Wait, Dallas Did What?

Somehow I missed this in all the excitement over the Eagles the last couple days.  Check out this trade between the Cowboys and the Dolphins:

Looking to get back into the fourth round of this weekend's NFL Draft, the Dallas Cowboys on Friday traded linebacker Akin Ayodele and tight end Anthony Fasano to the Miami Dolphins for a fourth-round pick, reports NFL Network's Adam Schefter.

Ayodele, who was Dallas' starting weakside inside linebacker for the past two years, lost his job when the Cowboys acquired seven-time Pro Bowl linebacker Zack Thomas in free agency...

Fasano, a backup to Jason Witten, caught 14 passes in each of his two NFL seasons. He had shoulder surgery in January.

The Cowboys gave up both Ayodele AND Fasano for a measly fourth-round pick?  And this is because they expect Zach Thomas -- he of the many, many concussions -- to hold down the WIL position for years?

That must have been one hell of a player the Cowboys were targeting in the fourth round.  Possibly at a position of great need.  Let's see who they picked:

Tashard Choice
RB, Georgia Tech
5'11" 215

Pick Analysis: Choice was a little bigger than originally believed. He plays the game with intensity and will run with power like Lamont Jordan. He was better as a junior than a senior, but still ran for 1,356 yards. Considering the Cowboys took Felix Jones in the first round, Dallas likely viewed Choice as the best player available at this point.

And from SI.com:

ANALYSIS: Choice made the most of his opportunities at Georgia Tech and gets a lot out of his abilities. He may never be a starter at the next level, but he has enough skill to be a productive backup.

So Jerry Jones gave up two (reasonably) productive players for a single draft choice in the fourth round that they ended up turning into a running back, which would be understandable except that they already have Marion Barber and they had just drafted Arkansas speed merchant Felix Jones in the first round.

And people think the Eagles' front office doesn't know what it's doing...

Comments

[Wilbert Montgomery]

While this is a bit of a head scratcher, I have to assume there may have been some cap management going on here. I have no idea how they structured Thomas' deal but they have some guys on the team who are probably getting in to some expensive years in their contracts. As such, this may have been a cap dumping maneuver as much as anything.

[zt]

Also this guy is a thunder-back, like Marion Barber. Barber was franchised and they are far away on long-term contract numbers. This guy is probably insurance in case Barber walks.

[Me]

Expensive insurance.

Although I would dearly love to see Barber walk. The image of him alternately bouncing off / flattening our stable of 230-lb defensive ends is not an attractive one.

I'm not sure if anyone cares that much or will read this, but whatever. Just as a warning, this will probably get pretty long.

Ayodele was probably going to be cut in training camp. From what I've read, the sentiment from the coaching staff was that he didn't make enough plays at his position. For backup ILBs they have Kevin Burnett (who played in their nickel/dime packages last year) and 2006 1st round choice Bobby Carpenter (who unfortunately is a glorified special teams player at this point). Apparently Fasano missed a lot of assignments at his position, and the coaching staff that that 3rd stringer Tony Curtis would be beat him for the role of Witten's backup in training camp. Fasano didn't play well in their playoff game either, for what it's worth.

I agree that they didn't get much, but I imagine that the Dolphins probably knew about their dissastisfactions with the players - especially Tony Sparano and Jeff Ireland. So, that probably reduced their ability to bargain.

Regarding Tashard Choice, I think he was a "best player avaiable" sort of choice (har har). It really should be noted that the Cowboys actually used the original 4th round choice they received from the Dolphins and traded down. And they continued to trade down - eventually landing more picks for that draft and Detroit's 4th rounder for 2009 and Cleveland's 3rd rounder for 2009.

Anyway, I didn't mean to write a manifesto here, but I thought I'd share it with any interested fans of the Eagles.

[Me]

Thanks for the info. I've seen a fair amount of backfill out of Dallas after the draft on both this issue and the Felix Jones pick. The writer who ripped Jerry Jones for the Felix Jones pick went back a couple days later and talked about how much he loved the draft and how drafting Tashard Choice made it "ok" that the Cowboys went off their draft board and selected Jones (not an every down back) instead of Mendenhall (an every down back).

Now I'm a big fan of Felix and wish the Eagles had gotten him, but that's a little bit like saying it's ok that DeSean Jackson doesn't have good size because we also have Hank Baskett.

On the trade, I also have heard that Ayodele was likely going to get cut. But Fasano was a second-round draft pick. So the Cowboys gave up a semi-productive player and a second-round pick ... for a fourth-round pick. Now whether that decision represents a mistake made this weekend or two years ago is up to you, but either way your team deserves to get ripped for it.

Thanks, and thanks for the respectful and informative response.

I think that the consensus among fans is that it was a mistake drafting him two years ago.

Felix v. Mendenhall - This is a pretty big debate right now in Cowboys land among media members and fans (especially the latter). The FO people, while acknowledging that Mendenhall is more likely to be an every-down back, justified taking Felix because of his versatility. He could compliment MBIII better, return kicks, and would be a more dynamic receiver in space. At the post-draft press conference, they mentioned that Garrett could devise unique formations with him in them. Whether it was a wise choice, I guess we'll see.

I can't help but go on a tangent here...

Speed in the offense was an issue last year. Terry Glenn was gone basically the entire season. They tried to use Miles Austin some in formations, but it didn't work out well - mainly because he lacks hands. What could be an interesting addition to our AARP WR corps is someone who is all ready on the roster - Isaiah Stanback. They drafted him in 2007 as a QB at Washington, but they're converting him to WR a la Patrick Crayton. This combined with the lack of interest in the 2008 crop of WRs, helps better explain the choice of Felix overall.

Regarding Baskett, don't tell that to Patrick Watkins.