Chaz Green had hip surgery

xwalker

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Read Gardner added lots of muscle. He's a high effort guy, so if he's got more of a pro body now, Marinelli is going to love him

Yes, I don't know what to expect from Gardner. He was a 3-4 DE in college and had most of his pass rushing success to the inside of the OT. His style looked more like a pass rushing DT than DE; however, Marinelli seems to prefer the Strong Side DE on base downs to play more of that style and avoid trying to beat the OT around the edge so I guess he will be a good fit there. He does have super short arms which generally is less of an issue for a DT than DE, but some players overcome that, I think. I can't remember any successful NFL DE with arms that short, but I'm sure there must be some.

In regards to Whaley, I don't see any limitations on him. His college game footage was terrific, IMO. He just fell through the draft because it was known at draft time that he would not be able to play as a rookie. In the game footage I saw, he looked almost as good as the guy next to him Malcom Brown who was drafted R1-32 this year. Surprisingly, there were many snaps where Whaley was the one that got double-teamed.
 

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Yes, I don't know what to expect from Gardner. He was a 3-4 DE in college and had most of his pass rushing success to the inside of the OT. His style looked more like a pass rushing DT than DE; however, Marinelli seems to prefer the Strong Side DE on base downs to play more of that style and avoid trying to beat the OT around the edge so I guess he will be a good fit there. He does have super short arms which generally is less of an issue for a DT than DE, but some players overcome that, I think. I can't remember any successful NFL DE with arms that short, but I'm sure there must be some.

Depending on how much of a difference one feels it is, Jared Allen has done well despite what are considered short arms at 32", whereas Gardner's measured in a 30 3/4".
 

big dog cowboy

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I recently watched the video of the Drew Pearson draft special and Brady Tinker had an interesting theory. He believed that at two points in this draft, players the Cowboys were targeting were drafted right before their selections.

In the third round, he felt that they planned on drafting Iowa DT Carl Davis. When the Ravens took him the pick before, the Cowboys took Green. In round five, the Cowboys would have taken Jay Ajayi, but the Dolphins surprisingly took him several picks earlier.

Take his opinion for whatever you feel it's worth, but I can see his point.

I'm betting that entire story is 100% true. Which makes the Cowboys decision to stand pat rather than make a deal for a RB quite a statement in their faith with the current RB corps.
 

xwalker

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Depending on how much of a difference one feels it is, Jared Allen has done well despite what are considered short arms at 32", whereas Gardner's measured in a 30 3/4".

Yes, Allen is the best example that I can remember.

Some people feel that height offsets lack of arm length and consider length as height + arm length. If true, it helps that Jared Allen is 6-6. Garder still has decent height at 6-4.

I think part of it depends on what they want from that position. The SDE in the 4-3 under sometimes 2 gaps against the run. Generally, a lack of length is considered a bigger issue for playing a 2 gap technique than it is for playing a 1 gap technique.

I think Gardner's primary competition is Ryan Russel (6-4, 33-3/8"); although, a guy like Jack Crawford (6-5, 33-1/2") might step up and challenge.
 

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Yes, Allen is the best example that I can remember.

Some people feel that height offsets lack of arm length and consider length as height + arm length. If true, it helps that Jared Allen is 6-6. Garder still has decent height at 6-4.

I've never put a whole lot of stock in arm length as I think technique, strength, and tenacity are more than enough to over come any deficiencies.

I think part of it depends on what they want from that position. The SDE in the 4-3 under sometimes 2 gaps against the run. Generally, a lack of length is considered a bigger issue for playing a 2 gap technique than it is for playing a 1 gap technique.

I think Gardner's primary competition is Ryan Russel (6-4, 33-3/8"); although, a guy like Jack Crawford (6-5, 33-1/2") might step up and challenge.

I agree, but from what I've been reading Jack Crawford has looked best from the DT position.

I was surprised to see Gardner lining up at RDE in workouts the other day.
 

ABQCOWBOY

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If that's the case, I'm all for it!

I'm just starting to wonder where they're going to find the roster space for all of these guys.

Cowboys are going to be cutting some good players. Price you pay for putting together a decent roster I suppose.
 

xwalker

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I've never put a whole lot of stock in arm length as I think technique, strength, and tenacity are more than enough to over come any deficiencies.

I agree, but from what I've been reading Jack Crawford has looked best from the DT position.

I was surprised to see Gardner lining up at RDE in workouts the other day.

Jack Crawford's best game last season was at DT.

Arm length for a prospect is just a probability issue. Having short arms lowers the probability of success but definitely does not eliminate the potential for success. It's similar to forty times. There have been CBs that ran a 4.6 and had success in the NFL, but the probability of that happening is much lower than for CBs that ran a 4.4 forty.

Probability is used to help make decisions to acquire players. Once the player is acquired, then the probability is not really important anymore.
 
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