Cowboys Pre-Draft Visit Tracker: Florida DT Dominique Easley To Visit Next Week

Quoting a league source, Aaron Wilson of the National Football Post reports that Florida defensive tackle Dominique Easley will visit the Dallas Cowboys and New England Patriots next week.

Easley is coming off two torn ACL's, which has considerably hurt his draft stock. In 2011, he tore his left ACL, yet recovered sufficiently to lay claim to being one of the most dominant players in college football. His junior and senior seasons proved that he is one of the most disruptive defenders in the SEC, and was on his way to becoming a top ten draft pick before tearing his right ACL in September 2013. He has since been working on his rehab and is convinced he'll make a complete recovery.

"I tore my ACL in 2011, and I got faster in 2013," he said. "So when I get back from this ACL, it’s going to make me nothing but faster… it’s a blessing for me because I know what I went through, how much I improved after the first ACL."

Due to his injury, Easley wasn't able to take part in the multitude of postseason workouts and scouting events draft-eligible players usually go through each year, but he drew a big crowd to Gainesville for his pro day Thursday, and didn't disappoint with 18 NFL teams in attendance, per Ryan O'Halloran of the Florida Times-Union.

Despite injury concerns, Easley left scouts thinking that he could go early on Day 2 of the draft. Easley said he believed he was 80 percent recovered, and would be ready for minicamps this summer. Nobody will fault Easley for considering himself this far along, and it is indeed possible that he's close to coming back. We've seen examples of crazy comebacks like Adrian Peterson's, but we've also seen players that never recovered fully from such an injury.

With his injury history, Easley is probably off some teams’ draft boards altogether, while others might be willing to take a flyer on him. It's hard to imagine any team parting with a first-round pick for Easley, but if he's there at No. 47 in the second round, the Cowboys may find Easley hard to pass up. Dallas has shown a willingness to take chances on players with ACL issues in the second round, and Easley might be worth taking as has the potential to be a future Pro Bowler - if he can stay healthy.

When the Cowboys bring him in next week, they'll want to take a detailed look at his knee and the outcome of those medical tests will determine not only if but also how high Easley will rank on the Cowboys' draft board.

The Cowboys did not use up their full allotment of 30 national draft prospects they are allowed to bring in for pre-draft visits. Which is why they can bring in Easley next week, one week removed from when they hosted most of their other pre-draft vistors. And it may not even be the first time the Cowboys have had Easley in: Bryan Broaddus seemed to indicate that Easley had already been at Valley Ranch for a visit with the Cowboys:

"@JoeDeMayo4: @BryanBroaddus @soldier89892002 meant as a question. Easley was at VR?" I said he was

— Bryan Broaddus (@BryanBroaddus) April 16, 2014

If so, two visits by Easley would indicate some serious interest by the Cowboys, and the 6-foot-2, 285 pound lineman would seem to be an excellent fit for Rod Marinnelli's defensive line.

In total, we now know of 23 national draft pospects the Cowboys brought in so far, as well as 36 local prospects brought in for Dallas Day - although those numbers could still increase as more names become known.