What We Learned Post Draft

[Aliencowboy]

Brockers was the target at 14. Despite SJones saying they are happy now
with Rat at NT, they were going to plug Brockers in there and move him to DE. Dallas remains weak upfront. The fact that they ranked in the top 10 had
more to do with teams passing all over them than having a stout Dfront.

Giants got Shaun Rogers to push Costa back into our slightly shorter than avg. QB. Costa remains the weakest link and guards were not improved no matter what the PR hypes on about Ron Leary. Could be the most overhyped undrafted player in Dallas history. It waves a big flag saying we didn't improve here. Murray can make them look better than they are, but ultimately when it comes to playing with the best teams he'll get shut down.

Moving up to get Claiborne is not something we'll regret, but Crawford in the 3rd. Plenty of good picks there Blake, Taamu or Boykin. RKG and potential seems to be the new drafting philosophy. Otherwise need would have dictated to draft one of these guys.

Dallas is still a year away from being a serious contender. I honestly don't think they'll make the playoffs this year. Hope I'm wrong and maybe a team can get away with an average to below average interior line on both sides, but I doubt it.

I think with the money they have next year, -5 million, they will target:

Max Unger at Center

I'm confident in 2 years under Garrett this team will make serious run. Probably not this year though.

[RS12]

Originally Posted by Aliencowboy

. RKG and potential seems to be the new drafting philosophy.

You know what they say about potential. It got the coach fired. BTW where is the link? I happen to agree with most of this.

[Risen Star]

Originally Posted by RS12

You know what they say about potential. It got the coach fired. BTW where is the link? I happen to agree with most of this.

All teams draft on potential. Not a single player is ever available in the draft that has NFL production on their resume.

[Aliencowboy]

Originally Posted by Risen Star

All teams draft on potential. Not a single player is ever available in the draft that has NFL production on their resume.

Meant this more for Crawford in that he hasn't done much in college, but he
has a high ceiling. In contrast, I'd say Claiborne is proven at least in college.

[sureletsrace]

There are a lot of unknows going into this season along the trenches.

Ron Leary
Nate Livings
Mackenzy Bernadeau
David Arkin
Bill Nagy
Kevin Kowalski
Levy Adcock


Clifton Geathers
Sean Lissemore
Tyrone Crawford
Ben Bass
Robert Calloway

If we can get 3-4 of those guys to develop into solid contributors then our trenches should be dramatically improved over last year.

[jobberone]

Thoughtful post. Not sure about the interior being weak. We can certainly say it is an unknown. I agree the play of the lines will go a long way in determining our playoffs chances.

[big dog cowboy]

Originally Posted by Aliencowboy

It waves a big flag saying we didn't improve here.

Crawford in the 3rd. Plenty of good picks there Blake, Taamu or Boykin. RKG and potential seems to be the new drafting philosophy. Otherwise need would have dictated to draft one of these guys.

The Cowboys think they have improved the OG positions that is why we didn't draft any. Regarding Crawford, the Cowboys draft their board not needs.

[xwalker]

Good post, but I'm going to politely disagree with some of your statements.

Brockers was the target at 14. Despite SJones saying they are happy now
with Rat at NT, they were going to plug Brockers in there and move him to DE. Dallas remains weak upfront. The fact that they ranked in the top 10 had more to do with teams passing all over them than having a stout Dfront.
My take is that that they said that Brockers would have been the BPA at #14, not necessarily that they were looking to draft DE early.

Giants got Shaun Rogers to push Costa back into our slightly shorter than avg. QB. Costa remains the weakest link and guards were not improved no matter what the PR hypes on about Ron Leary. Could be the most overhyped undrafted player in Dallas history. It waves a big flag saying we didn't improve here. Murray can make them look better than they are, but ultimately when it comes to playing with the best teams he'll get shut down.
Shaun Rogers will be too fat or injured to get enough snaps to matter.

Costa's best games were against the bigger/slower DLinemen. One of his best games was against Miami and Paul Soliai. Costa can block straight ahead, his problem is trying to reach DLinemen that have any amout of quickness combined with power.

Moving up to get Claiborne is not something we'll regret, but Crawford in the 3rd. Plenty of good picks there Blake, Taamu or Boykin. RKG and potential seems to be the new drafting philosophy. Otherwise need would have dictated to draft one of these guys.
I thought that they would take Blake. They don't appear to want a run-plugger only type of DLineman and Rob Ryan does not appear to like small CBs.

Crawford had good production in college. It's not like he was just an athlete playing football.

Dallas is still a year away from being a serious contender. I honestly don't think they'll make the playoffs this year. Hope I'm wrong and maybe a team can get away with an average to below average interior line on both sides, but I doubt it.
I don't see the DL as below average. The Interior OL is completely unknown but they have a lot of options there. The Bernadeau injury was a setback.

Don't overlook replacing Houck with Callahan. Garrett wanted to run more zone blocking last year but Houck had no history with the scheme. Garrett started drafting players for this scheme before he had an OLine coach to implement it.

I think with the money they have next year, -5 million, they will target:
Max Unger at Center
This is a good suggestion. Hopefully, Kowalski, Nagy or possibly Bernadeau will beat out Costa for the starting Center job, if not, Unger seems like a good FA target.

I'm confident in 2 years under Garrett this team will make serious run. Probably not this year though.
The Giants had a lot of holes in their team last year. Same for the Packers the previous year, especially with the injuries.

[TheDallasDon]

Originally Posted by xwalker

Good post, but I'm going to politely disagree with some of your statements.

Brockers was the target at 14. Despite SJones saying they are happy now
with Rat at NT, they were going to plug Brockers in there and move him to DE. Dallas remains weak upfront. The fact that they ranked in the top 10 had more to do with teams passing all over them than having a stout Dfront.
My take is that that they said that Brockers would have been the BPA at #14, not necessarily that they were looking to draft DE early.

[View Full Quote]Giants got Shaun Rogers to push Costa back into our slightly shorter than avg. QB. Costa remains the weakest link and guards were not improved no matter what the PR hypes on about Ron Leary. Could be the most overhyped undrafted player in Dallas history. It waves a big flag saying we didn't improve here. Murray can make them look better than they are, but ultimately when it comes to playing with the best teams he'll get shut down.
Shaun Rogers will be too fat or injured to get enough snaps to matter.

Costa's best games were against the bigger/slower DLinemen. One of his best games was against Miami and Paul Soliai. Costa can block straight ahead, his problem is trying to reach DLinemen that have any amout of quickness combined with power.

Moving up to get Claiborne is not something we'll regret, but Crawford in the 3rd. Plenty of good picks there Blake, Taamu or Boykin. RKG and potential seems to be the new drafting philosophy. Otherwise need would have dictated to draft one of these guys.
I thought that they would take Blake. They don't appear to want a run-plugger only type of DLineman and Rob Ryan does not appear to like small CBs.

Crawford had good production in college. It's not like he was just an athlete playing football.

Dallas is still a year away from being a serious contender. I honestly don't think they'll make the playoffs this year. Hope I'm wrong and maybe a team can get away with an average to below average interior line on both sides, but I doubt it.
I don't see the DL as below average. The Interior OL is completely unknown but they have a lot of options there. The Bernadeau injury was a setback.

Don't overlook replacing Houck with Callahan. Garrett wanted to run more zone blocking last year but Houck had no history with the scheme. Garrett started drafting players for this scheme before he had an OLine coach to implement it.

I think with the money they have next year, -5 million, they will target:
Max Unger at Center
This is a good suggestion. Hopefully, Kowalski, Nagy or possibly Bernadeau will beat out Costa for the starting Center job, if not, Unger seems like a good FA target.

I'm confident in 2 years under Garrett this team will make serious run. Probably not this year though.
The Giants had a lot of holes in their team last year. Same for the Packers the previous year, especially with the injuries.

Pretty much agree with everything you said.
Would like to remind people we got alot of young guys that can turn into players on both Oline and Dline.......Lissemore, Crawford, Brent, Geathers, Callaway, Bass, Kowalski, Parnell, Leary, Adams, Arkin, Nagy, and Adcock.

Out of all theses guys I think Cowboys can get a couple difference makers, few starters, some good rotational guys, and some good/decent backups.

I think the Boys are a few players away from making "the run" but I like the direction this team is going, add that with another good offseason and with these young guys developing then I could see this team being down right dangerous on both sides of the ball that next year bearing unforeseen incidents.

I would also like to remind people that are only talikng about CB making the D better........how in the hell did you guys forget about the Lee, Carter, and Connor change? This move right here is going to help the defense DRAMATICALLY! just watch you'll see.

[T-RO]

Originally Posted by xwalker

Don't overlook replacing Houck with Callahan. Garrett wanted to run more zone blocking last year but Houck had no history with the scheme. Garrett started drafting players for this scheme before he had an OLine coach to implement it.

Good point. Houck seems to coach up the maulers. But zone blocking is about position, intelligence, technique... quickness. In zone blocking you don't need to physically dominate...but rather just neutralize.

[T-RO]

Originally Posted by TheDallasDon

I think the Boys are a few players away from making "the run" but I like the direction...

Me too. Since Garrett's taken over, there seems to be a lot more to like.

[trickblue]

Originally Posted by Risen Star

All teams draft on potential. Not a single player is ever available in the draft that has NFL production on their resume.

I wish more people understood this...

Grading a draft not three years down the line is all speculation...

I remember when Blair Thomas was "can't miss"... I think we all remember the best RB out of that draft...

[BraveHeartFan]

Originally Posted by trickblue

I wish more people understood this...

Grading a draft not three years down the line is all speculation...

I remember when Blair Thomas was "can't miss"... I think we all remember the best RB out of that draft...

No kidding.


Great point.



I'll go a little further.

I remember when there was this OT coming out of Michigan State that was labled the best Offensive Line prospect EVER.

Sure fire. Can't miss.

Going to be one of the all time greats.


How many people remember the name Tony Mandarich? I probably spelled that wrong but the point is there is no such thing as can't miss.


Then you've got all the examples of guys like a Tom Brady who went super late in the draft, as an after thought, only to turn out to be one of the best players in the history of the game at his position.

[jimnabby]

Originally Posted by Aliencowboy

Moving up to get Claiborne is not something we'll regret, but Crawford in the 3rd. Plenty of good picks there Blake, Taamu or Boykin. RKG and potential seems to be the new drafting philosophy. Otherwise need would have dictated to draft one of these guys.

Need dictates nothing about our drafts, at least in the early rounds. I would have thought that would be completely obvious by now. Dallas drafts their board.

[Risen Star]

Originally Posted by jimnabby

Need dictates nothing about our drafts, at least in the early rounds. I would have thought that would be completely obvious by now. Dallas drafts their board.

Which is why we've seen an improvement in our draft classes.

Nobody in that room is smarter than the scouts. They need to have the biggest voices.