BTB:Cowboys 2012 Draft: How Good Is Dallas At Assembling A Draft Board, Part IV: The

[cowboyjoe]

http://www.bloggingtheboys.com/2012/...-a-draft-board
by rabblerousr on Feb 10, 2012 4:29 PM CST in Dallas Cowboys 2012 Draft


Sean Lee has fulfilled his pre-draft promise, club and all

In the first three parts of this series, I looked at last year's "little board," assembled from players invited to Valley Ranch for "Dallas Day," then zeroed in on the offensive players from that board (part II), followed by the defensive guys (Part III). In doing so, I confirmed what people with access to Valley Ranch have been saying for years: that Dallas Director of Pro Personnel Tom Ciskowski (and, before him, Jeff Ireland) do a masterful job identifying potential Cowboys and building a draft board.

Still, as I admitted at the time, those conclusions are based on a great deal of conjecture, as we cannot know exactly where each of the players was drafted; the "little board" upon which all of this is based is largely speculative. For example, did the Cowboys see DeMarco Murray as a third rounder? A second rounder? If so, how high a second rounder? In short, its difficult to ascertain how accurately the Cowboys judged 2011's incoming talent without knowing exactly where they were slotted.

[kevinhickey]

Last year it was reported that we had CB Patrick Peterson at the top of our draft board followed by DE Aldon Smith then OT Tyron Smith. DE JJ Watt was probably #4. If this is true, then one would say that our draft board was great. LB Bruce Carter and RB DeMarco Murray were also very good value selections. I can remember a lot of people were upset with the Carter and Murray picks; because we had several RB's and LB's already committed to the team and their injuries. I hope we continue with the same process as last year and draft the best player available according to our board. I think Jerry made mistakes in the past because he gets to caught up in the wheeling and dealing and someone else gets our guys.

[JerryFan]

I wouldn't mind trading back a few spots to pick up some extra picks, but this article should be really encouraging to a lot of Cowboy fans. It kind of eases me about Bruce Carter also as it appears we know a darn good MLB when we see one.

[MichaelWinicki]

Great article.

Encouraging.

[funkytown]

Good to see an article like that. Draft day has become more enjoyable the past few years. We are drafting players casual fans have actually heard of


Really wish they would have traded up in 2010 to take Bowman in the third round before the 49ers.

[slick325]

Very good article. Insightful.