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

[Corso]

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.

Cut 'em.

 

[aria]

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.

Great return is being one of the worst centers in the league? Fantastic! Maybe we can get a few more players just like him with a 4th round pick and we’ll have a Super Bowl caliber team. Again, the Giants center never played the position, gave up zero sacks, was undrafted and rated higher than Biadasz. That’s value.

He still may not be a great player “yet”. We have no idea how he’ll be but so far he hasn’t been good, rookie or not. I personally think he may be average to above average but all we have to go off is what he’s done so far and I’ve been unimpressed.

But hey, if you want to talk about how great this team is at drafting because they got a typical Jerry special of a player that fell in the draft due to injury and was one of the worst centers in the league than keep living in your delusional world. Jerry thanks you very much.

 

[aria]

Cut 'em.

Nah, keep him, we need more Jaylons, LVE’s, Gregory’s and other bargain bin players. They’ve worked out so well for us, I don’t know why we should get rid of them.

 

[CATCH17]

Our draft was fine..

 

[Aviano90]

Yeah but the upcoming draft is going to fill a lot of holes.

 

[Corso]

Nah, keep him, we need more Jaylons, LVE’s, Gregory’s and other bargain bin players. They’ve worked out so well for us, I don’t know why we should get rid of them.

You defend them.
I cut 'em.

Nobody goes beyond Year 1.

 

[buybuydandavis]

@Risen Star

"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."

Thank you for giving the criteria.

Here is PFF "Wins Above Replacement"
https://www.pff.com/war
tl;dr
Unclear what they mean in the paragraph, though.

Lamb 54th / 127 WR
Diggs 58th / 121 CB
Gallimore 105th / 130 DI
Biadasz 33rd / 37 C

By their own rankings. three rookies at the bottom edge of starters in the league, and one rookie that is a decent rotational player.

And the ranking for Lamb as a WR seems low. He was 25th in the league in yardage. His QB rating when thrown to was slightly better than Cooper's and Gallup's. I think he was a legitimate WR#1, although on the lower end this year.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

24th? Can't possibly be true.

I've read here countless times how this was an awesome draft, and the Cowboys have been drafting really well recently.

It always looks great in a vacuum. When you compare it to other teams you get a different perspective.

Well I watched all the games and came away thinking we got at least 2 possibly 4 starters.

I have no idea how they grade draft classes. I am much more comfortable making up my own mind.

Lamb hit the rookie wall but showed he could get separation and make guys miss in space at the NFL level.

Diggs was not always consistent in his assignments but when he was he showed instincts, ball skills, and toughness.

Gallimore showed power, quickstep off the line, and the ability to disengage and she'd.

Biadasz showed the anchor, feet, and head to compete. His health is a huge question.

As a general rule 2 starters and contributers from the first year is pretty good. Lamb and Diggs in particular show signs of being difference makers. Corners that limit big plays and attack the ball are what you want. Lamb projects to a 1000 yard receiver next year.

 

[buybuydandavis]

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

In the back half ot the season, Anae wasn't even active. Weird that they kept grinding Smith even though it seemed he physically wasn't up for it.

Lawrence should get more time as our best DE. Averaged 60% for the year, only got over 70% in 3 games.

 

[Hardline]

I wont be losing any sleep over it.

 

[buybuydandavis]

Great return is being one of the worst centers in the league?

One of the worst who got enough snaps to be rated. With only 37 rated, that's competing almost entirely against NFL starters.

The worst centers in the league are the backups who *didn't* get significant snaps.

Even getting a decent rookie backup with a 4th round comp pick is a good deal. Getting a guy who competes with the starters in his rookie season is a good deal.

 

[Uncle_Hank]

One of the worst who got enough snaps to be rated. With only 37 rated, that's competing almost entirely against NFL starters.

The worst centers in the league are the backups who *didn't* get significant snaps.

Even getting a decent rookie backup with a 4th round comp pick is a good deal. Getting a guy who competes with the starters in his rookie season is a good deal.

It does make you wonder if we're still low key looking for a center though.

 

[Corso]

It does make you wonder if we're still low key looking for a center though.

Ooh... interesting thought.
I think they'll look at least one more year on Biadasz and then evaluate, but if a really nice C drops, I could see it.

 

[jterrell]

PFF rated CeeDee (their 6th overall prospect) and TylerB both in their top 20 post-draft draft values.

The WAR metric placing them 24th makes some sense given the round 2 pick missed time and the round 3 pick was a DT who was not playing at all early but came on late.

No one is rating last year's draft class poorly however. It was a good draft at key positions of need CB/DT/OC.

 

[Uncle_Hank]

Ooh... interesting thought.
I think they'll look at least one more year on Biadasz and then evaluate, but if a really nice C drops, I could see it.

Yeah, my money is on Looney returning, but who knows. I haven't even read any center evaluations in the draft because I've only been reading Cowboys focused articles.

 

[JayFord]

The draft was fine.....this article is just someones opinion

 

[jterrell]

It does make you wonder if we're still low key looking for a center though.

Unlikely. TB was rated an off the charts good run blocker by PFF coming out of WISC but he was coming back from injury and not expected to be a year 1 starter.
His main issue was lack of Martin late and thus he didn't have help calling the OL line calls.
His rating was basically same as Looney's and he'd have played for the experience and upside if he didn't need to make all the line adjustments/calls without a proven vet beside him.

 

[Uncle_Hank]

PFF rated CeeDee (their 6th overall prospect) and TylerB both in their top 20 post-draft draft values.

The WAR metric placing them 24th makes some sense given the round 2 pick missed time and the round 3 pick was a DT who was not playing at all early but came on late.

No one is rating last year's draft class poorly however. It was a good draft at key positions of need CB/DT/OC.

I think that's what people don't get since the actual article is behind a paywall. PFF isn't saying that this was the 24th best draft class. They're saying that if you take the performances of all the rookies that got on the field, they performed the 24th best out of all the other rookies. I don't know how valuable of a statistic that actually is, but to each their own.

 

[jterrell]

things of note:
This was ESPN using PFF stats, not a PFF article.

I am a nerd and have both subscriptions.....

24. Dallas Cowboys
Why they're ranked here: To no surprise, wide receiver CeeDee Lamb (No. 17 overall) was the most valuable Cowboys rookie by a considerable margin and finished with a top-15 WAR generated in the entire rookie class. We can't completely ignore the rest of Dallas' rookie class production, however, even when it was a seventh-rounder, quarterback Ben DiNucci, who brought down the class significantly. DiNucci recorded only 51 dropbacks but finished with a lowly 25.6 PFF grade on those and generated the lowest WAR of anyone in the class.

How their top pick fared: Hauling in targets was an issue for Lamb. He tied for the fourth-most drops at the position with nine. Lamb did continuously exploit holes in zone coverage from the slot, though. No wide receiver generated more 15-plus-yard plays by finding a hole in zone coverage from the slot than him (nine). He hauled in 21 of 27 such targets for 325 yards, and none of his drops came on those targets.


Round/Pick Name Pos College
1/17 CeeDee Lamb WR Oklahoma
2/51 Trevon Diggs CB Alabama
3/82 Neville Gallimore DT Oklahoma
4/123 Reggie Robinson II CB Tulsa
4/146 Tyler Biadasz C Wisconsin
5/179 Bradlee Anae DE Utah
7/231 Ben DiNucci QB James Madison

 

[CWR]

The nature of fandom is that you tend to see things that the experts don't see, and they tend to see things that you don't.

Im not out on a limb commending those players. If the entire evaluation was skewed because our 3rd string QB rated poorly its a weak evaluation/ranking.