As many of yall know, I love “what if” scenarios.  They make you think about not only what could have been, but also make you think about what is.  More often than not, the reflection makes you appreciate the “what is” even more.  It is widely speculated the the Ravens were going to pull the trigger on Dez Bryant at the 25th overall pick in the 2010 NFL Draft.  The Cowboys traded up with the New England Patriots (swapping the Cowboys 3rd round pick for the New England 4th round pick).  The Cowboys drafted Bryant (who was rated as the 11th best player in the draft according to their draft board).

How do we know Bryant was rated 11th?  Because the Cowboys in-house television department mistakenly put a video clip of Jerry Jones in front of the board up on the team site for an infinitesimal amount of time.  Just enough time that people downloaded, cropped, and zoomed insight into the Cowboys draft day efforts.  Fortunately, the information was leaked on the third day which helped lessen the blow.  It should be noted, that most teams are very surreptitious about their draft efforts, but are willing to float misinformation prior to and during the draft.  If another team were to stumble across the draft board, certainly they would believe it wasn’t accurate and simply and effort of the Cowboys to mislead.

Now back to the conjecture.  If the Ravens either traded up in the first round (24th pick or earlier) and drafted Bryant, then the Cowboys would have considered the next player on their board.  Byran Bulaga (rated 13th) had just been drafted by the Green Bay Packers at 23.  Introducing the Dallas Cowboys first round draft pick of 2010 drafted 27th overall, Sean Lee!!!  (While doing research for this “article” I noticed that BTB’s did beat me to the punch, though I like to think I am taking this in a more detailed direction.)  Jared Odrick (DT) and Kyle Wilson (CB) were the next available players on the Cowboys’s board.  While it is possible that the Cowboys would decide to take Odrick or Wilson, I don’t believe they would look past Lee.

Considering this scenario, the Cowboys would still have their 2nd and 3rd round picks in tact.  With the Cowboys drafting of Lee, it is relatively safe to presume the remainder of the draft would not change substantially since Lee continued to drop until the Cowboys drafted him at the 55th overall pick.

The Cowboys next scheduled pick is in the 2nd round (59th overall).  The highest rated player left on their board with a first round grade is… Navarro Bowman.  Another Penn State linebacker.  How could the Cowboys take another linebacker in this draft where they have glaring needs at tackle and free safety.  Certainly you say to yourself, “They filled the LB need and they won’t consider another ILB until the 3rd day.”  The next best player on their board is Morgan Burnett, safety from Georgia Tech.  Burnett both fills a need and is only rated 10 players below Bowman.  Brandon Ghee is the next best available player, 18 players below Bowman.  I would be sincerely surprised if the Cowboys did draft back to back linebackers; the Cowboys certainly would have been eager to trade back in the draft and pick up additional picks.  Jerry Jones has been very disciplined lately about drafting the best available player, but there were several trades around and at the 59th pick.  If the Cowboys traded down, they would have received from Cleveland, a 3rd and two 5th round picks.  For the sake of this argument, I’m going to presume they don’t trade down.  One quick argument against the Cowboys trading down.  There was no guarantee that Bowman, Burnett or Ghee would be available when they would draft in the 3rd round.  As it turned out, all three were available, but the risk may not have been palatable.  Introducing the Dallas Cowboys 2nd round draft pick of 2010, drafted 59th overall… Navarro Bowman, linebacker from Penn State (or Morgan Burnett).

It should be noted that there is an illegible name on the draft board (9th best player in the 2nd round), so that alone could have certainly altered this exercise.  Notably missing from the Cowboys draft board are Tebow, Tim; Cook, Chris; Benn, Arrelious; Dunlap, Carlos; Cody, Terrence; Spikes, Brandon; Angerer, Pat; Brown, Charles; Walton, JD; Griffen, Everson; Campbell, Bruce; and Thomas, Cam.

With their 3rd round pick (90th overall), the best players on the board were Brandon Ghee, Corey Wooten (4 player spots below Ghee), Joe McNight (3 spots below Wooten), and Taylor Price (5 spots below McNight).  I like Wooten better than Ghee, but following the board…  Introducing the Dallas Cowboys 3rd round draft pick of 2010, drafted 90th overall… Brandon Ghee, corner-back from Wake Forest.

At this point, normalcy returns to the remainder of the draft.  Owusu-Ansah in the 4th, Sam Young and Jamar Wall in the 6th, and Sean Lissemore in the 7th.  Certainly when considering the 2010 Cowboys draft class, it will all be considered a success only based on production on the field and in comparison to who else could have been taken.

The real question is, “Are Bryant and Lee heading the top of the draft class better than Lee, Bowman (or Burnett), and Ghee.”  Considering the alternative, I certainly do appreciate the 2010 draft class more.

In the draft there are the picks in the top 10 where you just can’t miss unless you’re pulling names out of a hat, intentionally trying to blow the pick or you’re Al Davis. Those picks net great players, like Ndamukong Suh, Eric Berry and Russell Okung, guys that you can really build a franchise around for years.

That’s the way the draft is supposed to go. The bad teams get great players and the good teams get good players. It’s fair. Unless you’re a Raiders fan and your happiness is directly linked to Davis’ draft dementia.

The Cowboys would have been a better team with those players, no doubt (could you imagine having Berry on our defense? Yeesh). But getting there would have cost us, for sure. We would have had to say goodbye to most of the rest of our draft and maybe some of our draft next year too.

But Jerry Jones managed to get his man without giving up the world. Jones got Dez Bryant, projected as a top-15 talent in this draft.

There were tons of trades in the first round this year. The Broncos seemed like they didn’t want anything to do with the first round, then wound up with two picks. The Lions got back into the first round and there was general tomfoolery with the 24th overall pick, the pick that eventually ended up in Jones’ hands.

To get to 24, the Cowboys had to send out their 27th pick-leapfrogging the Baltimore Ravens who were probably eying Bryant-while swapping our third-round pick (90th overall) for the Patriots’ fourth-round pick (119th overall).

So, Cowboys fans, wrap your head around this: we moved down 29 spots in the middle of the draft so we could pick up the best wide receiver in the draft.

It doesn’t get much better than that.

I thought the Eagles were on the verge of doing something that would have had me cursing when they moved up to the 13th pick in a trade with the Denver Broncos. I thought we were looking at facing Earl Thomas twice a year. Instead, the Eagles took Brandon Graham with that pick. They shipped out their 24th overall pick and two third-round picks to Denver, who then traded the 24th pick to New England who then traded it to us. Where we took the best wide receiver in the draft in Dez Bryant. No big deal.

I thought the Lions moving back into the first round to get Javhid Best was a solid move during the draft. Their skill positions are downright scary right now. And their defense got better tonight. They’re early favorites for the 2016 Super Bowl if they keep making good picks like these (Know what that’s going to be in roman numerals? Super Bowl L. That just looks stupid.). The Chargers made a smart move to get Ryan Mathews, who is a very solid back, but probably gave up too much in the process (Chargers got pick 12, 110 and 173. Dolphins got pick 28, 40, 126 and linebacker Tim Dobbins. That’s a lot to move up that high.)

But Dallas just got scary. We just got “I need new pants” scary. And we’re that scary right now.

The Cowboys do need a few more players. A safety or two for depth (I’m still big on Mike Hamlin) or to start like Nate Allen or Morgan Burnett are options that collegiate teammates Mike Jenkins and Tashard Choice would be thrilled to have in Dallas. Some offensive line depth would be nice too. Maybe Bruce Campbell falls within our striking distance in the second round? Interior line is a need too, as the guys we have on our roster are pretty untested.

Who knows how we’ll do tomorrow and Saturday. But it’s nice to know that given where we started, what we gave up and what we got, we probably made the best move in the draft.

Slap the #88 jersey on him and see what happens.

Ladies and gentlemen, it looks like my pen name is safe for at least one more year.

According to Jean-Jaques Taylor of the Dallas Morning News, Cowboys running back Marion Barber will likely play next season in Dallas.

“I think Barber will be back for another year,” Taylor said. “He’s been banged up each of the last two years, and the Cowboys probably aren’t ready to give up on him yet. Besides, he’s due $4 million whether he’s in Dallas or not. Jerry (Jones) hates paying people for nothing.”

While searching for a new name to write under would be irritating (any suggestions, anyone?), the Barbarian deserves at least one more season in Dallas. He had another injury-plagued season, carrying the ball 214 times for 932 yards, averaging 4.4 yards per carry. He also had 7 rushing touchdowns.

While his numbers look pretty good, Felix Jones (116 carries, 685 yards, 5.9 ypc) and Tashard Choice (64 carries, 349 yards, 5.5 ypc) have proven to be dangerous rushers and should be close in Barber’s rear-view mirror.

Taylor brings up a good point in saying that the Cowboys owe Barber $4 million, whether he’s in Dallas or not. But the question is whether or not Barber’s trade value will increase or decline after this next season.

Even though his numbers look decent, Barber had problems in short-yardage situations, especially in the red zone. If he continues to have these problems or gets hurt for the third straight season, other teams are unlikely to pony up much in terms of a trade.

The Cowboys really ought to look at trading Barber, but perhaps not for a draft pick like everyone is saying. A move for want-away receivers Anquan Boldin or *gulp* Brandon Marshall (and the corresponding release of Roy Williams) in this uncapped year might be a move that would make the Cowboys a much more dangerous team.

Jerry Jones could use another receiver and the draft isn’t the place to do that this year. ESPN’s Mel Kiper has projected our 27th overall pick in the first round as Maryland’s Bruce Campbell. That’s the smart move, with Flozell Adams starting to show his age. I could see the Cowboys taking a wide receiver/returner like Mardy Gilyard or Dexter McCluster in later rounds.

Trading Barber for a proven wide receiver would make the most sense to me in terms of production. While Boldin and especially Marshall could have a negative effect on team chemistry, having their production in our offense would be a welcome addition.

I’ll just have to let Jerry know that I wouldn’t mind finding a new name to write under.