Two months ago, when a top-five draft pick seems ordained for the Dallas Cowboys, the mission was clear. The club, with a 2020 season marred by injury to key performers on offense and hole after hole on defense, would be better served by trading back from their lofty perch to accrue more selections and address more needs. Two months later, and the team finds itself on a three-game winning streak and with a chance to go to the playoffs if things break right in Week 17.
The wins have been great for those invested in the team’s positive vibes, and a catastrophe for those on Team Tank. Dallas went from a shot at the No. 3 overall pick to currently sitting 11th. Even if they miss the playoffs, they could drop down to 16th depending on other team’s results on Sunday. So that brings another interesting aspect to the land of mocks. What happens if Dallas is in a position where no one wants to trade with them, or they don’t want to bail at all?
Trading down is a foregone conclusion in mock drafts. Algorithms are created where value charts and logic rule war rooms. There’s almost always a trade to be made. That certainly isn’t the case in real life, however, and there’s a good chance that Dallas could be in a situation where they leave the draft with their assigned lot of picks. That’s what we’ll do in this iteration, draft according to the positions Dallas is given.
We run mocks to help give a clearer sense of where players could be available, how going after one position early can mean missing out on a different position later and all that comes with the myriad of decisions front offices have to make.
The Cowboys have a variety of needs entering 2021, and although money is tight free agency will certainly impact this list prior to the draft. For now, here is the way we see each position, followed by our four-round haul.