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In the week prior to the 2023 NFL Draft, we asked our members to submit a list of up to 30 players, irrespective of round, that they thought the Cowboys would draft or sign as undrafted free agents. Each correct name predicted, be it a draft pick or a subsequent UDFA signing, was awarded one point.
If you had simply submitted the 31 names (our rules only allowed 30 names) on our final pre-draft visit tracker, you’d have gotten five players right. Mazi Smith, DeMarvion Overshown, Junior Fehoko, Eric Scott, and UDFA Durell Johnson were all on the list.
Of course, none of our participants settled for the visit tracker. But did anybody out-predict the visit tracker?
We kicked things off with predictions from three of our front page writers, Danny Phantom, David Howman, and OCC. None of us beat the visit tracker, though we did each get three picks right.
Danny Phantom: 3 (Luke Schoonmaker, DeMarvion Overshown, Junior Fehoko)
David Howman: 3 (Junior Fehoko, Deuce Vaughn, Durell Johnson)
OCC: 3 (DeMarvion Overshown, Junior Fehoko, Eric Scott)
BTB members flocked to the prediction post in droves, and 40 predictions were submitted, of which all but five hit on at least one draft pick/UDFA. But before we go into the individual scores, here are the hit rates for each rookie:
| Round | Player | Position | Correct Picks | in% |
| 1 | Mazi Smith | DT | 10 | 25% |
| 2 | Luke Schoonmaker | TE | 19 | 48% |
| 3 | DeMarvion Overshown | LB | 25 | 63% |
| 4 | Junior Fehoko | DE | 16 | 40% |
| 5 | Asim Richards | OL | - - | - - |
| 6 | Eric Scott Jr. | CB | 4 | 10% |
| 6 | Deuce Vaughn | RB | 3 | 8% |
| 7 | Jalen Brooks | WR | - - | -- |
| UDFA | Durell Johnson | DE | 9 | 23% |
| UDFA | Isaiah Land | DE | 3 | 8% |
| UDFA | Hunter Luepke | FB | 2 | 5% |
DeMarvion Overshown was included in 63% of the submissions. That’s a middling result for the Cowboys Cognoscenti, as we’ve achieved better collective results in the past. Here’s an overview of some of the top hits so far:
2022: Sam Williams (86%), Markquese Bell (50%)
2017: Xavier Woods (81%), Chidobe Awuzie (56%)
2016: Ezekiel Elliott (80%), Dak Prescott (76%)
2015: Byron Jones (80%), Chaz Green (67%)
2014: Zack Martin (64%), DeMarcus Lawrence (60%)
2013: Travis Frederick (51%)
Anyway, the draft is over, and to the winners the spoils. This year’s title as Cowboys Draft Whisperer is shared by no less than nine different BTB members that got four picks right in their submissions, though nobody beat the visit tracker.
Here are the results for all participants.
| Name | Mazi Smith | Schoon- maker |
Over- shown |
Fehoko | Scott | Vaughn | Johnson | Land | Luepke | Total |
| 84075Cowboys | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | |||||
| Christoph42 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | |||||
| CraigMoney | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | |||||
| edstokes2002 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | |||||
| nafri94 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | |||||
| pulmo | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | |||||
| randyd | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | |||||
| timani | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | |||||
| YumaCactus | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | ||||||
| Name | Mazi Smith | Schoon- maker |
Over- shown |
Fehoko | Scott | Vaughn | Johnson | Land | Luepke | Total |
| BigBad Joe | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | ||||||
| CoachMad | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | ||||||
| Danny Phantom | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | ||||||
| David Howman | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | ||||||
| ddthinks | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | ||||||
| Lionisalwayshungry11 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | ||||||
| mgdaniels515 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | ||||||
| OCC | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | ||||||
| sandyf | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | ||||||
| The Clapper | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | ||||||
| Trent03 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | ||||||
| Name | Mazi Smith | Schoon- maker |
Over- shown |
Fehoko | Scott | Vaughn | Johnson | Land | Luepke | Total |
| blue.water.highway | 1 | 1 | 2 | |||||||
| cjbrit | 1 | 1 | 2 | |||||||
| Diws | 1 | 1 | 2 | |||||||
| HotBoyz90 | 2 | 2 | ||||||||
| nealmcb | 1 | 1 | 2 | |||||||
| savard18 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |||||||
| wally774 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |||||||
| Name | Mazi Smith | Schoon- maker |
Over- shown |
Fehoko | Scott | Vaughn | Johnson | Land | Luepke | Total |
| Dr-P | 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| Burung Maleo | 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| Fizzbrew | 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| goldeneye101 | 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| sbart6 | 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| Sean__N | 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| Yoko Romo | 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| Ὀδυσσεύς | 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| Name | Mazi Smith | Schoon- maker |
Over- shown |
Fehoko | Scott | Vaughn | Johnson | Land | Luepke | Total |
| beeville2 | 0 | |||||||||
| Boys94 | 0 | |||||||||
| Jeff Landrith | 0 | |||||||||
| Lewis_Va | 0 | |||||||||
| Oregon Cowboys Fan | 0 | |||||||||
| Grand Total | 10 | 19 | 25 | 16 | 4 | 3 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 91 |
Figuring out the Cowboys’ draft plans and draft strategy in hindsight is not hard, and there are legions of Captain Obvious’s trolling the airwaves and interwebs doing just that right now. But if you went through this exercise, you’ll understand that predicting the draft is much tougher than you would expect.
Post-draft jibber-jabber is easy, but putting your predictions down on paper is really tough, and then being held accountable is even tougher.
So hats off to all those brave enough to put virtual ink to virtual paper and submit their list of names for the record.
And better luck to all of us next year!
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