Save for trading up three spots to take South Florida's Mike Jenkins, the Cowboys stayed mostly conservative on the first day of the NFL Draft. Then Sunday came, and the Cowboys made five trades - yes, five - and acquired to '09 picks in the process.

They got their complementary running back (Felix Jones). They got their replacement for Anthony Fasano (Martellus Bennett). And they padded their cornerback corps with Pacman Jones, Jenkins and Boise State's Orlando Scandrick.

Let's start recapping: How do you grade the Cowboys' draft?

Grade: D, up from D-

We overpaid for Felix Jones, selecting a third down back in the first round? He is solid, just not worthy of #22

I hope Mike Jenkins is as good as I think he can be, regardless, an upgrade for our secondary. (Now just keep Adam Jones away from him)

Marcellus, meh, a small reach. 3rd rounder I thought. Let me see his blocking.

Scandrick, don't know much about him, but we can always use more CB's.

I would give us a B+ because of no wr. We pick up a veteran and we will be in great shape. The wr in the draft did not look great to me. We get caught up in this best available at his position media hype. The question is can he help your team of even make your team. Carpenter and even Burnett are players that give us depth but really no bang for the buck. Carpenter will be a free agent in a year or two and what has he done for us? He cost Jerry a few million to sit on the bench....Bill took care of a friend at Jerry's expense.

 

Felix and Jenkins will help right off the bat. The tight end has a year or two to develope in the league. You can't keep paying big salaries at every position...anybody know how much salary cap room we have left? Out spoken Chad could put us in the big game. We should have been there last year except for injuries to T.O. and Glenn... 

cowboynm:

I would give us a B+ because of no wr. We pick up a veteran and we will be in great shape. The wr in the draft did not look great to me. We get caught up in this best available at his position media hype. The question is can he help your team of even make your team. Carpenter and even Burnett are players that give us depth but really no bang for the buck. Carpenter will be a free agent in a year or two and what has he done for us? He cost Jerry a few million to sit on the bench....Bill took care of a friend at Jerry's expense.

 

Felix and Jenkins will help right off the bat. The tight end has a year or two to develope in the league. You can't keep paying big salaries at every position...anybody know how much salary cap room we have left? Out spoken Chad could put us in the big game. We should have been there last year except for injuries to T.O. and Glenn... 

Your assessment is pretty close to mine so I go with the B+ as well. I am not sure we will get the Vet WR, but I am guessing something is brewing on the Boys, either what we have is better than we know, or possible that trade is still beinng worked. Overall I think we achieved upgrades at RB, CB, and special teams without a doubt. I would not be surprised at all if Special Teams shows the greatest improvement next year. TE - for me it is had to tell as I watched Bennet play at A&M and was not overly impressed, but I will not discount that some of that could be the system under which he was in - his abilities and structure should would seem to indicate that better results should have been produced. However, I know from experience that good, even excellent players can be lost if the system is not  conducive to their style and/or abilities.Everyone knows this happens because if it did not you would not have the "no-name" players excelling at the next level as frequently happens.

I gave the Cowboys a C+, I felt they needed two RBs and two CBs and they came out with them, but I felt they needed a backup safety as well, mabye they make a move to get back in the draft and take one.

first round --- very strong "A" , second round "C-" or "D+" hard to tell right now ( i know they needed a TE after trading Fasano but is this guy teuely an upgrade ????? ) ,  2nd day = "C" , like the depth they acquired with the 2nd RB and CB ,  not much known about the OLB Walden , although his bio on the Mid.Tenn. St. page sounds like he could be a good fit at OLB although i would have rather seen Cliff Avril from Purdue taken earlier.... Overall i would say a good "C+"  or a lower "B -" although i agree that a WR should have been drafted in the 2nd round i'm really not that surprised that JJ didn't take one , after his comments the other day i got the feeling that if a deal was not made for a veteran none was gonna be drafted.......  i would have liked to seen a FB taken though in the later rounds......  I do like the fact that they got an additional 3rd and 4th next year.... 

Not to impressed overall with Jerry's selection. I have to give the Boys' a D+ for this draft. Too many missed oportunities in the 2nd round and too many trades to really fill questionable spots on the team.

I'm giving the Cowboys a B+. They addressed the need for CBs, got a playmaker in Felix Jones to spark up the offense (along with another RB to provide depth in the position), and they managed to replace Fasano with Bennett, a player who Wade compared to Antonio Gates. I would have liked the Cowboys to have drafted a WR in the later rounds to provide more competition for Sam Hurd or Miles Austin, but other than that it was a solid draft.

I would grade the draft as a b-.  I would of gave them an A if we got Mendenhall rather than Felix Jones and drafted a wide rec.  (Manngingham). 

I'd give the Cowboys a solid A. They picked up solid players and addressed their needs at RB and CB, those were the two biggest areas of concern going into the season. The WR position could have been addressed with Sweed or one of the other WR's but I don't think any of the WR's in the draft will make it as a true #1 WR. Mostly #3's. The Cowboys don't need guys who will learn, they already have those. We need guys like a Calivin Johnson who can come in and start immediately. There was no WR in the draft who gave them that.

d+ we drafted a 3rd down back in the first at 22 and when we find out barber is nothing but a closing back we'll have to look next years draft for a new starter.

I agree I am not happy with the draft either but I would give them higher than a D.  We should of got Mendenhall and drafted a wide rec.  ( I think Manningham is going to be pretty good.)

i'm still going back and forth on this one, i dunno if we did the right thing taking felix jones...i mean, he is the "perfect" compliment to marion barber, but do u use your 1st round pick on a very good back up??? mendenhall is more of a work horse but more of a one year wonder, other than that game against usc he didnt show much (then again, it was USC)...im just afraid this could be JJ and stephen jackson all over again... 

i have no problem NOT taking a WR....there wasn't a solid #1 out there, sure, a lot of talent but no more than #2 or #3 wideouts...who were they going to replace....our young recieving corps is good, we've invested money and time on these young recievers....we need to give them a shot an plus they are not going to go through a learning curve, they already know what it is to play in the pros... 

I give the Cowboys a B.  The pickup of two RB's and two CB's is all that mattered to me.  In the end I do not believe Barber will be back next year...  Even 30 Mil is too steep a price for him.  Receiving extra picks next year was a bonus, especially if Pacman works out we've just recouped our fourth.   Let's keep in mind we drafted two 1st rounders and we have very little spending dollars...