Defense is a popular pick for the Dallas Cowboys. In fact, defense is so needed that it better be the pick twice over for America’s Team later next month during the NFL draft.
So far throughout the offseason we have seen the Cowboys place a very strong emphasis on fixing that side of the ball. They hired Christian Parker as the group’s newest coordinator, outfitted his staff to his liking, and they have made acquisitions to date like Jalen Thompson, Rashan Gary, and Cobie Durant that suggest they plan
on avoiding everything that was 2025.
Obviously the draft will play a big role in whatever changes and improvements ultimately happen. Mock drafts are running rampant right now and St. Patrick’s Day brought a bit of luck with two from the biggest names in the game.
Daniel Jeremiah has pivoted to a new name for Dallas
There were two big-time mocks that came out on Tuesday. Mel Kiper offered his and in it he switched directions for the Cowboys relative to his first two offerings.
NFL Media’s Daniel Jeremiah executed a similar move. He had the Cowboys going with Tennessee’s Jermod McCoy at 12 overall, which he had done in his mock directly preceding this one, but he went with a new name at 20.
12. Dallas Cowboys: Jermod McCoy, CB, Tennessee
McCoy’s draft range is somewhat difficult to predict, considering he missed all of last season with an ACL tear and we have yet to see him work out for scouts. His 2024 game film is excellent, though.
20. Dallas Cowboys (via GB): T.J. Parker, EDGE, Clemson
Parker is a polarizing player this year after his production dipped in 2025. But he had a strong finish to the season, and he followed that up with an impressive performance at the Senior Bowl.
McCoy is a very popular name for the Cowboys. In fact, that’s what Kiper had Dallas doing at 12 as well.
T.J. Parker is some new blood, though.
Jeremiah notes a common draft point in that people are down on Parker due to a down 2025, but he offers traits that suggest he could improve over time. Perhaps he is an edge rusher of the future in Christian Parker’s mind.
Here is how Jeremiah has mocked the Cowboys throughout his three mock drafts to date.
This is the second instance where Jeremiah has given the Cowboys a corner, and actually Jermod McCoy specifically, and an edge rusher. In this latest mock the Cowboys had to go elsewhere other than Akheem Mesidor as Jeremiah had him going number 15 overall to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
All of Jeremiah’s mocks fail to address the need that the Cowboys have at linebacker. It sure would be tough for Dallas to emerge from the first round without any help there given that they struck out in free agency.
How Jermod McCoy and T.J. Parker did in previous mocks
In the same way that it is interesting to track who a particular mock drafter is sending to the Cowboys in each of their mocks, it is also interesting to keep tabs on how the players in question have done throughout the same process.
Here is the path that McCoy and Parker have taken through the three Daniel Jeremiah mocks to date.
McCoy has now been connected to the Cowboys through the majority of Daniel Jeremiah-led mock drafts. This latest installment had T.J. Parker drop a bit as he had previously gone to the Lions a few picks earlier. He was not in Jeremiah’s initial first-round mock of the offseason.
How would you feel about a Jermod McCoy and T.J. Parker combination for the Cowboys?
