Up until the point that Jerry Jones makes his selection at the NFL draft, football and Dallas Cowboys fans might not have any clue of what the team will do with the No. 4 overall pick.
ESPN's Mel Kiper, Todd McShay and Chris Sprow all sat down to discuss what they thought the Cowboys should do with the choice.
Their discussion is based of Kiper's most recent mock draft where he has the Cowboys taking Jared Goff with the No. 4 choice.
The full podcast can be listened to here.
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Kiper: For Dallas, if you're looking at the Cowboys, people say 'Where's [Joey] Bosa? He's at No. 6?' Bosa drops because if you don't give him to Cleveland, and I think DeForest Buckner fits them better. You don't give him to Cleveland or Dallas. Jacksonville got [Dexter] Fowler last year. I think they go corner/safety with Jalen Ramsey. And then there's Baltimore at No. 6 having to make a decision between Bosa, [Ronnie] Stanley, the offensive tackle from Notre Dame, and [Vernon] Hargraves, the cornerback from Florida. But Goff to Dallas, if you're looking at an heir apparent to [Tony] Romo. Their season has been destroyed when Romo gets hurt. He's up there in age, late 30's, coming off the injury. They're picking fourth because Romo got hurt or they would have won that division going away. I think they need to take advantage of the bad luck which becomes kind of good luck because you're now picking at four and can get a quarterback like Jared Goff.
McShay: I think that's the most interesting pick in this draft. No. 4, Dallas. Because you're rationale makes a ton of sense. If you're picking this high, take advantage because no one is planning on it, but historically Dallas has not picked this high very often. If you're picking at No. 4 overall and if they believe that one of these quarterbacks or both is a legitimate future NFL starter. If [Carson] Wentz happens to be there, they coached him personally and had him every day at the Senior Bowl. They would know a little bit more about him than other teams. But you're sitting at No. 4 and you've got a team with a healthy Romo that you realistically believe can make a deep run in the playoffs and get to a Super Bowl. That's what you believe. So if you take Goff are you taking away the potential to bring in another piece of the puzzle; a Joey Bosa or a very good defensive player like DeForest Buckner, Jalen Ramsey, or whoever it is. Or are you going to take advantage and take that critical position of quarterback and build for the future. I don't know. I struggle with it. I think it makes a lot of sense long-term to do this. I don't think Dallas will. And I gave them a quarterback in the last mock draft. I don't think I will moving forward. I just don't think they're going to wind up pulling the trigger on a quarterback.
Sprow: It is fascinating though, Todd, because in a league of attrition sometimes your biggest need quietly is the guy who would replace your best player. I mean, imagine Denver without a Von Miller. They drafted a Shane Ray. As Mel said, it ruined their season. The drop off between Tony Romo and everybody else was so significant. This is a guy with back problems, who has broken the same clavicle twice in a short period. I'll tell you this. Maybe they don't go with that guy at No. 4. Maybe they go with somebody in the second round or third round. There is something to be said that if it happens again, if Tony Romo is walked [or] carted off the field in Week 2 or Week 3, and they're no better than they were, you point right at that front office and you say that for all of the good moves they made in recent years in the drafts, [Zack] Martin over [Johnny] Manziel. They would miss on this one. It's interesting. It's a risk either way.
Kiper: The last thing on this is, you touched on it, they thought about Manziel. Manziel was heavily in that discussion with Martin. They could have. That was a guy they were discussing. That was a few years ago. Now we fast forward to today. To me, where do they go at backup? They tried [Matt] Cassel, they tried [Brandon] Weeden. They tried them all. Did they win? No. They couldn't win a game. To me, if you were picking at 25 right now and looking for the heir apparent for Romo later on down the road, you either trade up, and a lot of times when you try to trade up you're not going to be successful. The teams picking higher are saying, 'Hey we love this quarterback. We're not letting you get him.' The days of doing that are hard to come by. If you're Dallas, I've got to believe that if you considered Manziel and now you're picking at No. 4 and you got Jared Goff, who I would think you would agree, has a much higher than Johnny Manziel did coming out. Why wouldn't you take this quarterback? Would you rather have Joey Bosa or Jared Goff? That's what it basically boils down to.
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