For the last few years the Cowboys have refused to spend premium draft resources on an interior defensive lineman. Looking to bolster the pass rush, they have prioritized the edge rusher or the players they envision as the quick twitch, penetrators suited to the 3 technique. Meanwhile, they consider the bigger, run stopping prospects that they feel would be ideal for the 1 technique as players not worthy of high selections. In their defensive scheme they feel that they could plug in any big, slow DT to try to contain blockers, while an athletic 3 tech or edge rusher can get to the QB. Perhaps it is time to reconsider this philosophy.
The Dallas Cowboy Championship teams of the 70’s and 90’s had one major thing in common, they both had dominant defenses. Moreover, the great teams of both of those era’s both had dominant defensive lines with a strong interior presence including players like Bob Lilly, Jethro Pugh, Randy White, Russell Maryland, Tony Casilas and Leon Lett. While some of those players were later round gems, neither of those teams shied away from using high draft picks to address those positions. Bob Lilly was the Dallas Cowboys 1st ever draft pick in franchise history and is possibly the greatest player in team history. The Cowboys of the 90’s had the triplets on offense but they also had the #1 defense in the league for several years and they drafted Russell Maryland 1st overall on route to building their dynasty.
In recent memory, the Cowboys have ignored the boring, big DT propsects in an attempt to draft a dominant edge rusher or a talented playmaker. Because they have ignored the potential 1 technique prospects, they have missed out on quality impact players like Flecther Cox, Michael Brockers, Derrick Wolfe, Dontari Poe, Linvall Joseph, Jonahan Hankins, Sharrif Floyd, Sylvester Williams, Timmy Jernigan, Kawann Short, and A’Shawn Robinson.
Other teams do not have the same reluctance to draft these type of players and the results speak for themselves. Of the 4 remaining teams competing in the conference championship games this weekend, every single one of them has spent at least 1 first round selection on a DT since Jason Garrett became head coach in 2010. In stark contrast, the Dallas Cowboys have not spent a single 1st or 2nd round selection on that position during Garrett’s tenure and have not advanced past the divisional round of the playoffs either.
The Cowboys have plenty of positions to address in the coming draft like LB, OL, WR and S to name a few. However, there is no shortage of quality big DT prospects in this year’s draft class such as Vita Vea, Christian Wilkins, Da’ron Payne and Tim Settle. Maybe it is time for the Cowboys to make DT a priority in the early rounds and beef up the DL.