Is Jerry Primed To Save Draft Day For Sanders?

By Bill Jones

Unless Jerry Jones does some wheeling and dealing, Saturday figures to start slowly for the Cowboys on Day 3 of the NFL Draft since they don’t have a 4th round pick.

But with Colorado QB Shedeur Sanders of Dallas surprisingly still available, what if Jerry did have a 4th round pick?  

It wouldn’t be hard to acquire one.  The last two years Jerry traded his 4th round picks for QB Trey Lance and WR Jonathan Mingo.  He could easily package next year’s 4th with one of his two 5th rounders  and get near the top of the 4th round today.

Especially considering the Cowboys owner’s close relationship with Shedeur’s father, former Cowboy Deion Sanders, you have to think the presence of Sanders still on the board gave the Cowboys owner some pause overnight.

It’s been exactly 30 years since Jerry signed Deion to a 7-year, $35 million contract back in 1995.  By the way, that happens to be the same year the Cowboys won their last Super Bowl. So, might Jerry wake up this morning with visions of Lombardi Trophies dancing in his head and decide to make a move for Shedeur?

“We thought and evaluated him extremely high in this draft,” Jones said late Friday night. “He has got a winner in his bloodline.  I know what character is there. And, boy, it is great character. It is an unbelievable competitive winning character for sports…. And, by the way, I’m a big believer in osmosis.  A huge believer in osmosis.”

If only Jerry had a 4th round pick.

Just something to watch as the 4th round kicks off at 11am today.

Dallas Doubles Down On Defense

As for Friday night, the Cowboys stayed true to their draft board and doubled down on defense.  They were elated that Boston College edge rusher Donovan Ezieruaku was still available when they picked at #44 in the 2nd round.

The 6-2 ½, 248 pound Ezieruaku was the 1st edge rusher to be drafted on Friday after five were taken in the 1st round on Thursday night.  He was highly productive his senior season with 80 tackles, 20.5 tackles for loss and 16.5 sacks, earning 1st team All-American honors.

Ezieruaku was the Ted Hendricks Award winner, which is given to the top defensive end in the nation.  He was a 3-year starter, amassing 45.5 tackles for loss and 30 sacks in his career.

There’s a lot to like about an edge rusher with 34 inch arms, who posted a superb 6.94 cone drill and a 4.19 shuttle time to go along with a 35 ½ inch vertical and 22 bench press reps of 225 pounds at the combine.

“I’m a dynamic pass rusher,” Ezieruaku said. “I have a deep bag of pass rush tools that separates me. I rush with a plan.”

Much like their 1st round pick, Alabama offensive guard Tyler Booker, the Cowboys also love Ezieruaku because of what kind of person he is. He’s very bright, a team captain, and his coaches say he is a hard worker who gives relentless effort.

In the 3rd round, the Cowboys couldn’t pass up one of the more talented cornerbacks in this draft. East Carolina’s Shavon Revel might have been a late 1st round pick if not for an ACL injury suffered early last season.

The Cowboys feel good about Revel’s recovery from the injury because Dr. Dan Cooper, the team’s physician, performed the surgery.  The timeline for Revel’s return could allow him to be ready to play by the season opener in September.

Regardless, the Cowboys love the length of the 6-2, 194 pounder, who has 32 ½ inch arms and has been described by scouts as looking like a giant condor on the field.

Before his torn ACL in the 3rd game of the season last year, Revel already had two interceptions and one touchdown on 201 snaps.  He started all 12 games in 2023.

A late bloomer, the 24-year old North Carolina native only played in 2 games during his 2-year stay at Louisburg College, a junior college in North Carolina.  He transferred to East Carolina and caught the eye of scouts in 24 games (15 starts) before his knee injury.

The Cowboys like what they’ve done through two days, but there’s a saying in the NFL that draft classes are made on Saturday.  The team has plenty of late round ammunition with 7 of the last 108 picks, starting with #149 in the 5th round.  

But the biggest intrigue of this day might be which side of the bed Jerry Jones wakes up on. 

50 Years Ago In Texas Rangers History

Throughout the 2024 season, we will take a look back at some memorable moments 50 years ago — when the Texas Rangers first became a relevant franchise. Billy Martin’s 1974 Rangers were the first winning team in club history, going 84-76 & finishing 5 games behind the World Champion Oakland A’s.

April 6, 1974: Hall of Famer Fergie Jenkins made his Rangers debut, tossing a 1-hit shutout of the World Champion Oakland A’s. The only hit was a Bert Campaneris 4th inning swinging bunt single.

Time of game: 1:56

Fergie won 25 games with 29 complete games in 1974.

World Champion Rangers Try To Run It Back

This will be an Opening Day like never before in Arlington, Texas.  The Texas Rangers will unfurl a World Championship banner just prior to the 6:30 1st pitch against the Chicago Cubs.

The Rangers will then set out to defend their world title.  It’s a feat that hasn’t been accomplished in Major League Baseball in 24 years, since the New York Yankees won three World Series in a row from 1998-2000.

On paper, it appears the Rangers have the makings of another true championship contender.  They return 4-time World Series Champion Manager Bruce Bochy and an everyday lineup that may be more potent than even last year’s unit, which was the most prolific in the American League, averaging 5.44 runs per game.

All-Stars Corey Seager, Adolis Garcia, Marcus Semien, Jonah Heim, and Josh Jung weren’t even the most talked about players at Spring Training in Surprise, Arizona.  Instead, the rave reviews have been reserved for rookies Evan Carter and Wyatt Langford.

Teammates gave the 21-year old Carter the nickname “Little Savior” last fall when he ignited the Rangers offense after being called up to the big leagues in September.  Carter set a postseason record with 9 doubles.

However, when it comes to Spring Training hyperbole, even Carter has taken a back seat to the 22-year old Langford.  The 4th overall pick in last summer’s draft out of the University of Florida, Langford led the majors with 20 runs batted in this spring, slugging 6 home runs and batting .365.

The Rangers do have question marks as they enter the season.  1st Baseman Nathaniel Lowe is on the injured list, nursing an oblique injury.  Veteran newcomer Jared Walsh and Ezequiel Duran will split time in place of Lowe.  Meanwhile, shortstop Seager and 3rd baseman Jung each played only 3 exhibition games as they return from ailments.

Staff ace Nathan Eovaldi has looked sharp all spring and will get the start against the Cubs in the opener.  The rest of the rotation features veterans Jon Gray, Andrew Heaney, and Dane Dunning.  Young Cody Bradford rounds out the rotation, at least until newly-signed Michael Lorenzen builds up his arm strength.

The bullpen has undergone some changes with the addition of veterans David Robertson and Kirby Yates to supplement the return of closer Jose LeClerc and Josh Sborz, who recorded the final out of the World Series.

There will be potential big-name additions to the pitching staff this summer if all goes well with the rehabs of Max Scherzer, Tyler Mahle, and Jacob deGrom.  However, before that happens, there’s a lot of work to be done and games to be won --- starting tonight, on the biggest Opening Night in the history of the World Champion Texas Rangers.

Stars Have Aligned For World Champion Rangers

The Rangers World Series triumph was the culmination of 51 years of trying, but coming up short. 

But the Rangers finally put together a championship team filled with players that resemble so many of the players who endeared themselves to Rangers fans through the years. 

https://youtu.be/uHw-Fc24XHQ?feature=shared

21-year-old rookie Evan Carter, a country kid from Elizabethton, Tennessee—who set an all-time postseason record with nine doubles—is not unlike Mike Hargrove, a country kid from the Texas panhandle town of Perryton, who at age 21 in 1974 became American League Rookie of the Year. 

But the more I see Carter play left field, maybe he's more like Rusty Greer, a red-headed country kid from Albertville, Alabama, who became one of this club's all-time fan favorites. 

No one knocked in runs at the rate that two-time American League MVP Juan Gonzalez, the Puerto Rican sensation, did. That is, until Adolis Garcia came along. The Cuban refugee set a postseason record with 22 RBIs. 

The left-handed hitting, North Carolina-born and bred Josh Hamilton had moments that rivaled the left-handed hitting, North Carolina born and bred Corey Seager, but never with the same Hall of Fame level consistency. Seager is what Hamilton could have been. 

The Rangers captain for so many seasons—including the previous World Series years—was Michael Young, a Californian who was the model of consistency day in and day-out, both near the top of the batting order and in the middle of the infield. The captain of this team is Marcus Semien, a Californian who was the leadoff hitter and 2nd baseman for all 179 games last year. 

The Rangers have been blessed to have two of the best defensive catchers of their eras in six-time Gold Glover Jim Sundberg and 13-time Gold Glove Hall of Famer Ivan Rodriguez. But Catcher Jonah Heim, who stands 6 feet-4  and looks more like Pudge Fisk than Pudge Rodriguez, won his own Gold Glove last year. 

 3rd baseman Josh Jung sometimes plays defense like he's six-time Gold Glover Buddy Bell, plus he sometimes hits like he's four-time Silver Slugger Adrian Beltre, but he always treats others like he's all-time Rangers good guy 3rd baseman Steve Buechele. 

Speaking of good guys, the ever-affable 1st baseman Nathaniel Lowe out of Mississippi State is nothing like the ever-edgy Will Clark out of Mississippi State. The former 13th-round draft pick is more like the ever-popular former 15th-round draft pick Pete O'Brien, one of the few bright spots on those 1980s Rangers teams.

Relief Pitcher Jose Leclerc from the Dominican Republic brought back memories of another Dominican closer named Neftali Feliz, whom they built a statue of after he struck out Alex Rodriguez to send the Rangers to their first World Series in 2010. But unlike Feliz, Leclerc was able to close out three World Series wins last year. 

And finally, there's Big Game Nate, Nathan Eovaldi, who won 17 games last season, including a 5-0 record in the postseason. Eovaldi is from Alvin, Texas. He's the 2nd best pitcher to ever come out of Alvin, behind only the legendary Nolan Ryan, who crafted the most memorable moments in Texas Rangers history...that is until last fall. 

The stars aligned just right for this club to travel a magical road to a place it had never been before. But, if you gaze closer, you'll see that these stars look a lot like some of the same stars we've seen here before. We just had never seen them all together in the same place before. 

Rangers Rookies Went And Took It

SURPRISE, AZ — Rangers rookie outfielder Wyatt Langford has taken the Rangers 2024 marketing slogan “Went And Took It” to heart this spring.

It appears Langford came into Spring Training with the same “Go And Take It” mentality that this team showed last fall in winning the World Series.

When this camp opened, an Opening Day roster spot was up for grabs for the Rangers 2023 1st round pick (#4 overall).  And five weeks later, the only thing left is for Manager Bruce Bochy to announce that the rookie went and took it.

Langford didn’t just take a roster spot.  He took a starting roster spot. He’s expected to be in the starting lineup next Thursday night against the Cubs, and for countless nights the rest of the season.  

Not only that, Langford will be plugged into the coveted #3 hole in the batting order, sandwiched squarely in between World Series MVP Corey Seager and ALCS MVP Adolis Garcia.

Langford earned this role by batting .388 this spring with a Cactus League-leading 6 home runs and a major league-leading 19 RBIs. This follows a two month minor league stint last summer that saw him hit .360 with 10 homers, 17 doubles, 2 triples and 30 RBIs in 44 games, playing at all four levels of the club’s minor league system from the rookie league to Triple-A.

But more than all the stats, Wyatt Langford has earned the confidence and trust of his teammates, coaches, and entire organization by exhibiting an Evan Carter-like maturity and professionalism that belies his young age.

Just like with the 21-year old Carter last fall, it appears the major league stage will not be too big for Langford, who is actually a year older than Carter.

This season the two rookies will both be in the starting lineup virtually every day, primarily sharing left field and designated hitter duties.  And, they also share similar backgrounds.

Carter is from Elizabethton, Tennessee, a small town in the easternmost part of the state with a population of 14,546. 

Langford’s hometown of Trenton, Florida is even smaller. With a population of 2,015, Trenton is located 30 miles west of Gainesville, where Wyatt starred for the Florida Gators College World Series team last year.

Hard to believe that just five years ago Wyatt Langford was a catcher for the Class 1A Trenton Tigers and Evan Carter was a pitcher for the Class 2A Elizabethton Fighting Cyclones.  But out of a small town work ethic came big league dreams. 

And, next Thursday night in Arlington, in front of a national TV audience and a celebratory home crowd, two Rangers rookies from Small Town USA will be living out their dreams right smack in the middle of the defending World Series Champion’s batting order.

It doesn’t seem possible that two young athletes with such similar backgrounds, who play the same position no less, could both earn Opening Day starring roles on a World Championship team.

There really is only one explanation.  

They went and took it.

“Big Game Nate” Gets Big Game Start

SURPRISE, AZ — He’s earned the nickname “Big Game Nate” for times such as these.  When the World Series Champion Texas Rangers open the new baseball season in front of a celebratory home crowd next week, it will qualify as a big event.

The worst kept secret in Surprise was announced Tuesday as Nathan Eovaldi will be the Rangers Opening Day starter against the Cubs one week from Thursday.  It will be the 4th Opening Day start for Eovaldi, the other three coming for Boston in 2020-22.  And he becomes the 2nd pitcher from Alvin, Texas to start the opener for Texas.  Nolan Ryan was the Rangers Opening Day starter 3 straight years (1990-92).

Eovaldi has been sharp this spring, beginning with his first bullpen session when Manager Bruce Bochy made the comment, “Okay, he’s ready. Now put him on ice.”  Eovaldi is coming off a 12-7 season, but he also went 5-0 in the postseason with a 2.93 ERA.

Lost in all the Wyatt Langford talk this spring has been the work of another recent 1st round draft pick, Justin Foscue, who has a similar resume as Langford.  Foscue is an SEC product (Mississippi State) just like Langford (Florida), taken 14th in the 2020 draft, 10 picks later than Langford’s 4th overall selection last summer.

As a 2nd baseman, Foscue is blocked from the big leagues by Ironman Marcus Semien, but he is showing some versatility this spring and is now hitting .275 after going 2-for-3 Tuesday against the Athletics, including an 8th inning game-tying 2-run double.  Veteran reliever Kirby Yates, a key offseason acquisition, coughed up a 3-run homer to Brent Rooker in the 7-7 tie that drops the Rangers record to 10-12-3.

Dane Dunning will be on the mound for the Rangers against the Reds in Goodyear on Wednesday.  The team has a day off on Thursday, then host the Guardians in Surprise on Friday at 3:00 on TXA 21.  The final Cactus League game is Saturday, which will be Eovaldi’s final tuneup before Opening Day.

Tyron Tires of Hometown Discounts

It’s almost midnight on a frenzied Friday of free agency and if I had a dime for every time I checked X today, I’d have enough coin to keep Tyron Smith a Cowboy.

Instead, on the same day 10-time Pro Bowler Aaron Donald surprisingly started his 5-year 1st ballot Hall of Fame clock, 8-time Pro Bowler Tyron Smith concludes his 12-year Hall of Fame career with the Cowboys.

Reports tonight indicate Tyron is headed to the NY Jets on a 1-year contract that will pay him anywhere between $6.5 million and $20 million based on how many games he plays.

Good for Tyron. He deserves what he can get after eight years of hometown discounts in Dallas. The Cowboys were the beneficiaries of a below market 8-year, $97.6 million contract that Smith signed in 2015. That averages out to $12.2 million per year. In contrast, San Francisco’s Trent Williams has made $128 million the last 8 years ($16 million avg).

The Jets were able to structure the contract this way because Tyron worked for a bargain basement price last year, an absurdly economical $6 million salary. That meant the Jets could craft a deal that pays Tyron a $6.5 million base salary with playing time incentives that stretch to a possibly $20 million if he stays healthy all year.

So, Smith is betting on himself and was smart to pounce on this offer after the left tackle market became more crowded in the last 48 hours with the Titans releasing Andre Dillard and the Cardinals cutting D. J. Humphries.

Smith’s departure caps a day at The Star that saw 28-year old linebacker Leighton Vander Esch flunk his physical due to recurring neck injuries. So, he was unceremoniously released which will save $2.1 million on the salary cap. That was enough for the Cowboys to sign 32-year old free agent linebacker Eric Kendricks, who passed his physical and signed his 1-year, $2.9 million deal which has another $500,000 in incentives.

Kendricks had originally agreed to terms with San Francisco on Wednesday but changed his mind when he was assured by Cowboys defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer, his former coach in Minnesota, that he would be the starting middle linebacker here. Kendricks was being courted by the 49ers to play weak side linebacker while Dre Greenlaw recuperates from Achilles surgery.

As if that wasn’t enough news for one day, as expected the Cowboys also cut WR Michael Gallup, designating it a post-June 1st release which means they will gain $9.5 million in salary cap space in June.

Gallup was one of the most popular people in the building, but wasn’t able to provide the production the Cowboys hoped for after suffering an ACL injury two years ago. Of course, it was just a month after his surgery in March, 2022 that Jerry Jones gave Gallup a 5-year, $57.5 million deal. But Gallup only had 73 catches for 842 yards and 6 TDs the last two seasons. It’s another case of the Cowboys getting smitten with the person then bitten by the production.

So, add wide received and left tackle to the growing list of pressing Cowboys needs this off-season. Fortunately, there’s an abundance of each in the draft. To get a starting quality left tackle, you’ll need to draft him in the 1st round. You can find quality wide receivers on days 2 and 3.

The Cowboys do have the option of kicking 2022 1st round pick Tyler Smith out to left tackle, where he played his rookie season. And, another option would be to sign a veteran free agent tackle at a reasonable price, much like the Chiefs did a year ago when they signed 30-year old Donovan Smith to a 1-year, $3 million deal. He started 12 games at left tackle for the world champs.

Here are the top free agent left tackle possibilities and their expired contract numbers:

Donovan Smith, KC (30) — 136 starts — 1y, $3m

D. J. Humphries, ARI (30) — 98 starts — 3y, $51.7m

Andre Dillard, TEN (28) — 19 starts — 3y, $29m

Trent Brown, NE (30) — 93 starts — 2y, $13m

Charles Leno, WAS (32) — 141 starts — 3y, $37m