Ooh wee! Put it in the air. Speak it into existence. Whatever way you want to describe them, the Cowboys draft commandments are real and tangible. What started out as a couple observations about draft trends, tells and tendencies for Dallas has evolved into rules which navigate almost all draft weekend decisions for one of the best drafting clubs in recent memory.

Taken from just paying close attention, the Cowboys have acquired a certain set of skills, skills that are a nightmare for teams trying to compete with them in the NFC East. Their draft methods have won them two of the last three division championships and have presented them with a group of core players and It Ain’t Hard to Tell why other franchises are envious. Never satisfied and Never Scared, here’s the Top 3 bone-crushing commandments, how they’ve played out and how they dictate this year’s plans.

Commandment No. 1: Thou shall take risks in Round 2

This one has been buried a bit over the last two years, but it’s probably the most famous of all. Dallas loves to do something cooky when it comes to their second-round pick. Over seven drafts from 2010 through 2016, Dallas used this pick to do something crazy to try and create an advantage through risk taking. They either used their second pick in a trade scenario, or more noticeably they used the pick to take a player they had a high first-round grade on, but was falling due to either injury or for lack of a better catch-all, character concern.

2016: Jaylon Smith – ACL injury/nerve damage

2015: Randy Gregory – failed combine drug test, admitted self-medic

2014: Demarcus Lawrence (trades 3rd round pick to move up in 2nd)

2013: Gavin Escobar

2012: Used to trade up for Morris Claiborne

2011: Bruce Carter – ACL injury

2010: Sean Lee – ACL injury

The last two years have brought CB Chido Awuzie and OL Connor Williams, straying from that philosophy. But with no first round pick and 57 selections before being on the clock, it would not surprise for the Cowboys to trade up and or use the selection on a player who has some sort of red flag and is falling.

Think Jachai Polite, Jeffery Simmons, Jaylon Ferguson, Jerry Tillery or even Dre’mont Jones, Deionte Thompson and Taylor Rapp. Honestly, we may not have even heard the reason why a top prospect could be getting ready to plummet yet.

Commandment No. 2: Give DC one year to learn current personnel before opening draft flood gates.

The Cowboys lean heavy in drafting defense, but never in the first year of a new defensive regime.

Under Jason Garrett, the Dallas defense is now on it’s third new iteration with Kris Richard in charge. We connect this edict to an organizational philosophy forged when Bill Parcells ran the show. Parcells, a staunch supporter of the 30-front, stayed in Dallas’ 40-front with Mike Zimmer in his first year in Texas. This allowed him to evaluate the talent in house and decide who fit best with his style of defense. Once again, waiting for the new guy to evaluate the in-house talent showed up.

Draft Picks Per DC under Garrett

DC Yr 1 Class Yr 2 Class Yr 3 Class Rob Ryan 2011 (2 of 8) R2 – LB Bruce Carter R5 – CB Josh Thomas 2012 (5 of 7) R1+2 – CB Morris Claiborne R3 – DE Tyrone Crawford R4 – LB Kyle Wilbur R4 – S Matt Johnson R7 – LB Caleb McSurdy Monte Kiffin/ Rod Marinelli 2013 (3 of 7) R3 – S JJ Wilcox R4 – CB BW Webb R6 – LB Devonte Holloman 2014 (7 of 9) R2/R3- DE DeMarcus Lawrence R4- LB Anthony Hitchens R7- DE Ben Gardner R7- LB Will Smith R7- S Ahmad Dixon R7- DT Ken Bishop R7- CB Terrance Mitchell 2015 (5 of 8) R1- CB Byron Jones R2- DE Randy Gregory R4- LB Damien Wilson R5- DE Ryan Russell R7- LB Mark Nzeocha Kris Richard 2018 (3 of 9) R1- LB Vander Esch R4- DE Dorance Armstrong R6- LB Chris Covington 2019 (? of 6)

The circumstances obviously aren’t rigid. Marinelli was on board but took over in full for Kiffin after one season. Richard came in and took over under Marinelli. But the trends are clear. Less than 50 percent defensive picks in Year 1, well over 50 percent in Year 2.

To help further the point, five of nine picks in 2016 were defensive and seven of nine in 2017. Dallas loves drafting defense and the haul should be expected to be defensive heavy in 2019.

Commandment No. 3: Pre-draft presser is a gold mine of info

Now that Stephen Jones is more in charge of football activities, we’ve had to change this headline from Jerry Poppins doesn’t apply to pre-draft talk. The team doesn’t care who knows what they want to do in the draft; they didn’t care when their draft boards leaked in 2010, 2013 and again in 2016. Maybe we should be looking for a draft-board reveal following the 2019 draft as well.

Regardless, the franchise is open and honest about what they want to do in a draft, so let’s look at what came out of this year’s press conference.

The team is looking for a plug-and-play starter with their first pick.

The team seems to think they’ll be able to get players at positions of need without moving around, because of the draft’s depth at those spots.

The team acknowledged how little they’ve invested in the safety position in a reply to how many safeties they brought in. The coach mentioned their ideal safety solution is two guys who can both cover and support.

The team is interested in a complete back who would be able to fill in should Ezekiel Elliott miss time and favors this over a situational back.

They aren’t afraid to make picks at positions where most feel they are currently well-stocked, and it felt like this was about the offensive line, any of the five positions, even center.

They didn’t outright say it, but in talking about tight end it felt as if they were saying bringing back Witten solved the huge need they spoke about in earnest early in the offseason.

The team is certainly aware of Richard’s physical prototypes for the secondary players and they do not currently have a mix of players who fit those parameters.

It was very interesting to see the team do next-to-nothing in bringing in defensive backs which fit Richard’s prototypes, either through 2018 free agency or that year’s draft. Here’s research on the difference in what he targets and what the Cowboys have targeted in their drafts. We expect that to change this year. The backup safeties are already in house between George Iloka (6-foot-4), Darian Thompson and Kyle Queiro (both 6-foot-2). Now the starters and corners will be the targets.

Continue for a jaunt through the rest of the commandments…

Gallery Final Cowboys 7-round Mock Draft: April 19, 2019 View 33 photos View 33 photos

Commandment No. 4: Thou shall prioritize athleticism in your prospects

SPARQ is a metric that rolls up a prospects combine measurables into one neat score. A few years ago, Dallas got hip to the elite athlete trend and focused on drafting players who were exceptional athletes. Production in college is nice, but a player has to have the athleticism in order to move that to the NFL level where the competition is bigger, faster and stronger.

Headlined by DB Byron Jones (who broke a world record in the broad jump at the combine) and his 3 Sigma score, the Cowboys 2015 class was full of these athletes. Jones, Randy Gregory, Mark Nzeocha and Laurence Gibson all ranked in the Top 10 percentile of NFL players at their position across the entire league.

Commandment No. 5: Thou shall follow the money

One of our oldest commandments. Dallas uses the draft to capitalize on paying wholesale prices for retail talent. This often means drafting players a year ahead of a need in order to keep costs down. Sometimes they get caught with their pants down, but the Cowboys like to get guys in the pipeline to stay ahead of a need.

Tyrone Crawford as base end/interior presence is an obvious candidate. They seemed to try in 2017 with Taco Charlton and may have to again. CB Byron Jones is a free agent after 2019 as is Anthony Brown, could that be a need based on this premise? RT La’el Collins is another candidate and hate to say it, but so is RB Ezekiel Elliott even though the club still has two years of control over his contract.

Commandment No. 6: Thou shall use thy official visits wisely

Dallas doesn’t waste any of their pre-draft visits on fooling the competition. Since 2006, every first-round pick except for one player has been brought in for one of the 30 pre-draft visits. They don’t have a first this year, changing the dynamic a bit, but not much.

In 2015, six of the Cowboys selections were all from the list. In 2016, they flooded the list with quarterbacks and running backs and got the No. 1 and No. 2 offensive rookies from that. In 2017, they went ham on defensive linemen and secondary players, then picked seven players from those groups.

Leighton Vander Esch was a 30 visitor in 2018. Connor Williams came on Dallas Day and Michael Gallup had a private workout.

Here’s our list of 29 of the 30 pre-draft visitors, the known Dallas Day guys and all of the other prospects they’ve been linked to.

2019 Dallas Pre-Draft Visitors (29) Player School Position Source Projected Round Chris Westry Kentucky CB Bobby Belt 7th-UDFA Derrek Thomas Baylor CB Craig Smoak 7th-UDFA Christian Miller Alabama DE/LB Bobby Belt 3rd/4th Jaylon Ferguson Louisiana Tech 5T/3T Bobby Belt 2nd/3rd John Cominsky Charleston 5T/3T Bobby Belt 5th/6th Gerald Willis Miami 3T Jared Tokarz 2nd/3rd Trysten Hill Central Florida 1T Tony Pauline 5th/6th Kingsley Keke Texas A&M 3T Mark Lane 6th/7th Darius Harris Middle Tennessee LB Bobby Belt 7th Cole Holcomb North Carolina LB Bobby Belt UDFA Dre Greenlaw Arkansas LB Draft Diamonds UDFA Greg Little Ole Miss OT Todd Archer 2nd Damien Harris Alabama RB Ian Rapoport 2nd Mike Weber Ohio State RB Dan Hope 4th Tony Pollard Memphis RB Calvin Watkins 7th Chauncey Gardner Florida S Dallas Morning News 2nd Johnathan Abram Mississippi State S Tom Pelissero 2nd Juan Thornhill Virginia S Draft Diamonds 2nd Taylor Rapp Washington S Bobby Belt 2nd Will Harris Boston College S Bobby Belt 6th Khari Willis Michigan State S Bobby Belt UDFA Jace Sternberger Texas A&M TE Mark Lane 2nd/3rd Dawson Knox Ole Miss TE @JustinM_NFL 3rd Drew Sample Washington TE Bobby Belt 5th Deebo Samuel South Carolina WR NFL.com 2nd Emmanuel Hall Missouri WR Bobby Belt 3rd Mecole Hardman Georgia WR Bobby Belt 3rd Jon’Vea Johnson Toledo WR Jeff Cavanaugh UDFA Jalen Hurd Baylor WR 4th 2019 Dallas Day Visitors (11) Player School Position Source Projected Round L.J. Collier TCU 5T/3T Todd Archer 3rd Ben Banogu TCU DE Todd Archer 4th David Blough Purdue QB Todd Archer UDFA Ty Summers TCU LB Todd Archer UDFA Devine Ozigbo Nebraska RB Todd Archer 5th Jalen Guyton North Texas WR via Walter Football Lil’Jordan Humphrey Texas WR via Walter Football Marco Orozco Grambling K via Walter Football Derrek Thomas Baylor CB via Walter Football Xavier Turner Tarleton State RB via Walter Football Jordan Wyatt SMU CB via Walter Football 2019 Interest List (16) Player School Position Where Projected Round Blace Brown Troy CB Pro Day Andre Dillard Washington State OT Senior Bowl Jon Duhart Old Dominion WR East-West Terrill Hanks New Mexico State OLB Private Workout Drew Lewis Colorado ILB Private Workout Josh Oliver San Jose State TE Private Workout Daylon Mack Texas A&M DT East-West Charles Omenihu Texas DE Combine Amani Orunwariye Penn State CB Combine Justin Phillips Oklahoma State LB Private Workout Miles Sanders Penn State RB Private Workout Jordan Ta’amu Ole Miss QB Pro Day Sione Takitaki BYU LB East-West Jerome Washington Rutgers TE Private Workout Joejuan Williams Vanderbilt CB Private Workout Amani Bledsoe Oklahoma DL Pro Day

Continue for the final four commandments…

Gallery Full Cowboys 2019 Regular Season Schedule View 16 photos View 16 photos

Commandment No. 7: Thou shall prioritize certain positions over others

Just before 2015’s draft, we looked at the draft history of the Cowboys over the previous five years. It concluded that Dallas has a preference to draft the following positions, in order, t1) Defensive Line t1) Linebackers, t1) Cornerbacks, t4) Offensive Line, t4) Wide Receiver.

What were 2015’s first four picks? Hybrid DB, DE, OL, LB. In 2016, the Cowboys sure enough picked two defensive linemen, a linebacker and a cornerback, taking off a year from the OL and WR, partially because they had to grab a RB and QB. They honed in on DL and CB in 2017.

Here’s what we wrote heading into last year’s draft week:

“They appear ready to focus on linebacker, wide receiver and offensive line in 2018.”

Vander Esch, Connor Williams and Michael Gallup later…

There’s a case to be made that all five of the priority positions are needs once again, with defensive line being the highest priority a pseudo-starting spot open for a linebacker and the final three being needs for the near future with a lot of expiring contracts.

Commandment No. 8: Thou shall not covet small-schoolers

Since Will McClay’s ascension following the 2013 draft, the club has preferred to steer clear of most small-school prospects. The transition was clear in analyzing previous drafts. From 2009 through 2013, the Cowboys took seven players from non-FBS schools with no success. Starting with the 2014 class, that number dropped all the way to zero.

McClay confirmed as much soon after the 2014 draft, via ESPN.

“The difference is if you’re from a small school and you’re coming into this situation you might not be ready for the bright lights,” said Will McClay, the Cowboys’ assistant director of player personnel, who put the draft board together. “The guys who have been through playing those games where there are 90,000 people in the stands, they’ve had those situations there, they’ll [be] a little bit [more] used to it. If they got the same physical traits, I’m going to go with the guy whose been there before, [over] the guy who you got to wait to come up.”

Power 5 (SEC, B1G, Big 12, Pac 12, ACC) over Group of 5 (AAC, C-USA, MAC, Mountain West, Sun Belt) over FCS and everyone else.

2018: Power 5 (5), Group of 5 (4), Others (0)

2017: Power 5 (8), Group of 5 (1), Others (0)

2016: Power 5 (7), Group of 5 (2), Others (0)

2015: Power 5 (7), Group of 5 (1), Others (0)

2014: Power 5 (7), Group of 5 (2), Others (0)

This is bad news for anyone craving safety Nasir Adderley from Delaware or one of my favorites, John Cominsky of Charleston.

Commandment No. 9: Thou shall not covet trading 1st rounders

Commandment No. 10: Thou shall use first pick on draft’s best player at his particular position

Both of these are on pause as Dallas doesn’t have a first-round pick after trading for Amari Cooper midseason. The franchise reverted to being first-round traders out of dire necessity, and listening to the pre-draft press conference both Jerry and Stephen Jones emphasized they are not enjoying not having a first round pick, but they do feel like Cooper is far better than any WR prospect in this draft.

Gallery Final Cowboys 7-round Mock Draft: April 19, 2019 View 33 photos View 33 photos

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