- Joined
- Apr 7, 2013
- Messages
- 125,461
Cowboys determined to avoid another Floyd fiasco
Posted on February 20, 2014 | BY TOM ORSBORN
INDIANAPOLIS – The Cowboys were left with egg on their faces last year when they passed on drafting defensive tackle Sharrif Floyd in the first round even though the former Florida star ranked fifth on the club’s draft board.
Dallas explained it passed on Floyd because it believed he wasn’t a good fit for Monte Kiffin’s 4-3 scheme. After the Cowboys traded down from No. 18 to select Wisconsin center Travis Frederick at the bottom of the first round, Jerry Jones explained Floyd did not have the “quick twitch” Dallas coveted in a defensive tackle in Kiffin’s system.
Jones’ comment begged the question: If that was the case, why was Floyd rated so highly by the team?
With all that in mind, Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones explained Wednesday the club has taken steps to make sure such a mistake doesn’t happen again this year.
“That was unfortunate with Sharrif,” Stephen Jones said. “I don’t want to single a guy out, but that can happen when you change a system. You move from what we were doing and we were so into that, and then all of a sudden you move to a 4-3 and you’ve got new coaches in the room and what they’re trying to accomplish and that kind of slipped through the cracks a bit on us. It won’t happen again.”
Floyd wound up going to Minnesota at No. 23 and went on to finish the season with 2.5 sacks. Frederick started all 16 games and was voted to the all-rookie team by the Pro Football Writers of America.
“You have some players that you have issues with because they don’t fit your system necessarily,” Stephn Jones said. “Even though Sharrif may have been a first-round type player in our old system, he might not have been a first-round player for what we want in our system as an under tackle. We think in our system we can find nose tackles later in the draft that do a good job. I think under tackles are hard to find, great ones are.”
Posted on February 20, 2014 | BY TOM ORSBORN
INDIANAPOLIS – The Cowboys were left with egg on their faces last year when they passed on drafting defensive tackle Sharrif Floyd in the first round even though the former Florida star ranked fifth on the club’s draft board.
Dallas explained it passed on Floyd because it believed he wasn’t a good fit for Monte Kiffin’s 4-3 scheme. After the Cowboys traded down from No. 18 to select Wisconsin center Travis Frederick at the bottom of the first round, Jerry Jones explained Floyd did not have the “quick twitch” Dallas coveted in a defensive tackle in Kiffin’s system.
Jones’ comment begged the question: If that was the case, why was Floyd rated so highly by the team?
With all that in mind, Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones explained Wednesday the club has taken steps to make sure such a mistake doesn’t happen again this year.
“That was unfortunate with Sharrif,” Stephen Jones said. “I don’t want to single a guy out, but that can happen when you change a system. You move from what we were doing and we were so into that, and then all of a sudden you move to a 4-3 and you’ve got new coaches in the room and what they’re trying to accomplish and that kind of slipped through the cracks a bit on us. It won’t happen again.”
Floyd wound up going to Minnesota at No. 23 and went on to finish the season with 2.5 sacks. Frederick started all 16 games and was voted to the all-rookie team by the Pro Football Writers of America.
“You have some players that you have issues with because they don’t fit your system necessarily,” Stephn Jones said. “Even though Sharrif may have been a first-round type player in our old system, he might not have been a first-round player for what we want in our system as an under tackle. We think in our system we can find nose tackles later in the draft that do a good job. I think under tackles are hard to find, great ones are.”
