Pick 23: Malachi Lawrence EDGE

Cowboysrock55 said:
Nice thing is I feel like these are all damn good football players we got on defense. I don't think we drafted guys that are only capable of playing in his scheme.
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Exactly, Parker’s got a lot of good buzz but he has to prove a lot himself. Can he even call a game? I mean he’s never done it. That said he has the look of someone who can and just hasn’t yet had or made himself the opportunity.

This draft was about getting better on defense, period— regardless of the DC— and we took the best players possible on that side of the ball.

We had to make up for years of neglect, misses, bad contracts, and failed development. We kind of were able to do most of it in a flurry of late season moves and one offseason.

If Overton can’t transition (frankly the odds are against him getting to 310+ and remaining effective) and Revel isn’t what we thought he was, then we need another strong DL and CB to field a highly competitive D.

As it stands, we’re intact. Brilliant at DE (if they smartly put Williams at DE), average at NT, unproven at CB, solid at ILB, deep at Safety, and solid at EDGE.

2027 1st might need to be CB or OT
 
ravidubey said:
Exactly, Parker’s got a lot of good buzz but he has to prove a lot himself. Can he even call a game? I mean he’s never done it. That said he has the look of someone who can and just hasn’t yet had or made himself the opportunity.

This draft was about getting better on defense, period— regardless of the DC— and we took the best players possible on that side of the ball.

We had to make up for years of neglect, misses, bad contracts, and failed development. We kind of were able to do most of it in a flurry of late season moves and one offseason.

If Overton can’t transition (frankly the odds are against him getting to 310+ and remaining effective) and Revel isn’t what we thought he was, then we need another strong DL and CB to field a highly competitive D.

As it stands, we’re intact. Brilliant at DE (if they smartly put Williams at DE), average at NT, unproven at CB, solid at ILB, deep at Safety, and solid at EDGE.

2027 1st might need to be CB or OT
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CB isn't unproven so much as it's a question mark primarily due to health.

If Bland and/or Revel are 100% we'll be perfectly fine there, especially when you throw Durant into the mix, plus the fact that Downs is probably going to be our nickel/slot more than not.

If I had to guess our top 5 DB's are probably going to be 2 CB's and 3 safeties, with Downs operating in the slot, while most teams are 3 CB's and 2 safeties.
 
The fact that they didn't take a cb early makes me think maybe they have good reason to believe Bland will be fine... As long as it isn't just unreasonable optimism.
 
Chocolate Lab said:
The fact that they didn't take a cb early makes me think maybe they have good reason to believe Bland will be fine... As long as it isn't just unreasonable optimism.
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I don’t think CB was the need relative to the value of the talent at their pick. First pick was Downs with Delane gone, might have been Downs anyway. Next pick the prolly had EDGE a bigger need than CB and Lawrence ranked higher than Hood, etc., especially with the depth at the CB position.

Third round they were staring at Barham a Mohican at LB with EDGE-like ability unsure what their options would be like in the 4th round and still a plethora of CB’s left, so easy choice… Barham.

Fourth round still plenty of CB’s left and they take a chance on the talent who fell because of injury history over Lee or Scott— total Cowboys move.

I think it was going to fall that way this draft in a lot of scenarios. I must have mocked this a hundred times, and in each I either grabbed a CB at the end of the 1st after a trade down or in the 3rd/4th after a trade down.

The draft just had a lot of them.
 
Simpleton said:
CB isn't unproven so much as it's a question mark primarily due to health.
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All draftees have to prove themselves, even 1st rounders bust, in fact a whole lot of them do.

Revel was both injured and a young draftee thrown to the wolves on a crappy defense. He might be fine, he might be average, he might be ruined. We have no idea based on his league-worst performance (according to PFF). Sure PFF can be FOS, but even if he’s not exactly last place he was close. We just haven’t seen the real him yet, and no one knows who that guy is: draft success or draft bust.

I have no feel whether Durant at his size can be good over a full season. LA didn’t fight to keep Durant, and at 4 million in 2026 he wasn’t really expensive, 55th CB in the league by average per year. Guys like Lewis or Awuzie who we’ve had before are better players over the long haul.

At least Diggs is gone.

We are counting on Downs to be in the mix at nickel corner, I think, but despite that versatility he’s straddling another position.

Bland wasn’t hurt as much as he got schooled when tasked to be the #1 guy. The Cardinals flat out humiliated him in Dallas on national TV. He took it personally and tightened up, but he’s not the alpha stopper we need at the position.

Moore is technically healthy, but also a brand new rookie, newer than Revel, even if you want to throw out Revel’s actual rookie year and say he’s starting over.

One decent guy, a journeyman, and two unknown but at one time well thought of draftees. I stand by their being unproven as only Revel was hurt in that group, and no one is hurt now. Let’s see if Parker can coach them up, but that’s asking him to do a lot.
 
Simpleton said:
CB isn't unproven so much as it's a question mark primarily due to health.

If Bland and/or Revel are 100% we'll be perfectly fine there, especially when you throw Durant into the mix, plus the fact that Downs is probably going to be our nickel/slot more than not.
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There's plenty of question marks. Revel hasn't proven he can play, nor has Downs. Bland obviously has health concerns.

I think the good news is there's enough options that I think at least some of it will work out.
 
Genghis Khan said:
There's plenty of question marks. Revel hasn't proven he can play, nor has Downs. Bland obviously has health concerns.

I think the good news is there's enough options that I think at least some of it will work out.
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Even if Revel busts we just need Bland to be healthy, or vice versa. My point is that we only really need 2 starting CB's with how they're going to use Downs in the slot.

Could Revel bust? Sure.

Could Bland never come back 100%? Sure.

But I think both happening is pretty unlikely.

I also don't think Downs is much of a question mark. Every rookie is a question to some extent but he's as bust proof as it gets.
 
ravidubey said:
Exactly, Parker’s got a lot of good buzz but he has to prove a lot himself. Can he even call a game? I mean he’s never done it. That said he has the look of someone who can and just hasn’t yet had or made himself the opportunity.

This draft was about getting better on defense, period— regardless of the DC— and we took the best players possible on that side of the ball.

We had to make up for years of neglect, misses, bad contracts, and failed development. We kind of were able to do most of it in a flurry of late season moves and one offseason.

If Overton can’t transition (frankly the odds are against him getting to 310+ and remaining effective) and Revel isn’t what we thought he was, then we need another strong DL and CB to field a highly competitive D.

As it stands, we’re intact. Brilliant at DE (if they smartly put Williams at DE), average at NT, unproven at CB, solid at ILB, deep at Safety, and solid at EDGE.

2027 1st might need to be CB or OT
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I don't think Overton needs to be 310. He probably needs to get up to the 280s or 290.
 
ravidubey said:
All draftees have to prove themselves, even 1st rounders bust, in fact a whole lot of them do.

Revel was both injured and a young draftee thrown to the wolves on a crappy defense. He might be fine, he might be average, he might be ruined. We have no idea based on his league-worst performance (according to PFF). Sure PFF can be FOS, but even if he’s not exactly last place he was close. We just haven’t seen the real him yet, and no one knows who that guy is: draft success or draft bust.

I have no feel whether Durant at his size can be good over a full season. LA didn’t fight to keep Durant, and at 4 million in 2026 he wasn’t really expensive, 55th CB in the league by average per year. Guys like Lewis or Awuzie who we’ve had before are better players over the long haul.

At least Diggs is gone.

We are counting on Downs to be in the mix at nickel corner, I think, but despite that versatility he’s straddling another position.

Bland wasn’t hurt as much as he got schooled when tasked to be the #1 guy. The Cardinals flat out humiliated him in Dallas on national TV. He took it personally and tightened up, but he’s not the alpha stopper we need at the position.

Moore is technically healthy, but also a brand new rookie, newer than Revel, even if you want to throw out Revel’s actual rookie year and say he’s starting over.

One decent guy, a journeyman, and two unknown but at one time well thought of draftees. I stand by their being unproven as only Revel was hurt in that group, and no one is hurt now. Let’s see if Parker can coach them up, but that’s asking him to do a lot.
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You don't need an alpha stopper at CB. You need depth and technical soundness and we should have at least the depth at the moment especially if Downs is excelling in the slot.
 
Smitty said:
I don't think Overton needs to be 310. He probably needs to get up to the 280s or 290.
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I have no reason to believe he isn't 287 right now unless he snuck weights into his pants for weigh in at the Alabama pro day.
 
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