Dallas Cowboys 7-round 2021 NFL mock draft starts rebuilding ailing defense
By Randy Gurzi
The Dallas Cowboys try and fix their porous defense in this mock draft
At this point, even Jerry Jones has to admit the Dallas Cowboys season is over. As much as he wants to always act as though they are where they need to be, this team is 4-9 and just had their Week 15 game flexed out of Sunday Night Football.
It’s uncommon ground for the Cowboys who were always pretty competitive in the NFC East under Jason Garrett — even if they never did quite put it together. Of course, his major letdown season came when Tony Romo was injured, and now Mike McCarthy has been dealt a raw hand as Dak Prescott is out with a broken ankle.
The only silver lining from this disastrous season is that Dallas can land some premier talent due to their position in the upcoming 2021 NFL Draft. Here, we try and predict what players they’ll look for as they tray and rebuild their struggling franchise.
Miami. Gregory Rousseau. 1. player. 834. Scouting Report. EDGE. Pick Analysis
Demarcus Lawrence started this season off without getting home very often and while he’s turned it around, he has just 4.5 sacks this season. This is after recording just five the year prior. While he’s taken some heat for this, he still has been effective and gets way too much attention from opposing teams since there are no consistent options across from him.
Aldon Smith looked to be that guy as he came out of the gates hot, recording four sacks in the first three games but he has had one since then and none in the past five weeks. There’s also Randy Gregory, but with him still getting his legs back, they would be best served pretending he’s not there and trying to find another stud to build around.
That’s where Gregory Rousseau comes in. Dallas lands him with their top pick here — which looks to be in the top-5 — and they end up with a player who has as high of a ceiling as any prospect. The only problem is, Rousseau doesn’t have a lot of experience and opted-out of the 2020 season.
He’s raw but the Cowboys have a talented defensive line coach in Jim Tomsuls (assuming he stays) and Rousseau will get some favorable matchups due to the presence of Tank Lawrence. The Cowboys have one of the worst pass defenses in the NFL and limiting the time the quarterback has to throw will help improve that for them.