Dallas Cowboys: 5 Ideal prospects in 2020 NFL Draft
By Randy Gurzi
1. Xavier McKinney, S, Alabama
As much as Dallas needs to address the interior of their defensive line, their biggest need remains on the back end of their secondary. While they undervalued the nose tackle spot, they completely forgot about safety. They were able to get some decent production out of Xavier Woods, but relying on sixth-round picks to develop into starters isn’t a prudent way to build your secondary.
Next to Woods the past couple of seasons has been Jeff Heath, who isn’t bad in any area, but he’s also not exactly a stand out either. He does take a lot of heat for his missed tackles, which come from bad angles, but the fact is, he’s been a great undrafted find that has bought them a lot of time as they neglected to look for his replacement.
Whether or not they get Heath, another free agent, to return, Dallas absolutely has to go for a safety in the first 100 picks. If they do land someone such as Javon Kinlaw, names like Kyle Dugger and Brandon Jones need to be on their shortlist. However, if Kinlaw is gone, there’s one name that makes an awful lot of sense — Xavier McKinney.
The Alabama safety is the most complete at the position and is the superior player to Grant Delpit of LSU, who seems to get the higher grade from many draft pundits. Delpit is also mocked to Dallas often, but the fact is, McKinney is the best fit.
He’s a skilled safety when asked to play in deep coverage but can also come up to the line of scrimmage and help in the run game or play in the slot. As good as he is in coverage, he’s also a great tackler.
dark. Next. Cowboys land multiple starters in 7-round mock with trades
Dallas can thoroughly improve its team this season and if they get any combination of these five prospects in the 2020 NFL Draft, they should be thrilled.