Maybe.  The Cowboys obviously valued Smith above that of the other first round tackles, Anthony Costanzo, Gabe Carimi, James Carpenter, Derrek Sherrod, and Nate Solder.  Smith will not simply be compared to his fellow tackles, but also to the potential player the Cowboys could have received if they had traded down to the 16th spot in the draft (with a 2nd round pick as compensation).  Afterall, the only offensive lineman taken between spots 9 and 16 was Mike Pouncey, a center/guard.  It is possible Smith would have still been available.  However, the Patriots were sitting at 17 and did pick a tackle.  If they had a preference for Smith, it would not have been outside the realm of reason to believe they would have traded up into the 15th spot.  Consequently, the Cowboys may have been wise to take Smith at 9 rather than gamble against Belichick and the Patriots.

The NFL can often be like grade school.  If you are going to cheat off someone’s test, you look at the smart kid’s paper – not your buddy who played X-box with you in lieu of studying.  In this regard, the Patriots and Colts have had the most prolonged success in recent memory and both selected a tackle to protect their franchise quarterbacks.  While we cannot be certain whether either team had Smith ahead of their respective picks, we can presume that there wasn’t that substantial of a drop off in talent level.

We all know that football players are not all created equal.  Unfortunately we will not know whether Smith’s actual value was substantially higher than Solder or Costanzo until 2014.

With the NFL Draft quickly approaching, the Dallas Cowboys and all other teams are doing homework on any potential draft picks. Over the past two days, Valley Ranch has played host to a handful of players making visits.

Prototypical five-technique JJ Watt, top-ranked offensive tackles Tyron Smith and Nate Solder and defensive backs Aaron Williams, Quinton Carter, and Brandon Burton have all made the visit. Some other names who were in town are Kelvin Sheppard, Kenrick Ellis, small school receiver Edmund Gates and the athletic freak wideout Jonathan Baldwin.

The team’s most recent visit came from Florida offensive lineman Mike Pouncey, who said today that he’d be surprised if he does not become a member of the team.

Headed back to pittsburgh…. would be shocked if i wasnt in a dallas uniform nxt year! The draft is april 28th so we will see…. To all the steelers fans i would love to be playing for the steelers and if i had a choice i would but it isnt my choice….

2 hours ago via Twitter for Android Favorite | Retweet | Reply

Mike Pouncey
MikePouncey

For the Cowboys to draft Pouncey at 9th overall would be a slight reach, but if the organization gave the center/guard combo that he would be their selection it is possible that the team is strongly considering a trade back into the mid-first round.

One thing is clear, the closer we get to the draft, the more it seems like Dallas will be selecting an offensive lineman when they are on the clock.