The “ideal” two-round draft scenario for the Cowboys that might not be ideal

Over at NFL.com, they went through the exercise of providing the ideal scenario for each team in the first two rounds of the upcoming draft. They define that in the following way:

... even with best-laid plans, sometimes the board just doesn’t fall a team’s way. But what if it did? NFL.com draft analysts Chad Reuter and Lance Zierlein are operating in that scenario as they identify the ideal top two picks for every club, with Reuter making the selections for NFC teams and Zierlein taking the AFC. They used their own prospect rankings and assessment of team needs as a guide. Note that some prospects are connected to more than one team — this is not a mock draft, and players can be ideal fits for multiple clubs.

So basically it’s each team gets the prospect they want at their pick, within reason. For instance, “ideally” Chase Young would fall all the way down to pick #17 and the Cowboys would scoop him up, but that’s not really reasonable. So this is ideal picks, within reason.

With that cleared up, here is their proposed ideal scenario for Dallas.

DALLAS COWBOYS

» Round 1: No. 17 overall — Kenneth Murray, LB, Oklahoma

» Round 2: No. 51 — Trevon Diggs, CB, Alabama

Murray is one of the top 20 prospects in this class because of his physical and mental toughness, as well as his positive character. The Cowboys re-signed Sean Lee, but his career is near its end. Dallas invested premium picks at linebacker in 2016 (second-round pick and first-round value Jaylon Smith) and 2018 (Leighton Vander Esch, 19th overall), so let’s keep the even-year LB selections coming with Murray, who can play on the weak side. Diggs is one of several former SEC cornerbacks who could bolster the team’s depth at that position. He’s a big, strong outsider corner capable of taking over the spot vacated by the departed Byron Jones. Note that Dallas has two 2021 free agent cornerbacks in Chidobe Awuzie and Jourdan Lewis. My guess is that the Cowboys will look to the middle rounds of the draft to add another pass rusher, as they did with Dorance Armstrong and Joe Jackson the past couple of years.

There’s that Kenneth Murray pick again. Over the last few days, debate about picking a linebacker at #17 has raged among the Cowboys faithful. And there are many different elements to look at around that idea. Our own DannyPhantom laid out why he thinks it’s a legit use of a draft resource to pick Murray, and some of it has to do with the unknown health future of Leighton Vander Esch.

Following that up, R.J. Ochoa pondered the idea that Jaylon Smith might be used more as a pass rusher in Mike Nolan’s multiple fronts, so Murray as an off-the-ball replacement might make sense. Amidst all this talk, Stephen Jones took to the airwaves to downplay the idea.

“That’d be news for me in terms of a heightened need for the linebacking position.”

Picking another off-the-ball linebacker with a premium draft pick after doing it twice in the last four years might seem like a poor use of draft resources.

Moving on, the second-round pick of cornerback Trevon Diggs might just fall into the ideal category. There are scouts who have Diggs as a late-first, early-second round talent, so if the Cowboys could get him at pick #51, that would be quality value at a position of need.

Your turn BTB, how would you rate this “ideal” scenario?