Category: 2022 Mock Draft

Cowboys 7-round mock draft: Impact of Kelvin Joseph news on plans for picking prospects

The Cowboys may need to respond to the mess Joseph has put himself in. This @KDDrummondNFL mock addresses that without going into panic mode about CB.

The Dallas Cowboys have many holes to fill, but prior to this week they had to feel relatively solid at the cornerback position. With two veterans locked into cost-efficient second contracts, Dallas has a group of young corners to build around following the last two hauls.

Although 2020 fourth-round pick Reggie Robinson has been released, second-round pick Trevon Diggs has become an All-Pro, leading the NFL in interceptions with 11 in 2021. In April of last year, Dallas again double-dipped on the position, seemingly fortifying the group. That was before the first of two selections, Kentucky CB Kelvin Joseph became embroiled in a legal matter surrounding the murder of a young man in Dallas in May.

While things are in the early stages of being sorted out, one cannot help but wonder what impact Joseph’s alleged involvement will have on the position in the upcoming draft.  Certainly Dallas moved through the pre-draft process without giving much thought to corner being a position of need. Only one of the 29 identified 30 official visitors was a corner, and that was Fresno State’s Daron Bland. Bland is projected to go fifth round or later by most outlets.

With the Joseph news, that is likely to send Dallas’ scouts scrambling.

The second-year player came on at the end of the year and was expected by many observers to compete with Anthony Brown for the starting role opposite Diggs. While third-round corner Nahshon Wright could step into any void made if Joseph is not available (through release or suspension), Dallas must consider the likelihood of making a move in the draft earlier than they had planned.

In our latest mock, we moved as we anticipate the club may have to; as if Joseph is unavailable for them in the foreseeable future.

Todd McShay’s latest mock draft sends Cowboys DE, OT help

A look at the latest two-round mock draft from ESPN’s lead draft analyst and what haul he brought the Cowboys, who could use help in multiple areas. | From @KDDrummondNFL

The Dallas Cowboys didn’t have a quiet free agency, though they didn’t add much outside help. After losing out on bringing back Randy Gregory, the club brought in Dante Fowler, who has actually produced more over the course of his career than the perpetually-upside driven former second-round pick. Still, the departure of La’el Collins and Amari Cooper make the offsesaon feel like a net loss as Dallas didn’t sign anyone of their caliber at those positions.

Entering the draft phase of things, it’s time for what Dallas does best, add amateur talent. The club has been in contact with at least 60 players this offseason, not counting the undocumented Senior Bowl discussions and Pro Day side conversations. There’s clearly a need in every position group and in his latest mock draft for ESPN+, Todd McShay chose to address the trenches at No. 24 and No. 56.

ESPN’s GM mock draft sends Cowboys steal in LSU’s Derek Stingley, Jr.

The Cowboys don’t have a glaring need, but as @BenGrimaldi points out, fortifying a strength isn’t the worst thing in the world nor something the club is allergic to.

With the No. 24 pick, it’s tougher to pin down what the Dallas Cowboys might do in Round 1. There are too many variables to work out with 23 picks ahead of them. It’s even more difficult when there are four teams ahead of them with multiple picks, including the rival New York Giants and Philadelphia Eagles, who have three selections before the Cowboys have their turn.

The Dallas Cowboys have been one of the better drafting teams in the league recently. They are by no means perfect, but on most occasions, they are building the team with solid drafts under Vice President of Player Personnel Will McClay. No position should be off the table for the Cowboys, even ones not seen as an immediate need. So if an opportunity presents itself to add a stud talent, they should. And that’s what happened in ESPN’s GM mock draft when they lucked into LSU CB Derek Stingley, Jr.

It would be a very interesting pick for the Cowboys. The defense already has a stacked group of corners, including three high round selections in the last two drafts.

Third-year CB Trevon Diggs, who led the NFL in interceptions last season, is an All Pro, while last year’s second round pick Kelvin Joseph pushed for a starting role late in the year as a rookie. Nahshon Wright was a surprise third-round pick in the 2021 draft and has yet to make his mark as a CB, but he was a favorite of defensive coordinator Dan Quinn, so the hope is he turns out to be a player.

Veteran CB Anthony Brown was the starter opposite Diggs in 2021 and is coming off his best season with three interceptions, while the versatile slot CB Jourdan Lewis remains an integral part of the secondary as well. Brown’s contract is set to expire after this season and Lewis’ runs out at the end of the 2023, so the Cowboys might have the idea to maintain the positions strength by drafting Stingley.

If the Cowboys did draft Stingley, that’s a crowded CB room that runs six deep, with five corners who have the ability to be starters. They say you can never have enough cornerbacks and the Cowboys might be willing to test the theory out.

Stingley is expected to be selected long before the Cowboys’ first pick, but strange things happen in the draft. He was an instrumental piece of LSU’s 2019 National Championship run, where Stingley was a consensus All-American as a true freshman. During that season, Stingley had six interceptions and 15 passes defensed in what was regarded as one of the best freshmen years in college football.

There are good reasons to like Stingley, who has the prototypical profile for what an elite CB looks like. Stingley’s got the size, speed, athleticism and skills to excel in the NFL.

However, Stingley hasn’t lived up to the hype after his first season at LSU. He has been limited to just 10 games in the last two seasons and a foot injury ended Stingley’s junior year prematurely.

Last year’s first round selection of linebacker Micah Parsons turned out to be a home run for the Cowboys and the hope is the trend continues. Drafting for ceiling instead of glaring need has worked out for Dallas. It’s how they scored a talent like wide receiver CeeDee Lamb in the 2020 draft. Yet there are positions where help is still needed. Offensive line is surely one of those spots, as are receiver, linebacker and the defensive end position too.

True to form, however, owner and GM Jerry Jones tipped what the Cowboys might be thinking, and it looks like they could be zeroing in on offensive line talent. The offensive line is an area where the organization needs an upgrade, but only time will tell if Jones is bluffing.

The draft process is ongoing, and it’s conceivable Stingley could slide down draft boards come late April, but he’s still expected to be a top 15 pick. If the Cowboys did have the opportunity to make this selection, it would be difficult to pass up the potential of having Diggs and Stingley as their starting CB’s. If Stingley regains his form, it will make for one of the best starting tandems in the league and give Dallas one of the best cornerback groups in the game.

Cornerback isn’t one of the Cowboys’ biggest needs, but if the team got the chance to make Stingley the pick at 24, he might be too hard to pass up.

You can chat with or follow Ben on twitter @BenGrimaldi

Cowboys 7-round mock draft: Double dip at WR helps replenish offense

3 realistic trades, focusing on the offense and getting an edge rusher. With an eye on the Cowboys draft commandments, we solve the biggest issues. | From @KDDrummondNFL

The Dallas Cowboys led the NFL in both yards and points scored in 2021. Pro Football Focus gave their offense the highest grade on the season. Football Outsiders ranked them 6th in DVOA, which takes into account opponent strength and game conditions. All in all, it was an outstanding year for the Kellen Moore’s group.

Yeah, right.

The Cowboys offense started out as gangbusters, but struggled mightily in several games after Dak Prescott injured his calf heading into the bye week. That was hardly the only thing that went wrong, of course. The line struggled with the reinsertion of La’el Collins and the left guard penalty fest. WR Amari Cooper was injured and also missed two games to COVID. Both running backs were hampered with leg injuries. Big scoring outputs in a handful of games masked the issues Dallas’ offense had but the calendar has changed and it’s time to begin anew.

In 2021’s draft, the Cowboys bombarded the defense, including double-dipping at the cornerback position despite having Trevon Diggs. In this mock, we moved around a bit and double-dipped at the receiver position despite having CeeDee Lamb, The results? A retooled offense ready to usher in the next era of Dallas Cowboys football.

7-round Cowboys mock draft with 7 key assumptions as free agency begins

Here are 7 free-agency assumptions for the Cowboys and then a 7-round draft haul to go with it. | From @KDDrummondNFL

The Dallas Cowboys have just 24 hours remaining before pandemonium breaks loose around the NFL. The legal tampering period might as well be the official start of the league year, allowing teams to work out deals with free agents prior to having to be cap compliant. Regardless, Dallas isn’t likely to be major players for external free agents, but could have to engage in bidding wars with some of their own guys.

With so much talk about moving on from players such as WR Amari Cooper, (who is now gone), DE DeMarcus Lawrence and RT La’el Collins via trade or release, it’s hard to get a grip on what the Cowboys want to do in the draft. Add in the franchise tag placed on Dalton Schultz and trying to work out long-term deals with he and WR Michael Gallup, it’s as confusing a time as ever.

For this mock draft exercise, we will make a few assumptions of what the roster will look like heading into the end of April.

Editor’s Note: These assumptions were made one week ago, on March 7.

Assumption 1: Cooper is dealt (done), Michael Gallup is signed to a deal leaving him as WR2 behind CeeDee Lamb (done).

Assumption 2: Cedrick Wilson leaves the team in free agency, Malik Turner returns.

Assumption 3: DeMarcus Lawrence remains on the team and the team signs Randy Gregory to a new deal.

Assumption 4: Jayron Kearse returns at safety as does Malik Hooker, but Damontae Kazee goes elsewhere in free agency.

Assumption 5: Neither Leighton Vander Esch nor Keanu Neal return to the club, but Dallas signs one veteran linebacker not named Bobby Wagner.

Assumption 6: The team trades La’el Collins, Terence Steele is the starting RT and Josh Ball the swing.

Assumption 7: Blake Jarwin (done), Anthony Brown are bumped in the depth chart (and off the team) by Sean McKeon and Kelvin Joseph respectively.

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Cowboys trade back, go OL in latest NFL Wire mock draft

The Russell Wilson trade shook up projections for the 2022 NFL draft. Here’s how the NFL Wire Network of site editors sees it shaking out now.

While neither the record-setting contract given to Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, nor Seattle’s trade of Russell Wilson to the Broncos, were significantly shocking, both being announced about 90 minutes apart created a ripple effect that set the tone for the 2022 free agency period, followed by the 2022 NFL draft.

The impact both moves made across the league is palpable, even if only three teams were involved. The NFL Wire Network staff had initially put together its first mock draft of the season before that news broke, and had to re-do it afterward. And we’ll probably have to do it again, so stay tuned. In the meantime, here are all 32 picks (and one trade) from our site editors.

Cowboys 7-round mock draft: Trading Cooper, Lawrence for better picks, massive savings

Trading up? Trading star players? Retooling the OL? Speed at WR? There are many ways to go, here’s a look at one iteration. From @KDDrummondNFL

The Dallas Cowboys have done an excellent job of drafting over the years, finding individual talent. However, their team still hasn’t been able to turn the corner and find sustained or ultimate playoff success and their offseason strategy deserves to be questioned. As good as Will McClay is at identifying talent, the team handcuffs him with no free agent additions of note and certain positions they absolutely refuse to invest heavy draft capital in. They also refuse, steadfastly, to trade up in the draft.

In this exercise, one of many that will be run this season, we’ll correct the latter. In fact, we’ll explore one of the biggest discussions of the offseason, what things look like in a world where the front office no longer wants Amari Cooper and DeMarcus Lawrence on the roster. In this mock exercise, they are used in pre-draft trades to net the Cowboys more and better draft picks.

There are several types of mock drafts. Some are predictions on what the drafter feels a team would do if the simulation fell a certain way. Others fall in the category of what a team should do, given the drafters evaluation of needs and capital. The former takes into account the team’s draft history, tendencies and the like; paying attention to positional preference and looking to be as accurate as possible. The latter focuses on correcting the team’s perceived draft shortcomings and trying to show them a better way.

Some mix it all together.

Run on QBs allows Cowboys to steal Linderbaum in latest PFF mock draft

The Dallas Cowboys get fortunate with the picks ahead of them and work on resolving their offensive line deterioration in a new mock. | From @AsaHenry_55

While the NFL draft is still a few months away, fans are zeroing in on who their favorite club should add in late April. For most Dallas Cowboys fans, center Tyler Linderbaum is on the shortlist of preferred first-round prospects. PFF’s first post-Super Bowl mock draft played out perfectly for Dallas, as the Cowboys were able to sit at their selection, No. 24, and snag the highly-touted offensive anchor.

Linderbaum is often thought of as a top talent who could immediately make a significant improvement for any offensive line he’s added into, leaving some to rightfully question how the Iowa prospect could slide to where Dallas stands. A mid-round run on quarterbacks plays a big factor in this near ‘best-case scenario’ round one for the Cowboys.