jobberone
Kane Ala
- Messages
- 54,219
- Reaction score
- 19,659
How the Dallas Cowboys blew their 2016 draft
By Chris Chase
Published May 02, 2016
Facebook5 Twitter0 Email Print
Dallas Cowboys executives in the "War Room" with head coach Jason Garrett, left, and team principals Charlotte Jones Anderson, owner Jerry Jones and Stephen Jones, right, as the Cowboys take part in the NFL Draft on Thursday, April 28, 2016, at the team Headquarters at Valley Ranch in Irving, Texas. (Paul Moseley/Fort Worth Star-Telegram/TNS via Getty Images)
Okay, every NFC East team that thinks it had a great draft, step forward.
Not so fast, Dallas.
Despite Jerry Jones believing that taking running back Ezekiel Elliott at No. 4 was a game-changer ("I've had my finest hours in business going against the grain," he told MMQB's Peter King), it's a move only DC, New York and Philadelphia could love. It's yet another example of what the mediocre-to-awful Cowboys of the last 20 years do best: putting star power and skill positions ahead of needs, consequences be damned.
Over the past two years it had looked like cooler, wiser heads had been prevailing in Dallas when they'd been presented with choices between flash and substance. This was most famously shown when the Cowboys passed on Johnny Manziel for some offensive lineman in the 2014 NFL draft, a pick that still annoyed Jerry Jones even after Manziel began his downward spiral in Cleveland. Meanwhile, that offensive lineman, Zack Martin, is now two-for-two in Pro Bowls and has a first-team All-Pro honor as well.
Solid, measured drafting like that would be the key to breaking through and becoming a dominant team in a division that hasn't seen one in a decade. Shoring up an offensive line, however unsexy, is how DeMarco Murray became a star in 2014 and even gave the oft-injured Darren McFadden the second-best season of his career in 2015, much to the delight of his fellow Arkansas Razorback Jerry Jones. The idea of getting another good back is sound: A solid rushing attack helps Tony Romo which helps Dez Bryant and the receiving corps and, thus, goes back to helping the offensive line. Football is all about symbiotic relationships.
Doing the same to the defense - by, say, drafting FSU cornerback Jalen Ramsey or edge rusher DeForest Buckner - could have had the same sort of domino effect. A shutdown secondary could allow Dallas to load the box to stop the run or attack on more blitzes with the knowledge that coverage would be taken care of downfield.
But the lessons Dallas should have learned from the Manziel/Martin situation were already forgotten. Instead, Jones went for a position that has more first-round busts and more late-round successes than any other. It's rare the Cowboys are in a position to draft such a big prospect. After taking Elliott, it might not be long before they're in the same spot again.
http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2016/...ntcmp=ob_article_footer_text&intcmp=obnetwork
By Chris Chase
Published May 02, 2016
Facebook5 Twitter0 Email Print
Dallas Cowboys executives in the "War Room" with head coach Jason Garrett, left, and team principals Charlotte Jones Anderson, owner Jerry Jones and Stephen Jones, right, as the Cowboys take part in the NFL Draft on Thursday, April 28, 2016, at the team Headquarters at Valley Ranch in Irving, Texas. (Paul Moseley/Fort Worth Star-Telegram/TNS via Getty Images)
Okay, every NFC East team that thinks it had a great draft, step forward.
Not so fast, Dallas.
Despite Jerry Jones believing that taking running back Ezekiel Elliott at No. 4 was a game-changer ("I've had my finest hours in business going against the grain," he told MMQB's Peter King), it's a move only DC, New York and Philadelphia could love. It's yet another example of what the mediocre-to-awful Cowboys of the last 20 years do best: putting star power and skill positions ahead of needs, consequences be damned.
Over the past two years it had looked like cooler, wiser heads had been prevailing in Dallas when they'd been presented with choices between flash and substance. This was most famously shown when the Cowboys passed on Johnny Manziel for some offensive lineman in the 2014 NFL draft, a pick that still annoyed Jerry Jones even after Manziel began his downward spiral in Cleveland. Meanwhile, that offensive lineman, Zack Martin, is now two-for-two in Pro Bowls and has a first-team All-Pro honor as well.
Solid, measured drafting like that would be the key to breaking through and becoming a dominant team in a division that hasn't seen one in a decade. Shoring up an offensive line, however unsexy, is how DeMarco Murray became a star in 2014 and even gave the oft-injured Darren McFadden the second-best season of his career in 2015, much to the delight of his fellow Arkansas Razorback Jerry Jones. The idea of getting another good back is sound: A solid rushing attack helps Tony Romo which helps Dez Bryant and the receiving corps and, thus, goes back to helping the offensive line. Football is all about symbiotic relationships.
Doing the same to the defense - by, say, drafting FSU cornerback Jalen Ramsey or edge rusher DeForest Buckner - could have had the same sort of domino effect. A shutdown secondary could allow Dallas to load the box to stop the run or attack on more blitzes with the knowledge that coverage would be taken care of downfield.
But the lessons Dallas should have learned from the Manziel/Martin situation were already forgotten. Instead, Jones went for a position that has more first-round busts and more late-round successes than any other. It's rare the Cowboys are in a position to draft such a big prospect. After taking Elliott, it might not be long before they're in the same spot again.
http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2016/...ntcmp=ob_article_footer_text&intcmp=obnetwork
