A little less than seven weeks ago, I wrote a post in which I looked at 13 leading draftniks and where they were projecting offensive linemen to go in the 2011 draft.
Care to hazard a guess about how many of those draftniks had the Cowboys taking an offensive lineman?
A mere seven weeks ago, only Dan Shonka from Ourlads.com had the Cowboys taking Tyron Smith with the number nine pick. One out of thirteen. Today, a survey of 25 different mock drafts shows that a whopping 19 mock drafts (76%) are mocking Tyron Smith to the Cowboys.
Rabblerousr's profile of Gabe Carimi on Thursday and the increasing number of trade rumors swirling around the Cowboys have again led to a discussion about the Cowboys possibly trading down, gaining an extra second- or third round pick, but still addressing the O-line in the first round. To better understand the Cowboys' options, after the break we look at where the various mock drafts are slotting offensive linemen.
Some mocks have up to eight offensive linemen slotted to go in the first round. Here's an overview of which player is mocked where
| Source | Date | Tyron Smith, OT |
Anthony Castonzo, OT |
Mike Pouncey, OG |
Gabe Carimi, OT |
Nate Solder, OT |
Derrek Sherrod, OT |
Danny Watkins, OG |
Others |
| Don Banks (SI.com) | 4/13 | 9 | 13 | 19 | 21 | 22 | 29 | 23 | 31 |
| Scout.com | 4/13 | 17 | 22 | 21 | 19 | 29 | 26 | - - | - - |
| SidelineScouting.com | 4/13 | 9 | 19 | 15 | 29 | - - | 22 | 31 | - - |
| Russ Lande (Sporting News) | 4/12 | 9 | 10 | 15 | 23 | 26 | 19 | - - | - - |
| Drafttek | 4/12 | 9 | 12 | - - | 22 | 32 | 27 | - - | 29 |
| Pat Kirwan (NFL.com) | 4/12 | 9 | 17 | 19 | 21 | 23 | - - | - - | - - |
| Brian Galliford (SB Nation) | 4/12 | 9 | 13 | 15 | 21 | 28 | 25 | 31 | - - |
| Evan Silva (Rotoworld) | 4/12 | 9 | 13 | 16 | 21 | - - | 22 | 27 | - - |
| Dan Shonka (Ourlads) | 4/11 | 12 | 17 | 19 | 22 | 13 | 23 | 32 | - - |
| Walter Football | 4/11 | 9 | 19 | 15 | 23 | 29 | 22 | - - | |
| Draft Season | 4/11 | 13 | 19 | 15 | 22 | 21 | 31 | 29 | - - |
| Mocking The Draft | 4/11 | 9 | 22 | 19 | 17 | 31 | 32 | - - | - - |
| Draft Ace | 4/11 | 9 | 13 | 19 | 28 | 22 | - - | - - | - - |
| Chad Reuter (NFL Draft Scout/CBS) | 4/11 | 9 | 19 | 21 | 23 | 22 | 29 | - - | 31 |
| Rob Rang (NFL Draft Scout/CBS) | 4/11 | 13 | 18 | 15 | 23 | 22 | 29 | 28 | - - |
| Steve Wyche (NFL.com) | 4/11 | 9 | 17 | 15 | 22 | 29 | 31 | - - | - - |
| Al Fronzak (East Coast SportsNews) | 4/11 | 9 | 19 | 15 | 29 | 22 | 28 | 31 | - - |
| Nolan Nawrocki (Pro Football Weekly) | 4/8 | 12 | 17 | 15 | 21 | 29 | 26 | - - | - - |
| National Football Post | 4/7 | 9 | 12 | 19 | 22 | 23 | 26 | 31 | - - |
| Mel Kiper (ESPN) | 4/6 | 9 | 22 | 19 | 23 | 29 | 32 | - - | - - |
| Todd McShay (ESPN) | 4/6 | 9 | 19 | 15 | 21 | 22 | - - | 31 | - - |
| Great Blue North Draft Report | 4/6 | 9 | 22 | 21 | 23 | 17 | - - | - - | - - |
| Peter Schrager (Foxsports.com) | 4/2 | 9 | 17 | 26 | 29 | 19 | 32 | - - | - - |
| Wes Bunting (Nat'l Football Post) | 3/30 | 9 | 13 | 19 | 27 | 23 | 26 | 28 | 31 |
| Scott Wright (Draft Countdown) | 3/21 | 13 | 19 | 17 | 21 | 22 | - - | - - | - - |
We already saw on Thursday that Mike Pouncey has quietly been moving up the boards, and is now being seen as a good fit in Miami - how much of Pouncey's upsurge is wishful thinking based on his family name we'll only know in a year or two.
The important thing here is though, if the Cowboys trade down, wouldn't all these prospects also move down a slot? Tyron Smith would conceivably be taken by the Lions at # 13, from where he would push Castonzo down to either Miami or the Giants, which would in turn push someone else further down ... you get the drift.
Using the same 25 mocks above, I've reordered the data to better understand which teams the mockers think are in the race for an offensive lineman. For the table below, I've listed all teams by draft position who have picked an offensive lineman in at least four of the 25 mocks above:
| Pick No. | Team | # mocks with OL pick |
| 9 | Cowboys | 19 |
| 12 | Vikings | 4 |
| 13 | Lions | 9 |
| 15 | Dolphins | 10 |
| 17 | Patriots | 9 |
| 19 | Giants | 18 |
| 21 | Chiefs | 11 |
| 22 | Colts | 19 |
| 23 | Eagles | 12 |
| 26 | Ravens | 6 |
This table should be a pretty good indicator of which teams are likely to be in the hunt for an offensive lineman in two weeks. The Lions seem to be the earliest team with designs on an offensive lineman to protect Stafford's glass shoulder. But the pace quickly picks up as the Dolphins and Patriots could also easily join the OL fray.
The run on offensive tackles will start in earnest with the Giants in the 19th spot, and the last of the top linemen could conceivably be gone as early as the Eagles' 23rd pick.
How far do you think the Cowboys could trade down and still be sure of getting a top lineman?