Cowboys rookie class features 2 of nation’s Top 5 in key defensive stat

From @ToddBrock24f7: One was a 4th-round pick; one wasn’t drafted at all. But both Viliami Fehoko and Durrell Johnson do one thing better than almost everybody.

Creating havoc up front is the name of the game for defensive linemen- blowing up the plans of the opposing offense and not just holding the line of scrimmage but pushing it backward.

The Cowboys were tied for third in the league last year with 93 tackles for loss, just four behind the top-ranked Eagles. But Dallas may make even further improvements in that particular category in 2023 if two members of the incoming rookie class stay on the trajectories that have brought them to the Cowboys.

Fourth-round pick Viliami Fehoko finished last season with 19 tackles for loss with San Jose State. That was the fifth-highest total in college football; more than Will Anderson Jr., more than Tyree Wilson, more than Calijah Kancey- all of whom were Top-20 selections in this year’s draft.

But the Cowboys believe the 23-year-old Fehoko is capable of performing well beyond his selection slot.

“We’ve got a definition that fits that fourth round,” Cowboys vice president of player personnel Will McClay said over draft weekend. “It’s a guy that can come in and play and potentially start. And if they achieve that, then we’re hitting a home run. When you go in the first three rounds, people are looking for the prototype, but when the prototype runs out, you continue to go and look for football players that have the traits to play the position that you want them to play.”

And the Cowboys like what they saw in Fehoko’s play for the Spartans in the Mountain West Conference.

 

“You look at his stats, you look at his production, you look at the tape,” McClay said of the East Palo Alto native. “He does some unique things in getting edges, winning, attacking the football when he goes after the quarterback. He’s got a mission when he gets off on the snap. He gets off on the ball, and he makes big plays.”

Sharrif Floyd, the Cowboys’ new assistant defensive line coach, predicts that Fehoko will step in and contribute immediately at defensive end, but he hinted that the team may have a bigger plan for him in the future.

“I think this guy can can easily get into our rotation this year,” Floyd told The Draft Show, “and then within the next year or so, I see him moving inside to be a true 3-tenchnique. He’s got the quickness and the get-off and the power to do so, so we’ll probably get a little more weight on him and let him play inside and be disruptive for us.”

Along with Micah Parsons, DeMarcus Lawrence, Sam Williams, and Osa Odighizuwa- all of whom registered double-digit TFLs last season, Fehoko will look to end up in the opposing backfield as often as possible.

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But they might all be able to pick up a thing or two from one of the Cowboys’ undrafted free agents.

Durrell Johnson went unselected over the draft’s seven rounds. But Dallas still managed to land the Liberty defensive end who led the entire FBS in 2022 in total tackles for loss. His 27.5 mark was 5.5 TFLs higher than the second-place guy, USC’s Tuli Tuipulotu, who played one more game than Johnson and was a Friday-night draft pick.

But Johnson’s not just a one-year wonder. He was Top-30 in the nation in 2020 in sacks and made the Bronko Nagurski and Chuck Bednarik watchlists, before a knee a knee injury slowed his 2021 production and caused him to miss four games for the Flames.

Dane Brugler of The Athletic said the 250-pound Johnson “needs to continue getting stronger, but he has developmental traits in a 3-4 scheme with closing burst for a superpower.”

Sounds like he and Fehoko are custom-built for coaching up within the Dallas system as coordinator Dan Quinn continues to tinker with the Cowboys defense.

Add in fellow newcomers Mazi Smith and DeMarvion Overshown, continued excellence from Johnathan Hankins and Dorance Armstong and the veterans named above, and increased usage for youngsters Damone Clark and Jabril Cox, and it all points to the Dallas defense doubling down on their current standing as agents of chaos up front.

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