Dallas Cowboys 7-Round Mock Draft: Trading up for a future All-Pro
By Reid Hanson
In this 7-round mock draft the Dallas Cowboys package their Day 2 picks and move up to select a player with All-Pro potential at a position they desperately need.
Normally you don’t trade up into the top-10 of the draft unless you’re targeting a quarterback. The positional value just rarely makes sense at other positions. But for a team like the Dallas Cowboys, who’ve effectively painted themselves into a corner at certain positions, this may be the only move they can make if they’re intent on winning now.
In this mock draft the player they are targeting falls to Pick 8 where Arizona is sitting. Arizona is willing to swap first round picks in exchange for both of Dallas’ Day 2 picks (pick 51 and 80). To make the value work out, Arizona sends two of their low value 4th rounders (as per the Draft Trade Chart) back to Dallas.
What this means for the Dallas Cowboys is they need some of their bargains and gambles to pay off for them in 2020. Ha Ha Clinton-Dix cannot be the next George Iloka. He needs to be a legit starter and preferably an upgrade to the man he’s replacing, Jeff Heath.
On the interior defensive line, Gerald McCoy and Dontari Poe are going to need to be reliable fixtures because we like Antwaun Woods rotating in – not holding it down. We also don’t want to lean on second year player, Trysten Hill for much of anything.
The Cowboys also need the Randy Gregory/Tyrone Crawford/Aldon Smith to work out. One of them or the combination of them must be able to replace Robert Quinn’s production. Any draft picks added on Day 3 are going to be contributing players or developmental players. We hope we can lean on them on Day 1 but we can’t expect to.
So while the pressure is on other positions, one position gets help in a very big way…