The Cowboys sat in their war room weighing their options.  Looking at their draft board they made a fateful decision.  They decided to trade their 2nd round pick to the Buffalo Bills.

The reason for the trade is that the Cowboys decided the next series of offensive linemen were about the same.  They punted the ball and decided they would take the worst of those offensive linemen.  They would trade down to the third round and pick up the scraps the other teams left behind.

Four linemen were taken and the only one no one wanted was Robert Brewster, so he was a Cowboy.

Alex Barron is a player everyone knows is bad.  The Rams traded him for a linebacker that didn't make the 53 man cut.  Why?  Because Barron costs you games.  Even the Redskins defensive coordinator, who had been on the same team as Barron in St.Louis before, remarked that Barron would help his team out with a few penalties.

And, yet, despite all the flaws and problem Barron has, Brewster is not good enough to beat even the lowly Alex Barron out. 

But it didn't have to be Barron on the field that night.  If on that April day in 2009 the Cowboys had simply selected the best player available they would have drafted a guy named Phil Loadholt.  Mr. Loadholt is the starting right tackle for the Minnesota Vikings.  Phil Loadholt doesn't cost his team games.  Last night Loadholt would have been guarding the right side had the Cowboys simply selected the best player available and the Dallas Cowboys would have won that game.

That's why the NFL draft is so important and why many of us study and watch it with such interest.  Because those seven decisions a team makes as its number gets called decide football games.  That decision in 2009 cost us this one.