Stephen Jones: TE a priority in the draft

[CowboysExchange]

No I'm really not giving Witten a lot of credit. What I said was that once he left there was only one TE left on the team with even a single NFL reception, and he only had 7 (I checked and it was actually 9). Saying Witten was more proven than a guy with only 9 career receptions isn't exactly high praise.

My point was only that they were left in uncharted water when the TE that had been a mainstay and fixture for 15 years retired just before the draft last year, so it was natural for other teams to think the Cowboys might draft a TE very high. The situation is different this year. Rather than going into the draft with the TEs on the roster having collective total of 9 career receptions, they will be going into the draft with TE's that totaled 68 receptions this last season (42 if Swaim isn't brought back). With that, and especially with the way the TE's came on later in the season, and also considering the current TE's still very young and gaining experience, other teams won't see the Cowboys in the same situation going into the draft they were in a year ago, because they aren't in the same situation going into the draft they were a year ago.

The problem is #82 everydown involvement should have been phased out 5+ years ago. Not that he couldn't play he just couldn't make those critical passing plays when it matters .

People talking up 82 like he's been able to carry this team as an everydown player but the stats don't lie.

We've had 5+ years of #82 not being able to carry the te core so last year's retirement has nothing to do with him not being able to make enough critical passing plays on critical passing downs .

The Te core has been closer to chopped liver than steak for far longer than #82's last 4-5 years. He used to be a steak but he got old and slow and couldn't score or make big plays when it mattered

He should have had his snaps cut back 5+ years ago but he wouldnt come off the field . All we got to show for that is a bunch of 8-8 seasons and Romo and dak throwing 3 yard passes on third and 10.

Sure we miss #82 when he was prime steak but that was a long time ago.

 

[Cowboy Brian]

Crap I misspelled Stephen's name, my bad.

Why exactly?

Swaim flashed
Jarwin flashed
Schultz showed potential.

Gathers is useless.

Why?

DT is our top need. If we don't resign Beezy, WR is a need. OL depth is a need. If Lee retires or we cut him LB is a need. SS is a need.

 

[blueblood70]

Why exactly?

Swaim flashed
Jarwin flashed
Schultz showed potential.

Gathers is useless.

Why?

DT is our top need. If we don't resign Beezy, WR is a need. OL depth is a need. If Lee retires or we cut him LB is a need. SS is a need.

because they learned their lesson on BY COMMIITTEE flash isn't enough to say we have 1 just like we waited until we were 3-5 to get a WR1 and it was more costly to wait..more weapons around Dak the better, those 3 are growing but none can say they are weapons..so they will look at round 2 and 3 for the best player available and if its a TE on their board they will go get him, why see Eagles and Ertz why did they trade up and grab Dallas? because he can be one if Ertz is injured or leaves..they are planning ahead..if a TE is not there obviously they take a S or DL but saying TE is priority is being honest..

 

[CowboysExchange]

Why exactly?

Swaim flashed
Jarwin flashed
Schultz showed potential.

Gathers is useless.

Why?

DT is our top need. If we don't resign Beezy, WR is a need. OL depth is a need. If Lee retires or we cut him LB is a need. SS is a need.

Beasely is a spot player and the te is an every passing snap player. If either needs to be the steak it's the player playing ALL OF THE PASSING SNAPS

 

[Cowboy Brian]

because they learned their lesson on BY COMMIITTEE flash isn't enough to say we have 1 just like we waited until we were 3-5 to get a WR1 and it was more costly to wait..more weapons around Dak the better, those 3 are growing but none can say they are weapons..so they will look at round 2 and 3 for the best player available and if its a TE on their board they will go get him, why see Eagles and Ertz why did they trade up and grab Dallas? because he can be one if Ertz is injured or leaves..they are planning ahead..if a TE is not there obviously they take a S or DL but saying TE is priority is being honest..

Swaim / Jarwin at TE is a top 5 unit in the league.....
Jarwin / Schultz I'd argue is top 8.

We have much bigger needs.

 

[CowboysExchange]

Just trade for a steak at te. Let them have dlaw, Lee, Beasely, Crawford, or Lve but get these dog meat tes out of here because we value the position more than the talent at the position and we need a steak to lead this team .

 

[blueblood70]

Swaim / Jarwin at TE is a top 5 unit in the league.....
Jarwin / Schultz I'd argue is top 8.

We have much bigger needs.

once again the WR by committee didnt work and no reason to not try and upgrade SHOULD THE OPPORTUNIY FALL IN THEIR LAP..if we end up with too many trade one, its what good teams do..

 

[OmerV]

The problem is #82 everydown involvement should have been phased out 5+ years ago. Not that he couldn't play he just couldn't make those critical passing plays when it matters .

People talking up 82 like he's been able to carry this team as an everydown player but the stats don't lie.

We've had 5+ years of #82 not being able to carry the te core so last year's retirement has nothing to do with him not being able to make enough critical passing plays on critical passing downs .

The Te core has been closer to chopped liver than steak for far longer than #82's last 4-5 years. He used to be a steak but he got old and slow and couldn't score or make big plays when it mattered

He should have had his snaps cut back 5+ years ago but he wouldnt come off the field . All we got to show for that is a bunch of 8-8 seasons and Romo and dak throwing 3 yard passes on third and 10.

Sure we miss #82 when he was prime steak but that was a long time ago.

I don't know what you thought you read that made you think I was propping up Witten as a high quality TE his last season, or late in his career, but that wasn't at all what I was saying, and it actually isn't even relevant to the point I was making. The point was that whatever he produced was still dramatically more than 9 career receptions among 4 people. The point was that the 2017 TE's had 733 receiving yards, and the Cowboys thought the players that accounted for most of that would be back in 2018, and then suddenly, just before the draft, they found that only 25 yards of it was going to be back. 733 yards isn't a stellar amount by any means, but it is worlds better than 25 yards.

 

[CowboysExchange]

Swaim / Jarwin at TE is a top 5 unit in the league.....
Jarwin / Schultz I'd argue is top 8.

We have much bigger needs.

Not according to pro football focus. They say the biggest position of need is at te based upon the way the Cowboys play them every passing snap. They do not make an impact regardless of how many rinky dink passes they make.

A completion of 3 yards on 3rd and 10 is as good as an incompletion. You're leaving out the fact that of all of the gimme catches they caught didn't make an impact as an offense unless it was a NEGATIVE IMPACT.

You grade the tes on scoring production alone and it's F's across the board

That's gonna get you a coinflip playoff win against a team that probably didn't deserve to be in the playoffs like Detroit or Seattle but when the good offenses came to town we got trampled and we just barely even got the game within 1 possession and an 8 pt deficit off of a lucky pass interference call that was not because of a clutch performance.

The tes played every snap when it mattered but they haven't made any gamechanging plays in years.

 

[Satchel89]

I would love to see them get Hockenson out of Iowa. I'm going total Homer on this...I would love to see a kid from my hometown of Chariton, Iowa get drafted by the Cowboys. That would just blow my mind. They have Fant rated higher than him but he's the more complete Tight End

 

[CowboysExchange]

I would agree that a team doesn't need a steak at every position to win a Superbowl. But in the case of the Cowboys who leave their starting te out there on every passing snap there is an exception to the rule.

They must have a steak out there because defenses are gonna make you beat them with chopped liver and the tes are proven losers statistically at making game winning plays. They get little crumbs that the defense gives them and that is it

They get little 5 yard checkdown why the real tes are scoring and winning games. There is a difference. If you don't like it take it up with Pff and the other experts that do agree

The everydown te scheme is Dead until we get an impactful player at the position. Until then it's gonna be 1 and done every year.

I don't care if we put Arron Rodgers out there or Romo or Dak. They aren't going anywhere featuring an everydown te who can't make critical catches. Why do you think our passing offense sucks for 5+ years? It's because there is not enough playmakers on critical passing downs. At some point that's gonna get you an L.

All those critical downs that #82 played during his career netted us 2-3 playoff games in 15 years. He just simply wasn' a potent enough receiver to carry the offense playing every snap esp later in his career.

 

[OmerV]

I would agree that a team doesn't need a steak at every position to win a Superbowl. But in the case of the Cowboys who leave their starting te out there on every passing snap there is an exception to the rule.

They must have a steak out there because defenses are gonna make you beat them with chopped liver and the tes are proven losers statistically at making game winning plays. They get little crumbs that the defense gives them and that is it

They get little 5 yard checkdown why the real tes are scoring and winning games. There is a difference. If you don't like it take it up with Pff and the other experts that do agree

The everydown te scheme is Dead until we get an impactful player at the position. Until then it's gonna be 1 and done every year.

By your definition Witten was a proven loser, as was Tony Gonzales, Antonio Gates, Shannon Sharpe, and Jimmy Graham, and on and on .... but history shows that limited success as a rookie or first time starter does not condemn a TE forever.

 

[CowboysExchange]

By your definition Witten was a proven loser, as was Tony Gonzales, Antonio Gates, Shannon Sharpe, and Jimmy Graham, and on and on .... but history shows that limited success as a rookie or first time starter does not condemn a TE forever.

Zero TDS and impact in playoff games is not gonna win you playoff games . All of the guys above could hit the minimum benchmarks in yards and scoring . They all could impact the games they played. There's no guarantee their production was gonna ensure a Superbowl but a lack of making impactful plays is gonna make the team allergic to success guaranteed .
Had Swaim not gotten hurt we woulda stuck w him all year and probably had just the one TD all year. Lmao.

It didn't take 15 games to realize he wasn't starter material. We'll see who grabs him in free agency.

I'm sure Jerrah is gonna ink swaim the one TD wonder to a 3-4 year deal. He loves the tes who can't score. He wasn't benched until he got injured otherwise he woulda played all year.

It's an everydown te scheme regardless of the talent .

If all the tes we're blind they'd still get everydown snapcounts

 

[CowboysExchange]

By your definition Witten was a proven loser, as was Tony Gonzales, Antonio Gates, Shannon Sharpe, and Jimmy Graham, and on and on .... but history shows that limited success as a rookie or first time starter does not condemn a TE forever.

I'm not saying any of these guys were losers. I'm just saying the way the cowboys were playing #82 on every passing snap was ignorant after he lost his ability to make critical down and distance plays and Scoring ability.

82 was a great te. But he wasn't an everydown receiving te that warranted playing every passing snap of his entire career. He has no big play capabilities for the last 5 years

I guarantee you plug an 8 TD a year te into our offense he's gonna get open and score every other game .

I'm proud that the tes improved. The problem is that they only scored in 2 out of 17 games drawing the worst defenders. The good tes are winning battles and Scoring poi against better defenders. It's been a long time since our tes took over a game as a receiver or drew top defenders

Peeps have been arguing that 82 has been serviceable for the last 5 years but not playing every snap he wasn't. He was serviceable yes. But he still couldn't score the game winning TD or make many downfield winning plays consistently enough. He wasn't leading any fantasy leagues as a receiver He had a good game every year against each divison rivals as long as the season WASNT on the line.

 

[RoboQB]

He plays all those snaps and finally gets a crumb and just like the one target fb it's an oopsplay. But of any te on this team he's still the most likely to hit his head on the goal post imo if he was playing the everydown te role swaim and Jarwin were playing. Either way that's all coulda shoulda wouldas who is the best te because between the entire group they put up subpar passing numbers that solidified a lack of potency as a passing offense. That's all that matters is the core of te numbers sunk the ship because they played all the critical passing downs and they put up zeros when it mattered.

It infuriated me to watch us pass out of an 11 and 12 formation as if this was part of some winning formula when every week they put up zeros moving the chains, catching deep passes, and Scoring .

I'm not forgiving Jerrah for making us watch Swaim all year. I wanted to see more of Beasely, Tavon, rod Smith, and any other position then these non Scoring tes.

It was all about spreading the ball around to players who could average 35 points a game and we just simply didn't have enough firepower at the te position to elevate our offense to a playoff caliber Level. In the big scheme of things the wr core couldnt cover for the lack of yards, first downs, and Scoring production from the tes week in and week out. The tes played all the CRITICAL PASSING PLAYS BUT THEY DIDNTD MAKE ANY PLAYS DOWN AFTER DOWN, GAME AFTER GAME, SEASON AFTER SEASON, FOR 5+ YEARS AND WERE STILL DOMINATING THE LEAGUE IN TE PASSING SNAPS IN A DUAL THREAT RB AND DUAL THREAT SLOT WR LEAGUE.

WE NEED A ROTATION OF SCORING THREATS AND OUR TES JUST DIDNT MEASURE UP AT MAKING PLAYS AND WE WOULD HAVE BEEN BETTER SERVED WATCHING A DUAL THREAT RB OR SLOT WR FORMATION ON CRITICAL PASSING PLAYS

Was there more, or did you pass out from all the yelling?... lol

 

[CowboysExchange]

Was there more, or did you pass out from all the yelling?... lol

Yeah I prolly shouldn't yell but we haven't fielded a clutch playoff caliber offense in 22 years . Every year these teams are Scoring 35-40 points a game with dual rbs,, dual slot wrs or top tier tes and we never have any of these.

This is the only things that works. Look at the top 4 teams in the playoffs. They all have one of these attributes except my one and done cowboys

 

[KingintheNorth]

Swaim / Jarwin at TE is a top 5 unit in the league.....

What?

No seriously.. what?

Bottom 5 easy.

 

[atlantacowboy]

I think the important thing is that he made a public declaration..........the last thing Dallas wants to do on draft day is be anything less than transparent. The rest of the league sure does appreciate it.

 

[KingintheNorth]

I would love to see them get Hockenson out of Iowa. I'm going total Homer on this...I would love to see a kid from my hometown of Chariton, Iowa get drafted by the Cowboys. That would just blow my mind. They have Fant rated higher than him but he's the more complete Tight End

You tell 'em.

 

[CapnB]

Im sure teams will take a TE just to block Dallas from taking one in the 2nd round. Its not like other teams dont know what each others needs are. And if you're a GM thats taking a position out of spite then there's a good chance they wont have a job long.