Pick # 9: Dallas Cowboys

Where to begin with America’s team? This time last year the Cowboys were the hot team in the NFL - they were hosting the super bowl and many thought they would be the first team to ever play a home game in the super bowl. What happened? Well Tony Romo got hurt for one, but the team sucked well before Romo went down, that was the cherry on the sundae for Dallas haters. I personally never liked the Cowboys, and I just never understood where their sense of entitlement came from, but even I was incredibly frustrated watching them play - they seem to have all the talent in the world but for some mystifying reason could never put it together.

This team has to, and I mean, HAS TO, draft either an offensive lineman or a cornerback at the #9 slot. If they don’t it’s ridiculous. I think they take a long hard look at the best offensive line prospects in the draft (Tyrone Smith, Anthony Costanzo) but in the end, if they don’t do something to address their secondary they are going to be in big trouble in big D again next next year. I don’t mean to get too deep into statistical analysis here, but the stats completely back up Dallas’ glaring need for help in the secondary. The gave up 27 points a game last year, the second worst ‘in the entire NFL, and over 243 pass yards per game, there were only a few teams worse than that as well. Simply put, Mike Jenkins and Terence Newman, the current Dallas corners, were terrible all year. Mike Jenkins was recently drafted and still has promise, but there are grumblings that Terence Newman straight up doesn’t have it anymore. Not only does Dallas know it, more importantly other teams do as well - Newman was picked on more than any other cornerback on Dallas. Thus, finding his replacement becomes a top priority if they are going to go anywhere. With Patrick Peterson off the board, Dallas snatches up the kid who definitely would have been the top cornerback prospect last year, could wind up being even better than Peterson from a pure cover corner standpoint, and should be a stud for years to come.


(INSERT OFFENSIVE NAME) #9 OVERALL MOCK DRAFT PICK:
PRINCE AMUKAMARA - CB, NEBRASKA


This is a classic, perfect scenario for the Cowboys where the best player available at a position of need is sitting right there for them to scoop up. Prince Amukamara is actually a prince in his native Nigeria, so right there this seems like someone Jerry Jones would respect. Amukamara moved to Arizona when he was 11, became a track star and showed up at Nebraska as a running back but shifted to cornerback and immediately became a force on that side of the ball. He had 5 interceptions in 2009 and 0 in 2010 because no one ever threw the ball to his side of the field. Opposing teams completed only 18 passes against him all season - it was an impressive season all around and he won Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year.

The ‘boys hit a home run in the draft last year by selecting wide out Dez Bryant - who from a pure talent standpoint was a top 10 and possibly top 5 receiver in all of the NFL last year. His maturity issues have surfaced recently - a recent lawsuit against the wide out alleges that Bryant bought over $800,000 worth of diamond encrusted jewelry and never paid for it, which completely blows my mind if it’s true, but whatever, if he keeps his shit together, Romo comes back strong and that secondary issue is addressed here, the Boys could be in business. I think they deal with their offensive line issues in the second and third rounds of this draft and fill their biggest need here with the new prince of Dallas.

Entire Mock Draft:

1. Carolina Panthers - Marcell Dareus
2. Denver Broncos - Patrick Peterson
3. Buffalo Bills - Cam Newton
4. Cincinnati Bengals - A.J. Green
5. Arizona Cardinals - Blaine Gabbert
6. Cleveland Browns - Julio Jones
7. San Francisco 49ers - Von Miller
8. Tennessee Titans - Nick Fairley
9. Dallas Cowboys - Prince Amukamara