Dallas Cowboys top 5 roster needs ahead of 2024 NFL Draft
The idea of any team drafting the best player available when they are on the clock is a bit of an exaggeration. In a perfect world a given NFL team would select the absolute best player available and have that line up with their top need, but things are rarely perfect. More often than not NFL teams have a general plan of what they want to walk away with and do their best to marry the idea of the best player available with their most pressing needs. History shows this to be the case much more often than not.
Consider the last Dallas Cowboys offseason that felt like, well (gestures around), this one. In 2022 the Cowboys cut La’el Collins, saw Randy Gregory leave in free agency and traded away Amari Cooper. It just so happened that their first three picks were Tyler Smith, Sam Williams and Jalen Tolbert. Totally a coincidence, right?
With the idea of going purely off of best player available properly contextualized it is worth taking a look at what the biggest positional needs on the roster are with the draft right around the corner.
Tackle/Guard
We are starting off by cheating a bit, but in our defense we do not technically know yet how the Cowboys view this situation. If they view Tyler Smith as a tackle then guard is immediately the top priority. If they view things through a lens where Smith is a guard then tackle is an even larger need than guard in the previous example. We are talking several underlines and exclamation points.
If the Cowboys had to go play today their line would likely look something like this: Chuma Edoga, Tyler Smith, Brock Hoffman, Zack Martin and Terence Steele. In case you missed it, Edoga is returning on a one-year deal. If Smith was the tacklebthen maybe either Edoga or T.J. Bass would be the guard.
It feels as locked as possible that Dallas is going to address this situation early on in the draft and perhaps often as well.
Linebacker
It feels strange to include the only position group to receive external help in free agency so high on this list, but linebacker is that dire of a need.
Yes, the Cowboys have added Eric Kendricks. Cool. Right on.
Yes, the Cowboys have DeMarvion Overshown returning from injury. But that is a loose bet to make.
Overshown has not only never played in an NFL game before but he is returning from a torn ACL. That is an inordinate amount of pressure to place on someone. Additionally, he made his way to the linebacker position in Austin as a converted safety and we sort of just learned a big lesson about how you cannot properly count on players of that mold there. Consider that the mothership lists him at 220 lbs, 12 south of Kendricks and 20 shy of Damone Clark.
The Cowboys need tried and true players at the position. Badly.
Center
While Brock Hoffman is penciled in as the starter here the idea of relying on him for an entire season feels suspect at best. It is not the end of the world that Dallas let Tyler Biadasz walk in free agency, but not having a plan with a high floor in place for the aftermath is troubling. Perhaps they wind up with Jackson Powers-Johnson in the first round, but that would mean that they are not addressing tackle or guard.
Hoffman may shock us all and turn into something special, but like with Overshown, relying on that is optimistic and hope is not a strategy.
Wide Receiver
We noted up top how the Cowboys selected Jalen Tolbert in the third round of the 2022 NFL Draft and while he certainly improved upon his rookie season last year, do you really feel like he can be trusted with the WR3 role?
CeeDee Lamb is one of the best wide receivers in the NFL (and in need of a contract extension) so it is not like the position group is suffering; however, today’s NFL requires you to have several highly-talented wide receivers and while Brandin Cooks exists the Cowboys do not have any legitimate options after the two of them. Tolbert is the best one.
Releasing Michael Gallup was the right move for the Cowboys, but they need more help at the position, especially if they want to continue to thrive on offense. Spending an early pick on the position would feel a bit foolish, but it will need serious help nonetheless.
Running back
The Cowboys definitely need help here, but maybe not at the beginning of the draft. Throwing a second-round pick at the position feels a bit rich given how many other needs exist at the moment. The Cowboys need to draft a player here, but should wait until the early parts of Day 3 to do it.
Help is necessary as mentioned given that at the time of this writing only Rico Dowdle, Malik Davis and Deuce Vaughn exist as legitimate ball-carrying options. Perhaps a veteran will join the fold (maybe Ezekiel Elliott?) but even if one does that should not stop Dallas from taking a running back.