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Big Difference
Josh Ellis
DallasCowboys.com Staff Writer
(Editor's Note: As the April 28-30 NFL Draft approaches, DallasCowboys.com's 12-part Draft Series will analyze every position, the Cowboys' needs at each, who might be available for their eight picks and some interesting draft nuggets. Part 6 will feature offensive tackles.)
Position Outlook:
While the Cowboys thought they were shoring up the bookend spots on their offensive line by releasing Flozell Adams last summer and handing his left-side position to Doug Free, the opposite was true. The new starter was good, but veteran right tackle Marc Colombo showed obvious signs of regression.
After suffering a broken fibula and high ankle sprain that forced him to miss half of the 2009 season, Colombo returned for the playoffs but was dominated by defensive end Ray Edwards in the Division Playoff loss at Minnesota. The Cowboys chalked up his bad day to rustiness due to all the time missed by injury, and assumed he would return to his solid play after a full offseason to recuperate. In order to compensate for the lack of playing and practice time the previous season, however, Colombo practiced every day in the 2010 training camp, to the point that his already surgically-repaired right knee needed another scope, forcing him out for a month, including the first week of the regular season.
Newly acquired backup Alex Barron started in his place, playing embarrassingly at Washington in the season opener. He never got back in at tackle for the Cowboys, despite Colombo's continued pain and difficulty in the final 15 games of the season. Colombo is 32 now, and has had injuries the last two years in addition to the serious knee trouble that almost derailed his NFL career years earlier. The Cowboys have to be skeptical he can ever return to the play that earned him a four-year contract extension with the club in 2008.
In addition to their concern with Colombo, the Cowboys are faced with the likelihood that Free will be eligible for the open market. Re-signing him will be a priority, but the team's depth at the position is totally untested. Reserves Sam Young, Jermey Parnell and Robert Brewster have only three game appearances between the three of them.
Draft Prospects:
There are quite a few tackle prospects worthy of first-round picks, with no player connected to the Cowboys more often in recent weeks than Southern Cal's Tyron Smith, the 20-year old with two years of experience starting on the right side. While he is widely considered the draft's top player at the position, the team has also hosted a number of others that it will consider.
Count Anthony Castonzo of Boston College and Wisconsin's Gabe Carimi among the guys the team would be looking at in a trade downward into the teens. Both were four-year starters in college and seem to be very safe picks. If the club went another direction with the ninth overall choice, guys like Derek Sherrod of Mississippi State and Nate Solder from Colorado could be worth trading back into the first round to get. It's not unfathomable that either would drop to the second round, where the Cowboys pick eighth. Villanova's Ben Ijalana would also be a consideration in Round 2, along with James Carpenter of Alabama.
Among their allotment of 30 national visits, the Cowboys hosted almost exclusively the top-ranked tackles.
Eventual Available Vets:
Actually, Free is expected to be one of, if not the No. 1 tackle on the free agency market, but there are a few others. When there have been openings along their offensive line over the years, the Cowboys have typically eschewed the early rounds of the draft in favor of free agency. Though they seem prepared to break that history this year, it's worth keeping an eye on potential free agents.
An Achilles injury cost Pittsburgh's Willie Colon all of 2010, which led to an opening for Adams to start in the Super Bowl. The Steelers would most likely prefer to have Colon back, heading into his prime years at just age 30, but they might embrace the first-round depth at the end of the draft for his - and Adams' - replacement. Jared Gaither of Baltimore was often connected to the Cowboys last season, and has a great upside at only 25, but suffered a serious back injury last year.
Most of the other top tackles are nearing the twilight of their careers, including Jammal Brown, formerly of Washington and New Orleans, and Atlanta's Tyson Clabo, coming off the first Pro Bowl appearance of his career.
Draft Nuggets:
Costanzo, Solder and Sherrod were all finalists for the NCAA's William V. Campbell Trophy which honors athletic, academic and community achievement … Florida's Marcus Gilbert was a high school teammate of the Cowboys' Sam Young at St. Thomas Aquinas in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., the same school that produced Michael Irvin … South Carolina's Jurriel King was released from Georgia Military College in 2007 after being videotaped going into teammates' rooms during practice, though only $5 was reported missing.
Look Back:
If Smith is indeed the Cowboys' target, it would be the first time the club has selected an offensive lineman in Round 1 in 30 years. However, the team does have some recent history with tackles from Southern Cal. Jacob Rogers was their second-round pick, No. 52 overall, in 2004 - nine spots after the club grabbed running back Julius Jones - and must be regarded as one of the team's biggest whiffs of the decade.
Rogers appeared in two games for the Cowboys as a rookie, with no starts, but aggravated an old knee injury in his second training camp, requiring microfracture surgery. He returned in 2005 and was the favorite to win a job as the starting right tackle, even taking over first-team reps all by himself in practice. However, he injured his knee again. Given the choice to play through the pain and wait until the offseason for surgery, or undergo the operation immediately, Rogers elected to get it over with, which put him out for the year again.
With all patience lost, Bill Parcells and the Cowboys released Rogers with an injury settlement before the start of the season. His name is at the top of the team's list of early-round misses on the offensive line in the last decade, along with Al Johnson, Stephen Peterman and James Marten.
Up Next: Defensive Line
Josh Ellis
DallasCowboys.com Staff Writer
(Editor's Note: As the April 28-30 NFL Draft approaches, DallasCowboys.com's 12-part Draft Series will analyze every position, the Cowboys' needs at each, who might be available for their eight picks and some interesting draft nuggets. Part 6 will feature offensive tackles.)
Position Outlook:
While the Cowboys thought they were shoring up the bookend spots on their offensive line by releasing Flozell Adams last summer and handing his left-side position to Doug Free, the opposite was true. The new starter was good, but veteran right tackle Marc Colombo showed obvious signs of regression.
After suffering a broken fibula and high ankle sprain that forced him to miss half of the 2009 season, Colombo returned for the playoffs but was dominated by defensive end Ray Edwards in the Division Playoff loss at Minnesota. The Cowboys chalked up his bad day to rustiness due to all the time missed by injury, and assumed he would return to his solid play after a full offseason to recuperate. In order to compensate for the lack of playing and practice time the previous season, however, Colombo practiced every day in the 2010 training camp, to the point that his already surgically-repaired right knee needed another scope, forcing him out for a month, including the first week of the regular season.
Newly acquired backup Alex Barron started in his place, playing embarrassingly at Washington in the season opener. He never got back in at tackle for the Cowboys, despite Colombo's continued pain and difficulty in the final 15 games of the season. Colombo is 32 now, and has had injuries the last two years in addition to the serious knee trouble that almost derailed his NFL career years earlier. The Cowboys have to be skeptical he can ever return to the play that earned him a four-year contract extension with the club in 2008.
In addition to their concern with Colombo, the Cowboys are faced with the likelihood that Free will be eligible for the open market. Re-signing him will be a priority, but the team's depth at the position is totally untested. Reserves Sam Young, Jermey Parnell and Robert Brewster have only three game appearances between the three of them.
Draft Prospects:
There are quite a few tackle prospects worthy of first-round picks, with no player connected to the Cowboys more often in recent weeks than Southern Cal's Tyron Smith, the 20-year old with two years of experience starting on the right side. While he is widely considered the draft's top player at the position, the team has also hosted a number of others that it will consider.
Count Anthony Castonzo of Boston College and Wisconsin's Gabe Carimi among the guys the team would be looking at in a trade downward into the teens. Both were four-year starters in college and seem to be very safe picks. If the club went another direction with the ninth overall choice, guys like Derek Sherrod of Mississippi State and Nate Solder from Colorado could be worth trading back into the first round to get. It's not unfathomable that either would drop to the second round, where the Cowboys pick eighth. Villanova's Ben Ijalana would also be a consideration in Round 2, along with James Carpenter of Alabama.
Among their allotment of 30 national visits, the Cowboys hosted almost exclusively the top-ranked tackles.
Eventual Available Vets:
Actually, Free is expected to be one of, if not the No. 1 tackle on the free agency market, but there are a few others. When there have been openings along their offensive line over the years, the Cowboys have typically eschewed the early rounds of the draft in favor of free agency. Though they seem prepared to break that history this year, it's worth keeping an eye on potential free agents.
An Achilles injury cost Pittsburgh's Willie Colon all of 2010, which led to an opening for Adams to start in the Super Bowl. The Steelers would most likely prefer to have Colon back, heading into his prime years at just age 30, but they might embrace the first-round depth at the end of the draft for his - and Adams' - replacement. Jared Gaither of Baltimore was often connected to the Cowboys last season, and has a great upside at only 25, but suffered a serious back injury last year.
Most of the other top tackles are nearing the twilight of their careers, including Jammal Brown, formerly of Washington and New Orleans, and Atlanta's Tyson Clabo, coming off the first Pro Bowl appearance of his career.
Draft Nuggets:
Costanzo, Solder and Sherrod were all finalists for the NCAA's William V. Campbell Trophy which honors athletic, academic and community achievement … Florida's Marcus Gilbert was a high school teammate of the Cowboys' Sam Young at St. Thomas Aquinas in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., the same school that produced Michael Irvin … South Carolina's Jurriel King was released from Georgia Military College in 2007 after being videotaped going into teammates' rooms during practice, though only $5 was reported missing.
Look Back:
If Smith is indeed the Cowboys' target, it would be the first time the club has selected an offensive lineman in Round 1 in 30 years. However, the team does have some recent history with tackles from Southern Cal. Jacob Rogers was their second-round pick, No. 52 overall, in 2004 - nine spots after the club grabbed running back Julius Jones - and must be regarded as one of the team's biggest whiffs of the decade.
Rogers appeared in two games for the Cowboys as a rookie, with no starts, but aggravated an old knee injury in his second training camp, requiring microfracture surgery. He returned in 2005 and was the favorite to win a job as the starting right tackle, even taking over first-team reps all by himself in practice. However, he injured his knee again. Given the choice to play through the pain and wait until the offseason for surgery, or undergo the operation immediately, Rogers elected to get it over with, which put him out for the year again.
With all patience lost, Bill Parcells and the Cowboys released Rogers with an injury settlement before the start of the season. His name is at the top of the team's list of early-round misses on the offensive line in the last decade, along with Al Johnson, Stephen Peterman and James Marten.
Up Next: Defensive Line
