Following last weekend’s draft, Jerry Jones believes it’s time for the Cowboys to take the next step and actually qualify for an NFC title game. Try to forget for a moment the Cowboys haven’t accomplished that since the Triplets were in action and believe in the impossible.
This team plays in a pretty mediocre NFC East and should be knocking on the door of another division title. With that in mind, I’ve been reaching out to some of the top talent evaluators in the business the last few days. And lo and behold, one of them actually returned my call.
I met former NFL scout Daniel Jeremiah several years ago at the NFL combine. He had decided to try his hand at the media, and I seem to recall him handing out business cards in Indianapolis. He’s now risen to the NFL Network’s top draft analyst and goes toe-to-toe with ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. He’s also the son of a famous Baptist pastor, which is why he’s been known to hang around the Baylor campus from time to time.
I was particularly interested in what Jeremiah thought about the Cowboys’ first three picks: Trysten Hill, Connor McGovern and Tony Pollard. Jeremiah had Hill 55th on his board, so he didn’t feel like the Cowboys reached for the UCF defensive tackle at No. 58.
“What I love to do with defensive linemen is freeze it right after the snap,” Jeremiah said. “The ball is snapped and you try to see who is the first one of the ball. You do this for five or six plays and see if it’s consistently the same player. [Hill] is so much quicker off the ball than everyone else they had on their defensive front, it jumped off the screen. At the end of the year, he took over the conference championships game.
“I’m not going to punish him in the evaluation based on the fact there was a clash with the coaching staff. On the field, he was like an all-day second-round pick with tremendous upside. He needs to do a better job of locating the football. He’s a very explosive athletic dude.”
This is so much more encouraging for Cowboys fans than the AFC general manager who told me last weekend Hill was “just a guy.” There were executives who thought the Cowboys “reached” on Hill and third-round pick Connor McGovern, a guard from Penn State. Jeremiah said that scouts across the league told him he had McGovern ranked too high, but he stuck to his guns and thinks the Cowboys were smart to grab him at No. 90 overall.
“It points to a larger trend across the league to having some versatility in offensive linemen,” Jeremiah said. “You get someone like [last year’s second-round pick] Connor Williams, same thing. McGovern can play all three spots inside. I was higher on McGovern than the rest of the league. The Cowboys joined me in that. He’s an Interior player who is smart and tough. You can work on the other stuff he doesn’t have.”
The last player we talked about was fourth-round pick Tony Pollard. Please be advised that everyone will fall in love with Pollard in training camp. His versatility as a return man and pass receiver will wow everyone. That doesn’t mean Jason Garrett and offensive coordinator Kellen Moore will utilize him, though. The Cowboys didn’t use a complementary back when DeMarco Murray was putting up big numbers, and it will continue to be the same with Zeke Elliott. But I’ll be on the scene for PressBoxDFW.com when Pollard takes over camp.
“He’s a Pro Bowl kickoff returner,” Jeremiah told me. “He’s really good in that role of Cordarrelle Patterson, where he can handle draw plays and screens. But if you get a starter dinged, he won’t be your guy as the starter.”
So as long as Zeke Elliott stays healthy, the Cowboys are in good shape. It sounds like this team created some quality depth In the draft. Jeremiah joined me in making “Jackson Five” jokes about the Cowboys’ fifth-round picks, so I wouldn’t expect too much from Michael and Joe Jackson. But unlike some of the execs I’ve been talking to, Jeremiah really thinks a lot of Hill. If Hill’s able to make an immediate impact, I think this defense could be one of the best in the NFC.
Maybe Jerry actually has the basis for optimism. And I assure you he’ll love having Jeremiah’s support. This may earn Daniel a spot in the “VIP” section in Oxnard.