Dallas Cowboys Draft Breakdown: The First Three Rounds
By Carl Daley
The Dallas Cowboys have selected some serious talent heading into the 2017 NFL regular season. Here is an in-depth look at their top three selections.
With the 2017 NFL Draft now concluded, I believe the Dallas Cowboys have absolutely hit on all three of their early round picks.
The Cowboys found a way to maximized the value of every selection they had in the first three rounds of the draft, finding the best player available at the time and at a key position of need.
This was somewhat a predictable course as the Cowboys have focused on defense all draft long. Let’s meet and breakdown some of the newest members of America’s Team…
First Round, #28
Taco Charlton, DE, Michigan
I know a lot of fans had other players in mind when the draft began but realistically Taco was destined to be a Cowboy since the pre-draft process began. You cannot compare him to linebacker T.J. Watt because Charlton actually has a ton of experience at defensive end while Watt has barely played linebacker.
Watt also is not his brother as he will quickly find out when the Houston Texans and Pittsburgh Steelers square off. Watt was skinnier and less powerful than Charlton, and his resume barely reads defensive end.
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Charlton was right at the end of the list of targets I predicted for Dallas and he went where he was supposed to go. Throughout the beginning of the first round the draft was somewhat odd. Offensive players were in the majority of those taken early on.
It inspired hope that highly ranked defensive players would fall to the Cowboys and to a degree that did happen. Pass rusher, Charles Harris being selected to the Miami Dolphins prior to the Cowboys hitting the clock was shocking considering that Harris was mocked to Dallas by nearly every football analyst.
Safety/ most versatile player in the draft, Jabrill Peppers was also another player who went right before Dallas was on the clock. The Cowboys took the best player available but only according to position.
They had a plan in this years draft and that was to go all in on the defense. They did that by giving defensive coordinator, Rod Marinelli a talented, first round pass rusher. As far as taking a defensive back in round one at 28, that would have been ridiculous.
It would have made more sense for Dallas to trade back than select Kevin King or Quincy Wilson. They are second round graded cornerbacks and the amount of pass rushers greatly diminished after the first round.
Dallas got the best player they could at arguably their biggest position of need. Charlton is one of the bigger pass rushers in this draft and has the length to be incredibly disruptive.
He has tremendous power but not really the twitch or burst we are used to seeing from edge rushers. He has been compared to everyone from Chandler Jones and Carlos Dunlap to Justin Tuck.
He is known for being healthy, available, and a pretty dangerous weapon when used properly. He may not make the most exciting plays but he can be molded into the most dominant pass rusher on the Cowboys defensive line.