Dallas Cowboys: This will tell us a lot about who Dallas drafts

As the NFL Combine comes to a close we look ahead to free agency and pre-draft visits for the Dallas Cowboys because these help understand what the Cowboys might do.

If you have been paying attention over the years, you would have seen how important the pre-draft visits have been for the Dallas Cowboys. Last year, Leighton Vander Esch was one of the visits. There were also eight wide receivers and eight defensive linemen. Both positions were picked in the middle of the draft. These visits can sometimes tip what the Cowboys are thinking as the draft approaches.

In the “Dallas Day” Connor Williams was a visitor, and in the private workouts David Wells, Michael Gallup, and Leighton Vander Esch were all part of the groups. While there were certainly more players, there is has been a trend for the Cowboys to select a few players from these three groups.

In 2017, Taco Charlton, Chidobe Awuzie, and Xavier Woods were all pre-draft visits. While many teams draft players that visit them, the Cowboys have not only drafted quite a few, but also stack positions pretty deeply. In 2017, defensive end and cornerback was the prevalent positions brought in.

The visits usually take place in early April after the free agency period has taken off. The moves the Cowboys will make in this year’s free agency period will probably show in the positions they go light on this year. For instance if they get someone like Earl Thomas or Landon Collins at safety, they may go light at that position and go heavier at defensive tackle or wide receiver. If they grab or re-sign a wide receiver, they could go lighter and focus on running back or cornerback.

Watching who and what positions the Cowboys bring in for visits or have private workouts with could signal what direction they are potentially going to draft. As Patrik Walker calls it, this is science. Even 2016 had Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott, and Dallas went heavy at quarterback and running back. 2015 had Randy Gregory and Byron Jones, and defensive end and corner were the heavy position groups that year. This trend goes back quite a bit.

Right now we believe the Cowboys are looking at defensive line, offensive line depth, corner, safety, running back depth, wide receiver, and linebacker depth. With the news of potential interest in Duke Johnson, the Cowboys could look for running back depth in free agency. Adding in the obvious interest in Earl Thomas, the Cowboys could narrow their needs down.