Cowboys Turn the Corner...

The Cowboys may have made the biggest splash in the 1^st round of the NFL draft last night… trading up from 14 to 6 to nab arguably the best defensive player in the draft… Morris Claiborne.  They also traded their 2^nd round pick (45^th). This is a bold, daddy bulge type of move by Jerry and the boys. The Cowboys had Claiborne as the highest rated cornerback since Deion Sanders…Although its hard to imagine that Patrick Peterson (went to AZ last year) wasn’t rated just as high.

The Next Great Corner?

Claiborne has great ball-hawking instincts and a Corvette Engine in the legs. He can flat out cover and has the potential to be a shut-down corner. A shut-down corner isn’t just rare in the NFL its almost non-existent. Revis…Woodson was but probably not anymore. Claiborne, according to Jerry Jones and many others is ELITE.  Forget that horrific Wonderlic test score…Claiborne claims he didn’t give a fuck about it and at the end of the day..that test really doesn’t mean anything when it pertains to football. Cornerback is not a real cognizant position…you just gotta be an athlete. It seems like Claiborne is a good kid whose head and heart are in the right place…he will be motivated and I don’t think the pressure will be too much for him. He will start right away.

Now the Cowboys secondary is looking much more solidified. Brandon Carr (FA from KC) was one of the top free agents this offseason, Orlando Scandrick (possibly the most over-paid nickel corner) is still a good player for what his role is… He is still young and has the potential to be a very good nickel corner. Add Claiborne into the mix and your corners are second to none. Don’t forget about Michael Jenkins too. The former first round pick was a Pro-Bowler as a rookie…then pussified himself in his second year with gutless performances that will forever taint him. Last season…he manned up, played pretty well through excruciating pain. That’s 4 really good corners although I wouldn’t be surprised if the Cowboys try to trade Jenkins (who is a free agent at the end of this season) for a mid-round draft pick.

When this trade/draft first occurred I was hesitant to applaud it because I thought that with the number of holes the Cowboys have it was dumb for them to give up a second round pick. Now I am back-tracking because I think Claiborne could be so good that it will be worth it…plus I fully expect Jerry to trade back into the second round…possible to grab Wisconsin Center Peter Konz.  Good first pick but theres still a ton of holes to fill.