Dallas Cowboys Draft: Five Second Round Options at Cornerback
By Reid Hanson
Dallas Cowboys CB possibility No.5
Paulson Adebo
Stanford
You may have noticed we skipped over highly regarded prospects Elijah Molden and Aaron Robinson altogether. While they are generally higher ranked than a guy like Adebo, they project more as slot cornerbacks and not boundary corners in a Cover-3 heavy scheme like Dallas’
So for the sake of fit, I’m going to stick with targets the Dallas Cowboys might actually consider. Adebo is a guy who fits but I still see as tremendous reach here at 44.
The 6-foot 198lbs. prospect out of Stanford earned mixed reviews from his play the two years that he played. And he opted out entirely in 2020, making him even more of an unknown.
As I argued early in the offseason: Opt out players come with extra risk and their draft stock SHOULD suffer accordingly. They’ve been away from the game and they have less film in which to grade. It has to factor in.
The reason Paulson Adebo is an option here is because he’s well suited to play the Cover 3. He’s rated as the CB12 by Brugler and the Draft Network meaning he’ll probably go somewhere between the 2nd and 3rd round.
Adebo can track the ball looking back on the boundary and make plays on it regularly (22 PDs and 8 INTs in just 22 games). He’s a little stiff and will jump slant routes from time to time. He’s also not a great tackler.
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Final Thoughts
There’s about four CBs I feel good about drafting in round two on this list. I’d avoid anyone who looks like they can only work inside, and I’d avoid Adebo who I think is more of a Round 3 guy. If somehow all the options were off the table, I’d rather wait to Round 3 to make a pick there than start reaching in 2.
Caleb Farley is also a big wild card in this whole thing. He has about one year of good film and he then he opted out in 2020. He’s had a couple very concerning surgeries and wasn’t able to do a full workout this offseason. He could very possibly fall into the second round given the risk.
If the Dallas Cowboys don’t draft a CB in Round 1 it won’t be the end of the world. There are still plenty of viable options in Round 2 that could be immediate starters.