Bonus Show: Cowboys Camp Takes, Dante Fowler and DeMarvion Overshown

0:00This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed Human. Scams don't always look like scams anymore. AI can make a fake ticket offer look legit or a sportsbook text sound official. And once an identity thief gets your personal information, they can start using your name like it belongs to them. And then what? LifeLock helps detect potential identity threats and suspicious activity. And if identity theft happens, LifeLock's restoration specialist can help restore your identity. guaranteed because only LifeLock truly protects your name and identity. Get LifeLock at LifeLock.com and use promo code football for up to 30 % off your first year.

0:39That's LifeLock.com code football. Amazon Health AI presents Painful Thoughts. I can't stop scratching my downtown. Yeah, but I'm not itching to go downtown and tell a receptionist I'm here to talk about my downtown. Some things you'd rather type than say out loud. There's no question too embarrassing for Amazon Health AI. Chat your symptoms and get virtual care 24-7. Healthcare just got less painful. This is Troy Millings from Earn Your Leisure. When traveling for events or festivals throughout the country, every dollar matters. We compare flights, prices, hotel rates, and restaurant options.

1:22So why wouldn't we compare rides? Personally, I always check Lyft before booking a ride. Prices can change throughout the day depending on traffic, weather, and what's happening in the city. If you're headed to a concert, out to dinner, or catching up with your friends on a Friday night, taking a few seconds to check lift could leave you with more money to enjoy the experience. Save money. Check lift. Ugh, hon, the ice cream has turned to soup. I think the fridge is finally dead. Hopping on GrandAppliance.com Great idea. They were awesome with the Samsung Ranger microwave we bought last year. Oh, they have matching Samsung in stock and next day delivery.

2:00Let me see. Oh, yeah, that looks perfect. I hope we get the same delivery crew. Those guys were awesome. Agree. Total pros. Another crisis averted by the team at Grand Appliance. Appliance experts since 1930.

2:18Welcome to NFL Daily, where we got to admit, we're suckers for Cowboys hype every once in a while. This is usually the time of year that it happens. I'm Greg Rosenthal. I am here at Cowboys Training Camp in Oxnard, California, starting off the show solo. You know, Patrick Claibon's doing Fantasy Live, Jordan's over in Minnesota doing joint practices, and we appreciate you watching this YouTube special. I'm going to have two Cowboys coming on the show in just a little bit, Dante Fowler and DeMarvion Overshone, and great conversations with both of them, so look forward to that. But just a couple of takeaways about being here.

2:56It's just different. The Cowboys are just different. When I say I'm a sucker for the Cowboys, part of it is the setup here. Most of these training camps we go to, it's minimal. Here, it's like all these foods, all this concessions. Everything is just bigger. And there's more media here on the 26th day, I believe it was, of the Cowboys being in California. I mean, that's insane. Over three weeks they have been here, and yet there is more media here at a training camp practice in the middle of the week than at post-game regular season games for a lot of NFL cities. So it's just different. And then you see Jerry Jones and Steven Jones up high above the practice field, and it just reminds me of Bear Bryant back in the day.

3:46Maybe I'm just aging myself that I even know who Bear Bryant is, but this is old school football. football. I know Chris Babona doesn't know anything about this. You got Jerry Jones and Stephen Jones, and they've built a tower at Cowboys training camp, and they're just watching everything below them. They are the Kings, and that is their dominion. And that's how football practices used to be. It used to be Bear Bryant at Alabama with a big megaphone yelling at all of his players from up above in the tower. And that's like, I don't know if that's the best way to connect with your players and you don't need to connect like that when you're an owner.

4:24But Jerry Jones was playing in the SEC for Arkansas pretty early in Bear Bryant's run at Alabama. So he's like going up against his team. It is a connection to that like old school football. And it's just different. It's truly a family organization in a way that the NFL used to be all around the league, but is not as much anymore. Just no one's doing it like they're doing it for good and bad. So takeaways from the field today. It was just good to see Dak Prescott throwing darts all over the field, just making the right decisions. It looked a little too easy for him at times. I like this Cowboys address group a little more on that in a minute, but for the most part, he was protected very well.

5:04He finds his open receivers. He's just the smartest dude on the field and he was very sharp in general. What are you going to do with this secondary? That's the problem that I worry the most about with the Cowboys. But you have C.D. Lamb and George Pickens lining up against Kier Elam. And Deron Bland is back out there. And that's a big thing. I think the average fan probably doesn't realize Deron Bland. He's back. He's healthy. You got a couple of really talented guys that were on the sideline here today. Trevon Diggs and Savon Revell, who could be back at some point this season and will help him out.

5:38But in the meantime, there's just mismatches. We were looking on our ace cameraman and photographer and producer Sam here. He's taking photos of practice. And C.D. Lamb dusted some guy so badly. And I know that Donovan Wilson, the safety on the play, tried to make up for it. And Dak hits him way down the field. Wilson can't get there in time. But the cornerback gets dusted so badly, he's not in any of the camera shots because C.D. Lamb has beat him by five yards on a double move. And it just got me kind of thinking about how good this passing game could be, and I think will be, and how good they're going to need to be, because I think the secondary for this Cowboys team is just not great.

6:20But there are resources coming later. And if they can get Ravel and Diggs healthy, I think that's a good thing. I love Kevante Turpin's wiggle. I mean, he's a guy that's going to shine in a setting like this. I think he's going to be a difference maker this year. They also have a rookie, Treshawn Holden, who's looked pretty good at training camp, made a couple plays today, has a good chance to make this team. And they have a seventh-round running back in Phil Maffa that popped what would have been a 50-yard touchdown. And when you're thinking about one cut and go, I mean, I think he's got more juice than the two veterans, Javante Williams and Miles Sanders.

6:58So I was talking to some of the Cowboys reporters here, I think there's a real thought of the Cowboys maybe choose between Javante Williams and Miles Sanders, and they only wind up keeping one of the veterans, maybe put one of those veterans on the practice squad because they want to keep Phil Moffa and Jaden Blue, their two rookie running backs, who are both making some plays. Moffa just looks like he's a guy that you have to keep in the rotation, keep on the team. And Brian Schottenheimer was asked during his press conference, like, what's the thing you're most concerned about? And he just said it was the decisions that's coming that he doesn't really know, he admitted, where they're going at a few different position battles.

7:41And that's true for a lot of teams deeper on the depth chart. But I think it's kind of true for the Cowboys higher up. Like, they need to figure out their running back rotation. I don't think they really know it. They got to figure out their cornerback rotation from three onwards. And that's pretty high up. They're still trying to figure those things out. But watching him, and he talked about his cancer diagnosis that at least I had no clue about. And I don't think anyone had ever asked him about it, that he had undergone surgery for thyroid cancer a long time ago. And he had a very heartfelt story about it.

8:20And it was related to Jerry Jones, you know, revealing that he had had his own cancer battle with, with melanoma and, and has recovered. And it got me thinking about something I've been talking about this off season about Brian Schottenheimer, how I think he could be a better head coach than he was a coordinator. There's just something very real and grounded. And he's been through a lot in the NFL. And I think he knows people. And I think players respect coaches that are real. I'm not saying like, the last couple Cowboys coaches weren't, but sometimes it kind of felt like McCarthy and Jason Garrett, they're almost like play acting a role of what a head coach is going to be.

9:01And I think Brian Schottenheimer has a certain sort of emotional intelligence that comes through. And I think the staff that he built here is pretty good. And those are some of the reasons why I think he could be a little better than people expect. Then again, I just went through like all these different takes from being at one day of practice. And one of my takes here is the more training camp practices you go to, you just realize people force training camp takes. I mean, it's just practice out here, man. I mean, I've talked to different reporters who I think agree. The longer you cover training camp, the more that they feel like you can get a feel of what players are playing better than they did previously or who's having a good camp.

9:40But who's having a good camp is not what happens on Sunday. It's a totally different ballgame, and it's very tough to translate whether they're having a great training camp to whether it's going to be great on Sundays. And the difference is I think fans would see if they came out to these training camps between, oh, he's going up today or he's going down. It's very small. And sometimes you don't know the reasons why a player would struggle on a certain day, what they're working on. And I do think we probably make a little too much out of who's playing well, who's not playing well in camp. The main thing to me is who's healthy and what are the rotations?

10:16Like, who's the starter? Who's the second team? You really can learn a lot about that. And that leads me to my last point. Man, this edge rush scoop without Micah Parsons, and we're going to talk to one of the members of it, Dante Fowler, in just a second, is so deep and so versatile and to me should be the envy of the entire rest of the league, except for maybe the Giants in this division. just to quickly go through it. And Dante did a great job going through it. So you'll hear that in a second too, though. Sam Williams is coming off a torn ACL and looks really good in this training camp. Looks 100 % healthy.

10:48He is getting the most first team reps opposite Dante Fowler, who's coming off a really good season for Washington. Fowler is not, you know, an all pro player at this point of his career, but he's turned into that Leonard Floyd type of pass rusher for hire. He's going to give you plus positive snaps. So that's your two starters-ish, but you're rotating in your first round, pick or early second round pick Donovan as a Raku. And then Martian Nealon, who's looked like a first rounder when he's played, is a good run stopper and is absolutely better than a lot of starting edges out there. And when Micah Parsons comes in, Nealon will technically be the fifth guy.

11:24So I think the Cowboys have a better fifth guy than a lot of teams do second guy at maybe the most valuable position in the sport other than quarterback and maybe tackle. And I think the way that they can use them and just play smart and play fast with Matt Eberflus gives this team a high ceiling. I'm intrigued. And yeah, I'm looking forward to you guys hearing these interviews. Here is Dante Fowler. And then right after that, the linebacker, DeMarvion Overshow. All right. We are here with the veteran linebacker, edge rusher of the Dallas Cowboys, Dante Fowler coming off a long practice on the practice field and a long stay out here in California.

12:09You guys are like residents now. Yeah, for sure. I mean, I used to live out here back in 2017, 19, but I'm ready to go home and I was excited to be here first, but now it's like, it's time to go home for sure. That's a humble way of saying you went to the Super Bowl with the Rams. Yeah. You know, it's funny. I was doing some research. I do that sometimes. Are you aware that you had the most sacks of anyone, or at least tied for the most, of anyone in the 2017 playoffs with the Jaguars. You had a couple. And the most tackles for loss of anyone in the league in the 2018 playoffs. No, I didn't know that.

12:46But, I mean, I know I was getting the f*** off, though, for sure. I know I was, like, doing my thing. But that's a pretty cool stat, for sure. And a follow-up, I hate to ask you. Does that mean that you hate Tom Brady more than any man in the world? because that's one time in the AFC with the Jags and then one time in the NFC with the Rams. Yeah, I mean, it was really cool just to get out to Tom. That's my favorite quarterback of all time. So growing up watching him and then actually being in the game when we played him in the AFC Championship, I was turned on another level. Wow. I wasn't planning to go here, but it does go to the Patriots a lot with me.

13:22But maybe talk about that game a little bit because I feel like that's a great forgotten game that not forgotten in Jacksonville or by my coworker, Maurice Jones-Drew, who likes to bring up all the time that he was down and they were robbed? Man, that was a pretty cool game. We were so confident going into that game. We knew we were going to win. It was crazy because we had a joint practice with them, and that was the year we played them in the AFC Championship the next year. So it was just really cool. We were super prepared, and we were playing our tails off, and I think we got robbed, to be honest with you, just on that play with Miles, you know, stripping the ball and stuff like that.

14:01But, you know, just that second half was really, really weird. But, you know, in Tom Brady fashion, he got it done. But, man, that was a gut punch for sure. Yeah, it is crazy how football history and how people think of, like, legacies and all this stuff can change on something fluky, even as someone who's watching that Patriots closely. Whether Miles Jack was down or not for a whole, like, legacy and season to change, that's heartbreaking. and you've found a way, though, to live with the ups and downs as a pro. You were drafted in 2015. So are you proud of your longevity? And what's been the key?

14:36Yeah, I'm super proud. You know, just because it was my dream to play football, like since I was in the fourth or fifth grade, I set my mind on being a professional football player and wanted to play for a long time. So just be able to play 10 years in this league, you know, I'm super blessed and I'm proud of myself for that. and just to be able to have a career in the NFL, you know, especially where I come from and, you know, the hard work that my mom, my dad put into me getting to the NFL and stuff like that. It means a lot for me to be able to, for them to still be able to come to my games and still, you know, see me as a professional football player.

15:11And now on your second tour of duty with the Cowboys, I kind of alluded to it. They've been out here for about three weeks now, and they're just wrapping up their time now. What's different playing for the Cowboys than playing for teams at your other spots? You know, just the notoriety and, you know, the primetime games and stuff like that, that comes with the starting helmet. You know, playing at Jerry's Row in the AT &T Stadium for a home game and stuff like that. That's super cool. Are you going to watch that Netflix show about Jerry, about the Cowboys? It's mostly about the 90s, but it's a lot about Jerry.

15:51You going to watch that? Probably not, but, you know. I heard it's good. Just to keep up on my history, I might. I might will. I'm pretty sure Danny will have it on, and I might look at it. But, I mean, I'm not really a big TV guy no more. Okay. I'm not as much, but I got to say that Cowboys Cheerleader show is good. It's actually really interesting. I'm not being weird about it. I'm just like it's interesting what they go through. I remember all that. I just remember my mom used to watch that stuff back in the days when I was like in middle school or high school when they used to have it like on Lifetime or so.

16:21It used to be on one TV show. They used to, you know, show the cowgirls and stuff. So it's pretty cool seeing them around nowadays. I know exactly what you're talking about. I forget what network that is. But yeah, it was like the country music network. Like TLCS. CMT or something like that. Yeah, CMT. All right, let's talk 2025 Cowboys because I had a theory going into this training camp that people get mad around the country. Fans get mad. All the Cowboys get too much attention. You know, the Cowboys are always like the top story on ESPN, even though like maybe they're not worth it or not. And what my theory was actually this year, the football team is really fascinating because to me, the ceiling for this team is really high, maybe better than people realize.

17:01And part of that, the reason I believe that is because of your edge rush group. Like that is about as deep an edge rush group. assuming Micah gets back on the field at some point but even without him I'm watching today and you have four really good players and that some other players behind him like what has that been like tell me about like what that room has been like who's been impressive man it's been so impressive just to see you know those guys just to see Sam Williams come back from his injury and see how hungry he is and the way he's playing he looks really good it just makes you curious to see what he would have did last year if he never got hurt but he looks really good Donovan you know for him to be a rookie he looks really good just as what people said he was you know he looks like a guy that got 16 sacks last year he's a dominant pass rusher um you know not afraid to get his nose dirty in the run game you know James Houston who I was a fan of when he was at the Lions when you make that eight sack run in seven games he went to UF so I'm a huge fan of him as well So and just the list goes on, you know, Marshawn Nealon.

18:06I thought the way that he played as a rookie, he held up really well. I think he did a pretty good job in the run game. He's a stout run player that's learning how to pass rush. I think he's going to be a really good defensive end in the future. Peyton Turner, you know, he's like a hybrid defensive end. But, you know, he's been, you know, playing at a pretty good level, at a high level when he was in New Orleans, somebody that I used to watch. and, you know, the list goes on. Tyrus Wheat, that played a few games last year, just to see how far he's came as a pass rusher. You know, when he first came in, they didn't know if he was a linebacker or a pass rusher.

18:43And now just to see, like, his body changes and see the way he worked. And, you know, our coach, you know, Aida, Aaron Whitecott, who I was, he was my assistant defensive coach when I had, when we had that Saxonville team back in 2017 with Jacksonville. So, you know, he was doing his thing as being one of the top defense along coaches in the league, especially with the Jets and stuff like that. So just that combination of us and that formula with him is definitely going to be off the charts. And, of course, when you add Michael Parsons, it's just going to take it to a whole other level. Yeah, you staying connected with him.

19:18I saw about on the field and everything today. How's that been? Michael? Yeah. Yeah, that's my boy, man. You know, last year that was my favorite player to watch in the league. you know just you know that's that's my boy that's I love everything about him I love the way he plays the game I love the way he goes about the game I love the way he pass rush so when he's out there I definitely feed off of him and it kind of turned into a competition I mean each other at the quarterback so I love that because he always makes me play at a high level all right we got we got one of your teammates to Marvion Overshawn coming on quickly so I will let you go with this you've now been on both sides of the rivalry washington and dallas like what is what's the most annoying fan base or stadium to go into as an nfc west guy because you've done a couple different tours of duty nfc west i mean nfc east my bad nfc east um you know philly hands down you know it don't let it be a prom town game and a big game leading up into it it's crazy i remember uh i was scared to order food from uber eats so um whatchamacallit the day before the game i had to change my name and stuff so man yeah don't philly i got a lot of philly friends like a lot of my best friends are like philly fans so when they beat me win lose or draw like they let me have it they're not afraid of shoving in my face like they they're not afraid to do none of that so um philly for sure they're different yeah i guess you couldn't possibly answer dallas when you were on the other side were they nice to you or no no uh it was pretty cool it was weird because we played them the last game of the season and the season didn't go too well so we kind of had more commander fans in there but it was all good it was uh it's really it's just cool to be back i'm blessed to be back for sure appreciate you dante fowler thank you man all right we are here with the cowboys linebacker demarvian overshone out in california getting his way back to the field i gotta ask to to start how's the rehab the recovery going it's been good uh to be honest it couldn't be any better if it was even any better I'd probably be playing right now so uh to say I'm almost eight months out and doing the things I'm doing uh as far as like the linebacker drill the running full speed and cutting and stuff I know a lot of people that's been through something like that they know once you get to that that stage point it's like okay now you're getting more so football already so uh the fact that I'm at that point you know I can remember the days right after surgery where I couldn't even walk by myself.

21:43I had two braces on. So, you know, I can almost see the I can see the light at the tunnel. So I know I'm close. And like I said, the rehab couldn't be any better. I was surprised to see you on our list today. I'm like, oh, he must be feeling better because usually they don't they don't make you available. So that's a great sign that you're feeling good. And man, you just popped off the film last year and you've you've been through a recovery like this before? Like what was the key to when you got back playing so loose and aggressive and free last year? It's all about the mental part of it. I think once you get past that mental barrier of, you know, I got injured last year, but I done went through the process of making sure my knee was ready to go.

22:26I done done the hard training, had the best doctors and trainers in the world working on me. So, you know, all you got to do now is trust yourself and, And, you know, I'm a believer in the man and I know my plan. So I knew that wasn't it for me. I knew how hard I trained, how hard I rehabbed and, you know, how much I was preyed upon. So once you take that upon the field with you, everything else is out the door. Now, you know, the passion that I love playing and the reason I play this game. Now that's that's an excitement. You know, I've been holding that in for a year. So all the negative is out the door.

23:02Who would you compare yourself to? because you're a fascinating player to watch because you do a little bit of everything. So for me, watching as like an analyst, I try to think like, who are you like? Is there someone that you pattern yourself after or that you think kind of puts together some of the similar skill set? I would say I used to say a lot Darius Leonard. I used to say him a lot. But I came in as a safety out of high school to college. So I always wanted to be the cam chancellor. But before my games, I watched Ray Lewis highlights because I knew if I was ever a linebacker at any point, I wanted to be a Ray Lewis type, you know, headhunting type linebacker.

23:44So really, those guys is who I watched coming into the league and, you know, all throughout college. What's it been like when you were on the field, obviously, last year and any time previous, lining up and trying to figure out what Dak Prescott is doing and has as a linebacker, like kind of been on the other side of him, a veteran in the league for so long and someone I think of as one of the most mentally sharp quarterbacks in the entire NFL. What has that done for you as a player? It's definitely, you know, matured me way faster than if I would have went somebody that's, you know, not blessed with a quarterback like that.

24:22You know, he's, like you said, he's a veteran in this game. He's one of the sharpest-minded quarterbacks in the league. So you go through practices and you get, like, some of his tendencies and you would get, like, why he checked this when he see this and he sees certain defenses. So I've definitely, you know, not only is he, like, you know, practicing against us, but the things that he's audible in and he's doing, you know, I'm able to learn from to see what other quarterbacks are seeing in the league. And, you know, once you can get a good feel on Dak Prescott, I feel like, you know, you're with that top 10 percent of the quarterbacks where you can play against any of the quarterbacks in the league and be good.

24:59So I saw Matt Iberflues just walk by. Great hair and beard, by the way. Hey, he got it going on. Like, I don't even know his age, but I know it's like it's young and like he keep his stuff well maintained and he got it going on. I'm with you. He got it going on. When he was on Hard Knocks, it was this whole thing. It was like the Eberflus renaissance. And I had some people, Eberflus looks good. I am curious, though, what his defense is going to look like here. And so you've been, obviously, in a few defenses now with Dallas a few years ago. Dan Quinn's here. And then last year with Zimmer. What do you think defines this Eberflus defense?

25:40I think it's the thing that he says the most, and it's style over scheme. and that's the the running hitting nature of his defenses i feel like you turn on the tape all the time you see seven plus ball defenders around each ball carried no matter where they at on the field uh and and takeaways and you know forcing quarterbacks to play uncomfortably all year and uh all all game and you know the the toy with their mind showing different coverages and dropping into another one so uh you know the way that he just looks at the game plays you know our defense is an attack defense. And so that's how you got to coach it.

26:16And I feel like, you know, the greatness of our defense can be measured just by how hard we practice and how hard we play. It won't be off of mental errors or missed assignments. It's going to be more so on, you know, did you really give your all this play? Like, are you really, you know, trying to be one of the closest ones at the end of the play when the whistle is blown? Because at the end of the day, that just shows, you know, your love for your brother. And that's how he coached. So that's what I'm really most excited about because I know, you know, once you get 11 guys playing with their heads on fire, like you can, the scheme is going to work regardless.

26:51Like you got guys out there that's really wanting to play football. Like you, the scheme is going to work. You know, I just thought that he have Shaq Leonard, Darius Leonard back in the day with Indianapolis. He has Shaq. And so we get to see some of his film, him and coach Gines show me some of his clips all the time. And, you know, that's the guy, like I said, that I looked, looked at coming into the league, being one of those long, you know more lanky or linebackers uh sideline to sideline making plays so uh definitely knowing that they coached him uh coached a great shine uh shine lee uh he actually he doesn't he don't call me shine but now it's shown so i think he he think he found him another uh a shine lee prodigy and you know i'm totally fine with that you know i watched this film all the time and uh he he was a man amongst boys at times and you know he just felt like he knew before everybody else knew in the stadium and that's really what I'm trying to translate my game to and I know Flues uh is gonna help me get to that point that's a good comp for you actually now I think about it just because man Sean Lee and you I think both play with a certain sort of energy that that just pops off film I'll leave you with this um is there is there like a running back or tight end that you've gone against whether in a game or in practice that like impresses you the most you know that that gives you the most amount of trouble or just does something that that that lets you know like okay this is a great anybody uh teammate or that i played against anybody anybody you want i probably get this question and i probably get the same answer every time but i'm gonna give my my answer and the answer is b john robertson i don't think i've ever seen a better football player uh a better anything whatever he does i feel like he's the best at i mean he sees stuff before it even happens the contact balance is off the radar the uh you don't notice how fast he is until you get behind them but when you're watching film it's like everything he do is just so smooth, but it's fast.