Doug Farrar | Shutdown Corner
There are football decisions, and there are football decisions. And in the realm of football decisions, the Dallas Cowboys' decision to trade down from their original 18th overall draft pick and move down the 31st pick formerly owned by the San Francisco 49ers is being questioned by just about everybody. Not so much because they traded down, but because of the player they took when they did so -- Wisconsin center Travis Frederick, a player many analysts had with a second- to third-round grade. Some would argue that Frederick wasn't even the best center on the board; Cal's Brian Schwenke and Alabama's Barrett Jones would also get votes. But the primary issue was that the Cowboys, a team that has drafted pretty horribly over the last few seasons, seem to have done it again in the wrong direction.
Brandon Jones of the Dallas Morning News recalled an exchange between Assistant Director of Player Personnel Tom Ciskowski and Chief Operating Officer, Executive Vice President, and Director of Player Personnel Stephen Jones during the team's live feed of the "war room" during the first round.
There's good reason for the Cowboys' actual football people to be incensed by the pick. Jones, whose only real football qualification appear to be his status as owner Jerry Jones' son, later told the media that the team had LSU safety Eric Reid, at the top of its board, but thought there was more value in trading down and grabbing an extra third-round pick. The 49ers, a team that seems to know a thing or two about player personnel, immediately took Reid with the pick Dallas vacated.
And Frederick, for his part, told a Dallas radio station that even he didn't believe he'd be taken when he was.
There are football decisions, and there are football decisions. And in the realm of football decisions, the Dallas Cowboys' decision to trade down from their original 18th overall draft pick and move down the 31st pick formerly owned by the San Francisco 49ers is being questioned by just about everybody. Not so much because they traded down, but because of the player they took when they did so -- Wisconsin center Travis Frederick, a player many analysts had with a second- to third-round grade. Some would argue that Frederick wasn't even the best center on the board; Cal's Brian Schwenke and Alabama's Barrett Jones would also get votes. But the primary issue was that the Cowboys, a team that has drafted pretty horribly over the last few seasons, seem to have done it again in the wrong direction.
Brandon Jones of the Dallas Morning News recalled an exchange between Assistant Director of Player Personnel Tom Ciskowski and Chief Operating Officer, Executive Vice President, and Director of Player Personnel Stephen Jones during the team's live feed of the "war room" during the first round.
[Head coach Jason] Garrett, at one point, had a blank look across his face as he started rubbing his forehead with his hand. Ciskowski and Stephen Jones also had an animated exchange. It was a rare show of emotion by Ciskowski.
There's good reason for the Cowboys' actual football people to be incensed by the pick. Jones, whose only real football qualification appear to be his status as owner Jerry Jones' son, later told the media that the team had LSU safety Eric Reid, at the top of its board, but thought there was more value in trading down and grabbing an extra third-round pick. The 49ers, a team that seems to know a thing or two about player personnel, immediately took Reid with the pick Dallas vacated.
And Frederick, for his part, told a Dallas radio station that even he didn't believe he'd be taken when he was.
