Senior Bowl: Moving To Players-First Mentality? - Nick Eatman, DallasCowboys.com
While the Senior Bowl is ultimately about scouting the talent of graduating seniors coming into the draft, it’s also an opportunity for general managers and other executives to talk about their visions. Stephen Jones gave some insight into a potential philosophy change under Mike McCarthy.
Last week, head coach Mike McCarthy said there will be less emphasis on traditional schemes and philosophies and more of a priority placed on simply finding talented players.
While that might not seem like a major change, Stephen Jones said on Tuesday that it could end up being a significant alteration in the way the Cowboys evaluate players, especially in settings such as the Senior Bowl.
”To some degree it is,” Jones said of the new philosophy. “As you all know, Rod (Marinelli) knew what he wanted in his defense and the type of players he wanted. So there is some degree of flexibility there. Rod was also really successful, had a lot of good defenses while Rod was here. They all played the way you want football played. They played hard and hustled to the ball but at the same time, as Mike said, we want to find good football players and then put them in the best places to make plays.”
Cowboys’ Stephen Jones says Dak Prescott’s contract is team’s ‘No. 1 priority’ - Jori Epstein, USA Today
Now that the Cowboys have filled out their coaching staff, they turn their attention to roster construction. And while the scouting department takes in the Senior Bowl, Stephen Jones reiterated that Dak Prescott remains their top priority.
The Cowboys and Prescott, despite negotiations last offseason, have not agreed to terms on a new deal. “That’s our No. 1 priority as we go into the offseason,” Jones said. Even more urgent with looming and likely market-setting extensions for the Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes and Texans’ Deshaun Watson?
“It’s been urgent for us,” Jones said. “We want to certainly get that done. Get his contract, find some resolution to it and get it done.” Jones and his father, Cowboys owner/general manager Jerry Jones, wanted an experienced coach like McCarthy because they believe their roster is in its prime. McCarthy’s praise for and analysis of Prescott in his job interview helped secure him the job with the Cowboys. The Joneses have not wavered from their assertion that they are “bullish” on Prescott as the future of their franchise.
[And] while Prescott remains the Cowboys’ first offseason priority, the receiver isn’t far behind. “No. 2,” Jones said.
Stephen Jones: Giants ‘got a good one’ in Jason Garrett - Grant Gordon, NFL.com
It didn’t take too long for Jason Garrett to find work after his contract in Dallas ran out, as the former head coach landed with the division rival Giants as their offensive coordinator. On Tuesday, Stephen Jones had only good things to say about his new opponent.
Despite the parting of ways, Cowboys vice president Stephen Jones had nothing but fond sentiment for Garrett.
”Jason is a football guy. He wants to go coach. He’s a great offensive mind. They got a good one in coach Garrett,” Jones said Tuesday from the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Alabama, via The Athletic’s Jon Machota. “He was nothing but a class act here. I know he’ll certainly help the Giants get on the road to where they want to go.”
Of course, that road will see Garrett and the Giants collide with Jones’ Cowboys, now led by Mike McCarthy. Nonetheless, it would appear there’s no bad blood — at least on the Jones front — after dismissing Garrett, who compiled an 85-67 record with the Cowboys, including an underwhelming 8-8 campaign this past season that proved to be his undoing.
49ers file for ‘Hot Boyzz’ trademark ahead of 2020 Super Bowl, Cowboys’ DeMarcus Lawrence promises legal fight - Patrik Walker, CBS Sports
The Cowboys defensive line, spearheaded by DeMarcus Lawrence, have been known as the Hot Boyz for a couple years now but the Super Bowl-bound San Francisco 49ers and their talented defensive line have taken the name for themselves. Naturally, that prompted some drama on Tuesday.
This might be something that will bring the age-old rivalry between the San Francisco 49ers and Dallas Cowboys forward into 2020 and beyond, although it mostly has nothing to do with the two sides battling between the hashes. Instead, the fight this time might be in a court of law this offseason, and over a nickname created by the Cowboys for their defense in 2018 that was subsequently mirrored by the 49ers one year later, namely the “Hot Boyz” moniker.
The latter is currently preparing to take on the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LIV, but linebacker Kwon Alexander had his attorney draft and file paperwork to officially trademark the nickname. The problem is, DeMarcus Lawrence had already done so, and currently sells merchandise that includes the name and custom logo plastered on the front.
The workaround? Well, Alexander had his attorney add a “Z” to make it “Hot Boyzz”, but Lawrence caught wind of the filing. And the All-Pro pass rusher has now threatened legal action against Alexander.
Source: Ex-Cowboys OL coach Marc Colombo to interview with Giants for same position - Calvin Watkins, Dallas Morning News
Jason Garrett will be running the offense in New York under new head coach Joe Judge, and it seems he could be getting some of the band back together. After earlier reports of an interview for Scott Linehan, the Giants are now also interviewing Marc Colombo for their offensive line coach.
Former Cowboys offensive line coach Marc Colombo will interview for the same position with the New York Giants on Wednesday, according to a source.
Colombo spent the last five seasons with the Cowboys coaching staff mainly on the offensive line. He took over the offensive line position full-time in the middle of the 2019 season, replacing Paul Alexander, who was fired.
If Colombo is hired, he will join newly hired offensive coordinator Jason Garrett, who took that position last week.
Dak Prescott, Ezekiel Elliott among top 15 jersey sales - @SBJLizMullen
At the end of the day, football is a business and if a player is good for business then they usually stick around in the league for a while. On Tuesday, both Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott found their names on the list of 15 highest selling merchandise for the 2019 season.
KC Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes is No. 1 on the NFLPA’s official list of top selling players, based on sales of all officially licensed NFL player-identified merchandise from March 1-Nov. 30, '19. pic.twitter.com/Xz8FhdVtyv
— Liz Mullen (@SBJLizMullen) January 20, 2020
Tyrone Crawford is the Cowboys’ Only Potential “Cap Casualty” in 2020 - Jess Haynie, Inside the Star
As the Cowboys get into the process of working out contract extensions and preparing for free agency, one topic of discussion concerns potential cap casualties. Every team has at least one, but for Dallas this year it seems that they may only have one candidate this time.
Tyrone is set to count $9.1 million against the 2020 cap. If released he would only have $1.1 million in dead money, resulting in $8 million back in cap relief for Dallas.
The only other Cowboy who offers that kind of relief is Tyron Smith, whose $13.5 million cap hit would drop to $5.29 million. But there’s zero chance that Dallas would cut Smith while he’s still one of the top left tackles in the NFL.
Other high-salary players like DeMarcus Lawrence, Zack Martin, Travis Frederick, and Ezekiel Elliott offer either minimal or no cap relief at all if cut. For guys with newer deals like Tank, Zeke, or Jaylon Smith, the dead money would actually be more expensive than their 2020 cap hit.
BTB Podcast
Our own Connor Livesay is in Mobile at the Senior Bowl. Hear his and his co-host Dalton Miller’s takeaways from the first day on the latest episode of Talkin’ The Draft.
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