VACowboy
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I think Ika and Benton will be gone before 58 and I don't believe in just drafting a guy because he's fat. I want a big DT too, but he needs to be big and athletic or we might as well stick with the fat guys we have. If anyone sees a 1T beyond round two who'd be be a decent upgrade to Bohanna/Hankins, please correct me. (I actually kind of like Roy) Until then, no 1T in my mock.
Anyway, I'm no super football guru. Just a guy who loves the Cowboys and loves the draft. I'm not using a simulator. I'm looking at several sites to determine where in the draft players are likely to be picked, including Walter, CBS and DrafTek. I read a lot of player profiles but I don't like picking players without looking at the video and judging for myself.
Some of my selections may be a little optimistic but I tried to keep things real, considering what we've heard and the team's tendencies, and I think everything below is reasonably within the realm of possibility. I'm a BPA guy, and I like great athletes as much as everyone else but I like players who produce in college. Still, Nolan Smith was hard to pass on at 26. I think there's a good chance he'll be there and a good chance the Cowboys will have a harder time not pulling the trigger than I did.
Brugler is my favorite evaluator. This is my pre-Beast mock...
26-Plan A. Zay Flowers (WR) 5-9, 182 - Boston College
Quick as snot, runs good routes and gets separation. I'd rather have JSN but I think he'll be long gone, and Flowers is a water bug tailor-made for McCarthy's Slant and Quick Out passing game.
OR...
26-Plan B. Jahmyr Gibbs (RB) 5-11, 199 - Alabama
My dilemma is this: I think Gibbs is a home-run hitter as a RB and offers much of the same pass-receiving juice that Flowers does. Pollard is similar, but the way Flowers runs routes and catches balls, getting them both on the field doesn't seem like a problem to me. Gibbs is a waterbug too, and with him in the slot and Pollard behind Dak, man, with CeeDee, Cooks and Gallup, who do you double? Theres a good chance we'll be replacing both Pollard and Cooks next year, and it's easier to find RBs than WR's but I like the idea of taking the #2 RB in a good RB draft than the #4 WR in a bad WR draft. I hate taking a five-year player in the first round, but I think Gibbs may be BPA at that point, by far the biggest playmaker on either side of the ball, and a better RB than Flowers is a receiver. Either way, we're adding serious juice to the offense.
58. Matthew Bergeron (G) 6-5, 318 - Syracuse
He played LT in 2022 but will probably move inside as a pro. He has some stuff to work on in pass pro but he has strength, length and athleticism to work with and is a plug-in mauler in the running game. That's what I want in my LG. Man, would he and Tyler would make a nasty combo on the left side. Enough with the finesse guys on the inside.
90. Daiyan Henley (LB) 6-2, 232 - Wazzou
Henley has good size and speed and great length, perfect tools for a MLB in today's game. He had 108 tackles as a RS-SR in 2022, four sacks, three FF (recovered two) and picked off a pass. He picked off four the year before. I'm not in the habit of watching Washington State football (No offense, Cougs. My team sucks more.), but while he doesn't look like a thumper on video he does seem pretty instinctive, diagnosing quickly, getting downhill and meeting runners in the backfield a lot. He is GREAT in coverage though, and I LOVE that. I only looked at him because the Cowboys have shown interest, but he looks like a player to me at a position of need.
129-Plen A. Israel Abanikanda (RB) 5-11, 215 - Pitt
As an ACC guy I've watched Abanikanda a lot and I don't get the total absence of hype. He hasn't demonstrated great pass-catching ability but he is quick and fast and breaks tackles, a home run hitter who just flat produces--1421 yards in 2022, at six yards a clip--with 20 TDs in an Air Raid offense. I love this guy and would happily take him at 90.
129-Plan B. Charlie Jones (WR) 5-11, 175 - Purdue
Not a juice guy. He's not gonna be the top-lifter that everybody wants, but he produces--moves the chains and puts the ball in the endzone. He was a little smaller and faster than expected at the combine and spent six years in college, transferring twice and not doing much until he got to Purdue, but he found his mojo in 2022, racking up 110 catches for 1391 yards and 12 tuddies. He's smart and runs good routes with enough quickness and speed to get open consistently, the kind of guy who will play 12 years lining up everywhere, running every route and just flat producing wherever he goes. Abanikanda is a better RB than Jones is a WR, but I think Gibbs fills some of that lightning quick pass catcher role while Jones does the dirty work, catching more balls than a rookie 4th WR should because he's gonna be where he's supposed to be, be open, and Dak is gonna love him. Jones is a totally different player than Ced Wilson but I can see him having the same impact and taking the same path, turning heads a little bit in TC and preseason and then making plays every time he touches the field with the lights on.
176. Zach Kuntz (TE) 6-7, 255 - Old Dominion
Small school TE with freak traits. He ran a 4.55 forty with a 40-frickin'-inch vert, 6.87 three-cone and 23 reps, all tops for TE at the combine. He only played five games in 2022 due to an undisclosed injury. I haven't watched him but he had 73 receptions for 692 yards and and five TDs as a RS-SO in 2021. Draft Network says this: Old Dominion had Kuntz aligned all over the field and he saw snaps at Y, F, in the slot, and out wide. Kuntz is an advanced pass-catcher who runs good routes and understands how to uncover. He has good speed to stress defenders through the stem and has good lateral quickness to separate at the top of his route. He is an instinctual player who understands how to work leverage, finds soft spots in zones, and knows how to make himself available for his quarterback on scramble drills. For a longer athlete, he shows good flexibility and the ability to sink to get in and out of breaks. He has good hands, body control, and ball-tracking ability and can easily high-point the football in contested situations. Whole lot to work with there. Definitely sounds like a great late-round project to me.
212.Clayton Tune (QB) 6-3, 215 - Houston
Tune is a five-year player (covid) who played in five games as a freshman, seven as a soph and started the last three years of his career, and improved every year. In 2021 he threw 420 passes for 3544 yards, 30 TD and 10 picks. Last year he tossed 496 for 4074, 40 and 10. The numbers say the guy is accurate, and looking at the video, man he throws a pretty ball. He has a decent but not great arm, but can make all the throws with touch to all levels, short, medium and deep. I know zip about the Houston offense except that they run a version of the Air Raid, so I'm under no illusions that Tune has ever had to make more than one or two reads, but his release seems pretty quick and compact, and though he doesn't have a rifle he puts the ball where he wants to when he wants to put it there. He's not the running QB that teams covet these days but he has good size and seems like a smooth athlete with good wheels and more speed than I expected. He's actually really good avoiding the rush and throwing on the run, and is a surprisingly good runner when he takes off. He's one of those QBs who stayed in school, threw a ton of balls and learned how to play the position by playing it. I think he could definitely be an upgrade behind Dak and maybe a starter one day, especially in a West Coast scheme.
246. Christopher Dunn (K) 5-10, 190 - NC State
Everybody loves Mooney, and I do too. Kid has a big leg. But Dunn is my favorite kicker coming out of college. He doesn't have Mooney's range but he's accurate up to the low 50's and more consistently accurate than Mooney is. He went 28 of 29 last year (97%) with a long of 53. He hit both his attempts from 50+.
Anyway, I'm no super football guru. Just a guy who loves the Cowboys and loves the draft. I'm not using a simulator. I'm looking at several sites to determine where in the draft players are likely to be picked, including Walter, CBS and DrafTek. I read a lot of player profiles but I don't like picking players without looking at the video and judging for myself.
Some of my selections may be a little optimistic but I tried to keep things real, considering what we've heard and the team's tendencies, and I think everything below is reasonably within the realm of possibility. I'm a BPA guy, and I like great athletes as much as everyone else but I like players who produce in college. Still, Nolan Smith was hard to pass on at 26. I think there's a good chance he'll be there and a good chance the Cowboys will have a harder time not pulling the trigger than I did.
Brugler is my favorite evaluator. This is my pre-Beast mock...
26-Plan A. Zay Flowers (WR) 5-9, 182 - Boston College
Quick as snot, runs good routes and gets separation. I'd rather have JSN but I think he'll be long gone, and Flowers is a water bug tailor-made for McCarthy's Slant and Quick Out passing game.
OR...
26-Plan B. Jahmyr Gibbs (RB) 5-11, 199 - Alabama
My dilemma is this: I think Gibbs is a home-run hitter as a RB and offers much of the same pass-receiving juice that Flowers does. Pollard is similar, but the way Flowers runs routes and catches balls, getting them both on the field doesn't seem like a problem to me. Gibbs is a waterbug too, and with him in the slot and Pollard behind Dak, man, with CeeDee, Cooks and Gallup, who do you double? Theres a good chance we'll be replacing both Pollard and Cooks next year, and it's easier to find RBs than WR's but I like the idea of taking the #2 RB in a good RB draft than the #4 WR in a bad WR draft. I hate taking a five-year player in the first round, but I think Gibbs may be BPA at that point, by far the biggest playmaker on either side of the ball, and a better RB than Flowers is a receiver. Either way, we're adding serious juice to the offense.
58. Matthew Bergeron (G) 6-5, 318 - Syracuse
He played LT in 2022 but will probably move inside as a pro. He has some stuff to work on in pass pro but he has strength, length and athleticism to work with and is a plug-in mauler in the running game. That's what I want in my LG. Man, would he and Tyler would make a nasty combo on the left side. Enough with the finesse guys on the inside.
90. Daiyan Henley (LB) 6-2, 232 - Wazzou
Henley has good size and speed and great length, perfect tools for a MLB in today's game. He had 108 tackles as a RS-SR in 2022, four sacks, three FF (recovered two) and picked off a pass. He picked off four the year before. I'm not in the habit of watching Washington State football (No offense, Cougs. My team sucks more.), but while he doesn't look like a thumper on video he does seem pretty instinctive, diagnosing quickly, getting downhill and meeting runners in the backfield a lot. He is GREAT in coverage though, and I LOVE that. I only looked at him because the Cowboys have shown interest, but he looks like a player to me at a position of need.
129-Plen A. Israel Abanikanda (RB) 5-11, 215 - Pitt
As an ACC guy I've watched Abanikanda a lot and I don't get the total absence of hype. He hasn't demonstrated great pass-catching ability but he is quick and fast and breaks tackles, a home run hitter who just flat produces--1421 yards in 2022, at six yards a clip--with 20 TDs in an Air Raid offense. I love this guy and would happily take him at 90.
129-Plan B. Charlie Jones (WR) 5-11, 175 - Purdue
Not a juice guy. He's not gonna be the top-lifter that everybody wants, but he produces--moves the chains and puts the ball in the endzone. He was a little smaller and faster than expected at the combine and spent six years in college, transferring twice and not doing much until he got to Purdue, but he found his mojo in 2022, racking up 110 catches for 1391 yards and 12 tuddies. He's smart and runs good routes with enough quickness and speed to get open consistently, the kind of guy who will play 12 years lining up everywhere, running every route and just flat producing wherever he goes. Abanikanda is a better RB than Jones is a WR, but I think Gibbs fills some of that lightning quick pass catcher role while Jones does the dirty work, catching more balls than a rookie 4th WR should because he's gonna be where he's supposed to be, be open, and Dak is gonna love him. Jones is a totally different player than Ced Wilson but I can see him having the same impact and taking the same path, turning heads a little bit in TC and preseason and then making plays every time he touches the field with the lights on.
176. Zach Kuntz (TE) 6-7, 255 - Old Dominion
Small school TE with freak traits. He ran a 4.55 forty with a 40-frickin'-inch vert, 6.87 three-cone and 23 reps, all tops for TE at the combine. He only played five games in 2022 due to an undisclosed injury. I haven't watched him but he had 73 receptions for 692 yards and and five TDs as a RS-SO in 2021. Draft Network says this: Old Dominion had Kuntz aligned all over the field and he saw snaps at Y, F, in the slot, and out wide. Kuntz is an advanced pass-catcher who runs good routes and understands how to uncover. He has good speed to stress defenders through the stem and has good lateral quickness to separate at the top of his route. He is an instinctual player who understands how to work leverage, finds soft spots in zones, and knows how to make himself available for his quarterback on scramble drills. For a longer athlete, he shows good flexibility and the ability to sink to get in and out of breaks. He has good hands, body control, and ball-tracking ability and can easily high-point the football in contested situations. Whole lot to work with there. Definitely sounds like a great late-round project to me.
212.Clayton Tune (QB) 6-3, 215 - Houston
Tune is a five-year player (covid) who played in five games as a freshman, seven as a soph and started the last three years of his career, and improved every year. In 2021 he threw 420 passes for 3544 yards, 30 TD and 10 picks. Last year he tossed 496 for 4074, 40 and 10. The numbers say the guy is accurate, and looking at the video, man he throws a pretty ball. He has a decent but not great arm, but can make all the throws with touch to all levels, short, medium and deep. I know zip about the Houston offense except that they run a version of the Air Raid, so I'm under no illusions that Tune has ever had to make more than one or two reads, but his release seems pretty quick and compact, and though he doesn't have a rifle he puts the ball where he wants to when he wants to put it there. He's not the running QB that teams covet these days but he has good size and seems like a smooth athlete with good wheels and more speed than I expected. He's actually really good avoiding the rush and throwing on the run, and is a surprisingly good runner when he takes off. He's one of those QBs who stayed in school, threw a ton of balls and learned how to play the position by playing it. I think he could definitely be an upgrade behind Dak and maybe a starter one day, especially in a West Coast scheme.
246. Christopher Dunn (K) 5-10, 190 - NC State
Everybody loves Mooney, and I do too. Kid has a big leg. But Dunn is my favorite kicker coming out of college. He doesn't have Mooney's range but he's accurate up to the low 50's and more consistently accurate than Mooney is. He went 28 of 29 last year (97%) with a long of 53. He hit both his attempts from 50+.