The Dallas Cowboys are conducting meetings with key prospects at the NFL Scouting Combine this week and they have a keen eye out for some “bigger bodies” to add to the defense. Cowboys vice president of player personnel Will McClay opened up to the media about how new defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer’s scheme is impacting the team’s draft board at this point in the process.
“As we begin this process, it’s a little different scheme,” McClay said, via DallasCowboys.com. “We’re looking for big, athletic football players. Finding guys that have those little nuances that [Mike Zimmer] has. It’s been great for us to spend time with the coaches and hear them talk to players and communicate so we can get a better feel for what that is as well.”
“I think we’re probably going to look more so at those bigger bodies at the inside, stopping that. We’re always looking at linebackers. That’s a position that in free agency and in the draft that we’re going to have to look at because we want to add more players there.”
The Cowboys made the defensive tackle position a priority last offseason and signed first-round pick Mazi Smith. Smith ended up losing weight throughout the season, however, and contributed little. Adding to the group again, especially if they don’t re-sign Jonathan Hankins, is a shrewd move.
At linebacker, the team is facing the possibility of former first-rounder Leighton Vander Esch‘s early retirement. The neck injury he suffered five games into the season has his status as “questionable” moving ahead.
Run game in focus for Cowboys
Offensively, the Cowboys could need a big restock of the running back room. Tony Pollard and Rico Dowdle are both on their way to free agency this month. McClay mentioned improvements to the run game as a focus amid the draft season.
“No. 1, they gotta be able to run the football, and then it’s how well they pick up things,” McClay said. “We’re looking at it from a measurement standpoint and the different types of backs there are, and then do they fit into our system? That’s vitally important, but even more important is the guys that open up those holes.”
The leadership in Dallas, including Mike McCarthy and Mike Zimmer who are not at the Combine, will have more opportunities for face time with the prospects during top 30 visits. McClay, however, enjoys the first impressions he gets to take away from private meetings in Indianapolis.
“We want to figure out who the guy is,” he shared. “We want to bring them in, ask them about the stuff that they do, see if they can learn our stuff in those short instances, and really find out what they’re all about. There are some guys that come into the room and you can tell right away that there’s that dynamic personality. It’s just getting to know the players that’s the coolest part about this.”
Last year, the Cowboys met with almost all of the players that they drafted, either at the combine or during top 30 visits.
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