Honest Draft Question Regarding Joseph Randle

[DFWJC]

Honest Question here

I don't recall ever hearing exactly what we saw in Joseph Randle last year over some of the other backs.
Does anyone have a link to an. Old article or video?

To this day, I still don't see why we took him over Zac Stacy or Andre Ellington.
I recall many of us really favoring those guys.

They just seemed so much.....better. And Ellington really seemed dynamic.

It's so early, Randle could end up being real good. This is just more of a search for insight on what our scouts were thinking.

 

[SilverStarCowboy]

Personally almost nvr (except Chris Johnson > Felix Jones) can determine RBs with very much efficiency. .. all of the other positions seem easier to evaluate. ?? Not sure why. Could be Scheme.

 

[speedkilz88]

They thought he had a running style similar to Murray and can be an all around back. They want a rb that can be a consistent pass blocker so Romo doesn't get killed. Randle had a late 3rd round grade, Ellington middle of the 6th round grade. Zac Stacy wasn't on their board.

Cowboys draft board rankings and round they ended up going.

2 Giovani Bernard
2 Eddie Lacy

2 Montee Ball
2 Le'Veon Bell
5 Joseph Randle

5 Stepfan Taylor
6 Andre Ellington

4 Kyle Juszczyk
4 Johnathan Franklin
6 Theo Riddick
5 Mike Gillislee

6 Rex Burkhead

 

[speedkilz88]

Too late to edit, but Ellington was middle of the 4th round grade.

 

[DFWJC]

They did get decent value from Murray if he can stay on the field another season.

I was just more curious about their RB scouts in particular because:
1) the Randle pick was a head-scratcher, imo. I mean, Murray was a 4.4 guy and Randle's times were 4.54, 4.6, and 4.63.
2) but passing on Chris Johnson, Ray Rice, Jamaal Charles, Matt Forte, etc to take Felix Jones was mind-boggling.

Just want to be clear though, I'm not writing Randle off yet. He does have the potential to be solid, if unspectacular.
They just flat our missed on Stacy and Ellington. But a lot of teams did. It happens.

 

[DBOY3141]

I think Ellington was hurt quite a bit at Clemson, if true, that may have pushed him down.

 

[xwalker]

He looked like a good college RB. Also, he showed good effort and awareness in Pass Protection. He is a 1 cut and go type which is what they want in their zone blocking scheme. I think they also say him a durable and an every down type of player.

http://draftbreakdown.com/video/joseph-randle-vs-baylor-2011/

http://draftbreakdown.com/video/joseph-randle-vs-texas-2012/

 

[xwalker]

One thing I noticed in reviewing Randle's college game footage was his balance. He was very good at keeping his feet after contact. I noticed the same thing about Ryan Williams who the Cowboys just signed.

 

[xwalker]

I think Ellington was hurt quite a bit at Clemson, if true, that may have pushed him down.

Did he have fumble issues also. I saw a couple in the footage that I watched.

 

[igtmfo]

I think the 2013 draft was the readjustment in Cowboys draft grades - in 2013 there were stronger demerits for being "injury prone" .. which Randle wasn't, so he got bonus points on his final draft grade out in Irving.

The 2012 draft was the lame and halt (Crawford to a degree, Wilber, Matt Johnson, Danny Coale). ... Guys that missed a fair, or lot, of games in college, and especially guys that were healing when we drafted them and weren't ready for OTAs etc. ... I've written here of a brief radio interview during the 2012 draft with a Cowboys draft-day "higher up" who pretty much denied that being "injury prone" was a real thing (when questioned why all these guys we drafted were presently on crutches), and that those injuries were all run-of-the-mill injuries par for the course and hundreds of guys come back from them every year etc. ... Same philosophy previous years with Carter, Arkin, Lee etc (though we dodged the bullet mostly with Murray).... No doubt we wanted a competitive advantage from drafting guys who dropped due to injury and who we could be patient with while they healed and then they would be great.

IMO the Cowboys front office for years just poo-pooed the possibility of being "injury prone" in their draft grades at least - an abandonment of common sense to me.

Randle had/has everything practically, except NFL-quality speed, as you guys read Jonathan Bales who said about only one other dude had made it in the past decade at RB with his lack of speed, forgot who it was and that we shouldn't have drafted him.

I feel Randle was the result of the our new 2013 scouting grading criteria, where speed might have been discounted a bit in favor of health and the other stuff.

 

[Risen Star]

I don't have an explanation for Randle other than poor scouting. I don't think he does anything well nor does he have any outstanding traits.

I don't think he's a terrible player, more just a guy.

 

[Future]

They liked him b/c he was balanced...could run catch and block. Essentially, they brought him in to be a poor man's Murray. He doesn't do one thing particularly well, but he's a guy that can come in and, in theory, allow you to run the same offense without having to sub all the time...even if he isn't as explosive or effective as Murray.

 

[Alexander]

Oklahoma State connection.

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

Whatever it was, it appears to be a mistake.

Guy was rarely on the field and I think was not even active for a number of games. So it appears they were not too enthralled with him once they got him.

Now look at this year and we know Murray is the lead at RB (as long as he is healthy), we have read multiple times that Linehan likes Dunbar in a reggie bush type of role and they signed the VT RB. So Unless injuries happen I doubt that Randall gets much of a chance this season.

 

[Tezz]

Thought he was a change of pace/3rd down back because of his catching skills, but he was awful as a pass protector in limited opportunities last year leading to him being phased out. They were looking for a dependable average/serviceable player if Murray went down, but his blocking changed that outlook. A run of the mill gets what is blocked type runner needs to turn heads this off-season as I think he is on the roster bubble

 

[Chocolate Lab]

He was productive, especially as said by others in the passing game. Everyone in the 5th round is going to have some warts... If Jerry takes a physical talent who was hurt or unproductive, people say he's taking a project athlete like an Isiah Stanback. So we do the opposite and he still gets bashed.

As for the "no talent" evaluation, we remember the highlight where he juked phenom Kenny Vacarro out of his jock, right?

Now Randle may not make it, because he looked so slow last year. Not sure why that is because he didn't look like that in college. Maybe he's on the borderline where he simply isn't quite talented enough at this next level. But I don't think it was a bad pick. Like Alex said, I do think the Okie State connection might have played a part, but still, the guy's productivity was there. And I still say he has some intangibles you can't test for like toughness.