Longtime Dallas Cowboys front office member Gil Brandt believes the team has backed itself into a corner over the past few years, and are now in dire need of a good draft.
Under the title of vice president of player personnel, Brandt (pictured here with UCF quarterback Blake Bortles) is generally considered one of the three men--along with Tom Landry and Tex Schramm--to build the franchise from 1960-1988. He left after Jerry Jones bought the team in 1989, and stayed away from football for a few years before returning as an analyst.
Now with NFL Network, Brandt believes the team he left 25 years ago is one of a few who have a lot riding on next month’s draft.
“The Cowboys have been stuck at 8-8 for three years,” Brandt writes. “They're facing what promises to be a tough NFC East. And their salary-cap picture is not looking good. Which means they desperately need to have a banner draft.”
Dallas put itself behind the eight ball with a run of bad drafts--as Brandt says, “consider that none of the players they picked in the first round from 2005 to 2009 is still with the team (though Anthony Spencer, who is still a free agent at the moment, could change that if he re-signs with Dallas)”--but Brandt believes they may have stemmed that tide with the 2013 class, highlighted by center Travis Frederick (first round) and receiver Terrance Williams (third round).
“Owner Jerry Jones provides the tools the Cowboys need to be successful, in terms of money for scouting and supporting cutting-edge analytics,” he writes. “Dallas needs to have a dynamite draft--like the class we landed back in 1975, when we had 12 rookies make a team that went on to reach the Super Bowl.”
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