NFL Draft Talk (Cowboys heavy)

I don’t really like the idea in the abstract, but maybe I will enjoy it more when it actually happens.

I’ll edit my fanshot.

he played CB at Bama. /Mike E.

but I also was wondering the same thing.

The most important reason is that people are obsessed with the NFL and football in general. If 90,000 people will attend a spring football game in Alabama, you can bet there will be a lot of interest in something happening in pro football. Sure, they aren’t games being played, but since free agency and trades aren’t as big a deal as they are in MLB’s Hot Stove, the draft becomes the major focus.

Secondly, in the salary cap era, it’s been proven that teams that are good over many years have to draft well to do it. Ironically, the teams that do the best are the ones who are picking at the bottom of each round generally and favor more picks even if they aren’t as high. It gets lost, because of my next point, but the point of the draft is just as much to find average league starters on the cheap as it is to find the next star.

One of the other big factors is that most people are familiar with half the players that will go in the first round or two. Seeing where college stars like Tebow, Bradford, Suh, McCoy, McCoy, Dez Bryant, CJ Spiller, etc. will play in the pros is exciting. So while fans aren’t as good at talent evaluation and player projection, they can at least get behind guys and root for their teams to take them. And for every fan that claims being right on the Cowboys screwing up the Stephen Jackson/Julious Jones thing, there’s a fan that’s noticeably silent about wanting them to take Derrick Johnson (UT MLB who went to KC 4 picks later) over DeMarcus Ware.

So that’s why there’s interest. And since there’s interest, that means there will be coverage.

There’s a four month season, a month’s worth of playoffs, and then a 5-6 month downtime until training camp starts.

With baseball, you’ve got a six month season and a month’s worth of playoffs, and a downtime of about 3 1/2 months until training camp starts.

And during that time, there’s rumors, trade talk, free agency…plenty of stuff to keep you entertained over a relatively short period of time.

With the longer downtime with the NFL, and a much less involved “hot stove league,” the only thing the obsessed fan can, well, obsess over once the Super Bowl is over.

during the weeks before the MLB draft? Fans obsess, and with the internet allowing the dissemination of so much information and so many soapboxes, they can obsess more than ever before. If you don’t appreciate speculation or opinion or good old fashioned booty chatter, then you probably shouldn’t be a fan of anything, really, ranging from politics to sports to episodes of Lost.

very random, i know

He would have been picked more on good character before his pro-day and metrics came in. Seems like his ball-hawking skills might be better than assumed.

Another thought is, the Cowboys seem to like taking 2 guys at the same position in the draft. I wonder if they do it on purpose; it may just be random. I like the idea of it though, have two guys who adapt to the league together and let them drive each other competitively. They did it with Free (James Marten was the 3rd pick that year, Free the 4th), Jenkins and Scandrick (1st and 5th), and Brandom Williams and Victor Butler (10 picks apart in last year’s 4th round). It takes the whole ‘volume picking’ thing to another level it seems like.

Throw in their lack of depth at safety and it could happen. I don’t think Patrick Watkins will be on this team in 2 years.

tend to get overrated before the draft. I am all about high character guys, but his numbers as a collegiate athlete were only average, and he’s now been away from the game for a year and has lots of perfectly good fallback options. I hate to question his passion because he’s a smart guy, but I also don’t want to overrate him because he’s a Rhodes scholar. Book smarts doesn’t mean much on the football field.

Didn’t know who he was before this…

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/story?page=100218/myronrolle

If he’s there in the third round, we’d have to talk a chance on him, right?

i bet adrian gonzalez could beat him

"This guy doesn’t have any first-step quickness," observed a scout of Cody. "He’s a big, fat blob," added one NFC personnel man. "He’s a big media creation. He cannot move at all."

exactly. if this “elite guy” wasnt trusted to play more than 2 downs in college, why do people think hes going to turn into this above avg NFL player.

i really really REALLY hope they dont draft him

the title of the article rotoworld links to: "Will Alabama’s Cody be a mountain of a bust? "

other weight info (from the article)

Savage, who coached for the Browns in the early 1990s when Alabama coach Nick Saban was defensive coordinator, said Cody drew little interest from major schools. So his coach, former Browns safety Stevon Moore, called Saban and told him that he had a good nose tackle who weighed more than 400 pounds.

“Saban told him that if he could get down to 390 before the visit they’d bring him in,” said Savage. “Then he told him he had to be 370 by the time he reported. He cleared both hurdles.”

Last spring, Cody scaled 373 pounds. He still was too big (370) at the Senior Bowl in late January. But he was down to 354 at the combine a month later, then to 349 on March 10 at pro day.

“The good thing is he has got his life together and is losing weight,” said A.J. Smith, general manager of the San Diego Chargers. “Talent? Immense. The only thing he has to worry about is eating himself out of the league.”

question: can NFL teams put weight clauses in contracts

My favorite part is that they realize that they’re dealing with correlative data, so they generally aren’t obnoxious in proclaiming their stats as the next greatest thing. In the past year or two, they seem to have gotten a little snippy with the fans who disagree with them, but it’s hard to blame them when most fans are just complaining about them hating on their team.

There’s weaknesses with what they do, but they never even begin to say that these stats are all you need to evaluate players. They just say that they’re better than what’s readily available to most football fans, which I agree with.

and isn’t worth the first, so I don’t know how he fits into our plans…

id love for the ’boys to get him

Mayock likes Ben Tate (RB-Auburn). He’s a guy who I’ve liked since the combine. Not a great fit for the Cowboys, but makes a ton of sense for a team like Houston or maybe NE.

Also, his favorite guys who will go in the 20-40 range: Pouncey, Dan Williams, Pierre-Paul.

…they’re really excited about Tate.

I feel much less original now. =/

they might lynch him after a false start costs them in a game

…and as cowboys fans know that happens at least one time per game

tends to rate QB’s who have a lot of snaps (ie colt and kolb) very highly?

I’m expecting it to happen, to be honest.

If he were dealt for a 2 and a 4.
Not sure why Baltimore’s intent on moving him, but that seems like the likely return.

I don’t think the Cowboys would have cut Flozell Adams without being confident in Free as a starter. In this case, I think it might be more excitement from Jerry than from the coaching staff (from comments he made while Free was starting in place of Colombo). I think I would like it to happen, but there are rumblings about Gaither having spinal issues. I thought he was decent as an LT, but I’m not sure where he ranks in the pecking order of LTs. Seems like there’s been a lot of good ones drafted high lately, especially in the AFC. I’m thinking of Thomas, Clady, Ferguson (though he took time to develop), etc.

I think the Cowboys are more interested in drafting someone who would take some time to develop, be adequate depth relatively quickly, but not intend on starting him until a few years down the road. I’m not entirely comfortable with the process here, but I understand it. The only way to find out if Free is starting LT worthy is to play him there for at least half a season, I just wish they had a more capable backup than Brewster or McQuistan.

I think it’s much more likely they go with the interior OLine if someone can talk some sense into Jerry and get him to go with a non-flashy pick. Theoretically they could need a starter there as early as next year and Cory Proctor ain’t it.

One, Adam Schefter thinks on draft day you can get him for cheaper than a 1st

Tom, a couple of things to keep in mind. I fully expect Gaither to be traded on draft day to a team that won’t select a left tackle in Round 1 — for a second-round pick. So if a team can get Gaither for a second-rounder during the draft, why would it sign him now in return for a first-round selection? Plus, which one are you talking about? If it’s a high first-round choice, for a team that has a chance to pick one of this draft’s top tackles, it doesn’t make sense. For a team like Dallas, it might make more sense, but it can wait ‘til draft day and still possibly get him for a second-rounder. It’s all options — and right now teams have a lot of them, but they will go away after the first round of the draft.

There also is a rumor (which I can’t find right now) that teams are weary of Gaither because of his work habit. It says that he half-asses his way through practice and meetings, so there is a concern. Many teams are shying away from this

…compare the stats of Polamalu to Mays and decide they’re similar. We just don’t know what they were asked to do in their respective systems. I think that Mays could end up being a solid player, especially at SS, but I am uncomfortable with the idea of Sensi and Mays as my safety tandem.

I think that there’s going to be a lot of value in the late 2nd through early 4th on productive college WR’s who maybe didn’t put up the best 40 times or have one or two warts but could relatively quickly come in and replace Crayton, and possibly add return skills to the package. Just seems like there’s a lot of guys who are similar and are going to get pushed down because of the depth at S, RB, and CB in the 2nd-3rd rounds.

…pretty sure Alan Ball will be the starting FS unless they add someone else. Hamlin got buried on the depth chart as the season went on. I was hoping he’d get some burn as a starter when Hamlin when down, but no dice.

…I’m more interested in McCourty. I think Wilson will end up being good, though I’m a bit concerned about his size and wonder if it will allow him to be great. Still, from what I’ve read and seen, he’s got the speed and quickness you want in the position.

I’m more interested in McCourty for a few reasons. It doesn’t seem like you’d have to trade up to get him as he should be there if all of the other guys the Cowboys are looking at (Iupati, Pouncey, Odrick) are taken earlier. He should be able to fill in capably as the dime CB his first year and compete with Scandrick to replace Newman in the next couple years. Finally, he’s one of the best returners in the draft.

It’s the same reason I’d be extremely happy with Owusu-Ansah in the 3rd. 6’1", 207 dude from a small school with great return skills (at that level at least), a 4.43 40 at the combine and a 4.31 at his pro day. Pretty nutty…

Or, if they wanted to go with a CB/S hybrid like say Brandon Ghee or Chris Cook in the 2nd, I wouldn’t mind that. I’d much rather have a Morgan Burnett, but he may not be there. If they went with a hybrid, I’d prefer they signed Atogwe from the Rams to play FS next year.

There is no way Kyle Wilson is getting past the Texans at 20.

Many scouts have said this is a very deep draft involving Corners, so there could be a possibility he could drop, but the Texans (if Spiller is not on the board) seem to be locked on Wilson

I’m telling you, I have a feeling this draft is going to piss me off.

that was at the combine when Campbell was the talk of the town….

Now that people watched his game tape….not so much. He has dropped like a ton of bricks. I think some team in the early to mid 2nd will pull the trigger.

zero. not ONE voter even thought “ya know, this guy is decent, hes worth a vote”

NONE.

why would someone come out and say that three days before the draft if this is a guy we are really hoping comes to us? If we draft him, it will be in the second round at the earliest. Ironically, I think he and Terrence Cody will be two of the biggest fallers, and for the exact opposite reason.

worth it.

what’s wrong with what he said?

Just look at the guy!

…I get the Campbell hate. Really, I do. Everyone is afraid that he will be the LT version on Taylor Mays or Vernon Gholston. And I agree that you can’t draft a guy just because of his measurables.

However, this guy was thought of as one of the better LT prospects at one point, and then everybody freaked out because they thought he was going to rise too much because of his measurables. I don’t think Dallas taking him at 27 would be a terrible thing. He is a big reach for Oakland at 8, but 27 is basically a very high second round pick.

I think that we’re overrating him not getting an all-conference vote. I think the difference with him and Anthony Davis is that they are considered to be more projectable types while Okung, Bulaga and Williams are considered more polished. It doesn’t mean that Campbell would be a reach at 27 or that he wouldn’t be able to develop into a good LT with a couple of years of seasoning. Realistically, he probably should have stayed in college for another year. But look at what KC Joyner had to say about him back at the end of December (before the combine!):

 Campbell allowed three splash plays (defined as when a defender does something to negatively impact a passing play) in the five Terrapin games I broke down (at California, vs. Clemson, vs. Virginia, at Florida State and vs. Boston College).
As noted in the Trent Williams Draft Lab (read that here), the best professional pass rushers allow four or fewer splash plays in a season — so this isn’t a dominant number. Having said that, it does compare favorably to Williams’ splash play totals (four in five games) and was much better than the number tallied in Anthony Davis’ Draft Lab (eight splash plays in five games)…
Going on those numbers alone, I would have considered Campbell a solid professional left tackle prospect, but his stock shot up considerably when reviewing the run metric totals. Campbell was at the Point of Attack (POA) of a running play 38 times and won 35 of his blocks. That equates to a 92.1% POA win percentage, which, as detailed in the Peters analysis, would be an elite number in the NFL…
The scouting eye notes on Campbell’s run blocking weren’t quite as good as numbers, but they were still almost entirely positive. One bright spot was that he was used as a pulling tackle quite often, which is an underrated skill that many NFL teams would take advantage of. His biggest issue is that he didn’t consistently finish his blocks. That would be a problem if it were due to a lack of effort, but in Campbell’s case it was inconsistent technique…
From a pass blocking viewpoint, the major scouting eye concern is that Campbell received a lot of help from other blockers; this made me look back at the numbers, which showed Campbell received some kind of assistance from another blocker on 31 out of 120 dropbacks…

I’m not sure they do, as I see Mays and Campbell being brought in as the last 2 draft day workouts for them to mean “well, we’ve already looked at everyone we want to look at, let’s throw some smoke screens out there”. I don’t think it would be an awful pick…just one that required patience.

That his 1st and 2nd mocks are based on different criteria (BPA or what he feels teams need…..er something like that)

It is not until his 3rd mock that he talks to teams and gets a feel for who each team is targeting….so his 3rd mock should be very telling.

Just that it shouldn’t be overlooked.

the guy had a future in baseball i thought, but thats just me

he has never focused only on football/baseball but id like to see how he does focusing on only one of them…

McShay has 15 other receivers ranked ahead of Gilyard, including the likes of Taylor Price (Ohio) and Andre Roberts (The Citadel).

whaaaaaaaaat

Seems to be the going rate these days

here

they only play 1 game west of dallas (in AZ) — is this normal for them?

wonder who stays out of batch/,leftwic?

He’s already run that offense before and looked pretty good doing it while Ben missed some time.

and some new episodes on NBC Thursday night (finally), this will be a major tv crunch for me.

Stop making me hate you. And stop giving fodder to the two most annoying sets of fans in baseball.

They suck.

like they won’t have 15 cameras in his living room and talk about how Jesus-like he is for half of their draft coverage anyway.

or funnier yet, oakland.

that would suck for the team trading for him…
unless there’s an understanding it’s going to be like 2-4 games if he’s traded…

is he worth a top 10 pick?

Raf over at BTB has been saying the number is 25. Hrmm. =/

But i’ll believe it when I see it

to get either Earl Thomas or Eric Berry would be simply too much. If, as some people have suggested, it costs us #27, our third rounder this year and a #2 next year, then yeah, I might be on board. But anything more than that isn’t worth it. I actually think we will trade down this year, perhaps giving up #27 to Kansas City for #36 and two fourths.

Jerry, I think, is a volume drafter these days. He loves hedging his bet at individual positions with multiple choices.

If Thomas or Bryant slip down past 18 or so, then he might try to jump up, but any jump greater than that is just too expensive.

…I’m decidedly nonplussed. That’s a lot of picks to move up when you need depth and a starter. Yeah it answers the starter spot….but yikes!

Now, if it involves some players instead of all picks, I’d be more on board.

…I think Philly or Dallas will be at each other’s throats trying to trade up with SF. Gotta hope he gets by Jax, Den, Mia though…not sure I see it. Safeties do tend to fall a little on draft day though…at least in the first round.

…wanting to trade. What more could you want?

where do they have the TE from Arizona going (the one who was hurt/out all year)

and I could get behind Shipley at 125. Campbell at 59 seems like a decent value at first blush, but I just don’t know…depends who is on the board.

Though I prefer McCourty due to his return skills. I’d rather have Burnett than Campbell in the 2nd, but I like the value of him there. Seems like Campbell should have stayed another year…but I have every confidence that Hudson Houck could train him up to some degree…but maybe not enough? Tough call.

is we drop ten spots for two of KC’s three fourth rounders, which we would then probably try to use to get another Friday draft pick. Assuming we then have 36 and 59 in round two, I am starting to get behind the idea of Golden Tate at 36 and Morgan Burnett or Linvel Joseph at 59.

I know there is no sense concocting a multistep scenario like this, let alone getting excited about it, but I do like the talent we add in this scenario.

Someone will fall in love with a player we don’t want at that spot. We can get a great return for #27, and this draft really shines in rounds 2 and 3.