My (biased) thoughts on Martellus Bennett

[Big Dakota]

I understand many here are angry over this pick, so I thought I'd share some insight on a Cowboys pick that I actually know personally.

As many of you know, I'm a senior this year at Texas A&M. I actually knew Bennett and hung out with him several times in college, and I'll start off by saying this: He is one of the best people and personalities you'll ever meet. Not only is extremely funny, but he was always the first guy to practice and the last guy to leave. He's a great guy to have in your locker room.

Now, onto his abilities. He is a freakish athlete. He was a second team all-state basketball player in HS if that tells you anything. At 6'7", he can jump out of the building. He is also an excellant blocker, in fact his best highlights in college were of him pancaking DEs and OLBs. The only knock on him is his speed, but he makes up for it with his great hands. Had he been in an offense where he was properly utilized (he played in an option offense at A&M), he would have likely been a first rounder. He also caught about half of his passes split out as a WR.

The guy is a FAR. FAR better player than Fasano, I can assure you.

Mel's comments were along the same lines. First round talent if at a program that used his skills. Charlene Williams was right, we did go TE.

 

[The30YardSlant]

4.68 isn't THAT bad for a TE.

He has good game speed, but in the open field he does get caught from behind regularly.

He is a guy that, no matter where you throw it, he will go and get it. He only had a few dropped passes in three years.

 

[tecolote]

One thing's for sure, this is not a Bill Parcells type TE, check out his highlights,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5P0ljixzaGY

 

[calico]

I don't mind Tellus, but not with the second pick. Being a Texas fan, I know they guy can play and all...just not a fan of him over a WR. He is a nice insurance policy to have behind Witten, that is for sure.

 

[utrunner07]

May be a good player, I don't know. We didn't need to spend another pick on a TE in the second round.

Thank you Jerry and Larry.

Agreed...being a good guy does not mean he is a good pick...being a freakish athlete means nothing, its the NFL, thats the norm...we had MUCH MUCH more pressing needs than TE in the second round...

I am reminded of David LeFlewer...(sp)....Ive been saying it for about a year now folks....ITS THE MID 90s AGAIN BUT THIS TIME WE DON'T HAVE THE HARDWARE...MARK IT.

 

[Woods]

4.68 isn't THAT bad for a TE.

Heck, he's as fast as M Kelly . . . . plus he can block as well. :laugh2:

 

[Redball Express]

I understand many here are angry over this pick, so I thought I'd share some insight on a Cowboys pick that I actually know personally.

As many of you know, I'm a senior this year at Texas A&M. I actually knew Bennett and hung out with him several times in college, and I'll start off by saying this: He is one of the best people and personalities you'll ever meet. Not only is extremely funny, but he was always the first guy to practice and the last guy to leave. He's a great guy to have in your locker room.

Now, onto his abilities. He is a freakish athlete. He was a second team all-state basketball player in HS if that tells you anything. At 6'7", he can jump out of the building. He is also an excellant blocker, in fact his best highlights in college were of him pancaking DEs and OLBs. The only knock on him is his speed, but he makes up for it with his great hands. Had he been in an offense where he was properly utilized (he played in an option offense at A&M), he would have likely been a first rounder. He also caught about half of his passes split out as a WR.

The guy is a FAR. FAR better player than Fasano, I can assure you.

Video on Bennett

This guy is going to be very strong for us in the redzone..huge..great hands.

And blocks very well.

I'm going to assume that Garrett had a hand in drafting this guy.

:starspin ReDBaLL ExPreSS :starspin

 

[Cowboysfan22]

I like him but I would have rathered pick Mario Mannigham with pick #61.

 

[windward]

i doubt seriously it was planned that way. he was just BPA when our pick came up.

It's kinda funny how people are generally in favor of a BPA strategy until it actually happens.

 

[windward]

I like him but I would have rathered pick Mario Mannigham with pick #61.

Why? We might be able to get Manningham in the third of fourth.

 

[utrunner07]

I like him but I would have rathered pick Mario Mannigham with pick #61.

Agreed, seems like he is a good guy (which this team may need due to some character issues) but we would have been much better off with Mannigham

 

[jt40]

I'll chime in too. I'm also a senior at A&M and actually played against Martelleus in highschool.

Very much improved run blocker since he's been in college. I don't care what Kiper (or scouts) say. He is physical. He takes pride in doing the "dirty work".

Great athlete. Not top speed, but very fluid runner. Fun to watch after the catch. Huge target for QB. While he does a great job of positioning his body for receptions, I believe he catches too many balls with his body and not his hands. This has led too many drops when cathching in traffic.

Had very little QB support in college. As metioned above, was held back by the option offense. Looking forward to seeing what he'll do with Romo.

Great personality. Really fun person. Not lacking in confidence. You'll enjoy his comments/interviews. He loves the limelight!

I'm not saying this is an awesome pick, but I promise hes a better ball player than Fasano.

 

[dallasfaniac]

It's kinda funny how people are generally in favor of a BPA strategy until it actually happens.

Lmao, agreed. My only beef with this draft was taking Jones, who was obviously not bpa at that point, at least not in my opinion. Mendenhall should have been the pick. Jenkins was an awesome pick and Bennett was good value even if we just traded away a TE.

 

[AdamJT13]

Teams like the Giants get their backup TE (and potential future starting TE) in the late rounds.

The Giants used a third-round pick on a tight end when they already had Shockey, and they wound up getting a pick at the end of the fifth round when he left. We used a second-rounder on Fasano and got the first pick of the fourth. I don't see much difference there.

And Kevin Boss has nine career catches (including the playoffs). It might be a little soon to annoint him.

 

[ZeroClub]

If you had told me three days ago that we'd trade Fasano (and Akin Ayodele) for a fourth-round pick, then draft another tight end in the second round, I would have been very surprised.

But when our 61st pick came up and the best players left on Goose's board were Jamaal Charles (36th), Kevin Smith (44th) and Martellus Bennett (46th), with no wide receiver until Andre Caldwell at No. 64 (the 12th-best player on the board), I actually expected Bennett to be the pick.

That makes perfect sense. But I think it also means that Jerry's 2nd round pick came at exactly the wrong time for the team.

Instead of giving his radio and television interviews after pick #28, maybe Jerry should have been paying attention to the draft instead of to the cameras, and tried to move up or out of his 2nd round pick.

 

[Future]

We still didn't get a WR...

It was a bad pick, he's a good player and might help on 2-3 plays a game, but we could have done more.

 

[wileedog]

I don't mind Tellus, but not with the second pick. Being a Texas fan, I know they guy can play and all...just not a fan of him over a WR. He is a nice insurance policy to have behind Witten, that is for sure.

BPA in action.

 

[rags747]

Looks like a good pick to me. Another weapon for Romo and Red Ball. Think of this guy in the redzone in a two tight end offense. I like what we did hear today.

 

[goliadmike]

Hey HH since you hung out with him I'm curious was he a Cowboy fan before they drafted him?

 

[BourbonBalz]

He'll be great insurance for Witten, which is very important since we rely on the TE so much in our passing game now. We'd be crippled if we lost Witten for any length of time and didn't have a TE that could fill in and make catches. Besides, we don't exactly have a lot of weaknesses to address anyway. We'll still get a receiver tomorrow.