Mel Kiper: Cowboys will draft linemen early

Cowboysrule122 · Apr 18, 2013

By Calvin Watkins | ESPNDallas.com

ESPN's NFL draft expert Mel Kiper Jr. predicts the Cowboys will select offensive and defensive linemen in the first three
rounds.

It's not something I hear mentioned often, but the age of the Dallas defensive line has crept up. By the time the season starts, Jay Ratliff, Jason Hatcher and DeMarcus Ware will be 32, 31 and 31, respectively.

You have to be an ESPN Insider to get the complete three rounds for every NFL team. Kiper also has the Cowboys taking a guard and another defensive lineman in Rounds 2 and 3.

Kiper makes a valid point regarding the line. If the Cowboys draft North Carolina's Sylvester Williams, it could make Ratliff expendable. However, the team might keep Ratliff and create competition for what could be a young, deep defensive line.

Under the new 4-3 alignment, Anthony Spencer and Ware will move to defensive end, where they haven't played since college. The Cowboys also will move Hatcher to tackle, keeping double-teams off Ratliff.

Sean Lissemore, Tyrone Crawford, Rob Callaway and Ben Bass are young players who also will compete for playing time.

dbair1967 · Apr 18, 2013

Late to the dance again 122

Cowboysrule122 · Apr 18, 2013

Whatever, you're late to the dance everyday but we don't complain.

cmd34(work) · Apr 18, 2013

A battle of wits.

Iamtdg · Apr 18, 2013

cmd34(work) said:
A battle of wits.

NoDak · Apr 18, 2013

cmd34(work) said:
A battle of wits.

Cowboysrule122 · Apr 18, 2013

cmd34(work) said:
A battle of wits.

No one is talking to you fatso.

dbair1967 · Apr 18, 2013

cmd34(work) said:
A battle of wits.

shutup sorry Mod

w8lifter · Apr 18, 2013

Somehow, I get the feeling Jerry will mess that up also. He had the opportunity to draft some decent OL (like a Center) last season and blew that one, too.

Dont get me wrong, Im an eternal optimist that the Cowboys will turn things around, eventually. However, until Jerry retires or passes away, I believe we (as Cowboys fans) are mired in 'Mediocrity' when rooting for the Cowboys.

Sheik · Apr 18, 2013

w8lifter said:
Somehow, I get the feeling Jerry will mess that up also. He had the opportunity to draft some decent OL (like a Center) last season and blew that one, too.

Dont get me wrong, Im an eternal optimist that the Cowboys will turn things around, eventually. However, until Jerry retires or passes away, I believe we (as Cowboys fans) are mired in 'Mediocrity' when rooting for the Cowboys.

Good first post.

You set the bar pretty high.

w8lifter · Apr 18, 2013

Thank you. I've been a Cowboys fan for most of my life and frequented more than a few Cowboys forums in the last 10 years.

After the last forum I used to frequent (DCFU) got closed down, I searched for another friendly Cowboys forum and found ya'll. I noticed some of my DCFU friends are here, so I figured this would be good place to start posting again.

Gooooooooo Cowboys!! :B&B:

carphalen5150 · Apr 19, 2013

You ever seen a grown man naked?

jnday · Apr 19, 2013

w8lifter said:
Somehow, I get the feeling Jerry will mess that up also. He had the opportunity to draft some decent OL (like a Center) last season and blew that one, too.

Dont get me wrong, Im an eternal optimist that the Cowboys will turn things around, eventually. However, until Jerry retires or passes away, I believe we (as Cowboys fans) are mired in 'Mediocrity' when rooting for the Cowboys.

If Jerry hadn't traded up, the line could have been fixed in the last draft. I liked the oline talent better in last years draft. He could have traded back and drafted three starters.

dbair1967 · Apr 19, 2013

Jacko said:
If Jerry hadn't traded up, the line could have been fixed in the last draft. I liked the oline talent better in last years draft. He could have traded back and drafted three starters.

Seems like a consensus that the OL talent is better overall in this draft, and Claiborne is a far better CB prospect than anyone else was in last years draft or this years. And it wasn't like they ignored the OL last yr. They thought Free would revert to 09/10 form (unfortunately he got worse) and they did sign Livings and Bernadeau. And nobody could have predicted that we'd have the bad luck at the C position we ended up having.

I don't fault them at all for trading up for a player like Caliborne last year. The move was a bargain in terms of what it cost us, and they got the highest rated defensive player on their board. The pass defense was atrocious in 2010 and Ryan had made it quite well known they had to get better at CB to improve all last offseason.

Theebs · Apr 19, 2013

dbair1967 said:
Seems like a consensus that the OL talent is better overall in this draft, and Claiborne is a far better CB prospect than anyone else was in last years draft or this years. And it wasn't like they ignored the OL last yr. They thought Free would revert to 09/10 form (unfortunately he got worse) and they did sign Livings and Bernadeau. And nobody could have predicted that we'd have the bad luck at the C position we ended up having.

I don't fault them at all for trading up for a player like Caliborne last year. The move was a bargain in terms of what it cost us, and they got the highest rated defensive player on their board. The pass defense was atrocious in 2010 and Ryan had made it quite well known they had to get better at CB to improve all last offseason.

I've read a number if times that decastro is a better prospect than warmack and cooper though.

carphalen5150 · Apr 19, 2013

Theebs said:
I've read a number if times that decastro is a better prospect than warmack and cooper though.

Link?

I've seen it the opposite.

Theebs · Apr 19, 2013

carphalen5150 said:
Link?

I've seen it the opposite.

No link sorry. Heard it the first time with a national guy on CBS radio and the other times were random q and a's with draft "experts"

dbair1967 · Apr 19, 2013

Theebs said:
I've read a number if times that decastro is a better prospect than warmack and cooper though.

Seems like that's what a lot of us wanted to believe last yr, but draft day last yr kinda proved otherwise, as he dropped. I know he got hurt, but before he did (and after he got healthy) he wasn't very impressive for a team that really didn't have a lot of talent on their OL.

I think technically Decastro was probably further along coming out than Cooper and Warmack, but he doesn't have near the physical talent or the upside of either though.

cmd34(work) · Apr 19, 2013

Everything I've read said that DeCastro was probably the best Guard prospect last year since Iupati, and that Warmack and Cooper are better than both.

jnday · Apr 19, 2013

dbair1967 said:
Seems like a consensus that the OL talent is better overall in this draft, and Claiborne is a far better CB prospect than anyone else was in last years draft or this years. And it wasn't like they ignored the OL last yr. They thought Free would revert to 09/10 form (unfortunately he got worse) and they did sign Livings and Bernadeau. And nobody could have predicted that we'd have the bad luck at the C position we ended up having.

I don't fault them at all for trading up for a player like Caliborne last year. The move was a bargain in terms of what it cost us, and they got the highest rated
defensive player on their board. The pass defense was atrocious in 2010 and
Ryan had made it quite well known they had to get better at CB to improve all
last offseason.

I predicted the center position would be a mess simply because Costa was still on the

roster. I also predicted that Bernadeau and Livings would fail. Free was terrible at left tackle and I didn't see him doing any better on the right side

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