Talkin’ Cowboys: Linebackers, O-Line, and Next Moves

Summary

Talkin’ Cowboys: Linebackers, O-Line, and Next Moves

Date: February 17, 2026
Hosts: Kyle Yeomans, Isaiah Stanback, Josh Rodriguez, Tommy Yarish (filling in), Chris Beam (producer)

Episode Overview

This off-season edition of Talkin’ Cowboys dove deep into the Dallas Cowboys’ coaching staff developments, linebacker situation, and offensive tackle conundrum as the franchise eyes its next moves for 2026 and beyond. The hosts brought a mix of expertise, honest uncertainty on Dallas’ direction, and their typical energy—offering fans a barbershop-style debate with film room depth.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Coaching Staff Changes & Philosophy (03:00–14:30)

• Scott Simons Hire:
  The Cowboys have hired former SMU defensive coordinator Scott Simons as inside linebackers coach, a staff innovation that separates inside and outside linebacker responsibilities (03:02).

  • Simons’ Credentials: Broyles Award nominee, led an SMU defense that excelled in turnovers, red zone defense, and sacks—despite SMU’s reputation as an offensive school (03:53).
  • Versatility: Simons has coached both linebackers and safeties at SMU, with a strong track record developing ball-hawking safeties—a trait Dallas hopes rubs off on their LB corps.

• Staff Construction:
  Christian Parker, the new DC, is assembling a young, hungry staff blending NFL and college experience—departing from the previous regime’s older, recycled approach (09:01).

  • Potential Limitation: Simons may be coveted elsewhere as soon as next year, making this potentially a short but impactful hire (06:08, 06:20).

"I don't need my linebackers coach to be here every year. If he's going to come in and do an incredible job and then elevate, by all means, I'm cool with it." — Kyle Yeomans (06:35)

• The Role of Position Coaches:
  Isaiah Stanback emphasized that NFL players spend most of their time with their position coaches; these coaches are pivotal for player growth and adapting to a new system (07:09).

"70% of your coaching is coming from your position coach, if not more." — Isaiah Stanback (07:09)

• Christian Parker's Personality and Scheme:
  The panel agrees Parker is regarded as intelligent, intentional, communicative, energetic, and a players’ coach (11:19). However, as a first-time DC, his scheme and on-field personality will evolve with time—requiring patience from fans and staff as the culture and play-style develop (14:28).

"Your unit is going to be a reflection of your coordinator's personality..." — Isaiah Stanback (11:41)

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2. Celebrating Nate Newton’s Presidential Pardon (17:54–21:18)

• Former Cowboys lineman and media personality Nate Newton received a presidential pardon, delivered personally by Jerry Jones—drawing heartfelt support and admiration from the entire panel (17:54).
• The group celebrated Newton’s redemptive arc and impact on the franchise, unanimously hoping he gets inducted into the Cowboys’ Ring of Honor soon.

"We all love him in this building. Congratulations, Nate. I think we're all super happy for you, buddy." — Chris Beam (18:52)

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3. Linebacker Position Breakdown: What Do the Cowboys Have? (27:01–36:00)

• Depth Chart Reality Check:
  The linebacker room is extremely thin and full of question marks. The main names in the conversation were:
  • Shemar James (leading tackler, but raw)
  • DeMarvion Overshown (injury history, entering a contract year)
  • Marist Liufau (flashed in 2024, faded in 2025)
  • Kenneth Murray & Jack Sanborn (likely not returning, both UFAs)
  • Logan Wilson (mid-season addition, usage in flux)

"Tommy, you had a funny off air comment... my first question was, what do they have at linebacker? And your answer was 'not a lot.'" — Kyle Yeomans (27:01)

• Scheme and Multiples:
  Speculation about moving to a 3–4 base was discussed but largely dismissed due to lack of proper personnel (undersized edge/LBs, lacking 260–270+ lb OLB/DEs), despite the staff’s inside/outside LB division (30:12–34:45).

"34 is a very specific scheme… you need the big fellas… those guys aren't just laying around." — Isaiah Stanback (31:22)

• Needs at LB: Free Agency vs Draft:
  All agreed that acquiring a veteran linebacker through free agency is preferable—a veteran can orchestrate and command a defense more reliably than a rookie, making the transition easier as new coaches find their footing (36:15–40:07).

"Linebacker is the easiest position on the defense to go get an established player in free agency..." — Isaiah Stanback (37:37)

• What Makes a Great LB Addition?
  Emphasis on getting a “dog” in the middle: a respected, smart QB-of-the-defense type who can make checks, command the huddle, and be a stabilizer—something the Cowboys lacked in 2025.

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4. Offensive Tackle: Evaluating the Room and Next Steps (44:36–54:16)

• Current Roster:

  • Tyler Guyton (recent 1st round pick, injury-prone, more comfortable at RT)
  • Terence Steele (formerly solid, struggled badly in 2025)
  • Nate Thomas, Hakeem Adeniji (depth)

• Terence Steele’s Future:
  Debate centered around whether Steele should return under his existing contract. The group agreed that while he had a down year, his run-blocking value and “dog” mentality are important. However, if not restructured, his contract exceeds his production (45:28–46:07).

"If you restructure, I'm cool. If you restructure, I'm good. But with what they're paying now… he hasn't lived up to that number." — Kyle Yeomans (45:53)

• Left Tackle Concerns:
  Greater doubts exist regarding Tyler Guyton’s durability and willingness—Isaiah raised concerns about Guyton’s “will and determination,” questioning if the team can trust him as a week-in, week-out starter on the blind side.

"Will and determination should never be questioned… I have questions when I watch him at practice. I have questions when I watch him in games. I don't want to have questions about people who are tasked with protecting one of the top positions, much less the blindside." — Isaiah Stanback (52:11)

• Pass Protection Problems:
  Despite Steele’s run game prowess, he’s graded as one of the league’s worst pass blockers over the last two years. There was agreement that improved coaching may help address technique issues, but the pressure (and cap hit) are high.

• Drafting Another OT?
  The hosts urged against using a first-round pick on a tackle unless a major free agency overhaul occurs elsewhere; the focus should be on fortifying the current young core.

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• "If you can't adapt in today's NFL, you're cooked." — Chris Beam on Christian Parker’s need for flexibility (16:34)

• "[Linebacker] is the quarterback of the defense. You need that guy to have the wisdom... and respect of everybody around him to be able to communicate..." — Isaiah Stanback (38:38)

• "You can coach around [questions about execution], but knowing whether or not that person wants to play? I can't do nothing with that." — Isaiah Stanback on the difference between Steele’s and Guyton’s question marks at OT (53:18)

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Section Timestamps

• Coaching News & Christian Parker Talk: 03:00–14:30
• Nate Newton Pardon Segment: 17:54–21:18
• Linebackers Room Deep Dive: 27:01–40:07
• Offensive Tackle Dissection: 44:36–54:16

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Tone & Style

The episode mixed playful jab-trading (especially with Tommy’s guest hosting and coffee chatter), honest assessment, and deep-dive X’s and O’s analysis. The hosts did not shy away from tough questions or expressing uncertainty about several positions. Their rapport allowed for both informative debate and relatable fan-level frustration.

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For Fans Who Missed the Episode

This episode is a must-listen (or must-read) for Cowboys fans curious about:

• How the new and very different coaching staff could impact Dallas’ next steps on defense
• The uncertainty clouding the linebacker and offensive tackle groups
• The panel’s strong preference for veteran additions at linebacker, and an emphasis on coaching fixes—not just new players—along the O-line
• Moving stories of Cowboys legends like Nate Newton overcoming adversity

No major free agency/draft decisions have been made yet, but this podcast sets the stage for the critical roster-building weeks ahead.

Transcript

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[Kyle Yeomans]

The following is a production of Dallas Cowboys.com and the Dallas Cowboys football club.

[Dallas Cowboys Announcer]

This is talking Cowboys streaming live from.

[Kyle Yeomans]

The Dallas Cowboys world headquarters at the star in Frisco CD Lamb touchdown.

[Isaiah Stamback]

It's on Jake Ferguson. Prescott keeps it and he bangs it into the touc.

[Kyle Yeomans]

And now your hosts, Isaiah standback, Patrick Walker, Josh Rodriguez and Kyle Yeomans. It's an off season edition of talking cowboys presented by Black Rifle coffee company live from the star in Frisco, Texas and the SWBC studios. Welcome in, everybody.

[Isaiah Stamback]

Come on, Tommy.

[Chris Beam]

Tommy used to that. That's new for me.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Do you want to try it again?

[Isaiah Stamback]

Let's do it again.

[Kyle Yeomans]

All right. In the where Live from the S WBC studios from the star in Frisco, Talking Cowboys presented by Black Rifle coffee company. The official copy of the Dallas Cowboys. We've got Tommy Yarish, Josh Rodriguez, Isaiah Stamback, Chris Beam in the back. I'm Kyle Yeomans. Glad you're with us. We are going to start breaking down position by position. What the heck the Dallas Cowboys are going to do in 2026?

[Josh Rodriguez]

What do you need?

[Kyle Yeomans]

What do you need? What do you got to do? What is going to happen from here on out? And I can Already see the YouTube comments flood in saying a whole new defense. Well, we're going to attack both sides of the ball so we're going to get to talk a little bit of offense here as well. Glad you're with us.

[Josh Rodriguez]

This is Glad you're with us, Kyle.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Thanks, dude. Appreciate it.

[Isaiah Stamback]

Yeah, I don't know.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Tommy filling in for Patrick today.

[Chris Beam]

I've already seen. I'm already seeing the booing coming in from our YouTube chat.

[Kyle Yeomans]

What's the sounder there, Beam brother, What is Tommy's deal?

[Chris Beam]

He's got a big smile on his face as he's looking forward looking for the ring.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Oh, brother, this guy stinks.

[Chris Beam]

I can hear of laughing from.

[Kyle Yeomans]

There's probably a contingency of Cowboys fans that think we actually don't like Tommy.

[Josh Rodriguez]

Oh, God, no.

[Kyle Yeomans]

And it's quite the opposite. It's like nobody actually dislikes Tommy Strapping a young lad.

[Josh Rodriguez]

No way.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Yeah. But no, we just love messing with him. Glad to have you with us. Appreciate you.

[Chris Beam]

Always love being with you guys.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Let's throw you into the fire a little bit. How about a little news and notes because Cowboys had some things.

[Josh Rodriguez]

Pop, what you got?

[Chris Beam]

I'm going to try to do my best for. No, see here. Biggest thing. Couple big things happened this weekend. Scott Simons, the former SMU defense coordinator, is hired as the inside linebackers coach. So pony, this year, staff a little bit different in the sense that you've got an inside linebackers coach and an outside linebackers coach. I was wondering if they would maybe do defensive line and outside linebackers edges, pass rush, whatever you want to call it. And they are doing that. So SMU's defensive coordinator, Scott Simons will coach the inside linebackers. That was Dave Borgonzi's job before. He's since gone to Tennessee to join his brother. And also what I was talking about earlier, the baldest coaching staff in NFL, which is pretty solid. Yeah, yeah. Salah, Aaron White Cotton.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Yeah.

[Chris Beam]

Brian Dable.

[Josh Rodriguez]

Yeah, actually, I have an interview with Tennessee.

[Chris Beam]

Yeah, he's going to be there.

[Isaiah Stamback]

They all have great smiles.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Going to host their podcast.

[Chris Beam]

They do have great smiles. So Scott Simons, Broyles award finalist for, excuse me, nominee for the last three seasons that's given each year to the top assistant coach in college football. 2024 helped SMU reach their first college football playoff. This past year, they finished fifth in the country in turnovers, fifth in red zone defense, eight, eighth in interceptions, 19th in rushing defense and 23rd and sacks. So this SMU defense, which was kind of known. SMU is kind of known as an offensive program for a long time, especially because last year their offensive play caller for the most part, over the last few years, though, as they've been an offensive program, they put up a lot of points. Scott Simons is a guy that has helped bolster their defense. And then the other piece of news.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Well, I want to hit on that real quick before we move on, but Simon specifically, and I said this on 153 the fan the other day.

[Commercial Voice]

The.

[Kyle Yeomans]

That's a. That's a big name to have in the coaching world in your hip pocket as a position coach.

[Josh Rodriguez]

Right.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Because of what he did at SMU as a coordinator. There were places in college football that may want his services as a head coach very soon. College football specifically but you now have him as a position coach in the NFL, which is significant. And you take a look at the way that Christian Parker is putting the staff together. There is so much of an emphasis in the secondary, it's not even funny. And everybody at home's like, oh, but they hired him as an inside linebackers coach. Yeah, but look at who he coached at smu. He coached safeties. He coached two of the best safeties. And I had a couple other games this year. The safeties were the best part of their defense. No doubt in my mind. Ahmad Moses is a draft prospect that he's kind of a day three guy for me, but a pet cat that knows how to find the football. He helped single handedly beat Miami. He had two picks of Carson Beck in that game in Dallas by himself from the safety position. And then you turn around and of course Miami goes on the run that they did and end up in the national championship game. But Simons was a linebackers coach, then he went to safety's coach, then he was the DC and safeties coach and now he's here coaching linebackers. So there's an emphasis in a lot of that and he's going to bring some coverage ability. In his teaching and in his communication with a lot of the linebackers that.

[Josh Rodriguez]

You have, there's sort of a glass half empty, glass half full situation there too because you're bringing on a guy who's going to be desired as a head coach, probably in college or maybe maybe another coordinator position later on in the NFL.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Yeah.

[Josh Rodriguez]

And it may be one of those like flyer years where it's like he's trying to improve the defense right here now without the concern of longevity, without the concern of like he's going to be here in two or three years because you need to get the defense fixed right now. Yeah, I'm just keep that in mind.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Yeah, I'm, I'm okay with that. I don't need my linebackers coach to be here every year. If you need. If he's going to come in and do an incredible job and then elevate, by all means, I'm cool with it.

[Josh Rodriguez]

My thing is like getting hyped for this guy that may be gone in a year, but it's like you're, you're focused on what he's going to be able to provide to you.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Right now I want to defer to Isaiah here, the, the player in the room. But when it comes to position coaches, and you've spoken on this before, how crucial is a position Coach to the development and the teaching that happens throughout an off season, into training camp, and then ultimately in the regular season too.

[Isaiah Stamback]

It's everything. That's where, that's who you spend your time with. Your coordinators speak to everybody but your position coaches is who you rock with literally all day long. That's who you're in your meetings with. That's who you're doing your walkthroughs with. That's who you come back to whenever you come out the huddle. That's, that's, that is your headquarters. It's that and then it's your coordinator and then it's your head coach. Head coach might say something to you every so often. Your coordinator might speak to you every so often, often as well, whenever you're, you know, finishing up a play or he needs you to do something. But overall majority, I would say 70% of your coaching is coming from your position coach, if not more so. The relationship is important, the teaching style is important. Being able to connect with you at the level that you're at is important. And then benefit in terms of having a coordinator as a position coach is obviously going to help a young defensive coordinator, young first time defensive coordinator as well. Right. So I don't know him yet. To understand how open and willing he is to absorb wisdom from others in. Underneath his.

[Kyle Yeomans]

You're talking about Parker.

[Isaiah Stamback]

Parker.

[Chris Beam]

Yeah.

[Isaiah Stamback]

But to have those resources underneath you is huge. And I think that we saw that last year out of Chicago in terms of what Ben Johnson did, you know, he had, and I'm going to blank on the name now, the offensive coordinator for kc, Eric B. Eric B. He brought him in as a running back coach.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Right.

[Isaiah Stamback]

He was a running back coach for, for Chicago last year. Now, does Ben Johnson need anybody to help him with his game planning?

[Kyle Yeomans]

Nope.

[Isaiah Stamback]

No. But does it help to have somebody who has a great offensive mind?

[Kyle Yeomans]

Yeah.

[Isaiah Stamback]

Yep. Maybe he sees something that you don't see when you're watching a film. Maybe he says, hey, let's, let's throw this in there as well. Or I've done this in the past and that helped. So having somebody who not only has the ability to coach a position and communicate properly, but also having the wisdom of being able to facilitate entire units helps whenever you have that on your staff.

[Kyle Yeomans]

When you look at this staff, Tommy, across the board that Christian Parker has put together, it for the most part is kind of a young, refreshing look of young, hungry coaches. It's very different than what we've seen in the past couple of 10 years with Zimmer and Eber Flutes. Not to say that they're tied together, but their staffs differently were similar.

[Isaiah Stamback]

Right.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Where Christian Parker. It feels like there's a lot of young hungry coming up from college, coming from a position coach or an assistant position coach in certain areas around the NFL, trying to prove themselves. Kind of like what Josh was talking about. Do you like that in the staff that's coming together? I know it's early and they're not playing games yet, but do you like the way that it's kind of been constructed in a different way?

[Chris Beam]

Right, sure, yeah. I mean, at the end of the day this is all going to be judged on wins and losses and performance.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Right.

[Chris Beam]

It doesn't, you know, the way they construct it, if they don't win, it doesn't necessarily matter. But I think what's interesting about this is I think back to when Brian Schonheimer was hiring his offensive staff and this is reminding me a lot of that process. You're seeing a mixture of guys who have coached in the league who have been in the league for a long time and an influx of younger guys who are at the college level like a Junior Adams or Connor Riley. This is kind of the same thing that we're seeing now with his defensive staff where Christian Parker and the Cowboys are plucking from the NFL, they're plucking from the college level. So they're looking at a bunch of different places to and a bunch of different experience levels, guys who have been NFL defensive coordinators or NFL or college defensive coordinators and putting them all together. So you kind of have this meshing of minds and that can be beneficial because you get so many different viewpoints. But at the end of the day, this is a first time coordinator in Christian Parker and he's got to figure out, okay, what is my identity, what do I want my defense to look like in push all those thoughts together and mend it into what he sees as his vision for this defense. That's the biggest question that's going to be have to be answered by this Cowboys team going forward. But at the very least at his disposal, he's got a good group of minds that he can bounce ideas off of and concepts that he can mesh together. Now it's just a question of one, can he mesh together into a full identity for his defense and two, can they get the personnel to execute it?

[Isaiah Stamback]

Do we know his personality?

[Chris Beam]

Christian Parker this is excellent, excellent people person, everybody who.

[Josh Rodriguez]

A teacher.

[Chris Beam]

A teacher. He relates with young players very well.

[Isaiah Stamback]

Everybody who is he a disciplinarian? Is he a high energy guy? Is he.

[Chris Beam]

I would say he's a little bit of everything. High energy guy. He's. Everybody we've talked to about him, raves about him. Players love him.

[Kyle Yeomans]

He's a players coach.

[Chris Beam]

Yeah, players coach.

[Isaiah Stamback]

I asked that because. And we know this, right, We've heard this a thousand times, but it is true. Your unit is going to be a reflection of your, of your coordinator's personality. So I need to know who he is as a person and energy wise I understand he's a teacher and all those kind of things, but personality wise, you're going to see that show up on the field for the defense. Right? So I want to learn, I want to hear him talk more, I want to see him present more, I want to see.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Yeah.

[Isaiah Stamback]

Who he is in that setting and we'll obviously get a chance later on when he hits the practice field, get a better understanding. But, but that is such an important part. When you think about the great offenses, when you think about the great defense, it's always a reflection of the person that's calling the place.

[Kyle Yeomans]

I completely agree with you. I think the best way I could describe it without seeing him on the practice field in person, keep that in mind. I would say smart and locked in, which is just kind of a, I feel like that's a cop out answer. But he's very intentional, very. He's communicative, he's energetic, all of that kind of like what Tommy said. It's a mixture of a couple different things. But I would say the number two, number one and number two things that stand out are his intelligence with the way that he's able to put together and teach and then you've got the locked in ability, the intensity that he, that he coaches with, which I think if that, if those are two things that you can radiate to this defense, then count me in, I'm all for it.

[Josh Rodriguez]

And not to mention that the coaching staff has put together, you guys mentioned it. Like you said, they're young and hungry and hopefully guys that are, that are able to communicate well to the players, communicate these complex defenses, maybe to players that just had a lot of communication issues last year, you know, that maybe they weren't able to get that message across because they couldn't relate to them on a certain level. And granted that's on the players too. You have to be able to, regardless of who's telling you what the scheme is going to be, you have to be able to know it like the back of your hand. Right. But at least now it's a little more relatable to them, hopefully. I'm just excited to hear from Christian Parker for the first time because we have not. There's been no availability. I think that the ice storm really ruined that opportunity for us, and hopefully it comes up here pretty soon.

[Kyle Yeomans]

If. If you're looking at Christian Parker and you're asking, what is the scheme, what is his personality like and things like that, we can give you an answer here just based off of what we've seen and what we've heard from. From far away. But even whatever happens, when he finally takes over as the defensive coordinator and he's finally out on the practice field and in a game situation, it may. It may be new to Christian Parker. He may not know what his personality as a coordinator is or what he's going to do from a scheme standpoint, because he's.

[Isaiah Stamback]

We've.

[Kyle Yeomans]

We've heard them say, oh, he's going to take principles from Vic Fangio. Oh, he's going to take principles from some of these other guys that he's been underneath before.

[Isaiah Stamback]

He's going to figure himself out.

[Kyle Yeomans]

He's going to have to find what puzzle pieces fit in his mentality. That's thought process.

[Isaiah Stamback]

And that's the only thing that gives me a little bit of hesitation in regards to excitement. Sure. Because while figuring out who you are at the simultaneously trying to establish a culture and an identity while teaching others underneath you to embody and teach what you're trying to push forward.

[Josh Rodriguez]

Well.

[Isaiah Stamback]

Right. So it's. It's almost like I don't want to. I don't want to put anything on him. I don't know the man.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Right.

[Isaiah Stamback]

But I know in anybody even listening as you're trying to figure out who you are, if you are leading other people while figuring out who you are, it's going to take some patience because you're going to move the needle multiple times. Yeah. And as you're trying to say, hey, Josh, I need you to get on board with this, and then you see it and you're like, I don't like the way that's coming. Hey, Kyle, we're going to change things up and we're going to go this direction now. It's going to require some patience from these coaches now that are underneath his umbrella to understand that he's going to be moving things around and changing things. And maybe what he initially comes out with and starts trying to teach isn't what's going to necessarily stay that way.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Right.

[Isaiah Stamback]

So understand it's. It's a lot. So I just. I'm. I'm just telling people to have a little bit of. Pump the brakes a little bit. Yeah, it's going to take time. And I mentioned. We mentioned this a couple weeks ago. But also understand that his philosophies may change throughout this off season, going into the season as he realizes that what he thought about. Right. And where he foresaw isn't necessarily the way in which he truly wanted to pan out. So he's gonna have to make adjustments.

[Josh Rodriguez]

Well, who better to lead him through that than his head coach and Brian Shot, who just came off of his first worldwide season as a head coach, who had a lot of ups and downs and was still able to build a culture, his culture within the team, while having ups and downs of a regular NFL season with a personnel that you didn't necessarily build on your own and a defense that was almost entirely not your identity.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Right.

[Josh Rodriguez]

You were just kind of going along with it so you can get through your first year and really figure out, okay, this is what we're going to do.

[Chris Beam]

What would seem to be more problematic is if, to Isaiah's point, he comes in with a mindset of, okay, this is what we're going to run. This is how we're going to do it, and you can't adapt. If you can't adapt in today's NFL, you're cooked. You just have to do it. But I think it'd be silly to expect Christian Parker to come in and all of a sudden top 10 defense. I just don't think that's going to happen for Dallas. But I think that if you can recognize that this is, you know, something that may take some growing pains initially. And here's the great part for Christian Parker, he has the best job in the world because it is going to be very difficult to be worse than this 2025 crew. I'm sorry, but it really is. So if you show any sign of improvement, that is an improvement for the team and you bought yourself another year. So, you know, we talk a lot about the. How many coordinators has been four or five in the last five years? I don't think that's going to be the pace for Christian Parker just because the bar is literally that low. And, you know, he's got a chance to. He has a chance to build something up and build stability.

[Kyle Yeomans]

And if he's good enough, and this goes from the worst defense in 2025 into a top five defense, then it might be five coordinates, you know, like.

[Isaiah Stamback]

Hey, it might be one of the.

[Chris Beam]

Best coaching jobs ever.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Yeah. Who knows?

[Isaiah Stamback]

All right, what was the other piece.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Of news and notes that you.

[Chris Beam]

Yeah, this is great for our guy, Nate Newton. This is really cool. He received a official pardon from President Donald Trump, and Jerry Jones got to deliver the news to him over the weekend. And Nate talked a little bit to Nick Eatman. He said, quote, Me and Mr. Jones have had a lot of talk. Some good, some not so good. He tells it like it is. And he said, you've been pardoned from the president. I just sat there for about 30 seconds to a minute, stunned. But I told him, you tell the president. Thank you very much, man. I think I speak for all of us when I say that Nate is such a bright presence around this building, and he has done so much to help all of us and uplift the mood in this building. And just an excellent human being who has made the most of his second chance and is just a fantastic person to be around. We all love him in this building. Congratulations, Nate. I think we're all super happy for you, buddy.

[Kyle Yeomans]

We love Nate. I don't know. Isaiah can speak to this, too. Just because we get to spend. We've spent 100 game days now in the studio watching football with Nate. It is one of the more enjoyable moments of my entire year, and it is one of the more beneficial to my career in general because I've learned so much from Nate. I've learned how to handle yourself. He's stopped me a couple times. Isaiah's been around it where I get either heated or I'm upset at something. And, I mean, he's kind of that cool, calming shoulder. Now you talk about turning a new leaf and really reshaping your life. And he found. He found his faith. He found himself in it. And it really is cool to see somebody if you have. No matter what your political affiliation is. This is not politics. We're not talking politics. Whatever it is, Nate Newton deserves that type of pardon. He 1000% deserves it. From seeing him firsthand for the past seven years, he is one of the best individuals in the building. So, like you said, Tommy, well said on your side. I couldn't be happier. I literally ran into the room and yelled it to my wife. She scared her for a second. I was like, nate got a pardon. I was like, this is awesome. It felt like my favorite sports team had just won a championship because I couldn't feel more better or much better than I do for the guy and what he deserved to this point.

[Isaiah Stamback]

Yep, that's my dude. I love. I love him. Big Nate dog. One of the. These guys just going to repeat what they said. Great human being deserves everything. Deserves to not have restrictions on life. And to his point that he's. That he mentioned, I think on one of the DLL or whatever the name of that. That show is, he was talking about his grandkids, Right. And that's what his focus is now. Like he talks about putting money in his grandkids accounts and saving money for college. Like that his focus is ensuring that they see him in a light that he. That he envisions. And yeah. And the Internet's. The Internet, you'll be able to go back and see everything. Right. But at the end of the day, you'll be able to see that he has the same freedoms as everybody else has. He should. So. Yeah.

[Chris Beam]

And one more quick thing. I hope. I really do hope this means that we see his name in the ring of honor soon. Absolutely. I hope his grandkids get to experience that.

[Isaiah Stamback]

It'd be really cool that I would do freaking cartwheels.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Yeah.

[Josh Rodriguez]

Yeah. There's no one more deserving than Nate Newton.

[Kyle Yeomans]

I would actually cartwheels with you.

[Chris Beam]

Yeah.

[Kyle Yeomans]

That would be the coolest thing ever. Congratulations, Nate. We love you, buddy. And we'll. We'll see you again here on Hanging with the Boys within the next couple days. I don't know what day they go on in the offseason.

[Josh Rodriguez]

Thursday.

[Kyle Yeomans]

It's a Thursday. We'll see. We'll see them on Hanging with the Boys on Thursday. All right, when we come back on Talking Cowboys, we're going to start breaking down position by position. What the Cowboys need this off season, what do they currently have? What is the next step? Do you attack it in the free agency side of things or the draft? We're going to talk about a couple of positions today, starting with the defensive line. No, linebackers first. Linebackers first. I couldn't remember what I put in the rundown. Linebackers first. When we return with more talking Cowboys.

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[Isaiah Stamback]

How's it going? You see that Cowboys game? Oh, I watched.

[Chris Beam]

Been seeing some good things.

[Isaiah Stamback]

Totally. They have some talent. Yup.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Some great talent.

[Isaiah Stamback]

And they got some fight. Hoping this is the year. Me too. Oh, I'm Cody, by the way.

[Kyle Yeomans]

I'm Travis.

[Isaiah Stamback]

Nice to meet you, Travis. Go Cowboys. Go Cowboys.

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[Kyle Yeomans]

Cowboys fans, we've got big news. Black Rifle Energy is now available at Texas Seven Eleven stores and for a limited time, you can score two cans for just $6 at participating locations. These cans pack a serious punch, 200 milligrams of caffeine, veteran crafted flavor and the clean energy you need to power through those long days. So the next time you roll into your neighborhood, 711 here in Texas, grab that two for six dollar black rifle energy deal and fuel up the American way. Black Rifle Coffee America's coffee.

[Isaiah Stamback]

Every day begins with a promise. A promise to work hard and to build a future. That's why we're here, providing the tools to expertise and John Deere equipment you have relied on for generations to help you get the job done right. We're with you. That's our promise to you. Because no matter the project or the challenge you're facing, we're with you.

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We're united at, AT and T. We guarantee our network so you can talk college football with your BFF while taking Buster to the vet.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Hey yeah, I can't believe he ate.

[Isaiah Stamback]

The whole thing of chicken wings. And I can't believe we're staging a comeback touchdown.

[Commercial Voice]

Staying connected matters. That's why in the rare event of a network outage, you'll automatically get a bill credit for a full day service. For wireless downtime lasting 60 minutes or more caused by a single incident impacting 10 or more towers must be connected to impacted tower on set about it. Restrictions and exclusions apply. See att.com guarantee for full details.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Back to talking cowboys. Back here on Talking Cowboys presented By black rifle coffee company, the official coffee of the Dallas Cowboys. Glad you're with us. I did get Josh a mug, by the way, for everybody that was wondering. I got him a mug. I also got one for Chris Beam and he got everybody taken care of. Tommy, I'm gonna get you one, chopped liver.

[Josh Rodriguez]

You weren't. Kyle kept to his word. Kyle kept to his word.

[Kyle Yeomans]

I just wanted everybody to know I got had 400 dms that said you better get Josh a black rifle coffee mug. I use mine like 10 times already. I mean, dude, I'm using it right now. It's phenomenal.

[Isaiah Stamback]

Did you hand wash it, though?

[Kyle Yeomans]

I did. I mean, like, yeah, like halfway.

[Josh Rodriguez]

That just means.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Yeah, it's supposed to wash it. Throw some coffee in there, get over it. Hot pressure wash. You deal with it.

[Josh Rodriguez]

You know, coffee's antibacterial. It's fine.

[Kyle Yeomans]

It's hot anyways. It burns off.

[Josh Rodriguez]

It's just bean water. No big deal.

[Kyle Yeomans]

They used to make it in a. In a campfire.

[Josh Rodriguez]

All right, there's. Meet someone that has the coffee pot that they never rinse out, like, oh, brown all the way through.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Oh, yeah.

[Josh Rodriguez]

It's supposedly called cowboy coffee.

[Kyle Yeomans]

I'm good, dude.

[Josh Rodriguez]

Real cowboy coffee's black rifle coffee. You know what I'm saying?

[Isaiah Stamback]

Last of stain.

[Kyle Yeomans]

The official coffee of the Cowboys. That's why it's the only cowboys coffee.

[Josh Rodriguez]

You know, Like, I can't say the name. So a breakfast establishment, a diner, if you will. And they have the old mugs that have like the, the. The on the inside. You could see like all of the years of coffee that have been.

[Isaiah Stamback]

I went to the location by your house a couple weeks ago with the family.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Did you come by?

[Isaiah Stamback]

And I bought a T shirt and I was mad that it wasn't a game day because I wanted my 10.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Yeah, you gotta wait until next year for that.

[Isaiah Stamback]

I was so mad.

[Kyle Yeomans]

That's a bummer. All right, let's talk about these positions going position by position. We're gonna do this over the next couple weeks and kind of hit the. The. The number one spots of need, but also some not so spots of need just to address what these positions are and what the Cowboys currently have at the spot. We're going to start with linebacker.

[Josh Rodriguez]

Let's do it.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Tommy, you had a funny off air comment earlier where you said my first question was, what do they have at linebacker? To address it, and your answer was not a lot. Not a lot at linebacker.

[Chris Beam]

Yeah, I think that. But you know, when you look at this team and the fact that she mar James, I think was their leading tackler or second leading tackle maybe behind Kenneth Murray.

[Josh Rodriguez]

Correct. 80 to 81.

[Chris Beam]

Oh, okay. I thought he beat him. That's. That's interesting. That's interesting to say the least. That's, you know, credit to Shanwar James, a fifth round pick for being that impactful in terms of statistically, but.

[Kyle Yeomans]

You.

[Chris Beam]

Can'T count on that. And I think we saw a lot of what he had in college where he would fly to the ball really well, but sometimes he'd over pursue and mistack say that about Shamar.

[Isaiah Stamback]

Don't you do it.

[Chris Beam]

What I do.

[Isaiah Stamback]

I like Shamar James.

[Chris Beam]

I'm not saying I don't. I dislike you.

[Isaiah Stamback]

Watch it, buddy.

[Josh Rodriguez]

I think in the right system he's going to be a lot.

[Chris Beam]

Well, I think he's a hitter with the right. He is a hitter, I think with. But I still think that there's work to be done there and I don't think that there's just a lot of question marks to that position. I think the biggest one you got is demarvion overshone who has been injured the last couple of years and now he's going into a contract year. So if he, if he balls out. He has placed full 17 games. He's fully healthy this season. Do you feel confident enough to pay him?

[Isaiah Stamback]

No, that's.

[Chris Beam]

That's a big question. I wouldn't feel good about it either. You know, you've got Marisol Leopold in that room who 2024, towards the end of the year you said to yourself, okay, it seems like he's starting to carve out a role and put things together. 2025, it's. Where is this guy?

[Josh Rodriguez]

Yeah.

[Chris Beam]

And one, couldn't find the field and two, when he was on the field, just didn't make the proper plays.

[Josh Rodriguez]

He was not in Iberflus's favor for whatever reason.

[Chris Beam]

Yeah, I think he is not the typical kind of linebackers that Matty Berfluse has liked in the past. Those stockier, bigger guys who just run and hit. I think he was. He's really good as a blitzer and I think that that's where he should carve himself out of.

[Josh Rodriguez]

Oh, absolutely. Yeah.

[Chris Beam]

And then you got Kenneth Murray who was. I think you can. You've seen enough tweets and tiktoks.

[Kyle Yeomans]

He's still under contract.

[Chris Beam]

Yeah, he's free agent.

[Josh Rodriguez]

He's free agent. Oh, you're right. Him and Jack Sanborn.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Yeah, you're right.

[Chris Beam]

Jack Sanborn.

[Josh Rodriguez]

I don't think they'll be coming back?

[Chris Beam]

I would doubt it. Sanborn was a guy that I didn't think was that bad in Chicago, but for whatever reason and of course injuries as well, just didn't work in Dallas. And then they trade for Logan Wilson in the middle of the season and there was a week where they straight up forgot to put him on the field or just didn't think to put him on the field. So it was a. It was a lot of moving parts and it's a room that. It's no wonder when we're on the draft show and we'll talk about it here in the next hour or so, that linebacker is one of those positions that you feel like is a big need that you could address in the draft or in free agency because it's clear that they need some help in that room.

[Kyle Yeomans]

If you are going to see a switch between a four three and a three four. Right. You're going to see three down linemen instead of the four. Does that change the roles that you see in the current linebacker room? Yeah, quite a. Quite a bit. Right.

[Isaiah Stamback]

It changes your entire defensive roster completely.

[Chris Beam]

Yeah.

[Kyle Yeomans]

But if you're going to do that, this is kind of the time to do it because you don't have a foundation to lay with. Right. It would be lay down and you.

[Josh Rodriguez]

Have the defensive tackles to make a 34 work.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Absolutely.

[Isaiah Stamback]

You do. You do. To put an emphasis on the secondary so much, I'm hard fetched to see them go to a 3 4.

[Kyle Yeomans]

You don't think so?

[Isaiah Stamback]

No.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Even with hiring an outside linebackers coach and an inside linebackers coach, I think.

[Josh Rodriguez]

It'S just them preaching multiples.

[Kyle Yeomans]

You think so?

[Josh Rodriguez]

Yet again?

[Isaiah Stamback]

Yeah, multiples is fine. 34 is a very specific scheme. Very specific scheme. And it requires very specific position groups in terms of those outside linebackers. It's a very particular personnel that you have to have. It's not like it's interchangeable with your three, four. I mean your four three guys and your three four guys. It's just, it's not. You need. If you're gonna have a 3 4, you need the big fellas in the inside which you already said that you have. And if you're playing a 3 4, your stand up ends. Okay. Your stand up ends are 6, 4, 2, 6 0, 270.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Yeah.

[Isaiah Stamback]

It's not, they're not 220, they're not 225. It's just not right. Because what they're being asked to do is literally funnel everything in like as a 3, 4 outside linebacker, which is really a stand up defensive end. These are big human beings that are tasked with capping off the ends of the line of scrimmage. They are, they are literally the bottleneck. Hey, everything stays inside, nothing gets outside. So that means those guys are literally. Their job is to take on offensive tackles and tight ends. Yeah, that's their role. So your current personnel at linebacker doesn't allow for that. And if you're going to go get guys now, you're literally, you're hoarding defensive ends. And last time I checked, you don't have a bunch of those.

[Josh Rodriguez]

No.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Not that you feel confident in any way.

[Isaiah Stamback]

So I mean, you're. You're talking about going. If you were to become a primarily 3, 4 defense, you're talking about going and acquiring 5, 6 guys that are 6, 4, 6, 5, 260 plus pounds.

[Kyle Yeomans]

You gotta get big guys.

[Isaiah Stamback]

Yeah. Like you have to go literally go get all these guys. And last time there was. Those guys aren't just laying around.

[Kyle Yeomans]

No, no.

[Chris Beam]

It's hard to find.

[Kyle Yeomans]

And you got Clowny.

[Chris Beam]

You got your David Clowny and that's.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Kind of your guy. That's if you resign him. He's also a. Yeah, he's a free agent.

[Isaiah Stamback]

But I mean, you would need to go find James.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Houston is probably undersized for that. Donovan, as Rocco is definitely undersized.

[Isaiah Stamback]

Definitely undersized for that.

[Kyle Yeomans]

You loved, and rest in peace, Marshawn Neal and you would have loved to have him in that spot because he's a bigger body defensive end. He's a guy that can be an edge rusher and could have stopped the run and could have been that outside linebacker spot. It would have been perfect.

[Isaiah Stamback]

But Donovan, Ezra, if He puts on 20 pounds, maybe he could be your guy. He could be a guy. I don't know about your guy.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Do you want him to put on £20?

[Isaiah Stamback]

I don't know. I think he has to. Has to put on at least 10.

[Josh Rodriguez]

Regardless of the change.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Yeah.

[Josh Rodriguez]

Yeah.

[Isaiah Stamback]

Regardless.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Yeah.

[Chris Beam]

Let me ask you this as a fan who's also curious of your perception of just the game of football and how it's evolving.

[Kyle Yeomans]

If you have.

[Chris Beam]

What's that?

[Kyle Yeomans]

So you're not a fan, you're a reporter.

[Chris Beam]

It's a fan of football.

[Commercial Voice]

Okay.

[Chris Beam]

If you have the defensive tackle personnel that Dallas has where they're so big and so powerful, do you feel like you can have some of those undersized guys and push them out a little bit more and just let them pin their ears Back. If those three guys take up as a three, four. Yeah.

[Isaiah Stamback]

No.

[Chris Beam]

You don't think they can go five man. Put two. Pin your ear back pass rushers.

[Isaiah Stamback]

No, because I'm down, down and around. If I'm offense, I'm down down, I'm taking my tackle, I'm cracking on the, on the five technique and then I'm getting, I'm pulling my guard and I'm getting out on your defensive end slash outside linebacker and I'm kicking him out and then we're off and running. It's.

[Josh Rodriguez]

If you're set the edge regardless.

[Isaiah Stamback]

If you're. If you can't set the edge in a 3 4, you're not running a 3, 4. It's the reason why every 3, every successful 3, 4 has had bigger guy.

[Kyle Yeomans]

There's.

[Isaiah Stamback]

They're literally defensive ends that are standing up like old school defensive end, not the new age. I'm talking about like the Miles Garrett's. Yeah, the Clowney's. Like these massive human beings, right, that can set the edge and 330 pounders can't move them. Because that's what you're asking them to do. You're asking me to come off the edge, put my one hand in your chest, hold you there and make sure that no running back can get outside of me. I can't do that. £230. When I was playing, when I played tight end at the end of my career, I was playing in Jacksonville with Mercedes Lewis. I would kick Mercedes Lewis butt in the weight room and everybody else in the weight room. I was a weight room straws, weight room strong. But I was £240 and they put my hand in the ground. I was supposed to be playing hybrid tight end like Hernandez, right. That was that age. But they would put me in a wing position and I, Mercedes would be at the line of scrimmage, I'd be in a wing set and they would have me go try to crack back on these three, four defensive defensive linemen. I couldn't do it. I physically couldn't do it. I was strong enough to do it, but I couldn't do it. I had the will, I had the determination, I had the angles. When they're £300 and I'm 240, it doesn't matter what the weight room says. Yeah, it just doesn't. Physics alone just says, nah, player, you can't do your job. So, like, that's one of the reasons why it just didn't work out for me there and I was done because like I couldn't do what was being asked to me physically.

[Kyle Yeomans]

So in order to make a switch to 3, 4, because it feels like there's a large number of Cowboys fans that are convinced that it's going to be a 3 4, I'm kind of with you. I don't think it's going to be. I think it's going to be more of a multiple. It's going to be a 4 3, and we're going to see a lot of that as the base and then some odd man fronts here.

[Josh Rodriguez]

Situational.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Situational, yeah. With that being said, where do you feel like the need is at linebacker? I. I don't want to necessarily talk defensive ends yet, but where is the linebacker need? Is it free agency veterans, or do you need young talent that you can build on and develop at linebacker?

[Josh Rodriguez]

Well, currently I would say free agency, because I think there are proven guys that are headed to free agency that you can count on because you currently have no true coverage. Eraser, if you look at the targets of the guys that you currently have, this is disregarding Murray and Sanborn, who probably won't be back like we said. But Shemar James, 31 targets, 28 catches, overshone, 12 targets, 10 catches. Leo Fowl, 11 targets, 10 catches. Wilson, 13 catch, 13 targets, nine catches. That is just a very high percentage pass completion against these guys because they are running to the play. They're not diagnosing and they're not sticking in the pocket. Right. My thing with getting a new linebacker is that you want somebody that is established as a guy, that has longevity, a guy that is stable, a guy that can diagnose plays and is available. So all of those things just get. Just grab that guy. Right. There are names out there and you would have to really fight for them because they could get franchise tagged. Who knows? But at least for me, right now, you want a guy that's established in the league. You had a chance for that with Bobby Wagner a few years ago, didn't take it. Isaiah, well, I will say was one to really champion that and he played pretty well. So I think you want to get an established guy in free agency because they still work out.

[Isaiah Stamback]

Yeah.

[Josh Rodriguez]

Those linebackers, you want somebody that has that wisdom, that wisdom, that intelligence for diagnosing play.

[Isaiah Stamback]

Understand this as you're. And I stand on the table. I've said this before. I believe that linebacker is the easiest position on the defense to go get a established player, free agency. So that's not to diminish the position. That's just to say that it's easier to plug a linebacker into your system than it is any other position group in. In on defense, corners and safeties cost a premium. It makes more sense.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Especially corners.

[Isaiah Stamback]

Especially corners. Right. So it makes more sense to go draft those guys and develop those guys than it is to try to go grab one of those guys in free agency and think that that's going to change your entire defense.

[Kyle Yeomans]

And I think the reason why they are a premium and why they are as expensive as that. It's rare that those draft and developed guys are NFL ready immediately.

[Josh Rodriguez]

Oh, yeah.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Position, absolutely. There's a couple of those guys, but they're going to go top 50 and there's very few.

[Isaiah Stamback]

I mean, you'd be hard fetched to name 10 dominant corners in this league. Yeah, it just. It's just a position that is. That. That's a premium. It's not an easy position to play.

[Josh Rodriguez]

It's also week to week too.

[Isaiah Stamback]

Absolutely. Right. So it's easier. It's better to go develop those guys. Get some young talented guys that fit your scheme that you can develop with coaching. Right. You see an emphasis on coaching. We saw that with office of line last year as well. Right. They're putting a huge emphasis on coaching those guys up. It's harder to go find guys at those positions. So get them in a draft. Linebacker is a position that again, you need. He's the quarterback of the defense typically. All right. Most defenses you need, you would prefer to have an experienced quarterback than you would have a young quarterback that hasn't seen much. Same reason why you want to experience middle linebacker versus a young linebacker that hasn't seen much. These offenses are complex now. It is what it is. So you need that guy to have the wisdom to have the fortitude and have the command of. In respect of everybody around him to be able to communicate what is being told to him by his defensive coordinator and be able to make sure that everybody is doing what they need to do. You need wisdom for that reason. Why I stood on the table for Bobby. Bobby's going to put your defense in position. Whether the guys around them can do it, I don't know. Right. But he's going to see it and diagnose it and put guys in position. The guys that they still talk about around that. There were great linebackers for the Cowboys. What did they. What were they able to do? Do see it, Diagnose it. Put guys in position. You need that at that middle linebacker position. So I would much rather the Cowboys spend some money and go get a solid piece to put in the middle. And then use this talented, physically talented group that is hungry and eager, that can learn, that's smart. Put those guys on the outside of those guys, and then you can have a good defense that can play well at the second level.

[Kyle Yeomans]

So you need a dog at linebacker.

[Isaiah Stamback]

You need. At least, you need a smart. Yeah. Well respected dude that when established, when a quarterback steps to the line of scrimmage, he's like, crap, this is a chess game. Yeah. You know, he's the quarterback needs to get to the line of scrimmage. The center gets down, puts his hand on the ball, and he looks at that dude square in his eyes like, all right, here we go, right? I make a change, he makes a change. Right.

[Josh Rodriguez]

Like, seen it all.

[Isaiah Stamback]

Yes.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Interesting. All right, when we come back, we're going to flip it to the offensive side of the ball. Before we wrap up on Talking Cowboys, we'll talk offensive tackle. Same question, what do you have? And it's also a loaded answer in that one as well. When we come back, more Talking Cowboys right after this.

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Get almost anything you need delivered with Uber Eats. What do we mean by almost? Well, you can't get a well groomed lawn delivered, but you can get a chicken parm delivered. A day at the lake, That's a no. A Philly cheesesteak? That's a yes. An afternoon stroll? Sorry, no. A burrito bowl. Happily, yes. What about a day of sunshine? Not happening. A box of fine wines? Yes, that is happening. Delivery is on its way. Okay, how about some clear skies? Nope. Well, then how about some French fries? Yep. A little escape. No. A delicious bowl of grapes. Yes. Yes, that. How about a freshly cut lawn? Can't help you there. But barbecued prawns? Order it and it's on its way. Get almost almost anything delivered with Uber Eats. Order now. Alcohol in select markets. Product availability may vary by region. See app for details. Get almost almost anything delivered with Uber Eats. Order now.

[Commercial Voice]

At AT T, we guarantee our network so you can talk college football with your BFF while taking Buster to the vet.

[Isaiah Stamback]

Hey.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Yeah. I can't believe he ate the whole.

[Isaiah Stamback]

Thing of chicken wings and I can't believe we're staging a comeback touchdown.

[Commercial Voice]

Staying connected matters. That's why in the rare event of a network outage, you'll automatically get a bill credit for a full day's service. For wireless downtime lasting 60 minutes or more caused by a single incident impacting 10 or more towers must be connected to impacted tower at onset of outage. Restrictions and exclusions apply. Catt.com guarantee for full details.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Cowboys fans, we've got big news. Black Rifle Energy is now available at Texas Seven Eleven stores and for a limited time you can score two cans for just $6 at participating locations. These cans pack a serious punch, 200 milligrams of caffeine, veteran crafted flavor and the clean energy you need to power through those long days. So the next time you roll into your neighborhood, 711 here in Texas, grab that two for six dollar black rifle energy deal and fuel up the American way. Black Rifle Coffee. America's coffee.

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[Kyle Yeomans]

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[Josh Rodriguez]

Well, they currently have under contract, under contract Tyler Guyton first round pick Terrence Steele, Nate Thomas and Hakeem Adenishi as a depth piece there. As far as coaching changes, you haven't really seen a whole lot. Connor Riley's still sticking around as far as we know, but they did add Kyle Fuller as an assistant offensive line slash. Quality control coach. Yeah. That's what you currently have.

[Isaiah Stamback]

Now you have three offensive line coaches.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Kind of.

[Josh Rodriguez]

Arguably.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Arguably. The question now becomes. And this is the question that a lot of people have been asking on other spots. I'm okay asking the question because I've said it from the last three years or more. Are you ready to move on from Terrence Steele?

[Isaiah Stamback]

No.

[Josh Rodriguez]

No.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Okay. Why is that?

[Josh Rodriguez]

I like the stability there.

[Isaiah Stamback]

I like T still. Yeah.

[Josh Rodriguez]

I. I think at least if the rest of the line is performing well, I don't think he's going to bring you down a lot. 11 sacks in 20, 25 is very concerning.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Yeah.

[Isaiah Stamback]

He didn't have a great year.

[Josh Rodriguez]

No, he's not great.

[Isaiah Stamback]

Yeah. I'm not giving up on him because of that year.

[Josh Rodriguez]

No, not at all. And if you're able to restructure his contract a bit, I don't see a problem with where he's at because I don't think that's the if you be all end all.

[Kyle Yeomans]

If you restructure, I'm cool.

[Josh Rodriguez]

Yeah.

[Kyle Yeomans]

If you restructure, I'm.

[Chris Beam]

I'm good.

[Isaiah Stamback]

Good.

[Kyle Yeomans]

But with what they're paying now.

[Josh Rodriguez]

Yes.

[Kyle Yeomans]

In the production that he's given you, not just this past year, but over the course of the contract.

[Josh Rodriguez]

Yes.

[Kyle Yeomans]

I. He hasn't lived up to that number.

[Josh Rodriguez]

That's fair.

[Isaiah Stamback]

That's a lot of guys. Unfortunately, you're right. Get the contract, the play falls off. I would assume. And I put this on both parties. I put this on T still to analyze, to self scout. I just saw some of the coaches in there.

[Uber Eats Announcer]

Right.

[Isaiah Stamback]

I said, what are y' all up to this week? He said, self scouting. Say awesome. Right. I would assume that. That T still self scouting himself and analyzing and saying, ah, you know what? That's not T stilly out there.

[Kyle Yeomans]

No, that was.

[Isaiah Stamback]

That was just ts. That wasn't T stilly. So he needs to get back to being T stilly. Somebody who's. Who sound wasn't dominant. He's never been dominant.

[Josh Rodriguez]

No.

[Isaiah Stamback]

But he's always been sound. Right. Historically, he's somebody who has that dog in him. That's something that we do know. Right. I don't question that about T still at all. He's. He'll Go to. He'll go fight for anybody on that offensive line and injuries, whatever, all that stuff happens. Right. But he. I would have. I'm put the responsibility on the coaches as well to say, hey, you guys have invested so much with this office online coaching. Y' all need to take somebody who has the will determination if that's the case still. Right. I haven't talked to him. Will determination and ability and make sure that he's who you guys need him to be. And again, I. I put that on both parties, the player and the coaches. But T still is capable. He's capable. I don't think. I don't. I've never seen T still switch it off. Have you seen him had bad play? Yes. But you see that with every player in the league. Right. You just don't want to see that of players that you're paying a lot of money to. But it still happens.

[Josh Rodriguez]

Right.

[Isaiah Stamback]

As you switch to the other side, that's where I have questions.

[Kyle Yeomans]

I have questions there, too. I just. I have questions.

[Isaiah Stamback]

I have more questions there than I do with the right side.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Okay.

[Josh Rodriguez]

Well, really quick though. What was your per view on Steele?

[Chris Beam]

Steele is like sleepy. One of the biggest decisions this team has this offseason to a degree. You understand why they'd want to keep him because he is such a plus for you in the run game.

[Isaiah Stamback]

Yep.

[Chris Beam]

I think he and Tyler Booker, when they ran right side, they had a lot of success with it.

[Isaiah Stamback]

Two dogs.

[Chris Beam]

Those two dudes were just moving people.

[Isaiah Stamback]

Yep.

[Chris Beam]

And it's not surprising because Zach Martin loved playing with Terrence Steele because those two did the same thing. So from a run game perspective, with how good this offensive line was schematically and how good of a job Clayton Adams and Connor Riley did, just setting things up to run the football, I can understand why they'd want to keep Terrence Steele. It's the pass protection that really worries you. And he said the injury stuff that he's dealt with and is he ever going to be back to what he was before that? That's the tough part. Especially because of the money that he's going to cost you and the fact that they're 30 million in the red already in cap space with so many holes now, if you let him go, you'd be creating another hole, essentially. I understand that, but my question would be, how confident is this staff in their ability to develop guys and put a guy in there and allow them to fill that role? Because if you get. If you feel like any of these guys like a Nate Thomas, who had a. I think roller coaster is a good word for it of a year. They drafted a Johnny Cornelius in the sixth round last year. Is he a guy that you could. Who played right tackle at Oregon? Is he a guy that you maybe want to give a chance to? There goes Isaiah's opinion. It's. It's very interesting. As it, as it stands right now, I. I think there's just too much. He's being held back. If you. I don't know how much you would save restructuring, you would save a lot more by letting him walk.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Yeah.

[Chris Beam]

And so that, that makes me kind of lean that way, but I could see them going either way.

[Kyle Yeomans]

The dead cap this year, by the way, the dead cap, if you were to let him walk, would be 7.3. So. Or, excuse me, 9.3. So that's what it would take. But his cap hit is twice that. It's 18.2.

[Josh Rodriguez]

Let me ask you. I mean, this is a longer conversation, but just to end it really quickly on steel, if you do not restructure him, if you don't keep him, you're then relying on who knows, at right tackle. And then also Tyler Guyton, who has not been available.

[Chris Beam]

Yep. That's what makes it really tough. That's what makes it. That's why I said it's one of the toughest decisions they've got this year. Because if you are. If you are left to tackle with two big question marks, that could be.

[Kyle Yeomans]

What you have going. Even if you keep both of those guys.

[Chris Beam]

Sure. Yeah.

[Kyle Yeomans]

It's a question mark at both spots.

[Chris Beam]

That has the potential to be disastrous.

[Kyle Yeomans]

He's been one of the worst pass blocking tackles in football the last two years.

[Chris Beam]

But he's such a good run.

[Kyle Yeomans]

But he is a great run, which.

[Chris Beam]

Is what makes it really hard.

[Isaiah Stamback]

So do you think that he can be a good pass blocker?

[Kyle Yeomans]

I hope so, because we haven't seen.

[Isaiah Stamback]

It maybe falls on a coach.

[Kyle Yeomans]

There's been one year where he's been a solid pass block.

[Isaiah Stamback]

So we know he's.

[Kyle Yeomans]

And that's what earned him the contract.

[Isaiah Stamback]

Yeah. So we know he's capable of doing it. So then what responsibility falls on the coaches?

[Kyle Yeomans]

A lot of that.

[Isaiah Stamback]

A lot of it. Yeah. Yeah. It's not a. So it's not a capability thing. It's not a want to thing. It's an execution thing. So that falls on the player and the coaches. Like, that's why I don't have an issue with T. Still. Yes. He needs to improve his game and he Will I foresee him improving his game, but the coaches have to invest in him. Him. Right. There's other people who I don't even know if they want to play that I can't have.

[Chris Beam]

I do agree with Isaiah, the bigger questions on the left side, I, I.

[Kyle Yeomans]

I think I'm right there with you. But you can't necessarily move on from him.

[Isaiah Stamback]

No.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Can't move on from Tyler Guyton.

[Chris Beam]

No.

[Kyle Yeomans]

You have a question mark on what you could do with Terence Steele. With Tyler Guyton, there's not a whole lot you can do.

[Chris Beam]

You just have to hope he stays healthy.

[Josh Rodriguez]

Yeah, exactly.

[Kyle Yeomans]

And one of the best things for him might be moving him to right tackle. Let's be completely honest. That's where his college tenure was. That's where he was comfortable at. He's played both positions before. He was better at right tackle. So that might be what's best for Tyler Guy.

[Isaiah Stamback]

Do you know that he wants to be there week in, week out? Do you have that confidence, Tyler Guyton? Yes.

[Kyle Yeomans]

That he wants to be at left tackle or right tackle?

[Isaiah Stamback]

That he wants to be here playing available. That has a question that gives you, I guess, your answer. Like that. That's, that's what me.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Then what do you do with them?

[Isaiah Stamback]

I don't know. I. The evaluation process was wrong, in my opinion. And I don't put that on any Guy. I just go off what I see. I just go off what I see. And you can. And again, he has the power to turn it on or turn it off. We've seen that. Turn it on, turn it off. Injuries are injuries. A will and determination should never be questioned. Question in my eyes, that should never be questioned because that's something that you're wholeheartedly in control of. And I have questions when I watch him at practice. I have questions when I watch him in games. I don't want to have questions about people who are tasked with. With executing and who are tasked with.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Protecting one of the top positions, much less the blindside.

[Isaiah Stamback]

So that's. So when we compare, if we're comparing the tackles on this roster, the two starting tackles, one is a dog that is an absolute beast in one aspect of his game. Doesn't turn it off. May not be the greater execution all the time as of late. Right. Has some injuries and things of that nature. But you know what you're gonna get. Right. So I can coach that? You ask any coach. I will take that all day long.

[Kyle Yeomans]

You can coach around?

[Isaiah Stamback]

I can coach that? Yeah, absolutely. Knowing whether or not that person wants to. Wants to play. I can't. I can't do nothing with that. And yes, now contractually they're in a bind and can he be an absolute beast? He can be an absolute beast. Can be.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Can be. Just hasn't. It's a question mark and I think there's a split between Cowboys fans. I'm even trying to read like where the chat is leaning and I don't have a spot where they're leaning one way or the other. If you do have an opinion on this, reply to Talking Cowboys on X Reply to the live stream. I want to see what people are thinking so that way we can kind of look through it as well.

[Josh Rodriguez]

Don't draft one, please.

[Kyle Yeomans]

I don't think that. Please don't.

[Josh Rodriguez]

Not the first round.

[Kyle Yeomans]

Unless you just go unbelievably spend happy in free agency and revamp your entire defense. Then we can maybe talk about that. Maybe. But that's a lot.

[Isaiah Stamback]

There's a lot that has to get Jason Peters. He's only like 48.

[Kyle Yeomans]

He was already here.

[Josh Rodriguez]

I think there are bigger problems.

[Kyle Yeomans]

All right, that does it for us here on Talking cowboys. Hope you had fun with us over the last hour. We will be back next Tuesday to break it all down for you again. 10:00am Central Time right here on Dallas Cowboys.com thanks again for Tommy Yarish filling in this week. We might see him again next week for Josh Rodriguez. Isaiah, stand back. Chris Beam in the back. I'm Kyle Y saying so long. We'll see you next week with more Talking Cowboys. This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys.com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club. How about this Cowboys.