Cowboys Daily Blitz Podcast: Dallas’ Loud New Defense Sparks Real Offseason Buzz
Brian Schottenheimer's Cowboys sound louder, sharper and more connected, but Dallas still has to prove this offseason energy can survive September.
Video Transcript
A long, fun day inside the Star today.
Mike Fisher reporting from Frisco, Texas, home of the Dallas Cowboys.
Want your top 10 takes on what went on inside day one of Cowboys minicamp?
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Get in, get on, be good, and bring something of intellect to the table as we go straight dope, no bullsh, on Cowboys day one minicamp.
We are driven by the cars of McKinney and Hendrick BMW of McKinney, and by 80,000 Fish Heads in Cowboy Nation who hang out with us here every day.
Join the conversation.
Would you please just bring something of intellect to the table?
And here we go.
Even amid last year's dismal 7-9-1 season, Dak Prescott and George Pickens teamed up often enough to put some smiles on some faces, to turn some Dallas Cowboys frowns upside down.
And that particular dynamic duo, with some help from their friends, on Tuesday inside the Star, responsible for more of the same as the Cowboys kick off day one of this three-day minicamp on Tuesday, turning frowns upside down.
What went right for that Pro Bowl pair?
Everything.
And that's a, that's a feel-good contrast to a, a pair of semi-nervous pre-minicamp feelings about the state of Dak's health and the state of George's head.
But now we know more.
Or if you don't know, you're about to know.
Vinny Hagen, what's with Dak's knee?
You've come to the right place.
Many questions.
What's with George's head?
You've come to the right place.
Jeremiah Hamilton, Uncle Fish Premium.
Vinny, what's with, w- what's with Dak's knee?
Lobo, where did Guyton line up?
L- all the questions, almost, that you could even dream of are gonna be answered here, and I will prove it.
Fish's top 10 takes from inside the Star on Tuesday, day one, minicamp, and here we go.
How's Blue?
I'll handle it.
Watch and see.
Item one, Dak's injury scare.
Now, as we sit here today, at this moment, scare sounds like I'm overdoing it, but when Shotty said it at 11:37 this morning, it wasn't a little thing.
Oh, he said we're not worried about it.
No, we're not worried about it, but he's got a sore knee, and we're limited in practice, and the plan was to limit the quarterback's work during this session.
But to my eyes, and I stood there and watched the whole thing with obviously a lot of focus on number four, he keyed the team drills.
He looked fine.
He looked in command.
He looked as mobile as you could ever ask him to be.
Caution is always merited here.
He's a $60 million player.
He plays quarterback, and y- you wanna be smart.
So to go into that workout saying, "Let's, let's keep it, let's keep it under control.
Let's keep it in our pants," as we used to say, fine thinking.
But it seems to me that the sore knee, once Dak got out there, wasn't really very sore at all.
The veteran quarterback chasing records, and y- I, I think we all want him to get there, especially the, the a personal record.
Let's win two playoff games in one season.
that can happen, in a more, i- in an easier way if he's healthy.
And today, healthy.
Item two, Pickens' promise.
Also worrisome, for more than just a moment, would George Pickens show up?
Would he skip the mandatory in contractual protest?
Would he show up, but power?
Would he say, "Jay, hold in"?
Would he do a, "Oh, oh, I think it's broke"?
No, no, no.
He didn't do any of those negative things.
It was all good.
I'm telling you, this is a smiley faced day for the Dallas Cowboys.
Now, we went into it again with Shotty saying he's gonna be Coach Pickens today, s- meaning he's not gonna do anything.
And then he did some things, and he looked good doing it.
And yes, had a chance to bump into him, and yes, smile on his face.
He participated in individual stuff, did not take part in team drills, capped it all off with a comfortable grin and a promise.
He said there will be no holdout.
Yes.
He said there will be no hold in.
Yes.
And he expressed no particular disappointment at having to play under the $27.3 million franchise tag, as opposed to the lucrative long-term deal that naturally he would want.
He said he didn't attend voluntary OTAs under the advice of David Mulugita, Mulugeta, his agent.
A lot of people are wondering, "Now what does that mean?"
And he said that, "He, he's the boss.
He told me, he told me to miss, so I missed."
I wonder this.
I wonder if the agent said, "Let's, let's have you skip.
It's voluntary.
It, it, it's gonna be fine" While I examine some more angles on what we might be able to do, whether it's call the Joneses back and try one more time, or explore the mar- whatever.
I- 'cause there's no other logic.
As I've said many times, since the, the moment that he signed the franchise tag, that was pretty much the end of any logic behind a long-term holdout.
Dean Graham, $20 pitch into the Super Chat.
What?
Ahooga.
Super happy with GP3.
Confused as to why he called his agent his boss.
Eh, I guess he looks like his, his agent like a really good attorney.
I don't particularly agree with the terminology, but yeah, I guess if I'm buying a house, and I have a good realtor, and boy, do I, Ida, Ida P., you know, when she says, "Yeah, don't, Fish, don't, don't buy a house with, that backs up to a busy street, you're not gonna..." I, I, I guess I go, "Okay, you're the boss."
I, I kinda hope and think that's what he's talking about there.
But in the end, he's here.
He's all smiles.
And Schottenheimer noted that Pickens' grin is contagious.
And yes, he is in a good mood.
after one catch, I believe it was from Dak, he did a little sideline dance.
So again, thumbs up on a fun day from Inside the Star.
By the way, Schottenheimer's story about, well, you know, he's taking care of business, meaning going to the kids' camps.
Nobody's, nobody's deceiving anybody.
Nobody's lying to anybody.
Schottenheimer, if you go back and really review it, didn't say he's missing because of the kid camps.
He said he's taking care of business, and he's doing the kid camps.
Don't smoosh all that together.
He very clearly missed last week, and the week before in OTAs, as a mild mini protest, very clearly, and that's over now.
Yeah, David Cowboy points out, I, I call Marsha the boss all the time.
Well, of course, you know, she is, so that, maybe that is different.
Item three, injury update.
Cowboys cornerback DaRon Bland, foot.
Cords.
Safety Jalen Thompson, pec, cords with, Britt Brown, Cowboys trainer.
Malik Hooker, just kinda sat there, just kinda sat there and talked with guys and made fun of guys and, and, talked trash.
He'll be fine eventually.
James Houston, back, did conditioning work on the far side of the field.
Donovan Easy, he's got the hip.
And then I would note, injury-wise, during these underwear Olympics, Siobhon Rebel and DeMarvion Overshown, both of them trying to establish their ability to stay healthy, moving well, and doing so without knee braces.
Alan Wright, is Clowney there?
What?
What kind of a clown question is that?
It's not a Clowney question, that's a clown question.
When am I ever gonna l- learn to just ignore Alan Wright?
God bless you, Alan, for disrupting everything around here.
We all have a job to do, and you're gonna do it, baby.
Item four, hello, Emmitt.
Emmitt Smith showed up.
Jason Garrett is the guy, the coach that started the policy, hey, if you're a former Cowboy player, and you wanna show up and hang around and practice, and contribute so- and, and it was a cool deal.
Sometimes it gets a little out of control with certain, well, with one certain guy.
I, I, I won't even bring up who he is.
But Emmitt Smith showed up today, and here's what's cool about, here's the Hall of Famer, the most accomplished running back of his generation.
Maybe not the greatest running back of all time, but the most accomplished.
Javonte Williams saw him, and I mean, made a beeline to go, I don't know, say hi, pick his brain.
Alan Wright's back again.
We blew it with Clowney.
Why?
We didn't blow anything.
You can sign him today if you want to.
Nothing's blown.
But Alan, since you're here every day, morning, noon, and night, you already know, I told you on January 17th what was gonna happen with Clowney.
Why didn't you listen to me then?
Then you wouldn't be whining today.
Item five, dangerous Soares-By.
Jerry Jones and some members of the media are playing a silly game, connecting the Cowboys to Texas Tech's quarterback Brendan Sorby- Soares-By.
I'm not saying it can't happen.
I, I'm saying, all these guys are saying that he could be a, next year, if he was in next year's draft, he'd be the number one play- player to take it.
Nobody, nobody thinks that, 'cause nobody knows about him, enough about him yet.
So Jerry Jones is, this goes back a month, mentioning, oh yeah, I really liked it.
He, Jerry doesn't even know who Brendan Soares-By is.
But now the Tech quarterback with the gambling problem, he's coming to the NFL.
Leave it to Schottenheimer to give a semi-funny but honest answer.
Quote, "I know it's a big storyline, but I haven't really followed it much.
I'm aware just enough to be dangerous, but I really don't have any big opinions.
If we get to the point where we're interested, then I'll have an opinion.
But as of now, it doesn't affect my life.
I'm focused on the 90 guys we have here."
We have covered the Brendan Soares-By story like a blanket, at cowboysroundtable.com and at red table, redraiderroundtable.com.
If you want insight into what's going on with Brendan Soares-By, this is a extremely impactful college football story, and maybe pro football story as well.
You've come to the right place, sir or madam.
RedRaiderRoundtable.com, and of course CowboysRoundtable.com as well.
I'm not saying it can't happen.
I'm not saying the Cowboys won't or shouldn't bid.
I'm saying that anybody that's saying, "I have scouts telling me", y- your scout's an idiot.
No scout is going to his general manager a month ago or today, or to his owner, and saying, "Bid a first-round pick on this guy.
He's better than Arch Manning."
All things considered, no, no, no.
Item nine, Jayden Blue on special teams?
That's a beard scratcher.
Schottenheimer mentioned Now, he was, he was prompted, asked about Jayden Blue on special team, and Schottenheimer said, "Yeah, you know, he could, he could be a gunner, you know?
He's fast."
Now, he did say, but then he lacked some of the other attributes, like for instance, wh- when was the last time Jayden Blue tackled somebody?
When he was nine?
but it's an idea.
It is.
The fact that Schottenheimer's even got that in his head, it does suggest that they're planning on Jayden Blue making the team.
Here's an interesting one.
Forget Jayden Blue versus Malik and Phil Mafa.
I've told you since January 17th what the Cowboys wanna do there, too.
What about Jayden Blue versus Kavante Turpin?
That is a beard scratcher.
Item seven, Kobe and Kayler.
Kobe Durant, former Ram, he's, he's good every time we see him.
Every, every practice we've now, we're now three for three.
He's good every time.
He has a good day every time.
He had a diving, PBU today.
He does it all the time.
And the coaches continue to say good things about Kaylin Carson, and those guys both got first team work.
It's amazing to me, n- and, and Bland has to be healthy, and Revel has to be good for this to happen.
They've gone in their secondary from having little talent and no depth.
They're deep in the secondary now, and they might even be good.
They're deep, and they might even be good.
Item eight, new offensive line try.
our colleague Joe Hoyt points out that, you know, we've got this Tyler Guyton versus Nate Thomas left tackle thing, but today Nate Thomas was the second team right tackle.
So does that mean Guyton won left tackle?
Well, not so fast, because the rookie Drew Shelton played second team left tackle.
I'm gonna assume that this is just getting Nate Thomas, y- you know, you got, wanna be able to have him play both.
He's young.
He's But I, I If I'm Tyler Guyton, I might like to think, or if I'm a Tyler Guyton fan, I might like to think, "Good, they're getting him ready to be the swing tackle, 'cause I'm the left tackle, by gosh, 'cause I'm winning it."
We know about the neck surgery, for Matt Hennessy.
Cowboys have also signed a new offensive lineman, from the UFL.
His name escapes me at this moment.
and we'll see what he's got.
in fact, oh, Chris Glazer, UFL offensive lineman, who was here once in 2023.
I think he had a cup of coffee with Dallas.
He's started a couple games in the NFL.
We'll see what he's got.
Which takes us to f- number nine, Fischalaneous.
Mark Sawyer, "Didn't they sign a UFL player today?"
You can't stump the band, baby.
I'm telling you, I got you covered.
Fischalaneous.
Couple of occasions, I saw the Dallas offense using backup tight ends split wide.
Could be a secret weapon for Brevin Spenford, sir.
Think he can do that and, and win a matchup out there.
And then UDFA rookie DJ Rogers from TCU, he got a chance to do it.
I did not see Michael Trigg, get a chance to do much of that.
We'll, we'll watch on that to- we'll look at that tomorrow.
We'll be inside practice again tomorrow.
But on this day, Brevin Spenford, sir, and then the kid DJ Rogers getting his chance to split out wide and go do some wide receivery things.
Kurt, "Who's the fastest tight end?"
In this camp, I would guess that it would be Michael Trigg, who's a gigantic wide receiver in a tight end's body.
Fischalaneous, "Cowboys giving minicamp tryouts to two free agents, ex-Browns corner Sam Webb, ex-Raiders linebacker Charles Snowden."
I don't think these are significant in terms of, "Uh-oh, we got a problem."
I think you're just kinda checking in on bodies.
Same thing with the former Raiders running back Zamir White.
there's a report that he worked out for the Cowboys recently.
Again, does that mean, "Uh-oh"?
No, it doesn't mean uh-oh.
I think it just means we're just checking in on a guy.
And finally, item 10.
Quote from George, "What's important to me is winning."
And you know, you cut through all the, the hold out, the hold in, and the contract, and the agent, and the boss, and the Oh, by the way, would you please hit the like button?
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You cut through all the jibber-jabber.
"What's important to me is winning," says George.
"I said it from the beginning.
I wanna bring a Super Bowl to a group of guys that's never had that feeling.
That's really the most important part to me."
Now, it's not that the money doesn't matter.
Money matters to me, money matters to you.
$27.3 million matters, and eventually, he's gonna make $35 million a year times four.
That's gonna matter, too.
But the fact that George Pickens, no hold in, no hold out, no pouting, everything's fine, that his actions match these words, I believe his words.
"What's important to me is winning."
We could use a little more of that around here, right?
Right.
Cowboysroundtable.com, we will have, in-depth coverage w- all night on Dak, and George, and Shoddy, and, a, an inside look with photos of all the things that went on inside day one, and of course, day two, day three.
Coverage also coming up, and so, keep it here, Cowboys Fish Report and cowboysroundtable.com.
For now, Fish out.
