Flexibility gives Cowboys 'best' option
Thanks to solid core, team can draft top players available
By TODD ARCHER
– The Cowboys find themselves in good position as they prepare for this weekend's NFL draft.
By signing free agents Leonard Davis and Ken Hamlin to shore up the offensive line and secondary, the Cowboys do not have an obvious need to fill. Owner and general manager Jerry Jones used a baseball analogy earlier in the week when he said his team has "the bases covered."
With the 22nd pick in the first round, the Cowboys can take a player at just about any position.
According to Jones, the last time the Cowboys' roster was set up in such a prime way was in the mid-1990s, when his team was winning Super Bowls.
"We were in a spot where if we didn't draft a player that was a pretty dominant player, that he had trouble making our roster," Jones said. "That's just not the case today because of free agency and the turnover.
"I would say when we were at the bottom of the draft winning those Super Bowls during those times, we pretty much could draft the best player."
Best player available. It's one of the most-used draft terms around.
On Monday, Jones went through the team's evaluation process, starting with the reports of the area scouts to the cross-checking done by national scout Mike Murphy, assistant director of college scouting Tom Ciskowski and vice president of college and pro scouting Jeff Ireland, to the opinions of the coaches.
This week, the Cowboys ranked players on their draft board so that when the time comes for their first-round pick, they can easily take "the best player available."
But picking the best player available isn't that easy.
According to scouts, personnel directors and coaches, there is a flow to draft day that does not always include taking the best player on the board.
Sometimes, the composition of a roster forces a team to go in a different direction. Some teams will build their draft boards to fit their needs, pushing, for example, cornerbacks higher than they should be graded.
With the 38th pick in the 2003 draft, the highest-rated player left on the Cowboys' board was tight end Jason Witten. But the Cowboys were unsettled at center and selected Al Johnson.
With a number of tight ends still available, the Cowboys felt they could get one they liked in the third round. Luckily for them, Witten was still available, and they scooped him up with the 69th overall pick.
But in 2005, the Cowboys tried to stick with the best-player-available theory. The fourth round that year was the most telling. With the 109th pick, the Cowboys picked running back Marion Barber, nearly two rounds after he was expected to be taken. He led the NFC in rushing touchdowns last season with 14.
Knee and eye injuries kept defensive end Chris Canty from projecting as a possible first-round pick, and the Cowboys nearly chose him instead of Barber. But instead of waiting 39 more picks and hoping Canty slipped to the fifth round, the Cowboys gave three draft picks to Philadelphia for the 132nd slot to get him. Canty started every game last season.
Teams get into trouble when they draft for need.
"The worst picks I've had were the picks I made because you needed somebody," said former Tennessee Titans general manager Floyd Reese, now an ESPN analyst.
"You have a guy who is 20th, and you end up taking him 15th because you need to fill a spot. When you have three or four holes, it's really hard to have a good draft because you have to fill holes."
The Cowboys don't have that worry this year, according to Jones. But he's not ready to say they will take the "best player available."
"I'd like to just rephrase it," Jones said. "There's a little more to it unless you want to say, 'safest player available.' "
By TODD ARCHER
– The Cowboys find themselves in good position as they prepare for this weekend's NFL draft.
By signing free agents Leonard Davis and Ken Hamlin to shore up the offensive line and secondary, the Cowboys do not have an obvious need to fill. Owner and general manager Jerry Jones used a baseball analogy earlier in the week when he said his team has "the bases covered."
With the 22nd pick in the first round, the Cowboys can take a player at just about any position.
According to Jones, the last time the Cowboys' roster was set up in such a prime way was in the mid-1990s, when his team was winning Super Bowls.
"We were in a spot where if we didn't draft a player that was a pretty dominant player, that he had trouble making our roster," Jones said. "That's just not the case today because of free agency and the turnover.
"I would say when we were at the bottom of the draft winning those Super Bowls during those times, we pretty much could draft the best player."
Best player available. It's one of the most-used draft terms around.
On Monday, Jones went through the team's evaluation process, starting with the reports of the area scouts to the cross-checking done by national scout Mike Murphy, assistant director of college scouting Tom Ciskowski and vice president of college and pro scouting Jeff Ireland, to the opinions of the coaches.
This week, the Cowboys ranked players on their draft board so that when the time comes for their first-round pick, they can easily take "the best player available."
But picking the best player available isn't that easy.
According to scouts, personnel directors and coaches, there is a flow to draft day that does not always include taking the best player on the board.
Sometimes, the composition of a roster forces a team to go in a different direction. Some teams will build their draft boards to fit their needs, pushing, for example, cornerbacks higher than they should be graded.
With the 38th pick in the 2003 draft, the highest-rated player left on the Cowboys' board was tight end Jason Witten. But the Cowboys were unsettled at center and selected Al Johnson.
With a number of tight ends still available, the Cowboys felt they could get one they liked in the third round. Luckily for them, Witten was still available, and they scooped him up with the 69th overall pick.
But in 2005, the Cowboys tried to stick with the best-player-available theory. The fourth round that year was the most telling. With the 109th pick, the Cowboys picked running back Marion Barber, nearly two rounds after he was expected to be taken. He led the NFC in rushing touchdowns last season with 14.
Knee and eye injuries kept defensive end Chris Canty from projecting as a possible first-round pick, and the Cowboys nearly chose him instead of Barber. But instead of waiting 39 more picks and hoping Canty slipped to the fifth round, the Cowboys gave three draft picks to Philadelphia for the 132nd slot to get him. Canty started every game last season.
Teams get into trouble when they draft for need.
"The worst picks I've had were the picks I made because you needed somebody," said former Tennessee Titans general manager Floyd Reese, now an ESPN analyst.
"You have a guy who is 20th, and you end up taking him 15th because you need to fill a spot. When you have three or four holes, it's really hard to have a good draft because you have to fill holes."
The Cowboys don't have that worry this year, according to Jones. But he's not ready to say they will take the "best player available."
"I'd like to just rephrase it," Jones said. "There's a little more to it unless you want to say, 'safest player available.' "
posted by The Gryphon at 11:03 AM
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