There's no secret that the Cowboys could use some help on the defensive side of the ball, especially in the secondary. This past season did see marked improvement over the 2010 campaign, but there is a large talent void that needs to be filled with some combination of free agency and the amateur draft.

Of course, player draft projections will change dynamically once the Scouting Combine gets underway later next week. For now, the only thing evaluators have to go off of is that pesky, irrelevant game performance stuff. It's so overrated. [/sarcasm]

ESPN's Mel Kiper has been doing this draft stuff for years. While, as Rabble pointed out in his 'Scouting the Scouts' piece he's never been employed by an NFL front office, he has probably played the largest role in why the draft process has become must-see TV. He's earned his reputation, for better or worse, to be discussed when he releases his mocks.

With his Version 2.0, he has Dallas taking Alabama S Mark Barron. The article is behind the Insider pay wall, so we can't link you to much, but Barron would be the first first-round safety for Dallas since the drafting of Roy Williams.

Dallas got shredded far too often with the passing game in 2011, and while Barron might be a very slight reach here in terms of his current grade, he's a perfect fit for the Cowboys. I have "defensive back" on my sheet as a big need in Big D, meaning they can't go wrong with either the top safety or the top cornerback here, and Barron offers the most value. Better in run support right now than he is in coverage, Barron could get better against the pass, but he's an upgrade for the Cowboys.

Barron is the 22nd ranked player overall according to Drafttek.com, 26th according to NFLDraftScout.com, but ranks high at 15th according to Wes Bunting at the National Football Post.

Follow the jump to see where other prospects that have been linked to Dallas have been slotted by Mel.

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If and when you tune in to the NFL Combine this year, you'll probably be focusing on the better known names. Luck vs. RGIII, how fast is Dre Kirkpatrick, what is David DeCastro's bench press, how agile is Quinton Coples, etc. etc. But when some of the lesser known names take the stage, you'll be wondering who to root for.

Not anymore.

Every year, in addition to 30 usually high profile national draft-eligible players the Cowboys bring in for pre-draft visits, they also bring in some draft-eligible local prospects who are usually less well known.

These visits by local prospects usually happen in early to mid April and are known as "Dallas Days". Players qualify as a 'local prospect' if they attended one of the many high schools within the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area or played for SMU or TCU. These "Dallas Days" have delivered their share of Cowboys players in the past, with the likes of Patrick Crayton, Brandon Williams, Jacques Reeves, Stephen Hodge, Bryan McCann and Dez Bryant, as well as last year's rookies Phillip Tanner, Raymond Radway and Josh Thomas.

We don't yet know which local prospects the Cowboys will invite this year, but we do know which of the 318 players invited to the Combine would qualify as local prospects for the Cowboys.

After the break we list the 15 local players attending the Combine this year, many of whom you've probably never heard of.

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Earlier this month, in another look at the Cowboys' offseason plan, I noted Jason Garrett's optimal talent acquisition strategy: use free agency to cover all the team's "must haves" so that they are freed from having to target (and reach for) a player at a specific position in the draft. In a perfect world, Garrett noted, the Cowboys would "draft without needs." Indeed, this is what the top organizations have been doing for some time now, since they began to figure out the salary cap universe's financial nuances.

More recently, as KD reported, Jerry Jones seems to be echoing Garrett's sentiment. Jones noted that if the team was to pinpoint a player it wouldn't happen during the draft - where they would pursue a "best player available" strategy - but in free agency. This strategy makes tremendous sense. The draft is a living, protean entity; trying to target a specific player beyond the first three or four picks is a suicidal endeavor. Free agency, on the other hand, allows you to target a guy--and to get him, if you're willing to spend the right amount of cash.

On a side note, Jones is influenced strongly by his coaches' philosophies--when they actually have a clear, global plan. For years after Jimmy Johnson's departure, he continued to parrot elements of Jimmy's coaching mantra, even as it became more corrupt. If you'll remember, one of the things he loved to say was that he's a "risk-taker." That's pure Johnson. After he hired Bill Parcells, Jones began to incorporate snippets of Billspeak into his interviews. Now, we have evidence of his taking on the RHG's mantra, which can only be a good thing. If Garrett's long-view thinking can begin to influence personnel decisions, the Cowboys will get draft more consistently - making fewer bad free agent reaches as a result - and will improve their personnel. Which is important, as there's a lot of overhauling to be done.

See what needs to be done after the jump...

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Every mock draft out there agrees that Andrew Luck is going to be taken first in the NFL draft.

That is the only player that there is any consensus on. After the Stanford Golden Boy, the opinions vary, and the deeper you go, the greater the variation. Given the never-ending cycle of mocks coming out, I started wondering if there might be some way to come up with an overall ranking that considered a variety of sources to give a "most likely" draft order for the first round - at least through the 14th pick that fans of the Dallas Cowboys are so interested in.

So I put together a table using 12 different mock drafts. They are (in no particular order), Russ Lande from the Sporting News, Wes Bunting of the National Football Post, Rob Rang and Dave Brugler of CBS Sports, the separate CBS prospect ranking (which is different from Rang and Brugler's mocks), SBN's Mocking the Draft, Walter Football, Drafttek, DraftAce, Chad Reuter of the NFL Network, Draft King, and Football's Future.

If those look familiar, it is because I went with mocks that have already been used here for other articles. It means I am talking about some sites that you may be familiar with. And that I was able to go to OCC's various posts on mocks to get the links.

But then I had to decide what to do with this information.

The madness behind my method after the jump.

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How would I attempt to fix the Dallas Cowboys?

Isn't that the question that we all pretty much have in our heads as we discuss the 2012 offseason? We all have varying levels of expertise and knowledge on certain subjects. Whether real or perceived, our hubris as people combined with our familiarity and passion for the team lead us all to believe we have some semblance of a fix for what ails this franchise. Mostly, this comes out in our comments in bit pieces and fragments, as certain subjects are discussed. I figured, with the onset of the new league year less than four weeks away, I might as well get a jump on sharing my views on the topic in their totality.

I'm no subject matter expert, and I realize that there will be some different opinions as equal, or more valid, than my own. This is simply my view; the moves that if the Cowboys front office made them, I'd sit back and say "that's exactly how I would've done it, let's get to September!"

The first order of business would be deciding which of our own in-house talent needs to stay, and which need to be shown the door. You have to handle your own business first, because you pretty much know what you have in those chess pieces. Especially how they fit into your specific strategy.

For now, here's how I'd handle our internal free agents. I'm waving goodbye to several players for various reasons. Terence Newman is obviously gone in my book. The other two main names here will be TE Martellus Bennett and OLB Anthony Spencer. Too much promise, not enough production for my tastes. I don't think there's any way I would pay Spencer what he can get on the open market, but if Bennett realizes his value as a blocking tight end only, there may be a two-year contract available for him at the end of this exercise.

Also gone would be QB Chris Griesen, P Mat McBriar (can't wait to find out your status), WR Kevin Ogletree, RB Sammy Morris, CB's Alan Ball and Frank Walker, and ILB's Keith Brooking and Bradie James. McB and Bradie are the most sentimental releases, but this is a business, folks.

Follow the jump for much more...

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During free agency there are always a handful of names that make the rounds in every NFL fanbase. This year, some of those names are Mario Williams, Carl Nicks, Cortland Finnegan and Calais Campbell, and perhaps a quarterback or two. Those are the guys that every fanbase is talking and dreaming about.

Yet those top tier free agents will only be able to sign with one team, and other teams will still need to fill gaps in their roster with other free agents - second tier free agents whose names may not carry quite that allure.

One of those free agents this year is the Cowboys own Anthony Spencer.

To say that fan opinion on Anthony Spencer is divided may qualify as the understatement of the year. The recent discussion about potentially franchising Spencer once again highlighted how much opinions about Anthony Spencer differ. Some argued that franchising Spencer is a good idea, others argued that it's high time he left, many more were caught somewhere in between these extreme positions.

In free agency, the grass is almost always greener on the other side, so today we're going to take a look at what fans of other teams think about Anthony Spencer.

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I'm guessing that nobody will be surprised to learn that cornerback is a position of need for the Cowboys this year. The Cowboys must address the cornerback situation this offseason and will likely do so both in free agency and the draft.

News reached us yesterday via the NFL Network's Jason La Canfora that free agent CB Stanford Routt will visit with the Cowboys this week, perhaps as early as today, after a trip to Kansas City yesterday. The Cowboys don't usually get active in free agency this early in the process, and may just be doing some due diligence here. But Routt's Oakland connection to Rob Ryan may be a significant factor, and at the very least the Cowboys are doing their homework and preparing for all possibilities.

On the draft front, SB Nation released its latest 2012 NFL mock draft yesterday and Ryan van Bibber predictably has the Cowboys taking a cornerback, Alabama's Dre Kirkpatrick. Here's his rationale:

Kirkpatrick might not fall this far. Dallas could trade up to draft him, or select Janoris Jenkins instead. In our alternate universe, they draft Kirkpatrick. Had Rob Ryan had a corner of this caliber in 2011, they might have been the NFC East champions.

This draft's class of cornerbacks reportedly runs deep, and after the break we look a little closer at the 2012 cornerback class and how a selection of draft experts ranks the top prospects.

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What would a day in the offseason be without your Cowboys linkies? You must eat them to keep you strong, and warm in the winter!

Routt to visit Chiefs, three others | ProFootballScout.com

Well, it appears the Cowboys wanted to do more than just talk with recently released cornerback Stanford Routt. He has scheduled a visit to Dallas; one of four teams the DB will meet with this week. The others; the Chiefs (obviously), Texans and Titans. I have a feeling Routt is going to become a fanbase dividing entity the longer this plays out. He has stats that can excite and scare you, and it will all come down to how much money he's looking for and the team is willing to pay him. I'm sure the club already has a figure in their head and that will be hashed out at the in-person interview later this week.

Routt visited with the Buffalo Bills on Monday and will launch his other stops in KC on Tuesday.

Cowboys expected to be among bidders to host Super Bowl L | ProFootballTalk.com

When May rolls around, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones hopes to get a chance at a do over. It appears he will attempt to right the wrongs from January 2011, and show that North Texas really isn't the land of the Ice Capades. Super Bowl L is the next un-awarded title game, and Jones told Daniel Kaplan of Sports Business Journal that he "absolutely" would make a bid. Super Bowl XLV was a disaster on a couple fronts, but the thing that got everyone in a foul mood was a rare ice storm that shut an unprepared Dallas/Arlington area down.

More...

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