Deep Blue: War Stories | Dallas Cowboys 2021

the meetings are over the scouting reports have been turned in the 40 times have been clocked after months and months preparing for the NFL draft it all comes down to six words six words that can lead us to another monumental change for the entire franchise the Cowboys are on the clock doubt starts to creep into the room are we sure this is the right guy to take what if there's a trade on the table just next year's one it'd have to be more than that so many ways to go and yet so little time. let's peel back the curtain let's tap into the phone lines how about them Cowboys this Jerry jones and tell you some of the greatest stories from inside the Cowboys war room Stephen Jones literally dives on the table grabs the phone hits the button gets the trade desk in New York turns out to be maybe the greatest offensive lineman the franchise has ever had that's the best draft choice in the history of the franchise to me he said son I didn't get to buy the Dallas Cowboys by making middle-of-the-road decisions that's what you just did Leonard Little or Flozell Adams there were just so many moving parts to that draft and the way it played out because of the dynamic of really the Randy Moss factor in that draft Jerry and Stephen have demonstrated through the years that they understand risk-reward in a certain way they didn't want to risk a first-round pick so they took the guy who wound up being a pro bowl player in the second round you're now looking at what physically but for the ear issue is first-round talent Flozell had a hearing loss issue on in one of his ears but there was some concern by some people in the room that well he's he's a left tackle and that the hearing loss is here and can he line up on the other side if we need them to is that really going to be a problem and they're going back and forth and back and forth and back Jerry says who who who was the primary scout Jim Garrett let's get him in here and Jim was a big Flozell Adams fan scouted him followed him for years if you need Jim Garrett he had Jason Garrett's enthusiasm times 50 at all times unlike Jason he wore his emotions out on his sleeve and you knew exactly where you stood with Jim door comes flying open Jim Garrett literally is running into the room and all he says is there's nothing a matter with the guy just draft him I think what it came down to it that was one of those debates of you know there's this big mountain of the left tackle that for some reason has slipped in the draft but here's a pass-rusher that we really liked in Leonard Little and we know the guy from good connections we have at Tennessee Jim let's hear your shot all I know is he gives you an edge rusher on third down in a starting Sam linebacker that can be All-Pro it was one of those you stick with your draft board we had high high grades on Flo and it was like whether the hearing was an issue or not I mean it was put on the tape and he was a first-round player after about four or five years you would say his career was going okay and he was hitting free agency many of us really didn't think he would come back Bill Parcells shows up and I remember one of the very first press conferences he said our top priority is to sign Flozell Adams and if he knows well he did know because he makes the Pro Bowl five of the next six years only because he got hurt is what he missed the Pro Bowl he was an outstanding player on that left side he was one of the best left tackles the Cowboys have ever had for everything Flozell Adams proved to be style points and showboating was not his thing ten years before him the Cowboys took a player that couldn't have been more opposite my draft it had a few particulars around it you know 'cause I was graduating as a Junior back then in order to enter the NFL early you had to graduate so I graduated and if a team me drafted me and I didn't want to play for that team I can actually drop a class go to summer school pick up a class in summer school graduated summer school and the team I got some power over here Green Bay call me with 7 4 pick slot I said no way No I couldn't play in Green Bay I'm coming from Florida because I don't like cold weather is too cold Marshall Irvin wide receiver Miami I gave up some money on the front end but I made up on you back end after the draft they brought Michael Irvin in so we're at the Ranch and he's walking through the breezeway there and there was a full size cut out of Tom Landry he went and hugged it my new dad my new dad there was a lot in that and I was thinking about my dad fedora hat just like Tom Landry and everything's a huge Cowboys fan prophesied before his death that one day I will play for the Dallas Cowboys and I thought about how much he loved Coach Landry and now he was in heaven looking down and it made me say out of those words you know here's my new dad I"m telling you that this is my new dad now new dad as Landry's last first-round pick Irvin certainly exceeded those lofty expectations but sometimes even going number one overall can be a tall order I knew they wouldn't take me with the number one overall pick because during that time that was either quarterbacks a running back but I got a phone call a few days before the draft saying we want to fly you to Dallas who would you like to bring with you first of all when I got off the floor I said well I like to bring my head coach and my brother-in-law who is responsible of me playing football so we fly to Dallas then we staying at the hotel next to the Cowboys headquarters college coach called me and said Ed now we don't want to disappoint you but Dallas is not going to draft you number one overall they probably have quarterbacks at other hotels or running backs at the hotel and they said that we going to go to the biggest steak house in Dallas and eat biggest steak and drink the best wine and have a good time and we did the draft was starting to believe at 9 about 6:30 in the morning there is I knock on my door and there was a guy from the Cowboys headquarters that said we need you to be out front of the hotel in front of the marquee with your name on it welcoming you to Dallas to meet Tom Landry for a photo I said you telling me my name is on the marquee out in front of the hotel. He said yes and he went to walk away and said don't be late so I waited about 10 minutes and got up and got dressed and went out and looked and here's this big billboard that said welcome to the Dallas Cowboys into town call your mom so I called my mom and told her that Dallas just drafted me and she said son you know you work very hard and you got to go to your favorite team I was a big Cowboy fan growing up I tell you the wonderful feeling now when I first heard the rumors the beginning of the year I try not to pay any attention to it but I find myself thinking what it what would it be like to be the number one pick and here I am the NFL draft has obviously evolved over the years there are less mysteries now mainly because of the amount of prep work which includes pre-draft meetings and visits you might be surprised at some of the NFL stars that were nearly Cowboys one of the biggest near-misses turned out to be a major blessing in disguise to say there were a lot of moving parts in the Johnny Manziel draft story for the cowboys that didn't take a player is it is an understatement Johnny Manziel was magic on the field when you think about what he did to that Texas A&M program it was it's a solid program has been for a lot of years I keep put it on the map he was so dynamic in terms of making things happen improvising he had the arm he had the mobility he had everything at the college level Jerry had visions of sugarplums when he was thinking of Johnny Football and he could certainly vision what that could mean to the brand he was certainly a baller and Heisman Trophy winner we had more Johnny Manziel discussions than probably any player that I can remember spending our time in in the draft room overall you know ironically we were really really focused on getting the defense some help that year we had three players in particular that we felt like the way the draft was going to fall we're going to get one of them Aaron Donald was one of them and played at Pitt and went to the Rams Anthony Barr was another one who played at UCLA and the Vikings took in our minds that left us with Ryan Shazier the Ohio State linebacker our three defensive players went almost in order 1 2 3 they went off the board right before our pick after Shazier went the the Johnny Manziel name popped up again which we thought we put to bed and Jerry was very enamored with what what we could do if we added Johnny Manziel to the team everybody's head went straight down they didn't want to look up as Jerry started eyeing the room to see what everybody's feeling was toward Manziel I think everybody as we went around the table was speaking up that probably Zack Martin was the better player for our team and of course you can tell it wasn't what Jerry wanted to hear and I said Look Dad I just think that we need to take Zack Martin here everybody felt so strongly about Zack and I give Stephen credit for being extremely strong because Jerry was extremely strong with about 2 minutes we'd kind of made the decision that we were going to take Zack Martin but Jerry wanted to wait and see if the phone rings maybe we could do a little business still and we got down to 40 seconds 30 seconds 20 seconds and I said I got to turn this in I said we're taking Zack Martin right the answer was yes and I told Robert on the phone with Robert go ahead and turn in Zack Martin as soon as those words right out of my mouth Mr. Jones goes I didn't say turn the card in and my heart skipped a beat and I looked at Todd I go Todd you heard me tell it you heard him say turn the card he goes you don't worry about it the clock is about to run out we will be okay and obviously a tense moment for me there as the owner's telling you I didn't say to do that there was some silence in the room still no one knew whether to be excited or not with Jerry's demeanor well he looked over at me while he was still a little hot and kind of slapped me on the leg and he said son I didn't get to where I've gotten I didn't get to buy the Dallas Cowboys by making middle-of-the-road decisions that's what you just did and that's what we just did hope you're happy and I said that's tough Jerry style he walked in 2 minutes later unless he wants to pick Zack Martin he's got the final say in these things and I think that unlike what a lot of people think that he just goes off and makes these decisions he really respected the room respected the consensus Johnny Manziel to the Cowboys would have been unbelievable just the buzz around that draft pick but they made the right decision by far they made the right decision they made a smart decision he's on pace to be a Hall of Fame player Ring of Honor player based on what he's done so far in his career just a a true cornerstone for this franchise when the Cowboys are on the clock they like to use every second in 2008 they went down to the wire heavily debating between running backs Rashard Mendenhall and Felix Jones one guy's an every-down back the other guy is a special complementary back the argument you make is if Marion is hurt he's playing every down but Felix complements our guy really well right now I think when they got to that pick in 2008 with the running back I think they learned a lesson the year before in the 2007 playoff game against the Giants they ran the ball with Marion Barber in the first half he ran for 100 yards but they didn't score any points didn't have any speed Marion Barber can plug along plug along and basically the Giants said go ahead have all the little runs you want but you're not threatening us at the end zone so they end up losing that game and the next year I think they were looking like okay we got Marion Barber but we need a speed dimension we need a change of pace guy Mendenhall runs like a Shaun Alexander kind of guy... He's an every-down running back that's a good runner makes people miss has big hand catches the ball well both talented runners Mendenhall has the ability to make people miss Catches the ball well out of the backfield. Where in my mind... Felix is a little bit different. Felix is very special Cowboys felt like Felix Jones will come in as your kickoff returner next year. One of the best. Would upgrade us in that department on special teams they had their feature back they wanted to supplement that one two punch to tag team with Marion Barber and that they thought Felix Jones checked those boxes in terms of not only someone who could help on special teams in the return game but maybe homerun threat to pair with Marion Barber let's go Jones with the 22nd pick in the 2008 NFL draft the Dallas Cowboys select Felix Jones people might think that Felix Jones got the nod because he went to Arkansas and of course Jerry and Stephen played there but that was the 20th draft I believe for the Jones family and Felix Jones was the first player and still is the only player drafted from Arkansas by the Cowboys that pick was really because of what they thought he could do is come in and make a splash Felix Jones touchdown if you look at the first three or four games his career there he did exactly that he scored a touchdown on his first carry he had a kickoff return which is really one of the reasons why they drafted him he had a big long touchdown against Green Bay he was making those splash plays that they really needed and so that that was exactly why they drafted him hearing your name called on draft day is the ultimate dream but sometimes not getting picked has its advantages too it was a tough day because you were hoping to get drafted and when you don't it's disappointing 'cause you got all your family and friends over and it's for you and then nothing happens it's kind of just like the wedding that didn't happen when the draft ended we had Romo's tag as a 153 on that board which would put him at the top of the fifth round I mean 20 teams called but once I got to the sixth round and it was Arizona Denver and Dallas and I really liked Denver because of Coach Shanahan we had to recruit him pretty hard Sean and I were the two main recruiters this guy this free agent from Eastern Illinois to come and sign with us instead of Denver that's who the competition was now that followed suit because Mike Shanahan the Denver Coach is in Eastern Illinois guy and he knew about him too you know if he's talking to Shanahan in Denver all right forget that I went to Eastern he'd like to talk to Parcells in Dallas and I can recall stepping in Bill you know it would be very normal to try to use the head coach you need to put them on the phone with the head coach on the phone with the head coach and I explained to him that this job here in Dallas was not settled and the job in Denver was settled the number that's on Denver was a 25000 for bonus which is high In '03 we were at fifteen and and I felt 15 was going to be all we needed to get because I really felt like this he saw this is a better place and Mr. Jones said hey we we can go up if we need to and I and it wasn't anything other than a gut and I just thought I think he's coming right I think he's coming I don't think we need to do that also came down to who can I beat out Bill Parcells call you know Jerry Jones that made a big deal sure enough like 5 minutes later he called and said I'm going to be a Cowboy and his agent Tom Condon laughed at me and said I don't know how you talked this guy into taking this but you did it somehow and so we got him there and then course he's gone on and done well while Romo was able to choose his destination another player wasn't so fortunate or so he thought had I been a free agent I wouldn't have came to Dallas they were the worst team in football and so I didn't win in college so there's no way I would have said let me go to the worst team in football so I would have went somewhere else back then 12 rounds in '91 and the Cowboys had done so much wheeling and dealing it seemed like trading all throughout the draft and it was getting pretty exhausting but Dave Campo tells me the story that they had 11 picks and everybody leaves the room and Jimmy said I'm through he goes we got one more pick in the 12th and he goes why don't we do Jerry a favor and pick somebody local so they can just drive in we don't need to fly him in So Campo said that kid at TCU I've been telling you about you can tell when a guy isn't used to this the Cowboys might not have wanted to pay for a flight for this Larry but a few years later they were flying high to land another one Larry Allen is the best draft choice in cowboy history you know they kind of had done their homework and kind of found this guy Hudson Houck somehow had unearthed this guy you know Hud had some connections in the state of California when he had been at Southern Cal Larry was from a small school Sonoma State obviously so he did not get a lot of play what we do with offensive lineman in those days we look for the top probably 10 15 guys we like and he happened to be on the list to talk about how you want a small school guy to dominate his level of competition Larry not only dominated but destroyed the players that he was playing against at that level Larry's issue for a lot of teams was a perceived shoulder injury and you know I think that's what caused him to slide in the draft down to the second round and our scout to cover that area at that time Tom Ciskowski he was a big fan of Larry and Kevin O'Neill our trainer he wasn't worried about the shoulder and I think a lot of other teams had taken him off the board now going into the second round and saying you know we like this guy and I think Jerry was going well how much do you like him and they were well we like him and right then I said you know Jerry we got this guy this lineman that we really like we went into an office about four picks before it was our time to select in the second round just get one more look at him they kept running back and forth as it as it pushed further down the round they would say to each other let's go look at Larry again He blocked one guy knocked him down ran and blocked another guy and knocked him down and he's still running and he's escorting the ball carrier down the field and Jerry goes that's our guy let's go draft him I went back and I checked with our current trainer Jim Maurer who was here at the time too and the issue that Larry had that everybody was worried about when he went to the Combine we never did surgery on that he had a couple other surgeries but he never had a surgery on what the perceived issue was that caused him to fall in the draft that's a pretty good value pick late in the second round and so I still maintain that Larry Allen is the best draft choice the Cowboys have ever made because the Cowboys were building their o-line with later round picks the team went 30 years between drafting one in the first round Tyron Smith not only bucked that trend in 2011 but his selection was the basis for another pick just two rounds later we were moving into the third round and we were looking for a running back at that point in time and you know there were several of us that were really big DeMarco Murray fans and Stephen Ridley LSU running back was the other guy that was kind of creeping back into the discussion as we put our board together we had DeMarco rated ahead of Ridley they both had high second round grades we called Barry Switzer we got him on the phone and he he sold DeMarco really well to our group we're sitting here looking at DeMarco Murray and he's about two spots away and we've got him as our top player on the board right now we're in the third round tell me about him great kid you'll love him class act he'll never be a problem for you it It wasn't completely sold on DeMarco yet and you know as we were getting down to making the decision we're probably two minutes left on the clock or something and Coach Garrett's asking me you know you really like to DeMarco and I said yeah coach and he said well how's it going to do when it's fourth down and we're up in the Meadowlands and we got we got to score a touchdown it's to win the game where on the 2-yard line and we got to get it into the end zone I looked at him and said coach put him in put him behind that guy we just took in the first round he's going to score every every time and you know it probably was a little little aggressive in how I described that good man how are you doing congratulations DeMarco Murray has set a Dallas Cowboys record for most rushing yards in a game by a running back DeMarco Murray has set a Dallas Cowboys record for most rushing yards in a game by a running back the week after that game and he goes I was thinking about you and DeMarco was putting all those yards a long story short DeMarco had a great career with us and it it turned out to be a heck of a draft pick for us Murray said his share of records with the Cowboys although he eventually signed with the Eagles in free agency but his departure open doors for the Cowboys in 2016 in more ways than one up the middle Elliott inside 2016 by that point running backs weren't drafted as high as as in past years the game is shifting a little bit it's become a little more pass-happy one of my favorite things about him was his speed from the line of scrimmage to the second level and the power that he ran it and the style that we were playing you know coach Garrett was here we were running the football and that was not part of our identity so if that's part of your identity you need something to put the stamp on it and that's what you know Zeke brought to us when we saw that in the draft that was the first year I've been here where we've had a top-five pick it was really kind of between Jalen Ramsey and Zeke Jalen Ramsey at four would have come in and helped the Cowboys defense no question I think the Cowboys ultimately felt like Ezekiel Elliott would come in at number four and certainly help the running game on offense but help the defense as well if you're there we're going to pick you The Cowboys got a call of their own with a trade offer that would have changed everything if he doesn't call I'm never going to talk to Ozzie again well we probably will pick unless you got something good for me OK, 104 we need a three to do it yep okay but if you change your mind call me 'cause we'd take the three he's doing it to take Ramsey I mean we'd probably get the same player with the six no matter what but it's not worth the risk and then I think we'd just die I wouldn't take this risk to get the player I would to move our two up and get Lynch get down like a minute I'm looking over here he's looking over there We're wondering who's gonna get the call I think we're talking about a cornerstone guy here Get him on the phone let's call him I'm just doing great and I'm so proud for you we want to pass you over here let's go win the Superbowl you're absolutely right how you doing I've never seen a cut-off shirt before like that Zeke was like this influx of fun and energy and he's throwing candy at Dak during his interviews and he was just like a breath of fresh air in what had been I want to say a stale a locker room but a very like veteran locker room and he's just this Zeke almost didn't know what he didn't know he was like yeah I've been kicking ass and taking names since I was 15 and I'm going to do it here in the NFL too and he did Glover Quin trying to run him down and running out of time It's an incredible story how we got to taking Dak in the fourth round I went to see him play Auburn and they were third in the nation they won that game they were number one were on Sports Illustrated but like to see him carry that team to that level is unbelievable one of the things we talked about was when has Mississippi State ever been. You know why it why are they there now and and you know there's a catalyst to it this is what he does better than anybody in the SEC we were looking at quarterbacks because Tony was getting to that point we wanted to develop I think our experience it with Dak at the Senior Bowl kind of let us know who he was Jason Garrett and his staff they were in charge of one of the teams the irony is that Dak wasn't on their team you know they coached Carson Wentz Jerry Jones kind of made this big spectacle where he went and met Wentz at midfield of the of Ladd-Peebles Stadium in everybody was oh my God is this the next franchise quarterback of the Cowboys and meanwhile Dak is over on the other team and nobody's really paying attention to him why would they of all the quarterbacks obviously Jared Goff and Carson Wentz were kind of the cat's meow up at the top of the list obviously Zeke was our first round pick that year but it would have been a hell of a discussion had had Goff or Wentz it's been there because we were all in on both of those guys as well as the draft went on that night we kind of started making some phone calls and seeing what it might cost to get back up in and try and draft Paxton Lynch are y'all going to pick here okay we'd be looking at our three our two and our three Our two and our three I'm sorry okay thank you Buffalo's a no if our guy's there we'd be interesting going from 34 to 26 We've chummed Pittsburgh Seattle Green Bay we hadn't gone after Kansas City Arizona Carolina or Denver and we got trumped by the Broncos they jumped up and they drafted Paxton Lynch Jerry Jones famously he was sick to his stomach like he said he couldn't sleep on Thursday night because the Cowboys weren't willing to give up the the extra pick that the Seattle Seahawks wanted to get into the first round for Paxton Lynch for them to not be willing to pay the price to get that deal done Jerry Jones is sick to his stomach everybody saying are they not going to get their quarterback what the heck is going on here guys are my face What does Dak do What does Dak do that morning Dak was still sitting there and it became one of those you know scouts like to call it a value pick you now my gosh we can't pass this guy up at this point Dak Prescott please this is he We're glad you're hear your coordinator and head coach they'll really be able to give you some great coaching yes sir I'm excited I'm glad you are 'cause we're excited about it too you know you fast-forward to training camp and and Tony can't go and all of a sudden Kellen breaks his ankle and next thing you know Dak's our guy and Dak and Zeke and the rest is history from that drive the fact the Dak is the only quarterback left with his original team out of that 2016 class number one that tells you how hard it is to draft a position to evaluate that position it just shows you how hard it is to succeed at that position it shows his drive to be as great as he can be and he's really worked at it this isn't all luck you know there were injuries that put him in that situation in 2016 but he has worked to get to the point he is now the end of the day yeah it's probably pretty surprising that the bottom of the fourth round quarterback is the best one out of that draft you no looking back at it it's surprising but it's not when you when you factor in who Dak is Dak certainly isn't the only franchise player to fall right into the Cowboys lap Hutchinson hand off Smith at left guard 35 40 yard line that should do it. Move over Sweentess yeah they were absolutely looking for James Francis they were looking for the linebacker from Baylor Jimmy wanted a linebacker to the point where they couldn't trade up far enough to get them they tried to trade with Cincinnati to take James Francis away from them couldn't do it and now they're sitting there at 21 and it's like well we'll just take a running back now I'm stressing stressing whether or not I will be picked in the top ten rejecting me to go and it's up to you little did I know that that would not happen and I started to become very nervous and it just kind of kept sliding Jimmy extremely well he recruited him to Miami didn't get him but did he paid followed his whole career what Emmitt was he just really wanted James Francis and I didn't get it and then they all looked at each other and they said well maybe we better look at it again you know there was a lot of defensive players taken in about the 14 15 picks was some talk about I might go and play in the Green Bay and that's not where I really wanted to go okay we just made a deal with Pittsburgh okay and we're swapping first round we get their 17th and they're getting them are from Minnesota I San Francisco's 3rd which is the 81st pick the star on your helmet yes you can Dallas Cowboys under the trade that I just described Dallas selects Emmitt Smith running back from Florida back from Escambia Florida Emmitt Smith the true Junior first-team All-American average is 145 yards rushing a game Jerry Jones is what is the owner of the Cowboys the deal for Emmitt Smith and cowboys trying to trade up most of the day you were back there in the War Room what was the importance of getting Emmitt Smith and it speaks for himself his performance on the video consensus All-American as a junior it's great that he's a cowboy I was so excited all I thought about was a seven-year-old kid want to play professional football and want to play for the Dallas Cowboys and that was my moment understanding your own war room is one thing but finding out what's going on with the other 31 teams takes a unique skill one that Jerry Jones put on display in 2002 Jerry Jones is this one of the best I've ever been with and it comes to working in the draft because I've never been with anybody that's another team to tell them who they're going to take and this happened on the clock to us one time and it was almost a disaster it was the Roy Williams that draft you know defense was a big thing we wanted to fix up and we were we were we were pretty dialed in on Roy being the guy that we wanted to take we got to draft day that night was probably the most masterful maneuvering that I've ever seen Jerry do in the draft room when we got to the clock that night the phones were like exploding with people wanting to move up because there were four about three different players and teams involved in it trying to get that pic and everybody thought they were trying to go after the same player in a lot of cases that she just wanted Ryan Sims but they thought the Vikings wanted Ryan Sims as well and we knew we had the Chiefs you know we had them in the crosshairs on the phone he's got Carl Peterson from Kansas City Frank Gilliam from Minnesota he's working these guys on the phone and we're on the clock I mean he's working a trade on this clock and it's getting close. I think we're locked in here now or you going to Williams okay so you won't take Roy and so I'm just questioning of getting past Minnesota usually they'll tell you we're gonna take an offensive or defensive player you make the determination and we can't afford it because they might be taking our guy Jerry got those general managers right below you there I don't know I'm just I'm just out loud thinking here with you is there any any thing we can do to all better ourselves that you're not going to lose you guy more than likely if we pick Kansas City or Jacksonville that's something else all Chris Hall walked out of his office and goes did somebody calls the league office Joel Bussard to turn the trade-in 'cause it was your responsibility still to turn the to let them know you made a deal when you owned the pick Stephen Jones literally dives on the table grabs the phone hits the button gets the trade desk in New York and is like Dallas is making a trade here are the details clock is down in 5 4 3 Kansas City and Minnesota are running their picks to that mean you're trying to get ahead of us now so we're thinking oh my gosh we just lost this trade as I do what the hell is going on like you know I was I'm not getting drafted up the phone I think we're okay sure enough do the league office called us back after the pick was made and Joel Bussard said Stephen don't ever do that again this Jerry Jones turn on TV right now I just wanted to hear what it sounds like to talk to another Dallas Cowboy the Cowboys trade it back and still got the player they wanted and nearly 20 years later they did it again Where do you really want to go to what's the ideal spot and you know hopefully I'm drafted by somebody in blue we are ready he's in his blue it's in the Parsons DNA a Dream Team and I have no problem believing Micah Parsons was their highest rated defender on the board maybe they still would have taken a cornerback over him if one has been available because of positional value I think it was clear that the Cowboys were going to take a cornerback that's what that's what they really wanted and with the where that they were standing in the draft sitting at 10th overall and there was really no way that one of those two guys was it going to be there Jaycee horn the Denver Broncos select Pat Surtain Jr. very clear idea that they wanted to attack this defense in the draft and I think in a perfect world that would have been a cornerback Patrick Surtain or Jaycee Horn but they lost those guys right out from underneath them they said okay we can still get a heck of a linebacker who can fill for five rules for us right away and help ensure us at that position and I think they felt just fine about it Micah Parsons or the offensive lineman from Northwestern would be together. We're going to ask for 3 we'd still considered it but we'd at least need the three to consider your third we're having one last conference here but if let me throw that in the mixer Cowboys had come for doing that 'cause they were confident that it was going to be Devonta Smith and they said well we're in charge he's either going to go to the Giants or the Eagles so let's try to get something out of it 'cause he's going to wind up in our division either way and that's exactly what happened if it's Dallas I'm crying if it's Dallas I'm crying both of the offensive linemen are fine players but to me Parsons is the pick nervous nervous nervous phones is ready hello hey Micah this is Jerry Jones and I'm calling you to tell you where to turn in your card then you're a Cowboy This is all I've ever wanted you don't think it's too big for you to be a Cowboy do you whether you're a first-round draft pick an undrafted free agent every NFL career begins with a life-changing phone call a phone call from behind closed doors inside the War Room Is this Martellus it's Jerry Jones and you're a Dallas Cowboy after you spend a little time in the weight room and get you some strength and I've been looking at your picture here you could use a few reps Bobby here's Jerry Jones

Channel: Dallas Cowboys

Views: 42,227

Rating: 4.9358025 out of 5

Keywords: dallas, cowboys, dallas cowboys, nfl, jerry jones, dak prescott, ezekielelliott, zeke, DeMarcus Lawrence, Sounds From The Sideline, Talkin Cowboys, Zeke Elliott, Dallas Cowboys Live, Cowboys Break, Cowboys Postgame, mike mccarthy, cowboys draft, Micah Parsons, CeeDee Lamb, Dak Prescott press conference, Hanging with the boys, Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader, Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader Performance, Dan Quinn, Isaac Alarcon, nahshon wright, kelvin joseph, Dallas Cowboys Training Camp

Id: Ma5dzAZNzkY

Length: 46min 18sec (2778 seconds)

Published: Thu Aug 26 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/firstandfive]

This was such a cool inside look.

[u/FadedTony10]

That was a great watch. Still thank the lord we didn’t draft Manziel or Lynch.

[u/HolyRomanPrince]

Watching Parcells, Payton and Romo talk made me smile so hard. We were so bad before these three completely changed the program back into something

[u/WileyCoyote-Genius]

Still hard to watch an entire room of professional scouts & coaches try to convince an oil tycoon to pick a perennial all pro guard over Johnny Foosball.