Who you want tonight.

[tomodach10]

With the draft we had this year, I think we will finally see the Cover 2 defense the way it's meant to be played. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't concerned with losing almost the entire secondary to free agency, but the more I read up on the guys we brought in after this draft, the more I'm convinced that these are actually Cover 2 type corners/safeties and that this defense could improve. I think Church, JJ, Mo, and Carr were all out of their element in this defense. They made it work for the most part, but those were not true Cover 2 guys.

Cover 2 defenses are built to force turnovers. Forcing turnovers are probably the single biggest thing needed to go deep in the p We didn't have the right players for it in the secondary. Not the right LB core either but JSmith can change that if he's 100%. Way too many dropped interceptions and not enough ball hawks. I think Marinelli finally has the Cover 2 defense he(and even Monte Kiffin to a degree) envisioned when they came to Dallas. These guys we drafted seem to be ball hawks and can play zones well. This could be a very dangerous defense this year if this draft class has any kind of impact similar to last year's draft class. Knock on wood for reasonable health.

I agree we drafted ball Hawks which are really needed for a cover 2 to be most effective. Now Byron has to get some sticum for his hands and we will be good to go.

 

[jarntt]

With the draft we had this year, I think we will finally see the Cover 2 defense the way it's meant to be played. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't concerned with losing almost the entire secondary to free agency, but the more I read up on the guys we brought in after this draft, the more I'm convinced that these are actually Cover 2 type corners/safeties and that this defense could improve. I think Church, JJ, Mo, and Carr were all out of their element in this defense. They made it work for the most part, but those were not true Cover 2 guys.

Cover 2 defenses are built to force turnovers. Forcing turnovers are probably the single biggest thing needed to go deep in the p We didn't have the right players for it in the secondary. Not the right LB core either but JSmith can change that if he's 100%. Way too many dropped interceptions and not enough ball hawks. I think Marinelli finally has the Cover 2 defense he(and even Monte Kiffin to a degree) envisioned when they came to Dallas. These guys we drafted seem to be ball hawks and can play zones well. This could be a very dangerous defense this year if this draft class has any kind of impact similar to last year's draft class. Knock on wood for reasonable health.

I think we will still see mixing it up constantly. While I agree if these picks work out that they likely will be a much better fit as you said, one of the keys to Marinelli's cover two if played all the time is getting consistent pressure with 4 guys. Not sure that is going to happen. But our DL are mostly young and inexperienced and I think most are getting better and I think they should get more pressure this year than last year. Add health and a first rounder to that and they could surprise in a big way. We don't need to lead the league in sacks, just get above average pressure and I think that is possible. I think Woods (if he works out) is obviously a much better fit at safety in the deep part of the field and he and Jones could cover a lot of ground together. That helps no matter what defense we play. I know Lewis is supposed to be a press corner type from what I heard after draft. But both CBs and Woods seem to be good at locating the ball while in the air and getting turnovers. So whether out of man or zone I think we see an improvement there if these guys stay healthy, learn the defense and win PT. With better corner play I'd rather see us keep a safety in the deep middle and let these guys try to lock down the other team too.

 

[jarntt]

So since it's clear we had King ranked highest at this point and CB was a similar need to DL. What do you guys think about passing on King for Taco. If they had King ranked clearly higher I would have taken him even if it meant passing on DE and expecting it to thin out. But looking back I really like our haul and think it paid off. Who knows how different it would have been if we switched up the first two picks. It also seems like we took a chance and Awuzie was the guy we were hoping fell and he did. So some luck there. The more I hear about Lewis the happier I am with that pick. So tough to change it up and get a better first 3 picks from where we were drafting. I know some of you liked Watt so you could just say Watt, Awuzie and Lewis. But that's kind of the same thing.
Another thing I would have done differently at the time was take Woods instead of Switzer, but that too paid off because we got Woods anyway! So you can argue you like other players better or don't like our picks, but you have to give the team credit for executing THEIR plan and maximizing THEIR draft board. We shall see what the draft grade is down the road, but the draft day execution gets an A.

 

[Earl Stevens]

So since it's clear we had King ranked highest at this point and CB was a similar need to DL. What do you guys think about passing on King for Taco. If they had King ranked clearly higher I would have taken him even if it meant passing on DE and expecting it to thin out. But looking back I really like our haul and think it paid off. Who knows how different it would have been if we switched up the first two picks. It also seems like we took a chance and Awuzie was the guy we were hoping fell and he did. So some luck there. The more I hear about Lewis the happier I am with that pick. So tough to change it up and get a better first 3 picks from where we were drafting. I know some of you liked Watt so you could just say Watt, Awuzie and Lewis. But that's kind of the same thing.
Another thing I would have done differently at the time was take Woods instead of Switzer, but that too paid off because we got Woods anyway! So you can argue you like other players better or don't like our picks, but you have to give the team credit for executing THEIR plan and maximizing THEIR draft board. We shall see what the draft grade is down the road, but the draft day execution gets an A.

Passing on King is no issue to me because look at what they got after Taco. The Cowboys had a plan and executed it to perfection. Let's just hope these players pan out.

 

[Manster7588]

So since it's clear we had King ranked highest at this point and CB was a similar need to DL. What do you guys think about passing on King for Taco. If they had King ranked clearly higher I would have taken him even if it meant passing on DE and expecting it to thin out. But looking back I really like our haul and think it paid off. Who knows how different it would have been if we switched up the first two picks. It also seems like we took a chance and Awuzie was the guy we were hoping fell and he did. So some luck there. The more I hear about Lewis the happier I am with that pick. So tough to change it up and get a better first 3 picks from where we were drafting. I know some of you liked Watt so you could just say Watt, Awuzie and Lewis. But that's kind of the same thing.
Another thing I would have done differently at the time was take Woods instead of Switzer, but that too paid off because we got Woods anyway! So you can argue you like other players better or don't like our picks, but you have to give the team credit for executing THEIR plan and maximizing THEIR draft board. We shall see what the draft grade is down the road, but the draft day execution gets an A.

Seeing how them thought they could get a good DB easier than a DE in the 2nd I'm fine with passing on King. By the way seeing who the best available's were in rd 2 I'd say the thought process was right.

 

[DALLAScornhusker]

Oh I wholly agree with their thought process. In fact, it was just like last year in the way they used the deepest area of the draft class to their advantage. Last year, we waited on DL because the draft was loaded even though it was arguably our biggest need. This year DBs were the biggest need and we again waited. Patience and sticking with the plan has once again paid off.