The Cowboys have been decimated by injuries to several of our franchise players, and as a result the Cowboys are having trouble staying above water with the reserves in starter roles. Last year, the Cowboys were beat up on the defensive line, signing and releasing players for the defensive front on a weekly basis at various points of the season. This season, the injuries are hitting us hard on offense.
I’m not quite looking ahead to the draft, because doing so would admit the season is over, and we’re not quite there yet. However, the injuries have revealed what our draft needs could or should potentially be for the 2016 draft.
Here’s what we know about the offense right now and how it could shape the 2016 draft:
— Devin Street won’t be here much longer, drafted in 2014, he has not done anything but hang on a thread to remain on the roster. We know his play against the San Diego Chargers in the preseason was an apparition. With Dez out of the lineup, Street has completely failed to help this team move the ball. He doesn’t scare anyone on the outside and this became clear as day against the Patriots. He was taken out of the game on single coverage and even when given the chance to make a play he drops passes.
— Terrance Williams is a good auxiliary player when he has a strong #1 on the opposite side, but his speed does not scare anyone and teams have been able to cover him in a lot of single coverage without any worry that he’ll beat you deep or beat you period.
— The Cowboys offensive line misses the physical play of DeMarco Murray. The line probably enjoyed Murray’s ability to further drain the defensive line and second level players with his physical running style. Joe Randle and Darren McFadden are not these types of players, but perhaps Christine Michael is.
— Gavin Escobar will be another TE that was drafted high and another name that will probably be decent elsewhere, it’s not going to happen in Dallas.
— Cole Beasley is your niche 3rd down converting slot guy, but right now he’s able to execute that role with the way opposing defenses have shutdown the middle of the field, and this illustrates that Beasley is one dimensional. Don’t get me wrong, I like Beasley a lot, but he is what he is for this offense. The injuries have shown he cannot dabble outside that role.
These are the draft needs as it has become revealed from the injuries: WR and RB
All that being said, the Cowboys are probably going to need to take a look at dynamic wide receiver in the draft or free agency. We need a faster, deep threat WR opposite Dez Bryant, and someone that could help absorb some of the hit if we were to get another injury from Dez in future seasons — dynamic is the key here. We don’t have that player on the team right now. Street made this team because we were so bad in adding depth here in the offseason. I’ve said this several times, and I keep coming back to it, but that time Coach Dooley looked pissed in the 2015 draft war room camera was because he knew the Cowboys needed another receiver in this draft. He already knows what he has in Williams and Street.
The Cowboys’ front office mis-calculated the need for another quality running back when they decided to let Murray go, and I understand he left because of the money, but the Cowboys needed to make sure they had a viable player with similar attributes to come in here and grind the ball down defenders throats. We’re a bit too finesse right now in the running game, we are not taking the will from defenses like we did last season. They need to see if Michael can be that guy, and it needs to start next week against the Giants. If Michael is not the answer either, then we know for sure the Cowboys will be looking for another RB in the offseason.
The Cowboys have several tight ends on the roster, and it’ll be interesting to see if they let James Hanna go. At this point, his value resides in the running game, he’s the best run blocker of the group, and if the Cowboys want to keep with the running game as their base of attack, then Hanna should be extended and then they’ll let Escobar go once he finishes his contract after next season. The wild card will be Geoff Swaim, the Cowboys liked him enough to trade back into the 7th round to assure he’d be on the team, so if he’s coming along good enough in the run blocking, then maybe they let Hanna go ahead and test free agency.
Defensively, the Cowboys still have work on this side of the ball as well. The absence of Rolando McClain, Greg Hardy, Randy Gregory, and Orlando Scandrick have also revealed the Cowboys defense cannot stop anyone with any mix of these guys missing from the starting lineup. Furthermore, there’s going to be some tough decisions to make defensively in the offseason.
For example — do the Cowboys extend Greg Hardy during the season, or was he just a hired hand for one season? We’ve already seen his impact with just one game, and if he continues to dominate like he did against the Patriots, he’ll be in high demand again from other clubs during free agency. Rolando McClain is an impact guy, but you have to deal with everything that comes with keeping him around, or do they finally move on and see what Damien Wilson can do?
For where we are at right now, the 2016 draft should feel a lot like the 2015 draft. We need to reload on offense, because the cast of reserves we have right now are not getting it done and the injuries have really brought that to light. The scary thing about relying on the draft is that we have not been drafting as well as we feel that we have — we really haven’t. I like the team’s philosophy on building the roster through the draft instead of free agency, but this team still has a lot of work to get better in the draft. I still believe that adding Will McClay as the Draft Czar was the right choice, but they are clearly still working to improve as well. Jerry talks about everything being evaluated and I think he also means the scouting and talent acquisition — everybody.
And here’s what I mean by that — our draft classes have not been producing many franchise players or quality depth guys, which again has been further illustrated by our current injuries.
2011: Tyron Smith is the only player remaining from that draft class, and that was just four years ago.
2012: Morris Claiborne, Tyrone Crawford, Kyle Wilber, James Hanna
— Crawford is the class of this draft, and the only one locked up before their rookie contracts end, everyone else is probably going to test free agency. I would consider extending Hanna however.
2013: Travis Frederick, Gavin Escobar, Terrence Williams, JJ Wilcox, Joseph Randle
— Frederick is the blue-chip player here, and not sure any of these other remaining guys from this draft class have done enough to earn an extension.
2014: Zack Martin, Demarcus Lawrence, Anthony Hitchens, Devin Street
— Martin is the ace in this class, and we’re still seeing what we have in Lawrence. Hitchens is probably the 2nd best player from this draft class. Street is garbage.
2015: Byron Jones, Randy Gregory, Chaz Green, Damien Wilson, Ryan Russel, Mark Nzeocha, Geoff Swaim
— Jones has been a solid 1st rounder so far, and Gregory looks like the major steal. Chaz Green is probably red-shirted this year, so we’ll have to see if this was a good pick in the 3rd round or not, Wilson could be in a starting role next season, but still too early to tell what he’ll be. Ryan Russel has not impressed me and he didn’t do anything for himself when he was activated and a non-factor. Nzeocha and Swaim are bigger unknowns.
Obviously, we’re not going to hit home-runs on every draft pick from rounds 1-7, and perhaps you say we are getting one franchise player per draft, but that’s not enough. We need to be drafting quality players that will be good enough to contribute and earn a 2nd contract, and we’re not getting enough of that from these draft classes. Thankfully, we’ve been hitting on our 1st round picks (outside Claiborne), but the other rounds have been putting us in binds.
What do you think? Are we drafting as good as we should be?
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