Three positions that should always be targeted in every Draft.

[Red Dragon]

There are three positions that should always be targeted and drafted every single year if possible.



Secondary (defensive backs): You can never have too many good defensive backs. Newman is old and no longer displays the speed or coverage that made him one of the league's elite in 2006 (he once went 16 straight games without allowing a TD pass, I think.) Jenkins, after a Pro Bowl season, had a bad year this time. Ball showed a little bit of promise, but was exploited. Behind that, where's the depth? McCann may be something, and Scandrick, but.....?

Every year, every single Draft, the Cowboys should make an emphasis of drafting at least one good cornerback and/or one good safety - at least in the top 4 rounds if not 3. Every year!


This area, already in need, could be gutted by the loss of Newman should he really go over the hill. The goal is to have 3 good-to-great cornerbacks, and an excellent safety tandem. That will take at least three years to build.




Offensive line: Good offensive line - starters and depth - needs years of building and structuring. Not only is a strong front 5 essential for offensive performance, but the backups are continually being groomed into potential future starters. This is all the more true considering that Colombo, Davis, and Kosier are getting up there in years.




Pass rushers: Just like the secondary, sometimes you can't have enough good pass rushers. Spencer, honestly, did not turn out to be the Ware 2.0 that we had hoped. Ratliff is stalwart, and Ware is still good, but I read somewhere once that Ware started 95% of all defensive snaps and thus has an exhausting workload. He needs more rest.....we need another ferocity that can spell Ware regularly and let him rotate out.

The goal here is one more great, pin-back-the-ears pass rusher to give the Cowboys a trio of pass rushers in Ware, Spencer, and (insert name here.) And preferably a couple more defensive linemen to challenge and/or backup Ratliff and Spears.

 

[SDogo]

IMO, you should draft a QB EVERY year.

 

[THUMPER]

One of my draft axioms is that you select an OL within the 1st 3 rounds in EVERY draft. The best OLs are taken in the first 3 rounds although there are exceptions.

IMO, the O-Line is the most important group on any team. Watch Manning or Brady when they are being pressured and they look pretty average. Give a guy like John Skelton time and he can beat you.

It doesn't matter who your QB, RBs, WRs, or TEs are, if you don't have time to throw or holes to run through you aren't going to win many games. But give your below average QB all day to throw or your scrub RB big holes to run through and you are going to win a lot more often.

I think with the way offenses play these days the defense cannot afford to be weak in any area and get away with it so you need to target all 3 position groups (DL, LB, & DB) in the draft but not necessarily early.

 

[DanteEXT]

There are three positions that should always be targeted and drafted every single year if possible.



Secondary (defensive backs): You can never have too many good defensive backs. Newman is old and no longer displays the speed or coverage that made him one of the league's elite in 2006 (he once went 16 straight games without allowing a TD pass, I think.) Jenkins, after a Pro Bowl season, had a bad year this time. Ball showed a little bit of promise, but was exploited. Behind that, where's the depth? McCann may be something, and Scandrick, but.....?

Every year, every single Draft, the Cowboys should make an emphasis of drafting at least one good cornerback and/or one good safety - at least in the top 4 rounds if not 3. Every year!


This area, already in need, could be gutted by the loss of Newman should he really go over the hill. The goal is to have 3 good-to-great cornerbacks, and an excellent safety tandem. That will take at least three years to build.




Offensive line: Good offensive line - starters and depth - needs years of building and structuring. Not only is a strong front 5 essential for offensive performance, but the backups are continually being groomed into potential future starters. This is all the more true considering that Colombo, Davis, and Kosier are getting up there in years.




Pass rushers: Just like the secondary, sometimes you can't have enough good pass rushers. Spencer, honestly, did not turn out to be the Ware 2.0 that we had hoped. Ratliff is stalwart, and Ware is still good, but I read somewhere once that Ware started 95% of all defensive snaps and thus has an exhausting workload. He needs more rest.....we need another ferocity that can spell Ware regularly and let him rotate out.

The goal here is one more great, pin-back-the-ears pass rusher to give the Cowboys a trio of pass rushers in Ware, Spencer, and (insert name here.) And preferably a couple more defensive linemen to challenge and/or backup Ratliff and Spears.

Best player available. No matter position. Start targeting specific positions, you end up with something like the Cowboys 2000 draft:

2nd Round - CB Dwayne Goodrich
4th Round - CB Kareem Larrimore
5th Round - RB Michael Wiley
6th Round - CB Mario Edwards
7th Round - LB Orantes Grant

Also, it's not like Dallas hasn't been drafting OL in the first 4 rounds. They just never started .... for the Cowboys. They are spread around the league though.

 

[Bizwah]

IMO, you should draft a QB EVERY year.

I think it was Gil Brandt that said to take one at least every other year.

I totally agree.

Green Bay did this all the time in the 90s. They took Mark Brunell, Aaron Brooks, and Matt Hasselback. They got some decent draft choices for them too.

I was impressed by Dalton tonight. He'd be an interesting choice later in the draft.

 

[Bluefin]

IMO, you should draft a QB EVERY year.

Not every year, IMO.

Quarterback is a position a team should always have an eye on developing, but I don't think that means drafting a prospect every year.

We have a starter, a back-up and a developmental signal caller in place and the team appears to be happy with all.

That doesn't mean we can't select a QB if a great value falls in our lap, I just don't think it's a necessity given what we already have and a host of needs at other positions crying for attention.

If we drafted one every year, we'd wind up throwing picks away.

We should always be prepared to select a passer if a perceived great value is staring at us any year, but I don't think we have to every year.

When the team is ready to move Stephen McGee to second string in place of Jon Kitna (likely '12), then we need to find another developmental QB and keep trying to develop guys from within.

 

[dwmyers]

Best player available. No matter position.

If the other guys are drafting better players than you, it doesn't matter what draft philosophy you use.

In short: the philosophy is overrated. Accurate analysis of talent, quality of scouting is underrated.

How many teams passed on Tom Brady? How many passed on Terrell Davis?

 

[RoyTheHammer]

There are three positions that should always be targeted and drafted every single year if possible.



Secondary (defensive backs): You can never have too many good defensive backs. Newman is old and no longer displays the speed or coverage that made him one of the league's elite in 2006 (he once went 16 straight games without allowing a TD pass, I think.) Jenkins, after a Pro Bowl season, had a bad year this time. Ball showed a little bit of promise, but was exploited. Behind that, where's the depth? McCann may be something, and Scandrick, but.....?

Every year, every single Draft, the Cowboys should make an emphasis of drafting at least one good cornerback and/or one good safety - at least in the top 4 rounds if not 3. Every year!


This area, already in need, could be gutted by the loss of Newman should he really go over the hill. The goal is to have 3 good-to-great cornerbacks, and an excellent safety tandem. That will take at least three years to build.




Offensive line: Good offensive line - starters and depth - needs years of building and structuring. Not only is a strong front 5 essential for offensive performance, but the backups are continually being groomed into potential future starters. This is all the more true considering that Colombo, Davis, and Kosier are getting up there in years.




Pass rushers: Just like the secondary, sometimes you can't have enough good pass rushers. Spencer, honestly, did not turn out to be the Ware 2.0 that we had hoped. Ratliff is stalwart, and Ware is still good, but I read somewhere once that Ware started 95% of all defensive snaps and thus has an exhausting workload. He needs more rest.....we need another ferocity that can spell Ware regularly and let him rotate out.

The goal here is one more great, pin-back-the-ears pass rusher to give the Cowboys a trio of pass rushers in Ware, Spencer, and (insert name here.) And preferably a couple more defensive linemen to challenge and/or backup Ratliff and Spears.

Excellent post. Just thinking about how much better off we'd be as a team if we employed this strategy makes me want to go slap Jerry up.