The Power of the 7th Round....

With the first pick in the 6th Round the Cowboys selected a bit of a head scratcher in Erik Walden.  I frantically dug through my numerous draft guides and computer printouts to find absolutely nothing about this kid.  When I watched a youtube.com video of Erik's low budget workout, I was even less impressed.  Why did we reach for this kid with players like Josh Barrett, Domonique Barber, Erin Henderson, Paul Hubbard, Andre Woodson, and Razorback Peyton Hillis still on the board?

Still upset, my buddies told me to get over it....for it's just a 6th round pick and it doesn't matter.

That made me mad and got me thinking; Where would we have been last season if it weren't for our 7th round picks in our previous drafts?

Jason Ferguson gets injured - insert 7th round pick Jay Ratliff

Terry Glenn is injured - insert 7th round pick Patrick Crayton

Terrance Newman gets hurt - insert 7th round selection Jacque Reeves

Jacque Reeves moves into the LCB position - insert 7th round selection Nate Jones as our Nickel Corner

My point is that these picks do count.  Of course every year we hear all about guys like Tom Brady and Marques Colston that end up being absolute steals in the late rounds of the NFL Draft.  But what we often overlook is theother guys that fight every practice to get better and stay on the 53-man roster.  These are players that accept their role as a reserve and/or special teams player.  These are guys that are cut and re-sign and then get thrown into a starting role at a moments notice.  Without our success in the 7th round over the last several years, we don't win 13 games last season.  The fact is, these picks do count and these picks are very important.  Of course the jury is still out on Walden, but in my mind there was still a lot of value on the board that could have added to our roster before the cigars were lit.