Rang: Cowboys Double Down On Williams, Romo

Cowboys Double Down On Williams, Romo

By Rob Rang

May 14, 2013 1:55 PM

During the next several weeks, NFLDraftScout.com will review the more intriguing picks made during the 2013 NFL draft in a series called “Finding the Fits.” The goal of the series is to identify one relatively unheralded player per team who appears to be a good schematic fit and, therefore, is likely to be a surprise contributor early in his pro career.

Dallas Cowboys’ Best Fit: WR Terrance Williams, Baylor, 3rd Round, No. 74 Overall

By signing quarterback Tony Romo to a six-year, $108 million contract (including $55 million guaranteed) a few weeks before the draft, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones erased any doubt as to who he sees as the present and future leader of his franchise.

When taking into consideration that each of the Cowboys’ first three picks were added to aid Romo, as well, it is clear that Jones is doubling down rather than hedging his bet on the 33-year-old passer.

The selection of Williams is a perfect example of the gambling philosophy Jones and his staff have taken in recent years when it comes to the draft.

Despite boasting an impressive combination of size (6-2, 210), straight-line speed (4.48) and production (NCAA-leading 1,832 yards ), Williams was one of the more polarizing receivers of the 2013 draft class. He was given a lot of freedom as a route runner at Baylor and generally caught passes over his shoulder more effectively than balls coming right at him.

In short, Williams was viewed as an ideal vertical threat but a gamble as a possession receiver in a timing-based attack.



Because of his ability to buy time in the pocket, as well as his vision and strong-arm, Romo is one of the league’s most dangerous deep-ball passers, making him a perfect quarterback to take advantage of Williams’ unique traits. With two established (but somewhat unreliable) stars in Dez Bryant and Miles Austin already split out wide, as well as the ultra-reliable Jason Witten down the middle, Williams won’t see much double coverage but could see plenty of big play opportunities in three and four receiver sets.

Fantasy football enthusiasts, take note: This is precisely the role that saw Laurent Robinson explode for 11 touchdowns in 2011. The Cowboys struggled to replace Robinson’s big plays last year, which could put Williams in position to receive early playing time.

Disappointment in Dallas (Other thoughts on the Cowboys’ 2013 draft class):

In an informal poll taken of high-ranking scouts and front office executives, the Cowboys’ selection of former Wisconsin center Travis Frederick was viewed as the “biggest reach of the 2013 first round.”

That isn’t to say that Frederick isn’t a solid player (he is) or that he doesn’t fill a glaring need for this club (he does). The consensus, however, is that Frederick should have been selected in the mid to late second round rather than at No. 31 where the Cowboys picked him. Dallas originally held the rights to the No. 18 overall pick and some believe the team was targeting three players with this pick — interior offensive linemen Jonathan Cooper (North Carolina) and Chance Warmack (Alabama) or Texas safety Kenny Vaccaro. With each off the board at No. 18, Dallas traded back, allowing San Francisco to move up and snag LSU safety Eric Reid.

Reid would have been an interesting fit in Dallas. His length, athleticism and experience could have provided the Cowboys with an intimidating presence in a secondary desperately needing it. Fourth-round selection J.J. Wilcox boasts a high upside but, with only one season of experience on defense, he is no lock to be an immediate upgrade over projected starters Barry Church or Matt Johnson.

Dallas originally held the rights to the No. 18 overall pick and some believe the team was targeting three players with this pick — interior offensive linemen Jonathan Cooper (North Carolina) and Chance Warmack (Alabama) or Texas safety Kenny Vaccaro.

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And there lies the problem once again. Targeting players. It's one thing to have several players you like, but it's another to target a select few and then go into panic mode if they are off the board. We obviously went into panic mode willing to take any trade to move down and then reach for a player once we did.

VA Cowboy said:

And there lies the problem once again. Targeting players. It's one thing to have several players you like, but it's another to target a select few and then go into panic mode if they are off the board. We obviously went into panic mode willing to take any trade to move down and then reach for a player once we did.

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I don't think it's unwise to target a range of specific players that fit your slot in the first round. That's just matching talent for pick. If you're going to target a lesser player, then trade down. Dallas did this, only they both failed to get value for the trade and reached 15 picks too early for the player they got.

Where they did a lot more targeting specific players was in rounds 2-5 (except for Williams) where they grabbed a player they had targeted from before their VR visit, taking Escobar, Wilcox, and Webb each about a round early. That's like losing a full 3rd round pick, all told.

VA Cowboy said:

And there lies the problem once again. Targeting players. It's one thing to have several players you like, but it's another to target a select few and then go into panic mode if they are off the board. We obviously went into panic mode willing to take any trade to move down and then reach for a player once we did.

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I would target players, but I also rank enough players to always have a pick ready if a great trade isn't there.

I think I remember that they did do that. Shariff was the next guy on the list but they didn't want him. Then they had Pugh and Frederick but felt they could get them later and traded. I have no problem with their line of thinking. Just wish we had gotten more out of the trade.

ravidubey said:

I don't think it's unwise to target a range of specific players that fit your slot in the first round. That's just matching talent for pick. If you're going to target a lesser player, then trade down. Dallas did this, only they both failed to get value for the trade and reached 15 picks too early for the player they got.

Where they did a lot more targeting specific players was in rounds 2-5 (except for Williams) where they grabbed a player they had targeted from before their VR visit, taking Escobar, Wilcox, and Webb each about a round early. That's like losing a full 3rd round pick, all told.

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We accepted a poor trade in the 1st and took a mid 2nd - 3rd round caliber player after the trade down. Then we reached for several more targets like you pointed out.

I've read where they have been worried some of their targets may be gone before their pick in the next round so instead they draft them in the current round oftentimes resulting in a reach. This mindset is totally ludicrous. If you have a draft board, then follow it. Even if you follow it loosely you can still find value and need in the appropriate round. But targeting a select few players, mostly guys that were predraft invites to VR, you end reaching for players like Matt Johnson's, David Arkin, Josh Thomas, AOA, Jason Williams, Brewster, etc, etc, etc..... No doubt you will have certain guys you like, but they should be slotted on the draft board and you don't need to chase them up and down or worse reach for them a round or two early like our incompetent GM often does.

But the important question that remains is why do we fall in love with some of these guys in the first place. What was so incredible about Matt Johnson that we needed him in the 4th? Or David Arkin or some of these other guys that we just couldn't wait a round or pass altogther on?

VA Cowboy said:

We accepted a poor trade in the 1st and took a mid 2nd - 3rd round caliber player after the trade down. Then we reached for several more targets like you pointed out.

I've read where they have been worried some of their targets may be gone before their pick in the next round so instead they draft them in the current round oftentimes resulting in a reach. This mindset is totally ludicrous. If you have a draft board, then follow it. Even if you follow it loosely you can still find value and need in the appropriate round. But targeting a select few players, mostly guys that were predraft invites to VR, you end reaching for players like Matt Johnson's, David Arkin, Josh Thomas, AOA, Jason Williams, Brewster, etc, etc, etc..... No doubt you will have certain guys you like, but they should be slotted on the draft board and you don't need to chase them up and down or worse reach for them a round or two early like our incompetent GM often does.

But the important question that remains is why do we fall in love with some of these guys in the first place. What was so incredible about Matt Johnson that we needed him in the 4th? Or David Arkin or some of these other guys that we just couldn't wait a round or pass altogther on?

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I think a lot of these guys were coach pet cats. We know Brewster was.

That is a pitfall of having a GM that does not actually participate in the scouting process.

VA Cowboy said:

We accepted a poor trade in the 1st and took a mid 2nd - 3rd round caliber player after the trade down. Then we reached for several more targets like you pointed out.

I've read where they have been worried some of their targets may be gone before their pick in the next round so instead they draft them in the current round oftentimes resulting in a reach. This mindset is totally ludicrous. If you have a draft board, then follow it. Even if you follow it loosely you can still find value and need in the appropriate round. But targeting a select few players, mostly guys that were predraft invites to VR, you end reaching for players like Matt Johnson's, David Arkin, Josh Thomas, AOA, Jason Williams, Brewster, etc, etc, etc..... No doubt you will have certain guys you like, but they should be slotted on the draft board and you don't need to chase them up and down or worse reach for them a round or two early like our incompetent GM often does.

But the important question that remains is why do we fall in love with some of these guys in the first place. What was so incredible about Matt Johnson that we needed him in the 4th? Or David Arkin or some of these other guys that we just couldn't wait a round or pass altogther on?

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Preach it.

Jerry wants to be the "Maverick", the guy who finds the diamonds in the rough no one else suspected would be great. He's permanently trying to find "upside", players drafted late for some odd reason but who turn into studs on the field. In this case Dallas reached early and often to ensure they'd get this group of players. As you said, very poor drafting strategy.

He's so fixated on finding the next Leon Lett, Chris Canty, or Jay Ratliff that he fails to just draft the excellent value staring him in the face. He wants to be different and viewed as special. Maybe Jerry has mommy issues? Whatever, it's stupidity.

All I know is a baseball manager who coached his players to swing for the fences every pitch, every time would soon get canned. One of the many subtleties of that position, the reason there's only so many in the world, lies in knowing what kind of hit to try for and how/when to do it.

ravidubey said:

Preach it.

Jerry wants to be the "Maverick", the guy who finds the diamonds in the rough no one else suspected would be great. He's permanently trying to find "upside", players drafted late for some odd reason but who turn into studs on the field. In this case Dallas reached early and often to ensure they'd get this group of players. As you said, very poor drafting strategy.

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All anyone has to do is look at drafts over the years by teams like the Giants, Steelers, Packers, etc to see solid, productive, smart draft strategy. It may be blue collar and boring but it more than often gets the job done. And every team will have some players that don't pan out but most aren't the draft day head-scratchers we regularly select.

It's obvious there's no way anything will change as long as Jerry's here. But I'm really starting to get worried that Stephen (and Charlotte and idiot grandson) will continue the legacy.

ravidubey said:

He's so fixated on finding the next Leon Lett, Chris Canty, or Jay Ratliff that he fails to just draft the excellent value staring him in the face. He wants to be different and viewed as special. Maybe Jerry has mommy issues? Whatever, it's stupidity.

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There's a big difference between drafting Canty and Ratliff versus drafting Lett. Canty and Ratliff were value guys - players from big programs that were undervalued for one reason or another. Those are exactly the type of guys we should be drafting.

The real problem is we don't draft guys like that nearly enough. Instead, we are fixated on trying to find guys like Lett, the small school diamonds in the rough. But guys like that fail much more often than they succeed. If you have extra picks, or are already an elite team, then yeah, take a guy like that every once in a while. Otherwise, he better work out. If you need the guy to pan out and he doesn't, your roster will suffer.

Leon Lett was also a 7th rounder, not a 3rd or 4th. If we take a flier on a 'project with potential' every once in awhile in the 6th or 7th, so be it. But we routinely start taking our potential/project players in the 3rd to 4th rounds.

VA Cowboy said:

Leon Lett was also a 7th rounder, not a 3rd or 4th. If we take a flier on a 'project with potential' every once in awhile in the 6th or 7th, so be it. But we routinely start taking our potential/project players in the 3rd to 4th rounds.

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We are improving. We used to take them in the first round.

VA Cowboy said:

Leon Lett was also a 7th rounder, not a 3rd or 4th. If we take a flier on a 'project with potential' every once in awhile in the 6th or 7th, so be it. But we routinely start taking our potential/project players in the 3rd to 4th rounds.

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Well, yeah, that's true too.