BTB-Cowboys Roster: Rise Of The Draftees And UDFAs

[MichaelWinicki]

Joey Ickes and I have done a couple of rather premature roster projections (check out our latest if you haven't already). In doing the last one a couple of things jumped out at me. First, Joey and I are apparently drinking the same Kool Aid, since our rosters were almost identical, down to the practice squad. And we did not see each other's ideas before doing our own.

But second, I noticed how the team has made a real, and apparently successful, attempt to build the roster primarily with players it has acquired directly from the college ranks. Coty Saxman also saw this, and talked in his recent post about how Dallas is countering the ever present threat of injuries by creating quality depth. In it, he talked about how the team made a major change after the 2009 Draft from Hell. As often happens here, those two posts spurred an idea for me, and I decided to take a cumulative look at what has happened since that miserable experience.

Although we are really still guessing about which players will remain after the final cut down, it is clear in looking through the current roster and combining that with the reports that came out of the media present at the OTAs and minicamp that the Cowboys are seeing more success with the players they draft and sign as undrafted free agents. Not only that, but there seems to be a clear trend that they are getting better every year...

For more:

http://www.bloggingtheboys.com/2013...tyron-smith-morris-claiborne-travis-frederick

 

[lwehlers]

this is a great article for the garrett fans. I am not one of them for now but I reserve my right to change my mind. while it does show some improvements in drafting. this year needs to start showing some results on the field. if we do then I think that garrett deserves a new contract but if the cowboys should stay the same 8-8 team then a change is needed. the major change would be to get rid of jerry jones but I know that will not happen so a new head coach will do.

 

[jobberone]

I disagree with any changes in the coaching staff in the near future. This team has not had any consistency since Jimmy left and he wasn't here long either. You cannot keep changing things so drastically for the players and expect them to perform the best they can.

If I were Jerry I would give the current coaching staff 3+ years. Now I might extend Garrett's contract so I would have a decent out over that period (if I he'd agree) but there is no reason for wholesale changes at this time.

If the club takes a big enough down turn then I'd consider it but it'd have to be due to coaching and not injuries, player performance yada.

You have got to give Garrett enough time to change the entire organization. My only problem with Parcells was he left too early as far as the organization goes. Wasn't crazy about the conservative coaching but he was turning things around from the bottom up and that's what I see in Garrett. And I'm not a huge Garrett fan although I've turned the corner on him over the last two years.

 

[Zordon]

I wish the team would allow BTB access to watch practice with the rest of the print/tv media.

 

[big dog cowboy]

It's all a process.

 

[MadCow]

I like the progress the Cowboys are making. It's encouraging to see the failed ideas on how to better the team have been replaced with thought out, strategic plans for success. HOWEVER... if we're going to fault our OWNER/PRESIDENT/GM for the bad, let's give him all due credit for any success that arises. JG is part of the process.

(IF it all pans out) I would first thank Jerry for a job well done.

 

[Eskimo]

I like the progress the Cowboys are making. It's encouraging to see the failed ideas on how to better the team have been replaced with thought out, strategic plans for success. HOWEVER... if we're going to fault our OWNER/PRESIDENT/GM for the bad, let's give him all due credit for any success that arises. JG is part of the process.

(IF it all pans out) I would first thank Jerry for a job well done.

I'll definitively start giving Jerry credit if he stops giving big 3rd contracts to players and starts getting the initial extensions of the core players done earlier. I can understand waiting on Lee because of all his injury issues it is a dicey situation. I'd definitely want a conservative deal with some makeable incentives based on games played and a moderate signing bonus. It is just hard to decide on his value. I'd be fine with $6-7M/yr overall for him as the leader of the defense.

We need to resist on the urge to sign Spencer. I wish we didn't extend him this year to keep ammo for the deals we need to get done in the future but can't really fault him too much for doing so. Spencer is not elite and I think he has been asking for elite money. We need to start trying to groom a replacement this year but also need to think hard about going after a rushman early in the draft next year with Spencer leaving and Ware hitting 32 next year.

 

[Cumart21]

I also feel the Cowboys are on the right track in terms of (re)building the roster from the ground up. This takes consecutive years of strong drafts, which it seems they've had since 2010. It also takes years to overcome a terrible draft, which was the case in 2009. Let's hope we see improvement on Sundays!

 

[ShiningStar]

some teams get lucky in a bad year, others coaching, for other teams still, just how the stars align. As a whole, i am pleasantly happy with the changes Dallas made this offseason. I personally didnt think the 3-4 was doing anything for us. I felt some coaches were holding us back and i am glad to see better drafts, yes they are not a science but still hit on a player or two.

It seems Dallas is concentrating on talent than just a youth movement or looking for a one year wonder season. I hope we keep building from the ground up. I would rather see home grown guys than mercs for hire. We still have more off season ahead of us and im happy to see it all pan out. This could be a very good time for Dallas to lay down a great foundation and see where they are at.

There are going to be some very good teams this season, as there always is, and there will be a surprise or two, and than some teams just get lucky, but im hoping Dallas again keeps their future in their hands, take care of each team in front of them and march through the season as victorious as they can be.

 

[Idgit]

I also feel the Cowboys are on the right track in terms of (re)building the roster from the ground up. This takes consecutive years of strong drafts, which it seems they've had since 2010. It also takes years to overcome a terrible draft, which was the case in 2009. Let's hope we see improvement on Sundays!

We pretty clearly have a process (yes, a process) that's working better than our previous 'process' when it comes to developing players and acquiring talent.

I also think we've done a great job of instilling a competitive mindset on this team.

We've got shaky areas in terms of depth, but, overall, we're a lot deeper than we've been in recent seasons. We need a couple bluebirds at OT, where I think we might only have one quality NFL starter. DL is going to be a problem next offseason, not because of the quality of players we've got, but because of the status of their contracts.

Our coaching limitations have been mostly on game days and, with the experience we've got now on both sides of the ball, there really shouldn't be any excuse for that anymore, honestly.

This team has warts, and it's definitely in 'show me' mode for a lot of fans, and I think that's legitimate. But I think the arrow for the franchise is really pointing up right now. I think we saw the first of that last offseason despite the strangest rash of early redundant injuries to groups we really needed to develop that I ever remember seeing. If we can just hang onto the dang football, and maybe take a few away, we're going to beat some good teams this season.

 

[xwalker]

I basically agree with the article; however, if I were writing an article about this subject, I would compare the players remaining on the team in 2013 from the 2010, 2011, and 2012 drafts to the players remaining on the team in 2010 from the 2007, 2008 and 2009 drafts.

Obviously, there are more draft picks remaining in 2013 from the 2012 draft than from drafts 4 or 5 years ago.

 

[morasp]

I hadn't heard that McSurdy was doing well on the second team defense. Glad to hear that.

 

[Idgit]

I basically agree with the article; however, if I were writing an article about this subject, I would compare the players remaining on the team in 2013 from the 2010, 2011, and 2012 drafts to the players remaining on the team in 2010 from the 2007, 2008 and 2009 drafts.

Obviously, there are more draft picks remaining in 2013 from the 2012 draft than from drafts 4 or 5 years ago.

Yeah, it's pretty clear from looking at the players on the roster by year from his chart that some of this is the effect of the players being newer to the team. As each year goes by, there's a chance a player gets hurt or bumped and loses his spot, so it just stands to reason that there will be a higher attrition rate for the 2010 class than there is for the 2012 class.