Yep, old Long Ball moved during the draft . . . doesn’t say much for my ability at strategic planning, eh?  The last time I moved, I was much, much younger and have discovered sore areas of my body that I think used to be muscles . . . but that’s not what you came here to read, is it?

As many of you know, I had been steadfast on projecting Tyron Smith as the Cowboys 1st round selection . . . but the weekend before the draft, I got wind of the proposed trade with Jacksonville from one of my “used to be” trusted sources.  I could not get verification (which I normally do), but decided to run with it – the word I received was the Cowboys braintrust did not have that much of a higher grade on Smith than Castonzo (seemed reasonable) and had options.  Knowing Cuzzin Jerruh’s proclivity to trade down and “go against the grain”, I surmised that even though they had more OT prospects with 1st round grades, they would take J.J. Watt.

It appears that Jason Garrett has even better control over information leaks than his predecessors, as I was misled and did not have the time or internet access to change the selection back to my previous projection; nevertheless, I am happy they played it straight and selected another athletic bookend to pair with Doug Free and start the conversion to a more diversified offensive front (my fancy way of saying I do love me some Big Uglies!)

IF Bruce Carter totally recovers from ACL surgery, the Cowboys obtained 1st round value with their 2nd round pick . . . but IF my aunt had balls, she’d be my uncle!  With the number of QB’s taken in the 1st round, good value should be found at the 40th pick but a quick scan of the prospects taken in the remainder of the 2nd round did not uncover a preference.

DeMarco Murray . . . my soul screams for John Moffitt, as there was ample RB value later in the draft.  As a result, the Cowboys have to take David Arkin (David Arkin???) in the 4th – hell, if they wanted a RB from north of the Red River, they could have taken Kendall Hunter in the 4th and Moffitt in the 3rd and had a much better OG/RB duo!  (Quite frankly, I would have taken Edmund Gates or Jalil Brown in the 4th, as there are still good RB’s on the board!)

Josh Thomas in the 5th – good hitter for his size, decent recovery speed (be careful with the term “recovery speed” – normally means recovery from a mistake due to lack of reading/anticipation/reacting) . . . but they could have taken Jason Pinkston (if dead-set against Moffitt) or Jeremy Kerley.  Dwayne Harris was good value in the 6th . . . but so would have been Jordan Todman or Jerrell Powe.

Two 7th round selections . . . Shaun Chapas, right position, wrong player!  I would have preferred Henry Hynoski from Pitt, but with their second selection in the round, as Lawrence Guy was still on the board.  And someone is going to have to explain to me why Bill Nagy was taken over Jake Kirkpatrick . . . or Chris Neild!

All-in-all, another Cowboy draft and only time will tell how the players work out . . . zooming around the rest of the draft produces the following observations:

• Even though this was a relatively weak QB class, teams will always reach . . . but Jake Locker at #8?  He can’t hit the broad side of a barn, but I guess the Titans have a different perspective of accuracy after years of Vince Young.
• Nick Fairley to the Lions to line up next to Mr. Suh?  Motown is going to be a regular “Field of Horrors” for opposing offenses.
• Cuzzin Jerruh should have pulled the trigger on the Jacksonville trade – Smith might have been gone, but the rest of the OT candidates were there for the taking.
• Anthony Castonzo is a perfect OT fit for the Colts, Gabe Carimi fits the Bears to a “T”, Derek Sherrod will fit Green Bay’s zone blocking scheme and the Patriots have the luxury of time to coach up Nate Solder on his deficiencies . . . ‘nuff said about my Big Uglies!

There’s my two cents worth – tell me what you think!