Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
Check out the official updated pick order for all seven rounds of the 2021 NFL draft
After a few last-minute tweaks, the NFL has officially announced the full seven-round pick order for the 2021 NFL draft.
From No 1. overall all the way to the future Mr. Irrelevant, here’s every selection in this year’s draft, as things currently stand:
Dallas has a lot to fix this offseason.
Defense dominates the headlines in Dallas, even after its best performance of the season. Holding Cincinnati to a lone touchdown wasn’t enough to quash persistent speculation that coordinator Mike Nolan will be shown the door; many are already thinking about who should fill his role in 2021. But there will be turnover on the field, too, and there are plenty of veteran free agents and collegiate draft prospects to consider for the coming defensive rebuild. All that comes even as the Cowboys see several defensive backs make their return to the practice field on Wednesday.
Looking for silver linings on defense? Check out the profile on Randy Gregory and read up on why DeMarcus Lawrence is deserving of far more praise than he’s getting this year. Elsewhere on the roster, Ezekiel Elliott isn’t shutting it down anytime soon, Dalton Schultz has overachieved in a big way, and long snapper L.P. Ladouceur is about to break a unique record. We’re looking at what CeeDee Lamb’s done without Dak, and why Mike McCarthy’s staff may not actually want that postseason “honor” they could be in line for. There’s talk of how a 17-game season will work, and Jerry Jones stops short of trimming the preseason schedule. All that, plus a look at the Cowboys’ current playoff chances, a look ahead at their projected draft slot, and a look way, way, way back at their very first postseason win. Here’s the News and Notes.
The Cowboys are still in the driver’s position for the No. 4 overall pick, but there are five other teams right there with them.
The Dallas Cowboys win made a lot of fans happy, but the segment of the population rooting for the best possible draft pick was not impressed. The Cowboys had the quote-unquote opportunity to move ahead of the Cincinnati Bengals in draft pecking order if they had lost. Now, the 4-9 Cowboys are 1.5 games behind Cincinnati (2-10-1) and the quest to get the third-overall pick is pretty much done with only three games remaining.
However, all was not lost on the day for Team Tank. Other results around the league have put Dallas with a chance right back in the same place as where they started. Thanks to the Philadelphia Eagles upset of the New Orleans Saints and the Los Angeles Chargers last-second field goal against the Atlanta Falcons, Dallas could hold onto the No. 4 draft slot for another week.
What will make the difference? If Buffalo can defeat the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday Night Football, Dallas may eek back in front of the Chargers for the No. 5 slot.
For those who project the draft order only based on teams already played, Dallas was already sitting behind the Chargers. For those who project based on the full 16-game schedule, the Cowboys were ahead of the Chargers coming into the week, but based on the rest of the action, would have fallen behind them as long as both teams ended up with the same results. If Dallas and L.A. lost, the Cowboys would’ve still slipped to No. 5. If the Bills win and Steelers lose, the Cowboys would creep back in front.
Then, the Monday night game features two teams only Dallas faced in Cleveland and Baltimore, so things could shift once again heading into the final three weeks.
The Cowboys three remaining games? All against teams which are within striking distance for the slot. While Dallas is almost assuredly knocked out of the NFC East race with Washington earning their sixth win and having swept the Cowboys, each of the final three games will have something on the line.
Here’s a look at the rest of the teams in the chase for the No. 4 pick. Strength of schedule numbers are accurate at the time of publishing with a couple games left on the Week 14 schedule.
The Cowboys are still in the driver’s position for the No. 4 overall pick, but there are five other teams right there with them.
The Dallas Cowboys win made a lot of fans happy, but the segment of the population rooting for the best possible draft pick was not impressed. The Cowboys had the quote-unquote opportunity to move ahead of the Cincinnati Bengals in draft pecking order if they had lost. Now, the 4-9 Cowboys are 1.5 games behind Cincinnati (2-10-1) and the quest to get the third-overall pick is pretty much done with only three games remaining.
However, all was not lost on the day for Team Tank. Other results around the league have put Dallas with a chance right back in the same place as where they started. Thanks to the Philadelphia Eagles upset of the New Orleans Saints and the Los Angeles Chargers last-second field goal against the Atlanta Falcons, Dallas could hold onto the No. 4 draft slot for another week.
What will make the difference? If Buffalo can defeat the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday Night Football, Dallas may eek back in front of the Chargers for the No. 5 slot.
For those who project the draft order only based on teams already played, Dallas was already sitting behind the Chargers. For those who project based on the full 16-game schedule, the Cowboys were ahead of the Chargers coming into the week, but based on the rest of the action, would have fallen behind them as long as both teams ended up with the same results. If Dallas and L.A. lost, the Cowboys would’ve still slipped to No. 5. If the Bills win and Steelers lose, the Cowboys would creep back in front.
Then, the Monday night game features two teams only Dallas faced in Cleveland and Baltimore, so things could shift once again heading into the final three weeks.
The Cowboys three remaining games? All against teams which are within striking distance for the slot. While Dallas is almost assuredly knocked out of the NFC East race with Washington earning their sixth win and having swept the Cowboys, each of the final three games will have something on the line.
Here’s a look at the rest of the teams in the chase for the No. 4 pick. Strength of schedule numbers are accurate at the time of publishing with a couple games left on the Week 14 schedule.
A look at where Dallas stands in the draft order following the Week 9 action.
The Dallas Cowboys have yet to kick off their Week 9 tilt, but they’ve already improved their draft position for the 2021 draft. Thanks to two early game results, the Cowboys might be nearing the driver’s seat when it comes to controlling the quest for the first available quarterback.
With the New York Giants finally holding onto a lead to defeat the Washington Football Team 23-20, they improved to 2-7 on the season. With two 1-6 teams facing off between Houston and Jacksonville, only a tie would keep the Cowboys from moving ahead of the game’s loser. Houston, who have already traded their pick to the Miami Dolphins, ended up winning 27-25. Thus, the 2-6 Cowboys would move into the No. 3 slot in the upcoming draft if they were to lose to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday afternoon.
Pittsburgh enters the game as 14.5 point road favorites.
Dallas also earned a bit of breathing room with a couple teams close on their heels going into the Cowboys’ bye week. The Atlanta Falcons were also 2-6, but have a tougher schedule (strength of schedule is the tiebreaker for draft order). They defeated the three-win Denver Broncos on Sunday.
In addition, the formerly 2-5 Minnesota Vikings took out their division rivals in the Detroit Lions, 34-20.
These teams are currently out of the playoffs. Strength of Schedule courtesy of Tankathon.
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NFL Tanking Rankings: 12 teams at the bottom entering Week 9
ESPN analyst Mike Clay assigns grades to each unit of all 32 NFL teams, giving Cowboys fans cause for optimism for the 2020 season.
Mike Clay’s name may be a familiar one to fantasy football owners. But the ESPN analyst has to crunch a ton of numbers regarding the real-life rosters, too, in order to arrive at his weekly player projections and individual rankings during the season.
In these slow days when fans are starving for every morsel they can find about their team, Clay’s first set of 2020 grades for the 32 NFL clubs, released March 31, should be cause for optimism in Cowboys Nation. According to Clay’s early calculations, Dallas ranks as the third-strongest offense in the league and in the top ten in defense. Those scores place the Cowboys second overall, behind only the Saints as the top team in football, per Clay’s grades.
Here we go: First official run of 2020 NFL Unit Grades.
Each of the 10 units ranked on 0.0-4.0 scale. Overall scores are weighted by positional importance (primarily $$ guarantees). #ClayProjections pic.twitter.com/fVxmpd71Co
— Mike Clay (@MikeClayNFL) March 31, 2020
There’s lots there to scour and some hardcore mathematics at work, but here are the highlights for Cowboys fans:
At 3.9 out of 4, the linebacker corps is Dallas’s highest-rated unit. Jaylon Smith, Leighton Vander Esch, and Sean Lee anchor the group that ranks second at the position across the league, behind only Seattle.
Tight end is the offense’s weak spot, scoring just 0.5. Clearly, Clay isn’t impressed with presumed starter Blake Jarwin’s promise in surpassing Jason Witten’s 2019 output.
At 2.8, there is room for improvement at wide receiver, though that is likely a reflection of the current hole at the slot position after Randall Cobb’s departure.
The Cowboys’ quarterback, running back, and offensive line groups all come with grades in the mid-3s. That contributes mightily to the offense’s No. 3 ranking, putting them behind just the Saints and Chiefs, the teams Clay sees as facing one another in Super Bowl LV.
Defensively, cornerback is the team’s weak link, but again, that low number is largely indicative of a key personnel loss; in this case, Byron Jones.
Clay has also sifted the 32 teams by division to forecast final 2020 standings, playoff seedings, and a final 2021 draft order. More glimmers of hope for a strong overall showing by the Cowboys.
My @WinCraftInc magnet board is expired, but that won't slow me down —
Early run of 2020 NFL Standings and playoff projections, as well as projected 2021 Draft order #ClayProjections pic.twitter.com/Y2M3hjr4RE
— Mike Clay (@MikeClayNFL) April 1, 2020
Clay projects Dallas to win the NFC East with a 10-6 record and end up with the third seed in the NFC postseason bracket. That would have the Cowboys facing the Seahawks in the first round of the playoffs. By using Clay’s predicted draft order, one can extrapolate that he expects the Cowboys to then travel to San Francisco in the divisional round and ultimately fall to the 49ers. Clay sees the Cowboys ending up with the 27th pick in next year’s draft.
It’s just one man’s interpretation of the data, and there are still moves to be made, collegiate players to be selected, and- most important- actual games to be played on the field. But this rosy report makes some tasty food for thought for Cowboys fans, and a welcome bit of encouraging news at a time when there’s precious little of that going around in general.
