Dallas Cowboys: Pre-free agency 4 round mock draft
By Jesse Jones
The Dallas Cowboys are without their first round pick in the 2019 draft but could still add impact players in the first four rounds with these players.
It’s mock draft season! A lot of things can change between now and the draft for the Dallas Cowboys, depending on what happens in free agency.
In this scenario we’re going to look at the roster as-is with the Cowboys’ current needs before they potentially fill some of those holes this week with free agents. We’ll do a full seven round mock draft after the bidding wars settle.
Obviously, Dallas is without their first round pick after acquiring Amari Cooper, so we’ll mock rounds 2-4. Let’s get started!
Pick: Round 2, 58th overall
Player: Darnell Savage Jr.
Position: Safety
Height/Weight: 5-11, 198
School: Maryland
2018 stats: 52 tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss, 4 ints (1 returned for a TD)
The biggest hole on the team right now is safety. Jeff Heath led the team, and was second in the NFL, in missed tackles. Adding another safety to pair with Xavier Woods is going to be a priority and one of the most important tasks this offseason.
His last name is Savage, and that’s exactly what you see when you turn his film on. He’s small for the position but most certainly doesn’t play like it. The Maryland safety plays with elite speed that allows him to really get downhill to the line of scrimmage from the high safety position in a hurry and with a vengeance.
For his size he surprisingly matches up well in the nickel against slot receivers and tight ends. Savage has enough burst and acceleration that he can sit back and bait quarterbacks into throwing his way and uses his acceleration to jump on the ball.
Savage put that speed and explosion on display at the combine running a blazing 4.36 forty yard dash, to go along with his vertical jump of 39.5 inches, and broad jump of 126 inches. Darnell was in the top ten percentile in the three drills compared to all safeties who have tested.
At times, Savage can be overly aggressive keeping his eyes in the backfield too long or jumping routes early causing the defender to slip past him. Darnell can also be overly aggressive in the run game and biting on play action but with some good coaching I think it’s fixable and he has tremendous upside. He could provide the defense with a much needed play making ability.