With The First Pick
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Dallas Cowboys 2020 NFL Draft draft strategy about to drastically improve

By Randy Gurzi

FRISCO, TEXAS - JANUARY 08: (L-R) Executive Vice President Stephen Jones of the Dallas Cowboys, Head coach Mike McCarthy of the Dallas Cowboys and Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones talk with the media during a press conference at the Ford Center at The Star on January 08, 2020 in Frisco, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
FRISCO, TEXAS - JANUARY 08: (L-R) Executive Vice President Stephen Jones of the Dallas Cowboys, Head coach Mike McCarthy of the Dallas Cowboys and Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones talk with the media during a press conference at the Ford Center at The Star on January 08, 2020 in Frisco, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images) /
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There have been a lot of changes to the Cowboys staff this offseason and it sounds as though that will drastically improve their 2020 NFL draft strategy

For Dallas Cowboys fans, there has been a lot to be frustrated about over the past 10 seasons. What was arguably the most infuriating was their strategy when it came to selecting players in the draft; will the 2020 NFL Draft be any different?

Now, their staff does deserve some credit. Vice president of player personnel Will McClay, who is really the general manager just without the title, has done a great job at scouting. They’ve also hit on many more of their picks during the past decade than they did the previous decade.

But there were still some hiccups that made big news — and the team was bad about keeping things secret, which made everyone aware of why they made the blunders they did.

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Far too often, the team would end up with their draft board leaked, which showed a disconnect in their scouting and their selections. For example, the Cowboys had a second-round grade on Taco Charlton but took him in the first round. They also reportedly had Juan Thornhill graded ahead of Tyrsten Hill, but opted for Hill due to the way he fit in defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli’s system.

Neither one of those picks worked out as Charlton is gone and Hill hardly saw the field as a rookie. Making things more frustrating is the fact that there were much better selections made right behind these players as T.J. Watt went to the Pittsburgh Steelers and made an immediate impact and Thornhill was a starting safety for the Kansas City Chiefs before being injured — and Dallas still desperately needs a safety.

The reason this infuriated fans is that these choices weren’t made to satisfy the general manager (or vice president of player personnel as is the case on Dallas) or the coach. People also like to put blame on Jerry Jones — who has the GM title — but these picks weren’t done to satisfy him.

Instead, Dallas made these moves — which were massive reaches — to appease their defensive coordinator, Rod Marinelli. Yes, their draft-day moves were being dictated by a defensive coordinator, who didn’t even call his own plays — defensive backs coach Kris Richard did that.

While it makes sense to get the opinions of their coaches, no team in their right mind allows assistant coaches to rule the draft room, but in Dallas, this was par for the course. And it often failed them as they were victims of their ‘scheme’ and would happily skip over more talented players to fit into Rod’s system.

Thankfully with their new staff, this looks to be something that will change. David Helman of the team’s official website recently looked into the team’s current practices and discussed how they could be different.

One major thing he saw was that McClay was in Mobile scouting the Senior Bowl participants without his coaching staff. That’s right, he was there with other executives studying the players, with no assistant coaches in sight.

Even more exciting for fans was the fact that director of player personnel Stephen Jones was quoted as saying they will start to look for talent (not just a scheme fit) and head coach Mike McCarthy will scheme around that:

"“I think Mike said it best: He just wants to take players that can make plays. And scheme around those type of players,” Jones said via Helman of DallasCowboys.com. “Get them the ball on the offensive side of the ball and put our great players in position to make plays on the defensive side of the ball.”"

This has to be music to the ears of everyone who roots for the Cowboys. No longer will they pass on players like Watt simply because Taco Charlton has longer arms. They won’t be skipping out on run-stuffing nose tackles due to Marinelli’s insistence that he can plug anyone in that fits his measurements and motivate them to be better.

Now fans can start to get excited about players and hope that they could actually end up in Dallas even if they’re one-inch shorter than the average player at their position.

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This is a positive change and a reason for optimism. The only thing that could make it better is if we turn the television on during the draft and don’t see all the coordinators and their families seated at the table with the Joneses telling them who needs to be selected next.

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