Dallas Cowboys: The new Wisconsin beard in the middle

This Wisconsin Badger clone has an opportunity to replace the beard with the Dallas Cowboys.

With the 146th pick in the fourth round, the Dallas Cowboys select, Tyler Biadasz, Center, Wisconsin. I have to admit that my jaw dropped. This was one of those drafts where the guy on the board that I favored was actually selected.

When NFL prospects are in college, they often rush to judgment and only look at the issue staring right at them rather than look to the future. That is why I find it so important that these young adults find a mentor while they make decisions for their future.

Too often you see college kids rush to their professional leagues so they can attempt to strike gold. Call it youthfulness or bad advice from those around them, we all to often see these guys fail in the league and are left wondering “what if”.

In the case of new Dallas Cowboys center Tyler Biadasz, he decided to return to school for another season and that might have cost him. If this guy had entered the 2019 NFL draft, he more than likely would have gone in the second round of that draft with an outside chance of making a Travis Frederick like appearance as a surprising first-round pick.

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Instead, he chose to go back to Madison, Wisconsin and his stock took a hit. Not because of his play, Biadasz won the Rimington Trophy in college as the nation’s best center and was in the running for the Outland Trophy award which goes to the nation’s best interior lineman, but because he played with a serious injury.

Biadasz did not work out at the NFL combine and decided to have his AC joint in his shoulder scoped. This is the injury he dealt with all season and yet was still good enough to be named a unanimous first-team All American. Just think about how painful a shoulder injury would be on a center.

With everything said and done, I think that Dallas is the best place for him. Having an opening on arguably the best offensive line in the league should make up for the fact that he dropped to the fourth round of this year’s draft. I also have no doubt that former Dallas Cowboy center Travis Frederick will reach out and give him some advice if he hasn’t already done so.

Just how good can Tyler Biadasz be and does he have a legitimate chance to start week one?

I have watched quite a bit of film on Biadasz and I came away impressed. He undoubtedly has a  high football IQ evident by making all of the line calls while at Wisconsin. He is an absolute hammer in the run game and excels when getting to the second level. Biadasz struggled more in 2019 than in 2018 with his pass protection but I attribute this to his previously mentioned shoulder injury.

If he can regain his 2018 pass protection form, I am on the record as saying Tyler Biadasz will be the week one starter at center for the Dallas Cowboys. Center Joe Looney is a starting-caliber NFL center but I do believe that he is so much better coming off the bench in an injury situation than he is as a starter.

Looney’s salary certainly equals that of a valued reserve and I would think his versatility as a guard will play a role in Biadasz’s eventual takeover of the position. Having Looney is a fantastic bench option as he has time and time again proved that the offensive line does not miss a beat when he enters the game.

Even with that said, Biadasz is the future at center for this team, and getting him with a fourth-round selection is unbelievably fortunate. He will have some growing pains, but I think Biadasz has the ability to soften the blow from the sudden retirement of Travis Frederick.