Tag: villiami fehoko

Cowboys select San Jose State DL Villiami Fehoko with pick No. 129

The Cowboys started their Day 3 haul with another gift for Dan Quinn, the Mountain West DPOY Villiami Fehoko. | From @cdburnett7

Starting off their Day 3 haul, the Cowboys made their third defensive addition, selecting San Jose State defensive end Villiami Fehoko with the No. 129 pick. Dan Quinn is a case of the rich getting richer as the draft goes along.

Villiami Fehoko won the 2022 Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year award and finished his college career with 191 tackles, 46 for loss and 23 sacks. The second cousin of the Buccaneers star Vita Vea, Dallas is hoping he can have a similar impact at the pro level. Dallas has been in on Fehoko, as he was one of their 30 national visits; the third type prospect they’ve taken in four selections (Mazi Smith, DeMarvion Overshown).

Fehoko joins a crew of young edge rushers behind the starting pair of Demarcus Lawrence and Micah Parsons. Fehoko will compete with Dante Fowler Jr., Sam Williams and Dorance Armstrong for snaps when training camp rolls around.

6 early-round, mid-round, and dark-horse Saints prospects at defensive end

Identifying 6 early-round, mid-round, and dark-horse New Orleans Saints draft prospects at defensive end:

The New Orleans Saints are feeling some serious pressure to address their defensive tackles depth chart after most of the players from last year’s team left in free agency, but they need help at defensive end, too. They haven’t gotten anything out of their 2021 first-round pick Payton Turner and, right now, it looks like the starting ends will be a 34-year-old Cameron Jordan on one side and career backup Carl Granderson on the other — and both players are entering the final year of their contracts.

Turner and Tanoh Kpassagnon round out the depth chart, which doesn’t inspire great confidence after a couple of blitzing linebackers outproduced them as pass rushers last year. The Saints didn’t lose much in Marcus Davenport but they still need a big boost at defensive end.

It’ll be tough for the Saints to address all of their priorities in the opening rounds, though, so it’s worth taking a look at the 2023 draft through a wider lens. We’re going to spend the next few days highlighting prospects who fit New Orleans’ prototypes at positions of need in the early rounds, the middle of the draft, and the dark horses expected to be available later on. Let’s start at defensive end: