The Cowboys love tall cornerbacks with long arms. Everyone knows it. From the Kris Richard era to the Dan Quinn regime, Dallas seems to be obsessed with size.
Approaching the 2023 NFL draft, size is often used as a determining factor as to whether the prospect is a good fit for the Cowboys or not. Vertically deficient players are considered poor fits while just about every prospect over 6-foot-2 gets an automatic swipe right.
If that really is Dallas’ reputation, is it accurate?
Looking at recent averages of draft pick measurables, this reputation can be put to the test. Arjun Menon built an app that looks at data from 2011-2022 and offers insight into what traits the Cowboys draft and how it compares across the NFL.
As it turns out, the average height for a Cowboys CB drafted in the first three rounds is 72.1 inches (translated to 6.008 feet). While this is certainly tall, it’s not abnormally tall and certainly not worthy of the reputation Dallas has around the league. After all, there are 14 teams in the NFL who have a higher average height (of their CB draft picks) than the Cowboys.
The average arm length of a Dallas CB draft pick sits at 32.2 inches, which is tied for sixth in the NFL. This places them in the top quarter of the NFL but certainly not in an outlier category like some suggest. Although arm length appears to be a requirement for the Cowboys, even in the later rounds when most teams relax their standards.
Dallas likes length but so does the rest of the NFL. Even with the resurgence of the Cover-2 (middle of the field open), the league still leans on Cover -1 and Cover-3 (middle of the field closed). Everyone wants tall CBs because they make windows small and can play the sideline more effectively.
[affiliatewidget_smgtolocal]
If there is one area of testing that Dallas leans on heavily in CB evaluation, it appears to be the broad jump. The average broad jump score for a CB drafted by the Cowboys (again, filtered for the first three rounds) is 128.21 inches. That’s third highest in the NFL.
Broad jump, which measures explosion, is often used to find special athletes. In a vacuum it may not be indicative of success but matched with speed, quickness and other factors it can be a telling measurable.
As the numbers suggest, the Cowboys aren’t as size obsessed with their cornerbacks as many believe. Their reputation is likely buoyed by a few vertical outliers (see also: 6-foot-4 Nahshon Wright) and not based on the mean average.
Food for thought heading into another draft.
[lawrence-auto-related count=3]