We have a special challenge for you today. Submit a list of up to 30 players, irrespective of round, that you think the Cowboys will 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 pre-draft visits or local "Dallas day" workouts; anything goes, but you've got to stick to 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 really pick a cornerback for every round; are you going to go out on a limb for that small-school standout; what's your position on tight ends; just how many defensive linemen can the Cowboy really draft; will a wide receiver increase or decrease your chances of getting more picks right; are you going to plan for a trade-down or not? Lots of questions that you'll need to address as you whittle down the names on your board.
To get things started, Michael Sisemore, Danny Phantom, and I will submit our Top 30.
Michael Sisemore's 30 prospects for the Cowboys | ||||||
First Round | Second Round |
Third Round |
Fourth Round |
Fifth/Sixth |
7th/Priority FA |
|
DEFENSE | ||||||
DE | Charles Harris |
Tyus Bowser |
Derek Rivers |
Tanoh Kpassagnon | ||
Takkarist McKinley |
Tarell Basham |
Daeshon Hall |
||||
T.J. Watt | Jordan Willis | |||||
DT | Jermiah Ledbetter | |||||
LB | Ben Gedeon | |||||
CB | Kevin King |
Cordrea Tankerlsey |
Shaquill Griffin | Treston Decoud | ||
Adoree' Jackson |
Fabian Moreau | |||||
Chidobe Awuzie | ||||||
S | Marcus Williams | Justin Evans | Xavier Woods | |||
Marcus Maye | ||||||
OFFENSE | ||||||
QB | Seth Russell | |||||
RB | Jeremy McNichols | |||||
WR |
Curtis Samuel | Juju Smith-Schuster | Mack Hollins | Fred Ross | ||
OL |
Taylor Moton | Julie'n Davenport |
Many of Sisemore's picks have been to Dallas for pre-draft visits or had workouts with the Cowboys and his list is heavily skewed towards the defense, with just eight offensive players on his board.
OCC's 30 prospects for the Cowboys | ||||||
First Round | Second Round |
Third Round |
Fourth Round |
Fifth/Sixth |
7th/Priority FA |
|
DEFENSE | ||||||
DE | Charles Harris |
Tyus Bowser |
Derek Rivers |
Daeshon Hall | ||
Derek Barnett |
Jordan Willis |
Tanoh Kpassagnon | ||||
Takkarist McKinley | ||||||
CB | Kevin King |
Fabian Moreau | Shaquill Griffin | Damontae Kazee |
Brendan Langley |
Treston Decoud |
Adoree' Jackson |
Chidobe Awuzie |
Cordrea Tankersley |
Jalen Myrick |
|||
S | Marcus Maye | Justin Evans | Xavier Woods | Tedric Thompson |
||
OFFENSE | ||||||
QB | Jerod Evans |
Seth Russell | ||||
RB | Brian Hill |
Aaron Jones |
||||
Jahad Thomas |
||||||
WR |
Juju Smith-Schuster | Robert Davis |
Fred Ross |
I also went heavy on official pre-draft visitors as well as players the Cowboys worked out, but I am dialed in on defense in the first four rounds.
Danny Phantom also weighed in with a litle board, and he goes all in on defense, with just four of 30 prospects coming from the offensive side of the ball.
Danny Phantom's 30 prospects for the Cowboys | ||||||
First Round | Second Round |
Third Round |
Fourth Round |
Fifth/Sixth |
7th/Priority FA |
|
DEFENSE | ||||||
DE | Charles Harris |
Tyus Bowser |
Derek Rivers |
Tanoh Kpassagnon | ||
Taco Charlton |
Jordan Willis |
|||||
Takkarist McKinley | Tarell Basham |
|||||
DT | Jeremiah Ledbetter |
|||||
LB | Blair Brown |
|||||
CB | Adoree' Jackson | Kevin King | Sidney Jones |
Rasul Douglas |
Treston Decoud | |
Tre'Davious White |
Cordrea Tankersley | Fabian Moreau | ||||
Chidobe Awuzie | Desmond King | |||||
Gareon Conley | ||||||
S | Obi Melifonwu |
Marcus Williams | Xavier Woods | Tedric Thompson | ||
Justin Evans |
||||||
OFFENSE | ||||||
OT | Julie'n Davenport | |||||
RB | T.J. Logan | |||||
WR |
Curtis Samuel |
Juju Smith-Schuster |
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, use this or a similar format to post your selections in the comments below:
1st Round: T.J. Watt, Malik McDowell, Tyus Bowser, Tre'Davious White, Taco Charlton
2nd Round: Marlon Humphrey, Budda Baker, Josh Jones, Adam Shaheen, Tarell Basham
3rd Round: Cooper Kupp, Jake Butt, DeMarcus Walker, Rasul Douglas, Sidney Jones
4th Round: John Johnson, D'Onta Foreman, Ben Gedeon, Xavier Woods, Eddie Vanderdoes
5th/6th Round: Tanoh Kpassagnon, Donnel Pumphrey, Hunter Dimick, Jeremiah Ledbetter, Dylan Cole
7th Round/Priority Free Agents: Jon Toth, Bryan Cox, Avery Moss, Billy Brown, Fred Ross
Your reward? Some fun in compiling your list of 30 names and bragging rights for whoever gets the most picks right.
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, 86 BTB members participated in this exercise, and found out the hard way that in spite of nine draft picks by the Cowboys, predicting who the Cowboys would pick proved very tough. 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 (Jones, Gregory, Green, Wilson, plus Gibson) and two free agents (George Farmer, Lucky Whitehead).
- 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 particpants, BigDadJoe and Markythearky, got four draft picks right.
The Cowboys have seven picks heading into the draft. Can someone get more than half of the 2017 Cowboys draft picks right?