Plus, if you truly believe Marinelli didn't have a big say in persuading Jerry which defensive players to draft, I've got a piece of swampland in Florida I'd like to sell you. It is prime real estate!
I think there is a narrative that Marinelli spoiled any chances the Dallas defense had of greathood by convincing Jerry to draft Taco instead of TJ Watt and that without a 235 poundish pass rusher, we became a dismal failure. And it's a narrative, a story and while it's entertaining, I don't think it's convincing.
in 2018 we had two guys who could have stepped into the role of 6'+ish 235 poundish pass rusher, and their names were Jaylon Smith and LVE. Both, IMO, would have been really good at it had we had them rushing full time.
The way position coaches work with scouts wrt the draft is they are the ones who say that 'for these positions, these traits are ideal' and so forth. I do believe Marinelli set those standards, but outside of that, I believe he had no more influence than any other position coach. Draft choices in Dallas are made by consensus, and I think they agreed on Taco. Sorry, but this "I want mediocre talent and I want it now" discussions of the Evil Marinelli misplace his role and status in the Dallas structure. They make him more important than he really was, and take the blame away from the real reason folks were fired, which is that the team wasn't responding to the coaches. Had they had an average impact on the players, then Dallas goes 10-6, and we'd be in the playoffs, easily.
