A kind soul, alluring eyes, and a great sense of humor. This is what you will find in this draft profile description for Ms. Danny Phantom. This is my type. Of course, if you scroll down further, you’ll also find her irritable without her morning coffee, unable to find a comfortable living room temperature, and a bit of a miser when it comes to sharing anything with chocolate in it. But hey, no one is perfect. The traits of this soulmate prospect led me to take a flyer on her and eventually led to a happy marriage stretching back to when the Dallas Cowboys won Super Bowls in the 1990s. The point is, everyone has a type.
The Cowboys also have a very specific type when it comes to the cornerbacks they aspire to be. We like to refer to this as Pterodactyl is sneaky. Or, technically speaking, a tall player with remarkable instincts who lulls you to sleep before quickly closing in and finishing off his prey.
Over the past few years, we’ve seen cowboys chasing angles that fit that description. While they are not all quite the same, they all possess these key traits that a team looks for in their corners. And this draft is no different. The choice of Southern Mississippi native Eric Scott Jr. made us wonder if this was a sneaky good casting or another long-term infatuation that would end in disappointment. Given that the Cowboys picked corners that fell into each of those categories, it’s fair to think. So, what is this time?
You could say the length movement started in 2019. It might have been Chris Richard style running through Dan Quinn as the Cowboys try to recapture the effectiveness of long corner kicks from Seattle Seahawks Boom Corps era.
The Cowboys selected Michael Jackson, 6’1″ from Miami in the fifth round of 2019 NFL Draft. He was a large, strong cornerback with great arm length, but his lack of speed made it difficult to match paces with receivers. He was released on final roster cuts and has since been signed to and released from several other bands. After playing sparingly, he finally found a home in, guess who, the Seattle Seahawks where he started all 17 games last season.
The following season, the team took another handout for the third day on Tulsa cornerback Reggie Robinson’s second. With measurements almost identical to Jackson’s, the Cowboys gave it the shot again, only this time choosing to turn him to safety to take advantage of his instincts and mask his lack of surprise. It didn’t work. Robinson never recorded a defensive snap for the Cowboys as he was used sparingly as a special team player in 2020. He was signed and released then signed and released again, before finally being signed to, guess who, Seattle. In fact, this time it was the Seattle Sea Dragons as Robinson had not played an NFL game since leaving Dallas.
During the 2021 NFL Draft, the Cowboys would hit the pterodactyl button not once, but twice as they chose OregonNahshon Wright in the third round and Israel Mokwamo of South Carolina in the sixth round. Again, both are long anglers that love to hide and ABC (Always Close) will be there for you. After two seasons, things didn’t quite go according to plan. Despite being a third round investment, Wright has only three starts and has been suspended several times throughout his short career. He was starting to feel like his days were numbered. As for Mukwamo, he’s trending higher. He actually scored more reps for defense than Wright last year. Like Robinson, he was also converted to the safe but got into the field and found some success covering the Cowboys’ hole.
The Cowboys drafted Fresno State cornerback Ron Bland in the fifth round of last year’s draft. While Bland isn’t quite as skinny as these other guys, he still brings long arms and impressive jumps to compete for passes. More than that, Bland also has some strong flexibility to change directions for the better. His strength culminated in producing a stellar rookie season and it looks like the Cowboys have finally hit on one of those guys. So, if you’re keeping score at home, that makes you Five lengthened CBs drafted over a four-year period.
But wait, they’re not over. This brings us to Eric Scott Jr.
with 80 1⁄4 Wingspan, Scott Jr. brings the length and then some and with 39 1⁄2 Vertically, he can jump right off a building. He’s very instinctive and loves to hop off roads. The problem with Scott, like many pterodactyls before him, is his speed. There has been some controversy about his actual time of 40 due to a quad injury. NFL Draft Scouts It has a price of 4.54 with a low of 4.47 and a high of 4.62. While this is more comfortable than his initial time of 4.71, it’s still not very fast.
Another factor is agility. With no 20-yard shuttle time to report, how fast is that possibility? drilling work YouTube video which was apparently sent to the Cowboys shows some nice moves from it. He doesn’t seem to run quite as bluntly as we’ve seen from Robinson or Wright, so perhaps a change of direction would be best. Long pace is still a concern because once he’s past a defender, there’s not much he can do about it.
The Cowboys love these long, closing corners where they can cover more ground and create pockets of deception in the secondary. What they don’t like are corners where speed restrictions force them to give up too much cushion to keep them from going too deep or who need extra safety assistance over the top. Only time will tell what they have in this latest development venture, but hopefully some of the failed dice in the past and Bland’s recent success have allowed the Cowboys to get a better feel for which traits work best for their defense. Fingers crossed.
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Looks like another lost access pick
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Themes exist, this feature may work
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