There are two things Dallas Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones seemingly cannot resist when it comes to tinkering with his roster: Former high draft picks and standouts from other professional leagues.
The former could be considered an affinity for NFL Draft "busts," but Jones's philosophy falls much more in alignment with players of the "reclamation project" variety. And there have been plenty of those, especially in recent years, with mixed results.
Jones has looked like a genius for picking up Javonte Williams after he was wrongly discarded by the Denver Broncos, but everyone is still trying to figure out why he traded for players like Trey Lance and Jonathan Mingo.
The heart behind it all is a desire to find those diamonds in the rough because Jerry has found them plenty in the past. And if you leave any stone unturned, you might miss out.
That's why the Cowboys have been so successful recently with players coming from other professional/Spring football leagues like Brandon Aubrey, KaVontae Turpin, and Perrion Winfrey.
One of Dallas's newest players is a combination of both. Wide receiver Denzel Mims was once a second-round pick by the New York Jets -- an NFL Draft bust who has now found his way back to the NFL after apparently impressing the Cowboys with what he put on tape in some limited UFL action.
Dallas Cowboys taking a chance on UFLer and former Jets second-round pick Denzel Mims
The Cowboys added a trio of players from the UFL on Thursday during the final day of their mandatory minicamp, but the most notable of the three is obviously Denzel Mims, a second-round pick in the 2020 NFL Draft.
Mims was a star at Baylor and was considered one of the top receiver prospects in the 2020 NFL Draft, a class that included the likes of Justin Jefferson, Tee Higgins, and Dallas's own CeeDee Lamb. It was an absolutely loaded group of receivers coming out that offseason, but Mims stood out for his combination of outstanding size (6-foot-3, 207 pounds) and vertical speed (4.38 in the 40-yard dash).
A native of Daingerfield, Texas, Mims' signing with the Cowboys just feels right. He was playing for the Dallas Renegades in the UFL, so he's not going to have to go far for his new gig, and with Dallas's wide receiver depth right now, it wouldn't be shocking if he hit the ground running and made a little noise at training camp.
This type of move is the quintessential Jerry Jones move. Of course, he's not the only one interested in former high draft picks or reclamation projects, nor is he the only one interested in UFL players. But when you find success with one or two guys, you tend to want to go back to that well to see what else might be down there.
And frankly, these are the stones worth turning over. When Jones is trading away valuable NFL Draft capital for players like Trey Lance or Jonathan Mingo, it's at least a little frustrating and maybe moving more toward hubris than savvy.
But when you look at players like Brandon Aubrey, who was crushing it in the USFL before coming to Dallas, you just can't help but want to find the "next" version of that player.
The Cowboys not only got strong contributions out of players like Aubrey and Turpin in the short term, but those players have signed second contracts in Dallas. They've proven to be All-Pro players at the NFL level.
Mims definitely feels like more of a long shot because, unlike Aubrey or Turpin, he's not coming in with an elite skill on special teams. He's competing for a backup role on one of the most explosive offenses in the league.
But if you can take the top off of a defense, you can dress on gamedays in the NFL.
Mims may have taken the long way 'round to get back to the NFL after coming in with big-time NFL Draft status, but his spot in Dallas could be perfect. Not only because it's his home team, but because Jerry Jones has an affinity for seeing these types of projects through.
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