2017 Cowboys Draft: First Round Prediction

The dust is just starting to settle after the 2016 NFL Draft and fans are just now starting to come to grips with the selections that their favorite teams made. The Dallas Cowboys in particular are a team that have already faced a lot of scrutiny based on their draft selections, but whether you agree or disagree it doesn’t really matter at this point.

For those of you who weren’t satisfied with the Cowboys 2016 draft class, Senior Analyst for  NFLDraftScout.com Dan Brugler has already published his first Super-early 2017 NFL Mock Draft.

Now, there is really no way of exactly knowing  what team will be selecting where so what Brugler did in his mock draft was use the current Vegas odds to win next year’s Super Bowl.

Based on the Vegas odds, the Cowboys are a playoff team and will be selecting 24th overall in the 2017 NFL Draft.

I think that would be a reasonable conclusion based on the talent the Cowboys have on the roster and the fact that the NFC East division is up for grabs. It would be quite a turnaround to go from a 4-12 team to making the playoffs.

So, who exactly did Dan Brugler decide that the Cowboys would draft the first round in 2017?

In the 2017 NFL Draft, the Dallas Cowboys select… Mike Williams, Wide Receiver, Clemson.

I can understand why Brugler would believe that the Cowboys would go with a WR in the first round. I actually really like the selection, but I’m nowhere near as informed in regards to who might be available in the 2017 draft.  It is still way too early for me to jump into the prospects that might be entering the draft next year.

Wide receiver might be a position of need after 2016, especially if you consider that both Terrance Williams and Brice Butler’s contract ends after the season. Of course, the Cowboys may decide to offer one of them a long-term contract, so that would make WR a lesser need.

Mike Williams is an interesting prospect and would definitely be a great addition to play opposite Dez Bryant.

Williams is listed at 6’4″ tall and 220 pounds. He is projected to run between a low of 4.4 second and high 4.5 second 40 yard dash. He is already an accomplished route runner and has a wide catching radius with strong hands, which allows him to adjust to make difficult catches all over the field.

Williams first gained national attention in 2014 when he accumulated 57 receptions for 1030 receiving yards and scored six touchdowns. Unfortunately, he was unable to follow that up in 2015 because he was involved in a freak accident when he  collided with the goalpost when catching a pass for a touchdown and had to miss the remainder of the season because of a neck fracture.

Williams is now 100% healthy and hopes to carry on the tradition of talented Clemson receivers in the NFL.

In recent years, Clemson has produced several talented receivers that have already made their mark in the NFL and Williams could be the next Tiger to prove that Clemson University is quickly becoming Wide Receiver U.

Sammy Watkins, DeAndre Hopkins, and Martavis Bryant have all proven themselves to be playmakers in the NFL. Even Jacoby Ford and  Jaron Brown have found success in the NFL and would add further proof suggesting that Clemson University knows how to develop wide receiver prospects and prepare them for success at the next level.

All in all, it’s still entirely too early to accurately predict who the Dallas Cowboys might target in the 2017 NFL Draft, but it still fun to speculate which prospects make the most sense based on what we know at this moment.

So, what do you think? Do you think Mike Williams would be a good addition to the roster based on what we currently know?