Bleacher Report deems Cowboys’ Tyler Smith choice a top draft mistake

Last weekend, 262 players were drafted into the NFL. During the spectacle in Las Vegas, 21 trades were made in the first three rounds, some players shockingly fell way below where they were predicted to go, and many surprise picks were made. The Dallas Cowboys added nine rookies to their roster. The reviews were definitely mixed about the Cowboys’ selections. One person questioning at least one of Dallas’s choices is Bleacher Report’s, Ian Wharton.

Out of all the decisions made throughout the 2022 NFL Draft, Wharton believes he found the six biggest mistakes of the draft. Sadly, the Cowboys’ first-round addition of Tyler Smith was one of them. Wisely, Wharton opens his article by admitting that there’s no true way to know if these players will be mistake choices at this point in time. However, he does believe other choices could have been made instead of these six.

In addition to not liking the Cowboys’ first-rounder, the other five mistakes were New Orleans giving up too much to trade up early in Round 1, the Patriots’ odd choice of Cole Strange in Round 1, the Panthers selecting Matt Corral instead of trading for Baker Mayfield, the Commanders picking offensive players too early, and the Steelers taking Kenny Pickett in the first round.

It’s never ideal to have your team on the list of “worst” anything. But, this especially stings when the Cowboys put a lot of pressure on having a stellar draft after signing barely any external free agents at the beginning of the offseason. A lot of people seemed to agree with the Bleacher Report article as well.

Bleacher Report argues Cowboys’ selection of Tyler Smith was one of the top 6 mistakes in the 2022 NFL Draft

So why doesn’t Wharton like the pick? Let’s see what he said:

"The Dallas Cowboys were on the clock with the draft’s premier center prospect, Tyler Linderbaum, two well-regarded edge prospects in Jermaine Johnson II and George Karlaftis, and top linebacker Devin Lloyd still available. Instead of grabbing an ideal fit at a more valuable position or higher-rated prospect, the Cowboys opted for Tulsa’s Tyler Smith. Smith is an excellent athlete who starred at left tackle in college but is projected to play guard for Dallas."

In other words, there were more sure-fire difference makers on the board still. Smith is a project for Dallas. He will have a lot to work on. Plus, Wharton argues that if the Cowboys just wanted a large, foreboding presence on the offensive line, they could’ve picked up one of several free-agent options like Ereck Flowers, Trai Turner, or Quinton Spain. He believes that getting one of those NFL veterans and using the first-round pick for an overall higher-rated superstar would have been the better decision.

Is the Cowboys’ coaching staff good enough to fully develop a raw and penalty-prone player into an NFL-caliber lineman in just four months? I guess we will find out.