Good decisions outweigh mistakes

[pancakeman]

It's something I wish the Cowboys would do more...not being afraid to draft a good player at a position that is already taken by a quality veteran in order to provide motivation to the veteran and give us insurance if the vet gets injured or costs too much.

2nd round tight ends to motivate Witten, for example?

 

[diefree666]

Jimmy had a lot of draft picks which he turned into more draft picks. He had some to take chances on. At the time some of the players he took seemed to be good at the time. Though some were head scratchers, like picking some of his own guys from U of Miami.

Taking Walsh in the supplemental draft was dumb. We could have had the 1st pick in the next years draft. He did trade back up in another draft to get Maryland, a very good player but was still not the best move. He eventually got a 1,2 and 3 from NO for Walsh. But I don't think he ever got the value for all those moves as he could have. What did we give up to give the rocket who he could have just drafted to begin with? Or was that later on after he left?

Anyway, the best move was from trades he didn't make and Emmitt fell to us, so he traded up 4 spots to draft him.

But still it is what he and his staff did with all these players they did draft or drafted others because of the ones they couldn't draft. They coached them, they made the right decisions and made adjustments. They were prepared. Something that this coaching staff fail to do on a weekly basis. Sometimes they get it right, sometimes, they do not. But Jimmy's teams got it right more than this staff does.

Jimmy was not some sage in drafting; had some luck and had so many that even an average performance was going to get the job done..

Absolutely agree the real difference is that HE KNEW HOW TO COACH and hired others THAT KNEW HOW TO COACH AND DEVELOPE PLAYERS.

Bluntly speaking red ball is not even in the same ZIp Code as Jimmy as regards coaching. Actually he is only a marginal improvement on Switzer. Though much more professional and organized.

 

[diefree666]

2nd round tight ends to motivate Witten, for example?

I really think that Fasano was taken to try the two TE scenario. After that I think with Bennett and others they were taken with an eye to replacing Witten. A real condemnation of the Front Office is how they failed to appreciate what they had and thus spend draft capital elsewhere. 2nd rd picks one after another to replace a HOF player that was incredibly steady and reliable is NOT SMART.

 

[Ranching]

Jimmy took a team in shambles and won 2 Super Bowls within 5 years.

He made s few mistakes along the way. Here are some of them:

Rhondy Weston - 3rd, 1989
Cut in training camp as a rookie.

Stan Smagala - 5th, 1990
Cut in 2nd training camp.
Dallas traded the following picks to get him:
sixth round (#158-James Williams)
eighth round (#197-Arthur Jimerson)
ninth round (#230-Leon Perry)
tenth round (#259-Jim Szymanski)
eleventh round (#304-Myron Jones)

James Richards - 3rd, 1991
Cut in training camp as a rookie.

Jimmy Smith - 2nd, 1992
Cut after 2 sessons. Became 5x Pro Bowl player for the Jags.

James Brown - 3rd, 1992
Cut in training camp as a rookie.

James Middleton - 3rd, 1993
Cut in training camp as a rookie.

The only mistake Jimmy ever made, was leaving when he did. He knew how to handle Jerry, he just didn't want too anymore.

 

[Yakuza Rich]

Case in point: how about when they drafted Steve Walsh in the supplemental draft and they had Aikman? And to be quite honest, Aikman struggled early on his career. And I remember that Aikman was really mad at Jimmy for taking Walsh.

In hindsight that draft pick was based solely on the premise that Walsh was going to be traded anyway and we soon witnessed what kind of player Aikman would become.

According to some like Mike Fisher, Jimmy wanted Walsh to be the starter as he lost confidence in Aikman. Jerry and Co. talked Jimmy out of it.




YR

 

[CCBoy]

The only mistake Jimmy ever made, was leaving when he did. He knew how to handle Jerry, he just didn't want too anymore.

I just don't like a 'benedict arnold' and he did dishonor to his own team. Good just doesn't make up for a loss in integrity...at least in my book.

 

[Yakuza Rich]

2nd round tight ends to motivate Witten, for example?

We used 2 TE's because we were obsessed with 12 personnel and thinking we could make it work like the Patriots.

I was all for the 12 personnel at the time, although I didn't really see the idea of spending 2nd round picks on TE's for basically a position that is 'secondary' in terms of production and importance.

So it wasn't really there to help 'motivate' Witten as it was more or a less a 'new' position in a new scheme.

Switzer was probably the better example. Although I don't think he was drafted for motivation of Beasley. He was drafted to take over Lucky Whitehead's spot. If Lucky had responded properly we could have kept both Lucky and Switzer on the team which would have been a good problem to have. Since Lucky crapped out, we at least have a Kickoff and punt returner, we can run the jet sweep and potentially go to more 10 personnel and if Beasley gets hurt we may have a replacement.




YR

 

[khiladi]

Jimmy was not some sage in drafting; had some luck and had so many that even an average performance was going to get the job done..

Absolutely agree the real difference is that HE KNEW HOW TO COACH and hired others THAT KNEW HOW TO COACH AND DEVELOPE PLAYERS.

Bluntly speaking red ball is not even in the same ZIp Code as Jimmy as regards coaching. Actually he is only a marginal improvement on Switzer. Though much more professional and organized.

Jimmy’s greatest trait was his drafting and personnel. He altered the whole NFL via his approach to the draft.

Dallas lost out because free agency was implemented and sucked his personnel decisions away from this team.

Dallas had starters playing in back up roles and during his era, personnel were coming in and out during games and Dallas wasn’t losing a beat..

He actually brought emphasis of side to side speed as regards defenses in particular..

Even Bellichek first started coming to him to pick his brain in personnel:

https://www.___GET_REAL_URL___/www..../fl-hyde-column-0716-20150715-column,amp.html

 

[Chuck 54]

None of those draft busts were mistakes, really. The whole point of constantly trading and getting more picks, even after the Walker trade, was that Jimmy knew two things.

1. You build a winner through the draft
2. The draft is a crap shoot, so the more picks you have, the more likely you hit on enough guys to build a winner.

 

[Sydla]

OK?

How am I supposed to apply that to this team?