Dallas Cowboys

I'm reposting this is a FanPost because the formatting didn't work as a FanShot and a commenter suggested I do so. Here's something to fill the time until Cowboys veteran minicamps start Tuesday and we get a much anticipated look at what Ronald Leary, Matt Johnson, and other 2nd year players can do and how our depth chart looks at safety, linebacker and in the trenches. If those guys can come on strong and start most if not all of this season, the Cowboys will be in a much better position in the 2014 draft to go BPA rather than address immediate needs, including looking to the future at pass rusher and even...quarterback. While the 2013 draft class was said to be very weak at QB I'm wondering if like RB and WR the position has lost some of its luster and some QBs who are going to be very, very good are going to be available after the headline guys like Louisville's Terry Bridgewater (probably Jacksonville bound) and future Philadelphia Eagles starter Tajh Boyd get drafted in the 1st. 1st DE Anthony Spencer is still on a franchised deal. That streak ends in 2014, as I suspect Dallas wants to use their cap room liberated by the Doug Free pay cut to extend Sean Lee. I’m also certain that the front office knew going into the 2013 NFL draft that 2014 promises to be a better class for defensive ends.Texas' Jackson Jeffcoat is a name that keeps coming up here, primarily due to his father Jim getting drafted by the Cowboys in 1983. Plus it would be amusing to hear Jerry Jones reminiscing about the fact that the Cowboys only won one Super Bowl after Jim retired in 1994. A whole generation has 'grown up' since the Super Bowl glory days of the 1990s (and since like most BTBers here that's when I started watching the Boys, it makes me feel older too). Nonetheless, I suspect Jackson is likely to slip a bit in the draft into the 2nd or 3rd round as the Texas defense still suffers from an anemic offense that doesn't put their pass rushers in the position to pin their ears back and get after the quarterback. 2nd DT Jason Hatcher’s deal is up. Jay Ratliff may soldier on until 2015, but we need depth even if Crawford comes on strong and makes Ratliff a passing downs rusher to prolong Jay's career. Once again as in 2013 the 2014 class is shaping up to be a deep if not necessarily spectacular draft for defensive linemen. A couple of names that appear likely to go in the mid to late 2nd are Florida State underclassman Timmy Jernigan, and Minnesota's Ra'shede Hagemen who could push himself into late 1st round draft territory with a monster senior campaign. At 6"5 300 Hageman would be a perfect replacement for Jason Hatcher and has a similar build -- but he's also going to be in demand by 3-4 teams. Of course, these projections assume that LSU DT Anthony Johnson is picked well before Dallas goes on the clock. 3rd QB This is especially important if we don’t get G.J. Kinne off the Philadelphia Eagles final cuts -- it’s time to push Kyle Orton even if a developmental QB is going to come with some flaws. Tyler Wilson slipping all the way into the 4th round in this draft surprised me. I think he's the type of QB, that if Dallas didn't have so many needs, Jerry would've loved to get. And not just because Wilson played at Arkansas. I was impressed with his film room clips with Jon Gruden and the film that showed Wilson threading the needle into the end zone. If Matt Flynn falters in Oakland as a lot of people expect the LSU-ex to do, watch out for Tyler to get some snaps by the end of 2013. Wilson is a tough, smart, pocket passer with some modest scrambling ability.Currently the QB picture all depends on which underclassmen decide to declare early, as Walter Football 2014 lists Johnny Manziel and a lot of redshirt freshmen or sophomores who lit it up in 2012. but may be unlikely to declare until 2015. Highly productive seniors like Georgia's Aaron Murray without tremendous physical tools are going to be in the mix for backup jobs

I'm reposting this is a FanPost because the formatting didn't work as a FanShot and a commenter suggested I do so. Here's something to fill the time until Cowboys veteran minicamps start Tuesday and we get a much anticipated look at what Ronald Leary, Matt Johnson, and other 2nd year players can do and how our depth chart looks at safety, linebacker and in the trenches. If those guys can come on strong and start most if not all of this season, the Cowboys will be in a much better position in the 2014 draft to go BPA rather than address immediate needs, including looking to the future at pass rusher and even...quarterback. While the 2013 draft class was said to be very weak at QB I'm wondering if like RB and WR the position has lost some of its luster and some QBs who are going to be very, very good are going to be available after the headline guys like Terry Bridgewater get drafted in the 1st. 1st DE Anthony Spencer is still on a franchised deal. That streak ends in 2014, as I suspect Dallas wants to use their cap room liberated by the Doug Free pay cut to extend Sean Lee. I’m also certain that0 the front office knew going into the 2013 NFL draft that 2014 promises to be a better class for defensive ends. 2nd DT Jason Hatcher’s deal is up. Jay Ratliff may soldier on until 2015, but we need depth even if Crawford comes on strong and makes Ratliff a passing downs rusher to prolong Jay's career. Once again as in 2013 the 2014 class is shaping up to be a deep if not necessarily spectacular draft for defensive linemen. 3rd QB This is especially true if we don’t get G.J. Kinne off the Philadelphia Eagles final cuts -- it’s time to push Kyle Orton even if a developmental QB taken here has some flaws. Tyler Wilson slipping all the way into the 4th round surprised me, I think he's the type of QB, that if Dallas didn't have so many needs, Jerry would've loved to get. And not just because Wilson played at Arkansas. I was impressed with his film room clips with Jon Gruden and the film that showed Wilson threading the needle into the end zone. If Matt Flynn falters in Oakland as a lot of people expect the LSU-ex to do, watch out for Tyler to get some snaps by the end of 2013. Wilson is a tough, smart, pocket passer with some modest scrambling ability. 4th CB If we cut Orlando Scandrick and promote B.W. Webb, this is the direction I’d go with our 4th for the second draft in a row. I agree with Kiffin you can never have enough cornerbacks, and Sterling Moore's contract will be up too in 2014. The nice thing about corners is that nowadays every draft has good ones, even in the mid-rounds. 5th Could go with BPA at DT/DE here…or another RB if Demarco Murray keeps struggling with injuries in 2013. This pick probably depends on how our youngins along the DL like Ike Igbinosun and Ben Bass perform this year. One thing's certain -- some good running backs are going to slip into the 4th or 5th rounds. 6th LB Kiffin's D could always use more competition at the backup LB spots as I’m not sold on Brandon Macgee, I think small school project Deon Lacey has a higher ceiling while Macgee has already peaked and could be moved to strong safety once Will Allen and Danny McCray move on 7th who knows? Another blocking TE probably if Andre Smith doesn’t work out at the 4th TE spot. Or another DT if Dallas goes DE in the 5th. This is all predicated on Darrion Weems and/or Edwan Coughman developing at RG/RT behind Free and Parnell. I'm reposting this is a FanPost because the formatting didn't work as a FanShot and a commenter suggested I do so. Here's something to fill the time until Cowboys veteran minicamps start Tuesday and we get a much anticipated look at what Ronald Leary, Matt Johnson, and other 2nd year players can do and how our depth chart looks at safety, linebacker and in the trenches. If those guys can come on strong and start most if not all of this season, the Cowboys will be in a much bette

Skip: [at the table, dividing up a huge stack of bills after the big score] Man, one thing I can't figure out. People be out of work everywhere and the government just be throwing money away! Kirby: That's Uncle Sam for you, son. Money to burn. [fade out] That's one of my favorite scenes from one of my favorite movies, the Hughes Brothers' 1995 film, Dead Presidents. While we aren't talking the government here (no politics!), I imagine that could be a description of the Jones' family current status, money to burn. The reworking of Doug Free's contract has brought the Cowboys a little extra cap space. Heading into the draft, the Cowboys had a little less than $5 million to play with. Although they have signed three of their seven draft picks, the impact against the cap space has been minimal. We already covered that even though the Cowboys were allotted around $4.5 million for their Rookie Year-One pools, they would actually need less than $2 million of space in order to fit them all under the cap thanks to the "Offseason Rule of 51". The draft pick money has already been covered by the Marcus Spears release, which gives Dallas an additional $2 million of '13 cap space on June 1st. On my most recent podcast, I discussed the fact that we still don't know what has happened to the bogus years that were part of the previous Doug Free contract. What was reported as a four-year, $32 million deal actually was for six years. This allowed Dallas to spread out the proration of his cap hit. If those years disappeared in the new deal, then we assume that the proration spread over '15 and '16 has now been accelerated evenly to '13 and '14. That would mean Dallas has an additional $1.5 million in '13 cap space (Free's cap hit down from $10m to $8m) and an additional $2.5 million in '14 ($11m down to $8m). They can also release Free in the first 5 days of the '14 league year and save another $3.5 million. So, in essence, Dallas now has about $6.3 million to spend however they like. There will be another $300-$500k in a few weeks. They can look for additional free agent help (especially after June 1st or during camp cuts), they can hold all of it in case they need to sign in-season free agents, they can roll the money over to the '14 cap or they can look to extend current players. It seems from some of the insiders that the Cowboys are planning to use that money to address Sean Lee, who's contract expires at the end of 2013. My question is, would this be the best move? Lee is clearly a talented linebacker. We've watched him grow over the last three seasons. Fans saw the glimpses early when he picked off Peyton Manning twice his rookie year, and he's continued to improve game-by-game. Lee is a tackling machine; his Stop Percentage (keeping the offense from gaining yardage necessary to have play considered a success) continuously ranks amongst the league leaders. But Lee doesn't play a lot. I love him, but he doesn't. He's started 21 games in three years in the league. He's played more the 10 snaps in only 27 of 48 possible games in his career. The question many Cowboys fans legitimately have is, should Dallas invest long-term in a player that can't seem to stay on the field? This is the conundrum in which Dallas finds itself. Do they risk Lee playing a healthy, Pro Bowl season and thus driving his price up knowing that they have cap concerns? Or do they sign Lee to a long-term deal at a discounted rate, knowing he hasn't proven able to stay out of the trainer's room? Another option Dallas could look to if they want to spend money on a current asset, would be extending Dez Bryant. Bryant was a maligned figure in Dallas as recently as last offseason when he got arrested, was charged and reached a plea deal during the season. Bryant had other incidents on his ledger that paled in comparison to the latest. However, that was the first time that Bryant had actually found himself in criminal trouble for a violent act. The Cowboys an

I typically don’t care about what the mainstream media says about the Dallas Cowboys. I try my best to avoid the negativity that comes from much of the national media that is directed towards the team. But every once in a while I stumble upon an article that makes me want to pull my hair out with each and every word. Jason Witten is one of the oldest Dallas Cowboys. Is the time for him to win a championship running out?    Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports Evan Silva of Rotoworld.com recently wrote a piece about the best rosters in the NFL and ranked them from 1-32. Silva, whose opinion I respect, ranked the Cowboys with the 21st best overall roster in the league. And the ranking itself isn’t even what infuriated me. It was the last two lines he wrote about the Cowboys roster: “The Cowboys’ talent is mediocre and their roster planning seems to lack direction. The arrow is pointing downward on this team.” The talent is mediocre? The arrow is pointing downward on this team? I could not disagree more with this statement. In 2010, the Dallas Cowboys were in a major rebuilding project even after making the playoffs in 2009. Under head coach Wade Phillips, the team started out 1-7 with an aging roster. In just three years, 17 of the 22 starters on the team of 2010 are gone. The only starters that remain are Romo, Ware, Witten, Austin, Spencer, and Ratliff.  After Phillips was fired midway through the 2010 season, Jason Garrett took over the team and officially became the head coach in 2011. Since 2010, they have drafted potentially 10 projected starters for their 2013 starting lineup. The Dallas Cowboys were 8-6 last year heading into the final two games of the season. They played the Washington Redskins with a chance to win the division in their final game.  And here are the players who could not play in the game due to injury: Sean Lee (toe), Bruce Carter (elbow), Phil Costa (back),  Barry Church (torn achilles), Josh Brent (dismissed from team), Matt Johnson (hamstring) Jay Ratliff (toe), Ernie Sims (concussion), Orlando Scandrick (fractured hand.) I’m not making excuses, but this team was one missed field goal against the Ravens and one fingertip out of bounds against the Giants from being a double digit win team despite all the injuries. The writer makes the statement that the team lacks direction with their current roster and I couldn’t disagree more. Here is a look at how young some of the core players are on the team: Tyron Smith – 22 Travis Frederick – 22 Morris Claiborne – 23 Dez Bryant – 24 DeMarco Murray – 25 Bruce Carter – 25 Barry Church – 25 Brandon Carr – 26 Sean Lee – 26 The Dallas Cowboys star wide receiver, starting running back, left tackle, center, two stud linebackers, two very good cornerbacks and starting safety are all 26 or younger. The core of the team is young and extremely talented. The team is stockpiling young talent at the most important position. Fortunately for the Cowboys, their season isn’t doomed because some writer doubts the talent on this team. And in 16 weeks we will be able to decide if this team is truly on the downswing as Silvia suggest, or inching ever closer to their sixth Lombardi trophy. Their team is loaded with young, developing players who are as hungry as ever. The team is definitely on the upswing and is poised to make a a serious playoff run in 2013.

If I had to choose one word to describe Sean Lee, it would be “devastating”. Lee is devastating to offenses.  He is devastating against the run, he is devastating in across the middle pass coverage, and it was devastating to the Cowboys when he suffered a season ending injury last year. (more…)

Aside from a few slight tweaks here and there, the players that are set to go into the organized team activities and training camp are already present and accounted for.  Even though the Cowboys defense had another lackluster year in 2012, the organization chose not to address this issue by bringing in new talent.  The reason behind this decision?  That the massive amounts of injuries that decimated the talent on the defensive side of the ball was the major culprit.  The fix?  Well, besides lots of surgeries and rehab sessions, to bring in a new voice of leadership.  Out with the brash and loud Rob Ryan, in with stoic and wise old owl Monte Kiffin. The two could not be further apart in almost every conceivable way.  Ryan’s defensive philosophies are highly complex and often resulted in many a player not sure whether he was supposed to be on the field in a specific package.  Kiffin’s defense is a much more basic scheme that relies more on the overall talents of the individual players such as speed and physicality.  Regardless of the sales job that Jerry Jones tries to provide fans and media telling us that the true upgrades to the defense come in the coaching changes, it will always be about players. That is where this column leads us.  I thought it would be interesting to try to compare those dominant Tampa Bay Bucs defensive squads to the current Cowboys roster.  Here is a tale of the tape so to speak to see just how close Dallas can possibly get to those historically superior Tampa defenses. THE DEFENSIVE LINE During the Kiffin tenure in Tampa Bay (1995-2008) the two standout players on the line were Warren Sapp and Simeon Rice.  Sapp played his entire Hall of Fame career for Kiffin, earning an All-Pro selection six times and winning the Defensive Player of the Year in 1999, while Rice came to the Bucs in 2001 and left in 2006.  In that short time frame, Rice was a two-time All-Pro who led the Bucs every year but his last in sacks, accumulating 69 sacks in his six seasons in Tampa Bay. December 9, 2012; Cincinnati, OH, USA; Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton (14) looks for an open receiver under pressure from Dallas Cowboys outside linebacker DeMarcus Ware (94) at Paul Brown Stadium. Dallas won the game 20-19. Mandatory Credit: Greg Bartram-USA TODAY Sports The good news for the Cowboys is that their Simeon Rice happens to be DeMarcus Ware.  Ware is a much better player than Rice, who was obviously no slouch.  Ware is a more prolific sack artist and can provide better help versus the run.  He can also be used to drop back in coverage if need be.  They are similar in size and while Rice was slightly heavier, the permanent move to the line has already seen Ware add some weight to his frame to withstand the position change from outside linebacker. Unfortunately for Dallas, there is no Warren Sapp anywhere close on this roster.  That’s not exactly a knock on the rest of the line however as there are few players who come into the league as dominant as Sapp was.  Ultimately, the overall talent of this version of the Cowboys defensive line would be considered equal to those Kiffin-led Bucs.  Oddly enough, even with Sapp leading those lines in Tampa, the Buccaneers only finished in the top 10 versus the rush six years and four times in sacks during the 14 seasons under Kiffin. LINEBACKERS The Buccaneers defense was primarily led during the Monte Kiffin days by three players.  Hardy Nickerson, who played in this scheme from 1995-99 and was named an All-Pro twice.  Shelton Quarles who was a very solid role player from 1997-2006 and yet another Hall of Famer in Derrick Brooks.  Brooks will easily go down as one of the top ten linebackers to ever play the game.  A nine time All-Pro and Defensive Player of the Year in 2002, Brooks, along with Ray Lewis, defined the position in the decade of the 2000′s. Thankfully, the Cowboys seem to have not one, but two guys at this position who seem to be stars in the m

On April 29th this year, just after the draft, our BTB Twitter account reached 10,000+ followers through the heroic efforts of our own KD Drummond, who mans the BTB account. Two years ago, in May 2011, we had 2,729 Twitter followers, a year earlier, in May 2010, those numbers stood at 1,631 followers. Social media, and Twitter in particular, has changed the way fans interact with the NFL and its players. Social media has ramped up the NFL experience to an entirely different level. Twitter, for better or worse, is now the number one source of breaking news in the NFL. Adam Shefter for example has 2,277,300 followers on Twitter, which is four times more than any single NFL team. Which just goes to show that the NFL and the individual teams still have a long way to go. All 32 NFL teams combined have about 8.6 million followers on Twitter. Christiano Ronaldo of Spanish soccer club Real Madrid alone has 18.3 million followers, the most of any professional athlete. His teammate Kaká is second with 15.4 million followers in a top ten that features eight soccer players and two basketball players - LeBron James (8.2 million) and Shaquille O'Neill (7.1 million) - but no NFL players. In terms of raw numbers, NFL teams look a lot better on Facebook, where all teams combined have accumulated about 52 million Facebook Likes. But even the Dallas Cowboys, with 5.4 million the most 'liked' NFL team, pale in comparison to the European Soccer titans (In order: 1. FC Barcelona, 42.5 M; 2. Real Madrid, 38.2 M; 3. Manchester United, 33.5 M; 4. Chelsea FC, 17.0 M). The most liked North American professional team, the Lakers, weigh in with 16.3 million Facebook likes. The table below ranks the NFL teams according to the reach they generate in three categories. Here's what I looked at: Facebook Likes: Number of Fans on each teams' official Facebook page. Twitter Followers: Number of Followers as shown on a teams official Twitter site. Home Page Traffic Rank: Traffic rank among all US internet sites for the official team homepage (as listed on NFL.com) according to Alexa.com, who compute the average daily visitors and pageviews over the last three months to arrive at their ranking. Aggregate Rank: Average NFL rank across Facebook, Twitter and Internet Traffic. (E.g. Cowboys are ranked No. 1 on Facebook, No. 1 in Internet Traffic and No. 3 on Twitter for an aggregate rank of 1.7) Social Media Reach by NFL team (click on column headers to sort) Team Facebook Likes Twitter Followers Traffic Rank Aggregate Rank Cowboys 5,386,136 561,901 2,520 1.7 Steelers 4,857,191 540,197 6,370 5.3 Patriots 4,021,221 595,763 8,915 8.0 Packers 3,466,421 458,687 3,854 4.0 Saints 2,937,804 318,835 20,677 15.0 Bears 2,703,552 300,905 4,615 6.7 Giants 2,646,175 454,883 5,994 7.0 Eagles 2,026,429 295,551 3,290 7.0 Raiders 1,895,402 253,098 9,897 14.3 49ers 1,845,052 392,750 5,155 7.3 Colts* 1,675,224 224,486 14,626 18.3 Broncos 1,525,459 275,878 8,780 14.3 Jets 1,495,812 581,180 10,375 12.3 Ravens 1,477,465 331,750 5,321 9.3 Vikings 1,419,857 218,432 6,371 15.3 Dolphins 1,321,057 219,054 6,409 15.7 Chargers 1,214,819 204,908 7,085 17.7 Redskins 1,105,949 210,629 8,587 19.0 Falcons 1,018,056 221,297 6,248 15.3 Seahawks 865,370 225,469 6,665 16.0 Texans 857,468 249,286 14,467 20.7 Lions 857,101 221,705 8,083 18.7 Chiefs 664,231 156,750 12,784 24.7 Bengals 642,901 164,680 7,652 21.0 Browns 633,039 161,388 13,942 25.0 Panthers 570,567 157,833 15,205 26.7 Buccaneers 547,475 116,022 12,792 27.0 Cardinals 545,195 52,370 10,528 27.7 Titans 525,376 127,628 28,054 29.7 Bills 432,678 157,038 5,380 21.0 Rams 414,672 115,871 16,911 30.3 Jaguars 307,681 82,509 7,495 26.0

Nate Newton - www.footballnewsnow.com In the past we had guys on the offensive line that would tell the guy in front of him, "we are running up this A-gap, try to stop us!" And then the 'Boys would proceed to do it. Guys like Nate Newton for example was one of the typical "here we come, try to stop us" kind of guys. A very fine article by one of our FP writers, Joey Ickles has a very relevant article on what it really means to have "balance" in your offense. He points out, and rightly so, that it doesn't mean to have a run/pass ratio of 50/50, but rather to not dominate the plays from just two or three players or positions. The key in both the past and now is not to run 50% of the time, but rather TO BE ABLE to run and pass EQUALLY WELL. And unlike when we were able to "telegraph" our intentions and still pull it off, the reason for the ability to BE ABLE to do both is two fold. The one mentioned in the comment section of Joey's post the most is to be ABLE to run out the clock in the 4th quarter, but an at least equally important and perhaps a more important reason is to "stay unpredictable" so the defense has to defend EVERY possibility and EVERY inch of the football field. If they don't have a clue as to who or where you are going, then that gives us the best chance to beat a defense. Again, this is the key to beating a defense....being unpredictable. And to do this you need Offensive Linemen who are EQUALLY capable of moving the pile on a running play, and protecting the QB on pass plays. This more than anything is the true meaning of "being balanced" IMHO. The NFL for years has preached that there are 5 "skill" position players that a Defense has to account for on every play,. Well as mentioned in the title of this article, the NEW direction in this years, and last years NFL is to make the defense worry about the "6" skill positions on offense. There are 5 offensive linemen and 6 "other" positions to equal the 11 guys on offense. With the advent of the "Pistol" we are seeing more use of that 6th player. One could define the "skill" positions as anyone who can "Normally" take the ball across the goal line, as after all, winning is about scoring more points than your opponent, and to do that best is to make the defense defend 6 skill positions instead of just 5. Runs, and Passes, and the reasons why teams feel that they should "run" the clock out instead of "passing" the clock out............ First, the obvious reason....when you run the ball, the clock keeps going, whether the run gained any yards or not. But, the other reason might be associated with this old saying..... "When you pass the ball, there are three things that can happen and two out of the three are bad!" Complete, Incomplete and Interceptions. What is overlooked is that that the same "two out of the three are bad" could be applied to the run play as well. Positive yards, Non-Positive yards, and Fumbles. Perhaps someone else can come up with better stats, but I took the total amount of team Interceptions for last year and got 506 interceptions, and then did the same for team "forced fumbles" and came up with 447 forced fumbles, ( are all fumbles included in the "forced" category? I have no idea.), so you can see if my research numbers are typical and are correct it is almost as likely to fumble as it is to throw an interception. Something that intuitively I would not have guessed. Now, given, fumbles sill happen less, but is a short pass "easier" than a short run? Other than "turnovers", another, if not the next most, important stat, just may be "negative yards" and that may be one reason why teams are very predictable in their play selections, but negative plays are huge and so how do "sacks" stack up to the number of negative yards in the run game? There were 1169 sacks last year with a total of 7533 yards lost, and negative running play yards for a team can't be anywhere near that total since I found this quote, " With 1,114 total yards

Here at The Landry Hat, we care about what our readers think. Our entire site is dedicated to you, the die-hard Dallas Cowboy fans. And there is no better way to gauge your opinions then through our poll questions. Please submit your choice below, leave your thoughts in the comments section below, and come back to check to see what the bulk of Cowboy fans feel is the right answer. Dec 30, 2012, Seattle, WA, USA; St. Louis Rams running back Steven Jackson (39) is tackled by Seattle Seahawks defensive end Red Bryant (79) during the third quarter at CenturyLink Field. Mandatory Credit: Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Awww! Smile everyone. Cha-ching! I doubt there are many moments in a football player’s life to compare to that moment the commissioner of the NFL calls your name?especially if you are taken in the top ten. .cantembedplus{display:none;} Tyron Smith was a right tackle out of USC, highly touted, highly coveted, highly talented, and after the Cowbooys took him number ten in the 2011 draft, highly paid. And that, according to Gregg Rosenthal of NFL.com, is the rub: Smith spoke about the ordeal for the first time to The Dallas Morning News. He agreed to pay his parents in four installments after getting drafted, but they kept coming back for more. When he told them about a move to left tackle, they didn’t say congrats. They talked about the next contract. “There was a certain amount I agreed to give them, but it went way beyond that and I was just like, ‘I’m done,’ ” Smith said. “I feel like I shouldn’t have given them so much. There was nothing wrong with helping them out and making sure they were taken care of, but not something to where they live the same lifestyle as you.” Smith’s lawyer alleged that his mom and/or stepdad threatened Smith’s well-being and the life of his girlfriend. The lawyer also alleged that Smith’s family took more than $1 million from him. The money went missing when Smith was using a financial advisor his parents recommended. “There was money missing, but I just don’t know where it went,” Smith said. “There were times I would check my statements and it wouldn’t make sense and I hadn’t authorized it at all. I just felt betrayed and I was like, ‘Who can I trust?’ ” Anyone with sudden riches can tell a similar story. Whether you won the lottery, signed your first big contract or sold your fledgling company to Google or Yahoo for a bazillion bucks, you can bet you are going to meet cousins you never heard of and all of your siblings are going to forgive every misdeed of your childhood. If you are a good soul, one of the first people you think of when you get your fortune is your dear ol’ mom. If you do not, you are probably some sort of sick, selfish, petty little person plaguing the world with yourself. Unless, of course, your mom is the kind that was more a mother and never much of a mom until you got rich. Or worse. She is a gold-digger, willing to threaten and harass you every minute until you cough up whatever amount she is trying to extort. To hear Tyron Smith tell it, that is the kind of woman his momma is. She and the man she is married to apparently see their precious child as a cash cow. All those hugs, smiles and tears we saw when NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell called Tyron’s name, unfortunately, were not accompanied by thought bubbles. If they had been, we might have seen this coming. Smith had to call 911 on his siblings and get a restraining order against his mom. He also suspects either his mother or the man she married of stealing around a million bucks from him. Ouch. Wouldn’t you love to be a fly on the family wall come Christmas? Hey! At least the Cowboys play on Thanksgiving, so Tyron won’t have to awkwardly turn down an invite to share turkey dinner with dear ol’ mom. The post Tyron Smith family man: Black sheep or fleeced by the familial flock? appeared first on Silver and BlueBlood.