Sturm makes bold statement on the incompetence of the 2022 offseason

[TheMarathonContinues]

Bengals
JaMar Chase Draft grade 7.12 R1 P5
Tyler Boyd Draft grade 6.4 R2 P24
Tee Higgins Draft grade 6.37 R2 P1

Cowboys
Cee Dee Lamb Draft Grade 6.81 R1 P17
Jalen Tolbert Draft Grade 6.21 R 3 P24
Michael Gallup Draft Grade 6.2 R3 P17

Cooks was a necessity and with 8 WRs with starting grades in this years draft (last year there were 5) it would be an absolute crime to let two third round picks stop them from drafting one of them.

I’ve heard this is actually a weak draft for receivers…maybe they just mean top heavy. Though it’s worth mentioning they said that about the Ridley draft and Gallup, DJ Moore and other proved otherwise.

 

[morasp]

I’ve heard this is actually a weak draft for receivers…maybe they just mean top heavy. Though it’s worth mentioning they said that about the Ridley draft and Gallup, DJ Moore and other proved otherwise.

It's a lot better than last year. I did a breakdown of it previously. As I mentioned there 3 more with starter grades this year and 13 with better grades than Gallup and Tolbert.

 

[CyberB0b]

We made enough moves to be in the playoff talk.

That's all that matters.

Wow, our standards are really low around here these days.

 

[conner01]

This is one of the most stupidest things I heard from Sturm or anyone else.

It’s kinda easy to judge
The recievers who left were snapped up by other teams for more money lol
I think we missed cooper and they rushed Gallup back too soon
But we had enough talent to win a lot of games and it wasn’t the recievers that knocked us out of playoffs
I want upgrades everywhere i can get them including WR, but WR wasn’t the reason we got beat in the playoffs

 

[xwalker]

I think I will just start suspending people who hijaak non-Dak threads trying desperately to turn them into Dak threads.

 

[John813]

This is the issue I’m having with a lot of this hindsight opinions….if Dak sucks, Mike can’t coach, Zeke is finished….receivers suck….how in the hell did we win 12 games? Especially with Jerry at GM? It’s not adding up.

We won 4 games with a mediocre, but consistent, backup at QB. Point being that the defense did very well at times to keep the team in the game/protect leads.

Note, I'm not in the mindset MM/Dak sucks. But I think Sturm is right at least for a handful of games it was CDL and #4's running around. And the first half of the year CDL had his ups and downs before finishing strong. Schultz even got banged up too which made the staff have to run out rookies at TE for the full game(s).

I think the team traded for Cooks early on due to the WR class not really having any strong prospects, especially for when they pick. A few can be surprises, but at least Cook gives them a legit #2 option for 2023.

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

Wow, our standards are really low around here these days.

Yeah I don’t know what he’s talking about the goal is SB. I think we’ve done a lot but it’s contingent on two older veterans. Still have refused to shore up the interior of the defensive line.

 

[Jipper]

all i know is if Hopkins gets cut, and we find a way to sign him at a reasonable price that fits....we could go from one of the worst wr corps in 2022 to arguably the best in the nfl in 2023....

 

[xwalker]

I was just wondering the same thing.

The Cowboys signed James Washington (not expecting him to get injured before the season started) and expected Gallup back early in the season to pair with Lamb and Brown.

In addition, the Cowboys had young receivers on the roster and wanted to see if one of them would step up.

Worst case, the Cowboys knew there would be veteran receivers available after week #1 (to avoid guaranteed salary) if necessary.

I do not disagree that the Cowboys handled the WR position poorly last year after trading Cooper, but this sounds like Sturm is desperate for clicks with this type of sensationalized statement claiming "they had no NFL wide receivers".

I thought the plan as of the start of camp was reasonable.

My thoughts going into the 2022 preseason:

James Washington should be on OK stopgap until Gallup returns.
- Washington had 25 career starts prior to joining the Cowboys.
- I thought that would result in more than zero catches for the season.

Gallup might be out the first 4 games with worst case of 8 games but good when he did return.
- I'm not certain if all of his 2022 issues were due to the injury. He seemed to make some odd mental mistakes.

Tolbert would add something (more than 2 catches on 3 targets).

Noah Brown would be the #4 WR, not the #2 WR.

Receiving TE Schultz would exceed his 2021 stats (78 catches for 808 yards) but was down to 58 for 577.

If WR was lacking, especially early in the season, that Pollard would play significant snaps as a slot WR.

 

[khiladi]

What happened the year before? Did our WR crew suck?

Wasn't Sturm, the week before, after playing the garbage TB defense, telling us how elite our "passing game" was?

 

[CWR]

CD, Cooks, and Gallup are a very solid 1-3.

Yall dismissing Gallup to quick. He will be better this year.

 

[ESisback]

Sturm can say whatever he wants to generate click$. IMHO, Lamb, Cooks, a year removed Gallup, and a fourth from a group of Tolbert, Hilton, a draft pick, and whomever else, is a fairly decent group. Add Pollard and a couple of promising young TEs, and we’ve got weapons.

Of course I’d like to add to that, but too many people NEED something to fuss about!

 

[CowboyFrog]

CD, Cooks, and Gallup are a very solid 1-3.

Yall dismissing Gallup to quick. He will be better this year.

I'm not dismissing him but as a FO building a team this is a legit concern in my opinion, to me these 2 statements are not the same.."MG should be fine but we are going to hedge our bet with this WR or pick"..."Our WR core is fine MG will return to form"...

 

[Reality]

I thought the plan as of the start of camp was reasonable.

My thoughts going into the 2022 preseason:

James Washington should be on OK stopgap until Gallup returns.
- Washington had 25 career starts prior to joining the Cowboys.
- I thought that would result in more than zero catches for the season.

Gallup might be out the first 4 games with worst case of 8 games but good when he did return.
- I'm not certain if all of his 2022 issues were due to the injury. He seemed to make some odd mental mistakes.

Tolbert would add something (more than 2 catches on 3 targets).

Noah Brown would be the #4 WR, not the #2 WR.

Receiving TE Schultz would exceed his 2021 stats (78 catches for 808 yards) but was down to 58 for 577.

If WR was lacking, especially early in the season, that Pollard would play significant snaps as a slot WR.

I think that was quite likely what they were thinking as well.

Of course it is easy to judge them more harshly in hindsight given Washington got injured before the season started, Gallup's return took longer than expected and his stats once he returned were lower than expected, Tolbert failed to make an impact and Schultz got injured.

That said it is also fair to say they gambled with several pieces and then they were slow to react when those pieces started coming off the board.

I think if one of the young receivers had stepped up last year it would have compensated for some of the losses, but that did not happen.

Brown stepped up his game which helped, but he is a #3 receiver at best and #4 usually and the Cowboys were having to rely on him as a #2 as you said.

The Cowboys have a history of under-reacting to problems when they occur and then over-reacting to them in the off-season while ignoring other areas.

This is the first off-season in a long time I believe they finally started looking at the weaknesses with the whole team in the off-season rather than the one or two parts that hindered them the previous season.

 

[Havic]

CD, Cooks, and Gallup are a very solid 1-3.

Yall dismissing Gallup to quick. He will be better this year.

He will return to form

 

[Kingofholland]

I can't link it. You know where he is. In his most recent piece he makes the following statement when asked how the personnel packages on offense will change this year under McCarthy.

After breaking down their personnel usage last season he says the following:

Somehow, this team was so ill-prepared at receiver that it had to basically stop running its offense because it did not have NFL wide receivers anymore.

-

Whoa. Now let's say he's right. Pretty damning of the front office but does Brandin Cooks change that? Obviously he helps but is that enough? Are we going to rely on a rebuilt (and overrated) Michael Gallup and a Jalen Tolbert sighting (other than a few blurred images floating around the internet) so we are free to run the offense we want to run this year?

I like Brandin Cooks and he certainly is worth the cost to obtain him but the WR position still makes me feel uncomfortable. I want to surround Prescott with so many weapons that even he can beat the 49ers in January.

---

AdminEdit:

This thread is about RECEIVERS, not Dak Prescott.

Does not matter if you are a Dak hater or homer. Use one of the many other threads to post your constantly repeated opinions on Dak.

We were too confident relying on Washington, a recovering Gallup, Tolbert, and Noah Brown to emerge as a #2. We paid Gallup to be a 2 and he had a very dissapointing return. We'll find out this year if he can be a 2b, or if he's an overpaid number 3.

I feel much better about this year with the top 3, behind that though is where there are questions. Tolbert, Simi we don't know much about, along with the rest of the guys. We would be wise to add a receiver in the draft and add some more competition.

 

[shabazz]

No doubt that the WR Corp last year was thin. We all knew that. Why else was their all that OBJ talk?

2023s WR Corp is a marked improvement. Hopefully the unknown production at TE will not negate this

 

[links18]

Front office gambled on one of "their guys" Gallup making a speedy come back and lost. It wasn't a very good bet and demonstrates their general incompetence.

Does Brandon Cooks change that? I don't know; we'll have to see. Will Gallup be any better in recovery year two? That's a other unknown.

 

[Mannix]

-------Somehow, this team was so ill-prepared at receiver that it had to basically stop running its offense because it did not have NFL wide receivers anymore.

Some of us (Mannix) knew this last August....how in the hell did a supposed group of NFL professionals not know this??? Still blows my mind, entering last season with that trash of a WR corp.

 

[Beaker42]

I can't link it. You know where he is. In his most recent piece he makes the following statement when asked how the personnel packages on offense will change this year under McCarthy.

After breaking down their personnel usage last season he says the following:

Somehow, this team was so ill-prepared at receiver that it had to basically stop running its offense because it did not have NFL wide receivers anymore.

-

Whoa. Now let's say he's right. Pretty damning of the front office but does Brandin Cooks change that? Obviously he helps but is that enough? Are we going to rely on a rebuilt (and overrated) Michael Gallup and a Jalen Tolbert sighting (other than a few blurred images floating around the internet) so we are free to run the offense we want to run this year?

I like Brandin Cooks and he certainly is worth the cost to obtain him but the WR position still makes me feel uncomfortable. I want to surround Prescott with so many weapons that even he can beat the 49ers in January.

---

AdminEdit:

This thread is about RECEIVERS, not Dak Prescott.

Does not matter if you are a Dak hater or homer. Use one of the many other threads to post your constantly repeated opinions on Dak.

We ALL knew that. Even the FO. Maybe even JJ and SJ. They just don’t care.