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The weekend is over and now it’s time to sit back and digest this great Cowboys draft. Here are five questions, and answers, people have about this year’s action.
After an eventful weekend covering the draft, the post-draft questions came from all directions on social media. There were mostly positive remarks as it was hard to look at the Cowboys body of work and not be pleased. Whether these kids turn out to be good NFL players or not will take some time to determine, but as far as the approach the team took in the draft - it’s very hard to complain. But that doesn’t stop some from trying and over the last few days there have been some good questions come up. Here are five questions heard over the last few days.
QUESTION #1 - Who do you think is the Cowboys best pick in the draft?
That’s a very difficult question to answer. There is different criteria that would yield different answers. If you are going by best overall value, then the answer would be Xavier Woods in the sixth round. Despite being a draft class deep in defensive backs, one doesn’t expect to land a player of Woods caliber that late in the draft. The Cowboys war room has become super disciplined when it comes to staying put and not surrendering draft capital to go after someone, but as we all saw - he was someone they had to have.
Everyone loves that selection and Woods is going to be a favorite of many, but if you are following him on twitter, you’re probably following the wrong guy.
Top twitter follower increase over the weekend:
1. Drew Pearson
2. Xaiver Woods the wrestler
3. The orangutan drafting for the Colts
— Dan Rogers (@DannyPhantom24) April 30, 2017
I will add that I am a big fan of Chidobe Awuzie. Similar to Kevin King, I wasn’t a fan when his name came up as a potential first-round pick, but at pick 60, it’s a whole new ball game. He’s the bet for the player will have the biggest impact his rookie season.
Keep an eye on Ryan Switzer too. The Cowboys offense already is a handful for defenses and there are too many weapons that are forced to receive one-on-one coverage. He’s just going to be another problem for defenses and Dak Prescott has shown the ability to exploit them.
QUESTION #2 - Was the Taco Charlton pick best player available or did the Cowboys pick based on need?
Charlton was not the top player on the Cowboys board. Cornerback, Kevin King was, yet the Cowboys selected Charlton instead.
.@fishsports says CB Kevin King was higher on the board than Taco Charlton. King only first round grade Cowboys have left @1053thefan.
— Shan Shariff (@1053SS) April 28, 2017
This angered a lot of fans. First, many loved King so there’s that. But more than that, this completely contradicts this whole “best player available” theory that has been latched to the Cowboys front office. And my response to that is - so what.
Dallas doesn’t deal in absolutes. If you try to get them to give you a definitive answer about something they’re planning on doing, good luck. They don’t generalize and they are not set in their ways of how they do things. They are always adapting. And in this draft, they had a great big-picture view of the layout of the talent available. And that picture contained cornerbacks that the team knew they could get later. They knew they could maximize the talent from this draft by going with Charlton first, then secondary later.
Anyone that has played fantasy football is very familiar with this type of strategy. Better players are passed up on at times because of the supply and demand of the draft. You get the low supply stuff early because you know the surplus stuff will be around later. The Cowboys used their picks wisely to make their team better. If the draft was graded by individual results, then it’s a different story, but this is a team game and it’s your collection of players that matter.
QUESTION #3 - Is the Cowboys secondary better off now than it was at the end of the 2016 season?
No. You don’t lose that many veteran pieces and replace them with a handful of rookies and suddenly expect them to be better. While the short-term results may put the team a little behind last year, this is a group that won’t take long to be better.
I ❤️ Awuzie/Lewis/Woods more than Carr/Claiborne/Church in 17 because of the $18M savings. I'll ❤️ them more in 18 because they'll be better
— Dan Rogers (@DannyPhantom24) April 30, 2017
Keep in mind that both Byron Jones and Anthony Brown have a year more of experience now and Orlando Scandrick should enter the season healthier than he did last year.
While Brandon Carr is often underrated, he’s also not fabulous. And Morris Claiborne is typically only good for so many games a season. You wouldn’t be going out too far on a limb to say that one of these players, Chidobe Awuzie or Jourdan Lewis, could have a better season than what Carr or Claiborne had last year.
The trickier one is Barry Church. While he isn’t a Pro Bowl player, his contribution can’t be overlooked. Fan-favorite Jeff Heath will get a shot and rookie Xavier Woods can offer up some competition, but it would be surprising to see either of them give you what Church did last year. At least right away.
QUESTION #4 - I know you were a big Takkarist McKinley fan and he almost made it to the Cowboys. How upset were you that they missed out on Takk?
The deal with that is I had come to terms that McKinley wasn’t going to make it to the Cowboys. You hear so many naysayers who wanted no part of him and his ailing shoulder and in the back of your mind, you’re thinking just maybe he’ll slide. And when he was sliding, my hopes got high.
It was aggravating that the Atlanta Falcons jumped over the Cowboys to snag Takk and it stings even more when you hear reports that Takk would have been the team’s pick had he been there. But what can you do? It’s a satisfying feeling that the Cowboys always seem to be interested in “my guy” in the first round, but when I truly think about it, it is me that is getting better at honing in on what the Cowboys are interested in.
QUESTION #5 - After Takk was drafted, he went on a little bit of a rant while slipping in some choice words. Did that change your opinion of him?
A little. This is an emotional time for him and that was clearly on display. That’s fine and all, but it consumed him to a point where he failed to have any situational awareness. The whole world is not his stage. To not be mindful of his surroundings and not behave more respectable was a turn-off for me. I love the kid, don’t get me wrong and it changes nothing of what I think about his pass rushing ability, but the tirade was something that could have been toned down a bit. You know it’s a bit much when the often-animated Deion Sanders is trying to settle you down.
Previously, I mentioned that there was a beast inside of him and that rushing the edge would be a great way to release that rage. It’s just better to keep that on the field and not in front of millions of televisions viewers.
Those are some questions I’ve ran across over the weekend. What about you? What is the biggest question on your mind pertaining to the Cowboys draft?
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