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“Barring something very opportunistic,” such as a player unexpectedly falling or an irrefutable trade offer received, the Dallas Cowboys will use their first-round pick in the 2021 NFL Draft to bolster its defense, team vice president Stephen Jones admitted Monday.
“We are, we think, going to get some great opportunities because of the depth — not only at quarterback, but offense in general,” Jones said, per the Cowboys’ official website. “We’ve made no bones about it: Barring something very opportunistic, we certainly want to improve our defensive football team.”
Dallas currently is slated to go on the clock at No. 10 overall, likely after a bevy of quarterbacks come off the board — perhaps as many as five in the top-10. This would be a fortuitous development, extending the availability of blue-chip defensive prospects like Alabama cornerback Patrick Surtain and Penn State linebacker Micah Parsons.
Both of whom were mentioned, indirectly, by Jones.
“You can never have enough defensive linemen, and we lost Chidobe in free agency — and obviously our ongoing, annual need for safety, which never seems to end either in terms of draft pick resource or dollar resource. It’s been at the low end of the totem pole,” he said. “And then with the game becoming such a game that’s played in space, you can’t have enough of those linebackers that can cover.”
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Sign up for the Heavy on Cowboys Newsletter!Pitts Obsession, Confirmed?
If there’s one non-defensive talent the Cowboys would take on April 29, it’s undoubtedly Florida tight end Kyle Pitts, a generational pass-catcher whom Jerry Jones is said to be “infatuated” with.
Asked about his father’s supposed fascination, Stephen Jones did not dispute the notion nor dispel increasing speculation that Dallas could select Pitts at No. 10 — or even trade up to secure his sought-after services.
“I think he’s certainly giving his view on what a unique football player Kyle Pitts is,” Jones said Monday, via Pro Football Talk. “He’s a unique matchup player and certainly if you look at the Chiefs and the 49ers and the way New England has utilized them over the years, these mismatched tight end players can certainly make a difference in offensive football. I think you’d be hard pressed to find anyone who knows football personnel in the NFL, coaches, that can’t see the vision for what problems a player like Kyle Pitts could present. I think he’s a unique player that doesn’t come around every year. Certainly Jerry was just acknowledging that.”
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New QB (Likely) Incoming
Speaking of the offense, Jones affirmed Monday that “certainly, we’ll keep our eye on” the quarterback position amid the mid-to-late rounds of the draft, which runs from April 29-May 1.
The Cowboys currently have four signal-callers under contract through next season: Dak Prescott, Garrett Gilbert, Ben DiNucci, and Cooper Rush. They will carry three, at most, on the 53-man roster when it’s finalized in September. The battle to become Prescott’s backup — to replace 2020 QB2 Andy Dalton — will be heated, and “competition” will be stressed, according to head coach Mike McCarthy.
“It’s definitely a position we’ll continue to look at,” McCarthy told reporters in a March 25 press conference at The Star.
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