Five Downs With Football Outsiders: Is Orlando Scandrick better than Mike Jenkins and Aqib Talib?

Bill Barnwell, a contributing editor at footballoutsiders.com and one of the minds behind the must-read Football Outsiders Almanac 2009, will answer five Cowboys questions each week of the season using the FO data and methodologies. The Week 1 edition: You are a GM with the benefit of hindsight. Which cornerback would you pick first in the 2008 draft: Aqib Talib, Mike Jenkins or Orlando Scandrick? How would you rank their rookie seasons? I think you'd have to say Scandrick had the best season. Certainly, our numbers say as much. Talib struggled with a hamstring injury, but he played better as the season went along. Tampa had the best pass defense in the league against No. 2 receivers, and his performance had a fair amount to do with that. (They were awful against No. 1 receivers, but from what I saw of the Buccaneers, that had more to do with Ronde Barber than anyone else.) Jenkins would be a distant third in that mirror, but as hard as it is sometimes, you have to be patie...