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Dallas Cowboys 2018 offseason thread


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7 minutes ago, Rabidhorn said:

The Ticket guy inside Cowboy HQ said they never tried to move up and were never going to draft a WR at 19.

This makes me feel positive.  Thank God for Stephen Jones and Will McClay.

I saw Jerry on the phone letting the clock wind down to hype to local crowd and was like "Shit, he's gonna grab Ridley."  Nope.

Weren't there medical flags on VE? 

 

 

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1 minute ago, EvilCaseMcCoy said:

Weren't there medical flags on VE? 

 

 

There were some rumors based on a stinger he had years ago, but they said on the NFL Network broadcast that the Cowboys doctors had checked him out and were confident there was no issue. He played this entire year with no problems.

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https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/draft/news/2018-nfl-draft-grades-cowboys-get-an-a-for-adding-leighton-vander-esch-to-defense/

Quote

With the No. 19 pick in the 2018 NFL Draft, the Cowboys selected Leighton Vander Esch, linebacker out of Boise State.

DAL.pngGrade: A

Pete Prisco: This is a steal. He will be a big-time star (or "Star") in their defense.

Scouting report

Chris Trapasso: Oversized off-ball linebacker with immense athletic gifts. Straight-line speed is outstanding, and he's relatively smooth when changing directions. Lacking the refinement to defeat blocks to make plays on the football near the line. If kept clean, he can be a dynamic linebacker at the next level.

Fantasy impact

Jamey Eisenberg: The Cowboys needed linebacker help, and Vander Esch could be a steal in this spot. They could have a standout linebacker corps now with Sean Lee, Jaylon Smith and Vander Esch, with the rookie manning the middle. He could emerge as a No. 2 LB as the replacement for Anthony Hitchens, and he's worth a late-round pick in re-draft leagues. In rookie-only drafts with IDP options, Vander Esch is worth a second-round pick.

NCAA recap

R.J. White: Vander Esch played quarterback and middle linebacker at Salmon River High School in Idaho before joining the Broncos in 2014 and redshirting his first year. Though he saw limited work over the next two seasons, including in 2016 due to injury, he did manage a sack in each season as well as an interception as a redshirt sophomore.

The linebacker put the injury issues behind him in 2017, racking up an incredible 141 tackles as a redshirt junior, which was the most at Boise State since 1988, and earning distinction as Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year. Vander Esch also talled four sacks, four forced fumbles and three interceptions in his final season in Boise State, and finished his career with 12 tackles and a sack in the Las Vegas Bowl before declaring for the draft.

 

https://www.bloggingtheboys.com/2018/4/27/17288814/dallas-cowboys-2018-draft-the-pros-and-cons-of-leighton-vander-esch-with-video

Quote

By now you might have heard that the Dallas Cowboys drafted linebacker Leighton Vander Esch with the 19th pick of the 2018 draft. The Cowboys came into the draft with four big needs in most people’s minds - wide receiver, guard, linebacker and defensive tackle. Obviously, they think they have solved the linebacker issue.

Let’s check out the pros and cons of drafting LVE.

Pros: The guy is super athletic and big. Earlier this offseason OCC wrote a whole post about athletic linebackers using Sparq.

Topping the Sparq scores for this draft class is Leighton Vander Esch, one of the favorites for the Cowboys’ first-round pick, with a phenomenal 143.6 pSPARQ score that puts him in the 97th percentile among all NFL players at his position.

So we know he is an athletic freak, and that’s pretty amazing given he’s big for a linebacker at 6’ 4” and 256 pounds. It doesn’t stop there. He had tremendous production in his final year at Boise State.

He’s known for his ability in stopping the run and covering the full width of the field. He’s really good at shooting the gaps. He should also be able to cover tight ends, even the bigger ones because he can match them not only with his agility but with his size. Once he learns proper technique in coverage, it could become a real asset.

There is a lot to like about Vander Esch. Given the Cowboys issues keeping Sean Lee healthy and trying to get Jaylon Smith up to NFL-level performance, the need was there, too. The Cowboys are also thinking about life post-Sean Lee.

Cons: For one thing, LVE suddenly burst onto the scene last year, so he’s only done it for one season. Can he do it again at the pro level?

 

There is also the need for him to be a stronger player, a guy who can shed blocks and not get washed out in traffic. If he plays in he middle, they will need him to be able to navigate his way through the trash.

There is also the neck issue which reportedly had some teams take him off their board. The Cowboys obviously think he’s just fine, but it does raise a little bit of doubt.

Will he be a starter? Can he beat out Jaylon Smith? We’ll see but if the Cowboys have two first-round picks in a row that can’t crack the starting lineup, that’s not great.

Enjoy some highlights and scouting analysis of LVE.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdX5qiU9W48

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdX5qiU9W48

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpY68Dcxs5U

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGV_-Yy_dhU

 

 

 

 

Dallas Cowboys: Talks with Earl Thomas continue | Clarence Hill, Jr, Fort Worth Star-Telegram
The long discussed idea of Dallas trading for Earl Thomas is still very much alive - but maybe not all that likely.

The Dallas Cowboys remain interested in a trade for Seattle Seahawks cornerback Earl Thomas.

But there remain a lot of moving parts for that to happen.

The Cowboys have already backed away from the Seahawks' original asking price of a first and third-round pick. Dallas will not offer anything higher than a second-round selection. The second and third rounds of the draft are Friday

And then there is the matter of Thomas' contract demands.

 

Roger Goodell booed despite Cowboys flanking him with legends - Partik Walker, 247 Sports
Yeah, that didn't work.

Roger Goodell just got torn to shreds despite the Dallas Cowboys trying to prevent it.

It was pretty much a foregone conclusion this would be the case entering the 2018 NFL Draft, but the commissioner probably couldn't imagine just how vocal Cowboys' fans would be when he first took the stage.

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8 hours ago, shnsajax said:

If both WR were off the board I would really like this pick. I still like, but curious as to why Ridley dropped. The combine made this kid a lot of money. 

The live shots of he and his fam looked like he had about 2 gallons of purple drank 

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8 hours ago, Patrick Bateman said:

Some teams are worried about his strength and getting off press.  He's not a big guy at all.   He's also older..... turns 24 at the end of this year.  Not saying those are valid reasons but they're I've read.

By "some teams" you are most likely referring to the smoke being pumped by dallascowboys.com.  He's not a passive LB and a very capable blitzer.   He'll play either Mike or Sam.

PFF is comparing him to Kuechly based on how he moves to the ball and finds ways around blockers.

 

 

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8 hours ago, Patrick Bateman said:
8 hours ago, shnsajax said:

If both WR were off the board I would really like this pick. I still like, but curious as to why Ridley dropped. The combine made this kid a lot of money. 

Some teams are worried about his strength and getting off press.  He's not a big guy at all.   He's also older..... turns 24 at the end of this year.  Not saying those are valid reasons but they're I've read.

 

8 hours ago, shnsajax said:

He’s 21, 6’4” and 256. Unless Wiki is lying to me. 

 

8 hours ago, Patrick Bateman said:

That's a big fucking WR.....

 

7 minutes ago, Amobie said:

By "some teams" you are most likely referring to the smoke being pumped by dallascowboys.com.  He's not a passive LB and a very capable blitzer.   He'll play either Mike or Sam.

PFF is comparing him to Kuechly based on how he moves to the ball and finds ways around blockers.

I swear some of you idiots can't read. The context was quoted in his damn post.

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On an unrelated note, after looking up more shit on LVE, our football team needs to get its shit together. 3 MWC athletes drafted in the first round, and one Big 12 athlete (walk on baker mayfield). The big 12 is ripe for the taking, and the committee would screw over a lot of teams, but they want to put a big 12 champion Texas in that playoff over “option 5” (just like they’ve wanted to put in OU as big 12 champs)

Edited by youdunnf'dup
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Here's the visit list.  Most of the guys we've brought in are still around. 
  • Marcel Ateman, WR, Oklahoma State (PRI)
  • Brandon Bean, WR, Grand Valley State (PRO)
  • Taven Bryan, DT, Florida (PRI)
  • Antonio Callaway, WR, Florida (PRI)
  • D.J. Chark, WR, LSU (WOR)
  • Austin Corbett, OT/C, Nevada (WOR)
  • James Daniels^, C, Iowa (PRI, WOR)
  • Matt Davis, QB, SMU (LOC)
  • Malik Earl, WR, Missouri State (PRI)
  • DeShon Elliott^, S, Texas (PRI, COM, LOC)
  • Leighton Vander Esch^, ILB, Boise State (PRI, WOR)
  • Rashaan Evans, ILB, Alabama (PRI)
  • Kylie Fitts, DE/3-4OLB, Utah (SR)
  • Dimitri Flowers, FB, Oklahoma (WOR)
  • Daurice Fountain, WR, Northern Iowa (PRI)
  • Michael Gallup, WR, Colorado State (WOR)
  • Mason Gentry, DE, SMU (PRI)
  • Davon Grayson, WR, East Carolina (WOR)
  • P.J. Hall, DT, Sam Houston State (WOR)
  • DaeSean Hamilton, WR, Penn State (WOR)
  • Da'Shawn Hand, DE, Alabama (PRI)
  • Desmond Harrison, OT, West Georgia (PRI)
  • Ronnie Harrison, S, Alabama (PRI)
  • Will Hernandez^, G, UTEP (PRI, PRO)
  • Kenny Hill, QB, TCU (LOC)
  • Nyheim Hines^, RB, N.C. State (PRI, WOR)
  • Hayden Hurst, TE, South Carolina (COM)
  • Dewey Jarvis, DE, Brown University (SR)
  • Malik Jefferson^, ILB, Texas (PRO, WOR)
  • Josey Jewell, OLB/ILB, Iowa (COM)
  • Chris Jones, CB, Nebraska (WOR)
  • Joshua Kalu, S, Nebraska (WOR)
  • Arden Key, DE/3-4OLB, LSU (PRI)
  • DeVante Kincade, QB, Grambling (LOC)
  • Christian Kirk, WR, Texas A&M (WOR)
  • Tejan Koroma, C, Brigham Young (WOR)
  • Richard Lagow, QB, Indiana (LOC)
  • Harold Landry, DE/3-4OLB/OLB, Boston College (PRI)
  • Kyle Lauletta, QB, Richmond (WOR)
  • Darius Leonard^, OLB/ILB, South Carolina State (WOR, PRI)
  • Cole Madison, OT, Washington State (PRI)
  • T.J. McCollum, OLB, Purdue (PRO)
  • Tarvarus McFadden^, CB, Florida State (COM, PRI)
  • Kolton Miller^, OT, UCLA (PRI, WOR)
  • D.J. Moore^, WR, Maryland (COM, WOR, PRI)
  • Tarvarius Moore, FS, Southern Mississippi (PRI)
  • Ryan Nall, FB, Oregon State (COM)
  • Da'Ron Payne, DT/NT, Alabama (PRI)
  • Dante Pettis, WR, Washington (PRO)
  • Darius Phillips, CB, Western Michigan (SR)
  • Trey Quinn, WR, SMU (LOC)
  • Calvin Ridley^, WR, Alabama (COM, PRI)
  • Mason Rudolph, QB, Oklahoma State (PRO)
  • Christian Sam, ILB, Arizona State (PRI)
  • Jaylen Samuels, RB, N.C. State (PRO)
  • Nathan Shepherd^, DT, Fort Hays State (PRI, WOR)
  • Braden Smith, G, Auburn (WOR)
  • Tre'Quan Smith, WR, Central Florida (WOR)
  • Vyncint Smith, WR, Limestone (WOR)
  • Breeland Speaks, DE/3-4DE, Ole Miss (PRI)
  • Courtland Sutton^, WR, SMU (WOR, PRI)
  • Josh Sweat, DE/3-4OLB, Florida State (COM)
  • Ranthony Texada, CB, TCU (LOC)
  • Vita Vea, DT/3-4DE/NT, Washington (PRI)
  • Akrum Wadley, RB, Iowa (SR)
  • Fred Warner, OLB, Brigham Young (WOR)
  • Chris Warren, FB, Texas (LOC)
  • James Washington, WR, Oklahoma State (PRI)
  • Macklin Weaver, DE, Eastern Illinois (PRO)
  • David Wells, TE, San Diego State (WOR)
  • Connor Williams^, OT, Texas (PRI, LOC)
  • Cedric Wilson, WR, Boise State (SR)
  • Isaiah Wynn, OT/G/C, Georgia (COM)

 

Edited by Amobie
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If anybody else is watching All or Nothing on Prime, there is another glaring example in the 1st episode of why it was time for Dez to go.   In a WR meeting before the Denver game and Coach Dooley is emphasizing to the group how good Denver's defense is and how they will face adversity in this game.  Dez becomes argumentative and starts taking over the meeting saying he don't want to hear that shit.

And as we know Denver smoked their ass.  Got a feeling they're are going to be a lot of bad examples in this show.

Edited by AbeFroman
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9 minutes ago, Viper said:

Here's a list of the Dallas targets left for day 2

Image_29.png

 

really hoping one of the guys in blue fall down to us, but I'd also be pretty happy with Sutton if all the guys in blue are taken.

Considering where we are picking, Arden Key could be a real possibility.  I'm not sure they draft another end this year though and might just give one more shot to the guys they currently have.

The one guy that could be a big impact guy that gets next to no love is Harrison Phillips out of Stanford.  Guy is strong as fuck (42 reps at 225) and made 98 tackles this year flexing between Nose and the 1/3 that Stanford plays.  He also has 14.5 sacks over the past two years (7 and 7.5) along with 27 tackles for loss.  He also plays with technique so he'd be ready to play day 1.

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58 minutes ago, Amobie said:
Here's the visit list.  Most of the guys we've brought in are still around. 
  • Marcel Ateman, WR, Oklahoma State (PRI)
  • Brandon Bean, WR, Grand Valley State (PRO)
  • Taven Bryan, DT, Florida (PRI)

 

Taven was selected by Jacksonville.  He's who I was hoping for, but after watching some highlights LVE looks like the shit. Taven also looked pretty sloppy in his suit.

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2 hours ago, EvilCaseMcCoy said:

Weren't there medical flags on VE? 

 

 

It's been reported that there was one NFC team that had him completely off their draft board due to a neck injury, but as stated previously the Cowboy doctors had checked him out and given him a thumbs-up

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2 hours ago, Amobie said:

By "some teams" you are most likely referring to the smoke being pumped by dallascowboys.com.  He's not a passive LB and a very capable blitzer.   He'll play either Mike or Sam.

PFF is comparing him to Kuechly based on how he moves to the ball and finds ways around blockers.

 

 

Lulz he was talking about Ridley. Vander Esch is a big Rolando McClain sized fucker. If he can move close to as well as McClain and not be a disinterested lump then he can be good. 

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I liked the pick. Glad we did not waste a 1st rounder on a WR. The real value of those is later on. Defense is a pressing need right now. And we still have resources to try and trade for Earl. Really hope we get that done. Would make me a lot less nervous about this defense moving forward.

Still need to grab another LB as well. DT, too.

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10 hours ago, Ricky Butler said:

Get Earl.

Get WR. 

Celebrate.

Add in flexible OL at some point too. But, yes, this would be terrific.

Norm throwing out possibility of getting Earl just for a 3rd or 3rd & 4th at this point and just keep #50 overall. This would please me.

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13 minutes ago, C-Man said:

Add in flexible OL at some point too. But, yes, this would be terrific.

Norm throwing out possibility of getting Earl just for a 3rd or 3rd & 4th at this point and just keep #50 overall. This would please me.

would do that in a heartbeat.

I think we're going to have some good options at 50 for a WR/DT/OL

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13 hours ago, GlenFromTheMailRoom said:

Stop trying to make this pick give you the warm and fuzzies.  Our wr corp is abysmal and for some fucking reason we passed on wr1 and wr2 in the entire draft.

there wasn't a real stud wr in this draft worthy of a high number 1 pick.  i bet there will be wr's in the later rounds that will prove to be better than ridley or moore.  one of them i would love the cowboys to get in round two is anthony miller from memphis. or even dj chark from lsu in the third...

the fact ridley and moore slid so far tells you that NFL people didn't think they were studs like julio jones or megatron...

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13 hours ago, Drew said:

Awesome.  now I get to spend all off season defending this pick.  And I think he's a good player.

Wish they had traded back.  Lots of names on the board.

Hey Drew, shut the fuck up. 

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i had no idea was that good a tackler and led the country in tackles around LOS.  after watching more film of the guy i am liking this pick.  great athlete, can run, great tackler with excellent hands and a nose for the ball.  causes turnovers and makes plays in big situations, gets better with every game he plays.  im sold on the pick.  fits the biggest need the cowboys had.

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdX5qiU9W48&ab_channel=JustBombsProductions[/video]

 

 

 

 

 

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Shut up Vic. Anyone being other than sad about Witten leaving is a fucking douche bag. 

 

Yes its time to move on, but you could be less of a dick about it. 

 

Also, no you’ll have Romo as lead on CBS. Troy as lead on Fox. Witten as lead on ESPN. And even Micheal Irvin as the most outspoken former player that’s a studio analyst on NFl network. 

 

Chris Collinsworth better watch out. He’s the only non cowboy in that position now. Not sure who is next up...maybe Sean Lee?

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