Drafted by Cowboys Round 3 pick 87 Dallas Cowboys take LB Marist Liufau Notre Dame

[gtb1943]

I love all the arm chair draft pickers on here. They like or hate a pick based upon some other guys rating. Can we get a Notre Dame fan’s opinion on this? Sorry, I couldn’t sift through all the rueing. I also have seen far too many drafts now and generally have no idea how the picks will pan out until I see them on the field.

Irish fan here. He was moved all over playing at ND and was really never allowed to settle in at any one position. Give him one spot to stay in and he will do a job for you. He is very smart and a high character guy.

 

[gtb1943]

Marist blocked me on X (twitter) last night.

He can't handle the truth.

maybe he has good taste in who he likes to talk to?

 

[Creeper]

Given they have no 4th round pick, I would have taken Lloyd instead of the LB. I have no problem drafting a guy like Liufau, you have to love the hair on fire guys. But I don't know a worth RB will be there at the bottom of the 5th.

Could we see a trade up into the 4th round by Dallas? They could trade their 4th next year to move up this year.

 

[jblaze2004]

This was our most head scratching pick of the day. You pick guys like this up in round 4 or later. I like that he plays violent though I just don't like hearing that he miss a lot of tackles, over aggressive which leads to him being easily fooled by play action, and slow to diagnose a play. And worst is a lot of people say he is a core special teams player. I wonder if this was a Zimmer pick? Like who pounded the table to this guy this high this was a reach?

87. Marist Liufau, LB, Notre Dame​

Walter Football A

The Cowboys lost Leighton Vander Esch, so they had to find a new linebacker. Marist Liufau is a potential solid replacement, as he has terrific athleticism, speed, and upside. I thought he’d go earlier than this, perhaps even the second round, so I love the value.

ProfootballNetwork B-

SB Nation: C+

I get why the Cowboys would Liufau. He plays with his hair on fire and comes downhill really hard. However, I think there were many linebackers available that were better, and probably better fits for this defense. This is a bet on Mike Zimmer and his ability to develop linebackers, which has worked out for the most part.

CBSSports: C+

Hair-on-fire off-ball LB who gets the expected results with that style. Many missed tackles. Many highlight-reel hits. Showed he can cover underneath. Plays faster than his workout. More build up speed than pure burst. Ball skills are lacking and can be easily baited by play-action. Plus blitzer. Fun add here but overaggression hurts him at times.

Bleacher Report C

The Dallas Cowboys signed Eric Kendicks this offseason on a one-year deal to man the middle of the defense. He’s a Band-Aid at middle linebacker, though. Notre Dame’s Marist Liufau is a 6’2”, 234-pound downhill defender, which isn’t typical of today’s linebackers. The Cowboys defense should allow him to blitz and rush the passer in certain instances.
A year from now, he could be taking over for Kendricks.

For The Win: C

Liufau has natural gifts and an abundance of energy that will serve him well in the NFL. However, he is nowhere near disciplined enough to likely ever turn into a meaningful starter. He projects as more of a depth linebacker/special teamer who can occasionally flash in a pinch. A bit of a weird pick for Dallas, but it perseveres.

Sporting News: C

The Cowboys did well to address linebacker but perhaps could have gone for a more complete option than a speedy aggressive coverage-based defender with some limitations vs. the run.

The Athletic C-

After a brilliant first two rounds, the Cowboys reached here — Liufau (6-2, 234) was a projected sixth-round prospect. He is a high-energy player and likely a four-facet special teamer, but this was way too high. There were multiple starting-caliber interior linebackers available at this point. Liufau might get there, just not for a few years.

Yahoo Sports: C

The Cowboys needed a real linebacker body on their roster and they got one in Liufau. No more safeties at linebacker is a good thing for Dallas, even if Liufau isn’t necessarily a star.

PFF: “Below Average”

Liufau plays with a competitiveness and violence that lends itself to some tackling inconsistencies. He is a bit of a slower processor, as well, but when able to read and trigger, he can make splash plays — as evidenced by his 35 defensive stops between the run and pass games over the past two seasons. He projects as a core special teamer with the upside to be a rotational linebacker.

Todd Archer of ESPN: - -

The Cowboys signed Eric Kendricks in free agency, but linebacker was still a major need even with last year’s third-round pick DeMarvion Overshown coming back from a torn ACL. He started the final 25 games of his career at Notre Dame and had 44 tackles, six tackles for loss and three sacks. He was a pre-draft visitor to the Cowboys, which has been a precursor to the team selecting players in recent years.

33rd Team: D

Multiple more athletic linebackers had better instincts and tackling consistency left on the board, so this was a surprising reach. Marist Liufau’s best value is as a third-down pass-rusher.

https://www.bloggingtheboys.com/202...kneeland-beebe-liufau-super-bowl-here-we-come

 

[speedkilz88]

Marist blocked me on X (twitter) last night.

He can't handle the truth.

You're catfishing doesn't work anymore? Manti Te'o filled him in.

 

[Jarntt]

This was my least favorite pick so far, but oddly enough the guy I am most interested in reading/hearing about once camp starts. I think he is hit or miss guy and there were better options, but if he hits I think he is going to be an exciting kind of a guy to watch and a bring some fire to the game type of player. I don't think he is likely to have much of a year 1 role sans injury, but hopefully he gets in the rotation or fills a specialty 3rd down role or something. While there were a few LBers I like better, I've been complaining we need better LBers for years so I have to be happy we at least went for the position.

 

[Mikexike]

You guys wanted a violent lb, there he is. Stop the *****ing. Lets just hope he magically turns into fred warner.

 

[atlantacowboy]

Ochoa is a Pom Pom guy. He’s never going to criticize the organization. Sure we got value ……. Still have no running game or improvement in the run defense. We have a project center and small school DE. Yippee

 

[blueblood70]

Odd pick. We're gonna miss on RB barring a trade up

they're still 3 good running backs but what they call the big board that were top three round tight players in Alan the guy from Notre Dame and the guy from Kentucky all still there today.. You're gonna keep bringing this up because you know there's a lot of good running backs that were undrafted or drafted late you know guy like right now the 7th rounder being used in Kansas City to win back-to-back Super Bowls I mean you can get a guy late or undrafted we got right now a better offensive line than last year get focused on the run and we're gonna have a running back by committee if it were to start today but it's not..

 

[mattjames2010]

He has better instincts than Jaylon ever had coming out of Notre Dame.

 

[CoachD]

Thank God that the Cowboys don't use a board from a guy who has never picked up a football in his life!

 

[blueblood70]

There’s still decent RB prospects out there

yes there are three plus there's always a surprise but one of the ones that are fan favorites with the guy from Notre Dame and Allen and then the guy from Kentucky is supposed to be pretty damn good now will they get him I mean what else could they draft in the fifth round and they better not be Spencer rattler although that would be interesting we already wasted 1/4 rounder on Trey Lance so it has to be their target to get one of these three guys in the fifth round...

 

[blueblood70]

You guys wanted a violent lb, there he is. Stop the *****ing. Lets just hope he magically turns into fred warner.

Yeah nobody knows what these guys are gonna turn into but I give some of these defensive guys have to be Zimmer related no one really knows how much these coaches are in the ears about players in the draft room but we do need to rebuild the defense and we gotta think Mike Zimmer approved these picks.... That's all I care about if he thinks he can be coached up and turn this guy into like a better version of Anthony Barr or something like that I mean that would be good

 

[Mikexike]

Thank God that the Cowboys don't use a board from a guy who has never picked up a football in his life!

Good thing the cowboys dont use a lot of fans draft board. Who knows how many all pros they've passed on.

 

[CoachD]

Fits a need, but RB is hurting really badly.

Allen and Guerrero are still there but one if not both will be gone when the Cowboys pick again in the 5th.

 

[slick325]

The pick appears to be a large reach but, the kid plays hard and at full speed all game. I'll take that any day.

 

[Mikexike]

Yeah nobody knows what these guys are gonna turn into but I give some of these defensive guys have to be Zimmer related no one really knows how much these coaches are in the ears about players in the draft room but we do need to rebuild the defense and we gotta think Mike Zimmer approved these picks.... That's all I care about if he thinks he can be coached up and turn this guy into like a better version of Anthony Barr or something like that I mean that would be good

Im hearing erik kendricks clone which is great for a 3rd round pick. Hard to find MLBs and like every analyst has explained, MLBs dont get graded the same. Olb and mlb are grouped together.

 

[Robster8989]

Atrocious.

Oh well. 3 out of 4 ain’t bad.

Yeah seems like a big time reach.
Most evaluations I've seen were 5th round.
I like Eichenberg a lot more and I wouldn't have used my 3rd on him.

They had a "commitment to defense" when they drafted Nahshon Wright in the 3rd round too.

He's a day 3 pick we massively reached for. I agree Risen.

 

[Mikexike]

Your draft is all about trusting your scouts so you can take risk on ceiling and traits.

 

[Alexander]

Ok, this one I don't understand. Special teams pick? lol

Yes. Lol?