Why Adding Four Compensatory Picks Is “Big Deal” For Cowboys’ Draft Plans

[Sydla]

Or maybe they could have made better choices at the same costs and still had these compensatory draft picks?

For every Nolan Carroll $4 million debacle, there's a Patrick Robinson who gets a minimum deal and plays well for the Eagles.

Doing a better job in free agency doesn't mean breaking the bank, despite what some fans seem to think. They just have to be better informed consumers.

Exactly.

But it won't stop them from using the old, "FA is bad, you have to overpay for everyone, blah, blah, blah............"

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

Oh so all FAs are trash? You realize there is this wide swath of players between trash like Carroll and overpaying someone like Vernon, right? Guys that can really help you, right, and actually don't cost an arm and a leg?

But keep perpetuating that lame myth that FA is useless and everyone gets significantly overpaid.

What free agent did you want to overpay last year? Who did we miss out on? At the time I didn't see much for what we had to offer. In hindsight? Zac Brown was a steal and is probably going to get paid big money.

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

Exactly.

But it won't stop them from using the old, "FA is bad, you have to overpay for everyone, blah, blah, blah............"

Playing the free agency game works against you more than in favor. It's a terrible game to play. Sure I want Pat Robinson or Zac Brown. But did you see the majority of the trash out there? There were more Nolan Carrolls than there were Zac Browns.

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

Or maybe they could have made better choices at the same costs and still had these compensatory draft picks?

For every Nolan Carroll $4 million debacle, there's a Patrick Robinson who gets a minimum deal and plays well for the Eagles.

Doing a better job in free agency doesn't mean breaking the bank, despite what some fans seem to think. They just have to be better informed consumers.

This I agree with. They just have to be better at the players they get. They have to have better than a zero percent rate.

 

[Stash]

This I agree with. They just have to be better at the players they get. They have to have better than a zero percent rate.

Anything's an improvement, right?

 

[Sydla]

Playing the free agency game works against you more than in favor. It's a terrible game to play. Sure I want Pat Robinson or Zac Brown. But did you see the majority of the trash out there? There were more Nolan Carrolls than there were Zac Browns.

Eagles just won a SB playing the "FA game" - Jeffries, Smith, Robinson, Long. Every recent SB team, at some level, has used FA more than we have recently.

This notion that it's wise that the Cowboys eschew FA and build their team entirely through the draft is laughable and misguided. They'll never win a SB simply using the draft.

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

Anything's an improvement, right?

Nolan freakin' Carroll.....goodness......and gave him 4 million to boot.

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

Eagles just won a SB playing the "FA game" - Jeffries, Smith, Robinson, Long. Every recent SB team, at some level, has used FA more than we have recently.

This notion that it's wise that the Cowboys eschew FA and build their team entirely through the draft is laughable and misguided. They'll never win a SB simply using the draft.

Eagirls have been playing the free agency game for years. It just happened to work for them this year because they hit on those moves. They picked the right players. That's what the Cowboys need to do and what they are lacking. I'm not saying completely avoid free agency. The Cowboys haven't. They've just picked the wrong players.

 

[jterrell]

I'm not going to argue against not overpaying for trash another team doesn't want. I will argue against paying for guys who simply can't play. I'd rather not even waste the money than spend money on Nolan Carroll. But I'm not paying Oliver Vernon 80 million either. I'd rather save that money and re-sign my own guys.

A LOT of people knew Carroll was awful. But he was really just insurance here. Ultimately a waste but he was not much of a loss in anyway.
He might have been somewhat useful for the first 6-8 weeks had he not gotten suspended and hurt... but that guy wasn't keeping Chido out of the lineup when he came back.

Keep in mind had he re-signed Mo for one more year at 5m we likely lose a 5th round supp pick and spend twice as much as we did on Nolan.

 

[Idgit]

Or maybe they could have made better choices at the same costs and still had these compensatory draft picks?

For every Nolan Carroll $4 million debacle, there's a Patrick Robinson who gets a minimum deal and plays well for the Eagles.

Doing a better job in free agency doesn't mean breaking the bank, despite what some fans seem to think. They just have to be better informed consumers.

Exactly right. There's an argument that the team should splurge every now and then, too, but when the guys you do sign all suck and none of them stick on the roster, that's an obvious problem. There *are* value free agents out there contributing on other teams. We've found some of them in the past. Last year was a failure on the part of the pro personnel department. On top of the general failure to protect the roster from the DB exposure in FA in general. We put the team together wrong, and some of the most-obvious problems were completely avoidable.

 

[Rockport]

Heck yeah it's a big deal. You see how awesome we are with our draft picks? Now imagine giving us more.

They've been good recently in the draft.

 

[jterrell]

Eagirls have been playing the free agency game for years. It just happened to work for them this year because they hit on those moves. They picked the right players. That's what the Cowboys need to do and what they are lacking. I'm not saying completely avoid free agency. The Cowboys haven't. They've just picked the wrong players.

Eagles are 9.2M over the cap and have the worst cap situation of any team in football right now.
That's before a single player on that team gets paid "champion" money.

Eagles were desperate and it paid off but they can't keep that team together and own a sad draft to do anything about adding to it. 1 pick in top 130. Only 6 overall.

 

[Sydla]

Eagirls have been playing the free agency game for years. It just happened to work for them this year because they hit on those moves. They picked the right players. That's what the Cowboys need to do and what they are lacking. I'm not saying completely avoid free agency. The Cowboys haven't. They've just picked the wrong players.

After 22 years of futility, I'll take something "just happening to work for us in a year".

Note, I am in no way suggesting that we break the bank in FA. That's stupid. But this team was coming off a 13-3 season and I think they believed their roster was good enough to absorb a small remake to the secondary and that's why they eschewed any real improvement in FA. Turned out, it wasn't.

If they think they can ignore FA again this year, and just draft what they really need, they shouldn't be surprised when 2018 is yet another disappointment.

 

[Sydla]

Eagles are 9.2M over the cap and have the worst cap situation of any team in football right now.
That's before a single player on that team gets paid "champion" money.

Eagles were desperate and it paid off but they can't keep that team together and own a sad draft to do anything about adding to it. 1 pick in top 130. Only 6 overall.

And for some stretches, we've been a cap strapped team and have absolutely nothing to show for it.

That's not to suggest I think we need to blow our cap the hell up in FA this offseason. It's simply to highlight this team has a flawed approach in FA that is consistently hurting them and this notion that some have that FA is not a help is misguided.

I certainly like having 4 extra picks in the draft but I also am not blind to the fact it's partly a product of a flawed FA plan this team has employed in recent years.

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

A LOT of people knew Carroll was awful. But he was really just insurance here. Ultimately a waste but he was not much of a loss in anyway.
He might have been somewhat useful for the first 6-8 weeks had he not gotten suspended and hurt... but that guy wasn't keeping Chido out of the lineup when he came back.

Keep in mind had he re-signed Mo for one more year at 5m we likely lose a 5th round supp pick and spend twice as much as we did on Nolan.

Very good point.

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

And for some stretches, we've been a cap strapped team and have absolutely nothing to show for it.

That's not to suggest I think we need to blow our cap the hell up in FA this offseason. It's simply to highlight this team has a flawed approach in FA that is consistently hurting them and this notion that some have that FA is not a help is misguided.

I certainly like having 4 extra picks in the draft but I also am not blind to the fact it's partly a product of a flawed FA plan this team has employed in recent years.

I think you give them too much credit. I don't think this was planned. They just chose not to overspend on certain guys and missed on other picks.

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

After 22 years of futility, I'll take something "just happening to work for us in a year".

Note, I am in no way suggesting that we break the bank in FA. That's stupid. But this team was coming off a 13-3 season and I think they believed their roster was good enough to absorb a small remake to the secondary and that's why they eschewed any real improvement in FA. Turned out, it wasn't.

If they think they can ignore FA again this year, and just draft what they really need, they shouldn't be surprised when 2018 is yet another disappointment.

It hasn't been 22 years for Philly. It was 50 years for them.
Props to the Eagirls...magical season. I'd be careful on going by what works for them and assuming it would work for us. Like that's the blue print. Every championship team wins differently.

2018 was a disappointment not because of free agency. Coaching, qb play and receivers werrr a big part of that.

 

[Sydla]

It hasn't been 22 years for Philly. It was 50 years for them.
Props to the Eagirls...magical season. I'd be careful on going by what works for them and assuming it would work for us. Like that's the blue print. Every championship team wins differently.

2018 was a disappointment not because of free agency. Coaching, qb play and receivers werrr a big part of that.

Who cares how long it has taken them? You missed the point.

2018 hasn't happened yet. Again the point is if this front office thinks they can close the gap on Philly and other top teams simply through the draft, 2018 isn't going to be a whole lot different than 2017.

 

[MileyDancer]

Me after realizing Stephen will be no better than Jerry...

Yep. Maybe for opposite reasons, but he won't be better. Obviously, I hope to be proven wrong.

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

Who cares how long it has taken them? You missed the point.

2018 hasn't happened yet. Again the point is if this front office thinks they can close the gap on Philly and other top teams simply through the draft, 2018 isn't going to be a whole lot different than 2017.

You are the one who brought up 22 years in reference to the Cowboys. So apparently you care about how long it takes? Cowboys cap situation:....except the same approach this year unless they let Martin and Lawrence walk.