Dallas Cowboys 7-round 2021 NFL Mock Draft starts needed defensive overhaul

One position that wasn’t a need for Dallas in recent seasons but has become one now is offensive tackle. For the past few years, left tackle Tyron Smith has missed three games and for that reason, they’ve always had to turn to their swing tackle. Thankfully, they’ve had players such as Cam Fleming who were capable of playing for a few games and keeping them from falling apart.

This season, however, Smith will end up playing in just one game as he made a brief appearance against the Browns and then had neck surgery. As if losing him wasn’t enough, they had already been without La’el Collins who had hip surgery.

The hope is that Collins will return to play on the right side but Smith has more concerns lingering over his head. No matter how much Jerry Jones wants to play doctor and tell us he will be fine, the long-running injury issues were already concerning and that was before a neck problem came into play.

All that is being said to point out that they need more depth on the offensive line. Hopefully, they will address this some in free agency which will allow them to target defense first in this draft. Then, they can look for a depth piece to groom such as Rashawn Slater from Northwestern. He’s a player who has great size and has held his own against some elite competition during his time with the Wildcats.

He won’t be ready to jump right in as the starting left tackle but he’s a player they can groom and most importantly, he gives them some options other than the undrafted players they currently have behind Smith and Collins.