I swear to the Almighty, if the Dallas Cowboys draft a tight end in the 2024 Draft – in any round – I'm going to need bail money.
I'm not kidding.
Going into last year's draft I pointed out Dallas' poor history when drafting a tight end in the early rounds. They went ahead and did it anyway.
I think we can all agree that the Luke Schoonmaker pick in the second round last year was a wasted pick.
Schoonmaker's stats were abysmal. He also cost the Cowboys a win in Philadelphia by running his route too short.
Fortunately, the loss did not deny Dallas the NFC East title.
But in 2024 the Cowboys have three tight ends – Jake Ferguson, Schoonmaker, and Peyton Hendershot. That's enough for this year.
The Cowboys have far too many more pressing positions of need to fill. So watch, the Jones gang will draft the next Gavin Escobar.
The next picture you'd see of me I'd be in profile, wearing prison orange, and holding up a placard with a bunch of numbers on it.
Cream Of The Crop
I think we can safely assume the Cowboys won't be drafting a tight end. At best, they might grab one as an undrafted free agent.
I hope I'm right.
I look terrible in orange. I look even worse in black and white horizontal stripes – think of a zebra the size of a Goodyear blimp.
Yeah, let's not go there.
But there are teams that will likely be looking to improve their tight end room in two weeks. There are seven players that should definitely be gone by the end of Friday night.
The cream of this year's crop is Georgia's Brock Bowers.
In three seasons with the Bulldogs, Bowers had 175 catches for 2,544 yards and 26 touchdowns. He added another five rushing touchdowns and 193 yards on 19 carries.
In short, he's going to be a beast – likely for the Jets.
I will point out that Dallas should have been smarter last year. They should have gone offensive and defensive lineman in the first two rounds and waited on tight end until this year.
That might not have put them in position to maybe get Bowers this year. But they'd be in better position to land a much better tight end than the one they got in 2023.
The Rest Of The Best
The remaining six tight ends from the top seven should also be making plays on Sundays later this year.
Texas' Ja'Tavion Sanders is going to terrorize defenses for some time. Linebackers cannot cover him, which means a cornerback will have to.
His only weakness of concern is blocking.
NFL tight ends need to be able to be run blockers and that's something he'll need to work on.
Ohio State's Cade Stover will have the same promising attributes – and the same weaknesses — as Sanders. But he should round out into a quality NFL tight end.
Penn State's Theo Johnson and TCU's Jared Wiley stand at 6-6. That puts them among the tallest tight ends in this year's class.
A large target like that is every quarterback's dream.
Where they stand out above the other giants in their room is their athletic abilities. These two should be solid playmakers in the NFL this year.
Kansas' Ben Sinnott is something of a dark horse in the top seven.
But he can make plays and that is enough to overcome the questions surrounding his block ability.
Colorado State's Dallin Holker is likely a second round pick – please Jerry Jones, I'm begging you, don't even think about it.
Holker has a lot of intangibles that will earn him no worse than a Friday pick. But he has an injury history that might drop him all the way to the third round.
Seriously, Jerry, just don't.
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