When the Jones family speaks, Cowboys Nation listens. Whether their words are believable or not, they are not for nothing; sometimes offering accidental insight into the plans of the front office and sometimes a smoke screen to lead would-be sleuths down the wrong path.
Less than a week before the 2023 NFL draft, their words could mean just about anything. Cowboys EVP and COO Stephen Jones recently spoke on the topic of drafting a tight end on 105.3 The Fan. Was what he offered insight or was it a smoke screen to hide Dallas’ true intentions?
The Cowboys have been linked to multiple top-ranked tight ends in the 2023 draft class over recent weeks. Prominent draft analysts have matched Dallas with Dalton Kincaid and Michael Mayer. With 2021 and 2022’s starter Dalton Schultz now playing in Houston, the logic makes sense.
For as promising as Jake Ferguson and Peyton Hendershot looked as rookies, they aren’t clear and obvious solutions at TE1 and TE2 in 2023. Perhaps the front office is less bullish on their upcoming sophomore campaigns than fans and media?
“We feel like we are going to be able to take care of situations that will ultimately get done throughout the draft,” said Jones. “Obviously you lost Dalton Schultz, you know, we drafted Ferguson last year and ended up with great value in Hendershot. You know, we feel good about that position. But certainly, you know, you’d like to think the draft’s heavy there through quite a few players in those top three of four rounds that we think can be a ‘Ferguson’ or ‘Hendershot’ and come in and really help us.”
By the sound of Jones’ statement, the Cowboys don’t appear to be hunting for a TE1 in this draft, but rather the second coming of Ferguson or Hendershot. Fighting with the same logic of many anti-TE truthers, Jones cited the depth of the position and how it promises to deliver bargains to those teams patient enough to wait.
If what he said was truthful, there would be little reason to suspect they are planning to pick a TE at 26, or even 58, for that matter. But this is lying season. There’s more reason to be untruthful than truthful right now and no one could blame Jones for getting the dogs off his scent.
To the many Dallas draft day detectives, this is the case presented to you: Are the various mock drafts correct in pairing the Cowboys with a TE in the first round? Or is Dallas focused on exploiting the depth of the position and targeting it later?
Suppose the answer to that will be revealed next weekend.
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Story originally appeared on Cowboys Wire