Dallas Cowboys 7-Round Mock Draft: Balancing Value, Risk, and Need
By Reid Hanson
Dallas Cowboys trade pick 179 and 238 to LA for pick 167
Round 5, Pick 167
Tre’ McKitty, TE
Georgia
Tre’ McKitty has a lot of fans around the NFL. While he’s a bit of a project, he has good pro potential so I took the opportunity to move up and secure him rather than risk missing out on my favorite late round TE prospect.
McKitty, 6-foot-4, 246lbs, isn’t the biggest tight end in this class but he plays bigger than he is and has well-built frame ready for the NFL. Used plenty an inline blocker, McKitty fits well as the Dallas Cowboys TE3 inline blocking specialist.
He’s physical and not afraid of contact. He’s athletic enough where he can block in a variety of ways including on the move and in the backfield. As a pass-catcher, McKitty is underwhelming. He’s never made much of an impact as a receiver and will need to be developed at the next level.
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The good news is, he has enough speed and athleticism to eventually be a weapon downfield, and he has decent hands where he can be used to take advantage of defenses. He shows contested ball ability and isn’t afraid to lower his head to initiate contact. McKitty isn’t the YAC machine Blake Jarwin is, but he has the potential to follow in Dalton Schultz’s shoes and become that well-rounded TE2 every team needs.
I like that he’s useful right now as a blocker and that he has the potential to be a complete TE who pairs nicely with Jarwin in 2022 and beyond.
Dallas Cowboys ReCap
The title of this mock draft cites value, talent, risk, and need. We looked at value and talent when we picked DeVonta Smith at 10. We added risk when we picked Farley at 35. We balanced them all as we navigated the rest.
At the end of the day it was extremely bold to draft another WR with the top pick, but by taking a big picture view of things, we can see it frees up significant money down the road to invest on defense.
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Which picks did you love and which did you hate? What would you specifically do differently? Sound off in t comments