Cowboys upgraded their top 2 positions of need

[ultron]

Massive upgrade at LG with Tyler Smith… that Smith & Smith left side is NO joke. The Cowboys turned around and picked up All-SEC and 3rd team All-American DE Sam Williams. I’ll be the first to say I really wish things worked out with Randy Gregory, but Sam Williams is 6’4, 265 pounds, and ran a 4.46 40 at the combine. Those are some freaky numbers. Dan Quinn could turn this kid into a household name.

 

[KJJ]

Let’s see them play at the NFL level before popping the champagne.

 

[speedkilz88]

Massive upgrade at LG with Tyler Smith… that Smith & Smith left side is NO joke. The Cowboys turned around and picked up All-SEC and 3rd team All-American DE Sam Williams. I’ll be the first to say I really wish things worked out with Randy Gregory, but Sam Williams is 6’4, 265 pounds, and ran a 4.46 40 at the combine. Those are some freaky numbers. Dan Quinn could turn this kid into a household name.

Sam was disappointed in the 40 time. He said 4.38 is his best time, but he's usually no worse than 4.40

 

[Killerinstinct]

Smith should prove to be an upgrade in a couple of years unless he is unteachable. It is doubtful that Williams end up being an upgrade over Gregory.

 

[Risen Star]

Massive upgrade at LG with Tyler Smith… that Smith & Smith left side is NO joke. The Cowboys turned around and picked up All-SEC and 3rd team All-American DE Sam Williams. I’ll be the first to say I really wish things worked out with Randy Gregory, but Sam Williams is 6’4, 265 pounds, and ran a 4.46 40 at the combine. Those are some freaky numbers. Dan Quinn could turn this kid into a household name.

Your Jalen Tolbert hate is noted.

 

[Cowfan75]

Whatever. At least the worst offseason in recent memory is almost over.

 

[gimmesix]

Maybe. Smith could turn out to be Robert Brewster and Williams Shante Carver for all we know. I don't count players as upgrades until we actually see it. I'm glad we addressed those positions, though, and early because we need to at least try not to lose ground.

 

[john van brocklin]

Massive upgrade at LG with Tyler Smith… that Smith & Smith left side is NO joke. The Cowboys turned around and picked up All-SEC and 3rd team All-American DE Sam Williams. I’ll be the first to say I really wish things worked out with Randy Gregory, but Sam Williams is 6’4, 265 pounds, and ran a 4.46 40 at the combine. Those are some freaky numbers. Dan Quinn could turn this kid into a household name.

Sho nuff did!

 

[SackMaster]

Let’s see them play at the NFL level before popping the champagne.

On the flip side: "Let's see them play at the NFL level before declaring them complete busts."

I'm not sure if you are one of the chicken littles of the forum or not, but the Cowboys picked who they have picked, and now it us up to the players and coaches to prove the picks correct.

Hate or Love the picks, all that matters now is what happens on the field from here on out.

JMHO

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Sam was disappointed in the 40 time. He said 4.38 is his best time, but he's usually no worse than 4.40

On his pro day, he did a 4.33 shuttle and 6.93 cone. That is just as impressive IMO. I'd like a bit longer arms than 33" arms but he is a specimen.

 

[KJJ]

On the flip side: "Let's see them play at the NFL level before declaring them complete busts."

I'm not sure if you are one of the chicken littles of the forum or not, but the Cowboys picked who they have picked, and now it us up to the players and coaches to prove the picks correct.

Hate or Love the picks, all that matters now is what happens on the field from here on out.

JMHO

Where did I declare them complete busts? I didn’t say anything negative about them just want to see them play at this level before making any declarations. No one can sit here at this very moment and say they’re massive upgrades when they haven’t even suited up for their first NFL game yet. It’s a big jump from college to pro. We’ll find out this summer and during the season if there’s anything to get excited about with these players.

 

[plasticman]

How do they even know which is a position of need?

Remember the Cowboys position of need last year?

They just had to have an impact CB like Horn or Surtain. When these guys were taken just ahead of the Cowboys turn there was a meltdown. It weas a position of need. So what happened?

Here is what happened:

The Cowboys had to "settle" for Micah Parsons, the defensive Rookie of the Year, as it turns out. He was also a 1st team All Pro.

And the "position of need"?

That was occupied quite nicely by the previous draft's #2 selection, Trevon Diggs, who led the league in INT's and who, by the way, also became a 1st team All Pro.

And what about the Cowboys effort to fill last season's "need" with a reach in the 2nd round last season? Kelvin Joseph started all of 2 games and participated in 10 of the 17 games. There is still uncertainty if Joseph will even be a Cowboy tomorrow.

Typically, a defensive player's greatest increase in performance happens in his 2nd year. What if Golston has a breakout season . Perhaps Josh Ball or even Matt Farniok? What about Fehoko? Nobody can say it's impossible. We never know and I have little doubt that Jerry doesn't either.

What the Cowboys have done so far this draft is base their strategy on assumptions instead of a methodical plan to maximize talent level by drafting BPA .
If Jerry claims these choices were BPA then he squandered several opportunities to acquire additional picks by trading down and still getting the first two guys. That is, unless we are to believe that the Cowboys drafted their needs at precisely the time that they were BPA.

 

[lqmac1]

Smith should prove to be an upgrade in a couple of years unless he is unteachable. It is doubtful that Williams end up being an upgrade over Gregory.

What did Gregory do exactly?

I don’t understand the infatuation with this dude. He had 6 sacks last year, 5 of which came in two games.

He missed 3 games. Take those 3 games and add the 2 games where he had 5 sacks in & you end up with 5 games. Subtract the 5 games and bye week from 18 and you’re left with 12. He had 1 (one) sack in 12 games. 1!

That number might’ve been cut in half if he was the defensive focal point for the offenses we faced.

 

[Kingofholland]

Massive upgrade at LG with Tyler Smith… that Smith & Smith left side is NO joke. The Cowboys turned around and picked up All-SEC and 3rd team All-American DE Sam Williams. I’ll be the first to say I really wish things worked out with Randy Gregory, but Sam Williams is 6’4, 265 pounds, and ran a 4.46 40 at the combine. Those are some freaky numbers. Dan Quinn could turn this kid into a household name.

I appreciate the optimism and I hope the players we drafted can be upgrades. But here's how I see it at the moment.

DE: Different issues but Williams looks like a really similar prospect to Gregory that could have been drafted much higher had there not been an off the field concern. I don't think Fowler was far off Gregory's perceived talent level and obviously has had the more productive career with his availability. Williams gives them another guy in the rotation to develop. Better depth this year so would say this is a wash+

OL: Lost 2 starters and replaced with 1 so we're still behind here. Sans the penalities Connor Williams was solid in pass protection, while run blocking wasn't a strength. I would hope Tyree Smith is an upgrade, but he had his own penalty issues and probably not fair to assume he's an instant upgrade quite yet. Terrance Steele isn't better than Collins, but he wasn't 10 million better. We should still look at adding a veteran.

WR: Essientially traded Cooper and Wilson for Washington and Tolbert. I like the upside of both, but can't say we're better on paper.

 

[Oz-of-Cowboy-Country]

if they are going to keep taking outside linebackers and putting them at defensive ends then they just could have taken TJ Watt and use him like we use Parsons

 

[Ken]

Sam was disappointed in the 40 time. He said 4.38 is his best time, but he's usually no worse than 4.40

Probably the difference between hand held and automatic time.

He is very fast ...all that matters lol

 

[Ken]

if they are going to keep taking outside linebackers and putting them at defensive ends then they just could have taken TJ Watt and use him like we use Parsons

If we would have had Dan Quinn back then...we would have taken Watt.

Different philosophies.

 

[StarBoyz83]

Wr wasn't really a big need imo. Like 5th on the list. Dak doesn't think he needs a number 1 anyway.

But with Gallup most likely missing 6-8 games I knew they'd go wr

 

[JBS]

Wr wasn't really a big need imo. Like 5th on the list. Dak doesn't think he needs a number 1 anyway.

But with Gallup most likely missing 6-8 games I knew they'd go wr

Yeah we saw Dak without a number 1 already. It was ugly. And that’s being nice.

 

[SackMaster]

Where did I declare them complete busts? I didn’t say anything negative about them just want to see them play at this level before making any declarations.

Again, I don't know what you have said about each draft pick, hence the line of "I'm not sure if you are one of the chicken littles of the forum or not". So my apologies if you felt like I was "calling you out".

No one can sit here at this very moment and say they’re massive upgrades when they haven’t even suited up for their first NFL game yet. It’s a big jump from college to pro. We’ll find out this summer and during the season if there’s anything to get excited about with these players.

Completely agree. Just like we don't KNOW if the player is a massive upgrade yet, we also don't KNOW if they are a massive downgrade either.

So while I know people will have their opinions on how good a player will be at the NFL level, for anyone to say that <insert player name here> is a "sure fire" Boom or Bust is just ego stroking at this point of their NFL careers.

Remember, just last year, the vast, vast majority of fans H-A-T-E-D the Parsons pick. One year later, many of those same people feel like he is the MVP of the team.

On the flip side, just about everyone L-O-V-E-D the Lamb pick. Two years later, many say that he isn't even ready to be a #1 WR at the NFL level yet.

So again, I feel like we agree that we will just have to wait to see what the players do ON THE FIELD before we truly know what we got.

The only real difference is that I lean more into being "recklessly optimistic" where as you seem to leans more towards "cautiously pessimistic".

In any case your original post I quoted was great. I just wanted to point out that it's premise could be used by the "other side" as well.