Cowboys find WR size, speed in homegrown package in Bucky Brooks’ latest mock draft

TCU’s Quentin Johnston would be the Cowboys’ tallest WR and one of the fastest players on the team; he could be a star of the combine. | From @ToddBrock24f7

Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones admitted on Monday that the team needs to make a priority out of inserting “a playmaker” into the Dallas offense as a way to boost the passing game that rarely got out of first gear in 2022.

NFL.com’s Bucky Brooks has just the guy.

The analyst unveiled his latest mock draft as the scouting combine gets underway in Indianapolis, and he thinks the Cowboys don’t need to look too far from home to find a first-round pick that could, as Jones put it this week, “add a little juice.”

Brooks likes TCU wide receiver Quentin Johnston to Dallas with the 26th overall pick. He specifically cites the junior’s speed and big-play potential, noting that those attributes could help him shine against one-on-one coverage on the outside.

And Brooks believes the 6-foot-4-inch Temple, Tex. native will emerge from this week as one of the breakout stars of the combine.

“Everyone is going to see the height,” Brooks said on NFL Network. “Everyone is going to see the athleticism. This is a guy, in high school, who was a big-time jumper. So when you see the explosive numbers- he’s going to broad jump over 11 feet, vertical is going to be well over 40 [inches], he’s fast as all get-out.”

Brooks listed Johnston among the 10 prospects he is most excited to see at the combine.

Both Brooks and former NFL running back LaDanian Tomlinson feel Johnston may need to show off his hands and improve his route-running, but both are intrigued by the big 21-year-old’s potential at the pro level.

“He didn’t really get a chance to show the entire route tree at TCU,” Tomlinson- himself a former Horned Frog- agreed. “He’s going to have to show how fluid he is in and out of his breaks. And then catching the football: can’t be catching the ball with his body; he has to show exceptional hands catching the football.”

At 6-foot-4, Johnston would be the tallest receiver on the Cowboys roster. And with 4.4 speed (some project he could even post a 4.3 40-yard dash on the turf at the combine), his wheels would put him in the same tier as Trevon Diggs and KaVontae Turpin.

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