If you have been exposed to my blog in the past, you know I am a Dallas Cowboy fan from way back.... back to 1960 as a matter of fact, the year the team came into existence.
Thanks to a season that saw them win four games and lose 12, the Cowboys had the fourth overall pick in the annual NFL College Draft held April 28th, 29th, and 30th in the city of Cleveland, Ohio.
I have been one of the advocates of drafting a quarterback in the first round with that valued pick, BUT it was not to be. Jared Goff of UCLA went to the Los Angeles Rams and Carson Wendt of North Dakota State were picked by the Philadelphia Eagles.
When it rolled around to Dallas at number four I held my breath as the NFL Commissioner said, "With the fourth pick of the NFL draft, the Dallas Cowboys select Ezekiel Elliott, running back from Ohio State"....
Wow!.. I was expecting help at either quarterback or maybe somewhere in the defense,.. defensive end or maybe cornerback.. but running back?.. Didn't they just sign Alfred Morris away from the Washington Redskins?
But that is not to cast any doubt on Zeke... He will be running the ball behind the best offensive line in all of the NFL. He is six feet tall and weighs in at 225 pounds.. He is also a second generation Buckeye as his father, Stacy, also played for O.S.U. It was obvious he was one of the top players in the draft, and already they are forecasting ALL-Pro and Rookie of the Year honors for him. Zeke was the 2015 Big Ten Conference player of the year with 1800 yards rushing and 23 touchdowns running the ball. He is an excellent receiver out of the backfield and loves to block for his quarterback. In the Fiesta Bowl game against Notre Dame he ran for 149 yards and scored four touchdowns to cap off his college career. Most NFL scouts rated him as excellent in all catagories.. Welcome to Texas, Zeke !!
In the second round of the NFL draft the Cowboys surprised most experts when they picked Notre Dame linebacker Jaylon Smith with the 34th overall selection..
Smith is six foot two..and tips the scales at 223 pounds. He is the 2015 winner of the Dick Butkus Award that goes to the top linebacker in all of college football.. The surprise is that Smith was hurt in the last game of his college career and required major knee surgery. The operation was performed by the physicians of the Dallas Cowboys and that might have been what tipped them off to his return date. Before the injury some were calling him the top pick in the entire draft. The ACL operation went well, but it is the LCL operation for nerve damage that will require some time to heal. With good results, he could be a star for the Dallas defense for years to come...but if it doesn't heal properly, he could never play a down in the NFL.
In the 3rd round of the draft, Dallas went for help in the interior of the defensive line...
Maliek Collins ( #7 in red and white) of the Nebraska Cornhuskers is six foot two inches tall and weighs 300 pounds.. He is a junior that will forego his senior season to play professional football. He emerged as a dominant presence on the defensive line in both 2014 and 2015,... so much so that he was named as a two-time selection to the All Big-Ten Team. Collins started every game in 2015 and finished his college career with 8 quarterback sacks, 23 tackles for a loss in yardage, along with 19 qb 'hurries.' Twice he was named to the All Big-Ten Academic Team and was one of the team captains for the Cornhuskers.
The Cowboys had two selections in the fourth round of the NFL draft and Dallas fans are going to love both of them..
Looking to shore up that defensive line and to put more pressure on opposing quarterbacks, Dallas picked defensive end Charles Tapper of the University of Oklahoma...
Tapper is six foot three and weighs in at 271 pounds and is refereed to as the 'Trap Machine' by his teammates at Norman, Oklahoma.. He did not even play football before his junior year in high school, but has exploded since. He was a mainstay for OU's defensive line with over 15 sacks in the last three seasons. At the NFL combine he caught a lot of scouts attention when he ran a 4.59 time in the 40 yard dash. When he got the news about being drafted by Dallas his first response was, " I can't wait to be a Cowboy."
Later in the fourth round Dallas finally got around to drafting the quarterback they need to back up and learn from Tony Romo.
Dak Prescott of Mississippi State is six foot two and 226 pounds.. He becomes the first quarterback drafted by Dallas since Quincy Carter in 2001 and Stephen McGee in 2009. Prescott already has his Masters Degree and has met with the Cowboys coaching staff 4 times in the last 3 months. QB Coach Wade Wilson of Dallas even went to Starkville, Mississippi for a private workout with Prescott. When asked to compare himself with current qb Tony Romo, Prescott said, " We are both winners." He and his family have always been Dallas Cowboy fans !!
Dallas did not have a pick in the fifth round of the draft, but they did have four selections in the sixth round. With the first one they pulled another surprise when they went for a player from Baylor University.... a basketball player !
Rico Gathers is 6'8" and weighs 275 pounds... He plays power forward for the Bears and has been compared to Wes Unseld of the Baltimore Bullets of old.. He has not played football since middle school, BUT has worked out for the Cowboys numerous times in the last couple of months. He compares himself to Jimmy Graham of the Seattle Seahawks, who also played basketball before coming to the NFL. Dallas projects Gathers to be a tight end because of his size, speed, and good hands. Might be just the player to fit in when Jason Witten calls it a career.
With two defensive line players selected, Dallas now turned to the secondary.. and they looked again to the midwest in search of a safety.
Kavon Frazier of Central Michigan was a four-year starter for the Chippewas... He stands 6 foot and weighs in at 217 pounds. NFL scouts say he has good stop/start quickness and is described as a 'beast' on special teams. He was the conference player of the week after his 13 tackle effort against the Oklahoma State Cowboys on September 3rd, 2015. Dallas Coaches say he reminds them a lot of Barry Church, the current safety for Dallas.
With the inconsistent player of both current cornerbacks for Dallas, the Cowboys went looking for help there also..
Anthony Brown of Purdue was selected by the Cowboys...He is 5'11" and 195... He played in all 12 games for the Boilermakers in each of the past three seasons.. As a senior, his 59 tackles and 4 interceptions earned Brown honorable mention on the All Big-Ten Team.
And... if Ezekiel Elliott does not pan out at the running back spot for Dallas (fat chance),..they used their final selection to pick Darius Jackson of Eastern Michigan.
Jackson is six foot one and graces the scales at 221 pounds.. He caught everyone's attention at the NFL Pro Day when he posted a 4.35 time in the 40 yard dash, a 41 inch vertical jump, and a broad jump of 133 inches. Jackson also set a school single season record by running for 1,089 yards and scoring 16 touchdowns. He will have to show a lot at training camp as Dallas is suddenly very heavy at the running back position...
It might be a little early to judge the merits of this draft by Dallas, but after a couple of Miller Lite's and a little thought... this could be a very good draft for the Cowboys...
... but again I probably said the same thing last year at this time...
