I'm excited about Liafau!

[maryquality]

I was sitting here watching videos of him, he's spoken highly of. Something about those guys from the area where they're from, that long hair, and hard hard work ethic. I see a young Troy Polamalu out there for us!

I can see him making big stops for us on 3rd downs or making a lot of plays behind the line of scrimmage! Anyone else excited, please give your thoughts

I honestly don't know much about him. I hope he turns out to be a good player for us.

 

[beware_d-ware]

My bull case for Liufau:

-LB is a reactive position. It's not a 1v1 matchup position like say LT vs DE, or boundary CB vs WR, where exceptional athletes get rewarded and bad athletes get Chaz Green'd. A mediocre athlete at LB can absolutely make it on smarts and hustle.

-Per Mike Zimmer, he's a very whiteboard-smart dude, and his hustle is unquestionable from tape.

-He's got a good size-speed combo. I wish we drafted a 234 lb RB that ran 4.64.

-He played out of control vs the run at ND and missed a heinous amount of tackles, but usually ended up around the ball. He was way more disciplined in coverage and played excellent football there.

So if we have a smart LB who plays hard and is at least baseline athletic, I like his chances of succeeding.

 

[Hawkeye19]

I wouldn’t pay too much attention to what coaches or FO types have to say about the kid.

This team loves to grandstand and front-run and talk their draft picks up.

There was nothing but love and big talk for Mazi after he was drafted. I will wait and see what this kid does at LBer before expecting anything of substance based on what the team is saying or what he has done in shorts and shells

 

[doomsday808]

I'll be following him when preseason starts up. I think he is going to get a lot of playing time.

 

[cowboyec]

he was one of my favorite players on notre dame's defense.
hit n hustle.
love his game.
glad we got'm.
♡♧☆.

 

[cowboyec]

i also liked jd bertrand.
was hopin' we'd get both.

 

[Coogiguy03]

First, get his name right. It's Liufau.

Oh thanks mod scholar!!

 

[IceStar-D7]

Diggs-Overshown and Liufau...My three headed monster....

 

[plasticman]

In my opinion, your average 3rd round player is a guy who plays special teams or is on a bench for a year or two before starting for 4-5 seasons.

Looking at the combined 5 drafts of 2010 through 2014, there were 166 players drafted in the 3rd round. Their average career was 6.4 years long. They started an average of 43.7 games, slightly less than 3 seasons.

There were 23 players that made at least one pro Bowl, or 13.9%. There were 15 with multiple Pro Bowls or 9.0%.

I'm not saying that this guy won't turn out to be special. The Cowboys had wonderful 3rd round picks in their history, guys like Jason Witten, Harvey Martin, Erik Williams, mark Stepnoski, and Demarco Murray.

However, these are a handful of the 78 total 3rd round picks in Cowboys history.

Therefore, I am always guarded when it comes to the expectations of a 3rd round pick. I'm also aware of the way draft picks are lauded by team supported media outlets and franchise executives. Coaches tend to choose their words carefully and I've never heard of any coach openly criticize a rookie's performance at OTA's and minicamps.

A new year, a new season always gives me new optimism and hope. However, I would temper that with the reality of odds finding one of those special players.

Let's see what happens first.

 

[Rockport]

I was sitting here watching videos of him, he's spoken highly of. Something about those guys from the area where they're from, that long hair, and hard hard work ethic. I see a young Troy Polamalu out there for us!

I can see him making big stops for us on 3rd downs or making a lot of plays behind the line of scrimmage! Anyone else excited, please give your thoughts

You’re excited when the wind changes direction.

 

[DuncanIso]

I was sitting here watching videos of him, he's spoken highly of. Something about those guys from the area where they're from, that long hair, and hard hard work ethic. I see a young Troy Polamalu out there for us!

I can see him making big stops for us on 3rd downs or making a lot of plays behind the line of scrimmage! Anyone else excited, please give your thoughts

Excellent draft pick.

Much needed help at LB.

Dude is physically gifted.

 

[Flinger]

Excellent draft pick.

Much needed help at LB.

Dude is physically gifted.

Sounds like he's extremely intelligent, too...

So was Singletry. So was Nat Nyugen for us...

It matters.

Will be interesting to watch.. got to give all men time though - and, not jump to conclusions as the naysayers do on this board.

 

[quickccc]

I don’t share your same optimism but it sure would be nice to have this type of guy in our linebackers room. Here’s to hoping your right.

" Instinctive " ... .that's the leading ingredient I am hoping we finally turn it around in the right direction for our LBs .

Of course there are other factors, but we've been stuck with guys that have the top of the table athleticism but seemingly
get lost in traffic, slow to react and always a step behind the plays - ala Damon Clark, LVE

 

[Nemesis4u]

Would be a backup LB on most teams but our LBs are really week so he will prob get more PT here then on other squads. Biggest issue is he plays erratic at times trying to make every play and can be out of place and really hurt the structure of a defense.

 

[big dog cowboy]

In my opinion, your average 3rd round player is a guy who plays special teams or is on a bench for a year or two before starting for 4-5 seasons.

The Cowboys plans for him this year are vastly different. We have already heard some of what they plan to do with him.

The bottom line is the Cowboys targeted him before the draft. And most telling, they turned down multiple trade offers to draft him.

 

[big dog cowboy]

Would be a backup LB on most teams but our LBs are really week

The Cowboys LB's are weak. Not sure where that came from.

 

[Rockport]

I was sitting here watching videos of him, he's spoken highly of. Something about those guys from the area where they're from, that long hair, and hard hard work ethic. I see a young Troy Polamalu out there for us!

I can see him making big stops for us on 3rd downs or making a lot of plays behind the line of scrimmage! Anyone else excited, please give your thoughts

I’m excited about the day you realize you need to be spending more time with your boys than here.