15 Draft Steals - Dallas got one

[DBOY3141]

I think Awuzie at 60 was a steal. Any other draft and I don't think Lewis falls to our pick either.

Woods in the 6th was great. I'm glad they're willing to show initiative and go get a player they have graded highly. The investment wasn't much but they still had to find a trade partner. Nice to see.

Agree on Awuzie. He was invited to the draft, so they figured he would go 1st or early 2nd. 60 is a huge steal. Lewis fell because of DV incident. He would have went 2nd or early 3rd IMO.

 

[TheKey]

Western Kentucky had more players drafted than any team in the Big XII except Oklahoma, which they tied.

Tied with two? La Tech had 3

 

[tyke1doe]

Woods went about where he was projected, I still don't get all of the love for this guy...I hope to, some day, feel the same love as the vast masses on here....but to call him a "steal" is a bit of a stretch, IMO

It's all subjective until he starts playing.

 

[big dog cowboy]

Getting Jourdan Lewis at 92 was a steal.

 

[tyke1doe]

Thanks, DallasEast. People are acting like Louisiana Tech is a D2 program. We had a first round pick last year, with three other players being drafted, and three drafted this year. Tramon Williams, Kentrell Brice, Vernon Butler, Myles White, Jordan Mills, Quinton Patton, Luke McCown, Kenneth Dixon, Justin Ellis, Houston Bates...those are a handful of guys who we put out in the past few seasons that have STARTED games in the NFL. The school has won three bowl games in a row, with 9 wins each season. Skip Holtz is doing a great job with the program. In 2012 the team fell one win short of playing in the Orange Bowl. The team lost by one point to Arkansas last year (in a game that Xavier had an INT) and has beaten Illinois, UVA, Navy, Mississippi State and other "P5" programs in the past few years. I know I am biased, but give me La Tech over the lower tier SEC and B1G schools any day.

Xavier is just always around the ball. I get that he is small-ish, but he is a hitter. To me, I'd rather have a safety who played at La Tech and faced spread "air raid" offenses over someone who played in the SEC and faced a lot of power run systems. Air raid offenses are much more complex through the air and much harder to defend. It's true that the quality of competition is lower, but when you are playing offenses that average 65 points per game I'd say that playing safety there is probably a little more challenging. One does not cause 20 turnovers in 3 years by accident.

When you're at "smaller" schools, you have to put huge numbers to get the NFL's attention. 20 turnovers is a lot and gets you noticed.
Having said that, I think he was hurt because of the depth of this draft class. I'm not surprised he went in the six round. Maybe he can imitate the Cowboys' previous sixth round pick.

 

[NeonNinja]

Agreed on Woods. It's possible we might have three steals. Second (Awuzie), third (Lewis) and sixth (Woods).

 

[tyke1doe]

Its just nice to see some investment in the position. We tend to get more "in the box" type of safeties and want them to be interchangeable. Woods is an aggressive ball hawk, and Cheeto and Lewis can also both play inside or back.

Loads of versatility now... Byron has tremendous position flex so we can match up in lots of deceptive ways and disguise more of what we want to do. Love the direction our D is going!

It seems as if Cheeto and Woods can play both CB and safety. That's good versatility to have.

 

[tyke1doe]

Which player?

Imagine what Roy Williams could have been. Sigh.

 

[TwentyOne]

http://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nfl/15-steals-in-the-2017-nfl-draft/ss-BBAy5Ua#image=2

Moderator revised incorrect link

Xavier Woods, No. 191, Cowboys

As my colleague, Andre Vergara pointed out, for the Cowboys to land Woods at pick No. 191 was a great bit of luck. He was one of the top safety prospects in this draft but somehow fell into the sixth round. The Cowboys were reportedly ready to pull the trigger on drafting Woods in the fourth round — they're glad they waited

 

[Leadbelly]

Great value. At the very least, he'll fill the role Heath filled last year better than Heath. Time will tell if he can elevate his game beyond that. I don't see a guy who would be best in a box safety role replacing Wilcox and Church unless he adds quite a bit of muscle.

One thing Norm talked about this morning was Woods was a three time C-USA all-academic team selection.

I do like his "Gimme My Ball" attitude when he comes in for the tackle. The INTs can be questioned due to poor QB play. The forced fumbles are all him. The recoveries are him.

 

[xwalker]

He won't be a steal unless he out plays his draft slot.

 

[TheKey]

It seems as if Cheeto and Woods can play both CB and safety. That's good versatility to have.

I'm Xavier's biggest fan, but I don't see him playing CB. Maybe some off coverage zone stuff, but not game in game out. I think he is a read and react center fielder who can lower the boom if need be. If we are in a situation (injury) that necessitated a S playing CB, we'd be better off with Byron at CB and Woods at FS.

 

[FaSho]

One thing he'll need to do less of............ he seems to like just trying to run over people instead of wrapping up. In the NFL, that could get you killed.

Rod is a big fundamental guy, so I see it as something he can definitely improve on. Then again, Wilcox never really did.