Spagnola: This Guy (Leary) On The Cowboys Offensive Line Radar

[Toruk_Makto]

Invested 2 1st rounders on the line. Paid top dollar for what was one of the hottest if not hottest FA tackles on the free agency (Yeah talking about Doug) at another tackle position....and yet people still aren't happy.

C'est la vie

 

[Zordon]

snickering?

 

[Zordon]

Invested 2 1st rounders on the line. Paid top dollar for what was one of the hottest if not hottest FA tackles on the free agency (Yeah talking about Doug) at another tackle position....and yet people still aren't happy.

C'est la vie

By your standards eagles fans should have been happy with their dream team then.

 

[gmoney112]

This is a cupcake, but cupcakes are fun every now and then.

Haha yeah, definitely a fluff piece.

Although, it's refreshing to see a writer that's genuinely excited about the team for once.

 

[Eskimo]

there certainly wasn't much to be excited about his play in the last preseason. He will have to have made a large leap to become an average OG but not unheard of. Coming from a small program made it harder to deal with the complexity of NFL offenses. It would be great if he could beat the incumbents who were pretty lackluster last year.

 

[TheSport78]

I think it's wishful thinking that Leary AND Parnell will develop into solid, starting players. It's possible, but the history of this organization and developing offensive linemen doesn't make it likely.

We'll be lucky if one of them turns out to be something. Whichever one doesn't pan out, upgrade that position EARLY in next year's draft.

 

[burmafrd]

Broaddus is more critical than Mickey, for sure. Mickey tends to be more critical of things in the rear view mirror. Though, there are situations, like with Parnell, where he'll pick his shots. I think he's mostly just a positive guy who's pretty easy going. You do have to take what he says with some salt, but he also does have inside info just from being in the building if you're willing to read between the lines.

In this case, for instance, I think coaches are telling him they really think Leary *is* developing into a starting-quality player. It'll be in the way that Free became starting quality early on, though, and not as a dominating force in the middle. Still, though, for an undrafted college FA, that's pretty cool.

the first real question is can our coaches actually develop O line players not of the first round.

the second real question is whether they can recognize development at all

 

[jterrell]

The most interesting note in all that was that Tui and Newton were UDFA.
40% of the Great Line were off the street guys.

Leary has to prove himself, nothing Mickey says means a thing. Same way nothing the goof balls on here say has anything to do with how the OL will perform.

You develop OL by playing them. That means growing pains and suffering a bit. Dallas has certainly done that with many of these guys and may do it with Frederick and Leary as well but the pieces are here for a quality OL provided someone plays RT at a marginal NFL level.

I am confident in the interior OL options. But my confidence means the same as the lack thereof from the fan base at large, zero. They simply have to line up and show us.

 

[burmafrd]

The most interesting note in all that was that Tui and Newton were UDFA.
40% of the Great Line were off the street guys.

Leary has to prove himself, nothing Mickey says means a thing. Same way nothing the goof balls on here say has anything to do with how the OL will perform.

You develop OL by playing them. That means growing pains and suffering a bit. Dallas has certainly done that with many of these guys and may do it with Frederick and Leary as well but the pieces are here for a quality OL provided someone plays RT at a marginal NFL level.

I am confident in the interior OL options. But my confidence means the same as the lack thereof from the fan base at large, zero. They simply have to line up and show us.

In some ways the Dallas O Line of the 90's have been a long running curse. That line convinced Jerruh he never really had to invest in serious high draft picks on the O line. At least not 1st rd picks and high second round picks. Not just picks but real high standards.

 

[Shinywalrus]

I have to disagree about Mickey being a shill for the team. Listen to Talking Cowboys and you'll hear him and Broadus taking the Cowboys to task for their mistakes. They publicly call out team officials and players who they also have to see in the office every day. They publicly disagree with some decisions the team makes.

If they seem to be a shill then it's only in comparision to other media guys who are generally negative because that's just who they are or are going for shock value to get attention.

Now I will say this article does seem to be overselling Leary a bit but Mickey is definately high on him because of what he's heard from the coaches. That's been obvious from watching Talking Cowboys.

That just my two cents.

Seriously grasping at straws here. Spags is as much of a shill as any "personality" I've heard cover any team in professional sports. Listen to the draft-day coverage from this year. It's almost as if he is playing a role of a shill in an improve comedy troupe.

Still, Leary is intriguing, especially if we're not transitioning to a full zone scheme and staying with the combo scheme we have now.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

I'm looking forward to how this year's offensive line performs.

 

[BAZ]

Mickeys biggest problem is that he can criticize but if anybody else does he jumps all over them. This happens a fair bit with Broddus, but mostly with callers. They ask a question or make a point, he will gloss over it and ask a question right back ignoring their point, its so annoying. This is not how you talk to people.

 

[Bowdown27]

I really can care less what spagnola says or thinks but I'm excited for this kid Leary to step up this year. I've been waiting patiently since last year to see this kid make the jump to a starter. Him with Frederick and Tyron on the oline will only make us better

 

[SWG9]

Mickey sucks, but I really can't blame the guy for doing what he's doing. He's got a schtick that appeals to a core audience, just like 90% the opinions writers out there.

I assume the dude has been getting paid well by the team, no reason to bite the hand that feeds...especially considering the state of journalism today.

I don't consider him to be a journalist, I consider him a PR man for the Cowboys.

 

[ElGatoGrande]

I like Mickey and I think he has a tough job applying lipstick to a pig every year and trying to make everyone believe it's not just another pig. If Jerry could provide an occasional "10" for Mickey to sing the praises of then Mickey's reputation and believability would surely improve.

 

[CowboysPhan]

None of us really knows why Mickey writes the way he does, of course. Personally I don't see it as much like he's sitting around thinking, "How can I put a positive spin on this piece of crap team." Rather I perceive him as just a really positive optimistic fan of the team who actually sees things that way. I must admit, if I was writing for the Cowboys I'd probably come across the same way, not because I thought I had to, but because that's just the kind of personality I have. I would have a really hard time writing anything bad about my team. If I was hired to write for the Eagles, Commanders, or Giants, I could be as hard-hitting and critical as the next guy, but not the Cowboys. I could be way off, but that's just how he seems to me. That's why he gets bent out of shape when others criticize the team. Kind of like when someone else picks on your kid brother, you're like, "No one can pick on him but me!"
Regarding Leary, I think he is likely to make a huge step this year. I don't expect him to start, but I think he'll be an active game-day backup with a chance to start by next year. I'm basing that on everything I've heard concerning his improvement since last training camp. To me the Spears comments meant the most. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for the kid. But it takes time. Tui and Newton were really great after a while, but they weren't right away. It takes time to develop these "non-first round" types of guys.

 

[xwalker]

there certainly wasn't much to be excited about his play in the last preseason. He will have to have made a large leap to become an average OG but not unheard of. Coming from a small program made it harder to deal with the complexity of NFL offenses. It would be great if he could beat the incumbents who were pretty lackluster last year.

I thought that Leary looked good early in the preseason but bad by the final preseason game. In retrospect, I realized that he practiced/played about 2x the normal number of snaps for an OLineman in preseason due to all of the injuries to other players.

I don't see any reason that he can't challenge for a starting spot. He has NFL physical ability now. There is no waiting on him to get stronger like the situation with Arkin. He just has to get it mentally which I believe can easily be done by a 2nd year player if he is focused. The Cowboys have had problems with OLinemen in the past because they were not focused on football (Brewster, Rodgers and even Gurode in the first year or two). In Gurode's case, Parcells' cut his main buddy on the team because he thought that player was distracting Gurode. I think that player was Torrin Tucker.

On an side trivia note, I found this on Wikipedia about Torrin Tucker:

Despite being ranked by Sports Illustrated as the No. 1 offensive guard prospect available in the 2003 NFL Draft, Tucker was not selected.

 

[jazzcat22]

I have to disagree about Mickey being a shill for the team. Listen to Talking Cowboys and you'll hear him and Broadus taking the Cowboys to task for their mistakes. They publicly call out team officials and players who they also have to see in the office every day. They publicly disagree with some decisions the team makes.

If they seem to be a shill then it's only in comparision to other media guys who are generally negative because that's just who they are or are going for shock value to get attention.

Now I will say this article does seem to be overselling Leary a bit but Mickey is definately high on him because of what he's heard from the coaches. That's been obvious from watching Talking Cowboys.

That just my two cents.

I think mickey is great for the most part. He is not a shill.

But don't you know...you're not an "insider" on this forum unless you hate Mickey & be negative on anything that happens.....

 

[ghst187]

I'm really hoping Leary turns into our starter (after earning it).
Even if Leary is a little slow mentally we have a wonderkid at center who can tell him what to do. I remember that being a problem for Torrin Tucker too then BP, in his infinite genius, moved Tucker outside to T which was a disaster. Tucker would've been fine at G where he cratered entire DLs in college. Pair the dumb guy next to the smart guy, with strength and anchoring like Leary can give....next to that of Frederick...should be a stonewall and/or bulldozer when we need it.
That would give us two new OL and I'd still like to bring in OG Brandon Moore to solidify us at least from LT over to RG. If we brought Moore in, I'd actually start to get excited about our OL....a little bit.

 

[Slamman]

This stopped me quick as I read.

Does he actually think that the folks who brought us a decade of futility and ineptitude are 'snickering' about anything?

Who exactly do they 'know better' than?

Amazing that this paid mouthpiece can think that anyone outside of his money masters believe this.

This pretty much seems up everything perfectly. The only thing they should be snickering at is Jerry' ability to turn the word "why" into a 3 syllable word. I hope Leary impresses and fortifies a weak OL. But until it actually happens, I'm keeping my OL expectations low.