2017 Cowboys Mock Draft: 7-Round Post-Combine Edition

[tps_title]2017 Dallas Cowboys Mock Draft: Round 3, Pick 92[/tps_title]

Dawuane Smoot, DE, Illinois

I know a lot of you would like to see the Dallas Cowboys draft a defensive end with one of their first two draft picks, but any DE they do draft will probably be a rotational player as a rookie anyway. Dawuane Smoot checks a lot of the boxes you look for in a 4-3 DE and drafting him in the third round for the Cowboys just makes way too much since not to happen for me.

Defensive ends need time to develop their skill set at the NFL level and I think Smoot could be just as good as anybody the Cowboys could’ve drafted at the end of the first round at 28 or in the second round at 60. In fact, he may have a head start on anybody in this draft class because of his familiarity with defensive coordinator Ron Marinelli’s 4-3 defensive scheme. That is because he played under head coach Lovie Smith at Illinois and they operate the same system.

He needs to develop his pass rushing repertoire and learn how to better use his hands, but he has the tools to work with to become a starting caliber defensive end in the NFL.