The Cowboys surprised everyone when they selected Oregon State Cornerback Nahshon Wright with the 99th pick in the 3rd round of the draft. Dallas had been linked to several other defensive backs in the Pacific Northwest but Wright’s name wasn’t one we heard floating around.
Nahshon Wright was graded as a 7th round pick by several prominent draft experts, including Dane Brugler and Lance Zierlein. So, what do the Cowboys know that the rest of the world doesn’t?
Wright has great size and is the prototypical Dan Quinn defensive back at 6’4” with nearly 33-inch arm length. He doesn’t have the quickest hips but he’s not a slouch athlete by any means. Wright ran a 4.47 40 yard dash and is light on his feet when he’s on the field.
There is no denying that Nahshon Wright is going to be a developmental project for Dan Quinn, but luckily they can afford to bring him along slowly as they have four other CBs on the roster ahead of him.
Wright needs to put on more muscle to fill out his frame, but when you dig into the tape you can see flashes of why he drew the attention of the Cowboys. Wright has shown good instincts as well as an ability to recognize routes and go up and use his lanky frame to high point the ball like a receiver. He was also highly productive in both seasons as a Beaver.
Nahshon Wright led Oregon State in interceptions both years and accumulated almost as many tackles in a shortened 6-game COVID season as he did in a full 2019 (34 in 2019, 30 in 2020).
One of the common themes of the Cowboys’ offseason moves was acquiring versatile defenders that can play in multiple roles. This could be the case for Nahshon Wright, as well.
When addressing Dallas media for the first time he was asked which positions the Cowboys wanted him to play, and fans have to be happy with his answer.
“I don’t know,” Wright said. “Whatever they need me to do, I’ll go and get it done.”
Safety has been a position of need for the Cowboys for multiple seasons, so Dan Quinn may envision using Wright all over in the secondary when he gets his footing in the NFL.
We’ve all seen starting-caliber players slip in the draft before, and with how crazy the college season was last year (especially for the Pac-12) maybe this will be the case here. At this point, it’s probably best to just sit back and take a wait-and-see approach on Nahshon Wright.
Has anyone watched his game film? I mean, he was projected as a 7th round and he goes in the 3rd?!? So a 3rd round pick will play “all around the field” ? What the heck is that?! A 3rd is someone that should be a bit more ready to play the position he played in college. Not one story has said , ” He is a steal”, “A sleeper pick”. If Quinn was the driving force behind this pick, QUINN better make sure he is doing everything he can to make this kid a viable player…as a corner !!
he is brandon browner in this D
But I am still wondering why they would use such a high pick on a developmental project?? They probably could have gotten him later in the draft.
Doesn’t matter how hard you look at Wright , that was a reach in 3rd , deja vu all over again
So people are mad because Dane Brugler said it was a reach? I didn’t love the pick necessarily, but the guy massively outproduced and out performed Melifonwu who everyone was upset we didn’t take instead.
Maybe we should stop pretending people like Dane and Jeff Cavanaugh are smarter than anyone and realize they’re no better than us. These are the same guys that also swore ardarius washington was a second round pick
“Nearly 33-inch wingspan”? What is he, a tyrannosaurus?
Good one, Erik!
Jerry Jones always thinks he’s smarter than the rest of the league. The only time this team was great under him was when Jimmy Johnson was picking the players. That was over a quarter century ago.
It makes no sense to draft a player in the third round that would probably be there in the sixth round at the EARLIEST. There were BETTER players to been had at that point. Like the other commenters said, why pick a “PROJECT” in the third round???. That is just dumb, period.
1-3 round picks should be starters.
But they won’t be. Likely that Osa, Chauncey, and Nahshon are depth guys.
if you think third round picks should be instant starters, you should not be a fan of this team.