Dallas Cowboys' 2009 NFL Draft Review

Heading into the 2009 NFL Draft, the Dallas Cowboys were tied with the New England Patriots for the most picks with 12. The Cowboys were coming off a horrible season in which they were bounced from playoff contention in the final game of the regular season, losing to the Eagles 44-6.

The Cowboys did not have a pick in the first two rounds, because they dealt them to the Detroit Lions for Roy Williams. Below is a summary of each draft selection.

Third Round:

#69 LB Jason Williams, Western Illinois

Williams did very little in his two seasons with the Cowboys, playing in 10 games and recording just five tackles. He was eventually cut in 2010 and signed by the Carolina Panthers, where he had 16 tackles and a forced fumble in four games.

#75 Robert Brewster, Ball State 

Brewster has not played a single game in his two years with Dallas, but is still on the team and is expected to eventually provide a boost to an aging offensive line. He should get a chance to compete in camp to show he has improved during his two seasons riding the bench. 

Fourth Round:

#101 QB Stephen McGee, Texas A&M 

McGee didn't get much of a chance in his first season, but did play in two games last season, including one start. He was 22-44 for 238 yards and two TD's and no interceptions in his time under center, showing good poise in the pocket, and even orchestrated a fourth quarter comeback against the Arizona Cardinals. 

Because of McGee's maturity, the Dallas Cowboys will have to make a decision on whether to let Jon Kitna or McGee backup Tony Romo. 

#110 LB Victor Butler, Oregon State

Victor Butler has shown the ability to get to the quarterback in his limited action with the first team defense. In two seasons Butler has five sacks and has been great rushing off the edge, so much so that people have been saying Butler should play the outside linebacker spot opposite DeMarcus Ware on passing downs, spelling Anthony Spencer, who hasn't had more than six sacks in a single season.

#117 DE Brandon Williams, Texas Tech

Brandon Williams was converted to linebacker when he came to Dallas, but has sparingly played in his two years with the team. He played in six games last year, recording four tackles. 

Fifth Round

#156 S DeAngelo Smith, Cincinnati

DeAngelo Smith failed to break camp with the Cowboys in 2009, and was mostly known for losing a 60-yard dash to rookie Kicker David Buehler.

#166 S Micheal Hamlin, Clemson

Hamlin suffered a season ending injury in his first season with Dallas and was beat out for the starting safety position by Alan Ball last season. Hamlin was cut in October of last season.

#172 K David Buehler, USC

David Buehler had a terrific rookie season as the Cowboys kickoff specialist, leading the league in touchbacks. Last season he was the Cowboys full time kicker and went through some rookie pains, going 24-32 on field goals and 42-44 on extra points.

He will most likely be the Cowboys starting kicker next season, but not without some competition, as the Cowboys signed Kris Brown at the end of last season.

Sixth Round

#197 Stephen Hodge, TCU

Hodge suffered two knee injures in his rookie season and reached an injury settlement with the Cowboys.

#208 John Phillips, Virginia

Phillips played in all 16 games in his rookie season, mostly as a special-teamer and third tight end, but he caught seven balls for 62 yards. Last season he came into camp with high expectations, especially because Martellus Bennett had underachieved in 2009.

Unfortunately Phillips tore his ACL and sat out the season. He's has made a full recovery, even catching passes from Tony Romo this off-season. Expect him to be a part of the Dallas offense next season, even if its just blocking. 

Seventh Round  

#227 CB Mike Mickens, Cincinnati

Mickens never broke camp with the Dallas Cowboys and is now signed with the Cincinnati Bengals, but has yet to play an NFL game.  

#229 WR Manuel Johnson, Oklahoma

Johnson spent all of his rookie season and most of last season on the Cowboys practice squad. He played in the Cowboys season finale against the Eagles last season and had one reception for eight yards.

Final thoughts:

Jerry Jones constructed this draft to get guys who would be role players at the time, but would eventually grow to be starters or backups that would play a lot, but it hasn't worked so far. Besides McGee, Buehler and Phillips, everyone else has either been cut or hasn't played with the Cowboys.

This draft just shows that Jerry Jones has no idea what he's doing when it comes to drafting players. He needs to pay guys who can do the job for him and stay out of the way.