The big event of the month begins tomorrow. The 2012 NFL Combine will kick off and will run through the 28th. There are three very important parts of the combine - the weigh in, the drills and the interview process. The combine provides us with true height and weight measurements. Schools tend to alter the height and weight numbers in their favor so the combine is great for getting a prospects true size. The weigh in process at the beginning of the combine can be the most boring part of the event, but it is still an important part of the process that every NFL team will pay attention close attention to.

For the past few months, we have debated the Cowboys draft needs. Cornerback, safety, pass rusher, defensive line and offensive line look like our most pressing needs. With all of those needs on our minds, we should then shift our focus to certain areas during the combine.

Below is my latest Top 50 Big Board and break-downs by position group. After that, we'll take a look at how some of the drills relate to specific positions.

Make the jump...

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Mock draft season is at its pre-Combine peak, and the draftniks across the country are scrambling to get their last mocks up before the Combine opens its doors later this week.

SBNation's Ryan Van Bibber got in on the action early yesterday and updated his 2012 NFL Mock Draft, just in time before the Combine shakes up these rankings with 40-yard times, bench press results and 3-cone drills.

For the Cowboys, not much has changed. Van Bibber has the Cowboys selecting Alabama CB Dre Kirkpatrick for the third time in four weeks:

The Cowboys who really need help in the secondary. This pick will depend on what they do in free agency, where Brent Grimes, Cortland Finnegan and Brandon Carr could also provide a fix. Kirkpatrick matches up well against bigger, physical receivers, which could come in handy against Dallas' division rivals in New York.

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Dateline, Indianapolis. We are less than 24 hours away from the first arrivals to the 2012 NFL Scouting Combine. The annual ritual, also known as the Underwear Olympics officially kicks off tomorrow, with special teams prospects, tight ends, and most importantly to the Dallas Cowboys, the offensive linemen all reporting for registration. There won't be much action until the weekend, as the draft hopefuls will spend the day doing paperwork and attending orientation; but it will mark the official beginning of the 2012 league year.

Sure, free agency doesn't start until March 13th, but this is the first tangible, substantial piece of new information that we've had since the season turned cold on us early last month. We get to take a look at all of those prospects we've been reading up on and watching highlight reels of.

For those that have only paid slight attention to the combine in year's past, here is how it works.

Each year, the NFL invites every eligible draft prospect that one of their many committees feels has a chance to be drafted in one of the seven rounds or a hot target undrafted free agent (UDFA). In 2012, the number of invitees reached 328, and you can look at the full list, here. They weigh and measure all and see which ones have been found wanting and which ones project to exceed their collegiate production based on athletic abilities, sans pads.

The Combine separates the invitees into 11 groupings, by position, and then runs each group through a four-day process that peaks on the final day with what actually gets all the press and attention, Workout Day. So for all intents and purposes, even though the combine starts tomorrow, the weekend is when things will really get interesting.

Follow the jump to see the position groups, day assignments and more.

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It's mock draft time, and boy, do we love studying mock drafts. Not because we believe they are relevant in any way - unless of course their picks match our own thoughts on who we should pick!

Some mocks you glance at and immediately start shaking your head in utter disbelief. Others you hold up and proclaim to be 32 commandments - like Moses with his two stone tablets on Mount Sinai.

Mostly though, they are mainly fun because they focus attention on players or positions that we can sit around and endlessly talk about. Because that's what we do, especially in the offseason with nine weeks still to go to draft weekend.

We already highlighted Mel Kiper's latest mock on Wednesday, and followed it up with Wes Bunting's newest offering on Thursday. And as we look through the remaining mocks published this week, the choices for the Cowboys have been narrowed to either a corner or an interior offensive lineman. Things could very well look different after the combine, but that's where we stand today.

After the break, we look at some of the latest mocks out there and who they have going to the Cowboys.

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Yesterday we ran an article with a partial transcript of Mike Mayock's pre-Combine conference call. The transcript was hastily thrown together based on an audio file which recorded the first 45 minutes of the call.

Today, the NFL Network released a full transcript of the call, and Mayock went on to touch on a number of topics and prospects that have received a lot of airtime among Cowboys fans.

Mayock talks about the Cowboys "Super Bowl front seven" and how the secondary has been holding the team back. He talks about how David DeCastro will be plug-and-play from day one, he examines the pass rushers in this year's draft in a lot of detail and talks about the impact arrests and injuries have on the draft stock of players like Dre Kirkpatrick and Mark Barron.

The transcript is provided by the NFL Network, we have simply grouped some of the Q&As that deal with prospects the Cowboys could be interested in.

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The NFL Network’s lead NFL Draft Analyst and Scouting Combine head honcho Mike Mayock took part in a conference call with national media members yesterday in the lead up to the 2012 NFL Scouting Combine.

Mayock does these calls every year prior to the Combine, but unlike last year, the NFL Network didn't provide a transcript of the call this time, so you'll have to make do with my hastily scribbled transcript below - or listen to a 45 minute part of the call here.

While members of the Dallas media may have been in attendance, no specific questions were asked about the Cowboys in the segment, so Mayock didn't address the Cowboys specifically, but he did talk about a couple of players and topics that are of interest to Cowboys fans.

The soundbite of the day (for me) may have come when he mentioned Sean Lee as a Pro Bowler when he talked about Boston College linebacker Luke Kuechly:

Think about Sean Lee. That’s the best comparison. Sean Lee went in the second round to Dallas but has become a Pro Bowl inside linebacker, and I think [Luke Kuechly] is very similar, has none of the knee issues Sean had and is a slightly better athlete.

After the break, find out what Mayock has to say about depth along the defensive line, offensive linemen and a selection of players that have been (at times) hotly debated on these boards.

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Hot on the heels of yesterday's Mel Kiper mock draft comes Wes Bunting's latest offering, mock draft version 3.0.

Bunting, of course, knows how to deliver a mock draft that gets people talking, and in his third iteration of his mock draft, he offers the third prospect for the Cowboys after having the Cowboys select David DeCastro in v 1.0 and Peter Konz in v 2.0. But what makes this third version highly auspicious is what happened last year:

After mocking Robert Quinn to the Cowboys in his mock v 1.0 and Prince Amukamara in v 2.0, he hit the nail on the head in v 3.0, mocking Tyron Smith to the Cowboys. Will Bunting be able to repeat that feat this year?

With the 14th pick in the 2012 draft, the Bunting has the Cowboys taking Dre Kirkpatrick. Bunting writes:

The Cowboys have to be thrilled with both Kirkpatrick and Stanford OG David DeCastro still on the board. However, I see them opting for the big corner because of the overall priority of the position.

So this year's mock 3.0 is doubly auspicious, not only because of last year's pick, but also because both Kirkpatrick and DeCastro are available for the Cowboys - and if those two drop that far, other prospects must have taken their place in the top 13. After the break, we look at who those players are.

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Yesterday, NFL Network draft analyst Mike Mayock released an updated version of his top five players per position heading into the Combine. You can find the full rankings here, but we'll focus only the positions of need for the Cowboys and any changes to the ranking since Mayock's initial version from January.

Defensive Ends/OLBs: An improved pass rush is an obvious position to focus on as a Cowboys fan. Anthony Spencer's future with the Cowboys is still up in the air, and with the amount of interest the Cowboys showed in J.J. Watt last year, an upgraded pass rush will certainly be one of the offseason objectives for the Cowboys. Whether this upgrade will happen at OLB or DE is the topic of much debate, but since Mayock conveniently lumps the two together, we'll talk about both in one go.

Rank	Previous Ranking (1/24)	Updated Rank (2/14)	Change
1	Quinton Coples, North Carolina	Melvin Ingram, South Carolina
2	Melvin Ingram, South Carolina	Quinton Coples, North Carolina
3	Whitney Mercilus, Illinois	Andre Branch, Clemson
4	Nick Perry, USC	Whitney Mercilus, Illinois
5 (tie)	Chandler Jones, Syracuse	Vinny Curry, Marshall
	Andre Branch, Clemson	Nick Perry, USC

Most mocks and rankings have Coples as a top ten prospect and Ingram going somewhere in the second half of the first round, so it comes as a slight surprise to see Ingram move up ahead of Coples. Perhaps Mayock is already anticipating a better Combine performance by Ingram.

The same thing could probably be said of mock draft favorite Vince Curry, who is expected to put up some pretty impressive combine numbers, and rises accordingly. Overall, there's lots of movement in this positional ranking, and if you're wondering where Alabama's Courtney Upshaw is, Mayock put him at the top of the inside linebacker ranking. Upshaw did play OLB in Alabama's 3-4 defense, so from a Cowboys point of view he should be on this list, probably battling Ingram and Coples for the top spot.

After the break, we look at offensive linemen, corners and defensive tackles.

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