Cowboys Draft: The best round to find a WR
By Reid Hanson
The Dallas Cowboys are clearly scouting the receiver position heavily and seem as locks to add one high-profile target in the draft. Where might they look in the draft?
Unless you live under a rock, you know the Dallas Cowboys are looking to rebuild their receiving corps. Upon free agency’s opening, Dallas aggressively targeted free agent receiver, Sammy Watkins. Soon after losing (losing?) out on Watkins, they met with Dontrelle Inman, Justin Hunter, Allen Hurns, and Deonte Thompson.
Thompson, they signed to a modest one-year deal and Hurns, they signed to an equally as digestible 2-year/$12 million deal. Even with these two additions, the Cowboys have cluster-bombed this year’s receiver class, scheduling nearly a dozen for visits and/or workouts.
Oh yeah, some guy named Dez Bryant was just released as well so finding a suitable replacement with WR1 potential is probably pretty high on the ‘ol to-do list.
You can bet, if the Cowboys dedicated this much attention to scouting the position for the draft, they intend to pick one. The question is who and in what round will they be doing it. One round stands out ahead of the others.
in a class with no consensus receiver ranking and widely differing opinions as to how the Day 2 talent stacks, a treasure could easily fall into their laps in the third round.
The Third Round
As I aptly titled it in the heading, one round figures to offer tremendous value for those seeking pass-catchers: the third round.
No, you aren’t going to find your pick of the litter here. You’re going to find quite the opposite actually – you’re going to find the leftovers.
But as the saying goes, “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure”, so too can the Cowboys find treasure as they sift through the leftovers.
And in a class with no consensus receiver ranking and widely differing opinions as to how the Day 2 talent stacks, a treasure could easily fall into their laps.
This year the draft isn’t offering any clear-cut elite receivers. But it has a metric crap load of receivers that fall just a notch below.
Whether they prove to be true No. 1 WRs, complementary No. 2 WRs, or slot receivers, remains to be seen. But roughly a dozen of the top WR prospects have No. 1 potential so someone is bound to find a deal waiting for them in the third round.
Said Jerry Jones last month:
"“They got a lot of receivers in this draft, for instance. I’m not sure how many first round receivers but there are down the line receivers. That is not bad. That might work.”"
Calvin Ridley, Courtland Sutton, and D.J. Moore likely constitute first round talent. But guys like Michael Gallup, Anthony Miller, Christian Kirk, D.J. Chark, Equanimeous St. Brown, Simmie Cobbs, James Washington, and DeaSean Hamilton all share widely differing Day 2 values, one or more will likely slip through the cracks and fall to Dallas at pick 81.
Next: Why the Cowboys are picking up so many receivers
Sometimes it’s more about being an opportunist than being a evaluator. That isn’t to say they should pass on someone earlier whom they feel confident about. But considering receivers hold one of the biggest bust rates in the NFL, waiting for the value pick may be the wisest way to go.