The Dallas Cowboys’ Draft Deteriorates into a Dirty Dozen

A A A Comments (0) By Richie Whitt Thursday, Apr 30 2009

The Cowboys also drafted a kicker who can bench-press 225 pounds 25 times, both starting cornerbacks from the University of Cincinnati (DeAngelo Smith and Mike Mickens) and a TCU safety (Stephen Hodge) they plan to morph into a linebacker. Barring a depth-chart-decimating outbreak of swine flu, it's difficult to imagine any of the picks cracking the starting lineup when Dallas takes the field September 13 in Tampa.

You know how you know when you've had a blah draft? When the centerpiece photo on Dallas' Only Daily is McGee, a fourth-round quarterback you hope like hell never sees the field in 2009.

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It's fine that Jones wants to infiltrate the bottom of his roster with minimum-wage rookies—affording him more money to re-sign veterans such as DeMarcus Ware—but while he was drafting on the cheap the NFC East rival Eagles were adding two blue-chip, first-day offensive weapons (Missouri receiver Jeremy Maclin and Pitt running back LeSean McCoy).

While the Cowboys' draft was more sham than wow, the future of their radio broadcasts will include wow and Sham. (Full disclosure: I often appear on 105.3 The Fan on Sunday mornings.)

After spending the last three years on a weak-signaled, monster-ratings station (KTCK-1310 AM The Ticket) that didn't limit its comedic references to the gays and Cowboys in Brokeback Mountain, the Cowboys have returned to the CBS family that for years was its partner via KRLD-1080 AM and KVIL-103.7 FM.

"I'm excited about The Fan's signal," Jones said at an earlier press conference. "At the end of the day, this is all about accessibility for our fans."

In an unprecedented 10-plus-year contract in which no checks were written—it's all advertising revenue-sharing—Jones announced that The Fan would also launch a 24-hour HD Radio Cowboys station filled with past Super Bowl broadcasts and original content. Game-day announcers Brad Sham, Babe Laufenberg and Kristi Scales are also likely to return.

Joked CBS senior vice president David Henry of the Cowboys' streak of 13 seasons without a playoff win, "We're gonna change that. I blame the past on The Ticket."

If not his roster, at least Jones' radio should be stronger next season.