MacMahon: Why were Cowboys high on Hitchens?

L.T. Fan said:

I get that but once it's done there is no turning back so from my vantage point it serves no purpose to make further judgements because the draft was out of position. The deed is done and everyone looks the same when they suit up.

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Then when they play and you realize that all this guy could possibly ever do is play special teams, then you need to critically evaluate where he was picked.

There was zero value there. We had seventh rounders that would have made more sense and have as good of a chance to contribute at the level he is likely to be able to play at.

mschmidt64 said:

And we fucking knew we were taking him too early. We just don't know what the fuck we're doing.

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We knew exactly what we were doing. We were drafting a pet cat of Bisaccia and Eberflus, specifically to play special teams. He was a big part of Iowa's punt units and that's exactly where he will play in Dallas. Then Eberflus thinks he sees some skills that "might" help him be a reserve ILB.

We value filling needs -- even miniscule needs for backups and STers -- over getting good players. We don't know shit about team building correctly.

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We value filling "roles". Oh, Bisaccia didn't care for say, Cameron Lawrence. Oh, better get a replacement!

boozeman said:

We value filling "roles". Oh, Bisaccia didn't care for say, Cameron Lawrence. Oh, better get a replacement!

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I guess that's a better way of what I was trying to say.

Another reason why you need a real GM who has a big picture of the whole team instead of giving each coach a voice on a per-round basis. I guess when they were picking out of the hat this year Bisaccia drew the 4th round slip.

GShock said:

So we pretty much view the first three rounds as the only place we can find starters or potential starters, and use the rest of the draft as some sort of random lottery, weighted by whichever position coach yells the loudest. I mean, the results certainly speak for themselves, but I never thought it was actually designed with such stupidity.

Good grief.

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That seems to be their strategy. Day 3, rounds 4-7, are all equal in Jerry's eyes. Gotta get that backup LB for Lee in the 4th even if he has a 7th round rating.

I can't grasp why it's so hard for them to find their backups/ST's in the 6th/7th round. Honestly, I don't know why they cant just go BPA within our system on day three and then have them compete. And I know the value of good special teams, but most of the time, other than the kickers and returners they are made up of backups who want a chance to get on the field. Heck, even the KR/PR are normally backup CB's/RB's/WR's. Makes much more sense to me to look for the best football players available and then formulate your ST's than to go into the draft looking for ST's and then trying to find a place for them on offense/defense. This group never learns. Even in the mid 90's we'd let Avezzano have a couple of rounds in the mid/late part of the draft to play with. Simply mindboggling.

mschmidt64 said:

I guess that's a better way of what I was trying to say.

Another reason why you need a real GM who has a big picture of the whole team instead of giving each coach a voice on a per-round basis. I guess when they were picking out of the hat this year Bisaccia drew the 4th round slip.

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It wouldn't shock me if we have a depth chart that has starts at all positions and then specifically names ST guys and reserves roster spots.

They are not interested in creating roster competition or shoring up what we call depth. They are just looking for players to fill specific slots on the 53. Nevermind if they can play a normal position. Hell we kept Danny McCray around for years and knew he couldn't do anything else but play special teams. Did it before for Sam Hurd. And Keith Davis.

I get having a couple of guys like that. But what I don't get is paying them second contracts or even worse spending a draft pick to try to get a guy to do it.

L.T. Fan said:

To me draft value is meaningless once the draft is over. The player will contribute or he won't regardless of position drafted.

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You'd fit right in with our front office. Draft position is important because it's not just about who we drafted but who we passed on. There were at least 2 rounds worth of players who were better than Hitchens when we picked in the 4th. But instead of having a higher caliber player on the roster now we have Hitchens to go along with the other five 7th rounders we drafted.

VA Cowboy said:

You'd fit right in with our front office. Draft position is important because it's not just about who we drafted but who we passed on. There were at least 2 rounds worth of players who were better than Hitchens when we picked in the 4th. But instead of having a higher caliber player on the roster now we have Hitchens to go along with the other five 7th rounders we drafted.

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Hey, if you hit on a guy in the seventh, then it's like okay that you wasted a 4th on some ST only guy.

VA Cowboy said:

You'd fit right in with our front office. Draft position is important because it's not just about who we drafted but who we passed on. There were at least 2 rounds worth of players who were better than Hitchens when we picked in the 4th. But instead of having a higher caliber player on the roster now we have Hitchens to go along with the other five 7th rounders we drafted.

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I like his assumption that Hitchens is going to actually contribute as well.

mschmidt64 said:

I love LT's weak attempts at justifying this selection.

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Hold on. I'm not justifying anything about it. I have already said I know nothing about him. The next thing I said is the pick is in so I don't see the point in lamenting over it. Finally I said in the end when they suit up they all look alike no matter where they were picked. Now tell me what in that fits the criteria for justifying the pick.

VA Cowboy said:

You'd fit right in with our front office. Draft position is important because it's not just about who we drafted but who we passed on. There were at least 2 rounds worth of players who were better than Hitchens when we picked in the 4th. But instead of having a higher caliber player on the roster now we have Hitchens to go along with the other five 7th rounders we drafted.

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Draft positions are important before the draft. When it's over it doesn't mean anything anymore.

L.T. Fan said:

Hold on. I'm not justifying anything about it. I have already said I know nothing about him. The next thing I said is the pick is in so I don't see the point in lamenting over it. Finally I said in the end when they suit up they all look alike no matter where they were picked. Now tell me what in that fits the criteria for justifying the pick.

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Sounds more like you are trying to just say forget about it, wait and see, in a few months you won't even remember it since they all look alike.

mschmidt64 said:

I like his assumption that Hitchens is going to actually contribute as well.

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You have a vivid imagination. I said based on what I have seen on video I like the way he gets to a spot quickly and tackles well.

L.T. Fan said:

You have a vivid imagination. I said based on what I have seen on video I like the way he gets to a spot quickly and tackles well.

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So do you think he's a good pick that will contribute, or do you think he's a bad pick who will wash out?

boozeman said:

Sounds more like you are trying to just say forget about it, wait and see, in a few months you won't even remember it since they all look alike.

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What I am saying is that the deed is done and no amount of pissing and moaning will change it so to me it's a wasted effort to continue to beat a dead horse

mschmidt64 said:

So do you think he's a good pick that will contribute, or do you think he's a bad pick who will wash out?

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I think I don't know and I think you don't know either.

L.T. Fan said:

What I am saying is that the deed is done and no amount of pissing and moaning will change it so to me it's a wasted effort to continue to beat a dead horse

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Well, we are only 2 days removed from the draft. You have to kinda expect people to still be discussing our picks with their opinion about where they were taken.

Iamtdg said:

Well, we are only 2 days removed from the draft. You have to kinda expect people to still be discussing our picks with their opinion about where they were taken.

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That's fine if they want to do it but again fo rme it's a waste of time and effort.

L.T. Fan said:

I think I don't know

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Great, because that's what I suspected. You don't even have an opinion, you just don't want everyone else to complain.

Well, the rest of us do have opinions and it's that he's not going to contribute to the level of a good fourth round pick. We don't mind laying it out there since we saw the same bullshit with AOA, Robert Brewster, Jason X, Isaiah Stanback, etc.

L.T. Fan said:

That's fine if they want to do it but again fo rme it's a waste of time and effort.

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Then it should also be a waste of time and effort to talk about anything positive, yes? Since you don't think anyone knows anything, let's just all sit here and fold our hands in silence.

You better not compliment any of our draft picks, you wouldn't want to be a hypocrite.

L.T. Fan said:

Draft positions are important before the draft. When it's over it doesn't mean anything anymore.

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So you just don't like the fact that fans on a messageboard have the nerve to discuss their team and the draft that happened just days ago?

And reaching for players 2-3 rounds higher than they are projected to go and routinely coming up on the short end of trades isn't meaningless or unimportant. It's the main reason we keep going 8-8 and have only 1 playoff win in the last 18 years.