Why Escobar?

[FiveRings]

Guys, I'm really sorry to kill the positive vibes around here, but damn this pick is making me scratch my head. On one hand, I'm excited about all the weapons we're surrounding Tony with, but on the other hand, I have to say, was it really necessary?

I understand we're all raving about how great it's going to be to see two tight end sets, but are we really? I mean Hanna is an identical player to Escobar, (Escobar with better college numbers, I'll give you) but Hanna played at OU in the Big 12, whereas Escobar played lighter competition at SDSU, and Hanna's combine numbers wiped the floor with Escobar's.

So why are we going to see the 12 man package, and all this offensive versatility now? It's like, say you have a Corvette, but you leave it in the garage, then you upgrade to a Porsche, and now you're expected to drive it? What was wrong with the Corvette? Not sexy enough for you Jerry? You really needed to have that second rounder?

AND FUTHERMORE, All of this I could let go, if we didn't have glaring holes to fill, and opted to go the other way. Garrett loves talking about how balanced he wants his offense to be, but where's the balance when you go out and draft two air targets of your three offensive skill positions?

So again, I'm sorry to ruin everyone's fun because there's no better optimism than when your new crop is freshly picked, and I know that because I've had similar thoughts going through my mind, but I suppose Jerry decided another year of us getting manhandled in the trenches was worth getting his shiny new skill positions filled.

 

[TheCount]

It absolutely wasn't necessary but that's the point. People can talk about these pass catchers all they want but pass catching wasn't the problem the last few years, running the ball was. We need to run better and we only added one offensive lineman.

 

[LarryCanadian]

I have same question, and would even add the WR pick in. I like the potential of both players, but feel we have plenty of youth with upside at both spots, and WANTED TRENCH players. That is where we are weakest. In trenches.

BUT, they went with their board, and wanted competition at those spots. They are hoping to cover the end-time of Witten and obviously covering Austin leaving in a year as being likely.

Still, Rat is a big ? at DT, and there is little depth at DE/DT overall -.

If they don't add at least one OT or OG in FA still, we are nuts!
Free, even at a reduced price is NOT the answer and would potentially get Romo killed and/or every drive stalled with potential for penalty! GET rid of him or at very least, drop him to 4th on depth chart (assuming Parnell can step up a little more during camp).

 

[Chuck 54]

One, so we have time to develop Witten's replacement.
Two, so we give Romo another weapon of the type he excels with.
Three, this is a TE with great size, long arms, exceptional hands and body control...he will be a weapon moving the chains and in the red zone.

We took a TE, WR, and RB who have the knack for finding the end zone.

 

[LarryCanadian]

Yes, that is good point. Some Red Zone help there, no doubt. BUT, blocking/time still helps a bunch in redzone. I do like that they ran a lot behind our new C!

PLEASE add one more FA oline please (preferably a RT). Then I'll feel those new weapons will have time to get open for Romo, instead of Romo getting killed before they can get the ball!

 

[CF74]

Why Escobar threads still popping up days after the draft, possibly weeks to come, months, and even years....

Because we love to throw 7 yd slants and Witten might get a squeaky wheel (God forbid.)

 

[Eskimo]

Based on what was available in the second round I would have suggested a DL myself as there were still a few good ones there.

I kind of thought that one of the 3rd rounders and the 4th rounder might get used on DL and OL but I must presume they didn't like the available players for whatever reason.

At the end of the day, many teams have put together functional offensive lines without having to invest huge resources. It just seems like we haven't been able to do since about 1997 and it suggests some sort of organizational failure. The two years where we seemed to have decent OL play in 2006-7 we actually played really well but that group of vets and FAs got old really quickly and fell apart and we had no one behind them.

I really think that something has to be done about the scouts sho seem to constantly have OL graded lower than the rest of the league for some reason. Maybe everyone is over-drafting them but then to have a functional unit you either have to pay in FA to acquire some good ones, develop some from mid-round picks and castoffs or devote more draft resources to the problem when reasonable value is available.

I hope they are right about not needing many draftees to solidify the OL but I'm going to be skeptical until I see them playing well on gameday.

 

[Galian Beast]

Did you ever ask yourself, maybe they didn't think Hanna could step into that role this year? Or that they are hedging their bets? If they want to keep two tight end sets going as a foundation of our offense, what happens when Witten retires? Or when a player is injured?

Did the Patriots having Gronkowski and Hernandez stop them from signing Kellen Winslow Jr AND Visanthe Shiancoe?

Colts had a lot of early success with Dallas Clark and Marcus Pollard. And what did Denver end up doing?

Tamme and Dressen.

They wanted someone more established than Hanna, but that doesn't mean Hanna is on the outs either.

We also brought in a deep threat to develop at wide receiver. Likely they ultimately want him to replace Austin, which will save a lot of money in the future. And this two tight end system will be even more valuable once Austin is gone.

So what you see as a need, doesn't take the big picture into account. You miss out on the money aspect and the salary cap aspect.

We drafted a corner who probably won't start this year (even in the nickel), that said, he might be able to develop into a nickel corner who can replace Scandrick before he becomes cost prohibitive next year.

 

[pupulehaole]

One, so we have time to develop Witten's replacement.
Two, so we give Romo another weapon of the type he excels with.
Three, this is a TE with great size, long arms, exceptional hands and body control...he will be a weapon moving the chains and in the red zone.

We took a TE, WR, and RB who have the knack for finding the end zone.

lol im sorry but i refuse to believe your knack for finding the endzone in college has anything to do with finding the endzone in the NFL. How many TD's did Murray have in college? and in the NFL? I <3 Murray im just saying.

 

[Roadtrip635]

He looks like a good prospect but it wasn't needed. What good is it to have all these weapons when you can't control the LOS? Picking back-ups when you have glaring needs for starters in crucial areas doesn't make sense.

 

[CATCH17]

It absolutely wasn't necessary but that's the point. People can talk about these pass catchers all they want but pass catching wasn't the problem the last few years, running the ball was. We need to run better and we only added one offensive lineman.

Exactly.


We were borderline unstoppable in 07 when Marion Barber got going.

The quickest fix for this team is better line play. Not more passing weapons.

 

[wileedog]

We took a TE, WR, and RB who have the knack for finding the end zone.

Guys tend to have a lot better knack for finding the end zone when they have people in front of them who have a knack for opening holes for them to look.

I don't think there was a single moment of any game last year when anyone uttered the words "wow, not having a receiving specialist 2nd TE is really killing us."

 

[03EBZ06]

We only had two TEs prior to selection Escobar, and the question is what position had more pressing needs, OL? DL? TE?

I would have preferred OL first, then DL and then TE, but Cowboys decided to go with TE position by selection Escobar, I don't agree with it but they obvious had different mindset.

Oh well, I can only hope that Escobar turns out to be a very good TE.

 

[Woods]

Did you ever ask yourself, maybe they didn't think Hanna could step into that role this year? Or that they are hedging their bets? If they want to keep two tight end sets going as a foundation of our offense, what happens when Witten retires? Or when a player is injured?

Did the Patriots having Gronkowski and Hernandez stop them from signing Kellen Winslow Jr AND Visanthe Shiancoe?

Colts had a lot of early success with Dallas Clark and Marcus Pollard. And what did Denver end up doing?

Tamme and Dressen.

They wanted someone more established than Hanna, but that doesn't mean Hanna is on the outs either.

We also brought in a deep threat to develop at wide receiver. Likely they ultimately want him to replace Austin, which will save a lot of money in the future. And this two tight end system will be even more valuable once Austin is gone.

So what you see as a need, doesn't take the big picture into account. You miss out on the money aspect and the salary cap aspect.

We drafted a corner who probably won't start this year (even in the nickel), that said, he might be able to develop into a nickel corner who can replace Scandrick before he becomes cost prohibitive next year.

This is a great post.

Unfortunately, it will go over a lot of peoples' heads even though you've spelled it our clearly for them.

As you said, you have to take into account the salary cap impact in the future for current players (i.e., Austin, Scandrick) if you want to extend guys like Dez, Lee, etc.

You have to take into account a change in philosophy in the offense. I think Callahan has something to do with this.

We can have a dynamic offense. If we can shore up the RT spot with a guy like Clabo, everything else is already there.

We've got two running backs now - so if Murray gets nicked up, at least have have someone more than a scrub to fill in. We've got at least 4 receivers, we've got 3 TEs. And I expect the interior of the OL to be much improved.

 

[CF74]

We drafted a corner who probably won't start this year (even in the nickel), that said, he might be able to develop into a nickel corner who can replace Scandrick before he becomes cost prohibitive next year.

We just signed scandrick to a mega deal last year so hopefully we can part ways sooner than later...

 

[FiveRings]

This is a great post.

Unfortunately, it will go over a lot of peoples' heads even though you've spelled it our clearly for them.

As you said, you have to take into account the salary cap impact in the future for current players (i.e., Austin, Scandrick) if you want to extend guys like Dez, Lee, etc.

You have to take into account a change in philosophy in the offense. I think Callahan has something to do with this.

We can have a dynamic offense. If we can shore up the RT spot with a guy like Clabo, everything else is already there.

We've got two running backs now - so if Murray gets nicked up, at least have have someone more than a scrub to fill in. We've got at least 4 receivers, we've got 3 TEs. And I expect the interior of the OL to be much improved.

All of the cases he listed were of teams with solid O Lines already in place. We don't have the luxury to neglect addressing the trenches. And in the Broncos case, neither of those TEs were draft picks.

The only devils advocate i can play is maybe were molding after say the Packers O, extremely one dimensional with the pass, yet do potent with weapons it can't be stopped. And is that IS the case, I'm still not in favor of it because Rodgers is better than Romo, and you need a running game to go deep in December/January

 

[fishspill]

Watching him online didn't leave me terribly impressed, but he does have one nice trick from 20 yards in: he's tall with good body control and nice hands.

I don't know if this trick will justify the pick. Time will tell on that. If he ends up turning 7-10 FGs into TDs in a given year I think it would.

 

[wileedog]

The only devils advocate i can play is maybe were molding after say the Packers O, extremely one dimensional with the pass, yet do potent with weapons it can't be stopped. And is that IS the case, I'm still not in favor of it because Rodgers is better than Romo, and you need a running game to go deep in December/January

I'm as big a Romo homer as you will find and even I think it would be a massive mistake if the offensive game plan is to put even MORE on his shoulders.

 

[DFWJC]

I would have traded down at 47 for a couple of 3rd rounders when we got to 47, if Escobar was somehow at the top of my board.

Could have grabbed two stud players in the 3rd this instead of him.

 

[StanleySpadowski]

It absolutely wasn't necessary but that's the point. People can talk about these pass catchers all they want but pass catching wasn't the problem the last few years, running the ball was. We need to run better and we only added one offensive lineman.

TEs are part of both the receiving corps and the OL.

TE blocking was almost as big an issue as C and a bigger problem than T play. Witten had his worst blocking year, Phillips wasn't a very good blocker and Hanna was really, really bad but does deserve something of a pass due to his rookie year/lack of strength.