Good News Travels Fast
Posted: April 29, 2005 @ 1:23 pm
The rookies have assembled at Valley Ranch for their first taste of life in the NFL. They received their orientation and will go through the first of four practices with the coaching staff today. By Sunday, we should have an idea of whether the players will live up to the guady grades they received from the football press.
Sure, they’re not going to be playing teams in other uniforms. And they probably won’t do much hitting. But the coaching staff will have an idea of whether the players are fast enough, agile enough and intelligent enough to handle the pro game. When Jimmy Johnson convened his ballyhooed ‘92 draft class, he was very interested in Nate Kirtman, a big, fast safety prospect from tiny Pomona-Pitzer whom he had drafted in round nine.. Years later, after his resignation as HC, Johnson recalled that he knew after just one workout that he had missed on Kirtman.
The coaches also knew when they hit. The Dallas papers were filled with praise for Eric Williams in ‘91 and for Darren Woodson in ‘92. Woodson was a big of a headscratcher for the draftniks in ‘92, since he had played linebacker and there were questions about his ability to play in the secondary. Word leaked very quickly that he was going to be a player, even if it would take time.
And that’s my point. In recent years, the leaks from Valley Ranch after the rookie workouts have been meager. Judging from the performances of Jerry’s last solo drafts, this is with cause. However, good news travels fast. The organization is hungry for good news on the personnel front. I doubt that they would hesitate to promote promising looking rookies, even if they’ve only worked out in pads and shorts.
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Excellent sleuthing about Johnson and Kirtman. Frankly, the doesn’t even ring a bell. Earilier I wrote that our undrafted FA class seems to come to us with few known names (ie., to Torrin Tucker). I’d love to learn how they appear vs. our picks and if any of them are shining come monday morning.
si.com has a list of 10 rookies that they think will make the most impact next year and CANTY is #2 behind SPROLES
I hope we get some news. BP likes to keep things pretty quiet, which can sometimes be a good thing. Unfortunately for us fans, we cannot survive without at least a few tidbits during the otherwise endless offseason.
Rafael,
What did you think of the list of FAs? Any promising additions to our draft picks? A saw a RB, FB, WR, S, LBs, OT, all kinds of stuff. My guess is a couple of those guys make the squad they always seem to find one diamond in the rough.
jay - are you serious? SI has Sproles as #1. Are they smoking crack? And a hobling, kneeless blind man as #2? (ok, he’s not blind) . What the article about? I see an link on SI.com about fantansy impact players (all offense - of course)
I think he means the year after this year.
It looks like we really got a diamond in the rough with this guy.
Our first 5 picks have starter capabilities and 4 wil probably start soon.(Except Barber)
guys,
jay is my friend and he meant the top 10 rookies who went down in stock because of a few things and who could make impact’s next year…
just go here…http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/writers/don_banks/04/27/banks.10.impact/index.html
just go to the SI website and click on don bank’s article on the right of the page
Jon,
Nice question. I was going to ask the same thing!
I think Goolsby is going to win a spot on this roster. He has that “Bill Bates” quality that you like. A catalitic special teams player. If you remember Kennith Gant, the “Shark”, Goolsby brings the same type of enthusiasm to special teams.
excellent article, this is my big concern that we drafted 3-4 bust instead of 1-2, i dont think bp and jj would guess wrong on half of there picks but it does happen. im worried that everyone is giving praise to dallas and that im hoping for much more then its gonna be. not trying to be a downer its just something we have to think about.
Can anyone tell me whether or not the press/media will be allowed to attend this weekends practices?
no
i believe so was watching the cardinals mini camp on nfl network. so i guess thats a yes
i read on dallas’ site that gurode is competing w/ al johnson at center. i dont like it cuz i like al better but time will tell.
they also said that lousaka POLITE is pleasing BP and that he is “one of the strongest players on the team.” thats a nice thing, since we need a power FB to block for Julius.
and FLOZELL has lost weight, ALLEN is running things he’s never done before, JUST READ THE STORY it is very good and informing…
just thought i’d throw that out there
Did you all hear, Parcells is moving Gurode back to center. This makes some sense since Andre has made a habit of making mental mistakes. Maybe he is just in the groove of that center position. I wonder if Parcells might move Johnson, to get his best 5 blockers out there. Adams, Johnson (at LG), Gurode, Riveria, and Allen (at RT)?? Who knows he might experiment. Dallas.com reports that both Allen and Flozell have gotten into great shape. This possible experiment with the O-linemen might solve our question at RT if no one else steps up.
hes doing that cause of rivera, he said the right guard spot is locked up so hes giving gurode a chan ce to compete for a job is all.
Moving Gurode makes sense from a depth perspective. He played center as a rookie and was pretty good. There was a lot of debate over where to play him, since he played both center and guard at a high level in college.
It also suggests to me that Ben Noll and/or Stephen Peterman are playing well at RG.
Depth. What a wonderful thing.
Gurode wil be competing for the BACKUP role at center, thats all.
Rafael,
Gurode was drafted in the 2nd round at center. If he was so good why did they burn another 2nd round pick at center the very next year?
actually he was drafted as a guard. He played both guard and center at colorado, was moved from center to guard ,his senior season at colorado.He wont be moving Johnson out of center.He’ll be battling tyson walter for the backup roll. Tyson walter might have the advantage since he can play all three line positions.
Well he played center his rookie season did he not?
And if I remember correctly he was listed as a C on the draft board.
http://www.theboys.com/draft2002.asp
That link there has him listed as a C.
Yes, Tyson Walter can play all the positions on the line…….. but at what level? Gurode can play Center and Guard with a less than confortable level, which is better than what Walter can do, so I guess Gurode might win that battle, and be patient to LA moving out of football. Me doesn’t think he’s going to dethrone Al Johnson from C, he looked really good last year, at times he tooked the leadership of the unit, even when he was the less experienced player in there…….
Gurode won’t be wearing a cowboys uniform after next season, and maybe not next season.
An item out of context:
Has any of you read McNabb comments about TO abscence? Just hilarious, makes me wonder how many times can a beagles fan be wrong in his projections and that I don’t see McBad, sorry McNabb (well, I don’t need to ask forgiveness to anyone…… unless there’s still one of those green lurkers in this blogs, which by the way I would first send them to kiss TO ass before asking them forgiveness) acting and playing with TO on the sidelines.
I don’t think so, if Parcells wants to get rid of Gurode, he would already be with another team, I guess that Gurode needs more time to focus on what he lost in his first year, year in which he looked good.
Howdy everybody. How did the draftees did in minicamp? Especially the FS and Petitti. I think Beriault has all the tools except the speed. With the new defense we are looking at, throw him in there and let him play. Also, how about this kid Ratliff, based on his write up, looks like he may have game.
I am so disappointed in Torin Tucker, this guy is 6-6, 346 lbs and can’t pull his head out of his anus (not the word I was looking for). I hope someting clicks and he gets with the program.
NOT BEYOND THE WORLD OF POSSIBILITY
i’m excite about about our defense but i think our rb combo of jones, barber and polite good be the deciding factor in how far we go into the playoffs. you have interchangeable backs in barber and jones and polite is a good short yardage back. he can run the one back set is a strong inside runner and good pass blocker. i know i’ve mentioned this before but last years auburn offense was a thing of beauty. if you can line up with two backs that you can get rushing receiving and pass blocking from you’re in heaven. at least i would be. i see similarities in the flexibility of our offense and defense based on the players we had plus the players we’ve acquired. defensively we can now effectively use any combination of 2, 3, or 4 man line. on offense we now can line up in 1 and 2 back sets and be equally effective. i know i’m rambling but bear with me. you have 6 players you have to have on offense; 5 linemen and a quarterback. we now have the option of putting a 5 man combination of any of these players:
k johnson
t glenn
morgan/copper/crayton/rector/harrel/merrit/crowder
campbell/witten
jones/barber/polite/lee/bickerstaff/kincade
(all these guys aren’t going to make the team)
that’s 17 players for 5 positions.
we can now line up in up with 2 backs and 2 tight ends and pass or run. or 1 back 4 receivers(polite,witten,johnson,glenn,morgan)and run or pass. my point is that if these players can learn to excel at the basics of the running back position(blocking, catching besides running)then we will have an offense that we can be proud of.
deoth people that why he moved back to center, its not that parcells is getting rid of him or anything else. we have 2-3 rg as it is, with rivera starting and petterson back parcells thinks hey why not use a guy that was a center in college as a backup and use petterson as backup at rg. its simple people its DEPTH.
the first word on that last post was supposed to be depth.