The Cowboys Improved Their Defense BIG TIME In The NFL Draft! - Kris Kretschman Show

The Dallas Cowboys might’ve just changed their entire future… 👀

In today’s episode of the Kris Kretschman Show, we break down the Cowboys’ full draft class and give an official grade after one of the most aggressive and impactful drafts we’ve seen from this team in years. Did Dallas finally get it right?

We also dive into a HUGE question — did this draft make the Cowboys the best team in the NFC East? With major additions on defense and a clear shift in identity, this team might be ready to take a serious leap.

And then there’s the bigger picture… could the Micah Parsons trade actually lead to a Super Bowl? With the amount of draft capital the Cowboys added, we explore how this move could reshape the roster long-term and set Dallas up for championship-level success.

This is more than just a draft recap — this is about the direction of the franchise.

Make sure to like, subscribe, and drop your thoughts in the comments — did the Cowboys just win the draft AND the NFC East? 👇🔥

Transcript

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Hey, what's going on, everybody? Welcome to the Chris Cratchman Show for Monday, April 27th, 2026. And on today's episode, we are going to be recapping the draft weekend and the things that the Cowboys did over the weekend, not just the picks, but the trade that they made for D winners. And I also want to talk about where this leaves this team for this upcoming year and why I feel really, really good about the Cowboys going forward here. But before we get into the episode, please make sure to hit that like button, subscribe. I would greatly appreciate it. And by the way, we are going to be back in the home studio. Uh I think for Thursday. Yeah, I think for Thursday and Friday's episode, and maybe even Monday's episode, we're going to be back in the home studio. Because uh, if you guys don't know, uh I actually moved down to Texas not too long ago. So uh I'm gonna go back home, visit my parents, visit my family, and then and I'm I'm very, very excited to do that. So uh please make sure to uh yeah, hit that like button, subscribe, and let's get into it. So I want to start off by talking about what my grade is for the Cowboys in this draft. I think that the Cowboys deserve a B plus at minimum for what they did over the draft, just because Caleb Downs. Like if you get Caleb Downs, you automatically get a B. Even if you flop on the rest of your picks, I feel like you at least get a B because you add a guy who might end up being the best player in this draft, right? Now, I obviously don't want the Cowboys to flop on the rest of their picks. I think that they made some really intriguing picks, right? Malachi Lawrence is a guy that is exactly what the Cowboys needed. Now, we'll see what his role is gonna be for this year and in the upcoming years, right? Maybe Malachi Lawrence is a guy that he's just a situational pass rusher this year, and they want to develop him as a run defender, have him be better at setting an edge, and that's completely fine. And then you look at what they did with Jay Sean Barham in the third round. I think if you're gonna play him as an uh an off-ball linebacker, I think that that is a guy that can contribute day one for you. Yeah, he might not be a start, but do I think he could be a good player for you? Absolutely. And when you look at the future of the linebacker position for the Cowboys, like we're gonna talk about the trade for D winners. Like the Cowboys were so bad at linebacker going into this draft that they needed to add multiple bodies to it. I still think they need to add another body to this room, to be 100% honest with you. And I think a guy who can legitimately play for you, maybe Jordan Brooks is a guy that they they end up trading. I think that come June 2nd, I think that that's a trade that the Cowboys are absolutely going to explore because if I'm not mistaken, I think that that would actually save the Dolphins more money on their cap. Now, granted, I don't really think they care about their cap this upcoming season because of the way their team is constructed at the current moment. They're not gonna win many games next year. Uh, but that's besides the point. You you add a linebacker and Jay Sean Barham, who I think is gonna contribute for you. You you added D winners, a guy that right now would be your starter. Like you can line up and legitimately play with your linebacker and still think you need to add another body just because of the fact that I don't know if DeMar Van Overshone is gonna be here, especially after the news that he's hiring David Mulagetta to be his agent. I don't know because David Mulagetta gets the best for his clients. And I could see the Cowboys saying, dude, you played 19 games for us so far in your career. I I don't know. But you know, obviously that's something for for this time next year that we're gonna be discussing. But they they go into the fourth round. They add they had three fourth round picks, and they added Drew Sheldon, the offensive tackle from Penn State. I love that pick. Like it's kind of just like whatever, right? Um, but you know, they still had two other fourth round picks. They added uh Devin Moore from from Florida, cornerback that has some real potential there. They added LT Overton, a guy who like I feel very good that about LT Overton. I think that he's going to be a guy that's gonna contribute for this football team. I think we're gonna look back at that pick and like I don't think he's gonna be a star. Understand what I'm saying when I say this. I don't think he's gonna be a star. He's gonna be a guy that could contribute for you because I think what he's going to do is I think they're gonna try and put some weight on him. I think they're gonna try and get about 10 more pounds on him. And what they're gonna do is when they play their their five-man fronts, when they're in their three, four, they're gonna play him as, you know, that defensive end, the four eye, which is something that's like a buzzword with the uh Cowboys community this year. I think that's what they're gonna do. And then when they're in their nickel, they're gonna play him at the edge. That's a guy who you know, Mike McDonald talked about you want to have a defensive line that can win with four and stop the run with four. That's a guy, if you put him at as your edge, he's gonna help you stop the run. He's not gonna give you much as a pass rusher, which is why he dropped. But in the fourth round, adding a adding what you would consider a run-stopping defensive end, that makes a lot of sense. I I have a problem when you know teams add defensive ends that are just primarily run stoppers in like the second round, which is what the Cowboys have done in the past. Like to me, you can find good run-stopping defensive ends in the third, the fourth round. You don't need to spend uh uh you know a top 60 pick on that. But I love that they drafted him in the fourth round. And it's not even just the players that they drafted, it's the players that they signed in undrafted free agency. I think Michael Trigg is gonna is gonna compete for a roster spot and could be a contributor day one for this football team. They could find a role for him. It wouldn't surprise me in a year or two from now that Michael Trigg is the best tight end on this football team. No, he has that type of talent. He is a guy that he's gonna be your receiving tight end. You know, I think that if your if the future of your tight end room is Michael Trigg and Brevin Spanford, because I I'm just gonna be transparent with you guys. I'm not high on Jake Ferguson. I I think Jake Ferguson this past year, it was a disappointment from him. It was a disappointing year from Jake Ferguson this past season. And and and that's the way I look at it, right? Like Jake Ferguson has not played at a really high level, in my personal opinion, since the 2023 season. So I think you have to be looking at potential contingency plans. And if a year from now we're looking at this tight end room and we're saying it's Michael Trig and it's Brevin Span Ford, that's a nice combination of tight ends there, right? Like you have a guy who blocks at a really high level with Brevin Span Ford, and then you have a guy who you think could be a really good receiving tight end. And Brevin Span Ford, I think there's some untapped potential there. Would it be would it surprise me if Brevin Span Ford is the best tight end on this football team this upcoming season? No, it wouldn't. As a matter of fact, I was at the star the other day. I was I was in the locker room. There was one player in the locker room. One, Brevin Span Ford. Brevin Spanford was the only one in the locker room putting in that work, right? Like, now obviously I'm not saying that other players on the team aren't putting in that work. You know, some of these guys have facilities at their own place that are better than what the Cowboys have, right? But I'm just saying, like a guy like Brevin Spanford, he does not have Doc and CD Lamb money, right? He's not putting uh a gigantic uh gym in his apartment or his house, whatever he has. He's going in the facility and he's putting in that work. I appreciate that. But you know, that's besides the point. Now we're going off at a completely different topic. But, you know, Michael Trigg, I just think that's such an underrated signing. I think that's such a good signing. Brian, Brian and Votch, right? They broke down Michael Trigg. Votch had a third on him, Brian had a fourth on him. Like, that's the type of player he is. The fact that they were able to get him in undrafted free agency is huge. And, you know, like the Cowboys have done really good in undrafted free agency recently. Like, you look at some of the players that they've gotten, they have gotten contributions from these players. And I think a large part of that is where the Cowboys are, right? Like they're in Texas. And because, like when you're an undrafted free agent, you can decide where you want to go. So there's a lot of guys that decide, hey, I want to go to the Cowboys because they're not really active in free agency. They'll absolutely give me a chance. If you're an undrafted free agent, they'll give you a chance. They're going to give you an opportunity to make a name for yourself. But on top of that, like you want to play close to home. And Texas has the best football teams in the entire country. Like when you look at the colleges they they have in that state, do they have the best team in the country? No, they don't in that state. No, they don't. But they have so many colleges in there in the state, and so many people want to stay and play in Texas. So that's why I think they do pretty damn well in undrafted free agency, and they're also the Dallas Cowboys, right? But I I just I think they did a very good job building this roster. Now, what is this draft going to look like? Am I saying A plus? No, they had an A plus first pick, no doubt about it. They had an A plus first pick. The second pick at pick 23, Malachi Lawrence, we'll see what happens with that. But I think they made an A plus move, trading back with the Eagles, getting two fourth-round draft picks. Because here's the thing, right? I kind of hate the way people look at this because they only look at it like I feel like not enough people look at it the way they should. So to the fan bases around the NFL and and the media around the NFL, they're looking and they're like, the Cowboys made a trade with the Eagles and they allowed him to get Mikai Lemon. But like the Cowboys are looking at this and they're saying, hey, we're able to get two really good players or that what they think are going to be two really good players in the fourth round. We're able to add quantity to our team and draft a player we wanted to draft anyway. They were going to draft Malachi Lawrence at pick 20 anyway. So they looked at it and they said, hey, like we have a chance to still go get our guy, but also add two first round or two fourth round draft picks to our draft capital arsenal. So it made a lot of sense for them. So it was a fair trade for both sides. The Cowboys traded back, got the guy that they were going to get anyway, and they got multiple fourth-round draft picks as well. Good for them. Good for them. Now, what Malachi Lawrence turns out to be, we'll see. I'm not as sure about Malachi Lawrence as I am about Caleb Downs. Do I think Malachi Lawrence could be great? He can be. You know, and then the the third-round pick, Jay Sean Barham. I I think that's an A-plus third-round grade. Or the third round pick, to be 100% honest with you guys. Where they got him and 92, that's an A-plus. Um then you look at some of the other guys, Drew Sheldon, eh? Okay. Uh uh Moore from Florida. I think that could be something that really works out for the Cowboys. LT Overton, he's not going to be a superstar in the league, but he's going to be a really good contributor for your football team. He plays a role. And then in undrafted free agency, you get Michael Tray, Jordan Hudson, another guy, wide receiver from SMU. They got a really nice haul here of players. So, I mean, I would give it, I'd give it a B plus A minus. I would have loved to have seen them add another running back to their team. But hey, look, you know, the game's going to be the game. They improved their defense, no doubt about it. Like, you know, this is the type of draft that they needed. They added so many players to their team through this draft, right? And you know, I I want to move on to the next topic, and that's where is this team post-draft when it comes to where they are in the division? And like, I don't think it's crazy to say that I think the Cowboys are the best team in the division, to be 100% honest with you. Like when AJ Brown gets traded, I think it's like clear cut that the Cowboys are probably the best team in the division. And yeah, I do want to give the Eagles respect, but every year is a different year, right? Like, we're not talking about the Eagles that were going into the season last year as Super Bowl champions. We're talking about the Eagles right now, the ones that lost in the first round to the San Francisco 49ers that lost quite a bit of talent on the defensive side of the ball, that are about to trade their second best offensive player, if not their best offensive player. That's the Eagles we're talking about. And we're talking about a Cowboys team who, you know, they were the best. I think they were the best offense in the league last year. To be 100% honest with you, like, you know, look, respect Gavin Dawson from 105 through the fan. He was saying they weren't the best offense in the league. I disagree with that. Because when you're getting absolutely no help from your defense, your offense looks worse as a result of that. Because when you can't get back on the field because your defense is keeping you on the field, like teams could do whatever they wanted to you last year. If they wanted to beat you by running the ball, they could beat you by running the ball. If they wanted to beat you by passing the ball, they could beat you by passing the ball. Like, and especially when you're not getting turnovers as well, that's a big thing. When you can't get stops and when you can't get turnovers, your offense is going to look worse. Why? Because football is the ultimate team sport. Defense complements offense, offense complements defense. And when you don't have that type of complimentary, complementary element to your football team, you're you're not going to look your best, right? Like your offense is not going to look your best because of the fact that that complementary part of the team is not there. But that's besides the point. Look, I think that the Eagles are probably going to be a nine, 10-win team. Like that's the way I look at it. They have a lot of uncertainty on their team. And when I look at the Cowboys, I think they have a lot of certainty. I think you know what the Cowboys are. The only bit of uncertainty that I am, you know, worried about is Christian Parker as a new defensive coordinator. But I think for sure, no doubt about it, they improved their defense. Like, I think they're drastically better defensively. There were three things on the Cowboys defense last year that drove you up a wall. It was the communication on the back end, the cornerback play, and the pass rush. Now, one thing I will say is I still worry about two of those three things. I still worry about the cornerback play. You know, if Revel and Bland can play better, then they'll be all right. Kobe Durant coming on, that is a legitimate starter. That is not a Kaelin Carson. That's not just a guy that you throw out there because he's a body. That is a guy that is a legitimate starter in the NFL. Is he an elite one? No. But he's if if he is your cornerback, if he is your starting cornerback, he's not a liability. So I think you improve there. The pass rush, we'll see what Malachi Lawrence provides to your team. You know, maybe Sam Williams steps up. And I I I'm gonna be honest with you. You know, they re-signed Sam Williams, and I love that they did that, not because I think that Sam Williams is going to be an outstanding player for them. The reason why I say that is because I think Sam does have talent, but I think the problem is it's untapped talent. And, you know, him being on that type of deal shows him, like, hey, we can cut you after camp if you're not if you're not doing what you need to do. So you have a guy like that that has that type of talent on a prove-vit year, maybe that works for you. Again, a lot there's there's gonna be ifs when it comes to this stuff. But every Super Bowl team, every Super Bowl winning team has ifs. The Seattle Seahawks went into this year and they had a bunch of ifs. If Nick Imamori can be a contributor day one, if Jackson Smith and Jacoba can take a step forward, if Sam Darnold can play like he did in Minnesota, if this, if that, it happens with every Super Bowl winning team. Eagles, year before that, if Saquon uh can stay healthy, if Cooper Dejean and Quinyan Mitro can be contributors for them, if Zach Bond can step up, if this, if that, it's every Super Bowl winning team. It's it's about like the teams that you feel the best about are the ones that have the least amount of ifs. And I think the Cowboys right now, when you look at this division, have the least amount of ifs. We're not thinking if this offense is gonna be really good, because we know this offense is gonna be really, really good. We're not thinking if the communication on the back end can be better because we know it is. Caleb Downs is a short thing. I'm just gonna be 100% honest with you guys. I'm I'm penning that in as that's a guy, day one, that's going to be an insanely impactful player for your defense because he's done nothing but that since he stepped into the college game. He was, I mean, you heard what Moik Neighbors said about the guy. He played him as a freshman. He didn't play him as a sophomore or junior. He said that thing. He called him a thing because he's so damn good. He played him as a freshman, not as a junior, not as a sophomore. Caleb Downs is as a as sure of a thing as you're gonna get. Jalen Thompson and Caleb Downs, that improves the communication on the back end for the Cowboys. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. So that's where I look at I'm like, okay, that's one less if that they have. Now, the ifs that they do have is if the cornerbacks step up, if they add another linebacker, because I'm gonna be honest with you, if they do add Jordan Brooks, the linebacker room is not an if. You feel good about your linebacker, your linebacker room if you add Jordan Brooks. But that is an if. Because if you have Jordan Brooks, then you have Brooks, Overshone, D winners, uh uh Barham. You have multiple options there that could be good players for you. I'm not worried about the defensive tackles. You're not thinking if the defensive tackles can play better because you know what the defensive tackles are. You have one of the best in the game. You have a very solid one in Kenny Clark. You have guys like Bullard and uh Igbonia who are, you know, they're they're they're fine role players. Fine. The edges is where you you wonder. We need Donovan Ezaraku to step up. The Cowboys need Donovan Ezaraku to play better this year. They need him to get after the quarterback. They need Malachi Lawrence to give them some good pass rush reps in situational moments. They need Rashawn Gary to play better. Uh uh, you know, well, not play better, I should say rush the passer better than what we saw in the final eight games of the year last year. Right? So that's where I'm looking at this, and I'm saying I think that the Cowboys have the least amount of ifs. I think that when you look at the Eagles, if Jalen Hurts can learn this new offense, if this offensive coordinator even knows what the hell he's doing, and and by the way, I just want to add this because I know I just brought up the Eagles offensive coordinator, not experienced, one of the ifs for the Cowboys is Christian Parker. We got to see what happens there. But back to my point. If Jalen Hurts can learn that new offense, if Sean Manning is a really good offensive coordinator, if their offensive line can play better than they did last year, if Mikai Lemon is a good player and he works with Jalen Hurts, if Devontae Smith can be a wide receiver one, um, if their safety play is better, if Tariq Wowen can get his head out of his behind and be a good player for them, right? Like if like they have so many ifs on that team uh that make me say, when you start looking at the ifs, I'm always looking for which team has the least amount of ifs. I think the Cowboys out of those two teams have the least amount of ifs. Like, and then when I look at the Giants, I think they're probably a year away. They're doing some good things over there, but I think they're a year away. And I think the commanders are like three years away. Uh, I don't think they're a very good football team. But, you know, like to me, when you look at this offseason, the best addition in the NFC East so far this offseason is Caleb Downs. He is that good. You we're we're not exaggerating with Caleb Downs. Like, I actually think people are kind of underselling Caleb Downs, if anything, because he went, he played in the Big Ten. That's not a conference that's really known for passing, right? Like they're a conference that they like to run the ball a lot. That's what they like to do over there. You know, they they have teams like Michigan, like Iowa, you know, Penn State. Those are teams that want to run the ball. They're not teams like the SEC, where you know, you're going up against teams like Alabama and LSU and Texas, where they want to throw the football. There, it's it's a different style of game in the Big Ten. But when he did play in the SEC, he was outstanding. I mean, look at what he did against Brock Bowers. I mean, that's what that's what he's gonna be tasked with doing his first season. He's gonna be in the nickel. And that's why I like what they're doing, which is why like even when Dylan Thieneman was on the board at pick 20, I was like, uh, I wouldn't hate that pick there because what Seattle and what Baltimore do with Nick Eamon Wori and Kyle Hamilton is they make sure that they're good at the positions that those guys play so that way they can move them around, right? Like um defensive coordinators will tell you, you want to play Kyle Hamilton around the line of scrimmage, in the box, on the line of scrimmage, uh, more so than you want to play him over the top on the hash or as a cover one safety, because teams can take those guys out of the game way easier than what they do with Kyle Hamilton and Nikki Munwari, where they're playing in the box and around the line of scrimmage. It's way easier to take them out of the game if you're just telling them to uh, you know, it's easier to clear them out of the defensive set, right? So that's what defensive coordinators will tell you. So the way I look at this with the Cowboys is I think their safeties are good enough with uh Thompson, like outside of Caleb Downs, right? But Thompson, uh Hooker, and PJ Lock, I think they're good enough. And you know, they are they are a little shaky here in the cornerback room, which is why I don't like love that, to be honest with you. Like I don't like if Kenny Moore, if you can get him for like a late pick, like maybe like a seventh, if that, like maybe even like a seventh round. I mean, I guess you can't really do a pick swap. Like maybe you send a six to them and or uh uh uh what is it? Yeah, you send them a six and they give you a seventh back. I think that would be like something I would consider maybe. Um, but I mean just overall, I think you guys understand where I'm where I'm coming at here. Um Caleb Downs is the best addition of the offseason in the NFC East. And I think the Cowboys have made some really good additions. I think Jalen Thompson is a really good addition. I think that uh Rashawn Gary is a good addition. D Winners is a nice addition. Caleb Downs is an outstanding addition. And and you're not paying him top of the market money, right? Because he's a rookie. He's gonna be on a rookie contract for the next five years. You know, four and then the fifth-year option. So to me, again, like the two top dogs in the division are the Cowboys and the Eagles. And I just think that there's too many ifs on the Eagles side, and there's not as many ifs on the Cowboys side. I think really the only if for the Cowboys is if their defense could be top 15, they're gonna go extremely far. Like they're they're a team that's gonna really, really compete for the NFC and potentially even a Super Bowl. I think, you know, I think the urgency is uh is a little heightened, right? Because I'm not sure if George Pickens is gonna be on this team in 365 days. Now, if the Cowboys want to, they can go and hit George Pickens with the franchise tag again. And that actually might open up a pathway for George Pickens to be here long term, right? Like if George Pickens is gonna uh if if George Pickens is gonna demand $40 million, like what's working for the Cowboys is the league does not agree with Pickens and his camp about his value. And that's what's working for the Cowboys. They have leverage in this. They can hit George Pickens with the franchise tag again next year, and what they might see is at the end of the 2027 season, they may look at CeeDee Lamb and say, what are we looking at here? How much longer can he play at a high level? Like we're starting to get to that point. It's been six years since CeeDee Lamb has been drafted. These are questions that you have to ask yourself. It's like the start of the 2027 season, that's gonna end in 2028. So now you start to ask yourself, okay, you know, it's gonna be what, CeeDee Lamb's eighth year in the NFL at that point. You got to think about it like that. And and maybe they say, George Pickens is younger, George Pickens is better, we're gonna sign George, and we're gonna, you know, they might be in a situation where it's like, hey, we might do one more year of CeeDee Lamb and George, but then we're probably gonna have to move on from CeeDee Lamb. If that's the case, if that's how you're gonna do it. Because then at that point, CeeDee Lamb's gonna be a little bit older, and and you might look at George and he might establish himself as the best receiver in the game. That's how good I think George Pickens could be. So I know people don't want to talk about that, but I'm just saying, like, like let's think of the uh you know different outcomes here. I want to move on to the Cowboys. They're in a trend that other Super Bowl teams recently have had. So when you look at the Super Bowl teams of the last decade, let's go all the way back uh the last 10 Super Bowl winners. You go New England in 2017, uh, you have Philadelphia in 2018, you have uh New England in 2019, you have Kansas City in 2020, you have the Bucks in 2021, you have the Rams in 2022, you have the Chiefs in 2023 and 2024, you have the Eagles in 2025, and you have the Seahawks in 2026. Now, what do those teams have in common? All of those teams have one of three have done one of three things. They either have Tom Brady, they either have Patrick Mahomes, or they made a big trade, a big franchise altering trade, whether it be they trade for a player or they trade a player away. And this is what I mean. So I I don't want to look at the the Chiefs and the Patriots because they had two top five quarterbacks of all time. I love Dak, he's not that good. Like I think he's top five in the league, but I don't think he's top five. He's not top five of all time, he's not close. Um, but what the Seahawks, the Eagles, and the Rams did, the three teams that won Super Bowls uh in that time over the past 10 years is the Seahawks traded away Russell Wilson. What did they get in return? They got I think they got two first-round draft picks, if I'm not mistaken. Um they had, I think they had, did they have two picks in 2020 and 2023? But I know they got a nice haul there for Russell Wilson, right? The Eagles, they made a trade. So when they won in 2018, they made a trade back in 2016 for Carson Wentz. They traded uh uh two first-round draft picks for Carson Wentz. And Carson Wentz had a really good season that year and was a big reason why the Eagles were in a situation to have a buy and get themselves into the Super Bowl because they had to play through Philadelphia. Now, obviously, Nick Foles was there, and and Nick Foles played really well, but you know, um then you go to the Eagles in 2025 when they won their Super Bowl. They traded Carson Wentz in 2021. And what they were able to do with the draft capital that they got with Carson Wentz, they really maximized that draft capital. The Rams, when they won their Super Bowl, they made a trade for Matthew Stafford. So I think you guys understand where I'm coming from here. These teams have traded away players and got draft capital, significant draft capital, and used that to expand their team, expand their roster, add more talent to their roster by quantity, more so than like top end quality. You know what I'm saying? Like, not to say that the the talent that they didn't add was like quality. I think you guys understand where I'm coming from here. Because I think one of the picks that they were able to, that they were able to get from the uh from the Carson Wench trade, I think it was just a first round, it was a conditional first round pick that they got from the Wench trade, but they were able to trade that and turn that into multiple things. One of the pieces was like Jalen Carter. So that's obviously very quality. That's a very much uh quality player. But the Cowboys, they made their trade with Micah Parsons, right? And when you look at the trade for Micah Parsons, it's damn near complete. And the way I look at this trade is I kind of look at it as a three-team trade. If if you really want to get technical with it and really break down where all the draft capital went, you can look at it like this. It was a trade between the Cowboys, the Jets, and the Packers. The Cowboys gave up Micah Parsons and a second round pick for uh uh okay, let's do this. The Cowboys gave up Micah Parsons and a second round pick. The Green Bay Packers gave up two first-round picks and Kenny Clark. The Jets gave up Quinton Williams, yeah, Quentin Williams. So the Cowboys in return got Quinton Williams, Kenny Clark, Malachi Lawrence. Well, the the the first round pick that they used for Malachi Lawrence that they ended up trading back with the Eagles, and that turned into two fourth-round picks. So if you want to add the Eagles to this equation, you can because they were a part of the draft capital that went, you know, that went somewhere else. So the Cowboys in exchange for Micah Parsons got Quentin Williams in exchange for Micah Parsons and a second round pick, got Quentin Williams, Kenny Clark, Malachi Lawrence, uh Devin Moore, and um LT Overton in exchange for Micah Parsons. That's what they got. And then the Packers got Micah Parsons, and then they traded a first round pick to the Jets, and um I mean, like that's how you can look at this trade now. I there's a lot of moving parts. So I hope I did a good enough job explaining that. I think you guys understand where I'm coming from with that, though. I think you guys get the gist. So I think that when you look at that return, guys, I think that's a damn good return. If you're gonna trade Micah Parsons, I feel like the return that you got with the capital that you were able to retrieve them from that trade, I think he did pretty damn good. Getting Quentin Williams, the drop off between Quentin Williams and Micah Parsons, I don't think it's it's that drastic. Like Micah Parsons is a tier one defensive player, right? Like, when you talk about the, and when I say tier one, I mean elite of the elite. Like Quentin Williams is a damn good football player, but he's not like the elite of the elite. He's not the Miles Garrett's, he's not the Patrick Sertains, he's not one of those guys, he's not the Will Anderson, but he's like in that second tier where there's still outstanding football players there. So if you want to say Parsons is a tier one and Quentin Williams is a tier two, because when I look at tier one, I'm talking like top of the top of the top. Quentin Williams is in that second tier, and that's fine. He's at the very top end of that second tier. So they they got a really good player there, right? Like I think Jalen Carter is a guy that's in that second tier, very much like Quentin Williams, who is in that second tier to me. So you you you got a player who is still outstanding, and then you add Kenny Clark, who is a solid player, right? Like I think people kind of overrate Kenny Clark a little bit. I think he's a solid football player, but then you add Malachi Lawrence, then you add Devin Moore, then you add LT Overton. And now you're starting to look at this and you're saying, huh? Huh. Okay. Okay. Like, are these guys as good as Micah Parsons? No. But you were really able to add quality or uh quantity to that defense. You added a lot of players to that defense. Now, we have to see what Malachi Lawrence turns into. We have to see what LT Overton and Devin Moore uh uh look like. Um if I'm mispronouncing his name, I I think it's Devin Moore, right? I I should I should have looked it up. I apologize. There's so many names in this draft. I'm pretty sure it's Devin Moore. Um, and there's a lot of Moores as well in the NFL. So I lose track of this stuff. But like I I mean, if you're gonna trade Micah, I think that's that's that's that's good. Like you were able to use that capital effectively. If if I'm not mistaken, the Raiders traded away Khalil Mack and they didn't really turn that capital into much. Same thing with when the Jaguars traded away Jalen Ramsey, they didn't really get that much for that capital. Because the Cowboys, for as much as people crap on them, they're a better organization than I think people give them credit for, right? Like they're gonna look at that, they're gonna look at that trade uh uh capital that they got, right, from the Micah Parsons trade, and they're gonna try and expand it, right? Like they're not just gonna receive two first-round draft picks and Kenny Clark. They're they're a team where they like to aggressively try to trade back in drafts. I mean, when Philly called their phone, I'm sure they loved it. Like I know people are like, oh, you know, uh the the Cowboys gave the Eagles Mikai Lemon. I'm sure when Jerry saw, or Jerry or Steven, or anybody who was making that decision saw that the Eagles were calling, they were probably very, very happy because the Eagles are a very, very aggressive organization and they're like, oh, we're gonna, we're gonna hold them up. You got two fourth-round draft picks. That's a good haul. That's a really good haul to fall back three spots. Outstanding haul for them. So, you know, like when you look at that though, I do think it is very interesting that these teams that like have expensive quarterbacks. Hertz is an expensive quarterback, and Darnold is an expensive quarterback. I mean, like, those two quarterbacks aren't like top of the league type of like expensive quarterbacks, but they're close to it. But what those teams did was they made trade trades. You know, the Eagles traded away Carson Wentz, the Seahawks traded by Russell Wilson, and they were able to gather so much capital, and they really did a good job maximizing that capital by getting good players on the field. Now we'll see what happens here with the players that the Cowboys drafted. But to turn that 20th overall pick into the 23rd pick and to get two fourth round picks in exchange for that, you got to give them credit. So that's something that I I just wanted to point out. I was like on my drive over to the studio, I was just like, huh. I I kind of want to bring that up because I think that that's actually a really cool thing that I I thought about. And and and maybe, maybe I'm like off base with that. Maybe people aren't really picking up what I'm putting down, but I think that there's something to that. So that's gonna be it for the episode. If you guys haven't already, please make sure to hit that like button, subscribe. I would greatly appreciate it. Greatly appreciate it. And I will see you guys on the next episode.