Something seems different

[Section446]

Not bad, although I'm not crazy about Ealy. I really did like Turner in the 3rd.

I do really like Lawrence though and WDE is simply a way, way more impactful position than 1-tech DT.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not crazy about Ealy either, but I don't think he offers any less than Lawrence. I really feel like the trade up was more of a desperation pick than a logical pick, and desperation is not something you want to calculate into your drafting decisions. Having watched a lot of Jernigan in college, I honestly think that he's a lot more than your standard 1-tech. I just feel like we have way too many holes to be trading picks away. Here's to hoping that the Lawrence pick turns out to be a great one.

 

[waving monkey]

I just don't see him as a slam dunk player like a Frederick, Martin, Smith, etc. Those guys look like potential decade pro bowlers. DL is more of a guy that has decent potential but you just don't know what he is going to turn into.

Our team was obsessed with a RDE so they can "compete right away" We could have stood pat at #47 in the draft and gotten a solid player and then did the same in the 3rd. Listen, I hope like hell DL turns into a beast and it ends up being an outstanding draft. However, when your team is rebuilding, you don't trade away your early picks. You get as many starters as you can. It's a numbers game.

I never heard the team claim he was slam dunk. Ware wasn't either .Ware sure ended up a hell of a player. but I remember the debate before the draft over Ware and Merriman. Today that seems silly
but then there was lots of arguing over who to take.Even the coaches didn't seem so sure.Merriman ended up a bust. There is no way we fans can know as much as scouts and coaches.
We lost picking one player .We're not one player away from competing for the SB. Where have I heard that before.

 

[AsthmaField]

Don't get me wrong, I'm not crazy about Ealy either, but I don't think he offers any less than Lawrence. I really feel like the trade up was more of a desperation pick than a logical pick, and desperation is not something you want to calculate into your drafting decisions. Having watched a lot of Jernigan in college, I honestly think that he's a lot more than your standard 1-tech. I just feel like we have way too many holes to be trading picks away. Here's to hoping that the Lawrence pick turns out to be a great one.

Well, if you don't think Lawrence offers anything more than Ealy, then I 100% understand your aggravation with the trade.

I think Lawrence is a lot better than Ealy, but only time will tell.

 

[waving monkey]

Don't get me wrong, I'm not crazy about Ealy either, but I don't think he offers any less than Lawrence. I really feel like the trade up was more of a desperation pick than a logical pick, and desperation is not something you want to calculate into your drafting decisions. Having watched a lot of Jernigan in college, I honestly think that he's a lot more than your standard 1-tech. I just feel like we have way too many holes to be trading picks away. Here's to hoping that the Lawrence pick turns out to be a great one.

Most reports stated that after Lawrence there was a big drop off in talent. I don't know but I read scouting reports a little and that was the consensus.

 

[Section446]

Well, if you don't think Lawrence offers anything more than Ealy, then I 100% understand your aggravation with the trade.

I think Lawrence is a lot better than Ealy, but only time will tell.

I'll be honest, I only saw Lawrence play 4 times last season. Can you give me a run down of what you personally like about his game? I'm trying to keep an open mind about the pick. And it's not so much that I'm against Lawrence, specifically, it could have been any player and I'd probably be singing the same tune; we jut have too many holes to be trading away picks.

 

[waving monkey]

Well, if you don't think Lawrence offers anything more than Ealy, then I 100% understand your aggravation with the trade.

I think Lawrence is a lot better than Ealy, but only time will tell.

I do too but how do I know is the point. The aggravated may be right but really non of us know. Yet our panties are in a wad.

 

[theSHOW]

I agree.

The 1st pick was soooo good, then it sorta fell apart.

on 2nd thought....the draft stayed the course. Agree?

 

[Section446]

Most reports stated that after Lawrence there was a big drop off in talent. I don't know but I read scouting reports a little and that was the consensus.

I think it just depends on what scheme your'e running. If you're running a 3-4, there was still plenty of talent left on the board. If you're running a hybrid C2-T2 defense, I guess I can see where the report is coming from. Again, it's not necessarily that I'm against the Lawrence pick, I haven't watched enough of the guy to have a solid opinion (4 games just isn't enough tape), I just think we had a lot more holes to fill, and couldn't afford to trade picks away.

 

[AsthmaField]

I do too but how do I know is the point. The aggravated may be right but really non of us know. Yet our panties are in a wad.

My panties are straight.

 

[waving monkey]

I'm sorry but I have no idea what you just said.

I was thinking there was a change too....we cut Ware, let Hatcher walk, drafted Martin with our first pick.. and then they went and took a project player with our #2 pick and gave up our 3rd rounder. A team that is rebuilding does not do that. You don't draft for need when you aren't going to compete right away, you draft BPA. We could have had 3 solid starters and instead we got 1 and one potential starter. Extremely dumb draft and shows that the guys in charge are clueless. When a team has a ton of holes, they need to get as many starters as they possibly can in every draft until they fill all the holes. Then you draft for need. This is a 6-10 team.. don't get your hopes up at all.

Sorry I know Iam not clear at times.
I took acceptation to the project label on DLaw. DLaw was the last of the top tier players[DE] on the cowboy board.
I think they lost about 70 point in trade value. They valued him more then later DE's, obviously.
I would rather acquire top of talent as possible then middling talent.
One way or the other we're another draft away from filling the holes.
You and I have different philosophies on building rosters is all.

In the end you might be right.How do we know

 

[waving monkey]

I think that his point is that we could have gotten two starters, rather than one (on a very talent needy team). If that one was a sure thing, then you take a chance on him. In his mind, Lawrence clearly isn't a sure thing.

I got it , who was a sure thing?
They thought Lawrence was the next best thing. Some disagree. I dont know but dumb I cant agree with.

 

[Section446]

I got it , who was a sure thing?
They thought Lawrence was the next best thing. Some disagree. I dont know but dumb I cant agree with.

Well, there's no such thing as a "sure thing" in the draft. But I can tell you that drafting both Ealy/Jernigan and Turner would have filled two needs, rather than one. I get where you're coming from though.

 

[AsthmaField]

I'll be honest, I only saw Lawrence play 4 times last season. Can you give me a run down of what you personally like about his game? I'm trying to keep an open mind about the pick. And it's not so much that I'm against Lawrence, specifically, it could have been any player and I'd probably be singing the same tune; we jut have too many holes to be trading away picks.

What I see from Lawrence that I like a lot is that he is way more quick twitch than Ealy is. All you have to do is watch them play back to back and it is pretty easy to tell that Lawrence is a much better athlete than Ealy. I also see a lot of natural pass rush ability... which to me is something that you're born with or not. It is almost like a knack. Lawrence can bend around the corner and flat out get to the QB. I don't see that from Ealy.

The only thing that Ealy's pass rush has over Lawrence is strength for bull rushes... and Lawrence isn't really bad at that.

Man, this isn't to say I'm right and Lawrence will be all that and Ealy won't, Lord knows I miss on prospects - but that is my honest opinion. Lawrence is a very good athlete. Good enough to give left tackles some problems right away. Ealy, IMO would have absolutely had to play on the strongside to be effective, and even there, I don't see him as any kind of upgrade over what we already have there (Crawford and Selvie). Ealy on the weakside would have looked like he was running in molassas, IMO.

So, you can see why I was ok with the trade (whether I'm right or wrong is another matter entirely). Lawrence will provide a really big upgrade on the weakside and will provide the athleticism and speed we just did not have on the right side. Ealy, who is probably the guy we take at 47, would be no better than Crawford or Selvie and would just be put into the rotation over there, providing nothing that we didn't already have. IOW, he'd be just another rotational guy.

Frankly, I'd rather have the WDE who provides something that nobody else on the team would... even at the cost of our third rounder.

And even though I really liked Turner, the offensive line just might be Dallas' best unit on the entire team, and if they want to add a guard to go on the other side from Martin (who I absolutely love), they can always do that in next year's draft. In the mean time, we will still have an excellent OL this year.

Something that we most assuredly could NOT say about WDE before Lawrence.

Sorry to ramble on.

 

[Idgit]

Ah, we've reached the "This just feels different" portion of the offseason.

Camp's right around the corner.

I agree. This feels the same to me. But then, I've been ok with the direction every offseason under Garrett.

 

[Section446]

What I see from Lawrence that I like a lot is that he is way more quick twitch than Ealy is. All you have to do is watch them play back to back and it is pretty easy to tell that Lawrence is a much better athlete than Ealy. I also see a lot of natural pass rush ability... which to me is something that you're born with or not. It is almost like a knack. Lawrence can bend around the corner and flat out get to the QB. I don't see that from Ealy.

The only thing that Ealy's pass rush has over Lawrence is strength for bull rushes... and Lawrence isn't really bad at that.

Man, this isn't to say I'm right and Lawrence will be all that and Ealy won't, Lord knows I miss on prospects - but that is my honest opinion. Lawrence is a very good athlete. Good enough to give left tackles some problems right away. Ealy, IMO would have absolutely had to play on the strongside to be effective, and even there, I don't see him as any kind of upgrade over what we already have there (Crawford and Selvie). Ealy on the weakside would have looked like he was running in molassas, IMO.

So, you can see why I was ok with the trade (whether I'm right or wrong is another matter entirely). Lawrence will provide a really big upgrade on the weakside and will provide the athleticism and speed we just did not have on the right side. Ealy, who is probably the guy we take at 47, would be no better than Crawford or Selvie and would just be put into the rotation over there, providing nothing that we didn't already have. IOW, he'd be just another rotational guy.

Frankly, I'd rather have the WDE who provides something that nobody else on the team would... even at the cost of our third rounder.

And even though I really liked Turner, the offensive line just might be Dallas' best unit on the entire team, and if they want to add a guard to go on the other side from Martin (who I absolutely love), they can always do that in next year's draft. In the mean time, we will still have an excellent OL this year.

Something that we most assuredly could NOT say about WDE before Lawrence.

Sorry to ramble on.

Awesome, thanks for sharing. I honestly hope you're right, I just wasn't overly impressed. I guess it's one of those situations where you just have to hope that Jerry and Co. know what they're doing.

 

[Section446]

I agree. This feels the same to me. But then, I've been ok with the direction every offseason under Garrett.

Sarcasm?

 

[cowboy_ron]

Cancel the season...the "realists" have it figured out already

 

[Section446]

Cancel the season...the "realists" have it figured out already

In your mind, what kind of record should we expect this year?

 

[tideh20heel]

Realist take on the draft?

Didn't they draft the bpa when they drafted Martin? Maybe they liked Demarcus a lot more than anyone else on the board. I would have loved to have kept the 3rd but I don't think they really forced it this year.

 

[cowboy_ron]

In your mind, what kind of record should we expect this year?

I think if we can get and stay relatively healthy 10-6...we were 8-8 with a terrible defense and a good # of starters out hurt