Dallas Cowboys News & Notes: How Many UDFAs Will Make The Cowboys Roster This Year?

Five Wonders: Cowboys moves that weren't - Todd Archer, ESPN Dallas
Archer with a lot of food for thought in his regular column, as he looks at a couple of trades the Cowboys were likely working on (a trade back into the first, a trade back into the third), whether the Cowboys could bring in another tight end, whether 2015 could be the year to draft Romo's successor, and wonders how many UDFAs the Cowboys could keep this year:

I wonder how many of the undrafted rookie free agents can make the 53-man roster. There will be some, which happens every year. On the spots in which the Cowboys are thin, Missouri wide receiver L'Damian Washington offers size and speed. He caught 50 passes for 893 yards and 10 TDs last season. His story is uplifting, too. Click this Grantland video to see.

[TE Jordan] Najvar has a chance at the moment. Punter Cody Mandell could push Chris Jones and has already hit the digital board at AT&T Stadium. The Cowboys have kept four tailbacks in the past, so Glasco Martin and Ben Malena have opportunities. Defensive tackle Davon Coleman faces an uphill climb, but he was among the Cowboys' national visitors, so that gives him a leg up. It will be nice to get a look at these guys at the rookie mini-camp.

Cowboys Firm In Support Of Wilcox Following Draft - David Helman, DallasCowboys.com
Stephen Jones said he was "pretty comfortable" with the outlook at safety going forward with Barry Church, J.J. Wilcox, Jeff Heath and Matt Johnson.

"To some degree there was [a safety] in the second there we liked a lot, the Northern Illinois safety," he said. "But after that, we kind of felt like we were getting a lot of what we had. We like J.J., we like Church and we like Heath. We’ll just see how these guys play out."

Garrett Explains Importance Of Days After The Draft - Rowan Kavner, DallasCowboys.com
Jason Garret details some of the things that happen between the end of the draft and the start of rookie mincamp on Friday, and how every little bit of time spent with the rookies helps.

"It’s really pretty interesting logistically…we didn’t know who we drafted until two hours ago," head coach Jason Garrett said immediately after the draft. "Now we go through the process, what’re the rules of the school, have you finished your exam, have you graduated, you guys on trimester system…We just felt like it’s important to get those guys in here, if we can, to have three bonus days with them before we go into that minicamp next weekend."

"The benefit is simply getting in a meeting room," Garrett said. "We start there, introduce stuff to them, then on Tuesday and Thursday, they’ll go out with our veteran players on the field, they’ll get an orientation to our strength and conditioning program. These days are valuable. If you have time with them, 45 minutes in the morning, an hour and a half in the afternoon, a couple-three days, you can really learn a lot of football in a short period of time, and we feel like our rookie minicamp will be so much better as a result of that."

Devin Street, Ben Gardner health update - Calvin Watkins, ESPN Dallas
Contrary to earlier reports, both Street and Garner have been cleared for full participation in all football-related activity, and both say "their injuries damaged their stock with NFL teams in the draft."

If Cowboys didn’t trade up for Demarcus Lawrence, they would’ve drafted Kony Ealy and Trai Turner - Jon Machota, DMN
In a call with season ticket holders, Stephen Jones said yesterday that Kony Ealy and Trai Turner would have been the Cowboys' second and third round targets had they not traded up for Demarcus Lawrence. Inevitably, this revelation will draw comparisons to the Morris Claiborne trade, where the options would have been Michael Brockers and Bobby Wagner. That trade does not currently look favorable for the Cowboys.

2014 NFL Draft all under-drafted team - SBNation.com
Matthew Fairburn looks at sleeper picks in this year's draft, and includes the Cowboys' Terrance Mitchell in his underrated team for the 2014 NFL Draft.

Terrance Mitchell is a long athlete with speed to cover any receiver all over the field. Aside from his physical makeup, it's his aggressive mentality in coverage that makes him a potential steal for the Cowboys in the seventh round. He locates the football well in the air and knows how to make plays at the catch point. Mitchell may get a chance to prove himself early in Dallas, too.

Jerry Reese, shrewd drafter? It's a myth - ESPN New York
ESPN New York's Dan Graziano takes Giants GM Jerry Reese to task, writing that Reese hasn't had a good draft since 2007. Hard to argue with that, really.

Which Positions Teams Valued Most in the 2014 NFL Draft | FiveThirtyEight
Neril Paine breaks down the draft in lots of different and sometimes interesting ways.

Tuesday Morning Quarterback -- Twilight of the Running Back - ESPN
Gregg Easterbrook looks at the decreasing role of running backs in pass-happy offenses, and then proceeds to provide commentary on every team's draft. But not for the Cowboys' draft, because the only thing he talks about under the 'Dallas Cowboys' header is Johnny Manziel.