Dallas Cowboys Draft 2011: 'Boys Should Stay Put at the 9th Pick

Jerry Jones has a tendency to trade down when he doesn’t see a flashy name available for his picking, but this year he should stay at the ninth overall pick and do what makes sense for the team.

And what makes sense for the Dallas Cowboys?

You either draft somebody that can rush the passer or prevent your passer from the rush.

In layman’s terms—someone on your offensive line or a pass rusher on the defense’s front seven.

In year’s past, the Cowboys went after players in skill positions or ones who had the capability of making plays worthy of SportsCenter’s top 10 list.

Players like Dez Bryant, Felix Jones and Demarcus Ware are players that Jones selected and hit right on the nose.

Jones has also passed on quality players and traded down in the draft, only to be burned in the long run.

In 2004 the Cowboys held the 22nd overall pick and opted to trade it to the Buffalo Bills.

In a draft that many remember as the Cowboys’ blunder for not selecting Steven Jackson, they also missed on Chris Snee, who starts on the New York Giants’ offensive line.

In 2007 the Cowboys traded out of the 22nd overall pick again and eventually picked at 26 where they selected Anthony Spencer.

Although Spencer ended up overtaking Greg Ellis for the starting outside linebacker position, the Cowboys missed on prospects Joe Staley and Ben Grubbs—two solid offensive linemen.

The Cowboys haven’t drafted an offensive lineman in the first round since 1981.

But in recent years, when they draft a defensive pass rusher, for the most part they’ve gotten the pick right.

Anthony Spencer, Demarcus Ware and Greg Ellis have all had good-to-great careers as Cowboys.

So with the need at offensive tackle or defensive end, why is there so much talk about the Cowboys trading up or down?

LSU’s Patrick Peterson is the sexy pick of the draft, and is also deemed by many as the best player in the draft.

The possibility of jumping up to pick up Peterson would cost a lot.

If he goes in the top three picks, the Cowboys would have to trade their first-, second- and third-round draft picks to move that far in the draft.

If Peterson drops to picks four-through-eight, the Cowboys would need to trade away a first- and second-round pick to move into those spots.

To put it bluntly, the Cowboys can’t afford to trade away these valuable picks.

With aging players on both sides of the ball and question marks at others, there’s just too much risk in investing two or three draft picks in a single player.

Let alone investing that much in a cornerback.

In a quarterback league, one can argue that if the best player in the draft were a quarterback or even offensive tackle (to protect a quarterback) that such a jump would be justified.

But that’s not the case this year.

So why not trade down and obtain more draft picks?

The risk is what happened in 2004 and 2007—you miss out on quality players.

Of course, it depends on how far you trade down, but the Cowboys can’t afford to miss out on a franchise offensive tackle, defensive end or defensive tackle.

There are aging players like Marc Columbo and Kyle Kosier and holes at defensive end. If the Cowboys see a player that can start for them for the next seven years, they should take him.

Don’t get cute again and trade down for the next Julius Jones.

So what will the Cowboys do on April 28th?

Hopefully they make the right decision for the franchise. No need to make unnecessary moves to pick the next player that’ll sell jerseys.

Make the smart move and use that ninth pick to select someone that’ll complement your players at those skill positions for the next 10 years.