**2023 NFL Draft Prospects**

[quiller]

19 hours ago, Dallas94Ware said:

Taco was a bad choice not even just because they passed on Watts, and not even because he ended up lacking work ethic and being a bust. But simply because it was another instance in where need and scheme dictated the pick rather than pure talent. Taco had promise, and was a better fit for the scheme than Watts. But the potential with Watts was so much higher, it was mind-blowing they passed him over simply because he fit the cookie cutter shape of a 34 Rover than a book end in a 43. And they keyed in on a pass rusher long before draft day to boot, not even really considering alternatives. With a clear cut large gap in talent, screw system, screw the position. Draft the better guy and worry about where he plays later. Good things happen when you pick the better player. 

But the others you mention, man..I would really think most disliked the Micah selection because they wanted a corner and were against a LB high with the shorter, historically speaking, career length. Not because they actually worried it would be an unwise choice or a bad pick. Because I don't think you could watch any of his college film and think for one second he was going to fail at the next level.

 Micah to me was the single best defensive player in that draft class, and IMO, it wasn't even close. He had the new age athletic ability at the position that just screamed potential hall of famer. I did not foresee his pass rushing talent being up there with our very own DeMarcus Ware though. I had him pegged more of a cross between Fred Warner and like, Sean Lee, than a cross between Ware and ..Kuechley? Oh whomever, comparison doesn't matter. Just didn't foresee his ability to rush from the edge being so good as it has been. But still just in that small sample size of film at Penn State I knew the kid was bound for greatness.

Maybe less so with Tyler, but I still figured he would be a semi-consistent pro bowler inside. Had a bit of that Leonard Davis road grader element to his game, with the same criticisms of speed out of his stance and where his proper position might be. The talent was definitely there, though.. and by seasons end, his speed of learning pro footwork on the outside impressed me, and made me a believer in his future. But I still figured it to be a good selection as it happened and think, similarly to Micah, that most who disliked the selection probably felt that way for a different reason other than his ability..but rather because they had not yet heard of him, or at least, had not heard much of him.

I think it's more a matter of folks wanting or expecting one thing, and feeling let down when it went differently, than them truly thinking it to be a poor pick. Maybe, anyway.

To turn the talk back to McClays scouting department and scouting ability, he has indeed been a tremendous blessing to the front office. Jerry is still the shot caller, but it is so much easier to call good shots when you have a great team supporting you and feeding you accurate information. These three definitely mesh well. The ambition of Jerry, the rationale of Stephen, and the professional eye for talent of McClay. This team went from laughable with their early picks, to one of the teams many others envy for their consistency in that first round.

I'm still boggled by Jerry defaulting to JGs recommendation in the war room of Felix Jones on this closely paraphrased statement: "Well both backs available are good, but one is an every down back which I believe we already have [speaking of Marion Barber] and the other guy is a special..." Like come on. So not only were you just locked in on needing to go running back regardless of what's available, you pick Jones because Jg says he's a special. A special what? A special single season kick returner who's career trajectory was worse than everyone's running-like-hes-blind punchline of Julius Jones? Shaking. My. Head. That was clearly never going to work out and I haven't been paid to spot talent anywhere near what those guys get paid LOL .. that is why you don't key in on a specific position. It always bites you in the end.

And to further reminisce, i believe it was our very own @Dirk Gentlyback on the small forum he and I created after my stint as admin at the Dallas cowboys.com forum ended, who said to that very same JG statement during Hard Knocks, why was there seemingly no consideration for Chris Johnson? He could end up being the best offensive player in the draft. And our MIA buddy Dirk was certainly pretty accurate there. And much like @plan9misfithad also once SHOCKINGLY agreed with me on, Dallas may have had a sixth ring if they didn't pass on Steven Jackson that year. Well to add onto his old statement, imagine where Romos career also might have gone, as well as the team, had they added Chris Johnson that day instead of Felix Jones. 

Draft day lessons that it would seem Jerry has learned from, thankfully.

 

This is a good take for sure but I would add Felix was a special player here until he got hurt.  I also don’t remember much about Taco other than not being too enamored with his at the start.  I was all on board the Micah pic though wanting a sideline to sideline game changer not realizing we were getting a sack machine

[Dallas94Ware]

5 hours ago, Nextyearfordaboyz said:

Lmao, did anybody else see the DM he sent to a no-name blogger on twitter? I can’t post it here, because it’s not appropriate.

The man has a chip on his shoulder, I’ll give him that!

Willie Lutz is who to look up if you want to see.

No I've not seen, but I'll look up his "creativity" later...

Honestly, this kid looks like he hates the man lining up opposite of him. Fire in every impact, finish on every play. His mechanics and on field alertness, I'll call it, clearly need work. But that should be easy to achieve once film and craft refinement become all he needs to focus on as opposed to theoretical sciences and, idk, long division? 😛

[Dallas94Ware]

I really couldn't see why there was so much buzz about Richardson. He doesn't have the look and production to him as Lance did (granted, fcs vs fbs). Doesn't have quite the same stature of toughness either to bode well for longevity being an out of pocket kind of guy.

But I really watched him hard today. And I do see those special traits I always say you need to see if seeking a QB early in the draft - something that sets them apart, something that, if you can harness it, could make them special. As opposed to blah blah big arm blah blah production blah blah poise. Any first two days consideration at QB should really have those. So, what did I see in Richardson that may - May - have swayed me today?

The sheer amount of off platform throws I've seen him complete. Off the back foot, no planted foot, side arm release, three quarters release, flushed backwards, flushed outside, flushed against his body of motion... I've literally seen him make at least one throw of each off platform type in his short body of work. Now, that doesn't mean anything on its own. But when you do have the kind of canon he has, and the athleticism he has...you do tend to find some very good passers in that mold in today's NFL. Josh Allen, Mahomes, Hurts, even Burrow (albeit less canon more giddyup on Hurts)...Richardson may have far less passer polish than Burrow had, less pocket savvyness than Mahomes had, and less speed of delivery than Allen had. But that trait...it is still there.

I guess I can see now why someone would take him high, knowing that run first style doesn't have longevity in this league. Because he has also shown he can make those throws an old time coach would curse at him for trying...then applaud him for making.

Guess we will see. Hope he lands someplace where he can buy time and improve his wind up (got to get that elbow up earlier and splay those hips, or that balls going to sail too long for an NFL DB to not make an easy ******), study a lot of film, and not be shoved out behind some crappy Oline. If he ends up on some crap team that thrusts him out there...I dont see his career lasting long. If he gets that right situation, I see enough that makes me think we could see another modern era play maker at QB.

[DaBoys]

11 hours ago, Nextyearfordaboyz said:

Lmao, did anybody else see the DM he sent to a no-name blogger on twitter? I can’t post it here, because it’s not appropriate.

The man has a chip on his shoulder, I’ll give him that!

Willie Lutz is who to look up if you want to see.

😂

[Nextyearfordaboyz]

The NFL media seems to have a collective psychosis about reporting all sorts of player contacts as “Top 30” visits.

Between the combine, bowls, pro days, works out, scouting trips, top-30s, etc., every team has contact with just about every player in some capacity. But the top-30s are probably the single best piece of data we have for reading the tea leaves, and the data quality this year is really lacking. Pretty disappointing.

[matt79511]

Haven’t posted one of these yet so might as well. Thought this one turned out pretty stellar (Fanspeak)

26: R1 P26 EDGE Nolan Smith - Georgia

58: R2 P27 C John Michael Schmitz - Minnesota

90: R3 P27 LB Daiyan Henley - Washington State

129: R4 P27 WR Marvin Mims - Oklahoma

169: R5 P34 QB Jaren Hall - BYU

212: R6 P35 DL Moro Ojomo - Texas

244: R7 P27 S Josh Proctor - Ohio State

[goldfishwars]

Hey guys - Dallas is OTC in the draft thread at 26. It would be great to have your votes and thoughts. 

.

[DaBoys]

Continuing the trend of talking about players we haven’t really discussed… Isaiah Foskey is an interesting prospect. Now we probably haven’t talked about him mainly because we don’t need edge rushers. But if we are going to mention Nolan Smith and Will McDonald there’s no reason Isaiah Foskeys’ name shouldn’t be in the late first round DE hat. 

He was a top 210 recruit out of high school in 2019 and committed to Notre Dame. In 2022 Foskey broke Justin Tucks’ record to become the all time sack leader at Notre Dame. 

Weighing in at the combine at 60’51” and 265 lbs. His 34 inch arms are longer than that of Will Anderson, Trent Murphy, Jalen Carter, and Nolan Smith. He participated in every drill and ran a 4.58, which is pretty good for a long 6’5” 265 lb. guy:

I think the most interesting thing about Foskey isn’t his size, speed, weight combo or his high production numbers. It’s his… ball skills. Yes, a hand in the dirt DE that has insane ball skills. He is CONSTANTLY ripping/tearing/clawing at the football and is a strip sack master. You can see in the youtube video above almost every sack/tackle(and there are plenty to watch) he is ripping at the ball. The efforts haven’t been fruitless either. In 2021 he led the nation with SIX forced fumbles. He played in only 4 games as a true freshman but still managed to get his hands on the ball blocking a punt. In 2023 he would block his 3rd and 4th punts of his career. They guy just knows how to find the ball. 
 
He had 26.5 TFLs and 22 sacks in 25 starts over the last two seasons according to his player bio at: 

https://www.nfl.com/prospects/isaiah-foskey/3200464f-5308-1863-3f04-6cde65dd0aa3

Those are Elite production numbers if you’re wondering. That’s nearly 2 impact plays per game, which is incredible. His numbers/measurements at the combine were great, and he has that unique quality to find the football. At 265 lbs. If the Cowboys were to take him I have no doubt he could be a replacement for DLaw. Paired on the line with Parsons and Sam Williams our DL would be in great hands for years to come. 

 

[Nextyearfordaboyz]

1 hour ago, DaBoys said:

Continuing the trend of talking about players we haven’t really discussed… Isaiah Foskey is an interesting prospect. Now we probably haven’t talked about him mainly because we don’t need edge rushers. But if we are going to mention Nolan Smith and Will McDonald there’s no reason Isaiah Foskeys’ name shouldn’t be in the late first round DE hat. 

He was a top 210 recruit out of high school in 2019 and committed to Notre Dame. In 2022 Foskey broke Justin Tucks’ record to become the all time sack leader at Notre Dame. 

Weighing in at the combine at 60’51” and 265 lbs. His 34 inch arms are longer than that of Will Anderson, Trent Murphy, Jalen Carter, and Nolan Smith. He participated in every drill and ran a 4.58, which is pretty good for a long 6’5” 265 lb. guy:

I think the most interesting thing about Foskey isn’t his size, speed, weight combo or his high production numbers. It’s his… ball skills. Yes, a hand in the dirt DE that has insane ball skills. He is CONSTANTLY ripping/tearing/clawing at the football and is a strip sack master. You can see in the youtube video above almost every sack/tackle(and there are plenty to watch) he is ripping at the ball. The efforts haven’t been fruitless either. In 2021 he led the nation with SIX forced fumbles. He played in only 4 games as a true freshman but still managed to get his hands on the ball blocking a punt. In 2023 he would block his 3rd and 4th punts of his career. They guy just knows how to find the ball. 
 
He had 26.5 TFLs and 22 sacks in 25 starts over the last two seasons according to his player bio at: 

https://www.nfl.com/prospects/isaiah-foskey/3200464f-5308-1863-3f04-6cde65dd0aa3

Those are Elite production numbers if you’re wondering. That’s nearly 2 impact plays per game, which is incredible. His numbers/measurements at the combine were great, and he has that unique quality to find the football. At 265 lbs. If the Cowboys were to take him I have no doubt he could be a replacement for DLaw. Paired on the line with Parsons and Sam Williams our DL would be in great hands for years to come. 

 

I love this late turn in the conversation, because topics were getting stale.

I knew very little about Foskey, probably because I’ve ignored DEs for the most part, as I don’t really expect we go that route. But wow, the profile is really interesting. Most services seem to have him more as a 3rd round pick - hard to believe the NFL would let an edge rusher with that athletic and production profile fall that far.

[DaBoys]

19 minutes ago, Nextyearfordaboyz said:

I love this late turn in the conversation, because topics were getting stale.

I knew very little about Foskey, probably because I’ve ignored DEs for the most part, as I don’t really expect we go that route. But wow, the profile is really interesting. Most services seem to have him more as a 3rd round pick - hard to believe the NFL would let an edge rusher with that athletic and production profile fall that far.

Every year it seems a team drafts a player in the 1st round and the collective draft fan says, “who?” Foskey could be that guy this year. I could see a team liking his athletic profile over Trent Murphys’ and I could see them preferring his production over Nolan Smith. Guys like him don’t fall too far. 

I likened him too a possible replacement for DLaw and if you remember in 2014 we traded our 3rd to move up to 34th and select DLaw at the beginning of the 2nd round. I’m not saying that’s what we should do here because I still feel the offense(and other parts of the defense) need more attention but that is the area I would expect him to go. I wouldn’t at all be surprised if he found his way in the first round. And at pick 58 he’s a steal even if we don’t need edge rusher(if there’s such a thing).

Armstrong and Fowler are on 1 year deals and DLaw is getting up there in age. We saw how much Sam Williams saw the field as a 2nd round pick even with DLaw, Parsons, Armstrong, and Fowler on the roster. 

[DaBoys]

37 minutes ago, Nextyearfordaboyz said:

Double post but having an edge rotation of Parsons, Dlaw, Sam Williams, and Foskey in 2024 doesn’t sound to bad.
 

Armstrong is a comp pick candidate and I doubt Fowler comes back. 

Edited April 13, 2023 by DaBoys

[DaBoys]

Also just read that Foskey was a TE in highschool which may explain why he has a knack for getting his hands on the ball. Reminds me of another edge rusher who swats at the ball and was a highschool tight end: TJ Watt.

add in that Foskey is a special teams dynamo and he could be very useful early in his career. 

[DaBoys]

Aa far as Will McDonald being a dark horse pick at 26, it should be noted that he will turn 25 years old around week 2 of his rookie year. I can’t see the Cowboys using a 1st on a guy that would be 30 during his 5th year option. If you are out on RBs in the 1st because you don’t agree with giving them 2nd contacts then you have to be out on Will McDonald in the first as well. 

[DaBoys]

On 4/9/2023 at 5:03 PM, Nextyearfordaboyz said:

If something was going on, he’d have 27 visits instead of zero. 

Josh Downs dad played for the Giants and is a current coach at ETSU, and his uncle is former Lions CB Dre Bly who is now the Lions CB coach. So, I’m willing to bet Downs is not only well known with multiple NFL circles but grew up in them. 

[Nextyearfordaboyz]

6 hours ago, DaBoys said:

Aa far as Will McDonald being a dark horse pick at 26, it should be noted that he will turn 25 years old around week 2 of his rookie year. I can’t see the Cowboys using a 1st on a guy that would be 30 during his 5th year option. If you are out on RBs in the 1st because you don’t agree with giving them 2nd contacts then you have to be out on Will McDonald in the first as well. 

Actually did not realize that. Yuck.