Cowboys approach to off-season remains consistent

[Jumbo075]

Over the past decade (actually ever since 2008), the Cowboys approach to the offseason has been remarkably consistent. After years of overreaching for top name free agents, Jerry began ceding some personnel power to Stephen Jones. More importantly, the Cowboys dumped Larry Lacewell, who could be described as the architect of the Cowboys 2 decades of mediocrity.

And there approach has been this: Sign low level players at positions of need to short-term contracts, and then draft at that same positions for long-term upgrades. So, if you want to know which positions the Cowboys will target in the draft, take a look at the players they've recently signed to 1-2 year deals.

Positions the Cowboys will likely be targeting in the draft:

• TE - Jason Witten and Cody McElroy signed to 1 year deals.
• WR-slot - Tavon Austin signed to a 1-year deal, plus the Cowboys picked up the 2nd year option for Allen Hurns.
• DT - Christian Covington and Daniel Ross signed to 1 year deals
• S - Darian Thompson signed to 1 year contract
• OLB - Justin March-Lillard signed to 1 year contract & Sean Lee negotiates pay-cut for final year on his contract.
• DE - DeMarcus Lawrence given franchise tag - if the Cowboys are unable to come to terms with Lawrence before the draft, this might also be a position they target.

Positions the Cowboys will likely not be looking for in the draft:

• OT - Cameron Fleming signed to 2 year contract
• FB - Jamize Olawale signed to 3 year contract

The Cowboys like to double dip at positions of need by signing a short term gap player, and drafting for the long-term. Anyone paying attention over the last decade can see that the Cowboys telegraph their draft intentions with their free agent signings. That doesn't preclude the team from drafting a talented player that falls in the draft.

Recent examples of this strategy:

• 2018 - Cowboys sign Joe Thomas, and draft Leighton Vander Esch
• 2018 - Cowboys sign Marcus Martin, and draft Connor Williams

Keep an eye out for more short-term signings as a key to who the Cowboys are looking to draft in April.

 

[cowboy_ron]

The not going deep in the playoss is consistent too.

 

[dsturgeon]

The not going deep in the playoss is consistent too.

That is what most of the league does year after year.

With this formula the cowboys have improved their odds substantially. It could fail, but then it would be like every other teams strategy. Why quit this plan as it is starting to come to fruition. This is when we start making legitimate runs. We won the division last year, and will be back in contention this year.

 

[Tangle_Foot]

We are the most popular team in the league, no need to change anything, right

 

[Whyjerry]

Over the past decade (actually ever since 2008), the Cowboys approach to the offseason has been remarkably consistent. After years of overreaching for top name free agents, Jerry began ceding some personnel power to Stephen Jones. More importantly, the Cowboys dumped Larry Lacewell, who could be described as the architect of the Cowboys 2 decades of mediocrity.

And there approach has been this: Sign low level players at positions of need to short-term contracts, and then draft at that same positions for long-term upgrades. So, if you want to know which positions the Cowboys will target in the draft, take a look at the players they've recently signed to 1-2 year deals.

Positions the Cowboys will likely be targeting in the draft:

• TE - Jason Witten and Cody McElroy signed to 1 year deals.
• WR-slot - Tavon Austin signed to a 1-year deal, plus the Cowboys picked up the 2nd year option for Allen Hurns.
• DT - Christian Covington and Daniel Ross signed to 1 year deals
• S - Darian Thompson signed to 1 year contract
• OLB - Justin March-Lillard signed to 1 year contract & Sean Lee negotiates pay-cut for final year on his contract.
• DE - DeMarcus Lawrence given franchise tag - if the Cowboys are unable to come to terms with Lawrence before the draft, this might also be a position they target.

Positions the Cowboys will likely not be looking for in the draft:

• OT - Cameron Fleming signed to 2 year contract
• FB - Jamize Olawale signed to 3 year contract

The Cowboys like to double dip at positions of need by signing a short term gap player, and drafting for the long-term. Anyone paying attention over the last decade can see that the Cowboys telegraph their draft intentions with their free agent signings. That doesn't preclude the team from drafting a talented player that falls in the draft.

Recent examples of this strategy:

• 2018 - Cowboys sign Joe Thomas, and draft Leighton Vander Esch
• 2018 - Cowboys sign Marcus Martin, and draft Connor Williams

Keep an eye out for more short-term signings as a key to who the Cowboys are looking to draft in April.

It’s consistent for sure. Consistently bad. You would think these idiots would try to change it up but alas the goal is not winning. The goal is selling.

 

[MojaveJT]

So a decade of doing the same thing yielding no results is a good thing?

You know what they say, “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results is insanity.”


But as the years go by, it’s starting to show what JJ and his little boy are really after.... $$$$$.

 

[Silly]

So a decade of doing the same thing yielding no results is a good thing?

You know what they say, “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results is insanity.”


But as the years go by, it’s starting to show what JJ and his little boy are really after.... $$$$$.

I think Stephen wants to buy the princess yacht that matches his fathers.

 

[Jumbo075]

The not going deep in the playoss is consistent too.

The Cowboys have had three years in the past 12 where they had legitimate Super Bowl quality teams: 2007, 2014 & 2016. They have a roster where 18 of the projected starters are 1st, 2nd or 3rd round picks. The other 4 are 4th round pick QB Dak Prescott, 6th round pick S Xavier Woods, and undrafted free agents S Jeff Heath and OT La'el Collins. It could be reasonably argued that Prescott should have been a 3rd round pick, but his DUI arrest (for which he was acquitted) cost him a round, and Collins should have been a 1st round pick, if not for the murder of a former girlfriend (for which he was cleared). That is 20 of 22 starters from the premium rounds of the draft, leaving only the two starters at safety as low round or undrafted players. I think everyone knows the Cowboys need upgrades at Safety.

Projected starters:
QB - Dak Prescott - 4th round - 2x Pro Bowl
RB - Zeke Elliot - 1st round - 2x Pro Bowl, 2x All-Pro, 2x NFL rushing champion
TE - Jason Witten - 3rd round - 11x Pro Bowl, 4x All-Pro
WR1 - Amari Cooper - 1st round - 3x Pro Bowl
WR2 - Michael Gallup - 3rd round
WRS - Tavon Austin - 1st round
LT - Tyron Smith - 1st round - 6x Pro Bowl, 4x All-Pro
LG - Xavier Su'a Filo - 2nd round OR Connor Williams - 2nd round
C - Travis Frederick - 1st round - 4x Pro Bowl, 3x All-Pro
RG - Zack Martin - 1st round - 5x Pro Bowl, 5x All-Pro
RT - La'el Collins - undrafted

RDE - Taco Charlton - 1st round (until 2nd round pick Randy Gregory returns from suspension, if he does)
1DT - Maliek Collins - 3rd round
3DT - Tyrone Crawford - 3rd round
LDE - DeMarcus Lawrence - 2nd round - 2x Pro Bowl, 1x All-Pro
WLB - Leigton Vander Esch - 1st round - 1x Pro Bowl, 1x All-Pro
MLB - Jaylon Smith - 2nd round
SLB - Sean Lee - 2nd round - 2x Pro Bowl, 1x All-Pro
RCB - Byron Jones - 1st round - 1x Pro Bowl
LCB - Chidobe Awuxie - 2nd round
SS - Jeff Heath - undrafted
FS - Xavier Woods - 6th round

That's 39 Pro Bowls, and 21 All-Pro selections. (And the Cowboys have a Pro-Bowl long snapper to up their total to 40.) Name another NFL roster this decorated. This is not an untalented roster. On offense, the Cowboys have Pro-Bowl players at every significant position - QB, RB, TE, WR, OT, OG, and C.

There are two obvious positions on which the Cowboys haven't spent premium resources - DT and Safety. But even so, they have Pro-Bowl level players at all three levels of the defense - DL (Lawrence), LB (Lee & Vander Esch), and DB (Jones). They just need a few more Pro Bowl players on defense to begin matching the offense.

I'm not suggesting the Cowboys are above criticism. Certainly, I expected them to take a legitimate run at Earl Thomas this year. But the Cowboys have a team that can contend. I was highly critical last year of their approach to the WR and TE positions. But once they traded for Cooper, they were an 80% winning team. And now Witten has returned. That is a 10-11 win team each year. That's a contender.

Every team has defects, and the Cowboys coaching approach has been less than satisfying. Adding Chris Richard helped transform the defense a year ago. Hopefully, adding Marc Colombo and Kellen Moore will help transform the offense this year, and then with a couple of key rookies added on defense, the Cowboys may actually be a contender again this year. 2 of the last 5 seasons (2014 & 2016), the Cowboys were legitimate Super Bowl threats. They have a chance to be that again this year.

 

[Cowfan75]

That is what most of the league does year after year.

With this formula the cowboys have improved their odds substantially. It could fail, but then it would be like every other teams strategy. Why quit this plan as it is starting to come to fruition. This is when we start making legitimate runs. We won the division last year, and will be back in contention this year.

The problem is this is where we plateau. We win what we win with a bad coach because we have talent, and quite a bit of it at certain positions. A good coach alone probably gets us at least one SB in the last 9 years, maybe two.

We are getting stronger through the draft, and because of that, we are very close. BUT, as with any team, you need to utilize both the draft and FA. You aren't winning through the draft alone. By the time we get around to drafting the strengths that we need to complete the team, the talent we are set at now will be beyond their prime. This is why we need a couple impact players through FA.

It's simple math, but the organization simply refuses to do what it takes to win it all, which, before FA started, was well within our reach. But keep blowing off FA and relying on the draft, and we'll eventually move from a contender that isn't ready to take the final step, to simply mediocre all over again.

 

[dsturgeon]

The problem is this is where we plateau. We win what we win with a bad coach because we have talent, and quite a bit of it at certain positions. A good coach alone probably gets us at least one SB in the last 9 years, maybe two.

We are getting stronger through the draft, and because of that, we are very close. BUT, as with any team, you need to utilize both the draft and FA. You aren't winning through the draft alone. By the time we get around to drafting the strengths that we need to complete the team, the talent we are set at now will be beyond their prime. This is why we need a couple impact players through FA.

It's simple math, but the organization simply refuses to do what it takes to win it all, which, before FA started, was well within our reach. But keep blowing off FA and relying on the draft, and we'll eventually move from a contender that isn't ready to take the final step, to simply mediocre all over again.

reread the original post

 

[WTtoolman]

Jumbo, how dare you interrupt the constant stream of *****ing to present some actual facts and insight, instead of feelings and emotional overreactions!! Awesome!!

 

[Cowfan75]

reread the original post

What for? I remember it.

 

[Jumbo075]

reread the original post

The original post was NOT an endorsement of the Cowboys strategy - just a description of how they've been doing things. My second post in this thread was citing evidence that this approach has yielded some good results, but was NOT meant to endorse avoiding any top level free agents. I was all-in on signing Earl Thomas this year.

I think the Cowboys approach has yielded some pretty positive results. I'm not sure that lack of talent is the problem. I have to wonder if Garrett not getting his contract renewed is the beginning of Jerry wondering if a different coach could do a better job with this much talent.

 

[dsturgeon]

What for? I remember it.

They didn't blow off FA They brought in a dl, saftey, and a te.

 

[JW82]

So is their mediocraty.

 

[dsturgeon]

The original post was NOT an endorsement of the Cowboys strategy - just a description of how they've been doing things. My second post in this thread was citing evidence that this approach has yielded some good results, but was NOT meant to endorse avoiding any top level free agents. I was all-in on signing Earl Thomas this year.

I think the Cowboys approach has yielded some pretty positive results. ['m not sure that lack of talent is the problem. I have to wonder if Garrett not getting his contract renewed is the beginning of Jerry wondering if a different coach could do a better job with this much talent.

I think the same thing about the coach too. But I also think the rams are something different. Their offense and personnel caught a lot of people by surprise. I think we got beat strategically and by coaching, not personnel. If we had beat them and made the NFC championship, this whole thing looks different.

There seems to be a wide range of the ways teams look andplay right now. Beating the high scoring saints is not the same as the high scoring rams, chiefs, and so on.

I don't think we should be freaking out about FA. Coaching maybe, the offensive game plan, but personnel gets better every year

 

[Kaiser]

It’s consistent for sure. Consistently bad. You would think these idiots would try to change it up but alas the goal is not winning. The goal is selling.

Its so bad they have drafted 8 Pro Bowlers in the last five years. Its so consistently bad we went to the Playoffs last year.

 

[Nightman]

The original post was NOT an endorsement of the Cowboys strategy - just a description of how they've been doing things. My second post in this thread was citing evidence that this approach has yielded some good results, but was NOT meant to endorse avoiding any top level free agents. I was all-in on signing Earl Thomas this year.

I think the Cowboys approach has yielded some pretty positive results. I'm not sure that lack of talent is the problem. I have to wonder if Garrett not getting his contract renewed is the beginning of Jerry wondering if a different coach could do a better job with this much talent.

The Cowboys are trying to build a Dynasty without winning a Super Bowl

We are too long wandering the desert for that approach..... there are kids in Medical School that haven't seen a Cowboys Super Bowl

We need a lot more urgency in their approach..... win #6 and then we can build a Dynasty

 

[Cowfan75]

They didn't blow off FA They brought in a dl, saftey, and a te.

I'm referencing impact FA players that elevate the team, not scrubs.

 

[Noclaf]

The Cowboys have had three years in the past 12 where they had legitimate Super Bowl quality teams: 2007, 2014 & 2016. They have a roster where 18 of the projected starters are 1st, 2nd or 3rd round picks. The other 4 are 4th round pick QB Dak Prescott, 6th round pick S Xavier Woods, and undrafted free agents S Jeff Heath and OT La'el Collins. It could be reasonably argued that Prescott should have been a 3rd round pick, but his DUI arrest (for which he was acquitted) cost him a round, and Collins should have been a 1st round pick, if not for the murder of a former girlfriend (for which he was cleared). That is 20 of 22 starters from the premium rounds of the draft, leaving only the two starters at safety as low round or undrafted players. I think everyone knows the Cowboys need upgrades at Safety.

Projected starters:
QB - Dak Prescott - 4th round - 2x Pro Bowl
RB - Zeke Elliot - 1st round - 2x Pro Bowl, 2x All-Pro, 2x NFL rushing champion
TE - Jason Witten - 3rd round - 11x Pro Bowl, 4x All-Pro
WR1 - Amari Cooper - 1st round - 3x Pro Bowl
WR2 - Michael Gallup - 3rd round
WRS - Tavon Austin - 1st round
LT - Tyron Smith - 1st round - 6x Pro Bowl, 4x All-Pro
LG - Xavier Su'a Filo - 2nd round OR Connor Williams - 2nd round
C - Travis Frederick - 1st round - 4x Pro Bowl, 3x All-Pro
RG - Zack Martin - 1st round - 5x Pro Bowl, 5x All-Pro
RT - La'el Collins - undrafted

RDE - Taco Charlton - 1st round (until 2nd round pick Randy Gregory returns from suspension, if he does)
1DT - Maliek Collins - 3rd round
3DT - Tyrone Crawford - 3rd round
LDE - DeMarcus Lawrence - 2nd round - 2x Pro Bowl, 1x All-Pro
WLB - Leigton Vander Esch - 1st round - 1x Pro Bowl, 1x All-Pro
MLB - Jaylon Smith - 2nd round
SLB - Sean Lee - 2nd round - 2x Pro Bowl, 1x All-Pro
RCB - Byron Jones - 1st round - 1x Pro Bowl
LCB - Chidobe Awuxie - 2nd round
SS - Jeff Heath - undrafted
FS - Xavier Woods - 6th round

That's 39 Pro Bowls, and 21 All-Pro selections. (And the Cowboys have a Pro-Bowl long snapper to up their total to 40.) Name another NFL roster this decorated. This is not an untalented roster. On offense, the Cowboys have Pro-Bowl players at every significant position - QB, RB, TE, WR, OT, OG, and C.

There are two obvious positions on which the Cowboys haven't spent premium resources - DT and Safety. But even so, they have Pro-Bowl level players at all three levels of the defense - DL (Lawrence), LB (Lee & Vander Esch), and DB (Jones). They just need a few more Pro Bowl players on defense to begin matching the offense.

I'm not suggesting the Cowboys are above criticism. Certainly, I expected them to take a legitimate run at Earl Thomas this year. But the Cowboys have a team that can contend. I was highly critical last year of their approach to the WR and TE positions. But once they traded for Cooper, they were an 80% winning team. And now Witten has returned. That is a 10-11 win team each year. That's a contender.

Every team has defects, and the Cowboys coaching approach has been less than satisfying. Adding Chris Richard helped transform the defense a year ago. Hopefully, adding Marc Colombo and Kellen Moore will help transform the offense this year, and then with a couple of key rookies added on defense, the Cowboys may actually be a contender again this year. 2 of the last 5 seasons (2014 & 2016), the Cowboys were legitimate Super Bowl threats. They have a chance to be that again this year.

you do remember they were total crap for the first 8 games right? They were horrible