How effective has Will McClay been?

basel90 said:
Indeed. Looking at his history McClay never played in the NFL or coached in the NFL . I wonder if he is just a smooth talker and plays up to Jerry.
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I don't think that's uncommon with scouts or player personnel executives.
 
My understanding of his input is that he sets the draft board, he does not get involved with what they do with it. It was his son pushing Booger to take the trade in the 3rd round and Booger decided to go with the board and take McGovern.

Was McClay in on that decision to trade up for Lynch or take Cook? The talk has been Charleton and Hill were both picked because of Marinelli's influence.

The behind the scenes action is still a mystery and all we have is speculation. Some like to think the son is running the show now but I think that is based on wishful thinking. The son only has the leeway to act on things Booger will allow him to and the things he doesn't want to deal with. I don't even know who's responsible for film evaluation of draft prospects and FA's but Booger has admitted he doesn't deal with that. I think most GM's do.
 
Bigdog said:
Some of those players that you mentioned he did not want but was thrust on him by some of coaches namely Marinelli. I have heard that he wanted Watts over Taco.
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This is absolutely correct. Will McClay gives the coaches the kinds of players that they ask for. Mike McCarthy and Mike Nolan expressed the need for bigger run stuffing defensive tackles and Will produced once again with McCoy and Poe.
 
quickccc said:
Maybe just me, but not only do i believe McClay was heavily influenced by Marinelli and McClay wanted to best support his DC to the
most preferred prototype Marinelli wanted to get,..but McClay also panicked in thinking he has to draft that edge DE in the first
round as he would not get another chance to get that DE with their 2nd round pick.
All in tell, the Cowboys initially had Taco touted as a 2nd round pick, not a 1st round.

- what still also puzzled me to this very day, with the taco pick was the film game tape of Taco, and the supposed " quick twitch" preference of marinelli
for players quick off the snap of the ball, great get off's. Taco was actually slow off the snap and somewhat lumbersome and mechanical.
Besides passing over TJ Watt who has clearly become one of the premiere defensive players in NFL, that's all the more reason why i hated the pick.

- To add even more to the confusion (and frustration) of all, much was insistence that Taco was more the prototype,.while TJ Watt was not the prototype/ and
fit-scheme preference for Marinelli's DE.
Yet we didn't hesitate to draft a 237 pound Randy Gregory (who was 15 pounds lighter as Watt) and groom him as a DE ?
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very valid points. but seems mclay was playing PR when had doubled down on the taco pick publicly.
 
I personally feel like McClay was just trying not to throw anyone else under the bus, but I won't argue with anyone who takes what he said at face value. The Cowboys have done a great job drafting but have some big misses as of late. I think people are being quick to judgment though. The rule of thumb is it takes three years to judge a draft class. That would only take us to 2017. Taco obviously was a horrible pick, but the Cowboys got Awuzie, Lewis, and X Woods from that draft as well.
 
One of the very best in the business, not his fault he had deal with Garrett for 10 years... :facepalm::thumbdown:
 
CouchCoach said:
My understanding of his input is that he sets the draft board, he does not get involved with what they do with it. It was his son pushing Booger to take the trade in the 3rd round and Booger decided to go with the board and take McGovern.

Was McClay in on that decision to trade up for Lynch or take Cook?
The talk has been Charleton and Hill were both picked because of Marinelli's influence.

The behind the scenes action is still a mystery and all we have is speculation. Some like to think the son is running the show now but I think that is based on wishful thinking. The son only has the leeway to act on things Booger will allow him to and the things he doesn't want to deal with. I don't even know who's responsible for film evaluation of draft prospects and FA's but Booger has admitted he doesn't deal with that. I think most GM's do.
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yes, i most certainly do believe McClay was in on the decisions to try to get Paxton Lynch or consideration in possibly drafting Conner Cook.
As McClay's scouting dept. had to evaluate and gather the player information regarding Lynch, Cook, just as the reports from coaches who may have personally worked out the players.. you don't think McClay had to have a say when what players are warranted taking in the first round.
...or worth trading up in a particular round to acquire ?

i would have to think McClay leads and recommends that decision and presents it to his superiors in the Jones as the ones who officially calls the names to be announced or trade up/down transactions.

BTW, you don't recall the Cowboys wanting to draft DE's Kevin Dodd (Tennessee) or Emanuel Odgah in the 2nd round in 2016 draft, but thankfully the
two were swooped up before we had a chance to. So we supposedly stuck to the value of our draft board and went with Jaylon Smith based on his draft grade
and familiarity work of his surgical specialist George Andrews.

Its not always exact science work and a no-brainer sure thing. Luck has to come into sometimes and bounce our way. To this day i tend to wonder fi we still
would have been dragging it out with a body-weary Romo for the next incoming years to come, and constantly struggling to fill Romo's eventual
heir apparent.
 
jaythecowboy said:
I personally feel like McClay was just trying not to throw anyone else under the bus, but I won't argue with anyone who takes what he said at face value. The Cowboys have done a great job drafting but have some big misses as of late. I think people are being quick to judgment though. The rule of thumb is it takes three years to judge a draft class. That would only take us to 2017. Taco obviously was a horrible pick, but the Cowboys got Awuzie, Lewis, and X Woods from that draft as well.
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could be following the corporate line on taco . McClay seems to be playing along in some cases.
 
quickccc said:
yes, i most certainly do believe McClay was in on the decisions to try to get Paxton Lynch or consideration in possibly drafting Conner Cook.
As McClay's scouting dept. had to evaluate and gather the player information regarding Lynch, Cook, just as the reports from coaches who may have personally worked out the players.. you don't think McClay had to have a say when what players are warranted taking in the first round.
...or worth trading up in a particular round to acquire ?

i would have to think McClay leads and recommends that decision and presents it to his superiors in the Jones as the ones who officially calls the names to be announced or trade up/down transactions.

BTW, you don't recall the Cowboys wanting to draft DE's Kevin Dodd (Tennessee) or Emanuel Odgah in the 2nd round in 2016 draft, but thankfully the
two were swooped up before we had a chance to. So we supposedly stuck to the value of our draft board and went with Jaylon Smith based on his draft grade
and familiarity work of his surgical specialist George Andrews.

Its not always exact science work and a no-brainer sure thing. Luck has to come into sometimes and bounce our way. To this day i tend to wonder fi we still
would have been dragging it out with a body-weary Romo for the next incoming years to come, and constantly struggling to fill Romo's eventual
heir apparent.
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Hell, think where they would have been if not for having Sean Payton on staff, he's the only reason they got Romo.

Drafting a QB is an iffy situation to begin with but to have an UDFA QB and a 4th rounder for the last 14 years at QB is flat out crazy luck.
 
The only problem I have with McClay was his comments about Bryant after he was cut. I have never heard any GM or personnel guy take a shot at a player after he's gone. I wondered at the time, since Dez was a popular player, if he was asked to do that to save face for the Joneses? It was bad form for sure, the man had lost his job and was deeply wounded and that was adding insult to injury.
 
basel90 said:
thanks but there has been many misses lately , maybe he was not involved however in the final decisions .
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You're welcome. I guess I like to think you're going to have misses. Everyone will. But they are drafting well. They have built this team through the draft primarily. I hope it continues with Mike at the helm.
 
CouchCoach said:
The only problem I have with McClay was his comments about Bryant after he was cut. I have never heard any GM or personnel guy take a shot at a player after he's gone. I wondered at the time, since Dez was a popular player, if he was asked to do that to save face for the Joneses? It was bad form for sure, the man had lost his job and was deeply wounded and that was adding insult to injury.
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surprising . He probably was playing politics.
 
quickccc said:
My question is what year did McClay take over officially as the guy who leads the draft ?
We've had guys even before McClay like Jeff Ireland, Tom Ciskowski that were " credited" with orchestrated the draft.

sure Jerry picks up the phone and calls in that official final say of the pick.
But the personnel executive/director ( Ireland, Ciskowski, McClay) these guys along with their own working scouts and crew are responsible for evaluating, grading
and putting together the draft board. They are the ones that headline and decide when/where a certain player should be drafted in a particular round.

What changes the dynamics is when other influences pressure and push these directors in a way they would not normally plan to go to.

Such seemed the case as of Travis Fredrick over Shariff Floyd, and Taco Charleton over TJ Watt. i never forget the look on the faces of Garrett and Ciskowski
in the War Room when the move down in the 1st round were announced. (Cowboys moved down a couple of so notches before eventually selecting Fredrick)
And of course, we all are very well familiar with the debacle with Taco over TJ Watt.
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Good post. Good question. If Wikipedia is to be believed, McClay was promoted to Assistant Director of Player Personnel in 2014. That's probably when he became known as the "draft guy".
That's also the year we drafted Zach Martin.

Purely as a historian, I'd like to know the extent of the changes Parcells did for the drafting side of the house. I get the impression that Jimmy Johnson had the old draft team gutted, as he
was enough draft evaluator for anyone. As a short term solution, it made sense. Bit us in the long term though. Larry Lacewell wasn't a replacement for Gil Brandt.

D-
 
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