The Bill Parcells era may have been a disappointment in terms of playoff wins but he was successful in rebuilding a team that suffered through three 5-11 seasons before he came to Dallas into a team with Super Bowl aspirations. The Cowboys entered the free-agency period with still a few holes on their roster, but they have deftly filled the most pressing needs before stepping into the draft room with the signings of Leonard Davis to bolster the line, Ken Hamlin to help the secondary, and Brad Johnson as an insurance policy at quarterback.

These signings will give the Cowboys the freedom to draft the best available player regardless of position and the room to maneuver if a trade catches their eye. While drafting the best player available are words heard from most teams, many of them do not have the luxury to employ that philosophy on game day. Glaring needs must be filled one way or the other and that can easily lead to reaching for position rather than talent.

The Cowboys may not have glaring needs, but they could still improve themselves through the draft. Here is a look at the different position groups and how the draft might improve them:

QB: The emergence of Tony Romo and the signing of Brad Johnson makes quarterback appear to be, strangely enough, one of the stronger positions but the Cowboys will be keeping their eyes open for a second day quarterback to fill the third slot.

RB: Julius Jones and Marion Barber III combined for a solid one-two punch last year racking up over 1,700 yards rushing and Tyson Thompson was a threat on kick returns before his season was ended with an injury. Unless a player too good to be true falls in their laps or something unforeseen happens the Cowboys won’t be looking too hard at running backs.

WR/TE: Owens and Glenn make one of the best wide receiver tandems in the NFL and Witten is a pro-bowl tight end. The Cowboys also have talented young receivers in Crayton and Hurd, but with both Owens and Glenn in their thirties a wide receiver would be a good pick-up.

OFFENSIVE LINE: The signing of Davis and re-signings of Gurode and Columbo give the Cowboys some breathing room in one of their weak spots in 2006, but depth is a concern. The Cowboys could easily pick up a couple more big guys to provide that depth.

DEFENSIVE LINE: Defensive end seems set with Canty and Spears as well as good depth behind them, but the Cowboys only have two defensive tackles listed on their roster. While only one tackle plays in the 3-4, two of them play in nickel and dime situations and the Cowboys like to rotate their line throughout the game. The Cowboys will be looking to bolster the defensive tackle position somewhere in the draft.

LB: With Carpenter coming on strong towards the end of last year and Ellis recovering from the injury that ended his season, line backer is one of the strong spots on the Cowboys roster, but they certainly wouldn’t pass over a talented player should he be at the top of their chart.

DEFENSIVE BACK: Even with the signing of Hamlin, free safety will be a popular choice early on during the draft. But the Cowboys are intrigued by the raw talent of Watkins and likely won’t assign it as much priority as the fans think it deserves. They will certainly keep their eyes open considering how poorly the secondary played at the end of last year, but they won’t reach. A cornerback is a strong possibility. Newman is perhaps the most underrated cornerback in the league, and Henry is solid, but Glenn is getting up there in the age department and one injury might put Nate Jones or Jacques Reeves into the game in nickel situations.

The Cowboys could end up drafting a player from any position on the team, after all, if there is a time to be totally blind to position it is when you already have a solid lineup. Even so, it is a rare team that goes completely by talent, so expect them to not look so hard at quarterback on the first day and, barring some unforeseen circumstance, do the same with running back. And both positions could see a player picked in the second day as a developmental pick. All of the other positions could be improved if just by adding depth behind the starters, and a couple of positions like free safety are ripe for a rookie to compete for the starting job.

The only downside is that it is the type of draft that might not be as fun for the fan with the Cowboys not needing to bring in a highly touted player. And that is the type of downside that I, for one, am willing to take.