Yep that's all true. Additionally, Solari on draft day told the guys on the draft coverage that they are looking for "athletic" offensive linemen.
Yeah, Torrence, the Florida guard has absolutely awful feet. He’s strong and fine just pushing his guy backwards. Dallas runs an inside and outside zone blocking scheme. The guards need nimble feet to be effective in that. Dallas was never interested in Torrence, and yes I said that before the draft. He’d be okay in a gap scheme but in the Cowboys zone blocking scheme, he simply wasn’t a fit.
Football fans just saw he was the first guard ranked and wanted him because they expect Tyron Smith to be injured and for Tyler Smith to move out to LT. They never put much thought into if he was a scheme fit or not. He wasn’t, and so Dallas wasn’t interested. The OT they got in the 4th (Asim Richards) would be much better in the Cowboys zone scheme, and sure enough he has looked good.
It hasn’t stopped a group of fans from pining away for Torrence at every opportunity. He isn’t a fit.
As for Schoonmaker, the Cowboys want two good blocking TE’s and they had one. They had Sam LaPorta as their top ranked TE, and he was an athletic guy who was a good blocker and did a lot of it. He got taken at the top of the 2nd, so Dallas went to the only other guy who fit that mold in Schoonmaker. He gives them a second good blocking TE and the athleticism to concern defenses downfield.
McCarthy wants to have 2 TE’s that can stay in and help in protection if they need them to, or can open holes in the running game, period. He also wanted those guys to have the athleticism and ability to threaten the defense downfield. That was what he wanted to add to his WC offense and he only had one with Ferguson. So they were dead set on getting that guy in the draft, and after LaPorta went, it was just about only Schoonmaker left who fit that.
That is also why Dallas wasn’t interested in Kincaid and why Buffalo jumped up for nothing.
The Cowboys want two guys who the defense isn’t sure if they’re going to stay in protection for Dak, fire out and run block, or if it is a play action pass, who can get down the seam. Now Dallas has two guys who can do that, and it will indeed be more difficult on defenses. They can play every snap and help in any play that Mike might call. They never have to be taken out on run plays, or pass plays. I’m not sure most football fans realize how useful that is for an offense… or how hard that can be on defenses.
That is why they drafted him. That is why they didn’t want to try to wait until the third. They wanted to get that guy in this draft and there weren’t a lot of backups if some other team drafted Schoonmaker. They pulled the trigger on a guy they wanted and who they had a plan for… I will always support that and it is yet another reason why Dallas has done so well in the draft for the last decade.
It was a big need. Fans didn’t see it that way but the coaches sure did. They got who they wanted at a position they needed.
