Any Hope for David Arkin?

[gimmesix]

its his lower body that needs the strength; and some people just cannot build enough.

Somehow the idea has become popular that you only need to spend a year or so in a NFL weight room and you will be as strong as you need.

News flash: some people just cannot do it.

Yes. It's really nothing against Arkin. He might be an incredibly hard worker and still never be able to build his power base the way he needs to to be an NFL-caliber lineman.

 

[RS12]

I have absolutely no clue why David Arkin is still on this team.

You are supposed to take 90 guys to Oxnard. It has to be somebody.

 

[CowboyMcCoy]

I hope Arkin reads this and grunts and groans through a rigorous, maybe "all-natural", if you will. That way, he's definitely beefed up (Psst., genius, that's what the big boys are doing.) in preseason and knocks errybody on their butts. Wouldn't it be awesome to see an incredibly, incredible-hulk, raging, gym rat--Arnold Schwarzenegger-Style Arkin and some other camp surprises and voila, the draft gets that much "better".

 

[minister2003]

Long, long time reader. I usually don't post because someone says what I am thinking, but nobody has mentioned that he was also transitioning from guard to center and had to learn to snap the ball. Offensive lineman are historically late bloomers and I would be hesitant to give up on someone who looks like he has all the tools exept the one thing that can be improved-physical strength. Just my two cents after all these years.

 

[theogt]

Long, long time reader. I usually don't post because someone says what I am thinking, but nobody has mentioned that he was also transitioning from guard to center and had to learn to snap the ball. Offensive lineman are historically late bloomers and I would be hesitant to give up on someone who looks like he has all the tools exept the one thing that can be improved-physical strength. Just my two cents after all these years.

All excellent points.

 

[CF74]

Is Arkin such a terrible player that we don't even consider him a Cowboy anymore? Is that how this ended up in the 'off topic' section? lol

Just another interior o-line guy that got injured last year. So hard to get a good gauge on them with such a fluke situation....

Edit: Just double checked, no injury reports to be found. Guess he just sucks...

 

[Vinnie2u]

Sounds like he needs to get on a HGH regimen before they start testing for it.

 

[Flinger]

Long, long time reader. I usually don't post because someone says what I am thinking, but nobody has mentioned that he was also transitioning from guard to center and had to learn to snap the ball. Offensive lineman are historically late bloomers and I would be hesitant to give up on someone who looks like he has all the tools exept the one thing that can be improved-physical strength. Just my two cents after all these years.

Nice post - you should post more often. I'm sort of like you - mostly read. And, I can't hold a candle to these guys, so it's kinda hard to add anything of value. So, perhaps we can read together?

Regarding Arkin, I really don't understand how professional coaches and a professional front office that selected him can be so wrong. So, is it the coaches and the scouts that are wrong or those of us that don't see him playing after 2 full seasons?

If it is the coaches and front office - then, it is very difficult for guys like me to have any confidence in their judgment of talent... either talent that is to be acquired or talent that continues to fill a roster spot.

 

[TheSport78]

Oh, there's hope.

I really, really hope he's one of the first roster cuts in training camp.

 

[CF74]

Nice post - you should post more often. I'm sort of like you - mostly read. And, I can't hold a candle to these guys, so it's kinda hard to add anything of value. So, perhaps we can read together?

Regarding Arkin, I really don't understand how professional coaches and a professional front office that selected him can be so wrong. So, is it the coaches and the scouts that are wrong or those of us that don't see him playing after 2 full seasons?

If it is the coaches and front office - then, it is very difficult for guys like me to have any confidence in their judgment of talent... either talent that is to be acquired or talent that continues to fill a roster spot.

All I can say is that sometimes the coaches see something in a prospect and try to develop a player on the cheap (Like Romo and Austin once were,) but after about 3-4 years it's time to pay the piper....

 

[Eskimo]

Nice post - you should post more often. I'm sort of like you - mostly read. And, I can't hold a candle to these guys, so it's kinda hard to add anything of value. So, perhaps we can read together?

Regarding Arkin, I really don't understand how professional coaches and a professional front office that selected him can be so wrong. So, is it the coaches and the scouts that are wrong or those of us that don't see him playing after 2 full seasons?

If it is the coaches and front office - then, it is very difficult for guys like me to have any confidence in their judgment of talent... either talent that is to be acquired or talent that continues to fill a roster spot.

The truth is draft choices are crap shoots, even ones who started from multiple years at the best colleges. Heck, even ones taken in the top ten bust on a regular basis. Once you are down to the 4th round those players usually have multiple holes in their games between playing against lesser schools, lacking strength, lacking technique, lacking ideal body dimensions, lacking quickness, lacking speed, lacking toughness, lacking durability, lacking work ethic, lacking intelligence and/or football IQ......

I think the rate of finding quality starting talent in the 4th round is somewhere in the neighbourhood of 20%. The odds are basically stacked against these guys.

Heck I did a review recently of the 2009 draft and found about 10 decent starters out of the 32 picks at a point which should represent the peak of their careers. So around 1/3 make it in the 3rd round. I suspect those numbers aren't too far off what you would find in different years. Now just consider how much hype there is right now about our 3rd rounders and then realize there is about a 44% chance that neither of them ever develops into a starting quality player and there is only about a 10% chance that both of them end up being quality starters.

So right from the beginning we all should have realized the odds were soundly against Arkin ever being a major contributor. He had a flaw in his game which was not exposed in small school ball that became obvioius when playing against NFL quality players. Thus far it has been a deficiency which he has not been able to correct after working around 1.5 years with NFL quality trainers/nutritionists, etc. It may not be in his DNA to develop the kind of core strength needed to anchor against elite 320 pound athletes trying to run right through you.

Anyhow, I do wish the kid well since he is a Cowboy and he seems to work and try really hard by all accounts. If he develops some more core strength he could have a really long career in the league as he has really good movement skills.

 

[jobberone]

Long, long time reader. I usually don't post because someone says what I am thinking, but nobody has mentioned that he was also transitioning from guard to center and had to learn to snap the ball. Offensive lineman are historically late bloomers and I would be hesitant to give up on someone who looks like he has all the tools exept the one thing that can be improved-physical strength. Just my two cents after all these years.

You should post more. We need objective opinions no matter what they be. I have to depend on other people for Arkin and others as I've just not watched them play. I'd love more competition along the interior. We have a rookie, Costa, and two journeymen along with more unknowns. Somebody has a decent chance of stepping up this year.

And

 

[minister2003]

OK-you guys (and gals) sucked me in. Arkin is a "pet cat" of mine because of the fact they are protecting him. They cut Leary last year and kept Arkin. Now i realize it is popular to acuse the front office and Mr. Jones of everything from apathy to incompetence, but they are being paid to evalute talent. They seem to think that Arkin (and Matt Johnston) have some potential that is worth keeping over other players that they have released. Now he may be in the first round of cuts, but I would be very surprised.

I am convinced, along with other posters, that the reason we didn't draft "project" OL is that we already have a ton of them on the roster. They obviously think that these men are superior to what they could have drafted (an oversimplification but still something I'm convinced is true). I like Broadus (sp?), But he is not Callahan or Garrett. If you really know what they are thinking I would love to know. Sorry for the rant, but i thought that was an important point in the discussion.

 

[Flinger]

The truth is draft choices are crap shoots, even ones who started from multiple years at the best colleges. Heck, even ones taken in the top ten bust on a regular basis. Once you are down to the 4th round those players usually have multiple holes in their games between playing against lesser schools, lacking strength, lacking technique, lacking ideal body dimensions, lacking quickness, lacking speed, lacking toughness, lacking durability, lacking work ethic, lacking intelligence and/or football IQ......

I think the rate of finding quality starting talent in the 4th round is somewhere in the neighbourhood of 20%. The odds are basically stacked against these guys.

Heck I did a review recently of the 2009 draft and found about 10 decent starters out of the 32 picks at a point which should represent the peak of their careers. So around 1/3 make it in the 3rd round. I suspect those numbers aren't too far off what you would find in different years. Now just consider how much hype there is right now about our 3rd rounders and then realize there is about a 44% chance that neither of them ever develops into a starting quality player and there is only about a 10% chance that both of them end up being quality starters.

So right from the beginning we all should have realized the odds were soundly against Arkin ever being a major contributor. He had a flaw in his game which was not exposed in small school ball that became obvioius when playing against NFL quality players. Thus far it has been a deficiency which he has not been able to correct after working around 1.5 years with NFL quality trainers/nutritionists, etc. It may not be in his DNA to develop the kind of core strength needed to anchor against elite 320 pound athletes trying to run right through you.

Anyhow, I do wish the kid well since he is a Cowboy and he seems to work and try really hard by all accounts. If he develops some more core strength he could have a really long career in the league as he has really good movement skills.

I get it. It's a numbers game and a game of attrition.

I'm with you regarding Arkin - hope he pulls through. As I do for all players that put on the uniform and wear the star.

But, still - when the law of averages suggest that we, as a team, have performed below average in this area for so many years now... and their sub-performance transcends what are considered to be top flight coaching staffs (Houck, Callahan)... it just makes me wonder why this seems to be so difficult.

Teams that compete don't seem to struggle so much. Heck - we didn't in the 90's...

 

[gimmesix]

OK-you guys (and gals) sucked me in. Arkin is a "pet cat" of mine because of the fact they are protecting him. They cut Leary last year and kept Arkin. Now i realize it is popular to acuse the front office and Mr. Jones of everything from apathy to incompetence, but they are being paid to evalute talent. They seem to think that Arkin (and Matt Johnston) have some potential that is worth keeping over other players that they have released. Now he may be in the first round of cuts, but I would be very surprised.

I am convinced, along with other posters, that the reason we didn't draft "project" OL is that we already have a ton of them on the roster. They obviously think that these men are superior to what they could have drafted (an oversimplification but still something I'm convinced is true). I like Broadus (sp?), But he is not Callahan or Garrett. If you really know what they are thinking I would love to know. Sorry for the rant, but i thought that was an important point in the discussion.

Dallas rightly was not ready to give up on Arkin last year. That was too soon in his development to make that move.

This summer, though, should be it. He has to prove that he's among the Cowboys' top 10 linemen at least and no longer just a potential prospect.

 

[85Cowboy85]

When it comes to prospects typically no news is bad news. If a guy shows anything at all either the organization will talk him up or word leaks out via sources. It's not that all guys that are talked up by the organization do work out but very seldom do players emerge out of nowhere.

Of course I hope Arkin beats the odds but it is not looking good right now.

 

[jnday]

All I can say is that sometimes the coaches see something in a prospect and try to develop a player on the cheap (Like Romo and Austin once were,) but after about 3-4 years it's time to pay the piper....

I agree. They took a chance on Arkin because he has some tools that could make him a quality lineman. They knew that strength was a problem. He simply hasn't gained the power that he needs to play in the pros or at least he hadn't last season. It is possible that he has gained enough strength to stick around by now. We won't know until preseason.

 

[burmafrd]

When it comes to prospects typically no news is bad news. If a guy shows anything at all either the organization will talk him up or word leaks out via sources. It's not that all guys that are talked up by the organization do work out but very seldom do players emerge out of nowhere.

Of course I hope Arkin beats the odds but it is not looking good right now.

yeah that is my point. News always leaks but when there is NOTHING said about a player it is almost always bad news

 

[Primetime42]

I don't think it's fair to hold the Ryan Cook thing against Arkin. They had no center at the time, Arkin was playing a position he had no experience in, was having trouble snapping the ball and then executing his assignment, so they made a move.

 

[CowboyMcCoy]

OK-you guys (and gals) sucked me in. Arkin is a "pet cat" of mine because of the fact they are protecting him. They cut Leary last year and kept Arkin. Now i realize it is popular to acuse the front office and Mr. Jones of everything from apathy to incompetence, but they are being paid to evalute talent. They seem to think that Arkin (and Matt Johnston) have some potential that is worth keeping over other players that they have released. Now he may be in the first round of cuts, but I would be very surprised.

I am convinced, along with other posters, that the reason we didn't draft "project" OL is that we already have a ton of them on the roster. They obviously think that these men are superior to what they could have drafted (an oversimplification but still something I'm convinced is true). I like Broadus (sp?), But he is not Callahan or Garrett. If you really know what they are thinking I would love to know. Sorry for the rant, but i thought that was an important point in the discussion.

I don't think anyone really knows what they're thinking before camp even begins. I'm an Arkin fan, win or lose, and I'm hoping he can come in and make a difference. We shall see. We have a bully center. Next draft, we need a bully guard.