There is only a single game left in the NFL season as the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots will face off in Super Bowl LX, but as soon as it is done every single team will be squarely focused on getting to next year’s version of the game of all games.
For now that is already the focus for 30 teams, a disposition that many, including our Dallas Cowboys, have held since the regular season came to an end. By this point we are all well-familiar with various names in the upcoming draft class,
some even have their favorites, but as the passage of time goes on the process becomes more elaborate.
That happened last week when Mel Kiper dropped his first mock draft of the season and again on Monday when Daniel Jeremiah offered his. Mocks are just that, mocks, but the ones that come from the NFL’s top draft experts are always worth paying attention to.
Daniel Jeremiah, like Mel Kiper, has the Cowboys going heavy on defense, but he has Dallas taking a cornerback in the first round where Kiper does not. In fact, Jeremiah has the Cowboys going corner with their initial first-round pick.
Pick 12. Dallas Cowboys
Colton Hood, Tennessee · CB · Sophomore (RS)
I expect Dallas to draft an edge rusher in Round 1 (SEE: Pick No. 20 in this mock), but I’d like to see the Cowboys upgrade the secondary, too. Hood would be a plug-and-play starter for them.
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Pick 20. Dallas Cowboys (via GB)
Keldric Faulk, Auburn · Edge · Junior
Faulk is a tough evaluation. He has great size and is a smooth athlete, but I’d like to see him play with a little more urgency. The upside is tremendous.
Most mocks these days that have Dallas taking a Tennessee corner have them going with Jermod McCoy, but Jeremiah has the Cowboys taking his teammate in Colton Hood. Interestingly his blurb in that section starts with what he views as what will be an emphasis for the Cowboys before the round is over at edge rusher where he has given then Keldric Faulk with the Green Bay pick.
It is worth noting that this is the first mock from a major NFL insider since Christian Parker became the team’s defensive coordinator. This practice is a lot about who the insiders are talking to, Daniel Jeremiah famously says that he scouts with his eyes but he mocks with his ears, so that decision could have changed the overall calculus. Consider that before that news came about that Mel Kiper gave Dallas, in order, Ohio State’s Sonny Styles and Miami’s Akheem Mesidor.
How do you feel about Daniel Jeremiah’s initial mock draft and what he has the Cowboys doing?
