Jongb35;3292505 said:
I am sure you know your stuff. Do you mind if I post our challenge on our site? We will have to agree on some set of rules, point system, etc.
This is the part of this that gives me hesitation. It relies on luck. Because I assume your idea is that we are going to each present a Mock and whoever is closest to the target wins. The problem with that is Dallas' draft plans are fluid. They can be affected by what other teams do.
Please ask others in here if you doubt what I am about to share with you.
In the 2004 Draft I wanted Stephen Jackson. He fell right in our laps. In the Chat room that day I got a PM from a friend who was right down the hall from the War Room. He said he overheard Bill Parcells say that he did "not want to deal with the ****ing Poston's." They happened to be Jackson's agents and I said in Chat "we're going to trade out of this pick." The Draft was fluid immediately.
In 2005 I was a huge Mike Williams fan. Ask anyone here. I was his pimp. Many people wanted Merriman. Got a tip from a different source that Ware was our pick. So again in Chat I announced that Ware was our pick. I later announced that we hoped Marcus Spears was there at 20 and before day 2 got under way I said we hoped to get Chris Canty. I also shared the news that Jacksonville called us to find out if we were going to take Matt Jones at 20. That was from the same source who told me about Parcells and the Postons the year before.
In 2006 I attended the Draft so I had no Internet or inside access. Prior to the Draft I predicted Bobby Carpenter was our pick. I was pretty excited to be there to witness that.
In 2007 Anthony Spencer's biggest fan on this site was Cobra. When Brady Quinn was on the board and we were on deck I said we were going to make a trade with Cleveland because we wanted Spencer, but couldn't turn down the offer. It happened. Then Jerry surprised me by trading back into round 1 and took Spencer. No way I could have known he was going to do that. The first person I PMed was Cobra to say congrats. My insights clicked in round 2. When the Giants took Steve Smith I said in Chat, "that was our guy. We're going to trade out of the 2nd round." We did. Before day 2 started I said we were high on Doug Free. I also had sent a tip to the Cowboys about Nick Folk. I openly admit though that I was pissed when we used a Draft pick on a Kicker, even though I had him in a couple of my Mocks. Lastly, in almost every mock I did that year I had Courtney Brown, who was one of my pet cats. That was no insight though, just my own bias creeping in and luck on my side. I had him way earlier in my Mocks than where we got him.
In 2008 I was an Antoine Cason shill. He played at my Alma Mater and we needed a CB. Two days before the Draft I announced that we would take Mike Jenkins at 22 if he was there. My Cason dreams were over. So I was shocked at 22 when we took Felix Jones. I knew we wanted Felix but at 28 with our pick was my prediction. I knew San Diego also wanted Mike Jenkins. So I began to think we would get my guy Cason after all. As soon as we traded ahead of San Diego I posted on chat that we were taking Jenkins. I knew in round 2 that we wanted a WR and the guys we liked were James Hardy and Limas Sweed. When they both went ahead of us I said in chat, we'll take Martellus Bennett.
Last year no one had any insights into what Dallas was going to do with 2 notable exceptions. Everyone on this board knew we were very high on Jason Williams and everyone knew we didn't have a 1st round pick so they were going to try and add volume. How do you grade that?
I just don't see how stuff like this can be graded or predicted when each one of those Drafts was immediately fluid as soon as other teams started making their choices.
I can put a mock out there. So can you, but how it can be truly judged is beyond me. And like I said before, I really don't see the point. If you win you get to mock me on your site? Just do that anyway if you really want to. I can't stop you and what you say there has no bearing on you here.
If you doubt any of the examples I shared above please ask others here if I did not share those insights. My insights are not always right. No one bats 1.000 on these things. I do try and separate when something is my own thoughts and when I have got a tip. In other words I don't try and take credit for stuff I don't deserve. I hope that you can see that in the examples themselves. Much of what I shared above was not my thoughts at the time, but insights I had been given.
How do you grade that?
You said you will stick to your "own evaluations," which you would bet "are generally more accurate" than mine. If you've been more accurate than I have been since 2004 then congratulations. I will bow to you or whatever you wish. In panning your reasoning I was not trying to insult you or your "own evaluations." You are dead wrong about this Offense looking to change their blocking goals to smaller guys. That was the entire crux of my gripe.
Hudson Houck, Jason Garrett, Ray Sherman, and John Garrett. Those are the 4 top Offensive minds on this football team. You can throw in Wade Wilson as well, but I am talking only about the guys who concentrate on Blocking or who are thought to be high up on the list as a possible OC if Garrett becomes HC, namely Sherman. All 4 of those guys prefer the big, nasty types of Offensive Lineman not a finesse guy like Brown. I don't hate Brown, but your "evaluation" there was off the mark. How many articles have already been posted about how the staff here perks up when Iupati is being featured? I've seen a half dozen easily. He's a bull.
I have no issue with you trusting your evaluations, but when they are wrong, and that one was, I am going to speak up. I am sorry if that offended you. It wasn't the goal.
