The Dallas Cowboys officially have a draft class, and if you're like me, you're pretty happy with it. Throughout the weekend, the Cowboys took several steps to strengthen key areas of their football team, each time achieving significant value for the most part. They didn't draft a running back, which remains a concern, but the team seems to have an opinion on that and I'll leave that discussion for another time.
Now we're focusing on the running back protecting him and the players in front of the attacking player. Dallas ended up with eight total picks, five of which were in the trenches. That's (obviously) more than half.
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- Tyler Guyton, OT
- Marshawn Kneeland, Delaware
- Cooper Beebe, OG
- Nathan Thomas, OT
- Justin Rodgers, DT
Hats off to Nathan Thomas and Justin Rodgers, but perhaps the more important detail here is that the Cowboys spent their first three picks specifically in the trenches.
The Cowboys have had a high level of success in the regular season each of the past three years, but they remain a team that tends to falter when the going gets tough. Addressing the offensive and defensive lines with serious capital suggests they're pretty tired of it.
To be fair, the Cowboys lost some key players in an area where they just drafted their replacements. Tyron Smith, Tyler Biadasz, Dorrance Armstrong and Jonathan Hankins are all gone. They'll be replaced by Tyler Guyton, Cooper Beebe, Marshawn Kneeland and, hopefully, Maji Smith for additional help.
Football is a game dominated by the trenches, and what happens at the center of everything determines the rhythm of things that happen around them. It appears the Cowboys intend to set the tempo themselves and no longer want to react to the metronome of other units.
It's hard to argue with this philosophy, and thankfully the team was able to create value in the process. This could all be by design to make the value part of things even more impressive. Or maybe you just stuck to the board and went somewhere worthwhile. In any case, be prepared for things to change a little in the future.
