Review of LB Anthony Hitchens against LSU

[Derekmtl85]

no thanks

lol pathetic....says it can't be right, then when asked to prove it, says no thanks.

 

[rkell87]

lol pathetic....says it can't be right, then when asked to prove it, says no thanks.

my eyes tell me all I need to know, I don't have time to go back and watch that **** show to prove anything, thanks for bumping a two week old thread though.

 

[DFWJC]

On my unofficial board, Hitchens was a reach.
Maybe the 6th round for me.
But nobody here knows where he was on the other 31 teams' boards, and anyone saying otherwise had their heads buried up the internet draftnicks tails.

 

[jday]

I don't disagree with wanting football players instead of athletes , but it has to be done within reason. One if the biggest problems on defense is the lack of speed. When they draft players, they should make sure that they are good athletes. There are too many players in this team that have borderline speed. I have used Church as an example before and I will again. Church is a player, but just think of how much better the defense would be if ayers like him had good speed. IIRC no was timed at 4.6 in the 40 before we drafted him. He has never been a fast CB. If I spend the 6th pick in the draft in a CB, he better have elite speed. The slower players are half a step behind at all times and that makes a weak defense even weaker. Speed should be at the top if the list of desirable traits that they look for in players. It worked well for the 90's Cowboy defenses.

I am a big believer in needing speed...but you have to be careful in placing too much emphasis on speed over assignment sound football players. Otherwise, you get too many players running really fast in the wrong direction.

 

[xwalker]

I don't disagree with wanting football players instead of athletes , but it has to be done within reason. One if the biggest problems on defense is the lack of speed. When they draft players, they should make sure that they are good athletes. There are too many players in this team that have borderline speed. I have used Church as an example before and I will again. Church is a player, but just think of how much better the defense would be if ayers like him had good speed. IIRC no was timed at 4.6 in the 40 before we drafted him. He has never been a fast CB. If I spend the 6th pick in the draft in a CB, he better have elite speed. The slower players are half a step behind at all times and that makes a weak defense even weaker. Speed should be at the top if the list of desirable traits that they look for in players. It worked well for the 90's Cowboy defenses.

I am a big believer in needing speed...but you have to be careful in placing too much emphasis on speed over assignment sound football players. Otherwise, you get too many players running really fast in the wrong direction.

Church had good numbers in everything except the 40. His 10 was good and his 3-cone was terrific. He did this a 222 pounds. They now have him listed at 218 but he said in an interview during training camp that he was down to around 212. He was visibly faster, IMO, at the lower weight.

Barry Church
Height: 6014
Weight: 222
40 Yrd Dash: 4.64
20 Yrd Dash: 2.78
10 Yrd Dash: 1.58
225 Lb. Bench Reps: 19
Vertical Jump: 36
Broad Jump: 10'01"
20 Yrd Shuttle: 4.17
3-Cone Drill: 6.65

 

[cowboy_ron]

Not really. A reach is taking a guy way over their perceived value. If you want to excuse that by saying the team that selected him thought it was value, then there's never been a reach in the history of the league.

Why you would tie it to positions is beyond me. Any RB taken in the first round this year would have been a reach. Regardless of whether it was your top rated RB.

Here's the bottom line on Hitchens. If I had mocked him to the Cowboys before May 10th, not a single member here would have supported the pick. Now we have the usual suspects, you included, defending what they would have found indefensible before the pick was announced.

The best description for the Hitchens selection is "horrendous reach". Probably not the worst of the draft, I think Seattle's selection of Justin Britt at the bottom of the 2nd round may deserve that award, but that pick was one of the top 5 biggest reaches in the 2014 NFL Draft.

Ok, I'll take a stab at this....with Hitchens being a "horrendous reach" for the Cowboys.....what is your take on 2 of the first 3 multiple round reaches the eagles had? Are those reaches too or was that just state of the art awesome scouting on their part?

 

[Risen Star]

Ok, I'll take a stab at this....with Hitchens being a "horrendous reach" for the Cowboys.....what is your take on 2 of the first 3 multiple round reaches the eagles had? Are those reaches too or was that just state of the art awesome scouting on their part?

What the Eagles did is irrelevant. This is a Cowboys board. We're talking about the Cowboys and their horrific reach of an UDFA talent in the 4th round. If I was an Eagles fan I'd be complaining about taking a 3rd rounder in the 1st round. If I was a Seahawks fan I'd be complaining about taking a 6th/7th rounder with the last pick in the 2nd. None of this has anything to do with what the Cowboys did with their 4th round pick.

I'm not interested in making the medicine go down any easier for you, talking about other teams and their reaches. Hitchens was majorly over drafted and while people can pretend to argue against that, not a single one of those people can point to any talk pre-draft to back that up. He wasn't even mentioned as a priority free agent by anyone.

 

[Bungarian]

What the Eagles did is irrelevant. This is a Cowboys board. We're talking about the Cowboys and their horrific reach of an UDFA talent in the 4th round. If I was an Eagles fan I'd be complaining about taking a 3rd rounder in the 1st round. If I was a Seahawks fan I'd be complaining about taking a 6th/7th rounder with the last pick in the 2nd. None of this has anything to do with what the Cowboys did with their 4th round pick.

I'm not interested in making the medicine go down any easier for you, talking about other teams and their reaches. Hitchens was majorly over drafted and while people can pretend to argue against that, not a single one of those people can point to any talk pre-draft to back that up. He wasn't even mentioned as a priority free agent by anyone.

A reach is a reach no matter how well he plays.

 

[ThreeandOut]

A reach is a reach no matter how well he plays.

If he plays well, nobody will care.

 

[Fla Cowpoke]

Even if Hitchens fails, I don't think that 'reach' is the right word. Reach to me implies that they had no LB on the board worth a flip and got a guy they rated at a lower round anyway.

Pierre and Smith were on their radar and rejected in favor of this guy. That is a failure in talent evaluation and not reaching within their board, assuming he flops of course.

The word is Seattle was going to take him in the fourth. Does that mean he is less of a reach then some are preaching? I mean, Seattle had the best defense in the league. Maybe the majority were the ones wrong on this guy. That is a possibility isn't it?

 

[xwalker]

The word is Seattle was going to take him in the fourth. Does that mean he is less of a reach then some are preaching? I mean, Seattle had the best defense in the league. Maybe the majority were the ones wrong on this guy. That is a possibility isn't it?

Mel Kiper and his associates cannot be wrong! It's not as if they projected Jeffcoat to the 2nd or 3rd round.

 

[Alexander]

Ok, I'll take a stab at this....with Hitchens being a "horrendous reach" for the Cowboys.....what is your take on 2 of the first 3 multiple round reaches the eagles had? Are those reaches too or was that just state of the art awesome scouting on their part?

The Eagles had a terrible draft IMO. How does that prove anything? I did not care for it, but I cannot say they had a series of reaches like you appear to be suggesting.

Smith was just as much of a stab at the last available pass rusher as we did with Lawrence, but they did not give up a third to get their player. Who are the other reaches?

 

[Alexander]

The word is Seattle was going to take him in the fourth. Does that mean he is less of a reach then some are preaching? I mean, Seattle had the best defense in the league. Maybe the majority were the ones wrong on this guy. That is a possibility isn't it?

I have yet to see a source beyond someone saying someone on Twitter said this.

How that became "the word" I have no idea. I wonder if it was as good as "I am hearing" or "I have been told".

Those are always great for making affirmative statements about a player's draft stock.

And I feel pretty secure in saying we will not see the Cowboys draft board this year. The simple reason being that we probably jumped it in the fourth round.

 

[Toruk_Makto]

I have yet to see a source beyond someone saying someone on Twitter said this.

How that became "the word" I have no idea. I wonder if it was as good as "I am hearing" or "I have been told".

Those are always great for making affirmative statements about a player's draft stock.

And I feel pretty secure in saying we will not see the Cowboys draft board this year. The simple reason being that we probably jumped it in the fourth round.

Todd Archer routinely states he was told this.

 

[Alexander]

Todd Archer routinely states he was told this.

"Routinely"?

Where? A comment in an article? I must have missed it. Source please.

And what was his source? Was it named or is it in the vague nether sphere of rumor that somehow becomes "fact" when it is convenient.

Was it "birddog" who somehow is the secret "Deep Throat" source that BTB seems to hold up on a pedestal?

If the Cowboys rated Hitchens as a fourth round choice, fine. I just have a real concern with attaching his selection to the idea other teams "wanted him".

Other teams wanted Quincy Carter and it prompted Jerry Jones to react.

 

[xwalker]

One of the reporters that works for the Seahawks website said that the Seahawks were planning to take Hitchens.

I have yet to see a source beyond someone saying someone on Twitter said this.

How that became "the word" I have no idea. I wonder if it was as good as "I am hearing" or "I have been told".

Those are always great for making affirmative statements about a player's draft stock.

And I feel pretty secure in saying we will not see the Cowboys draft board this year. The simple reason being that we probably jumped it in the fourth round.

 

[SilverStarCowboy]

A reach is a reach no matter how well he plays.

May be but that is only on Draft Day, could be they were a consensus Zing.

In reality if a pick plays well they could end up a steal. A steal isn't a reach.

You have to give every player a chance, none of us can see into the future....cept' the Butcher.

To the Butcher!

 

[Maxmadden]

Mel Kiper and his associates cannot be wrong! It's not as if they projected Jeffcoat to the 2nd or 3rd round.

You should have just included RS in there too.

 

[cowboy_ron]

The Eagles had a terrible draft IMO. How does that prove anything? I did not care for it, but I cannot say they had a series of reaches like you appear to be suggesting.

Smith was just as much of a stab at the last available pass rusher as we did with Lawrence, but they did not give up a third to get their player. Who are the other reaches?

Eagles:

1. Marcus Smith OLB........
Draft Projection
Rounds 3-4

2. Jordan Mathews WR......
Draft Projection
Rounds 2-3....so it's about right

3. Josh Huff WR.....
Draft Projection
Rounds 5-6

 

[roughneck266]

Sorry but taking the time to do all that for the LSU game seems pretty much pointless if you ask me. When's the last time you've seen an NFL team lineup in I form and run the ball straight ahead 85% of the time? So what you evaluated here is that we drafted a 4th round LB who is capable of adequately defending the straight ahead run with little to no deception....great. Let me see this kid cover and play sideline to sideline and then maybe I'll be on board with the pick.

While I agree with what you're saying. The other end of that stick is, if he cant do what he did there, he will most definitely not be able to handle anything in the NFL.