Dallas Cowboys Draft: 5 Best Players Heading into Day Three

Markus Bailey, ILB, Purdue

Bailey is one of my favorite players left on the board. However, much like Hall, Bailey dealt with a season-ending injury early in the season and now sees an uncertain future in the league. Bailey is a big dude that moves laterally surprisingly well, however, how effective can he be after dealing with two knee injuries in his time at West Lafayette?

The Cowboys seem to have a finalized linebacker room. Leighton Vander Esch is expected to return from injury and he will join a linebacker room filled with Sean Lee, Jaylon Smith, Joe Thomas, Luke Gifford, and Justin March. There are some talented players in that room already and with nickel being most base defenses, adding another linebacker probably doesn’t make sense.

However, Bailey does provide some special teams ability in addition to his off-ball linebacker skill set. If he were to join the room, he’d be one of the better coverage linebackers and tacklers in the room. His addition would also allow the Cowboys to potentially cut one of the other linebackers who cost a bit more than Bailey.

The likelihood of this happening is very little, but Bailey is one of the best players on the board and he plays a position that the team was looking at quite closely before the draft. Adding him would be nice, but if the team doesn’t, it doesn’t harm them.

Of course, the issue is teams haven’t been able to check him medically, which means he will continue to fall in a draft where several of the top linebacker prospects have fallen past their expected wait.

Saahdiq Charles, OT, LSU

A member of the national champion LSU team, Charles was quarterback Joe Burrow’s blindside protector. As the season progressed, he started to look better. At 6-foot-4 and 321 pounds, he has good size and length to be a tackle in the league, however, he could look to get stronger.

Charles is the perfect “day three” prospect. He possesses good athletic upside but is inconsistent with his hand technique and footwork. He can move with speed rushers but is a hair bit slow to react when defenders redirect to the inside of him. He needs to become better at dealing with different types of rushes and in general, probably needs to get a bit stronger.

This team lost Cameron Fleming over the offseason to the New York Giants. The expectation is Brandon Knight continues to be a swing tackle for the team, but the Cowboys will still be looking at offensive linemen especially if one is the best player available. Charles could find himself wearing the star if he is available in the fifth round for the team.

This team loves having athletic offensive linemen. Charles has the lateral movement and body the team would like to have on the outside. With Joe Philbin as the offensive line coach, the team could definitely look to develop the technique of someone like Charles.