Cowboys 2023 Draft Class MIA

DCCowboys11 · Oct 17, 2023

A win is a win! I’ll take it! But, one thing that’s hurting this team in my opinion, it’s getting almost nothing from its 2023 Draft Class.

Round 1 Mazi=No real impact first 5 weeks. Will have to go back and watch again vs Chargers.
Round 2 Scoonmaker=See above for Mazi
Round 3 Overshown=Unfortunate injury/Out for the year
Round 4 Fehoko=MIA/How many games has be even been active?
Round 5 Richards =Sadly, he may end up the best pick of the bunch. Has potential, decent backup at the very least.
Round 6 Eric Scott Jr (Inactive against the Chargers)
Round 6 Deuce Vaughn=Hasn’t shown much in the regular season. Inactive against the Chargers.
Round 7 Jalen Brooks=Great in preseason, no real impact offensively as of yet.

Please feel free to correct my observations so far. I really hope I’m wrong.

DuncanIso · Oct 17, 2023

Sad but true.

Mazi getting paid to watch football.

FuzzyLumpkins · Oct 17, 2023

Ferguson and Hankins have been playing well. Both the first two picks are in the rotation if not starting and wringing your hands about picks out of the top 100 in year 1 is just gratuitous and has no bearing on whether they can develop.

TwistedL0g1k · Oct 17, 2023

A pretty reasonable assessment. I would slightly beg to differ on Mazi though. He's been a contributor, playing a decent amount of snaps. No- he is not showing up on the highlight reels. No- he has not lived up to his first round status (yet). But he's giving you something. He'll only get better as he learns the pro game and builds strength. He'll be a good player by next season.

speedkilz88 · Oct 17, 2023

Just going by pff grades Mazi was the #8 highest graded defensive player for the Cowboys with Odighizuwa, Tank & Parsons the only DL ahead of him.

fivetwos · Oct 17, 2023

It shouldn’t be expected of a team drafting in the 20s with a weak class to have established starters by week five of year one.

On the flip side, since Jerry and kid feel as though they don’t need free agency to improve because they draft so well…..

Pretty obvious what a flawed philosophy that is but can we really expect more from those two??

They refuse to do what’s needed to get them over the hump because they think most of their draft picks are going to make an immediate impact.

ATXSRT · Oct 17, 2023

He doesn't even like football.

davey999 · Oct 17, 2023

Pretty embarrassing.

WhizKid · Oct 17, 2023

As someone who did not like the Mazi and Schoonmaker picks, they play positions that take time to get acclimated to the NFL. TE especially. Granted, this year, we see some rookies having success, Schoonmaker was never going to be starting over Ferguson this year. Mazi, will also be dealing with adjusting to the NFL, at least this year. Now, as far as my outlook on them in general, I'm not holding my breath. I still think Mazi and Schoon were reaches, but time will tell with those guys.

Fehoko is buried on the depth chart and also will need time adjuting to DL play in the NFL. Given that he was not an early round pick, I'm not expecting much (this year).
Eric Scott, will probably get his shine in the event there are more injuries ahead of him.
Richards looks like a solid depth piece. Hopefully he can develop past that.
Deuce was a luxury pick. A luxury we did not have.
Brooks, is buried on the depth chart ATM.

RS12 · Oct 17, 2023

Actually cheap labor is needed to balance out the roster for the players they over pay. I think that is actually their philosophy. They have never been great at evaluating the talent on the roster. Prime example Gallop over Cooper. Paying Zeke. etc

quickccc · Oct 17, 2023

Mazi Smith DT
-Don't expect All pro game one - that's what impatient, draft naive fans gonna insist on doing. you check his grades with most reliable game rate source,.. along with your own eyeball test.
- I note that most OGs cannot push him backwards cuz of his sheer raw power, but they can " influence" and bait him into the wrong gap, and out of position or they can out-technique him. As his draft report, he is always the slowest
DL off the ball snap. Coaches gonna have to keep working with him at that and locating ball quicker.
- Game experience/techniques upgrade will take some time for trench DTs to develop. Come with me on Mazi at season's end.

Luke Schoonmaker TE
More and more, i do not carry high expectations for him rookie, or 2nd yr. I see him as a James Hanna type
and definitely role player. More blocker than receiver.
James Hanna was a fantastic athlete outta OU, . str8-line 4.4 speed. but he never developed as a receiver. But became a terrific in-line blocker in his career.
Schoon supposedly is a good workout athlete (4.63 speed) but in regards to his receiving skills, agility, run after catch and separation ability, i'm just not yet sold on him, and expect much and I dunno how many opts he'll even get in this role and this sad sack McCarthy offense.
I don't even think he has Marty Bennett type receiving threat skills, but I'm very open to be surprised later on.

quickccc · Oct 17, 2023

Fehoko, Eric Scott and Jalen Brooks are gonna be "red shirt " rookies this year.
Next year's trainees and projects.
Unless a rash of injuries threaten the depth chart.

Deuce Vaughn may see his play time reduced even more as season goes on.
- His lack of blocking skills and very limited special teams experience threaten that playing time.
- Plus we have a mediocre offensive coaching staff that does not have a clue of
how to best utilize his run/catch skills, and that furthers the problem.

- Asim Richards as an inactive gamer disappoints me as I would've liked to game experience him in
blow out games that are way out of reached,
(whether win or losses) but this could also be another finger point at a new OL coach
that is old fashioned about rookies.
I like the way the athletic Richards handled himself in preseason.
- But Maybe Solari is the type that would rather go thru 3 vets ( Tyron, Tyler and Chuma) before
he is forced or influenced on by a rookie OT

TheCoolFan · Oct 17, 2023

Schoonmaker will be the surprise cut after training camp in 2024!

stilltheguru · Oct 17, 2023

Cowboy fans showing that elite football iq again

TheMarathonContinues · Oct 17, 2023

Well the issue is that all of those guys are backups. Cowboys to their credit had a team already built last season and they brought everyone back. Mazi is not going to start over Hankins. Schoonmaker is not going to start over Ferguson. A lot of those guys were not picks that were going to contribute this year.

TheMarathonContinues · Oct 17, 2023

They literally went into free agency and grabbed Gilmore and Cooks via trade lol. You can't build a contender without draft picks. Well I guess you can get lucky and do it.

DCCowboys11 · Oct 18, 2023

There’s always one!

RandyOh · Oct 18, 2023

Hopefully they can drill that wait and react crap they had him play at Michigan. He has all the tools. Just need to get him to drop those bad habits and develop his technique.

Schoonmaker seems like a traditional TE playing in a league where the TEs are big athletic receivers now a days and not an extension of your Oline with catching ability. Like trying to play a back to the basket Center in an NBA era where Centers now dribble like guards and shoot 3s. Still think Schoonmaker has the athleticism to develop into a solid player but he needs to work on his route running asap. He doesnt have the speed or hands to get by on average at best route running.

atlantacowboy · Oct 18, 2023

Well, not surprising. I hated this draft. We seem to pay too much attention to physical traits and not enough to the question “ was this guy a good football player in college?” The Michigan guys we drafted were not stars at the collegiate level. Mazi was dominant at times but there was no consistency. Schoon was a 4th round talent we took in round 2 bc we sat back and let other teams draft the TEs we wanted and he was the last one left who fit the bill. I was stunned we took him where we did. We should have offered a 3rd rounder to move up for Laporta or drafted defense in that spot. Another passive draft by the least competent, longest tenured GM in the nfl.

jterrell · Oct 18, 2023

Fans cannot cry about teams rookie classes making no impact then also clamor for the team to sign vets every off-season.

Dallas finally spending draft picks to trade for vets: a la Gilmore/Hankins and bringing in vet free agents will make push rookies down the depth chart.
It is working as intended.
You see guys pop in years 2 or 3 more so than as a rookie because you aren't playing guys and letting them grow into it.

The 1 and 2 wins teams probably have a lot of rookie contributions right now.

Cowboys 2023 Draft Class MIA

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