Now, let me briefly detail why this is a bigger deal to me than most people want to hear: Precisely, I think Pryor is both a better player and at a bigger position of need. I had Pryor ranked in front of Martin, but I also am coming off a season of watching Cowboys football. In that season, we saw free safety Will Allen become JJ Wilcox, then Jakar Hamilton, then Jeff Heath. We saw fantastically poor centerfield play and really it has been a theme for several years running. It costs them the game in Detroit for sure, and countless other scores and issues in a season that statistically was the worst season in defensive Cowboys' history.
The Cowboys had their choice of Calvin Pryor (Jets #18), Haha Clinton-Dix (Packers #21), and Jimmie Ward (49ers #30) to evaluate and select the best centerfield safety in the draft. Now, admittedly, there doesn't appear to be an Ed Reed or Earl Thomas in this draft, but that is purely speculative. The idea that the draft allowed them this solution to a problem since Darren Woodson walked the turf of Texas Stadium does cause me indigestion, especially feeling like the safety ranks are thin and it appears that Wilcox and Matt Johnson must be their internal solutions to what I consider to be a very bad weakness at a very important spot in today's NFL.
Meanwhile, other observations from 2013 tell me that the Cowboys offensive line was actually satisfactory in practically all regards. They pass protected quite well (only 6 teams were sacked less than Dallas) and once Brian Waters went down and was replaced by Mackenzy Bernadeau, the zone running scheme took off and the Cowboys were actually a superb running team after the New Orleans game all the way until the end of the season. In those final 6 games, the Cowboys showed a running ability that we had not seen for years, with 5.36 yards per carry for the 177 rushes they attempted in those games - including dominating and destructive efforts against Green Bay and Chicago where they averaged 7.3 yards per carry.
They had every reason to believe that the 5 OL starters from 2013 were going to be fine in 2014 as well. Tyron Smith-Ron Leary-Travis Frederick-Bernadeau-Doug Free had observers feeling ok about the line. Was there any depth? No. But, there were no glaring needs at the top and they could simply target depth in a deep OL draft to cover for the catastrophe.
Is Zack Martin better than Bernadeau? Of course, he is. Should the Cowboys be a better OL this year than last? Yes. And the youth and ability could actually make this a power line for the first time in years and a laughable upgrade from the rubbish of 2011 and 2012 that nearly got Tony Romo killed. Now, with Parnell and Bernadeau as your reserves, your "game day 7" looks formidable for sure.
But, as I said before the draft, I don't need to feel like guard was a position that screamed for an upgrade. If you have strong tackle and center play, you can survive pretty well with replacement-level guards, especially just one of them. I thought Bernadeau was fine, and replacing him would be fine if you can do it in the 3rd or 4th, but to spend a 1st on a guard is an aggressive move that you might do if you have no other glaring holes. But, man, were are my sacks and safeties?
I have heard from many of you who have been bothered by my long time philosophy of building of the lines being followed, only to hear I am still complaining. All I can tell you is I did not consider guard a real target in Round 1. I think DT, DE, LB, and S were all bigger places to look. If Martin turns out to be a generational talent at that spot and Pryor is just a guy, I will look silly provided that the Cowboys can fix their secondary. But, 2013 tells us that it is a massive hole that they ignored to solidify a spot that in my view did not require this expenditure.
So, is Martin a good player? Sure! Is it a good pick? It is solid - a pure base hit. But, yes, in looking at the macro view and the potential effects of the move, in which they spent their biggest resource to get it done, I might differ with the logic.