UNEXPECTED: Cowboys Host Indiana WR Omar Cooper Jr. | What Could That Mean For George Pickens?

Summary

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Locked On Cowboys | March 13, 2026

"UNEXPECTED: Cowboys Host Indiana WR Omar Cooper Jr. | What Could That Mean For George Pickens?"

Hosts: Marcus Mosher & Landon McCool
Network: Locked On Podcast Network

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Episode Overview

This episode delves into the Dallas Cowboys’ surprising decision to host Indiana wide receiver Omar Cooper Jr. on their first “30 visit” ahead of the NFL Draft—a notable deviation from the anticipated focus on defense. The hosts explore what this move could signal regarding George Pickens’ future, examine alternative draft strategies (including contingency planning at wide receiver and defensive tackle), and analyze the reworked contract of edge rusher Rashan Gary.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Omar Cooper’s 30 Visit – A Shocking Development

[01:12 - 07:04]

• Surprise Factor: Marcus expresses genuine shock at the Cowboys’ decision to host presumed first-round WR Omar Cooper as their initial 30 visit.

  • “I was honestly floored because I just assumed they were going to use all of these visits on defensive players… and the fact that their very first one is with a wide receiver is eye opening.” — Marcus [02:36]

• Possible Interpretations:

  • Landon splits his thoughts into “the good, the weird, and the crazy” and suggests several possibilities:
    • It could reflect uncertainty or contingency planning regarding George Pickens’ contract situation.
    • Might be displaying trade intentions or using the visit as smokescreen.
    • Could indicate a bold pivot to boost the offense, given disappointing free agency results.
  • “Is this some kind of weird give up on the defense and they're like, hey, let's just try to supercharge the offense?” — Landon [03:33]

• Managing Pickens’ Future:

  • Marcus: The interest in Cooper could be due diligence in case negotiations with Pickens break down or “the nuclear option” becomes necessary.
    • “I never rule anything out with George Pickens… you always...a little bit nervous about.” — Marcus [04:36]

• Draft Strategy and Roster Planning:

  • The hosts discuss “covering your bases”—whether Cooper is a main target, insurance, or to gather intel on other draft-eligible CBs he faced.
  • The fast rise of Cooper’s draft stock is noted:
    • “He’s one of the fastest rising prospects in this draft… Maybe this is a CeeDee Lamb situation where he's too good of a prospect to pass up.” — Marcus [06:36]

• Cowboys’ 30 Visit Trend:

  • “One thing we know, Landon, is the Cowboys love to draft from their 30 visit list. So you can't completely rule it out.” — Marcus [07:02]

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2. Draft Scenarios & Offensive Outlook

[07:04 - 09:14]

• Plan A or Contingency?

  • Landon questions whether Cooper is a primary or fallback option depending on who’s available at #20.

• Upside Draft Path:

  • Discussion of hypotheticals: If Pickens’ contract goes sideways or someone makes a strong trade bid, Cooper could be the future #2 WR.
    • “Do you...draft Cooper at 20, let Pickens play out on the tag and he's your number two receiver in 2027 and we just got three awesome receivers...” — Marcus [08:05]

• Supercharging Offense:

  • Landon jokes about going “full speed ahead with the offense, defense be damned...we're scoring 100 points every single game.” [08:33]
  • Both hosts jest about fan negativity, noting the idea floats because “you could go in that direction, considering how free agency has gone.” — Marcus [08:50]

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3. Peter Woods – Defensive Tackle Prospect Discussion

[10:59 - 17:28]

• Cowboys at Clemson Pro Day:

  • The team was notably present at DT Peter Woods’ workout. Marcus Dixon, Dallas’ D-line coach, ran the drills, indicating real interest.

• Prospect Red Flags:

  • Landon voices concerns about Woods’ lack of college production, mediocre pre-draft testing, and possible injury excuses.
    • “Everything about his profile really scares me. Right. And like, he didn't produce at all this year… he is like the poster child for Clemson’s, you know, Clemsoning this year.” — Landon [12:38]

• Draft Fit & Value:

  • Marcus: Woods’ tape lacks high-quality reps, he’s not as disruptive as recent top DTs, and his numbers don’t justify a pick at 12 or 20.
    • “He had 8 career QB hits in three years at Clemson. Maybe with better coaching at the next level, you get more from him, but...you don't need to draft a 4i in round one.” — Marcus [14:00]

• Should the Cowboys Draft DT High?

  • Both agree Dallas needs depth, not a first-round DT, especially given the potential for filling that role in free agency.
    • “You need defensive tackle depth. You don’t need to spend a first round pick on a defensive tackle.” — Marcus [18:02]
  • Landon: Adds that “edge or corner” would be better high-value picks, and not to draft for need at DT.
    • “If you’re taking Peter Woods, I feel like you're taking because you feel like you need a defensive tackle, not because you feel like Peter Woods is worthy of the 20th overall pick.” — Landon [17:49]

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4. Rashan Gary’s Contract Restructure – Cap & Roster Implications

[22:10 - 27:53]

• Deal Details:

  • New contract: 2 years, $32 million, $16M guaranteed, first year fully guaranteed.
  • Cap hit drops from $19.5M to $5.4M (2026).

• Value & Flexibility:

  • Landon is pleased: “It makes the trade make a lot of sense… those void years give them incredible flexibility.” [23:01]
  • Points out this is a “bargain” and keeps options open for further roster additions.
    • “You got a guy that is a starter at Edge… for $5.4 million. And now you've got some more room to kind of operate… it appropriately puts the price, I mean I think it’s a bargain.” — Landon [23:45]

• Why Trade for Gary Rather Than Wait?

  • Marcus: Avoids the risk of a bidding war; contract is better suited to Cowboys’ plans, compared to open market outcomes.
    • “You don’t trade for a player, you trade for a contract. And that’s what the Cowboys did so they could have the flexibility to get this level of player at the price point that they want…” — Landon [25:44]

• Roster Building Still Needed:

  • Hosts agree Gary is not the “finishing move” at edge rusher. More moves needed via draft or trade.
    • “This cannot be your only move on the edge… there’s still that next shoe has to drop.” — Marcus [27:17]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “I was honestly floored...the very first [visit] is with a wide receiver is eye opening.” — Marcus [02:36]
• “Is this potential just smoke or trade bait? ...Let’s just try to supercharge the offense.” — Landon [03:33]
• “You never know what’s going to happen in the draft.” — Marcus [08:17]
• “Everything about his profile really scares me… he didn’t produce at all this year.” — Landon [12:38]
• “You don’t need to draft a 4i in round one when you already have Kenny Clark and Quinnen Williams.” — Marcus [14:17]
• “You don’t trade for a player, you trade for a contract.” — Landon [25:44]

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Important Timestamps

• Surprise at Omar Cooper Visit & Implications: [01:12 - 07:04]
• Draft fallback/Contingency Scenarios: [07:04 - 09:14]
• Peter Woods DT Discussion: [10:59 - 19:45]
• Rashan Gary Contract Analysis: [22:10 - 27:53]

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Tone & Style

The hosts maintain an analytical, conversational tone interspersed with a touch of humor—especially when poking fun at their own reactions and the occasional negativity of Cowboys fans. They provide clear, critical takes while referencing prior discussions and integrating wit to keep the episode engaging.

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Takeaways for Cowboys Fans

• Omar Cooper’s visit sends a big signal: The Cowboys could be hedging against potential trouble re-signing George Pickens or prepping for unforeseen draft day scenarios. The front office values preparedness and maintaining options.
• Defensive tackle is not a priority in round one: Despite the loss of certain DTs, Dallas appears more likely to add depth via free agency and target higher-impact positions in the draft.
• Smart cap management continues: The Rashan Gary trade/contract reflects a move toward cost-effective, flexible player acquisition, but reinforces that further investments on the edge are necessary.
• Buckle up—draft season drama is just getting started.

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Transcript

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The Dallas Cowboys have their first 30 visit next week and it's with a round one wide receiver. What in the world? We'll talk about what that means 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 Locked on podcast network. Your team every day. We'd like to thank you for making us the number one sports podcast network. And today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. FanDuel is giving you a way to turn that energy into an even bigger potential win with a college basketball parlay. Profit boost. Head over to FanDuel.com to get started. Welcome back. I am your host, Marcus Moser. He is Lana McCool. And on today's show, we're going to discuss Rashan Gary's revised contract. That's a big deal. We'll talk about the Cowboys working out a potential round one defensive tackle at Clemson's pro day. But I want to start with this, Landon. It. It's not too often that I get shocked when covering this team. I mean, you and I have done this for a long time now and we've talked about court cases and weird medical things and trades, all kinds of stuff. I mean, all this stuff, right? When I saw the report this morning that the Cowboys are hosting Omar Cooper in Indiana. Wide receiver on a 30 visit. A projected top 20 pick on a 30 visit. I was Honestly floored because I just assumed that they were going to use all of these visits on defensive players, corners, edge rushers, linebackers, and the fact that their very first one is with a wide receiver is eye opening. What do you think?

[B]

Many things. You know, like that's the thing, I, I, I, I, I'm trying to bucket my different thoughts here and they, you know, you've obviously heard of the film the Good, the Bad and the Ugly. I have been bucketing, bucketing my thoughts about this into the good, the weird and the crazy. Right? Like, I, I, I think there's a, you know, there's a, there's a conversation to be had about what is, does this have some speak to the, the Cowboys and how they feel about George Pickens? Is this potential just smoke or trade bait? Is this some kind of weird give up on the defense? And they're like, hey, let's just try to supercharge, supercharge the offense.

[A]

Like, honestly, that was my first thought. Well, hey, the free agency didn't go as planned. Let's just add a receiver that's going

[B]

to help us and that'll really, that'll up it, you know, and, and I, I, I, I think I would accept a little bit of each bucket as true because I really was thrown for a loop on this. I, I mean, I think the fact that this is, you know, a wide receiver, I think the fact that you and I had a conversation, you know, just yesterday about the Cowboys, you know, maybe trying to find a steal, one of those Pittsburgh edges and, and then knowing that the Pittsburgh Steelers are going to be big in the big market for wide receivers potentially as well, there's just a lot of angles here. And so like I, I think we should start with the kind of sane angle and move outward. Right. Like, so how do you think, and I return volley to you on this. Do you think that this is a commentary on what's going on with George Pickens potentially?

[A]

Yeah, I honestly, I do and I, I don't know if it necessarily, if it's a things are going poorly, but just like, hey, we need to cover our bases because we saw last year anything can happen in these negotiations, right? You could have a guy that you're sure is going to be on your team and then he lays on a table eating nachos and all of a sudden he's traded four days later. Right? So I do think if the nuclear option happens here, you want to at least have your be prepared. I don't think it's going to come down to that. But I. I never rule anything out with George Pickens, and I know he's been great in Dallas. No, he's just one of those guys that you always. You're always a little bit nervous about. That's all.

[B]

That's fair. And, you know, I think the question now becomes, then, is this, like, is this a CYA situation or is this a. Anticipating that there is a problem and. And moving on that. So, you know, then we. Then we find out, you know, is.

[A]

Is.

[B]

Is George Pickens a potential trade option? It's just so. It's just that. And that's the problem with this particular thing, is that once you open up a little bit, it's. It's like. It's. Someone was comparing something on. I think it was on the Football 301 podcast to, like, not wanting to. Oh, there's a. That's a different one. They're trying to open up the walls and being afraid of what they see in there. Right. Like, that's kind of like these theories. It's like you start kind of thinking it through a little bit, and then it really leads you down the rabbit hole of what could this potentially mean. And it ultimately could just be them doing due diligence.

[A]

You know, honestly, that's my first thought, is when I first saw the news, I thought, oh, Indiana played a lot of good defenses this year with a lot of draft eligible prospects and a lot of corners that maybe the Cowboys are looking at. Maybe they want to bring Cooper in to talk about some of these guys that he faced. Honestly, that was my initial thought, but there is also, hey, you're covering your bases just in case. I think there's another thing, that he is one of the fastest rising prospects in this.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Draft. I mean, he. You look at, like, consensus boards. He's moved out 20, 25 spots in two months. Maybe they just wanted to get a visit in early before he's got a million, just to kind of see, hey, is this. Is this a CD Lamb situation where he's too good of a prospect to pass up? I. I would be shocked if they draft him. Drafted him. But one thing we know, Landon, is the Cowboys love to draft from their 30 visit list. So you can't completely rule it out.

[B]

No, I wouldn't rule it out. I think the question now becomes like, is this a plan A or is this like a contingency plan if you get wiped out at 20 potentially, and he's there? Like, you know, because I think the truth is, is that if you get through all these scenarios where the Cowboys are truly kind of wiped out at 20, which really seems pretty rare to me, it feels like a guy like this would be still there because a lot of defensive players ended up going ahead of you. So I think it's. There is a certain point where you have to like, man, none of you don't want to reach for a defensive player if they get completely wiped out. I mean, it's obviously worst case scenario. So you, I think you have to prepare at least for worst case scenario.

[A]

And we, we were talking about another scenario before the show started. What if somebody came at you with a ridiculous Ryan Flournoy offer? Let's say it's a third round pick and something else, right? And we like Flournoy, but Flournoy was a part time player last year and it's a third round pick and it's picked 75 and suddenly Cooper's on the board at 20. Do you. And you haven't gotten anywhere with the Pickens contract. And maybe the idea is, hey, we draft Cooper At 20, we let Pickens play out on the tag and he's our number two receiver in 2027. And we just got three awesome receivers. We still have pick 12, we still have two third round picks. Let's address the defense that way. I'm not advising that or. But this is why you, you bring in these guys just in case. Because you never know what's going to

[B]

happen in the draft or you have an F1 racer, man, and you're putting nitrous on top of it. You're pouring gasoline on things. You're setting the thing on fire and we're going full speed ahead with the offense, defense be damned. And just like really damn the torpedoes and we're scoring 100 points every single game. I love that option too.

[A]

I mean, I could be really negative and say, I mean, you might as well do that considering how free agency has gone.

[B]

Come on, stop. Come on.

[A]

I'm just saying you could go in that direction.

[B]

I mean, the fact that we're bringing it up. Yeah, I mean the fact that we're bringing it up means that we, we thought about it for. God.

[A]

Yeah. I mean, again, if you were that kind of person. I can't ever. I can never imagine being that negative. That's sounds like an awful lot.

[B]

Don't even, don't even know anyone like that.

[A]

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Welcome back to the Locked on Cowboys podcast. We'd like to thank you for making us your first listen every single day to free agency is here. It's almost over with and so are we. Get one month free of the everyday club using promo code. Free agency no spaces now through March 15th go ad free and keep the conversation going on discord. Join the club at lockdown cowboys supercast.com all right l let's talk about Peter Woods, a defensive tackle from Clemson who did not work out at the NFL Combine. He was waiting for his pro day, did not run the 40 because supposedly he tweaked his hamstring before Clemson's pro day, which is always something. But it did go on to run a 10 yard split. He did all of the other drills at Clemson and the most notable part here is that Marcus Dixon, the Cowboys defensive line coach, ran all the drills. Do you think he is suddenly a potential option at 12 or 20 now that OSO Digizua and Solomon Thomas are gone?

[B]

Yeah, I mean I think to the point where they at least need to kick tires here, right? I think you know his I watched a little bit of what was, of what got out of his bag drill. His bag drill was definitely much better than the testing numbers looked like. He moves extremely well. He looks good on the hoof but man, like, I mean everything about his profile really scares me. Right. And like he's, he didn't produce at all this year. I mean he honestly he is like the poster child for Clemson's, you know, Clemsoning this year. And, and I, I think it's, it doesn't really bode well his, his, his pre draft process so far. I think, you know, I understand that like you know, 40 yards dashes don't really aren't really indicative so much of how a defensive tackle is going to play. But the fact that he came out and ran a 10, 2 tens if I'm not mistaken. Right. And then, and did several other time drills and then the bag drills and his excuse for not running the the 40 was a hamstring injury. It just, that just doesn't really add up really to me at all. And again it's just kind of in combination with all the other things including what happened his last year in college. He's a very talented player. I mean he's shown that at certain different points. I mean I think early in his career you would have said this guy's going to be a top five pick. He's a rare athlete. I mean he really, if you're looking for a three technique to get up field, like if you could go watch the tape in, in 2024 and 2023 and really kind of feel really good about who this guy is. But everything that's happened since then, especially last year and everything in the pre draft process really kind of makes me nervous.

[A]

Yeah. So the, the testing numbers were very mediocre for our first round pick. Yeah. Six foot two, 301 pounds. Clemson's reporting a 16710 yard. The scouts there. Yeah, which great. The scouts there at 177 which is below average. A 773 cone which is a little concerning. I struggle with Peter woods because I watched all of his pressures on Sunday night from 2024 to 2025 and there's just so few on his tape that are quality. Like a lot of them are stuns or like these pressures that are coming after five or six seconds. He's not, he's not like Byron Murphy that came out a couple years ago from Texas where he explodes off the line of scrimmage and he's up the field and he's being disruptive. He had eight Career QB hits in three years at Clemson. Maybe with better coaching at the next level, you get more from him. But like, here's the other thing that I struggle with is everybody says, well, he's, he's going to be a great 4i in the NFL. The Cowboys need a 4i. You don't need to draft a 4i in round one when you already have Kenny Clark and Quinn and Williams. Like, you don't, you don't need to spend that draft capital on a four eye.

[B]

Well, it's like we just talked about, right? It's, it's, you know, having OSA was an incredible luxury, but the Cowboys couldn't afford that luxury. Right. They needed to kind of take that luxury and turn it into opportunity for them to spread that out, that talent out across the defense, going back, turning around and using the 20th overall pick to plug that same spot. You know, it saves you some money, but, you know, only temporarily.

[A]

And you're not better.

[B]

Like, and you're not necessarily better. Yeah. So. And it's also, like we said, like, it's also not a position that adding that sort of talent really moves the needle the way you need to. Not the same way an edge. An edge player or a corner or whatever. And I understand, like, again, maybe this whole show is about potential contingency plans for the Cowboys if they get wiped out at their spots and these are the backup guys. But, but even then, I just have a hard time believing that the Cowboys would be wiped out to the point that they should be taking either one of these types of players at 20.

[A]

He's just not for me. And maybe they like him more than I do. I just, I don't see the need to do that. Plus, we talked about this last week. Like, the Cowboys shouldn't ignore positional value because it does matter, but they should prioritize guys that can help right away. And I'm just not sure how much Peter woods is going to help if his job is being a 4i at 21 years old, a position that usually takes some time to develop when he's been dealing with some injuries. And I don't think he's a top 20 player anyways. Again, maybe they upgrade from oh, said Diggy Zwa to Peter Woods. Maybe that's not suddenly making this defense average. Like, it's, it's just not.

[B]

Well, the other thing too is that like, like we talked about, I mean, four eyes. I mean, this is going to be a multiple front defense and we talk about the four eye a lot because one of the main formations that they're going to be using, they use the 4i. But, but these defensive tackles are going to need to play kind of a variety of, of of spots. Right. And part of the reasons that OSA wasn't necessary or needed as much. Right. Is because you already have two guys who can function as your actual up the field, three techs when you're getting into a four, two, five or something like that. So.

[A]

And that's the other part of it that we, we, we talk about their base defense all the time. With a 4i. Teams just like live in nickel all the time, right? So you're not going to have a 4i, right?

[B]

Yeah. So. Well, yeah, I think you can. There's ways to kind of use four I, five man fronts and then one linebacker or you know, which they may want to be interested in doing. But, but I think you're not wrong in the sense that you're not required to have that spot if you don't have an extraordinary talent. So you shouldn't feel the need to go out and have to draft that guy unless you feel that he's an exceptional player. And that is the issue for me is that if you're taking Peter Woods, I feel like you're taking because you feel like you need a defensive tackle, not because you feel like Peter woods is worthy of the 20th overall pick.

[A]

I don't think they need to draft a defensive tackle high. They need defensive tackle depth. You don't need to spend a first round pick on a defensive tackle. But if you are going to draft a defensive tackle, I would prefer it to be an actual nose tackle that's really good at stopping the run like Cade McDonald. And I think there's this misconception out there a little bit that the reason why the Cowboys traded Oso Digizua and kept Kenny Clark is because Clark is so much better as a run defender. I don't think that's necessarily true. I don't think Clark's been a particularly good run defender for a while now. I think they traded OSA because they feel like Clark can play maybe more positions and frankly he just had more value when it came to trading.

[B]

I think that, that, that Clark's gonna play much better against the run in this defense. I don't know if that was necessarily the case for osa. I think OSA was probably, I mean, also played a lot of four eye last year, so I don't know that his ability to play the run was necessarily going to improve in this defense. I Feel like they at least thought there could be some more ceiling there for. For a guy like him. Clark.

[A]

I also have a problem drafting, really, any defensive tackle at 12 or 20 given the state of their current edge rooms.

[B]

And that's the thing. You can get these guys. You can get these guys in free agency. Like, that's what we literally talked about yesterday, is this is a position that you can still. This is one of the few where you could still get a solid starter at this position. If you're just talking about the four I.

[A]

You.

[B]

You could fill in the rest with the rest of the guy with the two guys you've got. But if you don't even need a starter.

[A]

Yeah, you don't even need a. Because you've got Quinn and Williams, you've got Kenny Clark, and you got double O now from the Chargers. You don't really need a starter. You need somebody that can give you 15 to 20 snaps. And those guys are. They're plentiful in free agency.

[B]

Yeah. So. So if there's a guy that they like, they should get him. Like, again, McDonald's is a guy who I think is exceptional because he's a nose tackle plugger, but he also pushes the pocket in the past game and, you know, just go turn on the tape.

[A]

But like, he makes a million tackles. That's the other.

[B]

Yeah, exactly. As a d. As a nose tackle. Right.

[A]

Which is.

[B]

Which is not a thing. So. But that's not necessarily the case for me and woods, and maybe that's. That's what we're finding out with Dallas, how they feel. But to me, it doesn't make a ton of sense if don't reach for a guy like Peter woods, especially at a position like defensive tackle that you don't need to reach.

[A]

All right, let's talk about Rashawn Gary's contract because the Cowboys did rework that deal. Now that the. The trade has been finalized, we'll give you our thoughts on the contract next. This episode is brought to you by Indeed Workplace chaos. Deadline stacking up inbox over flowing in. The one position that you have to fill is still sitting open when the pressure's on and you need the right hire. The this is a job for Indeed Sponsored Jobs. Indeed Sponsored Jobs help you reach the people who actually fit what you're looking for. Skills, experience, location. So you're not just hoping that the right candidate stumbles across your post. So if you're hiring, spend less time searching and more time interviewing candidates who check all of your boxes with Indeed Sponsored jobs and listeners of this show will get a $75 sponsored job credit to help get your job the premium status that it deserves@ Indeed.com podcast just go to Indeed.com podcast right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Indeed.com podcast terms and conditions apply. Need to hire. This is a job for Indeed. Sponsored Jobs

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[A]

Welcome back to the Locked on Cowboys podcast. We'd like to thank you for making us your first listen every single day. All right, let's talk about the Cowboys reworking this Rashan Gary contract. We knew they were going to do something with it. They weren't going to let him play. I was at a $19 million cap hit with no guaranteed money. The new deal according to Todd Archer, two years, 32 million, $16 million guaranteed. The first year is fully guaranteed. He got a 13.2 million dollar signing bonus. The cap number this year drops from 19.5 million, which we knew he wasn't going to play on, down to 5.4 million in 2026. And they've added four void years on the end of this contract. They kind of smooth it out a little bit. What are your thoughts on the new deal?

[B]

It's great. I mean that's, this is what we were hoping they would do and it makes the trade make a lot of sense, you know, because they kept it as it was. It was like financially prohibitive and now they've got incredible flex. I mean those voyagers give them incredible flexibility to deal with this money at this point. So they got a guy that is a starter at Edge to come in and right now he's going to play for $5.4 million. And now you've got some more room to kind of operate. So it's not the solve at Edge, but I think it appropriately puts the price. I mean I think it's a bargain. Now the price and I think the trade value now more makes sense because of what you were able to do with, with this, with his contract. And you're now you've got a pretty cheap guy who I think is better, maybe Better than average edge and a very cheap deal. So you still have work to do, but this allows you to kind of continue doing work at the edge, I think.

[A]

And this is why the Cowboys traded for Rashawn Gary rather than waiting for the packers to cut him. Now again I, the Packers were going to cut him if they didn't trade for him. Right. Maybe there were another team that was offering a deal, but Green Bay was dead set on moving on from him.

[B]

Well, they're taking, let's point out that they're taking $16 million in dead cap as well. Like so that's, that's part of it. It's like they, for them it was way more expensive. Expensive than what the Cowboys would be paying. Obviously.

[A]

Cowboys are also taking $16 million in dead cap with OSA. It seems like that's the new trend across the league. But the reason why they, they did this is first of all, you avoid a, a bidding war. And I don't know if he would have made 16 million or more in free agency. However, quitty pay made 16 million in free agency. Adafi Owe who we liked I think slightly better than rashan. Gary made $25 million in the open market, so maybe, maybe he would have. Maybe you like Gary better. I like.

[B]

I think he's younger, so I probably, he probably makes more money.

[A]

But yeah, yes, but you could structure the deal however you wanted to. You weren't relying on other teams and now you get a very favorable number. I believe right now things will change a little bit. He's scheduled to be make the 29th most money among edge rushers in the NFL and he might not be the 29th best edge rusher in the league. That's probably not far off.

[B]

Yeah, I don't think that's, that's too far off at all. I think he has spurts. I think he's, you know, struggled down the stretch. But I mean you hope that you get him in the system, he reverts back to kind of what you saw early in the year. And again, I think if there's opportunity, he can certainly take advantage of it. And he is a very, very good run defender like that. That much is kind of not dispute. And I think that the getting a guy who is a decent pass rusher and again, I'm not trying to oversell his pass rush ability, but he's a decent pass rusher and, and a very good run defender. Like it's hard to get a package like that. And I think the fact that I want to just point this out again for all our listeners, like you don't trade for a player, you trade for a contract. And that's what the Cowboys did is they traded for this contract so that they could have the flexibility to get this level of player at the price point that they want so they could still potentially go out and get more players.

[A]

When the Cowboys were taking on a two year $42 million contract, it was just way too much given where he's at at this stage of his career. But when you're talking about two years, $32 million it just makes way more sense because now he is in the range of past rushers. I'm going to read you the names in his tier in terms of money per year. Jonathan Cooper, Carl Grandison, Joseph asai, Malcolm Koons, Caleb on Chase on Alex Wright, Dorns Armstrong, Eric Armstead, Quitty Pay and Bryce off before he retired. Like you can be down on Rashawn Gary as a player but also acknowledge like hey he's getting paid probably what he should be getting paid.

[B]

They need more than just one good player on the edge. Right? Like I mean so this is a to get this guy as not your finishing move but just as part of what you're doing I think is a good move and again it gives now you have the flexibility to continue to add another player maybe even at a higher price point if you want than than this guy at the edge position then, then you're really looking good.

[A]

I think that's my only concern and we said it when it happened like this cannot be your only move on the edge. And so far the only other moves they've made are they've signed Tyrus Wheat to a veteran minimum contract and they've signed Sam Williams to a one year two and a half million dollar deal. That other move hasn't come yet. Now maybe it will via the draft, maybe it will be a trade. We'll see. We like this move in a vacuum but there's still that next shoe has to drop. And honestly we said this about the contract like we weren't going to judge this, this trade until we saw what the new numbers look like now that we know feel a lot better about it.

[B]

Yeah, it makes a lot of sense I think you know again does all the things that you need to do and you need to continue to build multiple good players at multiple price points at a position that you had almost nothing. Right. So yeah, I think they're certainly not done yet. I think they certainly need another starter le starter plus level player at this at the edge. The question is how are they going to acquire them? And that's what we're waiting to find out.

[A]

Yeah, we'll see. I'm, I'm hoping that we get some news relatively soon on that. All right, that is it for today's show. We'd like to thank you for making Lock on Cowboys your first listed every single day. Make sure you subscribe and follow the podcast so you get all of the latest episodes. And 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 lockedoncaboys supercast.com to join the club. And for those of you on video, we can send you the first ever 24. 7 national NBA YouTube channel. And on audio, make your second listen the Locked on NFL Draft podcast. Follow Landon on Twitter @mccoolbcb. I'm @marcus Underscore Moser. Enjoy your weekend and we'll see you right back here on Monday.