The legacy of Will Mcclay from 2017

[Jerryrage]

Lets take a long term look at the legacy of Will McClay from 2017. Grade him from A to F overall.

Year​	No.​	Round​	Pick​	Player​	Name​	Position​	College​
2024​	1​	1​	29​	29​	Tyler Guyton	T​	Oklahoma
	2​	2​	24​	56​	Marshawn Kneeland	DE​	Western Michigan
	3​	3​	9​	73​	Cooper Beebe	G​	Kansas State
	4​	3​	23​	87​	Marist Liufau	LB​	Notre Dame
	5​	5​	39​	174​	Caelen Carson	DB​	Wake Forest
	6​	6​	40​	216​	Ryan Flournoy	WR​	Southeast Missouri State
	7​	7​	13​	233​	Nathan Thomas	T​	Louisiana-Lafayette
	8​	7​	24​	244​	Justin Rogers	DT​	Auburn
2023​	1​	1​	26​	26​	Mazi Smith	DT​	Michigan
	2​	2​	27​	58​	Luke Schoonmaker	TE​	Michigan
	3​	3​	27​	90​	Demarvion Overshown	LB​	Texas
	4​	4​	27​	129​	Viliami Fehoko	DE​	San Jose State
	5​	5​	34​	169​	Asim Richards	T​	North Carolina
	6​	6​	1​	178​	Eric Scott	DB​	Southern Mississippi
	7​	6​	35​	212​	Deuce Vaughn	RB​	Kansas State
	8​	7​	27​	244​	Jalen Brooks	WR​	South Carolina
2022​	1​	1​	24​	24​	Tyler Smith	T​	Tulsa
	2​	2​	24​	56​	Sam Williams	DE​	Mississippi
	3​	3​	24​	88​	Jalen Tolbert	WR​	South Alabama
	4​	4​	24​	129​	Jake Ferguson	TE​	Wisconsin
	5​	5​	12​	155​	Matt Waletzko	T​	North Dakota
	6​	5​	24​	167​	DaRon Bland	DB​	Fresno State
	7​	5​	33​	176​	Damone Clark	LB​	Louisiana State
	8​	5​	35​	178​	John Ridgeway	DT​	Arkansas
	9​	6​	14​	193​	Devin Harper	LB​	Oklahoma State
2021​	1​	1​	12​	12​	Micah Parsons	LB​	Penn State
	2​	2​	12​	44​	Kelvin Joseph	DB​	Kentucky
	3​	3​	11​	75​	Osa Odighizuwa	DT​	UCLA
	4​	3​	20​	84​	Chauncey Golston	DE​	Iowa
	5​	3​	35​	99​	Nahshon Wright	DB​	Oregon State
	6​	4​	10​	115​	Jabril Cox	LB​	Louisiana State
	7​	4​	33​	138​	Josh Ball	T​	Marshall
	8​	5​	35​	179​	Simi Fehoko	WR​	Stanford
	9​	6​	8​	192​	Quinton Bohanna	DT​	Kentucky
	10​	6​	43​	227​	Israel Mukuamu	DB​	South Carolina
	11​	7​	10​	238​	Matt Farniok	G​	Nebraska
2020​	1​	1​	17​	17​	CeeDee Lamb	WR​	Oklahoma
	2​	2​	19​	51​	Trevon Diggs	DB​	Alabama
	3​	3​	18​	82​	Neville Gallimore	DT​	Oklahoma
	4​	4​	17​	123​	Reggie Robinson	DB​	Tulsa
	5​	4​	40​	146​	Tyler Biadasz	C​	Wisconsin
	6​	5​	33​	179​	Bradlee Anae	DE​	Utah
	7​	7​	17​	231​	Ben DiNucci	QB​	James Madison
2019​	1​	2​	26​	58​	Trysten Hill	DT​	Central Florida
	2​	3​	26​	90​	Connor McGovern	G​	Penn State
	3​	4​	26​	128​	Tony Pollard	RB​	Memphis
	4​	5​	20​	158​	Michael Jackson	DB​	Miami (FL)
	5​	5​	27​	165​	Joe Jackson	DE​	Miami (FL)
	6​	6​	40​	213​	Donovan Wilson	DB​	Texas A&M
	7​	7​	4​	218​	Mike Weber	RB​	Ohio State
	8​	7​	27​	241​	Jalen Jelks	DE​	Oregon
2018​	1​	1​	19​	19​	Leighton Vander Esch	LB​	Boise State
	2​	2​	18​	50​	Connor Williams	T​	Texas
	3​	3​	17​	81​	Michael Gallup	WR​	Colorado State
	4​	4​	16​	116​	Dorance Armstrong	DE​	Kansas
	5​	4​	37​	137​	Dalton Schultz	TE​	Stanford
	6​	5​	34​	171​	Mike White	QB​	Western Kentucky
	7​	6​	19​	193​	Chris Covington	LB​	Indiana
	8​	6​	34​	208​	Cedrick Wilson	WR​	Boise State
	9​	7​	18​	236​	Bo Scarbrough	RB​	Alabama
2017​	1​	1​	28​	28​	Taco Charlton	DE​	Michigan
	2​	2​	28​	60​	Chidobe Awuzie	DB​	Colorado
	3​	3​	28​	92​	Jourdan Lewis	DB​	Michigan
	4​	4​	27​	133​	Ryan Switzer	WR​	North Carolina
	5​	6​	7​	191​	Xavier Woods	DB​	Louisiana Tech
	6​	6​	33​	216​	Marquez White	DB​	Florida State
	7​	7​	10​	228​	Joey Ivie	DT​	Florida
	8​	7​	21​	239​	Noah Brown	WR​	Ohio State
	9​	7​	28​	246​	Jordan Carrell	DT​	Colorado

 

[stilltheguru]

Mcclay isn't some wizard but this is a disingenuous exercise. What would bear fruit is to also post the universal top 10 franchises and grade their draft picks all side by side and see where mcclay lands............or........Mclay sucks!

 

[KingintheNorth]

It's hard to judge him fairly because of how much Jerry and Stephen involve themselves in the top of the draft.

Some years that may be the first three rounds, some years the first four rounds.

My issue with McClay has always been that he's either unable or unwilling to stand up to the meddling. The fact that he's turned down opportunities to interview for GM jobs makes me think he's perfectly fine with the dysfunctional dynamic here.

I do know the DaRon Bland pick was all him and that he absolutely nailed that one.

 

[baltcowboy]

McLay doesn’t make the draft choices. The Cowboys kind of do a draft by committee and then Jerry makes the final call. You saw what happens on YouTube with the Mazi draft. McLay made a speech but Jerry made the call. All those picks are Jerry. Not Stephen or McLay. The guy is just the director of college scouting. He is not Ozzie Newsome with the Ravens back in the day.

 

[Risen Star]

Hey, you're not allowed to do this. Just be grateful that we have him.

 

[tm1119]

Others have already mentioned the lack of control…but I also think draft misses get magnified when the draft is the only way a team adds to the roster. Cowboys are 1 of the very few teams that go beyond the 2nd round NEEDING to add immediate contributors. 4th round picks and beyond that hit are a bonus, the Cowboys seem to think anyone/everyone they draft will be a starter.

 

[big dog cowboy]

Lets take a long term look at the legacy of Will McClay from 2017.

McClay doesn't make the picks.

 

[Creeper]

I quickly counted 50 players still in the NFL out of 69 picks over this period. He missed on a few for sure, but overall he found NFL players. Some 2nd round picks were big mistakes, like Kelvin Joseph and Trysten Hill. Taco was a big miss in the 1st round, but wasn't that a pick Marinelli wanted? What we don't know is how many were McClay picks and how many were not. We do know Mazi was a McClay pick and that has not turned out well. But when you look at the drafts over the years most all-pro players are taken in the first round, and mostly in the top half of the first round. With each successive round the number of all-pro players decreases. This is true for every team. This doesn't mean some 7th round players don't make all pro but there are very few of them around the league in general.

Also, drafting is only part of the process. Developing players is the next part. You look at guys like Connor Williams and Connor McGovern, they both had their best years after thy left Dallas. I would argue Maliek Collins is playing his best football after leaving Dallas too.