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.