We’ve got a special challenge for you today: Submit a list of up to 30 players, irrespective of round, that you think the Cowboys could draft or sign as undrafted free agents.
How you arrive at your selection is entirely up to you. You can carpet-bomb the first three rounds; you can focus on specific positions; you can look at the list of players the Cowboys invited for official Top 30 visits or local “Dallas day” workouts; you can even add players the Cowboys interviewed at the combine; anything
goes – but you’ve got to stick to max 30 players.
One of the interesting aspects of working with a 30-name list is that it forces you to make some hard choices: do you pick a cornerback in every round to cover all your bases; are you going to go out on a limb for that athletic standout with mediocre college production; what’s your position on linebackers; just how many pass rushers do you think the Cowboys can carry on their roster; will adding wide receivers increase or decrease your chances of getting more picks right? Lots of questions that you’ll need to address as you whittle down the names on your board.
You may think this is an exercise in futility, as there’s no way to pick a few names out of a pool of 400 or so draft eligible players from which the Cowboys are likely to chose. But that’s not necessarily the case.
- In 2013, BTB-member starmesh23 hit on six players that ended up with the Cowboys after the draft.
- In 2014, BTB-members YumaCactus and dallasdan hit on five Cowboys draft picks or UDFA signings.
- In 2015, BTB-member Chad Loveland got seven players right, including the first four in sequence and two free agents.
- In 2016, Joey Ickes got six payers right, even if only two of them were draft picks. Despite the Cowboys making nine draft picks, only two participants, BigBadJoe and Markythearky, got four draft picks right.
- In 2017, BTB-member boys.camncrew got four players right, and 21 other participants placed second with three correct picks each.
- In 2022, after a 5-year pause, we brought our little contest back, and the title of Cowboys Draft Whisperer went to BTB members cowtownNcowboysfan and RockChalkCaliBoys Fan who both got six picks right.
- In 2023, nine BTB-members hit on four players, and if you had Jonathan Mingo on your list, you might feel some late vindication.
Are you up to the challenge this year?
To get things started, Danny Phantom, Brian Martin, and I will submit our Top 30.
body .sbnu-legacy-content-table td, body .sbnu-legacy-content-table th, body .sbnu-legacy-content-table { border: 1px solid #000 !important; border-collapse: collapse !important; }| Danny Phantom’s Top 30 | |||||||
| First | Second | Third | Fourth | Fifth | 6th/7th/ Priority FA | ||
| CB | Mansoor Delane | Colton Hood | Treydan Stukes | ||||
| Jermod McCoy | Brandon Cisse | Malik Muhammad | |||||
| Aveion Terrell | Chris Johnson | ||||||
| Keionte Scott | |||||||
| Edge | David Bailey | Cashius Howell | Romello Height | ||||
| Rueben Bain | Zion Young | ||||||
| Keldric Faulk | |||||||
| Akeem Mesidor | |||||||
| S | Caleb Downs | Josiah Trotter | Kamari Ramsey | Cole Wiesniewski | |||
| Emmanuel McNeil-Warren | Bud Clark | ||||||
| Jalon Kilgore | |||||||
| LB | Sonny Styles | Jacob Rodriguez | Kaleb Elarms-Orr | ||||
| Anthony Hill | Harold Perkins | ||||||
| RB | Seth McGowan | ||||||
| DL | Rene Konga | ||||||
| Legend | 30 Visit | Dallas Day | Other | ||||
Danny went heavy in the first three rounds, and with 18 picks from the 30 Visit list, he’s betting that the Cowboys continue to draft from that list. He’s also really heavy in round two with 10 total picks; is he expecting some kind of trade action?
| OCC’s Top 30 | |||||||
| First | Second | Third | Fourth | Fifth | 6th/7th/ Priority FA | ||
| CB | Aveion Terrell | Brandon Cisse | Keionte Scott | Malik Muhammad | Charles Demmings | ||
| Colton Hood | Chris Johnson | Treydan Stukes | |||||
| Edge | Rueben Bain | Romello Height | Nyjalik Kelly | ||||
| Cashius Howell | Dani Dennis-Sutton | ||||||
| LB | Sonny Styles | Jacob Rodriguez | Kaleb Elarms-Orr | Jack Kelley | |||
| Anthony Hill | Jalen Dugger | ||||||
| S | Caleb Downs | Kamari Ramsey | VJ Payne | Louis Moore | Cole Wiesniewski | ||
| DL | Rene Konga | ||||||
| Tommy Dunn Jr. | |||||||
| WR | Brady Boyd | ||||||
| Ben Patterson | |||||||
| RB | Seth McGowan | EJ Smith | |||||
| Legend | 30 Visit | Dallas Day | Other | ||||
I’m all about gaming the system, so I hope I’ve increased my chances by going heavy on late-round or UDFA prospects the Cowboys have had significant interactions with during the draft process – which is why I have eight Dallas Day participants on my list along with a few traits guys the Cowboys may find hard to resist.
body .sbnu-legacy-content-table td, body .sbnu-legacy-content-table th, body .sbnu-legacy-content-table { border: 1px solid #000 !important; border-collapse: collapse !important; }| Brian Martin’s Top 30 | |||||||
| First | Second | Third | Fourth | Fifth | 6th/7th/ Priority FA | ||
| CB | Colton Hood | Chris Johnson | Treydan Stukes | Malik Muhammad | Andre Fuller | ||
| Edge | Rueben Bain | Malachi Lawrence | Romello Height | ||||
| Akeem Mesidor | Keyron Crawford | ||||||
| LB | Sonny Styles | Jacob Rodriguez | Kaleb Elarms-Orr | ||||
| Anthony Hill | Harold Perkins | ||||||
| Josiah Trotter | |||||||
| S | Caleb Downs | Jalon Kilgore | VJ Payne | ||||
| Dillon Thieneman | Bud Clark | ||||||
| DL | Gracen Halton | Zxavian Harris | Nick Barrett | ||||
| WR | Reggie Virgil | ||||||
| Caleb Douglas | |||||||
| RB | EJ Smith | ||||||
| TE | Eli Stowers | Michael Trigg | Michael Hibner | ||||
| Legend | 30 Visit | Dallas Day | Other | ||||
Brian has 18 prospects the Cowboys did not invite for a 30 visit or Dallas Day; will that risk pay off? He may know something Danny and I don’t.
OVER TO YOU!
Put together your 30 picks. Keep the format simple. We’ll award one point for each correct name you’ve predicted, be it a draft pick or a subsequent UDFA signing, regardless of round. There’s no specific time limit to submit your picks, but the start of the draft on Thursday will be an obvious cut-off point.
For easy legibility, and because it will help me to more efficiently tabulate everybody’s picks, please include each player’s first and last name.
You can submit less than 30 names if you so choose, but if you submit more than 30 names, your submission will not be taken into consideration.
Your reward?
Some fun in compiling your list of 30 names and bragging rights for whoever gets the most picks right.
We’ll publish the results a week or two after the draft.
