Cowboys 2018 draft: Why the Cowboys drafted Mike White in the fifth round

The Cowboys are loading up on offense in this draft. They have gotten an offensive lineman (Connor Williams), wide receiver (Michael Gallup), tight end (Dalton Schultz), and traded away a sixth-round pick for Los Angeles Rams gadget player Tavon Austin. While everyone was waiting around for a defensive tackle or safety, the team is still collecting quality and they could not pass up on another great talent. With the 171st pick overall (fifth round), the Dallas Cowboys selected Mike White, quarterback from Western Kentucky.

While the Cowboys have Dak Prescott and the surprisingly effective Cooper Rush already on the roster, the team added another promising arm in White. He has excellent passing instincts and possesses all the physical traits, and he has plenty of arm strength. He can make tight window throws and he can make deep throws. White puts good touch on his throws making it a lot easier for the receivers to track it down and haul in the catch. He is an accurate quarterback and hits his targets in stride. White shows great patience in the pocket, allowing his receivers time to separate and get where they’re supposed to be. He exhibits high confidence and is not afraid to make throws into tight coverage. White has good mobility and is very good throwing to his left.

I wonder if he’d have a clean pocket in Dallas? Coach Gary seems to think so and many of you agree.

Joe Londergan from Underdog Dynasty provides a list of pros and cons for White:

Pros:

White is a gunslinger. When he sets up in the pocket, he’s truly as good a passer as any quarterback in this draft. During that 2016 season, he finished in the top ten in FBS in pass completion percentage, passing yards, passing yards per attempt, and passing touchdowns. He was also in the top 15 in overall completions. When you throw to guys like Taywan Taylor,Lucky Jackson, and Nacarius Fant, you get pretty good at throwing a deep ball and that’s one of the big things scouts noticed about him at the combine. But White isn’t just a long ball guy. He can do quick hits and short routes as well and really spread the ball around, which makes him great for an uptempo offense.

Con:

He’s REALLY not a runner, which makes him a little one dimensional. Not only is he slow, his ball carrying could be better. He fumbled 12 times in 2017, which you can certainly partially blame on his abysmal offensive line. But here’s the thing about the NFL: the defensive linemen are big, fast, and eventually going to tackle you. White needs to be prepared for that

Former Cowboys backup and now QB coach, Kellen Moore, was a friend of White when they were both players so their relationship has been around a while. The two have kept in contact and this has allowed Moore to have great insight to what they are getting in Moore. The Western Kentucky product has tremendous leadership qualities; his teammates listen to him.

With another talented young quarterback to come in and compete, the Cowboys are keeping this position group strong. Preseason is really going to be fun to watch this year with exciting arms all across the board. And they’ll have a lot of exciting new targets to throw to as well. The Cowboys continue to make moves to make their offense Fan-Friendly.