Cowboys Front Office Makes RB Prediction for NFL Draft: '1, 2, 3, 4 ...'
FRISCO - The Dallas Cowboys opened their Monday pre-NFL Draft press conference with owner Jerry Jones revealing that he's got the urge to make a Draft Night trade. But the longer the session here inside The Star went on, the more detailed the challenges of engineering such a swap - especially at running back - became.
Cowboys COO Stephen Jones noted, "If there's a good running back sitting there (at No. 26 overall), I can't imagine he's not going to get a lot of attention from us about what he could do. If the right guy were there, we'd certainly look at it."
That "right guy'' in the first round could be Texas' Bijan Robinson (expected to go much higher) or Alabama's Jahmyr Gibbs. If Bijan is available at 26, as unlikely as that seems, it figures to be an easy pick. Gibbs may also have a first-round grade from the Cowboys; Dallas is still "tweaking'' that list, Stephen saying that the Cowboys will end up with "15, 16 or 18 or so'' of those.
Meanwhile, the Cowboys are working to measure the true value of taking a running back high, as well as what happens with that "star's'' second contract.
Said Stephen: "I think you have to pay attention to the history of the running back and what happens. Once you move down the line (beyond Round 1), it's not as necessary that you have to get to that second contract.''
The Cowboys seem to have made their peace with the fact that 2016 first-rounder Ezekiel Elliott (cut this offseason) gave them seven seasons ... but no more. Stephen also mentioned that Dallas would like to keep Tony Pollard long-term but made no promises there beyond his present one-year, $10 million deal.
Stephen also added that Dallas could select a running back in the "first, second, third or fourth'' round. Top 10 names to know? Robinson, Gibbs, Alabama, Zach Charbonnet (UCLA), Tyjae Spears (Tulane), Devon Achane (Texas A&M), Roschon Johnson (Texas), Tank Bigsby (Auburn), Israel Abanikanda (Pitt), Eric Gray (Oklahoma) and Zach Evans (Ole Miss).
The Cowboys are working to stay flexible here - "We may be interested in going down, or maybe up, or we might just sit there," Jerry said, as he does every spring - but they do seem to have come to grips with the complex realities of when and where to select certain running backs ... leaving for this weekend only the question of "who''?
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