Blogger Luke takes a diversion from the All-TO-All-The-Time discussions:
UPDATE: The Cowboys signed Tony Romo on Thursday to a $3.9 million contract that locks him up through 2007. He received a $2 million signing bonus. This was all due to his performance this preseason where he led the league in passing yardage and showed good command of the offense and decision-making skills.
Tony Romo has had an excellent preseason so far and most of us here, including myself, are optimistic about his future, but if Romo takes a step back or cannot make the extra step in a real game and proves himself to be more of a backup or stopgap starter will Dallas go after a QB early in the 2007 draft? If Romo falters, with Drew Bledsoe nearing the end and Henson released, a high pick QB would appear the likely option and Jerry Jones has already expressed that sentiment.
The last 5 years Dallas has spent big money and high draft picks on nearly every position on the team:
Defensive Backs:
- Roy Williams, Round 1, pick 8, 2002. Ext. $25 mill, 2006.
- Terence Newman, Round 1, pick 5, 2003.
- Anthony Henry, $10 million signing bonus, 2005.
Linebackers:
- Demarcus Ware, Round 1, pick 11, 2005.
- Kevin Burnett, Round 2, pick 10, 2005.
- Bobby Carpenter, Round 1, pick 18, 2006.
- Akin Ayodele, $17 million contract, 2006.
Defensive Lineman:
- Marcus Spears, Round 1, pick 20, 2005.
- Jason Ferguson, $9 million signing bonus, 2005.
- Jason Hatcher, Round 3, 2006.
Offensive Lineman:
- Andre Gurode, Round 2, pick 5, 2002.
- Al Johnson, Round 2, pick 6, 2003.
- Jacob Rogers, Round 2, pick 20, 2004.
- Stephen Peterman, Round 3, 2004.
- Marco Rivera, $9 million signing bonus, 2005.
Tight Ends:
- Jason Witten, Round 3, 2003. Ext. $29 million, 2006.
- Anthony Fasano, Round 2, pick 21, 2006.
Wide Receivers:
- Terry Glenn, Ext. $20 million, 2006.
- Terrell Owens, $25 million contract, 2006.
Running Backs:
- Julius Jones, Round 2, pick 11, 2004.
Quarterbacks:
- Drew Bledsoe, $14 million contract, 2005.
- Drew Henson, Round 3, 2004.
The position that has received nearly the least attention and seems least set for the future is the most important, the quarterback. If the rest of the team comes along as expected (especially the defence), only a good quarterback stands in the way of a serious long run at multiple Superbowls. While Romo could be the answer, should Dallas put all its eggs in his basket? If Romo starts in ‘07 or ‘08 and fails to prove he is more than a backup type, taking a high QB in the ‘08 or ‘09 draft is likely. But considering it normally takes two or three years for a young QB to reach his potential success might not happen until 2010, 2011 or 2012, will the likely greatness of this defence (almost certainly Parcell-less by then) be passing its prime?
Even if Romo continues his strong practices and play through the last preseason game or even a brief injury related successful showing in the regular season, wouldn’t adding a successful college quarterback still be in the team’s best long term interest? If Romo starts next year he will be a 27 year old first year starter, if its ‘08 he’s 28. Hardly a tragedy but he might only have four or five good years in him if any at all. If we draft a QB high next year we could hopefully, in a year or two, land in the situation San Diego found themselves in. If it wasn’t for Drew Brees’ injury San Diego could have got something substantial in a trade for a solid not too old quarterback when they were ready to go with there younger QB.
There appears to be some good quarterbacks that are to come out of next years draft. The very early word seems to be (roughly):
Seniors-
Brady Quinn (pick 1-3),
Drew Stanton (pick 4-10),
Troy Smith (late 1st / early 2nd),
Jordan Palmer (2nd),
Trent Edwards (3rd)
Also Scott Wright, of NFL draft countdown, has Junior Brian Brohm coming out and rates him a top 10 pick.
A number of the teams projected to be picking top ten already having their QB of the present set or their future one already on the roster:
Won’t be drafting a QB:
49′ers - A. Smith
Texans - D. Carr
Titans - V. Young
Packers - A. Rodgers
Debatable is:
Bills - J.P. Losman
Browns - Charlie Frye
Saints - D. Brees
Probably would be looking to draft a QB:
Jets
Lions
Raiders
This could mean two things that could help Dallas if they want to go after one of the highly ranked QB’s like Quinn, Stanton or Brohm. There could be some draft day sliders and also some trade partners. If they stand pat in the draft (hopefully at #32 
) they would probably see Smith and Palmer on the board. Do any of these players or scenarios interest? Are there any other quarterbacks, perhaps second day picks, who are flying under the media radar that someone knows of? Or are people already sold on Romo?
To QB or not QB?
That is the question.
Any thoughts?
Blogger David Gerhardt offers what players would be available at linebacker if the Cowboys were to trade down from #18:
It’s been said that Jerry Jones and Bill Parcells do not see the 18th pick in the upcoming draft as having much value. That is to say, trading out of that pick and acquiring more picks later in the draft would be better than reaching for someone at 18 that either doesn’t grade out as a top 20 pick, someone that won’t get on the field or be worth paying them like a 1st rounder. Since it seems like there’s plenty of people who want our next SOLB in the first round, here are some alternatives:
(First though, I would like to mention that we don’t know how Kevin Burnett or Kalen Thornton is progressing. BP may not look at SOLB as a position of need if these guys are coming back strong from injuries and have improved)
- One player that’s been graded as a mid-second rounder that might fit at SOLB is Darryl Tapp. Now he should be available at 49, so that would allow us to either trade out of that 18th pick, or it would let us choose whoever we have on the board at that point (in other words, we don’t have to lean towards an OLB). Tapp is a hard worker in all facets of the game, and is very competitive. From what I’ve heard, not many players can match his fire, and he just loves to play. Now he doesn’t have top-end speed, but he will outwork the other guys on the field. This is the type of player that BP loves, a guy who just wants to get on the field, and will play special teams to do it (which he’s not bad at either). This is the kind of player that can make the transition from DL to LB; we’d just have to see how quickly.
 - Chris Gocong would be making a rather large transition, from a small school player that actually spent more time at DT than DE to SOLB, but that’s the same position switch that Teddy Bruschi made when he came to the NFL. Gocong plays with lots of intensity, and is very athletic. I haven’t seen enough of him to know if he’s got the fluidity to make the move to LB, but it’s been reported that he does. He’s a mid to late round pick, so he might be a guy that we could pick up on the second day. The biggest concern with him though, is the level of competition he faced in college. He played D1-AA, but if he’s really a player (which BP and the scouting dept have to decide), he can make the move just fine.
 - Mark Anderson out of Alabama is another guy to consider who has the chance to make the move to SOLB from DE. He’s a powerful guy for his size, but he may not have the hip-flex or mobility to cover downfield. He’s definitely athletic enough, and he’s a hard worker who apparently takes criticism well (so I’ve heard). Unfortunately, he might be taken late in the second round, and I’m not sure I’d go that high for this guy.
 - Elvis Dumervil is an interesting guy. If you’re looking at him as purely a pass-rusher at DE, his lack of height would preclude you from taking him on the first day, but he really does have a knack for getting to the QB. He’s another very hard worker, who has relatively long arms and has shown the athletic ability to overcome being less than 6 feet tall playing at DE. The question is: can he make the move to LB? I’m not so sure. He might be able to make the move to ILB in the 3-4, but he just doesn’t show the ability to turn around smoothly enough. On the other hand, he’s a guy who put up 20 sacks last year, and that number is very hard to ignore. I’d say if he’s available after the 4th round, he’d be an interesting guy to look at. Maybe not at SOLB, but definitely a guy that can make an impact somewhere.
 - The last guy I’m going to mention is Brent Hawkins. This guy is quite an athlete, and really can play football. He’s a bit smaller than the rest of these guys, and may not be able to put on that much more bulk, but he’s hard to ignore. Even as a guy that might go undrafted (though I’ve heard people talking about him going as high as the fifth round), he has the potential to make quite an impact. Again, he’s a guy that I don’t know as much about, but from what I’ve seen and heard, he sounds like he’s got the kind of ability that would translate well to OLB in a 3-4 scheme.
My information unfortunately isn’t as complete as I’d like it to be, but I hope this will provide a little insight into what’s available after the first round.