The Dallas Cowboys Select Asim Richards, North Carolina
In the fifth round, the Dallas Cowboys continue to chip away at some of the needs on their roster. With the 169th pick, they selected from Asim Richards, offensive tackle, from the University of North Carolina.
Head Coach Mike McCarthy finally gets another prospect to help out his offense. Richards will immediately help out an offensive line group that is aching on the interior help.
At the bare minimum, they will get young, cheap depth on this offensive line.
Asim Richards checked in at 6’4″ 309lbs. He has really good arm length to play on the outside but more than likely he will be an interior lineman. With 34″ arms, that will get the job done every day of the week.
Related Story. Dallas Cowboys Draft: OT Asim Richards Profile (utility lineman). light
His play strength is good but I’m not sure if he’ll be ready to play in year one as a starter.
Asim Richards is another power player which seems to be the theme of the Dallas Cowboys draft this year.
Richards is a young guy at the age of 21. That’s different than many of the players who are in this draft. He played three years and most of that time was at the left tackle position. A handful of his snaps were on the interior but nothing to get too excited about.
In high school, he showed off his athleticism by playing both the tight end as well as defensive edge positions. This probably helped tremendously with his good footwork on outside.
I anticipate that Coach McCarthy and Offensive Line Coach Mike Solari will attempt to put the best five offensive linemen on the field. If Tyler Smith remains at the left tackle position, it would make sense to kick Richards into the interior to compete against Guard Chuma Edoga.
If Tyron Smith starts the season on the right side, there may be a plan b for the rookie. Richards may get a look at the swing tackle position until Terrence Steele is fully recovered from his ACL injury.
The end result is the Dallas Cowboys once again obtained the position flexibility that they’ve harped about and add another intelligent player to their roster.
Thus far, the draft has not been exciting, but the front office has been overly responsible with their roster building and that has exceeded my expectations. Asim Richards, welcome to America’s Team.