Talent Acquisition

[jterrell]

We have seen an inordinate number of attacks on the Cowboys talent evaluation and overall front office staff because the OL now looks thin.

All in all whatever the team's weakness there will be one. I think it's more than fair to suggest that since the beginning of the salary cap era every team has had weaknesses in some area. There have been some very good teams, to be sure, but they were not without concerns, especially if they faced any injuries. This isn't the era for true talent 50 deep.

While it is pretty clear the OL isn't as strong even when healthy as say WR or LB or RB... you do draft the best players in the draft for a reason. That reason is because better player have more value than worse ones.

Should we have skipped Tashard Choice to draft an OL? Should we have skipped Brandon Williams for an OL? Both cases could certainly have been argued at the time.

But this chicken little thinking is far too short-sighted.
We have players and draft picks we cna in fact trade off for legitimate OL if need be. This doesn't mean Jared Gaither. It does mean we can deal for a swing 3rd OG or a top notch backup C if we feel so inclined. We have depth in other areas because we HAVE drafted well. Because the young guys we are drafting have been developing for the most part.

What can you get for Orlando Scandrick? Leon Williams? Jason Williams? Tashard Choice? Kevin Ogletree?

Depth in other areas down our roster will mean the flexibility to strengthen this OL as cuts are being made.

The roster isn't set so let's not panic... anymore than the previous 1000 threads anyways.

 

[xtreme_2k]

Problem is too many couch potato coaches in this forum. One would think that we are the only one in the league with O-line depth issues. Yet somehow we managed to be one of the top offenses in the league last year with an aging Adam and hurt Colombo manning the edges and at times had to be replaced due to injury. Everyone is judging the line based on one game, the Minnesota playoff loss, I blame that on the coaches for being out-coached. I recall 2 years ago people were up in arms about replacing Kyle Kosier as he was considered the weakest link on the line, then he got hurt and people appreciated his value then. It seems to me its up to the coaches to maximize the potential of the replacement players when its their turn to step up.

 

[Cowboys22]

I started a post about drafting OL shortly after that picture of the 2010 draft board came out. A simple analysis of that board compared to the actual draft clearly showed that Dallas rated individual OL 1-3 rounds lower than other teams. I hypothesized that if that was happening year after year, then it would be impossible for them to stick to their board and be able to draft quality OL in the first few rounds. The only way a OL could be the top player on the board was if he unexpectedly fell lower than most were projecting. That is in fact what happened with Sam Young. He was projected to go anywhere from 4th to 6th but fell and eventually was atop the draft board when a pick came up. When this is the only way an OL is sitting atop the draft board when your pick comes up, you are only going to be able to draft OL with some type of flaws that made them fall. Thats not a recipe for success.

 

[The Quest for Six]

Problem is too many couch potato coaches in this forum. One would think that we are the only one in the league with O-line depth issues. Yet somehow we managed to be one of the top offenses in the league last year with an aging Adam and hurt Colombo manning the edges and at times had to be replaced due to injury. Everyone is judging the line based on one game, the Minnesota playoff loss, I blame that on the coaches for being out-coached. I recall 2 years ago people were up in arms about replacing Kyle Kosier as he was considered the weakest link on the line, then he got hurt and people appreciated his value then. It seems to me its up to the coaches to maximize the potential of the replacement players when its their turn to step up.

Dallas was the second ranked offense in yards, 14th in scoring, last time I checked, scoring is pretty important since you need to score more than the other team to win... The Minnesota game clearly shown the biggest problem with this team, and that's the offensive line. Doesn't matter who you have a quarterback, or running backs or wide receivers, if you can't protect the quarterback and run the ball consistantly, you can't in this league. This line is old, not that athletic, other than Free, and they have no depth whatsoever, that's an issue..

 

[Nightshade]

Pretty sure if Iupatti or Pouncey fell to 24 we would have taken one of them. Those are the guys that were targeted value wise at the top of the draft for Jerruh. gotta follow the draft board guys and unfortunately those guys were taken early and we got stuck with DEZ FREAKING BRYANT!!

 

[HoosierCowboy]

1) I don't think the OL is thin (can't predict injuries)
2) our drafts have been stellar

 

[CATCH17]

The Cowboys front office obviously knows what they are doing. Nobody is perfect but these guys can find talent obviously.

People will complain about anything though.

Just let it play out and see how this team does.

 

[Stautner]

We have seen an inordinate number of attacks on the Cowboys talent evaluation and overall front office staff because the OL now looks thin.

All in all whatever the team's weakness there will be one. I think it's more than fair to suggest that since the beginning of the salary cap era every team has had weaknesses in some area. There have been some very good teams, to be sure, but they were not without concerns, especially if they faced any injuries. This isn't the era for true talent 50 deep.

While it is pretty clear the OL isn't as strong even when healthy as say WR or LB or RB... you do draft the best players in the draft for a reason. That reason is because better player have more value than worse ones.

Should we have skipped Tashard Choice to draft an OL? Should we have skipped Brandon Williams for an OL? Both cases could certainly have been argued at the time.

But this chicken little thinking is far too short-sighted.
We have players and draft picks we cna in fact trade off for legitimate OL if need be. This doesn't mean Jared Gaither. It does mean we can deal for a swing 3rd OG or a top notch backup C if we feel so inclined. We have depth in other areas because we HAVE drafted well. Because the young guys we are drafting have been developing for the most part.

What can you get for Orlando Scandrick? Leon Williams? Jason Williams? Tashard Choice? Kevin Ogletree?

Depth in other areas down our roster will mean the flexibility to strengthen this OL as cuts are being made.

The roster isn't set so let's not panic... anymore than the previous 1000 threads anyways.

Sure there are players we could trade for an O-lineman, but are we really dealing from the strongest position if we wait until the need is desperate before we do so? Even with good players to trade, if we wait until injuries force us to make a deal, we will have to just settle for whatever deal we can make in a hurried time frame. And even so, some of the guys you mentioned are developing players, and likely would only bring a developing O-lineman in return. That wont do us much good in replacing a starter.

 

[burmafrd]

Jerruh jones has his prejudice about WRs and O line in the first rd. Due to the bust factor. BUT time has shown that O Line is much less of a risk of busting compared to WR.

Now no one cannot claim that finding good young O Line players has been hard for this team. We have exactly 2 home grown starters on this line; just like it had been for the last 5 years since LA left. And our Depth has ALWAYS been shaky. So it has been a complaint here and elsewhere that Jeruh and company have either tried doing it cheap (late rd picks) or too expensive (FA's). It would be cheaper and better in the long run to draft at least 1 OL guy each year in the first three rds. Even if only one out of 3 become starters if you are consistent and now and again get a keeper out of the later rd picks then you will be OK without expensive FA's. We really lucked out when BP liked Kosier and resurrected Colombo. Those guys were very cheap FA's. Now Rivera was a bust but then no one expected him to mess up his back before he even played one game with us. But thems the breaks.

ANd if one of our first 3 picks each year busts out that is still better than the league average. In 6 years that should give us at least 2 starters and hopefully more; and we should get at least a good backup as well; then if we do hit paydirt in one of the later rds- and that does happen every 3-4 drafts- then you should be OK with both starters and depth. And add in an occasional FA.

Remember that you on average can expect excellant performance for OTs up to 33 or so; and for interior guys you can get it till the mid 30's or even more.

And if you keep this as a consistent plan then baring real stupidity in drafting and bad breaks you will never have a crisis in the O line where you are looking at replacing 2-3 starters in a couple of years and without good backups.

 

[Angus]

And Peterson and Marten, who Dallas got rid of too early, are starting for other clubs.

 

[burmafrd]

And Peterson and Marten, who Dallas got rid of too early, are starting for other clubs.

Where is Marten starting? And peterman is starting for what is the second or third worst team in football so what does that mean?

 

[ThreeandOut]

I started a post about drafting OL shortly after that picture of the 2010 draft board came out. A simple analysis of that board compared to the actual draft clearly showed that Dallas rated individual OL 1-3 rounds lower than other teams. I hypothesized that if that was happening year after year, then it would be impossible for them to stick to their board and be able to draft quality OL in the first few rounds. The only way a OL could be the top player on the board was if he unexpectedly fell lower than most were projecting. That is in fact what happened with Sam Young. He was projected to go anywhere from 4th to 6th but fell and eventually was atop the draft board when a pick came up. When this is the only way an OL is sitting atop the draft board when your pick comes up, you are only going to be able to draft OL with some type of flaws that made them fall. Thats not a recipe for success.

Overall, the Cowboys have been a very good drafting team. They have pretty consistently hit on their first rounders (except Carpenter) and have done a good job finding hidden gems in the later rounds. Their track record is even more impressive considering they have had very few high picks.

But I do believe that OL drafting has been a problem. I have a theory that after a string of high round misses (Johnson, Rogers, Peterman, and Marten) that Dallas tightened it's standards on OL evaluation. That is why you see Dallas rating OL's 1-2 rounds lower than where they were selected as Cowboys22 alludes to above. I also believe the stricter OL evaluation had something to do with Dallas only selecting 1 OL in 2009 despite having 12 picks.

It just seems Dallas has gotten very gun shy about selecting OL's. As Cowboys22 notes above, it is going to be very difficult to get OL's where the Cowboys are evaluating them unless they get them in the first round.

 

[speedkilz88]

Where is Marten starting? And peterman is starting for what is the second or third worst team in football so what does that mean?

He's not starting, a backup g/t for the bears. He did finish the Bears-Chargers game at LT and looked pretty competent.

 

[PullMyFinger]

Pretty sure if Iupatti or Pouncey fell to 24 we would have taken one of them. Those are the guys that were targeted value wise at the top of the draft for Jerruh. gotta follow the draft board guys and unfortunately those guys were taken early and we got stuck with DEZ FREAKING BRYANT!!

Post = fail