Did the Dallas Cowboys have the biggest reach of the 2021 NFL Draft?

The Dallas Cowboys had 11 picks in the 2021 NFL Draft, but here’s why they might have had the biggest reach of any team. 

Anytime you have 11 draft choices all in the same year, you would think that any team would come away with quite the impressive haul. However, that wasn’t necessarily the case for the Dallas Cowboys this offseason. Though the organization gambled on some talented players with character concerns with their first two picks in Micah Parsons and Kelvin Joseph, they had some headscratchers on day two.

Despite owning 4 day-two picks (one 2nd rounder and three 3rd rounders), the Cowboys managed to make a few players that draft analysts had ranked considerably. In the third round, Dallas grabbed defensive linemen Osa Odighizuwa and Chauncey Golston in what seemed like a bit of a reach. However, nothing compared to their final pick in the third round of the NFL Draft.

With plenty of talent still available on the draft board, the Cowboys elected to go with Nahshon Wright with the 99th overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft. If you are unfamiliar with this name, there’s a reason for that.

Wright was an unranked prospect coming out of high school and was forced to go the JUCO route – playing for Laney College. He eventually went on to receive an offer from Oregon State. However, where you might know him as the older brother of Rejzhon Wright from the Netflix series, Last Chance U.

Why Cowboys had the biggest draft reach

Despite his five minutes of fame, nobody expected Nahshon Wright to be off the board this early. Wright has some interesting size metrics. Despite standing at over 6’4” with nearly 33” arms, he is incredibly slim at just 183 pounds. In addition, he tested as a poor athlete at his Pro Day this offseason. Though he had a respectable 40-yard dash (4.49) and broad jump (126”), he tested in the 5th percentile or lower in his 10-yard split, vertical jump, and 20-yard shuttle, according to Mockdraftable.

Overall, Wright tested as just a 24th percentile athlete, according to his Relative Athletic Score:

Though he only played two years at Oregon State, it’s easy to get behind Nahshon Wright’s college production. Despite playing just 16 games, Wright recorded 5 interceptions and 5 pass defenses while racking up 64 total tackles, according to Sports Reference.

Still, his respectable college stats aren’t enough to justify a reach of this magnitude, and Wright has an uphill battle to prove to Cowboys fans that he will be worth a top-100 pick.

I don’t want to completely discount Nahshon Wright as an illegitimate draft prospect, but this certainly seems like a guy that you should be able to get at the tail end of the draft or as a priority free agent. The Dallas Cowboys love tall, long cornerbacks, so perhaps he works out here, but it’s going to be hard to live up to his status as a third-round draft choice. He needs to start by just making the team.