The media have linked 45 names to the Cowboys in conversations.  In the last two fanposts, I discussed defensive backs, and  the front seven of the defense and the OL. Today we finish the series with the last third talking about the offensive skill positions.  We will us the rating scale from NFL.com:

8.00		perfect prospect
6.50 - 6.60	boom or bust 
6.10 - 6.19	backup develop 
                to good starter
6.00 – 6.09	abo ave backup
5.88 – 5.99	average backup
5.60 – 5.69	practice squad

The ranks are given as consensus by NFLDraftBuzz.  That is not what they ranked themselves or PFF, but NFLDraftBuzz claims to have averaged from many sites.

Height, weight, and arm lengths are taken from the NFL combine and are rounded to the nearest tenth. These players are sorted by position and then by their draft rank.

name 		rank	rating

WR

Addison	        017	6.36
5 11, 173 lbs.
30.8-inch arms
Move up

Smith Njigba	022	6.29
6 1, 196 lbs.
30.5-inch arms
Move up	 

Flowers		040	6.35
5 9, 182 lbs.
29.3-inch arms
Move up

Hyatt		042	6.50
6 0, 176 inches
32.5-inch arms
First round

Scott		093	6.35
5 10, 177 lbs.
30.8-inch arms
Third round

Jarrett		155	5.69
6 0, 192 lbs.
31.4-inch arms
Fourth round

Tinsley		232	5.65
6 0, 199 lbs.
32.4-inch arms
Sixth round

TE
	
Kincaid		036	6.48
6 4, 246 lbs.
32.7-inch arms
First round

Schoonmaker	120	6.34
6 5, 251 lbs.
32.7-inch arms
Third round

RB
	
Gibbs		029	6.37
5 9, 199 lbs.
30.5-inch arms
First round

Achane		058	6.23
5 8.5, 188 lbs.
29-inch arms
Second round 

Bigsby		092	6.15
6 0, 210 lbs.
32-inch arms
Third round

Abanikanda	133	6.24
5 10, 216 lbs.
32-inch arms
Fourth round

QB
	
Hooker		067	6.23
6 3, 217 lbs.
33-inch arms
Second round pick

Hall		152	5.96
6 0,207 lbs.
29.8-inch arms
Fourth round pick

Duggan		240	5.64
6 1.5, 207 lbs.
30.4-inch arms
Sixth round pick

NFL.com also evaluates players for production and athleticism. If you use the OCC type of matrix with a 2 x 2 matrix of production vs athleticism and set the dividing lines at 75 you get the following quadrants
	
POS  Name	Prod	Ath

Quadrant I	High	High

TE Kincaid	90	77
WR Hyatt	88	89
QB Hooker	86	85
WR Flowers	81	76
RB Gibbs	78	81
RB Abanikanda	77	69

These are the ones that you want to draft.

Quadrant II	High	Low

WR Addison	90	66

These are hard workers, who may not have high potential.  These are the high floor types.  They can be good and their enthusiasm can help drive other players

Quadrant III	Low	High

QB Hall		74	89
RB Achane	73	79
WR Scott	70	83
WR Smith-N	66	89
TE Schoon.	62	84
WR Jarrett	60	80

These are the high ceiling types.  Perhaps they played out of position, but you are cautioned that they may need some type to develop if they ever do.  One should look to see their motivation levels.

Quadrant IV	Low	Low

QB Duggan	72	72
RB Bigsby	71	67
WR Tinsley	65 	67

These are the players who are not normally drafted. Perhaps they may be UDFA.

Dallas Draft Picks

First		26
Second		58
Third		90
Fourth		128
Fifth		163
Fifth 		170
Fifth		176
Sixth		212
Seventh	        246

Note these are listed before the assignment of comp picks.


Summary

In the last two articles we saw the complexity of analysis as you involve more players among different positions.  Today we see that and how the team may use that for their decision-making process.  Let us look at the players by position today.

We have QB, TE, and RB where we only talked to a few players at those positions.  For QB, if you want someone who has talent the answer is Hooker, but he has a high draft capital cost.  That would also have a high opportunity cost of not taking a player at another position with that pick.  Otherwise, you are looking at a late pick which screams PS and development.

Two choices at TE. Kincaid is a first-round pick at Quadrant I or Schoonmaker who is a third-round pick at Quadrant III.  How much do you want to spend?  How soon do you want him to contribute. What else can you use the draft capital on? 

With QB and TE we might just be kicking the tires.  Let us see who falls to us or we might just use these picks to compare to what we already have.

We had four options for running back.  They all tend to be fast, can catch reasonably, but vary among the draft cost from first round to fourth round.  I doubt we use a first round pick on RB especially with Abanikanda as a Quadrant I player available in the fourth round.  

I love Achane with world class speed, but if I was a betting man, Abanikanda is the pick. This is especially true as Abanikanda has higher expectations than the third-round pick Bigsby who is Quadrant IV.

Then we have WR.  With the number we looked at, I suspect we draft a WR.  There are three which require us to move up in the draft with additional cost.  Hyatt is a boom or bust Quadrant I player available w/ith our first-round pick.  High risk and high reward depends on your risk tolerance.  Dallas is known for taking risk. 

Scott is the value pick with high athleticism Quadrant III available in the third round.  Jarrett is Scott but a  fall back in the fourth round.  Tinsley is a Quadrant IV late pick.

So, we see lots of options on skill players.  What you pick depends on what you already have and what else you want to get.  You can set up a board based on skill and note the gaps between the players.   Yet once you set up the board, the next step is to try to use game theory and other strategies to optimize the talent for the draft class as a whole.  That is NOT just taking the top player on your list for each round. The next post will try to put all these players in perspective.