Howard’s End?
Posted: March 24, 2005 @ 4:00 am
The Oakland Raiders have apparently entered the Darren Howard sweepstakes, offering New Orleans either CB Charles Woodson or CB Philip Buchanon for him.
This seems unrealistic for both teams. Oakland is clearly looking for a salary dump, especially if they can get out from under Woodson’s $10 million cap hit. New Orleans, on the other hand is also looking to get out from under Howard’s deal so it can re-sign its own players. What the Saints want is draft picks. And the Raiders are short, already having shipped the 7th overall pick to Minnesota for Randy Moss. It doesn’t seem likely that Oakland would send its number two to the Saints.
The Howard scenario is being set in concrete, at least from Dallas’ perspective. It will happen after the draft, it appears, or it won’t happen at all. (You know this is more likely because New Orleans’ latest posture is saying they will trade Howard before the draft or they will keep him, which, as we have discussed in earlier posts, is a dumb long-term move for the team.)
With a Howard deal seeming more remote, to whom do you look for a rush, and with which pick? Shawne Merriman? Derrick Johnson? Dan Cody? Erasmus James? Demarcus Ware? David Pollack? Matt Roth? Someone else? (Show your work, it will be graded.)
Update: Saints higher-ups seem awfully eager to discuss a possible Howard deal with the Dallas press. Yesterday, GM Mickey Loomis told the Star-Telegram that Jerry was giving him the cold shoulder. Today, coach Jim Haslett tells the Star-Telegram that Dallas and the Saints have never had a serious discussion about compensation for Howard. He also repeated Loomis’ threat that Howard would not be traded after the draft.
Two teams are playing poker. Jerry Jones is not saying a word. The other team is lobbying hard to the Cowboys fan base.
Who’s got the better hand here?
Comments
-
"The Sports Doctors"
iTunes/
Winamp
Windows
Media
RealOne -
Cowboy Up
Dedicated to providing the best Cowboys analysis anywhere, our efforts are free of charge but not free of expense. Your kind donation today will keep our drive alive.
Thank you
Or mail payment to:
RV2 Enterprises
P.O. Box 150093
Austin TX 78715-0093
Advertisers
-
Fave it!
-
SiteMeter
Burst Media
Woodson for Howard? That’s too expensive. I can’t imagine a franchise CB would be traded for a good though not great DE with injury problems. I’d say there’s a strong likelihood this story is more rumor than fact.
Oakland did not expect Woodson to sign contract. He underperformed last year and has had some off field and attitude problems. I do not think he fits in their salary cap plans. It makes sense for them to unload him for a player with less cap hit, but I do not think NO has the space either. Maybe they should have offered him to the Vikes for Moss instead of Harris.
I think it would be foolish of us to trade for Howard. It would cost too much resource wise to obtain a player at a position that we could probably satisfy in the draft.
1. What if with one of our first two picks the best available player is a defensive end? So then we would be shelling out big money contracts to a new rookie DE and Howard. Besides with the three guys we already have on the line wouldn’t a first round or high second round DE have some success?
2. I know Merriman, due to his speed is projected as a LB, but with him he could line up at the DE spot in our 4-3 alignments as well as stand up in our 3-4 alignments. Either way if Howard was on the roster one of them would probably be sitting on the bench part of the time. And that’s too much damn money to be sitting on the bench.
Josh,
I agree. I do not think Jerry is going to overpay for Howard. Also a guy has a few sacks in a different team with a different Defense strategy. Just because he did it there, can he do it in Dallas. Howard is no Charles Haley. However, I am not excited about our ability to draft a DE, perhaps Parcells and maybe Pasquerelli can help I am sure he saw a lot of these kids play.
If our pass coverage improves we can blitz more often. If our front four improve we can blitz more often. With the pass happy rules of the NFL, the best shot at stopping a play is sacking the QB, I think we need both better coverage guys and better pass rush. Looking at the addition of Ferguson, he should help, Glover, Ferguson and Ellis look pretty impressive to me. I like the other guys we are working in and a draft pick could help. Usually teams rotate the DE and DT for a breather, so even Haley would get a breather from time to time. But a good front four sure would be nice. Remember the days when we had Casillas, Haley, Tolbert, Jeffcoat, Maryland, and Lett………now while most of those guys went on to be full time starters elsewhere we were rotating them and keeping them fresh and even the occassional back problems from Haley we had good fresh front four on the field all the time. I think that was smart, and also allowed us to play the 280lb DE and DT, fresh rotation kept the lineman guessing and we were a pressure defense. We built most of those guys except Haley through the draft…………perhaps we can do it again.
I agree with Jon, I don’t like the idea of drafting a DE unless Merriman is not available at the #11 spot. If he isn’t there and the two WRs are gone then I’d trade down a few spots and draft a DE, but at the #11 spot I don’t think you get value for any of the DEs available in the draft.
if we can somehow still get howard for our 2nd round and a low draft pick and swing merriman in the first, that would be ideal. merriman could line up at LB and Howard at DE, both starting.
It would be nioce to have Howard, However; there are plenty of rookies that can fill the bill. It only takes about three years to make an all pro for a defencive lineman and some are quicker studys. (Warren Sapp) Lets get a good college pass rusher and save the money for another posession reciever. Hell we have two first round draft picks. All bets are off if Howard becomes a bargain.
Off the subject a little, I think it is a smart move to convert a corner to the cover safety position. The down side from that is what happens when Roy Williams gets Hurt? OUCH!!! Its not like he doesn’t collide with breaking ball force!!! We need another run stopper back there, and now!!!
jesse,
Hopefully our Linebackers will be stopping the running backs. Nothing against Roy, he brings the wood. But if we rely on our Secondary to lead us in tackles I am not sure I want to see the scoreboard. I think a guy like Rolle or Jones in the Draft, and perhaps Hunter can fill our Safety. Scott was ok last year, but it was a big drop off after having Woodson and Williams back there. Lets resuciatate Charlie Waters and Everson Walls……..lord knows we could use their interceptions.
I think the Cowboys are being patient, and like I have said in other threads……….John Abraham is still in play. Do not rule him out, Parcells knows the player and the organization. I say ship Quincy Morgan and #20 pick to NYJ for Abraham, then draft a WR and either a strong hitting CB or LB………..or perhaps another DE or DT if that is the best available player. WR looks a lot easier to fill in the Draft than DE. There are always risk involved with any draft pick. Again I hope Pasquerelli can give us some insight on some of these kids, I am sure he tried to recruit em. Didn’t he have Freeney playing for him in Syracuse……..that guy led the league in QB sacks didn’t he?
Abraham is young and can play 4-3 or 3-4, so he gives Dallas the flexibility on the line that Parcells wants. I think Bill will be tempted to go after a LB in the draft. He certainly likes big strong LBs and he does not have enough of em on this team. James and Thornton still have a lot to prove.
Lets get some pressure Defense like Parcells built with the Giants and a fast WR and I think we will be NFC East champs. Eagles are going to fall apart this year, hard to sustain their dominance in the NFC East again.
How about drafting Marcus Spears with the 11th pick and either David Pollack or Justin Tuck later in the draft? Think about it, it would give the Parcells a lot of flexability with the front seven. Spears is an ideal end in the 3-4, and Tuck or Pollack fit the Parcells’ profile for OLB in that scheme. Tuck and Pollack are considered tweeners with good pass rushing skills, just like two of Parcells’ previous draft choices, Willie McGinest and John Abraham. While playing the 4-3 Spears would play on rushing downs and either Pollack or Tuck would play on passing downs. It is quite possible for the Cowboys to trade down from the 20th pick and still get Tuck, while picking up another choice on the first day of the draft. If the Cowboys are able to draft Spears and Tuck and address safety and right tackle on the first day of the draft, and still hold 5 picks on day 2, and money to burn under the cap to address other needs, then watch out!
Eric,
You’re beat me to a post I’m preparing on Pollack and Matt Roth.
I wouldn’t mind getting Pollack at some point (and I’ve seen a couple of
mock drafts lately that put him into round two, though the guy who’s really slipping in some mocks is Roth).
What’s valuable about both of them is that they are being discussed as guys who can also play ILB in a 3-4. Matt Millen and Teddy Bruschi did this, going from college interior linemen to star ILB. The best part is, they’re known as effective rushers because they’re so relentless. Put them inside and you only add to the permutations of blitzes your defense can generate. Derrick Johnson is also being discussed this way, as a guy who can play all the linebacker positions.
Rafael,
The way I look at it, its quite possible that Tuck, Pollack, Roth, and Demarcus Ware will be there for the Cowboys with the 20th pick. That should make it easy for them to trade down and possibly pick up another selection, and still get one of these “tweeners” a little later in the draft. Unless, of course, they are extremely high on one of them over the others. With their second round choice, we have to believe they are eyeing Adam Terry. Terry was coached by Pasquerelli in Syracuse, fits a need for the Boys playing tackle, and is projected to go in the early to mid 2nd round, so he seems to be a no-brainer if he is there. If the Cowboys do trade down from the 20th selection and add possibly a 3rd round selection, there should be a lot of raw talent available at the safety position in that round. This scenario, and drafting Markus Spears with the 11th pick, should really fill out the Cowboys roster. With 5 more picks on day 2, and having room under the cap, it will put the Boys in a good position. The cap space should help them aquire Cory Bradford, and a nice back-up running back. While the 2nd day of the draft, will allow Parcells to try to find gold in a mountain of rocks and also throw a bunch of possibilities at their problem areas, such as safety, special teams, and corner.
I would love for us to trade one our firsts for more picks but just looking at the talent I think it will be tough. Although there may not be the two guys in the draft that are the end all this year but there is so much talent in the top two rounds it will be difficult to trade. With that in mind I say we pick up Marcus Spears DE with our first pick. With our second pick I say we pick up Jammal Brown RT. With our high second I say we pick up Williamson if available or Roddy White if available. If neither are still there then you pick up the best prospect at LB and eventually with our fourth we pick up the quarterback turning WR from Arkansas. Now if we get a great deal on Howard before the draft, then instead of Spears I take Merriman. As far as taking two DE in the upper end of the draft or Howard and a top pick on DE as Jon had mentioned. I don’t think with as many holes as thius team has we need to do that yet. I am with you Jon in seeing that the great lines of Cowboys past is what helped bring home the trophies but the line you mentioned was before the salary cap. We will have to go light in some areas. As they are right now. I say FS is the best to go light in because we do have Pete Hunter and a couple others that can fill the roll especially now that we have Henry. On the Offense we can light at FB and I know several will disagree with me but I say at WR. We have only had Quincy Morgan for one year. Not even a full year and his numbers for a new team…new quarterback…new offense is not bad. He may have a break out year if given a chance.
With the 11th pick we should get a top wide out, the pool of OLB is pretty good and I think Merriman may be there at our high 1st round pick… Here’s the shocker.. I want Nugent(k) from OSU with the low two pick.. This guy is unbelievable. we can address safety with converting Darious from Jacksonville. I also believe that Jerry will get Howard. Nugent just doesn’t miss under 50..WOW!
Hey guys, my first post, but great site.
Chadd, I would love to see dallas get Nugent. I amin Columbus and a big OSU fan, so I know what he can do. I am not sure I want dallas using thier high number 2 to get him. If they can trade down one of their number ones to get a lower second round and whatever else. Then yeah take him.\
Its funny though, how you say he never misses from inside 50. I don’t know if you caught it, but one game last season, the announcers where fighting over if nugent should be a heisman candidate or not. One annoucer says “but he never misses”. RIght about this time he chokes I like a 35 yarder, probablly the only kick he missed all season. Well maybe not, but you know how good he is. The reason I say that is funny is not cause he missed that one, but because at the end of the game, he ended up kicking like a 63 yarder or something to win it for OSU.
I suppose my biggest fear is that Parcells will get linebacker happy in the draft. When that is the most overabundant position in the NFL. Jones doesn’t like to pay for them because they end up doing a Kenny Norton to the team. Hey I don’t blame him. I think that is where the free agency bargains are. Sorry St. Louis. Spending draft picks on linebackers, seems to me to be foolish. Safety, corner, and especially linemen(on both sides of the ball) would be a more wise draft choice. Jimmy Johnson got all his success from the same philosophy. Ofcourse Jimmy would trade a valuable commodity for a slew of players also. (Shades of H.Walker)
Jesse,
I really don’t know where you get the idea that Parcells might get “linebacker happy”. He hasn’t used a high draft choice on that position YET. And has only drafted 4 linebackers in the 1st round with his previous teams. But if history repeats itself, he will draft one soon. And looking at Parcells’ short list of LBs taken in the 1st round (Carl Banks, Willie McGinest, James Farrior, and John Abraham), this guy knows what he is doing. I think you meant to say Parcells will make us, Cowboys fans, “linebacker happy”, if he can continue this success! I know I’d be!
Chadd and Mike,
I would be in favor of taking a guy like Nugent in the late 2nd/early 3rd if Dallas were to trade down with one of their #1s and pick up an extra 2. (I’d be more in favor of trading down from 11 to say, 14 or 16 and doing this, and still keeping two picks in round one.) The other guy I’d love to get, but I see now way of acquiring him without a 3rd round pick - is Colquitt from Tennessee.
For all the need for more consistent FG kicking, punting has been even worse under Parcells and I know it’s driving him crazy. I would not be at all suprised to see any extra first day pick used on a kicker.
Man, that 42 is going to be an interesting pick. They can go for the more consistent pick (a guy like Terry, thought I heard he had a VERY difficult Senior Bowl week), hope you get very lucky and see somebody of quality fall out of the 1st round (Brodney Pool, Matt Roth), or go for a position where Dallas has a voiced need (J.J. Arrington).
I simply don’t care, so long as it’s a player who’s going to stick around for many years.
Parcells and Belicheck are both Linebacker Happy with their 3-4 scheme. It is the most important position in that Defense, and requires the skill and size to play it, as well as the almost DT size front 3.
It appears to me our Defense with our without Howard, still looks like a 4-3 set……..with the occassional mix of 3-4 a Defense designed to cut down on the pass happy slant patters of the Walsh and his West Coast Offense. It worked, as the Giants beat the SF and went on to a Super Bowl Victory. However, a Jimmy Johnson 4-3 also beat a George Siefert Pass Happy West Coast Offense with a Super Bowl qb by the name of Steve Young. I think you have to play to your personnel, and so far the Cowboys do not have the TALENT at LB to be a 3-4 team.
If Jones and Parcells are going that route they would have to get not only LB crazy but DT and DE crazy………something that looks like an enormous undertaking with this years crop of mostly undersized DE and DT and a few large speedy LBs. Thornton, Singleton, James and Nguyen………are certainly not Banks, Taylor, Carson…….throw in on the Line a guy like Leonard Marshal. I do not see that kind of talent on our Defense. The LBs in the 3-4 have to be STRONG and FAST. Something that our group has more speed than strength. LT competed with guys much bigger in Bench and Squat, he and the other LBs possessed strength beyond their 230-250lb size. They exhibited enormous discipline to play the way they were coached and reckless abandon for their body, the pain, and their opponents.
I really do not care which Defense we play……….I believe thoug that the players might. Perhaps it was experimenting with the 3-4 that frustrated our great Defense from a year before. I have always believed that Players in any sport perform best when they believe in the Coaches System………and then go out and execute. Bob Knight, Dean Smith, Coach K, Wooden, our own Tom Landry, Parcells, Bellicheck are all wonderful examples of this. Telling a team we are a this or a that………can lead to a loss of confidence in the system. It can further complicate things on a team that did not need complications. If LT had played in a 4-3 would he have been any less of a player? Perhaps a few less SACKS but no less of a LB.
Give our guys on Defenes some solid ground to build on, and then let players make plays. The great coaches mentioned above lost their fare share of games, but they won more often than not using a system that worked and players that slept well at night believing that the sun rose and fell on that system.
With the pass happy NFL rules committee do not be surprised that the Nickel Defense and the Third CB on a team becomes the Defense of choice in the NFL………..well unless you have a linebacker like Coakley that can actually cover. I think Dexter will be missed, especially if James and Thornton do not STEP UP.
Yes, they would have to add more LB’s but, that’s really not that hard. And with James, Shanle, Nugyn, and Singleton along with a Merriman and a Blackstock or Rudd or whatever rookies we could get, the fact isn’t that we don’t have the LB’s, its the fact we don’t have the linemen to be a base 3-4. Neither Ellis, Glover, or potentially Howard are big enough to play any of the down lineman positions. Ferg is just big enough to play the NT position in the 3-4. DEs in the 3-4 need to weight about 310lbs or so to hold up to constant double teams from Gaurds and Tackles. So don’t think we aren’t making the transition because of LB’s its DL that’s so hard to come by. Which by the way would explain their 6mil plus franchise price tag.
I’ll Have to admitt the 3-4 scares the hell out of me from a fan perspective. Emmit would tear up a 3-4 like there was nothing there.Call me paranoid but I long for the Buddy Ryan Style of defence. (85 Bears) I just come from the school of Kill the QB. I know It puts the corners in a undesireable position, but thats why they are paid the big bucks. I hope Parcells can get us some Defence and get some now. Nevertheless, the 3-4 scares me. P.S. I love this web site, maybe I can releave some stress while suffering from football withdraw.
If no Darren Howard then:
Pollack @11 (Maybe Merryman)
Williamson/Brown/Spears @20 (maybe trade down and get pics)
Shelton #2
If extra picks then Bullocks from Nebraska to play Safety.
(p.s. to the other bloggers, No one wants Quincy Morgan>>>)
Jesse,
The 3-4 was designed to stop the West Coast offense. It did. The extra linebacker made Slant passes harder to complete and kept pressure on the QB with a Blitzing LB from one side or both…….
The 3-4 was not designed to Stop Emmit Smith. But then again, in his prime what defense was? He gained yards against all sorts of defenses. He tore up the Eagles and Redskins.
Fred,
I like Rolle to play FS………a WR with our 20……and all the rest go to DE and DT and LB…….there will still be some decent players left at 42………and Bill has shown good picks in late rounds.