The Dallas Cowboys have 10 picks in the 2021 NFL Draft. It’s no secret that defense will be the primary focus, but the Cowboys shouldn’t ignore the offensive side of the ball, especially the trenches.
In 2020, the Cowboys offensive line was flooded with injuries. La’el Collins missed the entire season, Tyron Smith only played in two games, and Zack Martin missed six starts. The Cowboys got some insurance when they signed veteran Tackle Ty Nsekhe to a one-year deal. However, there’s another tackle in this draft that could give the Cowboys excellent depth and that’s BYU’s, Brady Christensen.
Christensen took a two-year mission to Hamilton, New Zealand from 2015 to 2017 after graduating from Bountiful High School in Utah. He flipped his commitment from the Air Force Academy to BYU and had a stellar collegiate career.
He would redshirt his freshman season before becoming a three-year starter for the Cougars. Christensen showed a great ability to get leverage on defensive linemen with a quick punch off the line of scrimmage. Seals off edge rushers with excellent arm extension. When engaged, he constantly keeps his feet moving and drives defenders backward. Gets to the second and third levels well on stretch plays and is a good backside blocker.
He was selected as a Consensus First-Team All-American in 2020.
One knock on Christensen was that he wasn’t an elite athlete, but he put those thoughts to bed at his Pro Day. At 6’6 and 302 pounds, he ran 4.89 in the 40-yard dash, posted a 34-inch vertical jump, and recorded a 10’4″ in the broad jump which insane for a man his size. Also, he did 30 reps on the bench press.
The aforementioned Smith missed three games each season from 2016 to 2019 before missing 14 games in 2020. If the Cowboys could snag Christensen on Day 2 of the draft with one of their two third-round picks, or Day 3 with multiple fourth-round selections, they would have not only a very good backup tackle but a potential starter for the future which could be sooner than later with Smith’s recent injury history.
His name won’t get the headlines like other offensive tackles in this draft such as Northwestern’s Rashawn Slater or Oregon’s Penei Sewell, but Christensen is an excellent developmental prospect that would add tremendous depth to the Cowboys offensive line.
