Eric Edholm Yahoo sports draft grades

[RS12]

Final 2021 NFL draft grades

Eric Edholm
Sun, May 2, 2021, 5:27 PM·61 min read

Dallas Cowboys
Picks: 1-12: Penn State LB Micah Parsons; 2-44: Kentucky CB Kelvin Joseph; 3-75: UCLA DT Osa Odighizuwa; 3-84: Iowa EDGE Chauncey Golston; 3-99: Oregon State CB Nahshon Wright; 4-115: LSU LB Jabril Cox; 4-138: Marshall OT Josh Ball; 5-179: Stanford WR Simi Fehoko; 6-192: Kentucky DT Quinton Bohanna; 6-227: South Carolina CB Israel Mukuamu; 7-238: Nebraska OG Matt Farniok

Favorite pick: Cox

Our favorite by a country mile. Every other pick seemed to be close to where we thought they would land or lower. Cox slipping to Round 4 was a shock, as his coverage ability separated him from many other linebackers (including Parsons) in this year’s class. LSU coaches raved about Cox’s leadership. He’s a perfect complement to Parsons and could be part of a good duo that supplants Leighton Vander Esch and Jaylon Smith in time.

Least-favorite pick: Joseph

There’s an interesting talent here, as Joseph has decent length, great catch-up speed and some burgeoning ball skills. On talent alone, he was well worth his draft slot. But Joseph alienated himself with two different coaching staffs (LSU and Kentucky) and likely is in need of some maturing. Sources have said he can be headstrong and self-interested, and his commitment at both schools was questioned. If he can put it all together and adopt a team mindset, there’s a very good player. Joseph is a big risk for a Cowboys staff that is trying to rebuild the culture after a brutal 2020 season. They missed out on the top two corners, Jaycee Horn and Patrick Surtain II, and were unable to trade up in Round 2 for Tyson Campbell. Any of the three would have offered more stability.

Overall: The Cowboys’ patterned approach of taking character risks gives this class a frightening quality. Parsons was allegedly involved in a hazing scandal at PSU and had his maturity scrutinized during the process by multiple teams. We mentioned Joseph above. And Ball was not allowed to return to Florida State amid dating violence allegations before moving to Marshall. On top of that, things didn’t seem to line up extremely well for Dallas throughout the draft, and it adopted a carpet-bombing approach to aiding a weak defense. The Cowboys feasted on long corners such as Joseph, Wright and Mukuama, which makes sense for Dan Quinn’s defense, but the last two are major projects. Odighizuwa and Golston were not beloved by many scouts and felt overdrafted by a round apiece. We’ll say that Dallas’ scouting staff is considered one of the best talent-evaluating groups in the NFL, but we’re not sure this was their finest effort.

Grade: C-
Grade in 2020: A
Grade in 2019: C+

https://sports.yahoo.com/final-2021-nfl-draft-grades-002740584.html?.tsrc=fp_deeplink

 

[JBS]

Idiot

 

[RS12]

Before any of you flip out. Edholm has been around for years and I have always found his work to be objective and generally pretty good. I would say this is an unbiased and pretty accurate assessment.

 

[T-RO]

This writer's assessment is spot on.

 

[texbumthelife]

Reads pretty accurate to me.

 

[davey999]

Seems fair.

 

[CATCH17]

I kinda like our draft.

If nothing else there is some interesting prospects.

 

[Miller]

Before any of you flip out. Edholm has been around for years and I have always found his work to be objective and generally pretty good. I would say this is an unbiased and pretty accurate assessment.

Agree! I followed him on Twitter and may be one of the most level headed guys out there with no axe to grind. Good guy who actually reached out to me while in Chicago about places some football nuts hung out. His assessment is pretty spot on and he was honest with staff but how the draft came out

 

[freemanjc19]

Draft grades are pointless unless you can see into the future. If you can attain 2 starters from each draft, your doing something right. I personally think they have 4 future starter from this draft. However, time will tell.

 

[JoeKing]

11 draft picks, the writer only commented on 3 and was positive about one of those. So how do negative comments on 2 of 11 picks net a C- grade?

 

[Mcsports]

Agreed.
Other than Cox, many of
Dallas picks were taken a full round (30 spots) sooner than they were graded.

 

[Ranching]

Keyboard coaches don't impress me.

 

[big dog cowboy]

I'd like to see what he thinks in 3 years.

After the standard 3 years we are supposed to give draft picks.

 

[Cowboysheelsreds053]

That's why you play the game.

 

[Mcsports]

The good news is that Dallas had a lot of darts to throw.....
Hopefully a handful stick

 

[MarcusRock]

11 draft picks, the writer only commented on 3 and was positive about one of those. So how do negative comments on 2 of 11 picks net a C- grade?

Maybe because he actually commented on 8.

 

[skinsscalper]

We’ll say that Dallas’ scouting staff is considered one of the best talent-evaluating groups in the NFL, but we’re not sure this was their finest effort.

This where I have a beef. I don't believe for a minute that the scouts all of a sudden lost their ability to scout in one season.

I believe that the scouts were largely ignored and the draft was run by two buffoons and a coach that fielded some of the worst defenses in the NFL the past couple of years but dumb and dumber believe that their fancy new DC has all the answers (that he magically couldn't seem to muster in Atlanta). This whole scenario wreaks of the worst of both Marinelli and Nolan. I hope I'm wrong but this whole thing smells like disaster.

 

[Risen Star]

Idiot

RS12's actually a nice guy.

 

[gimmesix]

It seems like a fair grade for the reasons he mentioned. We took some character risks. The good thing is that means the players are talented. The bad thing is that the character concerns might prove to be legitimate. Honestly, the only one of those concerns that I have reservations about is Joseph because his are not only recent but could be indicative that he doesn't care enough about the game to put in the effort needed to excel at it.

The fliers on certain picks don't bother me because you never know who is going to turn out like expected. You hope the staff and the coaches identified players they think will and it proves to be accurate. Two players come to mind on this: Frederick, who most draft gurus thought was taken a round or two early, and Hill, who so far seems like a player that they shouldn't have reached for just based on his potential.

 

[RS12]

I believe that the scouts were largely ignored and the draft was run by two buffoons and a coach that fielded some of the worst defenses in the NFL the past couple of years but dumb and dumber believe that their fancy new DC has all the answers (that he magically couldn't seem to muster in Atlanta). This whole scenario wreaks of the worst of both Marinelli and Nolan. I hope I'm wrong but this whole thing smells like disaster.

So what specifically occurred over the last quarter century that would lead you to this conclusion?