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2013 Cowboys Pre-Draft Visits: Which Players Will They Bring In This Year?

In previous years, a good indicator of what the Cowboys were going to do on draft weekend was the amount of invites per position they brought in for pre-draft visits.

Ronald Martinez

Each NFL team is permitted to invite up to 30 national draft prospects for a pre-draft visit every year. Per league rules, these visits are not workouts, they are strictly meet and greets where the team can get a better feel for the players and run them through some medical and other tests. Additionally, teams can invite as many local prospects as they want for a workout, and the Cowboys regularly conduct their "Dallas Days" for draft-eligible players who grew up in the area or attended area colleges.

In recent years, these national visits have been a pretty good indicator of which players and which positions the Cowboys were going to select in the ensuing draft. The top picks in six of the last seven drafts - Bobby Carpenter, Anthony Spencer, Felix Jones, Jason Williams, Dez Bryant and Tyron Smith - all visited Valley Ranch as part of the Cowboys' pre-draft visits. That run came to an end last year when Morris Claiborne became the first Cowboys top pick since DeMarcus Ware in 2005 to not be invited to Valley Ranch prior to the Draft.

At the bottom of this post I've summarized all the players (that I could find) invited for pre-draft visits to Valley Ranch since 2008.

The one thing that appears to be a good indicator for the Cowboys' draft plans is the amount of invites per position they brought in for pre-draft visits. Here's an overview of the top two positions (by number of players invited) who visited the Cowboys over the last five years, and what the Cowboys ended up doing about those positions in the draft:

Year Most invitations 2nd Most Invitations Result
2008 Cornerbacks (8)
Running Backs (5) Mike Jenkins and Felix Jones selected in the first round
2009 Linebackers (5)
Wide Receivers (4)
Jason Williams taken as first pick, no WR drafted high
2010 OL (8)
Wide Receivers (6) Dez Bryant taken in round 1, no OL picked high
2011 OL (6) Cornerbacks (6) Tyron Smith drafted in round 1, no CB selected high
2012 CB (8) OL (6) Morris Claiborne picked in round one, no OL taken high

We already know that TCU DE Stansly Maponga and OT Terron Armstead out of Arkansas Pine-Bluff have invitations for a pre-Draft visit with the Cowboys, but the chances are good that this year's invites will once again be heavy on the O-line. Watch closely over the next few weeks as word trickles out about which players have received invitations to Valley Ranch - chances are one of them will be the Cowboys' top draft pick in 2013, and chances are that pick will come from the position group that receives the highest number of invitations.

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The table below summarizes all the players (that I could find) invited to Valley Ranch for national pre-Draft visits since 2008. The players who eventually ended up with the Cowboys (even briefly) are highlighted in yellow and "Pk" indicates where they were picked in that year's draft.

Pre-draft visitors to Valley Ranch, 2008-2012

2012
Pk WR Pk OL Pk CB Pk S Pk DT Pk LB Pk RB Rk TE
54 Ryan Broyles 24 David DeCastro 10 Stephon Gilmore 7 Mark Barron 11 Dontari Poe 35 Courtney Upshaw 31 Doug Martin 127 Adrien Robinson
92 T.Y. Hilton 40 Amini Silatolu 17 Dre Kirkpatrick 29 Harrison Smith 12 Fletcher Cox 113 Kyle Wilber

41 Cordy Glenn 62 Casey Hayward 135 Matt Johnson 14 Michael Brockers 119 Keenan Robinson*

44 Jeff Allen 76 Ron Brooks* 216 D.J. Campbell 125 Ronnell Lewis

55 Peter Konz 80 Jamell Fleming* 154 Korey Toomer

- - Ronald Leary 143 Josh Norman

- - 148 Chris Greenwood

- - - -
Lionel Smith

2011
Pk WR Pk OL Pk CB Pk S Pk DE Pk LB Pk RB - - - -
26 Jon Baldwin 9 Tyron Smith 19 Prince Amukamara 45 Rahim Moore 11 J.J. Watt 40 Bruce Carter 71 DeMarco Murray - - - -
111 Edmond Gates 15 Mike Pouncey 34 Aaron Williams 100 Da'Norris Searcy 94 >Kenrick Ellis 67 Nate Irving 73 Stevan Ridley

114 Cecil Shorts 17 Nate Solder 88 Johnny Patrick 108 Quinton Carter 106 Christian Ballard 68 Kelvin Sheppard 126 Bilal Powell

- - Andre Holmes 22 Anthony Castonzo 89
Shareece Wright 248 Eric Hagg 72 Martez Wilson

32 Derek Sherrod 139 Brandon Burton

76 Will Rackley 207 Korey Lindsey

2010
Pck WR Pck OL Pck CB Pck S Pck DE Pck LB Pck FB - - - -
24 Dez Bryant 17 Mike Iupati 29 Kyle Wilson 37 Nate Allen 10 Tyson Alualu 55 Sean Lee 125 Clay Harbor - - - -
39 Arrelious Benn 18 Maurkice Pouncey 27 Devin McCourty 49 Taylor Mays 28 Jared Odrick 91 Navorro Bowman 139 John Conner

78 Brandon LaFell 61 Vlad Ducasse 76 Chad Jones 71 Morgan Burnett 190 Travis Goethel

82 Emmanuel Sanders* 73 John Jerry 96 Brandon Ghee

90 Taylor Price 80 J.D. Walton* 126 Akwasi Owusu- Ansah

191 Dezmon Briscoe* 106 Bruce Campbell

194 Ramon Harewood

228 Reggie Stephens


2009
Pk WR Pk OL Pk CB Pk S Pk DE Pk LB Pk QB Pk TE
36 Brian Robiskie 58 Sebastian Vollmer 42 Jairus Byrd 33 Louis Delmas 68 Jarron Gilbert 16 Larry English 101 Stephen McGee 122 Anthony Hill
50 Mohamed Massaquoi 66 48 Darcel McBath 69 Jason Williams 174 Tom Brandstater 152 James Casey
83 Brandon Tate 166 Michael Hamlin 125 Lawrence Sidbury - - Chase Daniel
87 Patrick Turner 150 Jasper Brinkley
154 Marcus Freeman
2008
Pk WR Pk OL Pk CB Pk S Pk DE Pk LB Pk RB Pk TE
41 James Hardy 15 Branden Albert 11 Leodis McKelvin - -
- -
- -
- -
9 Keith Rivers 13 Jonathan Stewart 61 Martellus Bennett
51 Malcolm Kelly 26 Duane Brown 16 Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie



10 Jerod Mayo 22 Felix Jones

53 Limas Sweed 20 Aqib Talib* 104 Beau Bell 23 Rashard Mendenhall

105 Will Franklin 27 Antoine Cason 24 Chris Johnson

128 Keenan Burton 35 Brandon Flowers 73 Jamaal Charles

40 Tracy Porter
62 Terrence Wheatley*
67 Charles Godfrey

* denotes players who count as a local prospects

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