CFZ Key Post-draft Question: Are we better as a team in 2024 than 2023?

[blueblood70]

Most post-draft analyses being offered by the football “experts“ tend to focus on each individual draft pick - their specific individual skills, their “value” in terms of when they were drafted, etc. What they rarely mention is what does this draft do collectively to make us a better football team? On top of that, you can never judge a draft before the new players have even played a meaningful down of football.

Overall I thought this year’s draft was generally good. We addressed two of the weakest areas this team had last year: The ability to run the ball and the ability to stop the run.

The acquisition of Tyler Guyton and Cooper Bebee should bring a long term improvement on the O- line.The acquisition of Marshawn Kneeland should have an impact on improving stopping the run, assuming he develops quickly. Not drafting a RB is the dangling need still hanging.

So back to question, Are we better in 2024 AS A TEAM after this draft? Here are my answers to that:

• In the short run, meaning the 2024 season, on paper this team does NOT appear to be as good as last year’s team that won the NFC East and earned the #2 seed. They were pitiful in the playoffs last year but had a 12-5 regular season.
• You can’t lose a HOF LT like Tyron Smith (although often injured last few years) and expect a rookie LT to walk in the door and immediately be better.
• We may not immediately see Cooper Bebee be better than Tyler Biadaz was at Center. I certainly think Bebee has more upside than Biadaz so after a year or two Bebee may exceed Biadaz. And Bebee may end up being the long term replacement for Zack Martin.
• In the next couple of seasons, if this year’s draft as well as the 2022 and 2023 classes show improvement, the 2025 team may be better than the 2024 version.

In conclusion, obviously it’s way too early to know how good this year’s draft will be. But it’s not too early to see that at least on paper this team is not clearly better NOW. But for 2025, that maybe different.

Do you think this draft has made the 2024 team better than the 2023 team?

We keep asking about this at every level of the offseason which there's still five months to go can we at least wait till training camp I mean I would love to answer this question but it's still incomplete they're signing more undrafted free agents this week and I know they have a list of those veteran free agents that you all didn't want but they have guys are gonna bring on this team that they didn't fulfill through the draft or early in free agency..

So we got to see 2023 as a complete roster we have yet to see that for 2024.. When we get there which will probably be after preseason then I'm gonna comment on the roster right now the roster is so incomplete they literally gonna have camp battles what is there gonna be like 90 guys how do we know what the 2024 roster looks like until we actually see it it has to be set who are they rolling into the first game of the season with then I'll comment...

So my answer will be TBD/INC..

 

[Hennessy_King]

I agree except I don’t even think BeeBe will be better than Biadaz…not next season anyway.

I think beebe will way better than you think. Especially in the run game.

 

[thunderpimp91]

Side question, how many believe Mike Zimmer is an upgrade over Dan Quinn? That will likely be the biggest onfield difference from 2023 to 2024

Depends on how you evaluate your defense...Its probably a more consistent unit, especially against the run, but with far fewer turnovers and negative plays.

 

[Verdict]

Not better early for sure. Martin and Law are almost done and more tread will be off their tires later in the year, when the young guys are coming on. I think are O line will be weak early because of the young guys will be figuring things out. Then by the time they figure it out the older guys will start breaking down.

Above said who knows. Dak will play well in the regular season and out WOs and TEs are pretty good. Running game will be pretty poor unless we had some more talent. It is the weakest part of our team and it's not close.

Martin and Tank are not who they were before. People need to remember that in their assessments.

 

[Verdict]

I think beebe will way better than you think. Especially in the run game.

Beebe will be better than Biadasz from the start there.

 

[Aerolithe_Lion]

In run defense I think Zimmer will be a clear upgrade. DQ let his guys pass rush far too often. I think we will get fewer turnovers under Zimmer but have a better base defense.

IDK about third down defense. I’m curious to see how that turns out.

Part of the issue is a lot your defense is built for Quinn. Both Diggs and Bland and very Quinn-esque CBs. Risk takers who give up yards in exchange for the big play. Micah is custom built for Quinn’s D. Would Zimmer ever let him be an undersized DE or is he going to drop back more offball LB?

Will be interesting to see how Zimmer navigates that

 

[Verdict]

I think this team is setting itself up for 2025 and could be better by then, but struggle to say they are a better roster in 2024. I think we are too quick to dismiss the players that walked this offseason. Tyron Smith is always a struggle to stay healthy but he still a top T for 12 games. Biadasz was a league average starter. Gilmore despite losing a step we would have been lost without last year. Despite being a part time player Armstrong had 18 sacks over the last two years. Pollard was rough to watch at times last year but I still think we downgraded the position this year.

It feels like Jerry is all in with scheme changes making this team better in 2024.

Armstrong is the biggest loss there. Very underrated player. Pollard was better than anything we have, but Pollard wasn’t himself last year either.

 

[The Quest for Six]

dude to start with Tyron smith was a legitmate All pro last year so your claim right there is full of crap
your post is not worth putting more effort into

Tyron, the keyword is "WAS" an All pro when he was healthy, he hasn't been since 2016. It was time to move on from Tyron, missed far too many games over the years and you can't depend on him to stay healthy anymore...

 

[cowboys5xsbs]

The linebackers are better and the DTs are worse. Secondary is better. The de is awash overall with the new guy. The defense will once again ride or die on mazi Smith improving.

 

[Verdict]

Part of the issue is a lot your defense is built for Quinn. Both Diggs and Bland and very Quinn-esque CBs. Micah is custom built for Quinn’s D.

Will be interesting to see how Zimmer navigates that

I think you are already seeing your answer to that. The DE we drafted in round 2 should be strong against the run. We got our trashcan of dirt at NT.

 

[Diehardblues]

Most post-draft analyses being offered by the football “experts“ tend to focus on each individual draft pick - their specific individual skills, their “value” in terms of when they were drafted, etc. What they rarely mention is what does this draft do collectively to make us a better football team? On top of that, you can never judge a draft before the new players have even played a meaningful down of football.

Overall I thought this year’s draft was generally good. We addressed two of the weakest areas this team had last year: The ability to run the ball and the ability to stop the run.

The acquisition of Tyler Guyton and Cooper Bebee should bring a long term improvement on the O- line.The acquisition of Marshawn Kneeland should have an impact on improving stopping the run, assuming he develops quickly. Not drafting a RB is the dangling need still hanging.

So back to question, Are we better in 2024 AS A TEAM after this draft? Here are my answers to that:

• In the short run, meaning the 2024 season, on paper this team does NOT appear to be as good as last year’s team that won the NFC East and earned the #2 seed. They were pitiful in the playoffs last year but had a 12-5 regular season.
• You can’t lose a HOF LT like Tyron Smith (although often injured last few years) and expect a rookie LT to walk in the door and immediately be better.
• We may not immediately see Cooper Bebee be better than Tyler Biadaz was at Center. I certainly think Bebee has more upside than Biadaz so after a year or two Bebee may exceed Biadaz. And Bebee may end up being the long term replacement for Zack Martin.
• In the next couple of seasons, if this year’s draft as well as the 2022 and 2023 classes show improvement, the 2025 team may be better than the 2024 version.

In conclusion, obviously it’s way too early to know how good this year’s draft will be. But it’s not too early to see that at least on paper this team is not clearly better NOW. But for 2025, that maybe different.

Do you think this draft has made the 2024 team better than the 2023 team?

Great questions …. With the amount of talent we lost in FA Im not sure we can expect to have gained more talent in draft than we lost in FA.

And since we didn’t add any in FA to speak of then overall I think most would argue we don’t have as much talent in 2024 as 2023.

It’s still left to be seen if we are a better team yet. It’s entirely possible doing more with less is obtainable . It might also depend on how much better or less our opponents have become .

 

[cowboys5xsbs]

The offense will once again ride on Dak more than ever which is a scary thought. Fergy and CD will be elite weapons and Cooks in year 2 could gel some more. The oline has the potential to be better by the mere fact we have guys that will play every week and not skip practice and be injured and have large inconsistencies because we have to move people around all the time.

 

[CowboysFaninHouston]

Most post-draft analyses being offered by the football “experts“ tend to focus on each individual draft pick - their specific individual skills, their “value” in terms of when they were drafted, etc. What they rarely mention is what does this draft do collectively to make us a better football team? On top of that, you can never judge a draft before the new players have even played a meaningful down of football.

Overall I thought this year’s draft was generally good. We addressed two of the weakest areas this team had last year: The ability to run the ball and the ability to stop the run.

The acquisition of Tyler Guyton and Cooper Bebee should bring a long term improvement on the O- line.The acquisition of Marshawn Kneeland should have an impact on improving stopping the run, assuming he develops quickly. Not drafting a RB is the dangling need still hanging.

So back to question, Are we better in 2024 AS A TEAM after this draft? Here are my answers to that:

• In the short run, meaning the 2024 season, on paper this team does NOT appear to be as good as last year’s team that won the NFC East and earned the #2 seed. They were pitiful in the playoffs last year but had a 12-5 regular season.
• You can’t lose a HOF LT like Tyron Smith (although often injured last few years) and expect a rookie LT to walk in the door and immediately be better.
• We may not immediately see Cooper Bebee be better than Tyler Biadaz was at Center. I certainly think Bebee has more upside than Biadaz so after a year or two Bebee may exceed Biadaz. And Bebee may end up being the long term replacement for Zack Martin.
• In the next couple of seasons, if this year’s draft as well as the 2022 and 2023 classes show improvement, the 2025 team may be better than the 2024 version.

In conclusion, obviously it’s way too early to know how good this year’s draft will be. But it’s not too early to see that at least on paper this team is not clearly better NOW. But for 2025, that maybe different.

Do you think this draft has made the 2024 team better than the 2023 team?

no. we are not.

 

[Mr_437]

No.

 

[Tabascocat]

I think it was a futures draft, shoring up for 2025+. It might be a rough 2024 with lots of growing pains. The run game, both offense and defense, still hasn’t been addressed properly. I don’t believe Guyton is ready for LT in the NFL but Bebee might be a pleasant surprise, especially if he can play Center.

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

I think beebe will way better than you think. Especially in the run game.

I look at center as the quarterback of the offensive line…. Mentally he won’t be what a vet is..physically I have no concerns.

 

[Hawkeye19]

Most post-draft analyses being offered by the football “experts“ tend to focus on each individual draft pick - their specific individual skills, their “value” in terms of when they were drafted, etc. What they rarely mention is what does this draft do collectively to make us a better football team? On top of that, you can never judge a draft before the new players have even played a meaningful down of football.

Overall I thought this year’s draft was generally good. We addressed two of the weakest areas this team had last year: The ability to run the ball and the ability to stop the run.

The acquisition of Tyler Guyton and Cooper Bebee should bring a long term improvement on the O- line.The acquisition of Marshawn Kneeland should have an impact on improving stopping the run, assuming he develops quickly. Not drafting a RB is the dangling need still hanging.

So back to question, Are we better in 2024 AS A TEAM after this draft? Here are my answers to that:

• In the short run, meaning the 2024 season, on paper this team does NOT appear to be as good as last year’s team that won the NFC East and earned the #2 seed. They were pitiful in the playoffs last year but had a 12-5 regular season.
• You can’t lose a HOF LT like Tyron Smith (although often injured last few years) and expect a rookie LT to walk in the door and immediately be better.
• We may not immediately see Cooper Bebee be better than Tyler Biadaz was at Center. I certainly think Bebee has more upside than Biadaz so after a year or two Bebee may exceed Biadaz. And Bebee may end up being the long term replacement for Zack Martin.
• In the next couple of seasons, if this year’s draft as well as the 2022 and 2023 classes show improvement, the 2025 team may be better than the 2024 version.

In conclusion, obviously it’s way too early to know how good this year’s draft will be. But it’s not too early to see that at least on paper this team is not clearly better NOW. But for 2025, that maybe different.

Do you think this draft has made the 2024 team better than the 2023 team?

I agree with your take. IMO— we are not better than we were last year. The “run it back” and “status quo” response to the GB debacle leaves so much to be desired.

There were some key departures from the roster— but none more important than Quinn. We are now installing a new defensive scheme on top of compensating for personnel holes.

IMO— there are too many holes, too much transition, and too little accountability to make 2024 a successful season.

I anticipate an 8-9 win season and at best— a WC berth and early exit in Jan.

2025 is looking to be an even worse setup in terms of dead money against the cap. Huge decisions looming on big contracts going fwd. If the wheels fall off this season— there could be a full rebuild starting next year.

I like some of the players we drafted— but this team has too many problems to address at this point. Hope I am wrong and hope they surprise— but realistically don’t see a lot of hope for us the next 2 years

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

Very well said.
People disrespecting Biadasz. He's a good NFL center, above average.
He's no TFred but very likely that Beebe is also not.
Beebe will have wins and losses, but is very likely not as good as Tyler B, in year 1.
Down the road? Possibly.
I understand the Cowboys thinking. Biadasz making almost 10 mil per year, Beebe will be making 1/10th of that, and will be cost controlled for 4 years. So I get it, biut let's not overreach here and suggest we will be better this year at C.

I agree. Tyler wasn’t as dominant as we would hope but he was a asset and that’s gonna be tough to replace.

 

[MoistMayonnaise]

No. You cannot equate the rookies and dumpster FAs we get to all the experience that walked out the door.
Maybe long term we are better but not today.

 

[blueblood70]

I look at center as the quarterback of the offensive line…. Mentally he won’t be what a vet is..physically I have no concerns.

Were you concerned when Tyler B had no problem transitioning there and I believe this guy's gonna be better in the run game I mean when people say this you realize that most people are rookies when they start and the mental aspect is an individual thing everyone's different they say this kids intellect for the game he can play every position along the offensive line and do it well sounds like he won't have much of A transition but Frederick and Tylerb both for rookies at one time one was better than the other but they both got it done