Dallas Cowboys draft: What position should they target first?

With the NFL Draft just a few short months away, we look at what position the Dallas Cowboys should target with their first pick in the draft.

The Dallas Cowboys come into this offseason with lots up in the air. The team has a few key free agents such as All-Pro defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence, and slot wideout Cole Beasley, but other than that Dallas has most of their key players locked up for next season.

The Cowboys also will come into the offseason with around $58 million in cap space, which sounds like they could be big spenders, but with contracts such as wide receiver Amari Cooper, quarterback Dak Prescott, running back Ezekiel Elliott, and corner Byron Jones ending in the next two years, don’t look for the Cowboys to be big players in free agency.

If they do not go about spending big in free agency, Dallas will need to nail the draft and address most of their needs this way. After trading away their first-round-pick for Cooper last November, the Cowboys will not make a selection until the 58th pick in this year’s draft.

That being said, there are tons of ways the Cowboys could go with their first pick, and no position but quarterback seems to be off limits. Dallas really is in a position to just go best player available with their first pick, which opens all doors and is a very exciting possibility.

If you want to look at the most likely positions that will be targeted with pick 58, I would say the top three would be wide receiver, safety, and offensive line. All these positions could change to not being as big of a need after free agency, but I do not expect Dallas to spend big money on these positions that would make them not a need in the draft.

At the wide receiver position, technically there is still a chance Cole Beasley could return, but it seems very likely that he will be wearing a new uniform next season. The same goes with Tavon Austin, and if the Cowboys lose both that would give them a gaping hole at the slot receiver position. If Dallas targets a wideout with the 58th pick, some possible names to look out for are Andy Isabela, Debo Samuel, Riley Ridley, and Hollywood Brown.

Safety was a position last offseason everyone thought the Cowboys would upgrade and ultimately, they did not. The Earl Thomas to Dallas rumors will surely come around when free agency hits, but at this point, it seems unlikely the Cowboys will spend that kind of money on an aging safety when they have so many of their own to take care off. If Dallas goes safety at pick 58 some names to look out for are Juan Thornhill, Taylor Rapp, and Nassir Adderley.

It is safe to say the Dallas Cowboys offensive line is not what they once used to be. Although they played much better down the stretch, with Tyron Smith and Travis Frederick’s uncertain health, and struggles at the left guard position all last season, Dallas could easily go with an offensive lineman at pick 58. If Dallas tries to upgrade their offensive line with that pick, some names to look out for are Dalton Rinser, David Edwards, Micheal Deiter, and Elgton Jenkins.

The Dallas Cowboys have so many ways they could go with their first pick in the draft, when they come to the podium for the first time in April it will be very interesting to see who is announced.