Tag: 2017 draft

Taco Tuesday: Jerry Jones deflects blame for Cowboys’ maligned pick in 2017

Jones jokingly said his son Stephen was responsible for taking Taco Charlton in 2017; he facetiously took credit for drafting Micah Parsons. | From @ToddBrock24f7

Sometimes it’s so bad that all you can do is laugh about it.

That’s what happened on Tuesday at the Star in Frisco during the Cowboys’ annual pre-draft press conference. While it’s traditionally a chance for the media members who cover the team to explore offseason issues and press for insight as to the team’s upcoming draft strategy, team owner Jerry Jones also seized an opportunity to jokingly deflect criticism for one of the organization’s most widely-panned personnel decisions.

The question was about working the phones leading up to draft day, whether the front office had been engaging in calls to either trade up or down rather than sit tight with the 24th overall pick.

“We always chum,” Jones said. “You’re always talking about possibilities for things. There’s nothing dangerous about thinking crazy things.”

Jones went on to talk at length about thinking unconventionally when it comes to the draft, when it comes to working trade offers, when it comes to juggling the roster, when it comes to being flexible with players as the draft unfolds in real time.

Four minutes later, Jones was still monologuing.

He had segued into an explanation of how the Cowboys war room works, how even the team’s scouts will occasionally pound the table for this guy or that guy, and how the final decision on drafting a prospect is finally reached.

That’s when Jones chose to get back the attention of the room with a zinger directed at his son Stephen, the team’s director of player personnel.

“There’s a lot of talk in this business about who makes the call, who actually makes the call,” Jones deadpanned. “Taco was Stephen’s call. Parsons was my call.”

It slayed.

Taco, of course, is Taco Charlton, the University of Michigan edge rusher who was the Cowboys’ first-round pick in 2017. The club, in desperate need of defensive help that year, famously bypassed linebacker T.J. Watt to instead select Charlton 28th overall.

Charlton lasted just two years in Dallas, recording 46 tackles, four sacks, two forced fumbles, and one recovery. Still seen as a massive bust for the Cowboys, he has since bounced around for one season each with Kansas City, Miami, and Pittsburgh. He’s now under contract with the Saints.

Word of Jones’s joke apparently reached Charlton, who seemed to respond via Twitter with a reminder that he and his estimated $10.3 million in career earnings are getting by just fine.

Charlton was not a pick many thought would go to the Cowboys at the time. Neither was Micah Parsons, but for different reasons.

The Penn Stater has already worked out much better in Dallas; he had a transcendent rookie season and earned Defensive Rookie of the Year honors.

It may have been a funny moment (to everyone but Stephen… and Charlton) meant to lighten the mood on Tuesday, but it will be no laughing matter if the Cowboys make another big-time blunder with this year’s first-round draft pick.

Less Taco, more Parsons.

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Saints lose a lot of Dennis Allen’s continuity in Marcus Williams

No one played more defensive snaps for Dennis Allen than Marcus Williams since the Saints drafted him. A lot of the continuity Allen was touted for is walking out the door:

No one has played more defensive snaps than Marcus Williams for Dennis Allen since the New Orleans Saints drafted him back in 2017, with Williams totaling 4,778 snaps — that’s more than Cameron Jordan (4,392), Marshon Lattimore (4,345), and everyone else. He’s exactly the type of ascending young talent, heavily familiar with the established system, that a team would like to hold onto.

But he’s headed out of town after agreeing to sign with the Baltimore Ravens on a five-year contract valued at $70 million, with $37 million in guarantees. Good for him. Williams has earned it after putting in years of hard work to recover from his gaffe in the playoffs his rookie year. From the Saints’ perspective, though, this might be a disaster. A lot of the continuity Allen was touted for when they promoted him to head coach is walking out the door.

The Saints don’t have an easy replacement for Williams on the roster. Safeties Malcolm Jenkins and C.J. Gardner-Johnson are both entering the final year of their contracts, and while they’re each very effective in their established roles neither of them have the range to hang back as the last line of defense like Williams.

Alternatives are thinning out in free agency, too; while New Orleans could bring back a hometown favorite in longtime Kansas City Chiefs safety Tyrann Mathieu, his skills set doesn’t overlap much with Williams. That would require retooling some things and playing more two-high coverages than the single-high looks favored with Williams.

It’s one thing if Williams was leaving on a market-setting contract that the Saints can’t afford to match. But averaging $14 million per year lines up with past offers they’ve been rumored to make. It’s a fair price for a veteran starter, especially one who knows your scheme inside and out. New Orleans could have made room in their budget for that. Maybe they did, and Williams decided it was time for him to go join a team with a better-established quarterback under center. We won’t know until he’s asked about it.

Either way, this is a rough look for Allen. It isn’t a death knell for his future as the team’s head coach. But he’s just lost a premier free agent that he personally helped draft and develop into one of the best players at his position. It’s disappointing. With that said, we can’t properly judge this until the other shoe drops and we find out what the replacement plan is. Maybe the Saints make a smart move and come out ahead in the end.

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Epic failure of Cowboys’ 2017 draft class echoes through organization

The Cowboys’ hinge their roster model on draft acquisitions, so is it any wonder they’ve missed the playoffs two years in a row when looking at their recent hauls?

The Dallas Cowboys are very much a team which values their draft capital  and prefers to build their roster through this method of cost-effective talent acquisition. Through the first half of the 2010s, the Cowboys had an incredible drafting run where they were able to add an impact player with their first-round pick as well as several other useful players who’ve stuck around over the years.

Their more recent drafts have been far less fruitful than what their reputation suggests, however. The book is far from written for many of these newer players, but it’s already wrapped up for the 2017 class, a relative disaster compared to the 2016 haul which brought in franchise quarterback Dak Prescott, star running back Ezekiel Elliott, linebacker Jaylon Smith and cornerback Anthony Brown.

Only two of the nine players the Cowboys drafted in 2017 remain with the team — CB Jourdan Lewis and WR Noah Brown signed three and one-year deals this offseason, respectively — and many of the holes the team tried to address then are still unfulfilled today. What went wrong for these players in Dallas, and is the fate of the next Cowboys draft picks scheduled to hit FA any brighter?

What Budda Baker’s new contract could mean for Marcus Maye

The Jets will have an important decision with what to do with safety Marcus Maye next offseason.

The Jets will have to make a big decision with another safety next offseason. 

Marcus Maye, who’s poised to take over the role left behind by Jamal Adams, will be an unrestricted free agent in 2021 and could command a sizable new contract from the Jets, especially after Cardinals’ safety Budda Baker reset the market for the position.

Baker reportedly signed a four-year, $59 million contract this week. It will pay him $14.75 million annually – the most for any safety in the league. Maye, meanwhile, ranks 62nd with the final year of his rookie contract worth $1,638,510.

“Big ups to Budda,” Maye told reporters Tuesday after the deal was announced, “but we’re all in different situations. I know my talent.”

Baker and Maye were drafted three picks apart in 2017 (Baker was taken 36th and Maye was taken 39th) and play the same position, but that’s where the similarities end. They’re not the same player and have had very different careers thus far. That may change in 2020 if Gregg Williams adjusts Maye’s role in his defense, but for now, it’s hard to compare the two for the purposes of contract negotiations.

Baker has a leg up on Maye in four crucial aspects: durability, production, pass-rush ability and run-stopping. Baker’s played in eight more games than Maye and tallied 113 more total tackles. He also has seven quarterback hits, 3.5 sacks and leads safeties in quarterback pressures since 2017 with 33. Finally, Baker ranks third at his position with 68 run stops since 2017.

Maye missed a lot of time in 2018 with foot and shoulder injuries but is a much more traditional defensive back in that he’s overperformed Baker in coverage. The Jets safety’s Pro Football Focus coverage grade eclipsed 70.0 the past two seasons, including a 77.4 grade in 2018, which ranked 23rd out of 100 safeties. Baker’s coverage skills have improved every year since he entered the league, but he finished 2019 with a 64.8 grade.

As for what this all means with Maye’s future on the Jets, it’s hard to say. He’s a talented safety, but unless Williams unlocks a new version of Maye in 2020 it would be hard for Joe Douglas to justify paying him more than Baker – which would essentially be what Adams wanted if the Jets hadn’t traded him to Seattle.

If we compare Maye’s career to that of the top-five highest-paid safeties (Baker, Eddie Jackson, Tyrann Mathieu, Kevin Byard and Landon Collins) over the three-year span before they received their extensions, Maye ranks last in every category except forced fumbles and interceptions – where he ranks second-to-last. It’s an inexact science considering they all play in different defenses with different skillsets, but it paints the picture that Maye won’t – or shouldn’t – command a top-five contract, and that will play a big role in Joe Douglas’ decision with Maye.

Everything could change if Maye has a career year in 2020. The Jets already insinuated he could assume Adams’ role on defense as a hybrid safety/pass-rusher. If Maye proves he can play multiple defensive positions this season, his case for a top contract gets better. A lot is riding on the 2020 season when it comes to Maye’s future on the team. 

There are other considerations at play for the Jets as well.

For one, they could look at extending Sam Darnold a year early if he takes a big leap in his third season (much like the Rams and Eagles did with their quarterbacks). The safety free- class could also include solid players like Justin Simmons, Anthony Harris and Jaquiski Tartt. The Jets may see them as better options in their secondary than Maye after this season. Of course, the ultimate kicker is the 2021 salary cap, which is entirely dependent on how the coronavirus pandemic affects this season’s revenue stream. If the cap drops too low, Douglas may want to invest money elsewhere and find a cheaper option to fill out his safety group with Ashtyn Davis leading the way.

Baker’s contract will have an effect on Maye’s negotiations, but not to the same extent it could have if this was Adams. Maye is good enough to get a second contract and would be only the third second-round pick by the Jets since 1984 to make it to his fifth season (David Harris and Kellen Clemens were the other two), but it’s hard to know where he stands on the Jets’ list of priorities until he sees the field this season.

2017 Saints draft class ranked second-best in hindsight

The New Orleans Saints had a terrific 2017 NFL Draft class, but the Kansas City Chiefs outranked them by picking coveted QB Patrick Mahomes.

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The New Orleans Saints hit a series of home runs in the 2017 NFL Draft, landing instant upgrades at key positions like cornerback (with Marshon Lattimore), offensive tackle (in Ryan Ramczyk), free safety (Marcus Williams), and running back (Alvin Kamara). That sudden influx of young, high-end talent reshaped a roster that had gone 7-9 three years in a row into a squad that’s won 13 games in each of the last two seasons.

However, The Athletic’s Dane Brugler ranked just one other team ahead of them in reflection on that year’s crop of college prospects: the Kansas City Chiefs, who bagged Patrick Mahomes one slot ahead of the Saints. Mahomes, of course, was the player Saints coach Sean Payton famously coveted the most and could have (would have, and maybe should have) transitioned to from Drew Brees.

But let’s not lose sight of the positives here. Brugler had to dig all the way into the sixth round to find a swing-and-a-miss for the Saints in 2017, and that year’s final draft pick, Al-Quadin Muhammad, has earned his spot in the Indianapolis Colts lineup. Muhammad has logged 400-plus snaps in both of the last two years, racking up 13 tackles for loss, 11 quarterback hits, and 3 sacks. The Saints were simply too stacked for him to hang around.

The challenge now, of course, is paying all of these big names now that their rookie contracts are expiring. The Saints bought themselves some time by triggering the fifth-year options for Lattimore and Ramczyk as soon as NFL rules allowed them to, tying them to the team through 2021. But Kamara and Williams should each end up ranking among the top earners at their respective positions. Will the Saints be the ones to pay them?

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