Depth is something you can never have enough of in the NFL. With a plethora of free agents along the defensive line, five being unrestricted, the trenches will need to be a focal point for the Dallas Cowboys in free agency and the draft.
What makes the urgency to sure up the defensive front even greater is the possibility of losing Defensive End Robert Quinn, who is one of the organization’s most important free agents behind Dak Prescott, Amari Cooper, and the soon to be departed, Byron Jones. More than likely, the Cowboys will address the defensive line within the first two days of the draft, but if they’re looking for value in the later rounds, Tulsa’s Trevis Gipson could provide just like that.
After redshirting in 2015, Gipson appeared in all 13 games in very limited action and totaled eight tackles and a sack in 2016. Much was the same a year later when he only registered 11 tackles, two passes defended and a forced fumble. As a redshirt junior in 2018, Gipson stepped his game up and tallied 46 tackles (nine for loss), four sacks, and five forced fumbles (tied for second in FBS). In his final season for the Golden Hurricanes, he would finish with 49 tackles (15 for loss), eight sacks, and two forced fumbles. Those numbers were good enough to garner him First-Team All-AAC honors.
🔥💪🏼 DE Trevis Gipson 2020 NFL Draft Top Prospect (Tulsa University)
https://youtu.be/10pUJJTEQbM
The interior of the Cowboys defensive line needs more work, however, having the ability to apply pressure from the edge can’t be devalued, and Gipson provides the opportunity to add depth later in the draft in that regard. He’s a raw talent with things to work on fundamentally, however, that’s what you expect from a pick in the later rounds. He’s got the size at 6’3 and 261 pounds that you want coming off the edge. Also, he has the power, as evident by his 25 reps of 225 pounds on the bench press at the combine, which was tied for second for all defensive linemen.
https://twitter.com/GipsonBrothers/status/1233561155014144000?s=19
Scouting report according to NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein
The flashy or well-known names get all the attention in the draft, and rightfully so. Nonetheless, there’s tremendous value in the later rounds, which is where Gipson will likely be picked. As I mentioned earlier, depth is very important in the game of football, especially in the trenches, which makes Gipson a very intriguing name to keep an eye on in April.
