The Cowboys need to draft a quarterback -- just not at No. 4

Simpleton

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When has this board ever liked DBs early in the draft? I can't remember any since we thought Roy Williams would be a monster. I could think of worse picks than Ramsey at 4. Imagine having two ultra athletic safety/CB hybrids that can essentially cover anyone lined up on the field. With Ramsey, you might even add another slash: S/CB/LB. Ramsey could be a more athletic Darren Woodson. Nothing wrong with that at 4.
I absolutely loved Eric Berry as a top 5 prospect, one of my favorite prospects in the draft the year he came out, I really liked Patrick Peterson and Sean Taylor in the top 5 too. I was fine with Morris Claiborne as well, he looked like the best defensive prospect in that draft aside from maybe Kuechly, and I'm not saying that in hindsight either, I loved Kuechly coming out and suggested we should consider him at 12 or ever where we were picking before trading up.

I liked Trae Waynes last year if he would've fallen into the 20's, Matt Elam was one of my top choices after we traded down in 2013, I also liked the Mike Jenkins pick in 2008. I was also a big fan of Reggie Nelson, Michael Huff, Carlos Rogers and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie.

My big thing though is that if I'm going to take a DB in the 1st round, especially in the top 10, I need to see them show that they are a bona fide playmaker with ball skills in college. I need a guy who has at least 5+ career INT's and/or a season with at least 3+ INT's in college.

The vast majority of those guys that I mentioned were absolute ballhawks in college; Berry, Taylor, Peterson, Rodgers-Cromartie, and on top of that they displayed an ability to return once they got the ball in their hands. And I'm willing to guess that most of the rest had at least 5 career INT's in college.

Meanwhile we have Jalen Ramsey over here with 3 f'ing career INT's despite the fact that he played heavy snaps all 3 years in college, including a grand total of 0 INT's as a junior. I've seen plays where the ball is thrown right at him and bounces off his hands, plays where he doesn't get his head around on a deep ball and is beaten by a nobody WR. Hell, our very own Byron Jones had 5 career INT's heading into his senior season and then had 2 in only 7 games as a senior, if he hadn't gotten hurt he probably adds at least one or two on top of that.

I can see that the guy has elite size, speed, athleticism and is versatile in terms of being able to play CB, S or even nickel/dime LB, but when you consider what we've invested in the secondary over the last 5 years (50+ million contract in Carr, trading up into the top 10 for Claiborne, spending a 1st on Jones), I just cannot justify spending this high of a pick on a guy who hasn't shown that he has elite ball skills in college.
 

boozeman

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If I am taking a DB at 4, he better be exceptional at one position, not a "hybrid".
 

shane

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That anti DB rhetoric is dumb but I agree because I don't like the top DBs in this draft.
I generally think that linebackers and D-Line are more important positions, but considering that we used our last top pick on a DB and did pretty well with it, it would be excessive.
 

Cowboysrock55

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I generally think that linebackers and D-Line are more important positions, but considering that we used our last top pick on a DB and did pretty well with it, it would be excessive.
Well with that logic you probably should be saying anything but OL...

We need way better secondary play. But I don't really see any of the top guys in this draft fixing that. IF there was an Eric Berry/Ed Reed/Earl Thomas type at the top of this draft I'd be saying you're an idiot for not wanting them. But they don't exist in this draft. So ultimately my conclusion is the same that I don't want a DB at the top of this draft.
 

Simpleton

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Even aside from a safety, if there was a Patrick Peterson in this draft, a big, hulking guy who ran a sub-4.4 and showed in college that he could lock down opponents while also having the ball skills to pick off passes and then return them, I'd be all over it, but there isn't, so fuck it.
 

Cowboysrock55

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Even aside from a safety, if there was a Patrick Peterson in this draft, a big, hulking guy who ran a sub-4.4 and showed in college that he could lock down opponents while also having the ball skills to pick off passes and then return them, I'd be all over it, but there isn't, so fuck it.
I agree. The DB hate is dumb but the DB's at the top of this draft just don't do it for me.
 

Simpleton

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I agree. The DB hate is dumb but the DB's at the top of this draft just don't do it for me.
Yea, I mean take a guy like William Jackson III.

Great size for a CB, very productive in terms of INT's in college with 8, including 5 as a senior, he's shown an ability to return INT's for chunks at a time and led the NCAA with a ridiculous 23 PD's. If he impresses at the Senior Bowl and runs well at the Combine I wouldn't even be mad if we took him with our 2nd rounder.
 

ravidubey

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Either he's looked at as a franchise QB or he isn't. If the scouts and coaches decide he's good enough to draft in the first, don't get cute trying to trade down and take the chance of losing him. If you decide that he's the one, take him at #4 and don't look back. QB is too important a position to screw around.
Panthers didn't with Cam Newton, and now no one would dispute their taking him #1 overall despite his being ranked no higher than 9th in pre-draft pubs.
 

VA Cowboy

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When has this board ever liked DBs early in the draft? I can't remember any since we thought Roy Williams would be a monster. I could think of worse picks than Ramsey at 4. Imagine having two ultra athletic safety/CB hybrids that can essentially cover anyone lined up on the field. With Ramsey, you might even add another slash: S/CB/LB. Ramsey could be a more athletic Darren Woodson. Nothing wrong with that at 4.
I think Roy was the last time I was fine with a DB that high. Getting the trade down and still getting him made it even better.

Now I have two issues with it. This will be our 4th time in 15 years we've had a top 10 pick and we've taken DB the other three times, and other than Roy for about 3 years, it hasn't worked out. You'd think we could maybe use a high pick elsewhere for a change.

But my main issue with it is while Ramsey looks to be a great talent, he's not a true CB and hasn't been a true safety. Not to mention his lack of producing turnovers despite being so highly rated. I don't think he'll be a shutdown CB in the NFL if he's even a CB. Even though we need another safety we just used our first last year on Byron Jones.

Now if Ramsey ends up being the next Polamalu, Ed Reed or even Darren Woodson then he would be worth it and there would be worse things than taking him. But I have my doubts he'll be the next game-changing safety. Now if we did go DB I'd take Ramsey over Hargreaves in a heartbeat. But I'd much prefer a future potential franchise QB or a dominant front seven defender over a safety this high, especially with already having Jones.
 

Cowboysrock55

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Poor coaching too. Terence Newman had 3 interceptions last year which is more than all of our cornerbacks got in 2015.
Yeah something is wrong when your non DBs have just as many INTs as your actual DBs. It's also sad when Jeff Heath is your team leader in INTs.

Brandon Carr hasn't had an INT in 2 years now. Hell it only took Mitchell 3 games to get his first pick here. The corners seem to get worse the longer they are in Dallas except for Scandrick.
 

townsend

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Yeah something is wrong when your non DBs have just as many INTs as your actual DBs. It's also sad when Jeff Heath is your team leader in INTs.

Brandon Carr hasn't had an INT in 2 years now. Hell it only took Mitchell 3 games to get his first pick here. The corners seem to get worse the longer they are in Dallas except for Scandrick.
It's part of Jerry's weird ad hoc coaching staff. I don't know how you retain a defensive backs coach from a different defensive staff, that you booted out of the door.
 

boozeman

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It's part of Jerry's weird ad hoc coaching staff. I don't know how you retain a defensive backs coach from a different defensive staff, that you booted out of the door.
Retained the LB coach too.

Switching from a 3-4 like Ryan's to a 4-3 like Marinelli's.
 

marsbennett

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Either he's looked at as a franchise QB or he isn't. If the scouts and coaches decide he's good enough to draft in the first, don't get cute trying to trade down and take the chance of losing him. If you decide that he's the one, take him at #4 and don't look back. QB is too important a position to screw around.
Absolutely. And I would seriously consider it.
 

kidd

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Either he's looked at as a franchise QB or he isn't. If the scouts and coaches decide he's good enough to draft in the first, don't get cute trying to trade down and take the chance of losing him. If you decide that he's the one, take him at #4 and don't look back. QB is too important a position to screw around.
Agreed.

I don't pretend to know anything about the draft because I don't watch college ball. But I look no farther than Aaron Rodgers, Steve McNair, (ugh!)Steve Young, and our very own Romo. These QBs all had the opportunity to sit and learn and are considered elite.

This team has a golden opportunity to get our QB of the future and bring him along slowly instead of ruining him by throwing him to the wolves too early.
 

Cowboysrock55

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It's part of Jerry's weird ad hoc coaching staff. I don't know how you retain a defensive backs coach from a different defensive staff, that you booted out of the door.
For a team that has a defensive coordinator who specializes in a cover two system, we absolutely suck at running zone coverage. I don't know if it is coaching or that the DBs we have aren't good at zone but we suck at it. Any time we run a zone defense you'll see offensive players running wide open while we have defensive players covering no one. There is just zero understanding and feel by our players that while you're in zone you're still supposed to be covering someone.
 
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