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Why can't the Cowboys draft in the second round?
By Kevin Turner 40m ago
The Cowboys got it right last year. They hit on a second-round draft pick. I mean, it did hit, right? Chidobe Awuzie is destined to go down in Cowboys folklore just because of the way Drew Pearson introduced him to the NFL in front of a raucous Philadelphia crowd.
Awuzie only started six games, but I'd currently identify him as a successful selection because of what he showed in his ten games of playing time. That’s right; a guy who started fewer than half the games in a full season is being classified as a “hit”. Maybe I'm grading on a curve because the Cowboys have done an awful job of drafting in round two over the last two decades.
To give Chido his credit, he only allowed 133 yards on 19 receptions last season according to Pro Football Focus. That’s incredibly strong, only 7 yards per reception. So for the sake of optimism, let’s say they bucked the trend in 2017!
That being said, the last 15 years just can’t be ignored. 'Surely, Kevin,' you exclaim. 'It can't really be that bad!'
Oh, dear reader. It really can. Let KT take you on a journey.
2016: Jaylon Smith LB Notre Dame
I’ll never forget that day at the NFL combine when a reporter for another NFL team told me someone in his organization thought there was only a 20% chance that Jaylon Smith would ever play football again. Obviously, the Cowboys had the advantage of inside information as their team doctor performed Jaylon's surgery. But I have a hard time coming to grips with the idea that another team would have taken Jaylon in the second round, much less with the third pick of that round.
So Jaylon redshirts in 2016, serves as a role player in 2017 and for now, is penciled in as the Cowboys' middle linebacker in 2018. That could work out, right? I guess it could, but I’m not incredibly optimistic. Maybe I should be. Maybe I shouldn’t be so cynical. Maybe I should believe in the player. I know I believe in the person, but the lack of precedent for players coming back from this particular injury is damning.
My biggest issue with the pick is the idea that it could eventually give you value. Of course it could, every pick could eventually give you value. But let’s think about this from a standpoint of the future, not in hindsight.
Half of Jaylon’s rookie contract is up. He has two years remaining. There are three ways the rest of this story could go:
Jaylon plays well enough in 2018 to return and start again in 2019, and from there the Cowboys will have to make their own evaluation on whether they want him to return. Who knows, maybe they will re-sign him? They weren't as focused on retaining Anthony Hitchens as I anticipated.
Jaylon Smith kicks butt in 2018 and 2019 and you want to keep him, but the price of his career skyrocketing is that the Cowboys will have to pay a pretty penny to keep him around after the 2019 season. If the Cowboys choose to pay, that’s fine, you should draft and pay your own, I love that mentality. But if the Cowboys are outbid, they drafted a player with a premium pick in 2016, saw him miss a year and play poorly in another, then extracted two good years and saw him ball out for another team. The two wasted seasons have already set this pick back substantially.
He’s never good again, and the Cowboys don’t want him back after his rookie contract.
You’d be hard pressed anyone easier to root for than Jaylon Smith, but we’re at a point now where defending that selection becomes harder and harder with each passing development.
2015: Randy Gregory DE Nebraska
At the time, taking Randy Gregory 60th overall seemed like great value. We all knew he would slide, and there’s reason to believe the Cowboys might have considered him 33 picks earlier, in the first round. They knew the risks that came with Randy Gregory.
We all knew the risks that came with Randy Gregory. “Am I worried? Yeah, I’m worried,” Gregory said in an NFL.com interview on March 25, 2015, just one month before the draft. He added, “I know I’m going to be all right in the end.”
We can only hope so, as Randy has been off the grid for quite a while now. It is unfortunate that the NFL suspension policy doesn’t allow a player to be around some sort of structure, but that’s beside the point. The fact that Randy hasn’t even submitted his reinstatement papers tells me that he’s not confident he can pass a random drug test.
Randy missed the first four games of 2016, and then served an additional 10-game suspension for violating the league’s substance abuse policy for a second time before joining the team for the final two games of the 2016 season. Once the NFL reinstates Gregory, he’ll be eligible to return to the Cowboys. But if he were ready to return, he would have applied to do so two months ago.
One final note on this before we move on: I do think we should all realize that this is more than just a guy who can’t stop smoking weed. There are mental issues at hand that every team knew about and that he’s dealt with for a long time. Sometimes sports makes us lose perspective on things. I’m not making excuses for Randy Gregory, but I do think his issues should be realized. Don't just write Gregory off as a guy who can't put down his joint.
2014: Demarcus Lawrence DE Boise State
If you’re a contending team who sees a first-round grade still available in the second, I typically have no problem with a trade up to get that player. I loved Demarcus Lawrence coming out of college, but at the time I didn’t like the Cowboys moving up. I didn't think they should give up multiple assets considering they were coming off an 8-8 year and the perpetual feeling of mediocrity had encompassed the soul of every fan.
That being said, I think we can all agree that this one worked out, as the Cowboys just gave DeMarcus Lawrence the franchise tag after his 14.5 sack season in 2017.
2013: Gavin Escobar TE San Diego State
Honestly, this could have been a good idea in theory. A huge, red zone tight end is pretty common and something teams constantly look for. The problem here is the Cowboys weren’t willing to commit to using a two-tight end set more often, and they also asked Escobar to run-block way more than they should have.
Gavin Escobar caught 30 balls for the Cowboys in four years. Eight of them were touchdowns. The TD rate is nice! The number of targets over that span, 48, is not. Either you spent a premium pick on a bad player, or you spent a premium pick on a player and decided not to use him. That’s just bad strategy.
2012: None (traded their 2nd round pick to jump up to #6 and select Morris Claiborne)
2011: Bruce Carter LB North Carolina
The athleticism was always there, and he may be one of the freakiest athletes the Cowboys have featured over the last decade. This was the old blue-star special. An injured guy with great upside, who will somehow get healthy just because he’s wearing the star.
He started 32 games in 4 seasons as a Cowboy, playing in 49 overall. Fun fact, he has five career interceptions in 7 NFL seasons, all five coming in 2014, his final year in Dallas.
2010: Sean Lee LB Penn State
This one is obviously a hit, as Sean Lee is one of the best linebackers in football. There were times throughout the years where this pick was questioned, and that’s totally fair given Lee’s injury history.
2009: NONE (traded back, and… wow, this list. How?)
2008: Martellus Bennett TE Texas A&M
Things just never panned out in Dallas, although Marty B has gone on to be a very good NFL player. Bennett caught 85 passes in his four years as a Cowboy, but he was never targeted more than 50 times. This kind of makes sense given where Jason Witten was at during that time period, but you drafted the guy to be a red-zone threat, and he only caught four touchdown passes.
That's the Cowboys' ten-year history in the second round. One trend you see over the last decade is that the Cowboys are not afraid to gamble in this range. They just happen to gamble… poorly.
We turned the clock back a little further, and the situation didn't improve by much. Take a look at the players from 2000 to 2007.
2007: NONE
2006: Anthony Fasano TE Notre Dame
2005: Kevin Burnett LB Tennessee
2004: Julius Jones RB Notre Dame and Jacob Rogers OT USC
2003: Al Johnson C Wisconsin
2002: Andre Gurode C Colorado and Antonio Bryant WR Pittsburgh
2001: Quincy Carter QB Georgia and Tony Dixon DB Alabama
2000: Dwayne Goodrich DB Tennessee
That’s… not sexy. At all. Quincy Carter did take them to the playoffs once, but I think we all know he wasn’t a good quarterback. Andre Gurode was good here, while Julius Jones and Kevin Burnett had a few moments. But overall, the second-round results have been less than exciting.
The Cowboys' 2nd-round pick this year is 50th overall. This is a big year for the Cowboys, especially with their lack of activity in free agency. They will need to find impact players with their premium draft picks.
I know many fans want the Cowboys to use pick #50 (or their third-round pick at #81) to move up in the first round, but this draft has great depth in the second and third rounds, especially at a lot of the positions the Cowboys might be interested in.
If I were in charge, and God knows I’m not, the Cowboys would sit tight at 19, 50, and 81. I wouldn't take gambles; I'd draft players who can immediately help my football team. While trading at 19 is risky, I'd be open to moving up from the Day Two selections at 50 and 81. The Cowboys have three compensatory picks this year and could use some of that capital to move up to the mid 40’s or the 70’s. That’s where I’d like to see the Cowboys get aggressive.
By Kevin Turner 40m ago
The Cowboys got it right last year. They hit on a second-round draft pick. I mean, it did hit, right? Chidobe Awuzie is destined to go down in Cowboys folklore just because of the way Drew Pearson introduced him to the NFL in front of a raucous Philadelphia crowd.
Awuzie only started six games, but I'd currently identify him as a successful selection because of what he showed in his ten games of playing time. That’s right; a guy who started fewer than half the games in a full season is being classified as a “hit”. Maybe I'm grading on a curve because the Cowboys have done an awful job of drafting in round two over the last two decades.
To give Chido his credit, he only allowed 133 yards on 19 receptions last season according to Pro Football Focus. That’s incredibly strong, only 7 yards per reception. So for the sake of optimism, let’s say they bucked the trend in 2017!
That being said, the last 15 years just can’t be ignored. 'Surely, Kevin,' you exclaim. 'It can't really be that bad!'
Oh, dear reader. It really can. Let KT take you on a journey.
2016: Jaylon Smith LB Notre Dame
I’ll never forget that day at the NFL combine when a reporter for another NFL team told me someone in his organization thought there was only a 20% chance that Jaylon Smith would ever play football again. Obviously, the Cowboys had the advantage of inside information as their team doctor performed Jaylon's surgery. But I have a hard time coming to grips with the idea that another team would have taken Jaylon in the second round, much less with the third pick of that round.
So Jaylon redshirts in 2016, serves as a role player in 2017 and for now, is penciled in as the Cowboys' middle linebacker in 2018. That could work out, right? I guess it could, but I’m not incredibly optimistic. Maybe I should be. Maybe I shouldn’t be so cynical. Maybe I should believe in the player. I know I believe in the person, but the lack of precedent for players coming back from this particular injury is damning.
My biggest issue with the pick is the idea that it could eventually give you value. Of course it could, every pick could eventually give you value. But let’s think about this from a standpoint of the future, not in hindsight.
Half of Jaylon’s rookie contract is up. He has two years remaining. There are three ways the rest of this story could go:
Jaylon plays well enough in 2018 to return and start again in 2019, and from there the Cowboys will have to make their own evaluation on whether they want him to return. Who knows, maybe they will re-sign him? They weren't as focused on retaining Anthony Hitchens as I anticipated.
Jaylon Smith kicks butt in 2018 and 2019 and you want to keep him, but the price of his career skyrocketing is that the Cowboys will have to pay a pretty penny to keep him around after the 2019 season. If the Cowboys choose to pay, that’s fine, you should draft and pay your own, I love that mentality. But if the Cowboys are outbid, they drafted a player with a premium pick in 2016, saw him miss a year and play poorly in another, then extracted two good years and saw him ball out for another team. The two wasted seasons have already set this pick back substantially.
He’s never good again, and the Cowboys don’t want him back after his rookie contract.
You’d be hard pressed anyone easier to root for than Jaylon Smith, but we’re at a point now where defending that selection becomes harder and harder with each passing development.
2015: Randy Gregory DE Nebraska
At the time, taking Randy Gregory 60th overall seemed like great value. We all knew he would slide, and there’s reason to believe the Cowboys might have considered him 33 picks earlier, in the first round. They knew the risks that came with Randy Gregory.
We all knew the risks that came with Randy Gregory. “Am I worried? Yeah, I’m worried,” Gregory said in an NFL.com interview on March 25, 2015, just one month before the draft. He added, “I know I’m going to be all right in the end.”
We can only hope so, as Randy has been off the grid for quite a while now. It is unfortunate that the NFL suspension policy doesn’t allow a player to be around some sort of structure, but that’s beside the point. The fact that Randy hasn’t even submitted his reinstatement papers tells me that he’s not confident he can pass a random drug test.
Randy missed the first four games of 2016, and then served an additional 10-game suspension for violating the league’s substance abuse policy for a second time before joining the team for the final two games of the 2016 season. Once the NFL reinstates Gregory, he’ll be eligible to return to the Cowboys. But if he were ready to return, he would have applied to do so two months ago.
One final note on this before we move on: I do think we should all realize that this is more than just a guy who can’t stop smoking weed. There are mental issues at hand that every team knew about and that he’s dealt with for a long time. Sometimes sports makes us lose perspective on things. I’m not making excuses for Randy Gregory, but I do think his issues should be realized. Don't just write Gregory off as a guy who can't put down his joint.
2014: Demarcus Lawrence DE Boise State
If you’re a contending team who sees a first-round grade still available in the second, I typically have no problem with a trade up to get that player. I loved Demarcus Lawrence coming out of college, but at the time I didn’t like the Cowboys moving up. I didn't think they should give up multiple assets considering they were coming off an 8-8 year and the perpetual feeling of mediocrity had encompassed the soul of every fan.
That being said, I think we can all agree that this one worked out, as the Cowboys just gave DeMarcus Lawrence the franchise tag after his 14.5 sack season in 2017.
2013: Gavin Escobar TE San Diego State
Honestly, this could have been a good idea in theory. A huge, red zone tight end is pretty common and something teams constantly look for. The problem here is the Cowboys weren’t willing to commit to using a two-tight end set more often, and they also asked Escobar to run-block way more than they should have.
Gavin Escobar caught 30 balls for the Cowboys in four years. Eight of them were touchdowns. The TD rate is nice! The number of targets over that span, 48, is not. Either you spent a premium pick on a bad player, or you spent a premium pick on a player and decided not to use him. That’s just bad strategy.
2012: None (traded their 2nd round pick to jump up to #6 and select Morris Claiborne)
2011: Bruce Carter LB North Carolina
The athleticism was always there, and he may be one of the freakiest athletes the Cowboys have featured over the last decade. This was the old blue-star special. An injured guy with great upside, who will somehow get healthy just because he’s wearing the star.
He started 32 games in 4 seasons as a Cowboy, playing in 49 overall. Fun fact, he has five career interceptions in 7 NFL seasons, all five coming in 2014, his final year in Dallas.
2010: Sean Lee LB Penn State
This one is obviously a hit, as Sean Lee is one of the best linebackers in football. There were times throughout the years where this pick was questioned, and that’s totally fair given Lee’s injury history.
2009: NONE (traded back, and… wow, this list. How?)
2008: Martellus Bennett TE Texas A&M
Things just never panned out in Dallas, although Marty B has gone on to be a very good NFL player. Bennett caught 85 passes in his four years as a Cowboy, but he was never targeted more than 50 times. This kind of makes sense given where Jason Witten was at during that time period, but you drafted the guy to be a red-zone threat, and he only caught four touchdown passes.
That's the Cowboys' ten-year history in the second round. One trend you see over the last decade is that the Cowboys are not afraid to gamble in this range. They just happen to gamble… poorly.
We turned the clock back a little further, and the situation didn't improve by much. Take a look at the players from 2000 to 2007.
2007: NONE
2006: Anthony Fasano TE Notre Dame
2005: Kevin Burnett LB Tennessee
2004: Julius Jones RB Notre Dame and Jacob Rogers OT USC
2003: Al Johnson C Wisconsin
2002: Andre Gurode C Colorado and Antonio Bryant WR Pittsburgh
2001: Quincy Carter QB Georgia and Tony Dixon DB Alabama
2000: Dwayne Goodrich DB Tennessee
That’s… not sexy. At all. Quincy Carter did take them to the playoffs once, but I think we all know he wasn’t a good quarterback. Andre Gurode was good here, while Julius Jones and Kevin Burnett had a few moments. But overall, the second-round results have been less than exciting.
The Cowboys' 2nd-round pick this year is 50th overall. This is a big year for the Cowboys, especially with their lack of activity in free agency. They will need to find impact players with their premium draft picks.
I know many fans want the Cowboys to use pick #50 (or their third-round pick at #81) to move up in the first round, but this draft has great depth in the second and third rounds, especially at a lot of the positions the Cowboys might be interested in.
If I were in charge, and God knows I’m not, the Cowboys would sit tight at 19, 50, and 81. I wouldn't take gambles; I'd draft players who can immediately help my football team. While trading at 19 is risky, I'd be open to moving up from the Day Two selections at 50 and 81. The Cowboys have three compensatory picks this year and could use some of that capital to move up to the mid 40’s or the 70’s. That’s where I’d like to see the Cowboys get aggressive.
