Q & A: Mid-to-Late Round Corners for Cowboys

By:  Bobby Shores
Check out recent articles:  First Round Cornerbacks, NFL Draft Quick Hits on - Dontari Poe (Biggest Potential Draft Bust), Andrew Luck, Robert Griffin III, Jake Bequette, My 2012 NFL Draft Player Rankings By Position and the Evolution of NFL Defense's What will happen to the Safety Position?

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Question:  You recently addressed potential first round cornerbacks, but what about mid-to-late round corners that could be available for the Cowboys if they go in a different direction with their first round pick?

ReclinerQB Thoughts:  I am going to start this off the same way I started off the previous article about first round corners, and that is talking about our current defense and what we need:  while most fans want to put the failure of the defense this past season on the secondary, I believe the lack of a consistent pass rush made it nearly impossible for our defensive backs to cover and that a good pass rush is a secondary's best friend. I am also not naive enough to think that we don't need to upgrade the secondary, particularly the depth at cornerback and the starters at safety.

When healthy, Mike Jenkins and Orlando Scandrick are solid starters, but we have next to nothing behind them.While Brandon Carr is a great addition, you can never have to many quality starters, especially since Jenkins will be a free agent this year and if he doesn't come back then we are shallow again at a critical position.

So who are possibilities in the second or later rounds? Some of the CB's that I like are Georgia's Brandon Boykin, Nebraska's Alfonzo Dennard and Oregon's Cliff Harris.

2012 NFL Draft Hopeful CB Brandon Boykin

Brandon Boykin-Georgia - Undersized for an NFL corner (barely 5'9) but plays taller as he can jump very well, has great speed and plays very physical. He will probably never be a teams #1 corner, but with his quick feet I think he will be the nickel corner and play the slot immediately and battle until he is the #2 guy. He has good ball skills and is constantly improving. I love what I have heard about him, that he is a natural leader, will outwork everyone and plays every practice like it is a game; these are the kind of players I like and the Cowboys need (I have a feeling that the players take practices a little to lightly at Valley Ranch)

If the Cowboys got him, he would be able to contribute on defense as well as special teams as he is a returner which is a major need, and I think he would instantly become the heart and soul of the special teams, something we have not had since Keith Davis left the team 5 or so years ago.

2012 NFL Draft Hopeful CB Alfonzo Dennard

Alfonzo Dennard-Nebraska - I did not see Dennard play a lot in college, but I had heard that he was better than Prince Amukamara and was going to be a high first round pick. So I was excited when I got to sit down and watch the bowl game where he would be matching up against a potential first round wide receiver in Alshon Jeffrey. I quit watching him after the third quarter (and not just because he got thrown out), he had given up over 140 receiving yards to Jeffrey and a touchdown at that point.

Besides that one game, I did watch some other film on him and was never impressed with what I saw, did not have very good ball recognition or tackling skills (seems like he arm tackles instead of squaring up on ball carriers). He is also to easy to take out of the game, as he is routinely caught fighting with opponents instead of paying attention to the game. The Cowboys should take him off their draft board, no matter how far he falls (and I think he will fall).

2012 NFL Draft Hopeful CB Cliff Harris

Cliff Harris-Oregon - Best way to describe Harris is "talented but troubled". His style of play is Explosive! Harris comes from the Deion Sanders style of playing defensive back, he is great in man coverage as he is long, lean, plays the man and the ball well and could be an elite corner and showed it in 2010 when he had 6 INT's and 23 passes defensed. He also has skills as a punt returner, when he brought 4 back to the house, again in 2010. Notice a pattern here? He fell off the map in 2011 and did not play much after having multiple off the field problems. The weaknesses in his game is that due to his lean size he is not very welcoming when it comes to contact, he never seems to avoid it, but does not go looking for it.

Hopefully spending most of the 2011 suspended and seeing his future hang in the balance will humble Harris and make him realize that natural talent alone will not carry him to greatness. If he can interview well and stay out of trouble, he could be the next 5th round or later steal at corner for the Cowboys (remember that Orlando Scandrick had a 2nd round grade but fell to the 5th).

So if the Cowboys get a chance at these guys, where would I be comfortable drafting them right now? I would be happy grabbing Boykin in the 2nd round, as he can help in all aspects of the game (defense, returner and special teams ace), I want nothing to do with Dennard and if Cliff is around in the 5th round then grab him IF you feel that he has changed and is taking his life and talents seriously.

My main worry with cornerbacks this year is that they are all being overvalued in my opinion because every team needs more with the passing game explosion. It seems that 2nd round corners are being pushed into high first round (Stephon Gilmore) and small school "project corners" are being pushed up from 4th and 5th round to 2nd (Josh Robinson, Trumaine Johnson and Dwight Bentley).

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Best WR in the 2011 Draft - Rehash

I have been trying to post new piece once a day at the least, but with my paying job keeping me busy, having to spend time with the family (I mean WANTING to spend time, just kidding honey!!! Don't get mad), and it being relatively slow in the NFL world with the fan lockout (Yes, I think the owners and the players are locking out the fans and stopping us from enjoying our favorite past time.  No matter how you slice it, we the fans, are the only victims in this ugly game) I have just not had enough time to get any real writing done.  So while I work on constructing some new pieces with fresh ideas, I thought I would re-post one of my previous works.  The reason I chose this one (with a few edits) is because I have been saying for a long time that Julio Jones was the best WR in the draft, and have been getting ridiculed for it.  Well, now Peter King in MMQB has said that Jones has already passed Green on some teams boards (take that Evan Silva, just kidding....kinda...Follow Evan Silva on Twitter here @evansilva).  So here is the article originally posted on February 28, 2011 (with a few edits).



The consensus top 2 receivers in the draft this year are A.J. Green of Georgia and Julio Jones of Alabama.  From everything that I have read and watched on TV, A.J. Green is the unanimous best receiver in the class.  I disagree.

Now I could try and make my point by focusing on the numbers from the "Underwear Olympics" (combine), and to set the record straight I do not believe that watching football players in tight shorts and shirts run around really tells you that much about how they will perform in full pads with 21 (I hope I did the math right) other players running around with them in the same confined area, but I will get to that later.  I will use the combine numbers only because they strengthen my argument (might not be fair but I am doing it anyways).  In all the important categories (40 yard dash is kind of important for WR's) Julio Jones outperformed A.J. Green.  He was more than a second faster in the 40, had a better vertical leap by over 4 inches, and broad jumped by almost a foot more.  The only area that A.J. Green won in was the measurements, he was just under 1 inch taller.  These numbers tell me that Julio Jones is the better athlete and WR is a very athletic position.  But like I said I am not going to use the combine numbers to try and make my point.

When I look at Jones and Green side by side the comparisons to current NFL WR's are instant.  Jones reminds me of Terrell Owens while A.J. Green has more of a Randy Moss body.  I believe Jones has more explosion off the line and will fight through jams at the line better than Green because he is a more physical WR.  Jones's body type also lends itself to being able to take more hits and should allow him the advantage of "getting small" and absorbing hits while going across the middle while Green's body gives off the impression of being more of a deep, jump ball threat and while he may be able to go across the middle he leaves a bigger target for MLB's dropping into coverage and roaming safeties to unload on (even though I have watched Julio go up and get some balls during his college career).  Overall I see Julio Jones as being more dynamic and A.J. Green being more 1-dimensional in the NFL.  I could keep going on but I want to keep this at a decent length so people will read the whole thing before tuning out hopefully.

The most important criteria to evaluate when looking at draft prospects is without a doubt their college film.  Unfortunately I do not have access to it and since I was not planning on starting a blog I do not have notes like I used to take during the football season, so this is going off what I remember and a few things that I have read.  I remember both players being complete beasts in the SEC (which as a Razorback fan I follow closely), both players were "gamebreakers" capable of opening up a game with one play.  Julio Jones stood out among all other players I watched the last couple of years and here is why:
1) He seemed to be used in more ways, I remember him being a powerful and agile runner on reverses and screens.
2) He always made the play when it mattered.
3) Most important he was a dynamic blocker for the run game.  Everyone knows that Alabama has had one of the most powerful run games in the nation the last few years and Julio Jones was a major part in it.  He was a strong blocker on the edge and you very rarely saw the guy he was blocking make the play.  This tells me that he is ready to be an every down receive in the NFL, he will not be a liability in the running game.  I would compare him to Hines Ward and Roy Williams (underrated as a blocker) when it comes to run blocking.  Georgia also has a history of having a strong ground game, but I do not recall ever going "wow, look at that great block A.J. Green just threw" which I did many times during Bama games.

What stood out to me about A.J. Green's game which many will say is the most important is that he always seemed to catch the ball like he was bitten by a radioactive spider (Do not try microwaving a spider and having it bite you, it won't give you super powers, trust me).  I specifically remember watching him work the sidelines in a few games and he was snatching everything out of the air.  It kind of reminded me of the way Chris Carter used to work the sidelines except Green has big hands and a long reach that allow him to get the ball anywhere.  The other stuff that I have read about Green say that he has the "it" factor, a nose for the ball, good route running, etc.  Those things are vital in the NFL and I believe he will be a successful WR, just not as complete a player as Julio Jones.

As I have thought about this more and more, there are a couple of "red flags" that pop up when thinking/talking about Julio vs A.J. debate, and those are the ever important "character" issues.  Julio Jones has none, was never in trouble in college (or should I say "never got caught in college"), has a work ethic superior to most prospects, and seems to be a well rounded guy overall.  A.J. on the other hand, had a mini-scandal in college when he was busted selling his jersey.  Editors Note:  I completely disagree with almost everything the NCAA does and stands for (read about it here , here, & here so while I am going to "mark" A.J. because of this it is not because I think what he did was wrong, it is because he knew the rules and chose to break them anyways which to me means he does not make the best decisions.  That small transgression, along with his reported 10 on the wonderlic test (which I do not think means much, read a great article about it from my good Twitter friend Luis DeLoureiro...Follow him here on Twitter @deloureiro) it leads me to wonder whether or not he will be able to make "sight adjustments" and read defenses at the next level.

Ultimately only time will tell (5 years minimum, 8 if you are Brandon Lloyd) who will be the better NFL WR, but in this day and age of paying huge salaries to unproven guys at the top of the draft, and how far a bad 1st round pick can set your franchise back, I am going with Julio Jones every time.