The Cowboys must be better at evaluating Defensive talent

Aven8

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A list of draft picks thrown at the defense the past couple of years.

Lee- 2nd
Dlaw- 2nd
Greg’s- 2nd
Hill- 2nd
Gally- 3rd
LVE- 1st
Jaylon- 2nd
Byron- 1st (gone in FA)
Diggs- 2nd
Taco- 1st (cut)
Safety- we don’t value this position

My point is it’s not like the FO hasn’t given them late picks on Defense, they have just picked the wrong players. Was that Marinelli’s influence? Of course he had input, but the Scouts and McClay have to be accountable as well. They must do better.

Now look at the offense.
Dak- 4th (got lucky)
Zeke- 1st
Coop- 1st
Gallup- 3rd
Tyron- 1st
Martin- 1st
Tfred- 1st
Connor- 2nd
Collins- UDFA that should have been a high pick.
Lamb- 1st
Schultz and Jar look like good players as well.

Everyone of these players have been successful and have been cornerstones for this team.

The drafting and evaluation has to improve on Defense. Hopefully Quinn helps with this and the evaluations turn around.
 

dwmyers

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We've been better at it than the Falcons. Faint praise I know, but I live in the ATL area.

D-
 

Bowdown27

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The difference has been on DEF they have drafted based on scheme and that failed. On Offense they drafted best player available and that succeeded.
I get that. They passed on all pro or pro bowl players because they didn’t fit marinelli scheme.
 

Frosty

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IMO, Will Mclay is really good at picking offensive players but for some reason he and his team has horrible time drafting defense players.

might be Jerry believes offense puts butts in the seats and pays the bills.
 

charron

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CowboysZone LOYAL Fan
We are much better at drafting offense for sure. We are pretty good drafting OL early, they way outperform the defenders we have taken early.
 

kskboys

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D Law, Hill and Taco were all scheme. You could make the case they were all drafted too high
DLaw is a good player. Overpaid, but a good player.

Hill was simply a stupid pick. There's no reasoning that makes sense to take him in the 2nd. He's a guy you take in the 5th and hope you can use his incredible burst to make a player out of him.

Taco was BPA. Not a good pick, but he went later than he was slated to go. Watt would've been the need pick in this scenario.
 

CowboysFaninHouston

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A list of draft picks thrown at the defense the past couple of years.

Lee- 2nd
Dlaw- 2nd
Greg’s- 2nd
Hill- 2nd
Gally- 3rd
LVE- 1st
Jaylon- 2nd
Byron- 1st (gone in FA)
Diggs- 2nd
Taco- 1st (cut)
Safety- we don’t value this position

My point is it’s not like the FO hasn’t given them late picks on Defense, they have just picked the wrong players. Was that Marinelli’s influence? Of course he had input, but the Scouts and McClay have to be accountable as well. They must do better.

Now look at the offense.
Dak- 4th (got lucky)
Zeke- 1st
Coop- 1st
Gallup- 3rd
Tyron- 1st
Martin- 1st
Tfred- 1st
Connor- 2nd
Collins- UDFA that should have been a high pick.
Lamb- 1st
Schultz and Jar look like good players as well.

Everyone of these players have been successful and have been cornerstones for this team.

The drafting and evaluation has to improve on Defense. Hopefully Quinn helps with this and the evaluations turn around.
oh, I have been saying this for a long while now. 15 years, 43 defensive picks. one impact player (Lawrence). the argument from many is money to sign FAs and my argument is you can't build through FA. too costly. we have to draft better defensively. that's the only way.
 

JoeKing

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The way they get better at drafting Defense is by giving Dan Quinn more influence on defensive decisions and less to Will McClay. McClay is awesome at offensive draft decisions but less so when it comes to defense. Dan Quinn is in a much better position to draft defensive players that fit the scheme he has in mind.
 

John813

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I think some of the issues is that they find talent, with strings attached to it.

Sean Lee was a great player, who couldn't stay healthy. Various injuries ruined his promising career.
Randy Gregory is a talented pass rusher, who had mental issues which made him smoke which made him get suspended longer than Ricky Williams.
LVE appeared to be the next very good LB for us, but, his neck has SeanLeeitis and the team knew about it but took him anyways
Jaylon Smith was an athletic freak, supposed high first rounder who suffered a serious knee injury. We take him round 2 and redshirt him and then later coddle his business ideas while extending him.
Byron Jones had the talent, but was misused as a safety early on. He excelled in man coverage.
Hill is tbd but his athletic traits were good but mentally he was immature.
Taco was immature.
 
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Majic

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Taco is the only one this is true for, and there's no way you can say that DLaw was drafted too high lol.

At the time D Law was projected to go around 40-60 in the draft. We took him at 34 which was considered a reach, but has turned out to be a good pick. The other 2 were certainly drafted too high
 

ESisback

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A list of draft picks thrown at the defense the past couple of years.

Lee- 2nd
Dlaw- 2nd
Greg’s- 2nd
Hill- 2nd
Gally- 3rd
LVE- 1st
Jaylon- 2nd
Byron- 1st (gone in FA)
Diggs- 2nd
Taco- 1st (cut)
Safety- we don’t value this position

My point is it’s not like the FO hasn’t given them late picks on Defense, they have just picked the wrong players. Was that Marinelli’s influence? Of course he had input, but the Scouts and McClay have to be accountable as well. They must do better.

Now look at the offense.
Dak- 4th (got lucky)
Zeke- 1st
Coop- 1st
Gallup- 3rd
Tyron- 1st
Martin- 1st
Tfred- 1st
Connor- 2nd
Collins- UDFA that should have been a high pick.
Lamb- 1st
Schultz and Jar look like good players as well.

Everyone of these players have been successful and have been cornerstones for this team.

The drafting and evaluation has to improve on Defense. Hopefully Quinn helps with this and the evaluations turn around.

While McClay and the scouts HAVE made mistakes, IMHO a lot of it was Jerry’s meddling riverboat gambler shtick!
 

kskboys

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At the time D Law was projected to go around 40-60 in the draft. We took him at 34 which was considered a reach, but has turned out to be a good pick. The other 2 were certainly drafted too high
Taco was projected to go mid 1st.
 
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