the cords that what I was told is that, yeah, he'll be ready for the start of training
05:39camp.
05:40And we'll ease him in right from the start, just because he hadn't played any football since December.
05:47But, yeah, he's moving well.
05:50And I think the surgery certainly repaired that fifth metatarsal that the screw broke in there, and they had to
06:01go in and replace it.
06:03And from my understanding, that bone is grafted over on itself, and they did a little something there also to
06:11help that, and he seems to be moving just fine.
06:14So I like hearing that, because with all due respect to, like, Durant, who's looked good, and Revel, and everybody
06:21like that, it just feels like Durant Bland is vitally important to really get this secondary in gear.
06:28Oh, you know, you're exactly right.
06:30They need him on the field.
06:32You know, it's great that Revel's coming on.
06:36It's great that Kobe Durant is showing his versatility.
06:41Not only, you know, a lot of the time, he and Revel are kind of splitting those first-team reps
06:49at the other cornerback spot.
06:52But he can play inside, too, if they need it, and they have worked him in the slot on the
06:59nickel also.
07:01So, yeah, that, to me, was encouraging how they've kind of repaired that secondary, but not so much repaired it.
07:11They've got healthy guys out there, right?
07:14And they've got willing guys, too, by the way.
07:17And I don't want to go, you know, go backwards and say, well, this or that, who didn't want to
07:23be here or didn't want to play.
07:26But these guys are, I mean, tuned in.
07:30And the good thing is, and something I'm going to write about today, this coaching staff is really dialed in
07:39on teaching.
07:40It's really dialed in on these guys knowing what they can do.
07:47And this might be the third time that I've heard this, how loud the defensive room is.
07:54Like, they put a play up, and everybody's got to say, well, this is what I'm supposed to do, and
07:58that's what I'm supposed to do.
08:01And Christian Parker really emphasized at times how loud their room is.
08:07And Dak just said the other day, when they're doing motion or they change kind of at the line of
08:14scrimmage, he goes, it gets real loud on that defense, calling out their assignments and making the changes.
08:21So, to me, if nothing else, that is a significant improvement over last year when they had all the broken
08:30assignments, missed coverages, things like that.
08:34But now, we're going to get a better idea right next week.
08:38You're going to play the Rams, and they're going to test you.
08:41And it's almost like we lose track because it's kind of day by day by day.
08:47But next Saturday, they've got a preseason game, right?
08:50They're going to Seattle.
08:53Your face, Kevin.
08:54You thought it would never happen.
08:55Well, I actually wanted to ask you about that because you've talked in the past about, you know, we've thought
09:02maybe this player was ready for primetime or almost primetime and the lights come on.
09:07Has there been over the years any specific players or plays or however you want to define it that you're
09:14like, yeah, that's great.
09:15I just don't know if that's going to translate into a preseason game.
09:18You know what I'm saying?
09:19No, and I think that's the natural reaction because I think we saw it last year with Treshawn Holden, you
09:28know, the wide receiver from Oregon, right?
09:31And he would make a spectacular catch in practice seemingly every day.
09:36And then the lights came on, and it's like, well, dude, where are you at?
09:40And he kind of disappeared and kind of the reason why he ended up on the practice squad for two
09:47reasons.
09:48He wasn't ready for it, but he had the talent that he showed them to say, okay, we're keeping you
09:56for the entire season on the practice squad, and we want to see what you got.
10:00And he has showed up at times in this camp, but again, you sit there and go, okay, I'm not
10:07playing that game again and fall for it.
10:09I got to see it, you know, and I was joking with Nate Newton the other day about guys that
10:17were all Thousand Oaks, right?
10:19And one of them, we nicknamed him, it was the running back, Clack, and we nicknamed him Clickety Clack, right?
10:27Because in training camp, he would always show up, and it's like, oh, man, this guy's going to be a
10:32great backup to Tony Dorsett.
10:34And then when he got the opportunities in games, it was like, where'd he go?
10:38And it's happened, you know, Victor Scott was a DB, kind of the same thing.
10:45And I remember that going way back just because that taught me a lesson about don't fall for this stuff
10:55in training camp practices.
10:57Make sure you see what they're doing when the lights come on.
11:02I am kind of curious because CeeDee Lamb went through, and we're going to play it at 1 o'clock,
11:08he went through the entire team and kind of laid out why he thinks this team's going to win with
11:12the morning show.
11:13And he got to linebackers, and that was the one moment where he kind of, okay, we've got to keep
11:20Demo healthy.
11:21It was one of the things he threw out there, but then he pointed out winters.
11:24I'm just curious, again, we didn't get to see much of winters while we were out there.
11:29How have you seen how he's fitting in, the winter soldier?
11:33Very active.
11:35You can tell he knows what he's supposed to do and can do it, by the way.
11:42So he's more of the kind of move linebacker when they're in the 3-4, the two guys inside himself
11:49and DeMarvy and Overshown.
11:51And a lot of times he's closer to the line of scrimmage in coverage, and I think that they've found
11:59a really good player there.
12:02And then also Jayshon Barham, although yesterday he left practice early with a sore groin.
12:10And he was getting first-team reps.
12:13And not only first-team reps, but at times, and I don't know necessarily with the second team, but if
12:22he was out there with the second team in the middle, he was running the huddle.
12:26The plays were going into his helmet, right?
12:30And as I can't remember if it was Christian Parker or Schottenheimer said,
12:36Yeah, they've got a whole bunch of guys out there with the communication in their helmet, just trying guys out
12:44to see how they do at it.
12:45And they haven't gotten to any point of, you know, who's going to be the guy in the game.
12:51But again, when you're having so many different combinations of players out there,
13:00just because you've got the green helmet doesn't mean if there's 60 plays in the game, you're in there for
13:0555, right?
13:07There's going to be some other guys that have to have an alternative green dot helmet
13:12just because of how many times they kind of rotate some of those positions.
13:17Well, and also, Kevin, think about this for a second, Mickey.
13:20If an injury happens in the middle of a game, and now you have to replace the guy,
13:24and you've never done green dot stuff before,
13:27like this is a really good time to teach, for sure.
13:29And I'm trying to remember, I was talking to Bucky Buchanan, the assistant equipment manager,
13:41and there's somewhat of a rule, like how many green dots you can have in a helmet to start the
13:47game.
13:47And I want to say it was three.
13:50Okay.
13:51And you have to have backup ones, too, by the way.
13:53Right.
13:53In case one goes out, you've got to put the other one in.
13:57And, by the way, since we're talking about this, they pulled a quick one on Overshown.
14:04I don't know if you heard Schottenheimer pointed out.
14:06They purposely turned the thing off and said, okay, what's he going to do?
14:11Does he understand what was coming, what might be coming in, and what you have to do?
14:17And they made him call the play, and he did exactly what they would have called in.
14:22So another good sign of guys know what's going on.
14:27And that just seems to be an utmost priority with this entire coaching staff.
14:34The fact that these guys are really, really teaching and teaching hard.
14:41And as Christian Parker told me, we walked off after he did the podium,
14:47and he said it doesn't matter what we know.
14:50They've got to know.
14:51Yeah.
14:51We've got to make sure that they know what's going on.
14:55And in this game, anybody that's played, they'll tell you if you misalign by, I mean, lining up by a
15:05yard, you've screwed up.
15:07Or if you take a false step the wrong way, you can't recover in time.
15:12And so they've been pretty good assignment sound so far.
15:16Now, again, let's see what happens when the lights come on.
15:20Yeah.
15:21Yeah.
15:21No, all of that is very fair.
15:24Just real quick, is your early feeling, then, that you think the linebacker room will be good enough for this
15:30season?
15:30Yeah, I do.
15:32And I think that, you know, I want to see Barham get healthy and see just how much he can
15:41do.
15:42And then the other thing is, and this guy gets overlooked, two guys get overlooked, Shamar James.
15:50You know, he finished as a rookie and only playing three years in college as the second-leading tackle on
15:57the team last year.
15:58Right.
15:58And a pretty good special teams player, too, by the way.
16:02And then the other guy that I think gets overlooked is Curtis Robinson.
16:06Yeah.
16:06A veteran guy that they brought in.
16:09And he's another guy that is kind of a versatile guy where he can stand up off the ball at
16:16linebacker inside.
16:18But he can also go in to the slot at times or in coverage, line up on the line of
16:26scrimmage.
16:26Which is another thing that they're doing with these linebackers, too, is even when they're in a four-man front
16:32in the nickel,
16:33at times one of those linebackers can line up and make a five-man front.
16:39And the other thing I noticed yesterday, boy, they were blitzing the hell out of the first-team office.
16:44Let's go.
16:45I love it.
16:46Excellent stuff, as always.
16:47We will catch up with you again on Monday.
16:50All righty.
16:50I'll be here.
16:51And Tuesday we'll head to, I believe it's Woodland Hills where the Rams have training camp.
16:58All right.
16:58So take all that equipment that you have right there with you.
17:01And set it up and everything.
17:03And it sounds like by then Aaron Donald may be more than just a tryout guy, right?
17:10Yeah.
17:10The greatest tryout ever.
17:12Yes.
17:13Indeed.
17:14There you go.
17:14Mickey Spagnola from DallasCowboys.com.
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