Entering this offseason, you could argue that the Dallas Cowboys had one of the deepest and most talented WR Rooms in the NFL, but with Amari Cooper and Cedrick Wilson Jr. now gone, the overall position group dropped in talent.
While they did re-sign wideouts Michael Gallup and Noah Brown and still had CeeDee Lamb at their disposal, the only addition the franchise made to their WR Room was signing Former Steelers WR James Washington, but it’s cloudy on what he’s going to bring to the team.
As most analysts have mocked them taking a wide receiver at Pick 24, or at some point in the draft, fans have been gravitating to the idea that their problem is for sure solved if the Cowboys do select someone.
However, with recent reports claiming the franchise was trying to trade for WR Devante Parker before he got dealt to the New England Patriots, and the Cowboys being mentioned as a team who had an interest in trading for Houston Texans WR Brandin Cooks (before he agreed to a two-year extension with the Texans), it makes you wonder what their actual plan is.
Now I’m not here to convince you whether you should jump on Team Draft WR or Team Sign/Trade WR, but I’m here to offer a peace treaty–and that is, Why not be an advocate of the franchise going both routes?
Let’s say hypothetically, they went and signed a Julio Jones, Odell Beckham Jr., Will Fuller, Jarvis Landry, Cole Beasley, or T.Y Hilton. They would immediately get a player who can produce in the offense, but also they wouldn’t have to throw a rookie in the fire so early if they only went the draft route.
To some, those names may not be exciting because of the player’s age, injury history, or price tag they may have, but if they flipped the script and went towards the trade route, they could target someone like New England Patriots WR N’Keal Harry, Jacksonville Jaguars WR Laviska Shenault Jr., or Cincinnati Bengals WR Tyler Boyd.
As Boyd may sound like the only proven option to fans’ ears, Harry and Shenault Jr. are two young prospects who still have the upside to thrive, and despite their situations being different in the terms of why they could be moved, both could excel in different scenery.
If any of those players were added to the Cowboys, the club wouldn’t have to worry about selecting a WR prospect early and could look at late prospects such as Western Michigan WR Skyy Moore, Texas Tech WR Erik Ezukanma, Baylor WR Tyquan Thornton, and North Dakota State WR Christian Watson.
With that in mind, I do believe the franchise should sign or trade for a WR pre-draft, but also draft a prospect at some point because there isn’t anything bad about surrounding Quarterback Dak Prescott with a plethora of weapons, and they need all the help they can get if they want to chase a Lombardi once again.
