I'm looking at their draft and I don't see the logic here.
They could have traded back for Elliot, IMO. No facts here, I'm just thinking that #4 was way too early for Zeke. Great player, don't get me wrong. But Dallas has way too many other holes, especially on defense.
And on that note, they passed on Jalen Ramsey to take a running back when they have Morris, Mcfadden and Turbin. Wow. I'm really not getting the logic there.
Then they take Jaylon Smith in the 2nd who definitely isn't playing this year and might not be ready next year. Too many ifs to take Smith in Round 2. And Sean Lee just had another procedure so wouldn't you want to get younger and healthier??
No Gregory and probably no Lawrence would dictate them taking a DE early, right? Nope, they took a DT in the 3rd. WTF? Another headscratcher.
Then they go DE with Tapper who I think can contribute. They were fortunate he fell so far.
THEN they go QB with Prescott. That I damn sure don't get. Prescott's main knock is that he isn't super accurate. Dallas' passing game is predicated on accuracy. So you went with a version of Cam Lite? Have at it. Romo doesn't survive the season with a peanut brittle collar bone. Bet on it.
Then a CB, a safety, a RB (who I like) and a real project with the TE who has never really played football at all. I know we have similar picks in Perkins and Adams, but they seem head and shoulders above the Boys' picks.
Is Jerruh back behind the wheel? I hope so.
They had Sam Bradford, mid-career.
They sold the farm to get Wentz, and now Bradford will not rest until he's traded.
Now how much better is their team today than it was before the draft?
I get the long term notion of it, but maaaaaaan....they better hope this guy is not just good, but great.
I have no insight into what team would have drafted Jaylon Smith, but I wonder if Dallas went a little high. The value of their draft, obviously, hinges on Smith getting healthy and being the same player he was pre-injury, but one has to wonder if he still would have been there in round 3.
Other than those picks, I don't see a whole lot there.
I thought Dallas had a nice draft. Obviously contingent upon how Smith returns, but Elliott is going to be a real problem behind that line.
Was 4 too early for Elliott? Maybe. But they got their guy. Similar to the Giants and Apple at 10.
Recovering form an injury is one things but doing that against tougher faster stronger competition is entirely much more difficult
Very risky at a time when they needed solid, healthy bodies in there.
Risk/reward - but for a team with an aging, brittle QB you wonder if the second round pick not contributing next year makes a whole lot of sense.
They are clearly planning to "help" the D by dominating the TOP as much as possible like they did with Murray in 2014, but that plan goes up in smoke if Romo misses time.
Where is the pass rush guy that you need and know you want have at the beginning of the season? And to be honest Sterling Shepard makes as much sense for the Cowboys as he does for the Giants. Their TE, Rico Gathers!!! Come on. And for those who still had doubts about certain drafting strategy over the years.
5:31 PM - 30 Apr 2016
So you could've had Ramsey in the first and Myles Jack (a much better risk than Smith) in the second, both would've helped you this season, and come back and taken a RB in the 4th round that would start for you, and be very good behind that O-line.
They absolutely screwed the pooch in this draft, to Jacksonville Jaguars benefit.
The Jaguars are going to contend for a Super Bowl soon. Ramsey and Jack, added to a defense that just signed Malik Jackson, Tashaun Gipson, and Prince Amukamara. A defense that is getting the best pass rusher from last year's draft back in Dante Fowler Jr, throw in Paul Posluszny, Jonathan Cyprien... you added Sheldon Day in the draft to team with Roy Miller and Jackson at DT... and they draft three other pass rushers to compete, just needing one to pan out. And I don't think they are done, they still have a lot of money to spend.
And with the weapons they have on offense, all they needed was a defense, and boy did they impact the defense with their first 4 picks in this draft.
Is Elliott going to give you better at the expense of Ramsey or a QB - debatable
Smith is a major question. You only have him for 4 years on a contract and now lost 1 and there is great debate of him coming back at all let alone the player he was pre injury.
Eh. I think he'll be fine. I mean the Cowboys also wanted Manziel over Zack Martin but Martin has been fine.
Elliot at 10-15 is one thing. Elliot at 4 when an all time talent like Ramsey is there and your defense is awful? That's risky. And they just signed Alfred Morris.
Smith in round 2...we'll see...I hate to root against him but he's a Cowboy now . Fuck him.
4 of the last 15 or so RB's taken in the top dozen picks justified their draft position. There have been many can't miss RB's that either missed or were ineffectual because of the high rate of injury to RB's.
Finally, go back and read Sy's scouting report on Ramsey. If you've watched Ramsey, he does things that are eye popping.
This was a huge blunder on Dallas' part, and I enjoy that.
If We're being honest, Elliott scares me more than Ramsey. Ramsey is going to take a while to develop, and I don't think teams are fully confident yet as to whether he's a safety of CB. Elliott I believe will come in day 1 and have a big impact in every facet of the game.
When asked his opinion, he told the team, in his view the knee was going to be good in the future.
Smith is actually ahead of schedule on his recovery. The nerve tendon has grown 1 inch since the surgery and needs to grow another 5 inches. The tendon grows at a rate of about 1 inch a month, so by October he should be ready for participating in workouts. He will not play this year, even though he has vowed that he will.
Next year will determine if the Dallas doctor was correct in his assessment of Smith.
Till then Dallas has selected their first pick in the 2017 draft, Jaylon Smith.
Um... Never mind.
When asked his opinion, he told the team, in his view the knee was going to be good in the future.
Smith is actually ahead of schedule on his recovery. The nerve tendon has grown 1 inch since the surgery and needs to grow another 5 inches. The tendon grows at a rate of about 1 inch a month, so by October he should be ready for participating in workouts. He will not play this year, even though he has vowed that he will.
Next year will determine if the Dallas doctor was correct in his assessment of Smith.
Till then Dallas has selected their first pick in the 2017 draft, Jaylon Smith.
I was waiting for someone to say this. Their drafting him high makes me think they know something others don't, or at least they think they know better than other teams.
On O WR depth thinner than the Giants by a lot. It's really Dez and a bunch of guys easily deemed average at best. Whitten may be a sure fire HOFer but his back ups aren't much better than the Giants. He's not going to last forever . I think Elliot is a going to be very good to great behind that line but Romo is going to get hurt. Then they are fucked.
Their draft was like they are a 12-4 team with no holes. I think they fucked up big.
And then there's this:
"Anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR) surgery is a common knee injury procedure, but the overall incidence rate of having to go through it again within 24 months is 6 times greater than someone who has never had an ACL tear, according to researchers presenting their work today at the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine's (AOSSM) Annual Meeting in Chicago, IL."
Probably a lot of us were secretly hoping that the Giants would gamble on Smith or Jack, but it would have been a mistake.
It will take a few years for them to correct the damage Chip did. It's a huge gamble with all they spent on Wentz. But from what I've rad, next year is going to be and even worse year for QBs.
When asked his opinion, he told the team, in his view the knee was going to be good in the future.
Smith is actually ahead of schedule on his recovery. The nerve tendon has grown 1 inch since the surgery and needs to grow another 5 inches. The tendon grows at a rate of about 1 inch a month, so by October he should be ready for participating in workouts. He will not play this year, even though he has vowed that he will.
Next year will determine if the Dallas doctor was correct in his assessment of Smith.
Till then Dallas has selected their first pick in the 2017 draft, Jaylon Smith.
The surgery was performed in early January, it is now early May. That means if it has grown only 1 inch, he has another 20 months before it grows the rest of the way assuming same pace of growth. Even if it does grow back, which is a big if, there is no guarantee he is the same player he was before the injury. Look what happened to Marcus Lattimore if you want a recent example. In the meantime, go back to Dallas and continue hoping Tony Romo can win a playoff game without the benefit of the officials.
As for Smith, well once again Romo's window is closing so I don't get picking a player that won't contribute at all for the first year in the 2nd round. If he returns to form then I guess it will be worth it, but that is a big IF.
I think their biggest issue is that they didn't make a play for a top QB. Its not often you are that close to the top of the draft. I realize Romo is the starter, but he hasn't exactly shown durability and he is very cuttable after 2017.
Smith - nerve damage talk is troubling but they apparently have medical info that made them comfortable with the pick. But, they get nothing from him this year.
Could have had the QB from Memphis - that might have been their biggest gamble.
Ramsey would theoretically provide a much larger incremental upside. That's the main point here.
McFadden had a career year in 2015. If Elliott matches that, he won't really be adding anything they didn't have.
Think of it this way... Lets say both come out and be the best they could be... Would you want Dallas to have Patrick Peterson or Adrian Peterson. While a better RB makes them a little better than what they had last year, a top CB makes them much better at that position than last year.
Basically, Elliott has to be a hall of famer to justify this pick. If you could've gotten Ramsey, and say, Devontae Booker in the 4th round (which they could've), and say Elliott has a 1600 yard rushing season, and Booker (or Dixon or Williams, or say... Paul Perkins?) goes on to rush for even a 1400 yard season, and Ramsey is a shut down corner for the Jags, then you made a mistake.
Elliott has to far and away exceed the RB field, because the other RBs in this draft were mostly taken in the 4th round and later. And there were good talents there. And people kind of knew the RB's would drop as a position group, save Elliott and Henry.
And whoever says Ramsey is some kind of project is incorrect. Ramsey is pro ready right now. He might have a few rookie struggles, but he's the best DB on that team right now, to include Tashaun Gipson, and I'm being serious. When the Jags drafted Ramsey, it was like they were drafting Charles Woodson. Honestly, I don't remember a better DB coming out of the draft... as a prospect, you may have to go back to Deion Sanders... and Ramsey is a better tackler.
Elliott might MIGHT help out your team more this year because of the situation with Romo. But, he won't be a better player, not this year, not for his career, and the team would've been better off both this season and long term getting Ramsey and a mid-round RB (instead of the immortal Dak Prescott).
Them drafting Elliott is an enormous mistake. And just remember how dominating Reggie Bush was supposed to be and how he was going to put the Saints over the top.