The real cause of a lot of our problems - bad drafts

[DogFace]

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

I like the cowboys so I like it!

 

[nalam]

We need to draft better in 2,3rd rounds and have higher hit rate on those picks, a 50% hit rate for contributing players is needed.

 

[SilverStarCowboy]

Elmers' biscuit wheels fell off the gravy train.

 

[TheHerd]

Teams like Pittsburgh, NE and Seattle coach up their draft picks and teach them techniques that enable them to succeed at the next level. Our coaching staff has been weak in this area for quite some time. Just think about the corners that we draft. They start out playing the ball and making plays but the longer they are here the worse they seem to get.

Spot on. The NE corners may get burned as often as ours, but they turn and at least pretend to play the ball, at a minimum avoiding 40 yard PI penalties. I can't remember the last time a Dallas CB turned to look for the ball.

 

[Vinnie2u]

Spot on. The NE corners may get burned as often as ours, but they turn and at least pretend to play the ball, at a minimum avoiding 40 yard PI penalties. I can't remember the last time a Dallas CB turned to look for the ball.

Deon Sanders.

 

[TheHerd]

Deon Sanders.

Haha, true! The bad thing is if you watch Mo's college highlights, he's playing the ball all over the place. That really leads me to believe it's coaching. Not to mention how brain dead it was to trade up to draft a press cover corner and put him in zone.

 

[Echo9]

lets stick with our drafts then.how many starters have we drafted in RDs 4-7 in the last 5 years?

How many starters has the league drafted in rounds 4-7 in the last 5 years on average. If the argument is that we have been bad when compared to the rest of the league, it has to include the rest of the league.

 

[MRV52]

is bad drafting. this past season and all the injuries and losses to room, dez and loss of murray showed how thin this team was as opposed to deep.

and a lot of that falls on the shoulder of scouting. and some will argue with coaches developing players. or both.

for what ever reason dallas has done well in the first round. hitting on most players. 2nd round is 50/50 so far. with Lawrence seemingly a hit, but book is out on Crawford. lee is good but often injured. carter was a bust. Gregory was top 10 talent but risky and it shows with him being suspended for 4 games in his second season in the league.

I would venture to say that scouting is good on first round type talent, including lee who dropped because of injury concerns and same with Gregory. dallas has shown they will take risks on top talent in the 2nd round if nothing else.

past 2nd round our draft record is awful. the only player of significance is Murray. we haven't drafted a player of significance in the past 5 years past 2nd round. and that's where you build depth and have to hit on one or two to ake it over the top, given that the 1st and 2nd round talent resource is pretty much the same for all NFL teams.



so is that the fault of scouting dept? or coaching? I think we just haven't done a good job of scouting in recent years under mcclay. prior to him we found an Orlando scandrick and James "Rat" ratlieff, doug free....

3 number 1 picks last year and were bad at drafting. I hope were just as bad this year at drafting.

 

[Hoofbite]

One guy? I didn't realize that Romo, Murray, and Bryant were one guy. This is quite possibly the dumbest post I have ever read. Congratulations.

Why would you include Murray? Dallas could have retained him or replaced him. Free agency is a fact of life in the NFL. Don't point to someone else's willingness to pony up cash as a "loss" for your team.

Romo and Dez are a completely different story.

 

[AbeBeta]

lets stick with our drafts then.how many starters have we drafted in RDs 4-7 in the last 5 years?

A better question is how many contributors. And if we're talking scouting, you've got to consider UDFA and other sources.

Starting in 2010, we got Lissemore. Bill Nagy and Dwayne Harris in 2011. Wilber and Hanna in 2012. Holloman in 2013. Hitchens in 2014.

Udfas Beasley, Church, Collins, Leary, Jones, Bailey, and Heath all contributed last year.

Parnell off a practice squad.

Seems a decent take at spots where you have low success rates league-wide

 

[Hoofbite]

3 number 1 picks last year and were bad at drafting. I hope were just as bad this year at drafting.

You mean Dallas drafted 3 players they rated as 1st round talent?

 

[Daillest88]

I sure wish he could do something to show me he is above average. I don't see it.

5 sacks 29 pressures all with a torn rotator cuff.. Yeah I don't see it either :/

 

[thisiscowboyscountry]

As long as we stay from te in the 2nd round and dont reach for players like quincy carter were fine towards the top of the draft

 

[Bullflop]

I don't necessarily think bad drafts is the problem that we've suffered from. A consistent production of average drafts over a period of decades just might be problematical, though.

 

[CCBoy]

You mean Dallas drafted 3 players they rated as 1st round talent?

You saying that they weren't when being compared to similar talent then?

 

[Fletch]

Bad coaching is the problem. Pittsburg wins with their 3rd string QB and RB. NE overcomes injuries. GB overcomes injuries. We lose one guy in one unit and the wheels fall off.

One guy? Try three ( Romo, Dez, Scandrick ), four if you count not retaining Murray. Not to mention not having Hardy for the first four. Yeah, the odds of trying to coach thru that are pretty slim to none, even for those super duper elite, perfectly coached teams you mentioned.

 

[Eddie]

How many starters has the league drafted in rounds 4-7 in the last 5 years on average. If the argument is that we have been bad when compared to the rest of the league, it has to include the rest of the league.

No, we're not interested in the "rest of the league". If we want to get to the playoffs and beyond, we need to be far greater than the "rest of the league".

The rest of the league sit at home watching the Super Bowl.

 

[cowboyblue22]

its been lots of excuses bad drafting bad defense whatever the excuses its been along time since the dallas cowboys have been a consistent winner and a consistent superbowl contending team.

 

[Hoofbite]

You saying that they weren't when being compared to similar talent then?

I'm asking if that is what he's saying because it was unclear. It if is, then Randy Gregory damn sure shouldn't be a notch in the win column. He's already demonstrated why he wasn't drafted where his talent would dictate that he be drafted. 1 failed test away from being a bad pick, and 2 failed tests away from being a completely wasted pick. Collins is a great acquisition but they didn't draft him.

 

[Craig]

No, we're not interested in the "rest of the league". If we want to get to the playoffs and beyond, we need to be far greater than the "rest of the league".

The rest of the league sit at home watching the Super Bowl.

Agreed. Anything less than drafting at least one more rookie pro bowler in each round than every other team does is a failure.