Atlantis Arisen

Cowboys' draft board offers Bears' insightsMay 11, 2010 9:40 AM | 1 Comment
By Brad Biggs

It would be a real treat if the Bears would have general manager Jerry Angelo proudly pose for a photo in front of the team's draft board.

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones did just that on draft weekend, providing insight on the team's draft process (the photo, shown here, came from the team's in-house TV department and its authenticity was confirmed by the Miami Herald). Where did his team have wide receiver Dez Bryant ranked? The Oklahoma State star, whom the team traded up to select at the end of the first round, was the 11th-ranked player on the Cowboys' board.

Imagine what we could learn about the Bears' draft process from such a photo. The only real glimpse we can recall the Bears providing -- unintentionally -- is dummy Web site pages for their draft picks in 2005. They had pages mocked up for an assortment of potential picks and they became public.

Photo: Cowboys owner Jerry Jones (right) with coach Wade Phillips in the team's draft war room. (AP)

But back to Jones and the big board in Big D. What the board also reveals is how the Cowboys felt about players the Bears drafted. Specifically, the Cowboys were known to like Northwestern defensive end Corey Wootton. They projected him in their 3-4 scheme as a standup outside linebacker. Had the Bears not selected Wootton in the fourth round (109th overall, the 11th pick of the round), the Cowboys were going to draft him later in the round at No. 126 overall.

The Herald's Armando Salguero went through the process of deciphering the Dallas board and it shows that the team had a third-round grade on Wootton, ranking him third in that round.

The only other Bears pick whom Salguero detected on the board was safety Major Wright, Angelo's first pick of the draft in the third round at No. 75 overall. The Cowboys ranked Wright as the seventh safety on their board, putting him behind Eric Berry and Earl Thomas (first-round grades), Nate Allen, Morgan Burnett and Taylor Mays (second-round grades) and Chad Jones (third-round grade). Wright was 14th on Dallas' board in the fourth round.

Now, if we could only get Angelo to pose in front of that board at Halas Hall.

http://www.chicagobreakingsports.com/2010/05/cowboys-draft-board-offers-bears-insights.html

(http://www.chicagobreakingsports.com/jerryjoneswade-ap.jpg)