Top 90 2010 NFL Draft Prospects: Post-Combine

Below is our revised list of the top 2010 NFL Draft prospects, along with a rundown of big risers and fallers.  Players changed positions not only based on Combine results, but also due to extra opportunity for us to study game film.

Risers

Sean Weatherspoon, Devin McCourty, Dan Williams, Morgan Burnett, DeMaryius Thomas, Arrelious Benn, Vladimir Ducasse, Golden Tate, Eric Norwood, Kareem Jackson, Ryan Mathews, Akwasi Owusu-Ansah, Geno Atkins, Roger Saffold, Ricky Sapp, Marshall Newhouse, Major Wright, Ben Tate

Fallers

Dez Bryant, Joe Haden, Anthony Davis, Dezmon Briscoe, Donovan Warren, Brandon LaFell, Jon Asamoah, Everson Griffen, Brandon Ghee, Chad Jones, Jordan Shipley, Damian Williams, Myron Rolle, Jason Fox, Aaron Hernandez, Micah Johnson

As before, players we see as potential Cowboys’ draft picks are listed in bold.  Some players not in bold may be good fits in Dallas but the team just won’t be in position to select them.

Concerns about Dez Bryant's attitude and work ethic have dropped him on our board.

1  Ndamukong Suh, DT, Nebraska

2  Gerald McCoy, DT, Oklahoma

3  Russell Okung, OT, Oklahoma State

4  C.J. Spiller, RB, Clemson

5  Eric Berry, S, Tennessee

6  Sergio Kindle, LB, Texas

7  Earl Thomas, S, Texas

8  Kyle Wilson, CB, Boise State

9  Brandon Graham, DE/OLB, Michigan

10  Dez Bryant, WR, Oklahoma State

11  Joe Haden, CB, Florida

12  Bryan Bulaga, OT, Iowa

13  Jason Pierre-Paul, DE, USF

14  Mike Iupati, G, Idaho

We are very high on Devin McCourty, rating him as the 21st best player overall.

15  Maurkice Pouncey, C/G, Florida

16  Trent Williams, OT, Oklahoma

17  Derrick Morgan, DE, Georgia Tech

18  Rolando McClain, LB, Alabama

19  Jared Odrick, DT/DE, Penn State

20  Sean Weatherspoon, LB, Missouri

21  Devin McCourty, CB, Rutgers

22  Brandon Spikes, LB, Florida

23  Jahvid Best, RB, California

24  Dan Williams, DT, Tennessee

25  Brian Price, DT, UCLA

26  Jerry Hughes, DE, TCU

27  Sam Bradford, QB, Oklahoma

28  Morgan Burnett, S, Georgia Tech

Dezmon Briscoe, once our second-rated WR, has dropped due to his lackluster speed.

29  DeMaryius Thomas, WR, Georgia Tech

30  Arrelious Benn, WR, Illinois

31  Anthony Davis, OT, Rutgers

32  Dezmon Briscoe, WR, Kansas

33  Bruce Campbell, OT, Maryland

34  Donovan Warren, CB, Michigan

35  Charles Brown, OT, USC

36  Carlos Dunlap, DE, Florida

37  Dexter McCluster, RB/WR, Ole Miss

38  Taylor Mays, S, USC

39  Jimmy Clausen, QB, Notre Dame

40  Mardy Gilyard, WR, Cincinnati

41  Vladimir Ducasse, G/T, UMass

42  Golden Tate, WR, Notre Dame

43  Chris Cook, CB/FS, Virginia

44  Jason Worilds, DE, Virginia Tech

45  Tim Tebow, QB, Florida

Perrish Cox is one of a handful of players to comprise what we believe is a very underrated cornerback class.

46  Eric Norwood, LB, South Carolina

47  Kareem Jackson, CB, Alabama

48  Nate Allen, S, USF

49  Perrish Cox, CB, Oklahoma State

50  Daryl Washington, LB, TCU

51  Ryan Mathews, RB, Fresno State

52  Akwasi Owusu-Ansah, CB, Indiana of Pennsylvania

53  Brandon LaFell, WR, LSU

54  Patrick Robinson, CB, Florida State

55  Jon Asamoah, G, Illinois

56  Javier Arenas, CB, Alabama

57  Geno Atkins, DT, Georgia

58  Roger Saffold, OT, Indiana

59  Everson Griffen, DE, USC

60  Alex Carrington, DE, Arkansas State

61  Brandon Ghee, CB, Wake Forest

62  Terrence Cody, DT, Alabama

Mike Neal is a player Dallas may target as a defensive end in their 3-4 scheme.

63  Chad Jones, S, LSU

64  Ricky Sapp, DE, Clemson

65  Jordan Shipley, WR, Texas

66  Mike Neal, DT/DE, Purdue

67  Marshall Newhouse, G, TCU

68  Major Wright, S, Florida

69  Corey Wootton, DE, Northwestern

70  Reshad Jones, S, Georgia

71  Joe McKnight, RB, USC

72  Amari Spievey, CB, Iowa

73  Jermaine Gresham, TE, Oklahoma

74  Mike Johnson, G, Alabama

75  Ben Tate, RB, Auburn

Myron Rolle is very intelligent, but he displayed poor hips and ball skills at the Combine.

76  Lamarr Houston, DT, Texas

77  Carlton Mitchell, WR, USF

78  Cam Thomas, DT, UNC

79  Damian Williams, WR, USC

80  Myron Rolle, S, Florida State

81  D’Anthony Smith, DT, Louisiana Tech

82  Jared Veldheer, OT, Hillsdale

83  Tony Washington, OT, Abilene Christian

84  Jason Fox, OT, Miami

85  Aaron Hernandez, TE, Florida

86  Micah Johnson, LB, Kentucky

87  Zane Beadles, G/T, Utah

88  Greg Hardy, DE, Ole Miss

89  Clifton Geathers, DE, South Carolina

90  Navarro Bowman, LB, Penn State

Top Five Reasons Brandon Marshall Will Not Join the Cowboys

Brandon Marshall is one of the most talented receivers in the NFL. So why would he be a poor fit in Dallas?

Of all the players that Cowboys fans could want, we hear Brandon Marshall’s name come up more than any other.  The reasons are obvious.  Big.  Strong.  Fast.  21 receptions in one game.

Marshall is also ripe for the picking as the Broncos only placed a first round tender on the stud receiver, practically begging another club to provide him with a one-way ticket out of Denver.

With Roy Williams struggling, why not give up a late first round pick for a player who would be dynamite outside opposite Miles Austin?  The reasons are below.

1.  Like T.O., Marshall would not take a back seat as a secondary option.

We recently detailed why T.O. would probably not respond well to being a complementary player in Dallas.  The same is true of Marshall.

Would Marshall come in and automatically be the Cowboys’ number one receiver, or would it be Austin?  It could be more of a 1A and 1B situation, but either way, Austin is too good to not continuously utilize.

Our inclination is that Marshall would want to see the bulk of the targets in the passing game.  There just are not enough balls to go around to effectively satisfy Marshall, Austin, and Witten and maintain a dominant running game.  Someone would be unhappy, and do we really want it to be players who have already put their heart into playing for the silver and blue?

2.  In addition to yielding a first round pick, the Cowboys would also have to provide Marshall a long-term contract.

The Cowboys could only land Marshall by signing him to an offer sheet.  That contract offer obviously has to have enough guaranteed money that Marshall will be willing to sign it.

After dishing out $45 million to Roy Williams and another big-time deal in the works for Austin, the Cowboys, surprisingly, will be a bit short on funds.

The organization could theoretically dump a huge portion of the contract into the 2010 uncapped season, but Jerry Jones is no fool.  He has already stated the Cowboys have imposed a team-mandated salary cap for themselves.

Signing Austin long-term takes precedent over bringing in a guy like Marshall.  After that happens, an offer to Marshall would mean the club would be investing well over $100 million in three wide receivers.  Not exactly business-savvy.

3.  Marshall does not fit the character profile of the current Cowboys’ players.

The Cowboys released T.O., Pacman Jones, Tank Johnson, and Greg Ellis last offseason.  There was a method to their madness.  The current roster is composed of 53 stand-up, intelligent, high-character guys.

This is not to say that Marshall cannot be those things, but he has proven that he can become a bit of a distraction at times.  There is no way that Jerry, influenced by his son Stephen, will be able to justify bringing in a possible trouble-maker.

Like it or not, this man is one of the main reasons the Cowboys will not sign a big-time free agent wide receiver in 2010.

4.  Without a first round pick, the Cowboys would not be able to upgrade a more urgent position of need.

If the Cowboys do want to bolster the receiver spot, the draft is a great time to do it.  Not only will it be less of a financial burden, but the team can also save their first-rounder by drafting dodging Marshall and drafting a receiver in the mid-to-late rounds.

Signing Marshall not only eats up a lot of cash, but it also erases the Cowboys’ ability to sign an impact player (perhaps an offensive lineman), in the first round.  Instead, Dallas would have to wait until the 59th pick of the draft to upgrade either the offensive line, safety, or another position.

From the standpoint of a selfish fan, the draft without a first round pick, as we saw last year, can be quite monotonous.

5.  No one is sure how hard Marshall will play once he obtains big money.

Marshall was a fourth-rounder out of UCF in the 2006 draft.  Needless to say, his rookie contract wasn’t exactly Peyton Manning-type money.

Very talented players can alter their approach and overall mindset to football after cashing in, i.e. Jamarcus Russell.  While Marshall does appear to have the proper work ethic intact to ensure that does not happen, you can never be sure.

At the very least, there does appear to be something about Marshall that makes it appear as though he is not as serious about the game of football as, say, Austin or Witten.

Conclusions

Marshall is certainly both an uncommon talent and a unique individual.  He will undoubtedly help some team immensely–but that team us unlikely to be the Dallas Cowboys.

It isn’t that signing Marshall would be the worst thing in the world.  Heck, it could even work out for the best.  But operating a professional football team is about playing the percentages.  At this time, Marshall is not a “high-percentage play” for Dallas.

Terrell Owens Back to Dallas: Is it a Realistic Possibility?

Might T.O. be back in the blue and silver in 2010?

There have been rumblings among some Cowboys fans about the possible return of Terrell Owens to Dallas.  Like every team for which Owens has played, Cowboys fans seem to be split 50/50 on his worth to the team.

We are about the biggest T.O. supporters you will find, but in this post, we will detail five reasons why Owens won’t (and shouldn’t) rejoin the Dallas Cowboys.

First, though, let’s talk about a few of the positives of T.O. wearing the blue and silver once again.

Pros

1.  Owens practices harder than anyone.

A lot of times T.O.’s name gets grouped together with guys like Randy Moss and Chad Ochocinco, but that really is unfair to Owens.  Unlike those players, T.O. brings 100 percent to practice each and every day.  He consistently prepares himself as well as anyone in the league, year in and year out.

Not only are Owens’ on-field behavior and production a template for the younger receivers to follow, but his work ethic also allows the Cowboys defensive backs to go against the best every day in practice.  Don’t shortchange Owens involvement in Dallas as a major factor in the success of the Cowboys cornerbacks in 2009.

2.  Despite a down year in Buffalo, it is evident Owens still has something left.

We recently spent some time looking at a few of the Bills’ late-season games in ’09.  While T.O. is obviously not what he was at age 28, he certainly can still play the game.  His speed is still very much apparent.  It would be very difficult for teams to try to take away both him and Austin deep, cover Witten underneath, and still stop the run game.

3.  T.O. would likely draw a lot of single coverage with Austin and Witten receiving a lot of attention.

Make no mistake about it–Miles Austin is the Cowboys’ #1 wide receiver.  Defenses will surely look to take him and Witten out of a game first next season, with or without the addition of T.O.  Having said that, Owens would benefit from single coverage which he very rarely saw during his first stint in Dallas.

Cons

1.  Owens is unlikely to embrace a role as the third receiving option on offense.

For the above reasons, Owens’ return to Dallas looks good on paper.  In reality, however, there is just no way T.O. is going to accept a role as the Cowboys’ third receiving option (and probably fourth option overall).  If Owens complained about not getting the ball enough when he was double-covered in Dallas, imagine how unhappy he will be if he does not get the ball when he is truly open.

2.  Bringing back Owens would stunt the growth of Kevin Ogletree.

The Cowboys want to get Ogletree more involved in 2010.  There are even rumors that he could push Roy Williams for a starting spot in training camp.

Ogletree’s playing time would become all but non-existent, though, if Owens returned to the ‘Boys.  Even if Williams got cut, Crayton would likely remain in the slot, meaning Ogletree would be just a backup to the X and Z receivers.

If the Cowboys want to see what they have in Kevin Ogletree this season, T.O.'s return is not an option.

3.  The Cowboys would be unlikely to draft a young wide receiver due to a lack of roster space.

A lot of you are clamoring for the Cowboys to select a young wide receiver to groom as the eventual replacement for Roy Williams.  While we still see an early-round selection of a wide receiver as unlikely (unless he is a return man), the Cowboys simply would not have the roster space to hold their current receivers, Owens, and a rookie.

4.  Jerry Jones will not cut Roy Williams, meaning Dallas’ top three wide receivers would not play special teams.

Even if Owens came back to town, it is unlikely Jerry Jones would give up on Williams.  He doesn’t want to admit he made a mistake on Williams, and in all fairness Roy has just one full season in Dallas under his belt.

Williams, as the third receiver, would not play special teams.  This would create a problem, particularly if David Buehler does not win the placekicking job and the team has to use two roster spots on kickers.

5.  Jerry Jones won’t bring back a player he cut immediately after claiming the Cowboys were searching for a “Romo-friendly” offense.

The reason Jones released T.O. was not because of his on-field play, but because of the perceived locker room turmoil which Owens was thought to have created.  Why in the world would the Cowboys bring back a player they deemed to be the cause of the team’s lack of chemistry, particularly after winning their first playoff game in over a decade?

Conclusion

Owens is not coming back to Dallas.  Despite the potential benefits, his return would create more problems than it would fix.  Topping that list of problems is the fact that T.O. will not embrace being a role player and Jerry Jones will not disrupt his quest to create a “Romo-friendly” offense.

Despite this, we still suggest to all Cowboys fans, “Getcha popcorn ready!”