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NFC East
Dallas’ draft for 2008:
Felix Jones RB Arkansas
Mike Jenkins CB South Florida
Martellus Bennett TE Texas A&M
Tashard Choice RB Georgia Tech
Orlando Scandrick CB Boise State
Erik Walden DE Middle Tennessee State
Off Season Major Changes:
RB Julius Jones to Seattle, SS Keith Davis, IB Akin Ayodele, TE Anthony Fasano, NT Jason Ferguson, and a cast of thousands of lesser players, coaches, and staff to Miami, CB Jacques Reeves to Houston. RB Tyson Thompson not resigned. CB Pacman Jones trade from TEN to DAL – in progress. IB Zach Thomas signed.
Well, the Julius Jones experiment ran its course in Dallas. It became evident midway through last season that Jones, although the starter, was the lesser RB to his understudy Marion Barber. Barber will be the hoss in 2008, but he’s not an old-school, play-every-down guy. Plus, he’s a pounder, not a slasher. 3rd RB Tyson Thompson could never seem to stay healthy or learn blitz pickups. Sayonara, Tyson. So, the Boyz needed to go out and get two RB’s – unless they wanted to depend on former practice squadder Alonzo Coleman as one of them. Not. The Boyz lurked at the end of round one, and lo, their targeted RB Felix Jones fell right into their lap. Jones will instantly replace that other Jones (one now and one formerly employed by yet another Jones…) as Marion the Barbarian’s other half. Barber will run over them; Jones will run around them, and hopefully both will make it through the season intact and functional. If not, highly regarded Tashard Choice fell to the Boyz in the later rounds. Choice is like Barber – a pounder. This gives the Boyz a little ammo in two situations: 1) Barber gets hurt – and Choice becomes the other half of the Dynamic Duo, or 2) Barber plays hardball with his contract (he’s a FA next year), and gets levered into either a reasonable deal or to a new locale. And, Alonzo Coleman is still out there lurking; it’s possible he gets parked on the PS again this year.
The other big changes have to do with the DBs. Here’s the situation: The Boyz have Roy Williams at SS, tied there because of a huge contract. He couldn’t cover my grandmother, but if he ever chased her down he’d put a lick on her (or maybe do the horse-collar thing). Ken Hamlin, a natural SS, is playing FS. Quite well, too: he made the Pro Bowl this year. Pat Watkins is the FS-in-waiting, but he’s still developing. Keith Davis, the Special Teams demon who backed up all of them has joined the exodus to Miami, where Bill Parcells has Pied-Pipered all sorts of Dallas talent. Over at CB, Dallas has two very fine players in Anthony Henry and Terrence Newman. But both are aging and are occasionally beat up, and with all of the spread offenses, the Boyz need 4 or 5 functional corners to match up and last the whole season. Behind these guys are two or so developmental players who might not ever be anything. Everyone else – including the oft-burned Jacques Reeves – has flown the coop.
So, what’s a (Jerry) Jones to do? Well, first, you dial up TEN and talk them out of Adam “Crime Wave” aka “Pacman” Jones, a man with immense talent and miniscule maturity. (Pacman) Jones has one chance left, if he ever gets reinstated in the first place, in the NFL. It didn’t cost Dallas much to take a chance on him, so they did. If he works out, great. If not, oh well. Meanwhile, they went into the draft not planning on Pacman being a factor. So, they drafted two excellent CB’s in Jenkins and Scandrick. These two guys can sit behind the starters for a year or two, learn the ropes, do some nickel coverage and special teams, and take over down the road. If Pacman is in the mix, so much the better. Plus, the additional CB’s allow Anthony Henry to slide to FS and Hamlin to slide to SS if needed. The whole situation is vastly improved in D-Back-land, even with Roy "Toast" Williams still back there.
Going into the draft, or at least the week before it, DAL had no needs at TE. They had Pro Bowl starter Jason Witten, plus capable backups Anthony Fasano and Tony Curtis. And, DAL was set at IB with starters Bradie James and Akin Ayodele plus young backups Kevin Burnett and Bobby Carpenter. All was well in Boyz-land. But then Papa Bill Parcells came calling for Fasano. Seems MIA needed a TE, and Parcells had drafted Fasano in the first place. Sure, said (GM/Owner Jerry - not to be confused with Julius, Felix, or Pacman) Jones. But you have to take Ayodele, too. Sure, we can do that. And lo, it came to pass that DAL now needed a TE and had a new starting IB (probably Zach Thomas, but don’t rule out Burnett, or some kind of time sharing plan).
And here, in Round 3 of the Draft, a fellow Texan from Harvard-on-the-Brazos (aka Texas A&M, home of the Aggies) fell Martellus Bennett. Mr. Bennett is a large individual with basketball skills (see: Antonio Gates). He isn’t a great blocker, but that’s not why he gets the job: he has hands, size, and decent speed. Witten is the starter, and is a decent blocker. Curtis is even a better blocker. Bennett just has to line up and cause matchup issues, beat a LB to a seam, outjump/box out the defender, and catch the ball. Oh my. Yet another weapon for Mr. Jessica Simpson.
Look for all of the above-mentioned draft picks to make the team. Less likely is the last pick, DE Erik Walden, who projects to an OB in the Dallas scheme. First, he’s raw and will need some coaching. Second, OB is not a position of need on the Boyz. They have All-Pro starters DeMarcus Ware and Greg Ellis, and last year’s 1st rounder Anthony Spencer there. They have Burnett and Bobby Carpenter who can slide outside. They have Jason Hatcher, a tweener DE, who can fill the role in rushing situations. Just where is this guy going to fit? Probably on the PS… Or driving a beer truck.
Summary: The Boyz did an excellent job of fixing the problems at RB and DB, and actually upgraded slightly at TE. The other off-season acquisitions provide depth at IB and CB. The Boyz got a project OB/DE in Walden, but at a low cost. They did not address the WR issue, feeling that their existing staff was better than what was available in the draft. It’s hard to argue with that with T.O. and Terry Glenn (when healthy) being one of the most feared tandems in the league, and Patrick Crayton, Sam Hurd, Miles Austin, and the explosive Isaiah Stanback in the wings, that DAL isn’t really hurting (yet) at WR. Just who among the 2008 class would have been a significant improvement there? The Boyz wisely focused their efforts elsewhere and stood pat at WR. Grade: A.
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