2021 - NFL Draft Prospects Thread

[Nextyearfordaboyz]

3 hours ago, matt79511 said:

Glad to see someone with contacts throughout the league is high on Surtain as well. I swear people are just looking for reasons to dislike him because he'll probably run like a 4.5.

OTOH if teams are that high on him he might well go before our pick.

Yeah, I mean, he was probably the first name on the radar. So people have gotten a little bored, especially since he’s not an especially flashy player of turnover magnet.

But he’s just a really good cornerback, true professional. When it comes down to it, there might not be a player in the draft that improves the 2021 Dallas Cowboys more than Surtain.

[matt79511]

17 minutes ago, Nextyearfordaboyz said:

Yeah, I mean, he was probably the first name on the radar. So people have gotten a little bored, especially since he’s not an especially flashy player of turnover magnet.

But he’s just a really good cornerback, true professional. When it comes down to it, there might not be a player in the draft that improves the 2021 Dallas Cowboys more than Surtain.

Basically where I'm at, especially given the FO's lack of urgency in replacing Awuzie in free agency. It kind of feels like they expect to take Surtain, with Farley/Horn/trade down as fallbacks.

Just looking at our cap sheet for 2022, if the cap doesn't go up beyond what it was in 2020, this could be our last season with the current core of players before we're forced to make some tough decisions. I know drafting for "immediate need" over "BPA" sounds dicey, but really, does anyone actually think Surtain will suck? He seems so rock solid- reminds me of Minkah Fitzpatrick in that respect. I"m sure Saban adored him. I just think he upgrades the mentality/confidence level on the back end, on top of his individual skills at CB.

[Texas_OutLaw7]

2 minutes ago, matt79511 said:

Just looking at our cap sheet for 2022, if the cap doesn't go up beyond what it was in 2020

The NFL just inked 100+ Billion dollar deal. The cap is going to EXPLODE. Sign EVERYONE you can right now. 

[Northland]

31 minutes ago, Nextyearfordaboyz said:

Yeah, I mean, he was probably the first name on the radar. So people have gotten a little bored, especially since he’s not an especially flashy player of turnover magnet.

But he’s just a really good cornerback, true professional. When it comes down to it, there might not be a player in the draft that improves the 2021 Dallas Cowboys more than Surtain.

For me Surtain falls into the super safe pick category.  Starter and contributor from day 1.

[matt79511]

3 minutes ago, Texas_OutLaw7 said:

The NFL just inked 100+ Billion dollar deal. The cap is going to EXPLODE. Sign EVERYONE you can right now. 

I was listening to a podcast the other day (can't remember who/which one) where the guest said the big spike is expected to happen in '23. I'm guessing that's what our team expects, too, since Dak's contract is written to be able to be restructured next year and shoot up to 40-50M the two years after.

[Nextyearfordaboyz]

1 hour ago, matt79511 said:

Basically where I'm at, especially given the FO's lack of urgency in replacing Awuzie in free agency. It kind of feels like they expect to take Surtain, with Farley/Horn/trade down as fallbacks.

Just looking at our cap sheet for 2022, if the cap doesn't go up beyond what it was in 2020, this could be our last season with the current core of players before we're forced to make some tough decisions. I know drafting for "immediate need" over "BPA" sounds dicey, but really, does anyone actually think Surtain will suck? He seems so rock solid- reminds me of Minkah Fitzpatrick in that respect. I"m sure Saban adored him. I just think he upgrades the mentality/confidence level on the back end, on top of his individual skills at CB.

Man, Minkah was such a playmaker, though. I don’t feel the same way about Surtain.

To your point, I think Surtain is probably the least likely to suck player in the whole draft. But I also think that if you take him, there’s a pretty good chance you’ll wake up in a few years and realize that you chose “doesn’t suck” over some of the more electric players in all of football.

I genuinely hope they have an open mind. There are immediate starters at cornerback to be had at #44 or in a trade down. I won’t be mad if they take Surtain at #10, but I do think there are other ways to maximize our draft haul.

[SweetFancyMoses]

Wonder if both Pitts and Chase are available at 10, who would you take? I would take Chase.

[matt79511]

28 minutes ago, Nextyearfordaboyz said:

Man, Minkah was such a playmaker, though. I don’t feel the same way about Surtain.

To your point, I think Surtain is probably the least likely to suck player in the whole draft. But I also think that if you take him, there’s a pretty good chance you’ll wake up in a few years and realize that you chose “doesn’t suck” over some of the more electric players in all of football.

I genuinely hope they have an open mind. There are immediate starters at cornerback to be had at #44 or in a trade down. I won’t be mad if they take Surtain at #10, but I do think there are other ways to maximize our draft haul.

I mean, I get the appeal of Melifonwu, Newsome, Campbell and whoever else. It's more the philosophy of "let's wait at CB because it's so deep" that I find fallible- that's how we got Chido and Lewis, you know, who didn't exactly transform our pass defense for the better. I don't quite buy Diggs as a #1 CB yet, either. I'd be more open to the idea of waiting till 44 if the we were to sign someone like Sherman or Hayward for a year, but that doesn't seem to be in the cards right now. I think if you draft Surtain (or Farley, or Horn, I guess), in addition to signing Neal and possibly Hooker, you go into training camp with this whole new pedigree of marquee talent on defense that opposing teams just aren't used to seeing when they line up against Dallas. Teams had a consistent mental edge on us last year because they knew we sucked on defense.

Current projections have all 4 top QBs going ahead of our pick, so idk how feasible trading back is (suppose someone could come up for Sewell). Now that Smith and Collins have restructured their contracts, it feels like we'd have to contort our roster too much to accommodate drafting an OT (start at LG for 2 years ahead of both Connors, which cuts into our comp pick haul) or WR (begets trading Gallup for minimal return, or else your pick is a straight backup his rookie year). Pitts I'd be open to, but the rest of the offensive options don't constitute a great fit in my opinion. Basically, BPA is a lie, and I think we'll see that when Dallas goes on the clock.

Edited March 22, 2021 by matt79511

[matt79511]

15 minutes ago, SweetFancyMoses said:

Wonder if both Pitts and Chase are available at 10, who would you take? I would take Chase.

I'd go Pitts, although I think Chase is the one guy that makes trading Gallup semi-viable- would step right in at X, unlike Smith or Waddle

[Nextyearfordaboyz]

27 minutes ago, matt79511 said:

It's more the philosophy of "let's wait at CB because it's so deep" that I find fallible- that's how we got Chido and Lewis, you know, who didn't exactly transform our pass defense for the better.

Neither did Mo.

I don’t disagree with anything you are saying. I just think if your choice in the first round is between “doesn’t suck at a position of need” or “special prospect at a position that isn’t”, you are going to have an opportunity at #44 to fill that need if you decide to draft the special prospect.

But honestly, I think you and I are mostly on the same page actually, other than I’d add Waddle to Pitts as the two offensive guys really worth considering for Dallas.

[matt79511]

3 minutes ago, Nextyearfordaboyz said:

Neither did Mo.

I don’t disagree with anything you are saying. I just think if your choice in the first round is between “doesn’t suck at a position of need” or “special prospect at a position that isn’t”, you are going to have an opportunity at #44 to fill that need if you decide to draft the special prospect.

But honestly, I think you and I are mostly on the same page actually, other than I’d add Waddle to Pitts as the two offensive guys really worth considering for Dallas.

I'll try and avoid text-walling again, but basically, I just like Surtain more than most, and think our team would benefit from a high first round pick on D that carries himself as such. What you and others see as a decision between a safe, low-upside option in Surtain vs. a litany of more exciting offensive options, I see more as "you can't go wrong, so take the best fit."

I would actually liken this scenario to the one Dallas faced 10 years ago, between Tyron Smith and a bevy of exciting defensive prospects (Watt, Quinn, Fairley, Amukamara, Jordan). People had different preferences, but the uniting factor was that they hated Smith because he played RT at USC. If Surtain's a ten-year starter for this team, minus Tyron's freak athleticism but also with less missed games, I don't think we'll care that much about who we passed on.

[Nextyearfordaboyz]

5 minutes ago, matt79511 said:

I'll try and avoid text-walling again, but basically, I just like Surtain more than most, and think our team would benefit from a high first round pick on D that carries himself as such. What you and others see as a decision between a safe, low-upside option in Surtain vs. a litany of more exciting offensive options, I see more as "you can't go wrong, so take the best fit."

I would actually liken this scenario to the one Dallas faced 10 years ago, between Tyron Smith and a bevy of exciting defensive prospects (Watt, Quinn, Fairley, Amukamara, Jordan). People had different preferences, but the uniting factor was that they hated Smith because he played RT at USC. If Surtain's a ten-year starter for this team, minus Tyron's freak athleticism but also with less missed games, I don't think we'll care that much about who we passed on.

I mean, I know people were anti-Tyron, but the dude was an alien freak, and to me, his upside makes that a very different scenario than Surtain.

I don’t really disagree with what you are saying. And if the Cowboys agree with you, I will not be upset about it. At all. Surtain is absolutely worth a top-10 pick.

[plan9misfit]

1 hour ago, SweetFancyMoses said:

Wonder if both Pitts and Chase are available at 10, who would you take? I would take Chase.

I’d take Pitts for 2 reasons:

1. He’s the better player, and 2) he’d be a nightmare for defensive coordinators to scheme against in our offense given the rest of talent on the roster. Aside from Trevor Lawrence, Pitts is literally the only skill position player I’d take ahead of Chase. 

[Nextyearfordaboyz]

Brugler's top 12 CBs

1. Farley
2. Surtain
3. Horn
4. Newsome
5. Molden
6. Stokes
7. Joseph
8. Campbell
9. Samuel
10. Melifonwu
11. Robinson
12. Adebo

It's amazing to me that really strong prospects like Samuel, Melifonwu, and Robinson could be 9-10-11, when last year, the 9th-11th CB picks were relative scrubs Kristian Fulton, Michael Ojemudia, and Cam Dantzler.

You obviously can't wait until the 3rd round to pick your CB, but Ojemudia was picked 77. There may be a blinking light sitting there in the 3rd round at the position for a nice double-up.

[Nextyearfordaboyz]

It’s been a long time since we’ve talked about Tyree Gillespie, but since he destroyed his pro day today (4.38), it’s as good a time as any.

Dude can ball. Put some really impressive plays on tape against Alabama and Florida (Pitts). Heat seeking missile with really impressive range. My #99 special.