The Dallas Cowboys surprised many experts when they had their choice of safety available at pick #58 yet opted to draft DT Trysten Hill instead. Some Cowboys fans were critical of the pick and many feel that Hill would have been available for them in round 3. I tend to hold back when criticising the Dallas Cowboys draft strategy since they have proved to be much smarter than I am given their recent draft history. I am also a big fan of Defensive Tackles and I feel as though Hill was the best 3 tech available by far at that point in the draft. Furthermore, I don’t believe he would have lasted until pick #90. Never the less, that will not prevent me from following the careers of all those safeties going forward much like I did when the Cowboys drafted Taco Charlton ahead of T.J Watt. The 2017 draft definiately left me wondering “What if?”. In the spirit of that fateful draft, the following is a “what if?” scenario, where the Cowboys do draft a safety with their first pick in 2019. Furthermore, I would like to take it one step further and re-do the Dallas Cowboys 2019 draft from top to bottom and compare their current draft class with the 2019 draft class that could have been.
Before we begin, I would like to lay down a few ground rules. First, I will not be making assumptions about where players could have been taken. If a player is off the board because Dallas drafted them, then they will not be available later in the draft. For example, I will not presume that Trysten Hill would be available in round three. Second, I will make selections based not only on expert rankings but also on potential interest from the Cowboys. Therefore, a player that has been highly rated by experts such as D.K Metcalf but no rumours or pre-draft visits have linked that player with Dallas, then I will not consider that player. Lastly, I will draft in this scenario with the Dallas Cowboys original 6 draft picks and not take into account the trades that took place on day 3. Let us begin.
ROUND 2: PICK #58
When the Dallas Cowboys made their first selection in the 2019 NFL draft, many believed that all of the safeties they were interested in would have already been drafted. Instead, not only were Taylor Rapp, Juan Thornhill, and Chauncey Gardner-Johnson still available, but so was the consensus #1 safety according to most experts, Nasir Adderely of Delaware. The Dallas Cowboys were not linked to Adderley in the pre-draft process, perhaps it was because they believed he would not be available for them. For this selection, I am going to break rule #2 and sprint to the podium to hand in my draft card. With the 58th pick, the Dallas Cowboys select…..NASIR ADDERLEY, SAFETY, DELAWARE
ROUND 3: PICK #90
Now that the Cowboys have passed on Trysten Hill, the drop off for the three technique position is significant. For that reason, they will look to address other positions with this pick. You could argue that the Conner McGovern pick still provides the best value here but there are some other intriguing options on the board such as TE Dawson Knox OLE MISS, DE Anthony Nelson IOWA, RB Justice Hill OKLAHOMA STATE, LB Christian Miller ALABAMA, and DT Renell Wren ARIZONA STATE. The 6 foot 7 DE Anthony Nelson is going to be my selection here. Nelson would have been a versatile piece to add to Rod Marinelli’s defensive line rotation and perhaps a future replacement for Tyrone Crawford. With the 90th pick, the Dallas Cowboys select…..ANTHONY NELSON, DEFENSIVE END, IOWA
ROUND 4: PICK #128
The Dallas Cowboys selected an explosive gadget back Tony Pollard out of Memphis here but he was considered a bit of a reach by many. There were also a couple of good cornerbacks available at this spot who were drafted immediately after. Some believe that caused the Cowboys to trade back away from pick #136. Those corners were Amani Oruwariye of Penn State and Isaiah Johnson from Houston. Let’s go with the talented but raw corner that went exactly one pick after the Cowboys selected Pollard. With the 128th pick, the Dallas Cowboys select…ISAIAH JOHNSON, CORNERBACK, HOUSTON
ROUND 4: PICK #136
The Cowboys ended up trading out of this spot twice, but suppose that they landed Johnson at pick 128 and kept this pick # 136. The following options would have been available for them: Arkansas linebacker Dre Greenlaw, and a pair of Texas A&M defensive linemen, Kingsley Keke and Daylon Mack. I am looking at those linemen here since I don’t have Tyrsten Hill on my roster. Keke is better suited to the 3 technique that is so valuable in the Cowboys defense but Mack is a better player in my opinion. With the 136th pick, the Dallas Cowboys select…..DAYLON MACK, DEFENSIVE TACKLE, TEXAS A&M
ROUND 5: PICK #165
The Dallas Cowboys used this pick to draft Miami DE Joe Jackson. Still available at this point in the draft were the following players: LB Cole Holcomb NORTH CAROLINA, RB Trayveon Williams TEXAS A&M, and RB Mike Weber OHIO STATE. The Cowboys ended up drafting Weber with one of the 7th round picks they acquired via trade. Without that pick, Weber does not become available to the Cowboys so they would have to draft him here. Given the choice, I would take Williams ahead of Weber but I am also intrigued by the LB Holcomb who could step into the vacant SAM spot on my Defense. With the 165th pick, the Dallas Cowboys select…TRAYVEON WILLIAMS, RUNNING BACK, TEXAS A&M
ROUND 7: PICK #241
The Dallas Cowboys drafted Jalen Jelks, defensive end out of Oregon with their final 2019 draft pick. There were a number of other players available who ended up going undrafted and signed as undrafted free agents with other teams. Among those players were TE Dax Raymond UTAH STATE, WR Emanuel Hall MISSOURI, and WR Stanley Morgan NEBRASKA. The Cowboys did not end up signing any of these players so it is possible they had their reservations about them but I would not have minded if they had added a legitimate deep threat to their Offense. With the 241st pick, the Dallas Cowboys select…EMANUEL HALL, WIDE RECEIVER, MISSOURI
So concludes the 2019 “What if?” Draft. Here is what it looks like side by side with the actual Dallas Cowboys 2019 draft.
| 2019 2019 DRAFT CLASS | “WHAT IF?” 2019 DRAFT CLASS |
| TRYSTEN HILL (CB) | NASIR ADDERLEY (S) |
| CONNOR MCGOVERN (OG) | ANTHONY NELSON (DE) |
| TONY POLLARD (RB) | ISAIAH JOHNSON (CB) |
| MICHAEL JACKSON (CB) | DAYLON MACK (DT) |
| JOE JACKSON (DE) | TRAYVEON WILLIAMS (RB) |
| DONAVON WILSON (S) | EMANUEL HALL (WR) |
| MIKE WEBER (RB) | |
| JALEN JELKS (DE) |
Comparing the Dallas Cowboys 2019 Draft class to the “What if?” Draft class, a few things stick out to me. The Dallas Cowboys were able to secure an additional 2 draft picks but lost out on the highest rated safeties in the 2019 draft class. Meanwhile, the “What if?” draft class was able to secure the draft experts consensus top safety in the class but were not able to get Rod Marinelli his coveted three technique. Time will tell which scenario would have better but hopefully players like Trysten Hill, Tony Pollard, Donavon Wilson, and Michael Jackson will make an immediate and long term impact and remove any doubt about the Cowboys passing up on a safety at pick #58.
*Photo by Kieth Allison https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/legalcode
Prospect rankings and analysis based in part by information provided by…
Dane Brugler’s 2018 NFL Draft Guide Powered by TheAthletic.com https://theathletic.com/917951/2019/04/15/the-beast-is-here-dane-bruglers-2019-nfl-draft-guide/?redirected=1
NFL.COM2019 Draft Prospects, webpage https://www.nfl.com/draft/tracker/prospects
Lindy’s Sports 2018 NFL Draft Guide annual magazine, published by J. Lindy Davis. Jr. and printed by D.M.D Publications Inc. 2100 Centennial Drive, Suite 100, Birmingham, Alabama, United States, 35216
8 Takeways as Cowboys national draft visitors, Dallas Day guys identified, by K.D Drummond, April 5, 2019, 3:22AM Eastern Time, COWBOYSWIRE, cowboyswire.usatoday.com https://cowboyswire.usatoday.com/2019/04/05/8-takeaways-as-cowboys-national-draft-visitors-dallas-day-guys-identified/