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By Bob Sturm
Apr 29, 2023
The Cowboys are quick to remind us that a good portion of their draft happened before Thursday — and they are not wrong.
For whatever reason they would list — we would be wise to assume the urgency and aggression of the 2021 Rams and 2022 Eagles would have to be factors — the Cowboys have finally pressed down on the gas pedal more in recent months in an effort to push more chips in for the “now” aspect of their roster cycle. They have departed a bit from the longstanding Jason Garrett/Will McClay program of growing everything through the draft. We don’t fully know if Mike McCarthy inspired this, but the timing of acquiring more veterans along the way to supplement the draftees and the roster issues is apparent.
Last season was filled with veteran additions who had to play big roles: Jason Peters, Anthony Barr, T.Y. Hilton, Johnathan Hankins and even several efforts to help the corner position late in the year that really didn’t move the needle. Many of those were a phone call away on various couches around the country, but the Cowboys have noticed the valuation of Day 3 draft picks and have grabbed players who are already proven and tested to slot right in. It makes sense, but some franchises would value four years of a college prospect over one or two years of a 30-year old veteran. They may feel that way because they are building something that takes time, whereas those Rams and Eagles seemed fixated on chasing a conference that is down and vulnerable.
So the Cowboys did something we seldom see around here; they worked three trades.
https://theathletic.com/4468622/2023/04/29/cowboys-nfl-draft-schoonmaker-overshown/
• Oct. 25, 2022: Traded Las Vegas their sixth-round pick (No. 204) in 2023 for DT Hankins and a seventh-round pick in 2024.
• March 15, 2023: Traded Indianapolis their fifth-round pick (No. 176) in 2023 for CB Stephon Gilmore.
• March 19, 2023: Traded Houston their fifth-round pick (No. 161) in 2023 and a sixth in 2024 for WR Brandin Cooks.
It would be interesting how many years back we would have to go to find the Cowboys making three trades in this short a span of time. We suspect it would be a long while. The point is clear: This is a departure from what we have seen in the posture of the franchise. Twelver months ago, we wondered why they were so casual about tossing away Amari Cooper and starting a season with a guy named Dennis Houston at WR and whether the intent was to tank a year to fire a coach. But now, we wonder if watching the Eagles poach veterans from foreign ports and stacking up wins on the way to the Super Bowl has informed the Cowboys that patience is not a virtue in this league anymore. If you are in a conference without a heavyweight, you might want to understand that it is time to seize the day. Dallas appears to have ramped up that mission.
This all means that as we prepare to analyze the 2023 NFL Draft and understand why the Cowboys did what they did on Day 2 (and why they will have limited firepower on Day 3 with just four picks: 129, 169, 212 and 244) that we should understand there appears to be a sudden sea change in their thinking. Perhaps they are seeing the small windows of opportunity more clearly or are realizing that if they give top-of-the-market extensions to CeeDee Lamb, Trevon Diggs, Dak Prescott and Micah Parsons in the next 18 months, that they may not soon have a roster again with the depth and talent of the present one. The cap situation will get very tight with those deals and it might be time to not think as much about the big picture.
I have attempted to use that logic when looking at their Day 2 picks. In the cases of Michigan TE Luke Schoonmaker and Texas LB DeMarvion Overshown, both were players that did not initially seem like the best candidates for those selections. That said, they both are prospects you would be thrilled to acquire — just at the proper price-point.
First this sidebar: For those of you that follow the Sturm 65 project annually, you know that my biggest goal is to make sure I have the first three picks covered for the Cowboys BEFORE they are selected. You also may know that most years that is accomplished. Well, 2023 has proven to be a disappointment as I did not spend a morning with Schoonmaker or Overshown (although I did feel like I knew Overshown fairly well from watching Texas so much) to give them the full three-game, 200-snap treatment. If you want to know, I am not happy. I pledge to try harder in 2024 and also to schedule a day with both as early as this week. Unacceptable!
I want to break down these two picks and the process behind them, but please know that I want to save my full player evaluation for when we have time to accomplish it since the milk has already been spilled. Here we go:
Luke Schoonmaker (Mark J. Rebilas / USA Today)
Pick 58, Luke Schoonmaker, TE, Michigan (6-5, 251, 4.63 40)
We all were pretty sure that the Cowboys had issues with their tight end depth chart after allowing Dalton Schultz to find greener pastures. Yes, Jake Ferguson is a nice player and Peyton Hendershot is quite a find as an UDFA, but you are pretty thin in both quantity and quality. They wanted to fix this issue, but with only one pick before No. 58, the Cowboys either had to go all-in on Notre Dame’s Michael Mayer or Iowa’s Sam LaPorta and they would have had to do it at No. 26. That, of course, causes a chain reaction. If you do that, the ability to address your run defense with Mazi Smith is long gone and odds are we are running it back with last year’s defensive tackle grouping and they didn’t want to do that.
That means they would agonize and wait on tight end until near the end of Round 2, since their “move up” ammunition had been spent on the three trades detailed above. At the point of their pick, Dalton Kincaid (Buffalo), LaPorta (Detroit), Mayer (Las Vegas) and Luke Musgrave (Green Bay) were unavailable. That left two tight ends higher than Schoonmaker on the board for Dallas with Georgia’s Darnell Washington and South Dakota State’s Tucker. Washington was said to have been off the Cowboys’ board due to medicals. So it seems to come down to Schoonmaker vs. Kraft (who ended up as a third-round selection in Green Bay). In looking at both players, it would seem that the differences are that “Schoon” is considered a better all-around TE and Kraft has a higher ceiling as a vertical receiver. Also, Dallas certainly seems to prefer the Power 5 schools over a FBS side from South Dakota. Time will tell, but if nothing else, the goal of trying to keep Ferguson as a TE2 and Hendershot as a depth guy, and finding someone who can be a TE1 if things go well looks possible. Schoonmaker is well-regarded and moves with a smoothness I really appreciate.
https://theathletic.com/4464007/2023/04/28/cowboys-mazi-smith-nfl-draft/
The Athletic’s Dane Brugler’s summary from The Beast:
A two-year starter at Michigan, Schoonmaker was a Y tight end in head coach Jim Harbaugh’s power-spread offense, lining up primarily inline/wing and occasionally in the slot. Originally a left-handed quarterback in high school, he became a starter as a junior in Ann Arbor, and his role expanded as a senior when Erick All missed the 2022 season because of injury. As a pass catcher, Schoonmaker is efficient in his routes and catches the ball well enough, but he is limited after the catch (only four of his 52 receptions the past two seasons went for 25-plus yards). As a blocker, he showed improvements each season and does enough to keep defenders busy, although his pass-pro reps were limited. Overall, Schoonmaker is only average in most areas, but he has the size, speed, and strength to be a solid possession receiver and positional blocker. His well-rounded game will help him become a steady No. 2 (and a potential No. 1) tight end for an NFL team.
And as a bonus, the great Bob McGinn always visits with scouts and had this to say:
“Solid in everything. Good enough athlete. Got decent movement. Got a little quickness to his routes. Good hands when he’s free. Not a playmaker by any stretch with run after the catch. One of those guys, ‘This is my route, I’m open, I’m going to catch it, good to go.’ He gave block effort. Better on the edges than as an in-line guy, but he’ll try. He’ll stick his face in there. He’ll be a solid starter.”
In summary, do I love it? My hope was to get one of those who upgraded from Schultz. In many ways, this just seems like a Schultz-comp, but without the nearly $11 million price tag. Let’s call it a base hit, but we will need to see it this year to prove he is an upgrade from Ferguson. At the very least, the Cowboys have another solid player to add to the quantity. His quality will be determined.
Incidentally, it would be disingenuous to claim they only could choose a tight end. Other names on our list when they picked that they passed on included a potential plug-and-play starting guard in O’Cyrus Torrence (No. 59 to Buffalo), several wide receivers including Oklahoma’s Marvin Mims (No. 63 to Denver), Tennessee’s Jalin Hyatt (No. 73 to Houston), and many RBs and CBs that Dallas was said to admire.
Pick 90 sure seemed like a good spot to take care of RB, but to be fair, there was a run on that position in 80s, which may have chased them off somewhat. Tulane’s Tyjae Spears (81 to Tennessee) was followed soon after by Texas A&M’s Devon Achane (84 to Miami) and Auburn’s Tank Bigsby (No 88 to Jacksonville). It is conceivable that they were chased off that spot and figured Round 4 might open up that chance Saturday.
Instead, the pick at No. 90 near the end of Round 3 felt like a classic “BPA” selection — something I always support.
https://theathletic.com/4467756/2023/04/28/cowboys-draft-texas-demarvion-overshown/
Pick 90, DeMarvion Overshown, LB, Texas (6-2, 229, 4.56 40)
If there is one thing Dallas does these days, it is to throw resources at linebacker. In the past several drafts we have seen them spend on LSU’s Jabril Cox, LSU’s Damone Clark, Oklahoma State’s Devin Harper, and now Overshown. To this point, none of them have been able to grab a real foothold on the field as the defense relied significantly on Leighton Vander Esch and Anthony Barr for nearly 1,600 snaps between them. None of the kids reached 400 snaps in 2022 and none have made you think the Cowboys shouldn’t grab a player like Overshown.
He is a very toolsy linebacker who clearly makes an impact as a former safety who brings speed to your second level. He will be a top special teams anchor until he forces himself onto the field as a regular in your defense and even then might do both. I have always liked his disposition and we always want 11 athletes on the field and Overshown is a candidate to play all three downs.
Demarvion Overshown (Scott Wachter / USA Today)
From Brugler:
“A three-year starter, Overshown played the SAM linebacker position. After moving from defensive back to linebacker under Chris Ash in 2020, he learned a new scheme under Pete Kwiatkowski in 2021 and expanded his role as more of an edge presence in 2022. He has the frame of a lean, oversized safety and creates plays with his sideline-to-sideline range and attacking mentality. A see-ball, get-ball type of player, he diagnoses well and keeps his eyes locked on the ball carrier, but not the climbing blocker ahead of him and will struggle to sift through traffic. Overall, he must continue developing his strength and awareness within the flow of the play, but he has above-average speed to be an energetic run-and-hit pursuit player with upside in coverage. He projects as core NFL special teamer and subpackage rush/drop linebacker.
From McGinn’s scouting network:
“You want to take a chance on a guy, this guy is fast and he is tough and he plays his ass off. For a linebacker, that’s all you need. He was a pleasant surprise. He figures it out. You talk about flying to the ball, range, cover. Kind of (Clemson’s Trenton) Simpsonesque; cut from the same cloth as him.”
In both cases, the opinions vary. But, they both make the depth chart look more fortified. As we said, Day 3 has already been used for those trades, but expect final touches to be applied to the roster at RB, OL and probably a developmental QB.
