Hey everybody, this is your GM, your back row,
Dom, it's your GM, who currently is not on the
team right now, but don't you worry about it,
Kale, here to bring you episode 9 of the Stack
and Shed series. Now, in this series, we're covering
all 32 teams, so everybody gets a chance to be
talked about, alright? Now, in this series, we're
covering a few different topics, and they include
what went wrong, what do they need, Stack or
Shed, their draft picks, one move I would do
in their cap space. Now in this episode, we're
talking about the Cowboys, all right? So all
my Cowboys fans, wipe those tears from your eyes.
Everything's going to be all right. And just
know you guys are not going to the Super Bowl
anytime soon. But how about them Cowboys? All
right, let's get into it. So what went wrong
in the Cowboys season? And I will venture to
say it was a lack of defensive production. In
the past few years, the defense has become an
eyesore that Jerry Jones can no longer ignore.
Although the Cowboys acquired Kenny Clark and
Quentin Williams via trade, I was never under
the impression that this team was going to go
anywhere because the secondary was still a major
problem. And here you have a defense that wasn't
able to create turnovers, stop explosive plays,
create pressure on the quarterback, or stop the
run. According to NFL Pro, The Cowboys' defense
last year ranked 30th in the league, and they
allowed 30 .1 points per game, 377 yards per
game, 6 .1 yards per play, and 59 touchdowns.
They were dead last in pass defense and they
allowed 251 .5 passing yards per game, 7 .2 passing
yards per play, and 35 passing touchdowns. They
were 23rd in run defense and they allowed 125
.5 rushing yards per game, 4 .7 rushing yards
per play, and 24 rushing touchdowns. Now we can
blame the players on missed assignments, missed
tackles, missed interceptions, bad block shedding,
all those different areas. You know that Matt
Iberflues isn't a good coach. So why would you
go out your way to hire him when you know that
in recent years, he hasn't done a good job? According
to Sumer Sports and Matt Iberflues' first year
as the head coach for the Chicago Bears, they
were 29th in total defense and they allowed 375
.9 yards per game. They were 32nd in scoring
defense and they allowed 27 .2 points per game.
His second year with the Bears. They were 20th
in total defense, and they allowed 350 .4 yards
per game. They were 20th in scoring defense,
and they allowed 23 .9 points per game. His third
year with the Bears, they were 13th in total
defense, and they allowed 330 .5 yards per game.
And they were 13th in scoring defense, and they
allowed 21 .8 points per game. Now, of course,
when we look at his tenure with the Cowboys,
they were 30th in total defense, and they allowed
377 yards per game. And they were dead last in
scoring defense, and they allowed 30 .1 points
per game. Now, does that sound like a successful
defensive mind? No. Now, Jerry Jones deserved
a majority of the blame because you give the
thumbs up or thumbs down to any person that's
on this team. And how is it that you can go this
long without properly investing into this defense?
You have opportunities just as everybody else
does to fix your problems on your team, but you
choose not to. You choose to neglect it and say,
we have this high -powered offense. That's all
we need to win games. That's what's going to
get us to the Super Bowl. And that's not going
to work because defense still wins championships.
Now, with that being said, what do the Cowboys
need? And that is better defensive players and
scheme. Now, they've already accomplished one
of their needs in hiring Christian Parker as
their new defensive coordinator, which I think
that could be a really... good hire, but only
time will tell. The other part is going to require
a huge investment to this defense in both free
agency and in the draft. Now, with that being
said, the question we all need to ask ourselves
is stack or shed? And I will eventually say stack.
And the reason why I say that is because the
offense is in a really good space. All you need
is just this defense to hold up their end of
the bargain. When we look at their draft picks,
they have two first round picks, a fourth, three
fifth round picks, and two seventh round picks,
which isn't bad. But the question is this, is
Jerry Jones going to use one or both of those
first round picks to acquire a high end defensive
talent? And if so, who's it going to be? Because
the first person that comes to mind is Max Crosby.
Now, the one move that I would do is double dip
at defensive back. And that's solely because
this secondary has been lacking talent for a
very long time. Having the 12th and 20th pick
in the first round is a really good spot to be
in because you're not too high, you're not too
low. But the question is this, Are you going
to attack corner or safety first? If you can
get someone like an Emmanuel McNeil Warren, if
you get someone like an Adam Thielman, I think
that's a really good selection. Now, corner is
tricky because there's a limited amount of prospects
with true first round grades. The only people
that come to mind is Avion Terrell, Mansour Delane,
Colton Hood, and Gerard McCoy. Now, the best
place to get a corner is in the second round.
As I've said before in previous episodes in this
series, I believe that the second and third round
is the sweet spot in this draft. If you can pluck
Chris Johnson in the second round, I think that's
a great pick. because I think he has all the
intangibles to be a true dominant outside corner.
When we look at the Cowboys cap situation, they
have negative 31 .1 million, which we all know
that's going to change because Jerry just announced
a couple of days ago that they're going to restructure
Dak, CeeDee Lambs, and one of our offensive linemen's
contract to create 66 million in cap space. I
expect for them to do something with Quentin
Williams and Kenny Clark's contract, which is
interesting because according to Spoltrak, Kenny
Clark has an $11 million roster bonus that kicks
in on the third day of the new league year, but
he carries a $21 .5 million cap hit this year.
However, when we look at Quentin Williams' contract,
he has a $20 .7 million base salary this year
and is carrying a $21 .6 million cap hit. Now,
I would give a longer term extension to Quinton
Williams and a short term extension to Kenny
Clark. So that way you can bring down their cap
hits while at the same time keeping them on the
team for the foreseeable future. Now, my impression
is that the Cowboys won't be as active in that
first wave of free agency because they're going
to try to hash out a deal with George Pickens.
But I do expect for the Cowboys to pick things
up in that second and third wave of free agency.
Now, could Jerry surprise us? Sure. But I don't
think the Cowboys are going to go after. Trey
Hendrickson or Boye Mafi or Tyreek Woolen or
Kobe Bryant or Khalil Mack or, I don't know,
Adafia Way or Devin Lloyd, just to name a few.
I think at best, they're probably going to get
some people that are probably familiar with the
Cowboys or familiar with the coaching staff,
and they're just going to say, oh, these are
the big splashy moves that we made. but only
time will tell. But I'm going to end this episode
here. If you guys like what you're listening,
please, please, please, please, please make sure
you guys leave a five -star, five -star, five
-star, five -star, five -star review on anywhere
and everywhere that you can listen to podcasts,
okay? We are available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify,
and a few other places. Now, if you want to access
those places, go on Google, type in rss .com
football junkies podcast. It should be the first
link. When you click on that link, it'll take
you to our rss .com page where you can listen
to this podcast on your online browser. should
be a box that says listen to when you click on
that it'll give you a plethora of different places
that you can listen to this podcast all right
now for my youtube people make sure you guys
like share subscribe turn that notification bell
on leave a comment down below let me know your
thoughts on this episode as well as other content
that i've put out recently am i right am i wrong
let's talk about it all right you can follow
us on youtube at football junkies pod Football
Junkies Pod. And we have a link tree in our bio.
When you click on that link tree, it'll take
you to anywhere and everywhere. But we have Football
Junkies content, all right? You can follow us
on Instagram at football underscore junkies pod.
Football underscore junkies pod. Junkies pod
is not what! It is together. not spaced, okay?
It is together, not spaced. Football underscore
junkies pod. You can follow me on Blue Sky at
G -M -K -L, G -M -K -A -I -L -E, G -M -K -A -I
-L -E. You can follow me on Twitter at G -M -K
-L, G -M -K -A -I -L -E. You can follow me on
TikTok at football junkies pod, all right? Football
junkies pod. Remember, when I make the post on
our TikTok page, I cannot put the link to the
new episode in the post because it's not going
to hyperlink. So make sure you guys follow us
on YouTube, Instagram, and all the other places
that we post our content, all right? As always,
I hope I gave you guys the fix that you guys
need. I love you guys. I appreciate you guys
so much. Thank you guys so much for listening
to the best football podcast that you can listen
to on a week -to -week, day -to -day basis. And
as always, this is your GM Kale signing out.
Peace and love. Later, guys.