Cowboys declare "method to the madness" or as I previously stated "reimaging"

Bleu Star

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Stephen Jones isn't just blowing smoke folks. Relax, sit back, and enjoy the reimagining of our defense.

Your boy Bleu




The Cowboys weren’t what you’d call great on defense last year, but they were certainly good enough to not stop progress.

But losing so many starters on that side of the ball, including nearly the entire secondary, and five total players who started at least seven games for them last year could potentially be a big step back.

“There is a little bit of method to the madness here,” Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones said, via David Moore of the Dallas Morning News. “Right now, going into the draft, we feel really good about our numbers. But at the same time we feel this is going to be a great opportunity for us to improve on the defensive side of the ball.

“It just so happens we feel the draft is inordinately strong on the defensive side of the ball.”

It better be. The Cowboys lost both starting cornerbacks in Brandon Carr and Morris Claiborne, safety Barry Church and others in free agency. They did backfill a bit with signing cornerback Nolan Carroll, but their cap space has limited their ability to move. Jones said he’d have liked to kept some of the players they lost, up to a limit.

“Players we want to keep, we keep them,” Jones said. “Most of these players, I’m not going to single out guys, but most of them we were ready to let move on.

(BOOYOW)


“Now, there were a few if they would have been for the right price, we would have done it. But we certainly didn’t want to get into overpaying for anybody.

“At the end of the day, we value our players. At certain numbers, it’s efficient for us to sign them. At other numbers, it’s not.”

The plan is that some existing young players will improve in larger roles, but the majority of the hope is staked to a draft that skews toward defensive talent, particularly a deep group of secondary and defensive line prospects.




http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.co...re-method-to-the-madness-of-defensive-exodus/
 

Toruk_Makto

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Anytime, in a single offseason, when you lose 5 players on one side of the ball that started at least 7 games for you shows a lack of foresight. You either weren't prepared to deal with the turnover or you didn't draft and sign players well enough to avoid feel like there is "addition by subtraction" to this magnitude.

In any case the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. The defense has not been good enough. The front office has it's work cut out for them. Here's to hoping they're up to a herculean effort.
 

Setackin

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I like it. Let the young guys on defense battle with the incoming rookies for starting jobs:thumbup: very nice. Cant wait for OTAs. Wanna see which player already on the roster step up.
 

Stash

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I think Stephen summed things up perfectly, and he was completely honest. I don't see what anyone has to be complaining about. The same guys you can't live without today are the same guys you wanted replaced yesterday.

I'm very glad that they stuck to their numbers and values rather than continuing to pay Mo Claiborne to not play or Brandon Carr $10 million a year to be serviceable.

And, how many players does this team truly have to have starting on defense coming out of this draft? I see the exact same needs right now that I did before free agency ever started.

People want to complain, but any time I ask who was irreplaceable or what contract did you hope they'd match, nobody has a response.

Speaks volumes...
:rolleyes:
 

DallasEast

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Method = pray you nail on every defensive pick
Bingo. This may be the most interesting draft Dallas has had in the past decade or so--even moreso potentially than last year's. Onlookers should give the front office as much latitude as they can personally muster watching from the sidelines. Jones & Company may stand pat or wheel-and-deal like madmen. It doesn't matter which approach they take as long as in nets solid or better players.
 

FuzzyLumpkins

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Anytime, in a single offseason, when you lose 5 players on one side of the ball that started at least 7 games for you shows a lack of foresight. You either weren't prepared to deal with the turnover or you didn't draft and sign players well enough to avoid feel like there is "addition by subtraction" to this magnitude.

In any case the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. The defense has not been good enough. The front office has it's work cut out for them. Here's to hoping they're up to a herculean effort.

I think you have an unreasonable expectation of roster turnover in the NFL.

The definition of insanity involves psychosis and similar mental illness. People that have those mental illnesses tend to be erratic as opposed to OCD. Einstein was a determinist that was all that quote says. Fact is that you can repeat the same quantum experiments and get different results. Physics had to adjust and develop stochastics and quantum field theory.
 

TheFinisher

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There was only one tough loss IMO and that's Church, only because of the consistency he provided at SS especially in run support. However, he was a limited athlete and we had to do some things schematically to protect ourselves from his limitations in range. There are about a dozen safeties in this class that have higher ceilings than church and I don't think it's completely outside the realm of possibility we're actually better there in 2017.

Other than that, I have a hard time believing letting guys like Wilcox and the oft injured bust Mo Claiborne walk out the door means catastrophe for our D lol
 

big dog cowboy

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Anytime, in a single offseason, when you lose 5 players on one side of the ball that started at least 7 games for you shows a lack of foresight.
Or that the Cowboys didn't think they were good enough to win a championship with those players and decided to move on to bigger and better players.

I'm extremely encouraged by the moves the front office have made in FA. It took guts, but they clearly have a plan to retool the D. Something everyone has been screaming for years.
 

Stash

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Bingo. This may be the most interesting draft Dallas has had in the past decade or so--even moreso potentially than last year's. Onlookers should give the front office as much latitude as they can personally muster watching from the sidelines. Jones & Company may stand pat or wheel-and-deal like madmen. It doesn't matter which approach they take as long as in nets solid or better players.

I'm interested to know your take.

How many starting players do you think they need to get out of this year's draft?
 

Stash

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1st 3 picks should be defense.
only time will tell.

I feel that they shouldn't be "locked into" anything. That's how you end up with reaches and a bad draft.

But, trust me, that's not an absolute either. If they were to draft a TE in the first two rounds, I'd be the first to criticize them for that move as well.

Ideally, I agree with you. If the talent is there's and we're so fortunate that things line up? Defense, defense, defense. And I think they agree and they've said so.
 

Toruk_Makto

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I think you have an unreasonable expectation of roster turnover in the NFL.

The definition of insanity involves psychosis and similar mental illness. People that have those mental illnesses tend to be erratic as opposed to OCD. Einstein was a determinist that was all that quote says. Fact is that you can repeat the same quantum experiments and get different results. Physics had to adjust and develop stochastics and quantum field theory.
Um. OK.
 
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