Roster Building and The Draft: Building A Super Bowl Contender

[Verdict]

I keep reading over and over about how bad the Cowboys suck at drafting players and acquiring free agents. While they are not perfect, perfection isn't reality. To many posters, unless every player turns out to be a DeMarcus Ware, then he is a bust. That is obviously unrealistic.

To you that complain constantly about how badly we suck at drafting players, do you realize that a majority of the team was drafted or acquired as an udfa?

If you look at the 89 players under contract with the Cowboys, post draft, how many players were free agent acquisitions?

These are the players that I could readily identify as free agent acquisitions who are currently under contract:

Kyle Orton (backup)
Lawrence Vickers
Mackenzy Bernadeau
Nate Livings
Kenyon Coleman
Dan O'Connor
Brandon Carr
Gerald Sensebaugh
Brodney Pool

There may be a few that I missed, but realistically, a vast majority of the roster has been filled by home grown (drafted) or cherry picked free agent rookies. I would say that is a pretty impressive percentage of home grown talent.

When you look at that list, other than Brandon Carr, none of the players listed were signed to mega large contracts. They are merely fill in role players. I would also submit that at least half of the players on that current list could be replaced either this year or next year, if an acceptable replacement to improve that position could be obtained through the draft.

Based on those percentages, it appears that our front office is doing a lot better job at acquiring talent than we sometimes give them credit for.

 

[rodd94]

Anyone who think Dallas will win the Superbowl in the next 10 years is mad. Jerry is more concerned with headlines than the team. I don't care how good these picks are there just covering past mistakes. We have no OL and this will cost us.

 

[ShiningStar]

Anyone who think Dallas will win the Superbowl in the next 10 years is mad. Jerry is more concerned with headlines than the team. I don't care how good these picks are there just covering past mistakes. We have no OL and this will cost us.

NY Giants, im begging you

 

[silverbear]

Anyone who think Dallas will win the Superbowl in the next 10 years is mad. Jerry is more concerned with headlines than the team. I don't care how good these picks are there just covering past mistakes. We have no OL and this will cost us.

Thank you for sharing the Quitters view with us... now go away...

I mean, with your pessimistic assessment of the Boys' chances for the next decade, there's no point to you trying to remain a Cowboys fan... and I can promise you, none of us here will miss your gloom and doom crapola...

 

[bigE79]

Thank you for sharing the Quitters view with us... now go away...

I mean, with your pessimistic assessment of the Boys' chances for the next decade, there's no point to you trying to remain a Cowboys fan... and I can promise you, none of us here will miss your gloom and doom crapola...

...so true

 

[Zordon]

Thank you for sharing the Quitters view with us... now go away...

I mean, with your pessimistic assessment of the Boys' chances for the next decade, there's no point to you trying to remain a Cowboys fan... and I can promise you, none of us here will miss your gloom and doom crapola...

 

[JBond]

I keep reading over and over about how bad the Cowboys suck at drafting players and acquiring free agents. While they are not perfect, perfection isn't reality. To many posters, unless every player turns out to be a DeMarcus Ware, then he is a bust. That is obviously unrealistic.

To you that complain constantly about how badly we suck at drafting players, do you realize that a majority of the team was drafted or acquired as an udfa?

If you look at the 89 players under contract with the Cowboys, post draft, how many players were free agent acquisitions?

These are the players that I could readily identify as free agent acquisitions who are currently under contract:

Kyle Orton (backup)
Lawrence Vickers
Mackenzy Bernadeau
Nate Livings
Kenyon Coleman
Dan O'Connor
Brandon Carr
Gerald Sensebaugh
Brodney Pool

There may be a few that I missed, but realistically, a vast majority of the roster has been filled by home grown (drafted) or cherry picked free agent rookies. I would say that is a pretty impressive percentage of home grown talent.

When you look at that list, other than Brandon Carr, none of the players listed were signed to mega large contracts. They are merely fill in role players. I would also submit that at least half of the players on that current list could be replaced either this year or next year, if an acceptable replacement to improve that position could be obtained through the draft.

Based on those percentages, it appears that our front office is doing a lot better job at acquiring talent than we sometimes give them credit for.

Home grown is fine if they win. Are you convinced our oline is super bowl worthy?

 

[perrykemp]

Home grown is fine if they win. Are you convinced our oline is super bowl worthy?

In today's NFL I'd say the majority of the roster of any Super Bowl calibre team has to be home grown.

You can't build an effective and deep roster using FA as the primary route -- you end up overpaying for talent.

Brandon Carr is a great example. Very good player -- lots of upside, however he has never been considered a pro-bowl / All-Pro type of player ... 5y/$50m. That's a lot of money.

This is why, as many pointed out here, that the disastrous drafts from 2007-2009 put the Cowboys in something of a bind -- they are having to fill their roster with a greater amount of low to mid tier FAs than they would probably like.

 

[Doomsday101]

Home grown is fine if they win. Are you convinced our oline is super bowl worthy?

Hard to know what this line is. We have 4 guys coming off their rookie season a couple of 2 year players and Free at 5 years who is the vet of the bunch.

Adding FA Bernadeau and Living both 5 year guys I would have to say this is a very young group that Callahan will be working with. How good can they be? who knows

 

[ShiningStar]

Home grown is fine if they win. Are you convinced our oline is super bowl worthy?

did you really believe 9-7 would win the Sb

 

[Disturbed]

Hard to know what this line is. We have 4 guys coming off their rookie season a couple of 2 year players and Free at 5 years who is the vet of the bunch.

Adding FA Bernadeau and Living both 5 year guys I would have to say this is a very young group that Callahan will be working with. How good can they be? who knows

Livings is 30 years old, not young. Both FA lineman would be backups on most teams, let's hope they are backups here.

Dallas reliance on FA is due to their poor drafting ability. The scouting department has sucked since the late 90's (and saying they sucked is actually high praise for this group). Why Jerrah can't turn this department over and fix it is anyone's guess.

 

[Kangaroo]

Livings is 30 years old, not young. Both FA lineman would be backups on most teams, let's hope they are backups here.

Dallas reliance on FA is due to their poor drafting ability. The scouting department has sucked since the late 90's (and saying they sucked is actually high praise for this group). Why Jerrah can't turn this department over and fix it is anyone's guess.

Except Living has been a three year starter and started for a playoff team last year. He could be starting for other teams as well because he has started for other teams.

 

[btcutter]

Anyone who think Dallas will win the Superbowl in the next 10 years is mad. Jerry is more concerned with headlines than the team. I don't care how good these picks are there just covering past mistakes. We have no OL and this will cost us.

JJ probably wants to win more than anyone of us. Does he goes about the "right" way is debatable. His desire to win and his willingness to spend money and change isn't.

 

[rodd94]

Sean Lee was drafted to cover for Carpenter, Claibourne to cover up Jenkins, Bryant to cover the disastrous Roy Williams trade. The team isn't moving forward just covering mistakes.

 

[BigD_95]

I keep reading over and over about how bad the Cowboys suck at drafting players and acquiring free agents. While they are not perfect, perfection isn't reality. To many posters, unless every player turns out to be a DeMarcus Ware, then he is a bust. That is obviously unrealistic.

To you that complain constantly about how badly we suck at drafting players, do you realize that a majority of the team was drafted or acquired as an udfa?

If you look at the 89 players under contract with the Cowboys, post draft, how many players were free agent acquisitions?

These are the players that I could readily identify as free agent acquisitions who are currently under contract:

Kyle Orton (backup)
Lawrence Vickers
Mackenzy Bernadeau
Nate Livings
Kenyon Coleman
Dan O'Connor
Brandon Carr
Gerald Sensebaugh
Brodney Pool

There may be a few that I missed, but realistically, a vast majority of the roster has been filled by home grown (drafted) or cherry picked free agent rookies. I would say that is a pretty impressive percentage of home grown talent.

When you look at that list, other than Brandon Carr, none of the players listed were signed to mega large contracts. They are merely fill in role players. I would also submit that at least half of the players on that current list could be replaced either this year or next year, if an acceptable replacement to improve that position could be obtained through the draft.

Based on those percentages, it appears that our front office is doing a lot better job at acquiring talent than we sometimes give them credit for.

we might have a lot of guys on our team that were drafted or were udfa but the reason people say they draft bad is because those drafted & udfa hasnt won anything! Your actually proving the point that our drafts arent good. How many playoff wins do those guys have?

With that said I actually like Jerry as a GM & Owner. My biggest problem with Jerry is letting Garrett the head coach when he is clearly way in over his head. But Im glad Jerry is owner & GM of the cowboys.

 

[ShiningStar]

Sean Lee was drafted to cover for Carpenter, Claibourne to cover up Jenkins, Bryant to cover the disastrous Roy Williams trade. The team isn't moving forward just covering mistakes.

trade secret, jump on the Commanders bandwagon they will tell you they do evverything right

 

[rodd94]

trade secret, jump on the Commanders bandwagon they will tell you they do evverything right

They are a shambles of a team.

 

[Rynie]

Brandon Carr is a great example. Very good player -- lots of upside, however he has never been considered a pro-bowl / All-Pro type of player ... 5y/$50m. That's a lot of money.
.

Who cares? I'm pretty sure Carr was a huge reason the Chiefs beat your precious *****-packers.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

In today's NFL I'd say the majority of the roster of any Super Bowl calibre team has to be home grown.

You can't build an effective and deep roster using FA as the primary route -- you end up overpaying for talent.

Brandon Carr is a great example. Very good player -- lots of upside, however he has never been considered a pro-bowl / All-Pro type of player ... 5y/$50m. That's a lot of money.

This is why, as many pointed out here, that the disastrous drafts from 2007-2009 put the Cowboys in something of a bind -- they are having to fill their roster with a greater amount of low to mid tier FAs than they would probably like.

In fairness, Carr was not hyped but that does not mean he has not been very highly regarded within front offices and ratings service. If nothing else, Carr was widely regarded as being as good as, if not as in many cases better, than Finnegan. Finnegan has made probowls.

 

[junk]

Dallas reliance on FA is due to their poor drafting ability. The scouting department has sucked since the late 90's (and saying they sucked is actually high praise for this group). Why Jerrah can't turn this department over and fix it is anyone's guess.

Because Jerry wouldn't know a good scout from a bad one. He's never done it before so he doesn't have anything to base it on. Some shake up in your front office periodically is a good thing.

I still think one of the major issues is inconsistency in the whole process. Do we listen to the coaches or do we listen to the scouts? Or do we try to do a blend of both? Or do we just go rogue and randomly listen to Lacewell or Switzer (I think there is less of this, but I think it still happens)

What are they looking for at each position? Good teams have a blueprint for the types of guys they get. Can anyone tell me what a prototypical Cowboys offensive lineman looks like? I'm sure a lot of that is driven by the dramatic churn on the coaching staff that Dallas has endured, but not all of it.