How the non-Claiborne rookies connected with the Cowboys are doing so far

[honyock]

Here is a just-past-mid-season report on the rookies around the league who were speculated about, lusted over, or connected with the Cowboys pre-draft. Not meant to stoke any flames, I'm happy with Claiborne, I just got curious how the others are doing. Here's what I found in some limited searching. Feel free to fill in any blanks or give a more complete report on any of them or those I left out. Obviously its very early for anything more than a snap judgement on any of them, but here it is.

One note for those of you pining for a center, no rookies have seen significant playing time at center so far.

Defense:

Mark Barron- solid season so far, one of the few bright spots for the Buc's secondary.

Harrison Smith - maybe the best rookie safety so far, very good, especially against the pass, for Minnesota. Team leader already.

Dre Kirkpatrick- out for most of the season with a fractured knee.

Fletcher Cox- Has been arguably the Eagles best defensive lineman against the run (maybe a dubious distinction, given the state of the Eagles defense). Pretty good start for Cox. Very good game against the Cowboys.

Dontari Poe - Has been the backup nose tackle for most of the season for the Chiefs. Still a work in progress, struggling with consistency, but has progressed a little faster than thought.

Michael Brockers- Still raw and learning, showing enough to have the Rams encouraged, showing the dreaded potential.

Dont'a Hightower and Chandler Jones (both Patriots). Hightower has been very good all over the field, in coverage, as a pass rusher and run stopper. Jones has been better: 6 sacks through nine games and consistently disruptive as a pass rusher, and solid against the run. Mentioned as a first-half defensive rookie of the year by SI. A coup by the Pats.

Courtney Upshaw - has been fined $20,000 so far by the Ravens for weight issues. Has mixed time at linebacker and defensive end in sub packages, has been decent as a run stopper (well, it IS the Ravens, so he's been relatively decent).

Shea McClellin - has played about half the Bears defensive snaps so far. 2.5 sacks., started fast and hasn’t produced much since then.

Bruce Irvin - Very good start as a pure pass rusher for Seattle. Seven sacks through the first 10 games. Needs to bulk up to play the run, but has consistently pressure the passer. Good pick for the Seahawks.

Nick Perry - decent start for the Packers, 2 sacks in six games as a rotational linebacker until a knee injury ended his season.

Whitney Mercilus - Has played both as an outside linebacker and defensive end in some packages for the Texans, fighting for playing time, has had some flashes so far as a rotational player, with three sacks.

Luke Kuechly – fast start for Carolina, leads the team in tackles and interceptions.

Melvin Ingram- hasn't made much impact for the Chargers, disappointing as a pass rusher so far.


Vontaze Burfict (listed as a palate cleanser), UDFA for Cincinnati, has been surprisingly good, both on and off the field (so far).

Offense (the OL edition)

Cordy Glenn- starting for the Bills at left tackle, has played solidly.

Peter Konz - got his first start at guard in game eight (due to injury) and has gotten solid reviews since then, credited with helping Atlantas improved running game.

Kevin Zeitler - has started every game for the Bengals at guard and has gotten very good reviews, and has been especially good in the run game.

Reilly Reiff - has gradually played more as the season has progressed for the Lions, as a sixth lineman/tight end in the run game.

David DeCastro- even before his knee injury and surgery in the preseason, he was admittedly struggling in adjusting to the pro game., second string on the Steelers depth chart. The team is unsure of his return this season.

Amini Silatolu – starting at guard for Carolina, going through rookie struggles.

[RubyRidge]

Posts like this are the reason I enjoy this board so much. Thank you for the insight.

[T-RO]

Yes that was a great post. And it makes one again re-evaluate the risk-reward of Jerry's trade-up.

I wasn't a critic of the Claiborne trade, and I'm not going to rail on Jones about this. But the reality is...

We could have had TWO starters, had we stayed put. Morris will need to play near an all-pro level at some point...or the trade will go down as a mistake.

[TTexasTT]

Great thread man.
Im still happy with Claiborne and think that he will start making a impact soon.

Burfict is a interesting story. His draft stock had fallen more of any player I can think of. Ive seen him play a little this year and he looked good for a undrafted rookie. I imagine he will eventuallybe a trouble maker. Im sure him and Pac Man make a great pair.

[CarlAllDay]

Definitely a great post. I love the Claiborne pick! He will be a great corner which are very rare to find in the league

[IrishAnto]

Originally Posted by T-RO

Yes that was a great post. And it makes one again re-evaluate the risk-reward of Jerry's trade-up.

I wasn't a critic of the Claiborne trade, and I'm not going to rail on Jones about this. But the reality is...

We could have had TWO starters, had we stayed put. Morris will need to play near an all-pro level at some point...or the trade will go down as a mistake.

Indeed he has to be good or the Cowboys didn't get good value from the pick.

[Gaede]

Great post. A couple guys I was very interested in are doing excellent--Zeitler and Glenn. Zeitler doesn't surprise me--went to Wisconsin, I thought he was the best G in the draft. Glenn playing out at LT is a surprise. He certainly looks the part. The few minutes I watched of last night's game he looked very good.

[Eddie]

So why was everyone claiming that Decastro was a SURE THING ???

[fivetwos]

Originally Posted by T-RO

Yes that was a great post. And it makes one again re-evaluate the risk-reward of Jerry's trade-up.

I wasn't a critic of the Claiborne trade, and I'm not going to rail on Jones about this. But the reality is...

We could have had TWO starters, had we stayed put. Morris will need to play near an all-pro level at some point...or the trade will go down as a mistake.

Strongly disagree on the two starter thing.

We would have had Michael Brockers and Bobby Wagner.

Sure, Wagner would probably starting now because of Sean Lee's injury but I don't think it's a given that either one of those guys would be starting on this team come next training camp. In fact, injuries aside, neither one of them would be.

You can't just look at any two players from the above list and think we could have had them instead of Claiborne. That's not how it would have went.

I don't like giving up high picks, especially with so many needs, but Claiborne IMO was the best non-qb in the entire draft, and when he fell to six, I applauded going up for him.

[dirt]

good point...you cant assume success on another team under other circumstances translates to the Cowboys IF they had not traded up and picked Brockers and Wagner. Frankly I was surprised when I heard we were targeting Wagner, another inside linebacker in the second round. With Seattle he is an immediate starter and showing excellent ability but with the Cowboys you would have to believe he would have been a special teams player until injuries occurred. Brockers got hurt with the Rams but who knows what happens if the Cowboys take him. All I know is when you value positions in the NFL, QB, Left OT and Cb are the highest valued and we had a chance to get the best prospect at one of those positions.

[AMERICAS_FAN]

Just when I thought I could not feel any better about the Claiburne pick - which I emphatically LOVE - here you comre along making me feel even better.

Thanks!

[Dallas4ever]

Originally Posted by TTexasTT

Great thread man.
Im still happy with Claiborne and think that he will start making a impact soon.

Burfict is a interesting story. His draft stock had fallen more of any player I can think of. Ive seen him play a little this year and he looked good for a undrafted rookie. I imagine he will eventuallybe a trouble maker. Im sure him and Pac Man make a great pair.

Being able to respectfully hold down a starting CB role in the NFL as a rookie is an impact. Some, like myself would argue that it's a significant impact. He's playing one of the toughest and most visable positions in the NFL.

[bsheeern]

So far to me this trade has been just what we needed. It was either trade up for him or Barron or take a big gamble on who fell to us.

Our corners as a group and Bruce Carter have carried this defense at times. That's what I want to see for our future.

You lose Sean lee for the season and everyone had to step up or it would have been very ugly and caused lots of finger pointing.

We needed Carr and Mo much more than any guard.

[Cowboys22]

I am still thrilled Jones made the trade. Anyone who thought Mo was going to step in and be a Revis type CB from the get go was just fooling themselves. He has been very good at times and he has struggled at times. That should have been expected from a rookie starting at CB on day 1. What he hasn't been is a big liability and the reason we lost games we should have won. To me, he projects to a pro-bowl level CB by his 3rd year and that makes the trade a no brainer for me.

[CrazyCowboy]

Originally Posted by RubyRidge

Posts like this are the reason I enjoy this board so much. Thank you for the insight.

Ditto you wrote for all of us I loved this report thank you!