Jerry Jones officially tanked his chances of drafting Texas RB Jonathon Brooks

The Carolina Panthers selected Texas RB Jonathon Brooks with the No. 46 pick in the NFL Draft. He is the first halfback off the board, giving the Panthers a dynamic, multi-faceted weapon to accompany Bryce Young and first-round pick Xavier Legette.

NFL teams are becoming more and more hesitant to invest real assets in the RB position. The short shelf life of high-volume runners, combined with the abundance of quality options around the league, makes it hard for even the best prospects to stand out in draft circles. Brooks is going to make an impact from day one, however, and Carolina fans ought to be expected about the juice he will supply to Dave Canales' offense.

There are front offices around the league who would have loved to land Brooks. We know the Philadelphia Eagles were interested, and we really know the Dallas Cowboys were interested. So intense was Dallas' interest that owner and GM Jerry Jones... told everybody he wanted Brooks. Like, publicly.

Word to the wise: if you're trying to land a specific prospect in the NFL Draft, keep it to yourself!

Jerry Jones spoils Cowboys' opportunity to land NFL Draft's top running back

In case you missed it, here were Jones' comments about Brooks ahead of Day 2 of the NFL Draft.

"In my 30 years I thought it was that I ever interviewed with a player. He’s outstanding. And he’s a great football player. We got him high, high, high. And he’s a good player."

Nobody can blame Jones for wanting the talented RB. Brooks hails from the Lone Star State, having played right down the road in Austin. He also addresses arguably the biggest area of need for the Cowboys, whose RB room currently consists of Rico Dowdle and Deuce Vaughn. Even with rumors of a potential Ezekiel Elliott reunion, the Cowboys desperately need more talent in the backfield.

What Jones did wrong was broadcast his desire to the entire league. That put every other team interested in Brooks on high alert. Brooks was never slipping past the Cowboys at No. 56. Lo and behold, the Panthers traded up, leapfrogged Dallas, and took Jerry Jones' favorite prospect right out from under him.

There are other RBs on the board, and Dallas still has time to add a free agent or two. But, Brooks was easily the best runner available to the Cowboys at this point in the offseason. The ACL injury he suffered in November is a setback, but Brooks has more than enough talent and live-wire athleticism to overcome his injury and produce at a Pro Bowl level one day.

He's a great pick for the Panthers, all things considered. The Miles Sanders experience was not great last season and Chubba Hubbard is best in the RB2 slot. Once he's back to full strength, Brooks can play all three downs and carry the bell cow workload, offering Bryce Young a dependable pressure-release valve in the backfield.

The Cowboys will watch Brooks' development with great sadness, thinking, "oh, what could have been."