Hogs' Jackson has potential to be part of wild Cowboys' NFL draft

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Every year when the NFL Draft rolls around, because of the owner sitting in the war room, there's always one guaranteed highly unpredictable team waiting to pick — the Dallas Cowboys.

It's always impossible to know whether former Arkansas Razorback Jerry Jones is going to go nuts and start trading picks left and right, has to be stopped from making a disastrous pick like Johnny Manziel in the first round, or if he is willing to let himself get talked into playing it safe and cruising along with the picks he's been dealt, loading up on players from the trenches and best available athletes.

The one thing that might inspire Jones to be the "wildcatter" he fancies himself to be from time to time happens to revolve around Arkansas defensive end Landon Jackson, or at least his position. The Cowboys have very specific needs, and because of depth in at least a few of these areas in the draft, Dallas is a prime candidate to do a little moving and shaking in the trade market.

The Cowboys, in no particular order, have major needs at wide receiver, defensive back, offensive line and along the entire defensive front, including edge rusher. Jones has always had an affinity for shiny things, something that gets people talking, hence why he had to be stopped from making the Manziel pick.

That's why there is a segment of prognosticators out there who think there is a chance the Cowboys will use their first pick to choose a wide receiver to complement CeeDee Lamb. However, the most successful drafts, and subsequently the most successful regular seasons in the years that followed, came as a result of the Cowboys patiently building from the inside out on both sides of the ball.

The year Manziel almost turned into a wasted pick, Dallas, instead went with offensive lineman Zach Martin. A Hall of Fame career and several 12-win seasons later, Martin and his recent retirement is why the Cowboys now need to weigh whether it would be more prudent to put another first round lineman in front of the team's $60 million per year quarterback, Dak Prescott.

If that happens, the odds of Jackson returning to his home state to begin his professional career goes up dramatically. With Dallas having so many major needs and also a desire to add to the running back room in the mid to late rounds, there is a big chance Dallas starts looking for the best deal possible to trade down in the second.

While there aren't many quarterbacks with first found grades, there are several at the second round, so it's possible a team in need of its future signal caller gets antsy and gives the Cowboys a solid haul to trade up to their pick. It's because of the Cowboys' needs along the defensive line that they can do this with confidence.

In addition to Jackson, there are at least three other edge rushers with second round grades projected to still be on the board if Dallas were to trade back. There should be at least four defensive tackles and a long list of wide receivers and running backs with second round grades also, pretty much guaranteeing that at least a pair of coveted players at those spots fall to the third round.

It's easily possible that the first three rounds net Dallas North Dakota State guard Grey Zabel, Missouri's Luther Burden, either Jackson or Texas A&M edge rusher Nic Scourton and one of the following:
Quinshon Judkins, RB, Ohio State
Treyveon Henderson, RB, Ohio State
RJ Harvey, RB, UCF
Trey Amos, CB, Ole Miss
Azareye'h Thomas, CB, Florida St.
Benjamin Morrison, CB, Notre Dame

Any combination of four players from all of these scenarios in the first three rounds would be considered a huge win for Dallas. It would fill a lot of needs, provide safe, solid picks, and also generate enough buzz while providing just enough splash to satisfy Jones' craving for the spotlight.

The big key to watch is whether Louisville quarterbacks Tyler Shough and Ole Miss quarterback Jackson Dart fall to the Cowboys at No. 44. There are several teams that have fallen in love with both, and Shough has especially upped his draft value in the past few weeks.

If the Saints wait until the second round to address their quarterback situation, the amount of value Dallas can get trading down in the second round will go up a lot because it will likely mean only one of those two coveted quarterbacks will still be on the board, causing a big of panic below pick No. 44.

Whether Jackson truly is a viable target for the Cowboys remains to be seen. In the many decades he has owned the team, Jones has only once pulled the trigger on a fellow Razorback in the early rounds. The only other bones that have been thrown the Hogs' way has been with undrafted free agents and a couple of late round picks.

Running back Felix Jones, one-third of that feared three-headed backfield monster of him, two-time Heisman runner-up Darren McFadden and Madden 12 NFL cover boy Peyton Hillis, was drafted No. 22 overall in the first found of the 2008 draft. Should Jackson be drafted, he would be the second highest Razorback ever picked by the Cowboys in the Jones era with Jeremy Sprinkle (No. 154) in the fifth round in 2017 and defensive lineman John Ridgeway (No. 178) as the only others.

The NFL Draft will begin Thursday with the first round starting at 7 p.m. The second and third rounds will be Friday beginning at 6 p.m. and the remaining rounds will be Saturday beginning at 11 a.m.

Coverage will be on the ESPN networks and the NFL Network throughout the draft.