Why do you think Dallas is so bad at drafting DLinemen?

[kskboys]

I can’t tell you WHY, but I wish we would do a better job of consistently acquiring them. Something tells me that our propensity to throw away second round picks year after year has a lot to do with it.

It still pisses me off that we took Bossman Fat instead of Creed Humphrey. That type of thing is what really burns me out.

I think also selecting has been coaches (Marinelli) also didn’t help.

The exact pick that also POed me. KC got to steal him because we were stupid.

 

[kskboys]

I think our biggest drafting problem is thinking by our so called brain trust that they are smarter then anyone else in the NFL

Which of course they are not

and fixating on athletes NOT PLAYERS

Get people who REALLY PRODUCED in college is not something they seem to think is important

Like with Guyton: he had not done much
Maxi had not done much

If you add in that they are beyond awful at player evaluations, I will agree w/ you!!!!!

 

[Whyjerry]

All you have to do is listen to some of the guys on this board. They think DT's just have to be big. They don't understand the difference between Q and the Vanilla Gorilla. They're both big and strong, must be the same player.

That's how Jerry thinks. And he's so obsessed w/ CBs and WRs and TEs, that DT is most left to the mid/later rounds.

So, when when we do finally take a 1st round DT, we take Mazi, who lacked the burst and lateral agility to be good.

Jerry does not comprehend "traits". Traits are what generally dictates success or failure. Jerry does not understand that. That is why we can't draft DTs.

Remember when Aaron Donald was too small coming out of Pitt? Never mind that he was unblockable for 4 years.

 

[kskboys]

Remember when Aaron Donald was too small coming out of Pitt? Never mind that he was unblockable for 4 years.

We wanted him, but weren't willing to trade up for him. We only trade up for CBs and WRs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!(Exaggeration to make a point for those of you who are slow)

 

[xwalker]

This baffles me. I know Jerry is a world class dummy but Dallas has been terrible at drafting on the DL. In my opinion here's why?

1. Position has been a focus historically especially DT

2. Dallas thinks they are too smart and often go for the projectable athlete rather that productive college stars

3. Dallas does too many small school guys. Draft SEC DLinemen and see what happens

4. Culture is not built on toughness and DL needs to be tough

5. Coaching carousel has been a hot mess

6. Just plain stupidity from Jerry as he will always choose flash over the sure thing

What do you guys think?

Micah Parsons
DLaw

DT has been the big problem:
- Mazi and Trysten Hill.
- Both had sufficient physical ability but just didn't know how tp play football.

 

[Whyjerry]

Micah Parsons
DLaw

DT has been the big problem:
- Mazi and Trysten Hill.
- Both had sufficient physical ability but just didn't know how tp play football.

Parsons was a LB.

 

[Pessimist_cowboy]

When it comes to DL they tend to look at size rather than intangibles. The first time I saw Mazi’s rookie press conference I knew the guy was a bust. He literally said “ I don’t even like football”. How the Cowboys draft guys like this is beyond me?

 

[kskboys]

When it comes to DL they tend to look at size rather than intangibles. The first time I saw Mazi’s rookie press conference I knew the guy was a bust. He literally said “ I don’t even like football”. How the Cowboys draft guys like this is beyond me?

Terrible talent evaluators. Once you start looking at everything through that scope, it all makes sense.

 

[Xizor]

Poor defensive coaching giving bad advice then inability to coach said player

Yep seen too many lets fit square peg in round hole here as well as well we can't draft this guy cuz he doesn't fit my system. (TJ WATT)

 

[John813]

I think having Rod M. set back this team and front office.
The rumor back in 2013 was scouts wanted S. Floyd (DT) and Rod didn't like him. Dallas trades down and takes Frederick-which was obviously a great move.
Floyd, had a career ending injury/botched surgery early in his career. TBD if it would ever happened here.
That being said, Dallas then went on this hunt for try hard DT's, that didn't pan out.
We then fixate on T. Hill in 2018 as there was a run on the "good" DTs that draft and Hill was one of the last DT's with decent athletic traits but had red flags.
Well, the red flags were legit, and persisted, and the athletics didn't pan out.

Similar thing with Mazi. Athletically "gifted" for a big man, but just not focused enough to be good at football. Jumping ability is great and all, but means very little if you're slow off the snap and the OL can get set before you can attack.

I also think it's a hard position in general to draft. There's only so many elite DT's that come out over a time span. Then so many very good ones and then good ones etc... And then for the average DT's, it then more falls into they need to be in a certain scheme to produce.

Very few teams always hit on DL.

Edge is similar. Dallas made the mistake of size/length over talent in Taco over Watt, but to be fair, at the time Watt was Sean Lee level durability in college.
But, still a big miss in setting this team back.

Guys like Sam Williams, Charles Tapper, etc are day 2/3 guys who had traits, but had flaws. Quinn was fixated on Williams when he was more considered a 3rd round draft pick. He had flags, which we overlooked cause he had the athletics.

Guys like Golston, Gallimore, Collins fall in that average/scheme dependent talent.

Guys drafted in the 5th-7th I really can't harp on, other than wondering why the team waited till day 3 to take DL when it's been a need for over a decade.

 

[jrumann59]

This baffles me. I know Jerry is a world class dummy but Dallas has been terrible at drafting on the DL. In my opinion here's why?

1. Position has been a focus historically especially DT

2. Dallas thinks they are too smart and often go for the projectable athlete rather that productive college stars

3. Dallas does too many small school guys. Draft SEC DLinemen and see what happens

4. Culture is not built on toughness and DL needs to be tough

5. Coaching carousel has been a hot mess

6. Just plain stupidity from Jerry as he will always choose flash over the sure thing

What do you guys think?

Some teams are like that. Dallas is bad with DL, Jets are bad with QBs, Ravens until Flowers was bad with WR.

 

[Rockport]

This baffles me. I know Jerry is a world class dummy but Dallas has been terrible at drafting on the DL. In my opinion here's why?

1. Position has been a focus historically especially DT

2. Dallas thinks they are too smart and often go for the projectable athlete rather that productive college stars

3. Dallas does too many small school guys. Draft SEC DLinemen and see what happens

4. Culture is not built on toughness and DL needs to be tough

5. Coaching carousel has been a hot mess

6. Just plain stupidity from Jerry as he will always choose flash over the sure thing

What do you guys think?

The Cowboys haven’t prioritized DT for years until just last year. That’s the answer for DT for DL, they’ve been prioritizing other positions. Teams can’t draft high for every position so it’s pick your poison.

 

[Rockport]

Great post that sums up how this major team deficiency has contributed to team failure on the line of scrimmage for decades now.

Bravo to ya brother.

Oline scouting/development is currently in a steady and deep decline as well.

You are way off base. They’re doing what the owners and coaches want them to do. Again, someone posts something negative and you’re like a little kid on a new trampoline.

 

[Rockport]

I went back 15 years:

Year	Player	Pos.	Round	Pick
2014	DeMarcus Lawrence	DE	2nd	34
2015	Ryan Russell	DE	5th	163
2016	Maliek Collins	DT	3rd	67
2016	Charles Tapper	DE	4th	101
2017	Taco Charlton	DE	1st	28
2018	Dorance Armstrong	DE	4th	116
2019	Trysten Hill	DT	2nd	58
2019	Joe Jackson	DE	5th	165
2020	Neville Gallimore	DT	3rd	82
2020	Bradlee Anae	DE	5th	179
2021	Chauncey Golston	DE	3rd	84
2021	Quinton Bohanna	DT	6th	192
2022	Sam Williams	DE	2nd	56
2022	John Ridgeway	DT	5th	178
2023	Mazi Smith	DT	1st	26
2023	Viliami Fehoko	DE	4th	129
2024	Marshawn Kneeland	DE	2nd	56
2024	Justin Rogers	DT	7th	244
2025	Donovan Ezeiruaku	DE	2nd	44
2025	Jay Toia	DT	7th	217
2025	Tommy Akingbesote	DT	7th	247
2026	Malachi Lawrence	DE	1st	23
2026	LT Overton	DL/DE	4th	137

And if you separate them by premium picks:

1st round: Taco Charlton, Mazi Smith, Malachi Lawrence

2nd round: DeMarcus Lawrence, Trysten Hill, Sam Williams, Marshawn Kneeland, Donovan Ezeiruaku

3rd round: Maliek Collins, Neville Gallimore, Chauncey Golston

3 1st rounders in 12 years says it all.

 

[75boyz]

I think our biggest drafting problem is thinking by our so called brain trust that they are smarter then anyone else in the NFL

Which of course they are not

and fixating on athletes NOT PLAYERS

Get people who REALLY PRODUCED in college is not something they seem to think is important

Like with Guyton: he had not done much
Maxi had not done much

THIS, this and more of this.

If any more of the Cowboys Zone GMs try and sell me on these traits in their unerwear bullcrap and not actual game film preferably against SEC and Big 10 competition I'll gladly add to my lengthy ig list.

Here's a news flash.
Regardless of how you want to interpret what Landry or Parcells said about a players expected 3 year development...
A whole lot needs to be shown in years ONE and 2. More than flashes even.

These draft and develop 1st rounders are NOT first rounders but ARE the Guytons and Malachi Lawrence's of the world. I hate to break it to ya but that's called over drafting to the extreme. Developmental projects are NOT 1st rounders. Some who think they can evaluate talent here are clueless in remembering this fact.

This is at the very core of team failure now for decades especially at d line and starting to show at o line as well.

 

[Whyjerry]

The Cowboys haven’t prioritized DT for years until just last year. That’s the answer for DT for DL, they’ve been prioritizing other positions. Teams can’t draft high for every position so it’s pick your poison.

Taco and Mazi can't even make a roster.

 

[zrinkill]

Jerry Jones and his gaggle of yes men.

 

[Kevinicus]

Parsons was a LB.

He was drafted as a LB, but transitioned to the line. He spent the vast majority of his time there.

He's a lineman.

 

[Johannes44]

It starts with scouting.

 

[75boyz]

Parsons was a LB.

Yep, I included Parsons too in my first response to your OP because if you take him out of the list over BDCs last 15 years list then you're left with DeMarcus Lawrence as your only defensive line draft hit.

And that is beyond pathetic.

Like a hard to grasp level of poor.
Way beyond just neglecting the DT position for so many years.

It's like Dorance Armstrong and who else...?
Then maybe Maliek Collins somehow receive an honorable mention as to being worthy of their draft slot because of maintaining an above average to good career beyond a first contract.

Yeah man, the more I think on this and this historically poor continuous list of scrubs that have been chosen, the more correct your OP becomes.
Man oh man.
smh