The 2020 NFL Draft starts on Thursday, April 23. As a lead up to the draft, we’ll be giving a team-by-team breakdown for positional needs. For each team, we’ll give an overview of each team’s current depth chart and how big of a need each position in the upcoming draft.
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Dallas Cowboys 2020 Draft Picks Overview
Round 1 (17)
Round 2 (51)
Round 3 (82)
Round 4 (123)
Round 5 (164)
Round 5 (179)
Round 7 (231)
Dallas Cowboys Offense
by Rich Hribar
2019 Dallas Cowboys Offensive Ranks
Quarterback
Dak Prescott
Cooper Rush
Clayton Thorson
The Cowboys placed the franchise tag on quarterback Dak Prescott this offseason. Even though the two sides have yet to work out an official long term contract, Prescott remains in the Cowboys plans to lead the franchise for the immediate future.
Backup Cooper Rush has thrown just three NFL passes, but was re-signed to a one-year extension this offseason while Clayton Thorson is under contract through the 2021 season. Barring complete deterioration surround negotiations with Prescott, Dallas is unlikely to grab a passer beyond late-round depth.
Running back
Ezekiel Elliott
Tony Pollard
Jordan Chunn
The Cowboys broke the bank and gave Ezekiel Elliott a six-year contract late last summer. That contract doesn’t have a genuine out year until after the 2022 season. The team also went and added Tony Pollard in the 4th Round a year ago.
Pollard proved to be a strong backup and ancillary component, averaging 5.6 yards per touch on 101 opportunities as a rookie. Dallas could add fringe competition to the position via the draft, but it will be in the later rounds if they do.
Wide receiver
Amari Cooper
Michael Gallup
Cedrick Wilson
Devin Smith
Ventell Bryant
Noah Brown
Jon’Vea Johnson
Tevin Jones
Lance Lenoir
Dallas re-signed Amari Cooper to a five-year, $100M contract this offseason after he rejuvenated his early career with the team. Through 25 games with the Cowboys, Cooper is averaging 5.3 catches for 76.5 yards and 0.6 touchdowns per game. Third-year wideout Michael Gallup broke out with 66-1,107-6 on 113 targets over 14 games in his second season.
The top two spots are locked up in this passing game, but Dallas does have thin depth behind them while losing their slot receiver via free agency when Randall Cobb joined the Texans. Cobb was tied for third on the team in targets a year ago with 83 (14.4% of the team share). Depth and interior wide receiver are one of the few voids offensively for the Cowboys.
Tight End
Blake Jarwin
Dalton Schultz
Blake Bell
Cole Hikutini
Dallas chose to let 37-year-old Jason Witten walk this season, and re-signed Blake Jarwin to a four-year, $22M contract. Jarwin has averaged 11.7 yards per catch and 8.7 yards per target over the past two seasons while all other Dallas tight ends have posted 8.9 yards per catch and 6.6 yards per target.
The team also went out and signed Blake Bell for depth outside of Dalton Schultz, who was a 4th Round draft pick in 2018. This is another spot that will only be addressed with late-round capital if Dallas is taking a tight end.
Offensive Line
LT: Tyron Smith
LG: Connor Williams/Connor McGovern
C: Joe Looney/Adam Redmond/Marcus Henry
RG: Zack Martin/Wyatt Miler/Cody Wichmann
RT: La’El Collins/Brandon Knight/Mitch Hyatt
The Cowboys offensive line performed as one of the league’s collective best units in 2019, ranking second in adjusted sack rate allowed (4.3%) and second in adjusted line yards created for their backfield a year ago per Football Outsiders. The team lost starting center Travis Frederick due to retirement this offseason.
They have last season’s third round pick (90th overall) Connor McGovern in line to contribute, who played center at Penn State. Veteran Joe Looney started 16 games for Dallas in 2018 when Frederick missed the entire season due to illness. During that 2018 season, Looney was Pro Football Focus’ 35th graded center out of 39 qualifiers. Looney will also enter the 2020 season at age 30.
Former first-rounders Tyron Smith and Zack Martin will turn 30-years-old during the 2020 season. Smith has missed at least three games in each of the past four seasons, while Martin has missed just two games over his first six seasons in the league. Dallas could be looking at interior line play to compete this season while potentially adding depth behind their aging stars across the line.
Dallas Cowboys Defense
by Dan Pizzuta
2019 Dallas Cowboys Defensive Ranks
interior defensive line
Gerald McCoy
Dontari Poe
Tryston Hill
Antwuan Woods
Dallas spent significant offseason resources brining in veteran interior lineman in Gerald McCoy and Dontari Poe (though the Poe signing is not yet official). Tryston Hill showed some promise as a 2019 second-round pick, though he did not get on the field often as a rookie. With the McCoy/Poe signings, the Cowboys have one of the better interior duos in the league which would leave just a late depth need at the position.
EDGE
Demarcus Lawrence
Tyrone Crawford
Joe Jackson
Dorance Armstrong
While Dallas gained experience at the interior, the Cowboys lost it on the edge. Last year, the Cowboys ranked first in ESPN’s Pass Rush Win Rate and sixth in pressure rate, per SIS. Dallas lost Robert Quinn, who individually ranked first in PRWR, to a massive contract in Chicago and also allowed Michael Bennett to test the market. That left a huge hole opposite Lawrence and a position the Cowboys will likely fill in the early rounds of the draft.
Off-ball Linebacker
Leighton Vander Esch
Jaylon Smith
Sean Lee
Joe Thomas
Over the past few seasons, the Cowboys have loaded up on off-ball linebackers. Even this offseason when it looked like that position would take at least a depth hit when Sean Lee hit free agency, he still re-signed to a $4.5 million one-year deal.
Dallas had the fifth-highest rate of base defense played in the league last season, but even that accounted for just 33% of the defensive plays. With so much invested in the top-3 at the position and an extension for Vander Esch looming, it’s hard to imagine more resources put into the middle of the defense in this draft.
Cornerback
Anthony Brown
Chidobe Awuzie
Jourdan Lewis
Maurice Canady
Byron Jones is now in Miami and without him, the cornerback depth chart is a mess. Chidobe Awuzie was picked on opposite Jones last season (44th of 58 cornerbacks with 400-plus pass snaps in Adjusted Yards allowed per coverage snap), though Anthony Brown and Jourdan Lewis played well in limited snaps.
It’s probably a solid bet the Cowboys will come away with a corner and edge rusher in the first two rounds of the draft with the order of the positions to be determined.
Safety
Xavier Woods
Ha Ha Clinton-Dix
Darian Thompson
Dallas’s biggest addition at safety was arguably the subtraction of Jeff Heath playing a significant amount of snaps for the defense. The fact he’ll be replaced by an above-average player in Ha Ha Clinton-Dix is an even bigger plus. Xavier Woods has developed into a decent deep safety and the Cowboys ranked eighth in positive play rate allowed on passes that traveled at least 20 yards beyond the line of scrimmage last season, per SIS. Depth could be added but a starter is not an immediate need.
