Why did Joe Randle drop to the 5th round?

Photo Attribution: USATSI

You may have heard of this event that happened at the end of last week. It was covered lightly by some major media outlets though, frankly, I’m worried didn’t get enough attention by most.

Anyway, OSU had one player taken — one of my favorite players in recent memory, Joe Randle want to the Dallas Cowboys in the 5th Round. His tweet celebrating the moment was pretty outstanding too:

Extremely blessed to be a Cowboy again!

— Joseph Randle (@JRAN_1) April 27, 2013

And the audio of Jason Garrett and Jerry Jones welcoming him to the team, as genuine a celebration as you’ll hear from an athlete in 2013.

You don’t know how big a fans my family is of the Cowboys.

All of this is great, he’s going to back up DeMarco Murray who, as one of my friends put it over the weekend, is made of glass — so Randle should see plenty of time. He’s reunited with Dez Bryant and Dan Bailey, Boone may have gotten him drafted, and well, you don’t know how big a fans my family is of the Cowboys.

My question though: why would you leave the Big 12 title favorite to be a 5th round pick? And more importantly, why was the best RB in the Big 12 the last two years a 5th round pick?

Last year the 151st pick in the draft made $437,900. That’s around what Randle will get.

When he first came out in January I wrote that it was a good idea. He’d hit his ceiling as a college player and you have to cash those checks as a running back before you pile up too many miles on the odometer.

I read that he would probably go between rounds two and four and though four probably wouldn’t be justification (three and two would) it would still be the right choice. But then he started sliding and…and…

Andrew McGee, a teammate of Randle’s in 2010, had a theory:

Hmmm…I don’t follow Randle but I would assume that if he said anything insane I would have heard of it. It’s a curious notion for sure, one I don’t totally understand, but maybe there’s more to this story that hasn’t surfaced yet. McGee certainly knows him better than I do.

Randle has always struck me as a thoughtful, if not a bit arrogant guy. He majored in engineering at OSU and always seemed like he understood the game (of college/pro sports) and how to play it.

I think he’ll be a good pro (not a great one), make some good coin, and hope he goes on to have a successful life.

I’ll always wonder why he slid so far in the 2013 draft though.