As we continue our journey through the 2021 Cowboys draft class, I must make a brief confession. I stalled a bit on this study of third-round cornerback Nahshon Wright from Oregon State for a few reasons. In fairness, he should have been a subject of this study a few weeks ago, but I skipped him in the order at least twice.
https://theathletic.com/2642144/2021/06/10/nahshon-wright-film-analysis-reach-or-not-the-cowboys-are-betting-on-cornerbacks-ideal-traits/
Today, we continue our series of breaking down Cowboys draft picks who have been slated to help the defense rise back to the proper heights under Dan Quinn.
https://theathletic.com/2625996/2021/06/02/jabril-cox-film-analysis-cowboys-find-fantastic-value-in-round-4-linebacker-with-rare-cover-skills/
Believe it or not, the media will say a lot of things that aren’t actually founded in truth.
If you open your favorite search engine, you will find that a search of “Cowboys Eagles rare trade” has many hits because this year that was how it was described when the Cowboys made a rare trade here in the 2021 NFL Draft.
https://theathletic.com/2612556/2021/05/26/chauncey-golston-film-analysis-cowboys-3rd-round-pick-has-old-school-de-upside/
Another week brings us another film breakdown of a Cowboys draft pick. This one is a well-developed five-year college star who won first-team All-Pac-12 recognition in his final year for UCLA, Osa Odighizuwa. He, of course, is the younger brother of Owa, the Giants’ 2015 third-round pick out of UCLA who was in and out of the NFL very quickly. We have learned years ago to not judge a player by the career of his older brother, so while I liked Owa out of college quite a bit before he played poorly at the next level, we will recognize the family’s talent and judge Osa on his own tape.
https://theathletic.com/2601497/2021/05/20/osa-odighizuwa-film-analysis-cowboys-3rd-round-pick-adds-excellent-ability-to-keep-lbs-clean/
A tradition in this space for years has been to deep dive on the draft picks in the months between the draft and the opening of training camp. In many cases, I had scouted the player pre-draft, but that was not generally going to include some substantial tape work for this space.
https://theathletic.com/2583126/2021/05/13/kelvin-joseph-film-analysis-checking-for-quality-of-the-pivotal-second-round-cornerback/
Lest there be any question that the Cowboys have diverted their philosophical approach to player selection, look no further than the past few days and the 2021 NFL Draft. This is absolutely not the old regime of Jason Garrett and his mighty men.
https://theathletic.com/2558928/2021/05/01/the-morning-after-kelvin-joseph-pick-reveals-cowboys-different-approach-evident-to-pursue-different-results/
On one hand, there are plenty of folks who have enjoyed all of the media draft work that has been done for 100 days only to see the Cowboys show us that we can read the tea leaves all we want and still not see the train coming right at us.
On the other hand, perhaps they were the ones hit by the train and are now spinning the story to appear as if they were playing chess while the rest of us were stuck on checkers all along.
https://theathletic.com/2555848/2021/04/30/the-morning-after-cowboys-defense-grabs-micah-parsons-and-ignores-the-sunk-cost/
The drafting process was indeed different here in 2021 from what it even was in 2020. As shutdown as the world was in 2020, there was, in fact, an NFL Combine and hundreds if not thousands of campus visits by scouts all year long. In 2020, we lost the draft itself and the final six weeks of the buildup activities with pro days and 30 team visits. In 2021, we lost the whole combine and the 30 team visits have converted over to more Zoom calls. Yuck.
https://theathletic.com/2549261/2021/04/28/the-2021-nfl-draft-game-plan-here-is-what-the-cowboys-should-do-at-no-10/
With the NFL Draft less than a week away, The Athletic’s Jon Machota and Bob Sturm met up Thursday to talk all things Cowboys draft. Here’s a transcript from our conversation.
https://theathletic.com/2537654/2021/04/23/cowboys-draft-conversation-tyron-smiths-future-what-makes-sense-at-10-and-44/
Today, we study the quarterbacks. This is the eighth year I have done this and the fourth for The Athletic.
https://theathletic.com/2530708/2021/04/20/dallas-cowboys-draft-digest-analyzing-the-5-big-time-qb-prospects-led-by-trevor-lawrence/
One thing that is clear every year is how many unbelievable athletes call Dallas-Fort Worth their homes. That gives us many players to look at as significant draft figures every year and many have been covered in previous Draft Digests.
However, several more have fallen through the cracks so we grab five more here to look at because there is a deep crop yet again.
https://theathletic.com/2523433/2021/04/16/dallas-cowboys-draft-digest-five-dfw-prospects-to-keep-eyes-on-in-2021/
The last few weeks I have been trying to spend most of my time targeting Day 2 players for the Cowboys. This is mostly defensive pieces, but I really think remembering that there is never a bad time to add talent to the offensive line is important.
The Cowboys have selections in this draft at one spot on Day 1 (No. 10), and currently have three swings of the bat on Day 2 with a chance to really get it going with picks that should populate the defense: No. 44, 75 and 99.
We talked about the top batch back in Draft Digest No. 2, but since I really don’t think Dallas is looking at the tackle crop in the first round (unless someone like Penei Sewell unexpectedly shows up at their selection — even then they might still pass), I wanted to come back and look at some of the options for them in what we assume would either be in a trade-back in Round 1 or somewhere on Day 2 in Rounds 2 or 3.
https://theathletic.com/2505613/2021/04/09/dallas-cowboys-draft-digest-deep-offensive-tackle-options-on-day-2-are-a-possibility/
I love the NFL Draft for many reasons. Most are made clear from the pieces I write in which we discuss another prospect and how his life is about to change and he also has a chance to change the franchise that has selected him. Other times, I just love seeing how different parts of our country supply different amounts of the new stock coming to the league.
https://theathletic.com/2501018/2021/04/07/draft-origins-checking-in-on-the-big-12s-struggle-to-produce-top-draft-prospects/
As this series begins its second half and as we march closer to draft day, it is time to tighten the circle.
The first 30 players of the “Sturm 60” have the best players at the positions of need. We will continue to wander down that path for a few more weeks, but then we have to become fine-tuned with the names of players of great interest on Days 1 and 2 of this draft for the Cowboys.
https://theathletic.com/2473213/2021/03/25/dallas-cowboys-draft-digest-five-more-cornerbacks-to-consider-as-dallas-has-four-picks-inside-the-first-99/
It would not be a stretch to say the very worst position on the Cowboys roster as we type these words is defensive tackle. They simply have not built much here at all, and in 2020, it was there for all the world to see.
https://theathletic.com/2454605/2021/03/18/dallas-cowboys-draft-digest-defensive-tackle-crop-looks-light-in-high-end-prospects/
Let’s have a few philosophical discussions today as we discuss this group of safeties. In fact, as a change-up, we won’t make one of our discussion points the fact that the Cowboys still appear to have not violated their “we promise to never invest in safety ever again” mandate that went into place the moment they realized their high-first round pick (No. 8 overall in 2002) of safety Roy Williams from Oklahoma went really off the rails around 2006-2008.
https://theathletic.com/2423567/2021/03/04/dallas-cowboys-draft-digest-is-this-the-year-they-finally-go-strong-at-safety/
There is nothing on the defensive side of the ball that teams are always looking for more than someone who can apply big-time pressure on a quarterback. Edge rushers are always in high demand and that increases each year with the realization that as passing continues to rise, the need for pass rushers will, too. Elite pass rushers? Well, those are as rare as elite quarterbacks, it seems, and the last several drafts have yielded a fair number of “generational” pass rushers. Perhaps we are no longer allowed to use the term “generational” because it seems one comes along almost every year. If Joey Bosa is generational, then why is Myles Garrett available in the next draft? And Bradley Chubb the year after that? Then, Nick Bosa followed by Chase Young? And how does Ohio State keep getting all these incredible players?
Last week was Week No. 3, and I am going to make good on that one before doing another in a few days for Week No. 4. The electricity may not always stay on in North Texas, but we still try to offer you the promise that eventually the trains will get to their destinations.
https://theathletic.com/2402266/2021/02/23/dallas-cowboys-draft-digest-micah-parsons-tops-strong-list-of-non-rush-linebackers/
