Dallas Cowboys Draft: 3 untraditional solutions for the Cowboys at guard

The Dallas Cowboys have an immediate need at the left guard position. No other starting position on the team is as up-for-grabs than the position Connor McGovern left behind. While the Cowboys have hinted at filling it from within, popular opinion suggests they intend to use the draft.

The trades for Stephen Gilmore and Brandin Cooks alleviated the immediate need at CB and WR so the Cowboys are largely unfettered as they enter the draft process. They can hunt more according to BPA (best player available) than draft for need, a departure from 2022 when they were essentially forced to pick an offensive lineman.

Given the vacancy at LG and work Dallas did to plug other holes this offseason, the Cowboys are free to pick a new offensive linemen early in the 2023 NFL Draft. Filling their only open position with a plug-and-play starter has been a popular move in Cowboys Nation, but is a guard at 26 really the only move?

Three ways the Dallas Cowboys can fill the starting left guard position without drafting a first round guard.

The guard position is low in surplus value, positional value and WAR (wins above replacement). It’s a need on the Dallas Cowboys and could impact both phases of the offense in a big way. Yet, historically it’s a position that can filled later and doesn’t require a blue-chip investment (a first or second round draft pick).

It may go against conventional thinking in Cowboys draft circles, but perhaps the Cowboys would like to avoid using a high resource for their interior offensive line and may opt for a nontraditional solution instead.