FanPost

This Just Makes Sense...



Trading down in the draft, this year, just makes too much sense to me. There are teams who will be itching to move up to take a guy that they're really high on. For example, I could easily see Pittsburgh moving up in the draft, as high as 14, swapping picks with us and taking either Dontari Poe or Luke Kuechly as NT and ILB are major areas of need for that defense. With the switch (back) to their traditional ground & pound, smash mouth football, WR doesn't appear to be that big of a need for them, although I could still see them reaching on a guy like Kendall Wright or Michael Floyd. Trading down with either Cleveland or Cincinnati makes sense too, primarily because they each have two 1st Round picks and if you believe Cleveland and them saying that they're going to stick with McCoy for one more year (until Matt Barkley is available in the draft) then you have to believe that they'll take Trent Richardson with their first pick and a WR with - Floyd, Jefferies, Wright - to have an offense in place for Barkley next year, making a trade with them less likely. Cincinnati on the other hands has a desperate need at CB and I believe that they could certainly be looking to move up to take Kirkpatrick or Gilmore and the team in the best position for them to trade up with would be the Cowboys. I think it makes more sense to move down and add the extra picks and let the mock look something like this.

Trade with Pittsburgh (they take Luke Kuechly at 14), Cowboys add picks 56 in the 2nd Round and 159 in the 5th, trade 7th round pick as part of trade down with Pittsburgh.

Round 1, 24th overall: Stephon Gilmore (CB) - this says that the Cowboys like Mike Jenkins, but not enough to pay him big money and they'll get a younger guy who will play with Brandon Carr for the next 4-5 years. Listed at 6-1, 190lb we'd have two big CBs who can get after receivers.

Round 2, 45th overall: Kevin Zeitler (OG) - Wisconsin just keeps churning out OL that are quality guys and versatile. If it's true that Zeitler can also play Center then this pick is a no brainer.

Round 2, 56th overall: Shea McClellin (DE/OLB) - I tend to trust the opinion of Mike Mayock more than any other draft expert because Mayock actually watches film and lots of it and he also commentates games. My brother is a Virginia Tech grad and I went to the Boise St - VT game and I got a chance to see this kid play for myself and all he does is make plays. This is what Mayock had to say about Shea McClellin . What we're missing is consistent pass rush opposite of DeMarcus Ware and now is a great time to address that. Bruce Irvin could easily be the pick here, if he's available, but I doubt that highly.

Round 3, 81st overall: Alameda Ta'amu (NT) - is there any more doubt that Jay Ratliff needs to move back to DE. Our run defense is consistently gashed because of a lack of size in the middle of the defensive line. In his first two years as a starters, OLinemen really didn't know what to do with his speed. Ta'amu at 6'3, 348lbs could be the presence on the DLine that Haloti Ngata is for the Ravens.

Round 4, 113th overall: Ladarius Green (TE) - The loss of Martellus Bennett really doesn't hurt that much, but teams are looking for faster, more athletic TEs. This takes nothing away for the greatness of Jason Witten because few TEs are better route runners but many are faster and more athletic. Green is an upgrade at the #2 TE spot over Phillips and possibly the heir-apparent to Witten.

Round 4, 135th overall (conditional pick): Aaron Henry (FS) - at 6'0 208lbs he's not as tall as you'd like in a safety and during the Wisconsin pro-day he ran a 4.54 40yd dash and posted a 39 1/2 vertical jump. I'm not sure if Brodney Pool is the long term solution and we know that JG likes to foster competition at every position.

Round 5, 152nd overall: Joe Adams (WR) - instantly upgrades the return game and we no longer have to fear Dez Bryant being injured on returns. What the Cowboys have lacked in the past few years is a guy who knows how to return, aside from Bryant who is too valuable to the offense. Plus, Jerry is sure to want one of his Arkansas guys

Round 5, 159th overall: Jonathan Massaquoi (OLB) - as a sophomore at Troy all he did was record 13.5 sacks and followed that with 6.0 sacks. The drop off is attributed to him being used out of position his junior year, as a DE in a 3-man front.

Round 6, 186 overall: Scott Wedige (C) - listed as 6'4, 300lbs this kid has been on my radar for a while. A smart, powerful center. With Zeitler already being drafted the youth movement along with the offensive line would be complete as I don't believer Livings or Bernadeaux are the long term solutions at OG for this team. Wedige would be an upgrade over Costa and could certainly win the job during training camp.

With 9 picks the two that I think would be headed to the practice squad for a year would be Henry and Massaquoi primarily because of who's in front of them. Position have been upgraded and it doesn't assume that we're just 1 player away from the Super Bowl, it addresses areas of need and areas that could become needs in the near future eliminated reaching on a player because a guy has been released a hole is left requiring a rookie to have to play immediately. Let me know what you think.

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