MacMahon: Why were Cowboys high on Hitchens?

[Cotton]

Why were Cowboys high on Hitchens?
May, 12, 2014

By Tim MacMahon | ESPNDallas.com

IRVING, Texas -- The Dallas Cowboys’ selection of Iowa linebacker Anthony Hitchens caused a lot of head scratching.

The Hitchens fans among the media draft analysts gave him a sixth-round grade. Many had him as a seventh-rounder or undrafted free agent.

The Cowboys took him in the middle of the fourth round with the 119th overall pick. What did Dallas’ scouts see in Hitchens that others might have missed?

“We saw a guy who could run with size, and we saw one of the few inside linebackers that we thought could come in here and help us if we lost Sean Lee,” said owner/general manager Jerry Jones, whose widely criticized first-round selection of center Travis Frederick last year worked out well. “So we saw a guy who could definitely improve us from where we were last year when we lost Sean Lee. Probably, for me, the most important thing is how much of a hitter he is. He blows them up. So we sat there with him and used a fourth-rounder.

“With all due respect to the other evaluators, I would say that there is a lot of difference in a lot of players when you start getting in that fourth round between this player or that player and whether we would have taken him. We literally had him – as we’d been sitting there all day long – we had him there, too. We didn’t have him there in the third, we had him there in the fourth. We sat there all day long with him as one of the guys that we would use our fourth pick with at that time. I’d say that’s the difference in the eye of the beholder.”

The Cowboys raved about the “run-hit factor” with Hitchens, but he was clocked at 4.74 seconds in the 40-yard dash, a mediocre time for a middle linebacker. His 1.62-second 10-yard split, however, is more impressive than his 40 time.

The 6-foot, 240-pound Hitchens played weakside linebacker at Iowa, where he racked up 226 tackles over the last two seasons, and the Cowboys believe the converted high school running back has some position flexibility. But they drafted him to be a solid backup for the injury-riddled Lee and a core special-teams player.

“We just feel like we needed linebacker depth,” coach Jason Garrett said. “We’ve had different injuries at the linebacker position the last couple of years, and that’s the nature of the league. Guys get hurt. You want to make sure you have enough numbers there, enough competition there so if something does happen to one of your top-flight players, you can survive, function and even thrive. That’s where we feel like Hitchens fits in.

“Really productive player at Iowa. He was their defensive MVP this year, and they had a good defensive group. We feel like it was a real quality player at a position of need for us. We just felt like it was a good pick for us at that time. He is going to help our football team.”

 

[Smitty]

No, it was because he's good at special teams and he can "play" inside or outside.

 

[VA Cowboy]

Makes no sense. They have zero concept of draft position, just like they have zero concept of trade value.
Have no idea how they could have him as a 4th rounder when the entire rest of the league and outside draft evaluators had him as a 6th rounder to UDFA. Even if he was one of the few remaining ILB's we liked you'd think we would at least try and work the value to our favor by trading down.

I saw SF trade down a few spots and pick up a 4th and 5th rounder in return. Then they used the 5th rounder to move back up to one spot below where they started and they selected the player that would've taken in the first place but picked up a 4th rounder for next year in the process. Brilliant move.
But our brain trust will throw away a 3rd rounder and overpay just to move up in the 2nd for a player at a position they panicked over. And then reach for a backup 7th round caliber LB in the 4th just because. No different than the Matt Johnson, Arkin, AOA, Stanback etc reaches we constantly seem to pull in the 4th. Absolutely mind boggling.

 

[Angrymesscan]

Makes no sense. They have zero concept of draft position, just like they have zero concept of trade value.
Have no idea how they could have him as a 4th rounder when the entire rest of the league and outside draft evaluators had him as a 6th rounder to UDFA. Even if he was one of the few remaining ILB's we liked you'd think we would at least try and work the value to our favor by trading down.

I saw SF trade down a few spots and pick up a 4th and 5th rounder in return. Then they used the 5th rounder to move back up to one spot below where they started and they selected the player that would've taken in the first place but picked up a 4th rounder for next year in the process. Brilliant move.
But our brain trust will throw away a 3rd rounder and overpay just to move up in the 2nd for a player at a position they panicked over. And then reach for a backup 7th round caliber LB in the 4th just because. No different than the Matt Johnson, Arkin, AOA, Stanback etc reaches we constantly seem to pull in the 4th. Absolutely mind boggling.

You see the thing is when you give TehJJ time, a night to sleep on it so to speak, like you have after the 1st and 3rd rounds, he can get really creative in ways to fuck everything up.

 

[VA Cowboy]

You see the thing is when you give TehJJ time, a night to sleep on it so to speak, like you have after the 1st and 3rd rounds, he can get really creative in ways to fuck everything up.

That must be it. With most people you'd think it'd give them time to evaluate the players that have fallen into the 4th. But with us it seems to give us more time to evaluate who we want to reach for.

 

[Smitty]

I would love to know what players were at the top of their board when they took Hitchens, because I refuse to believe it was actually him.

As Jerry said in an interview, the ST coach "laid down in front of a train" for him. Meaning convinced Jerry to draft a special teams player only in the 4th round.

 

[L.T. Fan]

Why get so hung up on draft position? If the kid can do the job what does it matter? (Hillary told me to say that)

 

[Clay_Allison]

Why get so hung up on draft position? If the kid can do the job what does it matter? (Hillary told me to say that)

Depends on what job he's being asked to do. If he's a special teams specialist he might as well be the Long Snapper in terms of his draft value.

 

[L.T. Fan]

Depends on what job he's being asked to do. If he's a special teams specialist he might as well be the Long Snapper in terms of his draft value.

To me draft value is meaningless once the draft is over. The player will contribute or he won't regardless of position drafted.

 

[Clay_Allison]

To me draft value is meaningless once the draft is over. The player will contribute or he won't regardless of position drafted.

If he only contributes a tiny amount it still means the organization isn't drafting intelligently.

 

[GShock]

And then reach for a backup 7th round caliber LB in the 4th just because. No different than the Matt Johnson, Arkin, AOA, Stanback etc reaches we constantly seem to pull in the 4th. Absolutely mind boggling.

So we pretty much view the first three rounds as the only place we can find starters or potential starters, and use the rest of the draft as some sort of random lottery, weighted by whichever position coach yells the loudest. I mean, the results certainly speak for themselves, but I never thought it was actually designed with such stupidity.

Good grief.

 

[L.T. Fan]

If he only contributes a tiny amount it still means the organization isn't drafting intelligently.

I get that but once it's done there is no turning back so from my vantage point it serves no purpose to make further judgements because the draft was out of position. The deed is done and everyone looks the same when they suit up.

 

[GShock]

I would love to know what players were at the top of their board when they took Hitchens, because I refuse to believe it was actually him.

As Jerry said in an interview, the ST coach "laid down in front of a train" for him. Meaning convinced Jerry to draft a special teams player only in the 4th round.

No clue. We claimed to have Street as a 3rd rounder. We thought a special teams guy was more important than a #3 WR? Is it possible we had Hitchens as a 3rd rounder? Really?

 

[Bob Roberts]

Well, at least with the money, Hitchens won't be bitchin' about being able to enrichen his kitchen.

 

[1bigfan13]

“We saw a guy who could run with size, and we saw one of the few inside linebackers that we thought could come in here and help us if we lost Sean Lee,” said owner/general manager Jerry Jones, whose widely criticized first-round selection of center Travis Frederick last year worked out well. “So we saw a guy who could definitely improve us from where we were last year when we lost Sean Lee. Probably, for me, the most important thing is how much of a hitter he is. He blows them up. So we sat there with him and used a fourth-rounder.

“With all due respect to the other evaluators, I would say that there is a lot of difference in a lot of players when you start getting in that fourth round between this player or that player and whether we would have taken him. We literally had him – as we’d been sitting there all day long – we had him there, too. We didn’t have him there in the third, we had him there in the fourth. We sat there all day long with him as one of the guys that we would use our fourth pick with at that time. I’d say that’s the difference in the eye of the beholder.”

The Cowboys raved about the “run-hit factor” with Hitchens, but he was clocked at 4.74 seconds in the 40-yard dash, a mediocre time for a middle linebacker. His 1.62-second 10-yard split, however, is more impressive than his 40 time.

Here's how I see it.

If a player has average measurables, like Hitchens has, I at least want to read that he's a heady player who's always around the ball. His “run-hit factor” doesn't move the needle for me.

If he's being counted on to start the 3-5 games that Sean Lee is sure to miss, I'd like for him to be solid in the pass game and in play recognition.

I know we have a some Big 10 & Iowa fans on here, how would you grade Hitchens in those areas?

 

[Clay_Allison]

Here's how I see it.

If a player has average measurables, like Hitchens has, I at least want to read that he's a heady player who's always around the ball. His “run-hit factor” doesn't move the needle for me.

If he's being counted on to start the 3-5 games that Sean Lee is sure to miss, I'd like for him to be solid in the pass game and in play recognition.

I know we have a some Big 10 & Iowa fans on here, how would you grade Hitchens in those areas?

Sean Lee is the most depressing player. If he could stay healthy he'd be the second best Cowboys MLB ever. Now we're drafting guys that suck because we want them to be backups without the playmaking ability to challenge starters.

 

[Cotton]

Here's how I see it.

If a player has average measurables, like Hitchens has, I at least want to read that he's a heady player who's always around the ball. His “run-hit factor” doesn't move the needle for me.

If he's being counted on to start the 3-5 games that Sean Lee is sure to miss, I'd like for him to be solid in the pass game and in play recognition.

I know we have a some Big 10 & Iowa fans on here, how would you grade Hitchens in those areas?

[MENTION=9]Cowboysrock55[/MENTION]

 

[boozeman]

We literally had him – as we’d been sitting there all day long – we had him there, too. We didn’t have him there in the third, we had him there in the fourth.

And they were crowing later on that they traded up for Devin Street as he was a third on their board.

Basically, they went off the board because the special teams coach (and LB coach) vouched for him.

So much for the idea we were getting a board and sticking to the evaluations of the scouts.

In other words, we reached (panicked) because we were worried about getting a backup for our highly paid oft-injured MLB.

 

[Smitty]

I love LT's weak attempts at justifying this selection.

 

[Smitty]

And they were crowing later on that they traded up for Devin Street as he was a third on their board.

Basically, they went off the board because the special teams coach (and LB coach) vouched for him.

So much for the idea we were getting a board and sticking to the evaluations of the scouts.

In other words, we reached (panicked) because we were worried about getting a backup for our highly paid oft-injured MLB.

Bingo. We reached because the ST coach stumped for him and we figured we were buying Lee insurance.

And we fucking knew we were taking him too early. We just don't know what the fuck we're doing.

We value filling needs -- even miniscule needs for backups and STers -- over getting good players. We don't know shit about team building correctly. We don't even prioritize the right needs! We needed a backup LB and ST player in the worst way, apparently. We apparently went looking for a guy who fits that backup role and will never be a threat of turning into a starter like Telvin Smith or Chris Borland could have.