Post Draft Eval

Verdict

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I agree. If Smith is good that’s be huge. It’s just really hard for me to get excited about him in the 1st be was slated to go quite a bit lower. We’re also trying to get better with penalties and he was one of the most penalized players in CFB last year. If you’re going to take a in the first, you just can’t miss due to positional value.
I don’t know why people seem to be clinging on to this idea. If we had drafted a G in the second round most would expect them to start immediately based on draft position alone.
 

Pass2Run

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I think we look guys that fit our team and system.

That's what it looks like to me.

Maybe there were better players. But for what we need, for our team, our system, our needs, we did a pretty good job.

I didn't get every player I wanted either. I was really hoping for Travis Jones in the 2nd or 3rd.

Honestly, if we had gotten Jones, Williams and Smith somehow, I would be ecstatic.

We ended up with Tolbert, who is a good player. I just think we have a really deep roster for receivers, but Jerry drafted Tolbert to appease the fan base. He does have nice tape.

So I like Tolbert, I'm just not sure we needed a receiver at that point. I think what happened was that the Patriots were riding our jocks, and so when they took a guy we were eying in later rounds, Tyquan Thorton, in the 2nd, we used our 3rd on WR because Jerry knew everyone wanted one.

Kevin Austin went undrafted, by the way... And I'd have to say, he's probably a better player than Tolbert, from a physical skills standpoint.

I would have been more likely to take my chances on a guy like that than using a 3rd on Tolbert, as much as I do appreciate Tolbert's ability.

If you look at the WR roster after UDFAs hit, we're plenty deep at WR. One of those guys, maybe two, on the bottom of the roster could service very well.

I'm warming up on Waletzko after seeing his RAS scores, and all of that. He needs to strengthen his legs, core and back, but he should get to compete for RG or swing tackle.

Can't call it on Ridgeway. Hit or miss..

I didn't spend much time on TEs, and I was thinking we'd replace Jarwin and just Roll with Schultz, so I was eyeing Lucas Krull to fill Jarwin's role.

In the end, the players they took seem to fit what we do very well, so I liked that.

This year, we had a pretty good base of guys already on the roster, so it seemed to me we were just building at what we already had and adding to what has previously worked for us.

I'm cool with that.
 

LACowboysFan1

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Only thing you can evaluate at this point about the draft is what positions did they draft. Did they fill needs? Because this team wasni't, and isn't, in the position of being able to draft bpa, they were forced into drafting for need.

Which they did. But the "gem" of the draft is supposedly Smith. However, if you look at his NFL draft grade, and Connor McGovern's, you find a lot of similar strengths. Also unfortunately some of the same weaknesses. McGovern had a 6.20 grade, Smith a 6.33. Not a huge difference. McGovern projected as eventually an "average starter", Smith a "plus stater". Either could do better, or worse, than their draft profile. To this point McGovern hasn't lived up to his potential. Not yet a starter, though he's been penciled in as the starting left guard on most sites I've been to.

As with any draftee, I'm giving Smith every chance to "blossom" into a "plus starter". Just noting that players often fall short of expectations, not just with the Cowboys of course. Here's hoping Smith "pans out" better than McGovern has so far. Would be even nicer if McGovern did show marked improvement this year, because Smith is pretty raw, and first order of business with Smith is getting the penalty problem under control. Maybe he was just so good in college he stood out and the refs just assumed he must be doing something wrong, and in the NFL Smith won't stand out so much, plenty of top o-linemen in the league.

We shall see...
 

Acceptablename

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Now that the dust has settled on the draft we are able to evaluate the class as a whole. This year was just very meh to me. It started in FA, when IMO we did a very poor job of filling gaping holes heading into the draft. This forced us to reach for need early and often as we basically HAD to draft an OG, WR, DE and TE in no particular order. I really like the players I just feel we did a poor job of maximinzing value this year. Our best work was day 3 IMO.

1 - Tyler Smith - OG: Love the nasty demenaor and toughness he plays with. Stud run blocker that is just very raw with technique which leads to a lot of penalties and struggles in pass protection. IMO we just took him too early and a lot of the major draft analysts agreed as shown by big board rankings below:

- TDN: 59
- PFF: 25
- ESPN: 33
- Kiper: 33
- McShay: 33
- Lance Z: 2nd round
- Daniel Jeremiah: 42
- Matt Miller: 42
- Average: 38

2. Sam Williams - DE: Solid 1st step and closing speed with ok bend. Another player who is fairly raw technique wise that has a LONG way to go in run defense to become an every down player. Another reach IMO and sharing similiar rankings below:

- TDN: 73
- PFF: 91
- ESPN: 99
- Kiper: 125
- McShay: 99
- Lance Z: 3rd+
- Daniel Jeremiah: 80
- Matt Miller: 81
- Average: 91

3. Jalen Tolber- WR: Favorite pick of the draft. Small school stud WR that possesses NFL size / length and athleticism. Inside / outside flex that posesses quick feet and + route running for a smaller school player. Didn't shy away from bigger competition as he balled out against TN and how a strong Sr Bowl. Think he has potential to turn into a solid #2 WR.

4. Jake Ferguson - TE: Hated to see Kolar go right before our pick but Ferguson is a solid TE prospect. Not a + athlete but I love how he catches the ball away from his body and shows some pretty impressive catch radius. I think he can be a chain mover and help in the redzone and be able to replace Schultz once he becomes a better blocker.

5. Matt Waletzko - OT: Small school OT with +atlheticiscm. RAS score was through the rough. Tools /traits to develop into a backup as I think Ball from last year is a better prospect.

5. Daron Bland - CB: DQ special. Size / length player with straight line speed to develop.

5. Damone Clark - LBr: LOVE this pick. One of my favorite LBr prospects pre-injury as I thought he was well balanced and would bring some physicality to the LBr corp as someone that can actually play through trash. Hate that he got injured but hoping for a 100% recovery as I think he can be a starting MLB for us.

5. John Ridgeway - DT: Another great mid round pickup. Solid 2 down NT that can pair up with Big Bohanna from last year to hopefully help us be more physical and inmprove the run D.

6. Devin Harper - LBr: Speed merchant LBr that will be a special teamer that will compete to develop into backup LBr.
TSmith is looking like a beast. A
Dee Williams he’ll develope into what we wanted B+
Jalen gettin a starter in the 3rd B
Ferguson if we can let Shultz walk B-
Bland after watching practice A
Ridgeway and Harper C
When you get 4 players that can help you their rookie season you’ve had a good draft. Particularly around the 24th slot
 

kskboys

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TSmith is looking like a beast. A
Dee Williams he’ll develope into what we wanted B+
Jalen gettin a starter in the 3rd B
Ferguson if we can let Shultz walk B-
Bland after watching practice A
Ridgeway and Harper C
When you get 4 players that can help you their rookie season you’ve had a good draft. Particularly around the 24th slot
Be even better if Schultz would drop this idea that he needs top dollar and we could keep both. Both are just good solid players. Love Schultz at 8 mil, let him walk at 15.
 

LACowboysFan1

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TSmith is looking like a beast. A

Sorry, don't agree. From the Chargers game he got a penalty (already) and he plays way too upright, what power he has is partially wasted as a result.

He needs quite a bit of coaching to get to an A.

Imo, of course...
 

Acceptablename

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Sorry, don't agree. From the Chargers game he got a penalty (already) and he plays way too upright, what power he has is partially wasted as a result.

He needs quite a bit of coaching to get to an A.

Imo, of course...
I guess I grade on throwing 300 lbs NFfL players around higher then I should
 

LACowboysFan1

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I guess I grade on throwing 300 lbs NFfL players around higher then I should

300 lb backup linemen.

But there's lots more to being a grade A o-lineman than that.

That's okay, barring injury he'll get plenty of time in the regular season to show how great he is. We'll see, hopefully he's a quick learner...
 

Acceptablename

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300 lb backup linemen.

But there's lots more to being a grade A o-lineman than that.

That's okay, barring injury he'll get plenty of time in the regular season to show how great he is. We'll see, hopefully he's a quick learner...
We’ll have the answer to that in a couple of weeks. I think he’ll pass the test
 
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