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One big complaint about the Travis pick is that it was a "reach". The way we know it was a reach is by looking at the rankings posted by some draft gurus on the internet and listening to other draft gurus on TV. The claim is that Dallas could/should have waited until the 2nd round to pick him.
In these same conversations, there's the idea - sometimes explicit, sometimes not - that the Cowboys didn't "stick to the board". Sticking to the board would have resulted in picking Floyd at 18 or someone else entirely at 31.
However, all indications are that the Cowboys stuck to THEIR board. They said Travis was the highest rated player available. Not specific enough for you? Okay, I saw another report saying he was ranked 22. That's not to say they had him as a first rounder...it was widely reported that the Cowboys only had 18 or 19 first round prospects. But it is to say that there's only a couple of options.
1. The Cowboys are lying. Travis was not the highest rated player on their board, and they went against their own board to pick at a position of need. There's a large amount of people who will believe this no matter what the Cowboys say or do.
2. The Cowboys aren't lying. With this option, you're certainly allowed to believe that the Cowboys overrated Travis, that he wasn't a top 30 or even 40 prospect on any other team's board, and that he probably would have been there in the 2nd round. What you can't believe is that the Cowboys didn't stick to their board. Whether that board is good or not is a separate question.
For my own part, I'm inclined to believe Travis' (apparent) high rating on the Cowboys board stems from a lack of quality prospects at the skill positions. I don't think it's any secret that this team covets impact skill position prospects; the Cowboys trade up for guys like Dez and Claiborne. This goes hand-in-hand with not drafting OL as often/highly as people like, I think. I can't name names off the top of my head, but I swear it seems to come out after drafts that the Cowboys have OL prospects ranked a bit lower than one would think.
In a draft that is widely recognized to have deficits at the top in skill position prospects, I believe others were pushed up the Cowboys board as a result. One of those prospects was Travis.
In these same conversations, there's the idea - sometimes explicit, sometimes not - that the Cowboys didn't "stick to the board". Sticking to the board would have resulted in picking Floyd at 18 or someone else entirely at 31.
However, all indications are that the Cowboys stuck to THEIR board. They said Travis was the highest rated player available. Not specific enough for you? Okay, I saw another report saying he was ranked 22. That's not to say they had him as a first rounder...it was widely reported that the Cowboys only had 18 or 19 first round prospects. But it is to say that there's only a couple of options.
1. The Cowboys are lying. Travis was not the highest rated player on their board, and they went against their own board to pick at a position of need. There's a large amount of people who will believe this no matter what the Cowboys say or do.
2. The Cowboys aren't lying. With this option, you're certainly allowed to believe that the Cowboys overrated Travis, that he wasn't a top 30 or even 40 prospect on any other team's board, and that he probably would have been there in the 2nd round. What you can't believe is that the Cowboys didn't stick to their board. Whether that board is good or not is a separate question.
For my own part, I'm inclined to believe Travis' (apparent) high rating on the Cowboys board stems from a lack of quality prospects at the skill positions. I don't think it's any secret that this team covets impact skill position prospects; the Cowboys trade up for guys like Dez and Claiborne. This goes hand-in-hand with not drafting OL as often/highly as people like, I think. I can't name names off the top of my head, but I swear it seems to come out after drafts that the Cowboys have OL prospects ranked a bit lower than one would think.
In a draft that is widely recognized to have deficits at the top in skill position prospects, I believe others were pushed up the Cowboys board as a result. One of those prospects was Travis.