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This offseason brought with it sweeping change to the Dallas Cowboys receiving group. Gone are Dez Bryant, Brice Butler, and even Ryan Switzer, and in are a whole bunch of new faces.
One of the newest faces that’ll be catching balls (and likely having them handed in his chest, too) from Dak Prescott is Tavon Austin, formerly of the Los Angeles Rams. Dallas traded a sixth-round pick (#192 overall) to the Rams on Saturday in exchange for him.
There are many who believe this move will really help inject some life into a Cowboys offense that reached a point of extreme... well, it wasn’t pretty sometimes in 2017. Of course, there are also those that believe this move serves no real purpose, especially considering that the Cowboys traded away Ryan Switzer shortly after.
Here’s the thing, though. The pick that the Cowboys traded away for Tavon Austin wasn’t even theirs to begin with originally. Dallas picked up that sixth-rounder when they traded away one of their original fifth-round picks for Jamize Olawale.
Effectively, the Cowboys traded away a fifth-round pick (#173 overall) for Olawale and Austin. That’s a starting fullback and potential legitimate offensive weapon. Oakland took Florida punter Johnny Townsend in that spot.
These are the types of moves that people have been clamoring for the Cowboys to make. This is finding creative ways to utilize draft picks and turn extra ones you don’t necessarily want into other things that can potentially be of use to you. This is extremely smart. This is getting an enormous amount of value out of a single fifth-round draft pick.
On top of this, the Cowboys then turned one of their own, Ryan Switzer, into defensive tackle Jihad Ward. Obviously, the Cowboys had the freedom to flip Switzer because they’d reeled in Austin. Counting all of that:
Dallas lost:
- Fifth-round pick, #173 overall
- Ryan Switzer
Dallas received:
- Jamize Olawale, FB
- Tavon Austin, WR/RB
- Jihad Ward, DT
This is what we’ve been asking for. Give them a round of applause.