jday
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Much to the chagrin of my parents, I allow my children to cuss (within reason; it’s not an every day/conversation occurrence; but occasionally the use of certain words are appropriate in my mind). Cuss is short for curse. To my knowledge, of the four-letter wordy-durds in use today, only “damn” actually qualifies as a curse word (and that is only if you are damning someone or a group of people). A curse, in essence, is a wish for something bad to happen to another person. With that in mind, it should be understood that in actuality, there are no curse words, only curse context. For a curse to be a curse, in other words, negative intent must be present.
I provide this dissertation to setup the lenses (context) through which we should look at this year’s draft. The first belief I think we should all adopt is that the Cowboys draft was truly over following the phone call to Xavier Woods to let him know he would be a Dallas Cowboy. Every player following that has a snow ball’s chance in hell to make the final 53. That is me simply being realistic. Don’t get me wrong; I like the potential of the other players drafted, but the climb to even being considered a serviceable rotational player is steep; especially when you consider what the Cowboys already have at those positions; to say nothing of the players drafted at those same positions. For any of them to make the team that would mean either a higher draft pick or a player already entrenched into the 53 would have to be released/traded. While those players following Xavier might have a higher ceiling than what the Cowboys presently have, for the moment we must assume they are currently sitting on the floor of their potential.
With me so far?
Good, because if you are, you are probably asking now, well, if that’s the case then it was only a 5 round draft; pray tell, who are the other two players drafted? So glad you asked: Jaylon Smith and Charles Tapper, the players who redshirted their rookie year. Now, let’s look at the draft again.
Jaylon, in the early going of the prospect grading process of 2016, was largely regarded as a potential Top 10 pick in the draft. Then, as we all know by now, disaster struck in the form of a devastating knee injury. A knee injury that not too long ago would have spelled the end of his career…and may still have. Nerve regeneration is not an exact science. Sometimes it happens; sometimes it doesn’t. Fortunately for the Cowboys, their own team doctor conducted the surgery on Jaylon’s knee. With his seal of approval, the Cowboys shocked the drafting world using a top of the second pick to secure his services, knowing that not only was there a chance he would never play again, the odds were ridiculously slim that he would play in 2016. This was a shock, because the Cowboys at that time were a 4 and 12 team. Those types of moves are typically indicative of teams who at least made the playoffs.
Now with the endless tirade of ruing and hand-wringing in the rear-view, Jaylon can reportedly lift his toes, which suggest he should be ready to go come training camp. What percentage of the Jaylon of Notre Dame we will get remains to be seen. But based on what I have read, even 70% of his original athleticism, likely places him somewhere in the first round…more than likely before Taco, since according to many reports, Taco was actually graded as a second round player on the Cowboys draft board. So if we were to combine the 2016 and 2017 draft, Jaylon would have been picked first, Taco would be top of the second, and we will leave Awuzie and Lewis where they went. At this point, I suspect the Cowboys would largely be regarded as a winner (if not the winner) in the draft, so far.
Charles Tapper was believed to be underrated as a result of playing in a system that did not exercise his strengths as a passrusher. As a sophomore (2013), he was voted first team All American, only to see his production drop off with a change in his defensive responsibilities. This is what the Cowboys felt they knew about the player. What they didn’t know and what might have steered them in a different direction had they known (considering they had already taken this gamble on Jaylon) was that he had a back issue that would also put him out of the 2016 season and also might spell the end of his career…and that, unfortunately, remains a possibility. Nevertheless, once again the Cowboys were saddled with the bad news that they would have to redshirt yet another rookie at a time when they really needed a passrusher, considering Randall Gregory’s issues, and only Mayowa and Kyle Wilber were left to be the situational passrusher’s.
So at the top of the fourth round of the 2017 draft the Dallas Cowboy select Charles Tapper, defensive end, Oklahoma. At 6’3” 271 lbs, Tapper is compactly built, but still managed to log a 4.59 in the 40 and a 1.59 in 10 sec split. That is ridiculously explosive for a player of his size and likely puts him in the rotation at RDE; a rotation that already includes Taco, Demontre Moore (picked up in Free Agency this year) and Benson Mayowa, the Cowboys sack leader from a season ago. It is extremely doubtful all four make the team, so the competition in training camp will be ridiculous. That said, you can count on both rookies (of the technical and the literal variety) being on the final 53 following preseason.
That is six new additions to the defense, within the confines of four rounds; 7 if your optimism demands we include Xavier, in consideration of his 3rd round grade on the Cowboys board. So, yeah, 7. SEVEN!!! Five short of too many players in the huddle.
So, while many of you liked the draft as is, this additional context provides a picture that suggest the Cowboys knocked the draft out of the park. The defense the Cowboys will be fielding this year will be young, explosive, and hungry. They will make mistakes, of that we can all be certain. The hope is, what they lack in experience, they will make up with attitude and hard work.
It is actually kind of nice knowing that while these moves may not pay immediate dividends this season, over the course of the next three years, the barometer of this defenses play will be pointing up. Three years from now, Dak and Zeke will be entering their NFL prime; that place where most NFL players play their best football. And they will be joined by damn-near the entire defense, such is the youth of that side of the ball.
That has to be scary as hell for the rest of the NFCE and the league!
Thoughts?
I provide this dissertation to setup the lenses (context) through which we should look at this year’s draft. The first belief I think we should all adopt is that the Cowboys draft was truly over following the phone call to Xavier Woods to let him know he would be a Dallas Cowboy. Every player following that has a snow ball’s chance in hell to make the final 53. That is me simply being realistic. Don’t get me wrong; I like the potential of the other players drafted, but the climb to even being considered a serviceable rotational player is steep; especially when you consider what the Cowboys already have at those positions; to say nothing of the players drafted at those same positions. For any of them to make the team that would mean either a higher draft pick or a player already entrenched into the 53 would have to be released/traded. While those players following Xavier might have a higher ceiling than what the Cowboys presently have, for the moment we must assume they are currently sitting on the floor of their potential.
With me so far?
Good, because if you are, you are probably asking now, well, if that’s the case then it was only a 5 round draft; pray tell, who are the other two players drafted? So glad you asked: Jaylon Smith and Charles Tapper, the players who redshirted their rookie year. Now, let’s look at the draft again.
Jaylon, in the early going of the prospect grading process of 2016, was largely regarded as a potential Top 10 pick in the draft. Then, as we all know by now, disaster struck in the form of a devastating knee injury. A knee injury that not too long ago would have spelled the end of his career…and may still have. Nerve regeneration is not an exact science. Sometimes it happens; sometimes it doesn’t. Fortunately for the Cowboys, their own team doctor conducted the surgery on Jaylon’s knee. With his seal of approval, the Cowboys shocked the drafting world using a top of the second pick to secure his services, knowing that not only was there a chance he would never play again, the odds were ridiculously slim that he would play in 2016. This was a shock, because the Cowboys at that time were a 4 and 12 team. Those types of moves are typically indicative of teams who at least made the playoffs.
Now with the endless tirade of ruing and hand-wringing in the rear-view, Jaylon can reportedly lift his toes, which suggest he should be ready to go come training camp. What percentage of the Jaylon of Notre Dame we will get remains to be seen. But based on what I have read, even 70% of his original athleticism, likely places him somewhere in the first round…more than likely before Taco, since according to many reports, Taco was actually graded as a second round player on the Cowboys draft board. So if we were to combine the 2016 and 2017 draft, Jaylon would have been picked first, Taco would be top of the second, and we will leave Awuzie and Lewis where they went. At this point, I suspect the Cowboys would largely be regarded as a winner (if not the winner) in the draft, so far.
Charles Tapper was believed to be underrated as a result of playing in a system that did not exercise his strengths as a passrusher. As a sophomore (2013), he was voted first team All American, only to see his production drop off with a change in his defensive responsibilities. This is what the Cowboys felt they knew about the player. What they didn’t know and what might have steered them in a different direction had they known (considering they had already taken this gamble on Jaylon) was that he had a back issue that would also put him out of the 2016 season and also might spell the end of his career…and that, unfortunately, remains a possibility. Nevertheless, once again the Cowboys were saddled with the bad news that they would have to redshirt yet another rookie at a time when they really needed a passrusher, considering Randall Gregory’s issues, and only Mayowa and Kyle Wilber were left to be the situational passrusher’s.
So at the top of the fourth round of the 2017 draft the Dallas Cowboy select Charles Tapper, defensive end, Oklahoma. At 6’3” 271 lbs, Tapper is compactly built, but still managed to log a 4.59 in the 40 and a 1.59 in 10 sec split. That is ridiculously explosive for a player of his size and likely puts him in the rotation at RDE; a rotation that already includes Taco, Demontre Moore (picked up in Free Agency this year) and Benson Mayowa, the Cowboys sack leader from a season ago. It is extremely doubtful all four make the team, so the competition in training camp will be ridiculous. That said, you can count on both rookies (of the technical and the literal variety) being on the final 53 following preseason.
That is six new additions to the defense, within the confines of four rounds; 7 if your optimism demands we include Xavier, in consideration of his 3rd round grade on the Cowboys board. So, yeah, 7. SEVEN!!! Five short of too many players in the huddle.
So, while many of you liked the draft as is, this additional context provides a picture that suggest the Cowboys knocked the draft out of the park. The defense the Cowboys will be fielding this year will be young, explosive, and hungry. They will make mistakes, of that we can all be certain. The hope is, what they lack in experience, they will make up with attitude and hard work.
It is actually kind of nice knowing that while these moves may not pay immediate dividends this season, over the course of the next three years, the barometer of this defenses play will be pointing up. Three years from now, Dak and Zeke will be entering their NFL prime; that place where most NFL players play their best football. And they will be joined by damn-near the entire defense, such is the youth of that side of the ball.
That has to be scary as hell for the rest of the NFCE and the league!
Thoughts?
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