Twitter: PFF ranks Cowboys rookie class 24th in the league

[TheMarathonContinues]

Our drafting is constantly over rated by a lot of fans and it’s reflected in our record year after year. Coaching absolutely has something to do with it but not all of it. Based on some of the comments after our drafts you would think we have 22 All Pros starting.

Looking back at the past 5 years of draft classes is nauseating and just because a player starts on a bad team doesn’t mean they were a good draft pick.

While I agree this teams personnel at time gets overrated by fans....I don't get how they could be so low when they had rookies start for them. I won't even count Dinucci........they had Biadiz, Lamb, Gallimore and Diggs start games. That is not a bad class.

 

[Corso]

While I agree this teams personnel at time gets overrated by fans....I don't get how they could be so low when they had rookies start for them. I won't even count Dinucci........they had Biadiz, Lamb, Gallimore and Diggs start games. That is not a bad class.

I agree, but PFF specifically said they dinged the team for Nooch. The 7th rounder.

Wild. You'd think they'd look at themselves and say "This actually makes no sense, grading-wise", but like I said: That's PFF for you.

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

I agree, but PFF specifically said they dinged the team for Nooch. The 7th rounder.

Wild. You'd think they'd look at themselves and say "This actually makes no sense, grading-wise", but like I said: That's PFF for you.

Wait what? Alright so if I'm understanding this right this is a average of their PFF grades? Because if so, that would make some sense even though it would be lacking common sense being Dinucci didnt' even play enough to even take his grade inconsideration lol.

I try to give PFF their credit...and then they do something silly lol.

 

[buybuydandavis]

but it's for good reason.
all 4 played really well...so why wouldn't they.

Played well with their rookie training severely limited by the Plague.

 

[buybuydandavis]

I agree, but PFF specifically said they dinged the team for Nooch. The 7th rounder.

Wild. You'd think they'd look at themselves and say "This actually makes no sense, grading-wise", but like I said: That's PFF for you.

Do they specifically say *how* they ranked teams in the article?

 

[John813]

A 7th rounder played one game= terrible draft class


Such logic

 

[HungryLion]

I don't see how anyone can defend this. They told you they downgraded the entire class significantly because of Ben DiNucci playing a game.

So in PFF logic, if Prescott and Dalton don't both get hurt the Cowboys would have had a better rookie class this year.

Often times you'll find these Lewis Skolnick numbers crunchers are so beholden to their numbers that common sense goes out the window.

Yeah. Common sense adjustments gotta be made at some point.

Stuff like this is why stats don’t always tell the whole story.

And if places like PFF aren’t willing to adjust their formulas to account for common sense things like a 7th round rookie QB dragging down the rest of the class..... how are they any better than raw stats at that point?

 

[Corso]

Do they specifically say *how* they ranked teams in the article?

That's as ambiguous as looking through San Francisco fog in the morning.

 

[aria]

While I agree this teams personnel at time gets overrated by fans....I don't get how they could be so low when they had rookies start for them. I won't even count Dinucci........they had Biadiz, Lamb, Gallimore and Diggs start games. That is not a bad class.

Again, just because they started doesn’t mean they were good.

Biadasz was ranked the 33rd worst center out of 37. For comparison, the Gnats had a guy starting center who was an undrafted free agent IIRC, never played the position before this season and had a better rating than Tyler. It’s another classic case of over rating our own guys.

Gallimore had a PFF ranking of 52, that’s not good and he probably wouldn’t even be starting if it weren’t for injuries (same as Biadasz) which is why I think them starting is irrelevant.

Jury is still out on Diggs, he did ok for a rookie but also got burned on several plays. We’ll see how he does this year.

Lamb is a very good receiver but I think that pick could have been better spent elsewhere. We were already set at receiver, that wasn’t our problem.

 

[Corso]

Again, just because they started doesn’t mean they were good.

Biadasz was ranked the 33rd worst center out of 37. For comparison, the Gnats had a guy starting center who was an undrafted free agent IIRC, never played the position before this season and had a better rating than Tyler. It’s another classic case of over rating our own guys.

Gallimore had a PFF ranking of 52, that’s not good and he probably wouldn’t even be starting if it weren’t for injuries which (same as Biadasz) which is why I think them starting is irrelevant.

Jury is still out on Diggs, he did ok for a rookie but also got burned on several plays. We’ll see how he does this year.

Lamb is a very good receiver but I think that pick could have been better spent elsewhere. We were already set at receiver, that wasn’t our problem.

Cut 'em.

 

[Aven8]

Now I'm annoyed. I had thought that Anae wasn't played because he couldn't get gameday active with our decent depth chart for DE. But he was active for 7 games and still got only 6 defensive snaps.

I bet a few snaps a game makes a world of difference for a player's attitude and prep every week. Hate to see young guys not getting snaps. Especially an edge rusher. "Go get the QB" is not that complicated. Meanwhile, we played Aldon, the guy who hadn't played for 5 years, more snaps than any other DE on the team. We are so dumb.

Depth chart did keep him off the gameday actives once Gregory came back.

Aldon looked like a Grandpa from about midseason on. Anae should have at least gotten time.

 

[aria]

Cut 'em.

Nah, we like to hype up mediocre players, we wouldn’t have anything to talk about if we did that.

Remember how great LVE was supposed to be? Jaylon? Taco? Our entire 2017 draft class was nothing but a bunch of JAG’s (not including the 1st rounder we cut) and many of them started which is also part of the reason we had such a bad defense. Probably would have been better off if we did cut them but that would mean admitting they failed.

 

[Runwildboys]

anyone listening to PFF needs their heads checked. When was the last time they got anything right? lol

The last time they said something positive about Dallas.

 

[Corso]

Nah, we like to hype up mediocre players, we wouldn’t have anything to talk about if we did that.

Remember how great LVE was supposed to be? Jaylon? Taco? Our entire 2017 draft class was nothing but a bunch of JAG’s (not including the 1st rounder we cut) and many of them started which is also part of the reason we had such a bad defense. Probably would have been better off if we did cut them but that would mean admitting they failed.

Cut 'em all. Bleed the team.
Let's throw on some Norwegian black metal!

 

[aria]

Cut 'em all. Bleed the team.
Let's throw on some Norwegian black metal!

Wouldn’t be a bad start and as far as the Norwegian black metal goes, Mayhem or nothing.

This team is already bleeding, I don’t think a tourniquet would stop it at this point.

 

[Runwildboys]

Wait what? Alright so if I'm understanding this right this is a average of their PFF grades? Because if so, that would make some sense even though it would be lacking common sense being Dinucci didnt' even play enough to even take his grade inconsideration lol.

I try to give PFF their credit...and then they do something silly lol.

You'd think the fact he played at all would put him above other team's 7th rounders who didn't.

 

[Corso]

Wouldn’t be a bad start and as far as the Norwegian black metal goes, Mayhem or nothing.

This team is already bleeding, I don’t think a tourniquet would stop it at this point.

That 90's scene was so fascinating. They went all the way.

 

[TwoCentPlain]

@Risen Star Somewhat disingenuous thread title in my opinion.
24th at what? That is the important part you left out.

The Cowboys did not have the 24th best draft of 2020. No one would believe that. The Cowboys had a much better draft. I don't get the people panning this draft as yet another failed Cowboy draft. Ridiculous.

"With the help of Pro Football Focus' Wins Above Replacement (WAR) metric, we ranked all 32 teams on the value of their rookie class over expectation given where each player was selected in the 2020 NFL draft."

The Cowboys had a really, really good draft. 4 potential starters with Diggs and Lamb potential All-Pros. Lamb (along with Jefferson) is up there as the best WR in the entire class. Same with Diggs at CB. Gallimore compares nicely with all the DTs chosen before him, not a big drop-off in production considering Gallimore got a later start. All three of those picks exceeded expectations. Biadasz exceeded expectations but got injured and did not get playing time for some reason when he was healthy again. So, his production is low.

Let's look at the Bengals. Joe Burrow was the top pick in the draft. He should have the highest expectations of any player. Especially since the Bengals had no one as competition for the spot. Burrow got hurt early in the season so he couldn't have had that much production. They projected his production as if he didn't get hurt. They did not do the same for Biadasz. If Biadasz did not get hurt, he would have been the starter for half the year which would have been great value for a 4th round pick and he would have exceeded expectations. They also graded WR Higgins against all 2nd round WRs taken (ranked second among second-round selections). He wasn't taken that far from Jefferson or Lamb. He should be compared to Lamb and Jefferson. The top pick in the draft and the 33rd pick in the draft have high expectations and I don't see their production as particularly exceeding expectations.

Just a poor way to grade the draft overall. I could only see a little of the way they graded the Bengals and it looks flawed to me. Some good players may not get a chance for production due to injury or sitting behind a really good player. Need much more time to grade a class.

 

[Corso]

@Risen Star Somewhat disingenuous thread title in my opinion.
24th at what? That is the important part you left out.

The Cowboys did not have the 24th best draft of 2020. No one would believe that. The Cowboys had a much better draft. I don't get the people panning this draft as yet another failed Cowboy draft. Ridiculous.

"With the help of Pro Football Focus' Wins Above Replacement (WAR) metric, we ranked all 32 teams on the value of their rookie class over expectation given where each player was selected in the 2020 NFL draft."

The Cowboys had a really, really good draft. 4 potential starters with Diggs and Lamb potential All-Pros. Lamb (along with Jefferson) is up there as the best WR in the entire class. Same with Diggs at CB. Gallimore compares nicely with all the DTs chosen before him, not a big drop-off in production considering Gallimore got a later start. All three of those picks exceeded expectations. Biadasz exceeded expectations but got injured and did not get playing time for some reason when he was healthy again. So, his production is low.

Let's look at the Bengals. Joe Burrow was the top pick in the draft. He should have the highest expectations of any player. Especially since the Bengals had no one as competition for the spot. Burrow got hurt early in the season so he couldn't have had that much production. They projected his production as if he didn't get hurt. They did not do the same for Biadasz. If Biadasz did not get hurt, he would have been the starter for half the year which would have been great value for a 4th round pick and he would have exceeded expectations. They also graded WR Higgins against all 2nd round WRs taken (ranked second among second-round selections). He wasn't taken that far from Jefferson or Lamb. He should be compared to Lamb and Jefferson. The top pick in the draft and the 33rd pick in the draft have high expectations and I don't see their production as particularly exceeding expectations.

Just a poor way to grade the draft overall. I could only see a little of the way they graded the Bengals and it looks flawed to me. Some good players may not get a chance for production due to injury or sitting behind a really good player. Need much more time to grade a class.

He was being strategic throwing that out there like that and then defending the team in earnest because he's the Likes Collector.
It's the kind of stuff he does.
And it works. Kudos to him.

 

[buybuydandavis]

Biadasz was ranked the 33rd worst center out of 37.

Biadasz was the 33rd *top* center in the league, in his rookie season, when rookies got less than half the prep they normally would, and he *didn't* get starter snaps in training camp.
That's not a great player (yet), but that's a great return on investment for a 4th round comp pick.

In further defense of Biadasz, there were other reported grades on his play this year that were much higher, and even by PFF, he beat out the only other rookie C who got significant snaps, drafted in the 3rd round, Cushenberry.
Maybe not so easy to be a rookie C this year.