Opportunity Ahead For Jake Ferguson

Oz-of-Cowboy-Country

Oz-of-Cowboy-Country

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Now that's the type of guy we need. A guy that'll put his head through a drywall to catch the ball.
:muttley:luckily no one called CPS.
 
jazzcat22

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Hardline said:
Kolar will be the better pro. He was most likely the pick before the Ravens traded up.
Click to expand...

He Probably was. But time will tell how they compare.
No one was thinking Witten would be who he was either.
At the time he was just another 3rd round guy. I am not sure how fans reacted at the time. I started on this site about hat time, but didn’t get to read a lot but off and on. Stupid work monitored web usage.
 
DallasEast

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Was Kolar on our radar? Can we get Jones to expose his fourth round flash chart too?

jerry-2022-board.webp
 
Typhus

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Ferguson was a good snag where we grabbed him considering the other 2 were already gone.
Will be interesting comparing this tier of TEs, and I dont believe Ferguson is that far of a drop in value from either, but we shall see.
Otton - 4th round pick1
Bellinger - 4th round pick 7
Ferguson - 4th round pick 24
 
America's Cowboy

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Hardline said:
Kolar will be the better pro. He was most likely the pick before the Ravens traded up.
Click to expand...
In today's NFL, tight ends with great receiving ability are not as uncommon as once before. Finding someone with the ability to block and catch passes at the same level is what separates the good from great in teams' eyes.

Kolar's downside is he's not a good blocker, at all, plus he is not a good route runner which causes him to struggle to get open at the top of diverse routes.

https://www.iowastatedaily.com/spor...cle_08654c52-ba05-11ec-9669-ab1961e5b5fb.html

Jake Ferguson is a very good blocker and route runner. He (4.71 40 time) might not be as fast as Kolar (4.62 40 time), but Ferguson's much better route running will help him get open better than Kolar will.

If the Cowboys were interested in Kolar, I'm glad the Ravens moved up and grabbed him, thus forcing the Cowboys to take the more balanced and Pro ready TE in Jake Ferguson.
 
DanA

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It wouldn’t be a surprise for the 7th TE taken turns out to be better than the 6th (or whatever it was) but I did like Kolar better. A few years ago the Eagles took a web back (forgot his name) ahead of us so we took Pollard. That seemed to work out well!

Sometimes the system, opportunity and environment matters as much as the player talent. We have a good role for Ferguson, I’m bullish on his chances of success.
 
America's Cowboy

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DanA said:
It wouldn’t be a surprise for the 7th TE taken turns out to be better than the 6th (or whatever it was) but I did like Kolar better. A few years ago the Eagles took a web back (forgot his name) ahead of us so we took Pollard. That seemed to work out well!

Sometimes the system, opportunity and environment matters as much as the player talent. We have a good role for Ferguson, I’m bullish on his chances of success.
Click to expand...
In other words, the Cowboys have drafted better...and it has shown.
 
Pass2Run

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I can't remember who it was. But I was discussing Ferguson with someone on here who was familiar from watching his Wisconsin games. I found out about him late, but after I digested his ability and career as a player, I could see he was a pretty prolific TE simply because his highlight reel was literally 5 times longer than most players. And I think his reel, the 25 minute long one, really does give a decent indication of what you can expect, unlike most highlight reels.

Ferguson isn't flashy, but there's so many 1st down plays and intermediate routes on his reel, and I was talking about how he could impact the passing game for a long time.

"I can't wait 'till 3rd and Ferguson," was their reply.
 
TequilaCowboy

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The way the negotiations with Schultz are going, the FO apparently feels it is not in a precarious position letting Schultz play on his franchise tag and then waving bye bye next year to him. So Ferguson will be given every opportunity to be the guy, hope he is ready, and i feel he is.
 
xwalker

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jazzcat22 said:
He Probably was. But time will tell how they compare.
No one was thinking Witten would be who he was either.
At the time he was just another 3rd round guy. I am not sure how fans reacted at the time. I started on this site about hat time, but didn’t get to read a lot but off and on. Stupid work monitored web usage.
Click to expand...
I wanted them to trade back into the 1st and draft Witten.

I was really irritated with Parcells when they didn't take Witten in the 2nd.

I still can't believe he fell to the 3rd. He was as close to a guaranteed quality starter as it gets. Only Zack Martin was more of a lock. NFL teams must have traveled to the future, saw him on ESPN and thought he was mentally challenged...
 
xwalker

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America's Cowboy said:
In today's NFL, tight ends with great receiving ability are not as uncommon as once before. Finding someone with the ability to block and catch passes at the same level is what separates the good from great in teams' eyes.

Kolar's downside is he's not a good blocker, at all, plus he is not a good route runner which causes him to struggle to get open at the top of diverse routes.

https://www.iowastatedaily.com/spor...cle_08654c52-ba05-11ec-9669-ab1961e5b5fb.html

Jake Ferguson is a very good blocker and route runner. He (4.71 40 time) might not be as fast as Kolar (4.62 40 time), but Ferguson's much better route running will help him get open better than Kolar will.

If the Cowboys were interested in Kolar, I'm glad the Ravens moved up and grabbed him, thus forcing the Cowboys to take the more balanced and Pro ready TE in Jake Ferguson.
Click to expand...
I'm not convinced that the Cowboys would have taken Kolar...I think those claims all came from Broaddus.

The theme of their draft was toughness and Ferguson has that over Kolar and over Schultz.

Cade Otton was the TE that was a tier above the ones drafted in the 4th.

Michael Mayer, Notre Dame in the 2023 draft is already my choice for the Cowboys 1st round pick. His footwork reminds me of Amari Cooper...can break defenders ankles...he is also a very good blocker.
 
Pass2Run

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xwalker said:
I'm not convinced that the Cowboys would have taken Kolar...I think those claims all came from Broaddus.

The theme of their draft was toughness and Ferguson has that over Kolar and over Schultz.

Cade Otton was the TE that was a tier above the ones drafted in the 4th.

Michael Mayer, Notre Dame in the 2023 draft is already my choice for the Cowboys 1st round pick. His footwork reminds me of Amari Cooper...can break defenders ankles...he is also a very good blocker.
Click to expand...

So, the Cowboys look for something people don't mention when it comes to tight ends: rhythm.

You can teach a little bit of it, but it's like music. Some people are naturally more rhythmically-inclined than others. They have to know where to be and how to accelerate their speed at certain times, so it's not all about flat out speed. The Cowboys like big bodies, of course, because that theoretically works in the physics of football. But I've also noticed they look for the players who are like golden retrievers playing fetch. They just never get tired of the game, and would do it over and over for eternity, if they could.

Look at everyone's personality-type since Novacek (that's as far back as I remember TEs). You can add a lot of personality to you offense with the TE.

Witten is gone, and yes, some of the young guys have had chances to step up. But they're not quite on Witten's level.

Mr. Schultz did get over 800 yards last year, which is nothing to shake a stick at.

Witten only had 347 yards his rookie year, mind you. But he hauled in nearly 65 percent of his targets.

Schultz had 116 yards in his 2018 rookie season, six yards total in 2019, and 615 yards in 2020.

Then, last year, Schultz had a receiving year that got close to showing he could actually play near or maybe just right under Witten's level of play, at least for a season. My guess is he can do it for several. I've been reading how the board seriously undervalues him. But the guy brings his 100% to ever play. He may not be as physically talented as Witten, but he has the same desire to win games as Witten had. And it shows. Same goes for CeeDee Lamb.

For comparison, Witten's sophomore year in 2004 he almost busted a G, racking up 980 yards in receiving. That's quite the accomplishment.

I know some will hate on me for comparing Witten to Schultz. But I'm simply comparing his value from a game-to-game perspective, and while I don't think he'll ever be quite as good as Witten, he can bring the same level of value to our team by doing the things he does with the consistency at which he does it.
 
xwalker

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Pass2Run said:
So, the Cowboys look for something people don't mention when it comes to tight ends: rhythm.

You can teach a little bit of it, but it's like music. Some people are naturally more rhythmically-inclined than others. They have to know where to be and how to accelerate their speed at certain times, so it's not all about flat out speed. The Cowboys like big bodies, of course, because that theoretically works in the physics of football. But I've also noticed they look for the players who are like golden retrievers playing fetch. They just never get tired of the game, and would do it over and over for eternity, if they could.

Look at everyone's personality-type since Novacek (that's as far back as I remember TEs). You can add a lot of personality to you offense with the TE.

Witten is gone, and yes, some of the young guys have had chances to step up. But they're not quite on Witten's level.

Mr. Schultz did get over 800 yards last year, which is nothing to shake a stick at.

Witten only had 347 yards his rookie year, mind you. But he hauled in nearly 65 percent of his targets.

Schultz had 116 yards in his 2018 rookie season, six yards total in 2019, and 615 yards in 2020.

Then, last year, Schultz had a receiving year that got close to showing he could actually play near or maybe just right under Witten's level of play, at least for a season. My guess is he can do it for several. I've been reading how the board seriously undervalues him. But the guy brings his 100% to ever play. He may not be as physically talented as Witten, but he has the same desire to win games as Witten had. And it shows. Same goes for CeeDee Lamb.

For comparison, Witten's sophomore year in 2004 he almost busted a G, racking up 980 yards in receiving. That's quite the accomplishment.

I know some will hate on me for comparing Witten to Schultz. But I'm simply comparing his value from a game-to-game perspective, and while I don't think he'll ever be quite as good as Witten, he can bring the same level of value to our team by doing the things he does with the consistency at which he does it.
Click to expand...
The key to Witten's greatness is that he was a top tier blocker.

Receiving stats of the TEs that look like oversized WRs but also had the elite blocking ability.

Schultz blocking in 2021 was terrible.

Witten could get himself open. There were some great practice reps of Byron Jones vs Witten in man coverage. BJ was an uber elite athlete but somehow Witten could leave BJ flatfooted and looking silly.

Kellen Moore schemes Schultz open. He did it previously with Jarwin back when he had a good season.

Schultz will benefit from good WRs but the reverse is unlikely.

With Witten the WRs benefitted from his presence on the field. He would draw extra attention from Safeties because LBs struggled to cover him. Dez even at his peak was not good vs double coverage. He needed Witten and Beasley to keep the extra defender off of him.

That one year Beasley routinely drew double (bracket) coverage. The slot CB and either a LB or SS. The Nickel CB played the outside cut and the help defender played the inside. That happened because Dez and Witten were declining.
 
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