The 2023 draft is killing this organization

[TheMarathonContinues]

Exactly. And that’s the problem Marathon.


Every team misses on picks or has a bad draft. Every team.

The problem is the cowboys FO strategy is that they rely basically solely on the draft. It’s just unrealistic and to think they won’t have a bad draft or draft some busts eventually. It happens to every team.

The FO then refuses to cover for the bad draft by signing a couple free agents.

Yep and you know what’s sad? They repeated the same mistake this year lol. Now Kneeland think they hit on but truthfully it’s the same thing. You took a project in the first and your 2nd rounder can’t get on the field. This is what you sell this franchise and its fans….we will get better with picks. The strategy needs to change it’s not working.

 

[Bobhaze]

Which makes you wonder is it really a bad thing to ship out some picks for vets already proven? Would d have been worse off trading our second round pick for anything at this point!”?

I would agree with you MC but I don’t trust this FO at all to not get fleeced in a trade. It happens with regularity.

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

The truth is, great DTs are somewhat hard to find. But using a late first round pick on a DT should at least give you some quality snaps 50% of the time. Mazi is a stat sheet zero. Complete whiff.

They are hard to find yes but people find them all throughout the draft. You just have to luck into one. Cowboys might need to think of a scheme change because they can’t find a 1 tech to save their life.

 

[Hawkeye0202]

I don’t fault them but they deserve heat for it. It’s failing. I really don’t know what the alternative is if you can’t find a DT you have to pay big money for one so I don’t know how that gets better.

Funny though Mo Collins still in the league, Gallimore still there….makes me wonder is it the players or us.

Good coaches know how to put players in a position of strength .........

 

[DeaconMoss]

Ocyrus Torrence was the pick. Not Grandpa Spoon. Tvondre Sweat or Newton instead of Guyton was the pick this year. Smith/Richards could have handled the left side.

 

[cowboyec]

i wanted notre dame te michael mayer.
but i was excited about the mazi pick...finally addressing the dt spot.
sadly the kid i saw at michigan is not who we got.
lotta folks were high on mazi.
our 1st rd michigan d-line curse continues...and is real.
☆kevin brooks
☆taco charlton
☆mazi smith

 

[TNCowboy]

Modestly, perhaps. If Mazi and Schoonmaker were playing well, the team would be only moderately better, but would still have the same fundamental weaknesses. No depth, no toughness, poorly coached.

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

I would agree with you MC but I don’t trust this FO at all to not get fleeced in a trade. It happens with regularity.

It just depends. Their last pick for player trades haven’t been bad. Amari trade worked out. I think the Michael Bennett trade worked. The Gilmore trade worked. The Cooks trade worked. If someone wants to give me a vet for a 5th rounder I’d listen.

 

[Bobhaze]

Brooks has been decent as a late round pick.

Ram, when you’re having to tout a 7th round pick as a “decent” contributor, it’s bad.

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

i wanted notre dame te michael mayer.
but i was excited about the mazi pick...finally addressing the dt spot.
sadly the kid i saw at michigan is not who we got.
lotta folks were high on mazi.
our 1st rd michigan d-line curse continues...and is real.
☆kevin brooks
☆taco charlton
☆mazi smith

Raiders are another stupid team. Draft Mayer then draft Bowers later. Stupidity even though Bowers is legit.

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

Maliek Collins has always kind of been a low-end starter, but he's still started 9 years in the NFL. In a league where new talent comes to take your job every year, that doesn't happen by accident. He's good.

Yeah I think he’s not the run stuffer we need but he’s had a career. A very underrated one.

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

Good coaches know how to put players in a position of strength .........

I agree. But maybe he doesn’t have a position of strength.

 

[maryquality]

Don't forget Deuce!

You must have overlooked him.

Dude's so short, he's even overlooked in thread posts!!

 

[fivetwos]

This organization has sold itself for years as being built as a “draft and develop“ team. Not only is this “draft and develop” model outdated and long ago shown to be not enough. Without some decent FAs thrown in as well, it places enormous pressure on each year’s draft to produce starters or at the very least, quality depth.

The 2023 draft is starting to look like a total disaster for an organization completely dependent on the draft to stay competitive, much less be a team capable of winning playoff games. When your first AND second round picks barely even make the box score, your draft is already a disaster.

Yesterday in Atlanta, 2023 1st round pick Mazi Smith had 28 snaps and literally did not make the stat sheet with even an assisted tackle. Second round pick TE Luke Schoonmaker had 1 snap on offense. The UFA Brevyn Spann-Ford is getting 4 times as many snaps as Schoonmaker. What a complete disaster.

The lone bright spot from last year’s draft is 3rd round LB DeMarvion Overshown who had 7 tackles yesterday including 3 TFLs. He is an impact player on a really bad defense.

So here are the players selected in 2023 and what they bring to the team:

• 1st round: DT Mazi Smith. Shown almost nothing in 25 regular season games so far. Not only showing he’s not a first round talent, he’s not even appearing to be even a draftable talent. On a team literally begging for DL to shore up the run stoppage, he plays less than 50% of the snaps.
• 2nd round TE Luke Schoonmaker. Can’t earn playing time. Typically gets less than 5 snaps a game. Has 8 receptions in 8 games this year and 16 receptions in 23 regular season games in his career.
• 3rd round LB DeMarvion Overshown. Missed his rookie year due to a knee injury but has been a real bright spot showing great speed, range and tackling ability.
• 4th round DE Vilami Fehoko. No longer with the team - waived this last September.
• 5th round T Asim Richards. A backup OL who has looked decent at times in training camp but will only be pressed into regular season duty in a pinch.
• 6th round CB Eric Scott. Was also waived in September; now on the chiefs practice squad.
• 6th round RB Deuce Vaughn. In a season and a half almost never plays. Has only played in 12 regular season games and has 7 carries for 20 yards.
• 7th round WR Jalen Brooks. He has played as a backup WR with occasional receptions but in a season and a half has 13 receptions, no TDs.
• There are some 2023 UFAs who have been decent for this team. FB Hunter Luepke, G TJ Bass and (now injured) TE John Stephens Jr. Contributors and depth pieces.

So for a draft and develop team, having a draft be this unhelpful is a disaster. It’s one of the biggest reasons this team is so bad this year.

Disagree on technicality Bob lol.

The fact that they make the decision to count on draft picks to act as immediate impact acquisitions is what kills them, especially when picking late in a not very deep draft, as was 2023.

I mean, what do they think, they are going to defy history and never bust a first rounder? Or draft better than any organization in history?

Its not a knock on their drafting prowess anywhere near as much as they refuse to realize that you can’t count on every one of them to be an immediate impact starter.

I truly believe this is Stephens influence. He thinks like…why pay tens of millions for free agents when we have the draft?

When asked why a gaping hole wasn’t fixed in the off-season, the literal reply is “the draft didn’t fall that way.”

What they think is a genius plan, aka “secret sauce,” doesn’t work, and the idea of change isn’t a thought.

 

[Bobhaze]

Disagree on technicality Bob lol.

The fact that they make the decision to count on draft picks to act as immediate impact acquisitions is what kills them, especially when picking late in a not very deep draft, as was 2023.

I mean, what do they think, they are going to defy history and never bust a first rounder? Or draft better than any organization in history?

Its not a knock on their drafting prowess anywhere near as much as they refuse to realize that you can’t count on every one of them to be an immediate impact starter.

I truly believe this is Stephens influence. He thinks like…why pay tens of millions for free agents when we have the draft?

When asked why a gaping hole wasn’t fixed in the off-season, the literal reply is “the draft didn’t fall that way.”

What they think is a genius plan, aka “secret sauce,” doesn’t work, and the idea of change isn’t a thought.

I agree with you on this. The whole team building by drafts only is a complete misunderstanding of the cap and how to make it work. The Jones boys are good at business…bad at understanding roster building.

 

[Bobhaze]

Dude's so short, he's even overlooked in thread posts!!

Good one Mary!

 

[John813]

It's impossible to hit every draft.
and that is what hurts this team the most based off their flawed thinking of building a winner.

A stretch of FA's leave the team and when the draftees can't even be average it can setback a season. Add in injuries, it can tank a season
They go "All-in" on hoping the cheap drafted players can fill the cracks and improve the team.

 

[ChronicCowboy]

Yeah terrible draft. 2024 may be better but none of the guys look all that great so far.

When you ignore free agency, a couple middling drafts can destroy a roster.

 

[TNCowboy]

To make a bad situation worse, 2 Michigan DTs are highly rated in next years draft. I fully expect the Cowboys to do something stupid like draft one of them or worse, draft an RB in the 1st round. Provided the old fool doesn't trade our 1st rounder tomorrow.

 

[JPostSam]

This organization has sold itself for years as being built as a “draft and develop“ team. Not only is this “draft and develop” model outdated and long ago shown to be not enough. Without some decent FAs thrown in as well, it places enormous pressure on each year’s draft to produce starters or at the very least, quality depth.

The 2023 draft is starting to look like a total disaster for an organization completely dependent on the draft to stay competitive, much less be a team capable of winning playoff games. When your first AND second round picks barely even make the box score, your draft is already a disaster.

Yesterday in Atlanta, 2023 1st round pick Mazi Smith had 28 snaps and literally did not make the stat sheet with even an assisted tackle. Second round pick TE Luke Schoonmaker had 1 snap on offense. The UFA Brevyn Spann-Ford is getting 4 times as many snaps as Schoonmaker. What a complete disaster.

The lone bright spot from last year’s draft is 3rd round LB DeMarvion Overshown who had 7 tackles yesterday including 3 TFLs. He is an impact player on a really bad defense.

So here are the players selected in 2023 and what they bring to the team:

• 1st round: DT Mazi Smith. Shown almost nothing in 25 regular season games so far. Not only showing he’s not a first round talent, he’s not even appearing to be even a draftable talent. On a team literally begging for DL to shore up the run stoppage, he plays less than 50% of the snaps.
• 2nd round TE Luke Schoonmaker. Can’t earn playing time. Typically gets less than 5 snaps a game. Has 8 receptions in 8 games this year and 16 receptions in 23 regular season games in his career.
• 3rd round LB DeMarvion Overshown. Missed his rookie year due to a knee injury but has been a real bright spot showing great speed, range and tackling ability.
• 4th round DE Vilami Fehoko. No longer with the team - waived this last September.
• 5th round T Asim Richards. A backup OL who has looked decent at times in training camp but will only be pressed into regular season duty in a pinch.
• 6th round CB Eric Scott. Was also waived in September; now on the chiefs practice squad.
• 6th round RB Deuce Vaughn. In a season and a half almost never plays. Has only played in 12 regular season games and has 7 carries for 20 yards.
• 7th round WR Jalen Brooks. He has played as a backup WR with occasional receptions but in a season and a half has 13 receptions, no TDs.
• There are some 2023 UFAs who have been decent for this team. FB Hunter Luepke, G TJ Bass and (now injured) TE John Stephens Jr. Contributors and depth pieces.

So for a draft and develop team, having a draft be this unhelpful is a disaster. It’s one of the biggest reasons this team is so bad this year.

i’m the furthest thing from a draft expert, but my initial reaction to every one of those picks except for overshown was, “what?!”

the mothership tried to sell the whole draft as the cowboys playing 3-dimensional chess…

come on, just pick guys who can play.