The Dallas Cowboys finally dipped their toes into the free agency waters last week, signing low-risk talents such as Christian Covington, Kerry Hyder, Randall Cobb and George Iloka in an effort to fill the biggest holes plaguing the roster.

By filling their most immediate needs -- with Gregory's suspension, right defensive end is still a need, but a potential trade for Robert Quinn could quell those concerns soon -- the Cowboys give themselves the opportunity to stay true to their board during the NFL draft since there's not as much pressure to acquire talent at a certain position, something that can lead to teams sacrificing value to fulfill a need.

In theory, this would make it difficult to ascertain who the Cowboys are interested in drafting because without any glaring needs, the team could conceivably go in a variety of directions.

Luckily, teams have the ability to invite 30 prospects to their facilities as official pre-draft visitors. During those visits, teams aren't allowed to work out players. Instead, the teams can conduct physical examinations, interviews and written tests.

On top of that, teams can invite an unlimited number of players who attended high school or college in that team's metropolitan area for a visit. Unlike official pre-draft visitors, teams are permitted to work out players who attend in this fashion. For the Cowboys, this is commonly referred to as "Dallas Day," where they invite a large group of Dallas-area prospects to work out for the coaching staff, front office and scouts.

While the lists of official visitors and Dallas Day participants never gets released by the team, it does tend to get leaked to the media every year. The true value of these leaked lists vary from team to team, but luckily for us, the Cowboys are one of the teams where the value is high.

Look no further than Dallas' 2018 draft class for evidence. First-round pick Leighton Vander Esch was an official pre-draft visitor and second-rounder Connor Williams was a Dallas Day participant. In fact, the last Cowboys first-round pick who wasn't a pre-draft visitor was Morris Claiborne, in 2012.

With that in mind, our goal over the next month is to evaluate as many of the Cowboys' pre-draft visitors as possible, prioritizing official visits over Dallas Day participants.

To start the series off, let's evaluate and grade two exciting safety prospects along with a record-setting defensive end:

Note: These grades are the individual evaluations of the author and not meant to predict the Cowboys' grade, or where the player may be drafted. Here's the link to the grading scale being used. Additionally, here's the source of the pre-draft visits.

-- More breakdowns on pre-draft visitors --

Taylor Rapp, safety, Washington

SOURCE

If Taylor Rapp is available when the Cowboys go on the clock with the 58th overall pick, Jerry Jones should immediately send in their draft card with the Washington safety's name on it -- he's that good.

Unfortunately, the 6-foot, 208-pound Rapp isn't likely to last until the late second round because he possesses the skill set and play-making ability to be selected in the top 40 selections.

While Rapp spent a good deal of time playing deep in single- and two-high zones, he's at his best when playing down near the line of scrimmage as a box or overhang defender.

Love me some Taylor Rapp pic.twitter.com/hyQkcTehP7 — John Owning (@JohnOwning) March 25, 2019

Rapp displays outstanding football intelligence and mental processing ability, rarely getting caught out of position despite playing from a wide variety of alignments. His processing ability enables him to have linebacker-esque impact when defending the run from the box.

On top of that, Rapp possesses elite change-of-direction ability -- evidenced by his outstanding 6.89-second three-cone and 3.99-second short-shuttle times -- which enables him to avoid blockers well on his way to the ball carrier on top of staying sticky in coverage against breaking routes.

As a run defender, Rapp is fantastic at filling from a variety of alignments. When aligned deep, he displays fantastic geometric instincts, which is a fancy way of saying he takes outstanding angles to the ball carrier. He also showcases outstanding closing speed, allowing him to close the gap between him and the ball carrier quickly.

Washington $ Taylor Rapp - best part of his game is coming downhill with some thump behind 'em - pic.twitter.com/0p7jyW2ADi — Michael Kist (@MichaelKistNFL) January 31, 2019

When he arrives at the tackle point, Rapp demonstrates the ability to lay a big hit without sacrificing the fundamentals, which is why he is the most reliable tackler in the safety class. He is also an outstanding run blitzer, showing the ability to knife into the backfield to disrupt the running game.

In coverage, Rapp displays the athleticism, technique and awareness to be incredibly effective in short-to-intermediate zones. He showcases the ability to match tight ends in coverage from the slot, showing the physicality necessary to provide tight coverage at the break and catch points.

As a senior, Rapp allowed just eight catches (on 18 targets; 44.4 reception percentage) for just 53 yards while tallying four pass breakups and one interception, according to Pro Football Focus.

Despite his talent in coverage, Rapp's ball skills still need improvement, which is why he had just three interceptions in his last two seasons combined. Rapp tends to be risk-averse when playing in a single-high safety role, typically aligning so deep (25 yards off the line of scrimmage at times) that it prevents him from affecting as many plays as he should.

The deep safety role is overvalued to me. I want a safety that can

-blitz

-fill the alley/fit against the run

-cover in man

-jump routes(has route recognition

-tackle in space

Taylor Rapp had a broken tackle rate of 3.6%(@SportsInfo_SIS)



He does all 5 of those well. pic.twitter.com/TsO3nsGxKJ — KP 🏁 (@KP_Show) March 16, 2019

Ultimately, Rapp would be a perfect fit as a strong safety for the Cowboys. Even with the acquisition of Iloka, Rapp would immediately become the most talented strong safety on the roster and could provide a noticeable upgrade over Jeff Heath in the starting lineup. The Cowboys would likely need to trade up to secure the Washington safety.

GRADE : 7.86 (early Round 2)

Johnathan Abram, safety, Mississippi State

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To steal a line from the iconic movie Clueless, Johnathan Abram's skill set is "a full-on Monet."

At first glance, it's easy to get caught up in the

traits on display. The Mississippi State product plays with a style of reckless abandon that is pleasing to the eye.

Mississippi State Safety Johnathan Abram w/nearly a hundred tackles last year. Always around the action, takes good angles, needs to be more consistent as a tackler but he'll track ya down - pic.twitter.com/7dfiOYDSjP — Michael Kist (@MichaelKistNFL) March 25, 2019

Abram is at his best when he is able to fly forward to affect the running and short-passing games of opposing offenses. He displays impressive burst, chasing down and striking ball carriers from sideline to sideline.

Abram does show the ability to flip his hips, turn & run vertically with receivers in the slot. Takes away the deep vertical route here. pic.twitter.com/dK5InC9DTJ — John Owning (@JohnOwning) March 23, 2019

Though coverage isn't his strength, Abram displays the ability to flip his hips, turn and run with vertical routes against wide receivers and tight ends. When he does allow initial separation on vertical routes, he displays outstanding recovery speed, enabling him to close the gap and potentially affect the pass.

Despite these promising traits, further investigation into Abram's skill set reveals a lot of imperfections that could lessen his effectiveness in the NFL.

Though some will label Abram as "aggressive," "reckless" may be the appropriate term. Because he routinely looks for the big hit, he fails to come to balance at the tackle point and ends up missing a lot of tackles against slippery ball carriers. That aggressiveness also makes him too easily influenced by play fakes and play-action, which will be fully taken advantage of by NFL offensive coordinators.

Johnathan Abram ceding separation on a dig route from Dawson Knox. Needs to break faster on the dig route. pic.twitter.com/yEDeX86LXP — John Owning (@JohnOwning) March 23, 2019

In coverage, his biggest problem is his severe lack of anticipation, which leads to receivers and tight ends generating a ton of separation on breaking routes.

Johnathan Abram gets caught peaking pic.twitter.com/PTObJqCpsw — All22Hype (@All22Hype) March 26, 2019

Abram has a bad tendency to bite on play-action, causing him to be easily manipulated by opposing offenses. He has to learn to be more disciplined or he will be a liability against the best play-action offenses.

Listed at 5-foot-11, 205 pounds, Abram is the same size as Xavier Woods but would be most effective in a role similar to Heath's, who is two inches taller and nearly 10 pounds heavier. With Abram's reckless style, there are legitimate concerns about whether his body will hold up in a strong safety role.

Still, there is no question Abram's best fit is at strong safety because his ability to play forward and affect the run from the box are his strongest traits. Asking him to perform consistently in man or deep zone coverage is a foolish endeavor and will likely do more harm than good for a defense.

While he's a name who has been commonly connected with the Cowboys' second-round pick, Abram's reckless play style and lack of anticipation in coverage push his value down to the third round.

GRADE : 7.27 (Round 3)

Jaylon Ferguson, edge, Louisiana Tech

SOURCE

The pre-draft process has not been kind to Jaylon Ferguson. After a mediocre showing at the Senior Bowl, he was uninvited from the NFL scouting combine after it was revealed he was convicted of simple battery during his freshman year after a fight at a McDonald's.

Here’s the Jaylon Ferguson 3-Cone footage via @PatrickClaybon.



This is his SEVENTH attempt after several slips.



Yikers.pic.twitter.com/0bJosSiZKq — Carter Donnick (@CDonScouting) March 20, 2019

At his pro day, Ferguson came in heavy and ran slow, which is incredibly concerning for a pass rusher. After weighing in at 6-foot-4, 271 pounds, he posted awful three-cone (8.08) and short-shuttle (5.12) times to go along with average-to-below numbers in the jumps (9-foot-9 broad jump; 32-inch vertical) and 40-yard dash (4.82).

Since 1999, the worst three-cone time posted by an edge defender was 7.98 seconds (by Da'Shawn Hand, who also played a lot of defensive tackle), according to MockDraftable -- a full tenth of a second faster than Ferguson. Moreover, the worst short-shuttle time by an edge defender since 1999 was 5.04 seconds (Kevin Williams in 2003), according to MockDraftable. That is nearly a tenth of a second faster than Ferguson. It's difficult to overstate just how bad these times are for an edge defender, a position that relies a great deal on athleticism.

Making matters worse, Ferguson's poor athletic testing is confirmed on tape, as he looks stiff when trying to corner at the apex of his rush. His lack of speed and flexibility severely hinder his ability to win on the outside rush track off the edge, and his inability to threaten with speed will make it difficult for him to set up inside counters.

Lot of eyes on @LATechFB EDGE Jaylon Ferguson (@JayFerguson45) next week @seniorbowl - look at the strength with the long arm off the snap here 😤 pic.twitter.com/851jatoTGC — Connor Rogers (@ConnorJRogers) January 15, 2019

Despite his athletic limitations, Ferguson does have notable power in his hands, which enabled him to become the FBS record holder in career sacks (45) while at Louisiana Tech.

Ferguson also displays impressive variety with his hand technique, showing an ability to win with long arms, cross chops, snatches and jerk moves.

Game on the line (up by a TD) - 3rd and goal: closer pic.twitter.com/GWIUjinRpA — Connor Rogers (@ConnorJRogers) January 15, 2019

Speed-to-power is where Ferguson is going to find success in the NFL, as he can take advantage of his length and powerful hands. He abused Conference USA tackles with his speed-to-power rushes throughout his career, as his power and length were simply overwhelming for the small-school pass protectors.

Ferguson's power also translates well against the run, where he does well to set a strong edge. Despite putting himself in a good initial position, he often struggles to disengage from a fit. He struggles to get off blocks.

Ferguson is one of the most fascinating evaluations in the entire draft class. He has a history of elite production in Conference USA and solid tape but posted all-time bad times in the agility drills (short shuttle and three-cone), which, along with the 10-yard dash, are the most important drills for pass rushers in athletic testing.

Ultimately, his skill set isn't strong enough to make you forget about the abysmal agility times, which is why it'd be foolish to draft Ferguson before Day 3.

Many will be confused as to why the FBS record holder in career sacks grades out as a Day-3 pick. However, it must be stated that the level of competition plays a huge factor in Ferguson's elite production. He took advantage of the poor pass sets, hand placement, footwork and timing of Conference USA tackles. When he played a higher level of competition at the Senior Bowl, he looked ordinary, struggling to make a notable impact.

GRADE : 7.08 (Round 4)

MORE INSTALLMENTS

Vol. 1: S Taylor Rapp, S Johnathan Abram, EDGE Jaylon Ferguson

Vol. 2: DT Gerald Willis, WR Deebo Samuel, RB Mike Weber

Vol. 3: S Chauncey Gardner-Johnson, WR Mecole Hardman, RB Damien Harris

Vol. 4: S Juan Thornhill, DT Kingsley Keke, WR Jon'Vea Johnson

Vol. 5: S Khari Willis, CB Chris Westry, LB Dre Greenlaw

Vol. 6: EDGE Christian Miller, DT Trysten Hill, RB/WR Tony Pollard

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Vol. 7: WR Emanuel Hall, WR Jalen Hurd, TE Jace Sternberger

See more film rooms here: How Cowboys' new free-agent additions could help Dallas in 2019

Twitter: @JohnOwning