This is the player, if available, Dallas should draft at 12

Yesterday, Cody Warren wrote that the Dallas Cowboys should not draft a running back in the first round.

Don’t get me wrong. I like Cody.

He’s a good guy, a great writer, and a welcome addition to the staff here.

But on this issue, he’s all hat and no cattle.

Don’t worry, he’s still in better condition than Jerry Jones. The Cowboys’ owner has no hat, no cattle, and nothing but a field full of cow manure.

Cody’s piece asks the Cowboys to focus on the offensive and defensive lines in April’s draft.

In other words, wash, rinse, and repeat. How’s that been working out lately?

Three Straight Bad Drafts?

In 2022, the Cowboys drafted Tyler Smith (offensive guard) and Sam Williams (defensive end). Those two picks can still both pay off.

It will depend on Williams’ recovery from knee surgery.

In 2023, Dallas skipped on offensive guard O’Cyrus Torrence not once, but twice.

Torrence is playing in the AFC Championship game on Sunday.

Instead, the Cowboys took defensive tackle Mazi Smith and tight end Luke Schoonmaker. Both players are busts.

Both players will be watching the conference title games on television with the rest of us.

This past April, Dallas reached for right tackle Tyler Guyton and defensive end Marshawn Kneeland.

Guyton did not impress at left tackle, and was replaced as a starter during the season. Kneeland battled his own knee injury and had an unremarkable season.

If the Cowboys take Cody’s advice – which is shared by many others – Dallas would focus on their lines for the third-straight draft.

And it would be their third-straight bad draft.

As the lines stand now, the Cowboys have their starters on both sides of the ball.

Offensive Line

LT – Tyler Smith

LG – TJ Bass

C- Cooper Beebe

RG – Brock Hoffman

RT – Tyler Guyton

Reserves – Terrence Steele, Asim Richards, Chuma Edoga

Defensive Line

DE – Sam Williams, Micah Parsons

DT – Osa Odighizuwa, Chauncey Golston

Reserves – Mazi Smith, Marshawn Kneeland

This is not the draft Dallas needs to burn more first and second round picks on linemen. It is time to focus on the area that is holding the Cowboys back.

Playmakers Needed

What Dallas lacks are playmakers. Players you can put the ball into their hands and let them cook.

The Cowboys have one such player on offense – CeeDee Lamb.

That’s really all they have.

Dak Prescott is no longer a playmaker. He can’t run like he used to.

That hamstring injury last year isn’t going to make that fact go away either.

His decision making as a passer is also suspect lately.

Rico Dowdle is not a bell cow running back.

He can be a great change of pace back, like Tony Pollard was for Ezekiel Elliott a few years back. Or, a Justice Hill in Baltimore for Derrick Henry.

But the guy who can carry the offense on his back for an entire game?

No, that’s not Dowdle.

After Lamb, the receivers aren’t much better. No defense is scared by Brandin Cooks, Jalen Tolbert, Jake Ferguson, or any of the others.

Lamb needs someone on the other side of the line to take away the double teams.

Last year, that player could have been Xavier Worthy.

But Dallas didn’t take him when he was on the board near the end of the first round. Instead, they traded down and took Guyton, who would have been there in the second round.

Worthy went to the Chiefs instead and, like Torrence, will be playing in the AFC title game on Sunday.

The 2025 Draft is three months away. The Cowboys had better be laser-focused on addressing their most urgent needs this time around.

Who Is The 12th Man?

If he’s there when Dallas goes on the clock, and I will be surprised if he falls that far, Ashton Jeanty had better be the pick.

I’ve heard the counterarguments.

“Oh, it’s a deep running back class.” “Oh, they can get a back in the third round.”

Horse-hockey.

Take a look at the top five running backs in Cowboys’ history:

Emmitt Smith – 17,162 yards

Tony Dorsett – 12,036 yards

Ezekiel Elliott – 8,488 yards

Don Perkins – 6,217 yards

Calvin Hill – 5,009 yards

Of those five, only Perkins wasn’t a first-round pick. Take a minute and let that sink in.

The counter-argument here that I’ve heard is that Elliott faded as he got older.

This is true. Which is why you don’t sign him to a second contract — unless you’ve won a Super Bowl or two — and then draft the next guy in four or five years.

You know, what the Cowboys should have done with Elliott after his first contract.

What Dallas should have done after Prescott’s second contract ended without even a conference championship game appearance for that matter.

Jeanty is a big missing piece of Dallas’ puzzle. He has to be the pick at 12 if he’s still on the board.

If he isn’t then you go to the fallback position of landing a running back in the second round.

But you still find an offensive playmaker in the first round.

Helping Out CeeDee

That would be at wide receiver. The two top prospects who should be there are Luther Burden III from Missouri and Tre Harris from Ole Miss.

With one of those two roaming the secondary, defenses won’t be able to clamp down on Lamb as much.

They would also make Prescott’s life a little easier with another reliable target to throw too.

But whether it’s a running back or a receiver, the Cowboys need to get a playmaker this year. Otherwise, 2025 will likely be 2024 2.0 in Dallas.