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Friday, April 26, 2013

A quick look at the Cowboys first two days of drafting in 2013

Let's see. With their first pick they passed on defensive tackle Sharrif Floyd, considered by many a top five talent who would have filled a major area of need, and instead traded down to get Wisconsin center Travis Frederick, who would have been available in the third round.
But it was the second pick that was really dumfounding. Why on earth did the Cowboys take tight end Gavin Escobar of San Diego State, admittedly a fine pass catcher but a notoriously poor blocker, unless coach Jason Garrett plans to emulate New England's double tight end offense? But to do that, the Cowboys would need a New England quality offensive line. This is the third time since 2006 the Cowboys have taken a tight end in the second round and those picks -- Anthony Fasano and Martellus Bennett -- didn't exactly work out that well.
The Cowboys will make the argument that Escobar was the best player available at that pick, but I'm not buying it, especially when a better player and a real need, offensive guard Larry Warford of Kentucky, was available.
With the 74th pick in the draft the Cowboys shocked me again, passing on offensive tackle Terron Armstead of Arkansas-Pine Bluff, to take a wide receiver, Terrance Williams of Baylor, over the superior WR Keenen Allen of California. My issues with Williams is that Baylor ran the spread which means he didn't face the kind of coverages he's going to see in the NFL. Plus, at 6-2, 208, he could take a real pounding in the NFL, especially running across the middle.
I did like the Cowboys' final pick of the day, strong safety J.J. Wilcox out of Georgia Southern, even though he only played the position his final year in school. He spent his first three seasons as a wide receiver and running back, but that actually might help him figuring out offensive tendencies. He is regarded as a smart player and physical tackler. I'm betting, barring injury, he'll be starting for the Cowboys when the 2013 season opens.
Going into the draft, everyone agreed the biggest area of needs for the Cowboys were the offensive line and safety. They addressed two of those needs (although not nearly well enough on the OL) and I will admit that the current Cowboys offensive line is so poor, they will probably be able to scavenger some scraps tomorrow that will be good enough to start in 2013.
Of course, that doesn't make them a contender. In fact, I didn't see the Cowboys do anything in Days 1 and 2 of the draft to make them any better than last year's 8-8.

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