And then to compare them to Maryland, an Outland Trophy winner at the position, and Lett who graded and performed very highly at the NAIA level at that position as well is also disingenuous. I guess sometimes you just try to talk yourself into why you did or did not do something and will come up with any excuse whether it makes sense or not. But you better come up with something better than that. I certainly hope they hit on Byron Jones, because if not, this is what will be talked about during the season if Jones is not performing like a first rounder and we are getting run down the throat.
Stephen was talking about size and "quick twitch". Leon Lett was a 7th round pick out of tiny Emporia State and as a rookie he was 6-6 260 pounds. That is nowhere near the size of Brown. As a matter of fact, Russell at 6-4 and almost 270 is quite a bit more stout than Lett was as a rookie.
Russell Maryland was a fall back player for Jimmy Johnson when Rocket Ismail chose the Canadian Football League over the NFL. Maryland came to Dallas a shade over 6 feet and 300 pounds. He was small for a DT and his main redeeming quality was his quickness.
Malcom Brown is 6-2 320 pounds and is a good player. However, he isn't built like nor does he play the same way as Lett and Maryland. Both of those guys had to get by with quickness more than anchoring. Holding a spot isn't really what Jimmy wanted his DT to do and that isn't really what Marinelli asks his DT to do.
As much as people don't like Hayden, he can hold against the run very well. Brown would have been about the same in the run game.
Marinelli is going to rotate his DL so with Brown, it would have been Hayden on run downs and Brown in the nickle.
The problem with that is that Hardy, Lawrence, and probably Russell will all be better pass rushers from inside at DT than Brown would have been. They have much longer arms and are much more athletic.
So, if Hayden is as good against the run as Brown and Hardy, Lawrence, Russell are better against the pass than Brown... the question is: Why did Dallas need Brown?
With Brown as the #1 pick, then Hardy, or Gregory or Lawrence would likely be sitting on the sideline when the team needed a pass rush, so that the first round pick Brown could be trying to show his worth. They are better pass rushers than Brown and that would be counter intuitive as well as counter productive.
With Jones as the first round pick, Dallas has a player than can be a real upgrade when he's out on the field. He can really help.
Brown, if he was doing anything other than stopping the run, would be replacing a better pass rusher. If Dallas just used him on run downs... then that would be a real misuse of resources, because, as Jimmy Johnson used to say, run stoppers are a dime-a-dozen. And he was right. They are. Teams really shouldn't use a first round pick on them.
