My initial reaction.

[Randy White]

I'm going to be honest, I wasn't thrilled with the pick. Personally I'm not one for drafting O-linemen in the first round because I'm from the Jimmy school of drafting on this one: you can find hungry ones in later rounds. I also have a problem with O-linemen who are late pushers in the draft. In all the years that I've been watching the draft, I don't remember one jumping into the top 10 so late and with so thin of a resume. I was also irritated at the way the draft was unfolding and seeing how the Cowboys basically put an added value on Smith that was a bit too much. Jerry said in the presser that he was entertaining offers all the way until the last minute, ten seconds. Assuming, for arguments sake, that the offers he was entertaining were roughly the price that Jacksonville paid the Deadskins to move up to #10, that means the Cowboys believe that Smith is worth a Castonzo or Carimi ( I'm not a Solder fan ) plus a 2nd round pick, plus the difference in salary between the 9th pick and the 16th pick, or whatever other pick was in play. I think that's too high of a price for Smith.

Having said all of that, I can see where the Cowboys are coming from with this pick. Looking at Smith, the first name that comes to my mind is Richmond Webb. For those of you who don't remember or don't know who Webb was, the second biggest reason why Dan Marino is in the HOF is because of Richmond Webb. From the second Webb was drafted, along with Keith Sims, it added at least 5 years to Marino's career. Dan was 29 years old when both of those guys came into the league. If the Cowboys' talent evaluators are right, it's possible that Smith could do the same for Tony, who even though is 2 years older than Marino at this same point, has alot less wear and tear then Dan did.

I'm intrigued to see which direction they go later on today. Following in that spirit, I wouldn't mind if the Cowboys move down from #40, get an extra 4th round ( perhaps a 3rd, if possible ) and pick Marcus Cannon from TCU to play guard. It would be curious to see an all rookie right side of Cannon and Smith on opening day in that starting front.

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

Just as a note for you...just in case you did not know.

Cannon will have to go through some Chemo soon. Now the prognosis is that he be ok after it...I think they said around 90%+ success rate with the chemo on his problem.

Now even though that is good news, he will be going through chemo for a time and I am sure there will be some time of recovery and getting back into good shape after the chemo.

Which means he might lose some time in camp.

 

[Randy White]

Thanks, Brain.

Change of plans then.. Perhaps Cannon could be taken with a late 3rd rnd pick ( after moving back ) or 4th rnd pick.

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

Thanks, Brain.

Change of plans then.. Perhaps Cannon could be taken with a late 3rd rnd pick ( after moving back ) or 4th rnd pick.

Yeah they might be able to get him later and there still are other OGs out there that I am sure they are interested in as well...Like Winewski, Rackley, Hudson, Ijilana (sp?) as some other names just off the top of my head.

 

[Everson24]

Just as a note for you...just in case you did not know.

Cannon will have to go through some Chemo soon. Now the prognosis is that he be ok after it...I think they said around 90%+ success rate with the chemo on his problem.

Now even though that is good news, he will be going through chemo for a time and I am sure there will be some time of recovery and getting back into good shape after the chemo.

Which means he might lose some time in camp.

I've battled the same cancer that Cannon has for the past three years. Mine was stage 4 and I think his is stage 2 or 3. If he undergoes the same chemo regimen that I did I doubt he does much for a team this year.

 

[Chocolate Lab]

Hey Randy, without going back and checking, I seem to remember when Levi Jones was supposedly a 20s kind of guy, then maybe teens as the draft got close, and then the Bengals took him top 10 (or maybe 11?) and he turned out to be really good for a long time. Maybe not great, but very a solid OT for years.

Anyway, I'm fine with Smith, but I do wish we could've found a way to trade down a couple spots and add a 3rd or even 4th rounder. Seems like we could have with Fairley and Ponder still on the board.

 

[bbgun]

I'm going to be honest, I wasn't thrilled with the pick. Personally I'm not one for drafting O-linemen in the first round because I'm from the Jimmy school of drafting on this one: you can find hungry ones in later rounds. I also have a problem with O-linemen who are late pushers in the draft. In all the years that I've been watching the draft, I don't remember one jumping into the top 10 so late and with so thin of a resume. I was also irritated at the way the draft was unfolding and seeing how the Cowboys basically put an added value on Smith that was a bit too much. Jerry said in the presser that he was entertaining offers all the way until the last minute, ten seconds. Assuming, for arguments sake, that the offers he was entertaining were roughly the price that Jacksonville paid the Deadskins to move up to #10, that means the Cowboys believe that Smith is worth a Castonzo or Carimi ( I'm not a Solder fan ) plus a 2nd round pick, plus the difference in salary between the 9th pick and the 16th pick, or whatever other pick was in play. I think that's too high of a price for Smith.

Having said all of that, I can see where the Cowboys are coming from with this pick. Looking at Smith, the first name that comes to my mind is Richmond Webb. For those of you who don't remember or don't know who Webb was, the second biggest reason why Dan Marino is in the HOF is because of Richmond Webb. From the second Webb was drafted, along with Keith Sims, it added at least 5 years to Marino's career. Dan was 29 years old when both of those guys came into the league. If the Cowboys' talent evaluators are right, it's possible that Smith could do the same for Tony, who even though is 2 years older than Marino at this same point, has alot less wear and tear then Dan did.

I'm intrigued to see which direction they go later on today. Following in that spirit, I wouldn't mind if the Cowboys move down from #40, get an extra 4th round ( perhaps a 3rd, if possible ) and pick Marcus Cannon from TCU to play guard. It would be curious to see an all rookie right side of Cannon and Smith on opening day in that starting front.

I don't disagree with the pick, as it fills a need. We just need to dispense with the lie that Smith was the pick all along. If he's your guy, you don't take the full 15 minutes exploring trade options with other teams. Hardly a ringing endorsement of the young Trojan.

 

[btcutter]

You have the luxury of looking back at how the 1st round unfolded. We did not know there wasn't going to be a run on OL or not when Dallas was on the clock.
Dallas probably value Smith significantly higher than rest of the OT and didn't want to risk dropping down too much to lose him.
I agree with JJ here. You take the top prospect and sleep tight. No need to get cute. Imagine what would happen if he traded down to 16 with Jax and lose out on the top 2-3 OT?

 

[SaltwaterServr]

I don't disagree with the pick, as it fills a need. We just need to dispense with the lie that Smith was the pick all along. If he's your guy, you don't take the full 15 minutes exploring trade options with other teams. Hardly a ringing endorsement of the young Trojan.

I'd call it doing your due diligence, and the best deals to be had can be the last second ones. If you know who your guy is, you can take all the time you want to see if someone else pulled an Atlanta for #9.

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

I don't disagree with the pick, as it fills a need. We just need to dispense with the lie that Smith was the pick all along. If he's your guy, you don't take the full 15 minutes exploring trade options with other teams. Hardly a ringing endorsement of the young Trojan.

I think he was the guy all along since they had done so much scouting on him.

And you take the full minutes if you think you are going to get some trades that you might not be able to pass up.

I am pretty sure the Browns wanted Julio Jones all along but they could not pass up on the trade they were offered.

So I don't see how you can automatically think it was a lie due to those criteria.

 

[bbgun]

I'd call it doing your due diligence, and the best deals to be had can be the last second ones. If you know who your guy is, you can take all the time you want to see if someone else pulled an Atlanta for #9.

The fact remains, they were willing to live without him by listening to trade offers. He may evolve into a nice player, but he wasn't someone they had to have.

 

[bbgun]

I think he was the guy all along since they had done so much scouting on him.

And you take the full minutes if you think you are going to get some trades that you might not be able to pass up.

I am pretty sure the Browns wanted Julio Jones all along but they could not pass up on the trade they were offered.

So I don't see how you can automatically think it was a lie due to those criteria.

I don't think Jerry would milk the full 15 minutes for dramatic or theatrical purposes only. If Smith was their guy from Day 1, the card would have been turned in promptly. Instead, Jerry put it up for auction.

 

[ZBTHorton]

I don't think Jerry would milk the full 15 minutes for dramatic or theatrical purposes only. If Smith was their guy from Day 1, the card would have been turned in promptly. Instead, Jerry put it up for auction.

I pretty much completely disagree with this.

Nearly every team took the entire time(or close to it). We were in a great position to trade back and pickup some value, so we listened. That doesn't mean we were any more sure or unsure about whether he was the guy we wanted. It's not like we declared during the press conference that Smith was the only player in the world we wanted or something.

 

[bsheeern]

The fact remains, they were willing to live without him by listening to trade offers. He may evolve into a nice player, but he wasn't someone they had to have.

How can you say that?

1. You don't know where he would have been picked if we didn't take him at 9. We could have moved back and still known he was going to be there for the most part. We could have had an offer from Jacksonville and used that against Washington and basically swapped picks with the skins, picked up a 3rd or so, and still guarantee us getting smith.

2. I hope there wasn't any player "they had to have". That's just not smart drafting.

3. Not working the phones is about the dumbest thing you can do. Look at what Cleveland got from atlanta. I'm sure they could care less who was available when they came up to pick once they found out what atlanta was willing to give up.

 

[realtick]

The fact remains, they were willing to live without him by listening to trade offers. He may evolve into a nice player, but he wasn't someone they had to have.

And the fact remains that despite being offered some apparently appealing trade packages (see the subsequent Jags/Commanders trade), the Cowboys chose instead to select Smith.

They also only had 10 minutes, not 15.

 

[Nirvana]

Smith unlike Costanza has unquestionable passion for the game whereas Costanza wants to go to Med school. Not someone you draft with a high pick. Carimi still isn't drafted. We made a great pick.

 

[UnoDallas]

The fact remains, they were willing to live without him by listening to trade offers. He may evolve into a nice player, but he wasn't someone they had to have.

and who can say Minn or Det would not have grabbed him

yea if it was a deal like Cleveland got then yes

I think we got our first T Smith hater

 

[Randy White]

Hey Randy, without going back and checking, I seem to remember when Levi Jones was supposedly a 20s kind of guy, then maybe teens as the draft got close, and then the Bengals took him top 10 (or maybe 11?) and he turned out to be really good for a long time. Maybe not great, but very a solid OT for years.

Good point on Levi. I had forgotten about him and I do think Smith is more athletic than Levi was.

Anyway, I'm fine with Smith, but I do wish we could've found a way to trade down a couple spots and add a 3rd or even 4th rounder. Seems like we could have with Fairley and Ponder still on the board.

Yea, that annoyed me quite a bit.

 

[RoyTheHammer]

The fact remains, they were willing to live without him by listening to trade offers. He may evolve into a nice player, but he wasn't someone they had to have.

If you use that criteria than no one in the draft save maybe one or two players was someone that a team had to have.

There's a price for everyone.. like Brain said, im pretty sure the Browns were set on Julio before Atlanta offered them that kings ransom of picks.

Just because Dallas wanted to wait to see if any over the top trade offers came in doesn't discredit the pick.

They knew who they were going to take, they waited to see if offers would come in.. when they didn't find any to their satisfaction they pulled the trigger and got their guy.

(A guy who was 5th on their entire draft board, btw.)

 

[RoyTheHammer]

I pretty much completely disagree with this.

Nearly every team took the entire time(or close to it). We were in a great position to trade back and pickup some value, so we listened. That doesn't mean we were any more sure or unsure about whether he was the guy we wanted. It's not like we declared during the press conference that Smith was the only player in the world we wanted or something.

If BB even watched the draft or the live war room feed, he'd know that there was a sense of calm in the draft room for the Boys the entire time. Actually from the time the draft started until the card was turned in for their pick, there was relatively no action at all going on in the war room. They knew who they wanted, clearly. No panic, no scrambling, no lengthy discussion. Nothing. Just a smart, safe pick that fills our biggest immediate and long term need.