Cowboys Draft '10, Part One: Looking for Elvin...or Bruce...or Phil

Although I’m no PSU fan, I’ve seen this kid play and he is definitely the real deal. I certainly wouldn’t mind hearing his name called as the newest Cowboy on the first ever Thursday night draft night.

Reminds a lot of Rat.

when Dallas is up. You’re right about the D, not many holes. Maybe they can find DE in the 3rd or 4th round, but I think the O-line needs help the most, but don’t reach, take the best on your board.

I doubt that a DE drafted would supply a pass rush out of the box. If we’re looking to improve this specific spot, would a trade be more likely?

Given the uncertainty of 2011, the future of Dallas’s DE position may be on another team, via trade or FA trickery. Furthermore, given the uncertainty of 2011, I’d think the advantages of youth would be diminished for the immediate gratification of next season.
 Some dream players to play that spot include Vince Worfolk and Julius Peppers. It also makes me wonder if Dallas should of kept Ellis at DE for Wade Phillips

Is their any worthy 3-4 NT prospects coming out that could allow Ratliff to move over to DE?

Jay is a little undersized for his position anyhow. Right?

we still need a good backup. I dont know how anyone can disagree with that.

Rafael, wouldn’t you say that adding some beef in short yardage and Red Zone couldn’t be very productive in tight games? There well could be quite a few ‘squeekers’ this upcoming year. Turning things over on third down might be a good way to go.

E.J. Wilson especially has a lot of pass rush potential

The defense could use an upgrade over those two, or are least someone to push them

DE seems easier position to fill via FA than OT or FS, in general (as far as time to get used to the Cowboys system), but also specifically regarding who’s available this year. There’s not a whole lot out there at OT or S who could come in and be a huge upgrade over what we have already. It seems like you need to go the draft route, where it might take the player 0.5-1.5 years to develop, but you end up with a superior player (see Jenkins, Mike or Spencer, Anthony).

There’s some guys out there who could come in and be better than Spears. You could then spend a later round pick (and/or keep Bowen and other backups around) to eventually replace the player who is likely to be older. It makes sense to use the one big FA singing they have on this spot compared to other weaknesses (not a lot of holes) on the roster. Then hope for a high upside guy who might just need a little development time to fall in the draft. You may not even have to use the big signing as 3-4 DE’s don’t make as much money as their 4-3 DE counterparts.

What about the oft injured bob sanders as we draft a safety to replace hamlin? I wouldn’t want to count on sanders, but odds are he will be cut.

that would be better comparing him to Demarcus Ware and anthony Spencer rather than to Igor Olshansky or Marcus Spears.

I’m sure we could get a bit more push from our DEs into the pocket, but if they can hold up at the point of attack on running plays and occupy blockers on passing plays, I’m pretty much fine with their production. I would love to see 5-10 sacks combined out of the DE positions but its not my priority in a 3-4.

If we DID get a new DE that was a passrusher threat, I could see the whole scheme becoming much more difficult to protect against, though.

What I would really like is for our ILBs to become much more diverse and capable of rushing the passer, stopping the run, and dropping into coverage. This is the key to a 3-4. Your linebackers are supposed to provide a highly unpredictable element to the defense, as you should never know who’s coming and who’s dropping. Getting this would likely mean waiting on the development of Jason Williams over Keith Brooking and hopefully Bradie James can be a force at passrushing like he is at other parts of the job.

but I do think that it is a great assumption that Ratliff would dominate and demand double teams as an end.