When in doubt, draft an athlete — preferably an athlete who fits a need.
It’s a well-worn strategy for the Dallas Cowboys, and with Day 2 of this draft wrapped up, it’s easy to see it shining through.
There were no curveballs from Dallas in the second and third round. It’s been known for quite some time that they’d need a tight end to address the loss of Dalton Schultz, and it was glaringly obvious that they were thin at linebacker.
Consider both boxes checked. On a night that saw an absurd eight tight ends selected over the course of two rounds, the Cowboys added Michigan’s Luke Schoonmaker to address the position. Roughly 90 minutes later, they picked Texas linebacker DeMarvion Overshown.
Much like Mazi Smith, his college and now-professional teammate, Schoonmaker is a very large man with exceptional athleticism.
There will be concerns about a shoulder injury, the fact that he turns 25 in September and his 637 career receiving yards. Clearly, this is about what Dallas thinks Schoonmaker can be, rather than what he has been.
The Connecticut native is 6-foot-5 and weighs 251 pounds, but his Relative Athletic Score is an impressive 9.86, putting him in the 99th percentile among tight ends in recent history. Combine that with a history of blocking in Michigan’s run-heavy offense, and it’s easy to see why the Cowboys favored him.
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“What I really liked about Luke is he’s very, very well-rounded,” said Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy. “He has the ability to play the Y position, off the ball … he runs better than probably we give him credit for. His vertical presence, we think we can build off that.”
With one issue resolved, it shouldn’t have been a surprise to see them tackle (pardon the pun) the next one.
What Overshown lacks in the bulk of his draft classmates, he makes up for it in speed. A converted safety, the Texas native gives up some size and likely doesn’t want to take on too many blocker. But that speed and athleticism land him in the 81st percentile among linebackers. With six sacks in his last two college seasons, it’s a good guess that Dallas defensive coordinator Dan Quinn will want to use him to disrupt passers — no, not to the same level as Micah Parsons, but perhaps similarly to what we’ve seen from Donovan Wilson in recent years.
It’s funny how these things tend to work out. Whether it’s simply good fortune or well-plotted strategy, the Cowboys just so happened to hit three of their biggest needs with their three biggest picks. While we wait to find out if any of these decisions were good ones, the athletic upside of all three players provides plenty of reason to be intrigued.
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