Stephen Jones With Interesting Insights Into The Cowboys 2014 Draft

Yesterday, Cowboys executive Stephen Jones held a conference call with season-ticket holders and ended up discussing the recent Dallas draft. One of the most interesting pieces is the revelation of who the Cowboys would have drafted if they didn't make the trade for Demarcus Lawrence. OCC touched on it earlier today, and rabblerousr picked up the thread in more detail about who the Cowboys wanted in the third round.

Missouri defensive end Kony Ealy would’ve been the pick at No. 47. Ealy went to Carolina with the 60th pick. LSU offensive guard Trai Turner would have been Dallas’ third-round selection. The Cowboys attempted to land Tuner by trading back into the end of the third round, but a deal fell apart in the last minute and he went to Carolina at pick 92.

One of the things not discussed in this is how far Kony Ealy slid. At one point, he was considered a top pick for the Cowboys in round one by many mocks, and plenty of scouts had him listed in the top-30 as a first round candidate. By the time the draft arrived he was being talked about more as a late-first-round-pick, but he made it all the way to #60. That is quite a slide. I guess plenty of people had questions about his athleticism and whether he would be more than just a run-stuffing defensive end with occasional sacks thrown in. Think Anthony Spencer before his break-out season a few years ago.

And imagine if the Cowboys had stayed put instead of trading for Lawrence. The offensive line going into 2014 might have been Tyron Smith-Trai Turner-Travis Frederick-Zack Martin-Doug Free. That would be quite an imposing line if Turner became a quality NFL guard, with four of them very young. Think of the future of the Cowboys line. Demarcus Lawrence better pan out!

Another interesting tidbit, the Cowboys apparently didn't have Timmy Jernigan rated that highly.

What about Florida State defensive tackle Timmy Jernigan? "I would say that Ealy was probably our next pick," Jones said. "Sometimes what you read isn’t always true in terms of the Jernigans of the world and people like that. We really didn’t have him in that mix."

Not only did they pass on him at #16 where plenty of mocks had them drafting him, they weren't interested in him at #47 over Ealy if they had stayed there.

Jones also discussed some of the seventh-round guys and UDFAs.

One of the Cowboys’ five seventh-round picks was spent on Baylor safety Ahmad Dixon. Jones said Dixon is "almost a cinch to make our team because our special teams coach Rich Bisaccia is so fired up about him because of his run/hit factor."

He also said QB Dustin Vaughn had a sixth-round grade, they debated taking Davon Coleman instead of Ken Bishop in the seventh and thought Coleman had outplayed his counterpart, third-round selection Will Sutton. The Cowboys put a sixth-round grade on fullback J.C. Copeland and that defensive tackle Chris Whaley reminds them of Henry Melton.