Draft Grade: Dallas Cowboys
Notable Picks
16th Overall: OG Zach Martin (Notre Dame)
Jerry Jones was high on Johnny Manziel, and he was available here. Even though Romo is aging and his back injury from last year is a concern, he seems to still have a couple of good seasons left in the tank. Martin played tackle for his entire college career, but in the NFL, he is too short-armed to be a left tackle and not powerful enough to be a right tackle.
The Cowboys also already have a solid pair of starting tackles in Tyron Smith and Doug Free, so all signs point to Martin playing guard for Dallas. He looks like he could make a great one, too.
34th Overall: DE Demarcus Lawrence (Boise State)
The Cowboys replaced one Demarcus with another. After many years of terrorizing quarterbacks for the ‘Boys, next season Demarcus Ware will play for the Broncos. Second round pick Demarcus Lawrence has big shoes to fill at pass rusher with Ware gone. The Cowboys gave up their third round pick to move up and take Lawrence, and his mix of strength and initial quickness will help him be worth that investment.
119th Overall: MLB Anthony Hitchens (Iowa)
With Lee tearing his ACL during OTAs and missing most of if not the entire 2014 season, this pick becomes especially important. Hitchens will be thrown into the starting role in the center of the Cowboys’ defense.
He will not be near as good as Lee, but in college he played with both the athleticism to cover receivers and the toughness to stop runs up the middle, so he could be at least serviceable as a 4 – 3 middle linebacker in the NFL.
146th Overall: WR Devin Street (Pittsburgh)
Terrence Williams isn’t that great. Street, with a lanky 6’ 3” 200 lb. frame, a 4.52 second forty yard dash, and natural hands that rarely drop the ball, could be a more effective compliment to Dez Bryant. He looks to be the WR3 on the Cowboys’ depth chart for now, but he will see a significant amount of opportunities in 2014 to take advantage of the attention Dez receives and move up to WR2.
Final Grade: A
The Cowboys showed remarkable foresight by spending a valuable pick on a replacement for the oft-injured Sean Lee. The rest of these four of these picks should also see significantly playing time in 2014, and each of them has the potential to be high quality starters in the near future. Both lines should be instantly improved; expect Lawrence to take over Mincey’s starting role early in 2014. The Cowboys aced this draft.
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