The obvious answer is that both of those events were significant. You're the one suggesting only one of them was. For no apparent reason.
The first offseason after Garrett took over, they jettisoned Colombo, Leonard Davis, and Andre Gurode. They got rid of Marion Barber, Roy Willams, and Sam Hurd. Then they drafted Tyron Smith and Demarco Murray in 2011. And Travis Frederick in 2013 in the draft before elevating McClay. If you don't think they made specific changes in how they approached personnel immediately when Jason Garrett came in, you're smoking crack.
Nobody suggested things didn't also change when they elevated McClay. But they've also promoted McClay three times since Garrett's been here. Those promotions all happened with Garrett's input, if he wasn't the driving force for it directly. Again, McClay has been here since 2002. It doesn't take much critical thinking to figure out there's probably a correlation between the new HC liking his work and his string of promotions in the personnel department.
I very much like the 2011 draft. But who was starting at RB for Dallas the following year? Tashard Choice. LOL And Garrett didnt even play Murray much until Choice got injured. Then Murray ran for something like 160 yards. And who started again the next game? Tashard choice. LOL
Tyrone Smith was the obvious choice that year. And why didnt you mention 2012? Because it was a complete joke of a draft. And in 2013, although I like the Frederick pick, the rest was garbage.
Garrett doesnt handle the draft. Jerry, Stephen, McClay does. And there were some solid drafts before Garrett was here. The Dez draft was good. By Cowboy standards.
How can you be taken seriously when you claim that Garrett is the GM here?
The best two drafts in my opinion were the last two years. Ive said that recently.
Jerry is getting older, Stephen is taking over and McClay is fully entrenched. Garrett continues to struggle with what a head coach is supposed to do. Manage on game day and push the right buttons with his players. Those are the facts.