News: BTB: 2017 NFL Draft: How Using A Tiered Big Board Can Help Clarify Cowboys Draft Strategy

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We look at the Top 110 players in the 2017 NFL draft and group them into tiers to better understand the Cowboys' options at each point in the draft.

A little over a week ago, ESPN's Todd McShay proposed a ranking of the top 110 players in the draft, which covers the players he has a first-, second- or third-round grade on. In addition to the ranking, he conveniently separated the prospects into different tiers, which can be helpful when "predicting where players will come off the board during the first three rounds of the draft."

Such a tiering approach can be particularly helpful as we try to figure out what the Cowboys draft strategy could or should look like. Let's start with the first round, which McShay has broken into three tiers. At the top of the board, he has just one elite player (should be starter from Day 1 and project as perennial Pro Bowl players) in Myles Garrett.

That brings us to Tier 2 prospects, players McShay calls plug-and-play starters.

TIER 2
Rank
Player​

Grade
2​

Jonathan Allen

94
3​

Solomon Thomas

93
4​

Jamal Adams

93
5​

Leonard Fournette

92
6​

Marshon Lattimore

92
7​

Malik Hooker

92
8​

Reuben Foster

92
9​

O.J. Howard

92​

​

It's safe to assume the players in Tiers 1 and 2 are completely out of reach for the Cowboys. None of these players will fall far enough for the Cowboys, and trading up for one of these top 10 prospects is simply too expensive.

Where it gets more interesting are the Tier 3 players, prospects that carry late first-round grades, as McShay explains. Note on the color code: Players who were invited for one of the 28 official pre-draft visits are marked in green.

TIER 3
Rank
Player​

Grade
10​

Forrest Lamp

91
11​

Corey Davis

91
12​

Mike Williams

91
13​

Haason Reddick

90
14​

Derek Barnett

90
15​

David Njoku

90
16​

Garett Bolles

90
17​

Christian McCaffrey

90
18​

Kevin King

90
19​

John Ross

90​

​

I'm sure we'd have reason to quibble over a few names that should or should not be in Tier 3, but if we assume the Cowboys have around 20 players with a first-round grade on their board (as they've frequently had over the past years), then the 19 names above could be at least a rough approximation of the top players the Cowboys have on their board.

Assuming the pre-draft visits carry some weight (which they have in the past), McShay's ranking suggests Barnett and King could be the only players from the visitor list with a first-round grade. Of course, not everybody agrees with McShay's ranking. CBS Sports ranks King No. 33, Dane Brugler ranks him 44th overall, Eric Galko of Optimum Scouting has him ranked 64th.

But if we stick with McShay's ranking, Tier 3 shows players that, if they were to fall all the way to No. 28, the Cowboys should draft irrespective of need, simply because they would be the only players left with a first-round grade. It's particularly noteworthy that of the ten Tier 3 players, seven are offensive players. You may not want to hear it, but a dropping offensive skill player like Corey Davis, Mike Williams, David Njoku, or John Ross will destroy all your carefully configured mock draft plans. But a dropping offensive player may also offer another option for the Cowboys: chances are a team would come knocking with an offer for the Cowboys to trade down.

With a trade-down comes additional draft bounty. And that could open up a lot of interesting options for Tier 4 players, the meat-and-potatoes part of the draft for the Cowboys.

TIER 4
Rank
Player​

Grade​

...
Rank
Player​

Grade
20​

Dalvin Cook

89​

34​

Obi Melifonwu

87
21​

Gareon Conley

89​

35​

Marlon Humphrey

87
22​

Taco Charlton

89​

36​

Evan Engram

85
23​

Takkarist McKinley

89​

37​

Alvin Kamara

86
24​

Deshaun Watson

89​

38​

Tyus Bowser

86
25​

Malik McDowell

89​

39​

Zay Jones

86
26​

Charles Harris

88​

40​

Caleb Brantley

86
27​

Ryan Ramczyk

88​

41​

Jourdan Lewis

86
28​

Jarrad Davis

88​

42​

Marcus Maye

86
29​

Budda Baker

88​

43​

Adoree' Jackson

86
30​

Quincy Wilson

88​

44​

Jabrill Peppers

85
31​

Mitchell Trubisky

88​

45​

DeShone Kizer

85
32​

Tre'Davious White

87​

46​

Tim Williams

85
33​

Cam Robinson

87​

​

Barring a dropping Tier 3 player, Tier 4 is where the Cowboys' first-round pick is going to come from. Nine of the Cowboys' pre-draft visitors show up in this tier, and while a number of prospects from this list will likely be taken before the Cowboys are on the clock at No. 28, many of the prospects we've discussed over the last few months should be available for the Cowboys at No. 28 regardless.

One interesting thing about McShay's ranking is that just one QB (Deshaun Watson, No. 24) and two tackles (Garrett Boles, 16; Ryan Ramczyk, 27) are ranked ahead of the No. 28 spot. An early run on QBs could see at least three more QBs (Mitchell Trubisky, 31; DeShone Kizer, 45, Patrick Mahomes, 49) and one OT (Cam Robinson, 33) move up into the first round and push more prospects the Cowboys' way. In any case, this could end up a win-win for the Cowboys. Early demand for QBs and OTs gives the Cowboys more quality options, or could result in trade offers that potentially could give the Cowboys two picks in Tier 4.

With a little bit of luck,the Cowboys might still be able to snag a Tier 4 player wit their 60th pick. If not, there are still a lot of options for the Cowboys in Tier 5 where the Cowboys will find what McShay calls "middle- or late-second-round prospects."

TIER 5
Rank
Player​

Grade​

...
Rank
Player​

Grade
47​

T.J. Watt

84​

55​

Josh Jones

81
48​

JuJu Smith-Schuster

84​

56​

Joe Mixon

80
49​

Patrick Mahomes II

83​

57​

Ryan Anderson

80
50​

Curtis Samuel

83​

58​

Fabian Moreau

80
51​

Teez Tabor

83​

59​

Taylor Moton

80
52​

Jordan Willis

82​

60​

Adam Shaheen

80
53​

Chidobe Awuzie

81​

61​

Larry Ogunjobi

80
54​

Zach Cunningham

81​

​

If you take the Cowboys' pre-draft visit list as an indicator of their interest in a prospect, there's no reason why the Cowboys shouldn't be able to select their top two picks from that pool.

I'm not going to bother listing all the Tier 6 names (you can look at them here), and instead only list the five players on the list the Cowboys brought in for a visit.

TIER 6 (excerpt)
Rank
Player​

Grade
72​

Damontae Kazee

78
74​

Marcus Williams

78
79​

Justin Evans

77
91​

Tanoh Kpassagnon

75
101​

Tarell Basham

72​

​

If you don't like Todd McShay's ranking, you can do the same exercise with any other draft board. None of the others are as neatly divided into tiers, but they'll give you a good idea of who'll be available where as well.

The Cowboys use two boards in their war room during the draft. The Stack Board lists the 130 or so players (2013: 117, 2016: 149) the Cowboys usually have on their draft board in order from 1 to 130 and can be used if there is a tie between players based on their grades. The Position Board, as the name implies, ranks the players by position.

There's not much time left until the draft starts, and as you start thinking about a big board, or as you look at other people's boards, see if you can identify any tiers. They'll be a good starting point as you whittle down the names to arrive at a more manageable shortlist.

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