Draft Grades

VA Cowboy

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I don't think Murray was exceptional, good but not exceptional he left a lot of yards on the field.

I don't think any of the backs we have now are as good as Murray but I don't think they are drastically worse.

We opted to replace Murray with McFadden and last year's backups. None of which are as good as Murray. It'll be interesting to see how it works out especially since Romo is 35 and our window with him is quickly closing.
 

VA Cowboy

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That's precisely what made him an exceptional back. He got yardage when most would have gone down. Dallas didnt screw up the RB position via the draft. The did it way before the draft by allowing Murray to get away. The folks talked themselves into a belief that he was done. Time will tell whether it will be correct.
The presumption was he would start declining and/or not stay healthy a full season again. On top of that was a deep draft where we've seen many young 2nd -4th round backs come in and have immediate success.

If I knew the master plan was letting Murray walk and replacing him with DMac and last years backups it would've been a no-brainer to keep him. I always thought the signing of McFadden was as a low $/low risk stop gap til our rookie was ready to take over.

Now we've taken a MAJOR gamble with a reclamation project and scrubs and if it doesn't pay off then we'll have to look for a RB next year while hoping a 36 year old Romo will still have enough left to try and make a run.
 

Cujo

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The presumption was he would start declining and/or not stay healthy a full season again. On top of that was a deep draft where we've seen many young 2nd -4th round backs come in and have immediate success.

If I knew the master plan was letting Murray walk and replacing him with DMac and last years backups it would've been a no-brainer to keep him. I always thought the signing of McFadden was as a low $/low risk stop gap til our rookie was ready to take over.

Now we've taken a MAJOR gamble with a reclamation project and scrubs and if it doesn't pay off then we'll have to look for a RB next year while hoping a 36 year old Romo will still have enough left to try and make a run.

I think letting him walk was the correct decision even now. Paying him that much money was a bad decision by the Eagles. If he gets a 1000 yards this year I will be surprised. If he plays more than 12 games, I will be surprised. Overpaying for a rb is never the correct decision unless his name is Peterson.
 

boozeman

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I don't think Murray was exceptional, good but not exceptional he left a lot of yards on the field.

I don't think any of the backs we have now are as good as Murray but I don't think they are drastically worse.
Wait, you complain that Murray left yards on the field, yet what is replacing him is less talented and even more apt to leave yards on the field? McFadden is the king of that.
 

boozeman

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I think letting him walk was the correct decision even now. Paying him that much money was a bad decision by the Eagles. If he gets a 1000 yards this year I will be surprised. If he plays more than 12 games, I will be surprised. Overpaying for a rb is never the correct decision unless his name is Peterson.
Not questioning letting him go. The miscalculation is thinking a collection of crap can at least equal anything close to his production.
 

Jiggyfly

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Wait, you complain that Murray left yards on the field, yet what is replacing him is less talented and even more apt to leave yards on the field? McFadden is the king of that.
Have I ever said what we have is better?

I just don't think the dropoff is that drastic, yes the running game will take a step back but I think overall the team is better now than at the end of the season.
 

L.T. Fan

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The presumption was he would start declining and/or not stay healthy a full season again. On top of that was a deep draft where we've seen many young 2nd -4th round backs come in and have immediate success.

If I knew the master plan was letting Murray walk and replacing him with DMac and last years backups it would've been a no-brainer to keep him. I always thought the signing of McFadden was as a low $/low risk stop gap til our rookie was ready to take over.

Now we've taken a MAJOR gamble with a reclamation project and scrubs and if it doesn't pay off then we'll have to look for a RB next year while hoping a 36 year old Romo will still have enough left to try and make a run.
Yep. There was a lot of presumption not the least that Murray was washed up. I hope the team doesn't suffer from these calculations.
 

ravidubey

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Mel absolutely hates it when a team doesn't fill a need. I think the fact that the Cowboys didn't take a RB probably bothers him more then anybody.
Mel has to grade by his rankings and how well the team addressed obvious needs, or else he doesn't have a job.

He can't afford to evaluate a draft on its own, independent of a team's needs.
 

Smitty

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We opted to replace Murray with McFadden and last year's backups. None of which are as good as Murray. It'll be interesting to see how it works out especially since Romo is 35 and our window with him is quickly closing.
All you need to re-open that window is a QB.

The OL and hopefully soon the DL will guarantee that.
 

Smitty

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Had we done something like trade down in the 3rd, we may have still gotten Green and maybe picked up an earlier 5th and taken Ajayi. And the draft for me would have been much more palatable.

It's hard to fathom that we went through one of the deepest running back drafts in years and didn't come away with a running back despite needing one pretty badly.
I still think we got stuck with our pants down after Carl Davis was taken one pick before us, and we panicked.
 

Smitty

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We got worse at RB which is what won games for us last year.
The OL won us games last year. Murray was here the year before and didn't make that much of an impact.

If the coaches don't trust the running game this year because they don't think they have a back worth trusting, that is one thing, but this OL will turn 700 yard backs into 1100 yard backs and 1100 yard backs into 1500 yard backs without much trouble.
 

Smitty

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Exactly, and just as soon as the running game falters he will go right back to throwing it all over the field. Just so stupid to completely ignore the position.
Interesting, I thought that it was all Linehan now.

When we run it's Linehan and when we pass it's Garrett, I guess.
 
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I don't know, what was Randle's YAC last year? Also curious how that works if the defender is juked or misses all together instead of making contact. Murray kind of runs towards contact so his YAC would tend to be a little higher.
Murray also had a habit of running into his lineman's ass too a lot! He could have gotten more if he didn't do that which was quite often!!
 
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We opted to replace Murray with McFadden and last year's backups. None of which are as good as Murray. It'll be interesting to see how it works out especially since Romo is 35 and our window with him is quickly closing.
Kind of makes me want to lose badly so we could get the first pick in the draft then we could get a QB and stud RB and be set for a long time! I worry about not having that again.
 
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Cowboysrock55

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Interesting, I thought that it was all Linehan now.

When we run it's Linehan and when we pass it's Garrett, I guess.
No its Murray, the reason we ran the ball that much is because of Murray. Without Murray we are going to throw last year's strategy out the window. Or so I've been told.
 

p1_

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That's precisely what made him an exceptional back. He got yardage when most would have gone down. Dallas didnt screw up the RB position via the draft. The did it way before the draft by allowing Murray to get away. The folks talked themselves into a belief that he was done. Time will tell whether it will be correct.
And there's a shitload of history to support the position that we took with regard to giving Murray 50 million dollars.
 

p1_

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No its Murray, the reason we ran the ball that much is because of Murray. Without Murray we are going to throw last year's strategy out the window. Or so I've been told.
I think it will look different if we go with this committee approach, Randle and McFadden primarily, with Dunbar getting more touches allegedly. Im just not sold it will work nearly as effectively. I would love to be wrong.
 
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