Bob Sturm Blog: Random Cowboys Thoughts

[YosemiteSam]

Last years complete failure was mostly about depth, (though not all about it) though he is wrong about the last four drafts being failures. I don't consider grabbing Felix, Scandrick, Jenkins, Choice, and Bennett in 2008 a draft bust. The only failure was Walden in the 7th round.

Right now, we have two starters from 2007 in Folk and Anderson. Granted Anderson isn't a huge impact player, but if Spencer pans out, that is three starters from that draft.

2006 was a bust as it has yet to produce a starting player, all though Hatcher may be a starter next year if Spears walks.

Obviously, 2005 produced 4 starters and 2 Pro Bowlers. He wasn't talking about that draft though.


The biggest issue the Cowboys have had is drafting OL and getting DE's to step up.

NY Giants
1 Mathias Kiwanuka backup

FYI, Kiwanuka is a starter, and would be a starter on a lot of teams in the NFL. His problem earlier on was switching positions due to the Giants having Strahan and Osi. They switched him to OLB in a 4-3 because they wanted him on the field and not sitting on the bench. I believe he has moved back to DE with Strahan gone.

 

[Hostile]

If Sturm is right and there are a bunch of Cowboy fans fretting that the mighty Patriots scored a coup in picking up Stanback and calling him a QB, all they need to do is look at the Patriots inconsistent draft history.

Stanback has the roster spot vacated by recently cut draft pick Kevin O'Donnell. And speaking of 2006, while we were missing on Carp, the Pats traded up to take Chad Jackson. Green Bay used one of the Patriots' picks to take...Greg Jennings. Ouch.

The draft is a crapshoot and no good team has great depth across the board. Anyway, Scandrick and Choice (two of our best "depth" players) are tied to our 2006 draft- in a "six degrees of Kevin Bacon" sort of way...

You should post more often ya know.

 

[skinsscalper]

Cant say I agree with alot of that, especially the part about the lack of depth.

What team in this league has dependable or quality backups at EVERY position? (hint, there arnt any)

There some positions we have alot of depth. Places like TE, RB and even CB. Not many teams have 3 legit starters at CB, but we do. No team has the 3-somes we have at TE or RB. We have a very good backup QB. We have some backup OL that have played in starting roles (Proctor, Holland and Preston have all started). I think Free showed in preseason that he can fill in for the short term, especially if the rest of the OL is in tact. I think we have good backup DE's. We have good depth at WR. We're thin in some of the other areas, but everybody has positions of concern.

Nobody has an entire set of starters backing up the #1's. Its stupid to think thats the definition of "good depth"

Honestly, I think the lack of depth theory is the most vital in the trenches (where we are the weakest). A good O-line can make even the most pedestrian of RBs and QBs effective. It's not that we lack depth (every team does). It's WHERE we lack depth. We've all heard the analogy that the game is won and lost in the trenches. Well, the trenches is where we are the weakest (depth-wise). Both offensively and defensively. That's where MY concern about about depth resides. Frankly, I haven't seen anything in the pre-season to assuage my concerns regarding the depth at those critical positions.

There's a reason the Pats lost their HOF QB and still won 11 games. Now, if they lost their HOF QB AND their starting LT I don't think they win 9 of em. It's all about the trenches.

 

[YosemiteSam]

See, all we got out of the 2006 draft was a bunch of backups, which is why we have no depth.

Or something like that.

I've already posted this, but the issue is DE and OL. As of the 2006 draft, we've got nothing out of it.

Football is won in the trenches and that is where our depth issues are at their worst.

We've drafted four OL guys and have produced ZERO guys capable of starting.

We've only drafted two DL guys yet one of our starters is already gone and the another will be gone next year. Hopefully Hatcher comes into his own this year. Without question, drafting a DE is an absolute MUST next season unless we find a cheap FA in the offseason like with did with Igor. Unlikely.

 

[speedkilz88]

Last years complete failure was mostly about depth, (though not all about it) though he is wrong about the last four drafts being failures. I don't consider grabbing Felix, Scandrick, Jenkins, Choice, and Bennett in 2008 a draft bust. The only failure was Walden in the 7th round.

Right now, we have two starters from 2007 in Folk and Anderson. Granted Anderson isn't a huge impact player, but if Spencer pans out, that is three starters from that draft.

2006 was a bust as it has yet to produce a starting player, all though Hatcher may be a starter next year if Spears walks.

Obviously, 2005 produced 4 starters and 2 Pro Bowlers. He wasn't talking about that draft though.


The biggest issue the Cowboys have had is drafting OL and getting DE's to step up.


FYI, Kiwanuka is a starter, and would be a starter on a lot of teams in the NFL. His problem earlier on was switching positions due to the Giants having Strahan and Osi. They switched him to OLB in a 4-3 because they wanted him on the field and not sitting on the bench. I believe he has moved back to DE with Strahan gone.

Osi and Tuck are the starting ends, I believe the experiment of OLB is over. They signed Michael Boley for that spot.

 

[Alexander]

I think we could survive one, or maybe if a couple guys just miss a few games. The problem would be if we lost multiple guys for the season, and thats just like any other team in football.

We lost exactly one last year (the least talented one everyone thought was terrible) and it looked like our line couldn't even function at times. I'll hope for losing zero, thank you. I'd rather not take any chances.

 

[dbair1967]

We lost exactly one last year (the least talented one everyone thought was terrible) and it looked like our line couldn't even function at times. I'll hope for losing zero, thank you. I'd rather not take any chances.

Adams was nowhere near 100% either though, and played alot of the yr basically one armed. This reduced the help we could give to Proctor.

 

[Alexander]

Adams was nowhere near 100% either though, and played alot of the yr basically one armed. This reduced the help we could give to Proctor.

I don't think that even a healthy Adams would have mattered. He couldn't "help" Proctor all the time. He had enough to deal with on his own. Left guard needs to be a bit more independent simply due to the fact that without tight end support, there are fewer occasions to give them assistance. Proctor was just bad. I don't think it could have been a case where helping him would have made everything all right.