4 teams including champs had "high interest" in Hitchens

Staubacher

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It's tiresome to view every move the Cowboys make though the prism of "they are idiots who don't know a thing about football".

I think their last few drafts have been anywhere from pretty good to very good. Which is an improvement from the rock-bottom of 2009.

Hitchens may or may not pan out, but we simply do not know that yet.

The Frederick pick was excoriated around here. Looks brilliant now just a year later.
Dwayne Harris was an absolute steal in the 6th in 2011.
Murray in the 3rd was a great pick in 2011.

Those are just three recent examples of very good drafting. Sure there are duds too, but every team has those and we are having more good picks and less bad ones year by year.
 

Beast_from_East

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I hated the pick mainly because he is looked as depth, especially at MLB. Broaddus said the same thing on Twitter, that he is basically a backup to Sean Lee.

Now I can understand the logic of Jerry/Garrett............they know Sean "china doll" Lee is probably not making it through a 16 game schedule and they have crap behind him. So this is not like drafting Escobar to be Witten's backup when Witten almost never gets hurt and your 2nd round pick ends up guarding the water bucket on game days.

Hitchens is probably going to be starting some games this year unless Sean Lee has been juicing in the offseason and looks like Hercules now. In other words, I have zero confidence Lee is not going to get hurt at some point and miss games, just like every other year. Apparently the front office agrees, they are making the assumption that Lee is going to miss games as well.

So I hated the pick because I though there were better players in other positions still available, but I understand the thinking and the logic the team was using so I will not beat them up over it. This really was the only pick in the draft that was a real head scratcher, I loved the first two picks and I love both the WR Street and the DE from Standford.

So it is a solid C draft in my opinion, we didn't ace the exam but we passed.
 

basstapp

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Hes considered depth because of where he was drafted. Jones is going to call him a starter - especially as a rookie. If we draft a servicable LB in the 4th round and he develops into a starter in 2-3 years then we did our job. If Jones said we drafted a starter - everyone would call him senile and he has no idea what he is talking about. The guy literally can't win in any situation.

People were saying if Jones draft Manziel then he is back to his glam days. He avoid Manziel and drafts a great lineman and people are complaining he is short-sighted with Romo.... A little consistency would be nice on this board.
 

Mrdude108

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The funny thing is if the Cowboys took Mitchell in the 4th round and Hitchens in the 7th... Nary a word would be said.

This. Honestly, if you switch around the prospects we drafted and the UDFAs, you could match them up to the rounds they were "supposed" to go in and no one would be freaking out about it. It's interesting.

I haven't seen him play so I don't have an opinion other than what I've read and what Jerry said. He basically said he didn't have a problem using the pick on a backup. So until he proves otherwise, he's a backup to me. I hope he excels at it and has some higher potential though of course. We needed depth regardless.
 

JohnsKey19

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I'm fine with the pick. They identified their guy and they got him.

Drafting a backup upsets some. But when you consider the # of games missed by Lee due to injury and how that void forces the coaches to shuffle the overall LB corps, drafting a good backup to Lee is actually smart move. The fact that they feel they can't bank on Lee to make it through the season should be the bigger concern IMO. But that's another story.
 

Dodger12

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People like to pigeonhole him into a backup but I think that is garbage. He made a lot of tackles and played a lot of snaps for one of the best defenses in the country. The team clearly values him and projects him into a starting role in the future.

You guys are trying to define him by this characterization but I am not so quick to proclaim that say Quarles would be more likely to start over McClain than Hitchens is to over Carter, Wilber or whoever. Your premise assumes the conclusion: Hitchens is a talentless hack.

And I have no idea why people are gushing over Gardener. I don't see him starting unless a whole lot of guys get hurt. That is delusional.

I'm not presuming Hitchens is talentless. This isn't about the player so much as where he was picked relative to the value. If other teams had him rated higher, then so be it. We gave up a third and then reached with our 4th round pick. At the end of the day, the player will prove us either wrong or right but this team has drafted notoriously poorly in the later rounds.
 

ConstantReboot

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He was specifically taken as a back up/insurance policy for Lee from the Cowboys. I don't think that's a smart way to draft.

Well in Lee's case and his propensity for injury, you kinda do need a dependable back up for Lee. A dependable backup is better than not having one at all.
 

rkell87

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we went against our board with higher rated players still available because our special teams coach beat the table for him because his friend that he trusts vouched for him. We threw months of scouting and evaluation out the window because the special teams coach asked them to.

that's all you need to know about this pick.
 

basstapp

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we went against our board with higher rated players still available because our special teams coach beat the table for him because his friend that he trusts vouched for him. We threw months of scouting and evaluation out the window because the special teams coach asked them to.

that's all you need to know about this pick.

While the special teams coach was banging on the table for him and a friend vouched for him it doesn't mean they went against their board. We have no idea where he was on the board or anyone's board.
 

Idgit

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I really didn't like the pick, but I do like the idea that we're possibly not alone with the guy on our board in the fourth. That ought to be encouraging, if nothing else.

I don't get where the animosity comes from. These are the draft tidbits that come floating out from every team after every draft. But they're still fun to hear about.
 

jobberone

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Most middle of the draft picks are going to be backups otherwise they'd be drafted higher. Who is really going to come in here and move Lee off his Mike spot? Not many if at all. They picked up a decent LB who hopefully WILL be a backup for awhile. I'd very much like Lee to stay on the field, Carter to play well enough to dismiss last year and Durant or another to play Sam well. Most everyone knew we were going to draft a LBer or two.
 

Doomsay

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I'm not presuming Hitchens is talentless. This isn't about the player so much as where he was picked relative to the value. If other teams had him rated higher, then so be it. We gave up a third and then reached with our 4th round pick. At the end of the day, the player will prove us either wrong or right but this team has drafted notoriously poorly in the later rounds.

The FO seems to have a valuation system that simultaneously allows for insufficiently compensated trade-downs and overcompensated trade-ups. A buy high, sell low philosophy that generates management call-outs to Spags for twitter support. The idea that the FO has a such a superior idiosyncratic player evaluation matrix isn't supported by empirical evidence. Again, as you point out, it's not to say that the individual players selected wont pan out, but more so that they could have received more value for the trades and or let other teams overpay for the draft spots.
 

jobberone

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I stand by what said, you don't draft a player just as a backup player.

If they drafted him as a Mike then he's going to play backup to Lee. If Lee can't make it thru this year then they will need someone to look to at the Mike.
 

Parcells4Life

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So Hitchens isn't asked to be a pro bowler from Day 1 like Martin and DLaw. If his game is up to speed by the time Lee gets hurt in Week 9 then it's great.

People get WAY to caught up in winning the draft. Position means NOTHING it's about the group of players as a whole. A guy who can lead the big 10 in tackles is pretty impressive and all you want your MLB to do. Tackle the ball carrier and this guy can do that.
 
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