Cowboys trade shakes up strategy in new mock draft
By Connor Green
Round 2, pick 44, Jabril Cox, LB- LSU
The Dallas Cowboys defense was awful last season. The unit gave up the fifth-most points per game in the NFL with 29.6. Needless to say, the team is in dire need of help on the defensive side of the ball.
The Cowboys stick with the theme of addressing this need with their next selection in the draft and pick linebacker Jabril Cox.
The 22-year old exploded onto the college football scene last year when, after transferring to LSU from North Dakota State, he posted an impressive 6.5 tackles for a loss, 58 total tackles, and three interceptions, the latter of which was good for the fifth-most in the SEC.
The six-foot-four, 231-pound defender is excellent in both man and zone coverage. However, his draft stock has recently dipped a tad due to a hamstring injury that prevented him from participating in LSU’s Pro Day. Though it should be noted that he does plan on participating in the teams’ next Pro Day which will take place sometime before the NFL Draft.
The Cowboy’s current group of linebackers is led by former first-round pick Leighton Vander Esch and Jaylon Smith. Vander Esch, who made the Pro Bowl back in his rookie year back in 2018, has missed a total of 13 games over the past two seasons due to a myriad of injuries. Meanwhile, Smith, who Dallas signed to a lucrative five-year, $64 million extension back in 2019 has, at times, struggled to live up to that contract.
The Dallas Cowboys will have to decide whether or not it wants to pick up Vander Esch’s fifth-year option next year, which is reportedly going to be worth $9.145 million according to ESPN.com. This pick adds another talented player to the teams’ linebacker group and gives them an easy out of Esch’s fifth-year option if he cannot stay healthy or be productive in 2021.