[tyke1doe]

Originally Posted by jterrell

Jimmy and his staff knew as much about the players coming into the NFL in 1989-1991 as anyone ever has. All the staffers be brought from the college ranks had recruited and watched endless amounts of film of high school studs.

Add to that Jimmy could watch a DB for 10 minutes and tell you if he could play and he became the very best personnel guy in the business.

All that said two things are also very true which balance the story.
As in all things the truth lies in the middle.

Jimmy really was NOT very good at selecting offensive talent. He had no special knowledge of what good offensive players looked like coming out of college. He didn't like Troy much at first. Thought he was a loser. Repeated that theory to many. He drafted terribly on offense for the Dolphins (though quickly built a solid defense).

[View Full Quote]But the main issue with the Jimmy-Jerry feud is money. Jimmy never had any say over the money. Any and every contract he wanted signed Jerry had to sign. Any draft pick he wanted signed Jerry had to sign. Jimmy could have NEVER BEEN the final word on anything because he never had financial authority. There is tons of evidence of that.

And Jimmy has never had a bigger fan than himself. A lot has been made about him saying he wouldn't draft dumb players. We are talking about the guy who drafted a player (Cecil Collins) who attracted national attention before the draft because he took a dump in a girlfriend's clothes basket.

Jimmy calls this a country club but the Cowboys had the White House under Jimmy's nose. That group's partying would make Dez Bryant's head explode.

Jimmy was good at finding players for "his" scheme. Russell Maryland, Alvin Harper and Larry Brown were good players with the Cowboys. With other teams, uh, not so much.

Jimmy knew how to mold guys into a team, even if they were marginal talents. But you need marginal players to do their part too.