Can this team ever draft OL again...

[Cornholio]

that are not busts? What has happened? The Tuna missed badly and it seems after he left it did not get any better. Dallas used to be good at finding OL and now we cannot hit on anyone.

 

[yentl911]

Why not? We have a good scouting department and some very knowledgable people ok the staff. I think we might have had the best draft in the NFL last year. We will pick up some good depth this year which we sorely need.

 

[Stash]

It's definitely proven to be a challenge for the past several years. And I think that struggle has resulted in the huge contracts for the current starting linemen. And I also think that big money has resulted in a bit of complacency among some of those same big money linemen.

I'm hoping that a concerted effort is made to invest in both lines in the coming draft and that the investment is successful.

I think acquiring some good young linemen could not only provide depth in case of injury, but push the current starters a bit as well.

 

[Hostile]

I am to the point where I am not holding my breath. I think the last good one we drafted was Gurode in 2002.

Hopefully this year we focus on the OL a bit and replace some guys who aren't getting the job done.

 

[cowboyjoe]

amen to that Hostile.

from what i have read and i trust a former head scout, that was talent evaluator for the cowboys, gil brandt

gil said that are 7 number one draft offensive linemen choices in this draft this year

if you do you homework, and scout good, i think you can find a good one in 2nd, 3rd to 5th round,

remember the cowboys got erik williams in 3rd round, larry allen in 2nd round

it can be done,

 

[Joe Realist]

the short answer is no. we have 2 draft picks (one which took a couple of years to figure out his position), 1 high priced FA, 1 mid priced free agent, and 1 injury reclamation project that has worked out.

 

[Jon88]

Flozell Adams and Larry Allen fell into our laps and were no brainers. Gurode was a good pick. The rest have been busts. I don't know what the problem is.

 

[CoCo]

Cowboys O-Line Draft Picks post-Landry

Year & Round: Only 1st 7 rounds

Pro Bowlers in Blue, Starters in Red (here or elsewhere)

Jimmy/Jerry
89-3 Mark Stepnoski, 91-3 James Richards, 91-3 Erik Williams, 91-6 Mike Sullivan, 92-4 Tom Myslinski, 92-5 Rod Milstead, 93-4 Ron Stone

Larry/Jerry
94-2 Larry Allen, 94-3 George Hegamin, 95-2 Shane Hannah, 96-3 Clay Shiver, 96-5 Kenneth McDaniel, 97-3 Steve Scifres, 98-2 Flozell, 98-5 Oliver Ross, 98-7 Antonio Fleming, 99-2 Solomon Page, 99-7 Kelvin Garmon, 01-5 Matt Lehr, 01-7 Char-ron Dorsey, 02-2 Andre Gurode, 02-6 Tyson Walter

Bill/Jerry
03-2 Al Johnson, 03-7 Justin Bates, 04-2 Jacob Rogers, 04-3 Stephen Peterman, 05-6 Rob Pettiti, 06-7 Pat McQuistan, 06-7 EJ Whitley

Wade/Jerry
07-3 James Marten, 07-4 Doug Free

Not a very good batting average here...

 

[Idgit]

Is there any reason to believe the team is unhappy with Free? He was supposed to have been coming along great, and then, nothing. I don't think the fact that he didn't replace Flozell when he was hurt is a negative, necessarily. And I thought McQuistan played well in limited time v. the Eagles. Proctor was a problem. And so was Gurode at times last year, frankly. But I don't know how much we even know about the other developmental linemen on the roster.

 

[wileedog]

I am to the point where I am not holding my breath. I think the last good one we drafted was Gurode in 2002.

And he came pretty close to busting too until they let him settle in at C. Still has the worst shotgun snap in the league though.

And before him we go back to who, Flozell in 98?

 

[cowboyjoe]

yep its terrible, its about time then we hit on a couple of gems in offensive line

 

[CoCo]

Is there any reason to believe the team is unhappy with Free? He was supposed to have been coming along great, and then, nothing. I don't think the fact that he didn't replace Flozell when he was hurt is a negative, necessarily. And I thought McQuistan played well in limited time v. the Eagles. Proctor was a problem. And so was Gurode at times last year, frankly. But I don't know how much we even know about the other developmental linemen on the roster.

Is there any reason to believe they are? Talk is cheap. I want to see guys actually contribute.

Not writing Free off but I am also not going to fall for the Pettiti & McQuistan dupe jobs again soon. There was plenty of positive talk about them as well.

 

[cowboyjoe]

i wouldnt give up on Free just yet;

if you go back and look at what wade phillips, he says i dont like to play rookies or first year players

to back my point, remember felix jones and good ole wade saying, i dont want to play him on special teams kickoffs, etc, well, when good ole wade was forced to play felix on kickoffs you saw the results

same thing with choice rb, good ole wade says i dont trust him, etc

well you saw the results, and nate newton said the same thing, that choice should have been played at least 3 weeks earlier, thats all on good ole wade and the talent evalutors etc

nate newton said that what he saw of doug free, he said keep an eye on this kid, he has something etc,

it all goes back to wade and his coaching, and the coaches like Houck getting those players ready

now think about this before you bash my ideal

how many times did good ole wade give the players an extra day off last year

thats right there time he could have been getting those players ready on those off days good ole wade gave the players days off

 

[CF74]

Herb Scott anyone?

 

[cowboyjoe]

now on McQuistan, i will say this,

i generally trust a former dallas cowboys player that was all pro like nate newton

nate said about McQuistan, this guy cant cut it, he makes the same stupid mistakes over and over,

like a defensive linemen would beat mcquistan with a swim move, over and over and over. Nate said if your any good as a player, you might beat me the first time, but not the second time, and for sure not the third time with the same move.

but mcquistan would do that,

 

[Vintage]

We draft OL about as well as we draft LBers to compliment Demarcus Ware outside.

 

[Idgit]

Is there any reason to believe they are? Talk is cheap. I want to see guys actually contribute.

Not writing Free off but I am also not going to fall for the Pettiti & McQuistan dupe jobs again soon. There was plenty of positive talk about them as well.

I've heard absolutely nothing, either way. Last I heard he had great feet and could play LT or RT and would benefit from a year in the conditioning program and may have been the gem of the draft. Now he's an afterthought, and I don't know if there's any reason for thinking that. I suspect it's b/c Flozell played hurt last year and wasn't replace and nobody in the Dallas media has bothered to get a quote or write an update piece on Free.

OLs notorious for being hard to diagnose how a player will play until inserted in the lineup. Easy to bust on the position, and sometimes you have a gem on the bench that you don't know about until the starter in front of him is lost for the year.

McQuistan, too, is another one I wonder about. He hasn't had any experience, which isn't a good sign, but we've been pretty healthy on the OL overall since he's really been eligible to play and it's not really a position group where you experiment if you don't have to.

 

[Hostile]

And he came pretty close to busting too until they let him settle in at C. Still has the worst shotgun snap in the league though.

And before him we go back to who, Flozell in 98?

That's a good point.

3 of our OL are Free Agents. To me, that's a red flag.

 

[Stash]

I've heard absolutely nothing, either way. Last I heard he had great feet and could play LT or RT and would benefit from a year in the conditioning program and may have been the gem of the draft. Now he's an afterthought, and I don't know if there's any reason for thinking that. I suspect it's b/c Flozell played hurt last year and wasn't replace and nobody in the Dallas media has bothered to get a quote or write an update piece on Free.

OLs notorious for being hard to diagnose how a player will play until inserted in the lineup. Easy to bust on the position, and sometimes you have a gem on the bench that you don't know about until the starter in front of him is lost for the year.

McQuistan, too, is another one I wonder about. He hasn't had any experience, which isn't a good sign, but we've been pretty healthy on the OL overall since he's really been eligible to play and it's not really a position group where you experiment if you don't have to.

The only tangible signs I've seen are these:

Free was deactivated on the majority of gamedays - even when Flozell was struggling with injury.

That shows me that they had absolutely no intention of Free playing LT in any way shape or form.

And McQuistan's one audition went so well that the team ran to the next available body they could find to fill the hole at LG.

From what I can see, the team doesn't consider either of these guys capable of playing and I'd like to see them look to replace either or both this offseason.

 

[ReturnToGlory]

Because we haven't drafted one in the first round?
Our second round picks have a 50% hit rate and it goes down hill from there.