Blogging The Boys
Our mock draft database is here.
In our inaugural mock draft database of the season, we take a peek at 25 different mock drafts published over the last two weeks to see whether we can get a better feeling for the early names mocked to the Cowboys.
As it currently stands, 22 of the 25 mocks are projecting the Cowboys to take either RB Ashton Jeanty (13 mocks) or WR Luther Burden (9). If you were locked in on an offensive or defensive lineman, you may have to start rethinking your position.
Then again, it’s still January, and a lot of things can still happen. When we did a similar exercise in 2020, 29 of the 32 mocks at the time were projecting the Cowboys to take a defensive player, but the Cowboys ultimately ended up drafting WR CeeDee Lamb.
The table below lists the 25 mocks by their publication date and shows which player is mocked to the Cowboys.
25 mocks are obviously a lot to take in, so here’s simplified summary:
With such a “limited” set of prospects, you might be wondering where some of the other prospects not mentioned above were ranked in these mocks, and whether they might be available at pick 12 for the Dallas Cowboys.
You could look up the player ranking on your favorite big board, you could make up your own ranking, and you could even use a consensus big board for such a player ranking. Or we could look at the average draft position for the key offensive prospects (WRs, Tackles, RB, TE) based on the 25 mocks above, and how often they were available at pick 12, which is exactly what you see in the table below.
Within the narrow confines of this list, that gives the Cowboys three main options, all of them based on the way the 25 mocks collectively predict the first round will play out, with the big caveat that it’s January and there’s still a long way to go to the draft.
Option 1: Sit tight for Burden or Jeanty
There’s only one mock that has both Burden and Jeanty gone at #12, which gives the Cowboys a 96% of getting one of the two players. And in the case both are gone, maybe one of the top tackles drops to #12 and could be an enticing alternative.
Option 2: Go defense.
In the unlikely event that both Burden and Jeanty are gone and there’s an early run on offensive linemen, there are bound to be defensive blue chip players pushed out of the top 10.
Option 3: Trade down for Jeanty.
Five mocks (20%) have Jeanty drafted before the Cowboys are on the clock and 13 mocks (52%) have the Cowboys picking Jeanty at 12. But seven mocks (28%) have Jeanty dropping past the...
