2011 NFL Draft: Dallas Cowboys Top 10 Positional Needs

Posted on March 3, 2011 by Gene Strother

You kind of have to wonder whether, as the the Dallas Cowboys assemble their war room for the 2011 NFL draft, they will hang a few “Most Wanted” pictures up on the wall. After the Great Collapse of 2010 (a name I just made up for the disaster that was last season), this team has been shown for what it is: A team with the potential to be a contender, if they can fill a few gaping holes.

Obviously, there are not ten gaping holes on this team. They are not the Carolina Panthers. Still, the way drafts go, you cannot always address your greatest need with a given pick. For instance, you may need a safety really, really bad, but if there is not one on the board that warrants being taken with the pick in hand, you turn your attention to other things.

So, here we go: My version of the Dallas Cowboys top 10 positional needs this off-season, from greatest to least. Continue reading →

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Dallas Cowboys, Jerry Jones, and the Courtship of Cam Newton

Posted on February 27, 2011 by Gene Strother

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones wants to draft Cam Newton. Is the Dallas Cowboys owner officially crazy— or is he crazy like a fox?

One of the entertaining things that happens around this time of year is the way prospective rookies allegedly “move up and down” the draft boards of NFL teams. This often occurs for no other reason than some writer or commentator throws out a suggestion and, like bloody meat in  a pool of sharks, it creates a mindless feeding frenzy. Continue reading →

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Draft Dodgers: Dallas Cowboys’ All-Time Top 10 Undrafted Players

Posted on February 24, 2011 by Gene Strother

All-Pro, All Cowboy

The NFL draft is just around the corner and everyone is scrambling to put together their 2011 NFL mock draft. Of course, then the men making the decisions—men like Jerry Jones and Al Davis, for instance—proceed to make a mockery of the mock drafts.

Every Dallas Cowboys fan has to be a bit tied up in knots when draft time rolls around because that fan knows the man in charge is as inept in the judging of NFL talent as he is incoherent when attempting to make an impromptu speech. The post-Jimmy Johnson era of Jerry Jones drafting has not been pretty, which has led to the slow erosion of the team’s talent base and the longterm absence of playoff success.

Not to worry, though. Maybe the next great Dallas Cowboy won’t come through the draft at all. Maybe, just maybe he will fall through the cracks instead. Maybe he will be that great player that all of the genius talent evaluators overlooked, misjudged, or just plain missed. It isn’t an impossibility. It has happened before…more than once. Continue reading →

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NFL Lockout: Why the Owners Have the Advantage

Posted on February 22, 2011 by Gene Strother

Everyone envies the professional athlete. He has all that money, all that fame, all that talent.

With the minimum NFL salary being $325,000, and most players earning well more than that, you would think if there was ever a union suited for sitting it out, it would be the NFL Players Association. Those guys have plenty of money, right? They can afford to miss a season if they have to. Right?

Wrong. Continue reading →

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Mommas, Don’t Let your Cowboys Grow Up To Be Babies

Posted on February 16, 2011 by Gene Strother

True Grit

In the past month, I have been privileged to talk to such legendary Cowboys as Randy White, Emmitt Smith and Jimmy Johnson. To a man, when the conversation turned to what went wrong with the 2010 Cowboys, the answer was that they were too soft, too undisciplined and just plain sloppy. Continue reading →

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