Why did the Cowboys draft Connor McGovern?:
He was the best player available. Literally. Don’t believe me, then how about Mike Fisher?
#FishTips 3) #Cowboys took Penn St. OL Connor McGregor. A 'need'? Maybe in the future. But the logic? Source tells me DAL grade on McGregor was HIGHER than on Hill or Thornhill. If you believe in BAA, you have to believe in McGregor pick.
— fishsports ✭ (@fishsports) April 29, 2019
You probably won’t believe that either because it says Connor McGregor is an offensive lineman. Given what we saw Connor McGregor do at the Jacksonville game last season, I’d want him as far from a football field as I could have him.
Fish does later catch his error and says it was McGovern and even Will McClay later said it on ESPN radio that this was the situation regarding McGovern. If you hadn’t connected the dots, the source Fish mentions was Will McClay.
If you did read the tweet, you’ll notice that the Cowboys had McGovern higher than Hill or Thornhill, which are two guys they were considering at 58. McGovern was an absolute steal for the Cowboys at the end of the third round.
This tweet suggests many things. The Cowboys were trying a Best Player Available approach to this draft only to “reach” on their second round pick to prevent other teams from picking up. I don’t think I can handle the irony of this situation.
With that said, McGovern is not expected to have an immediate impact, and that is totally fine! I understand Connor Williams didn’t have a great rookie season, however, his strength issues were well noted during the draft process. This summer, he’s done a tremendous job of bulking adding around 10 pounds of muscle. Here’s your visual representation from MyCowboysFamily:
Connor Williams ☆ @cwill ☆
— MyCowboysFamily (@MyCowboysFamily) April 26, 2019
One year later, and you can tell the difference! Connor has been working out on his own, gaining 10+ pounds of muscle and has just started back up with the Cowboys' strength & conditioning program/coaches. The sky's the limit...
☆ GO COWBOYS!!! ☆ pic.twitter.com/LCHVWBf5BF
As is stands, the Cowboys will roll with the same lineup they had last year except Travis Frederick will be back in the lineup. The following year, it’s no guarantee the Cowboys re-sign La’el Collins. This is where Connor McGovern plays the hero. The expectation is Connor Williams will move out to tackle, like he did at Texas, and McGovern will slide in at left guard. How’s that for a seamless transition!
I was thinking this would be the situation when they drafted McGovern, but it seems Jane Slater knew all along…
On the #Cowboys Connor McGovern pick, here’s what it means for Connor Williams. In his year end interviews, he was told they would eventually move him to tackle down the road and use him on either side as a guard, per source informed. Insurance for the future.
— Jane Slater (@SlaterNFL) April 27, 2019
Who else was at play at 90?:
Remember when I pointed out how the Best Player Available process didn’t necessarily pan out for the Cowboys in the second round? Well it was almost about to happen again in the third round.
#FishTips 2) Sources tell me #Cowboys sweated out pick No. 90, hoping Boston College safety Will Harris or CB Justin Layne from Michigan State would come to them. Neither did. So ...
— fishsports ✭ (@fishsports) April 29, 2019
That’s right, McGovern was third in line as the Cowboys couldn’t get their hands on Will Harris or Justin Layne at 90. This coming from Fisher again. I’m not sure how the Cowboys viewed Layne, but at 90 I believe he would’ve been tremendous value for the Cowboys. Unfortunately, I couldn’t say that about Harris. I had a 5th round grade on Will Harris…
Thank you Detroit and Pittsburgh for gifting us an excellent interior lineman!