My Mid-season rookie grades

[Wood]

Spencer (B) Shows flashes. Needs more strength. Has a great mentor in Greg Ellis. Could develop into a three-headed monster (with Ware, Ellis) now that Spencer is backing up Ware side also.

Marten (C-) As with most rookies...needs more strength. Was handled a bit in preseason. Was supposed to exhibit a nastiness similar to Colombo but might just be too new to feel that comfortable. Was outplayed by Free in preseason.

Stanback (C) Already a firestorm with fans. According to Mickey article he is atleast 3-4 years away from competiting for a starting position at WR.

Free (C) Suprised many in preseason with athletic ability. Some feel he could flat out beat-out Mcq for Left tackle position if "hotel" does not resign.

Folk (A+) Leads entire NFL in scoring. Was eerily calm during two huge kicks in Buffalo to win it. Has improved on kickoffs. Great decision by Wade to go with the rookie.

Anderson (B) Has shown enough that when Hoyte returns....Wade plans on activating both fullbacks. Catches ball well for FB with good running ability. Needs to improve on recognition skills.

 

[tomson75]

Do you have a link to the Spags article referring to Stanback as a 3-4 year project?

 

[Wood]

Donahue Baker, Teaneck, N.J.: I am really starting to worry about Terry Glenn, and the future for the Cowboys at that other wide receiver position. Any word on Isaiah Stanback getting a couple of snaps soon? I realize it was an experiment to draft him but if he can't get on the field it really changes our focus in the draft next year.

Mickey: Same song, second verse. Please read the site. Stanback basically is going through a redshirt year. He's just not ready to handle even a part-time load at wide receiver. This isn't a disappointment to the Cowboys, and in fact that the transition from quarterback to wide receiver will take some time was expected. Now I can't imagine the Cowboys would count on Stanback to be much more than a fourth receiver next year with some special teams responsibilities, and if he improved to third-receiver capability, they'd do a dance at midfield. Patience my friends.

** That puts him into his 3rd year before Mickey even thinks he can contribute in a meaningful way.

 

[tomson75]

Gotcha. If he's contributing by his third year, I'd consider that a two year project...but that's just me.

As far as the grades go, I wouldn't go out of my way to argue with any of them.

 

[Wood]

thats why my origianal post said 3-4 years to be a starter not a project. I just assumed Mickey thinks by his second year he is a 4th receiver, a 3rd receiver by his third year and finally a starter by his 4th year.

 

[tomson75]

I could live with that, but I somehow doubt I'm in the majority.

 

[starfrombirth]

I could live with that, but I somehow doubt I'm in the majority.

I'm definitely NOT on board with that. There is no way a roster spot should be taken up for 3 years for a project. 2 years and then show what you got otherwise it's time to move on.

 

[dmq]

I hate 4 year projects. By the time they are worth anything to our team, they leave for free agency

 

[Big Dakota]

Grading draft classes 7 games into their first season huh?

 

[eduncan22]

This is starting to look like...


Stanback is a Draft Bust.

 

[03EBZ06]

I'd give Stanback, Free, and Marten an Incomplete. We haven't seen them enough to give him any grade. I'm not so sure few preseason games can be used as a determining factor for grading them, imo.

As for Spencer, Folk, and Anderson, I'd agree with those grades.

 

[Yeagermeister]

I'd give Stanback, Free, and Marten an Incomplete. We haven't seen them enough to give him any grade. I'm not so sure few preseason games can be used as a determining factor for grading them, imo.

As for Spencer, Folk, and Anderson, I'd agree with those grades.

I agree

 

[AbeBeta]

** That puts him into his 3rd year before Mickey even thinks he can contribute in a meaningful way.

It takes a lot of first round picks that long to develop into starting quality players.

Look at the 2005 draft -- Mike Williams and Matt Jones have both lost their jobs. Mark Clayton, Roddy White, and Troy Williamson (#7 overall) start sometimes and are OK but nothing special.

Braylon Edwards (#3 overall) is the only stud of that group.

I swear sometimes people have such unreasonable expectations for 4th round picks.

 

[YosemiteSam]

I give some an "A" for Awful and some an "F" for Fabulous! :laugh2:

 

[Future]

I hate 4 year projects. By the time they are worth anything to our team, they leave for free agency

Like Who?

 

[silverblue]

I'm definitely NOT on board with that. There is no way a roster spot should be taken up for 3 years for a project. 2 years and then show what you got otherwise it's time to move on.

I think Romo was about a three year project, no?

 

[Wood]

Romo was a three year project...but he was undrafted and we heard very little about him during two of those years.

Stanback on other hand is a 4th round pick that some analyst felt went too soon considering he had very little experience in college as WR. It didnt help that Ireland went on a two day dissertation on how much Stanback skills blew him away. So in a way....Dallas created all this buzz about Stanback so its natural the fan base expected more sooner.

 

[LittleBoyBlue]

Wow.... how about just getting Stanback on the field in a 4 WR set and let him run down the field. Let him get his feet wet. Maybe throw him a ball and see what he can do?


How about we throw him a 5 yard pass and see what he can in space?

Something?

 

[silverblue]

how about wait until he is ready.

 

[AbeBeta]

The real problem with Stanback has nothing to do with Ireland being hot on him. You can regularly find situations where player personnel guys or GMs crow about guys they picked. How often do you hear claims like "we were lucky that he was there in round 2 -- we discussed taking him with our first round pick?" That sort of stuff is a constant around the league.

The REAL issue here is that folks on this board want/expect too much out of players. After the draft how many times did we hear junk like "We've got our bookend tackles for the future!" or "Brown and Ball will be a great upgrade over Reeves, Jones, and Glenn!"