With the NFL draft so close you can almost taste it, it's time to mosey on over to Fanspeak's On the Clock simulator and crank out one final (or maybe penultimate) mock draft for the team on my beat, the Cowboys. Doing mock drafts may be an exercise in futility when it comes to actually predicting who will go in any particular draft slot, but it's a great way to force yourself to become familiar with the draft class beyond the obvious big names.
The Cowboys are one of the teams who lean heavily on SPARQ scores to differentiate prospects, an approach pioneered by the Seahawks, so the players likely to be on the team's radar are not necessarily the ones the pundits expect, and later-round surprises are almost a certainty.
Note that while I used Fanspeak's own default big board on the first two mocks and the Drafttek board for mock 3.0, I'm using CBS here for two reasons. One, it's been fairly recently updated and two, Fanspeak doesn't even list one of my mid-round targets, Akron LB/human missile Jatavis Brown. Missing a potential fourth round pick is just sloppy. Version 1.0 saw Dallas pop for Carson Wentz with the fourth overall pick, while in version 2.0 they traded down with the Rams (who wanted a QB... what are the odds?) and nabbed Andrew Billings. Version 3.0 led with Jalen Ramsey, the player most likely to be at the top of the Cowboys' actual draft board. Now on to mock 4.0!
Round 1 (pick 4): Vernon Hargreaves III, CB, Florida. With the Rams selling their soul to the Titans to move up to the first overall pick, it seems very likely that Carson Wentz and Jared Goff will go 1-2 at the top of the draft. In this particular mock not only did that happen (Wentz to the Rams and Goff to the Browns), the Chargers nab Ramsey at 3, which is pretty much the worst-case scenario for the Cowboys as they can neither take their top guy nor a future franchise QB to groom behind Tony Romo. I also decided that, much as Dallas would love to trade down at that point, nobody makes them any kind of reasonable offer and they're stuck. It makes sense. Nobody's so in love with Joey Bosa or DeForest Buckner that they have to move up to get them, and while Laremy Tunsil is still available, enough people seem to be rating Ronnie Stanley as a nearly equal option that any team wanting to trade up for a left tackle can afford to wait and see what happens here. (In fact, Tunsil and Stanley went 5 and 6 in this mock). The Cowboys could take either DE, or even overdraft a RB in Ezekiel Elliott, but in this case I had them select arguably the best corner on the board in Hargreaves. He doesn't have the ideal size Dallas looks for at DB, but he's a SPARQ freak and looks like he will develop into a true shutdown corner. That's a solid consolation prize for not landing Ramsey.
Round 2 (pick 34): Derrick Henry, RB, Alabama. Henry's combine performance was shockingly good for a back his size. The usual comps are to players like LeGarrette Blount and Brandon Jacobs due to his 6-3, 247 pound frame, and there are definite concerns about his college workload. That said, Henry torched Jacobs' time in the 3-cone drill at the combine, indicating that he can be more than a straight-line runner in the NFL, and the explosiveness suggested by his top-of-class performance in the broad jump makes him the goal-line weapon the Cowboys have been lacking for a long time. Even after signing Alfred Morris, this seems like a good fit for Dallas. The other option here was a safety to pair with Hargreaves and Byron Jones, as none of the DEs I like slid to the second (Kevin Dodd was the best edge rusher left on the board) and the best remaining WR was Michael Thomas. He was also a consideration, but I have Henry higher on my board and stuck to it.
Round 3 (pick 67): Karl Joseph, S, West Virginia. I can all but guarantee this won't happen in real life -- Joseph is thought to be a possible target of the Steelers or Cardinals in round one -- but who knows, maybe something in his medicals scares some teams off (he's recovering from a torn ACL). I almost selected him in round two, but when he fell to 67 my mock Cowboys sprinted to the podium. Joseph is a wrecking ball at safety but isn't a liability in coverage, and he's a high-character guy and team captain to boot. Comps like Antoine Bethea and even Earl Thomas get tossed around with Joseph, so nabbing him at the top of the third could prove to be a steal. The Cowboys' secondary also suddenly looks potentially very stout with Hargreaves, Orlando Scandrick and Mo Claiborne (and Brandon Carr, if he isn't a post-June 1 cap casualty) at corner and Byron Jones joining Joseph at safety, with Barry Church still around for depth until Joseph is ready.
Round 4 (pick 101): Connor McGovern, G, Missouri. I actually mocked him in the sixth round in an earlier version of this, but he's had plenty of helium since and even this might be too low. McGovern is a strong kid who's iffy footwork and arm length probably peg him as a guard in the NFL, but he could survive as a right tackle once he's been coached up. He's a bit raw, but his versatility makes him a solid add to a Cowboys offensive line that has all-world starters but needs some interior depth after Mackenzy Bernadeau's departure.
Round 4 (pick 135): Dak Prescott, QB, Mississippi State. I almost took Jatavis Brown at 101 instead of McGovern, and apparently should have as he got nabbed by the Jaguars at 103. Oh well. The Cowboys have paid a lot of attention to Prescott during the offseason so they clearly have interest. I have no love for him as a prospect and think he'll be a backup at best in the NFL due to accuracy concerns, but his boosters throw around Donovan McNabb and Russell Wilson comps, so who knows.
Round 6 (pick 189): Tyrone Holmes, DE/OLB, Montana. The Cowboys suggested this offseason that they weren't going to target many small-school players, but at this point in the draft anything goes. Holmes graded out in the top five among this year's crop of edge rushers by SPARQ score, he's got enough size to function at least as a rotational 4-3 DE in the NFL, and his game tape shows a good motor and the occasional flash (a spin move here, a good bull rush there), so there are some building blocks for Rod Marinelli to work with.
Round 6 (pick 212): Ricardo Louis, WR, Auburn. Another player with a good SPARQ score, Louis definitely has some issues on tape (hands, focus, aggressiveness in going out to get the ball) but he has the size, speed and athleticism the Cowboys look for at the position, and with both Terrance Williams and Devin Street being various shades of disappointing in their careers so far, they could use another WR to develop.
Round 6 (pick 216): Stephen Weatherly, DE, Vanderbilt. There's nothing particularly special here, but Weatherly's a solid athlete with solid size and a solid work rate on tape. The Cowboys need bodies at DE as they wait for Randy Gregory to serve a four-game suspension in the short term and mature in the long term, so if Weatherly shows something in camp there could be rotational snaps for him.
Round 6 (pick 217): Cory James, LB, Colorado State. James has plus athleticism and was productive in college, and the Cowboys used one of their 30 pre-draft national visits on him, so there's clearly some interest. He profiles best as a Will or nickel LB in the Cowboys' scheme if he eventually earns any snaps on defense, but as a rookie he'll primarily be a special teams guy.