Watkins: Cowboys emerge from NFL Draft believing they’re a better team

Cotton

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By Calvin Watkins Apr 27, 2019

Any​ franchise​ that isn’t optimistic​ after the NFL Draft has​ clearly sustained three days very different than they envisioned.​​ The Dallas Cowboys’ brain trust wasn’t giddy over the eight players added Friday and Saturday, but they are highly confident the team improved.

They are, of course, supposed to feel this way. But a deeper look at what they’ve done this offseason gives you the feeling they might be right.

“We have improved it, yes,” Jerry Jones said of the roster.

The Cowboys clearly emphasized the defense this weekend, selecting five players who play on that side of the ball, including three defensive linemen.

It would be easy to characterize this as the Rod Marinelli draft. He got his man, defensive tackle Trysten Hill, in the second round, then added defensive ends Joe Jackson (fifth round) and Jalen Jelks (seventh round) on Day 3. Hill should be a Week 1 starter, while Jackson and Jenkins add depth to the defensive line group.

Head coach Jason Garrett was quick to point out that Jackson, who will be a left defensive end, plays “the right way” and he’s “around the ball a lot.” Jackson has the measurables: 6-foot-4, 275 pounds, with 34 1/8-inch arms. That makes him longer than first-round picks Josh Allen (33 1/2) and Brian Burns (33 7/8), who are nearly the same height. Jackson’s athletic testing, however, was less than great.



Defensive line coach Leon Lett will help Jackson utilize his long arms to knock passes down and become a productive pass rusher.

Marinelli loves rotating defensive linemen. Outside of end DeMarcus Lawrence, who will play three downs, this group will be staggered, and it should be better than 2018’s unit. When you account for defensive tackles Kerry Hyder and Christian Covington, and defensive end Robert Quinn, the Cowboys should feel they improved their line.

Jalen Jenks, the team’s last pick of the draft, was seen as a real value. The team didn’t anticipate he would be around in the seventh round.

“Rated very high on our board, and we’re getting to the end of our draft, and he’s still sitting there like a blinking red light,” Garrett said. “There is so much to like about this guy; he’s big, long, athletic, plays with a relentless spirit, great motor, great energy, around the ball a lot. Again, he plays the right way, has a lot of the traits we’re looking for in our defensive lineman. I think it’s going to be very competitive all across that defensive front for guys to make this football team, guys to fight for playing time.”

Outside of upgrading the defensive line, the Cowboys needed to find a backup to Ezekiel Elliott. Last year, Elliott led the NFL with 381 touches while playing in 82.7 percent of the offensive snaps. He played more than Todd Gurley (75 percent) and Alvin Kamara (62.6 percent). Le’Veon Bell is his closest comparison; Bell played in 85.2 percent of the Steelers’ 2017 snaps.

At some point, touches wear a player down. The Cowboys don’t want to overwork their elite running back. So it made sense to find a runner who fit two needs. The Cowboys want a player who provides return skills and can become versatile in the run and pass games. Enter Tony Pollard from Memphis. Dallas snagged him in the fourth round, 128th overall, and outside of a poor NFL scouting combine (where he suffered from food poisoning after eating at Chipotle), he fits what this team needs. Stephen Jones said the Cowboys could use Pollard in a similar fashion as the Saints utilize Kamara.

“A guy like Pollard can come in and be a great complement to Zeke in terms of what he can do,” Jones said. “As Jason said, he can run between the tackles; you probably don’t want to give him a heavy dose of it, but he is a running back. He can go out there and play in space and be great for you on special teams, and I think you’ll look up and watch this guy get 30 plays before it is all said and done. Certainly, some of those plays can be home run plays if you follow what he did.”

The Cowboys found a more traditional running back with Mike Weber, who expressed surprise that he wasn’t drafted in the first three rounds. Weber is more of an inside runner than Pollard, and that versatility is helpful.

There are a few reasons Weber’s draft stock fell. He started for just one season and his 10 fumbles in three seasons alarmed some teams. Weber said four teams (Dallas, Chicago, Pittsburgh and Indianapolis) brought him in for visits.

“I guess there is some stuff that pushed me back to the last round,” Weber said. “But everything happens for a reason.”

One of the biggest concerns for this team was the safety position, and the Cowboys made a difficult choice on Friday night. They had the option of drafting Virginia safety Juan Thornhill or Hill and elected to pick the defensive tackle. The final day of the draft presented the Cowboys with few opportunities to find another safety. There were four safeties off the board in the fourth round by the time the Cowboys got to pick at No. 128 overall. Dallas was interested in Chauncey Gardner-Johnson and Amani Hooker, but both were taken midway through the round. The front office stayed true to its board, taking the highest-rated player, in the fourth and seventh rounds. When there wasn’t a clear top prospect, the Cowboys traded down.

“We lost some guys that we were right on the cusp of getting,” Stephen Jones said. “At the same time, we had a good board put together and felt good how we went about it. We traded back a few times, which I think usually happens when you lose a guy or two, not necessarily trying to make a quick pick. I felt good about doing that, and we ended up picking up a couple players.”

If there was one issue anyone had with the Cowboys, it was the safety spot. Dallas used its sixth-round pick, acquired in a trade with Cincinnati, to add Texas A&M’s Donovan Wilson. He’s a strong safety, and yes, the last sixth-round safety Dallas picked (Xavier Woods) is a starter. It’s hard to believe Wilson will challenge for a spot on the 53-man roster, but given how the Cowboys feel about their current veteran roster, they’re fine with this selection.

In the big picture, a Dallas team striving for a big 2019 was happy with Day 3 of the draft.

“Everything we’ve been about is improving from where we were (last year),” Jerry Jones said. “There’s no reason, no tangible reason we shouldn’t be expected to be better than we were last year.”
 

Smitty

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Total fluff piece.

I love how they basically decided weeks ago that Trysten Hill was gonna be their pick at 58.

They think they are so smart. Instead of trading down to create value, if he's the guy they really wanted, they couldn't bare to risk losing out on him. So they take him at 58 and then trumpet it around like, "Look how smart we are. We got this guy at 58 when everyone else had a third round grade on him or worse."

Well, they better be right.

Ah, who am I kidding? It doesn't matter if they are right or not. The GM stays the same.

But the arrogance is on full display here. They are telling the world that they know better, instead of trying to line up this player with where he's actually projected to go.

They could have had Adderly or Thornhill at 58, Hill at 90, and then probably traded back into the late third or early fourth to get McGovern if they wanted. At the cost of the Jackson twins, probably. Since they could have still gotten Pollard with their original 5th (another horrendous reach, arrogantly touting him as Alvin Kamara, basically).
 

Simpleton

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I wouldn't assume they could've gotten Hill at 90, the opinions on the guy seem to vary wildly and while some may say he was a 4th type there are plenty of media former scout types (Jeremiah, Brandt) who had him ranked in the top 50-70. The Senior Bowl director said there were several teams who had Hill ranked higher than Christian Wilkins. The strategy should've been to take Adderley/Thornhill/Rapp at 58 and then trade up from 90 into the 70-75 range for Hill.
 

Cowboysrock55

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I wouldn't assume they could've gotten Hill at 90, the opinions on the guy seem to vary wildly and while some may say he was a 4th type there are plenty of media former scout types (Jeremiah, Brandt) who had him ranked in the top 50-70. The Senior Bowl director said there were several teams who had Hill ranked higher than Christian Wilkins. The strategy should've been to take Adderley/Thornhill/Rapp at 58 and then trade up from 90 into the 70-75 range for Hill.
I would be curious to see our draft board. I think we are all more judgmental of the Hill pick because there wasn't a first round pick. But I don't look at Hill and think man, we just have to get that guy. If we try to get him in the third and he is gone it wouldn't have bothered me at all. He wasn't that type of talent to me. But the Cowboys were too attached to take that risk. I just wonder how they viewed the other players who went around that pick. Or if Hill was that highly ranked.

I agree there was no guarantee he was still around in the third. But we all knew there was zero chance Rapp, Adderly or Thornhill was around in the third.
 

Simpleton

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I would be curious to see our draft board. I think we are all more judgmental of the Hill pick because there wasn't a first round pick. But I don't look at Hill and think man, we just have to get that guy. If we try to get him in the third and he is gone it wouldn't have bothered me at all. He wasn't that type of talent to me. But the Cowboys were too attached to take that risk. I just wonder how they viewed the other players who went around that pick. Or if Hill was that highly ranked.

I agree there was no guarantee he was still around in the third. But we all knew there was zero chance Rapp, Adderly or Thornhill was around in the third.
Lord knows man, Hill has unbelievable burst and a rare first step, I could see them ranking him as a borderline 1st just based on that and his "relationship" with Marinelli.

I think it's pretty clear that they had Thornhill and probably Rapp solidly in the 2nd, and not far behind Hill, but Adderley is what really confuses me. He's a ballhawk who is a great fit as a single-high FS in a Cover-3, which is exactly what the Chargers will play him at, yet we showed absolutely no interest.

Further, I feel like Xavier Woods can play in the box if he has to, he was basically a slot CB for much of his rookie year, but now they seem to only want him in the single-high role.
 

Cowboysrock55

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Lord knows man, Hill has unbelievable burst and a rare first step, I could see them ranking him as a borderline 1st just based on that and his "relationship" with Marinelli.
They made it aound like Thornhill and Hill were basically the same grade and both second rounders. Mcgovern was also their last second round grade when our third round pick was up. I'm curious where Rapp and Adderly sort of fell in there. I'm not sure why Thornhill and Hill were the debate when Rapp would have basically been the perfect safety for their excuse against Thornhill. And how was Dre'Mont Jones not in the discussion. Is it because he isn't 300 pounds? They seemed to make a point with Hill that he moves so well for a 300 pound guy. But that has never seemed like a requirement for our 3 tech before.
 

Simpleton

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They made it aound like Thornhill and Hill were basically the same grade and both second rounders. Mcgovern was also theor last second round grade when oir third round pick was up. I'm curious where Rapp and Adderly sort of fell in there. I'm not sure why Thornhill and Hill were the debate when Rapp would have basically been the perfect safety for their excuse against Thornhill.
Could be that the hip thing knocked Rapp down the board slightly, could be that they locked onto Hill come hell or high water and are playing PR games to justify it.
 

UncleMilti

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Total fluff piece.

I love how they basically decided weeks ago that Trysten Hill was gonna be their pick at 58.

They think they are so smart. Instead of trading down to create value, if he's the guy they really wanted, they couldn't bare to risk losing out on him. So they take him at 58 and then trumpet it around like, "Look how smart we are. We got this guy at 58 when everyone else had a third round grade on him or worse."

Well, they better be right.

Ah, who am I kidding? It doesn't matter if they are right or not. The GM stays the same.

But the arrogance is on full display here. They are telling the world that they know better, instead of trying to line up this player with where he's actually projected to go.

They could have had Adderly or Thornhill at 58, Hill at 90, and then probably traded back into the late third or early fourth to get McGovern if they wanted. At the cost of the Jackson twins, probably. Since they could have still gotten Pollard with their original 5th (another horrendous reach, arrogantly touting him as Alvin Kamara, basically).
Its almost like the arrogant, yet idiotic Jones led draft back in the shit days.

I don't know who they think they are fucking kidding, but this draft sucked ass. They had a few good chances to actually improve some weaknesses in their roster and failed miserably doing it.

Typical Jones over-reaction..."oh shit, the Rams ran all over us in the playoffs...we better go out and draft every DL we can :dunce:dunce
 

ravidubey

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Lord knows man, Hill has unbelievable burst and a rare first step, I could see them ranking him as a borderline 1st just based on that and his "relationship" with Marinelli.

I think it's pretty clear that they had Thornhill and probably Rapp solidly in the 2nd, and not far behind Hill, but Adderley is what really confuses me. He's a ballhawk who is a great fit as a single-high FS in a Cover-3, which is exactly what the Chargers will play him at, yet we showed absolutely no interest.

Further, I feel like Xavier Woods can play in the box if he has to, he was basically a slot CB for much of his rookie year, but now they seem to only want him in the single-high role.
Hill’s burst does jump out at you. I just wish he didn’t look so little.

They will try to bulk him up, but then will he lose the burst that got him drafted?

Against pro talent his jump won’t help if he lacks the power to back it up.
 

Simpleton

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Hill’s burst does jump out at you. I just wish he didn’t look so little.

They will try to bulk him up, but then will he lose the burst that got him drafted?

Against pro talent his jump won’t help if he lacks the power to back it up.
He was 308 at the Combine, I doubt they'll want him carrying much more weight than that.
 

Cotton

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I would be curious to see our draft board. I think we are all more judgmental of the Hill pick because there wasn't a first round pick. But I don't look at Hill and think man, we just have to get that guy. If we try to get him in the third and he is gone it wouldn't have bothered me at all. He wasn't that type of talent to me. But the Cowboys were too attached to take that risk. I just wonder how they viewed the other players who went around that pick. Or if Hill was that highly ranked.

I agree there was no guarantee he was still around in the third. But we all knew there was zero chance Rapp, Adderly or Thornhill was around in the third.
Same thing applies in the 4th. We were hot after Isaiah Johnson and traded back when someone took him just before our comp pick. Instead of taking Johnson with the first 4th and taking Pollard (who most likely would have been there for the comp) with the comp pick we got ahead of ourselves and lost out on a player we wanted.
 

ravidubey

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He was 308 at the Combine, I doubt they'll want him carrying much more weight than that.
Well he’ll gain muscle and strength in the NFL, and I do like that he’s compact.

If he plays at 315 without losing quickness I’d be happy.
 

bbgun

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Ridiculous headline. Every team is necessarily better after adding six or seven new players.
 
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