Post-Draft Day Press Conference clears things up

Galian Beast;5065824 said:

Wide Receiver

We drafted Terrance Williams. Most people myself included would probably say we didn't need a wide receiver. That being said, I think Williams gives a dimension we've been lacking for a very long time. When was the last time we had a speed guy who could really take the top of the defense? I think when we're in 3 receiver sets we could really stretch the defense out. Especially if we have a respectable offensive line. He can also supplant Austin in the future, especially if we can develop some of these young wide receivers like Harris, Beasley, and Coale.

Safety

Finally the last pick of JJ Wilcox. I'm sorry but this pick reminds me too much of Akwasi Awusu Ansah. I'm really getting tired of these project picks so early. And he screams project. I can't recall a single project player we've taken that we've been able to develop in the last 10 years. You have a division 1-AA player who has played the position for a year... on the other hand you could have taken a more sure thing like Phillip Thomas... It's definitely a head scratcher to me. At all positions safety is probably the one we couldn't afford another project. We already have to hope that Matt Johnson can become a healthy productive player, and that Barry Church can somehow find the range to become a Cover 2 safety... I guess we'll be leaning on Will Allen quite a bit this year.

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I thought that we def needed a WR. However why Williams over Bailey?
We obviously needed a S, why Wilcox (a project) over Thomas (established)?

CoCo;5066160 said:

Don't know if you had a chance to watch todays post-draft press conference but your statements above are right on per Jerry. He even used the word "dream" to describe Cooper/Warmack falling to 18.

Jones pretty much stated in no uncertain terms that they were not leaving Round 1 without an anchor for that O-line. Scary talk on the one-hand, given how that can force picks etc., but as you say imagine the outcry if Dallas goes truly BPA and ends up "fixing" the line with late round draft picks.

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They definitely went for need rather than BPA in the first round. Had they strictly gone BPA, then we would be looking at Floyd, Escobar, and Williams with our first three picks. If they did select an OL today, he wouldn't see the field this year.

The Cowboys probably felt that Frederick and the other OL target were the last two OL's that could step in and immediately contribute this year. They knew that fixing the interior OL was their biggest priority this year, so they had to come away with a player that could help them do that in the first round.

CoCo;5065980 said:

Strangely, as desperate as we've been at Safety I somehow probably more excited about the mix of candidates (Church, Johnson, Allen & Wilcox) than I should be. They have pretty much zero credentials. Still, I will say I'm excited to
We MUST get a RB! Right? Did anyone feel the same way about adding a TE? Or WR? I feel a bit painted into the corner with few resources to do much about it. And I'd still like to add a young D-lineman.

Telling myself some of this is going to have to get done via UDFA? Not much of a plan there.

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Remember we took Murray when we didn't 'need' a RB. Tells me they really were trying to go BPA as much as they could.

ghst187;5066344 said:

I thought that we def needed a WR. However why Williams over Bailey?
We obviously needed a S, why Wilcox (a project) over Thomas (established)?

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Because you tie your opinions to consensus internet rankings while the team makes decisions based on who fits their schemes and needs after their scouts and coaches views hundreds of hours of film and actually talk to the players and their past coaches. That's something people who put up rankings on the internet just don't do. Most are based soley off other internet rankings they have come across.

Difference in our TEs and the Pats?

Pats can both run, where our top two cannot.

This will be yet another wasted second rounder on a TE that will move on in four years.

EGG;5066176 said:

Will Fredericks and an FA right tackle to be named later be enough to turn around the league's worst OL? It may all come down to Leary becoming a quality starting guard.

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I'll feel a lot better about things if "FA right tackle" becomes a certainty rather than speculation.

Get Clabo/Winston signed today and things look a whole lot better.

ManicDepressiveMan;5066371 said:

Difference in our TEs and the Pats?

Pats can both run, where our top two cannot.

This will be yet another wasted second rounder on a TE that will move on in four years.

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I honestly place more blame on the Cowboys for the two TE stuff not working than the players they selected.

Both Fasano and Bennett went on to be productive starters after they left Dallas, not like they were stiffs who couldn't play.

I think the Cowboys just failed to use them and the scheme properly.

This is how the draft should have went

1) Zack Ertz TE, best TE on the board obably the best player at that time. Should have been the obvious pick if they knew they wanted a TE in the 2nd

2) Larry Warford or Travis Frederick OL, at this point you are in a win win. I must also say how many centers do this team has? Give me a pure dirty mauler to anchor this interior.

3) Terrance Williams WR, I have no bones on this pick ...

3) Phillip Thomas S , JJ what is your problem ? You have a ball hawking safety on the board and pass on him???? Can Thomas play the box as a S? probably not so great in run support. But play this guy as a deep safety and I bet this guy will make plays.

my guess after reading all the stories is that Garrett wanted to take the BPA at 18 and Jones panicked as the O linemen fell earlier than they anticipated and his trade offer with someone other than SF fell through. Frederick was a reach.

I like the Escobar pick. Witten isn't getting any younger and another threat in the middle of the field will be a plus.

Williams? Who knows. Austin and his never ending hamstring problems might be the thought here.

Ahhhhhh the annual small college project Dallas takes. I don't have a problem with taking a project like that but Dallas never seems to come through on those. We will see I guess.

Dallas should have gotten more out of the SF trade. Instead of picking Frederick they should have dropped back again and got more. The guy would have been there mid 2nd round at least.

This is the kind of thread we need.

Galian Beast;5066103 said:

I think they felt that they had to improve the offensive line. The "Dream" was to get Cooper or Warmack. I don't think the "plan" was to draft Frederick at 31, but after offensive linemen started to fly off the board, they had no choice.

I think the 12 personnel group has been our most productive over the last few years. I think they felt that if they added a legitimate pass catching tight end to that group, that we could get a lot out of it. That might be a need that doesn't translate given what we knew of their plans for the offense. Escobar is a much more accomplished pass catcher than Bennett or Fasano coming out of college.

As much difficulty as Romo had during the year, the offensive line did pass block a lot better in the second half of the season. I think that shouldn't be ignored. I think the biggest issue was our lack of a running game and ability to run in the redzone. Adding a deep threat like Williams takes the top off the defense. This means that safeties have to play deeper, corners have to play deeper. Linebackers are kept honest.

We've been so susceptible to the blitz, that teams have really had at us. You give them potential punishments for doing so, and we'll finally be able to force them into situations where they play us straight up. I think Williams gives us this.

I do have a bit more faith in Austin this year, but I don't think we need him to carry this team. I think the offense is going to be opened up for a lot of our players. They'll have a lot of one on ones, and if we give Romo more time, hopefully they'll use that advantage.

I think the defensive line is fine for now. The priority of this line is it's ability to pass rush. The linemen don't need to worry about the run nearly as much as the 3-4 line needed to. This means guys like Ratliff, Hatcher, Crawford, and Lissemore can focus on pass rushing, which they are capable of. We also have Brian Price who could work out nicely.

I do think we need a running back, but I still think there are a lot of options out there. I also think that there are options in free agency, which will likely increase in June.

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Pretty good evaluation.

lostar2009;5066383 said:

This is how the draft should have went

1) Zack Ertz TE, best TE on the board obably the best player at that time. Should have been the obvious pick if they knew they wanted a TE in the 2nd

2) Larry Warford or Travis Frederick OL, at this point you are in a win win. I must also say how many centers do this team has? Give me a pure dirty mauler to anchor this interior.

3) Terrance Williams WR, I have no bones on this pick ...

3) Phillip Thomas S , JJ what is your problem ? You have a ball hawking safety on the board and pass on him???? Can Thomas play the box as a S? probably not so great in run support. But play this guy as a deep safety and I bet this guy will make plays.

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I have no problems with this Thomas (or the other) but he doesn't have the speed Wilcox has. He ran 4.53 at his pro day but 4.65 at the combine. I always add some back in for pro day times. I don't care too much about 40s but for Kiffin's safeties they matter more than most other positions on the field. They have to cover a lot of ground. Plus Wilcox can hit. Wilcox looks like a small LB or a RB. He even reminds me of Barber although I ain't sayin' he'll play like him. Plus he can return KOs and punts. That's my guess.

ManicDepressiveMan;5066371 said:

Difference in our TEs and the Pats?

Pats can both run, where our top two cannot.

This will be yet another wasted second rounder on a TE that will move on in four years.

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You do realize that Witten is (or at least was) as fast as Gronk?

Hernandez is basically a big WR. Escobar has the size and strength potential to be an adequate blocker if he focuses and works hard with Woicik.

I think we are all skeptical of the pick because of the failure to get much of a return out of Fasano and Bennett in the recent past. I think the difference here is we wanted those two guys to be blockers predominantly to help in the run game. Escobar is not like that. Escobar is more in the mold of a giant WR who we are going to try and coach up on the blocking side of things. His film as a receiver is probably as good as Eifert who went in the first round. He mostly fell to us because of a low 40 at the Combine which he improved upon later. The real key to receiving TEs is usually not speed unless you are Vernon Davis (or Hanna). The real key is size and strength to catch the ball when covered man-to-man and the intelligence to find spots when facing zones. This guy has impeccable skills to judge balls and then use his body size and arm length to go and get the ball. He really has great hands and long arms on a tall body which makes him a much better receiving target than the faster MartyB.

The other aspect of the Escobar pick that people are underestimating is Witten's age. Next year will be his 11th in the year. He came in young at 20 but that is still a lot of pounding against NFL defenses his body has suffered over the years. I think he has lost a step and that has changed the way defenses have played us and taken a big bite out of our offense. I think Escobar has the ability to inject that back into the offense and I really think that is something everyone is underestimating.

In all honesty, if Escobar ran 4.68 at the Combine he probably is a first round pick. If he can play with adequate game speed at the NFL then he is really a pretty good BPA pick. I think he has a lot of potential to improve the offense much more than a pick at RB or WR could given the ability of the incumbents. I would have liked another OL but the rest of the guys left were really more like 3rd round prospects. Armstead is a bit of an unknown who flew up the draft boards after the Combine. At DL Short was gone and that was probably the 3-tech they were considering for the second. For some reason they are happy at the 1 tech with Rat and Lissemore. I happen to think they are wrong but that is what they believe . I also think we could have used a DE but with Carradine gone and them apparently not liking Moore the rest of the guys were probably not second round grades.

The key now is to really use the 2-TE offense to full effect. That means minimal substitutions in a fast break type offense so we don't let the defense substitute much and just change formations based on down and distance while maintaining the same personnel. That way you can face base defenses on 3rd downs and pass the ball at will on LBs trying to match up with our TEs. Or if teams go small that means running the ball in the box behind our new roadgrader, Frederick, who is really an excellent blocker at the point of attack.

I think they were worried Frederick could be taken by the Ravens @32.

GB, I agree with a lot of your posts. The tone of Thursday's press conference was completely different than the one on Friday.

It's obvious something didn't go right on Thursday, not exactly sure what aspect of the day made it that way, but it was obvious by the somber confused and defensive tone of the Jones' on Thursday is that they DID NOT have intentions of that day going the way it did.

The Friday press conference was a 180 change, much more jovial and a lot more smiles. I think they really like their 2nd day.

Cowboys22;5066370 said:

Because you tie your opinions to consensus internet rankings while the team makes decisions based on who fits their schemes and needs after their scouts and coaches views hundreds of hours of film and actually talk to the players and their past coaches. That's something people who put up rankings on the internet just don't do. Most are based soley off other internet rankings they have come across.

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not true on the first part, I base my opinions off watching most of these guys play all season long. IMO, Bailey and Thomas are better players than Williams and Wilcox. Bailey is more likely to get separation and has a suddenness about him. Thomas had 8 picks last season and is a career S. Wilcox is a project at best just like Berault, Matt Johnson, and AA none of which have panned out yet. I hope the guys we picked become PB'ers and the guys I would've taken suck, I really do...but we'll just have to wait and see.
You can pick players to fit a system or you can take the best player on the board at the position. You can say anyone who disagrees with our picks doesn't know anything but then again I didn't pick (nor would've) picked Quincy Carter with my second round pick and have a dozen other colossal busts. I think I can say there are plenty of posters here that would've had better hit rates over the past 10 years than our scouting dept. The conjecture and speculation is part of what makes it so interesting plus the fact that half the time the couch scouts do as well as the paid professionals...well that just makes it irresistible and we have to chime in our opinions.

The whole NFL was shocked at how fast the O line went in round 1. Taking pugh and long when they did just compounded everyone else's shock.

The Boys were determined to get a really good O lineman- which is such a departure from Jerruh's routine it is almost a bigger shock; just hope his fascination with Shiny Toys is finally over.

I think they did have Fredrick high on their board; and thought him the best Center in the draft. So when 31 came they grabbed him ; fearing he would be gone if they waited too much longer.

I think what happened with Unger has stayed with the Boys and that might have also been a factor.

LOBO7;5066436 said:

I think they were worried Frederick could be taken by the Ravens @32.

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I think Ozzie is in Jerry's head. This year it was Frederick, last year it was Johnson, even Dez was traded up for because of the Ravens. The Ravens don't want these players. I think Oz leaks bad info just to mess with Jerry.

burmafrd;5066466 said:

The whole NFL was shocked at how fast the O line went in round 1. Taking pugh and long when they did just compounded everyone else's shock.

The Boys were determined to get a really good O lineman- which is such a departure from Jerruh's routine it is almost a bigger shock; just hope his fascination with Shiny Toys is finally over.

I think they did have Fredrick high on their board; and thought him the best Center in the draft. So when 31 came they grabbed him ; fearing he would be gone if they waited too much longer.

I think what happened with Unger has stayed with the Boys and that might have also been a factor.

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As well it should.

And I applaud them for making the investment in the offensive line.

Now I just hope that Frederick is everything they think he is.

I have to say from watching his tape, I love his anchor strength.

stasheroo;5066377 said:

Both Fasano and Bennett went on to be productive starters after they left Dallas, not like they were stiffs who couldn't play.

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Is that why each is on their 3rd NFL team already?