Shadow Draft

[cmoney23]

I'm a fan of our draft outside of the Liufau pick. Would have preferred an RB, or the proposed trade back, but all in all I'm happy with what they did.

With the benefit of hindsight, how would you have liked the draft to go each round knowing who was available?

I LOVE the trade back in the first so assuming I am keeping that and the Cowboys draft positions here's my thoughts.

RND 1: I like the pick we made, I would do that same in that situation. Others in consideration for me: Jer'Zhan Newton, Kool-Aid McKinstry, JPJ, and Edgerrin Cooper.
RND 2: I don't like this selection at all. I would have gone Trey Benson here. He was my top rated RB in the class and filled a need.
RND 3a: I'm staying with Cooper Beebe. LOVE this pick. absolute DAWG!
RND 3B: I would have selected Payton Wilson here. Not a surprise the Steelers get him... they know how to draft LB talent.
RND 5: I don't hate the pick they made, but I'd look at Mekhi Wingo from LSU. Probably stay with Carson.
RND 6: I'd stay with Flournoy but Rice is close.
RND 7A: Again, I'd stay with our pick but I would have liked Miles Cole here.
RND 7B: I love the fat guy late... keeping JR too.

I think if you walked away with this draft:

Guyton
Benson
Beebe
Wilson
Carson/Wingo
Flournoy/Rice
Nathan Thomas/ Cole
Justin Rogers

We'd be ahead.

 

[MikeT22]

I love how everyone on the board is such a bargain hunting value guy come draft time, but in FA they wanna blow 12M/Year on 30 year old RB's.

Those aren’t the same people

 

[Creeper]

I dunno. Manyweather loves him some Nathan Thomas, and I'm on board with any OL that Duke loves. I like all the picks, actually, and think that RB is the easiest position to succeed at with an average player. Fix the OL and Rico/Zeke will average four and a half yards, at least. I'm a big Kingsley Suamataia fan though and if I'm in charge we trade down again into the early second round and pick up a fourth-rounder.

35'ish. Suamataia
87. Jaylen Wright
mid-4th: Liufau

The rest stays the same.

The only problem I have with Nathan Thomas pick is what are they going to do with him. They supposedly love Matt Waletzko. They drafted Asim Richards last year. They now have Guyon as well. That's a lot of young OTs looking for playing time to develop.

My gut tells me Thomas will not be active in 2024 unless multiple OTs get hurt.

Then again, maybe they are hedging their bet with Steele, in case he does not return to his 2023 form.

 

[Creeper]

I LOVE the trade back in the first so assuming I am keeping that and the Cowboys draft positions here's my thoughts.

RND 1: I like the pick we made, I would do that same in that situation. Others in consideration for me: Jer'Zhan Newton, Kool-Aid McKinstry, JPJ, and Edgerrin Cooper.
RND 2: I don't like this selection at all. I would have gone Trey Benson here. He was my top rated RB in the class and filled a need.
RND 3a: I'm staying with Cooper Beebe. LOVE this pick. absolute DAWG!
RND 3B: I would have selected Payton Wilson here. Not a surprise the Steelers get him... they know how to draft LB talent.
RND 5: I don't hate the pick they made, but I'd look at Mekhi Wingo from LSU. Probably stay with Carson.
RND 6: I'd stay with Flournoy but Rice is close.
RND 7A: Again, I'd stay with our pick but I would have liked Miles Cole here.
RND 7B: I love the fat guy late... keeping JR too.

I think if you walked away with this draft:

Guyton
Benson
Beebe
Wilson
Carson/Wingo
Flournoy/Rice
Nathan Thomas/ Cole
Justin Rogers

We'd be ahead.

It is hard for me to disagree with out points, but I do think DE was also a need in this draft. They lost Armstrong and Fowler and they need bodies better than what they have. The problem is that they left too many holes going into the draft and not enough picks to fill them all. But I think we may grow to appreciate the Kneeland pick in time.

Funny thing, when I was watching the combine and I saw Kneeland going through drills, I had a feeling the Cowboys were going to take him. I actually thought they would go edge in the first round but when the top DEs went off the board, they were pretty much locked into OT. The Cowboys have drat a lot more DEs in the first 2 rounds of the draft than DTs. Since 1992 they have draft 2 DTs in the first 2 rounds but 12 DEs. In fact they have taken 7 DEs in the first round since 1992. That is the most of any position.

 

[TwistedL0g1k]

I get BPA, but sometimes need has to factor in too. Between last draft and this draft, Dallas needed to pick up a RB somewhere along the way.
No team fears Dallas's running game, and that's a problem.

 

[VACowboy]

You'd miss on Kneeland though. He sets the edge and plays run very well. That skill set could have help last year in run game (think Arizona game)

Now, had Robinson been there at 29 I personally think he was the pick then Suamataia likely the target rd 2.

Nah. We trade down from 29 to 35, add a fourth and take Liufau there so we can grab Wright at 87. We get Sumataia at 35 instead of Guyton at 29. The rest is the same.

 

[eromeopolk]

I'm a fan of our draft outside of the Liufau pick. Would have preferred an RB, or the proposed trade back, but all in all I'm happy with what they did.

With the benefit of hindsight, how would you have liked the draft to go each round knowing who was available?

3rd round Marshawn Lloyd RB. He was the very next pick by Greenbay. I hope this is not another Aaron Jones pass up by the Jonesboys. Marist Liufau, LB, Notre Dame better be better Marshawn Lloyd.

 

[Buzzbait]

I'm a fan of our draft outside of the Liufau pick. Would have preferred an RB, or the proposed trade back, but all in all I'm happy with what they did.

With the benefit of hindsight, how would you have liked the draft to go each round knowing who was available?

Proof I pretty much agree with your take, Liufau and Kneeland were my only question marks, but we'll see how they do. If they work out, I'm OK with it.
But for me, the rest of it I believe was surprisingly successful. Especially 3 excellent picks for the OL plus a big strong DT to help stuff the run for a change. I liked this draft a lot considering we didn't pick till #24.

 

[Typhus]

A RB would have been nice. They even could have taken a flyer on one instead of picking a 3rd OL in the 6th round.

I loved taking 3 OL in this draft.
Those picks are going to change a lot of the culture for this franchise.
This OL has the chance to be a very big, physical and carry a nasty attitude.
I don't care if we end up missing the playoffs just as long as defenses walk away hating to face our OL for once.

 

[Mcsports]

The only problem I have with Nathan Thomas pick is what are they going to do with him. They supposedly love Matt Waletzko. They drafted Asim Richards last year. They now have Guyon as well. That's a lot of young OTs looking for playing time to develop.

My gut tells me Thomas will not be active in 2024 unless multiple OTs get hurt.

Then again, maybe they are hedging their bet with Steele, in case he does not return to his 2023 form.

You have multiple good points.
Thomas likely redshirts with an injury.
Waletzko is athletic as heck. Missed his entire first year with injury. Perhaps he contributes.
If these young guys do perform, then Steele is out the door. He was hard to watch last year in pass protection.

 

[boysfanindc]

I would have liked to see them take the 49ers trade 87 for 94 & 135, you then could have still had Liufau and a RB.

 

[Jarntt]

I'm a fan of our draft outside of the Liufau pick. Would have preferred an RB, or the proposed trade back, but all in all I'm happy with what they did.

With the benefit of hindsight, how would you have liked the draft to go each round knowing who was available?

I didn't love Guyton. I'm happy with him and think the trade value was great, I just wouldn't have taken him myself. I'll cheat a little to answer your question.
1st round: Barton (This was the guy I wanted the last few weeks before the draft)
2nd Round: Kneeland
3rd Round: Beebe. Here comes the cheating part. I would do this by trading our 3rd Rounder (#87) and next year's 4th and 5th (we have extra supplemental picks next year to offset this) or whatever to trade up and get him. I won't cheat enough to assume he drops to pick #87

Then my OL would be: Tyler, Beebe, Barton, Martin, Steele. I wanted to draft a LBer and understand this would leave us without one, but like you I didn't love the Liufau pick and don't think he starts this year anyway so I figure it out down the road. I really liked the CB we got in the 5th so I would stick with him. The rest I liked as well. So I guess I would just trade Guyton and Liufau for Barton.

 

[Bobhaze]

IMO this was a very solid draft other than no RB. At this point doing an exercise in hindsight to say who we should have drafted instead is just a “pet cat” discussion.

In other words, until these guys have played at least a season, maybe even two seasons, you don’t really know what you have.

 

[Gambit]

Nah. We trade down from 29 to 35, add a fourth and take Liufau there so we can grab Wright at 87. We get Sumataia at 35 instead of Guyton at 29. The rest is the same.

If we moved from 24 to 35 and only got a 4th and 3rd people would lose their minds.

 

[VACowboy]

If we moved from 24 to 35 and only got a 4th and 3rd people would lose their minds.

We moved from 24 to 29 and 29 to 35'ish.

 

[Gambit]

We moved from 24 to 29 and 29 to 35'ish.

I understand what you're saying. And had Guyton ( the last of they guys left they had at 24) not been there I could see the trade back.

But he was the last guy they had there left and didn't want to miss out on a T they had higher rated. Can't fault them for that. I'm convinced that Robinson and both Guyton there Robinson was the pick, which is why they took Kneelnd in the 2nd.

Arizona who had 35 moved back not up. No idea what we had on table for trade down, though team did admit they had offers for all the 1st 4 picks. But it does seem 35 was unlikely.

 

[Proof]

IMO this was a very solid draft other than no RB. At this point doing an exercise in hindsight to say who we should have drafted instead is just a “pet cat” discussion.

In other words, until these guys have played at least a season, maybe even two seasons, you don’t really know what you have.

yeah. it is a pet cat discussion. that's the point of it and what i was driving for.

 

[Proof]

I also wonder if buffalo doesn't inexplicably trade with kc if we also trade back with them. that would have been interesting and pretty awesome imo