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DMN
Rick Gosselin
The woes of the fall can be traced to the woes of April.
The 0-1 Cowboys don't take the draft as seriously in the spring as the teams they must beat in the fall. They are too cavalier with their picks. They traded away three future selections last fall in a desperate attempt to salvage a 4-12 season that became unsalvageable.
Then the Cowboys used their second-round draft pick on a player they figured to redshirt in 2016 -- linebacker Jaylon Smith. They took another flier in the sixth round on a basketball player who would need at least a year to figure out his new sport and spend his rookie season on the practice squad -- Rico Gathers.
Sure, you can say, it was a mere sixth-round pick they used on Gathers. But 31 of the 46 sixth-round picks in the 2016 draft earned spots on NFL opening-day rosters. And the New England Patriots even found a starter in the sixth round, guard Ted Karras. Yes, the Patriots, a team that has won seven consecutive division titles, still found a way to improve their lineup with a sixth-round draft pick.
And Smith? Second-round draft choices are premium picks, potential walk-in starters. Nine of them did just that last weekend. How the Cowboys could finish 4-12 and think all they needed was a few tweaks, specifically the return to health of Tony Romo and Dez Bryant, for a return to Super Bowl contention was a bit puzzling.
The defense was -- and still is -- crying out for help.
The rest of the league wasn't going to stand by idly waiting for the Cowboys to get healthy. If you're standing still, you're falling behind.
Sure, the Cowboys found an opening-day starter with fourth overall choice Ezekiel Elliott. But a top-five pick in any draft is supposed to start. The Cowboys couldn't go wrong had they chosen Elliott, cornerback Jalen Ramsey or defensive end DeForest Buckner. Those were the three options on the clock at 4. All started for their teams in the opener.
Sure, the Cowboys found an opening-day starter in the fourth round in quarterback Dak Prescott. This after they tried and failed in April to trade up for quarterbacks Paxton Lynch in the first round and Connor Cook in the fourth. Nonetheless, that choice deserves a tip of the cap. Who knew you could find an opening-day starter at quarterback on the third day of the draft?
But here's the reality of the situation. Championship teams are built in April. There were 253 players drafted in April. A record 205 of them made NFL opening-day rosters for a record 81 percent of all draftees. Of the 48 players who did not make opening-day rosters, 19 were placed on reserve lists and 24 were signed to practice squads by their drafting teams.
That left only five players unwanted by their drafting teams. Three of those draft picks cut were claimed on waivers and opened the season on other NFL rosters. All were sixth-rounders: quarterback Jeff Driskel, defensive end Tyrone Holmes and safety Kamu Grugier-Hill. The two picks who passed through waivers unclaimed, cornerback Blake Countess and quarterback Kevin Hogan, signed on as practice-squad players for other NFL teams. So all 253 draft choices have NFL employment.
The NFL carried an average of 8.7 rookies per team this season. The Cowboys opened the season with only seven rookies. The NFL also carried an average of 2.3 undrafted rookie free agents per team. The Cowboys didn't have any undrafted rookie free agents make the roster in 2016.
The Seattle Seahawks won 10 games, qualified for the playoffs as a wild card last season and reached the NFC semifinals. The Seahawks didn't take the approach that all their roster needed was a few tweaks. Seattle aggressively tried to make its roster better in April. The Seahawks opened the season with 15 rookies, including seven undrafted college free agents.
Green Bay also won 10 games and qualified for the playoffs as a wild card. The Packers kept 12 rookies, including five undrafted college free agents. The Jets were another 10-win team. They also kept 12 rookies, including five undrafted free agents. One of those five started for the Jets on opening day in the NFL's second-ranked defense -- defensive end Lawrence Thomas. Do you think the Cowboys and their 17th-ranked defense could use that kind of help?
Even the mighty Patriots, who have gone to five consecutive AFC title games, kept two undrafted free agents.
That's how you build a contender. You collect young players. They represent the cheap labor force that reduces your salary-cap pain. Then you develop and play them. They become the foundation for your future. The Cowboys should remember that the next time they make a knee-jerk decision to trade a future draft pick for a Matt Cassel, Christine Michael or Brice Butler. They are trading away their future.
The Cowboys need better players and more of them. April offers every NFL team that opportunity to find them. To get their fair share, the Cowboys need either better talent evaluators or better decision-makers.
