Inside The Star
When I look at the Dallas Cowboys heading into the first round, I keep coming back to the same thought: if they go defensive end or linebacker early, they shouldn’t hesitate to go defense again.
This defense needs a true stabilizer on the back end, and that’s why I have landed on Dillon Thieneman as the 20th pick in the first-round for the Cowboys.
Safety isn’t always the pick that excites people on draft night, but it’s the pick you appreciate a lot more once the season starts.
I’m firmly in the camp that Dallas needs someone who can settle things down in the secondary.
Thieneman, coming out of a top tier Oregon Ducks program, checks several boxes I value when looking at safeties.
When I turn on the tape, the first thing I notice is how comfortable he looks. He’s rarely rushed, doesn’t guess often, and almost never plays out of control.
I see a player who understands what offenses are trying to do, and he reads the quarterback’s eyes, recognizes route combinations early, and constantly puts himself in the right spot before the play fully develops.
That is not accidental, it is football intelligence.
What sells me on Thieneman is how he anticipates. His interceptions don’t come from reckless gambles, they come from timing and awareness.
I like safeties who win the mental side of the game and Thieneman does this on a regular basis.
In coverage, I would trust him against tight ends and big slot receivers. He stays patient, plays through the hands, and attacks the ball instead of just trying to survive the play.
This young man is a physical safety without being reckless. I don’t see him flying in from the backend out of control or putting teammates in bad spots.
He takes clean angles, wraps up, and finishes.
For a Cowboys’ defense that struggled with missed tackles, that alone makes him appealing to me.
Thieneman isn’t locked into one role. I can see him playing single-high, rotating late into two-high looks, dropping into coverage, or sitting in a zone and baiting throws.
That flexibility gives the defense answers on the backend, and gives opposing quarterbacks hesitation on throws.
He’s the kind of safety I trust to make everyone else’s jobe easier.
At worst, I see Thieneman as a versatile, dependable defensive back who can play multiple roles and contribute early.
That alone has value late in the first round.
This is the upside scenario.
Smith is a borderline Hall of Fame player, so I’m not throwing that around lightly. But stylistically, I see a smart, multi-functional safety who wins with instincts, communication, and postioning.
If...
