GBag Nation
Dallas Cowboys COO Stephen Jones joins the Nation to kick off the Cowboys season with a preview of Cowboys vs Browns
This podcast is brought to you by Men's Tea Clinic. Men's Tea Clinic is the team I trust with my total wellness optimization, and so should you. Five DFW locations with North Frisco Elder Auto Parkway at Dallas, North Tollway, now open. Call 972-go-men's tea or visit mensteeclinic.com. Post-season baseball is here, and it is the absolute best time of the year. I'm Rod Bradford of Baseball's and Boring, and we're gonna have you covered every step of the way with instant reactions from players, and coaches, and managers, and fans, and reporters, and everybody else who is immersed in this awesomeness and all the craziness that comes with October baseball. So follow baseball as I'm Boring, and the free Odyssey app, or wherever you get your podcasts. (upbeat music) It's hour two of the G-Back Nation. We are live at Buffalo Wild Wings in Dallas on Lemon. Come on by for some delicious food and beverage. It's a proper football Friday. Week one of the NFL season is already underway, a thrilling game last night with Kansas City in Baltimore, and we are heading for Cowboys Browns, Sunday at 325 kickoff here on your home of the Cowboys as Stephen Jones joins us now here on the family. Good afternoon, sir, how the heck are ya? - Good afternoon, guys, I'm doing well. - Right on, it's great to hear your voice and to reopen another season with you. Thank you so much for that. I do have to ask as we open this up, is it possible we have a contract announcement for the quarterback in the next couple of days? Are talks still ongoing? - Yeah, I hope it's a possibility. We continue to, I think, have the productive visits and talks, and we'll continue to work. - Stephen, I mean, these quarterbacks, it's crazy. You look up, it's like this guy gets 55, next guy 58. Before we know, we're gonna $70 million quarterback, and we've seen some chatter this offseason. Maybe you have a salary cap that is separate just for quarterbacks. I mean, you're in the midst of this competition committee. Is that something you see happening at all down the line? - Well, I think it's something that certainly, you know, people are looking at. I mean, obviously, you know, these quarterbacks are, you know, the most important position on the team. I think anybody would agree with that. And, you know, certainly they get in situations, you know, not unlike that with us, that they, and certainly Troy was that way, and certainly Tony was that way. And, you know, when you have good ones, you want to keep them, and so you're, they've got good leverage. So, you know, that's something that, you know, obviously as you look around, they, you know, you have to have these guys, but, you know, you've got to make decisions on supporting cast, and what goes around them, and, you know, those are decisions teams have to make. - Logistically, how would that work? - Oh, you know, what's, I wouldn't say that it's, you know, any great depth of discussion at this point, but, so too early to make any type of comment on something like that. - But the goal is to kind of keep franchise quarterbacks with the team that has them already. Is, would that be like the goal of a rule like that? - Well, I think, like I said, I just don't know, it's too early to make a comment on any type of rule. Obviously, we have franchise tags in the CBA currently that, you know, give you a chance to keep the franchise quarterbacks if that's what the team wants, and certainly, you know, in Dak's case, he's gonna have a big say where he wants to play. - And is it fair to assume if the deal doesn't get done by this weekend, probably doesn't happen till, at the, you know, after the season gets done? - I'm not gonna get into hypothetical. We're working hard, got our eye on the ball, and do what happens, and I know in the meantime, Dak and our teams got their eye on beating the brand. - Steven, how do you find a way to draft offensive lineman and plug and play them, and get them ready is the way you guys do? - Well, my hat's off, you know, in general, to Will McClay and his staff, and then certainly to Mike McCarthy and his staff, and other coaching staff that have been through here when we've drafted linemen. You know, I think communication is paramount in terms of, you know, what you're looking for, what kind of scheme you're running. You're running, or you're running the zone scheme, or you're running a man scheme. I mean, all of those are things that, you know, go in to how you pick offensive lineman, what kind of football character do you want in these guys? And, you know, I think our, I think Will McClay and his group have just done a great job of understanding what our coaching staff needs to execute their particular scheme. And certainly we've been fortunate to have luck, and certainly it looks like, you know, we've had good, you know, we've had some good picks again here, obviously with Guyton starting at left tackle, and BB starting at center, and I actually like Nate Thomas as well as a future guy, but you gotta, you know, most of, as you see, when you look across our line now, those guys are all homegrown guys. You've got Steel and Zack to go with those guys. So it's a, you know, it's a great group, and certainly thank a lot of them, and I think we're, you know, gonna have a really solid offensive line this year. - Steven, as the director of player personnel, when you looked at your linebacker situation, it looks like to me that you said, "Hey, not gonna go through what we went through last year." It looks like to me you've made a real effort to add players that they've really kind of very instinctual players, good athletes, guys that can tackle, guys that can play in space. Was that something you just didn't want to live through again? What happened to you a little bit last year? - I'm sorry, I missed the first, the position part. - Yeah, the linebacker. - Yes, sir, the linebackers, you know, it looked like to me, like, as you didn't want to live through what you lived through last year, I know you played a lot of dying package stuff because of scheme, and maybe because of some necessity, but it looks like to me as the director of player personnel, you said, "I'm not going through this anymore. "We're going to get us some linebackers," and you went out and did just that. - Yeah, I think so. I mean, obviously, ever schemes different, and there's a lot of different ways to have success, and, you know, in this league defensively, and Dan went about it one way, and certainly, you know, getting them back in the building, we know him well. You know, he's got a different way that he goes about playing defense, and I think both are successful. Obviously, you know what we thought of Dan, and you also know what we thought of my exemplar, both of them successful head coaches, but I think, as him, had an influence on that, too, in terms of really kind of wanting to beef up a little more in terms of moving forward, maybe focusing on stopping the run, even more so personnel-wise than Dan did. But at the same time, we had really successful defenses, turning the ball over and getting pressure on the passer with Dan, and what you really want is all the above, but sometimes that can be a challenge to have the personnel to do all the above, but that's the ultimate goal, is to stop the run, and then go get pressure on the quarterback and get the ball, but I think there was a, you know, we knew we needed backers the last couple of years, and fortunately, overshown, who I think is gonna be a great player, had the unfortunate knee injury right off the bat, and that really put us behind the eight ball as well, and, you know, required us to bring Bell up, who at the end of the day is probably more safety than he is a linebacker, but he played some really good football force last year, filled in admirably, and I did a nice job, but obviously, you can see we're going for some backers there that little heavier-handed and put Bell back, and he can bring it there from the safety spot. - And you draft Carson, though, and, I mean, he looked like just an outstanding prospect coming out of Wake Forest, and then he's getting an opportunity, another rookie there, but kind of talk about him and the evaluation when you will the scouts, when you drafted him, I think you probably had a plan for what he could do, but here he is gonna likely start for you. - Post-season baseball is here, and it is the absolute best time of the year. I'm Rod Bradford of Baseball's and Boring, and we're gonna have you covered every step of the way with instant reactions from players, and coaches, and managers, and fans, and reporters, and everybody else who is immersed in this awesomeness and all the craziness that comes with October baseball, so follow baseball as in Boring in the Free Odyssey app, or wherever you get your podcasts. (upbeat music) - Do this week in week one? - Yeah, I mean, from the day he's walked in the door, he's impressed around here, and you know this, Brian, Zim's a tough guy to impress. - Absolutely. - Especially at that corner position, Zim's, you know, he cut his teeth as a back-end coach, and you know, he knows what he wants in the secondary, but you know, he's had his eyes on Carson, as I said, from the day he walked in the door. You know, in terms of what we saw in the draft, you see a big guy, a physical guy who can tackle, but also run and cover, and with his length, he's, you know, he's what you're looking for. I mean, you look out there and you see digs, and you see a big, strong guy out there, you can go get the ball, you know, training camp from week one, you know, he kept showing up, he's gonna be 21 now, but he was 41 in camp, and he kept showing up, you know, making plays on the ball, intercept, getting picks, intercept in the ball. Just did a great job for us, and I know, you know, our guys feel really comfortable that, you know, with Brian being out here for the, you know, first month of the season that Carson's gonna step up and do a great job for us. - Steven Jones with Zia Carson, one of four rookies, starting for the Cowboys for the first time in history in week one, Browns eight and one at home last year. Steven, how confident are you going in that, you know, everybody's ready to do what it takes to get the win? - Well, that's a really good football team, and you look at what they got accomplished last year, they did it with, I think, four or five different quarterback, playing quarterback and made it to the playoffs. So hats off to them, you know, the coach up there does a great job, they've done a great job with their personnel, they've got some really, really top football players, so, I mean, this is a well coach team that's got really good personnel, and to go on the road there in the first game, we have our hands full and are playing a, you know, a playoff caliber football team, and, you know, that's what you gotta do, you gotta go on the road and win these games, and it's gonna be a big challenge for us. - There's certainly a team that ran the football really well last year. You went ahead and brought in Jordan Phillips, Linville Joseph towards the end of training. Kim, how you feeling about that defensive tackle room right now heading into week one? - Much, much better, I mean, you know, as you mentioned, we're brought two full grown men that are played in this league, and play with heavy hands and are big against the run, but the one that's really coming on is Matthew Smith, and, you know, he's back up to win 320 plus, kind of, you know, what we wanted him out when he came in here, he dropped some weight, I think, wanting to be quick and rush the passer, I like the way, you know, feeling like Dan wanted him to do more of that, but boy, he's had a great camp, and he is really gonna benefit from being around Phillips and Linville Joseph, and then, of course, it goes without saying, oh, it's a great football player, great three technique for us last year, and it's really playing great football here through training camp, and as we enter the season, so we really feel good about that group, about defensive tackles, and then we got, of course, Chauncey is really, I think, coming into his own, and he'll bring us a great element, they are rushing from the inside and playing that big in spot outside on run downs. - Steven, if you asked me, last time you cared about what I thought about your team was 2005, but if you asked me, hey, who's a breakout player for you, I would say that Jalen Tolbert would be that guy, I felt like it camp him and Brooks, initially the battle was pretty close, and then Tolbert found a way to separate. Are you guys in the personal side seeing the same thing, or am I seeing that the wrong way? - Well, Tolbert's just done a great cook, has been giving around on your little brine, but Cook's has been a great mentor and leader for that room, and in particular Jalen Tolbert, and you're really fashioned this work ethic after Cook's, who's one of the true pros in this league, one of the best guys we've had through this building that wasn't homegrown that's come in here and made a huge, different first-class man on and off the field, but you're correct, he had got a lot better last year, and then I think he's only gotten better through camp, and I said, Brooks hadn't done a great job, too, but I would say that JT right now is our number three, and then the one you gotta look out for, though, that's part of this rookie class is Florida, and he does some things that the rest of the group, you know, the Tolbert's and the Brooks can't do, as he's just got really strong hands, and really go get a ball and, you know, snatches it, and, you know, he missed the first week of camp, and got a little bit behind, but boy did he come strong, and I know we think a lot of him, and don't be surprised, he'll probably start out this season, being inactive several times, but at some point, look for him to make a move as well. You bring back Zeke, week one, he was top of the depth chart, but how do you envision that running back room and in that playing out this year? Yeah, I think we've got a really good room that cannot all of them have their strong points. Certainly Zeke, you know, we know what he did for us two years ago in terms of getting the ball in the end zone, in particular, and that was something that, when he left, we struggled with, was, you know, getting the ball in the end zone once we got in the red zone, so I think he's going to bring that element to the table. I think you'll see everybody participate, another coming up with packages produced, and then as you know, you know, we were able to work, you play through them up in Minnesota, they had a good relationship, but getting down and cooking here is a guy too that'll give us options as we move through the season. Stephen, there were a couple articles written about this cash-spending trend and how the Cowboys have ranked 30th the last couple of years. Could you help explain what the cash-spending in terms of the cap or even means and maybe a philosophy that goes along with that? I mean, at the end of the day, a team, and I think anybody would confirm this in analytics, our teams are going to spend the same amount of cash over a four-year period. Now, some people stay middle of the pack through all of it, some people spend really high amounts and are at the very top in terms of their cash spending, and then they have to go down because they spent so much cash and push things out that then they've already spent it, but it's counting against their cap in terms of pro racing. And so you don't spend as much cash, but unfortunately, you've spent the cash in previous years, and that's still counting against your cap. I know, you know, the last couple of years we had the year before that, we had the big spend with Dak and Amari one year that really pushed us to the very top. And, you know, depending on what happens here, we'd probably go be, you know, right there at the very top again, when we're done, hopefully, with CD. And then if we were able to get something done with that, we're going to end up having a lot of cash outlay and cash spend. But basically, my point is, you know, that's one of the unique things about the NFL. Every team's going to spend the same amount of money if you spend to the cap every year on their plates, which most teams do. - Thank you for that, Steven. And thanks for joining us again for this season. It means a lot to us. We look forward to it and give them hell up there. We'll be pulling for you. - Look forward to it right here with you guys. Thank you. - Cheers, Steven Jones with us. Friday's three o'clock here in the G-Bag Nation. Post-season baseball is here, and it is the absolute best time of the year. I'm Rod Bradford of Baseball's and Boring, and we're going to have you covered every step of the way with instant reactions from players and coaches and managers and fans and reporters and everybody else who is immersed in this awesomeness and all the craziness that comes with October baseball. So follow baseball as I'm Boring in the Free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. (upbeat music)