The Dallas Cowboys can navigate a multitude of charted directions come 2023 draft weekend. They shored up every position of need and have top-tier swimmers at the starting blocks pretty much everywhere. Not even their weaker swimmers such as left guard, are in need of the lifeguard perched high; even they have stellar floaty devices. Don’t leave draft weekend with a Day 1 starter? No problem; Tyler Smith could tread water there for a year while Tyron Smith and Terence Steele anchor the tackle spots.
This leaves them with every team’s fantasy; true Baywatchian Best-Player-Available-at-a-Position-of-Need, BPAPN strategy. Being able to identify a large pool of talent, but not being limited to saying “We must have this” by Round 3. Instead, the draft’s flow and depth will dictate which stroke works best for Will McClay, Stephen Jones and ultimately Mike McCarthy.
Teams gameplan for the draft in such ways. After constructing their draft boards, they go through exercises to see what happens if the draft falls one way before they reach the clock. When it’s their time to make a decision, what does selecting one position mean for their options later in the weekend? Jones has spoken to this before, how they’ve taken a player at a position who may have been lower on their board because they felt safe the higher player would be there for them in the next round.
Let’s join them in such exercises.
Based on the players they’ve met with, documented here on the net’s most accurate draft-interest tracker, the Cowboys would feel comfortable picking from any of six position groups in the first round: WR, TE, OL, Edge, corner or safety.
The team hasn’t met with any defensive tackles or running backs routinely drafted in the first two rounds. As an executive decision, we believe them on DTs but not on RBs. It’s a thin DT class to begin with, but there are two star backs atop a deep class and if Dallas had eyes on either of the two top backs, it would behoove them to keep a lid on it.
So each day for the next week, we’ll play out what the rest of the draft’s seven rounds looks like for Dallas were they to take one of these seven spots.
We’ll be using Fanspeak’s On-the-Clock Premium Simulator for Saturday’s mock.
The Cowboys have one immediate need along the OL which could be solved by selecting either of two spots. The team can draft a pure left guard, keeping Tyler Smith at left tackle and having Tyron Smith and Terence…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Cowboys Wire…