this one is a work of beauty....

The PFF mock draft simulator is an addicting and dangerous tool lol. I think you are spot on with the Cowboys trading down out of the first round if they cant get their hands on one of the four first round graded WRs (unless they trade for one). I think it would be fun for the cowboys to take Bijan at 26 if he fell, but I doubt he gets that far and I don't see them taking a first round RB again.

After listening to David Moore on a cowboys podcast this morning, he seems pretty certain that zeke is let go, but also that Tyron Smith is either let go or retires as well (that would be another ~10 million on cap savings). If Tyron Smith isn't back also, I think OL and in particular tackle, becomes a position of need this offseason as well.

Tksymm7 said:

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The PFF mock draft simulator is an addicting and dangerous tool lol. I think you are spot on with the Cowboys trading down out of the first round if they cant get their hands on one of the four first round graded WRs (unless they trade for one). I think it would be fun for the cowboys to take Bijan at 26 if he fell, but I doubt he gets that far and I don't see them taking a first round RB again.

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It is addicting. I think we've all see many times the draft folks talk about in a typical year, there's really only about 15-20 guys that garner 1st round grades. I def could see them trading down, esp if one of those QBs fall. As for Bijan, Brugler has him rated as the #4 player in this draft. If he's sitting there at 26 and the Cowboys don't take him, they should be shot. I don't care the position, if you pass on the #4 player at 26 (baring some sort of character stuff) you deserve to get shot. But I don't think they will have that opportunity because he ain't falling to 26.

Quote:

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After listening to David Moore on a cowboys podcast this morning, he seems pretty certain that zeke is let go, but also that Tyron Smith is either let go or retires as well (that would be another ~10 million on cap savings). If Tyron Smith isn't back also, I think OL and in particular tackle, becomes a position of need this offseason as well.

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Agree. I think all the wanting Zeke back stuff is a smoke screen. I do think they will try to get Pollard back on a team friendly deal. I'm good with that and they may be able to get that done with him coming off the injury and the RB market being what it is.

Yeah, I think the Zeke talk is an effort to pump up a guy you like and help things end on good terms. They have shown the ability to cut bait with vets on bad contracts before, this whole thing is basically Dez Redux.

Seems like they may need a G (or at least resign McGovern) and a swing tackle.

Offensive line coach hired: https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2023/02/01/report-cowboys-hire-mike-solari-as-offensive-line-coach/

Dude was in Dallas under Landry

If Bijan Robinson is still available at 26 then you have to take him.

If he's off the board then my 1st three picks for the Cowboys are:
1. CB
2. WR
3. Linebacker

Southlake said:

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Anybody listen to Jerry's press conference?

Dude is completely delusional:

Zeke is better than we think. SanFran has been just as unsuccessful as the Cowboys. ( in the last 12 years, SF has been to the NFC championship 6 of the last 12 years with a superbowl appearance 3 years ago)

His is where the Cowboys problems start…

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The last time the 49ers won the Super Bowl was in 1994.
Haters and critics of the Cowboys love to never give Jones or the Cowboys credit for any of their accomplishment, but always want to hype up other teams.

49ers have had some great teams over the past 15 years. They've also had a bunch of crummy teams including the 2020 season.

Their Super Bowl drought is just as long as the Cowboys. They've also been stuck on 5 for a long time.

Kellso said:

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If Bijan Robinson is still available at 26 then you have to take him.

If he's off the board then my 1st three picks for the Cowboys are:
1. CB
2. WR
3. Linebacker

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I think this is probably the move as well. Mac mentioned it earlier, but a lot of people have Bijan as a top 10 player in the draft. If he made it to 26 I feel like we would be pretty foolish to not take him, although I doubt he makes it to 26.

ramblin_ag02 said:

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If there's a good player we really like about to fall to us in the draft, then someone else will trade up to take them first. Been burned way too many times to get excited about draft day. Not to mention all the bad graded picks that turn out to be home runs, like Tyler Smith from last draft

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This is exactly what is going to happen. Someone is going to trade up for the #24 or 25 pick and take Robinson right out of our hands.

Let me throw this(dream) scenario at you guys.....

Lets say that Bijan Robinson is still on the board at 26, but you pass on him to take the highest rated Cornerback.
How much would you be wiling to give up to move up from the 52nd pick to maybe the mid 30's if you had a chance to pick up Bijan Robinson?

With the Cowboys offensive line I think if they get Bijan I think he will be just as great as Zeke was from 2016-18.

I wouldn't make this trade if the OL was below average....but if Tyron Smith can stay healthy and Tyler Smith can play the whole season at Guard.....that is a monster offensive line.

What the Cowboys have been missing in the last two post season losses to the 49ers was a dominant running game.
If the Cowboys had 2016-18 Ezekial Elliott they would have been able to beat San Francisco.

The problem is that Zeke and Pollard were constantly getting stuffed at the line, and continually putting Dak in 2nd and 8, and 3rd and long situations.
Dak is not Aarron Rodgers or a Peyton Manning that is great enough to continually bail his team out like that.


Historically the Cowboys have always been at their best with a dominant OL and dominant running game. We get a guy rushing for 1,400 to 1,700 yards and 4.5 to 5YPC and suddenly Dak Prescott looks awesome because the offense is in constant 2nd and 4, and 3rd and 3 type of situations.

This was the formula in 2016 when the Cowboys went 13-3 in Dak's rookie season.

All signs are pointing to Tyron Smith also getting cut or retiring. But I agree with your overall point, that we are in a position to take impact players/best available over drafting strictly for need or to fill holes. Our roster is good enough to get to the playoffs, it only needs more impact players to take that next step. Bijan would be an instant impact stud.

Tksymm7 said:

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All signs are pointing to Tyron Smith also getting cut or retiring. But I agree with your overall point, that we are in a position to take impact players/best available over drafting strictly for need or to fill holes. Our roster is good enough to get to the playoffs, it only needs more impact players to take that next step. Bijan would be an instant impact stud.

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According to who?

David Moore and other reporters believe he'll either be cut or retire, saving another 10 million in cap space.

Kellso said:

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Southlake said:

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Anybody listen to Jerry's press conference?

Dude is completely delusional:

Zeke is better than we think. SanFran has been just as unsuccessful as the Cowboys. ( in the last 12 years, SF has been to the NFC championship 6 of the last 12 years with a superbowl appearance 3 years ago)

His is where the Cowboys problems start…

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The last time the 49ers won the Super Bowl was in 1994.
Haters and critics of the Cowboys love to never give Jones or the Cowboys credit for any of their accomplishment, but always want to hype up other teams.

49ers have had some great teams over the past 15 years. They've also had a bunch of crummy teams including the 2020 season.

Their Super Bowl drought is just as long as the Cowboys. They've also been stuck on 5 for a long time.

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The 49ers have been to the NFC Championship game 50% of the last 12 years. That's 6 of the last 12 years. They just lost to the Chiefs in the SuperBowl two years ago.

The Cowboys haven't sniffed that kind of success.

Who are you? Jerry Junior??

batchuser said:

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jr15aggie said:

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Southlake said:

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Anybody listen to Jerry's press conference?

Zeke is better than we think.

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Averaged 3.8 yards per carry... has no burst... has no top end speed... can't catch... can't break tackles.

I will never wish harm on anybody so I will not bring myself to say it, but we all know Jerry is NEVER going to retire so the only thing we can do as fans is sit back and wait for... you know.

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We are the raiders. Jerry is basically Al Davis without the sweatsuit. When Al died, nothing changed and his son is just as crazy. Nothing will change when jerry dies. The only hope is some high priced h00ker in the metroplex records jerry and son going on a racial tirade and leaks it to tmz

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At least Al got the Raiders to the SB and also had the tuck rule loss in his twilight years. In spite of what people thought Al was absolutely a football guy from his young days. Al > Jerry

And to go back and hire a dude from the 80s as OL coach? Geez wtf

Tksymm7 said:

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David Moore and other reporters believe he'll either be cut or retire, saving another 10 million in cap space.

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$10m that'll either be pocketed, mismanaged, or spent bargain hunting like every offseason

My guess is that they'll really want to sign a lot of their defensive free agents like LVE, Donovan Wilson, etc.

Tksymm7 said:

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David Moore and other reporters believe he'll either be cut or retire, saving another 10 million in cap space.

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I doubt that. Tyron Smith is only 32 years old.
Great tackles can play until their late 30's.

I really don't see the Cowboys cutting a top 3 Left Tackle to save $10 million.

He missed most of this year. I would like to think you could still get another 2-4 years of production out of him since he didn't not put a lot of wear and tear on his body this season.

I say this every year.....but unless you are drafting an All World tackle in the top 20 of the draft you are not getting someone better than Tyron Smith.

Tyron Smith at 80% is better than almost all other left tackles in the NFL. Tyron Smith at 10-12 games a year is still better than what most other players would bring to the game.

At this point you just have to have your swing tackle, and contingency plan in place for when he does get injured.

And I get that. I personally would love him to come back and try to get a full year out of him, but I also understand that he hasn't played much at all in the last 3 years. Tyron Smith has played 17 out of a possible 50 regular season games the past 3 seasons and he hasn't played more than 13 games in a season since 2015! So I can see why they'd want to cut bait and free up some cap space, or simply let him retire because his body is broken down.

For $10 mill, I think they'd keep him at least as a swing. Competent tackles aren't cheap, even swings, so it's not an awful insurance policy when most years you'll need a 3rd tackle to fill in for stretches. That said, the dude is as beat up and high mileage as any 32 year old OT in the history of football. He may just retire

My only worry here is when Terrence Steele comes back and what shape he is in. I don't think Steele is some world-beater, but he's solid. What happens if he isn't ready until late September or early October?

Love Tyron, but it is time to move on from him, unless he's willing to take a pay cut to be the swing tackle next year.

The Cowboys OT situation is really interesting. Tyler Smith and Steele both have outstanding run blocking grades but both had pretty bad pass blocking grades. Now, I think Tyler Smith will get much better once he's got this season under his belt, but the Cowboys have an interesting dynamic of an OL that is really good at run blocking but suspect at pass blocking.

Will be interesting to see if that affects what direction MM goes with playcalling next year.

As soon as I typed my response, I read somewhere that with Tyron gone we would only save around $5 mil in cap. I thought it was $10 mil.

Yeah, for only $5 million in savings, probably better off having him. Could probably barely sign a decent swing tackle for that.

Looks like we are back to keeping him and hoping that this year is finally the year where he stays healthy (spoiler alert, he won't!)

jr15aggie said:

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As soon as I typed my response, I read somewhere that with Tyron gone we would only save around $5 mil in cap. I thought it was $10 mil.

Yeah, for only $5 million in savings, probably better off having him. Could probably barely sign a decent swing tackle for that.

Looks like we are back to keeping him and hoping that this year is finally the year where he stays healthy (spoiler alert, he won't!)

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If it's only $5m, then yeah, I say you should keep him. The thing about his health is that he could prob milk another 3 years out of his career if he wants to be a swing tackle, but a guy that is a possible HOFer may not want to do that.

Macarthur said:

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Love Tyron, but it is time to move on from him, unless he's willing to take a pay cut to be the swing tackle next year.

The Cowboys OT situation is really interesting. Tyler Smith and Steele both have outstanding run blocking grades but both had pretty bad pass blocking grades. Now, I think Tyler Smith will get much better once he's got this season under his belt, but the Cowboys have an interesting dynamic of an OL that is really good at run blocking but suspect at pass blocking.

Will be interesting to see if that affects what direction MM goes with playcalling next year.

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Re-Sign Pollard. Draft Bijan. RPO, bootleg, speed option the hell out of defenses. Get CD on the move and utilize your young/athletic TE's to take your deep shots when the defenses start bringing guys down.

Profit!

Tyron Smith's contract and release/trade scenarios according to Sportrac:

PRE-6/1 RELEASE 2023 Dead Cap: $8,010,0002023 Cap Savings: $9,595,000
PRE-6/1 TRADE 2023 Dead Cap: $8,010,0002023 Cap Savings: $9,595,000
POST-6/1 RELEASE 2023 Dead Cap: $4,005,0002024 Dead Cap: $4,005,0002023 Cap Savings: $13,600,000
POST-6/1 TRADE 2023 Dead Cap: $4,005,0002024 Dead Cap: $4,005,0002023 Cap Savings: $13,600,000

His yearly cash is 13.6 this next year. This is his Cap and Dead Cap hits for 2023 if he were to remain on the team with the same contract:

$17,605,000

$8,010,000

Yeah, they've got to get that cash # cut in half to keep him IMO. And he may just retire vs put his beat-to-**** body thru another year for $7 mill

Brian Shottenheimer named OC.

jr15aggie said:

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To say he's only 32 is a bit misleading... he was 20 years old when they drafted him. His NFL mileage puts him closer to his mid 30's.

We no longer have the luxury of a QB on a rookie deal... but one of the next best things is not having to pay your LT top vet money. We got very lucky that Tyler Smith was plug and play at LT. We got him for 4 more years on the cheap.

Let Tyron go, let Tyler stay at LT... hopefully he will only get better... and then go sign/draft a decent brawler type LG and let's roll! If we can pull that off, we will have one of the better O-lines in the NFL and, at a guess, the overall cost for that line will be below league average.

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There is nothing misleading about what I said.
Tyron Smith is only 32 years old.

Jason Peters is still playing in his late 30's. There are lot of elite HOF level tackles that played well into their mid to late 30's.
Jackie Slater played until he was 41 years old.

One of the problems with the 2022 Dallas Cowboys is that their pass protection took a big hit with the loss of Tyron Smith.
That split second that Dak doesn't have anymore is what led to a lot of those bad throws and interceptions.

The idea that the Cowboys are going to get rid of an elite left tackle to save a few bucks is short sighted.
At this point you just have to factor in that Tyron will probably miss a few games each season.....but he's way too good to let go for nothing.