Dallas Cowboys first-round options: Need, fit, best available

The Dallas Cowboys enter new terrain next week. Like all NFL teams and based on social distancing provisions, they’ll draft their least scouted class ever.

With the NFL Draft less than a week away, the Dallas Cowboys and every other NFL team can pretty much consider themselves on the clock. Heading into a draft of unseen proportion, this will prove who the real pros are when it comes to evaluating talent, a notion that one senior NFL official recently alluded to.

What makes this particular draft so intriguing is the fact that it’s subject to all of the changes we have experienced as a society due to the coronavirus pandemic. While the entire thing will be conducted in a virtual fashion, the lead-up and typical qualifying processes were vastly impacted by it as well.

There were quite a few shortcuts taken in relation to all previous NFL drafts of the modern era, including a lack of private workouts, group workouts, pro days, and interviews. While they did get the combine done, most teams and decision-makers will go into the process as blind as any fan and relying on a more traditional method to make their choices.

That is what makes this the perfect topic to touch on. Along with the film study, raw numbers, and scouting from before the draft process really ramped up, digital meetings are all that teams have to go on.

They will be doing on draft night what we will be doing here. With that in mind, here are a few projected first-round options for the Dallas Cowboys based on need, fit, & best available.

With the Dallas Cowboys owning the 17th pick of the first round, you will be looking at prospects ranging from 10-25 on most big boards, only being unable to account for the sudden dropper. You also want to consider that the Cowboys will probably be looking to fill a position of need on the side of the ball that needs it the most.

When you narrow down the choices based on what they lost in free agency and where they were most vulnerable last season, you come to a conclusion of either something along the defensive line or something in the defensive backfield.

While those are the most obvious ways to go, anything to help bolster the defense would probably be the key, so anything of value based on the best available player wouldn’t be an absolute surprise either. Here are a few of the names in mind.