Dallas Cowboys Deliver Great Offseason; Still Receive Scrutiny From Fans
By Bo Martin
(At first I need to provide you with a small disclaimer: my following article isn’t directed at anyone in particular, but a group of people.)
I’m getting to a point of epic frustration with the Cowboys Nation fan base. It isn’t everyone but it seems that there is a heavy level of ignorance surrounding the reaction boards. I think we’ve lost something in the long tumultuous string of rough seasons. There is loyalty that has been diminishing and an unhappiness that surrounds Cowboys fans. It seems were never happy… Tony Romo, Jerry Jones, Defense, etc… and we always seem to forget that we are fans of one of the most prestigious franchises in not only football but also all of sports.
This point is even clearer with this previous draft. The Dallas Cowboys are being scrutinized for their drafting ability based solely on the value of a name. It’s true think about it; they drafted Crawford, Wilber, and Johnson with other big names on the board. What we saw was that recognizable names from recognizable conferences that were still available at the time we drafted. What we didn’t see is the player’s tape, interviews, and a realistic plan implementing them into the Cowboys scheme.
It’s apparent that Garrett isn’t into big names or flare or even analyst’s thoughts. Garrett is interested in bringing in leaders who are good players and can develop into valuable contributors. He likes players who had to work to where they’ve gotten and earned the opportunity. Honestly, that’s probably not a bad direction for the Cowboys who have fallen short the last few years.
The addition of Morris Claiborne is awesome. If you can get 1 blue chip player in a draft you’ve already succeeded and they did that. In addition they get Crawford and Wilber who are quality players with a higher ceiling then they displayed in college. Johnson and Coale are also players who are blue-collar players who are expected to be competitive depth and potential starters. Hannah and McSurdy are solid players with immense potential.
We all had lofty plans for this draft and that’s mostly because we want what we think is best for the Cowboys. The truth is though, that we don’t know anything about what the Cowboys should do. We don’t know which prospects are going to be stars, we don’t know which team will win the division the next year, all we know is that we need to continue to evolve with the game and opposing teams.
There are holes on this Cowboys team and they needed to be filled. The organization conducted a brilliant offseason plan that added players to every position of need and created competition all over the board. Isn’t that all we care about? We care about fielding a competitive team that never gives up and always strives to be better. So before we start blaming Jerry for another bad draft, we should look at what they’ve accomplished this offseason. Before we go questioning personnel moves we should notice that they added players with great leadership qualities and good character all over the board. We have improved as a team and that is a great deal better than previous offseason.
I’m not saying that we need to agree with every move that is made. Nor am I saying that we need to hide our opinions on matters. I am saying that the Cowboys are a great reason for most of our happiness. It would be nice to stop seeing such an overwhelming amount of negative comments trashing the team you supposedly love. Cowboys Nation is one of the most recognizable fan bases in all of sports and a unified Cowboys Nation can help the success of the team. We don’t know everything; I know I certainly don’t, so lets stop pretending we do. The Cowboys are doing a good job and we need to start recognizing that.