2020 NFL Mock Draft: We’re still in December, but Todd McShay has the Cowboys taking an Alabama safety

Death, taxes, and NFL mock drafts projecting safeties to the Dallas Cowboys.

There are still two games left in the regular season and if the Cowboys win their next one then they will assure themselves at least one postseason contest. Still, though, the reality is that the NFL season as a whole is coming to an end much sooner than later and as a result it’s getting close to NFL Draft season.

Between now and the 2020 NFL Draft, we will see tons and tons of mock drafts, and throughout them all there will be a lot of discussion on who the Cowboys should take and why. For now one of the more notable experts in the game, ESPN’s Todd McShay, is playing a classic tune and has America’s Team drafting a safety. In the first round. Yea. For real.

22. Dallas Cowboys

Xavier McKinney, S, Alabama*

Dallas has needed a safety for years. And now with the possibility of cornerback Byron Jones leaving in the offseason, the Cowboys can’t keep waiting to address the secondary. McKinney has range and fills holes in the run game.

Technically McKinney is an underclassman so it’s still not even a certainty that he will even be in the 2020 NFL Draft. Of course, it’s more probable than not that he will be as he’s expected to be a first-round pick, and he would likely be one that many Cowboys fans would celebrate.

Netting a high-quality safety is a dream that many Cowboys fans have had for so long that they’ve actually given up on it, but you have to imagine that this front office is finally going to invest there at some point, right? They heavily flirted with the idea of trading for Jamal Adams near the deadline and while the Jets might consider that again over the offseason, Dallas could do a lot worse than landing Alabama’s Xavier McKinney

For what it’s worth, McShay only has one safety going higher than McKinney in his mock, LSU’s Grant Delpit. McKinney comes from Alabama which is where another safety the Cowboys were briefly connected to - Minkah Fitzpatrick - went to school so going to that well wouldn’t exactly be a shocker.

Of course we’re all hoping that draft season is very far away for the Cowboys and that they ultimately have the 32nd pick as their first selection. Dreams are fun.