2026 Cowboys Draft Chatter Thread

Chocolate Lab said:
In other words, not "just give me good players and I'll make them work."
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I think intellegence is probably the one trait that might be a deal breaker for him. That and tackling. There is no argument or evidence that physical traits are his deal breaker. Arm length, height or whatever there is no evidence for.
 
Chocolate Lab said:
Maybe I didn't word it well, but I didn't get the idea he meant just physical traits, but more that they were very particular about specific things they thought the player should be able to do.

In other words, not "just give me good players and I'll make them work."

Which is funny because others with that station have raved about how Parker would do exactly that. :doh
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Most of the time when we change a regime with a strong coordinator, the draft traits have changed. They have done it with practically every DC. We wanted knuckles dragging the ground with Camo Hat, quick twitch with Old Man Marinelli. We did not seem to commit the same way with Eberflus.

If you take the LBers we have shown public interest in, arm length (32 or above) is there in most cases, from Styles to Hill even down to guys like the hyphen kid from TCU. Rodriguez is the outlier.
 
boozeman said:
Most of the time when we change a regime with a strong coordinator, the draft traits have changed. They have done it with practically every DC. We wanted knuckles dragging the ground with Camo Hat, quick twitch with Old Man Marinelli. We did not seem to commit the same way with Eberflus.

If you take the LBers we have shown public interest in, arm length (32 or above) is there in most cases, from Styles to Hill even down to guys like the hyphen kid from TCU. Rodriguez is the outlier.
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Man, I bet Eberflus would be quite upset he didn't get a cool nickname from you, Booze.
 
How about Everflawed? Or Eberflush? Eberflitboi?
 
Ahem, Nolanflus
 
boozeman said:
If you take the LBers we have shown public interest in, arm length (32 or above) is there in most cases, from Styles to Hill even down to guys like the hyphen kid from TCU. Rodriguez is the outlier.
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Trotter I think was a 30 visit. He does have 32 inch arms.

So I guess if you're talking "public interest" as 30 visits then yes.
 
boozeman said:
We did not seem to commit the same way with Eberflus.
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With Zimmer and Eberflus I just don't think they were here long enough to put their stamp on anything. I honestly don't know that either guy was bought into as a long term solution.

It's a little different feeling with Parker. You get the feeling that the team views him as the long term guy until someone offers him a better job. So I'll assume he is going to get more say in what type of players are brought in. I also think Parker does a ton of work on players and so he will probably have more of an opinion on the draft than the previous two defensive coordinators who I think were really just interested in coaching.
 
Simpleton said:
Now look at 15-25: Faulk, Sadiq, Freeling, Thieneman, Procter, Tyson, Concepcion, Cooper Jr., McNeil-Warren, Chris Johnson, Lomu

Obviously these rankings aren't exactly how things will go but it's a decent enough proxy for approximately who will be around in that range. And in that 15-25 range you're seeing a lot of OT's and WR's, positions we probably won't be interested in that high, and even if we were I'm not really in love with any of them.
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Half the NFL badly needs OT’s (us included) and WRs and half of them have the trade capital to jump up and grab one of these guys. And we are right at the perfect inflection point of the draft to sell them (and CB McCoy) to the highest bidder. Right after all the best defensive players are gone and right before the run of OT’s and WR’s.

Mwaah hahaha ha
 
Been thinking a lot about Downs dropping ever since Schrager had him dropping to 12. Obviously there's been chatter for a while now that he could drop further than expected so it's not a shock, but I think at this point it truly might be a 50/50 proposition.

As long as the Giants don't take him at 5, which seems unlikely at this point, I'm not sure who takes him before 11:

Cleveland - huge offensive needs, two capable veteran starters at safety in Hickman and Delpit, absolutely no chatter whatsoever that they might go defense, let alone safety
Skins - just signed Nick Cross for 2/13, also have Will Harris back who started every game last year, much bigger needs at CB, WR and edge, local chatter is focused on Love/Bailey if they fall and then Styles/Tate/Delane
Saints - have Justin Reid on a large-ish deal and a 2025 3rd rounder who basically started all last year, much bigger needs pretty much everywhere else except RB/LB
Chiefs - have a 17 game starter back from last year and gave Alohi Gilman 8/year
Bengals - just gave Bryan Cook 13/year and have a 17 game starter back who had 4 INT's last year
Dolphins - ???

Like sure, someone might love him and say fuck it, but given the history of guys falling at the position combined with the fact that none of these teams have obvious needs at safety, and in fact many have actually just invested quite a bit in the position via FA, I think there is a very good chance he drops to at least 11.

Now the Dolphins are a massive wild card because their roster is so horrendous, but I think I'll take my chances there with Downs falling into our laps.
 
Simpleton said:
Been thinking a lot about Downs dropping ever since Schrager had him dropping to 12. Obviously there's been chatter for a while now that he could drop further than expected so it's not a shock, but I think at this point it truly might be a 50/50 proposition.

As long as the Giants don't take him at 5, which seems unlikely at this point, I'm not sure who takes him before 11:

Cleveland - huge offensive needs, two capable veteran starters at safety in Hickman and Delpit, absolutely no chatter whatsoever that they might go defense, let alone safety
Skins - just signed Nick Cross for 2/13, also have Will Harris back who started every game last year, much bigger needs at CB, WR and edge, local chatter is focused on Love/Bailey if they fall and then Styles/Tate/Delane
Saints - have Justin Reid on a large-ish deal and a 2025 3rd rounder who basically started all last year, much bigger needs pretty much everywhere else except RB/LB
Chiefs - have a 17 game starter back from last year and gave Alohi Gilman 8/year
Bengals - just gave Bryan Cook 13/year and have a 17 game starter back who had 4 INT's last year
Dolphins - ???

Like sure, someone might love him and say fuck it, but given the history of guys falling at the position combined with the fact that none of these teams have obvious needs at safety, and in fact many have actually just invested quite a bit in the position via FA, I think there is a very good chance he drops to at least 11.

Now the Dolphins are a massive wild card because their roster is so horrendous, but I think I'll take my chances there with Downs falling into our laps.
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As an NFL GM, the prospect of landing a top pass rusher or corner is so well-established and really hard to get fired over.

You draft Reese, Bailey, Bain, McCoy, and Delane who are position locks to make an impact-- no one can question the pick (except for the arm length thing on Bain should he struggle). Add to it Styles' unique athleticism.

From a GM's perspective
Downs:
  • Is hyped a lot, maybe overhyped, why?
  • Is at a position that historically makes less impact
  • Is undersized
  • Never ran the 40. Why?
  • Is not a lock down guy vs WRs (but that's more the nickel's job anyway)
  • Lacks elite coverage range
  • Was the finishing piece on a defense with Reese, Styles, McDonald, Caden Curry, Kenyatta Jackson, and Igbinosun. Can your defense give Downs that kind of support?

Positives:
  • Smart AF.
  • Elite play recognition/processing speed
  • Great tackler in space
  • Aggressive box support, like another linebacker, rarely overruns the play
  • Makes highlight plays (though this might contribute to the overhype)
- Made an impact in the SEC as a Freshman that translated to the Big 10.

For me, this last point carries a lot of weight as the one of the top jobs of an NFL GM is to project where this kid lands in the NFL, and we've already seen him transition his game more than once.

But there's those damned measurables again-- can you be sure he's that much better than a heat seeking missile like McNeil-Warren?

Top ten sure?

I think Downs is an already cooked product. What you see is what you get and will get forever. Solid pro, Rarely out of position. Reliable.

EMW OTOH has greater physical potential, but has not yet realized it.
 
Simpleton said:
And to that point I think McCoys 4.38 might be just what we needed to push one of the top 6 defensive prospects (either Downs or Bain) down to us at 12.
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If we're bent on drafting and not trading away 12, then I hope McCoy's 4.37/4.38 times pushed McCoy to us as well. :)

For me it's Bain > McCoy > Downs
 
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