Cowboys News: Dumbest trade idea ever, Micah back at it again on social
Franchise tags, free agency contracts, and combine scores can’t get here soon enough. In the absence of real football news like that, it’s almost as if the NFL world has lost its collective mind. For starters, one former player generally regarded as an otherwise intelligent and thoughtful individual has proposed the most absurd trade idea ever involving America’s (Most Polarizing) Team and the league’s most’s polarizing player. Then there’s a trio of longtime assistants to Mike McCarthy- who many were ready to run out of town on a rail- actually now getting promotions within the Cowboys coaching staff.
Elsewhere, Micah Parsons managed to offend all of the NBA and the entire city of Detroit in the space of two tweets, a national hotel chain has simply ignored a judge’s order in the Michael Irvin case, and the Cowboys have signed a new kicker seven months ahead of the 2023 season. All that, plus deciding which free agents to pay, charting which coaches are most aggressive on fourth down, a four-round mock draft, and- rounding out the bizarro-headline day- Emmitt Smith revisits what happened when he had to suit up in the Texas Stadium locker room as an Arizona Cardinal.
With 19 free agents, who should the Cowboys pay this offseason? :: ESPN.com
Todd Archer says the Joneses should stretch the budget to keep Donovan Wilson and Leighton Vander Esch. He thinks Tony Pollard, Anthony Brown, and Johnathan Hankins are also worth taking a chance on. They shouldn’t go above market price for Cooper Rush, Carlos Watkins, Connor McGovern, or Luke Gifford. They should be careful not to overpay C.J. Goodwin, Dante Fowler, or Noah Brown. And it’s time to say farewell to Anthony Barr and Dalton Schultz.
ESPN: Cowboys should move on from Elliott, tag Pollard :: Cowboys Wire
Bill Barnwell points out that Dallas typically restructures the contracts of its star players, so when they chose not to do so with Elliott last spring, it may have been a sign that they were preparing to move on. Pollard’s ankle injury may actually cause the Cowboys to let him hit the open market to find a one-year deal, though the smarter move might be to franchise tag him and sign a veteran to handle the early part of the season while Pollard gets up to speed.
Peete headed to Tampa, Cowboys promote Blasko as RB coach :: Cowboys Wire
Just a few hours after Skip Peete found his new coaching home with the Buccaneers, the Cowboys finalized an agreement with Jeff Blasko to be the new running backs coach. He had been the team’s assistant offensive line coach and formerly coached with McCarthy in Green Bay.
Report: Cowboys to announce longtime McCarthy aides as QB coach, LB coach :: Cowboys Wire
Scott Tolzien played under McCarthy in Green Bay and was an early hire once McCarthy came to Dallas; he’ll now take over the quarterbacks coach role. Scott McCurley is a Pittsburgh guy who started on McCarthy’s Packers staff in 2006; the defensive assistant will get a second try at coaching the Cowboys linebackers after his initial run in 2020 did not go well.
Sirianni leads Aggressiveness Index for 2022 :: Football Outsiders
When it comes to going for it on fourth down, the Eagles and their short yardage “tush-push” play led the league, with Nick Sirianni proving to be 57% more likely to risk it than an average coach in equivalent situations. McCarthy pretty much was that average coach; the Cowboys went for it on 13 of 104 opportunities in 2022, making him just 3% more likely to get aggressive on fourth.
Cowboys eye freakish DT, physical CB, RB of future in PFF's 4-round mock :: Cowboys Wire
John Owning expects a huge combine from Michigan’s Mazi Smith, making the big defensive tackle worthy of Dallas’s first-round pick. Alabama cornerback Eli Ricks, Wake Forest wide receiver A.T. Perry, and Ole Miss running back Zach Evans round out the team’s first four selections in this mock.
Michael Irvin attorney ‘mad as hell’ over Marriott reluctance to release video footage :: Dallas Morning News
Monday’s deadline- imposed by a judge in the case- came and went, and Irvin still has not received any of the materials requested from a Phoenix hotel regarding an incident in which a female employee lodged a complaint against the Hall of Famer. “I’m mad as hell that they’re hiding this stuff that is so relevant to my client’s livelihood,” Irvin’s lawyer said. “I don’t know what’s on the video. None of us have gotten to see it. But I sure think that, at a minimum, Michael has got a right to see the video.”
Emmitt Smith recalls facing Cowboys as opponent: 'I broke down in tears' :: Cowboys Wire
The all-time rushing champ enjoyed setting a high bar for his young Cardinals teammates after signing with Arizona in 2003, but says dressing in the visitors’ locker room before squaring off against his old squad was a “heartbreaking” experience. “I said this out loud: ‘I’m not supposed to be here. This is not my room.’ I broke down in tears and cried for 45 minutes before we played that game,” Smith recalled.
Cowboys re-sign kicker Tristan Vizcaino to active roster :: Cowboys Wire
Making good on their vow to go “back to the drawing board” after Brett Maher’s struggles in the postseason, the Cowboys signed the 26-year-old Vizcaino to the active roster Wednesday. It’s his eighth team in four seasons.
Larry Fitzgerald poses asinine blockbuster trade idea for Cowboys :: The Landry Hat
Fitzgerald took to Sirius XM to propose an idea that’s even further out there than the satellites that beamed the signal back to earth: the Packers trading Aaron Rodgers to Dallas. Sure, it makes for lively sports-radio talk, but other than the McCarthy-Rodgers rift that blew up in Green Bay, the dead money that would come with offloading Dak Prescott, the fact that Prescott is the better quarterback at this point, and- oh, yeah- Prescott’s no-trade clause… wait, why was this a suggestion to begin with?
Micah Parsons mocked Jalen Ramsey playing for the Lions, as if the Cowboys are any better :: For the Win
When Lions wideout Amon-Ra St. Brown tried recruiting Ramsey to the Motor City via Twitter, Parsons fired back. “I’m sorry no one going from la to Detroit,” the Cowboys linebacker mocked. He didn’t seem to be aware that the Cowboys and Lions have exactly the same number of NFC championship game appearances since the mid 1990s: zero.
Micah Parsons had the most disingenuous take on the NBA's culture of load management :: For the Win
Parsons had more opinions to share on the socials. After Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards spoke out about NBA players voluntarily sitting out games just to rest, Parsons chimed in to say, “If I can breathe you’ll see number 11 with star on his helmet every Sunday!” Fine, as a statement about his own love for the game. But the NBA and NFL seasons are two different animals, as are the player contracts common to the two leagues. It’s not an apples-to-apples comparison. And, to be fair, Parsons did voluntarily sit out an entire season while at Penn State.
