The Landry Hat » 2011 NFL Draft

The Dallas Cowboys 2011 Draft – Who Else Was Available?

Craig Cortemeglia — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 21:00:52 +0000

The NFL Draft is where teams build the core of their team. Success generally follows the organizations that have been able to put together successful drafts in consecutive years. I have recently completed a series of articles that reviewed the Dallas Cowboys recent draft history (2008-2012). Last week I started a new series that reviews the notable players the team missed out on and passed over in these drafts as well as whom the team actually drafted. This week, the missed opportunities of the 2011 draft will be evaluated.

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A Closer Look at the Dallas Cowboys 2011 Draft

Craig Cortemeglia — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 21:00:23 +0000

At the conclusion of each NFL Draft, draftniks across the country give grades to each team’s completed draft. While you can have a decent feel about how the draft went for a respective team, you actually won’t know for several years later how the draft turned out for that team. Players in the NFL usually make their biggest improvements from year one to year two, and then year two to year three. Although players can still improve going into year four and deeper into their career, the biggest jumps usually take place during the aforementioned time frame.

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2011 Dallas Cowboys Top Special Teams Performers

stevenphillips — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 17:00:30 +0000

In this, the third and final installment of the top performers from the 2011 Dallas Cowboys, I’ll take a look at the top players at the special teams positions and give predictions and recommendations on what can be done or improved upon for next season. Let’s crack open the playbook and get to work.

Kicker

Pat yourselves on the back Cowboys fans, we finally have a kicker. Actually let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves. After the David Buehler experiment from last year, the Cowboys signed Dan Bailey out of Oklahoma State as an undrafted free agent and once he started kicking he never looked back. Buehler has a much stronger leg but it never really translated to an advantage in the kicking game. Now with a year under our belts with the new kickoff rules, we may not need to use a roster spot for Buehler, or any kicker for that matter other than Bailey. Bailey went 32 for 39 on field goals which comes out to be an 86.5% success rate. That put him third in the league in field goals made. Pretty good for a guy that scouts said didn’t have a NFL leg. Bailey was clutch when we needed a game tying/winning field goal. There were exceptions to that, but it’s too painful to talk about, so if you really must know you can read more here. In the end if Bailey can continue to pump ice water through his veins then we’ll be set at the kicker position for some time.

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