Did The NFL Combine HELP or HURT The Dallas Cowboys 2026 Draft Plans?

Summary

Locked On Cowboys Podcast — Episode Summary
Episode Title: Did The NFL Combine HELP or HURT The Dallas Cowboys 2026 Draft Plans?
Date: March 2, 2026
Hosts: Marcus Mosher and Landon McCool

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Marcus and Landon give a comprehensive breakdown of the 2026 NFL Combine, focusing specifically on the implications for the Dallas Cowboys’ draft plans. They tackle the evolving nature of the Combine, the trend of prospects declining to participate in certain drills, and how these changes affect pre-draft evaluations. The hosts also analyze which prospects helped or hurt their draft stock, highlight players who fit Dallas’ needs, and share their perspectives on how this year’s results shape strategic decisions for the Cowboys’ first-round picks.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Changing Nature of the NFL Combine

Timestamps: 01:24–06:27

• Fewer Participants and Changing Attitudes:

  • Landon reflects on how participation has dramatically declined among top prospects, especially in the aftermath of Covid. “It really felt like the beginning of the end for the combine, right? Like less participants… It was suddenly like all the top participants weren’t doing all the testing.” (02:28)
  • Agents and players strategically avoid drills where they might not excel, preferring no number over a potentially damaging one.
  • Marcus notes how RAS (Relative Athletic Scores) influence these decisions: “If you're not going to run a fast 40, you're just not going to run. Right?” (04:05)

• The "No Combine" Draft Impact:

  • 2021’s Covid-induced absence of a combine didn’t impact draft order or player selection, empowering players and agents to skip testing even more (05:17).

• Perceived Value of Competing:

  • Landon shares, “It just feels like it’s opportunities lost, though, in some of these situations.” (06:02)

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Evaluating Players that Participate vs. Skip Drills

Timestamps: 06:27–10:32

• Should Cowboys (and evaluators) Bump Up Players Who Test?

  • Marcus brings up Jeremiah Love, Sonny Stiles, and Arvell Reese as examples of players who tested without much to gain: “I thought it was really cool that, like, Jeremiah Love… does not have much to gain, goes out there and runs the 40 and he does all the on field drills.” (06:51)
  • Disappointment is expressed in projected top-20 picks like Mansoor Delaine and Jermon McCoy not working out.

• Drafting with Uncertainty:

  • Landon: “If you decide to put extra weight on the guys that are going out there… you’re probably going to be okay most of the time, because most of the time you’re picking the superior athletes. But… you have to be okay with the fact that you’re gonna miss a lot more on some of these guys than maybe some other teams that are willing to ignore that.” (08:00)

• Concern over Missing Data:

  • On C.J. Allen not testing: “It kind of puts more stress on him to put up really good pro day numbers.” (08:50)
  • What if he skips the pro day too? “That’s scary… Not testing at all, like, that to me falls into the category of, you know, what are you hiding?” (09:03)

• Competitiveness vs. Numbers:

  • Marcus praises Carnell Tate’s willingness to run, despite knowing he’s not a “4.3 guy”: “I just… like the guys that are willing to go out there and compete.” (09:58)

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The Timing Debate: Stopwatch vs Laser

Timestamps: 10:32–11:06

• Scouting Antics:
  • Teams sometimes propagate different 40 times through media (“just tell Adam Schefter…”), leading Landon to joke: “Scouts are generally Luddites and… they are against modern technology as much as possible. So they’re going to tell you, hey, my stopwatch that I've used since 1978 is just as good as these new fangled laser timers.” (10:50)

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Was This a Good Combine for the Cowboys?

Timestamps: 14:17–21:31

• Mixed Results for Positional Needs:

  • Landon explains there are two crucial factors: Did players at Cowboys’ need positions perform well, and did enough non-target players boost their stock to push more talent down to Dallas?
    • “I think that was kind of a mixed review day… we didn’t get anything from Mansour Delaine, we didn’t get anything from CJ Allen as you mentioned, Jermod McCoy…” (14:17)

• Offensive Line/Quarterback Prospects Rising:

  • “Ty Simpson… threw the ball really well… maybe elevated his stock.” (16:13)
  • Offensive Tackles (Monroe Freeling in particular) had strong combines, positioning them to go higher and push down other talent to Dallas.
  • Makai Lemon and Carnell Tate discussed as wide receivers whose combine performances might shift draft dynamics.

• Prospects Moving Up:

  • Marcus lists three standouts now in top-12 conversation: Kenyan Sadiq (Oregon, ran a blazing 40), Monroe Freeling (Georgia, strong performance), and Caleb Banks (huge, athletic DT): “I just don’t see [Freeling] getting outside the top 12 because there’s such a need for tackles.” (17:28–18:02)

• Trade Down Scenarios:

  • Carnell Tate’s “average” combine means he remains a trade-up target at #12 for WR-needy teams, even if Dallas doesn't want to select him: “If Carnell Tate is suddenly available at 12... there could be a team like the Ravens that need a receiver, the Jets who need a receiver, the Steelers who might all suddenly want to get up to that spot to get him.” (18:02)

• Offensive Line Inflation:

  • “Teams need offensive linemen and it’s not sexy to mock them inside the top 10, even if it feels like a little bit of a reach at this time. But once you get closer and closer to the draft, these, these guys get pushed up…” (20:31)

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Notable Quotes and Moments

• On Combine Attendance:

  • “It’s just not as vital to draft prospects’ draft stock. And I think that you’re just seeing that more and more; agents are trying to shield their players from what could be bad stock hits.” — Landon McCool (06:02)

• On Testing vs. Hiding Flaws:

  • "Not testing at all… that to me falls into the category of, you know, what are you hiding?" — Landon McCool (09:03)

• On Trade-Ups:

  • “If Carnell Tate is suddenly available at 12… there could, there would likely be teams calling because again, there’s a lot of wide receiver needy teams out there.” — Landon McCool (19:12)

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Cowboys Prospects: Winners & Fit

Timestamps: 23:30–28:45

• Dylan Thieneman (Safety, Purdue):

  • “He went out there and performed exactly like we kind of thought he would, he’s an elite athlete… I think he’s a high floor player to take at 12.” — Landon McCool (24:12)
  • Not quite Landon’s preference at 12 due to positional value, but a safe pick.

• Avion Terrell (CB, Clemson):

  • Marcus: “You watch the drills like the on field work he is so smooth… I feel so confident he’s going to find a way to be a good player. Maybe he’s never a Pro Bowl player… would be really nice to have one of those players again on your defense.” (25:18)

• Emmanuel McNeil-Warren (Safety):

  • Debate about what constitutes “speed” for a 6’4” safety: “I mean 4, 5, 3 is I guess a slow time, which to me seemed just fine… especially since he’s six four and not six two and a half or whatever we thought.” — Landon McCool (26:59)

• On the Depth of Safety and Linebacker Classes:

  • Marcus: “The safety class is really good… I wouldn’t be surprised if you get somebody like Caleb Downs falling in this draft.” (27:39)
  • "The linebacker from Texas, I thought really had a good day…” — Landon McCool (28:16)
  • The strength at these positions may cause them to fall in the draft if teams opt to wait.

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Memorable Quotes (with Timestamps)

• “Agents are just looking at these and they don’t want their players to put up bad numbers. So if you’re going to run… a bad forty… you’re just not going to do it. And it’s better just to not do it than put a bad number out there.” — Marcus Mosher (04:32)
• “If the question is like… Not testing at all, like that to me falls into the category of, you know, what are you hiding?” — Landon McCool (09:03)
• “I just like the guys that are willing to go out there and compete. Like, and that’s why I really respect someone like Carnell Tate…” — Marcus Mosher (09:58)
• “Scouts are generally Luddites and… my stopwatch that I’ve used since 1978 is just as good as these new fangled laser timers.” — Landon McCool (10:50)
• “You want to have a whole lot of available picks for you at 12 and 20. You want to have guys who are worthy of that.” — Landon McCool (15:00)

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Episode Structure & Important Segments (with Timestamps)

• 01:24–06:27 — The changing nature of the combine; trend of non-participation
• 06:27–10:32 — How to value participation vs. non-participation; draft philosophy implications
• 14:17–21:31 — Good/bad combine for the Cowboys; stock movement for positional targets; trade-up scenarios
• 23:30–28:45 — In-depth on Cowboys fits: Thieneman, Terrell, McNeil-Warren, Caleb Downs, and how safety/LB depth impacts the board

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Conclusion

This episode delivers a deep, nuanced analysis of the shifting landscape surrounding the NFL Combine and its draft implications for the Dallas Cowboys in 2026. Marcus and Landon dissect evolving norms, weigh participation decisions, and highlight how this impacts evaluations, especially for top prospects and Dallas’ likely targets in the first round. The conversation stays insightful, with practical takeaways for fans and draft aficionados alike, emphasizing adaptability in team strategy amidst rapidly shifting NFL pre-draft dynamics.

Transcript

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[Marcus Mosher]

The 2026 NFL Combine is over and we'll tell you if it was a good or bad combine for Dallas next.

[Landon McCool]

You are Locked on Cowboys, your daily

[Marcus Mosher]

Dallas Cowboys podcast, part of the Locked On Podcast network your team every day. Welcome back to the Locked On Cowboys podcast, part of the Locked On Podcast network your team every day. We'd like to thank you for making us the number one sports podcast network. And today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. FanDuel is giving you a way to turn that energy into an even bigger payout with college basketball parlay profit boosts. Head over to FanDuel.com to get started. Welcome back. I am your host, Marcus Mosher. He is Lana McCool. And on today's show, we're talking about the 2026 NFL combine. And l let's, let's start with this because I feel like you and I have been covering these combines for a long time now. Yeah, it is certainly different than it was even five or six years ago. I mean, it's, it's just a completely different event. What was your kind of takeaway coming out of this weekend?

[Landon McCool]

Well, I will say that I think last year really felt like, and, and not to kind of be overly dramatic, but it really felt like the beginning of the end for the combine, right? Like less participants happening, participating, and it was like dramatic. It wasn't Even just like a slight tailing off, it was suddenly like all the top participants weren't, weren't doing all the testing. You know, whole, whole groups were missing whole tests. And again, it's one of those things that for a whole subsection of this industry, they do so much work based very much on the testing that they get out of the combine, the kind of standardized element of the testing that they get out of the combine. So I will say that I felt like this year kind of was maybe a step back in the right direction. We still had a lot of the top end guys not work out and, and still definitely were missing a lot. But I still feel like the energy and excitement around the ones who did, I, I think will hopefully kind of turn the tide for at least a certain portion while the, you know, combine kind of calibrates itself to a new normal. But I think, yeah, it is kind of clear that the combine that we used to get, I'll say 2020, pre. 2020, pre Covid and post Covid has been extremely different and, and it does seem to be trending in the wrong way overall.

[Marcus Mosher]

Yeah, 2020 was the draft that you had CD Lamb, who, I mean, a lot of people thought was going to be a top 10 pick in that class, and Jerry Judy, they did everything, I mean, they did everything at the entire positional group was out there and they weren't concerned necessarily about having bad tests. And I wonder a couple things. I think these agents have gotten smarter about how to minimize the bad drills for these players. Right. If you're not going to run a fast forward, you're just not going to run. Right?

[Landon McCool]

Yeah.

[Marcus Mosher]

And I do wonder if the RAS scores, the relative athletic scores, teams are, I mean, not teams, agents are just looking at these and they don't want their players to put up bad numbers. So if you're going to run, you know, a bad 40 or you're going to have a bad three column, you're just not going to do it. And it's better just to not do it than put a bad number out there.

[Landon McCool]

Yeah. And again, like, I think that there used to be more of a culture around just not doing like, you know, of participating, of competing and like, okay, yeah, I mean, you might have a bad number here, but you do it and you get the, you get, you take your lumps and then that's what it is. Yeah, I understand the thought process here and I understand why, you know, agents are advising their, their, you know, their players against it.

[Marcus Mosher]

It's just, I honestly think it was a. Was it 20, 21, the Micah draft where there was no combine and it was a really good draft. I wonder if that really impacted it because once we didn't have a combine and guys were still getting drafted early, I think people, I mean, I think agents and players like, you know, I don't, I don't need this.

[Landon McCool]

I. I think. Yeah. And I. Now that you say that you're right, it was the 20, 20. That's the. Actually the, the combine that I was referring to that. I think that you know that' when, when. After you miss it, it's like, then do you have to have. It does. Is it still essential? Right. And I think a lot of things in our world were like that after. After Covid. Right. So. But yeah, I think it's. It's one of those things now where it's just different.

[Marcus Mosher]

Right.

[Landon McCool]

It's just. It's not, as is vital to draft prospects, drafts, stock. And I think that you're just seeing that more and more agents are trying to shield their players from, you know, what, what could be bad stock hits. And, and it's just, it just feels like it's, it's opportunities lost, though, in some of these situations. Right.

[Marcus Mosher]

And that's why, I mean, NFL Network kept saying this is the fastest wide receiver group ever and the fastest quarterback group. Yes. Because all those guys weren't testing. Right. Like, all the guys that were bad athletes aren't testing. But my question for you, like, big picture here. Should we give a bump to the guys that are participating? Because, like, for me, I, I thought it was really cool that, like, Jeremiah Love, who.

[Landon McCool]

Yeah.

[Marcus Mosher]

Does not have much to gain, goes out there and runs the 40 and he does all the on field drills. You know, you've got Sonny Stiles and Arvell Reese all out there doing everything. I mean, I know those guys are athletic, but they also didn't need to do any of these drills. I was a little disappointed in, like Mansoor Delaine and Jermon McCoy. You know, these are two guys that are fighting to be top 20 picks and they don't show out at the combine. So I do wonder, how do we deal with this? Do we. Should we put guys up higher that aren't afraid to test? Do you knock guys down that are. That don't test at all pre draft? What do you do here?

[Landon McCool]

I think it goes back to how comfortable you are with certainty. Right. And if you're not comfortable with the high level of uncertainty, then yeah, I think you're going to naturally feel inclined to give extra weight to these guys who went out there in the kind of neutral situation and put their athletic testing out there, good or bad. But I, I think, you know, there, you have to realize that some of these guys who aren't testing are worth drafting still. Right. Like, you have to understand this. I mean, we, I think we understand that.

[Marcus Mosher]

Right.

[Landon McCool]

But so it's like if you decide to kind of wait x put extra weight on the guys that are going out there at the combine and participating versus the ones who aren't, you're probably going to be okay most of the time, because most of the time you're picking the superior athletes. But I, I think that there's, you have to be okay with the fact that you're gonna miss a lot more on, on some of these guys than maybe some other teams that are willing to ignore that.

[Marcus Mosher]

Let me ask you, someone like C.J. allen, who we had maybe some athleticism concerns. You watch this linebacker class and it's so fast. He doesn't do anything. He doesn't test, he doesn't do any of the on field drills. He's somebody who has been frequently mentioned to the Cowboys at 20 because he didn't do anything in Indianapolis. Are you now a little bit more concerned about that pick? And later in the later stages, around

[Landon McCool]

one, I just feel like what it does is that it kind of puts more stress on him to put up really good pro day numbers.

[Marcus Mosher]

Well, what if he doesn't do anything at the pro day? Because that's another trend we've seen. These guys are just skipping.

[Landon McCool]

Yeah, I, I mean, I think that that's, that's scary. Like. Yeah, I, I think if the question is like, I think there's levels to this. Right. Like, obviously willing to participate in the combine is like the ultimate level of participation, in my opinion. Right. Like, doing in the pro day is fine. It's acceptable. But not testing at all like that to me falls into the category of, you know, what are you hiding? And I think that, I think that even though it's a strategy that's given by agents, I don't think it's a good strategy because ultimately, if we have questions here, you're not quenching that thirst with, you know, and that's probably worse for scouts and for GMs than just being able to kind of GMs and scouts know how to like talk themselves into players. If they got your numbers, they at least know they're working with something thing. I, I think this is a worse situation.

[Marcus Mosher]

Two things for me, I, I just, I like the guys that are willing to go out there and compete. Like, and that's why I really respect someone like Carnell Tate who he knows he's not a 4, 3 guy. He goes out there, he runs a 4, 5, 3. Everybody's talking about on Twitter. I don't care. Like, honestly, I don't care if you read a 4, 4, 7 versus a 4, 5, 3. Because I like the competitiveness. Makai Lemon didn't do a thing. Did not run the 40. Jordan Tyson didn't run the 40. He's not afraid of it. So I like that. And then the other part of it is if you don't like your number, just tell Adam Schefter that scouts had you in a different. You'll be fine.

[Landon McCool]

That's right. I mean, listen, if that's going to be acceptable data point, which can you

[Marcus Mosher]

explain to me, like, what's, what's the reasoning behind this where we, we have these electric times and then we'll, we'll get reports. Well, hey, three teams that it might, you know, four, four, four. That's what they had at the intel. That's what they're going to go. Why? What's the point of that?

[Landon McCool]

Well, I think, you know, it's just as well as I do that scouts are generally Luddites and that they are against modern technology as much as possible. So they're going to tell you, hey, my stopwatch that I've used since 1978 is just as good as these new fangled laser timers. I'll tell you that much right now.

[Marcus Mosher]

Well, the theory behind it is that these stopwatches travel from, you know, Indy to Georgia, I mean, which, but man, you want to talk about leaving some room in there for human error, it's just whatever. All right, let's talk about if this was a good or a bad combine for the Cowboys because the Cowboys have two picks, obviously. Did we see a lot of players improve their stocks? We'll get to that next. This episode is brought to you by FanDuel. College basketball is non stop. Big games, tight spreads, momentum swings every single night. From early tip offs to late night west coast shootouts, there's always action on the board. And now FanDuel is giving you a way to turn that energy into an even bigger payout. With college basketball parlay, profit boost, you can build any college hoops parlay that you want. Rivalry games, ranked matchups, whatever fits your read. You can mix spreads, you can mix totals and player props all on the FanDuel app. So go safe. Go bold. Ride with your team that you've been following all season. It's your parlay, your style now with more upside than ever before. Head over to FanDuel.com to get started. That is FanDuel.com and play your game with FanDuel. This episode is brought to you by Indeed Workplace Chaos. Deadline stacking up, inbox overflowing and the one position you have to fill is still sitting open. When the pressure's on and you need the right hire. This is a job for Indeed Sponsored Jobs. Indeed sponsored jobs help you reach the people who actually fit what you're looking for with skills, experience and location. So you're not just hoping that the right candidate stumbles across your post. So if you're hiring, spend less time searching and more time interviewing candidates who check all of your boxes with Indeed Sponsored Jobs. And listeners of this show get a $75 sponsored job credit to help give your job the premium status that it deserves@ Indeed.com podcast. Just go to Indeed.com podcast right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast that is indeed.com podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Need to hire. This is a job for Indeed Sponsored Jobs. Welcome back to the Lockdown Cowboys podcast. We'd like to thank you for making us your first listen every single day. The off season never stops if you're a cowboy friend a fifth hand and neither do we. So get one month free of the everyday club with the code free agency. It's all one word, no spaces now through March 15th go to go go ad free and keep the conversation going on discord. Join the club at locked on cowboys.supercast.com all right, Layton, let's talk about the combine for the Cowboys. How do you think this combine shaped up for Dallas? You think it was a good, bad or just neutral performance overall?

[Landon McCool]

So I think there's two metrics here, right? That, that that kind of dictate whether the Cowboys had a good combine or whether this was a good combine from the point of view of the Dallas Cowboys. One is the kind of supply and demand aspect of it, and I think it was making sure that you had players at the positions you need that are hitting the metrics that you like, right? And I think that was kind of a mixed review day, right, because we didn't get anything from Mansour delaying, we didn't get anything from CJ on as you mentioned, Jermod McCoy, who we had kind of still had to hold out Hope would would do some testing. Has still says he's not 100, which is again pretty scary. Right.

[Marcus Mosher]

He also came in a little smaller and shorter than you expected.

[Landon McCool]

Yeah, Delay came in at a good size. He was, he was, he was a little bit taller than I expected. I like, I'd like to see him a little bit bigger, but that's, I'm not going to double count that. We knew he was undersized. He was undersized, but he wasn't like severely undersized. You got some really great numbers from some other guys, right? Sonny Stiles and Thienaman. We'll talk about some of those other guys a little bit later. But you got some good numbers from some of the other guys that you were hoping would put give you good numbers because you want to have a whole lot of available picks for you at 12 and 2020. You want to have guys who are worthy of that. But the other side, the other metric of this that that kind of dictates whether the Cowboys had a good day is the availability of those players that you want to be picked when you have those picks. And what really is dictating that is are the players at the other positions, the positions you're not going to be drafting. How did they perform in this combine? And in that sense I think the Cowboys had a pretty good day, right. I think specifically the guys that we were looking at to have kind of days to boost them, their profile a little bit were guys like Ty Simpson who I think went out there, threw the ball really well in this combine, maybe elevated a stock. You also saw some of the other guys like Nuss Meyer and who, I forget who the.

[Marcus Mosher]

Drew Aller was another one.

[Landon McCool]

Drew Aller was the other guy that was throwing right from Penn State. Those aren't necessarily first round guys, are certainly not guys that are going to get in front of 12 or 20. But. But Ty Simpson is a guy that, you know, if there's enough of a whisper campaign, has a good pro day, maybe somebody can convince themselves into picking him above one of your two picks. I think there's also some offensive linemen, including the guy from Georgia that Monroe feeling that had a really big day. That's going to help you out as well. I think the other side of this is that you didn't get any of the real wide receiver workouts except for Makai Lennon running the the gauntlet and then Tate running every doing but maybe not like blowing. He did fine and just fine is fine for his stock. But we wanted him to have A blow it out of the park, you know, performance so that he could secure himself as the top 10 pick because we need him to push down players to us at 12. So I think it was kind of mixed review overall. Like, there's some good, there's some bad. I think the guys you like mostly checked boxes except for the ones we talked about and the stock. As far as availability of the guys you want, I think that you may be improved a little bit. But we'll. We'll see as the next few weeks come up.

[Marcus Mosher]

Here's the way I look at it. There are three guys that are right now being ranked outside of the top 15 on the consensus board that I think all had huge days that now I think are at least in the conversation to go inside the top 12. And those guys are Kenyan Sadiq from Oregon running a 4, 3, whatever. He officially ran. Monroe Freeling, who he talked about from Georgia. He was somebody that's being pretty frequently mocked, like into the early 20s. And I, I just don't see him getting outside the top 12 because there's such a need for tackles.

[Landon McCool]

The need is so strong, they're going to push it up.

[Marcus Mosher]

And the other one is Caleb Banks and I, we've talked about Caleb Banks before. He is a hit or miss prospect, but he's so big, he's so athletic. I don't know if he goes inside the top 12, but I do feel pretty good that he goes inside the top 20 before the Cowboys pick at 20. So I do think he had a good day. The other part of this, Landon, is it's. It's hard to exactly say what's good or bad for the Cowboys because. Let's use Carnell Tate, right? We would like to see Carnell Tate go before the Cowboys pick at 12, right. But we would also like to see the Cowboys maybe trade down at one point at 12 or 20. And one thing we know is that if teams are moving up for players, it's generally for quarterbacks, wide receivers, or edge rushers, right? Like, those are the three guys. And if Carnell Tate is suddenly available at 12, yeah, you're not going to pick him. But there could be a team like the Ravens that need a receiver, the jets who need a receiver, the Steelers who need a receiver that might all suddenly want to get up to that spot to get him. So what, we've been rooting for him to have an awesome combine, but, you know, I don't want to even call it subpar. Just an average performance now actually helps

[Landon McCool]

you out yeah, and I think that's average is exactly right. Like, I mean, I think what we were looking for was a superstar performance to vault him up. And I think you're right. Like, I think it's kind of a double edged sword a little bit right where you definitely want him picked above you. But if one of the guys that you're not expecting. I'm sorry, if one of the guys that you expect to be picked in the top 10 were to fall, he's one of the guys you would like to fall, right? Because what you said right there, I think there's other guys who could fall out of the top 10 that we're expecting that it wouldn't necessarily be good for the Cowboys because maybe they don't necessarily have the same sort of value that would cause a team to trade up for them as, you know, or be good trade bait. I do agree that I think that Tate is not one of those guys. Tate is a guy that, that if he fell to you at 12, there could, there would likely be teams calling because again, there's a lot of wide receiver needy teams out there. I am also wondering if like guys like Fano and Freeling aren't starting to become like that just because of their position as well and Malalaga as well. Like there's a chance now that we see if there's their need that there could be as many as three offensive linemen that go in that top 12. Before I said 12, you know, I

[Marcus Mosher]

mean, I remember at this time last year we thought, okay, the only offensive lineman going inside the top ten is Will Campbell. That was pretty well mocked for a while. And then Amar Memboo had a really good combine and all of a sudden I think he ended up being the seventh overall pick. Kelvin Banks ended up being a top 10 pick to the Saints. Teams need offensive linemen and it's not sexy to mock them inside the top 10, even if it feels like a little bit of a reach at this time. But once you get closer and closer to the draft, these, these guys get pushed up and I think Freeland and even someone like Kaden Proctor, who I don't love, teams are going to look at a 350 pound offensive tackle that can move the way he can and want to take a chance on him.

[Landon McCool]

Blake Miller too. I don't know if he gets up above where the Cowboys are at 12 and 20, but I think he's going above 20.

[Marcus Mosher]

I don't think he gets about 12,

[Landon McCool]

but that's certainly his possibility. But I mean Again, just another guy who checks boxes at a position of huge, huge need.

[Marcus Mosher]

Yes.

[Landon McCool]

Could very likely be a pick in the top top 20 picks.

[Marcus Mosher]

All right, let's talk about guys that fit Dallas and how they perform this weekend. We'll get to that next. This episode is brought to you by Game Time. We live in a world where you can stream anything, order food in minutes, and carry supercomputers in our pockets. And yet buying tickets to a live game still still feels complicated. Hidden fees, jump prices, jumping at checkout, endless steps. There has to be a better way. And that's why I use the Game Time app. It gives the advantage back to the fans and it makes getting tickets simple, whether it's NFL games, concerts, comedy, whatever you're into. I was actually just using the Game Time app yesterday because I'd like to go see Pittsburgh Penguins hockey game. Sidney Crosby's gonna be out for a while, but that's okay. The prices are cheap now and it's unbelievable some of the seats and deals that you can get. You can even spot zone deals where you pick the section that you want to sit in. And Game Time will pick the seats to give you extra savings. Two taps and you you're locked into great seats, fast, easy, and it's over with. So take the guesswork out of buying Tickets. Download the GameTime app, create an account and use promo code locked on for $20 off your first purchase terms apply again, create an account, redeem promo code locked on for $20 off and download GameTime today.

[Landon McCool]

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[Landon McCool]

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[Marcus Mosher]

Welcome back to the Lockdown Cowboys podcast. We are discussing the NFL combine. L. What about the players that fit Dallas? Who do you think had a strong performance this weekend?

[Landon McCool]

Well, we talked about Thetaman earlier. Right. And I think we listen. We've talked about Sonny Styles. We've gone over some of the linebackers. So I'm going to focus on some of the folks we haven't discussed yet. But I think it starts with Dynamin, at least for me. Right. Like I thought, he went out there and performed exactly like we kind of thought he would, he's an elite athlete. I think he went out and showed that. I think you know we had some, I mean I think there were.

[Marcus Mosher]

Is he, there's a lot of people now putting him up in like to the 12 conversation. Is he there for you?

[Landon McCool]

I would not be upset with taking him at 12 if that had to be the pick but he certainly is not quite to the spot where I'm like he's my preference at 12. You know like if he's. I think he's a high floor player to take a 12. My, but again my, my question is because of positional value. I don't think he's quite as special as Caleb Banks is but that's why I would be over the moon if Caleb Downs. I'm going to keep doing that all draft season. That's why I think like I would be over the moon if it was Caleb Downs somehow Feldy. Which I do think maybe the odds of that increased this weekend but we could talk about that in a bit. But I think the is like because of his position to me again I see him as a slot as safety kind of hybrid guy. I just wonder like are you going to be able to get the full value of what you're getting at? But again you know that position is becoming more valuable. Maybe the, the contracts are going to go up and maybe you're just getting ahead of the curve by drafting a player like that at 12. I certainly think he's qualified as a mid round first pick with his, with his talent. I just, you know, I wonder about the talent plus the positional value.

[Marcus Mosher]

Yeah. And I think Thieman is more of an option at 20 but I would I be surprised if we start hearing more about him as an option at 12. No, the guy for me was Avion Terrell, the cornerback from Clemson. I mean the, the metrics of the measurables are not going to blow you away. He's got you know there was a 30 inch arms. He was 188 pounds. He's five foot ten and a half but you watch the, you watch the drills like the on field work he is so smooth and it's like again I not probably an option at 12 and I know the Cowboys prefer longer cornerbacks but I, I just feel so confident that he's going to find a way to be a good player. Maybe he's never a Pro bowl player. Maybe he's more like in the Jordan Lewis, you know range of players. Would be really nice to have one of those players. Again, on your defense, I mean, Jordan

[Landon McCool]

Lewis is a guy that Jerry Jones mentioned this very weekend on the bus, right. As a guy that he felt like maybe they got rid of a little too soon. So yeah, I wouldn't be shocked if, if maybe they're now back in the, in the mood for these kind of players because they realize that they have value, especially in the slot. So, yeah, again, I totally agree. I thought he looked incredibly smooth. We can't get out of this, the segment without talking about your guy. Right. Emmanuel McNeil, Warren, I think he had a good combine, but he kind of checked a different set of boxes than I thought he was gonna check. You know, his speed was not necessarily elite, but that's okay because he came in at like 6, 4.

[Marcus Mosher]

What did a 6 foot 4 safety, ran a 4, 5, 3 suddenly be. Be considered a slow safety?

[Landon McCool]

I'm not, I'm just, you know, I think there's a lot of people out there talking and you're right, like, absolutely. And I think that was what I was going to come in here to defend your guy. Right. Because Yeah, I mean 4, 5, 3 is I guess a slow time, which to me seemed just fine. Again, especially since he's six four and not six two and a half or whatever we thought. And I think you see that on tape. He's a guy that like, especially in the back end of, of the, of coverage, like, he just can, he's very rangy. He can cover a lot of ground because he can stride out and he covers a lot of ground. So yeah, I think another guy that kind of checked the boxes you needed him to in order to be a first round pick. If teams like his tape enough, the

[Marcus Mosher]

safety class is really good. This is where just talking about Caleb Downs who didn't do anything, any testing, not that I'm concerned about it because safety is the one position that the athleticism matters, but it doesn't matter so much the difference between a 4, 4, 8 and a 4, 5, 5. Right. Instincts matter so much more. But I do wonder if you're a team like the Bengals or the Chiefs that are drafting ahead of the Cowboys. You see all these awesome athletes at safety. Maybe you decide to take a David Bailey or a Reuben Bain or a Jeremiah Love instead and wait to capitalize on this awesome safety class. I wouldn't be surprised if you get somebody like Caleb Downs falling in this draft.

[Landon McCool]

I wouldn't be. I mean, I, I don't think Sonny Styles is going to fall necessarily the Cowboys at 12, but I wouldn't be this shocked because I think the linebackers had a similar week right where you saw them really test out well, there's a bunch of them. The linebacker from Texas, I thought really had a good day. So yeah, I just think that a lot of guys that are going to make you think twice, especially these guys in the top seven eight picks like do I want to take this guy here or do you want to wait to the second round? It's a question that could have really major consequences for the Cowboys at 12.

[Marcus Mosher]

That is it for today's show. We'd like to thank you for making Locked on Cowboys your first listen every single day. If you never miss an episode, the everyday Club is built for you. Get locked on Cowboys ad free members only, discord access and so much more. Head over to locked on cowboys.supercast.com to join the club. And for those of you on video, we can send you the first ever 24.7national NBA YouTube channel and on audio, make your second listen the lockdown NFL Draft Podcast. Follow Landon on Twitter acoolbcb. I'm arcusmosier and we will see you right back here tomorrow.

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[Landon McCool]

Hey everyone, this is Ross Jackson, one of the hosts of the Locked On Podcast network. If your group chat's been a little quiet lately, I want to invite you to come and join ours. If you sign up for the Everydayer Club, you get access to the Members only group chats for your favorite teams plus national chats for every sport. Personally, I love watching folks talk a little smack in the NFC south trash talk chat. You also get an ad free version of your favorite Locked on show and a whole lot more. You can check it out by tapping the Everydayer Club link in the show notes.