Dallas Cowboys Draft: 7 Rounds of 7 Safeties
7th Round
Tre Norwood, Oklahoma
Value: Solid
The last safety in this draft is another cornerback convert, however, this one hails from Norman, Oklahoma. Norwood played more snaps at safety this season after a few years primarily at cornerback. After missing the 2019 season due to injury, he came into the 2020 season at a new position and was incredibly productive.
In his lone season as a safety, Norwood tallied 23 total tackles, 13 solo tackles, five interceptions, two pass deflections, and one touchdown. The ball production was a lot better this season than his two past seasons as a cornerback; this explains a lot about his strengths as a player.
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Norwood clearly is stronger at playing in zone coverage standing deep center field and reacting to the QB as opposed to a wide receiver off the line of scrimmage. At 5-foot-11, 192 pounds he displays good athletic ability with good lateral quickness/change of direction, good agility, good acceleration, and solid footwork. He, unfortunately, doesn’t play bigger and struggles with play strength on tackles and leverage alleys but his running ability is a valuable asset to any team.
Much like Johnson, Norwood displays ball skills, solid range, mental processing, and athletic ability. Both players have their inconsistencies as free safeties but likely project as such because of their abilities to overlap routes. It seems with Norwood, he is much more consistent as a center fielder while Johnson doesn’t have a bad injury history working against him.
Because both players are fairly similar in build and play style, the same applies to both safeties. The team already has Kazee starting and as previously mentioned, already has two box safeties. If he develops consistency behind Kazee, the Cowboys could have what the Baltimore Ravens in DeShone Elliott.
It is JUST a thought.
The Cowboys have 10 picks and multiple in the third, fourth, and sixth. If the team doesn’t draft a safety this year, there is a good chance the city of Dallas likely riots. Let us hope the influence of Dan Quinn on the organization creates some very necessary change come draft weekend.