When the 2020 regular season gets underway, the Dallas Cowboys are going to sport one of the league’s most formidable pairs of wideouts. With Amari Cooper and Michael Gallup, quarterback Dak Prescott has a pair of players with elite skillsets who win in different ways, complimenting each other on opposite sides of the field.
The position group did lose a major free agent asset in Randall Cobb, who followed the money down the highway to Houston, but even with his defection after one season, rumors of the group’s demise have been greatly exaggerated. No, the club didn’t make a big or even mid-level signing to replace Cobb’s 55 receptions for 828 yards, but they didn’t have to. And even if it could take things to an ultimate level, the team doesn’t have to invest high-pedigree picks in the NFL draft to compensate for his loss. They could wait until Day 3 and grab one of the guys who would normally be late-Round 2 or Round 3 options because there are solutions to be had, in house.
Make no mistake about it, Cobb would’ve been a great returning player, finishing as Pro Football Focus’ 47th-ranked WR who saw at least 35% of his team’s offensive snaps, but for $9 million a year the club can certainly invest that in better ways than a player who dropped just under 10% of all of his targets. At 30 years old, Cobb is now about to be paid as a low-end No. 1 receiver, ranking 28th in the league in average salary.
That’s… too much.
Dallas didn’t sign a single wideout to replace him though, leading many to assume that the club will heavily consider drafting a wide receiver in the first two days of the draft. They may just do that, the draft is chock full of dynamic receiving options in all shapes, speeds and fashions in one of the deepest classes in recent memory. If one of the elite-level players such as Ceedee Lamb, Jerry Jeudy or Henry Ruggs III falls to them at 17, things may be too tempting to pass up; but they likely will.
Barring a trade back in the first, or a trade up in the second, the bevy of wide receivers selected before Dallas returns to the clock at No. 51 will mean they probably won’t get a guy who’s an absolute lock to be a heavy Day-1 contributor. 10 or more receivers could conceivably go in the Top 50 this year.
If that happens, and Dallas ends up with a prospect with a normal learning curve, they will have to rely on players who they already have. Some may think that’s not a winning proposition, but that isn’t necessarily the case.
The club does have some interesting options.
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