cowboyszone: The Gambler Returns -- Jerry Jones Steps Back to the Draft Wheel

[CCBoy]

The Gambler Returns -- Jerry Jones Steps Back to the Draft Wheel

Posted by Rafael at Sunday, March 27, 2011
http://www.cowboyszone.com/2011/03/gambler-returns-jerry-jones-steps-back.html






The High-Risk Drafting Patterns That Undermined Jerry 1.0 Appear to be Creeping Back Into Play


"Now you swear and kick and beg us,
that you're not a gambling man.
Then you find you're back in Vegas,
with a handle in your hand..."

-- Steely Dan, "Do It Again"

The Cowboys roller-coaster fortunes the last 22 years have ridden on three men, with two distinct approaches to draft risk. The coaches entrusted with running the Cowboys drafts, Jimmy Johnson and Bill Parcells, worked to minimize risk when they selected players.

Johnson took the practice of ''grinding'' sources about a player's character. Was the prospect a fighter? Did he take plays off? A Sports Illustrated piece immediately after Johnson's bumper '91 draft focused on the team's persistence in getting every last shred of data before it assigned a final ranking.

Loafers were not tolerated, a fact made clear by the draft books I collected those days. Joel Buchsbaum, the first major amateur scout, categorized players by type in the Draft Notebooks he produced for Pro Football Weekly. Who were the overachievers? Who were the underachievers? Which players were underpublicized? Who were the sleepers? Who were the boom-or-bust types? Which were the blue chippers?

With the exception of DT Jimmie Jones, whom Johnson had coached at the University of Miami, most of the core draftees from the '90 through '92 drafts, the products of the Herschel Walker deal, fell into the blue chip or overachiever category....

 

[big dog cowboy]

Martellus Bennett is a physically imposing, but equally immature tight end, a fact the '08 Hard Knocks made plain. Bennett continues to progress slowly, but thus far represents a poor return for a 2nd round pick.

I don't think I will ever understand what some people expect out of a backup TE. Bennett is a good blocker who will never put up big numbers. Knucklehead or not that is what any team expects out of a backup TE with a player like Witten on the roster.

 

[YosemiteSam]

I don't think I will ever understand what some people expect out of a backup TE. Bennett is a good blocker who will never put up big numbers. Knucklehead or not that is what any team expects out of a backup TE with a player like Witten on the roster.

I think the point is, the talent is there for him to be better than Witten. He just isn't the type of person to put the talent to work (work ethic) the way Witten does. Thats why he is calling him a boom or bust player.

The article is right, Jerry is a gambler. Boom or bust is the way it goes with him rather than taking the less physically talented, but hard working player. The drafting of people like Jason Williams and Stanback recently frame it perfectly.

 

[Primetime42]

AB threw his jersey in Parcells' face in 2004, not 2003.

 

[TNCowboy]

I don't think I will ever understand what some people expect out of a backup TE. Bennett is a good blocker who will never put up big numbers. Knucklehead or not that is what any team expects out of a backup TE with a player like Witten on the roster.

You can't keep good players off the field. If Bennett were capable of more, we'd see a lot more 2 TE sets, and/or Witten would be getting more time to rest.

But anyway you slice it, he was not a good pick.

 

[burmafrd]

And the fantasy about Jimmy as a draft genius continues. He busted on more than he hit- just like everyone else. Emmitt was not his first choice; he thought Walsh would be better than Aikman.

Jimmy got a lot of talent because he had A LOT of picks. His hit percentage was not much better than average.

 

[TNCowboy]

I think the point is, the talent is there for him to be better than Witten.

No, it isn't. There are plenty of bigger, faster guys who are not more talented when it comes to football. There have only been a handful of TEs more talented than Witten in the last 20 years, and Bennett isn't one of them. If you really meant that Bennett is more athletic, ok, but more talented? Clearly, he is not.

 

[TNCowboy]

And the fantasy about Jimmy as a draft genius continues. He busted on more than he hit- just like everyone else. Emmitt was not his first choice; he thought Walsh would be better than Aikman.

Jimmy got a lot of talent because he had A LOT of picks. His hit percentage was not much better than average.

Pure idiocy. Lots of teams have had huge draft bounties and made total messes of it.

Jimmy built the most talented team of the last 25 years. He had loads of picks, of course he had misses. Anyone who ever drafted had misses. Jimmy just had more big hits over the course of a handful of drafts than anyone else in the modern era.

The "he didn't want Emmitt, he didn't want Aikman" stuff is garbage. Regardless of his reservations, he ultimately pulled the trigger on both guys. If he was persuaded by his own staff and scouts to make certain calls, that just adds to how great the man was at building the team from top to bottom.

Maybe it makes them feel better about Jerry Jones disastrous drafting. I'll never get why Cowboy fans would look at Jimmy Johnson in any other way than with gratitude and admiration.

 

[odog422]

I don't think I will ever understand what some people expect out of a backup TE. Bennett is a good blocker who will never put up big numbers. Knucklehead or not that is what any team expects out of a backup TE with a player like Witten on the roster.

I think the point is, TE was not a position of weakness. So why waste a 2nd round pick on a position that was not one of need? I think most will agree you can pick up a good blocking tight end much later. Probably even in round 7.

If, on the other hand, the idea was to get a dynamic match for Witten, then the player profile utilized was of the boom/bust variety and too much of a risk for that high a pick. Bottom line, wasted pick in terms of value. Which is more likely to happen when you pick the way the article says Jerry picks, i.e., boom/bust.

So it's not about what people expect out of a backup TE, it's the impact people expect from a 2nd round pick.

 

[Stash]

I think the point is, TE was not a position of weakness. So why waste a 2nd round pick on a position that was not one of need? I think most will agree you can pick up a good blocking tight end much later. Probably even in round 7.

If, on the other hand, the idea was to get a dynamic match for Witten, then the player profile utilized was of the boom/bust variety and too much of a risk for that high a pick. Bottom line, wasted pick in terms of value. Which is more likely to happen when you pick the way the article says Jerry picks, i.e., boom/bust.

So it's not about what people expect out of a backup TE, it's the impact people expect from a 2nd round pick.

This is what I was going to mention.

Say what you will about Martellus Bennett - good, bad, or ugly.

But the point remains that the Cowboys used a 2nd round pick on a TE behind perennial Pro Bowler Jason Witten. And they did that not once, but twice, Anthony Fasano being the first time.

I find that fundamental decision-making flawed.

For years there was talk of the two-TE set lighting up the league, and several years later, I am still underwhelmed with the results.

Not one, but two 2nd round picks (which could have been better spent), used on players who would clearly be backups or at best part-time players.

Even now, the team has a #3 in John Phillips who can do everything needed of a #2 TE. The cost? A 6th round pick. Sounds much more reasonable a cost for a backup TE doesn't it?