Senior Bowl Week: Dallas Cowboys Are Eyeing A Quarterback In The NFL Draft
The Senior Bowl workouts are underway and the Dallas Cowboys are among the teams who are sniffing around Mobile, Alabama’s Fairhope Stadium looking for talent. The topic of discussion for the Cowboys is, should they address their top need by going after a quarterback with the No. 4th pick in the upcoming draft?
There are several signs pointing to the Dallas Cowboys looking closely at all of the top passers whose names may get called by NFL Commissioner Roger Goddell in early May. But before anyone assumes that quarterback is the direction the Cowboys will go with their first pick, Dallas’ owner and general manager Jerry Jones quickly shoots down the notion (courtesy of ESPN) that it is a given a QB will be selected.
“There are many options. There’s free agency. The question you [asked], and I’m taking it literally, is, Do you have to? Have to do what? Do we have to [draft a quarterback] to compete for a Super Bowl next year? Do we have to to compete for a Super Bowl in the future? Do you have to have it in place after you have this draft? There’s no ‘have to’ here, in my mind, because we have the luxury of having [Tony] Romo for a minimum three, four, five years here. So we’re going to play football and hopefully play it well with a healthy Romo.”
Tony Romo may just be around for the next “three, four, five years,” but there must be a successor in place to learn the system while Romo plays for the next couple of years. And if Romo were to get hurt again, there must be a backup in place capable of, at the very least, not costing the Cowboys the game.
The NFL rumor mill keeps churning out the names of Johnny Manziel and Robert Griffin III. Both would be ideal as backups, or as starters of the future. Depending on the circumstances, Manziel and Griffin III have the talent to push Romo as the top passer on the Cowboys’ depth chart. If the asking price is right, either Johnny Manziel or RGIII could be added to the roster, but the quarterbacks who are available in the draft may be too tantalizing to pass up. That could eliminate the possibility of bringing one of the young veterans onto the rosters?
The 2016 draft class is rich on quarterbacks. At the top of the heap is California QB Jared Goff and Paxton Lynch from Memphis. A lot of buzz at Fairhope Stadium, though, has been about North Dakota State’s Carson Wentz.
Here at LP stadium in mobile for day 2 of practice. cold and gloomy pic.twitter.com/LDXBlt8xpd
— Gary Isabelle Jr (@garyisabellejr) January 27, 2016
According to several sources, including SportsDay Dallas News, members of the Cowboys’ front office met with Carson Wentz. His first introduction to the Cowboys came from none other than Jerry Jones himself. Jones immediately shook the 22-year-old’s hand, hoping to be impressed by the mystery quarterback of the Senior Bowl.
Jerry Jones meets Carson Wentz post North Team @seniorbowl practice. https://t.co/wWiwmSmw9z
— Dallas Cowboys (@dallascowboys) January 27, 2016
Wentz is listed at 6-6, and 235 pounds, which gives him the prototypical size of what many teams look for in a quarterback. He can pass the football, scramble with the football, and possess the smarts to be a starter on NFL Sundays. The one thing that works against Carson Wentz is that his production came while playing inferior talent.
The Dallas Cowboys are not the only team to have interest in Carson Wentz; the Philadelphia Eagles had a sit down with the North Dakota State quarterback. Working in the Cowboys’ favor is the fact that they pick before their NFC East rival.
Another player that has grabbed the attention of the Cowboys during Senior Bowl week is former Ohio State quarterback turned wide receiver Braxton Miller.
Jeff Cavanaugh from 103.5 FM in Dallas tweeted out that several members of the Dallas Cowboys’ brass took an extensive look at Miller, who showed up to Senior Bowl practices looking lighter and ready to fully embrace playing as receiver.
Braxton Miller is not being look at as an option with the No. 4 pick in the upcoming draft, but he is worthy of a look anywhere from the second and third rounds.
Nice reverse end around moves by @OhioStFootball @BraxtonMiller5 he certainly has the speed
— Gary Isabelle Jr (@garyisabellejr) January 27, 2016
The Dallas Cowboys are looking at quarterbacks with their top draft pick. While nothing is set in stone, and things can change in a hurry — acquiring Johnny Manziel and Robert Griffin III could alter the course — all the signs point to the quarterback being an option.
If so, the Cowboys’ owner and general manager Jerry Jones could shock everyone by targeting North Dakota State’s quarterback Carson Wentz. Jones is reportedly enamored with Wentz, and he would not be intimidated by the one blemish on Wentz’s resume, the lack of production against top schools. In the minds of Jerry Jones and the Dallas Cowboys, Carson Wentz may remind him of a certain quarterback who played his college ball at Eastern Illinois. The similarities are striking.
(Photo by David Purdy/Getty Images)
