Do you think Darren Woodson ever gets into the HOF? Under-appreciated player, all-time Cowboys leader in tackles.
He's a long shot. It seems all safeties are. The Hall of Fame hasn't enshrined a pure safety since Paul Krause in 1998. The last pure safety enshrined that actually played was Ken Houston in 1980. So this committee has not found a pure safety in the last 30 years it considered Hall of Fame worthy. We still haven't discussed any of the four all-decade safeties from the 1980s yet. Woodson was passed over on the 1990s all-decade team, and that certainly doesn't help his cause.
Best prospect in any draft you saw that failed and worst that became a hit?
Ryan Leaf was the failure and maybe Victor Cruz the biggest hit. In 1998, the league was undecided who was better on the draft board, Leaf or Peyton Manning. It was a coin toss -- half the teams preferred Leaf, the other half preferred Manning. The Colts chose the right quarteerback and San Diego the wrong one on a trade up at 2. I went back and looked at my draft board for 2010 and Victor Cruz was no where to be found. Of the hundreds and hundreds of players I researched, no Victor Cruz. I had Tony Romo and Miles Austin on my board in their drafts but no Cruz.
Your article yesterday was something to frame for the next 20 years. You win in the NFL at the line of scrimmage. Why don't the Cowboys seem to understand this fact?
They did when Jimmy Johnson was here. The Cowboys had the biggest, meanest offensive line in the NFL in the early 1990s with five Pro Bowlers across. And Johnson believed in depth on the defensive line. In those first two Super Bowls he rotated eight players through. They flat wore opposing offensive lines down. But offensive linemen and interior defensive linemen are not glamorous draft picks. And for the last 15 years or so the Cowboys have been longer on glitz than substance. But it's what's up front that counts, especially in the NFC East.
Perhaps I am dense, but why do the guards need to be 6'5" or so? I thought that the lower you get the better leverage you have blocking. Is it the length of the arms?
Because the defensive tackles are getting bigger. The best DT in the game right now is probably Haloti Ngata, and he goes 6-4, 350. He'll take those undersized blockers and stick them in a trash compactor. I think you can get by with an undersized center but you need height and bulk at the guard positions to fend off the size and power of these DTs. A 6-2 guy may get run right over.
When do you think there will be 18 games? Do you see them adding more franchises in the next decade?
I think the league is too big by at least two teams already. I'd rather see the league shrink than grow. I think we'll see an 18-game schedule within the next five years. Everyone knows what a joke the preseason is -- and you can't continue to ask you're season ticket holders to pay regular-season prices for the garage that passes itself off as preseason football. That's rubbing it in the face of the ticket buyer. I think the players will come around. If they stick to their mantra of a 16-game season with 2-preseason games, that would constitute a pay cut. No one will leave any money on the table in the NFL. There will be 20 games -- and 18/2 is a far better shake for the ticket buyers than 16-4.
On who the leaders for the Cowboys could be:
Fraley : I think Sean Lee is about to burst upon that space. That’s a quality player who plays the game the right way. I think you’re about to see it with a guy like Lee and actually with a guy like Sean Lissemore. If he keeps playing, he’s got that in his makeup. But it’s got to be nature, which rules DeMarcus Ware out, and you have to have that sense of responsibility, which rules Romo out for me. There’s a vacuum right now at the top of that team.
Gosselin : Some teams draft captains. The Kansas City Chiefs two years ago drafted six captains. They drafted leadership, they’ve got guys who are natural leaders. Eric Berry walked in as a natural leader on that team. This is what the Combine is for this week. You talk to guys and find out who’s got the natural leadership skills. You find those guys, you like those guys, you draft those guys. The Cowboys haven’t been drafting those guys. They’ve been looking at ability, on-the-field production, but they haven’t been looking inside – what’s in the heart, what’s in the head.
On who the Cowboys could draft to improve to team's leadership:
Gosselin : It’s going to be a cornerback, and those guys aren’t really natural leaders; or it’s going to be a pass-rusher, and those guys aren’t really natural leaders; or it’s going to be a guard. I think David DeCastro of Stanford has natural leadership skills. This is a tough guy. If he’s the 14th pick, I think they get a step up in leadership ability in their offensive huddle. But a lot of the 1st round guys are such individual stars, they don’t really bring the team along with them. You can find these guys in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th rounds.
As a draft expert, do you think the combine helps or hurts the GMs and their decision-making?
Most teams have their draft boards up before the combine. They might tinker with a name plate or two or 10, but most draft decisions are based on what they see on tape on the field, not what they see on tape without pads at the combine. They NFL is in the business of drafting football players, not Olympians. The combine just adds more data to the computer. It's still 95 percent about a player's game tape, though.
Are Giants necessarily favorites to win NFC East next season?
The Giants will again be favored because this team has proven it knows how to win when the weather gets cold. But I expect the Eagles to push them. Philadelphia was playing the best football of any team in the NFC East by the end of the season. But the Eagles spent the season trying to incorporate too many new pieces -- a new defensive coordinator, new offensive and defensive line coaches and eight new starteers. It took them a while to develop any cohesion and chemistry. By then it was too late. But the Eagles will again take the most talented collection of players in the NFC East to training camp next summer. Having a fairly high draft pick (15) will help them add to their talent pool. But you've still got to find a way to beat the Giants in December and January. Big-game experience goes a long way in this league.
If Rob Ryan's last name wasn't "Ryan," would we all be thinking differently of his body of work?
No questiion it helps having a father and older brother who were both successful defensive coordinators in this league and became head coaches. I think NFL teams give any Ryan a longer look because of that. If his name was Rob Smith, no one would be talking about him as a potential NFL head coach -- not with just one top 10 defense in eight seasons as a coordinator. If Rob is to get a head coaching opportunity, the Cowboys are going to have to bow up and start playing some pretty stout defense in the very near future.
Do Melvin Ingram's short arms scare off Jerry Jones if he is on the board at No. 14 and Spencer is signed by another club?
Terrell Suggs slid in the draft because he was considered a step too slow to rush the passer in the NFL. Baltimore stole him with the 10th overall pick in 2003, and he's become a sack machine and the NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 2011. Dwight Freeney slid to the 11th pick in 2002 because he was considered too short to be an effective pass rusher in the NFL at 6-1. He too has developed into a dominant, Pro Bowl pass rusher. They taught the NFL one valuable lesson -- if a guy can rush the passer, he can rush the passer. Don't get hung up on his measurables.
He's a long shot. It seems all safeties are. The Hall of Fame hasn't enshrined a pure safety since Paul Krause in 1998. The last pure safety enshrined that actually played was Ken Houston in 1980. So this committee has not found a pure safety in the last 30 years it considered Hall of Fame worthy. We still haven't discussed any of the four all-decade safeties from the 1980s yet. Woodson was passed over on the 1990s all-decade team, and that certainly doesn't help his cause.
Best prospect in any draft you saw that failed and worst that became a hit?
Ryan Leaf was the failure and maybe Victor Cruz the biggest hit. In 1998, the league was undecided who was better on the draft board, Leaf or Peyton Manning. It was a coin toss -- half the teams preferred Leaf, the other half preferred Manning. The Colts chose the right quarteerback and San Diego the wrong one on a trade up at 2. I went back and looked at my draft board for 2010 and Victor Cruz was no where to be found. Of the hundreds and hundreds of players I researched, no Victor Cruz. I had Tony Romo and Miles Austin on my board in their drafts but no Cruz.
Your article yesterday was something to frame for the next 20 years. You win in the NFL at the line of scrimmage. Why don't the Cowboys seem to understand this fact?
They did when Jimmy Johnson was here. The Cowboys had the biggest, meanest offensive line in the NFL in the early 1990s with five Pro Bowlers across. And Johnson believed in depth on the defensive line. In those first two Super Bowls he rotated eight players through. They flat wore opposing offensive lines down. But offensive linemen and interior defensive linemen are not glamorous draft picks. And for the last 15 years or so the Cowboys have been longer on glitz than substance. But it's what's up front that counts, especially in the NFC East.
Perhaps I am dense, but why do the guards need to be 6'5" or so? I thought that the lower you get the better leverage you have blocking. Is it the length of the arms?
Because the defensive tackles are getting bigger. The best DT in the game right now is probably Haloti Ngata, and he goes 6-4, 350. He'll take those undersized blockers and stick them in a trash compactor. I think you can get by with an undersized center but you need height and bulk at the guard positions to fend off the size and power of these DTs. A 6-2 guy may get run right over.
When do you think there will be 18 games? Do you see them adding more franchises in the next decade?
I think the league is too big by at least two teams already. I'd rather see the league shrink than grow. I think we'll see an 18-game schedule within the next five years. Everyone knows what a joke the preseason is -- and you can't continue to ask you're season ticket holders to pay regular-season prices for the garage that passes itself off as preseason football. That's rubbing it in the face of the ticket buyer. I think the players will come around. If they stick to their mantra of a 16-game season with 2-preseason games, that would constitute a pay cut. No one will leave any money on the table in the NFL. There will be 20 games -- and 18/2 is a far better shake for the ticket buyers than 16-4.
On who the leaders for the Cowboys could be:
Fraley : I think Sean Lee is about to burst upon that space. That’s a quality player who plays the game the right way. I think you’re about to see it with a guy like Lee and actually with a guy like Sean Lissemore. If he keeps playing, he’s got that in his makeup. But it’s got to be nature, which rules DeMarcus Ware out, and you have to have that sense of responsibility, which rules Romo out for me. There’s a vacuum right now at the top of that team.
Gosselin : Some teams draft captains. The Kansas City Chiefs two years ago drafted six captains. They drafted leadership, they’ve got guys who are natural leaders. Eric Berry walked in as a natural leader on that team. This is what the Combine is for this week. You talk to guys and find out who’s got the natural leadership skills. You find those guys, you like those guys, you draft those guys. The Cowboys haven’t been drafting those guys. They’ve been looking at ability, on-the-field production, but they haven’t been looking inside – what’s in the heart, what’s in the head.
On who the Cowboys could draft to improve to team's leadership:
Gosselin : It’s going to be a cornerback, and those guys aren’t really natural leaders; or it’s going to be a pass-rusher, and those guys aren’t really natural leaders; or it’s going to be a guard. I think David DeCastro of Stanford has natural leadership skills. This is a tough guy. If he’s the 14th pick, I think they get a step up in leadership ability in their offensive huddle. But a lot of the 1st round guys are such individual stars, they don’t really bring the team along with them. You can find these guys in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th rounds.
As a draft expert, do you think the combine helps or hurts the GMs and their decision-making?
Most teams have their draft boards up before the combine. They might tinker with a name plate or two or 10, but most draft decisions are based on what they see on tape on the field, not what they see on tape without pads at the combine. They NFL is in the business of drafting football players, not Olympians. The combine just adds more data to the computer. It's still 95 percent about a player's game tape, though.
Are Giants necessarily favorites to win NFC East next season?
The Giants will again be favored because this team has proven it knows how to win when the weather gets cold. But I expect the Eagles to push them. Philadelphia was playing the best football of any team in the NFC East by the end of the season. But the Eagles spent the season trying to incorporate too many new pieces -- a new defensive coordinator, new offensive and defensive line coaches and eight new starteers. It took them a while to develop any cohesion and chemistry. By then it was too late. But the Eagles will again take the most talented collection of players in the NFC East to training camp next summer. Having a fairly high draft pick (15) will help them add to their talent pool. But you've still got to find a way to beat the Giants in December and January. Big-game experience goes a long way in this league.
If Rob Ryan's last name wasn't "Ryan," would we all be thinking differently of his body of work?
No questiion it helps having a father and older brother who were both successful defensive coordinators in this league and became head coaches. I think NFL teams give any Ryan a longer look because of that. If his name was Rob Smith, no one would be talking about him as a potential NFL head coach -- not with just one top 10 defense in eight seasons as a coordinator. If Rob is to get a head coaching opportunity, the Cowboys are going to have to bow up and start playing some pretty stout defense in the very near future.
Do Melvin Ingram's short arms scare off Jerry Jones if he is on the board at No. 14 and Spencer is signed by another club?
Terrell Suggs slid in the draft because he was considered a step too slow to rush the passer in the NFL. Baltimore stole him with the 10th overall pick in 2003, and he's become a sack machine and the NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 2011. Dwight Freeney slid to the 11th pick in 2002 because he was considered too short to be an effective pass rusher in the NFL at 6-1. He too has developed into a dominant, Pro Bowl pass rusher. They taught the NFL one valuable lesson -- if a guy can rush the passer, he can rush the passer. Don't get hung up on his measurables.
