Rushing to help the Defense

[Nightman]

Or I can get Le'Veon Bell or LeSean McCoy or Matt Forte or Jamaal Charles or (non-fat) Eddy Lacy or an absolute host of other talented backs that would be stars behind this line without using a top 4 pick.

Heck maybe I will find a guy in the third who can run behind this line and get 1800 yards. Its been known to happen.

none of them are great yet....I don't want to settle when we have an OL like ours

be like putting retreads on a Corvette

 

[Nightman]

The best player list of all time--at any position--is going to be heavily weighted towards first round selections. Because that stands to reason because truly stand-out players at any position are going to be taken in the top 32. The same thing would be true for OGs and Ss and even Kickers and Punters. The highest ones taken are more likely to be the best players.

But that's not the question. Adrian Peterson might be the best back currently active right now. But that doesn't mean guys like Lesean McCoy or Le'veon Bell or Frank Gore or Arian Foster or Alfred Morris or Demarco Murray can't be found at better value picks all around him. If it turns out we drafted the next Adrian Peterson at #4, I don't think any of us will be complaining. If instead we get a guy who's comparable to other talented players that are picked outside of the first round on down with some regularity, then it's just not an efficient use of resources.

so lets intentional draft the lesser player....yeah team.....but we got value!!!!!

 

[wileedog]

none of them are great yet....I don't want to settle when we have an OL like ours

If your goal is to have the best running game in the universe, than sure, Zeke is a great pick.

If the goal is to win football games than it is a poor use of resources when you have a defense with far, far more questions than answers.

 

[percyhoward]

Championships won by the above RB's teams: 9

Championships won without a top 6 defense: 0

 

[Kaiser]

Is your point that another mid-round RB would have been another head case, or that he would have caused Romo to miss this season?

My point is that isn't crazy to think you can plug a middle round pick in and get 1800 yards rushing. Your post was this:

With this offensive line, if the idea was simply to continue what we did with Murray, we could have taken a back in the middle rounds.

You can't count on getting a Pro Bowl level RB in the middle rounds and if you think they can, you are alone in that opinion. The Cowboys did go with a middle round pick as a starter last year (because the draft didn't fall the way they wanted IMO) and Randle didn't replace Murray's production. He didn't even finish the season the roster.

 

[Kaiser]

A third round pick isn't a late pick and he only fell because of a knee injury but even a 3rd is an outlier in the top 25 RBs

Also the Cowboys had a first round grade on Demarco even though they got him in the 3rd. So they didn't consider him a middle round pick.

 

[percyhoward]

You can't count on getting a Pro Bowl level RB in the middle rounds and if you think they can, you are alone in that opinion.

McFadden almost made the Pro Bowl last year running against defenses that had no passing threat to worry about.

 

[Kaiser]

McFadden almost made the Pro Bowl last year running against defenses that had no passing threat to worry about.

And was DMC a middle round pick? Or a top five pick available as a reclamation project only because the Raiders are a dumpster fire?

 

[CT Dal Fan]

And was DMC a middle round pick? Or a top five pick available as a reclamation project only because the Raiders are a dumpster fire?

Also don't forget McFadden's long injury history, the fact he's already 29, and is entering the last year of his deal. Makes the Elliott pick look even smarter.

 

[Kaiser]

Also don't forget McFadden's long injury history, the fact he's already 29, and is entering the last year of his deal. Makes the Elliott pick look even smarter.

Cowboyzone March 2015: McFadden is garbage!!!

Cowboyzone July 2016: See how easy it is to get a top RB???

 

[percyhoward]

And was DMC a middle round pick?

We're talking about 2016. Where McFadden was originally drafted doesn't really have anything to do with it. Obviously there were 3rd- or 4th-round RB who fit the scheme and would have been an upgrade.

 

[percyhoward]

Also don't forget McFadden's long injury history, the fact he's already 29, and is entering the last year of his deal. Makes the Elliott pick look even smarter.

In a world where the team's choices were limited to either rolling with DMC or spending the 4th pick of the draft on a RB, I guess that would make sense.

 

[Kaiser]

Obviously there were 3rd- or 4th-round RB who fit the scheme and would have been an upgrade.

Name them. And you don't get to use hindsight to say Rawls because the entire league missed on him.

DMC was a gamble that paid off - and it was one most people on this board ridiculed the team for taking. It wasn't "plug in any random 4th rounder and viola! 1800 yard rusher!!".

If we went back in time and drafted Tom Brady in the 4th round it would have solved our backup QB problem last year. It doesn't mean its realistic though.

 

[percyhoward]

Name them.

Did you miss the 2016 draft?

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Seeing that Bosa was gone and Ramsey was in fact damaged goods, I would have preferred the Memphis QB in the first and the UCLA back in the 4th.

 

[percyhoward]

Seeing that Bosa was gone and Ramsey was in fact damaged goods, I would have preferred the Memphis QB in the first and the UCLA back in the 4th.

Or a trade down into the first ten picks of the 2nd round for a couple of defenders, plus the back of our choice from Dixon, Booker, or Perkins.

McFadden was the league's 4th-leading rusher last year, and is nowhere near the 4th-best RB in the NFL. A lot of people either don't realize how good this OL is, or don't think it matters much.

 

[Idgit]

so lets intentional draft the lesser player....yeah team.....but we got value!!!!!

Well...what we'd really be doing is drafting the greater player at a position of greater need and then drafting the lesser player at a position of lesser need, but, yeah. You match your scarce resources (draft picks) to scarce supply (the toughest to fill positions) and hope for the best.

The other option, is to spend your most expensive resources on the easiest to find players and hope to get that pass rusher in the 3rd round.

 

[Rogerthat12]

Cowboyzone March 2015: McFadden is garbage!!!

Cowboyzone July 2016: See how easy it is to get a top RB???

Zeke will also add much to the passing attack, clearly overlooked by many! Zeke can run, block and catch at a high level already!

 

[Idgit]

Zeke will also add much to the passing attack, clearly overlooked by many! Zeke can run, block and catch at a high level already!

That much is definitely true. And he doesn't fumble.

He's a really good back, across the board. I'm glad we have him. I just didn't want him at the expense of a player at a position that's generally harder to fill.

 

[percyhoward]

Well...what we'd really be doing is drafting the greater player at a position of greater need and then drafting the lesser player at a position of lesser need, but, yeah. You match your scarce resources (draft picks) to scarce supply (the toughest to fill positions) and hope for the best.

The other option, is to spend your most expensive resources on the easiest to find players and hope to get that pass rusher in the 3rd round.

We could have accepted the Ravens' offer of their 4th (104) to trade down two spots.

1 (6) Floyd
2 (34) Smith
3 (67) Collins
4 (101) Tapper
4 (104) Dixon/Booker/Perkins/Ervin
4 (135) Prescott

I have to believe they were thinking beyond 2016 and beyond Romo, as opposed to banking on a healthy Romo and improving the defense to win now.