Give it a Grade

[Doomsday]

Overall I am pretty excited about what Dallas was able to accomplish picking up 3rd and 4th next year while adding some quality players this year. The secondary has gone from one of the worse (partly due to Newman and Heny's injuries) to one of the more talented ones in the league.

I give the draft a solid B.

 

[silver]

A- got the db's we've needed for years now. got an impact player on offense. got special teams help and got faster overall. reminds me of jimmy johnson drafts: you can't coach speed.

 

[RainMan]

When you're getting top 100 players in the fourth and fifth rounds, that's pretty impressive.

I'm not sure I'd give the draft an "A." I would usually reserve that for a team that grabbed a major first-round steal, and while I think the Cowboys got a pair of value picks, neither were huge steals in my book. So I'd agree with a solid B.

Addressed several needs with value picks. But the lack of a major steal and the failure to address wide receiver (more due to the lack of quality than our inability to get one) prevent me from going any higher.

 

[IndianaCowboyFan]

I agree with you Doomsday, but I think next years draft and FA will be even better.

 

[dbair1967]

I'm not big on grading a draft right after it happens, but I dont see how you cant give it an A based on several things:

1) value of the picks we got...we drafted several in areas lower than where their ratings suggested they'd go...

2) we started with 8 picks, used 2 to trade up for Jenkins and traded 1 for Adam Jones...yet we still ended up with 6 picks this yr and two extra picks in next years draft (3rd and 4th)

3) This team had 3 or 4 pretty obvious shortcomings and we addressed them all. A) lack of speed and over-all talent level at CB, we added a near probowl calibar CB and arguably the top rated CB in the draft, plus a 3rd CB who graded out by some as a late 2nd/3rd rd talent that was one of the fastest players at the combine B) lack of big play ability on offense. Past Owens, nobody really strick fear in a defense, especially at RB. We get a guy who breaks big plays with regularity and has the 2nd highest YPC in NCAA History C) VAST, tremendous upgrade in special teams return games...no more long fields and D) trading out Fasano for Bennett upgrades the athletic ability and blocking ability of the TE position, and again makes the 2TE set a staple of this team. If he catches on quickly he can be a tremendous addition to our offense

Like I said, its hard to grade this early but based on what we needed and did, I dont see how it cant be an A

David

 

[ThreeSportStar80]

I gave this year's draft an A simply because Dallas didn't reach for a player and came away with tremendous talent and good depth with their selections.

 

[Stash]

I gave it a B-

My one criticism would be the lack of drafting a wide receiver.

I don't understand the mentality of not drafting one.

Both Owens and Glenn are aging and their eventual replacements need to be addressed.

Few receivers are 'NFL ready' out of the gate. And if that's what stops you from drafting one, you'll end up never getting one.

And this team hasn't made a significant draft investment in the WR position since Alvin Harper or Jimmy Smith.

 

[TheCount]

Gave it a B+, very solid draft.

Plus if we give ourselves an A, what do the Chiefs get? People give out A's too easily.

 

[AmishCowboy]

Happy the the Picks although I thought we missed out on some good players with all the trading down, but we did pick up a 3 and 4 next year.

 

[dbair1967]

Gave it a B+, very solid draft. But no Rookies are proven until they strap it up on Sunday.

Plus if we give ourselves an A, what do the Chiefs get? People give out A's too easily.

They deserve an A too I would presume, although I havent scrutinized all their guys liek I did ours and probably wont

that said...with 32 teams, you'd expect to hand out about 4 A's I would think...probably at least 50% C's (16)...another 4 each for B's, D's and F's. F;s are rather hars, so maybe you dole out 1 or 2 of those and an extra C & D

David

 

[big dog cowboy]

I My one criticism would be the lack of drafting a wide receiver.

I don't understand the mentality of not drafting one.

Per Jerry:

"We were not in the receiver business in this draft because there were none there that would compete with who we already have."

I give the draft an A.

 

[dbair1967]

who the hell is giving the C's out?

Speak up and lets here some explanation

David

 

[Bob Sacamano]

A

see sig

 

[Big Dakota]

After digesting it for a few hours I'd say a strong B plus.

 

[Stash]

Per Jerry:

"We were not in the receiver business in this draft because there were none there that would compete with who we already have."

I give the draft an A.

Just because he said it, doesn't mean I agree with him.

I think there were several receivers who are more talented than Patrick Crayton.

Jerry also talked about Terry Glenn coming back.

I have no confidence in that either.

 

[TheSkaven]

I'm not big on grading a draft right after it happens

I think it is fair to do, but you must use specific criteria:

1) Where each of the players were ranked officially as opposed to where they were selected. In this context, it doesn't matter if a player turns out to be Jerry Rice and you took him in the first, if he was projected to go in the fourth, you could have taken him there or in the third.

On this criteria, I think you have to give Jerry an "B+". He missed a chance for an "A" by passing on a higher ranked running back (on his own draft board)

2) Judge based upon whether the draft made the team better. If you got value picks across the board, but they're all tight ends, well you didn't help your team.

Here, I'd give Jerry a "B-". They got the RB and CB help they needed, but went TE in the second round and didn't resolve WR, the most pressing need.

So, combine those together, add some points for picking up a 3rd and 4th next year, and I'd give Jerry a "B".

 

[Bob Sacamano]

I think it is fair to do, but you must use specific criteria:

1) Where each of the players were ranked officially as opposed to where they were selected. In this context, it doesn't matter if a player turns out to be Jerry Rice and you took him in the first, if he was projected to go in the fourth, you could have taken him there or in the third.

On this criteria, I think you have to give Jerry an "B+". He missed a chance for an "A" by passing on a higher ranked running back (on his own draft board)

2) Judge based upon whether the draft made the team better. If you got value picks across the board, but they're all tight ends, well you didn't help your team.

Here, I'd give Jerry a "B-". They got the RB and CB help they needed, but went TE in the second round and didn't resolve WR, the most pressing need.

So, combine those together, add some points for picking up a 3rd and 4th next year, and I'd give Jerry a "B".

that's a great way of looking at it, I can dig it

 

[AtlCB]

I think Jerry has seen the light. We did not reach for a player and came away with great players at need position with overall great character. We also came away with an extra third and fourth in 2009.

 

[Yakuza Rich]

I say C+.

Day one was a C. The talent they got was good which saves the day 1 grade for me with Jenkins falling to them only because the top CB's fell due to teams trying to address different areas. Still, Jerry made mistakes here. Should've taken Jenkins at #22 and still have gotten Felix at #28 because the draft would've looked like:

#23 Mendenhall
#24 C. Johnson - may have taken Felix, but Dallas could've gotten Johnson at 28
#25 Seahawks - probalby would've taken Jackson anyway.
#26 Texans - Were taking Duane Brown from the get-go.
#27 Chargers - Took Cason


I really believe that the Cowboys didn't do much of their homework on Mendenhall as they didn't expect him to fall that far and didn't want to draft a guy they hardly knew and then made an error in a first round. One of the things that Jerry said that Ireland was great at was essentially gathering information. Dallas may have missed that on Saturday. So instead they get Felix and then trade up to get Jenkins. And the Bennett pick was a need, but it was created by trading away a guy that does the same thing the day before. Still, it's hard for me to deny the talents of Jenkins and Felix, so it may be one of those things where it looks like a great draft a couple of years from now, but it should be noted that there was an error made here.


I loved day 2. I was not sold on this WR class at all and outside of a Jerome Simpson, I didn't see anybody worth taking and Simpson was gone in round 2 anyway. Choice I really like and Dallas would have had to get another RB anyway even if they drafted Mendenhall because most teams use all three of their RB's quite a bit and Dallas only has 2 RB's on the roster. Scandrick has scary potential and I had a 3rd round grade on him and probably got docked for coming out as a junior. I also like the Walden pick as Dallas needs a LB who can play special teams.

Could've used a FB, but you can get those easily in UDFA. We're putting a lot on Owens staying healthy and producing, but I highly doubt a rookie WR is going to come in and produce enough to make Dallas not worry about Owens getting injured.

Still, Dallas got some corners here. Even if Newman and Henry are gone after 2008, Dallas could possibly have a solid corner crew of Pacman, Jenkins, and Scandrick. Also we didn't take any character problem players which is always good. So I say C in Day 1, and a B in Day 2 = C+



YAKUZA

 

[dbair1967]

Just because he said it, doesn't mean I agree with him.

I think there were several receivers who are more talented than Patrick Crayton.
Jerry also talked about Terry Glenn coming back.

I have no confidence in that either.

more talented, yes perhaps. But better WR skills coming in, no.

There's a reason rookies hardly ever make a real impact at WR...even guys drafted relatively high in the first rd struggle to make a real impact, it is unrealistic to believe guys drafted way lower than that would then come in and be able to produce more (or at least enough) to offset a guy that caught 50 balls for nearly 700 yds and 7 tds

David