Meet The 2016 Cowboys

Today is Labor Day.  Most people will be taking off work, but in honor of the idea that the NFL most certainly will not be doing that sort of thing, I wanted to give you something to read.  

This is a blog entry that will get bookmarked for historical reference as we rollout what we assume is the best example of the 2016 team picture.  Yes, technically, a guy like Jameill Showers made the team (as he was on the 53 at the moment the final 53 was turned into the league office), and Mark Sanchez did not, but I usually allow 24 hours to pass before I declare it finally final.

But, now the dust has settled and the Cowboys have not had any transactions since Saturday afternoon when they brought in Mark Sanchez, so this is what I am calling their final 53.  

As you will see below, they did the normal 25 offense, 25 defense, and 3 specialists to get to their 53 man roster, but I think we can observe that based on their current situation of dealing with some suspensions and, of course, the odd Tony Romo situation, they have had to go heavy in a few spots and light in a few others.  

For instance, this is the 10th year I have done this study, and we have never seen the Cowboys go with 6 Running Backs.  Yes, those 2 fullbacks are both pretty much exclusive special teams spots, but when you add in the Darren McFadden NFI list entry, you can see that this team has a logjam here and are merely putting off the eventuality of having to trim it down further.  I imagine Darius Jackson will be covering every kick as if his career depends upon it, too, because for now, it likely does.

Also, since the Cowboys moved to the 4-3, they have never gone so light at Defensive Line and so light at offensive line.  The chart from 2014 shows that they had 20 linemen on their final 53, but in 2016 they only have 16.  Eight on the OL is understandable because they have several who can play multiple positions:  Zack Martin could play tackle, La'el Collins could play tackle, and Ron Leary can play any of the inside three, and Joe Looney can, too.  But, eight on the DL seems a bit crazy, especially with reports that Charles Tapper hasn't returned to full health.  That means they plan on Sunday being at just seven DL which hurts plans of a rotation and freshness, and also leaves you so thin if someone gets hurt in the 1st half.  I realize they have two suspended DL to bring in later, but getting through September seems like a hold-your-breath scenario - unless they have plans to rectify that today or tomorrow.

10 defensive backs is awfully heavy, too.  Dax Swanson is probably the 53rd spot on the roster, but for now, the unlikely free agent rookie has made it.  Great story for him to enjoy for a few hours before he sweats every minute as he tries to hang on.  JJ Wilcox was a surprise to some, and he may be the 52nd man on the roster.  Also, the Tony Romo roster-spot decision is another way to free up a spot, but you can understand their reluctance to do so as they would lose him until November (which might be a great idea anyway, but it hurts). 

OFFENSE (25)

Position	Starter	Backup	3rd/4th String
QB	Dak Prescott	Mark Sanchez	Tony Romo - INJ
RB	Ezekiel Elliott	Alfred Morris	Lance Dunbar, Darius Jackson
FB	Rod Smith	Keith Smith
TE	Jason Witten	Gavin Escobar	Geoff Swaim
WR	Dez Bryant	Brice Butler	Lucky Whitehead
WR	Terrance Williams	Cole Beasley
LT	Tyron Smith	Chaz Green
LG	La'el Collins	Ron Leary
C	Travis Frederick	Joe Looney
RG	Zack Martin
RT	Doug Free

DEFENSE (25)

Position	Starter	Backup	3rd/4th String
LDE	Benson Mayowa	Charles Tapper
DT 3	Tyrone Crawford	Maliek Collins
DT 1	Cedric Thornton	Terrell McClain
RDE	Jack Crawford	David Irving
WLB	Sean Lee	Damien Wilson	Andrew Gachkar
MLB	Anthony Hitchens	Mark Nzeocha
SLB	Kyle Wilber	Justin Durant
CB	Brandon Carr	Anthony Brown	Dax Swanson
FS	Byron Jones	Jeff Heath	Kevon Frazier
SS	Barry Church	JJ Wilcox
CB	Orlando Scandrick	Morris Claiborne

SPECIAL TEAMS (3)

Position	Starter
K	Dan Bailey
P	Chris Jones
LS	LP Ladouceur

And then here is the chart that demonstrates how many the team has put at each positional group on this day over the last decade:

Position	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016
QB	2	2	3	3	3	3	2	3	2	3
RB	5	4	4	5	4	4	4	4	5	6
TE	3	3	3	2	4	3	4	3	4	3
WR	6	5	5	5	5	6	5	5	5	5
OL	10	11	10	10	10	9	9	9	9	8
DL	6	6	6	7	7	7	10	11	10	8
LB	7	8	9	9	7	8	6	7	6	7
DB	11	11	9	9	9	10	10	8	9	10
ST	3	3	4	3	4	3	3	3	3	3
Total	53	53	53	53	53	53	53	53	53	53

It is a better roster than last year, in my opinion.  The Cowboys have appeared to have avoided the "lost for the year" injury this preseason.  In 2014, it was Sean Lee and in 2015 it was Orlando Scandrick.  The Romo thing isn't far off, but the belief that he can still make 10 starts seems alive in the front office.  I am not sure how that should make you feel, given their propensity to rush him back before he is right.

Last year, they had Joseph Randle, Nick Hayden, and JJ Wilcox all starting.   They have been replaced with substantial upgrades in Ezekiel Elliott, Cedric Thornton, and Byron Jones.  That is really impressive, if you look at it from that direction.  Now, with the exception of the DeMarcus Lawrence suspension, I would argue that LB is the only place where you don't have enough talent in the starting lineup to be called "league average".  And that gets fixed quite a bit when Jaylon Smith gets healthy.

The group doesn't look so great in the first few weeks, but if you can add Tony Romo and DeMarcus Lawrence, while keeping everyone else available (tough to do), then you can see how this team can win its division if it gets a bounce of the ball here or there.

While we are rolling here, let's examine one more chart.  This one shows the build from a year-by-year perspective.  In other words, how the Cowboys added to get to the spot they are now.

YEAR	DRAFT PICKS	FREE AGENTS/TRADES	UNDRAFTED COLLEGE FAs
2016 (14)	Ezekiel Elliott, Jaylon Smith, Maliek Collins, Charles Tapper, Dak Prescott, Darius Jackson, Anthony Brown, Kevon Frazier	Mark Sanchez, Alfred Morris, Benson Mayowa, Cedric Thornton, Joe Looney	Dax Swanson
2015 (13)	Byron Jones, Randy Gregory, Chaz Green, Damien Wilson, Geoff Swaim, Mark Nzeocha	Andrew Gachkar, Keith Smith, Brice Butler, David Irving, Rod Smith, Darren McFadden	La'el Collins, Lucky Whitehead
2014 (5)	Zack Martin, DeMarcus Lawrence, Anthony Hitchens	Terrell McClain, Jack Crawford
2013 (5)	Travis Frederick, Gavin Escobar, Terrance Williams, JJ Wilcox		Jeff Heath
2012 (8)	Morris Claiborne, Tyrone Crawford, Kyle Wilber, James Hanna (PUP)	Brandon Carr	Cole Beasley, Ron Leary, Lance Dunbar
2011 (3)	Tyron Smith		Chris Jones, Dan Bailey
2010 (3)	Dez Bryant, Sean Lee		Barry Church
2009
2008 (1)	Orlando Scandrick
2007 (1)	Doug Free
2006
2005 (1)		LP Ladocuer
2004
2003 (2)	Jason Witten		Tony Romo
53	31	15	10

I think "homegrown" is often easily linked to long-term success.  As I keep this number over the years, it has been encouraging to see it grow.  And here, with 31 draft picks and 10 college free agents who have never played anywhere in the NFL but Dallas, the Cowboys have 41 homegrown players which puts them into the top third of the league.  

Now, the trick is to continue to hit on picks at a higher rate, because right now, the 2011, 2012, and 2013 drafts look pretty slim, in terms of keepers.  Those players would hopefully be your core as their ages should range between 24 and 27 years old if they were in those drafts.  And 2014's draft class is already down to just 3 players, too.  

2015 and 2016 look better, but we must let time pass before we declare 2016 the best draft of the decade.  Time usually tells us all we need to know.  

So there is your look at the roster from a number of angles.  Now, go enjoy your day.  

We are in Week 1!!!!

How The Dallas Stars Were Built

Tracing the roots of each player in the Dallas Stars organization is a little more complex than it is with the Cowboys, but I wanted to do it anyway.

The reason, of course, is that in the NHL, the draft precedes the player to the NHL by a few years (usually).  And for that reason, we have to wait to credit for picks and it can often be difficult to distinguish a clear view of things from GM to GM.

But, here you go.

The top green portion is Jim Nill.  Then, White is Joe Nieuwendyk, Grey is Les Jackson/Brett Hull, and the bottom Green is the remainder of Doug Armstrong.

There are no Armstrong players left, but he did oversee the 2007 draft which many attribute credit to Les Jackson for, but it was before Jackson was actually the GM.  Confused?

So, even though each draft is put in with the next season, Armstrong deserves credit for Jamie Benn's draft - despite not really credited with very good drafts during his tenure.

YEAR	DRAFT PICKS	FREE AGENTS	TRADES
2015-16	Denis Guryanov	Antti Niemi, Johnny Oduya	Patrick Sharp, Stephen Johns, Kris Russell
2014-15	Julius Honka	Patrick Eaves, Ales Hemsky	Jason Spezza, Jason Demers, Mattias Janmark, Travis Moen
2013-14	Val Nichushkin, Jason Dickinson,		Tyler Seguin
2012-13	Radek Faksa, Esa Lindell, Devin Shore	Antoine Roussel	Cody Eakin
2011-12	Jamie Oleksiak, Brett Ritchie	Jordie Benn, Vern Fiddler	Alex Goligoski
2010-11	Jack Campbell, Patrick Nemeth, John Klingberg		Kari Lehtonen
2009-10	Curtis McKenzie
2008-09
2007-08
2006-07	Jamie Benn, Colton Sceviour
Totals	9 via Draft	7 via Free Agency	9 via Trades

Also, if you are going to do this chart, you better recognize one particular date - November 18, 2011 - when Tom Gaglardi bought the Stars.  Before that, they were being run by the NHL for quite a while and a real financial mess - which is any general manager's worst nightmare.  And before that, were several uninspired years of Tom Hicks trying to sell the team and not spend a dollar more than he had to spend.

Regardless, it is fun to look at how this team has been assembled as it grows from a league joke to a league power in short order.

How the Redskins Were Built

As I will do, today I thought we should take a look at the annual build of the NFC East Champions (amazing!) Washington Redskins.  

They have surely had many people building this thing, with Dan Snyder willing to try a fresh approach to everything but the team nickname.  So, the color changes below indicate GM changes.  We have 3 distinct eras to consider.

2015 - GM Scot McCloughan - HC Jay Gruden  - Yellow

2010-2014 - GM Bruce Allen with both HC Mike Shanahan  and then HC Jay Gruden in 2014 - in white

1999-2009 - GM Vinny Cerrito with numerous HC's - Norv Turner, Terry Robiskie, Marty Schottenheimer, Steve Spurrier, Joe Gibbs, Jim Zorn back in Yellow.

YEAR	DRAFT PICKS	FREE AGENTS/TRADES	UNDRAFTED COLLEGE FAs
2015 (26)	G Brandon Scherff, LB Preston Smith, RB Matt Jones,  WR Jamison Crowder, G Arie Kouandijo,  SS Kyshoen Jarrett	DT Terrance Knighton,  DE Ricky Jean-Francois, DT Stephen Paea, CB Chris Culliver, T Ty Nsekhe, TE Alex Smith, TE Marcel Jensen, RB Pierre Thomas, LB Carlos Fields, LB Mason Foster, CB Cary Williams, CB Jeremy Harris, SS Jeron Johnson, FS Dashon Goldson, CB Will Blackmon, CB DaShaun Phillips, K Dustin Hopkins	LB Houston Bates, DB Quinton Dunbar, CB DeShazor Everett
2014 (13)	T Morgan Moses,  LB Trent Murphy, CB Bashaud Breeland, T Spencer Long, WR Ryan Grant,	DT Jason Hatcher, WR Desean Jackson, WR Rashad Ross, QB Colt McCoy, DT Frank Kearse,  P Tress Way, G Shawn Lauvao	DE Jackson Jeffcoat
2013 (3)	TE Jordan Reed, RB Chris Thompson		LB Will Compton
2012  (7)	QB Robert Griffin, C Josh LeRibeus, T Tom Compton, QB Kirk Cousins, RB Alfred Morris, LB Keenan Robinson	WR Pierre Garcon
2011 (3)	LB Ryan Kerrigan, TE Niles Paul	DT Chris Baker
2010 (5)	T Trent Williams, LB Perry Riley,	C Kory Lichtensteiger, LS Nick Sundberg	TE Logan Paulsen
2009 (1)			FB Darryl Young
2008  (1)		CB DeAngelo Hall
2007
2006 (1)	DE Kedric Golston
60	24	29	7

What sticks out is this:  The Redskins have 26 new players in the 1st year of their new General Manager.  That is not that uncommon for a new GM, but to win a division in that same year of upheaval is really something impressive.

The other thing is that the Redskins are ok in the "Homegrown" category.  History generally shows the more players you have as homegrown, the better.  They are not from other organizations.  They are exclusively only yours.  They have not played elsewhere.

In the NFC East, the best homegrown team is Dallas at 38.  They have 26 drafted and 12 undrafted free agents on their 53.  That is really good.

Washington is at 31 and that number will only go up (24 + 7).  The Giants are at 29 right now (22 +7) and the Eagles are last in the division after Chip Kelly's run at just 25 (20 + 5).

Obviously, all of these teams are looking for sustainability.  And none of them, in the NFC East seem to have a grasp for it.  The Redskins are on top right now, but they had a last place finish in 2014 and 2013.  The Eagles have missed the playoffs the last 2 years.  The Giants have not been to the playoffs since they won the Super Bowl in 2011.  And, of course, your Cowboys have 1 playoff berth in the last 6 seasons.

So, sustainability is required to say anyone is on the right path.  Therefore, the NFC East doesn't appear to have a definitive leader at the moment.

HOW THE COWBOYS WERE BUILT

HOW THE EAGLES WERE BUILT

HOW THE GIANTS WERE BUILT

How the 2015 Cowboys Were Built

YEAR	DRAFT PICKS	FREE AGENTS/TRADES	UNDRAFTED COLLEGE FAs
2015 (17)	Byron Jones, Randy Gregory, Chaz Green (PUP), Damien Wilson, Ryan Russell,  Geoff Swaim	Greg Hardy, Darren McFadden, Corey White, Andrew Gachkar, Danny McCray, Keith Smith, Charles Brown, Brice Butler, Christine Michael	La'el Collins, Lucky Whitehead
2014 (13)	Zack Martin, DeMarcus Lawrence, Anthony Hitchens, Devin Street, Ken Bishop	Terrell McClain, Jeremy Mincey, Rolando McClain, Brandon Weeden,  Jack Crawford	Davin Coleman,  Tyler Patmon
2013 (8)	Travis Frederick, Gavin Escobar, Terrance Williams, JJ Wilcox, Joseph Randle	Nick Hayden, Tyler Clutts	Jeff Heath
2012 (9)	Morris Claiborne, Tyrone Crawford, Kyle Wilber, James Hanna	Mackenzy Bernardeau, Brandon Carr	Cole Beasley, Ron Leary, Lance Dunbar
2011 (3)	Tyron Smith		Chris Jones, Dan Bailey
2010 (3)	Dez Bryant, Sean Lee		Barry Church
2009
2008 (1)	Orlando Scandrick (IR)
2007 (1)	Doug Free
2006
2005 (1)		LP Ladocuer
2004
2003 (2)	Jason Witten		Tony Romo
53	26	19	12

How the Eagles Were Built

YEAR	DRAFT PICKS	FREE AGENTS/TRADES	UNDRAFTED COLLEGE FAs
2015 (15)	Nelson Agholor, Eric Rowe, Jordan Hicks	DeMarco Murray, Miles Austin, Sam Bradford, Seyi Ajirotutu, Ryan Matthews, Stephen Morris, Kiko Alonso, Walter Thurmond, Byron Maxwell,  EJ Biggers, Brad Jones	Denzel Rice
2014 (17)	Marcus Smith, Jordan Matthews, Josh Huff, Beau Allen, Taylor Hart	Andrew Gardner, Mark Sanchez, Darren Sproles, Kenjon Barner, Nolan Carroll, Malcolm Jenkins, Bryan Braman, Chris Maragos, Jerome Couplin, Cody Parkey	Josh Andrews, Trey Burton
2013 (8)	Lane Johnson, Bennie Logan, Zach Ertz,	Allen Barbre, Connor Barwin, Brandon Bair, Donnie Jones	Matt Tobin
2012 (5)	Fletcher Cox, Dennis Kelly, Vinnie Curry, Mychal Kendricks	DeMeco Ryans
2011 (3)	Jason Kelce, Julian Vandervelde		Cedric Thornton
2010 (2)	Brandon Graham, Riley Cooper
2009 (1)		Jason Peters
2008
2007 (1)	Brent Celek
2006 (1)		Jon Dorenbos
53	20 Draftees	28 Free Agents	5 College Free Agents

How the Giants Were Built

The Giants have "home-grown" 29 of their 58 players (4 on the IR and Jason Pierre Paul is still on the ledger for now).  This compares favorably to the Philadelphia Eagles (25), but quite unfavorably to the Cowboys (38).

Tom Coughlin is the only coach Eli Manning has ever had, and although Ernie Accorsi was the GM until 2006 (and engineered the Eli Manning trade - at least the part Archie Manning didn't), Jerry Reese is one of the longer-tenured General Managers in the NFL, having been at the helm since 2007 and with the lone exception of Manning, has built this entire team.

YEAR	DRAFT PICKS	FREE AGENTS/TRADES	UNDRAFTED COLLEGE FAs
2015 (23)	Ereck Flowers, Landon Collins, Bobby Hart, Geremy Davis, Owa Odighizuwa, Mykkele Thompson IR	Dwayne Harris, Marshall Newhouse, Myles White, Shane Vereen, JT Thomas, Craig Dahl, Louis Nix, Jonathan Casillas, Brandon Meriweather, Trevin Wade, Brandon McGee, Jasper Brinkley, Leon McFadden, George Selvie, Brad Wing	Will Tye, Justin Currie IR
2014 (15)	Odell Beckham, Weston Richburg, Devon Kennard, Andre Williams, Jay Bromley	Geoff Schwartz, Rashad Jennings, Nikita Whitlock, John Jerry, Orleans Darkwa, Robert Ayers, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, Daniel Fells IR	Kerry Wynn, Uani Unga,
2013 (9)	Justin Pugh, Johnathan Hankins, Ryan Nassib, Damontre Moore	Cullen Jenkins, Dallas Reynolds, Jon Beason, Trumaine McBride, Josh Brown
2012 (4)	Rueben Randle, Markus Kuhn, Jayron Hosley		Larry Donnell
2011 (2)	Prince Amukamara		Mark Herzlich
2010 (2)	Jason Pierre-Paul*		Victor Cruz
2009 (1)	Will Beatty IR
2008
2007 (1)	Zak Deossie
2006
2005
2004 (1)		Eli Manning
58	22 Draftees	29 Free Agents	7 College Free Agents

As you can see, 38 players have been there since 2014 or less, and although they only have 7 UDFAs, they have hit pretty big on Victor Cruz and Larry Donnell.  Meanwhile, the 2012 1st round pick of David Wilson and his injury that caused his retirement has put them in a bit of a jam.

Again, I keep these for personal use to see when contracts are coming up and how a team sees its roster, and figured a few of you might enjoy scanning this as well.

We are almost ready for another big divisional battle.

How the Cowboys were Built, 2015 version

Team-building is a very important study in today's NFL to see if your franchise is going about things in the right way.  That accepted way, it seems, is to build through the draft, churn your roster with homegrown talent, try to only use free agency as a fortification and not the actual foundation, and to keep the age of your talent that you pay premium dollars young so that they may perform at an elite level.

So, every year - both early in camp and right before Week 1, I like to examine how the Dallas Cowboys are built.  I try to assemble the chart you will see below to provide some context about how a modern NFL team (or, at least this particular NFL team) is built.

The first thing we do is we figure out how each player is acquired (and in what year).  They fall into 3 different categories, although that was only done for simplicity.  Just about every player takes a different path to the league and many are the non-traditional routes.  Traditional, of course, would be through the draft or the players who are signed by a team after the draft.  Those are labeled as Undrafted College Free Agents and over the years the Cowboys have excelled at finding pieces through that method, including their franchise QB Tony Romo, their defensive leader, Barry Church, their slot receiver, Cole Beasley, and a starting guard, Ron Leary.  And that doesn't even mention a kicker and a punter who are both solid, with Dan Bailey being amongst the better kickers in the league.

Meanwhile, the draft is where the teams that win have built most of their squad, and the Cowboys are certainly making every effort to make this their principle mode of acquisition - something that wasn't working out for them much in the Wade Phillips era.

Of the 60 names listed below, 29 are Cowboys Draft Picks.  That includes 8 from the 2015 draft, so they have yet to actually make the squad, but we will give them the benefit of the doubt for this exercise in early August  Add that to the 12 college free agents who have already made a Cowboys roster at least once, and you have 41 as your "homegrown" number.  That is actually a very healthy number that Dallas should be happy about - but, of course, that doesn't measure the quality of the 41.  For instance, are their enough stars in that group?  Are they starting quality at least?  And, since making an NFL roster is different in each city because of the relative strength of each particular franchise, how hard is it to make the Cowboys team in 2015?

Free Agency and trades were the calling card of the Jerry Jones Cowboys in the 1990s with large level acquisitions.  In the decade that followed, there were still some big moments, including one that you could easily suggest still hurts them (Roy Williams trade of 2008 which gutted the 2009 draft), but for the most part, you can see that aside from Brandon Carr (5 years/$50m - signed in March of 2012), they really have nobody on their roster who was a big money/asset acquisition from another team.  Almost every other free agent acquisition the Cowboys have made in the last several years has been for a very low amount of money.  Greg Hardy is a slight exception, but the total cash outlay for him is still likely to sit at around $10m for 2015, so unless they sign him to a multi-year deal, Carr remains the only massive free agency deal in the Jason Garrett era.  That is enough to argue that the Cowboys only use free agency as a supplement to their homegrown efforts, not as a crutch as some teams do.

Now, let's discuss the colors of the chart below.  Those colors represent the different head coaching regimes.  The upper silver is Jason Garrett (2011-2015) even though Garrett also had part of 2010, the players listed were brought in under Wade because Phillips was the head coach in the spring when the draft and free agency occur.  Wade Phillips is the blue region (2007-2010).  Wade had some good teams, but the 2007-2010 personnel-acquisiton performance was about as poor as it gets - especially if you just zero in on 2007-2009.  Brutal.  It is easy to see why the Cowboys needed to rebuild in so heavily to begin the Garrett era.

Then, the bottom silver is Bill Parcells.  His group was nearly cleaned out in the last 24 months with the exits of Jay Ratliff, DeMarcus Ware, Miles Austin, and Jason Hatcher.  But, given that this is about to be the 9th season post-Parcells, his impact speaks for itself.  Especially since Jason Witten and Tony Romo both go back to his 1st year in office.

Check out the newest version of the chart below:

YEAR	DRAFT PICKS	FREE AGENTS/TRADES	UNDRAFTED COLLEGE FAs
2015 (15+)	Jones, Gregory, Green, Wilson, Russell, Gibson, Swaim, Nzeochoa	Hardy, McFadden, White, Brinkley, Gachkar, McCray*	Collins, Many
2014 (16)	Martin, Lawrence, Hitchens, Street, Gardner, Bishop	T McClain, Mincey, R McClain, Weeden, Boatright, Edwards, J Crawford	D Coleman,  Patmon, Vaughn
2013 (8)	Frederick, Escobar, T Williams, Wilcox, Randle	Hayden, Clutts	Heath
2012 (10)	Claiborne, Crawford, Wilber, Hanna	Bernardeau, Carr, Weems	Beasley, Leary, Dunbar
2011 (3)	Tyron Smith		Chris Jones, Dan Bailey
2010 (3)	Dez Bryant, Sean Lee		Barry Church
2009
2008 (1)	Orlando Scandrick
2007 (1)	Doug Free
2006
2005 (1)		LP Ladocuer
2004
2003 (2)	Jason Witten		Tony Romo

Since our last version in 2014, we have taken down the following 24 names:

2014: T Mitchell, A Dixon, Will Smith, Henry Melton, Hanie, R Williams, A Okoye
2013: Devonte Holloman, BW Webb, George Selvie, Justin Durant, Martez Wilson, Orie Lemon, Ceasar Rayford, Cam Lawrence, Jakar Hamilton.
2012: Matt Johnson, Sterling Moore, Ben Bass
2011: Dwayne Harris, Bruce Carter, DeMarco Murray
2010: Jermey Parnell
2007: Anthony Spencer

Here is the 2013 version of this study if you like to see the progress from each season.

There are two names above that are special cases.  Will Smith was taken off the chart because he did not make the 2014 team, but he is back in camp now in 2015 with another chance.  And Danny McCray, who left the Cowboys for a season in Chicago, is now back and expected to anchor down a special teams and safety spot.  But, he must now go down as a "2015 free agent signing".

60 players are listed above and those players are either players who have made the team in 2014 or draft picks/signings from 2015 who are likely to be on the squad.  Obviously, other bodies at camp could make the team and only 53 will make it overall, so I will run this chart again after final cuts.  But, this is a good exercise to see where they are before the cuts must be made.

There is no doubt this is Jason Garrett's roster.  3 Parcells players remain and only 5 Wade players are left, too.  That leaves 49 players who have been here for 3 seasons or less.  That is right, only 11 players on the Dallas Cowboys were here before the 2012 training camp that occurred just 36 months ago.  And as amazing as it sounds, 31 players who have only been since the 2014 training camp.  Let this be a lesson about the length of your average NFL career.  They happen in the blink of an eye for most every player in the league.  It is only the outliers who get to 8 or 10 seasons in pro football.

It also shows you the 4-year rolling window of roster building. Because most NFL rookies are on 4-year contracts, you can see how every year you must declare your intentions from the draft class of 4 years ago. For instance, in the spring the Cowboys had to decide about the 2011 draftees who were still with the club. They kept Tyron Smith (who technically had a 5-year rookie deal and then signed the 8yr/$97.8m extension), the punter Chris Jones (3 yr/$4.2m), and the kicker Dan Bailey (7 yr/$22.5m) but passed on extending others from the class of 2011 - Bruce Carter, DeMarco Murray, and Dwayne Harris.

Right now, they are making decisions on the class of 2012.  Do they wish to keep Morris Claiborne, Tyrone Crawford, Kyle Wilber, James Hanna, Lance Dunbar, Ron Leary, and Cole Beasley past this season?  If so, extensions need to be decided upon.  They already extended Beasley in the spring (4yr, $13.6m) and passed on Claiborne's 5th year option (Mo can still be kept, but this year will prove everything about his future).  We shall see if they wait until March on everyone else, but I think Tyrone Crawford is the biggest priority here by a mile to try to get something done - preferably before he busts out this year and the price goes up quickly.

The Cowboys have a young, talented roster that is further fortified by a massive intake of talent in 2015 that includes many potential blue-chippers from the '15 draft class, including Jones, Gregory, and Collins.  They have positioned themselves pretty well with the salary cap where they are paying players who are difference makers in the present tense - not paying players for past performance who are on the wrong side of 30 years old.  For the most part, they have invested in franchise altering players like Tyron Smith and Dez Bryant along with the 2 old-timers who have helped carry this thing for more than a decade: Tony Romo and Jason Witten.

We will revisit this when they get down to 53, but you can see how the Cowboys are now beginning to resemble those top franchises that are always credited with home-grown, built-through-the-draft rosters.  The front office appears to be getting it done the right way.

The Morning After - 2013 NFC Divisional Round - Beat Down Football

Just 3 games remain in the 2013 NFL season, so get yourself prepared for something else to occupy your time (like the NFL Combine, NFL Free Agency, and the NFL Draft) because this thing is coming down to its conclusion quite quickly.  And as we continue our annual exercise of following the NFC side of the playoffs with a close eye of examination, the trends that are appearing before our eyes continue to explain the difference to many of us between teams that are still playing and teams that are already a few weeks into their time on Mexican beaches.

And to me, as we ponder the Seattle Seahawks hosting the San Francisco 49ers in one week to determine which one of these teams will represent the NFC - against either AFC team that will surely be favored to win because of a living-legend playing QB - the ties that bind these two teams is unmistakeable.

First, it suggests that the playoff format generally determines with reasonable clarity who the best two teams are.  I know there has been plenty of gnashing of teeth over the idea that the 12-win 49ers had to go play 8-win Green Bay at their place, but the contenders seemed to roll over the pretenders with relative clarity in these playoffs, and sometimes the two best teams may play in the same division.  At the same time, unless you want to easily fix this whole thing by dropping the divisions altogether, play a 16 game schedule that includes playing 15 games against the other 15 opponents in the conference and one extra "rival" game (Packers-Bears, Cowboys-Redskins, etc) or one special inter conference game (Jets-Giants, 49ers-Raiders, Cowboys-Texans), then I think you have to keep it how it is.  By the way, I would green light the balanced schedule and no divisions in a heart-beat, but I am sure that is the English Soccer fan in me speaking up.  The point is that if you are going to play schedules where the NFC West teams play a schedule that is not similar at all to NFC South teams, then I would not approve of giving Wildcard champs a better seed than divisional champs as a general rule.  If San Francisco is truly a better side, they can prove it on the field - Like they just did.

That is perhaps a lesson learned over the years by fans of the modern NFL.  Nobody disputes that given the choice, you would certainly rather be the home team in a playoff game, but the last several years show that there is no amount of crowd noise or funny signs or even Mom's home cooking that can overcome the superiority of an opponent.  Look at those home records since 2005.  Road teams that get on a roll can go all the way to the Super Bowl - sometimes because they are just the better team (back to the best wildcard team being better than several division winners).  Notice below how many times in the 1990s where the home teams were 8-2 in a playoff season.  Then, note how many times the playoff records are 5-5 or 6-4 these days.  Parity.

Year	Home Record	AFC Seeds	NFC Seeds
1990	8-2	1* vs 2	1 vs 2*
1991	8-2	1* vs 2	1* vs 2
1992	5-5	2 vs 4*	1 vs 2*
1993	8-2	1* vs 3	1* vs 2
1994	8-2	1 vs 2*	1* vs 2
1995	7-3	2* vs 5	1* vs 3
1996	8-2	2* vs 5	1* vs 2
1997	6-4	2 vs 4*	1 vs 2*
1998	8-2	1* vs 2	1 vs 2*
1999	7-3	1 vs 4*	1* vs 2
2000	8-2	2 vs 4*	1* vs 2
2001	7-3	1 vs 2*	1* vs 3
2002	8-2	1* vs 2	1 vs 2*
2003	6-4	1* vs 3	1 vs 3*
2004	6-4	1 vs 2*	1* vs 2
2005	4-6	2 vs 6*	1* vs 5
2006	8-2	3* vs 4	1* vs 2
2007	5-5	1* vs 3	2 vs 5*
2008	5-5	2* vs 6	4* vs 6
2009	7-3	1* vs 5	1* vs 2
2010	4-6	2* vs 6	2 vs 6*
2011	8-2	1* vs 2	2 vs 4*
2012	6-4	2 vs 4*	1 vs 2*
2013	4-4	1 vs 2	1 vs 5

Table Tutorial

(* = Super Bowl Team)

But, that is merely a detail that historians might find interesting.  That doesn't discuss why the Seahawks and 49ers seem to have figured out how to deal with everyone in the NFC but each-other with relative ease if we look at 2012 and 2013 as a whole.  Since Nov 1, 2012, the Seattle Seahawks are 22-5 combined, while the 49ers have now been to 3 consecutive NFC Championship games and were obviously quite close to winning the Super Bowl last season.  Since the start of 2011 when they hired new coach Jim Harbaugh, San Francisco is an absurd 41-13-1.  He took over the franchise from Mike Singletary who was 18-22 in 40 games as the coach.

Pete Carroll took over the Seahawks before the 2010 season, when the team went 7-9, hosted a playoff game and got a win.  He is now 38-26 in the regular season as their coach and has a playoff win in 3 of his 4 years and will now host the NFC Championship game.  Before he got there, Mike Holmgren and Jim Mora, Jr were 9-23 in 2008-2009 running the same franchise.

Do Carroll and Harbaugh have some secret formula for reviving 2 franchises that were on the road to nowhere when they arrived?

No.  But, they seemed to agree when building a team.  Build with the toughest possible player you can find at every spot.  And then, over the course of 60 minutes, maul your opponent into submission.  Would they love to have the best QB in the league land in their laps?  Sure.  But, the fact that they both have built these franchises up (with plenty of help from the personnel departments) into unstoppable forces without the aid of Peyton Manning or some 40-TD QB is worth noting.  They had to build complete rosters with no weaknesses, and they seemed to have done it with shocking quickness through proper drafts and a philosophy that was consistent throughout the entire operations.

So, when you watched the Seahawks batter the Saints on Saturday, followed by the 49ers taking down a strong Carolina team on Sunday, I imagine, like me, you were struck by how strong and physical both of these franchises are, and how in all the playoff games they were in, their opponents could not stand up to that over 4 Quarters.

In fact, I might argue that while there are several elements to winning a football game, the most clear characteristic of these two teams is that they simply beat you up.  And while every team in the NFL has plenty of bullies on it who are not going to back down to a physical scrap, it sure looks like Seahawks GM John Schneider and 49ers GM Trent Baalke found coaches who fit their ideas, and then decided to load up players at all positions that are cut from the same cloth they so desire.

Look up and down the rosters in each city.  First the Seahawks; when you look at players like Marshawn Lynch, Golden Tate, Earl Thomas, Kam Chancellor, and of course, Richard Sherman, you see players that are either physically imposing or guys who play with a cocky, physical edge that just won't give in an inch.  And those are their "little" guys.  Those are RBs, WRs, CBs, and Safeties.  Think about that for a second, if they are going to have guys who are looking for someone to unload on at those positions, then what are their LBs, DEs, and OTs like?  Exactly.  And before long, it seems like you are trying to deal with an army of brutes who are all marching in lockstep to this philosophy of beating you to submission.  They roll depth at defensive line and linebackers that allows them to pay at a frenzied pace and a pass rush that makes the Saints almost not even attempt to run their normal offense.

Instead, the instinct for Sean Payton was to run the ball and to try to match physicality with the Seahawks based on the weather and what he thought the game called for.  So, here are the Saints with runs on the 1st two plays of nearly every single 1st half possession.  They wanted to try to grind it out with the Seahawks?  How does that compute?  If Seattle does this every week and you are going to try to do it this once, how do you think that will work out?  It didn't.  And New Orleans went home rather meekly.  It was 16-0 at halftime and Jimmy Graham looked like he would rather be anywhere than running through a secondary that was yelling and bumping into him all day.  The Saints looked uncomfortable the whole afternoon which is the entire design trait of the Seattle roster.

Which leads us to the industry standard in that category, San Francisco.  It is tough to say who came up with and carried out this idea first (Seattle or San Fran), but with Baalke and Harbaugh, it almost worked immediately.  Unlike Seattle, San Francisco had some elite players already in the building when the new regime took over, so to start with Patrick Willis, Justin Smith, Vernon Davis, and Michael Crabtree is a nice trick, but Baalke's 2010 and 2011 drafts are right up there with the 2 best back to back drafts any team has had in this generation.

In 2010, Anthony Davis, Mike Iupati, and Navorro Bowman were the headliners, and then in 2011, it was Aldon Smith and Colin Kaepernick.  The roster is built so solidly, and then unlike some of the other teams in the league who are allergic to free agency and trades (Ted Thompson), the 49ers grab Donte Whitner and Anquan Boldin to further add to the pile as players who again fit that profile of what 49ers football is all about.

Which, like Seattle, is to put as many pit bulls in the same place as possible and grind you into a fine powder.  Remember the small players in Seattle who set the attitude?  How does Frank Gore, Boldin, and even Kaepernick strike you there?  Teams that don't play that style every week (Green Bay) faces them in a street fight and we see the familiar results as they have taken down a speed/finesse offense 4 times in 2 years.

It is not QB-based football.  Both teams have fine young QBs, but neither is hardly ever at or above 20 completions in a game.  They don't throw the ball first and they don't love having to rally.  They use physical football as their weapon and philosophy, and as their record indicates, it is working really well.

Jim Harbaugh is 4-2 against Seattle, but his last 2 trips into Seattle have been two blowout losses by a combined score of 71-29.  Both teams are loaded with bullies up and down the roster. and will not back down, even to each other.

I think as you look at your team, the Dallas Cowboys, you have to ask yourself if the team has a unified philosophy that tells the league what you are all about.  Can a clear pattern be seen if someone watches you from afar and does that philosophy scare anyone?

Because the NFC right now is chasing these 2 teams.  And from the results in the last 2 years, the gap doesn't really seem like it is shrinking.

The meek may inherit the earth, but it sure doesn't seem like they are getting to the Super Bowl in the NFC.  There is nothing meek about these two teams that are left standing.