DC.COM: Blog: The Case Against Trading Up

[Cbz40]

The Case Against Trading Up
Posted by jellis at 4/29/2009 11:27 AM CDT on truebluefanclub.com


This weekend we reported the Cowboys were talking about how to get into the first round to draft Missouri receiver Jeremy Maclin before the Eagles moved up to nab him at No. 19.


The Cowboys might well have moved up to get him if he fell a couple more slots, potentially even giving next year's first-round pick. We know they were discussing it in the war room.



Well, apparently the Cowboys and Eagles weren't the only NFC East teams who wanted Maclin. Mike Garafolo, of the Newark Star-Ledger, reports the Giants were all set to trade up to No. 20 with Detroit. When Philadelphia jumped ahead of the Lions, New York decided to stay put and settle for Hakeem Nicks.



Now everyone is rushing out to give the Eagles and Giants high marks for their draft. They both landed first-round names. I'm thinking the Cowboys would be getting more credit had they moved up into the first round to select a well-known player, or even if they had jumped up when USC linebacker Rey Maualuga started slipping.


But at what cost? Next year's first-rounder, and this year's second, and probably a middle round pick from this weekend? Even to get into the 30s for Maualuga, it might have taken next year's second.



The fact is the Cowboys were a little handicapped going into the weekend, but they think they made the most of it. Would you rather have Jason Williams and all of next year's picks, or Jeremy Maclin/Rey Maualaga minus picks for next year?



Because I'm guessing you didn't like sitting around all day Saturday with no picks. Would you want that torture for a second year in a row?


-Josh Ellis

 

[DallasEast]

Because I'm guessing you didn't like sitting around all day Saturday with no picks. Would you want that torture for a second year in a row? - Josh Ellis

:shush: You're trying to stir up all the "Dallas had the worst draft in the entire league" folks! Shame on you Josh!

 

[Stash]

I don't remember seeing anyone complaing about what he's referring to - not even close.

Some - like myself - are disappointed in the continuation of a recent pattern, identifying good players and failing to do what's necessary to get those good players.

That doesn't involve huge jumps at huge costs.

They missed out on Greg Jennings few years ago by a few spots. Daryn Colledge a year or two later. And this year they sat on their hands while Seattle moved up to get Max Unger.

That's a disturbing pattern of missing out on wuality players due to a lack of conviction adn a lack of aggressiveness.

The most it would have cost to move up 3 or 4 spots in round 2 would have been a 4th rounder.

 

[arglebargle]

Because, of course, lack of aggressiveness in trading is a fault that Jerry Jones has long suffered from....

 

[Stash]

Because, of course, lack of aggressiveness in trading is a fault that Jerry Jones has long suffered from....

Again, review the players and circumstances I've mentioned above.

Do the legwork and look it up. I'm not making stuff up.

They happened.

And because they happened, the Cowboys missed on two, and now possibly three quality players that their scouts successfully identified.

It's not a blanket statement that Jones always lacks agreesiveness.

Sometimes he has too much.

Like when he overpaid for Roy Williams.

 

[CIWhitefish]

I don't remember seeing anyone complaing about what he's referring to - not even close.

Some - like myself - are disappointed in the continuation of a recent pattern, identifying good players and failing to do what's necessary to get those good players.

That doesn't involve huge jumps at huge costs.

They missed out on Greg Jennings few years ago by a few spots. Daryn Colledge a year or two later. And this year they sat on their hands while Seattle moved up to get Max Unger.

That's a disturbing pattern of missing out on wuality players due to a lack of conviction adn a lack of aggressiveness.

The most it would have cost to move up 3 or 4 spots in round 2 would have been a 4th rounder.

Let's say that we could have moved up ahead of Seattle and "all" is cost was a 4th rounder. The question still remains is that move worth it? Do you like Unger so much that his potential is worth the potential of two players? I'd argue the Boys didn't sit on their hands but decided the better value was to take him at their spot and not trade up. If he was not there then they would move down according to their board which is exactly what they did.

 

[adamknite]

I don't remember seeing anyone complaing about what he's referring to - not even close.

Some - like myself - are disappointed in the continuation of a recent pattern, identifying good players and failing to do what's necessary to get those good players.

That doesn't involve huge jumps at huge costs.

They missed out on Greg Jennings few years ago by a few spots. Daryn Colledge a year or two later. And this year they sat on their hands while Seattle moved up to get Max Unger.

That's a disturbing pattern of missing out on wuality players due to a lack of conviction adn a lack of aggressiveness.

The most it would have cost to move up 3 or 4 spots in round 2 would have been a 4th rounder.

He's also traded up for Mike Jenkins, Chris Canty and Anthony Spencer(after trading down), along with several others, because he wanted them. So how is him not trading up a trend when he's clearly done it before? It simply could mean he didn't A. Think there was a need to trade up B. Didn't think they were worth trading up for.

In the NFL draft you can't always trade up, sometimes you have to let the draft fall to you, it's really a gamble either way. In hindsight... yeah maybe he should have traded up for Jennings or Unger, but that's hindsight.

 

[SMCowboy]

I don't remember seeing anyone complaing about what he's referring to - not even close.

Some - like myself - are disappointed in the continuation of a recent pattern, identifying good players and failing to do what's necessary to get those good players.

That doesn't involve huge jumps at huge costs.

They missed out on Greg Jennings few years ago by a few spots. Daryn Colledge a year or two later. And this year they sat on their hands while Seattle moved up to get Max Unger.

That's a disturbing pattern of missing out on wuality players due to a lack of conviction adn a lack of aggressiveness.

The most it would have cost to move up 3 or 4 spots in round 2 would have been a 4th rounder.

Did we miss out on Unger, absolutely. And most likely if they had it to do over again knowing what we know now, they would have traded up to secure him. But, Jerry has NEVER been afraid to trade and up grab a player that he targets see (Sandrick, Canty, Spencer, Jenkins, ect.) But, if he trades up two spots to get Unger, he would get blasted by the media and alot of fans on this board for trading up when the guy would have fallen to him anyway (see Jenkins last year and Tampa Bay trading up for Freeman this year).

I can not blame him for not expecting Seattle to jump in front of us for Unger.

 

[Stash]

Let's say that we could have moved up ahead of Seattle and "all" is cost was a 4th rounder. The question still remains is that move worth it? Do you like Unger so much that his potential is worth the potential of two players? I'd argue the Boys didn't sit on their hands but decided the better value was to take him at their spot and not trade up. If he was not there then they would move down according to their board which is exactly what they did.

In this fan's opinion?

Absolutely!

Unger was a player the team had targeted.

He also brought great versatility in being able to line up anywhere on the offensive line. That would have been a great help given the team's decision to go with two kickers on game day.

Instead, the team keeps their fourth rounder and goes with OLB overload, hoping one of them sticks.

And from what I saw on draft day, they looked ill-prepared for Unger not being there.

It looked to me like they panicked and traded down at a loss.

 

[Stash]

He's also traded up for Mike Jenkins, Chris Canty and Anthony Spencer(after trading down), along with several others, because he wanted them. So how is him not trading up a trend when he's clearly done it before? It simply could mean he didn't A. Think there was a need to trade up B. Didn't think they were worth trading up for.

I guess it's just my opinion, but I'd prefer the team be aggressive when they identify quality players. I'd rather get four solid players you really wanted over 10 you think are 'good players'. And it's a trend because it's happened in the past several drafts. But as you've pointed out, there are also examples where they did go after the players they wanted as well.

Yeah, it's always easy to second-guess after the fact.

 

[Stash]

Did we miss out on Unger, absolutely. And most likely if they had it to do over again knowing what we know now, they would have traded up to secure him. But, Jerry has NEVER been afraid to trade and up grab a player that he targets see (Sandrick, Canty, Spencer, Jenkins, ect.) But, if he trades up two spots to get Unger, he would get blasted by the media and alot of fans on this board for trading up when the guy would have fallen to him anyway (see Jenkins last year and Tampa Bay trading up for Freeman this year).

I can not blame him for not expecting Seattle to jump in front of us for Unger.

I don't recall the team getting 'blasted' for trading up for Jenkins last year, but rather praised for aggressively pursuing a player thought to be out of their reach.

And I don't know of anyone here who would have blasted the move to get Unger either.

 

[zeromaster]

Anything said about how the Cowboys draft now is hindsight. We'll just have to see how Unger pans out from afar. I'm still waiting for the alleged versatility on the existing OL crowd to show itself.

 

[Teague31]

didn't buehler outbench unger at the combine? Forgive me if I don't get upset about losing out on a guy who can't do more reps than a kicker

 

[adamknite]

I guess it's just my opinion, but I'd prefer the team be aggressive when they identify quality players. I'd rather get four solid players you really wanted over 10 you think are 'good players'. And it's a trend because it's happened in the past several drafts. But as you've pointed out, there are also examples where they did go after the players they wanted as well.



Yeah, it's always easy to second-guess after the fact.

I gotta agree that I always hated that we just missed grabbing Jennings by one measly spot, especially seeing him play for the pack made it that much worse. We'll have to wait and see how good Unger turns out, but right now, I really hate that the seahawks leaped ahead of us there too.

 

[speedkilz88]

I don't remember seeing anyone complaing about what he's referring to - not even close.

Some - like myself - are disappointed in the continuation of a recent pattern, identifying good players and failing to do what's necessary to get those good players.

That doesn't involve huge jumps at huge costs.

They missed out on Greg Jennings few years ago by a few spots. Daryn Colledge a year or two later. And this year they sat on their hands while Seattle moved up to get Max Unger.

That's a disturbing pattern of missing out on wuality players due to a lack of conviction adn a lack of aggressiveness.

The most it would have cost to move up 3 or 4 spots in round 2 would have been a 4th rounder.

Every team in the league has those moments.

 

[28 Joker]

The Cowboy had no business giving a 2010 first round pick away when they may need to move up for a LT next year.

I would like to have a guy like Ryan Clady.

 

[SLATEmosphere]

I would have been real tempted to give up a #1 in 2010 for Jeremy Maclin. I'm not going to lie. I wouldn't bash them if they did that at all.

 

[InDakWeTrust]

I like your thinking, and there will be plenty more good 1st round OT's IMO..

 

[Dawgs0916]

There seems to be good OTs in every draft.

Well, "good", coming out of college.

 

[AMERICAS_FAN]

Josh Ellis: The fact is the Cowboys were a little handicapped going into the weekend, but they think they made the most of it. Would you rather have Jason Williams and all of next year's picks, or Jeremy Maclin/Rey Maualaga minus picks for next year?

I'd rather have Roy Williams, Jason Williams and all of next year's picks.

I just find it laughable how all these media types are considering Dallas handicapped in the draft for not having firepower to move up to draft a WR in the first round, when they alreasdy used that pick on WR Roy Williams -- who by the way, is better than the WRs that the Eagles and Giants traded up to get or settled for in round-1.

Unbelievable!