Dallas Cowboys: Ranking new additions by order of importance

1. Kelvin Joseph, CB

Yes, Micah Parsons was the No. 1 pick for Dallas and yes, he will likely be the most productive rookie on the team. There’s even a great chance that he could be in the running for NFL Defensive Player of the Year.

Even with all that being true, he didn’t take the No. 1 spot simply because the Cowboys had a much bigger need at cornerback than they did at linebacker. It seems apparent that Dallas was set on Parsons and they may not have landed Jaycee Horn or Patrick Surtain anyway, but when those two went off the board, there was no cornerback worthy of being taken in the first round for the Cowboys.

This made it imperative that they landed one in the second round and that’s what they did at No. 44 when they took Kelvin Joseph from Kentucky. Joseph is an interesting prospect who has just 15 games under his belt — thanks in large part to a suspension from LSU which is where he began his NFL career.

However, in 2020 when he finally played for the Wildcats, he showed out with four interceptions. His length and ball skills are something this defense needs in the worst way.

Pairing him with Trevon Diggs might not give them the greatest defensive backfield but they finally have two cornerbacks with the ability to take the ball away.

And when a defense struggles as much as the one in Dallas has, it makes all the difference in the world having cornerbacks who can get the ball back for the offense.