Lamb & Diggs: How High An Ex-Cowboys Scout Ranks The 2 Draftees
The Dallas Cowboys have spent months pouring into NFL Draft prep, ranking their big board in meticulous detail. So has every other NFL team. So has every other draft watcher, from the informed ones like ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr’s to the man less-than-informed ones like the scores you’ll find on the internet.
Turns out former Dallas Cowboys scout and 105.3 The Fan personality Bryan Broaddus has the Cowboys’ first two selections — CeeDee Lamb (No. 8) and Trevon Diggs (No. 18) — ranked in the Top 20 on his final draft board. Now, usually, to get two players ranked that high in the same draft, you need two draft picks in the Top 20 or so. But the Cowboys walked away with both in the Top 51, a mind-boggling windfall that no one could have predicted a day ago.
When I put together my final Cowboys 7-round mock draft for Wednesday, I had the Cowboys taking cornerback A.J. Terrell in the first round and defensive tackle Marlon Davidson in the second round. Before I did the mock, I consulted with our Mike Fisher about potential Cowboys targets in those first two rounds. Several names came up. One of those was Alabama’s Trevon Diggs. Another was Terrell. Another was Florida cornerback C.J. Henderson. Davidson was a name we talked about as a potential Cowboys target in the second round.
We didn’t talk about Lamb because neither of us thought the Sooners receiver would drop that far. My draft simulations backed that up. I did 10 first-round simulations. Henderson didn’t drop in any of them. Lamb dropped in one out of the 10, not nearly enough to make me think that was a possibility. Half of the time, Diggs didn’t drop to No. 17 either.
And then when I did second-round simulations, once I thought it was most likely the Cowboys would take Terrell (who, by the way, was taken one selection before the Cowboys took Lamb), Diggs never dropped far enough for the Cowboys to take the Alabama corner at No. 51.
And, now, well, take a look. The Cowboys have both Lamb and Diggs.
Even the Cowboys didn’t see Lamb coming at No. 17. Jerry Jones admitted as much on Thursday night. They had Lamb at No. 6 on their overall board, and players that high on an overall board usually don’t drop to No. 17. But once it was clear Lamb would be there, the Cowboys had no choice but to take the best player available — and not even within reason, as Fish and I like to say. There was no passing on him there. Even though the Cowboys have defensive needs, you can’t blame Jones from making that pick from his yacht.
By the way, Broaddus spoke glowingly of Lamb Thursday night on 105.3 The Fan (as did Jeff Cavanaugh), as Broaddus noted that Lamb “makes incredible receptions that take your breath away.” I saw Lamb in person against Houston last season, shooting the game for the College Football America Yearbook. I concur.
Once the second round began Friday, because so many teams had gone offense in the first round, several quality defensive players has been pushed down the board. And they kept falling. Half of the first 16 second-round selections were on offense. When the Cowboys finally hit the clock at No. 51, you know who was sitting there, right? Diggs.
There is no logical reason Diggs should have been there, considering where many had Diggs ranked. ESPN.com had him at No. 39 and considered him the third-best cornerback. You saw where Broaddus had him ranked. Again, the Cowboys absolutely had no choice but to take the best player available. Once the media talks to Jones after Friday night, it wouldn’t surprise me at all to learn that Diggs was No. 1 on their board at that time.
But the NFL Draft isn’t always about logic. The debate is always about need vs. best player available. The dirty little secret is that NFL teams REALLY want to accomplish both. But it’s so hard to do because you really have no idea what the other 31 teams will do. And, with a virtual draft with no in-person draft process after the NFL Scouting Combine, the process got more difficult for NFL teams. When we do mock drafts, we’re trying to do the same thing NFL teams are — marry the need with the value.
Truth is, I never took Lamb in any of my 11 mocks because, like the Cowboys, I didn’t see him being there. I never took Diggs in a mock draft because I felt the Cowboys like other defensive backs ahead of him.
Shows what most of us know, right? The first two rounds could have gone many different ways for Dallas. Certain things had to fall into place. And they did.
Jerry got his sizzle. Or "flare,'' as he called it pre-Draft, in Lamb.
The defense got its need. A big-school star at a spot of need, in Diggs.
And one ol' scout Bryan Broaddus comes out looking like a genius.
