Cowboys In The Cave OTA's

Ice In The Cave is talking Dallas Cowboys on the Episode. The OTA's have just wrapped up and some good news is coming out of this camp. George Pickens is in camp, New Defensive Coaching Staff led by Christian Parker! Schotty, Dak, Pickens interviews. Weekly Shows Coming Soon! 

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:03

Welcome to the ice cake. Cold facts like the ice age. Ice man with the blizzard about to open up a cold case. Talk about it over cold drinks. Iceman in the building topic, we can talk about it. What's up, blitz? How you feel what you thought about it? Iceman never out of pocket check and I am in the ice cave. But the ice man turns the world to a ice. Today we got a special edition.

SPEAKER_00 0:24

We're gonna change it up. We're gonna do a little bit of cowboys in the cave. That's right, your Dallas Cowboys are back in camp. Well, technically they just finished camp. So you know what that means, Red. I'm a diehard Dallas Cowboy. I am ready. Are you ready for the OTAs? Are you ready for summer camp? And then are you ready for preseason football? Because I am ready. Cowboys uh started their OTAs, which is organized team activities. For you people who don't know, uh this week was mandatory. Uh there was a lot of talk about if George Pickens was going to show up to camp. He showed up. And he showed up very happy. Uh a lot of things were answered. Uh, so I'm I'm happy that uh George Pickens uh is playing on the franchise tag. Uh Cowboys can do that even one more year if they wanted to next year. But I think this was important for George Pickens to show up because he had a good year. He actually actually had a great year last year for the Cowboys. He's definitely he's definitely a 1A wide receiver alongside C. D. Lamb. He proved that last year. I think he's even going to build up on this year. I mean, if you're if you're talking to Dak Prescott, this is what he had to say about George Pickens being in camp today.

SPEAKER_01 1:56

Yeah, I mean, it's great. Uh as you just said, George being here, it's you feel his energy, you feel his presence. Uh it's in the locker room. Obviously, it's out there on the football the football field, and just uh just to get back and sing throwing. Um yeah, everything felt good. He looks great. No, he's going to be ready for camp, and uh the excitement is uh you can feel it.

SPEAKER_00 2:13

That's right. The excitement coming from the leader of the team, Dak Prescott, said he can feel it. I hear they've been throwing uh even before camp, the off-season, they've been uh getting together and throwing passes. Same thing with CeeDee Lamb. I think we got a tight group of wide receivers. I mean, you put CeeDee Lamb along with pickings. Uh, I think the uh uh Cavante Turpin's is gonna have another good year. Hopefully it's a little bit better on the kickoff returns. He seems that uh he was uh stopping too much and then trying to get going. So he's gonna try to change up his uh kickoff returns and punt returns. He is a weapon. Hopefully uh he can be a big weapon for us this year. But the Pickens things, yeah. George Pickens, people were like, uh, is he gonna show up? Is he not gonna show up? Is he gonna be happy with his contract? He's playing on a one-year contract. Yeah, but that one-year contract is averaging up to almost $28 million. That'll make you show up. And I truly believe if he has another year like last year, if if not even better, and the Cowboys advance further, which I think they will this year, I'm a Dallas Cowboy fan. I'm always I'm always gonna be optimistic before the season starts. Even through the middle of the season, towards the end of the season. That's just a Dallas Cowboy fan. We can be annoying, but we're never quitters. Uh so George Pickens had had a little chance to talk to the uh media himself uh today. And uh what he had to say, I thought was very interesting because, like I said, people thought, oh, is he gonna hold out uh or is he just gonna show up for this camp and he's gonna hold out next uh month where uh when the the real training camp starts? This was his answer.

SPEAKER_02 4:08

Personally, I've just been staying connected with the guys, you know, just still working out.

SPEAKER_00 4:12

So the training camp.

SPEAKER_02 4:15

I'm gonna be here. I'm gonna be here uh training camp. Is it important that you two play this year? Personally, uh I wouldn't say super important for me. Personally, what's important to me like is winning. Like I said from the beginning, uh I always want to bring a Super Bowl to a group of guys that never had that feeling. So uh that's really the most important part.

SPEAKER_00 4:36

That's it. He wants to bring this team a Super Bowl. I think there's a different feeling this year, and we'll get to why that is when we get to the coaching staff, because we will cover that part today. But uh let's stick to the receivers right now. I mean, you got Pickens and CeeDee Lamb who are who are a dynamic duo. They like playing together. They they, like I said earlier, they're they're a receiver one and a receiver one A. There's there's no neither one are a backseat to each other. Two huge weapons for Dak Prescott. I think uh Pickens uh will even shine better than he did last year. One more year, one more year into this offense, and I think Shoddy will add some new wrinkles to the offense. Well, from what I'm hearing in camp. They're gonna move Pickens, uh, move around a lot more. Last year he was mainly on the wideout. I'm hearing they will move him to the slot, uh, you know, just to change up coverages. You got to take advantage of your weapons, and uh I think uh Shoddy has some uh some big plans for the offense this year. Uh I think the wide receiver crew is is is stronger than what you really think. Like I said, you have CeeDee Lamb, you have George Pickens, my breakout wide receiver this year, and he came on late last year. If if we're still watching, I know it was a tough watch. That defense was terrible. But I think they're gonna uh uh the offense is only gonna be better this year, and and I think Ryan Flornoy, they call him Flo. This will be his third year with the team. Uh he's uh he came on last year, six foot one, two oh five, big receiver, big target. Uh he shined uh in a few of the late games last year. And from what I'm hearing from Shoddy, he he's actually having a very good camp. Let's get what Shoddy has to say about that.

SPEAKER_05 6:42

Yeah, you know, Clarence, there's really not much I don't like about flow. I would say the word you used, you kind of answered your own question. The confidence is different than it was. Not even, you know, obviously when he was a rook, uh, but like even last year early on, I think he was not not in awe of CeeDee and and George, but like, you know, you you you saw him, okay. I know I fit in, but then having the success that he had against the Jets, and then having the success he had against the Lions, and just saw him really take that step, I'd say about middle of the season last year, and he came back, man, with uh just a really strong intent for what he wanted to get done. He looks great, he's moving great, his routes, I think, have gotten better. I mean, here's a guy from a small school that's come in and really adapted to the way we teach route breaks and and uh you know releases and uh speed turns and power cuts and things like that. Um and I really think the sky's the limit for him.

SPEAKER_00 7:39

That was Shoddy talking about uh Ryan Flornoy. Remember that name? Watch him in camp. Very good wide receiver. I think this is a breakout, and he is my breakout wide receiver for the Dallas Cowboys this year. So to me, that's my top three. Turpin's right under Cavante Turpin is like right under Florinoy. But Turpin, as we know, they they've used him a lot more on the offense now. He's still a dangerous punt returner and kickoff returner. Uh it was kind of a down year last year for him. But listening to some of the talk in camp, it seems a lot of that was due to uh, you know, it wouldn't it wasn't a good blocking scheme. There was a lot of failures on the defensive side and special teams last year. You can't you can't blame the offense on anything what happened last year. The offense was great. Top three offense of uh offense in the league. Number one in a lot of categories. And the weapons this year, there's there's Jonathan Domingo, another wide receiver. This will be his fourth year. We got him a couple of years ago in the Carolina Panther trade. Gave up a fourth round pick to get him. Uh he has potential. Another big receiver, six foot two, two twenty-five. Heavy built receiver. Strong. If he can finally get it, and he got the quarterback and he got the other receivers to lean on. If Jonathan Mingo can can get his head straight, because I think a lot of that's in his head. The the athletic ability is there. We just need him to, when the lights come on, him to produce. He's great in practice, shows a lot of skills, a lot of potential. So I think he makes the team this year. I think he's more of the fifth receiver. There are some dark horses. Uh under the radar, we did sign in the offseason, Marquez Valdez-Scanton. Uh he played with Green Bay, followed Rogers to Pittsburgh. Played some with Mahomes. So I look at him as a veteran receiver. He's been in the league uh going on nine years now. Uh we do have a lot of young receivers, so I think uh having him in camp is is gonna be a plus. He has big play potential. He's played with some very good quarterbacks in Rogers and Mahomes. Now he has Dak Prescott. And I think this is a well-structured offense. I think Shoddy did one hell of a job last year with this team. So I think we're just the offense is gonna pick up right where we left off last year. Uh another under-the-radar wide receiver we got was uh Denzel Mims. We just signed him today. He was a former second-round draft pick, played a lot with the Jets. Look up Denzel Mims, six foot three, two oh seven, fourth year in the league, out of Baylor. Think he's gonna have a strong camp. He's got big playability. So in this first Cowboys in the K podcast, I I wanted to concentrate some on these wide receivers because the offense was big play last year. I mean, we and we'll get to the running backs on another podcast. But uh with Javante Williams, you know, having a year he had. And he's got some big play receivers to do it. So uh if we stay healthy, and that's a big thing in the NFL, a lot of injuries in the NFL. You're only as good as your health is on your team. Uh our team had a lot of injuries last year, especially on the defensive side. And then we had the big Micah Parsons fiasco throughout the uh training camp and wind up right before the season, trade him to Green Bay. So that season it was just a lost season, it just didn't seem right from the get-go. But this season is different. I feel different this season. The biggest reason is because we changed the defense. Every cowboy fan knew last season that the defensive coach was not the coach. Should have been fired at the game four. I mean, Russell Wilson had a Hall of Fame game against the Dallas Cowboys, if you remember that Cowboy Giant game. Seems every quarterback came in, average quarterbacks, were throwing 300, 400 yards, four touchdown passes. This defense was terrible last season. Terrible. If this defense would have been just halfway decent, halfway decent, middle of the road, say 15th in defense, not 32 out of 32, the Dallas Cowboys would have been a playoff team. But it is what it is. The defense was terrible. So it's time to make changes. And I think the Cowboys hit a home run with this Christian Parker hire. If you don't know, he he was a defensive back coach, uh, the defensive back coach for the uh rival Philadelphia Eagles. He's worked under some great coaches. Young coach, 34 years old. He has uh a lot of people that refer him as an up-and-coming coach. Not a defensive coach, not a not an assistant coach. They're thinking not so far in the distant future that he will be a head coach here one day. And from what I'm hearing in camp is the players are gravitating to him. The defensive backs obviously love him. That's that's his background. The big test is him controlling all of the defense. So we cleaned house on the defensive side this offseason. We got a young defensive coaching staff. Last season we had a young offensive coaching staff with Shoddy controlling the offense. So I think Christian Parker is is is gonna be a great addition to this team. I think it uh I think it was just uh just a great hire. And even the offensive players, I'm hearing OTAs that uh he's a talker. Today, one of the things I heard in one of the last practices when the offense was coming out, he was telling our kicker Aubrey to get ready because uh there wouldn't be no touchdowns scored. So he's talking a little trash to Dak, C D, George. But he's getting them fired up. And from what I'm from what I'm hearing, it's uh he's making it a little tough. Even Dak uh Prescott admitted that, hey, they're not even rushing Clark and the edge rushers and you know Quentin Wick Quentin Williams. You know, he says right now that defense uh they're they're doing more 707 drills right now because you know in the OTAs, you you can't wear pads. So it's it's just working on all the skilled positions, much less, you know. That's what you can work on in these offseason programs. No contact. But there's some interesting battles going on out there already, and uh Christian Parker, the uh the what they call him CP. He's doing a great job of getting everything stirred up and and and with the new addition of this new draft class, and another thing to be excited about is you know, he's working with Caleb Downs, the safety at Ohio State. Our number one draft pick. How he fell to number 11 amazes me. He was the number one player on the Dallas Cowboys draft board, or on a lot of teams draft board. It's crazy how some of these players drop. Uh as a young safety, I think he's gonna be an instant starter, obviously. But I think he's gonna be an instant team leader. One of his best traits, he he knows how to play the game. He's very voisterous out there. He gets his players in the right sets. Go back and look at some of the Ohio State games. This this guy's a player. He's he's gonna make a big difference on this defense. And he's got a and he's and he's got a young coach with a defensive back background. So I think this is is is going on to enhance his playing ability with the knowledge he's gonna get of being the team leader on defense. I mean, he might be one of the green dot players. It might not happen early in this season. If you don't know what the green dot means, that means that's the player that whether the plays come in from the sidelines or upstairs, he has the green dot on the helmet, and he's the one that gets the team, uh the plays sent in for him. And uh he relays it to the players and makes sure everybody's where they're supposed to be on that certain play. Now, I hear Overstones also been wearing the green dot, and that's what we're looking for. We're looking for some team leaders this year on defense. We got a young defense. But with the trade of Micah Parsons, I think we got a really good haul over that. I mean, he's part of the reason we got Quentin Williams. Edge rushing is good is good is gone. I think the jury's out on the edge rushing and linebacker kind of I think we still need to, before camp starts, go out and get a veteran linebacker. I think that will happen. But I think CP will turn this defense around this year. I think this I don't think we're gonna jump the I'm not gonna, you know, just think we're gonna be a top five defense this season. I I don't think that's gonna happen. But I think we'll be middle of the road defense. I think uh we're gonna be a defense that uh gets gets a lot of turnovers. It's gonna be an exciting defense this year. New blood, new passion. And to me, this is my opinion, I think it's a it's a young it's a young coach's ball game now. There are some veteran coaches, a few out there that still are left, in the Sean Paytons, other coaches. But if you look, Seattle had a young coach, Super Bowl chance, McVeigh, young coach. A lot of the teams that are are are succeeding, it's a new tight ball game, it's a new tight player to get into their head and have them go out there and be dogs and play for you. Then you gotta know how to work the veterans. So I think Shoddy has a has a good handle on this team. I mean, he did say today it was one of the to him, uh it was very happy with the offseason. He thought the practices were very well, even though they were restricted. They had some seven-on-seven drills. He did tip his hat to CP or his visor to CP. Christian Parker, our our our defensive coach. He did make it difficult on the offense. So I think it's gonna be a different element having Parker this year. I mean, even this is a quote from Shoddy. He says he thinks Christian Parker is a trash talker. And he admitted that it's a lot different from last year. But he said the guys are feeding off that in a good way. And he said it's been fun to watch that. He's been stirring up CD, like I said, George, Dak, and all the other guys. So Shoddy thinks they're in a we're we're in a good spot. There's a brotherhood forming. And that's what you need to succeed. All 53 men on that roster have to buy in. Because you gotta work as a unit. Not only offense can win you games. You have to have a good defense. Big key for Seattle last year. And even the Rams. Good offense, but very good defenses, too. That's the next step for the Dallas Cowboys. If we're gonna succeed this year, it's gonna be because of the defense is gonna jump leaps and bounds from last season. Hell, there's there's there's no way but up. We were at the bottom last season. Some of these games, I I mean, I watched every game, don't get me wrong, but there were times at halftime I wanted to turn the game off. I turned the sound off. Put some music on to get my mind right. Because this offense was was was just doing great things. And the defense was just digging ourselves. I mean, before you know that, some half times we were down to 28 points. There were some first halves, some teams didn't punt the whole first half. You can't win ball games that way. And I do commend Jerry Jones to finally, when he said we're all in, I feel this season they no huge splashes, but a lot of splashes. I think this team is going to make noise this year. Jerry Jones ain't getting any younger. So I think uh bigger and better things are coming our way, and there might be a few more splashes before this season does start. After they finished up camp today, there's there's five weeks till the actual camp starts. I think it's the second week of August. They start preseason games. And then before you know it, September 13th, Sunday night kickoff, Dallas Cowboys and the Giants will be here. So it's moving fast. Today was the last day of the OTAs. So the players have their instructions. They put a lot of plays in, a lot of defensive sheams. So they got things to work on still in camp. But still lots of time to be ready. I'm excited. I'm excited for this season. I'm excited for the Dallas Cowboys. And I I just think this is gonna be uh it's it's gonna be what the defense does for us to have us take that next step. The mindset has to be right. It was great to see Pickens in camp. His mindset's right. I'm excited that he's a young guy. Supposedly had a lot of baggage back in Pittsburgh. But he's been an A1A class player since uh since he's been with the Dallas Cowboys. And uh I look forward to the uh, like I said, I look forward to the camp. I do want to go over the the draft class before I do get out on this first podcast. And this was a podcast, I'm gonna call this one Cowboys on the K. Uh before the training camp starts, I'm gonna do one a week. I'm gonna release those every Friday, which this one will release at 10 a.m. on a Friday. That's the 19th of June. Happy Juneteenth. That's the kickoff. First podcast of the Dallas Cowboys 2026 season. But before I do get out of this first podcast, uh, I did want to talk about the draft. I mean, number one, it was at the 11th pick, Caleb Downs. I had I I called my ice cave the war room that night, watching the draft, and as he was dropping and dropping, I was like, move up, cowboys, move up. Move up. And then Caleb Downs fell to the well, actually, he didn't fall to the cup. We jumped up to get him at a number 11. We jumped up one pick. We had the 12th pick. But we gave up a couple of fifth rounders to get Caleb downs because we didn't want to lose him. Now, later in the draft, Eagles, our rival wanted, our rival team wanted to jump up. So we turned those two fifths that we gave away to two fourths. Fourth round picks. So that helped the draft. Now, Malachi, uh, Lawrence Malachi, he's an edge rusher out of uh University of Central Florida. These top three that I'm gonna name right now, I think they're they're gonna be instant contributors to this defense. Because we went heavy defense in this draft. Duh. After last season, even the offseason, some of these signings were uh and we'll get to the defensive backs uh on our next podcast. And I do want to talk about the defensive backs and the edge rushers. Each week as we get to camp, uh we'll we'll talk about the positions, you know, uh each each podcast. But Malachi, Lawrence Malachi, he's gonna be a dog. If you watch some of his video footage, and do you ever get a chance, go to YouTube and just and type these names in of their highlights. You can see the motor, the motors that these guys that they have in them. Uh our round three pick, Deshaun Barham, linebacker out of Michigan. I think this kid's a stud. Watch him in camp. I think he's gonna be an instant, instant producer for this defense. And we need all the help we can get. So these top three, I think, are gonna four through seven, then, you know, there might be some splashes in there, but uh I think Caleb Downs, Malachi Lawrence, and Joshon Barham, I think those three are uh are gonna be instant contributors to this defense. I'm excited to see what they do in camp. Uh I'm hoping for a healthy camp. That's that's big in with any NFL organization. It's a physical sport. Injuries happen. That's why it's important to get depth. Need depth with your team. So um, yeah, that's what I want to talk about in this Cowboys podcast. I just want to go over some of the OTA uh results, get you a few interviews in there. Uh this will, like I said, I'll do this once a week. Uh definitely want to talk Dallas Cowboys with you. Like I said, I believe blue and silver. Uh you can catch this podcast on Spotify, iTunes, Buzz Sprout. I'll put it on my social medias Facebook, Instagram, TikTok. And uh I'm excited. This is one of the few offseasons that there wasn't a lot of question marks. I felt this has been a smooth off-season. I feel there's a togetherness with this team. I feel that this is Shoddy's team now. And I think the Joneses are letting this be Shoddy's team. If they do that, and let this young defensive-minded coaching, along with this young offensive-minded coaching, and we can gel together, I think we can do some special things this year. I'm not talking 17-0, maybe 16 and 1. Nah, nah. I'm not going crazy. I'm intrigued. I'm intrigued. I'm a diehard Dallas Cowboy fan. And for you people that listen to this podcast, I know you are diehard Dallas Cowboy fans also. So get excited. You have good reason to be excited. This has been a very good offseason. And I think more things are to come. Like I said, we'll we'll talk about those in the future. But uh, look forward to talking to you next Friday. Once again, this podcast will be released on Juneteenth, 10 a.m. You can find it on my social media, iTunes, Spotify, Buzz Sprout. Be sure to download, and I'll talk to you guys soon. And this is Iceman, and I am in the ice cave with the cowboys in the cave. Enjoy your weekend.

SPEAKER_03 30:49

I'm out of here. Welcome to the ice cave. Cold facts like the ice age. Ice man with the blizzard about to open up a cold case, talk about it over cold drinks. Iceman in the building, any topic, we can talk about it. Any touching, we can touch it. How you feel, what you thought about it. When this bill is never out of pocket. Check a bitch up like what's in your wallet, credit card solid, go hard with the ice band. Turn the world to an ice man, we can call it iceman. One up on my shoulder in case I get active. You know I get active. My heart on my sleep in the beat with a patch. Ice in your capture. Parent to moment, cause this ain't no cap, son. Ice with the M1. I call out the thousand and out from the game, son. Ice in the cave, son. Everything blue like the lights in the cave, son. Ice in the cave.

SPEAKER_04 31:31

Ice, ice, ice in the cave. Ice in the cave. Ice, ice, ice in the cave. Ice in the cave. Hey, ice, ice, ice in the cave. Ice in the cave. Welcome to ice in the cave.