MAKE OR BREAK: Will McClay Faces JOB-Defining Draft | Will Dallas Cowboys Be Aggressive?

0:00It's the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. This is a make or break draft for Will McClay, we'll tell you why next. You are Lockdown Cowboys, your daily Dallas Cowboys podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome back. I am your host Marcus Mosher. He is Landon McCool in today's episode is brought to you by Fandall during the tournament Fandall was offering $300 back in bonus bets every day for 10 days, head over to Fandall.com to get started. All right. On today's show, we are discussing Will McClay because Landon, I believe this is a really important draft for Will McClay for a couple of different reasons.

1:00Number one, they have not drafted as well in the last three or four years as they had in the previous three or four years. They've really struggled to build a defense. That's why they were last in 2024 with Mike Zimmer. They had a all-time worst defense in 2025. And it feels like with these two first round picks, with pick 92, they got to get it right. If they don't have a good season, really on that defensive side of the ball, Landon, I really wonder, I don't see Brian Shottenheimer getting fired. Obviously, Christian Parker is not going to get fired. Could it be Will McClay who is the odd me and out here? Let's be clear. To me, I think the most likely scenario is in that situation that they give them the proverbial you've got one more year to the whole crew, right, or at least, you know, Will gets lumped in with the head coach and the defensive coordinator who has guys that we're going to give one more chance to you.

2:00But if they don't, if there is enough uproar and somebody's head is on the shopping block, I mean, you just laid it out. It's probably not going to be the head coach that they just hired last year. Although Jerry has done that before, he hated when he did it. He regrets it. And he talks about it all the time, how he regretted letting Chan Gaili go too early, right? I don't, so I don't think that that's necessarily going to happen again. You know, Parker is obviously a rising star. I think that he would likely get another opportunity here, right? Well, it's hard for, it's just hard for me to see a scenario where Brian Shottonheimer is canned while the offense is still performing well, right? Like, you're not saying to like, yeah, the Cavaliers have like the six ranked offense, but the 30th ranked defense and they go seven and 10 again. I mean, he obviously deserves some blame because he's the head coach, but I wonder if they point back to the front office and we know Jerry Jones can't get fired and Stephen Jones can't get fired.

3:01So the next name would be Will McClellan. Yeah. And that sense of that kind of logic. Yeah. I mean, if someone's head has got to be on the shopping block, it kind of naturally falls on McClellan. Now, obviously, there's a lot of history here. He survived a lot of, you know, different administrations. He's been with the team for a long time. There's a lot of trust between the Joneses and Will McClellan. They've made him, if I think they've paid him very handsomely to stay over certain requests of GM jobs that he's gotten over the years. So I do think there is kind of a lot working in his favor. However, if there is a situation where it's, somebody's got to go and if it's just, you know, everyone's kind of looking how did this happen. The offense was elite, but we could not get where we needed to go a defense again. I wouldn't be shocked completely if the Cowboys just decided, hey, it's time to kind of move in a different direction here and see if they can find someone else that would fit into what is a very unique front office in the NFL.

4:05You're muted. Just to be clear, I don't think Will McClellan is, I don't think he's done a poor job. Honestly, it's really hard to tell because what he does is try to marry the coaching staff and the front office together when it comes to evaluations. So this is not really a rough run them on Will McClellan, it's just, it's a huge graph for this franchise because you're kind of in this window in 2026 and 2027. You've got these two first run picks. You kind of need to hit on them if you want to have any chance to compete. And again, we're kind of laying out the scenario. If they have a bad draft or an average draft or an average season, I think fans are going to be even more upset than they are right now, which is all, you know, we're just saying that like it's, it's a big deal for Will McClellan here. Let's even be more succinct. We're not even just saying that the Jerry, that the Joneses can't be fired. We're saying that if this scenario happens, the Joneses are more than likely the number

5:10one candidates for why it happened. 100% and they can't get fired. So somebody will have to be fired likely unless, you know, the public will accept the, we'll try it one more time. We will get it right this time. I promise. Yeah. And that's where I could see then like we're trying to bring in a former player and be like, okay, we're going to bring in somebody else to work with us. And hopefully this guy, it's, I'm making up a name. It's Moose Johnson is going to be in that role now. We'll see. Let's talk about what Will McClellan and the scouting staff should do during the NFL draft. Should they be aggressive to try to hit four big home runs or should they play it safe? We'll get to that next. This episode is brought to you by Fandall. The tournament is here. It's one of the best times of the year. Back gets buzzer beaters offsets. It's non-stop action from tip to final cut down.

6:11And right now, Fandall is giving new customers away to stay in the action all tournament long. And here's the best part. You get up to $300 back in bonus bets every day for 10 days. That means 10 chances to stay involved throughout the entire tournament. You can mix it up however you want, game picks, futures, or even same game parlays for bigger potential payouts. It's perfect for the tournament because every day there's something new, different matchups, new storylines, and more ways to get involved as the bracket unfolds. So visit Fandall.com to sign up today. That's Fandall.com to get in on the action. Welcome back to the Lotta on Cowboys Podcast. We'd like to thank you for making us your first. And every single day, Art Landon, assuming that the seat for Will McClay is getting a little bit warmer, do you think that will change the way that he drafts?

7:12And should it? Do you think we could see Will McClay go for more safer players in round one? You know, guys, maybe like CJ Allen, who maybe don't have the highest ceiling, but can come in and start right away and fill in need? Or do you think they're going to take some big swings in round one, hoping to really improve the defense? You know, that's what's going to be kind of difficult to parse, like the motivation. Because the truth of the matter is, is that things may change because you're dealing with the new defensive coordinator. And the defense seemingly is changing enough that you've already seen the effect in free agency of them going out and getting a pair of short armed cornerbacks for the first time. And, you know, since pre-COVID, you know, it went well before that, honestly. So I think that there is likely to be some differences this year because there is going to be a focus on defense and because the defense has changed, but it's going to be hard to kind of parse, like, is this because, you know, Parker has a completely different

8:18set of needs for his defense than any defense coordinator we've had in the recent memory? Or is this because this is Will McClay desperate to, you know, kind of cool his seat a little bit by making sure that he's hitting on talent early in the first round? Well, because I could see a draft playing at, like Dylan Thiniman at 12. You put him as the box safety, your slot guy. And now you've got three really good safeties with Thiniman, Malik Hooker, and Jalen Thompson. And that helps. And then at 20 drafting C.J. Allen, a guy that could come in, call the defense right away, his day one starter, all of those are good players, but you're also taking a safety and a linebacker with your first two picks. And to me, like, the upside just isn't there again, doesn't mean it's a bad draft, but I don't know if it's a needle moving draft that the franchise needs to get the defense back to being playoff caliber, let alone championship caliber. But that to be fair, that is dictated by the Joneses.

9:19Like if the Joneses have dictated this as a win now window, then the desire is to go out and get the guys that are the kind of more immediate fits, then Will McClay's success is in executing their vision. If that's why it's so hard to separate these guys when it comes to the player evaluation. Yeah, exactly. And I think, look, it's like what is Will McClay's desire? Honestly, I don't think that we're going to see him acting separate in a desire to save his job because the truth of the matter is, is that whatever he's being told to do, if it's successful, that aligns with his goal of keeping his job, right? So I think to me, it's going to be about executing the vision that they have all agreed upon as far as where the timeline is on this team. If it's a shortened timeline, then yeah, you're going to see a little bit more of the kind

10:19of short-sighted, immediate help draft picks versus long-term projects. And I think that that's kind of what we've seen because they've already said things like, they don't want people on red shirt years, they don't want people with a year off. So I think they've already shown a propensity to shorten their timeline a little bit. So it'll be interesting to see if that actually plays out in the draft as well. That's where I think like pick 92, 112 and the day three picks are more important for Will McLey because that's generally when the scouts get involved, right? If they can find two quality players and like guys that not start but like contribute on defense in those rounds, right away, that's probably more telling than what they do in the first round because you're right because I think that Jones is probably have a way bigger say that picks 12 and 20 than they really do at 112. Well, I think that that's like and I think it'll be easier to tell also because the type of players are on broader parts of the spectrum, right?

11:22Like normally you would be drafting guys that are more up-sidey players or people that have something that's that that bumps them down first and second round picks who fell to the fourth round for a reason. If you're if you're drafting more on the spectrum of, hey, maybe these are older players or hey, maybe these are low upside guys, but very high four guys that we think can come in and contribute, contribute is right away, then I think that gives you all the information you need. All right, that is it for today's show. We'd like to thank you for making Lockdown Cowboys your first, listen every single day. Make sure you subscribe and follow the podcast so you get all of the latest episodes. And if you never missed it episode, the everyday club is built for you. Get Lockdown Cowboys at free plus members only discord access and so much more. Head over to lotdowncowboys.supercast.com to join the club. And for those of you on video, we can send you the first ever 24-7 National MBA YouTube channel. And on audio, make your second, listen, the Lockdown NFL Draft podcast, follow, land

12:24it on Twitter, at McCool BCB, I'm Matt Marcus, underscore Mosher, and we will see you right back here on Monday. It's tax time. And for a lot of us, the old way of doing taxes is just a lot. But this year, you're getting an upgrade. Into it TurboTax now has in-person locations where you can meet face-to-face with a real tax expert. Get your documents uploaded and just like that, you're done. Your expert works to get you every dollar you deserve while you get real time updates and go about your day. Head to TurboTax.com slash local to book your appointment.