Moore: Cowboys need a cornerback, but is No. 4 selection too soon?

boozeman

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Moore: Cowboys need a cornerback, but is No. 4 selection too soon?



By David Moore , Staff Writer Contact David Moore on Twitter: @DavidMooreDMN


In the coming days, weeks and months, it will be next to impossible to avoid being drawn into a conversation about how the Cowboys must use their first-round pick to grab Tony Romo's successor.


Not today. There will be plenty of time over the next 75 days to explore what the club should do at No. 4. Rather than contemplate the quarterback of the future, let's take a moment to focus on the needs of the present.

Cornerback ranks near, if not at, the top of the list. This has led to speculation in some quarters that Florida State's Jalen Ramsey sits atop the Cowboys' draft board.

Point of clarification: Ramsey is not the top-ranked player on the Dallas board. Neither is quarterback Carson Wentz, defensive end Joey Bosa, linebacker Jack Myles or any other prospect.

February is about talent plateaus, not a draft order. There's still information to gather, players to interview and upside to be debated. Saying Ramsey tops the Cowboys' board in mid-February is like declaring Bernie Sanders will be the Democratic candidate for president because he won New Hampshire.

Does Ramsey possess the talent to be part of the discussion at No. 4? It appears he does. But before you mount a campaign for the Cowboys to use that pick on a cornerback, here are a couple of points to keep in mind.

One is the club's recent history at the position.

Dallas has used a first-round pick on a cornerback twice in the last eight years, selecting Mike Jenkins and Morris Claiborne. The Cowboys placed such a value on Claiborne that they packaged their first-round pick (No. 14) along with a second to move up and take Claiborne with the sixth pick in the 2012 draft.

How have those selections worked out?

Jenkins did make one Pro Bowl with the Cowboys but is currently with his third team in Tampa Bay. Claiborne enters this offseason as a free agent after the club declined to exercise his option for a fifth season.

Orlando Scandrick is easily the best cornerback the club has drafted in the last eight years. He was taken in the fifth round of the same draft as Jenkins back in '08.

The Cowboys went out in the free-agent market in '12 and signed Brandon Carr to a five-year, $50.1 million contract. He was a fifth-round pick in the draft four years earlier, taken three spots ahead of Scandrick at No. 140.

And that leads to the second point.

Look at the cornerbacks in the last two Super Bowls.

Aqib Talib and Chris Harris Jr. started for Denver. Josh Norman and Robert McClain started for Carolina.

Talib is the only first-round pick in the bunch. Norman is next in line. He was a fifth-round pick in the same draft as Claiborne. Norman was taken at the same spot in his draft (No. 143) as Scandrick was four years earlier.

"I don't know, man,'' Norman said. "I think you find gems later in the draft.''

The gems don't stop there. Darrell Revis and Brandon Browner started at cornerback for New England in Super Bowl XLIX. Richard Sherman and Byron Maxwell started for Seattle.

Revis is the only first-round pick in that bunch. No other corner was taken higher than the fifth round.

Malcolm Butler preserved the Patriots' victory with a goal-line interception in the final 18 seconds of that game. He was undrafted coming out of West Alabama but moved into the starting lineup at cornerback for New England this last season and was rewarded with a Pro Bowl invitation.

Few shutdown corners exist. Some of the best players at the position today were taken in the fifth round or later. There's something to be said for playing with a chip on your shoulder pads at that spot.

Does any player have more of an edge for the Cowboys than Scandrick?

Talent is crucial at any position. But even the best cornerbacks are going to get beat for all to see. It takes a certain mentality to thrive at that position. It takes a willingness to sharpen technique and vary it from Cover One to Cover Four.

"The work we put in, it's not by chance the stuff we do is so unbelievable,'' Norman said. "God has given us a great talent level. It's just the work to match that talent level.

"I would never have been able to match that talent level without hard work. I've got to try to at least meet it, somehow, some way. If I can just come within an inch of it, then I know I'm doing something special.''

The Cowboys should get a special player with the fourth pick of the April draft. But it's too soon to say that player must be a quarterback.

Or a cornerback.
 

Cowboysrock55

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I'm cool with plastering corner with numbers on the third day. Or going out and finding a cheaper free agent one. Even the really good corners in the NFL tend to bounce around. Look at Revis and Talib.
 

Cowboysrock55

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Address needs in free agency. Bpa in draft.
That sounds great and I agree with you but it's not really that black and white. For example we have a need at RB and WR. But maybe not a massive need. They are just positions where we could probably use an extra guy.

Or NT where we absolutely have to get someone. But I really don't want to resign Hayden and then have an excuse to pass on every DT in the deepest DT draft I can remember. Of course then there are cuts too. I'd have no problem cutting Berry Church and Carr. With Church are we that much worse off with Jones/Wilcox as opposed to Church/Jones? Carr just isn't very good and I'd rather sign Sean Smith, Hayward, Robinson, Hall, or Brandon Boykin (Is he just a prick or something? Love his talent but no one seems to want to keep him long).
 

Cotton

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Yes.... the answer is yes, #4 is too early. At least in this draft it is.
 

Simpleton

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Sign a mid-tier FA like Casey Hayward, draft a CB or two between like the 3rd and 5th and we'll be fine.
 

Plan9Misfit

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If we waste another first round pick, especially a top 5 pick, on a fucking DB, I'm going to kick a cat.
 

dallen

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#4 is WAY too early. I'd say any thing before the 3rd round is probably too early unless someone falls to us in the 2nd.
 

mcnuttz

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Remember that time we signed a CB in FA to a $50million contract, then traded a couple picks to select the next Deion at #6?

Stacking wins, bitches.
 
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