NFL Mock Draft Round-up: Dallas Cowboys take a tackle

The Dallas Cowboys overtook the Philadelphia Eagles down the stretch to win the NFC East and finish the regular season 12-5. They were supposed to be the roadblock in the way of the 49ers making the Super Bowl. Instead, the team was ousted in the Wild Card round of the NFL playoffs by the Green Bay Packers 48-32.

What to fix and what holes to fill will consume the team, and general manager Jerry Jones all offseason. Quarterback Dak Prescott will be in the final year of his contract this season, and the Cowboys have to decide on whether or not to commit a large bag of cash to retain his talents well into the future. They need to create more pressure along the defensive line while losing 3 players there.

The team is $9.9 million over the cap, and even though a contract extension for Prescott would give 2024 cap relief to the team, it may not be enough to bring back all-pro left tackle Tyron Smith. Starting center Tyler Biadasz is also a free agent and starting guard Zack Martin will hit the open market in 2025. The team needs to build (or rebuild depending on if you are a pessimist or optimist) through the 2024 NFL Draft.

I took a look at nine of the biggest mock drafts out there to determine if there was a consensus on who the Cowboys should take with the 24th overall pick.

The Pro Football Focus podcast had the Cowboys taking Clemson cornerback Nate Wiggins. While Stephon Gilmore may be departing, the team will get Trevon Diggs back next year and Daron Bland emerged as a star in 2023. Cornerback depth may be a need, but not a cornerback starter.

CBS Sports writer Chris Trepasso also had Dallas going defense with their first pick, selecting Florida State edge rusher Jared Verse. This would give the team a terror opposite Micah Parsons and makes a lot of sense.

The rest of the drafts had the team addressing the offensive line in round one. The Yahoo! writing staff had the team taking Georgia tackle Amarius Mims, while guard/center (listed tackle) Graham Barton of Duke was the pick for The Athletic writers.

CBS Sports writer Josh Edwards and his colleague Tom Fornelli had the team selecting Washington tackle Troy Fauntanu with the 24th pick, and while he projects more of a guard in pros, he could slide to tackle in a pinch and be solid there.

If the mock drafts have their way, one way or another, the Dallas Cowboys will address their offensive line before anything else.

Cowboys Mock Draft Consensus: Tyler Guyton, OT, Oklahoma

Tyler Guyton was chosen in three of the nine mock drafts as the Cowboys' 2024 first-round pick in the draft. Daniel Jeremiah from NFL.com had the 6-foot-7, 328-pound monster tackle going to Dallas. So did his colleague Genarro Felice and NBC Sports writer Eric Froton. Guyton is flying up draft boards and a strong showing at the combine in Indianapolis this week can only help him.

Last season at Oklahoma he played in 10 games (662 snaps), allowed only nine hurries, and didn't allow a single sack. He is the eighth-ranked tackle on Pro Football Focus' big board with an overall grade of 63.7 (60.5 run-blocking grade and 72.9 pass-blocking grade). He is an incredible athlete, with great footwork against pass rushers.

If this ends up being the pick for America's team, he could be the starting left tackle should Smith leave in free agency. If the team's cap experts can work some sort of magic to keep Smith, he and Guyton could arguably be the best tackle duo in the league in 2024. There are still too many chips to fall to know how accurate the mock consensus is (combine and free agency), but if the Cowboys do select Guyton at 24, their fans should be happy about that.