Cowboys' draft raises even more concerns about offseason

The general consensus surrounding the Dallas Cowboys' 2022 draft class was negative.

And while Jerry Jones was boastfully proud of his own handiwork over the weekend, most feedback from scouts and analysts skewed in the exact opposite direction.

"This is the best I've ever seen us work in a draft with a combination of how we ended up with these players," Jones claimed after Saturday's finale.

"I think we did a really good job of working through our board."

Dallas spent its first overall pick on Tyler Smith, a former Tulsa offensive tackle who received high grades on the big boards, but had question marks surrounding his first-round potential due to his high propensity for penalties. The 6-5, 324-pound lineman was the most penalized player in D-I football last season, racking up 16 total flags, including 12 for holding.

Jones' front office followed up on the Smith selection by nabbing Ole Miss edge rusher Sam Williams, speedy receiver Jalen Tolbert, tight end Jake Ferguson, 6-8 tackle Matt Waletzko, cover man DaRon Bland, linebacker Damone Clark, defensive tackle John Ridgeway, and Oklahoma State LB Devin Harper.

The squad made nine total picks in seven rounds of work, and according to head coach Mike McCarthy, got "a lot better" in the process.

"Draft and develop is the bloodline of how you want to build your team inside and out," he told reporters after their weekend finished. "We drafted nine players. That’s very important. These guys, I think are obviously very talented, all are very good fits for how we want to play."

Several outside onlookers disagree.

ESPN's Mel Kiper Jr. and USA Today both graded Dallas second-worst of all 32 teams for their performance throughout the affair, while a number of other outlets refused to go higher than a "C+" in their evaluations.

Shannon Sharpe dipped lower than that, stating Monday on "Undisputed" that he believed Dallas deserved a "D" for its efforts.

"I started to go ‘F,'" Sharpe admitted.

"Is Mike McCarthy responsible for this bull jive? I sure hope not. This was awful. If you're going to take an offensive lineman, take the one out of Iowa, Tyler Linderbaum. The Cowboys haven't been able to run the football since [center] Travis Frederick retired. They were strong up the middle. Jerry says he wants guys that are available. Most of these guys are one, two years away! He took a guy [in Damone Clark] that had spinal fusion surgery.

"As good a draft as you've ever had? What? I thought they reached for a lot of players. Guys they got in the second round, they probably could've gotten in the third or fourth. The Eagles and Giants drafted well. They got ‘A’ players. The Cowboys? No."

Skip Bayless wrote down a "D-" in his figurative grade book.

"I can't begin to defend it."

"When Mel Kiper Jr. gives you a ‘C+’, you stink. He said, ‘this class just has too many unknowns.' Mel thinks Sam Williams would've been there at least a round later. He says Jalen Tolbert is still raw, and this is a ‘risky group.’ So how can I give them a break? 

"By all accounts, when in doubt, Tyler Smith just bear hugs. And Dallas was the most penalized team in all of football last year. They set the franchise record against San Francisco for playoff penalties in a game. I think Jerry Jones had all his players ticketed exactly where they fell in the draft. They didn't trade up or trade back. That's a stupid thing, because you have to react to what's happening above you. If Jimmy Johnson had gone into the 1990 draft with that mindset, they wouldn't have gotten Emmitt Smith. They had it in stone what they were going to do."

Colin Cowherd detested the Cowboys' first-round pick as well, and went on to criticize the team’s offseason as a whole.

"Dallas had a really poor offseason, not good," he said Friday on "The Herd."

"And Dallas got suddenly very defensive when asked about drafting Tyler Smith. Jerry Jones also loved Jaylon Smith's contract. He's no longer on a team, and Ezekiel Elliott's contract, he's a current albatross.  He loved Dak [Prescott's] contract, which by the way is a $49 million cap hit next year, and he also defended Mike McCarthy. That draw that ran out the clock last year was really bad.

"They got fleeced in the Amari Cooper deal. And for all that production they lost last year, they got a tackle from Tulsa. Randy Gregory, Cedrick Wilson, La'el Collins, Connor Williams."

Analysts are much more doubtful than optimistic about Dallas after this draft.

But the exact opposite is true for the folks behind the scenes in the Big D. For them, they're eager to begin building this new regime as the 2022 season draws closer.