HUGE DRAFT MISTAKES: Moss and now JONES!

[Cochese]

I don't know how you can say this. I think if the Boys knew they were going to land Canty in the 4th they might have taken Jones in the 1st instead of Spears. Dallas had a need to build a 3-4 defense but they added the most difficult piece of that puzzle by drafting Ware.

They also had unproven Crayton and two 30+ and injury-prone WR's in Keyshawn and Glenn on the field. Neither had played a full season without some kind of major injury. It could be argued that Jones was an ideal pick and not a gamble at all.

As it has turned out in hindsight, we are into TO (another injury prone 30+ guy) for 25 million and Spears has had his 2nd knee injury in as many TC's. We also have a ton of youth and high picks sitting on our defense and tons of age at WR, OL, and QB on our offense.

Keyshawn is so injury prone he has only played 16 games in 7 of his 10 years in the league. Facts dont matter much, do they?

 

[burmafrd]

I have yet to hear anyone say that the Boys had any interest in Jones at all.
He has proven NOTHING so far. despite the bleatings of some.

 

[Bob Sacamano]

CC, the player Dallas wanted most in that draft was Spears, not Ware, he was the player they had to draft, don't care what we wanted, there was no way in hell Dallas would have taken an expirament at WR, over a 3-4 Dlineman, when we're trying to find the pieces for the 3-4

 

[ravidubey]

Don't jump the gun on Jones. You can't call him a draft mistake until he actually produces in the NFL consistently. For crying out loud the Skins passed on Santana Moss to draft Rod Gardner, LOL!

Funny how things turn out. I'd say the bigger mistake on the Cowboys part was drafting Quincy Carter. Just think, Steve Smith was available.

To tell the truth, I don't blame them for Carter so much. If the scouts thought he was a special player (they were wrong, of course, but that happens) then they drafted him at best a round early.

What I blame them for is drafting Tony Dixon immediately afterwards instead of Shaun Rogers when we had a critical need on the DL. Dixon was climbing some boards, but he was at best a 4th rounder. Jones and company hadn't a clue as to the true value of 2nd-4th round picks. He'd trade them away like they were spoiled food.

 

[Tass]

DeMarcus Ware? Hello....I am talking Spears! The man on the stationary bike for two years running......no way Ware.

Hindsight? Come on Zoners.......at the Combine Jones posted a 4.3 forty and catching everything.....coaches and scouts alike was raving about him!

Come on Zoners.......I know at least ONE of you can step forward and admit you liked JONES at the 20th pick for us vs Spears! Hell, we needed WR bad at that time......

Yes, I was hoping we'd take Jones with our 'Spears' pick and even posted my hope that we'd draft Jones here at the Zone last year. Spears hasn't impressed and Canty has. We would have gotten a good WR in Jones and a good end in Canty. I won't say Spears was a wasted pick, but I'd rather have Jones and Canty than Spears and Canty.

 

[ravidubey]

Keyshawn is so injury prone he has only played 16 games in 7 of his 10 years in the league. Facts dont matter much, do they?

But he gets hurt alot. He still makes it on the field and plays hurt, which is great, but his injuries do affect his performance. Regardless, they couldn't have been looking at Crayton, Glenn, and Keyshawn as their future.

 

[Cochese]

But he gets hurt alot. He still makes it on the field and plays hurt, which is great, but his injuries do affect his performance. Regardless, they couldn't have been looking at Crayton, Glenn, and Keyshawn as their future.

But you had claimed that neither had played a full season without a 'major' injury when that is clearly not the case. The fewest amount of games Key played in was 10, and has also had years of 14 and 15 games. Where were the major injuries? Glenn is a slighty different story, but again has completed 6 out of 10 seasons without any sort of major injury.

 

[Tristan]

Hind sight is really the key here, (if) we could have known that we would get a Chris Canty later, and a guy with the talent of Hatcher as well not to mention Jay Ratliff looking so good,then it would be easy to say Matt Jones would have been the better pick.

As of now Spears is still being counted on to be an integral part of a deep and dominating front seven, but if he keeps ending up on the stationary bike then yes I would say the pick was a mistake, he needs to produce this year, or we might as well have drafted another position we could use now like Matt jones.

If we had it to do again I would prefer having taken Matt Jones, but that is only because we have Canty and Hatcher not to mention Ratliff.

If you really want to cry over spilt milk, then the guy we should have made a top priority to get would be JAMMAL BROWN! not over Ware, but we should have traded up a few spots with our second pick to get him! Based on his stellar rookie play at right tackle he looks like a future All Pro, and God knows we could use that on the o-line more than Spears IMO.

 

[booker]

Prisco Jocks anything Jacksonville thats where hes from.The other day he was on a local radio show (The sports junkies)its in the DC area he actually said Fred Taylor could lead the league in rushing.I take what he says about Jones with a grain of salt.He is a Jacksoville homer much like the typical Commander fan is to the Commanders.Yes,that bad.

 

[CrazyCowboy]

If you want a WR with freakish measurables, maybe we should bring Randall Williams back.

That is a little too freakish, however, he does a great job on kick off returns....as you most likely know, he owns the record for fastest TD score in a NFL game.

Zoners--glad to some of you are not completly against the idea that Matt Jones could have been a very good pick for us......

I also like the Spears pick, but I just would have perferred Jones!

That is not meant to say I do not like Spears....he will be a very good player....Jones IMO will be much better in his career....book mark it!

 

[Bob Sacamano]

As it has turned out in hindsight, we are into TO (another injury prone 30+ guy) for 25 million and Spears has had his 2nd knee injury in as many TC's. We also have a ton of youth and high picks sitting on our defense and tons of age at WR, OL, and QB on our offense.

and here's another hindsight, the '07 class for WRs is going to be as strong as it's been in years at the top of the order, the time for building the D has passed, now it's time to move on to the O side of the ball, which has been BP's plan all along, I can't fault BP for passing on Matt Jones in order to secure a needed player for the 3-4, who's upside as a DE is as high as Jone's is for a WR, don't forget guys, Spears is a converted TE, so you know he has the athleticsm, and scouts were drooling all over this guy after his performance in the national title game when he was a Junior

BP said it himself, it's easier to find the pieces you need to field a great D, and that you can get by with older veterans at the skill position because it takes awhile for youngsters to grow into the position, I doubt we would have seen Jones start over Key and Glenn last year, while Spears is almost already a fixture on the Dline provided he stays healthy

 

[big dog cowboy]

HUGE DRAFT MISTAKE??? No way. Spears > Jones.

 

[Kittymama]

I don't think either pick is necessarily a bad one. However, for both, don't you think we should wait a few more years to see how they turn out?

And, to be fair, in hindsight we could go back & nitpick over every draft about players we couldawoulda taken had we only known.

(Besides, don't most folks agree passing on Moss really wasn't a bad decision? I have yet to see him get along with a coach. TO may sandbag his QBs, but he's got too much ego to lay down on plays. Moss himself has admitted that he quits in the middle of games, & he's sold every COACH he's played for down the river. There's no way he would have lasted at Dallas--can you imagine the coaches having to come up with "Randy ratios" to satisfy him? Geez, even TO didn't demand "TO ratios.")

 

[MC KAos]

either way i think its still a bit too early to tell if it would have been better to pick jones. I dont believe that it will ever be a "mistake" to have passed up on jones because it was a huge gamble to take him so high!. I also believe that jacksonville took him WAY too high and that he would have fallen to late in the second at LEAST if he had not been picked then

 

[Kittymama]

Interestingly, Peter King's most current column up on SI.com discusses the Jags & has this bit (& note the part where JONES is also suffering an injury):


No more Jimmy Smith, so which receiver steps up? Evidence points to Matt Jones. Leftwich loves him. He told me today that Jones was in over his head last season. "He spent the whole year learning the position,'' Leftwich said, "and you can't let your skills show if you're always out there thinking.''

If Jones stays upright (he's missing time right now with a slight ankle sprain), he will be Leftwich's deep-ball option, I'm guessing to the tune of about 65 catches for 1,200 yards. But that's a big if. Watch the Jags' camp reports to see if Jones is healthy by the time of your draft.


I think it's a bit early to annoint this kid as some sort of superstar WR any more than Spears should be written off. We've also got some young WRs who may turn out to be just as solid as Jones.

 

[Kittymama]

I think it's a bit early to annoint this kid as some sort of superstar WR any more than Spears should be written off. We've also got some young WRs who may turn out to be just as solid as Jones.

I mean Ware.

 

[peplaw06]

That draft it wasn't even a question for BP. They didn't even contemplate taking Jones when Spears was available. They were debating taking Spears at 11 instead of Ware, but they believed that Spears would be more likely to fall to 20... when he was there, they didn't think twice.

Jones, as has been stated, was considered a huge reach when the Jags took him. This was a non-issue when we were drafting. Moss was at least an issue when we decided to take Ellis.

 

[MC KAos]

moss was a HUGE issue, i was SO PIS#(R(@#$*@#(*$#@(*$@#(*$@#(*$#@(*$@#(*$@#(*$(@ when we didnt take him!!! and then thanksgiving.....oi, still hurts thinking about him burning us like that

 

[silver]

i'm against taking big receivers in this day and age. look at the other tall receiver the jags took 2 years ago. and then you look at the lions and have to scratch your head. it goes in cycles and it appears is the smurfs time once again.

 

[Big D]

We'll find out for sure week 1.

:starspin