Dallas already have starters at strong safety (SS) and a free safety (FS) in Gerald Sensabaugh and Brodney Pool. Sensabaugh just signed a 6 year contract extension so it does not appear he is going anyplace. Pool, despite being only 27 years old, has played 7 seasons and started 67 games. Sensabaugh is 28 years old, has also played 7 seasons, and started 69 games. They may not be future Pro-Bowlers, but they are both solid starters with lots of experience and in the primes of their career.

Barron is a strong safety, but that is the position played by Sensabaugh. As such, if Pool is pushed out by Barron, either Barron or Sensabaugh would be playing out of position. Regardless, I don't think that safety is a position of "need" for the 2012 Dallas Cowboys.

Getting back to the "talk" of Dallas taking Mark Barron. The question I have is the following. If Dallas was so high on taking Barron, why would they be hinting to reporters that they really want him?

Up until very, very recently, I had not seen a single mock that had Barron going better than #14. However, there are teams (e.g., Jets and Eagles) that also have big needs at safety and would apparently like to draft Barron. If not a peep came out of Dallas regarding Mark Barron, either of those teams might feel safe not making a move and would probably take a chance and let Barron fall to them. However, with all the talk about Barron going to Dallas, these teams must seriously consider moving up to take Barron if this is who they covet.

All the "talk" about Barron (supposedly from the Cowboys) only makes it less likely that Barron will be available for the Cowboys to take. If the Cowboys really wanted Barron, why would they make it less likely that Barron would be there by talking about him? Again, nobody had Barron going before #14, so if the Cowboys really wanted Barron, it was very unlikely Barron would be selected before then. Teams wanting Barron would just sit and let Barron fall to them. As such, the smart thing for the Cowboys to have done (if they wanted Barron) was not to talk him up.

My suspicion is (if the Cowboys were wise) that the talk of taking Barron is a smoke screen to prevent another team from moving up to take a player the Cowboys really covet and to get a team like Philly or the Jets to move up and take Barron which would make it more likely the player the Cowboys really want would fall to them at #14.

There is talk that JJ telegraphs who the Cowboys are going to pick. Looking at last year, most people had Tyron Smith pegged for the Cowboys. However, the Cowboys had NOBODY at LT (Free was a RT) and Smith was a perfect match of BPA and team need.

In browsing some recent mocks, this is probably closet to how I think the draft may pan out.