Draft Player Profiles

Round One: Anthony Spencer, DE Purdue
This pick came as a bit of shock to almost all Cowboys fans, including myself. Anthony Spencer was a 260-pound end for Purdue and is going to have to move to outside linebacker in the Cowboys system. I know last year after Greg Ellis went down the pass rush suffered to a great extent. His return was claimed to be coming along quickly and very well. That obviously is not the case. Picking Spencer basically sends a message to Ellis that he is on his way out. It also admits that Bobby Carpenter is not capable of rushing the passer. I am obviously very skeptical about this pick, but Spencer is an outstanding talent. Both Joe Thomas and Levi Brown (offensive tackles picked in the top 5) claimed that Spencer was their biggest challenge this past season. Jerry Jones claimed going into the draft that he had 7 impact players on his board and that he would consider trading up to get one and that is exactly what they did. New head coach Wade Phillips was obviously the driving force behind this pick. Phillips has an outstanding defensive scheme and pressuring the quarterback is the focus. Phillips was also impressed at how well Spencer knew the scheme and he thinks that his transition to linebacker will go very smoothly. Spencer will win the starting job and look for Greg Ellis to be traded or moved back to end in nickel situations.

Round Three: James Martin, OT Boston College
Martin started his career at Boston College playing guard and started two seasons there. This past season, his senior season, he moved to tackle. Martin said that he prefers playing tackle even though scouts have him as more a guard in the NFL. Martin also claimed he is better playing out in space, but again scouts say that is one of his biggest weaknesses. The consensus on Martin is that he is going to be a career backup in the NFL. Jerry Jones claimed he saw Martin playing tackle, however later picks indicate that Martin will be moving back to guard. This pick was obviously a bit of a reach and probably should have been used on a cornerback. With all that said Martin will make the team and he will backup left guard Kyle Koiser.

Round Four: Isaiah Stanbeck, QB Washington
Stanback only started one season at quarterback for Washington and played a bit of receiver before that. Scouts say that he has the tools to become a quarterback, but he is best fitted as a receiver. As a quarterback, he was ranked bellow Chris Leak, who was not even selected. The recent signing of Brock Berlin and the presence of Matt Baker makes the chance of him competing at quarterback very unlikely. He also does not really fit into the wide receiving corps because Miles Austin and Sam Hurd are sitting at the fourth and fifth spots on the depth chart. So, this pick really leaves me scratching my head. Then it dawned on me that because of Stanbeck’s exceptional physical skills he might have been brought in to play safety or even cornerback. His 40 time does not do his blazing speed justice. Stanbeck can make an impact, but I am just not sure exactly where yet.

Round Four: Doug Free, OT Northern Illinois
Most people had Free ranked higher then third round pick Martin. Free has excellent size and great footwork, so he will remain as a tackle with the Cowboys. He is said to be a great technician and he is very durable. The major knock against Free is that he lacks strength and the killer instinct. Those are two easily fixable things. I would not be surprised if Free makes a bigger impact on this team then Martin does. Free will fit in as the backup left tackle behind Flozell Adams.

Round Six: Nick Folk, K Arizona
This pick leaves me just outraged. I saw a lot of mock drafts that had the Cowboys taking Mason Crosby as high as the third round. Crosby was the highest ranked kicker in the draft and was said to be very capable of making an impact right away. I actually watched a kicking competition and I was impressed with Justin Medlock even more. Medlock was picked in round 5, so he was out of the question, but Crosby was there and we took Nick Folk instead. Folk is said to have superhuman leg strength, but he frequently missed short kicks. What this all equates to is that they are probably planning on having to kickers: Gramatica for field goals an Folk for kickoffs. That wastes a roster space and Crosby was really the better pick here. This pick was just plain awful, one of the worst things I have ever seen the Cowboys do!

Round Six: Deon Anderson, FB Connecticut
At first this ones looks pretty good. Fullback is a position we could use depth at. Anthony Fasano already plays an h-back style fullback as a pass catcher and he does it pretty damn well, but he doesn’t block particularly well. Oliver Hoyte is a converted linebacker and he is a good blocker, but he is a little slow. So, getting a blocking fullback would make sense. However, Anderson is more of a pass catcher and is said to be incapable of delivering a powerful block. It also indicated that he has some major character issues. If he can block then it’s an ok pick, if he can’t then it’s a complete waste. I would not be surprised if he winds up not making the team.

Round Seven: Courtney Brown, CB California Polytechnic
This pick might just be the sleeper pick that could wow people this draft. Brown is a great athlete and ran an impressive 4.34. He might be one of the most physically gifted cornerbacks in this draft. He was ranked incredibly low because he only played against mediocre competition and was rarely challenged. He is not completely developed yet, but I really think that he could become a starting cornerback. He can also make an impact returning punts. He will make the team and he will eventually make an impact.

Round Seven: Alan Ball, CB Illinois
I really do not know much about him. He is tall, but a little too thin. I read somewhere that he gets pushed around easily and does not tackle at all. That doesn’t really translate to becoming a good special teams player either. Against physical receivers he will have a lot of difficulty. He is an interesting projects but I think he is going to wind up getting cut.

Nice Tade, Wait What?, Nice Trade, Who's That?

This draft has been a pretty crazy one for the Cowboys. In this case, crazy means bad. A lot of very intriguing things were happening in the first round. At the cornerback position Leon Hall fell and the Jets traded up to the 14th pick to take Darelle Revis (another cornerback) before Hall. My immediate reaction to that was that the Cowboys should trade up and get Hall. They didn’t and Hall got selected. Some people had them picking safety Reggie Nelson, but he was selected at number 21, the pick right before the Cowboys went on the clock. One glaring player stared them in the face at that point and that player was Brady Quinn. Many of the analysts had the Cowboys going for Quinn because they were not confident in Romo. As much as I liked the idea of picking the golden boy Quinn, I knew that the Cowboys should pass him up and trade the pick to someone who would take him, like Cleveland. That is exactly what Jerry Jones did. He collected the third pick in the second round and a first round pick in the 2008 draft in return. At this point I was really pleased. We just moved down 14 picks and we got another first rounder for next year.

After watching two more picks I decided to get in the shower. When I returned I was shocked to see the Cowboys back on the clock at number 26. It was then announced that they had selected Anthony Spencer a defensive end/outside linebacker from Purdue. Then they announced that the Cowboys had traded with the Eagles and gave up that second round pick they just acquired from Cleveland as well as a third and a fifth round pick. Essentially they gave up a third and a fifth to move up 10 picks and to take a player that plays a position that the Cowboys are stacked at. So, for the third year in a row the Cowboys selected an outside linebacker with their first pick. Spencer is an outstanding talent and both Joe Thomas and Levi Brown said that he was by far their biggest challenge this past season. However, with Ellis returning this one just does not make much sense. This basically sends a message to Greg Ellis that his future with the Cowboys is in doubt. It also admits that last year’s first rounder, Bobby Carpenter is not capable of taking over his spot and being a staring linebacker. It also left the cornerback position in question and eliminated the chance of adding a decent player to provide depth at guard. Anyway, I kept watching in disappointment.

When it finally came time for the Cowboys to select in the second round almost all of the wide receivers they were targeting (Sidney Rice and Dwayne Jarrett) were off the board and there was not a cornerback worth taking there. The answer was to trade down again. They traded again with Cleveland and got an early third round pick and a fourth round pick in exchange. I guess I was pleased with decision again because it allowed to move back a few picks and still get the same player they would have taken at that spot, while adding another pick.

The Cowboys needed to use this newly acquired third rounder to address either cornerback, guard, or a defensive tackle. Josh Beekman, a highly regarded guard out of Boston College was available and Marcus McCauley a once thought first round talent was available at cornerback. DeMarcus “The Tank” Tyler was also available at defensive tackle. Personally, I would have selected Beekman. Scouts had him ranked as the third best guard in this draft and many people thought he could become a starter and an impact player in the league. I immediately thought that he could compete with Kyle Koiser for the left guard spot. Instead the Cowboys picked his counterpart at BC, James Martin. Marten started his BC career at guard but later moved to tackle. Martin did not overly impress scouts and they even called him unathletic at times. They also said will not be as good as felloe BC graduate and current Cowboys right tackle, Marc Colombo. I really don’t understand this pick. Why not go for a sure thing like Beekman? We needed depth at both positions but Beekman was a much better prospect. I think this was a bit of mistake.

Crayton Retained

Patrick Crayton, whom was a restriced free agent this season has offically signed the $1.3 million tender the Cowboys offered. Crayton sparked a lot of interest on the market because of his potential to be a solid starting receiver in this league. However, he also came with a second round draft compensation. So, any team that would have wanted to sign him would have had to transfer their second round pick to the Cowboys. As expected, that proved to be too steep of a price in the eyes of teams that might have had interest in Crayton. All in all, Crayton will be returning and will most likley keep his spot as the number three receiver on the Dallas Cowboys. He will be a unrestriced free agent at the end of this comming season.