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Tuesday, April 22, 1997

Grading The Cowboys Draft

WHY A TIGHTEND?

I must admit that I was disappointed at first when Jimmy got the guy that I thought the 'Boys really needed, but after reflecting upon the numerous articles that I wrote during the season in which I stated that the Tightend was the key to Dallas's offense, I have changed my position.

While Yatil Green may be perfect to fill the need to be able to strech the field on maybe 10 of the 60 plays on offense, the tightend is involved in maybe the other 50 offensive plays in a game. So greatly improve in the 50 plays per game position or greatly improve in the 10 play a game area..mmm let's see....

I liked the Yatil Green pick because he is such a once in a decade specimen. Big and "REAL" fast that plays big in the big games. I also was thinking that you don't normally find an IMPACT tightend in the draft. Very few teams pick a tightend in the first round of the draft and when they do, they usually are a disappointment. Just ask the Jets about their last first round tightend selection. They already had Johnny Mitchell and they picked another tightend, I can't even remember his name.

But the Cowboys needed an Impact player at tightend but for a different reason than I had originally thought. After all, Eric Bjornson was going to come into camp healthy and be the starter for the 'Boys and we would have Kendall Watkins to back him up, right???

Well if you stop and realize the philosophy of the Dallas Offense, it requires the ability to "RUN" OR "PASS" on first, second or third down without giving away which one it might be by the way they line up.

For example, if you bring in Kendall Watkins on first or second down, then you might be telling the Defense that you are more than likely going to be running the ball. And then on third down you bring in Bjornson, you might be telling the Defense that you might be passing the ball.

Ideally you want a guy that plays tightend that does not tip your hand to whether it is going to be run or pass on any down. David LaFleur gives the Cowboys that luxury. He may be blocking for Emmitt on first down or he may go out for a play action pass.

Since so many teams play "Cover Two", (see one of my past articles for an explanation of Cover Two), then the middle of the field will be open often and when Troy looks over the middle to find his tightend, he won't have trouble spotting a 6' 7" target that has a tremendous leaping ability.

With Darren Benson bulking up in the weight room and eagerly anticipating being ready for next season, and with Antonio Anderson comming in and being tutored by some of the best Defensive line coaches in the league, and with a possibility of Lett's suspension being reduced, the 'Boys may not be in as bad as shape as some might think.

When June 2nd rolls around, expect both Novacek and Haley to retire and free up around 1.5 to 2 million of cap room. You see, if a player is released/retires after June 1st, then any signing bonuses that might be accelerated into next years cap, not this years. And next years cap may very well be 50 million or more. This extra cap money will also allow Dallas to get a few free agents around June 2nd because all teams are looking to do their releasing at this same time for the same reasons.

This could flood the market with "bargains" due to the number of teams that will already be at or near the cap, and a big group of just released players looking to just catch on somewhere before they get squeezed out.

LINEBACKER, SMALL BUT FAST:

I love this pick also. Dexter Coakley is VERY, VERY, fast and in the Dallas Defensive system Speed on the outside is KEY!!! Here is the reason....

When teams line up on first or second down, they expect to find the defense setup to "Stop the Run". This usually means big slow linebackers that can slip or push off offensive tackles on sweeps or slants to the outside. This means that if the running back or the tightend goes out into pass patterns they will have a mismatch in speed with the linebackers. The Strong Side, "SAM", linebacker is usually assigned the tightend to "cover" on passes and the weak side or "WILLIE" linebacker is assigned the first back out of the backfield. S.F. is a perfect example of this philosophy of getting four into the pass patterns and expecting at least one mismatch.

Well in the Dallas Defense, they expect to "funnel" the runner to the Middle or "MIKE" linebacker on running plays and to use the speed of their outside linebackers to more than adequately cover the back and tightend.

Coakely has "CORNERBACK SPEED"!!!! Wow.......

This coming season is looking VERY Bright.

COMMENTS:

garywm@jps.net