Marion Barber Highlights, Other News
By Matt Cordon (kh). Filed in Dallas Cowboys News in Brief |
The Cowboys site ran this audio clip featuring highlights of Marion Barber last season:
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Mickey Spagnola ran a good piece the other day that answered some common questions. Here are a couple of notes of interest:
Who are the Cowboys going to draft?
They don’t know. Seriously. Come on, the Cowboys have the 22nd pick in the first round of this year’s NFL draft. That means 21 things must happen before they go on the clock. They employ scouts here, not Carnac The Magnificent. Now then, over the next month the Cowboys will hold their draft meetings, basically go over all the information they’ve collected position by position, player by player. They will then set their draft board, ranking the players, undoubtedly starting somewhere at the top with either JaMarcus Russell or Calvin Johnson or Adrian Peterson, and then work their way down. That will give them a guideline. But after all the free-agency work they’ve done so far, they will not go into the first round saying, we need a wide receiver or we need an offensive tackle or we need a safety or we need a nose tackle. That’s not how it’s done, nor should it be done. They must go into the first round saying, we need a great player, then let the picks fall as they may until the draft progresses into their neighborhood while keeping an eye on their own player rankings. Otherwise, you can end up with Shante Carver or Quincy Carter.
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Will the Cowboys move Anthony Henry to safety?
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones suggested that possibility following the season, but basically amended that suggestion the first of this month, saying he didn’t think the team would go that route. Be honest with yourself, the Cowboys aside, which is easier to find, a safety or a cornerback? Me, I’d say safety. So you move Henry to safety and who’s starting at cornerback opposite Terence Newman? Nate Jones? Jacques Reeves? Now a bunch of you will say, well draft one in the first round. Easier said than done. Now if a versatile DB should fall into your lap at No. 22, and he’s by far the best player left on your board, then OK, take the guy, and consider the move. But it would be foolish to set anything in stone the end of March. Plus, you really have no idea how well Henry would play at safety. All you have to go on is what he did early in his college career. You might end up weakening one spot to get a push at another.
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Here is more on the upcoming draft from Jean-Jacques Taylor:
There’s nothing sexy about taking the best player in the draft, but that’s exactly what the Cowboys should do.
It doesn’t really matter whether the best player is a defensive end, a linebacker, a receiver or a left tackle. Whoever is sitting atop the draft board, when it’s their time to select, is the player the Cowboys should choose.
Over much of the last decade, the Cowboys have been drafting to fill needs at defensive end, cornerback safety and even quarterback. They don’t have to do that, which is good because rarely do you get the best player available when you draft for need.
Jerry Jones has put the Cowboys in position to take the best player by re-signing center Andre Gurode and right tackle Marc Colombo and adding guard Leonard Davis and safety Ken Hamlin. The Cowboys don’t really have a spot, where they must grab a player in the first round and plug him into the lineup.
Most mock draft have the Cowboys selecting Miami safety Brandon Meriweather or Florida safety Reggie Nelson because so much has been made of the Cowboys’ need for a safety. If one of those guys is available, Dallas should still select him.
Then, for once, the Cowboys wouldn’t have to rush a first-round pick into the lineup. They could give him the luxury of moving at his own pace, which might make him a better, more productive player when he finally did become a starter.
