CCBoy
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 45,488
- Reaction score
- 21,746
Cowboys post-draft roster breakdown: LB and DB
https://www.bloggingtheboys.com/202...-and-db-vander-esch-jaylon-smith-trevon-diggs
Linebackers
Before we delve into the players and how they fit on the roster, there is a different point about linebackers that needs to be considered. The Cowboys did not add any in either free agency or the draft, only picking up a lone UDFA. There is only one other position group that this is true for, running backs.
If you still aren’t completely convinced that Mike McCarthy has had a great impact on the entire philosophy of the Cowboys, this should put that to rest. Under Jason Garrett, the team almost always drafted the two positions. In his tenure, only 2017 saw them not take at least one of either. What is really crucial about that is the analytics-based idea that LB and RB are among the least valuable positions in the NFL, at least from the perspective of investing draft capital. Multiple teams have been successful in finding more than adequate ball carriers in late rounds and even the UDFA ranks. And the off-ball linebacking job has become less important in a league where passing is understood more and more to be the real path to offensive success. Linebackers just aren’t as good in coverage as defensive backs, with very rare exceptions. Yet during Garrett’s time, the team sunk 15 of their 74 picks into the two positions - and that included two each first- and second-round picks.
Some may not put a lot of faith in analytics, but if you give them credence, then the Cowboys drafted a whole lot smarter this year...
https://www.bloggingtheboys.com/202...-and-db-vander-esch-jaylon-smith-trevon-diggs
Linebackers
Before we delve into the players and how they fit on the roster, there is a different point about linebackers that needs to be considered. The Cowboys did not add any in either free agency or the draft, only picking up a lone UDFA. There is only one other position group that this is true for, running backs.
If you still aren’t completely convinced that Mike McCarthy has had a great impact on the entire philosophy of the Cowboys, this should put that to rest. Under Jason Garrett, the team almost always drafted the two positions. In his tenure, only 2017 saw them not take at least one of either. What is really crucial about that is the analytics-based idea that LB and RB are among the least valuable positions in the NFL, at least from the perspective of investing draft capital. Multiple teams have been successful in finding more than adequate ball carriers in late rounds and even the UDFA ranks. And the off-ball linebacking job has become less important in a league where passing is understood more and more to be the real path to offensive success. Linebackers just aren’t as good in coverage as defensive backs, with very rare exceptions. Yet during Garrett’s time, the team sunk 15 of their 74 picks into the two positions - and that included two each first- and second-round picks.
Some may not put a lot of faith in analytics, but if you give them credence, then the Cowboys drafted a whole lot smarter this year...