The Dallas Cowboys had plenty of good players to choose from but they decided to go for a work in progress in Tyler Smith from Tulsa
Things couldn’t have worked out better for the pass-rush-needy Dallas Cowboys on Thursday night. For some reason, both George Karlaftis and Jermaine Johnson were there for the taking at pick 24 — but the Cowboys went in a different direction.
Instead of taking two pro-ready players at a major position of need, they reached on an offensive lineman from Tulsa. Tyler Smith is a player who has plenty of talent but he’s nowhere near ready to start — which is not what you usually say about first-round picks.
Smith showed plenty of power while playing collegiately but he was also considered “sloppy” and saw plenty of flags thrown his way as well. And for those who know anything about the Cowboys, the last thing they needed was more flags out of the offensive line.
The Cowboys have been pretty solid at drafting in recent years, and that includes landing CeeDee Lamb in the 2020 NFL Draft as well as the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year in Micah Parsons last season.
Having said that, this one feels like a major reach. And what makes it feel worse is the fact that they had other options that also could have filled major needs including Karlaftis, Johnson, or even Iowa center Tyler Linderbaum.
Dallas is a team that’s supposed to be competing for titles but this offseason, they traded a top wideout for a fifth-round pick, lost one of their best pass-rushers due to wording in a contract, and now used a day one pick on a project player.
Perhaps Smith will prove to be another Micah Parsons who surprises us all but right now, he looks like a talented offensive lineman who will draw a lot of flags — which they have plenty of. It also feels strangely like the Taco Charlton pick where they zoned in on a position rather than best player, and we all know how that turned out.