Good morning, readers. It’s Monday and you know what that means. It’s time for #MockDraftMonday with Mario at Inside The Star.
The draft is a short 11 days away and the ever-changing draft projections continue to reveal who teams seem to be targeting.
Dallas, being the PR juggernaut that it is, is linked to several players both as early-round targets and late-round fliers.
We truly never know what the Cowboys plan to do in the draft aside from drafting All-Pro offensive linemen in the 1st round.
That very well may be the case again this season after losing both LT Tyron Smith and C Tyler Biadasz to free agency.
I firmly believe that the offensive line needs to be a priority this draft to keep All-Pro QB Dak Prescott upright long enough to execute his aerial assault.
The draft fell in a unique way for me this time, resulting in a risky trade out of the 2nd round to accumulate two 3rd round and one additional 4th round pick.
As always, I utilized the Pro Football Focus Mock Draft Simulator with all settings set to the median value.
I’m pro left tackle in the first round so I was hoping to snag one with my first pick but the rest of the NFL had other ideas.
Before pick 24 came up, seven offensive tackles had already been drafted.
This included players heavily linked to the Cowboys like Taliese Fuaga (5th to LAC), Graham Barton (16th to SEA), and the heartbreaker for me, Olumuyiwa Fashanu to the Eagles just two picks before Dallas.
I ended up overlooking the injury concerns of C Jackson Powers-Johnson to secure the anchor position on the offensive line for Dak Prescott.
JPJ could be the best center Prescott has taken snaps from since 5x All-Pro Travis Frederick.
I considered OT Tyler Guyton but being limited to the right side in college made me feel like the Cowboys can’t wait for his development.
OT Kingsley Sumataia felt like a reach this high in the draft, yet the Ravens felt differently and selected him at 30 overall.