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Rookies become sophomores.
It had been a long time before last year that the Dallas Cowboys entered an NFL Draft without a first-round pick. In fact it had been a decade. The Cowboys trading for Amari Cooper definitely brought back memories of Roy Williams in more ways than one, and the hope was immediately that the ripple effect would be radically different. Thankfully Cooper, now the richest wide receiver in Cowboys history, performed much differently than Williams, but the receiver in question wasn’t the only important piece.
When Dallas traded for Roy Williams in 2008, part of what they gave up was their 2009 first-round pick. Operating without a first in the 2009 Draft proved very difficult as the Cowboys pulled together one of their worst draft classes in franchise history. The hope, again, was that 2019 would be different.
One year in, the 2019 class doesn’t look great
There are more than enough people championing the “Amari Cooper was actually the 2019 Cowboys’ first-round pick” cause, but for the purposes of this discussion we are talking about the players that the team actually chose. With one year’s worth of NFL data, an admittedly small sample size, the class will hardly challenge the Dirty Dozen.
The Cowboys drastically misused the picks that they ultimately made in the spring. Of their first three selections, the Cowboys took what ended up being a reserve player (being kind), a redshirt year, and a rotation player.
2019 Dallas Cowboys Draft Class
- 2nd Round: Trysten Hill
- 3rd Round: Connor McGovern
- 4th Round: Tony Pollard
- 5th Round: Michael Jackson
- 5th Round: Joe Jackson
- 6th Round: Donovan Wilson
- 7th Round: Mike Weber
- 7th Round: Jalen Jelks
The Cowboys’ fourth pick now plays for the Detroit Lions and their first seventh-round pick plays for the Kansas City Chiefs, making matters all the more unproductive.
Which 2019 Cowboys draft pick are you most excited for in 2020?
One year of NFL football is hardly enough to judge a draft class so we should all reserve doing so for the time being. Still, though, the expectation is going to be that the Cowboys will start to see at least some return on investment in some of these players starting in 2020, who do you think will make the biggest leap?
Tony Pollard is a favorite of many but it’s so hard to see him finding enough playing time to make a significant dent in this regard. While there is hope that Mike McCarthy’s Cowboys will utilize Pollard in a way that the previous regime didn’t, it is still difficult to see him legitimately eating into Ezekiel Elliott’s touches.
Those class of 2019 vibes @donlwilson6 @Tp__5 pic.twitter.com/EjdPf1QCjf
— Blogging The Boys (@BloggingTheBoys) April 5, 2020
Dallas drafting Connor McGovern a year ago has had a lot of people feeling somehwat more secure in the aftermath of Travis Frederick’s retirement. The Cowboys have options at center thanks to a combination of offensive lines that they can structure with players like McGovern and the recently re-signed Joe Looney.
Speaking of Joes, it was Joe Jackson that caught Jerry Jones’ eye throughout training camp and the preseason. While the Cowboys are certainly never not looking for edge rushers, it’s hard to see Jackson jumping high enough on the depth chart to do legitimate damage. People are still hoping that Dorance Armstrong gets his chance at it. He will be joined by Jalen Jelks at the EDGE rusher spot. Jelks spent last year on injured reserve but he does have some of the traits needed for an impact pass rusher.
If there is one thing that the Cowboys are never not looking for it is a safety and, as always, there is hope in one particular player - Donovan Wilson. Perhaps the Cowboys will be able to get him on the field so that he has a chance to shine, but what happens in the 2020 NFL Draft could go a long way in changing that.
Perhaps your excitement most rests on the first player that the Cowboys selected in defensive tackle Trysten Hill. He was inactive more often than not throughout his rookie season, which isn’t a good sign for him, and neither is it that Dallas brought in both Gerald McCoy and Dontari Poe in free agency. Hill’s battle is, no pun intended here, an uphill one to be frank.
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