Many experts and fans believe they can do a better job of running a team than those with that actual responsibility. While that’s highly unlikely, it’s a common thought with a franchise like the Dallas Cowboys that hasn’t been to a conference championship game in 30 years.
Critics often second-guess Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones. He talked in January about the front office doing some “drastic things” to improve the roster after missing the playoffs for a second consecutive season.
“We want to get out here and do better than we did this year,” he said. “(There’s) the incentive to, dare I say it, bust the budget to try to get something done now? Yes. Yes. … This calls for some pretty controversial decisions. We’re gonna keep this thing as good as we can possibly be. Finances are no object. We’re gonna make it as entertaining as we can and keep it as lively as we can for everybody.”
Dallas then had a pretty vanilla free-agency period with the highlight moves being trading for edge rusher Rashan Gary, signing safety Jalen Thompson, re-signing running back Javonte Williams and trading away defensive tackle Osa Odighizuwa.
“We’ve been aggressive,” Jones said a few weeks ago. “We have, relatively speaking, stepped up the financial requirements for what we have done. We may have exceeded, busted (the budget), whatever you want to call it, but we got some more (to do). We’re not through.”
With the NFL Draft a couple of days away, I decided to share what I’d do if I stepped in as Cowboys GM for the week.
Reopen talks with the Raiders about Maxx Crosby
Now, this is only an option if my team doctors believe there aren’t long-term concerns with his knee. Late last month, Jones said he didn’t anticipate revisiting the trade talks for Crosby, but he added, “Is it possible? Yes.”
Cowboys team physician Dr. Dan Cooper was reportedly one of the doctors who looked at the scans of Crosby’s knee before the Baltimore Ravens backed out of their trade for the five-time Pro Bowl edge rusher last month. If Cooper has serious concerns, obviously it wouldn’t make sense for Dallas to reopen trade talks. If he doesn’t have serious concerns, I’d be interested in potentially parting with the 20th overall pick in a package for Crosby. Baltimore originally traded two first-round picks to the Las Vegas Raiders, but the asking price has likely come down.
The Cowboys were interested in Maxx Crosby earlier in the offseason. Would the Raiders still consider dealing their star pass rusher? (Kiyoshi Mio / Imagn Images)
“Really, it’s pretty simple for me,” Jones said when asked last month about the Crosby trade falling through. “There’s no hidden item there. You have to pass a physical. We’ve never completed an agreement until the player passes the physical. That implies (that) your doctors, your trainers, everybody involved, get to take a look at it. That goes with the territory. We would’ve basically looked at the same conditions with a physical. And as you know, we were in on making an offer for him. So he would’ve come to Dallas, and we’ll all just guess what would’ve happened.”
Jones said that last sentence with a smile.
If there’s no Crosby deal, use every pick on defense
There’s no argument that the best practice is to draft the best player available regardless of position. But when the defense is as bad as the Cowboys’ was last season, some adjusting of philosophy needs to happen. The offense is already loaded. Could the offensive line use an upgrade? Sure. But the defense needs major help. There’s not a position group that couldn’t use some young talent.
Of course, a trade for Crosby could immediately improve a lot of areas. But without that, it makes sense to take as many swings as possible at finding help at all three levels of the defense. In my final mock draft, I did just that, spending all seven picks on that side of the ball.
The Cowboys had a similar approach in 2021 when they spent all six of their top 115 picks on defense. In 2017, they spent seven of their nine picks on defense. In 2005, they spent six of their eight picks on defense.
They have a new and young defensive coaching staff that knows these prospects well from coaching them, coaching against them or recruiting them. It makes sense to take advantage of that knowledge.
If there’s no Crosby deal, trade up
If there was a trade for Crosby, there wouldn’t be the ammunition left to move up in the draft. But without that trade, I’d be very interested in moving up to get one of the top defenders in this class. Most draft experts believe there are six players in that category: Ohio State edge rusher Arvell Reese, Texas Tech edge rusher David Bailey, Ohio State linebacker Sonny Styles, Ohio State safety Caleb Downs, Miami edge rusher Rueben Bain Jr. and LSU cornerback Mansoor Delane. In most mock drafts, all six are gone by Pick 12.
The ideal scenario would be a trade with the Cleveland Browns, who have the sixth overall pick. The Cowboys could potentially trade 12 and 20 to get 6 and 39 in return. That scenario would allow Dallas to get one of those top defenders and possibly still get a player it would consider at 20 when it goes on the clock at Pick 39 early in the second round. I’d obviously lean heavily on my intel around the league. If I thought there was a real chance of any of those players falling to 12, I wouldn’t be as interested in trading up. The ideal scenario in moving up would be to address a premium position like edge rusher.
If the Cowboys got to No. 6, the player I would want most, in order of preference: Reese, Bailey, Downs, Styles, Bain and Delane.
If not all defense, these positions must be addressed
If my personnel department and coaches talked me into an offensive player or two, I’m at the very least trying to come out of this draft with one edge rusher, two inside linebackers, one cornerback, one safety and one defensive tackle. Inside linebacker is the biggest roster need, but I wouldn’t feel pressured to have to fill that in the first round. In the trade scenario with Cleveland, Pick 39 seems like the perfect spot to grab a Day 1 starter at inside linebacker. Without that trade, Pick 20 seems a little too rich for me with the second-tier at that position group. And the Cowboys don’t have another pick until 92. It’s unlikely that any of those second-tier linebackers fall that far.