3 pre-draft Cowboys rumors that were clearly a smokescreen

1. Everything related to the TE position

Credit to the entire Cowboys' draft team for executing the best smokescreen of the first round. All everyone heard in the weeks leading up to the draft was that Michael Mayer wasn't getting past Dallas at No. 26 overall.

In the event Dalton Kincaid was still available, though, he would have been the pick considering he was the team's top-ranked tight end. That was the narrative being pushed by draft experts and the general media.

That wasn't true, either, though it baited the Bills into trading one spot ahead of the Cowboys to draft Kincaid. Fans in Buffalo and some national pundits are crediting the Bills with duping Dallas, but it was actually the other way around as Dallas likely wouldn't have taken Kincaid in round one anyway.

Per ESPN's Todd Archer, Iowa's Sam LaPorta was the team's TE1 followed by Kincaid and Mayer. Additionally, the Cowboys didn't have a first-round grade on any of them. We like to think they would've traded up in the second round if one of LaPorta or Mayer had fallen within their range, but they were gone by pick 35.

Remember how many experts projected Luke Musgrave to Dallas at No. 26 overall in their final mock drafts? NFL Network's Daniel Jeremiah and Todd McShay were guilty of this, while Dane Brugler and Mel Kiper Jr. had Kincaid in place of Musgrave.

Like we said, this was the premier smokescreen of the entire NFL Draft.