Revisiting the 1989 Draft. Aikman vs Barry Sanders, Deion, & Derrick Thomas

[jazzcat22]

So, the game is not won in the trenches? Draft WRs and RBs?

I did not say that.

 

[1942willys]

So, the game is not won in the trenches? Draft WRs and RBs?

The defensive line of the Cowboys from 79-92 was arguably the greatest in the NFL with Too Mean Too Tall Manster and John Dutton
They got zero rings

 

[1942willys]

The Doomsday Defense came up short until Roger was QB.

 

[ottawacowpoke]

Yes. Without the Great Wall and Emmitt Smith and Irvin and an awesome defense, Aikman doesn’t see a Super Bowl without buying a ticket.

I would encourage you to watch Aikman’s performance in the 1992 NFC championship game. It’s available on YouTube. I assume you are too young to have seen it live.

 

[Dale]

As a general rule of thumb, with or without merit, I generally vote against any scenario that would remove one or multiple of the Triplets from those 90's teams.

 

[Chocolate Lab]

Was Aikman the best choice in hindsight?

 

[darthseinfeld]

You really think we get three rings without Aikman?

Well he did mention Walsh and George as alternatives lol

 

[NickZepp]

Yes. Without the Great Wall and Emmitt Smith and Irvin and an awesome defense, Aikman doesn’t see a Super Bowl without buying a ticket.

Erik Williams was legit a top tackle in the early 90s. You can probably make the argument that he was one of the best tackles in the NFL pre-accident. Then Larry Allen came in and was an elite offensive lineman for the next decade. The rest of the OL was probably replaceable.

The reason that line worked is because you had an elite RB that had great vision and was elite at making cuts. And one of the best QBs in the NFL. If you don't have Aikman or Emmitt the OL is probably not near as successful.

 

[DStar22]

Aikman won us 3 SB's. hell yes he was the best choice.

 

[visionary]

"The great wall" consisted of 3rd round picks or castoffs from other teams until 1994 when we drafted Larry Allen in the 2nd round.

Aikman, Emmitt, Irvin,Jimmy Johnson, and Norv Turner made them great.

Yeah, these idiots who never saw that team have no idea that without Aikman or Emmitt or Irvin or Jimmy we dont have 3 SBs

 

[KJJ]

Was Aikman the best choice in hindsight? Remember Steve Walsh was available in the supplemental and Jimmy Johnson volunteered to pick him up at the airport.

Is that a serious question? Aikman led the Cowboys to 3 Super Bowl wins and was a first ballot Hall of Famer while Steve Walsh’s career went nowhere.

 

[KJJ]

Just wondering about that 1989 draft and the literal 4-tyne fork in the road. Four of the top five picks were hall of famers. Aikman at 1, RB Barry Sanders at 3, LB Derrick Thomas at 4, and Deion Sanders at 5. Poor GB picked Mandarich.

Was Aikman the best choice in hindsight? Remember Steve Walsh was available in the supplemental and Jimmy Johnson volunteered to pick him up at the airport.

Barry Sanders behind the Great Wall?
Adding the greatest cover CB ever in Deion to that awesome defense? He basically shut down 1/2 of the field.

The 1990 draft offered Jeff George at QB and would have been available if the Cowboys passed on Walsh.

The 1991 draft offered Brett Favre.

In hindsight, I think Deion Sanders would have been the best pick, followed by Barry Sanders. Although, that means no Emmitt (ouch!) in 1990, but I think Barry would have been Tony Dorsett on steroids behind the Great Wall. Aikman and LB Thomas would have rounded it out for me.

Interesting fact: that 1989 draft had two players named Sanders and two players named Thomas in the top 6 picks.

Has any other draft had 4 hall of gamers in the top 5 picks?

No offense but you couldn’t have missed the mark more if you tried. In hindsight the Cowboys couldn’t have made a better decision than drafting Aikman. Everything started falling into place after that.

 

[GMO415]

You build a franchise around the QB. Enough said.

 

[VaqueroTD]

Since this is turning into an Aikman bashing thread, who now that we know how it turned out, obviously was the best choice for our team.

But if I was just drafting as a blank team not really knowing what would happen, my man would be Barry Sanders.

Honestly, the only one you can really go wrong with is the ‘incredible bulk.’ Just one of the all-time top first round pick drafts.

 

[DallasInDC]

Yes, Aikman wasthe best decision..because the end result was 3 SB in 4 years...only a coaching blunder, i.e., getting rid of the best coach in NFL...prevented 4 or 5 in a row. Plus we got Deion anyway.

 

[fivetwos]

If you believe Jimmys words, the only player considered other than Aikman was Mandarich, and that never got serious.

He did however hedge his bet with Walsh, because he knew he needed the QB, and it cost him the top pick in the next draft, which could have been Junior Seau or Derrick Thomas, but it all worked out I’d say.

 

[RoboQB]

At the time, Troy Aikman was the highest rated QB to ever enter the
NFL Draft (tied with John Elway).

 

[NickZepp]

Yes, Aikman wasthe best decision..because the end result was 3 SB in 4 years...only a coaching blunder, i.e., getting rid of the best coach in NFL...prevented 4 or 5 in a row. Plus we got Deion anyway.

I said this in a previous post. If Jimmy Johnson doesn't have a QB then the rest of the roster falls apart and he's probably likely out of there as a failure of a coach by the mid 90s. And the 90s NFL had very few elite QBs. Young for San Francisco, Marino was still elite, Jim Kelly, John Elway were elite. Montana was still elite. I can go on with a few more. But if you take away that elite QB and have Beurlein or Walsh leading Dallas you get a sub .500 team and probably never have a true triplet era.

 

[GMO415]

At the time, Troy Aikman was the highest rated QB to ever enter the
NFL Draft (tied with John Elway).

I believe it

 

[JohnsKey19]

Is there really a wrong pick there excluding Mandarich? Aikman and the remaining 3 are GOATs(or at least in the discussion) at their respective positions.