A Look at the Current Depth Chart

[cowboysooner]

Wait...does this mean they do or don't need LBs? Because I'm thinking Ron Mexico can't get enough STD tests.

They definitely need more of both because you never know what strains are lurking.

 

[fortdick]

Huh? I never said any of that. I don't think offense is necessarily our biggest need, but that doesn't mean I'd hate an offensive player. I also never said Decastro would be a bad player -- never.

I have said I seriously doubt he's the next Larry Allen or is guaranteed to be a great player for the next decade like many have claimed. I've also said I don't think OG is a relatively high-value position and it's not necessary to spend a top-15 pick on one in order to have a very good OL.

As for putting my opinion above yours, how ridiculous. I'm giving my opinion. You're giving yours. Does the fact that you love Decastro mean you're somehow elevating your above mine or anyone else's? Of course not.

Good grief.

Look, I just pointed out your original comment was an opinion. If I inferred from your statement that. "I think some want to protect Garrett, some want an excuse to draft their pet DeCastro, and some have heard it said so often they simply repeat it without really looking at it." that those of us that prefer DeCastro do so only because he is aour pet cat, or that we don't have the knowledge necessary to form an opinion so we simply repeat what we have been told.

If I am wrong about what you said, sorry, but I don't see another way of interpreting what you said.

 

[jterrell]

Some folks are overstating how bad our DL was to promote their pet(s). It is a matter of opinion and perspective.

Really? What player is being under-rated?
Dallas has a bunch of DL not named Jay Ratliff all earning near minimum salaries. This is because they are good?

The Cowboys themselves are telling you how they feel about these guys because they don't pay them.

At some point we need to use resources at DL. 3-4 DL are about as sexy picks as OG except they are much harder to find in the draft.

 

[JIGGYFLY]

ROFL. You keep repeating things as if writing them down makes it true.
If you want to use sourced material quote it or link it instead of this weak paraphrasing. The data is out there easily.

Free and Smith both gave up 6 sacks a piece. Out of 39 total sacks they had 12. That leaves 27 for the int OL as a group. Amazingly that averages out to 9 per position. That means our INT on average allowed 1.5 as many sacks as our OTs. That is not bottom of the league stuff. You had teams with over 50 sacks allowed. They averaged more than 10 per position.

So pass protection wise Dallas graded out about 13th. This is according to football outsiders http://footballoutsiders.com/stats/ol , PFF and advanced football stats. I have linked all 3 sources now.


Oh wait, it is about the running game perhaps? Nope. Dallas ranks higher as run blocking OL. See link above. The Dallas OL who rather sucked at power blocking(23rd) was excellent at the 2nd level(8th) and in the open field(9th) on things like screens. And with Felix and DeMarco both healthy we had one of the best running games in all of football.

But its all about the tackles right? NOPE. Dallas ranked 9th in rushing metrics up the middle and the low score was actually off Right Tackle (29th).

This data is from people who break down each play.

But you want to TELL me nonsense with zero factual info.

BTW, PFF called Doug Free our WORST OL!

http://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/2012/02/23/ranking-the-2011-offensive-lines-part-2/


Worst Player: What happened to Doug Free (-11.9)? He looked tremendous in 2010, but really struggled with speed off the edge this year.

DOWN GOES FRAZIER.

That's definitely going to leave a mark.

 

[fanfromvirginia]

Really? What player is being under-rated?
Dallas has a bunch of DL not named Jay Ratliff all earning near minimum salaries. This is because they are good?

The Cowboys themselves are telling you how they feel about these guys because they don't pay them.

At some point we need to use resources at DL. 3-4 DL are about as sexy picks as OG except they are much harder to find in the draft.

So who's your guy at 14? I know you've probably said it a million times. Cox?

 

[BlindFaith]

ROFL. You keep repeating things as if writing them down makes it true.
If you want to use sourced material quote it or link it instead of this weak paraphrasing. The data is out there easily.

Free and Smith both gave up 6 sacks a piece. Out of 39 total sacks they had 12. That leaves 27 for the int OL as a group. Amazingly that averages out to 9 per position. That means our INT on average allowed 1.5 as many sacks as our OTs. That is not bottom of the league stuff. You had teams with over 50 sacks allowed. They averaged more than 10 per position.

So pass protection wise Dallas graded out about 13th. This is according to football outsiders http://footballoutsiders.com/stats/ol , PFF and advanced football stats. I have linked all 3 sources now.


Oh wait, it is about the running game perhaps? Nope. Dallas ranks higher as run blocking OL. See link above. The Dallas OL who rather sucked at power blocking(23rd) was excellent at the 2nd level(8th) and in the open field(9th) on things like screens. And with Felix and DeMarco both healthy we had one of the best running games in all of football.

But its all about the tackles right? NOPE. Dallas ranked 9th in rushing metrics up the middle and the low score was actually off Right Tackle (29th).

This data is from people who break down each play.

But you want to TELL me nonsense with zero factual info.

BTW, PFF called Doug Free our WORST OL!

http://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/2012/02/23/ranking-the-2011-offensive-lines-part-2/


Worst Player: What happened to Doug Free (-11.9)? He looked tremendous in 2010, but really struggled with speed off the edge this year.

Fight the battle my friend. I've posted stats, reason, evidence, yet they still clamor for the pick to be DeCastro. I've given up trying to rationalize.

The feeling is, I think, is that they think we can be a GreenBay or NE if we get that "dominant" oline. Forget about the defense and just out score people.

Its just the latest craze.

 

[JIGGYFLY]

Fight the battle my friend. I've posted stats, reason, evidence, yet they still clamor for the pick to be DeCastro. I've given up trying to rationalize.

The feeling is, I think, is that they think we can be a GreenBay or NE if we get that "dominant" oline. Forget about the defense and just out score people.

Its just the latest craze.

Which does not make sense when both those teams got knocked out early and only won when there defense was playing at a very high level.

 

[BlindFaith]

Which does not make sense when both those teams got knocked out early and only won when there defense was playing at a very high level.

Yeah, I don't get it either, but to each their own.

 

[EJ Blue]

Brodney Pool was brought here to be a starter?

 

[jterrell]

So who's your guy at 14? I know you've probably said it a million times. Cox?

I'd go in order of desire Ingram, Coples, Cox. I'd also be amenable to a trade down. The trade down idea I have been saying a lot but if you don't feel there is an elite guy at 14 no sense forcing a pick there at all.

 

[jterrell]

Brodney Pool was brought here to be a starter?

He's a career long starter including with experience under Ryan so one could presume he is here as at least a stop gap starter. He is a Texas guy and really wanted to be here. Scouting reports suggest he is a solid center field type who doesn't tackle all that well. So perhaps a more coverage-oriented version of Abe Elam.

Could Dallas select an early safety? Sure. But I just don't see it. At least not without a trade down. We are not desperate at Safety as Sens/Pool is a soft duo but not a horrid one.

18 long days til they pick so we'll have plenty of chances to debate each possible selection....

 

[SilverStarCowboy]

He's a career long starter including with experience under Ryan so one could presume he is here as at least a stop gap starter. He is a Texas guy and really wanted to be here. Scouting reports suggest he is a solid center field type who doesn't tackle all that well. So perhaps a more coverage-oriented version of Abe Elam.

Could Dallas select an early safety? Sure. But I just don't see it. At least not without a trade down. We are not desperate at Safety as Sens/Pool is a soft duo but not a horrid one.

18 long days til they pick so we'll have plenty of chances to debate each possible selection....

Dallas covered all the bases for Best Player Available, if Alabama RB Trent Richardson is there, you take him.

 

[jday]

Offense​

QB...Romo, Orton, McGee, Carpenter (4, Likely to carry 3.)
RB...Murray, Jones, Tanner (3, Likely to carry 3.)
FB...Vickers, Chapas, Greenhouse (3, Likely to carry 1.)
WR...Austin, Bryant, Ogletree, Holmes, Harris, Radway (6, Likely to carry 5.)
TE...Witten, Phillips (2, Likely to carry 3.)
OT...Smith, Free, Parnell (3, likely to carry 4.)
OG...Bernadeau, Livings, Nagy, Arkin (4, Likely to carry 4.)
C...Costa, Kowalski (2, Likely to carry 2.)

28 total players currently on the Offense. (Likely to carry 25.)

Defense​

DE...Lissemore, Hatcher, Spears, Coleman, Geathers, Atkins (6, Likely to carry 5.)
NT...Ratliff, Brent, Calloway (3, Likely to carry 2.)
OLB...Ware, Spencer, Butler, Albright (4, Likely to carry 4.)
ILB...Lee, Carter, Connor, Lemon, Satele (5, Likely to carry 4.)
CB...Carr, Jenkins, Scandrick, Butler, Wilson, Taplin-Ross, Williams (7, Likely to carry 6.)
S...Pool, Sensabaugh, Church, McCray, Silva (5, Likely to carry, 4.)

30 total players currently on the Defense. (Likely to carry 25.)

Special Teams​

K...Bailey, Forbath (2, Likely to carry 1.)
P...Jones (1, Likely to carry 1.)
LS...Ladouceur (1, Likely to carry 1.)

4 total players currently on Special Teams. (Likely to carry 3.)

This makes 60 players currently under contract with the team. We have 8 Draft picks. This means we will add 12 more players as UDFAs or FAs before Training Camp begins unless we add picks via the Draft.

The projected starters are in bold.




Where do you see the weakest link? I still see it at Interior OL even with the signings of Livings and Bernadeau. Mostly because Costa is still there. Secondly I see a need for better CB depth. I can live with this front 7 if I have to. Those two areas, not so much.

I'm not crazy about our current OL either, but, in my opinion, it was our defense that failed the team last year, not the offense. The offense, in most games, put enough points on the board to win. And while I realize you don't want to draft for need, I think the OL is the only place on the offense that really needs improvement. The DL, CB, LB, S could all use an upgrade.

 

[skinsscalper]

I'm not crazy about our current OL either, but, in my opinion, it was our defense that failed the team last year, not the offense. The offense, in most games, put enough points on the board to win. And while I realize you don't want to draft for need, I think the OL is the only place on the offense that really needs improvement. The DL, CB, LB, S could all use an upgrade.

I agree, to a certain extent. But our recent history suggests that our let downs (especially in the post season or combined with post season aspirations) have always had a direct line to the O-line failures. There have been time that the defensive play has contributed, also. That's not to be discounted.

Our defense was good enough to win it all in 07. Our offensive line gave Romo no chance (and make no bones about it, our best chance ALWAYS runs through Romo). In 09, again the O-line gave Romo no chance against the Vikings. Now, the defense had their share of blame to go around also, but no defense was going to hang around for long when our offense goes 3 and out on every series.

Does the defense need an injection of talent? Without a doubt. But, if we fix the defense and leave Romo fighting for his life we have NO chance. Protect Romo and we've got a chance no matter how horrible the defense, IMHO.