The Dallas Cowboys had one of the better drafts in team history back in 2016. Their first and fourth-round picks (one of them) finished in the top two slots for rookie of the year that campaign. After redshirting his rookie season due to a gruesome injury, their second-round pick was good enough to earn a contract extension after his third year out of college. That same offseason the No. 4 pick earned the, at-the-time, biggest contract at his position in league history. The fourth-round pick has been hit with the franchise tag and is negotiating for one of the highest deals the NFL has ever seen. They also had a fifth-round pick they inked to a new deal this offseason.
It’s safe to say that Will McClay and the Cowboys’ scouting staff knocked that draft out the park. So much so, that when NFL.com did a redraft of 2016, not only did one of their selections make the top 5, three made the Top 20.
In the original draft, Dallas selected RB Ezekiel Elliott fourth overall, linebacker Jaylon Smith No. 35 and Dak Prescott No. 135 – using a compensatory pick earned by losing RT Jermey Parnell in free agency a year prior.
Elliott was a star bell cow out of Ohio State. Smith was on his way to a Top-7 pick status before shredding his knee in Notre Dame’s bowl game. Prescott was a QB afterthought, a dual-threat winner out of Dan Mullen’s Mississippi State program who was the eighth signal caller selected, but ended up edging out Elliott for rookie of the year.
In the redraft, Prescott went in Elliott’s place, No. 4 overall.
Funny how times change. As the 2020 draft approaches, three of the quarterbacks taken ahead of Prescott aren’t currently on a roster four years later.
Michael Silver: This one is painful for the Cowboys, who landed their quarterback of the future after trying — and failing — to get Paxton Lynch, Connor Cook and virtually every other passer in this draft. While Ezekiel Elliott would deliver in a big way as the fourth overall selection, and while DeForest Buckner would likely be the top player on their board, Jerry and Stephen Jones know the deal: With Tony Romo destined for another injury and immediate broadcasting excellence, his successor must be selected here.
Elliott found a landing spot in the redraft at No. 12, with the New Orleans Saints.
Mike: I don’t even want to think about the punishment Sean Payton could inflict on opposing defenses with this elite runner sharing a backfield with the great Drew Brees. Actually, I do want to daydream about it, the next time I go for a run (while maintaining at least 6 feet of distance between me and others on the jogging path).
Finally, Smith jumps way up in a far cry from when Dallas was seen as the only team willing to take the roll of the dice on his knee and nerve issues when there was concern whether or not he’d ever play again. With hindsight being 20/20 – he went No. 20 to the New York Jets in this redraft.
Mike: Smith was being talked up as a top-three pick before suffering a devastating knee injury in the Fiesta Bowl that put his football future in question. The Cowboys took a risk by selecting him early in the second round, and it paid off in a big way. The Smith we saw in 2018 and ’19 would have provided a turbo-sized boost to the Jets’ defense.
[vertical-gallery id=642979][vertical-gallery id=642587][lawrence-newsletter]