Cowboys hope to follow familiar path with Jonathan Cooper

[Risen Star]

Back in 2013, the Dallas Cowboys thought highly of Jonathan Cooper, like just about the rest of the NFL, but they never had the chance to draft him.

The Arizona Cardinals selected Cooper with the seventh overall pick.

“We wanted him so bad,” owner and general manager Jerry Jones said in January. “We liked to have died when Arizona took him.”

Cooper comes to the Cowboys with something of a head start in knowing the coaches, the players and the scheme.

Cooper’s signing allows the Cowboys the possibility of moving La’el Collins to right tackle should they not find a solution to Doug Free’s impending retirement in Chaz Green, Emmett Cleary or a potential draft pick down the road.

http://www.espn.com/blog/dallas-cow...-to-follow-familiar-path-with-jonathan-cooper

 

[gimmesix]

Not to disparage Cooper, but man, did that work out the best for us. If Cooper had been available, then we would have taken him and not ended up with Frederick. I hope for the best for Cooper now that we've got him, but we certainly can't rely on him to suddenly shake his injury troubles and be the player teams expected him to be.

Out of Collins, Green, Cooper and Cleary, all we know is that we have one starter. The rest is speculative.

 

[Longboysfan]

So it looks like they will get players that have not played up to their potential so far.

Then not worry about O line this draft. Where it ends up they use a high round pick (rounds 1 to 3) getting a replacement in here right away.

 

[Texas_Pete]

Not to disparage Cooper, but man, did that work out the best for us. If Cooper had been available, then we would have taken him and not ended up with Frederick. I hope for the best for Cooper now that we've got him, but we certainly can't rely on him to suddenly shake his injury troubles and be the player teams expected him to be.

Out of Collins, Green, Cooper and Cleary, all we know is that we have one starter. The rest is speculative.

FredBeard and T-Will are the only two 2013 picks we had that panned out. I could only imagine where we would be if we didn't "reach" for FredBeard.

 

[Alexander]

FredBeard and T-Will are the only two 2013 picks we had that panned out. I could only imagine where we would be if we didn't "reach" for FredBeard.

The first round of that draft? Scary.

 

[gimmesix]

FredBeard and T-Will are the only two 2013 picks we had that panned out. I could only imagine where we would be if we didn't "reach" for FredBeard.

Yes, replace Frederick with Cooper and we would have gotten one starter out of that class and a few backups who didn't earn a second contract. Again, it just shows how difficult drafting is. Fans would have been jumping up and down if Cooper had fallen to us.

 

[Manwiththeplan]

The first round of that draft? Scary.

Yea, there were a number of players we were linked to that ended up being busts. Cordarelle Patterson, Matt Elam. We *may* of taken Zack Ertz, but I'm not sure

 

[Alexander]

“We wanted him so bad,” owner and general manager Jerry Jones said in January. “We liked to have died when Arizona took him.”

My question is did they really think he would last until their pick?

 

[TheRomoSexual]

FredBeard and T-Will are the only two 2013 picks we had that panned out. I could only imagine where we would be if we didn't "reach" for FredBeard.

Yup, though go back and look at that draft. Generally speaking, it was pretty terrible overall, and the trade values were all wonky. We're lucky to have found two starters.

 

[Risen Star]

Not to disparage Cooper, but man, did that work out the best for us. If Cooper had been available, then we would have taken him and not ended up with Frederick. I hope for the best for Cooper now that we've got him, but we certainly can't rely on him to suddenly shake his injury troubles and be the player teams expected him to be.

Out of Collins, Green, Cooper and Cleary, all we know is that we have one starter. The rest is speculative.

That's the fine line of the draft, bro. What could have been and it applies to all 32 teams. We could have had Cooper and Manziel. We fortunately ended up with Frederick and Martin.

 

[Risen Star]

My question is did they really think he would last until their pick?

They don't have a very good feel for value. Remember, they had to sweat out Matt Johnson lasting to the bottom of round 4 when they decided to take Kyle Wilber with their first pick in that round.

 

[gimmesix]

That's the fine line of the draft, bro. What could have been and it applies to all 32 teams. We could have had Cooper and Manziel. We fortunately ended up with Frederick and Martin.

Yes, and it's what makes me chuckle when fans say we can just replace the starters we lose in the draft. The draft is a combination of good scouting and good fortune.

 

[lqmac1]

Not to disparage Cooper, but man, did that work out the best for us. If Cooper had been available, then we would have taken him and not ended up with Frederick. I hope for the best for Cooper now that we've got him, but we certainly can't rely on him to suddenly shake his injury troubles and be the player teams expected him to be.

Out of Collins, Green, Cooper and Cleary, all we know is that we have one starter. The rest is speculative.

Hopefully he can find himself again with us. I think the likelihood of that happening it's pretty good once he gets around our lineman and they implement their knowledge and work ethic on him. I'm a big-time Tar Heel fan and this guy was an absolute monster in college. Potential is definitely there, let's just hope we can get his drive up to produce at a level that he's capable of.

 

[Risen Star]

Hopefully he can find himself again with us. I think the likelihood of that happening it's pretty good once he gets around our lineman and they implement their knowledge and work ethic on him. I'm a big-time Tar Heel fan and this guy was an absolute monster in college. Potential is definitely there, let's just hope we can get his drive up to produce at a level that he's capable of.

Eh. When you go through the Patriots' system and they find no use for you I pretty much write off the player.

 

[gimmesix]

Hopefully he can find himself again with us. I think the likelihood of that happening it's pretty good once he gets around our lineman and they implement their knowledge and work ethic on him. I'm a big-time Tar Heel fan and this guy was an absolute monster in college. Potential is definitely there, let's just hope we can get his drive up to produce at a level that he's capable of.

I'm hopeful. I just won't like it if we are counting on it. There are too many questions and too much at stake to be counting on finding a starter out of Cooper, Green and Cleary. Although Free was the weakest link in the line, we can't afford to replace him with a broken link.

 

[SportsGuru80]

He just needs to be serviceable.

 

[Bullflop]

I can't claim to be at all confident that Cooper will prove to be what other teams have rejected. To me, it's a low-cost shot in the dark at best.

 

[darthseinfeld]

The first round of that draft? Scary.

One of thoe worst ever

 

[Alexander]

One of thoe worst ever

Ten of the first 32 ended up being exposed to free agency this offseason. That has to be a record for the salary cap era.

 

[Idgit]

Could have sworn this was the draft where Chance Warmack, OG, Alabama went #1 overall.