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Kris Richard drops mic on Earl Thomas-to-Cowboys speculation
ByPATRIK WALKER 3 hours ago
Brood silently? Celebrate inwardly? Pull punches?
Not Kris Richard.
"He's a young guy. He's got great energy," veteran Byron Jones told me ahead of training camp. "He wears his cleats out there, running patterns with us and stuff. He's got good quickness out there.
"He's suiting up in the cleats and everything. ...It's just energy. He's out there with us. And he makes a point about that. My coach is out here doing drills with me.
"The wide receivers can't do nothing on us. So ...we're just having fun with his energy and the talent he brings. He brings a lot of juice to this team and we all appreciate that."
Jones went on to note how intense things quickly get in the aforementioned drills when Richard beats one of his players to a spot, describing it with a look of awe as he floats the thought of Richard still potentially having enough in his tank to suit up right now -- if he wasn't so valuable a coaching commodity. Even better is the fact everything Jones is describing has now become available for public consumption, with training camp practices in Oxnard, CA rapidly becoming a "How To" for defensive coaches everywhere. Richard is all over the field motivating players, to the point of chasing them down after great defensive plays are made.
He was seen challenging the offense by yelling out "who's next?!" to make it clear no one was getting the best of his defensive backs, and he even stopped a drill so he could step in and defend tight end Geoff Swaim himself.
It's clear if Richard could still strap on a helmet himself and play, he most certainly would. A former third-round pick of the Seattle Seahawks in 2002, the 38-year-old brings the fire of a guy who wishes he could take the field but combines it with the wisdom of one who knows how to pour those very flames into the minds of those he now coaches. The physical, braggadocios style of coaching has instantly permeated a Cowboys' secondary who now boast Jones as it's lead corner, with the quiet yet equally intense Chidobe Awuzie manning the post opposite him.
Jones has benefited the most immediately from the hiring of Richard, and it's more-than-evident in seeing his conversion to corner full-time -- a move made by Richard before he unpacked his bags -- pay off with camp footage showing tremendous cover skills, physical play, ball-hawking abilities not consistently seen before and a brash attitude that even surpasses his usually mouthy practice demeanor.
Everyone else is following suit as the collective absorbs and reverbs the energy Richard puts out, and it's one reason defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli's praise earlier this offseason was as rather well-founded.
"[Richard] might be as good as any acquisition coming in," Marinelli said, via Fort Worth Star-Telegram. "This guy's really good. He is special. He is one of the best things we've got.
"He did a terrific job [coaching in] Seattle. The resume is in the tape. He brings energy, intensity. And he can relate well to these players.
"That’s what I really like. You get tickled when you get a guy like that. [He] can help the players, relate, communicate and teach. What an acquisition. To me, it’s big time.”
It's so big-time Marinelli is basically grooming his successor, something he's likely aware of as retirement stares him down from the near-future, but we'll put a pin in that for now.
The Cowboys have already had several scuffles in this year's camp, one between defensive end Taco Charlton and offensive lineman La'El Collins, another came between Lance Lenoir and Jourdan Lewis and one when defensive lineman Antwaun Woods locked horns with Travis Frederick. The intensity is ratcheted up to new heights in the best way possible, but Richard now wants his young group to understand how to channel it.
“Absolutely, absolutely – because it’s not about a scuffle, it’s not about a disagreement. It’s about the next play,” he said, via the team's website. “Because now, all of a sudden, if we can’t lock in and focus in to the next play, then the purpose has been defeated.
"We don’t ever want to fall off the cliff. How close to the edge can we get. It’s how we sharpen one another, it’s iron sharpens iron and it’s football. It’s football. So things get hot, people want to compete, but it’s about the next play.
"Can we lock in and do things right.”
When Richard mentions how OCD he is about things being done right, he isn't simply speaking about the players. NFL officials are now present in Cowboys' camp to bring them up to speed on new rules, rule changes and the like. Bryan Broaddus of DallasCowboys.com noted what happened on the final contact practice before the team's first preseason game against the San Francisco 49ers, when one of the officials didn't make a seemingly obvious call. To make matters worse, as Richard tried to get his attention, he flippantly walked off in a dismissive fashion.
That didn't end well, at all.
"Kris Richard is my camp star of the day for a simple discussion that he had with one of the NFL officials. Richard asked the official why he didn't call the receiver for pushing off? The official began to walk away and didn't answer him. Richard was furious he didn't get an answer initially and began to really let the official have it. The official finally heard Richard and said something without actually looking at him.
"This prompted Richard to yell -- 'You will be a man and look at me in the eye like I am looking at you'. Kris Richard has no filter and I love it."
His ability to balance fire and ice could pay off wonders for the Cowboys' secondary, much in the way it did for the Seahawks in forming the Legion of Boom under the tutelage of Richard. When you see Jones performing and jawing afterward or hear second-year safety Xavier Woods proclaim the starting role is his and he's "not giving it back", you have to know there's a a definitive amount of Richard's machismo emanating from them, the new coach providing an aggressive swagger and confidence not seen within the Cowboys' coaching staff in quite a while. Woods is as much a beneficiary of the new addition as Jones is, considering just how much speculation surrounding Earl Thomas he's been forced to endure these past few months.
And speaking of the Seattle Seahawks' All-Pro, whom Richard himself helped to mold into a dominant NFL force, don't go asking Richard if he wants a reunion. When asked if the Cowboys' already have the right players on defense to do what he needs done, he was succinct and unequivocal in his answer to Jon Machota of The Dallas Morning News.
“Everyone who is here is everyone we need."
*drop mic and exit frame to the left*
ByPATRIK WALKER 3 hours ago
Brood silently? Celebrate inwardly? Pull punches?
Not Kris Richard.
"He's a young guy. He's got great energy," veteran Byron Jones told me ahead of training camp. "He wears his cleats out there, running patterns with us and stuff. He's got good quickness out there.
"He's suiting up in the cleats and everything. ...It's just energy. He's out there with us. And he makes a point about that. My coach is out here doing drills with me.
"The wide receivers can't do nothing on us. So ...we're just having fun with his energy and the talent he brings. He brings a lot of juice to this team and we all appreciate that."
Jones went on to note how intense things quickly get in the aforementioned drills when Richard beats one of his players to a spot, describing it with a look of awe as he floats the thought of Richard still potentially having enough in his tank to suit up right now -- if he wasn't so valuable a coaching commodity. Even better is the fact everything Jones is describing has now become available for public consumption, with training camp practices in Oxnard, CA rapidly becoming a "How To" for defensive coaches everywhere. Richard is all over the field motivating players, to the point of chasing them down after great defensive plays are made.
He was seen challenging the offense by yelling out "who's next?!" to make it clear no one was getting the best of his defensive backs, and he even stopped a drill so he could step in and defend tight end Geoff Swaim himself.
It's clear if Richard could still strap on a helmet himself and play, he most certainly would. A former third-round pick of the Seattle Seahawks in 2002, the 38-year-old brings the fire of a guy who wishes he could take the field but combines it with the wisdom of one who knows how to pour those very flames into the minds of those he now coaches. The physical, braggadocios style of coaching has instantly permeated a Cowboys' secondary who now boast Jones as it's lead corner, with the quiet yet equally intense Chidobe Awuzie manning the post opposite him.
Jones has benefited the most immediately from the hiring of Richard, and it's more-than-evident in seeing his conversion to corner full-time -- a move made by Richard before he unpacked his bags -- pay off with camp footage showing tremendous cover skills, physical play, ball-hawking abilities not consistently seen before and a brash attitude that even surpasses his usually mouthy practice demeanor.
Everyone else is following suit as the collective absorbs and reverbs the energy Richard puts out, and it's one reason defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli's praise earlier this offseason was as rather well-founded.
"[Richard] might be as good as any acquisition coming in," Marinelli said, via Fort Worth Star-Telegram. "This guy's really good. He is special. He is one of the best things we've got.
"He did a terrific job [coaching in] Seattle. The resume is in the tape. He brings energy, intensity. And he can relate well to these players.
"That’s what I really like. You get tickled when you get a guy like that. [He] can help the players, relate, communicate and teach. What an acquisition. To me, it’s big time.”
It's so big-time Marinelli is basically grooming his successor, something he's likely aware of as retirement stares him down from the near-future, but we'll put a pin in that for now.
The Cowboys have already had several scuffles in this year's camp, one between defensive end Taco Charlton and offensive lineman La'El Collins, another came between Lance Lenoir and Jourdan Lewis and one when defensive lineman Antwaun Woods locked horns with Travis Frederick. The intensity is ratcheted up to new heights in the best way possible, but Richard now wants his young group to understand how to channel it.
“Absolutely, absolutely – because it’s not about a scuffle, it’s not about a disagreement. It’s about the next play,” he said, via the team's website. “Because now, all of a sudden, if we can’t lock in and focus in to the next play, then the purpose has been defeated.
"We don’t ever want to fall off the cliff. How close to the edge can we get. It’s how we sharpen one another, it’s iron sharpens iron and it’s football. It’s football. So things get hot, people want to compete, but it’s about the next play.
"Can we lock in and do things right.”
When Richard mentions how OCD he is about things being done right, he isn't simply speaking about the players. NFL officials are now present in Cowboys' camp to bring them up to speed on new rules, rule changes and the like. Bryan Broaddus of DallasCowboys.com noted what happened on the final contact practice before the team's first preseason game against the San Francisco 49ers, when one of the officials didn't make a seemingly obvious call. To make matters worse, as Richard tried to get his attention, he flippantly walked off in a dismissive fashion.
That didn't end well, at all.
"Kris Richard is my camp star of the day for a simple discussion that he had with one of the NFL officials. Richard asked the official why he didn't call the receiver for pushing off? The official began to walk away and didn't answer him. Richard was furious he didn't get an answer initially and began to really let the official have it. The official finally heard Richard and said something without actually looking at him.
"This prompted Richard to yell -- 'You will be a man and look at me in the eye like I am looking at you'. Kris Richard has no filter and I love it."
His ability to balance fire and ice could pay off wonders for the Cowboys' secondary, much in the way it did for the Seahawks in forming the Legion of Boom under the tutelage of Richard. When you see Jones performing and jawing afterward or hear second-year safety Xavier Woods proclaim the starting role is his and he's "not giving it back", you have to know there's a a definitive amount of Richard's machismo emanating from them, the new coach providing an aggressive swagger and confidence not seen within the Cowboys' coaching staff in quite a while. Woods is as much a beneficiary of the new addition as Jones is, considering just how much speculation surrounding Earl Thomas he's been forced to endure these past few months.
And speaking of the Seattle Seahawks' All-Pro, whom Richard himself helped to mold into a dominant NFL force, don't go asking Richard if he wants a reunion. When asked if the Cowboys' already have the right players on defense to do what he needs done, he was succinct and unequivocal in his answer to Jon Machota of The Dallas Morning News.
“Everyone who is here is everyone we need."
*drop mic and exit frame to the left*
