How Other NFL Execs Grade The Cowboys Draft
FRISCO - Let's admit it right upfront: As much as we talk about wishing to avoid "groupthink'' and "conversations in an echo chamber,'' it can be comforting when others' opinions on something like the NFL Draft match yours.
Especially when you are a Dallas Cowboys follower ... and the "others' opinions'' confirm yours.
The Athletic has a piece on "NFL execs'' offering opinions on all 32 teams' recent draft hauls. The article might be slightly flawed in that it doesn't detail how many "execs'' were consulted; further, this is less a "survey'' than it is a "conversation,'' and so it is impossible to know if there is one "exec'' raving about Dallas' draft, or three "execs,'' or 32 "execs.''
Having said that: There are a lot of Cowboys affirmations here. What author Mike Sando writes, and our reaction, below:
Sando: Thirteen Dallas choices over the previous 10 drafts have earned Pro Bowl honors, a figure that ranks second in the league behind Kansas City’s 15. Execs think there’s a good chance this Cowboys draft will add to that total.
CowboysSI.com: We've already expressed our skepticism about rapid ascension to the Pro Bowl for top picks CeeDee Lamb and Trevon Diggs. But Diggs, the second-round pick, has people inside the organization ready to make him the team's No. 1 cornerback. That's a start. Lamb, the first-round pick, will begin as the "third receiver.'' Hard to make the Pro Bowl from there. ... though "The 88 Club'' thinks he's jumping straight from the draft to the Hall of Fame.
Sando: “Dallas had no intention of taking a receiver,” an exec said. “Then the receiver who was arguably the top one in the class (CeeDee Lamb) falls to them. OK, they are going to be in 11 personnel a lot. It makes sense, them taking him.”
CowboysSI.com: This is simply affirmation for us. We wrote a well-sourced pre-Draft news story - Exclusive-Exclusive! - explaining why Dallas had no intention of picking a receiver at 17. When it happened, we felt foolish for only a moment until it was explained to us that Lamb was No. 6 on the Dallas board and that in none of the Cowboys' mock projections did they forecast him landing in their laps.
Sando: One exec (talking about Diggs' 2018 foot injury as the reason he may have slipped to Round 2): "When your owner is also the GM, you can take some risks.”
CowboysSI.com: This is a fascinating angle that gets brought up constantly - by one person and one person only: Bryan Broaddus, the former Cowboys scout now our colleague at 105.3 The Fan. While the football world generally beats up Jerry Jones for wearing both hats (while aided of course by Stephen Jones and Will McClay), Broaddus has over the years tried to explain a unique benefit of the arrangement.
"Other GM's are sometimes looking to 'protect their desk,' or pay off the lake house,'' Broaddus will say. "So they'll make picks with the purpose of simply keeping their jobs for one more year. Jerry being the GM means he's not getting fired. He's not gonna fire himself!
"And as much as some people hate that, there is also an advantage to it: Jerry doesn't have to be afraid to do the risky thing, or even the crazy thing, especially if it's the right thing.''
It's a piece of non-linear - and non-Jerry-bashing - thinking that we're surprised to see leak out of an NFL front office. Pleasantly surprised, actually, because we agree with it.
