Average draft According to Gosselin

[rwalters31]

If this has been posted before please delete.


Rick Gosselin, sports columnist for The Dallas Morning News and SportsDayDFW.com and member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame selection committee, answered your questions about the Cowboys and the NFL draft as well as the Mavericks, Rangers and Stars in a chat on Monday. Here are the highlights.


What do you think about our OL? Do you think Ron Leary can start at G?

Gosselin: The Cowboys signed Mackenzy Bernadeau and Nate Livings in free agency to start at guard. If any of the 32 teams projected Leary as a starter in 2012, they would have drafted him. They didn't. That's why he was there for the Cowboys as a rookie free agent after the draft. David Arkin had more going for him a year ago than Leary has in 2012 and Arkin didn't suit up for a single game in 2011. Don't build your hopes up too highly for Leary.


Did any of the Cowboy's undrafted FA's peak your interest?

Gosselin: Aston Whiteside, a defensive end from Abilene Christian. Players from Abilene Christian seem to know what it takes to play at the next level.


Jerry said they would have taken an ILB with the 45th pick if they had not traded up for Claiborne. Is this a sign that Bruce Carter has disappointed the coaching staff with his progress thus far?

Gosselin: I expect Bruce Carter to start this season on the inside alongside Sean Lee . But he has position flexibility. He also has the tools to play the outside. You can't judge him based on 2011. He was coming off a knee injury and wasn't even football-ready until November. There was no offseason program for him to learn the defense. I remember when Troy Polamalu was a rookie for the Steelers. All of Pittsburgh was calling him a bust because he spent his rookie season covering kicks and playing very little defense. He started in his second season and went to the Pro Bowl. Now he's being labeled a future Hall of Famer. You need more than one season to judge what any rookie can do. Carter is healthy now, he'll know the defense and the Cowboys expect him to start. We can talk more in depth on Carter after the 2012 season.


What grade would you give the Cowboys draft overall?

Gosselin: I thought the Cowboys had an average draft. I'm not sure they drafted more than one starter for 2012 -- and this is a non-playoff team that needs more help than that from its draft class.
:bang2:

 

[BIGDen]

We got it Goose. Dallas is a crappy, non-playoff team that can't get it right like the other teams. I think he's still trying to figure out how Dallas won the East and advanced in the playoffs in '09. I recall him saying something (going into the offseason) about Dallas needing to get DBs this offseason and really load up on defense. Well now that they've signed the best young CB in FA and drafted the best CB (and overall defensive player) in the nation do you think he might say that we could be improved from a team that barely missed the playoffs last year (and led the mighty, incredible, vagiants by 12 with 5 minutes to go late in the season)? Naaaah! We also drafted defense with our first 4 picks, including at least a couple of guys (Claiborne and Crawford) that look like early contributors. The team really did quite a bit to improve the D this past offseason, but you wouldn't know it from this negative clown. Making this guy their big columnist was a terrible move by DMN. Of course, it was no surprise really. After all, they apparently liked JJT as well...

 

[RoyTheHammer]

You can all whine about it, but nothing he said is really incorrect. Aside from Mo, i don't think we drafted a single starter, and some of the options out there certainly seemed better than the players we chose.

 

[The Realist]

When you sign 6 new starters and have second year player that is going to start, just how many do you think you are going to add in the draft (Carter, Carr, Pool, Bernadeau, Livings, Vickers)? Plus Carter makes it 7 new starters.

Then he uses Polamalu as an example of someone who started off on ST's and backup role that became a starter. Crawfor, Wilbur, MJ? Could they develop into starters down the road?

 

[TheCount]

You can all whine about it, but nothing he said is really incorrect. Aside from Mo, i don't think we drafted a single starter, and some of the options out there certainly seemed better than the players we chose.

Agreed. None of these guys will start in 2012 except Morris and his opinions aren't unreasonable. Wagner being the potential pick at 45 really threw me for a loop, it's like they were going to draft guys that wouldn't start regardless of who was on the board. Like it was a plan.

 

[RoyTheHammer]

When you sign 6 new starters and have second year player that is going to start, just how many do you think you are going to add in the draft (Carter, Carr, Pool, Bernadeau, Livings, Vickers)? Plus Carter makes it 7 new starters.

Then he uses Polamalu as an example of someone who started off on ST's and backup role that became a starter. Crawfor, Wilbur, MJ? Could they develop into starters down the road?

You listed Carter twice there, bud.. and ok. If any of these guys turns into a starter and a Pro Bowler in their second year, i'll change my opinion, lol. Good luck with that happening with Wilbur or Johnson though. The point was that there were better prospects out there when we made these selections. I think one example being that most teams didn't even have either of our 4th round picks on the radar and we are acting like they are first round talents who we really really wanted so badly. Wilbur said his only pre draft visit was here.. so clearly he wasn't thought of as some hot commodity by any team other than us. Guess our scouting dept is just that much better though..

 

[Smith22]

You can all whine about it, but nothing he said is really incorrect. Aside from Mo, i don't think we drafted a single starter, and some of the options out there certainly seemed better than the players we chose.

Can we let the players hit the field before we determine what their future holds? :bang2: :bang2: :bang2:

My lord.

 

[slomoxn]

I don't know who all the players the Cowboys had in for a visit, but I do recall an article or quote that said they tried to stick with those that showed exceptional leadership, athletic, and football knowledge. These guys they picked all were able to grasp RR's defense better than other players, it seems to all come down to Jason's "Right kind of Guy" philosophy and maybe the other players most of you like just didn't fit the mold or could not grasp Ryan's defense in a way they wanted.

 

[The Realist]

You listed Carter twice there, bud.. and ok. If any of these guys turns into a starter and a Pro Bowler in their second year, i'll change my opinion, lol. Good luck with that happening with Wilbur or Johnson though. The point was that there were better prospects out there when we made these selections. I think one example being that most teams didn't even have either of our 4th round picks on the radar and we are acting like they are first round talents who we really really wanted so badly. Wilbur said his only pre draft visit was here.. so clearly he wasn't thought of as some hot commodity by any team other than us. Guess our scouting dept is just that much better though..

Mo, Carr, Pool, Carter, Bernie, Livings, Vickers. If you can't figure out who the new starters are that's on you.

I never said future Pro Bowlers, but if you've already added 7 starters those mid round guys are guys who can contribute now, but hopefully become starters in the future.

 

[Zimmy Lives]

For the life of me I'll never understand why ANYONE would get excited or upset about ANYTHING Goose has to say about football talent. He's a reporter!

Ask him to predict the flow of the draft and he will give you an accurate description based on what his former contacts in the NFL provide him. Ask him to evaluate talent and he's just offering his opinion. Just take it as Cowboys news and move on.

 

[Doomsday101]

Mo, Carr, Pool, Carter, Bernie, Livings, Vickers. If you can't figure out who the new starters are that's on you.

I never said future Pro Bowlers, but if you've already added 7 starters those mid round guys are guys who can contribute now, but hopefully become starters in the future.

I agree. Mid rd players no matter if it is Dallas or NE will be hard pressed to start right away. What you hope is that they can come in contribute in some of the packages we run and develop as they move forward.

 

[SDogo]

You listed Carter twice there, bud.. and ok. If any of these guys turns into a starter and a Pro Bowler in their second year, i'll change my opinion, lol. Good luck with that happening with Wilbur or Johnson though. The point was that there were better prospects out there when we made these selections. I think one example being that most teams didn't even have either of our 4th round picks on the radar and we are acting like they are first round talents who we really really wanted so badly. Wilbur said his only pre draft visit was here.. so clearly he wasn't thought of as some hot commodity by any team other than us. Guess our scouting dept is just that much better though..

That statement is filled with so many verified incorrect statements it was not even worth the time to write it or read it. You picked up on the article where Wilber stated his only pre draft visit is here (yet that says nothing, we drafted a player in the 1st round we never even spoke to as many teams did) yet you missed the others where Wilbur and Johnson received calls from numerous teams during the draft (Johnson, Phil and Chi starting in the 3rd round) and Wilbur was given 2nd round grades by several teams. If you dont know the prospects that's on you but don't make up stuff to support your argument.

 

[InmanRoshi]

By my count the 2nd rounders drafted last year only started in 205 out of a possible 512 regular season games, approx 40%. This includes franchises that guys like Goose and Sturm claim "know what they're doing" like New England (Shane Vereen 0 starts out of 16) and Philly (Jaiquawn Jarrett 2 starts out of 16, and those two starts were as injury fill ins).

Grading drafts entirely by whether the 2nd rounder starts is a pretty dumb way to evaluate a class.

 

[BIGDen]

You can all whine about it, but nothing he said is really incorrect. Aside from Mo, i don't think we drafted a single starter, and some of the options out there certainly seemed better than the players we chose.

Nobody is "whining". Goose rarely, if ever, has anything positive to say. Even after our better drafts he is unimpressed. One would think this team is barely competitive when reading his crap. Goose sucks. Period.

 

[Fredd]

Using the word "average" by gosselin is like saying "wonderful" to everyone else...I rarely see his say anything positive about the cowboys in what I have read...I typically pass over his articles when I see them out there...I assume he wanted to date a dc cheerleader and she saw that he was a geek and blew him off, thus, he trashes the cowboys at most turns.

 

[btcutter]

Goose is entitled to his opinion just like everyone of us.

Base on statistics he is probably right about how many STARTERS we drafted for 2012. That doesn't count CONTRIBUTORS in 2012.

As regarding playoffs, well, that's anyone's guess. But just looking at our own division we ARE rated 3rd behind the Gmen and Giggles until we prove that we can beat them. If we only are third in our division, we ain't making the playoffs. However, games are won on the field and not on paper so we will just have to see when season opens.

 

[YosemiteSam]

I see where he is coming from.

The Cowboys could have drafted other players that showed a lot more ability right now. I think the Cowboys put a VERY HIGH value on character to the point that they were willing to take players with less value today, to get that overall value in the long run.

In the long run this could workout for the Cowboys. There are several more talented players, that may not have the character to utilize that talent over the long haul. (think Mike Jenkins)

The Cowboys decided they want a lot of Sean Lees and Bill Bates rather than a bunch of Mike Jenkins type players. A little less physical talent, but a whole lot more smarts, will, want, and tenacity for the game. They drafted talented professionals, not just talented people.

 

[Duane]

The only thing Goose has done consistently well over the years is compile information from NFL teams to get player rankings.

Now that he's not doing that for the DMN there is no reason to take his other football opinions very serious.

 

[Doomsday101]

By my count the 2nd rounders drafted last year only started in 205 out of a possible 512 regular season games, approx 40%. This includes franchises that guys like Goose and Sturm claim "know what they're doing" like New England (Shane Vereen 0 starts out of 16) and Philly (Jaiquawn Jarrett 2 starts out of 16, and those two starts were as injury fill ins).

Grading drafts entirely by whether the 2nd rounder starts is a pretty dumb way to evaluate a class.

True. Dallas drafted Woodson in the 2nd rd (37th overall) he not did become a starter until a year later.

Jimmy had 1st and 2nd rd players who did not start right away

 

[Marktui]

Like I said before Goose is what he is, a glass half empty guy.

He based this draft on his perceived needs and what it will take the Cowboys to the playoffs.

He is right, that there is only one likely starter out of the group, MB. He is only talking starters though, what's important is that these group of guys they bring can somehow contribute in some sort of way. Wilbur and Crawford get consistent pressure on nickel defense packages, maybe even get 2-3 sacks between the two of them? Matt Johnson and McSurdy becomes a special teams demon and is making tackles on kick offs, punt return teams. Hanna works in as an H back and is able to work the seam routes.