Time to learn some truth about the front office

[SultanOfSix]

The term that needs to be emphasized is organization.

The Cowboys are not a winning organization and haven't been for a long time, not since Landry and Jimmy were here, because frankly, they haven't been organized, structured, built, etc. from the top down to be such in the past twenty five years or so, from the management to scouting to coaching to players on the field. They are just an average one and have always been deficient in some piece of the puzzle. They've had their few chances to climb to the peak, but they've always fallen off and have been mostly stuck in the valley of mediocrity.

 

[Thomas82]

You do realize the front office is responsible for the coaches hired as well. Correct? The biggest mistake Jerry made was staying in bed with Jason Garrett WAY TOO LONG. First of all....he hired a coach in training during the prime of some future or almost future HOFers (Ware, Witten, Romo)....who does that? Then....stuck with him because he wanted to look smarter than EVERYONE else in the room.

So there has been enough talent on the field to have produced better results....but Jason Garrett was given more rope than any coach in the history of the NFL based on his results. Has there ever been a head coach in the NFL granted 10 years....but never played in a conference title game? Maybe Marvin Lewis?

All facts!!

 

[rnr_honeybadger]

The term that needs to be emphasized is organization.

The Cowboys are not a winning organization and haven't been for a long time, not since Landry and Jimmy were here, because frankly, they haven't been organized, structured, built, etc. from the top down to be such in the past twenty five years or so, from the management to scouting to coaching to players on the field. They are just an average one and have always been deficient in some piece of the puzzle. They've had their few chances to climb to the peak, but they've always fallen off and have been mostly stuck in the valley of mediocrity.

The organization isn't run like an organization instead it is run on this idea that a single guy surrounded by yes men pick talent via the draft and free agency. There is 0 accountability if he gets it wrong, it's just rinse and repeat. Meanwhile that same idiot who is GM also picks the coach and picks coaches based on people who won't challenge him. So at no point in the process is there a single person to tell the idiot that his ideas are idiotic and he has no eye for talent. There is a reason why nepotism and group think is discouraged in any successful organization.

 

[Tussinman]

As for drafting the Cowboys have been pretty good relative to the rest of the league. Yes thereve been misses but every team has them.

Drafting in the 2nd round and drafting on defense has been god awful the last 10 years. Has to be bottom of the league for both

I don't care if you draft half the offense as pro bowlers, it's pointless if your defense is jags, project reach picks, or injury prone

 

[CATCH17]

Well as I said to start, Jerry isn’t the day to day GM anymore.

The front office is not perfect but when it comes to getting good players in the building, they’re pretty good at that. It’s when you have to pay them that becomes the problem.

What about holding on to a coach for 10 years?

Playoff success is all that matters..

This good regular season and solid drafting really means nothing if we don’t win with it.

 

[panchucko]

Of all those pro bowlers how many actually made the pro bowl or were just replacements. I always thought the replacement players should have an asterisk by their name

 

[kskboys]

The organization isn't run like an organization instead it is run on this idea that a single guy surrounded by yes men pick talent via the draft and free agency. There is 0 accountability if he gets it wrong, it's just rinse and repeat. Meanwhile that same idiot who is GM also picks the coach and picks coaches based on people who won't challenge him. So at no point in the process is there a single person to tell the idiot that his ideas are idiotic and he has no eye for talent. There is a reason why nepotism and group think is discouraged in any successful organization.

Ouch. I'd actually never thought of it exactly in that way. Ick.

 

[Tussinman]

Of all those pro bowlers how many actually made the pro bowl or were just replacements. I always thought the replacement players should have an asterisk by their name

11 of the 13 made the Day 1 roster and one of the 2 that didn't make Day 1 roster (Sean Lee) should of because he made 1st team all-pro

Of those 13 pro bowlers Jaylon Smith was the only one that got in on the whole "late down the list injury replacement pick"

 

[rnr_honeybadger]

Of all those pro bowlers how many actually made the pro bowl or were just replacements. I always thought the replacement players should have an asterisk by their name

The pro-bowl as a gauge for anything is dumb. It's a meaningless game that the people who are actually winning titles or playing deep into the playoffs never participate in.

 

[Tussinman]

The pro-bowl as a gauge for anything is dumb. It's a meaningless game that the people who are actually winning titles or playing deep into the playoffs never participate in.

Team wise yes it's meaningless but from an individual player standpoint it's a large factor in hall of fame accolades and negotiations for that 2nd/3rd contract.

League has drastically become more individual focused rather than team focused. Players don't give a crap about team/owner history or living and die by my team (95% of them would take money/accolades over team title anyday of the week)

 

[Thomas82]

Sean Lee has missed a whopping 58 regular season games in 11 seasons due to injury. That’s the equivalent of missing 3 and a half seasons. But as @Reality said earlier, the most important ability a player has is availability.

Lee’s a great talent for sure as he was in college....except for the fact he was an injury problem at Penn State too. It’s why he was available in the 2nd round in 2010. Guys like Sean Lee should be drafted in rounds 3-7 because despite his talent, the injury factor is a killer to your team if you can’t count on him being there.

IMO, he would be a first ballot Hall Of Famer if he could have stayed reasonably healthy.

 

[kskboys]

The pro-bowl as a gauge for anything is dumb. It's a meaningless game that the people who are actually winning titles or playing deep into the playoffs never participate in.

Mike Jenkins was the 3rd alt when everyone else in front of him opted out.

 

[john van brocklin]

True, every team has hits and misses in the draft. Talent evaluation is not a perfect science.

The problem is strategic decisions. For example- using a rare #4 overall draft pick (the highest pick the Cowboys have had in many many years), on a RB- a position which has perhaps the shortest life in the NFL, and is also the easiest to find in later rounds. The question is not whether or not Zeke was a good RB, but rather should the team use such a high pick on that position.

These are the kinds of management mistakes that have yielded poor results for decades.

BTW- the player chosen immediately after Zeke- Jalen Ramsey (who many wanted Dallas to pick), was recently traded for TWO first round picks and a fourth round pick. What is the trade value of Elliott, who Jerry Jones preferred?

Good point, never draft rb that high

 

[john van brocklin]

Sean Lee has missed a whopping 58 regular season games in 11 seasons due to injury. That’s the equivalent of missing 3 and a half seasons. But as @Reality said earlier, the most important ability a player has is availability.

Lee’s a great talent for sure as he was in college....except for the fact he was an injury problem at Penn State too. It’s why he was available in the 2nd round in 2010. Guys like Sean Lee should be drafted in rounds 3-7 because despite his talent, the injury factor is a killer to your team if you can’t count on him being there.

Great insight and point

 

[john van brocklin]

Jerry Jones has been the GM for this entire drought, so no we are not unique or new.

He is the common denominator

 

[john van brocklin]

The term that needs to be emphasized is organization.

The Cowboys are not a winning organization and haven't been for a long time, not since Landry and Jimmy were here, because frankly, they haven't been organized, structured, built, etc. from the top down to be such in the past twenty five years or so, from the management to scouting to coaching to players on the field. They are just an average one and have always been deficient in some piece of the puzzle. They've had their few chances to climb to the peak, but they've always fallen off and have been mostly stuck in the valley of mediocrity.

True

 

[john van brocklin]

Personally, I stand by facts, not opinions.

The only "example" I posted was pure factual information. The idea those facts offend you in some way is something you should analyze in yourself.

I did not say they were good or bad draft picks. I simply showed how injuries impacted the performance of those draft picks and stated that no matter how great a player is, if they are not on the field, it does not matter.

If Tom Brady suffered a career-ending injury in his first game and never played another down, was he a great draft pick? Were the Patriots a dynasty?

If Patrick Mahomes got injured in the first game last year and missed all of 2019, would the Chiefs have still won the Super Bowl?

My post was not about bashing or supporting the front office of the Cowboys .. it was simply stating facts. I am sorry those facts interfere or conflict with whatever opinions you are pushing.

Great point on availability

 

[Diehardblues]

Well as I said to start, Jerry isn’t the day to day GM anymore.

The front office is not perfect but when it comes to getting good players in the building, they’re pretty good at that. It’s when you have to pay them that becomes the problem.

Jethro has never been the “ day to day” GM. He doesn’t have time to watch film 70 hours a week.

While we have had some good drafts especially early on we have had several big misses defensively along with some injury and problem risk drafts which had killed us.

Not to mention poor priorities in draft, mismanaging key talents in contract negotiations and questionable coaching decisions while undermining the coaching which is a big part of the GM role.

All in all front office and ownership is better defined as dysfunctional which has handicapped and presented an obstacle to overcome despite a few good picks which basically anyone could have made in early rounds.

In the end, results matter and despite whatever talent they have acquired there has been too many weaknesses and other contributing factors for more success. I’d give them a C- Grade.

 

[Rockport]

There’s been crazy and negative speculation on here as it regards the front office. Why do people here think:

1) Jerry is still the day to day GM?
2) The team has been bad at drafting?

Jerry is only involved in the big decisions. And even then it’s to give his stamp of approval. Stephen is the one actually making the day to day decisions and even then it’s guys like Will McClay for player scouting and others that do contracts doing most of the work. It wasn’t Stephen or Jerry that did Zekes contract. It was some other guy who I don’t recall his name.

As for drafting the Cowboys have been pretty good relative to the rest of the league. Yes thereve been misses but every team has them.

In the last 10 years the team has drafted:

Tyron
Frederick
Dez
Dak
Zach
DLaw
Byron
Zeke
CD
Diggs
Gallup
Pollard
LVE
Lee
Murray
Schultz
Dwayne Harris (still in the league 9 years later)
Crawford (still in league 8 years later)
Hitchens (starting for Chiefs)
Damien Wilson (starting for Chiefs)
Traded a 1 for Coop

Overall they’ve drafted 13 pro bowlers which is an average of 1.3 per draft and will probably be more in a few years with at least CD and Diggs.

If you’re going to average 1 pro bowler every draft and numerous starters that will play 8-9 years you’re doing your job. Find me how many pro bowlers over 10 years other teams have drafted. I’d imagine Dallas is in the top 10 in the league in that.

The player personnel has been pretty good. I’d say poor coaching on defense and bad luck is the reason the team hasn’t gotten to NFC title games the last 10 years. DeMarcos fumble in 2014 in GB and the 3rd down bomb from Rodgers in 2016.

Defensively the scheme has never complimented the offense and was a liability in the playoffs in 2018 and all season in 2019. This year it’s just all over the place between coaches and players.

If I had to grade the front office on player personnel, I’d say a B+ and that’s mainly due to handling of contracts not the talent they bring in. The biggest error they made was trying to use Jaylons one good season as leverage against Zeke in training camp in 2019. Shouldn’t have extended him. They also gave Marinelli way too much input in the draft. Cost them Taco and Trysten. But the Patriots miss with WRs in the 1st round all the time so mistakes happen everywhere. Their drafted WRs since like 2010 have 183 total catches in the league on a graphic Fox showed a few weeks ago.

Stop taking the easy road and saying the FO is trash. Because reality is their among the best in talent acquisition, probably below average on contracts and average in evaluating coaches. The rest of the league minus New England and Kansas City have all the same complaints about who wears their headset. Even Sean Payton went 7-9 3 straight years.

Good write up and agree with you that the FO has done a very good job in talent acquisition. My problem with Jerry is the culture he’s created with his over the top lavishing players with Jerry world, the Star and cushy training camp in Oxnard. He’s just too on hands with the players. They know that the only person they need to answer to is Jerry whereas it should be the coaches.

 

[Rockport]

I am not disagreeing with the idea they made some good draft picks, but at the end of the day, if the players are not able to stay on the field, it does not matter how great they are.

• Tyron -- injured and missed games in multiple seasons
• Frederick -- non-football injury and missed entire season; retired much earlier than expected
• Dez -- injured foot and missed games; many say he was never the same afterwards
• Dak -- injured and missed most of this season
• Zach -- injured and missed games this season
• Zeke -- suspended for 6 games in one season; missed a game due to injury this season
• LVE -- injured and missed games in multiple seasons
• Lee -- injured and missed games in MOST seasons
• Schultz -- kept on the sideline too long when starting Witten who was no longer better
• Hitchens (starting for Chiefs) -- injured and missed games
• Damien Wilson (starting for Chiefs) -- injured and missed games

I don’t get the purpose of this post in regards to the OP. I mean all teams have injuries. Yes they are facts but facts that only prove Dallas has injuries like any other team.