And now, with the 22nd pick in the draft…

Many of us marked April 28th on our calendar after that difficult playoff loss to Seattle. Free Agency is fine, but the draft is where the hopes for the new season really begin in earnest. Every year there are studs and busts and that diamond in the rough that comes out of the late rounds to astound fans.

The Cowboys are in the perfect position heading into the draft. They have needs at several positions, but no urgent needs. They might be able to find an upgrade at free safety or a defensive tackle to put in the rotation but in many areas such as quarterback, wide receiver, offensive line, running back they will likely be picking up someone to bolster their depth and, perhaps, emerge as a star in years to come.

This is a good position because it gives them not just the flexibility to draft the best player on the board but also to move up or down in the draft to get the most out of their pick. And I wouldn’t be surprised with a move either up or down. If a talented player were to drop down into the low teens it might be a be too good to pass on the chance of moving up and snatching them. On the other hand, there could be enough good players on the board that a move back a few spots to pick up an extra draft pick might be a good deal.

No matter how you slice it the draft is hard to predict for the Cowboys. They have the flexibility to do a lot of things with their picks, and it should be interesting to watch unfold a couple of weeks from now.

To give an idea of what players we might be seeing on the board when the Cowboys are on the clock I headed over to www.nfl.com and www.sportsline.com and grabbed two mock drafts from each site. With the Cowboys having the 22nd pick I decided to take those players picked from the 20th spot to the 24th spot and make this list:

Jon Beason, LB, MIA

Dwayne Bowe, WR, LSU

Levi Brown, T, Penn State

Adam Carriker, DE, Nebraska

Ted Ginn Jr., WR, Ohio State

Justin Harrell, DT, Tennessee

Dwayne Jarrett, WR, USC

Charles Johnson, DE, Georgia

Jarvis Moss, DE, Florida

Reggie Nelson, S, Florida

Greg Olsen, TE, Miami

Paul Posluszny, OLB, Penn State

Aaron Ross, CB, Texas

Anthony Spencer, DE, Purdue

Lawrence Timmons, LB, Florida State

The one thing that stands out from this list is that out of minimum of five players and a maximum of twenty possible players the list contains a whopping fifteen different players. There were only five players that were picked on two different mock drafts within that range of picks and none that were picked on more than two of those mock drafts.

That is just how unscientific mock drafts really are. For those of you who have done your own mock drafts you probably know just like I do that the first missed pick throws a major wrench into the mock draft and by the third missed pick the entire thing is likely skewed.

Another thing I noticed when looking at the list was that only one of those players are at a position we would probably avoid for a round one pick: Greg Olsen, the tight end from Miami. With Witten and Fasano on the roster, it is unlikely Dallas would pull the trigger on another round one tight end.

For those curious, the players being picked by Dallas in the various mock drafts were: Jarvis Moss (DE), Dwayne Jarrett (WR), Reggie Nelson (S), and Adam Carriker (DE).

Out of the players in the list, those that I think are the best fit as far as their position are Dwayne Bowe (WR), Ted Ginn Jr. (WR), Dwayne Jarrett (WR), Levi Brown (T), Justin Harrell (DT), Reggie Nelson (S), Aaron Ross (CB). I would definitely prefer we stick with talent over position, but oftentimes the talent difference is so small that position has to come into play, and in those cases I don’t see us going for a defensive end, tight end, or linebacker considering the number of day one picks we’ve used at those positions in the last few years. Defensive tackle is probably our biggest need in terms of needing to get a couple of bodies in there, but wide receiver (as insurance against having two 30+ year old receivers), tackle, safety and cornerback would all be positions I can see using a round one pick on.

Putting the list aside, here are some players I have my eyes on:

Ted Ginn Jr., WR, Ohio State

I am pretty high on Sam Hurd and I think Patrick Crayton could easily fill the number two spot at receiver, but I can also see us spending a day one pick on a receiver. Out of those that might be available for that first pick Ted Ginn Jr stands out because of his ability to return kicks. This means he would likely have an immediate impact even if he couldn’t crack the top three wide-receiver spots and, because we do have Owens and Glenn, we can take the time to develop Ginn Jr.

Aaron Ross, CB, Texas

Ross will probably be the top cornerback on the board, though it is possible that Darrelle Revis of Pittsburgh could fall enough to still be on the board. Ross, like Ginn Jr., would likely be sitting behind cornerbacks Newman, Henry and Glenn, but having a year to develop can be very good and having a talented athlete on the depth chart is a great insurance policy against injury.

Brandon Meriweather, S, Miami / Michael Griffin, S, Texas

Both of these safeties have the talent and speed to be great ball hawks allowing Roy Williams to roam closer to the line. If I had to choose between them I would have to go with Griffin simply because of some character issues with Meriweather, but then again, if I had to choose between them I’d be thinking about moving down a couple of spots where I could pick up one of them and also get another pick out of the deal.

Justin Blalock, OG, Texas

Blalock would be a bit of a reach at number twenty-two, but the Cowboys could drop back a few spots and pick him up. I like him because of his ability to play both tackle and guard which is a real boon. I’m still not completely happy with our depth at offensive line and am looking for us to pick up at least one more big guy to guard against injuries.

Alan Brach, DT, Michigan

It is very doubtful that Brach will fall all the way to number twenty-two and he could very well go in the top ten as some teams might have him rated higher than Amobi Okoye out of Louisville. Brach is huge at 6′6 and 330 lbs and is relatively quick for a guy his size. He’d be a great fit for clogging up the middle which is so important for a defensive tackle in the 3-4 defense. If, for some reason, he falls to the late teens he might be too good not to trade up and snag.