NFL Dallas Cowboys

Dallas Cowboys Need To Keep Open Mind At 2015 Draft Combine

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Anthony Hitchens Iowa Hawkeyes

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The NFL Draft Combine used to be an event where teams could simply get the latest measurables on a player to see where they are at the time as opposed to where they were in college. But now, teams put so much emphasis on the combine that they overlook the actual on-field results. Scouts have become so enamored with what a player can do in shorts and a T-shirt that they move players further up their draft board than they actually should, and there are more and more busts in the earlier rounds as a result.

Well, the Dallas Cowboys have slowly moved away from that way of thinking over the past few years and are now doing what has apparently become revolutionary, which is combining a player’s actual game performance with the physical statistics they gather from the combine. Sure, it might seem like simple logic to most, but using this strategy has gotten this team and its GM some grief over the years when it comes to analysts grading their drafts.

Who can forget two years ago, when draft experts tried to make Jerry Jones the laughingstock of the NFL after he drafted Travis Frederick in the first round? All they could talk about was the fact that he had one of the slowest 40-yard dash times at the combine as if he was a skill position player who was going to run routes or defend Calvin Johnson in open space.

It didn’t matter that he was a part of an offensive line at Wisconsin that had one of the more dominant rushing attacks in the country. Well, Jerry wound up ignoring all of the white noise and in the end he found himself an anchor at the center position for what is now one of the best offensive lines in the NFL, and also a first-time Pro Bowler in only his second year.

Then there was last year, when the Cowboys were once again chided for drafting Anthony Hitchens out of Iowa in the fourth round. The knock on him was that he was too small, weighing in at 6-feet and 235 pounds, and that he was nothing but an overachiever at the collegiate level. Scouts and so-called experts ignored the fact that all he did was improve every year as a player in college, and that he was able to do so because his football IQ was so high.

Once again, the Cowboys went their own way, stuck with Hitchens, and found a future cornerstone for their defense in a linebacker who can play all three positions.

Applying this strategy has paid off handsomely for Jones and the Cowboys, and if they want to continue to see the arrow point upward on their future, they should continue being the weird kids on the block who choose to go their own way.

Kelly Anderson is a blogger for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @bgipp01 or add him to your network on Google.

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