11 Takeaways and deep thoughts on Cowboys 2023 draft

Sorry, Jack Handy isn’t walking through that door and my Saturday nights are only occasionally live anymore. The NFL draft is now in the rear-view mirror but the evaluation period of what the Dallas Cowboys accomplished has only just begun. There’s a fun discussion to be had about when one knows whether or not a draft is successful.

Next-day grades are fun, but irrelevant, but it also feels like a stretch to say one doesn’t know how well a draft class is until after three years. Three years is the average NFL career. It feels like the sweet spot for evaluating a draft is really around the midpoint of Year 2. If that prospect isn’t an impact player by Week 9 or so of the second season, then he’s more than likely a wasted pick.

Certainly, players can bloom after that point, but when talking about a player taken in the first four rounds, one would have to consider a guy who doesn’t click until Year 3 as a bad investment. Rookie deals are only for four seasons. Fifth-year options for first rounders are nice in ability to keep a star, but are expensive without deferring cap hit.

The cheap labor portion of all rookie deals is four years. You can forgive wasting one of those years, but 50% of the wholesale portion of the acquistion? That’s too much.

So mark your calendars. If the players in this class aren’t popping off the screen by November 2024, get your report cards ready.

Now here’s 10 other things, more specific to the Cowboys, this past weekend has me thinking about.

The Vita Vea draft

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One of my absolute favorite prospects in the last decade was Washington Huskie nose tackle Vita Vea in 2018. I went back and forth with followers over how he was worth the 18th overall selection if there but there was little chance he would make it that far. His combination of run-stopping ability and pass-rush skills made him a unicorn in my mind, and the Cowboys had been ignoring defensive tackle since the early 1990s.

He was picked 12th overall, because the NFL (Tampa Bay) specifically wasn’t silly like those arguing with me. Vea has been well worth the draft capital investment and parlayed that into a four-year, $71 million extension last January.

The Cowboys have faced Vea three times over the last two seasons, and it’s hard to imagine that the War Room debate wasn’t influenced by Vea’s impact.

Dallas has been held to less than 75 yards rushing just six times in their 35 games played since the start of 2022 (regular season + playoffs). Two of those six times were against the Buccaneers with Vea in the middle of the defense.

Not only that, in three games he has 12 total pressures, including sacks in both contests last season.

Dallas thinks they see untapped pass-rush potential in Mazi Smith’s skill set, and it doesn’t seem wise to question Dan Quinn’s ability to scout defensive linemen.

Another link? Fourth-round selection Viliami Fehoko, a defensive end the club plans to move inside to three-tech, is Vea’s cousin.

This was the Vita Vea Draft.

Did they really need to bulk up to stop the run?

It would be dishonest and disingenuous if I didn’t address this. One of the arguments I made throughout the season was that the hand wringing and brow furrowing by media and thus the fanbase about Dallas being horrible at stopping the run was misguided. Yes, the Cowboys gave up a ton of yards in multiple games, but that wasn’t really a glaring need.

Dallas finished fourth in the league in Rush Defense EPA, behind Tennessee, San Francisco and Washington. They were fifth in Rush Defense DVOA, behind TEN, SF, BUF and MIA.

Were there plays where they needed to make stops and didn’t? Of course. But the belief they were at the bottom of the barrel was emotional, not factual. I wrote this after the Green Bay collapse where people were blaming the run defense and ignoring the ridiculous game a washed (ok, injured) Aaron Rodgers put together.

So, while I like the Smith pick, it’s a fair question whether Dallas perceived there was a huge hole to plug or they spent premiere draft capital improving a position that will have little impact on their overall ability to win games.

Understanding Dallas' lack of offensive picks

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One of the Commandments I dropped from the program this season was about how the club likes to wait until the second year of a defensive coordinator’s tenure before letting them shop for the groceries.

I just realized it applies in reverse for this draft.

Mike McCarthy doesn’t take over playcalling from Kellen Moore if he doesn’t believe he will do a better job. So when it comes to augmenting the offense when there weren’t any big defections, they didn’t force it. The way the draft played out, when the Cowboys arrived on the clock defenders seemed to own the majority of the slots under consideration.

We were even treated to video of a debate at No. 26 between Smith and taking an offensive guard, Syracuse’s Matt Bergeron where the winning argument was that they are always able to find a guard in the first round they like, rarely do they have a DT ranked that high. (Tweet identifies the wrong OL target).

They think a very good offense just gave a better conductor the baton.

Sharif Floyd leaks a game changer for the Dallas defensive front

(AP Photo/Roger Steinman)

This came about during the Draft Show simulcast on 105.3 The Fan and the Cowboys’ website. There was a combo interview when new Assistant defensive line coach Sharif Floyd (yes, that Sharif Floyd from the Travis Frederick draft) was on air while the club was interviewing Fehoko. Floyd let it be known that Dallas was shifting their philosophy when it comes to how they will attack this coming season.

Under Dan Quinn, the Cowboys have been decent against the run when it comes to the more-telling efficiency measurements; volume tells a less descriptive, more negative one. But the philosophy has always seemed more, “stop the run on the way to the QB, if you can” for linemen not named DeMarcus Lawrence.

Now it appears that the club will look to revise their linemen’s marching orders to not try and penetrate the backfield at all costs but rather to clog up the backfield by the OL back into the QB and ball carrier to close up the phone booth.

Tony Pollard just go out there and wear yourself out

(Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)

I think the Cowboys are going to treat Tony Pollard similarly to how they did Ezekiel Elliott early in his career. Switching to inside zone, an opinion based on new offensive line coach Mike Solari’s past history, will put Dallas’ backs running through gaps a bit more in 2023, which will undoubtedly lead to more contact and need to break tackles.

That’s something Pollard is exceptionally good at, though. This is more about the volume he’ll see as Dallas looks to soak up Elliott’s 248 touches.

Pollard saw a career high 232 touches himself last year, 63 more than the year prior. While Dallas will likely deploy three backs more routinely, some of those Elliott touches will go Pollard’s way. The addition of Deuce Vaughn is exciting, but he’s not going to be a pass-pro guy and he’s not going to be running into crowded boxes.

For Dallas to not forecast what they are running based on personnel, Pollard is going to have to absorb at least some of those duties, even if they have a dedicated short-yardage guy like UDFA Hunter Luepke.

The problem is we’ve seen the studies where, outside of 2022’s stretch against the NFC North, it generally takes Pollard a game or two to ramp back up after big performances.

And in a contract year, Dallas may not hesitate to force the issue here and then let him go elsewhere.

Choosing Fehoko over O'Connell is further Dak Prescott confirmation

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All of the convo leads to the belief that the Cowboys debated two players for No. 129: Purdue QB Aidan O’Connell and San Jose’s Fehoko. There was a debate on the war room cam; it wasn’t contentious at all, and it appears that the front office overruled Mike McCarthy’s point.

McCarthy wanted to draft O’Connell and felt he was going to be able to develop him into a real player. Bryan Broaddus indicated McCarthy’s contention was most likely because he knew that O’Connell wasn’t going to be available in the fifth round. For the club to overrule that, it means they were more focused on shoring up the run defense than getting a future QB talent.

If there was any organizational thought Dak Prescott wasn’t getting extended there’s no way they make that decision.

Schoonmaker mea culpa

I say it all the time, as I don’t want any confusion. I am not a draft evaluator. I ground the film many years ago, created my own big boards and enjoyed that aspect of following the draft, but it’s time consuming and I dropped that from my wheelhouse.

I say that to say this, my initial disdain to Schoonmaker’s selection wasn’t with full information. I fell into the trap many folks do and that’s to have a snap reaction based on where the consensus about him stood without having much knowledge.

In general, I think a tight end needs to be special to draft early. I thought that Georgia’s Darnell Washington had the athletic profile to be that special unicorn at the position of an elite blocker and athletic receiver, a la Rob Gronkowski. I though Dalton Kincaid had a chance to be a premiere pass-catching tight end.

Outside of those two, I felt the rest of the tight end class had tons to offer, as it was a deep position, but that depth meant there wasn’t much reason to grab any of the other group early because it could be taken late. As such, I didn’t research the rest of the group and as Schoonmaker was given fourth and fifth-round grades by the draft community, felt his pick was a reach.

I was shocked to find out how good of an athlete he was; it’s not always an indication of NFL ability, but it’s certainly a starting point.

In Will We Trust.

Do veterans acquired with draft-pick trades count in the draft haul?

One of the biggest debates on social media during the draft is whether or not one should include the veterans Dallas acquired with traded picks in the evaluation of the draft class.

Some people feel they should be included, others vehemently protest their inclusion. At the end of the day, what matters is that Dallas made savvy use of lottery tickets to get talent that is more assured. Still, the moves aren’t without risk.

Draft picks come with what I’ve always referred to as wholesale prices. Brandin Cooks and Stephon Gilmore are former Pro Bowlers, the likelihood of drafting a Pro Bowler with Day 3 picks is miniscule. However, Cooks and Gilmore take up a much larger percentage of salary cap space. They used draft capital AND financial capital to acquire. They also are only inked for two years and one season, respectively. Draft picks come with four years at minimum.

In the end though, it comes down to this.

Either you include Cooks and Gilmore in saying Dallas had a fruitful free agency period (they weren’t signings, after all), or you include them in the draft haul.

Can’t do both though.

Dak Prescott consulted on WR, did he not like any?

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The Cowboys, for the second year in a row, let it be known that they had Prescott watch film of the WR prospects they were interested in and that Prescott even spoke to some of the candidates.

Did he not like any? The team left the draft with just a seventh-round receiver, South Carolina’s Jalen Brooks.

Again, the board fell a certain way. There were certainly wideouts Dallas considered during the first two days of the draft or the first three rounds of Day 3, but… whew.

Sure, it will be spun as Dallas thinking Gallup will finally return to 2019 form or that they want to give 2022 third-round pick Jalen Tolbert a chance to develop.

Maybe they asked him whether it was more important for his comfort to bring in a replacement for Dalton Schultz and how he felt watching Luke Schoonmaker’s film.

No real takeaway here, just that I found this subplot interesting.

Brilliant!

Make it happen, coach.

Story originally appeared on Cowboys Wire