Blogging The Boys
The Cowboys have had their misses over the last decade of drafting. Here are the 10 worst disappointments.
Over the last decade of NFL drafts, the Dallas Cowboys have done better than many teams in consistently adding talent. But they’ve also had their disappointments, and ahead of this year’s draft starting, we’re going to look back on the 10 worst picks that Dallas has had since 2014.
What makes a bad draft pick? It’s a balance between how high a player was selected and how little he contributed. For example, a first-round pick not making it to his fourth season is far more egregious than a sixth-round guy who doesn’t even make the team as a rookie. The expectations are so much higher on Days 1-2.
Indeed, for anyone to be labeled a “bad pick” on Day 3, especially after the fourth round, is a bit of a stretch. The margin between those prospects and undrafted free agents isn’t that wide, so it’s not that shocking if they get squeezed out by someone else during training camp and preseason. Or, the team may decide that a late veteran free agent addition gives them better depth than the late-round rookie.
Given that, today’s list is comprised of all picks from Rounds 1-4 of the last ten drafts. Some are absolute busts, while others simply didn’t do enough to say they were worth the higher pick with which they were acquired. Let’s get into it.
Tapper was more an issue of bad luck than bad strategy. An undiagnosed back condition, not found until training camp of his rookie year, cost him that first season. Then a foot injury landed him on IR after just a few weeks in 2017. By his third year, Tapper didn’t make the roster at final cuts and was only on the practice squad for three days before Dallas cut all ties.
The Cowboys only got one year out of Switzer as a return specialist, where he was solid, then traded him away for DT Jihad Ward. Ward didn’t even make the roster while Dallas’ new return man, veteran Tavon Austin, missed nine games that year. Switzer didn’t last in the NFL beyond 2019, so he probably wouldn’t have been a long-term guy for the Cowboys anyway. But this felt like a time that Dallas gave up too soon on a potential asset.
While he played cornerback in college, Robinson was moved to safety as a rookie and it didn’t seem to take. He barely played that first year and then was injured in 2021. The Cowboys didn’t even let him compete in his third season, waiving him that March after drafting several new defensive backs the year before. While fourth-round picks are hardly supposed to be future stars or even starters, getting next to nothing out of one is still bad business.
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