Cowboys get high praise for their 2020 NFL Draft picks

By DAVE FAVILA
LFN

Not even a global pandemic could stop the 2020 NFL Draft from taking place.

And although the NFL had to conduct this year’s event virtually instead of its usual grandiose fashion, the draft went off with few complications from April 23-25.

As expected, former LSU quarterback Joe Burrow went as the first overall pick to the Cincinnati Bengals while former Alabama QB Tua Tagovailoa was selected fifth overall by the Miami Dolphins, despite missing much of the 2019 college season with a nasty hip injury.

But most concerning to sports fans in the Rio Grande Valley was who the Houston Texans and, especially, the Dallas Cowboys selected.

Much to the delight of most Cowboys fans, Dallas selected star wide receiver CeeDee Lamb out of the University of Oklahoma with their first-round pick (17th overall). Lamb will now join receiver Amari Cooper, giving QB Dak Prescott another target and, hopefully, an incentive to sign an extension soon.

After Lamb, the Cowboys went to work filling the gaps they had on defense by selecting cornerback Trevon Diggs out of Alabama in the second round (51st overall) and defensive tackle Neville Gallimore out of Oklahoma in the third round (82nd overall).

Dallas had two fourth-round picks and selected CB Reggie Robinson out of Tulsa as the 123rd overall pick and center Tyler Biadasz out of Wisconsin as the 146th overall selection.

In the fifth round, the Cowboys returned to building their defense by taking defensive end Bradlee Anae out of Utah with the 179th overall pick and, finally, in the seventh round they selected quarterback Ben DiNucci out of James Madison (231st overall).

Most NFL analysts graded the Cowboys’ 2020 draft quite high. The New York Post, in fact, gave them an A+ and said they had the best draft overall.
Meanwhile, the same could not be said for the Houston Texans, who only had five draft selections this year thanks to a set of several questionable offseason transactions. The NY Post gave the Texans a D.

With their first pick, which came in the second round, the Texans selected defensive tackle Ross Blacklock out of TCU (40th overall). They followed that up in the third round by taking outside linebacker Jonathan Greenard out of Florida (90th overall).

In the fourth round, the Texans looked to improve their much-questioned offensive line by selecting offensive tackle Charlie Heck out of North Carolina (126th overall) and then took cornerback John Reid out of Penn State as the 141st overall pick.

Finally, in the fifth round they selected wide receiver Isaiah Coulter from Rhode Island as the 171st overall pick. The selection was an attempt to make up for trading away star receiver DeAndre Hopkins to the Arizona Cardinals this offseason.

The NFL still has hopes of beginning the 2020 season as scheduled in September, but, of course, no one is certain how the COVID-19 pandemic will play out.