Ready to take the next step in your career? The Bryan School of Business and Economics at UNC Greensboro offers a range of affordable, fully online undergraduate programs designed to prepare you for in-demand business roles. With flexible courses, dedicated faculty, and a strong return on investment, it's a smart choice for your future. Develop the skills employers want and gain the confidence to stand out in today's competitive job market. Apply now to start in the fall.
Visit brian.uncg.edu.
Well, to talk about these Dallas Cowboys and Jerry Jones and what we can expect. Joining us right now is Calvin Watkins, who has covered this team. You can catch him on the Dallas Morning News. Calvin, how are you? I'm good.
What's going on? I'm good. Thank you for taking the time to be here. Jerry Jones coming out hot in Oxnard. What a shock.
That's what he does. Great promoter. great promoter did you expect him to to kind of hit so fast that at mike and and also dak i mean he's answering the questions that he's asked you know um you never know what you're going to get with jerry um on a daily basis and at these types of press conferences it's always fun to hear him you know talk about his team and this is another case of that when we Michael Parsons certainly didn't take kind to the the comments that he made uh J.J. Watt put up a post saying hey you know maybe not the best idea to take shots at your your two best players Michael Parsons certainly uh reposted and shared that when do you think they'll actually get a deal done we know that Jerry likes to wait until the final moment yeah you're right this is par for the course right you know Zach Prescott got his the morning of the first game of the season last year and then C.D. Lamb got his late in August and then the year before that Zach Martin got his contract like late in August and we've seen Ezekiel Elliott he had to basically go to Cabo to have training camp before Jerry gave him his money But this is how Joey does business.
He never feels like there's a sense of urgency here. He looks at this as you're under contract, so you should come to work, right? And so honor your contract. And if you want a new one, we'll work on it with you.
So sometimes these things take a long time to get done, but other times they get done pretty quickly. He's inked up a lot of players over the years without having to resort to a holdout, or in this case, a possible hold-in. Calvin Watkins is joining us covers all things Cowboys for the Dallas news. We know Micah is is at work. Is he ultimately going to get a deal?
You think that pay him what one million dollar more than you know what TJ Watt got last week I think so I always thought that when Miles Garrett got the million average which at that time was the standard right before Watt got his at $41 million, that Mike was going to be $42.5 or whatever it was, right?
So, and yes, you could say, well, the price goes up, right? The price of the brick goes up. But I think the Cowboys always knew, especially Jerry Jones, he always knew that the standard or the cost was going to be a $200 million total compensation package. And if that average is 41.5, 42.5, then so be it. That's what it's going to be.
So whether or not Watt got his money or not, or even Trey Hendrickson, who in Cincinnati is apparently going to hold out as well because he wants a new contract, this number that Mike is looking for was going to be high. and it's going to be at least $40-plus million on average.
Well, Calvin, taking a look at the other – well, Jerry went through a lot of names, but he certainly mentioned Dak and the amount of games that he missed last year with that leg injury that required surgery. Dak has dealt with the foot issue and now the thigh issue. He's getting 60 mil. What is his current standing as it relates to his health today?
Well, he's healthy. you know he was clear to practice fully in the offseason during the OTAs and the minicamp he looked really good moving around so he's good to go. When you think about some guys who are not good to go we know Diggs is not healthy Butler is also out when can we expect them will we see them participate in training camp at all or are we going to have to wait until the season? I'm not sure about Trayvon Diggs Diggs said that he expects he wants to come back by week one right in regular season which is that season opens at Philly I'm not sure that's possible as far as Damarian Overshawn he's not coming back probably until Thanksgiving Josh Butler he had a torn ACL so that might not be for a while and then they drafted Siobhan Rubble in the third round. He's coming off a torn ACL that he suffered at East Carolina, but that was like in September.
And the doctors were telling him, and he's a rookie, obviously, they were telling him that, hey, you have in July, you should be good to go.
So this is, you know, none of this was a surprise today of all the players that they're going to put on the puck. When you think about new head coach, Brian Schottenheimer, And to me, it just seems like he'll be the guy that takes the beating for when they don't perform well. What can we expect from this team? We know Brian Schottenheimer is known to be an offensive guy. They brought in George Pickens as well.
What can we expect for him to put his imprint on this team?
Well at some point he doing some different things in comparison to Mike McCarthy You seeing him try to bond with players a lot more He a big chemistry guy a relationship type of guy The thing that I found very interesting today was someone asked him about the theme of the season. And Shadi was like, there's no theme of the season. We're here to play football.
So let's get it going. Which I thought was a great... I'm going to put you on, nephew. All right, um. Welcome to McDonald's.
Can I take your order? Miss, I've been hitting up McDonald's for years.
Now it's back. We need snack wraps. What's a snack wrap? It's the return of something great. Snack wrap is back.
The answer in comparison to the answers we've gotten in the offseason where you talked a lot about the players playing ping pong and shooting baskets and putting and all the things that you team building things. There's a lot of talk about that in the offseason. And I think now Brian Schottenheimer is like, okay, it's going to work. You know, playtime is over. There's a lot we have to do with trying to win the Super Bowl around here.
So I thought that was a good thing to hear. Calvin Watkins is joining us, covers the Dallas Cowboys for the Dallas News. George Pickens, new face, new place. He's going to play out this year and then try for a new contract. How has he kind of fit in?
I know this is day one of training camp, but how's he kind of fit in this situation so far? We'll find out.
So far, so good. You know, George Pickens was never a locker room issue in Pittsburgh. You know, let's just clear that right now. He was not a locker room issue. He was just a knucklehead on the field, right?
And some of that was proven to be a distraction to the team. When you talk to his ex-teammates and even coaches, they said they love George Pickens. And George Pickens, since he's been here, he's been really cool to talk to.
Now, he's not in Pittsburgh, but the media, he was like, look, don't ask me no questions about who I want to start. And last year, as you know, it was between Russell Wilson and Justin Fields. He felt like that was unfair. He thought the questions were unfair to him in terms of asking who he wanted to start in Pittsburgh. He doesn't have to worry about that.
He's come right in and bonded with C.D. Lamb. He's bonded with Dak Prescott.
So so far, everything is good. The biggest issue with George Pickens is that he's a knucklehead on the field. You know, he just gets into all kinds of mischief. In the locker room, a lot of people like him. And he's a real quiet guy.
He just has this competitive fire that he needs to control a little bit.
Well, Calvin, we talk about competitive fire. Tyler Smith was also asked today by the media his expectations for the team. He said the expectation is to go out here and win a Super Bowl. When you think about the talent that this team has under one roof, what are your thoughts on the expectations for the Cowboys this season? I don think this is a very good team I think this is a team that going to probably win nine games and that how it is They have a tough schedule on the back end with a lot of playoff teams there I don't think you have a clear-cut idea who the starting running back is.
I don't think you have a clear-cut idea who the cornerbacks are going to be other than Deron Bland. As you said, Trevon Diggs is going to be out probably. I don't think the team knows how long he's going to be out, but he is looking good.
So, you know, Jerry Jones said today, you know, we got to stop the run and we got to run the ball. Those are two of the biggest issues they had last year. And I don't think they solved any of those issues this offseason.
Well, Calvin, we heard Jerry Jones make a joke earlier today about potentially stepping down as GM. He said that he gave it one quick second and that's it.
So we know he's firmly entrenched and kind of running the show along with his son. Is there anything that's ever going to change with the Dallas Cowboys? It seems kind of the same thing year over year. Yeah, it's the same story. At some point, you would think that, you know, we haven't, you know, reached our goals, right?
So why don't we reach our goals?
So you examine those issues. And sometimes you would have to say, well, we need to change things up. We're going to achieve our goals. And the Cowboys don't seem willing to change their approach in terms of reaching the playoffs and making a deep playoff run. And it is amazing that the last time this franchise has been to the conference championship game was the 1995 season.
And every team in the NFC has reached the conference championship game, including the Washington Commanders, who are franchised, which was a laughingstock in the league for a long time with Daniel Snider as their owner. And they got to the conference championship game last year under Dan Quinn, who incidentally was in Dallas.
So there's a lot of surprises here. I'm not really surprised how the Cowboys do things because they've done it like this forever. And they feel like, hey, we have won Super Bowls before doing it this way, so why should we change? Yeah, it's leading them into a whole lot of nowhere.
Well, Calvin, thank you so much. I know things are going to be interesting either way, as they always are for the Dallas Cowboys. Please tell everybody where they can keep up with you and all your work. look at at dallasnews.com that's the best place or follow me on twitter at calvin watkins hey calvin thank you so much we'll catch you on down the line okay all right buddy take care looking to earn a business degree that fits your busy life unc greensboro's bryant school of business and economics offers flexible fully online programs with courses as short as seven weeks get the same high quality education as you would on campus with the convenience and affordability of online learning. Explore a variety of in-demand programs.
Don't wait. Apply now to start this fall. Visit brian.uncg.edu to apply today.
