Cowboys Draft 2013: A "Little Board" And Some Player Profile Trends

[RS12]

What can last week's list of national invitees to Valley Ranch tell us about the Cowboys' draft plans? Plenty! Not only can we tell which positions Dallas is targeting, but also when they are likely to draft them, and what position profiles interest them. As we prepare for April 25-27, that's a lot of useful information.

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Every year, after we receive the list of national invitees to Valley Ranch, I use them to create what I call the "little board." Why do I repeat this exercise each and every April? Well, as we witnessed with 2010's leaked draft board (and have heard from sources like Bryan Broaddus), the Cowboys seek to whittle down the 450 or so eligible draftees to the 100-120 or so names that adorn their final draft board. If we assume that they are legitimately interested in the 35 to 40 draftable players who have visited the Ranch (each year, the vast majority of the local, "Dallas Day" invitees are UDFA types), we know between 25-40% of the players on the Cowboys' board. That's some good information to work with.

In addition, as our own O.C.C. brilliantly demonstrated in early March, by looking at which positions receive the most invitations, we can get a better idea about which positions Dallas is most likely to draft. In 2008, a total of eight corners and five running backs came to visit - and the Cowboys came away with two of each. In 2009, it was linebackers - Jason Williams was an at-large invitee and Stephen Hodge came for "Dallas Day." 2010: Wide receivers and offensive linemen, and they came away with Dez Bryant (all the O-linemen were snapped up very early). In 2011, they again invited a passel of "big uglies," as well as corners and inside linebackers. The result? Tyron Smith and Bruce Carter. In 2012, they invited six corners and eight offensive linemen, and came away with Mo Claiborne. The pattern is obvious.

Which brings us to this year's "little board." Although I'm not completely finished slotting all the prospects, a lot of useful information can be gleaned from this still-in-progress exercise. Here's the 2013 board (the names in italics are the four draftable "Dallas Days" players):

http://www.bloggingtheboys.com/2013...-trends?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

Very good read and I would suggest everyone click on the link and read.

 

[Fredd]

I will have to wait until later when I am at work and a "little bored" before clicking the link...

 

[DBOY3141]

That was a good read. 1st or 2nd round needs to be an interior OL. Need help bad in that area.

Would love Cooper, but I don't think he makes it past Tenn. Would love Warmack as well, but don't know that the 'Boys feel it fits there scheme. It's going to be a very interesting draft.

 

[xwalker]

Safety 6
OG 5
RB 4
WR 4
DT 4
OLB 4
DE 3

 

[Idgit]

Very good read and I would suggest everyone click on the link and read.

Wow. That was a great read.

It'd be fun to see the reaction if a WR is taken in the 2nd. But it makes sense, given what we've seen the team trying to do offensively going back to mid-season last year.

 

[DFWJC]

Wow. That was a great read.

It'd be fun to see the reaction if a WR is taken in the 2nd. But it makes sense, given what we've seen the team trying to do offensively going back to mid-season last year.

I'm really hesitant to give a 2nd rd WR the thumbs up. But he's dead on when he said we need a deep threat. We have plenty of slot guys already.

 

[starfrombirth]

I'm really hesitant to give a 2nd rd WR the thumbs up. But he's dead on when he said we need a deep threat. We have plenty of slot guys already.

Actually we don't. We don't have a qb with the arm to take advantage of it. How many times did dez have to Come back for an under thrown ball? A speedster doesn't help us.

 

[Eskimo]

Actually we don't. We don't have a qb with the arm to take advantage of it. How many times did dez have to Come back for an under thrown ball? A speedster doesn't help us.

Romo can definitely throw the ball 60-65 yards downfield We've seen him do it quite a few times already. He doesn't have a Bledsoe arm (not many do) but he does have a quality NFL arm to throw a deep ball.

I think some of those underthrown balls to Dez happened on double moves where the player ends up quite deep before the ball is even launched but it helps create a 1-1 situation against the CB by drawing the Safety elsewhere.

 

[DFWJC]

Actually we don't. We don't have a qb with the arm to take advantage of it. How many times did dez have to Come back for an under thrown ball? A speedster doesn't help us.

That's ridiculous.

Anyway, we would not be taling about a one trick pony deep threat, but an all-around guy who is capable of blowing past the secondary. That alone opens things up.

 

[JBell]

I'm famous.

That was 3 years ago? Time flies..

 

[Idgit]

I'm really hesitant to give a 2nd rd WR the thumbs up. But he's dead on when he said we need a deep threat. We have plenty of slot guys already.

I've kind of suspected all along that we'd go WR earlier than people expect in this draft. I was thinking maybe in the 3rd, after OL or DL in the first and OL or S in the second, depending, of course, how the board breaks. But, anyway, I think the team has an outside speed player higher on the wish list than most fans suspect right now. As it is, an injury to Dez or Miles changes pretty dramatically what we want to do on offense. We've got some good WRs, but not a lot who are going to be successful outside against press coverage for an extended period of time.