Rating The New Cowboys: QB Jon Kitna - C+ - Not much to base this off of, but Kitna was able to provide some solid leadership behind the scenes. I still believe he could have made a few throws if needed as opposed to the previous veteran backup QB we had in Brad Johnson. I see no reason to believe why he will not be brought back for next season. Resigning him should be a priority QB Stephen McGee - N/A - In the preseason saw a little bit of action and didn't really exhibit any significant skills. However, he didn't look bad and there's no indication that we will give up on him. Should remain on the roster and hopefully he's learning some things. Really tough to give him any grade. WR Jesse Holley - N/A - (PS) player. Fast player, maybe a future in the return game. Chances he cracks the team for next season slim. WR Kevin Ogletree - B+ - Showed plenty of upside late in the season, made a couple of highlight reel plays. Demonstrated great hands and could grow into a very reliable target. Hard to see him taking passing Crayton on the depth chart next season. But I think if we want to include him in the offseason alot more that he will be ready to see an increased load and answer the call. He has above average speed and can outrun players. Was great on special teams. Should be a Cowboy for a long time barring any unforeseen regression in his game. WR Manuel Johnson - N/A - (PS) player. Will be tough for him to make the team next season if brought to camp but he does have some upside. With a great camp he may be able to make the team, but at this point almost no chance of passing Ogletree. TE John Phillips - A - Played great football stepping in for Bennett while he was hurt. Caught everything that was thrown his way, looked like another Jason Witten but with more speed. Made some great blocks. Took away playing time from Martellus once he was healthy. The drafting of Phillips was a very questionable move but now looks great as we are now 3 deep at Tight End. Probably doesn't move ahead of Bennett on the depth chart next season. His role will most likely be the same, maybe could see some more time at the upback position in some sets. OT Robert Brewster - N/A - (PUP) Impossible to grade him but have heard some good things about him. Coaching staff still have high hopes for him. I think he will be good in a few years from now and could replace someone at Guard. Really no rush with him but he needs to be healthy all next season for him to progress. His injury was frusterating to say the least. C Duke Preston - C+ - Saw a little bit of action during the regular season, not much but I thought he did a really good job stepping in when called upon. Wasn't overly impressive but held his own and the offense didn't crumble in the couple times he came in. Probably will be back next year. DE Igor Olshanky - B - Came as advertised. Only registered 1.5 Sacks but was stout against the run and ate up blockers freeing some room for the linebackers to get to the QB especially on overloads. Not going to another team. Could move inside if there are any major changes to the D. A decent chance that he could be replace or playing time could be significantly cut into next season. DT Junior Siavii - D - Made a couple tackles. Played decent football. Not the type of player we need. Only chance of making the team next year is if no Defensive Tackles are added through the draft or free agency. OLB Bradon Williams - N/A - (Injured Reserve) Missed the whole season, quite disappointing hopefully he's added a few pounds and keeps the speed/quickness. Likely to make the team next year. OLB Curtis Johnson - C - Was activated for only 3 games. Played a couple downs on defense having no impact. Registered 1 tackle on special teams. Johnson is young, and has a nice build, with a lot of work in the offseason he could have a much bigger impact on special teams next season. Staff must see something in him after picking him up a few weeks into the season and keeping him around for the duration of the year. OLB Stephen Hodge - N/A - (Injured Reserve) Was turning a few heads in camp before getting hurt. Could push some players at multiple positions to make the team next season. Watkins? Ball? possible players that he could replace. Potentially could crack the team or may end up getting dropped. OLB/ILB Jason Williams - C - No impact. Active for 5 games registering 3 tackles. Has a good skill set and will be taught to play inside or outside with the hopes of him showing the staff something. Doubtful his playing time increases much next season with both inside and outside linebacker positions all but set in stone for next season. And Butler ahead of him. OLB Victor Butler - A- - Production was great considering lack of opportunity. Showed the ability to get to the Quarterback. Was fast. Great tackling. The linebacker position is pretty logjammed, he may be able to cut into Carpenters time in nickel sets. Wade could feel the urge to include him in more defensive sets. Needs to show more consistency. Replaced Ware and played good ball at one point. Dominated Philly early in the season. I love this guy and think he could really be good. ILB Keith Brooking - A- - Played top notch football and provided us with a ton of leadership that we hadn't had in previous years. A signing similar to that off Zach Thomas but this one actually paid off both on and off the field. Can still play at a high level. Should be a lock to start next year again. However may see his snaps cut into a bit whether there is a drop off in his game or not. Production was great he had 7 passes defended his most ever in a season and 3 sacks a half sack short of a career high and probably could have had about 5-6 sacks to be honest. CB Cletis Gordon - N/A - Active for 1 game, had no idea he was even active. Fairly young and good size, a chance he competes for a job in camp in the summer. Not familiar with his skill set. SS Gerald Sensabaugh - B - Played great first half of the season, game dropped off a bit in the middle then picked up a bit in the late season. Had his ups and downs. Didn't get burnt over the top much. Pretty good tackling. Good range sideline to sideline but struggled providing Cornerbacks with help in passes 20+ yards down field. Only recorded 1 interception probably could have had 5. Good amount of tackles. Interceptions would need to increase next season. Status for next year unknown. Staff at this point is probably undecided, but hard to imagine them taking a risk and drafting a S in the first round, or going elsewhere for a starting safety. Good player but worth a new contract similar to the resigning of Ken Hamlin? S Mike Hamlin - N/A - Active for 6 games, only noticed him on 2 different occasions. Really tough to give him a grade. I think the staff still feels pretty good about Mike Hamlin, could potentially push for a starting job next year. Watkins could be let go and Hamlin will fill his role. K David Buehler - B - Great on kickoffs, which was why he was drafted. But the fact that an extra roster spot is used on a kickoff specialist is kind of stupid. Can he kick Field Goals? Will be here next year. I could see them pushing him to do Field Goals, if not than were in a desperate situation. K Shaun Squeezeham - C+ - Did an okay job but when it came down to it was just way to inconsistant to be considered a real option at kicker for next season. Had distance on long kicks but was inaccurate. A case could be made that his missed kicks had a huge impact on the playoff loss to Minnesota. A group of unknowns were brought in and did a pretty good job. Most of them not getting much time playing but the ones that did actually faired pretty well. A significant difference from bringing in names like Terrell Owens, Pacman Johnson, Tank Johnson. It will be interesting to see if we take that approach this season though, quite a few big names available its hard not to imagine that we won't go after at least one name. I still think this group of players specifically rookies are quite considering all of them are second day picks or went undrafted. Guys like John Phillips and Ogletree could be starters but might have trouble with the players ahead of them. And the Linebacker position is just stacked with players who may not get a chance till say 2011-2012.
Good stuff Roy, I'll post mine in a sec after a cig Just to touch on something........I dont (could be wrong) think Sensibaugh is going to command the level deal Hamlin did mainly because Hamlin made the Pro Bowl that year, and also because that position was a turnstile. Sensibaugh IMO is valuable, but replaceable, and his replacement might be on the roster already in Mike Hamlin **********Automerged Doublepost********** QB Jon Kitna - C. Hard to grade as Romo took every snap, but I think we can definatly have gone 2-1 in a 3 game stretch with Kitna WR Kevin Ogletree - B. Any undrafted Free Agent that see's the field on Offense or Defense is a B minimum. He is a guy Im really gonna have my eye on next preseason. Would love to see him get some first team rep's in the August games TE John Phillips - A. Did great as a late round pick, could be a starter for someone someday. His impact on this team may be seen in Bennetts play next year. Bennett isnt gonna be handed a slot with the emergence of Phillips C Duke Preston - C. Competent backup OC with starting experience. Not great, but he filled a need DE Igor Olshanky B - I thought in the run game was better than Canty ever was, but then again, Igor is a natural strong side player. You lose out on Canty's skill in the pass game, Canty was much harder to block, which helped Ware out. But Igor is much stronger at the line. kind of a wash IMO DT Junior Siavii - D. Did OK as a Jumbo guy, but offers our D nothing other than that. Roster filler IMO OLB/ILB Jason Williams - D. made no impact when he was active. May be unfair to grade as we are deep at the spot and he missed significant time OLB Victor Butler - B+. Look's like he could develop into a Mark Anderson circa 2006. Was thinking before that he might push Spencer, now not gonna happen. But could be a sub package killer in 2010. Got hot a few times this year, would have like to see more consistency ILB Keith Brooking - A+ Huge addition, gave us what some fans wanted out of Ray Lewis for a fraction of the price, and was probobly more productive that Lewis would have been in a 3-4. Was stout, consistent and a playmaker. May be one of the top 5 FA signings in all of 2009 SS Gerald Sensabaugh B. Fits our scheme, would have had more picks had he not had a cast. Decent in run support overall, and may be on the lower end of that at SS, but this team seems to need that less than Man coverage skills, which he possess's. The plus side as far as contract situation, he had a good but not star level year in 2009, which may help in keeping an extension fair S Mike Hamlin - C-. See Jason Williams. K David Buehler - B- A Huge boost to the ST's, may be the best KO specialist in the NFL, but like Roy said......is he worth another roster spot? Would have been nice to be able to hold onto Deangelo Smith or Mike Mickens **********Automerged Doublepost********** Left off PS and IR guys
They tried him in practice a few times his accuracy is terrible. Definitely needs to work this off season.
If your reasoning is the same as Williams for Hamlin than why different grades? lol. homerism... I don't think we lost anything when Canty went to sign with the Giants.
can it be any worse then what you've had ? well, not going into the grades but the boys had a good season. they took a big at the end of the year which could go a long way but to me they had nothing left after beating the eagles two straight weeks. but again overall the cowboys had a real good year. :icon_confused:
nothing left lol... DMN is reporting that Olgetree would have surpassed Roy by playoffs if they had worked him into the offense earlier in the season.
lol ? it was plain to see your team was flat and followed a common trend. talent wise the vikings are not that much better than the cowboys but it's tough to play at the level dallas did two straight weeks against a hated rival at home and then keep it at the same level on the road.
Or maybe we just didn't adjust to what the vikings were doing? Garrett was unable to call plays to take advantage of the ends always coming off the edge.
Our offensive line got flat out owned in that game, and you cant even single 2 or 3 guys out. Screw Free was probobly the most effective Defensively we played well, Farve was just magic. Two of Rice's TD's we're throws probably on him Manning and Brady complete I dont know if its so much that we ran out of gas, we just got beat by a better team that put out more than we did. Its Probobly "a little from column A, a little from Column B" Some thing interesting, Romo doesnt face quality cover 2 teams often. Most of the teams he play's in the East are blitz heavy. Playing a team that can rush 4 and get consistent pressure. Most of the NFC East teams compromise there coverage to rush the QB
i'm not saying it's about running out of gas physically and of course the vikings are a better team. i just think the cowboys aren't that far off from them. also, it's not like the games against the eagles were hard in any way, you had both games won early. but the cowboys & romo were hearing the same old crap about dec-jan play and how they can't win a playoff game but they put all they had into wiping that away and they did it well. still it's not easy to keep that same level after getting over a hump like that and then going on the road against yes, a better team. i just don't think that much better. regardless, the cowboys are going to be that much better for it next year. :doh:
I love Brooking...too bad he wasn't a little younger. Sensabaugh was an upgrade but I still believe we need to improve there. Igor was good. Buehler was great and deserves a chance to compete for kicking spot so we don't need to waste 2 roster spots on a kicker and place kicker. I am also really high on Ogletree and would love to see him get more of an opportunity.
Welcome to the site squibby. Even though Brooking is a bit older I think he can still play at a high level next season. To be honest with you I'm more concerned about Bradie James, he's good but shouldn't we get more production from our Middle Linebacker? He fits in well in terms of stunts and rushing but I'm left thinking we can do better at that position.
Thanks...and I couldn't agree more. I have friends that think I'm crazy that we can upgrade from Bradie James. I have always expected more out of him.
