← Locked On Cowboys - Daily Podcast On The Dallas Cowboys
Locked On Cowboys - Daily Podcast On The Dallas Cowboys
CAP MAGIC: Dallas Cowboys Blueprint to CREATE $100M In Cap Space | How Might They Spend Extra $$$?
00:28:38
The Dallas Cowboys are poised for a massive salary cap shake-up—can they free up over $100 million to target top free agents and reshape the roster for a Super Bowl run?
Loading summary
Transcript67 lines
- [00:00]
Marcus Moser
Foreign.
- [00:05]
Landon McCool
Your team every day.
- [00:11]
Wells Fargo / T-Mobile / US Cellular Advertiser
Everyone deserves to be connected. That's why T Mobile and US Cellular are joining forces.
- [00:16]
Landon McCool
Switch to T Mobile and save up.
- [00:18]
Wells Fargo / T-Mobile / US Cellular Advertiser
To 20% versus Verizon by getting built in benefits they leave out. Check the math@t mobile.com switch and now T mobile is in US cellular stores.
- [00:31]
Landon McCool
Savings versus Comparable Verizon plans plus the.
- [00:33]
Wells Fargo / T-Mobile / US Cellular Advertiser
Cost of optional benefits plan features in.
- [00:34]
Landon McCool
Texas and fees vary. Savings with three plus lines include third line free via monthly bill credits. Credits stop if you cancel any lines.
- [00:39]
Wells Fargo / T-Mobile / US Cellular Advertiser
Qualifying credit required to be a Team USA skier It takes dedication, determination and lots of hard work. But it doesn't take all that to score unlimited 2% cash rewards on purchases. Just use the active cash Visa credit card from Wells Fargo and tap to pay with that natural born and unwavering focus. Earn unlimited 2% cash rewards on purchases with the active cash Visa credit card from Wells Fargo. Terms apply. Visit Wells Fargo.com ActiveCash Visa proud sponsor of the Olympics and Paralympic Games, the.
- [01:12]
Marcus Moser
Dallas Cowboys are way over the salary cap right now. We'll tell you how they could free upwards of $100 million next. You are Locked On Cowboys, your daily Dallas Cowboys podcast, part of the Locked On Podcast network. Your team every day. Welcome back to the Locked On Cowboys podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. Your team every day. We'd like to thank you for making us the number one sports podcast network. I am your host Marcus Moser. He is Landon McCool and on today's show we are answering your Twitter questions including who are the top defensive ends the Cowboys could target on the market. Should they be looking for something different in their pass rushers now that they're going to be going to more of a 3, 4 defense? But we're going to start with this question, Landon. There's a lot of fans out there that are getting excited about the potential of the Cowboys being more aggressive in free agency, but I think they're a little concerned because you go over to websites like over the Cap or Spot Track and you see that they are currently 29 million over the cap right now. How concerned should fans be?
- [02:31]
Landon McCool
Not that concerned. I mean, I think that the Cowboys have a ton of different mechanisms for freeing up a bunch of money, as you just teased earlier in the the beginning of the episode. And I think that this is kind of why the Cowboys have been very meticulous about the way that they structure their their contracts. I think, you know, in some ways maybe to their own chagrin, like in the kids case of Micah Parsons specifically and and Frankly, Dak didn't seem to want to bite too much on, on this stuff. But there are mechanisms in a bunch of the top end contracts for the Cowboys that allow them to pull triggers, move around some guaranteed money and free up cap space. And I feel like the Cowboys are going to pull several of those and free up a whole bunch of money.
- [03:14]
Marcus Moser
All right, so let's do this together because I think this is the best way to go through the exercise right now on over the Cap. The Cowboys are $29 million over the cap right now. And again, that's a rough number. And we're just going to deal with rough numbers here. We don't need to be super specific, but generally you also need about $10 million to sign a draft class. So we're going to go with the assumption The Cowboys are $39 million over the cap. And a couple more things. George Pickens, if the Cowboys want to franchise tag him, that would be 28.8 million. I'm assuming you're okay doing that as a placeholder, correct?
- [03:51]
Landon McCool
Of course, yes.
- [03:52]
Marcus Moser
Okay. And then there's the two offensive linemen, TJ Bass and Brock Hoffman. They are both restricted free agents. You can give them a first round tender, which means that they're going to get paid about $8 million a year. A second round tender, which is $5.8 million, or an original round tender, which I believe is 2.8. Now, if you give them the original round tender, that means they can hit free agency and they can sign with any team. A second round tender means they could hit free agency, but if they sign a bigger deal, teams would have to give them a second round pick. I think it's safe to assume that a second or a second round tender is probably the play here.
- [04:29]
Landon McCool
Yeah, I mean, it's a good price point, right? It's just under. It's like just under 3 million, you said.
- [04:34]
Marcus Moser
So it's 5.8 for the.
- [04:37]
Landon McCool
I'm sorry, for the second round. Yes. So, yeah, 5, like just under 6. So. And if you're thinking about what we're talking about here, you know, Bass and Hoffman both borderline starting offensive lineman. I think that that's pretty reasonable and that there's a lot of certainty that that, that goes there as well. And I also think that that second round tender is enough, that it might be enticing for some, some teams. And, and maybe that's a little bit what you're interested in, right? Like is potentially getting an offer for.
- [05:07]
Marcus Moser
One and maybe it doesn't have to be a second round tender.
- [05:10]
Landon McCool
That's, that's.
- [05:11]
Marcus Moser
But it could be maybe a fourth, right? Maybe you negotiate it's a fourth. I wouldn't be surprised if they picked one of these two, give a second round tender to. And the other one, they give an original round tender to see if they could save some money. But I don't want to get too hung up on that. Let's get to some more guys. But that puts the Cowboys in and then you give Ready Stewart the exclusive restricted free agent number that puts you at 66 million over the cap. And I know there's going to be a lot of people that hear that number and they freak out. But let's go through some of these restructures. Landon, the first one. And again, restructure. Can you explain to the listener what what a restructure is? Because I do think there are people that maybe don't quite understand what this is.
- [05:51]
Landon McCool
As I understand it, it's. It's mostly about triggering mechanisms inside the contract to convert what would normally be salary capped money into guarantees that are not underneath the purview of the salary cap. So the player doesn't lose any money. It just converts and guarantees that money for that player and then changes it into a guaranteed, into the kind of guaranteed bucket which doesn't necessarily fall under the salary cap bucket. Correct.
- [06:20]
Marcus Moser
So what this does is it lowers their base salary. It gives them a bigger, basically a bigger signing bonus or check right away. Players love restructured, so they're not taking a pay cut. But the Cowboys could restructure Dak Prescott and they would save 31 million. A couple others you can restructure. CD Lam, you can. You would save 19 million and you can restructure Tyler Smith. That would give you 17 million. You do all three of those together and again with the assumption that you are $66 million over the cap. 76 million. If you're including the draft picks, that puts you all the way down to 2 million under the cap with just those three restructures. And honestly, I would expect all of them to happen.
- [07:05]
Landon McCool
Yeah. And, and, and, and that's. Those aren't the only ones that you can do. It's just all, just those three though, will. Will do basically the whole trick for you. So, and that's, and that's why we're not panicked. Right. Is because they have more levers to pull here if they want and it's only going to take a few to kind of get them back in line with what they need, where they need to be.
- [07:24]
Marcus Moser
Yeah, two other ones that are very realistic. We're not going to pull the trigger here on those ones. But Osa Digizua, they could restructure him, save 12 million. They could also do it with the Ron Bland, that would save you almost 9 million. So that's an ext if you want to go ahead and do that. But we'll leave those ones off right now. Let's get to some cut candidates. Logan Wilson, six and a half million if the Cowboys release him. I'm gonna go ahead and say yes.
- [07:47]
Landon McCool
Let's go ahead. Let's just go ahead and do that.
- [07:48]
Marcus Moser
Okay. Yeah, there's a couple other minor ones in there that are like million dollar ones including like Israel Avaconda, Malik Davis. I could see the Cowboys doing those. But the one I wanted to ask you about is Jonathan Mingo. $2 million. If you decide to cut him out right. It would not cost you any dead money. I mean, I know the idea is that you probably want to bring him to camp and see what it looks like, but if you're re signing George Pickens, you have Kevante Turpin under contract. You love what you saw from Ryan Flournet. No way. You just cut your losses and move on.
- [08:21]
Landon McCool
I don't know. I mean, I think you might want to consider like signing him to maybe a two year deal and kind of maybe get adding a void year or something because. Or maybe you just decide to move on if you could do that. I just think that it's a lot to, you know, ask. You know, you've got flown away who you feel comfortable with. But, but to ask Tolbert and Mingo to both be gone, it's, it's putting a lot of eggs in and not a lot of receiver baskets, you know. And so I would, I would prefer maybe someone who's a little bit more experienced to be back. But then again, Minko wasn't terribly experienced. So. So maybe, maybe you figure something out there or maybe you go get a, a cheap veteran that you like.
- [09:01]
Marcus Moser
Like couple more. Terence Steel, he's got a cap number of 18 million this year with no guaranteed money left. If you cut him outright, you save 8.7 million. But you do take on $9 million of dead money this year. If you designate him as a post June 1 cut, you can save 14 million this year and you spread the dead cap over two years. Are you cutting Terence Steel to save 14 million?
- [09:26]
Landon McCool
I don't think I am. I think he to me is a resigned candidate. Right. Like you know, or or contract mechanism candidate. Right. However you want to, however you want to handle that. Because I don't think that his play has been so terrible, especially I thought last year he played a little bit better and the year before he played better than the pre year. Previous to that, I, I, I do think that he's still, you know, serviceable at the position. It's a position that's hard to fill and that now it adds to an already, you know, difficult list to kind of fill this off season. You're putting a lot into the Nate Thomas basket that you, you know, you're not, you've got kind of up and down results from last year. It just would feel a lot more comfortable if you gave Thomas one more year to kind of develop and, and solidify that situation. Maybe Cornelius as well. And, and, and you, you know, you need the money, but I, I think it's probably gonna cost you that or that much or, you know, the equivalent in draft picks in order to replace a starting right tackle.
- [10:25]
Marcus Moser
Okay, so if you're not touching Terence Steel, Sally, then you have to do something with Kenny Clark. 21 and a half million. Now you could extend him, you could cut him out, right? I'm actually, I'm open to either. I think either one is, is realistic. What do you think they do here?
- [10:41]
Landon McCool
I think they extend him just based on the, the language that we've heard about the, about him since the end of the season. One of the things that Stephen, or was it Jerry actually came out and said is, is he want to make sure to build around his young players on this defense. And the first three players that he mentioned, by the way, we, as we talked about, was Quinn and Williams, also Diggy Zua and Kenny Clark. So I do think that they do have. He's part of the reason that they went out and got Christian Parker is because I think they wanted to play specifically more of these defensive tackles. So I think he's in their plans. I think in order to keep him in this, their plans, they need to restructure that deal. And I think an extension makes the most sense there.
- [11:18]
Marcus Moser
You do an extension, very likely you're going to say $15 million against the cap. And now you're talking about having 20 to $25 million of cap space. And that's with the idea that you're keeping George Pickens on a franchise tag number that's at 28 million. That's assuming you're not touching the Duron Bland and the Oso Digizua numbers. And again, that's assuming that you're spending $11 million total on two backup interior offensive linemen, that would give you plenty of space to go out in free agency and sign Javonte Williams and sign a defensive end. It's not going to be that difficult. That's the point. It's not going to be that difficult for the Cowboys to get to 20, 30 million dollars of cap space.
- [12:00]
Landon McCool
Yeah, and if they, if they do sign George Pickens, then that gives them even more money to play with because that front first year is going to be lowered cap hit number. So yeah, it's, there's lots of mechanisms to kind of get where they need to get underneath the cap.
- [12:12]
Marcus Moser
All right, so let's assume that they do free up 20 or 30 million dollars. What could they use that money on? And who are some of the top targets out there? We'll get to that next. This episode is brought to you by TurboTax tax season doesn't have to take over your life this year TurboTax is making it easier than ever to just hand things off and move on with your day. With TurboTax Full Service, you can have your taxes done for you by a trusted local expert, start to finish, without the stress or the guesswork. Instead of spending hours trying to figure out forms, you can meet with a local TurboTax expert in person or you can connect online. They're going to handle everything from W2s to self employed forms and work to get you every deduction possible. It's a huge time saver and it gives you real peace of mind knowing that an expert is handling it all. And so, for a limited time only, you can have your taxes done by a local TurboTax expert for just $150 all in. If a TurboTax expert didn't file for you last year, just file by February 28, take taxes off your plate and get back to your life. Visit turbotax.com local to book your appointment today.
- [13:35]
Wells Fargo / T-Mobile / US Cellular Advertiser
To be a Team USA skier. It takes dedication, determination and lots of hard work. But it doesn't take all that to score unlimited 2% cash rewards on purchases. Just use the Active Cash Visa credit card from Wells Fargo and tap to pay with that natural born talent and unwavering focus. Earn unlimited 2% cash rewards on purchases with the Active Cash Visa credit card from Wells Fargo. Terms apply. Visit Wells Fargo.com ActiveCash Visa, proud sponsor of the Olympics and Paralympic Games.
- [14:07]
Other Advertiser / Sponsor
Welcome.
- [14:07]
Marcus Moser
Back to the Loton Cowboys Podcast. We'd like to thank you for making us your first listen every Single day. If you're not an everydayer, check out the new everyday club you're going to get ad free episodes to the Locked on Cowboys podcast for just $5 a month. Go to lockdown cowboys.supercast.com or tap the link in the show notes to learn more. All right, Landon, our next question is we've heard a lot of rumblings that they could potentially be more active in free agency because of some of the cap space that we expect them to have. Could defensive end be a spot that they target some veterans on the market this offseason?
- [14:48]
Landon McCool
Yeah, I mean, look, it's, it's clearly one of the spots where the Cowboys have the most need. We've, we've mentioned it as a spot where they're, they're clearly looking to upgrade that the position and whether that is through the draft or through free agency, I think depends on what's available and, and where they're picking. Obviously. I certainly think that if they're able to free up some, some money on, on in, you know, in with, with the mechanisms that we just laid out, that it does make some sense to, to spend and, and go get at least one or two of these starters that you need on defense in, in free agency. And, and I think defensive end seems like it's a class that you could kind of shop at a bunch of different price points. Right. In a different, a bunch of different price levels. So yeah, I think we'll, we'll talk about. I mean, I think you've got a list here.
- [15:39]
Marcus Moser
I've got a list. Let's go through the different prices.
- [15:41]
Landon McCool
Yeah, yeah.
- [15:42]
Marcus Moser
Let's start with the top one. It's Trey Hendrickson who was on the franchise tag last year, didn't play a lot because of a back issue. Spot track right now is projecting him at 25 million. My guess is he's going to take like a 2 year, 52 year, 52 million dollar deal. Would you be interested in that?
- [15:59]
Landon McCool
I think there's some interest there for me. You know, I think 25 is, is pretty pricey, but I mean, honestly, like there's, there's folks out there talking about paying Max, you know. Yeah. Max Crosby, like almost six or seven, $8 million more than that after trading two first round picks for him, which, you know, I'm not interested in. So I, I think, you know, if the alternative is to get a guy that is just a very good pass rusher, you know, and, and we'll figure out the runs, the run part of it a little bit. You Know, I think that price point's a little bit, you know, better. You know, my concerns here, such a.
- [16:36]
Marcus Moser
Good pass rusher that like, if you get him one on one, he's gonna create pressure and I, I understand why there's an appeal there.
- [16:42]
Landon McCool
Yeah, My, my concern is, you know, does this defense make it more difficult for him to finding him kind of sewn into to certain packages. Right. Like how does he play on, on, can he play on well on, on two feet as opposed to with his hand in the dirt, which, you know, like, you don't necessarily need him to, to do that. You could, he could be like a down lineman that you're rushing the passer and kind of four down nickel pass rush situations. It's just like it kind of limits your ability to deploy him. So I, I think that plus the age and the kind of, you know, one dimensional aspect of his game, it gives me some pause. But I'm certainly not going to be shocked if, if we hear the Cowboys are sniffing around this situation because they feel like it's a cheap way to certainly really, really upgrade their passwords right away.
- [17:33]
Marcus Moser
The next two guys in terms of money would be Jalen Phillips, who the Eagles traded for at the deadline. I would assume that Howie Roseman's going to do everything possible to try to keep him. His number's about 20 million. He's 26 years old. He obviously has experience playing in Christian Parker's defense. Now there's a lengthy injury history not only in the, in the NFL, but also going back to college and high school. The other name that I wanted to mention, who is projected to make 18 million and this guy's older, but he's still awesome. And that's Khalil Mack, who's 34. He's had plenty of experience playing as a 3, 4 outside linebacker and with his hand in the dirt, he's still a really good overall player. But you are probably just renting him for a year.
- [18:17]
Landon McCool
Yeah, I mean, I kind of think that I would almost feel better about renting a Khalil Mack, right? Because I mean, look, I think he's had his own set of, of injury concerns over these many years, but, but not quite as, you know, consistent as, as you've seen with Phillips. And, and that's the other thing is that Phillips is, is young. Right. So I, I, 10 years younger. Yeah. But I also, I, I, my concern is that with, with Phillips is that you're getting into bed long term with, with him. Right. Like, I don't think he's going to sign a short term deal. And, and I think that's the difference between what Howie Roseman did last year and you know, maybe the point in which the risk goes too far is that, you know, how he wasn't committing to Phillips long term. If Phillips, you know, had another injury, you know, the say another lower body injury, it would have been easy for Phil, for Roseman, just go, okay, well we tried but it didn't work out and you know, we'll just try again next year. If you're committing to a long term deal with him, you're incurring a lot of that risk because of all the, all the time that's involved there. So I think I probably would go around a Khalil Mack in that situation just because I think there's also a benefit. Just adding another veteran body to your, to that, to that room and just having his voice in there would be nice. So I think I probably would go that route. Even though he's obviously eight years older.
- [19:39]
Marcus Moser
Than two more and these are the guys like in the mid range and again depending on the Source, somewhere between 12 and $17 million Quiddy Pay. Former first round pick by the Colts. He's actually kind of progressively gotten worse as a pass rusher over the last couple years. And then an old name, Caleb on Chase, on who we probably remember. Well, he was really good in the playoffs for New England. However, he has not been a good player in the NFL. He's not been somebody that's been reliable at all. Are you betting on somebody who is, you know, he's going to be 27 this offseason that he's finally starting to break out. Still a very poor run defender, but did have a big postseason. Are you willing to spend 12, 15, 17 million for one of these guys?
- [20:24]
Landon McCool
I don't love that, that shopping tier just because of the stock. Right. I'm not really. Both of those guys are pretty pricey and it comes with pedigree, not with necessarily production. So I kind of would have maybe avoid those two.
- [20:40]
Marcus Moser
Okay. Another one in that same tier is Joey Bosa who played well for the Bills last year. Now they did a good job of managing his snaps, but he'll be 31 this summer. Still one of the best pass rushers in the league according to PFF. He had the 10th highest pass rush grade. Not a run defender. Gonna have to manage his snaps a little bit. But are you interested here?
- [21:03]
Landon McCool
Yeah, I think I'm interested in the same way that, you know, the Cleo Max situation interests me A little bit. I mean, I think the numbers would have to be right, you know, but I, I think he's interesting because I'm not having to commit. There's a lot of risk in all these guys that you mentioned so far. And to me, I like the guys who have produced and I don't have to commit to long term because that's the route that you probably should go in free agency because otherwise you're probably overpaying quite a bit.
- [21:29]
Marcus Moser
One more name that I find really interesting and this guy might be done. He'll be 35 this year and it's Kyle Van Noy who has experience playing in just about every defense. He had the second highest coverage grade of any defender with at least 50 coverage snaps last year. He's an awesome run defender. Doesn't give you much juice as a pass rusher, but he does fill in a role of like one of these edge guys that sets the edge, plays the run and can spot in the coverage.
- [21:58]
Landon McCool
Yeah, I think, I mean, again, depending on the price point for him.
- [22:01]
Marcus Moser
And it's been about 5 million each of the last couple years. It's right about his range.
- [22:06]
Landon McCool
I do that. Yeah, I think so. I mean, I think he adds a veteran presence. Like you said, you have a need at run defenders on the edge. Right. This is kind of the Jadevian clowny shaped hole that he could fill. And I think that, you know, he's, he's pretty decent in coverage like you mentioned too. And just having that again, we've got a lot of young players on this defense. We're going to have even more young players in this defense. Having another veteran presence who is a good player and experienced, I think, I think that's, that has a value add that the Cowboys probably could look into.
- [22:38]
Marcus Moser
And honestly, I think my two favorites would be instead of spending 25 million for Trey Hendrickson, if you could go with like a Khalil Mack at let's say 18 million for one year and then you bring in somebody else, you know, like a Jadavian Cloudy. Again, I know those are older edges, but two guys that have played in a lot of schemes that are good against the run, they're not going to be double digit sack guys, but guys that you just feel really good about adding to your rotation. I think that's how the Cowboys can win in free agency.
- [23:07]
Landon McCool
Yeah, I agree. And honestly, there's other guys too. I mean you could, you could easily bring Fowler back at a pretty decent price and I think I would be interested there as well. So yeah, it's certainly the stock is not empty there. Maybe not the number one pass rusher, but lots of valuable starter level guys that you could pay decent money to and get good production.
- [23:25]
Marcus Moser
So should the Cowboys be looking at different types of edge rushers in the 2026 NFL Draft? The now that we know they're going to a 3 4, we'll debate that more next. This episode is brought to you by FanDuel. The Winter Games are officially here and if you're anything like us, you're locking in for the events that you only get to see on the biggest stage every four years. And that's why following the Winter Games on FanDuel just makes sense. From medal counts to individual events to finding your angle to on the sports that you care about the most, FanDuel gives you more ways to stay connected to the action. I love the curling matches. I mean they've been so fun. They get so intense. My wife really likes the speed skating and the figure skating. She gets really into it. Plus the hockey games just feel different right from the opening face off. FanDuel keeps the entire Olympic experience engaging from start to finish. So the Winter Games are on and there's no better way to follow them than with FanDuel. FanDuel play your game.
- [24:35]
Wells Fargo / T-Mobile / US Cellular Advertiser
To be a Team USA skier, it takes dedication, determination and lots of hard work. But it doesn't take all that to score unlimited 2% cash rewards on purchases. Just use the active cash Visa credit card from Wells Fargo and tap to pay with that natural, natural born talent and unwavering focus. Earn unlimited 2% cash rewards on purchases with the active cash Visa credit card from Wells Fargo. Terms apply. Visit Wells Fargo.com ActiveCash Visa proud sponsor of the Olympics and Paralympic Games.
- [25:07]
Marcus Moser
Welcome back to the Lockdown Cowboys podcast. We'd like to thank you for making us your first listen every single day. Landon this last question comes from Mark. He wants to know, should we be looking at the past rushers in the 2026 draft a little differently now? Knowing that they're going to have more three, four looks, knowing that these guys are going to have to play in space, dropping into coverage more. Has that changed how you're evaluating any of these guys?
- [25:34]
Landon McCool
I. I think if anything it's, you know, look, it's a consideration, right? Like if, if you're going to be dropping into coverage maybe a little bit more than traditional, you know, hand in this dirt. Four, three, defensive end, you certainly need to look into the ability of those guys to how they operate in space, how they play in space. You're not asking these guys to do complicated coverage gymnastics. Right. You're not asking this guy to drop out and cover a. Really even ask them to cover a tight end or, or a running back or to, to, to, to go out. Certainly not to go out, step out and you know, cover a corner. Like it's not the same kind of coverage that even a will linebacker In a traditional 43 would do. Right. Like it's more of a, a guy that's dropping into a zone, dropping into the flat. Right. And then just being a big, long, armed guy who gets in the way of passes essentially. Right. So there is an element that you want to evaluate because you want to see these guys how quickly they can, you know, move and how they flip their hips because you want to see how quickly they can get out to where they need to go. But I, I don't think we should over evaluate that aspect when, you know, looking at these edge players. And, and I actually think it, if anything, this move opens up the door for more edge players because I think you can tolerate playing with a, you know, let's use Cassius Howell from Texas A M or you know, any one of these under kind of more undersized guys that, that like have really nice password skills, maybe play a high physical level, but aren't, you know, 260 pounds that aren't 66 or 6 5. Right. I think it allows you to, especially in this class where you have, you know, this kind of sawed off pass rusher style that is, you know, very prevalent, especially in the front part of the draft. I think this defense allows the Cowboys the opportunity to play with more of those players because you have more bigger bodies on the field elsewhere.
- [27:34]
Marcus Moser
Yeah, we, we should also mention like Jalen Phillips, who played 17 games last year. He was in a scheme that dropped him into coverage more than most guys. I think Byron Young of the Rams had the most coverage snaps. It was 148. Jalen Phillips wasn't that far behind with 84. So you're talking about on average dropping back into coverage like five times a game, which isn't, it's not nothing. But it's not like we're asking these guys to cover on 20, 30 snaps a game. Like it's, it's just not that big of a deal. I do wonder if guys like, I'll give you a name, TJ Parker, who I think is your traditional 43 hand in the dirt defensive end. I wonder if someone like Cassius Howe, who you just mentioned isn't a better fit just because he's way more comfortable in space than someone like Parker and even someone like Keldrick Falk who is 270 pounds maybe. I mean that's, that's never bad to have those kind of guys out there. But I do wonder if how it would be more intriguing to them.
- [28:34]
Landon McCool
Well, I just wanted to bring up that point too because folks is a good example. I do think the Cowboys still need that 260 to 280 pound body type because this is a multiple front. It's not just going to be a 3, 4 front. They're gonna, they need that body type. So I wouldn't rule out that type of body type. But I, I think, yes, I agree that you know, when you're, when you're evaluating guys and you've got Parker and Hal's tags touching potentially you don't have to give the, the def, the deference to Parker because he feels like he can play with his hand in the ground. It just opens it up a little bit more for you that you feel like you can accept more body types because you have more ways to solve the problems when they're on the field versus when you know, four, three, that's more traditional.
- [29:21]
Marcus Moser
And maybe it's probably going to depend on what they do in free agency as well. If they bring in like a Kyle Van Noy and you've got Ezra Rocku Van Noy, you've got James Houston who's another undersized edge that can play in space, let's say you bring back Clowney, maybe you have more of a need for that 270 pound guy that can set the edge. But if you're looking for somebody that can give you more juice as a pass rusher, I think that's where someone like Hal or David Bailey obviously who you would need to draft high or Arvell Reese become a lot more appealing.
- [29:53]
Landon McCool
Yeah. And I think that's the good thing, is that you have the good and the bad. You have kind of needs in several different spots on the defense, just in the defensive ends room. And the good news is that you have all kinds of different body types to choose from in this draft and in free agency.
- [30:08]
Marcus Moser
All right, that is it for today's show. We'd like to thank you for making Lockdown Cowboys your first listen every single day. If you never miss an episode, the everyday club is built for you. Get locked on Cowboys ad free members only. Discord access and so much more. Head over to lockdown cowboys supercast.com to join the club. And for those of you on video, we can send you the first ever 24.7national NBA YouTube channel and an audio make your second listen the locked on NFL podcast. Follow Landon on Twitter @McCool BCB. I'm @Marcus Underscore Moser and we'll see you right back here tomorrow.
- [30:50]
Other Advertiser / Sponsor
Packages by Expedia. You were made to occasionally take the hard route to the top of the Eiffel Tower. We were made to easily bundle your trip Expedia Made to travel flight inclusive packages are atoll protected There's a reason Chevy trucks are known for their dependability. It's because they show up no matter the weather, push forward no matter the terrain and deliver. That's why Chevrolet has earned more dependability awards for trucks than any other brand in 2025, according to J.D. power, because in every Chevy truck, like every Chevy driver, dependability comes standard. Visit Chevy.com to learn more. Chevrolet received the highest total number of awards among all trucks in the J.D. power 2025 U.S. vehicle Dependability Study Awards based on 2022 models. Newer models may be shown. Visit J.D. power.com awards for more details.
- [31:33]
Wells Fargo / T-Mobile / US Cellular Advertiser
Chevrolet Together, let's drive to be a Team USA skier. It takes dedication, determination and lots of hard work. But it doesn't take all that to score unlimited 2% cash rewards on purchases, just use the Active Cash Visa credit card from Wells Fargo and tap to pay with that natural born talent and unwavering focus. Earn unlimited 2% cash rewards on purchases with the Active Cash Visa credit card from Wells Fargo. Terms apply. Visit Wells Fargo.com ActiveCash Visa, proud sponsor of the Olympics and Paralympic Games.