Very early mock draft

[XDez88BeastX]

Of course, all of this depends on the state of the Cowboys' DL once the draft rolls around. If you're looking at a starting lineup of Selvie, Crawford, Hayden, and Ware by then, you might be forced to double down on the line with your first two picks and hope a guard falls in the third.

I believe Crawford is positioned as a DE, he was supposed to take Spencer's spot.

 

[RS12]

Of course, all of this depends on the state of the Cowboys' DL once the draft rolls around. If you're looking at a starting lineup of Selvie, Crawford, Hayden, and Ware by then, you might be forced to double down on the line with your first two picks and hope a guard falls in the third.

Yep, and the defense wont get better until the front 4 gets better.

 

[kiheikiwi]

I believe Crawford is positioned as a DE, he was supposed to take Spencer's spot.

This, and by the way - go and look at Crawfords twitter acount on the Cowboys website. Has a few pics on there. That boy is YOAKED ! Strong side DE for sure, hope he will be a force for us in the up coming few years. DT is absolutely our Number 1 need in my opinion .

 

[xwalker]

Of course, all of this depends on the state of the Cowboys' DL once the draft rolls around. If you're looking at a starting lineup of Selvie, Crawford, Hayden, and Ware by then, you might be forced to double down on the line with your first two picks and hope a guard falls in the third.

Despite the sky is falling reports of doom in regards to the salary cap, I wouldn't be surprised to see them sign a Free Agent for either the DL or OL.

Just as an example, they could fit 3 players with 50M contracts under the cap for the same space they used to fit Spencer with the Franchise tag. The tag was 10.6M. Carr's first year cap hit under the cap was 3.6M (3 x 3.6 = 10.8). I'm not implying that they would sign 3 big free agents, but the cap hit to sign 1 is drastically lower than the cap hit to Franchise Spencer for the 2013 season.

 

[Common Sense]

Despite the sky is falling reports of doom in regards to the salary cap, I wouldn't be surprised to see them sign a Free Agent for either the DL or OL.

Just as an example, they could fit 3 players with 50M contracts under the cap for the same space they used to fit Spencer with the Franchise tag. The tag was 10.6M. Carr's first year cap hit under the cap was 3.6M (3 x 3.6 = 10.8). I'm not implying that they would sign 3 big free agents, but the cap hit to sign 1 is drastically lower than the cap hit to Franchise Spencer for the 2013 season.

For the sake of being competitive, they may have to sign at least one impact free agent on defense. Granted, it's not going to help an already dangerous cap situation, but it seems like at this point you either blow things up and start over or you ride it until the wheels fall off.

I mean, honestly, what do you do if Hatcher walks? Are you going to roll out a 2014 defense that features Nick Hayden and Drake Nevis as your starting DTs? Maybe the team will fall into a random stroke of luck with a player like Henry Melton -- coming off of ACL surgery, familiar with Marinelli -- those are the types of factors that can lead to free agency "discounts," if you're able to strike up a deal right out of the gate before no other team has a chance to jump in. Then you're one first day draft pick away from a front four that would look like:

DE: Selvie/Crawford rotation (unless Crawford lives up to his pre-draft hype as a potentially solid starting strongside DE and wins the job outright)
DT: high draft pick
DT: Melton
DE: Ware (hopefully at a paycut, because he's too brittle to restructure at this point)

I mean, that's nothing to get too excited over, but it has the potential to be solid, especially given the right coaching. I have to imagine they could still decide to slot Crawford as a DT if a stud DE fell to them in the draft.

Long story short, I think the plan to fix the DL will very much resemble the approach this season to fix the OL. Very methodical, with no wholesale changes. A high draft pick here, a solid free agent there, and then try to fill in the gaps by developing the depth you have. Of course, the OL is still a work in progress, but they're probably scouting OGs pretty heavily this draft with Leary's knee being a potential ticking time bomb and Berny being... well, Berny.

 

[xwalker]

For the sake of being competitive, they may have to sign at least one impact free agent on defense. Granted, it's not going to help an already dangerous cap situation, but it seems like at this point you either blow things up and start over or you ride it until the wheels fall off.

I mean, honestly, what do you do if Hatcher walks? Are you going to roll out a 2014 defense that features Nick Hayden and Drake Nevis as your starting DTs? Maybe the team will fall into a random stroke of luck with a player like Henry Melton -- coming off of ACL surgery, familiar with Marinelli -- those are the types of factors that can lead to free agency "discounts," if you're able to strike up a deal right out of the gate before no other team has a chance to jump in. Then you're one first day draft pick away from a front four that would look like:

DE: Selvie/Crawford rotation (unless Crawford lives up to his pre-draft hype as a potentially solid starting strongside DE and wins the job outright)
DT: high draft pick
DT: Melton
DE: Ware (hopefully at a paycut, because he's too brittle to restructure at this point)

I mean, that's nothing to get too excited over, but it has the potential to be solid, especially given the right coaching. I have to imagine they could still decide to slot Crawford as a DT if a stud DE fell to them in the draft.

Long story short, I think the plan to fix the DL will very much resemble the approach this season to fix the OL. Very methodical, with no wholesale changes. A high draft pick here, a solid free agent there, and then try to fill in the gaps by developing the depth you have. Of course, the OL is still a work in progress, but they're probably scouting OGs pretty heavily this draft with Leary's knee being a potential ticking time bomb and Berny being... well, Berny.

I think there are a lot of possibilities for the DLine. There are many players that (physically) can fit into Marinelli's DL scheme. He can probably get 2nd/3rd rounders and/or mid-level free agents into the rotation immediately.

They need another Guard. The only interior backup on the roster is Costa; although, they have had OT Weems practice at Guard to some extent.

Melton is an interesting situation. It is unlikely that the Bears would Franchise him again. It's a 20% increase over the 1st Franchise Tag and his health is obviously questionable.