Dallas Cowboys rebuilding lines with raw skills and blank slates
By Reid Hanson
The Dallas Cowboys attacked the NFL Draft a little differently this year. Like a lot of NFL teams these days, they valued raw players with strong traits over polished players with firmer ceilings.
The trend, according to Nate Tice on the Athletic podcast, is to give coaches blank slates to work with. If the coach can get to an elite talent BEFORE he’s developed any bad habits, his development could be a smoother one.
The Dallas Cowboys want their coaching staff to earn their money and develop raw talents with elite traits.
With the exception of possibly Jalen Tolbert and Jake Ferguson, the Dallas Cowboys were clearly targeting traits-heavy players in the 2022 NFL Draft. They know you can’t teach size, speed, length, etc.… and have no problem teaching them how to play the game. In fact, they appear to prefer it.
Joe Philbin, the Cowboys offensive line coach, likes to groom “his guys.” It’s why the Cowboys fought between La’el Collins and Terence Steele all season (Philbin loved Steele) and why they were so unsettled at LG.
Fast-forward to today and the Dallas Cowboys seemed to have solved (solved?) Philbin’s problems. By pushing out Collins and Connor Williams, Dallas has paved the way for Philbin’s guys in 2022 (Steele, Tyler Smith and Matt Waletzko).
In 2020, Steele was an uber-raw train wreck at the tackle position. One season later and he looked the part of a legit NFL starter. The Dallas Cowboys hope they find similar progression with their first round pick Tyler Smith and their fifth round pick Matt Waletzko. Both players enter Philbin’s program leaps and bounds ahead of Steele’s starting point (Steele was an UDFA) and both players come with much higher NFL ceilings as a result.
The Dallas Cowboys clearly have “a type” for offensive linemen and Tyler Smith, Matt Waletzko and Terence Steele are that type.
Similarly on the defensive line the Cowboys seem to be favoring traits over polish. Sam Williams, Dallas’ second pick, was a Dan Quinn pick through and through. In his own words, he’s been surviving on natural ability and almost neglecting technique.
"“Basically, I was fast and I’d just run around everybody and chase the quarterback or chase the ball, Williams said. “I really didn’t know football until, I want to say, my first year at Ole Miss because in JUCO it was so easy.”"
Even at Ole Miss scouts have commented how little technique Sam Williams plays with. He’s a bull with a head of steam that’s about as a raw as they come. Dan Quinn clearly likes that.
Around the league, teams have discovered you get more bang for your buck to draft to pick developmental players. The Dallas Cowboys have targeted raw players with high-end traits in the draft and seem to be leaning on their coaching staff to make it work.
Extra risk?
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Must Read. Third year the charm for Mike McCarthy?. light
Sure. The greater the distance from Point A to Point B the more opportunity for something to go wrong. But the blank slate appeals to position coaches and the potential reward is easy to love.