Early Scouting ‘09 — Look to Offensive Line
Posted: August 20, 2008 @ 11:40 am
Before camp started, a source told me that offensive line was probably the top priority going into the ‘08 campaign, as the Cowboys had concerns about their depth.
That same source told me today that line depth remains the biggest area of concern on the team. I wrote last week that Cory Procter and James Marten struggled against the Chargers and Joe Berger played poorly against the Broncos. Doug Free looks solid at LT but Pat McQuistan has been hot-and-cold under Hudson Houck’s tutelage. He looked more stable to my eyes against Denver but looked more consistent in ‘07.
Offensive and defensive lines are the hardest positions to find, at any time of the year so don’t look for Dallas to get lucky plucking anybody off waivers. Any young lineman who hits the market will have multiple claims put on him and the Cowboys have one of the last slots in the claim order.
Hope that the linemen stay healthy again this year, especially at the center and guard positions.
Other tasty crumbs from the source:
– the Cowboys are NOT nervous about their WR play, even with Miles Austin’s setback. “They want to see the young guys play,” I was told. I’ll say it again. Watch Isaiah Stanback carefully against Houston. He’ll get a lot more reps with the second unit and while he’s not as far along as Austin, he is improving. Hold off on those Anquan Boldin trade packages, folks, at least for the time being.
– Dallas is happy with the safety play as well. Take an early bow, Roy Williams. And does this mean that Courtney Brown has a chance to make the final roster? He made some plays on the line of scrimmage late against Denver, knifing in from the edge to spill a Broncos runner in the backfield. On the other hand, he was also victimized by a long bootleg pass on a 4th-and-1 play. These next two games are huge for him.
– I asked about the John Beck-to-Dallas rumors and was told that the characterizations from the Miami press, that Dallas had shown “mild interest” were “a nice choice of words.” I take it there’s not much to this story.
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On the Beck stuff, Bill is looking for a 4th rounder. Unless his price goes down there is no way Dallas would go for him.
As for some of the last posts.
Sirius- I said one thing, I understand what riles people up. I would just like something else stupid to read if I gotta read it.
El Berraco- You right about both sides being vanilla, and if you want to look at why Romo didn’t go up the field, blame it on penalties. And on defense really, that James penalty let up what would have been a great stop.
Yeah, that James penalty was beyond frustrating.
I finally heard a Sports Doctors show. Mr. Vela is a good speaker, an impressive combination, given that we already know he is a good writer. As for the other guy, he needs to take a little speed or some other pick-me-up before the broadcast.
Rafael,
What do think are the odds that Columbo is resigned during or shortly after the season? I’m assuming his play will be consistent with the last two years, which is above average. Unless he tries to break the bank, I’d like to see him back. He’s consistent, and I’ve seen several reports that he has the OT ‘mean streak’.
With the cash tied up in LT, C, and RG, I doubt the team will dig too deep for Columbo if they think McQuistan can fill the spot. I’m curious to see how Houck’s coaching impacts this position going forward. Do the backups provide enough with Houck’s work to let Columbo go? Nobody seems too impressed with them to date.
I listen to that radio station all the time and oddly enough, the only time I want to change it is when Dr. Sleepy Poo starts to speak. Can anyone say…”Bueller, Bueller…” I only keep it on there to listen to Rafael break down the game. I guess they only let Dr.’s with money have shows on the local markets.
Back to the O-line…any word on how the move back to Houck has helped any of the current O Linemen?
The starting 5 are tremendous on the O Line. Here’s to their health.
Hadnt really thought about the O-line for a while (I think I may have relaxed on that front given the dominance of the starting 5), but depth is surely important and commenters on here may have hit on something. After the initial excitement the first year or two on McQ, that seems to have died down to a whisper. Marten has bust written all over him. Free seems salvageable. I 2nd Joey - here is to the health of the starting 5.
Has Gurode fixed his shotgun snap issues?
Every time it’s 3rd and long, I cringe for the snap.
Some things you can almost predict before the Cleveland kickoff:
Dallas will pick a top C/G with it’s top pick next year, if that pick is in the 28-32 range. Otherwise, they’ll scratch that itch in round two.
AFC, I dont think Gurode is free & clear on shotgun snaps. I am almost certain I saw Romo have to reach for the sky at least once in the Denver game. Gurode’s situation has the Steve Sax yips written all over it.
Hey I was looking through my facebook and I’m still a member of TheBoysBlog.com community. Should I delete that, and have you set up a new community already?
I really hate pre-season. You sit around worrying about injuries and nothing else happens of note, especially with this team so well established. I think they will lose out, 0-4 in preseason, and then destroy the Browns.
Raf,
When is the last time the Cowboys used a 1st round pick on a Offensive Lineman? Correct me if I’m wrong but never? Not saying that they 100% won’t but I think they are into developing OL’s or getting them off of FA. Sorry, but I disagree.
The Cowboys spent 1st round picks on offensive linemen in 1965 (John Niland - Guard), 1979 (Robert Shaw - Center) and 1981 (Howard Richards - Tackle). Feel free to say “who?” to the latter two.
Plenty of 2nd round picks lately, though, but with mixed results: Larry Allen (’94), Flozell (’98), Solomon Page (’99), Gurode (’02), Al Johnson (’03) and Jacob Rogers (’04). And quite a few very successful draft picks in 3rd and 4th rounds (John Fitzegerald, Rafferty, Stepnoski, Erik Williams).
But then you have the lower picks that pan out, like Rayfield Wright (drafted as a defensive end in 7th round) and Herb Scott (13th round), not to mention undrafted free agents like Nate Newton.
Apparently, choosing offensive linemen high in the draft is an inexact science.
torchindefense,
I would usually say the Cowboys are not into drafting OL that high, but there are factors to consider:
1. they’ll likely be picking in the 28-32 range, barring a rash of major injuries.
2. Larry Allen, their best OL pick of the last few years, went 46th overall in ‘94.
3. OL have been creeping up in draft orders in recent years. Look at the huge run on OL this year, with lots of teams jumping into the late teens and early 20s to get guys rated in the 2nd rounds on the commercial boards.
4. given that combination of factors, I think Dallas can stand pat, but if they want a really highly rated Larry Allen-type, they can’t wait until round two. Their pick will be down in the 60 range and the good OL are long gone by then.
We will probably draft a WR and a guard next year in the top two rounds. I would bet jerry will trade our #1 because at the end of the 1st round you only find 2nd round talent, and jerry won’t want to pay 1st round money for that.
I think the Cowboys are holding a lot back right now in these pre-season games not wanting to tip their hats to what is to come vs. Cleveland and on. Jason Garrett has some very special things in mind for Felix in open space, Very much like how reggie bush is used in New Orleans when Duece is healthy. The Austin injury hurts a lot, and puts a lot of pressure on Hurd to step up this weekend. If he doesn’t, jerry may start getting an itch to start looking around.
Before we learned about this past draft class, I was predicting we’d use our 2 firsts on a CB and the top-rated G on the list. Someone like a Ben Grubbs from the year prior or a Shawn Andrews from a few years prior. Obviously that type player wasnt available this year and the team though highly of Felix. So if a big beast is available next year, it would not surprise to see us go after him.
Incidently, it is my understanding that we would have drafted Andrews the year he came out. But Philly moved up ahead of us to grab him. Can you imagine the destruction that an Andrews Clone with Bigg Davis and Gurode would put on opposing DTs?
I agree with Jake that Dallas will probably get one of those two in the first two rounds, I do however have one other idea of whom the might choose.
If Roy doesn’t perform very well, and it looks like there isn’t anyone developing, would it be crazy to think that Dallas would look at the safety position?
I’ve yet to see Pat McQ do anything that leads me to believe he can challenge for a starting spot next year.
On another note, what is the “dallas is vanilla, so are other teams,” and “some teams are more vanilla than the other” in pre-season argument about ?
What is the argument? All the things pointed out are all reasons to not put any stock in pre-season games.
Is someone saying we should put stock in these games b/c BOTH sides are vanilla??
Newest Dallas Cowboys fan should be here on Friday guys!
I figure he’ll come out quickly enough so that he doesn’t miss the Cowboys game. : )
AFB2, (i) is this your second in a short period of time, (ii) your first and you told us about the due date some time ago, or (iii) am I confusing you for someone else, because your post #20 just sounds so familiar to me, and I could swear the previous poster also had a military handle. whatever the answer, congrats!
Jarhead, I am the typer of all things vanilla lately. I was trying to see how many times I could use the word to see if people googling vanilla in the near future will find a link to this site just after “pudding, vanilla” and just before “vanilla, French” (is that even how google works?). To answer your question, my whole vanilla thing has nothing to do with putting stock or not putting stock in preseason games. it has to do with not throwing out “well we were just running a vanilla scheme” as an excuse for any particular preseason performance that you might be unhappy with. there are valid reasons for a poor outing and invalid reasons. things like poor execution, lack of motivation (preseason after all is just practice - practice, man, we talking practice!), no talent second or third stringers these are all valid. i personally feel that the vanilla excuse is invalid, for the reasons i’ve stated ad nauseum. Of course, it’s just my not very educated I admit belief, so if anyone can tell me why vanilla is a valid excuse, i am willing to listen and modify my beliefs.
i see.
well, i’d say its not a valid excuse b/c no excuse is necessary. its simply another reason why the results are invalid in the pre-season, as we see year after year.
by the way,
i drank a vanilla milkshake tonight.
Its my first, I posted when I found out in December. Thanks
TAFB2
Congrats on the new fan about to grace the world, My oldest daughter is about to have me my latest grandson who is coming home to us in his #9 jersey before the start of the regular season.
Nink
Congrats bat!
congrats bat, kids are the best. the only thing I am a bigger fan of than the cowboys is my son.