Whether people like it or not, Jerry has the highest % of Pro Bowlers drafted of any GM in the league. And that doesn't count the UDFA's where I think Dallas is likely the best in the league at hitting big-time on UDFA's (Romo, Beasley, Miles Austin, etc).
Where we have struggled is in the 2nd round. It used to be that 2nd round picks were the best picks to have because their cost was far less than 1st round picks and therefore the potential rewards of the pick (many 2nd rounders turn into great players) greatly outweighed the risk (cost of the pick). For some reason we can never quite hit the 2nd round pick. If we do, they are oft-injured. Part of the issue is that we've gone after TE in the 2nd round despite having Witten. And we're not exactly the best organization at finding TE's. Fasano is an NFL quality JAG, Bennett was a coach-killer and Escobar is a representation of the problem with TE's these days.
The other issue I see is that we don't know how to draft DB's. We have looked for cover corners that can't tackle and don't play zone well in a league where you have to play zone (and play man as well). Opposing offenses know when we are playing man or zone and the QB knows where to go with the ball and it becomes a question if the opposing offense can make the play instead of getting the opposing offense to make a mistake in recognizing the defense and capitalizing on that defense.
And we are really poor at safety. I think we still like the idea of the traditional SS role where the SS plays in the box and is responsible for stuffing the run, blitzing occasionally and playing short and intermediate coverage. That really doesn't work these days unless you have a great FS like an Earl Thomas that can do so many things that the SS can play a limited role. Most teams have the FS and SS playing basically the same roles and there's a lot to be asked from them which is why it's so important to have good safeties. We have failed to find the safety talent and we have failed to find a quality safety in FA and we have failed to find an assistant coach that can coach these safeties. And it's not by coincidence that most of your great safeties are going to be found in the 2nd round which is where the team struggles in the draft.
As far as Crawford goes, when healthy he's far better than Lawrence. He was really a dynamic player in 2014. It didn't show up in the stat sheet, but watching him o All-22 you couldn't deny his ability to consistently disrupt plays and opposing teams couldn't prevent him from doing that. This past year basically played on 1 arm and was still better than average. Lawrence came along nicely in the 2nd half of this past season and showed some real promise as a run defender in the first half, but I don't see that disruptive, lead dog type of force.
The main issue for Crawford, besides health, is that his tackling is horrendous. It's another issue with this team...we can't stay healthy and we don't tackle well.
Such is life.
YR
