FRISCO, Texas — The Dallas Cowboys and their first round pick (29th overall) Tyler Guyton had eyes for each other seemingly the entire draft process.
That was not the case for their second-round pick, Western Michigan defensive Marshawn Kneeland, the 56th overall selection in the 2024 NFL Draft.
Kneeland categorized his level of communication with the Cowboys leading up to his second-round selection, 56th overall as “decent.” The fifth-year senior, who is 6-foot-3, 267 pounds with 34 1/4-inch arms and a 4.75 40-yard dash, possesses the ideal build for an NFL edge rusher. Dallas’ front office sees a lot of their own four-time Pro Bowl edge rusher DeMarcus Lawrence in Kneeland, which is some lofty praise.
“The number one thing about him is the high effort and motor that he plays with,” Cowboys VP of Player Personnel Will McClay said Friday night. “Then to be talented, physically talented enough to play at this level. We noticed him early on. [Brett] Maxie is the area scout who brought him to our attention early, and the more you watched him, the more you see NFL traits and the traits that we are looking for on the defensive side; playing hard all the time and having the ability to rush the passer outside and inside. We’ve talked about it before, as hard as DLaw [DeMarcus Lawrence] played at Boise State, there are some similarities there. That is what we thought about him.”
An informal visit at the NFL Scouting Combine and a Zoom call made up all of his communication with Dallas during the pre-draft process. Kneeland had a short and sweet answer when asked if he was surprised to receive the draft night call from the Cowboys.
“Yes,” Kneeland said with a laugh on a conference call with local media.
However, once the surprise faded for the 2023 Second-Team All-Mac selection, excitement kicked in.
“Excited, definitely excited,” Kneeland said. “Surprised because obviously it’s always a surprise. You’re like ‘whoa, I just got picked.’ [I’m] Just excited. Just happy to be here.”
He is now set to join the NFL’s top pass rush (45% quarterback pressure rate in 2023), led by three-time All-Pro Micah Parsons who totaled a league-best 103 quarterback pressures last season.
“Very excited, glad to be able to go there and get to work with some obviously talented, hard-working guys, and I’ll be able to go and expand and do what I can to impact the team,” Kneeland said.
“We didn’t…
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