Cowboys make switch in war room

[cmd34(work)]

http://espn.go.com/blog/dallas/cowboys/post/_/id/4723087/cowboys-make-switch-in-war-room

By Calvin Watkins | ESPNDallas.com

For the first time since 2008, somebody else will put together the Dallas Cowboys' NFL draft board.

Will McClay, the assistant director of player personnel, will handle those duties this spring.

Tom Ciskowski, the director of scouting, had produced the board the past few years but things moved into a different direction starting last year.

McClay and Ciskowski split between handling pro and college duties. Ciskowski had been in charge of pro and college scouting, but the Cowboys wanted him to concentrate more on the college game.

Ciskowski is still a valued member of the front office and last year interviewed for the then-vacant general manager position in Indianapolis that eventually went to Ryan Grigson.

McClay was the former head coach of the Dallas Desperados Arena Football League team, owned by Jerry Jones from 2004-08. McClay was also the assistant director of pro scouting for the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2011 before returning to the Cowboys in the player personnel department.

McClay is one of a few African-Americans in NFL front offices that will either finalize or assist in putting together NFL draft boards for perspective teams. Ozzie Newsome (Baltimore), Doug Whaley (Buffalo), Rick Smith (Houston), Marc Ross (New York Giants) and Ray Farmer (Cleveland) are some African-Americans in front office positions who handle draft boards in some fashion.

 

[cmd34(work)]

Will McClay, the assistant director of player personnel, will handle those duties this spring.

Tom Ciskowski, the director of scouting, had produced the board the past few years but things moved into a different direction starting last year.

It's all semantics since they are all yes men for Jerry but what does this say about Ciskowski that Arena League guy is leapfrogging him?

McClay was also the assistant director of pro scouting for the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2011 before returning to the Cowboys in the player personnel department.

This explains our recent obsession with Jacksonville rejects. McClay is vouching for these scrubs. There's a reason Jacksonville is the worst franchise in the NFL.

I asked the guy I know about McClay and all he said he was the biggest kiss ass he has ever seen. Good to know that we have the equivalent of zrinkill and casmith running the draft board.

 

[marionbarberthe4th]

What the fuck ever with this team

 

[CobraKai]

So he gets to write the names or what?

 

[ThoughtExperiment]

I asked the guy I know about McClay and all he said he was the biggest kiss ass he has ever seen. Good to know that we have the equivalent of zrinkill and casmith running the draft board.

Seriously, what is this all about. We've drafted fine lately. Guess last year Jerry made the coaching staff uncomfortable, this year it's the scouting staff.

 

[cmd34(work)]

We've drafted fine lately

fine?

 

[peplaw06]

Fine relatively speaking... we've made some not terrible picks. Most of them at the top end of the draft. But it doesn't make a shit who's putting together the draft board, Jerry will have to approve it and then he doesn't go by it.

 

[ThoughtExperiment]

Yes, fine. Not the greatest, but a big improvement over the old Lacewell days. And a lot of our leaked draft boards seem to have been pretty good in hindsight (1st round grade on Navarro Bowman for example).

Big trades like Claiborne I don't think you can put on the board.

 

[marionbarberthe4th]

Except they had vontaze burfict off the board for whatever reason. God forbid a guy making $15M guaranteed earns his pay and
Coaches a kid up a little.

 

[Midswat]

I think our drafts have LOOKED better on draft day than they've actually been IRL.

I mean.....

2013
Frederick, Williams and Holloman are the only ones that really flashed to me this year. And Holloman was mostly in the preseason.

2012
Crawford and Hannah maybe. The rest are just eh.

2011
Smith and Murray

2010
Dez, and Lee. Got a few years out of LIssemore


But we're mostly taking injury prone players and guys who play away from the trenches.

You can't keep getting only two contributors from every draft.

I don't know.... seems like immediately post draft we're all like Shitchea! But then like 2-3 years later we're all like WTF?

 

[JBond]

Did Charlotte approve of this change?

 

[Midswat]

I hope so. You know she picks out all the art in the stadium, right?

 

[SixisBetter]

So he gets to write the names or what?

He's the crayon sharpener.

 

[Midswat]

This may have been already theorized but I don't know because I mostly skim over every post that isn't my own... but I wonder if Ciskowski lost his board creating responsibilities because maybe he through a fit about the dickhead joke of a GM and his asshole family ignoring it on draft day and passing on the #5 rated player at 18.

Regardless of what kind of season Sharriff Floyd had (I literally have no clue if he played well or not), it doesn't take away from the decision to ignore the board you trust and pay your scouts to build.

 

[boozeman]

I don't know.... seems like immediately post draft we're all like Shitchea! But then like 2-3 years later we're all like WTF?

Yep.

They do look better on paper.

Fewer Deveren Johnsons from fucking Sacred Heart and picks that make you want to pluck your eyeballs out when they are made..

We still have a tough time picking players that fit what we do.

Part of that is because we really don't know what we do, but that is another story.

 

[Jon88]

Fewer Deveren Johnsons from fucking Sacred Heart and picks that make you want to pluck your eyeballs out when they are made..

Can you imagine the payoff though in praise if one of those Deveren Johnsons pan out?

Nevermind the cost is still the same - a draft pick. We have to look like geniuses to everyone.

 

[Midswat]

Thats part of Jerry's problem. We landed a Larry Allen from a Sanoma State and a Erik Williams from some podunk PA college, so now its almost like every draft he has to take a shot at that small school unknown.

Like drilling for wells, bitches!

 

[marionbarberthe4th]

Every team inevitabley picks players that are good. Bc A lot of the rankings are near consensus league wide.
But we never draft exceptionally. Thats why we are .500 always always

 

[CobraKai]

We're done with drafting HOFers. not our thing anymore. rkg's

 

[cmd34(work)]

Yeah, I don't see the drafting fine part. We change philosophies every few years (take injured guys in the 2nd round that can sit a year to now taking injured players completely off the board), Jerry is fascinated with finding the next great small school guy, and then last year completely ignoring our own board mid-draft.

We only got Dez Bryant because of character concerns and let's face it, the average chick at Buffalo Wild Wings could have made that pick. Tyron Smith was a good pick but only because Hudson Houck has unlimited access to USC players and knew about him before anyone else. Frederick was solid but almost anyone with an ounce of talent was going to be an improvement over Phil Costa.

This last year, the staff seem obsessed with Special Teams aces. We had 4 or 5 players who supposedly excelled on Special Teams but offered very little in terms of an actual football position. Jerry's ADD-like plan for this team changes too often to actually build anything worth a damn here.

Nothing is "fine" about our Front Office.