Jerry Jones and the Cowboys have been one of the more successful franchises at drafting in recent years. Dallas Cowboys Vice President of player personnel Will McClay has been instrumental in achieving that success. Despite their recent success, all indications suggest that the Dallas Cowboys draft strategy could be altered this season. Here are the major reasons why.
Stephen Jones has stated that the Cowboys are not satisfied with the success of the 2018 season. They wish to avoid the fate of the 2014 and 2016 playoff teams that took a step backwards the following season. Instead, the Cowboys are hoping to build upon the success of last season and take a step forward. The end result is that the Dallas Cowboys are being slightly more aggressive this offseason and that has been evidenced during free agency.
In previous years, the Cowboys refused to spend money on upgrading their team in free agency. Instead, they filled in holes in their roster with bargain free agents to set themselves up to draft the best players available at positions of need. This season, they changed that strategy slightly. Instead, they have made some more aggressive moves but on short term deals. WR Randall Cobb and Safety George Iloka were signed to one year deals. They also traded for DE Robert Quinn and signed him on a one year deal. Finally, they were able to negotiate a deal with star DE Demarcus Lawrence. Lawrence was paid a huge contract but it is mostly front loaded and will not cripple the Cowboys for years and years if D-Law does not meet expectations. All of these moves were aggressive on the short term and therefore carry limited risk. More importantly these moves can all be considered upgrades instead of the usual bargain free agents.
Tied into the fact that most of the key free agents were signed on one year deals is that head coach Jason Garrett has not been extended beyond this season. Garrett is essentially on a one year prove it deal. Making the playoffs again in 2020 may not be enough to save his job therefore he must aim higher to establish job security. Jason Garrett is All-In in 2019 and therefore the so are the Dallas Cowboys.
Another aspect of the 2019 offseason for the Dallas Cowboys is the looming contract extensions for their young star players Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott. The Dallas Cowboys only have one more season to take advantage of having a starting quarterback being paid on a rookie contract. After this season, Dak Prescott will be making A LOT more money whether Cowboy fans like it or not. In addition to Dak and Zeke, there are also players like Amari Cooper, Byron Jones, La’el Collins, Anthony Brown, and Maliek Collins whose contracts will be up soon. After this season, the Cowboys will have some big decisions to make going forward.
Finally, an under the radar factor in terms of building for the future of this team is the collective bargaining agreement. Following the 2020 season, the NFL and the players union will have to either extend or modify the current agreement and teams should be wary of how future contracts will be impacted. The current trend of building through the draft may not be applicable if significant changes are made for 2021.
All of these factors will have an impact on the Dallas Cowboys draft strategy in 2019. The Dallas Cowboys have several draft needs both long term and short term. The biggest short term needs are safety, defensive tackle, and backup running back. It is precisely at these positions where the Cowboys have seemed to concentrate their attention in terms of day 2 prospects. At safety players like Jonathan Abram (Mississsipi State), Taylor Rapp (Washington), Chauncey Gardner (Florida), and Juan Thornhill (Virginia). At defensive line they have focused on defensive tackles or players that can play inside and outside such as Gerald Willis (Miami). Kingsley Keke (Texas A&M), Jaylon Ferguson (Louisiana Tech), Isiah Buggs (Alabama), Zach Allen (Boston College), and Charles Omenihu (Texas). Lastly at running back guys like Damian Harris (Alabama) and Mike Weber (Ohio State). These are all players that are realistic day 2 picks and that could contribute immediately. They have also been taking a look at some prototypical, Kris Richard inspired, long corner backs such as Isaiah Johnson (Houston) and JoeJuan Williams (Vanderbilt). Kris Richard may not be with the Dallas Cowboys in 2020 so that is telling. Even in the later round prospects that the Cowboys have shown interest in, it seems more geared towards depth players that can help out on special teams rather than higher upside players. All of these factors indicate the the Cowboys are looking short term instead of longterm.
If the Dallas Cowboys draft strategy will indeed be geared more towards shorterm, than it is likely that they may lean towards drafting heavily at positions of need in the early going and then adding core special teamers in the later rounds. I do not anticipate the Cowboys focusing as much on raw development players like they did when they drafted Rico Gathers or high risk and high reward players such as when they selected Jaylon Smith. Hopefully through the draft and with their offseason acquisitions, the Cowboys can build upon the success of last season and we fans can see them reach the NFC Championship game for the first time in 25 years.
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