Draft Jockeys

Thinking about last year – I sat stunned – absolutely stunned when Bill and Jerry traded down last year with Buffalo – especially with every RB available. I just couldn’t believe you would take a chance passing up being able to pick THE best back on the board at that spot. I now stand corrected with the results of JJ. With that thought (or rather the memory of incredulity of that trade with Buffalo) I am thinking Bill and Jerry are capable of ANYTHING – meaning if it fits in their plans they will trade in a heart beat and pick someone that isn’t on everyone radar. That is why I will enjoy watching the first 10 picks thinking “what are they going to do!!!!”

Rafael,

Thanks for giving us fans a voice! As always nice job!

What a move to get national coverage about the possibility of Dallas trading down with both of their 1st round selections! …. Excellent job Bill and Jerry!! Just as last year’s draft day trade!! (John, I was standing and applauding once I heard what they received in return.)

As you know, Rafael, I am big on trading down. I still believe that a couple of spots in the first round could net another day 1 choice, and if a few teams enter a bidding war for our spot, we could get a pretty penny (maybe a 1st or an early 2nd and a 1st next year too). Parcells might make a trade that puts him in position to land a player he likes and get good value for the selection he trades away. Much like the trade last year, were he received great value with a 2nd, a 5th, and a future 1st, but received a choice from Buffalo (the 2nd) that put Dallas in position to get Julius Jones.

Eric:

I really don’t believe that there’s going to be a bidding war for a position in the 1st round, this draft is not mainly known as having names, it’s known as one with incredible depth in almost every position, with the exceptions of LB and DT, so thinking of a bidding war and the Cowboys getting much more than what they should get, is kind of out of hand, I see at most, equal value in the trade.

Maybe that’s the overall view, but you never know where the next “Buffalo” is. Last year they wanted Losman, and were afraid Green Bay would jump up and get him. Did anyone expect that? Heck, you had ESPN’s self proclaimed draft guru, insisting Parcells flopped with that trade. As Mel Kiper put it, Parcells traded down thinking he can find a value at RB like he did in the past with Curtis Martin, and I think Kiper’s exact words were “That kind of value at RB just isn’t there this year”. Many of these self proclaimed experts, the same ones you are reading into about this year’s draft, gave Dallas and Parcells a poor grade. How did that all work for ya Mr. Kiper? Who knows who the next Losman will be!

Chandus,

For Jerry and Bill to throw Dallas’ name out there as possible trade partners with anyone looking to move up, is a great move, because you never know what team values (overvalues) a certain player. Look at some of the Cowboy fans here … you can’t tell me that some fans wouldn’t trade a late 1st and a 1st next year for the 11th pick if Rolle or Braylon Edwards was on the board. Especially, if they were GMs of a team, and they thought their team was 1 player away from the show. Just never know how high another team values a player, and what they would give up to get him. Just smart to get our name on national TV as a possible partner, incase another “Buffalo” is there this year. You may be right and we never get that call, but never know.

Eric you are smoking crack if you think I give up future 1st for Rolle. I see the first 10 picks as not sures. The next 10 look pretty good…….and then it kind is even between say 25-50 as far as talent looks on both sides of the ball. Somebody is going to get JJ Arrington in the late first or early 2nd. He only out rushed Benson, Brown, and Williams and had 100 yards in every single game. While Brown might have dazzled em at the combine he and Williams shared carries in college………are they both going to falter without each other? Who knows. My argument for Rolle is that he will be an NFL player. Next year…….impact. These other guys who knows when and if the DTs and DEs are going to be a contributor. Merriman over Rolle……..I go with Rolle. But I ain’t trading the farm for anybody in this draft.

I said if the guy is there at 11 HE IS the best defensive playmaker on the board. Draft him and put him at either CB or FS.

As far as trading down, I knew Thomas Jones better than Julius but had no doubt Bill had a card up his sleeve. Perhaps there are some quiet WRs out there in round 2 or a few DE or DT you keep whining about……….or some of the decent S will be around in 2nd. So hey if we can get it………great. I thought Kevin Jones was better than Steven Jackson and really did not who we would draft. As it turns out we can add another WR or RB or DE this year at 20…….not a bad play. Everybody thought Dallas was smoking something to pass on jackson and then draft Jones higher than he was on most draft boards……as it turned out the kid had some gas in his tank……..my guess is he gets 1500 yards or more this season on 400 carries and another couple hundred recieving. Not bad for a 2nd rounder. Maybe Bill can get us a Wideout that can contribute that much offense too in the 2nd and we will winning the NFC East.

I agree, when Dallas passed on Stephen Jackson, I thought something was up, but hey you gotta trust Bill, he knows what he’s doing, obviously he didnt think much of the top RB’s last yr, and he got grilled badly by Kiper and all those other ‘analysts’, but he might have arguably chosen the best RB in the last yrs draft by getting Julius…

Its going to be VERY intresting next saturday, I can hardly wait, but Eric’s got a good point too, someone is going to place overvalue on a certain player, who knows maybe Benson will drop to 11, and although we certainly dont need him, maybe another team will be foolish enough to give great compensation, maybe even more so then what Buffalo did last yr…. but I can almost gaurantee someone IS going to drop out of the top 10, i’ve been watchin the draft for a few yrs now and at least 1 ‘sure fire’ top 10 drops out of it for whatever reasons… Roethlisberger was projected a top 10 and he fell to 11, so u never know whats going to happen…

As for getting Rolle with 11, if he’s there I would definately jump on that, he’s too good to pass up, and remember guys, Henry had 10 INT’s in his rookie season playing the nickel… just thought i’d throw that out there… Add a David Pollack and Brodney Pool i’d definately do that up, BUT… most likely will not happen, no way Parcells is going to go defense with his first 3 picks…

Jon,

You are back again? JK Gotta love ya, you’re a Cowboys fan.

I wasn’t nesessarilly saying you, but you did cross my mind. My point is, no one could have thought Losman would be so valued on anyone’s board that a team would trade the 43rd overall, a 5th round selection, and a future 1st to grab him. Who knows who the next Losman is!

And no I never predicted a trade, but being a Notre Dame fan, I loved Julius Jones last year. I was hoping that we drafted Shawn Andrews and then Jones fell to us at 52, or we traded up a little to get him. Maybe I am bias a lil’, but also love Tuck. Getting back to JJ, I saw him play against USC, and he made play after play to keep the Irish in it for a while. He was like a one man team.

stephen jackson is a stud but if julius plays like he did at the end last year one of the best moves ever, and the fact we received an additional 1st rounder is excellent as well obvliously. now to make it a complete excellent deal we need a sure fire starter at 20

Thank you Moh. And just to go further here, the whole point Buffalo made that trade was because they were led to believe that G.B. was going to make a move at Losman. Why can’t that happen again?

i agree with the statement of “huh, what is parcells doing. passing up on every rb in the draft to trade with the bills. then they really done me in when they got jp losman. mel really looks smart sometimes..???hahaha i wonder if parcells ever calls people who publicly talks thrash about him to say "HOW DO YOU LIKE ME NOW!!!” In Bill we trust; all others are just opinions. Go Parcell, and as alway GO COWBOYS!!!!

I have all the faith in Bill Parcells with his draft picks. Whoever we get will be a smart move. I think that of the 20 prospects visiting the Cowboys are leaning towards them. I like Williams or Merriman at 11 and maybe trade the 20th down if we can pick up Howard.

I think Tuck is a player. He might be on the board with our 2nd round pick. Any Player from Notre Dame gets a slightly higher rank in my book for two reasons. A CHARACTER….even JJ missed a year due to Academic probation……..at Notre Dame you make grades no OSU or CU football shennanigans in South Bend……….B they play the toughest most nationally televised schedule in the country. Nobody that graduates from that program is going to be nervous about being in the NFL. They have produced some great players on both sides of the ball over the years. My disappointment was that they fired Willingham after only 3 years………his class of players are not even seniors. He played USC better than OU and Bob Stoopes? Stoopes still has his job.

Word is the Steelers want to move up. Maybe they want one of these Recievers out there to replace Burress……….or perhaps they want a linebacker. Who knows……..Eagles supposedly want to move up also, but I ain’t for helping out our Division Rivals unless they want to trade the farm for a beat up VW bug with no engine. Then that is fine.

I hear lots of teams want to trade up and trade down so regardless of who we get or who we trade with……..it is sure to be interesting. Give Bill one thing, he has an owner who loves the Art of the Deal as much as he does winning Super Bowls.

Rafael,

Looking at Corey Webster I like what I see. He has the size and skill and TACKLING to play CB, FS or Nickel. I would add him to our mix of DBs. Probably a late first or early 2nd round guy. There are a couple other CB/FS that are interesting. I am never for the finesse guy. Probably would have missed on Deion for that reason……..but hey you cannot get em all.

Moh,

Great point about Henry in the Nickel and 10 INTs. That is the kind of playmaking I want in our secondary. Last time I checked 10 INTS are better than 10 sacks any day!!!! Maybe Hunter, Frazier, Reeves, Jones, Thornton or a great player to be named later can do that for us.

What do the Steelers need? A CB. With the 20th selection they could be in position to draft Carlos Rogers, if by some miracle Rogers gets by the Chiefs and the Saints, I guess the Steelers wouldn’t be too dubious about trading their 2nd rounder to move up 11 spots.

That would leave us with 4 choices in the top 62, enough to draft the 4 biggest needs: DE, OLB, FS and WR, with good overall talent.

Yeah I saw Tuck make a play, it was so unbelievable!! He made a move, it was a speed rush, and just as he is getting by his guy, the QB throws a little screen about 4-5 yards up field near the line of scrimmage. Tuck rolls off the block in the opposite direction of his pursuit, runs 4-5 yards up field (almost beating the ball to the RB), and makes the tackle at the line of scrimmage. Its plays like this that just never translate at a combine, or when a player runs a 40, or does the high jump.

No often the Combine Kings are the NFL flops. How does Ronnie Brown Rank above Cedric Benson, Carnell Williams and JJ Arrington with 900 yards rushing. It is all combine stuff. Not knocking the guy, perhaps he is as advertised………but Emmit Proved the Combine never measures heart.

My Coach used to call it helmet and pad football speed. He’d say that guy can’t outrun anybody until you put em all in pads and suddenly he was a football player not a track star or a workout freak just a football player. A pretty good one.

Tuck at with our second round pick would be good.

Too often, self proclaimed draft experts never even see these kids play, but they rank them by their 40 times, their shuttle times, and how high they jump. If you can remember Kiper, the King of Self Proclaimed Draft Gurus, had Tony Mandrich rated the highest player available in 1989. Above Troy, Deoin, Barry, and DT!! Instead of having Kiper’s top available board all over the place, ESPN should show more highlights of these kids. I can always get a better feel of how a player will turn out in the NFL by watching them play in a game. Out of the players I have seen play, I think Clayton and Tuck might be the best values when looking at where they are projected to go. Clayton runs nice routes and catches the ball where the defenders can’t get it, often putting his body between the ball and the defender. Maybe Tuck is a nice pass rusher, but his ability to read and react is what really makes him special.

I agree with the Clayton comment. He might be the best route runner of all the recievers. What he lacks in size he makes up for in quickness and precise routes. Marvin Harrison like almost. The other thing about all the guys from OU, Jason White was a good QB but he did not really have that NFL arm or accuracy.

Having seen more of Mike Williams than Edwards, that guy has great hands and is MONEY in the RED ZONE. Watch the way he uses his big strong body to out muscle dbs. He aint got Randy Moss speed but he is a strong athletic guy that seems to make plays and does find seperation. You got to have one hech of a corner to stop him. With the new NFL Peyton Manning rules a guy like Mike Williams is going to be deadly. Not too many corners going to push him around on the line of scrimmage…….maybe a linebacker but he runs past those so……..he is an interesting reciever. Only thing that worries me about USC is the competition they play. Va Tech gave them the best game all year. Notre Dame played em tough too…….if USC was in the ACC they would have a tougher time going undefeated playing an FSU, Miami or either of the Virginia teams every year.

Edwards seemed to have some of the most spectacular catches ever in college. My friends who are Badgers fans think he is awesome, but also say he sometimes drops em and kind of disappeared a few times in a game. He reminded me of Anthony Carter, if he is that good in NFL he will be allright. I hear David Terrel is making his stock drop a bit, kind of like Aarron Rodgers from Cal.

Troy Williamson has some pretty big play in College also.

Zach Thomas, Emmit Smith, Dat Nguyen are just a few of the guys that come to mind when you think about football players not combine kids. There have certainly been others, Jason Taylor was a third rounder and gets double digit sacks every year…….JJ Arington and that kid at Florida are likely to have as good a career in the NFL at RB as Brown, Benson or Williams©, if Adrian Peterson were available he would probably go over all of them anyway and he aint eligible for what two more years?

A few years ago there was this psychiatrist that basically said he could predict whether a player had the mentality to be a PRO. He got paid big bucks and was like 90% accurate. Even overcoming injuries in most cases. He said he made fortunes from the NFL, NBA, and NHL for giving his exams to potential prospects. He might be on to something. In the end it is what is inside of these guys that makes them excel. At the NFL level, all these guys are talented, it is what they do with it.

Hey, I believe Mike Williiams to be the best player in the draft. I very much doubt it, but if he were there at 11, even I would draft him. Look at his numbers in college, and he was only a sophmore.

Did you see the photo of Williams on FOX site, then look at the Keyshawn photo on the Dallas site. It was identical…….both guys looking the ball into their hands. Perfect. He seems to be a higher quality kid, sorry he got shafted by the NCAA, but he even admitted he should not have hired an agent. Imagine USC and Leinhart with him……..scary. But he was not Clarett like in his behavior. It shows something that he showed up and did the whole combine and was in great shape. You figure he might even have benefitted from a year off.

There is not telling, but I would not be surprised to see a great player fall to the 11 spot.

I’d offer Pitt #20 and our 5th rounder for their 1st and 2nd. If they wanna complain about the 17.5 points left over in our favor (based on the Draft Value Chart) I’d offer ’em a future 6th or 7th.

Pitt’s 2nd rounder will come in handy after we trade #42 for Howard on draft day. ;)

Dallas.com-“First of all, relative to what we’ve seen so far, the 11th pick is a good place to be,” Jones said on Thursday at Valley Ranch. "I don’t want to rule out at all an opportunity if a key player from another team drops down and we can move down a few places and can pick up a pick on the first day there, you’d have to do that just to move a few places because of the numbers of players and some of the things we’ve talked about, it’s a mixed bag up there (and) because of that you might be more willing to move down a few spots. That would affect that pick.

“So, going in Saturday, I like the 11th pick there. We can be good and we can get real good value there with what is likely to be there.”

Did I get it right? When I wrote- I am big on trading down. I still believe that a couple of spots in the first round could net another day 1 choice, and if a few teams enter a bidding war for our spot, we could get a pretty penny.
  Thank you Jerry!!