Dallas Cowboys 7-Round Mock Draft: Trading Gallup and Trading Back
By Reid Hanson
Dallas Cowboys 7-Round Mock Draft
Round 3, Pick 75
D’Ante Smith, OT
East Carolina
The Dallas Cowboys are hoping and praying Tyron Smith and La’el Collins are good to go in 2020. The two combined for just two games last season and both suffered serious and potential career threatening injuries. Word out of their respective camps is that all is going well and there’s nothing to fear. We’ll operate under the impression this is correct.
If there’s actually worry from the Dallas Cowboys, they will have to use a top-50 pick to insulate themselves. They can’t afford to go through the growing pains of a developmental OT in a win-now season like 2021 is shaping up to be.
D’Ante Smith is the developmental option.
ECU LT D’Ante Smith has tremendous upside. He has 35 1/4 inch arms, moves well and plays with right temperament. He had a great week in Mobile too. https://t.co/AuzufHpZ3R
— Daniel Jeremiah (@MoveTheSticks) February 17, 2021
Standing 6-foot-5, 294lbs, Smith is leaner than your normal offensive tackle. But he’s also considerably more athletic and has a frame capable of adding weight, so his potential is through the roof. Smith has good hands, quick feet, and length. He lacks power, thus making him a poor pick for a team that needs to lean on him early in his career.
Smith has starting LT potential if he can just add more bulk to his frame. He’s good on the move and would be an asset against quick pass rushers and wide zone runs, but it seems bull rushers will be a problem.
I have no problem making him a swing tackle in Year 1 provided he doesn’t have to play until a little later in the season. With starting LT potential, he could be on the perfect developmental time line to replace Tyron Smith when he hangs up the cleats in a year or two.