Congratulations to the Cowboys Scouting Department

Cowboys22

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You can't give mcclay all the credit when things go well and give the blame elsewhere when things go poorly...we all know the previous staff had significant swings and misses, but mcclay isn't absolved of any responsibility for those selections...

We think they had a great draft yesterday. Lets hope that turns out to be true and let's hope they can continue it moving forward

I think you have to give the credit to Jerry and Stephen. Yes, McClay and the scouts did their jobs and had the team well prepared. I suspect they do that every single year. The difference this year was we finally have a coaching staff that simply said go get the best players and we will find ways to use them. Jerry and Stephen get the credit for hiring those coaches and allowing that draft philosophy to play out with deciding to stick to their board without reaching for unproductive players because some coach likes one trait about him.
 

glimmerman

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Not bad at all. Let’s see if these players can translate to the NFL. Most are a gamble.
 

Zekeats

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The best out of any GM? That’s quite a reach.

2019- borderline piss poor, 1st round pick bust

2018- not bad but if the risk they took on LVE doesn’t pan out that draft goes from being pretty good to below average

2017- 1st round pick complete bust, some decent starters in the next few rounds which is commendable but not earth shattering by any means

2016- still think it was a complete waste drafting a RB at 4th overall and Dak was pure luck, Jerry said himself he didn’t want him and we got lucky Lynch was off the board. Overall, we had high picks and it was still a good draft.

2015- Horrible draft, the only saving grace that didn’t make it a complete disaster was Byron Jones

2014- very nice draft

2013- Fred was the only shining light

I could keep going but the more I revisit these drafts the more I realize they weren't even as good as I originally thought before I started responding to your comment. I know there’s a lot worse GM’s out there but there’s definitely better. There’s a reason “Jerry the GM” aka McClay, is usually ranked right in the middle of GM’s which is where he should be, maybe even a little lower IMO.

First off going back 5-7 years ago and saying a draft wasn't good because we only got 1 or 2 good guys is useless. Guys move on after 4 years and no GM even hits on 25% of the picks. Anything after the 2nd round - mid 3rd round is a crap shoot.

2019 First round pick bust? Did I miss that one and the 2nd was all Roddle Marrinutty with his BS in everyones ear. Pick would have and should have been Thornhill. Regardless we still got 2 potential starters for 2020 and a very dynamic backup running back. McGovern is looking like he might be starting at center and if Wilson gets a chance I think he could beat out Dix to start at safety.
2018 LVE made the pro bowl and the injury shouldn't diminish that one bit. Gallup was a 1k receiver and Connor Williams is becoming a fixture at LG. Dalton Shultz is our backup TE and even Covington has stayed on the squad for now. 5 guys on the roster 3 of them are important starters.
2017 Again was that senile old man, not Jerry the other one, going against the scouting department and pushing for Taco which he got. Awuzie, Lewis and Woods all excellent picks and starters. All 3 will get paid nice contracts next offseason. Switzer still playing too.
2016 First the thought was about extending Romos career when we picked Elliott. It had zero to do with long term future. I still love the pick, Zeke is a tone setter. 2nd round was a huge gamble and it payed off. Jaylon while not perfect has been in the wrong defense all along. Nolan's style is more attack than Roddles laid back bend but don't break. Jaylon will shine this year and he too made the pro bowl last season. Dak was not pure luck. Dak made his career. No such thing as luck. Lynch didn't put the work in. Dak did and continues to do so. Steelers weren't lucky that Roddle chose Taco, they were fortunate. Collins in the 3rd was a very good instant starter, Anthony Brown was an excellent pick, Frazier was a good pick even the Tapper pick was good he just had health and injury problems.
2015 You're kidding right? Byron Jones top 5 corner in the game today. Gregory looks like he might finally be able to contribute so the verdict is still out on that. Damien Wilson was a great pick in the 4th, he was very good here and just helped KC win the super bowl as a starter. Swaim was a good contributor here and elsewhere too.
2013 Frederick the only shining light? Escobar wasn't that bad and all of our 2nd TEs were always poorly used behind Witten. That was on the coaching and even then Escobar contributed. Williams was a very good number 2 WR for 5 years and made some huge plays. JJ Wilcox still is playing and was a starter for a couple seasons and was a very decent pick. Even knucklehead Randle was a good backup RB for a late round selection.

I think your way off on what to expect from drafts, rounds and pick location. For example most 6th round picks don't even make the team let alone contribute and get a second contract like Anthony Brown. The Anthony Brown pick was an A+ pick and if you don't know that then you don't realize how hard it is to find talent that late. McClay hands down has done the ABSOLUTE BEST out of any other GM/Draft Personnel in the league, especially if you top it off with dealing with Jerry Jones.
 
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CCBoy

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1. I get the sense that Belt is hoping he'll score inside info for future drafts by pumping air in these guys' tires.

2. It feels like we're starting to go a bit overboard. It looks like we got good value at most of our picks but they haven't even had a minicamp yet. Maybe we should hold off on taking victory laps or organising virtual parades.

Wise on double checking everything...but, hey, this fan is already sold just by the early stat and eye-ball test!
 

JBS

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I think you have to give the credit to Jerry and Stephen. Yes, McClay and the scouts did their jobs and had the team well prepared. I suspect they do that every single year. The difference this year was we finally have a coaching staff that simply said go get the best players and we will find ways to use them. Jerry and Stephen get the credit for hiring those coaches and allowing that draft philosophy to play out with deciding to stick to their board without reaching for unproductive players because some coach likes one trait about him.

Jerry was gifted this coaching staff

Jay Glazer gets all the credit there
 

aria

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First off going back 5-7 years ago and saying a draft wasn't good because we only got 1 or 2 good guys is useless. Guys move on after 4 years and no GM even hits on 25% of the picks. Anything after the 2nd round - mid 3rd round is a crap shoot.

2019 Was all Roddle Marrinutty with his BS in everyones ear. Pick would have and should have been Thornhill. Regardless we still got 2 potential starters for 2020 and a very dynamic backup running back. McGovern is looking like he might be starting at center and if Wilson gets a chance I think he could beat out Dix to start at safety.
2018 LVE made the pro bowl and the injury shouldn't diminish that one bit. Gallup was a 1k receiver and Connor Williams is becoming a fixture at LG. Dalton Shultz is our backup TE and even Covington has stayed on the squad for now. 5 guys on the roster 3 of them are important starters.
2017 Again was that senile old man, not Jerry the other one, going against the scouting department and pushing for Taco which he got. Awuzie, Lewis and Woods all excellent picks and starters. All 3 will get paid nice contracts next offseason. Switzer still playing too.
2016 First the thought was about extending Romos career when we picked Elliott. It had zero to do with long term future. I still love the pick, Zeke is a tone setter. 2nd round was a huge gamble and it payed off. Jaylon while not perfect has been in the wrong defense all along. Nolan's style is more attack than Roddles laid back bend but don't break. Jaylon will shine this year and he too made the pro bowl last season. Dak was not pure luck. Dak made his career. No such thing as luck. Lynch didn't put the work in. Dak did and continues to do so. Steelers weren't lucky that Roddle chose Taco, they were fortunate. Collins in the 3rd was a very good instant starter, Anthony Brown was an excellent pick, Frazier was a good pick even the Tapper pick was good he just had health and injury problems.
2015 You're kidding right? Byron Jones top 5 corner in the game today. Gregory looks like he might finally be able to contribute so the verdict is still out on that. Damien Wilson was a great pick in the 4th, he was very good here and just helped KC win the super bowl as a starter. Swaim was a good contributor here and elsewhere too.
2013 Frederick the only shining light? Escobar wasn't that bad and all of our 2nd TEs were always poorly used behind Witten. That was on the coaching and even then Escobar contributed. Williams was a very good number 2 WR for 5 years and made some huge plays. JJ Wilcox still is playing and was a starter for a couple seasons and was a very decent pick. Even knucklehead Randle was a good backup RB for a late round selection.

I think your way off on what to expect from drafts, rounds and pick location. For example most 6th round picks don't even make the team let alone contribute and get a second contract like Anthony Brown. The Anthony Brown pick was an A+ pick and if you don't know that then you don't realize how hard it is to find talent that late. McClay hands down has done the ABSOLUTE BEST out of any other GM/Draft Personnel in the league, especially if you top it off with dealing with Jerry Jones.

2019- no one knows what, if anything Marinelli, had to do with that draft unless there’s a legitimate article that I haven’t seen yet then it’s all here say. You can’t give credit to McClay when things go good and then blame Marinelli or Garrett when they don’t.

2018- if LVE retires this year due to his neck injury, you absolutely can take away from that draft whether he made the popularity Bowl or not (I do agree he should have made it that year). LVE was a “Jerry special” and his stank written all over it unless McClay is the one always taking risks and the blame gets assigned to Jerry. Regardless, if it was an unknown injury I would agree with you but it wasn’t and that injury is why he fell in the draft. It was a risk they knew about and if his play is diminished or he has to retire early than that’s all on Jerry and/or McClay. Gallup was a good pick and McGovern ok IMO, but as I said, anytime a first rounder is wasted than you lose a decent amount of credit in my book. The jury is still out on that class.

2017- Again, you can’t fault everything on Marinelli and even if it were true than who should receive the ultimate blame? The “GM” should, whether that’s Jerry or McClay. Awuzie, Lewis and Woods were pretty good picks and the fact that we got 3 starters out of those picks is impressive but another 1st round bust, in addition to 2020.

2016- We could have gone with Henry in the 2nd and I almost guarantee he would have put up similar numbers behind this O line as Zeke did. I’m not saying Dak was lucky, he did put in the work, but he was lucky in the sense that Paxton Lynch was off the board because that was Jerry’s guy and was very disappointed that he wasn’t there. A second rounder and how many years have we got out of him so far? This is where he Pro Bowl is a joke, no way he should have made it last year. The Cowboys being the most popular team has it’s advantages, especially when it comes to the Pro Bowl. If Jaylon improves drastically this year than I’ll up my thoughts on this years class but not impressed taking everything into consideration.

2015- Not kidding at all. I said Byron was the saving grace in that class. 5 years after we draft Gregory and you’re calling this class a victory because he may finally be able to contribute? Lol, c'mon dude, that was a horrible pick even if he balls out for just one or two years. Wilwon was alright, you’re bigger on Swaim than I am.

2013- Escobar, blaming coaching? I don’t buy it. He was ok, hardly consider him a good enough pick to claim that year. Twill was pretty good overall, made some crucial mistakes but they all do.

We can agree to disagree about how good this FO has been at drafting over the years but I do like this years class very much on paper. Anyways, thanks for the thoughtful and respectful reply, very nice evaluation whether I agree with all of it or not.
 

Dodger12

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Will McCay has been getting it done for a decade now. He has drafted the best out of any GM since he has been doing it. Our success doesn't add up due to the terrible coaching staff that was here. That is gone now and I expect many 12+ win seasons now.

Will McClay (not McCay) hasn't been getting it done for 10 years because he hasn't been in charge of the draft board for 10 years. He took over in 2013 when Tom Ciskowski was demoted.

We've had some bad drafts in the past few years and I saw where you went through some in another post and blame everyone else but McClay. Bottom line is that Jerry's the GM. He had a great draft and kudos to Jerry but we've had some stinkers and neither Jerry nor McClay have been getting it done for 10 years.
 

mardwin

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The Cowboys draft department has been one of the best for years now, the only difference this year there's no Rod Marinelli reaching for players that he can't develop.
 

Super_Kazuya

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Celebrate a scouting department when literally not a single player has played one single down and the most important event to occur for the selection of these “value” picks was the inaction of other teams :huh:
 

alicetooljam

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I don't think it is what you are thinking. It is more like, wow what a good draft, as where everyone, as far as it seems, is happy with the draft.
as everyone knows it is all potential and we all know we need to see it on the field.

I am sure the 1st week of TC some will be falling back to this guy may be a bum posts. But right now everyone is enjoying the draft, as far as it seems anyway.

Agreed, a lot of us are just happy a draft still happened and it looks like a season will...for now.
 

Hennessy_King

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TBH we should be thanking the other teams' scouts who let all those guys fall to us.
 

Zekeats

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2019- no one knows what, if anything Marinelli, had to do with that draft unless there’s a legitimate article that I haven’t seen yet then it’s all here say. You can’t give credit to McClay when things go good and then blame Marinelli or Garrett when they don’t.

2018- if LVE retires this year due to his neck injury, you absolutely can take away from that draft whether he made the popularity Bowl or not (I do agree he should have made it that year). LVE was a “Jerry special” and his stank written all over it unless McClay is the one always taking risks and the blame gets assigned to Jerry. Regardless, if it was an unknown injury I would agree with you but it wasn’t and that injury is why he fell in the draft. It was a risk they knew about and if his play is diminished or he has to retire early than that’s all on Jerry and/or McClay. Gallup was a good pick and McGovern ok IMO, but as I said, anytime a first rounder is wasted than you lose a decent amount of credit in my book. The jury is still out on that class.

2017- Again, you can’t fault everything on Marinelli and even if it were true than who should receive the ultimate blame? The “GM” should, whether that’s Jerry or McClay. Awuzie, Lewis and Woods were pretty good picks and the fact that we got 3 starters out of those picks is impressive but another 1st round bust, in addition to 2020.

2016- We could have gone with Henry in the 2nd and I almost guarantee he would have put up similar numbers behind this O line as Zeke did. I’m not saying Dak was lucky, he did put in the work, but he was lucky in the sense that Paxton Lynch was off the board because that was Jerry’s guy and was very disappointed that he wasn’t there. A second rounder and how many years have we got out of him so far? This is where he Pro Bowl is a joke, no way he should have made it last year. The Cowboys being the most popular team has it’s advantages, especially when it comes to the Pro Bowl. If Jaylon improves drastically this year than I’ll up my thoughts on this years class but not impressed taking everything into consideration.

2015- Not kidding at all. I said Byron was the saving grace in that class. 5 years after we draft Gregory and you’re calling this class a victory because he may finally be able to contribute? Lol, c'mon dude, that was a horrible pick even if he balls out for just one or two years. Wilwon was alright, you’re bigger on Swaim than I am.

2013- Escobar, blaming coaching? I don’t buy it. He was ok, hardly consider him a good enough pick to claim that year. Twill was pretty good overall, made some crucial mistakes but they all do.

We can agree to disagree about how good this FO has been at drafting over the years but I do like this years class very much on paper. Anyways, thanks for the thoughtful and respectful reply, very nice evaluation whether I agree with all of it or not.

It' been documented about Rod. He 100% pushed for Taco. That one pick right there cost us 1-2 wins a year. Think about that. 1-2 wins a year. Thats already cost us 2 trips to the playoffs just based on 1 draft pick. I don't even really care much about the late second round 2019 pick of Hill, FYI that was not a first round pick. A late 2nd is no guarantee but even then it came down to Hill and Thornhill and Rod pushed for Hill over Thornhill. It happened and it shouldn't be discredited.

If LVE retires due to injury that is not a negative on McClay drafting a pro bowl late first round pick who almost also won DROY. Thats just dumb and lazy to say.

Henry had question marks as all big back upright RBs and Bama running backs do. Again that pick was geared around that team, Romo and SB runs. It made sense and still today was a great pick.

Gregory. Again, LATE 2nd Round pick worth the risk. Who else was there at that point? I mean of course you'll go back and pick the best player that got drafted 1-15 picks after but that is pure BS that anyone could do to any draft selection.

Back to the Dak pick it was well know prior to the draft that we were very interested in Dak in the later rounds. Lynch was hyped up by the media more so than by the scouts which is also the reason why we never pulled the trigger because the value to get him wasn't worth the risk, if it was he would have been traded for.

In addition to 2020 first round bust? You r really losing me. You think Lamb is going to be a bust?

Bottom line is you should think that we should hit on all guys with every pick. A good draft is one like we just had. You got 1 starter with pro bowl potential in Lamb. You got another possible starter year 1 who will be a starter yr 2 with the next two picks in Diggs and Gallimore. You got a potential starter down the road in Robinson and a couple of depth guys with the center and the de.

If a guy whos drafted late 4th or later sticks with your team for 4 years and provides nothing more than depth the hole time that is a very good pick. Someone like Kevon Frazier is a successful pick. Someone like Anthony Brown a starter and contributor and a second contract is a great pick. Someone like Dak was an amazing pick. Someone like Malik Collins was a great pick. 4 year starter from the 3rd round who was very productive. To dismiss these types of picks and players is wrong. That is why I like McClay so much. He has had some excellent drafts and the poor ones didn't have much talented drafts.

We could disagree all day cause we have different opinions as to what details a successful draft and thats fine but just remember one thing, I know my opinion is correct and your opinion is wrong.
 

Kwyn

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1. I get the sense that Belt is hoping he'll score inside info for future drafts by pumping air in these guys' tires.

2. It feels like we're starting to go a bit overboard. It looks like we got good value at most of our picks but they haven't even had a minicamp yet. Maybe we should hold off on taking victory laps or organising virtual parades.
I bet you’re fun at parties
 

aria

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It' been documented about Rod. He 100% pushed for Taco. That one pick right there cost us 1-2 wins a year. Think about that. 1-2 wins a year. Thats already cost us 2 trips to the playoffs just based on 1 draft pick. I don't even really care much about the late second round 2019 pick of Hill, FYI that was not a first round pick. A late 2nd is no guarantee but even then it came down to Hill and Thornhill and Rod pushed for Hill over Thornhill. It happened and it shouldn't be discredited.

If LVE retires due to injury that is not a negative on McClay drafting a pro bowl late first round pick who almost also won DROY. Thats just dumb and lazy to say.

Henry had question marks as all big back upright RBs and Bama running backs do. Again that pick was geared around that team, Romo and SB runs. It made sense and still today was a great pick.

Gregory. Again, LATE 2nd Round pick worth the risk. Who else was there at that point? I mean of course you'll go back and pick the best player that got drafted 1-15 picks after but that is pure BS that anyone could do to any draft selection.

Back to the Dak pick it was well know prior to the draft that we were very interested in Dak in the later rounds. Lynch was hyped up by the media more so than by the scouts which is also the reason why we never pulled the trigger because the value to get him wasn't worth the risk, if it was he would have been traded for.

In addition to 2020 first round bust? You r really losing me. You think Lamb is going to be a bust?

Bottom line is you should think that we should hit on all guys with every pick. A good draft is one like we just had. You got 1 starter with pro bowl potential in Lamb. You got another possible starter year 1 who will be a starter yr 2 with the next two picks in Diggs and Gallimore. You got a potential starter down the road in Robinson and a couple of depth guys with the center and the de.

If a guy whos drafted late 4th or later sticks with your team for 4 years and provides nothing more than depth the hole time that is a very good pick. Someone like Kevon Frazier is a successful pick. Someone like Anthony Brown a starter and contributor and a second contract is a great pick. Someone like Dak was an amazing pick. Someone like Malik Collins was a great pick. 4 year starter from the 3rd round who was very productive. To dismiss these types of picks and players is wrong. That is why I like McClay so much. He has had some excellent drafts and the poor ones didn't have much talented drafts.

We could disagree all day cause we have different opinions as to what details a successful draft and thats fine but just remember one thing, I know my opinion is correct and your opinion is wrong.
Let me ask you this? Who is in charge? If I’m the owner of a company and one of my employees is failing, who’s responsibility is that? Where does the ultimate blame lie? ON JERRY, so stop blaming Rod for every bad draft pick. If Jerry or McClay were that good they wouldn’t have let it happen.

How on earth is is lazy to say that if you draft a player with a well known, high risk injury in the first round and he doesn’t make it through a couple of seasons than that shouldn’t fall on whoever made the pick? Is that a joke? So every year teams pass on players with character issues, injury issues, etc but Jerry loves to scoop them up and make himself appear that much smarter than everyone else. For the value so far, Smith hasn’t been worth it, LVE hasn’t been worth it (I don’t care how good he was his rookie year if he can’t stay on the field) and Gregory sure as hell wasn’t worth it. I have no idea how you can be truthful and say that if LVE retires early that’s not a negative on McClay when he knew about the injury prior to drafting him.

If I said 2020 bust I stand corrected, I think Lamb will be great. Must of meant 2019 or 2018.

Yes, I do think a first round pick should be a solid contributor in his first year or second year at most depending on position. 2018 and 2019 were busts, 2016 was a waste. Henry would have done just fine with Romo behind this O line.

And you’re wrong about one more thing. MY opinion is right and YOURS is wrong! :p
 
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