As team building guru Bill Parcells always stated: In the player acquisition business, you
need necessity to meet head on with opportunity. In the NFC East, the Giants set the bar high for draft standards, having had 7 of their draft picks from last
Aprils draft contribute in their Super Bowl victory. They were called
out on a few choices, the non-sexy ones. But in the end, needs were
filled when necessity met opportunity in that April 2007 draft - head
on...
For the fourth time since he bought the team, Jerry Jones and his Cowboys entered the draft with a pair of No. 1 picks. The Cowboy War Room was abuzz as Dallas made six draft picks and six trades.
With the 22nd overall pick, the Cowboys took Arkansas RB Felix Jones, the
most explosive running back available to them in the draft - point blank. A
breakaway threat speedster that compliments MB3's brute force. This is
a lethal combination running game as Jones will supply the lightening alongside MB3's thunder, purportedly together in the backfield! I pondered slipping in a you tube video or 3, but we saw videos of Felix Jones breaking loose for the long touchdown time after time after time when he was selected.
Dallas then leap-frogged ahead of Houston, who was eying a cornerback, to land one of the best corners in the draft, South Florida CB Mike Jenkins, with the 25th overall pick.
Dallas spent this year's 2nd round draft pick on a local college player, Texas A&M TE Martellus Bennett. The Green Bay scouting director called Bennett the one first round tight end talent in the draft. A beast of a blocker, but in reality he'll be insurance and depth, playing behind Jason Witten. Dallas had traded TE Anthony Fasano a few days earlier to Miami (along with starting linebacker Akin Aoydele) in a salary cap clearing move.
After making four consecutive trades, Dallas was looking at the situation from a few days earlier where they had traded their 4th round pick to Tennessee for troubled suspended cornerback Adam "Pacman" Jones. Jerry Jones basically robbed the Titans, assuring EVERYTHING in the trade favors Dallas. The 4th round pick is returned next year should Adam Jones either not be reinstated, or slip up again and be exiled once more from the NFL.
The deal does not include any signing bonus or
other forms of guaranteed money, and the deal
is laden with incentive-based stipulations for payment. Among the terms
of the agreement: Jones will not be paid as a top
NFL cornerback until he has completed three seasons with the Dallas
Cowboys. As a result of the trade, Jones will forfeit $1.25 million in
performance bonuses as well as $6 million in guaranteed salary payments
the Titans would have been obligated to pay had Jones resumed NFL
activities.
A trade resulted in Dallas re-entering the 4th round and
selecting Georgia Tech RB Tashard Choice. With a roster
boasting 13 (well paid) Pro Bowl players, the Cowboys are preparing for the
possibility of not being able to retain the services of Marion Barber
III (although negotiations are in process) following the
2008 season. Tashard Choice is a 1,000+ yard rushing big bruising back cut from the same
mold as Barber. Some believe this was simply taking the best player on the board.
When the 5th round selection process began, only one player remains from the Observer's Top 100 -- Boise State CB Orlando Scandrick. Scandrick (5-foot-11, 196 pounds) had helped separate himself with
strong performances leading up to the draft. He ran the 40-yard dash in
4.32 seconds at the NFL Scouting Combine - the fourth-fastest time of
any prospect - and showed good agility and leaping ability. I'd expect, from what I'm
hearing out of Valley Ranch, that Roy Williams will see action in about
100 fewer plays now. In multiple receiver sets, Williams will be off
the field. He's a play-maker against the run, but he's been a liability
in passing downs. Those days are over.
With their 6th (and final) pick of the 2008 draft, Dallas selected Middle Tennessee State DE
Erik Walden. A relentless pass rusher, Walden only started 21 games during his
career with the Blue Raiders. Still, he shattered the school career
record with 22.5 sacks and also set the sack-lost yardage record with
minus-136 yards. His 40 tackles behind the line of scrimmage rank
second in MTSU history. Most importantly, he has the frame to be a rush linebacker in Wade Phillips' 3-4 scheme.
Toss in that Felix Jones is a
skilled kick returner and Pacman is an established premier punt
returner, and a 13-3 Cowboys team have an opportunity to improve. The weak links
last season were Julius Jones, and the defensive secondary. Quality personnel
have been infused to those positions.
A receiver would have
been nice, but a feeding frenzy on the top receivers left little value for the high pick with Dallas on the clock in the 2nd round. Necessity didn't meet opportunity. Everyone can be an armchair GM
for these two days, even if they didn't spend millions hiring people to
help make all these player evaluations and hand out advice. I'm happy
being very satisfied with the way Dallas' picks were spent. The Cowboys
DID get a hell of a lot better. But then, so did the Giants, Eagles and
Redskins, who as of now anyway, appear to also have had very solid drafts.
I hail from a large family where after school we went in 7 different directions, to either play or coach in every sport available. As a child I got in free to the Cowboy games at the Cotton Bowl as a tag-along to my Dad's credentials. It was the ultimate childhood dream scenario to play football there, under the lights with the kids of other players and personnel after the games. I have been a Cowboys fan since those days in the 60's and like Willie Nelson says "My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys". I've witnessed a few Stars Stanley Cup games and I have been a Mavericks fan since day one. Hopefully, in the future, G.W. Bush will re-take control of the Texas Rangers and they will once again become competitive.
