3 draft prospects that could replace Tyron Smith in 2024 – Mark Heaney, Inside The Star
People are looking at a possible post-Tyron Smith world for Dallas.
Amarius Mims, Georgia
If Dallas is looking for a Smith clone to replace him, they should do everything they can to get former Georgia Bulldog, Amarius Mims.
Earlier today, Mims measured in at the combine 6’7″, 340 lbs, with an 86.75″ wing span and 11.25″ hands.
If you aren’t too familiar with combine measurements, just know those numbers are insane.
Mims is a mountain of a man, and just like Smith, his 340 lbs frame looks more like 250 lbs because it is simply all muscle.
The size of Amarius Mims compared to the average human is ridiculous. pic.twitter.com/PZWAcSGUPl
— Ryan Fowler (@_RyanFowler_) March 2, 2024
It is more than just size and muscle when it comes to Mims as well; he has a ton of raw talent and athleticism. He is expected to be one of the most talked about stories from the combine after he tests today, so keep an eye out for that.
On the real football field, Mims is raw and not all that experienced.
He is one of the youngest players in the draft and does not have a ton of snaps under his belt in college.
Is NFL draft’s QB pecking order set to serve up a surprise? – Nate Davis, USAToday
Just how many QBs will be taken in the top half of the first round – and could that push a blue-chip player all the way to the Cowboys at #24?
Former NFL general manager Mike Tannenbaum weighs in on the QB conundrum:
“This really reminds me of 2004, when you’ve got three really good quarterbacks – that was Eli (Manning), (Philip) Rivers and (Ben) Roethlisberger,” Tannenbaum told USA TODAY Sports.
Tannenbaum also touted the virtues of [LSU’s Jayden] Daniels and North Carolina’s Drake Maye and even believes Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy will “wind up going in the top six or seven. Somebody will move up for him.”
NFL mock draft: Six QBs taken in first round after latest shake-up – Nate Davis, USA Today
Davis follows up his musings with a mock draft with six QBs picked in the Top 16. What does that leave for the Cowboys?
OL Troy Fautanu, Washington
With LT Tyron Smith not expected back, Fautanu and LG Tyler Smith, a first-round choice two years ago with left tackle experience in college, could hold down the left side for years to come regardless of which positions they settle into.
2024 NFL Mock Draft: QBs taken with top 4 picks for first time ever, creating ripple effect throughout Round 1 – Kyle Stackpole, CBSSports
Four QBs in the Top 4 leaves the Cowboys with:
OT Amarius Mins, Georgia
All-Pro left tackle Tyron Smith is reportedly going to hit free agency, so the Cowboys find his replacement in Amarius Mims.
Cowboys combine meetings are bad news for recent draft disappointment – Jerry Trotta, The Landry Hat
The Mazi Smith era might not be over, but it is not looking great for the 2023 first-round pick.
Cowboys combine meetings hint Mazi Smith is already on the hot seat
The Cowboys reportedly had formal meetings with several top interior defensive linemen, including Texas phenom T’Vondre Sweat, Texas A&M’s McKinnley Jackson, LSU’s Maason Smith, Michigan’s Kris Jenkins and Clemson’s Ruke Orhorhoro.
They also had informal meetings with multiple DTs, including Miami’s Leonard Taylor III, Duke’s Dewayne Carter, Iowa’s Logan Lee and Georgia’s Zion Logue. Here’s the full list, via Nick Harris of DallasCowboys dot com.
Here’s the full list of guys I caught up with today that said they interviewed with the Dallas Cowboys this week.
DTs & LBs today, DBs & TE’s tomorrow, QBs & RBs & WRs on Friday, OL on Saturday pic.twitter.com/v4auE9ui4B
— Nick Harris (@NickHarrisDC) February 28, 2024
That’s a lot of defensive tackles folks.
Can Texas’ T’Vondre Sweat be the meatloaf in the middle for the Cowboys? – Reid Hanson, Cowboys Wire
Speaking of defensive tackles.
The NFL combine couldn’t get enough of draft prospect T’Vontre Sweat, and at 6-foot-4, 366 pounds, there’s plenty of Sweat to go around. The 2023 Outland Trophy winnerr, awarded to the best IDL in the nation, was captivating audiences during testing and quickly becoming one of the more polarizing figures in the process.
After speculation earlier in the week circulated Sweat could weigh in north of 380-pounds for the event, 366 came off looking downright svelte on the 22-year-old behemoth. Even still, he checked in at the second-heaviest weight in the last 25 years, making him a magnet for the camera and the topic of many conversations around the NFL and within Cowboys Nation.
Coming off a season in which the middle of the defense was thoroughly exposed, the Cowboys are in the market for upgrades to their defensive interior. Finding a stout run stopper who can both 2-gap and protect LBs headlines the offseason to do list in Dallas. And Sweat fits that bill to a T.
Will McClay was asked about the difference between filling needs for Dan Quinn and filling needs for Mike Zimmer and he swerved directly to the topic of inside girth:
“We’re probably going to look more so at those bigger bodies inside,” McClay said. “…we want to find the ingredients for their recipe.”
Travis Kelce relives botched NFL combine interview with Cowboys: ‘It ended really fast’ – SportsDay Staff, DMN
In other, “what could have been” news.
Travis Kelce admitted his NFL scouting combine interview with the Dallas Cowboys stood out for all the wrong reasons.
“It ended really fast,” Kelce said during an episode of the New Heights podcast.
According to the three-time Super Bowl winner, his pre-draft experience with the Cowboys soured when members of the team began asking about a “red flag” from his collegiate career. In 2010, Kelce was suspended from the University of Cincinnati’s football team after testing positive for marijuana.
With the help of his older brother, Kelce returned to the program in 2011 and secured a roster spot as a tight end. When his college days were over and the 2013 NFL draft was nearing, Kelce didn’t seem to appreciate being pressed over his past mistakes by the Cowboys.
“I basically just said, ‘If you guys think I’m gonna be that kind of guy or you’re questioning if I’m still that person after everything that I’ve battled through to get to where I am now from missing a season, then you guys can probably go somewhere else and pick somebody else,’” Kelce said. “That’s exactly what they did.”
The Cowboys did take a different approach at the tight end position during that draft process. With its second-round pick (No. 47 overall), Dallas selected Gavin Escobar out of San Diego State. Kelce ended up dropping to the third round, where the Cowboys opted to take receiver Terrance Williams from Baylor.
NFL insider nuggets about Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb deals, plus free agent LB option – RJ Ochoa, BTB
There are a lot of balls in the air this offseason.
Will Dallas extend Prescott?
Graziano: I am not as convinced as a lot of people seem to be that a Dak Prescott extension in Dallas is a sure thing. His current 2024 cap number is $59.455 million, which is massive, and obviously an extension is the best way to reduce it. But Prescott has a large amount of leverage here, too, with one year left on his deal and a clause in his contract that prohibits the team from franchising him. Plus, he has never made things easy on the Cowboys when they’ve gone to him to talk new deals in the past.
If they can’t make headway in negotiations, the Cowboys could save about $18.5 million in cap space simply by converting Prescott’s 2024 salary into a signing bonus and doing so without adding any more void years to the three that are already on the deal (2025-27). The problem with that? It would result in the Cowboys carrying a cap charge of roughly $55 million for Prescott in 2025, when in this hypothetical scenario he could be playing for a different team.
A Prescott extension has felt like the most logical thing to happen this offseason, as noted by Graziano’s opening sentence. This is the case given how well he played last season, the monstrous cap hit that Dallas would risk carrying in 2025 for a player no longer on their team, Dak’s position as a leader within the locker room, so on and so forth.
But it appears that this fork in the road is potentially looking more appealing to the decision-makers at The Star.
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