Here's why Joey Bosa is an excellent fit for the Dallas Cowboys at No. 4
Joey Bosa makes sense for the Cowboys at No. 4. Here's why.
By
Will Brinson
•
5 min read
There is no such thing as a safe pick when it comes to the NFL Draft. Never has been, never will be. But when it comes to the Dallas Cowboys and the No. 4 overall pick in this year's draft, it's hard to imagine a better marriage of need, talent and value than Ohio State defensive end Joey Bosa.
Let me preface all of this by pointing out the Cowboys should stick to their board. If they really aren't interested in Bosa (hello, smokescreen?), then he's not the play. If Florida State defensive back Jalen Ramsey is the top guy on their board and he falls to No. 4, pull the trigger. Maybe it even involves a trade up to No. 1.
But they could do much worse than Bosa. Here's why.
Position of need
Drafting for need is dumb. It's something done by the franchises in the NFL who constantly find themselves rebuilding, chasing roster holes year after year. But there's nothing dumb about marrying need and value.
It's totally possible UCLA linebacker Myles Jack is, as Pete Prisco has posited, the best player in this draft and a faster version of Ray Lewis (!). Ramsey could ultimately be a deadly Swiss Army knife in the secondary. Carson Wentz and Jared Goff might be franchise quarterbacks.
But the Cowboys are a team looking to win now and have a serious hole at defensive end. Greg Hardy is completely out of the picture -- Jason Garrett made that much quite clear. Randy Gregory, last year's second-round pick, is facing a suspension. Demarcus Lawrence came along nicely at the end of 2015 (seven sacks in his final eight games last year), but he's the only top pass-rush threat on this team to start the season.
If the Cowboys want to elevate their overall team defense, improving the pass rush is critical. There's no question Bosa would do that.
Coaching
If you're Jerry Jones and the Cowboys front office, you can feel particularly comfortable about Bosa playing well from the get go because of Rod Marinelli's presence on the staff. Perpetually underrated in terms of the work he does with defensive-line units, Marinelli's gotten the most out of mediocre talent the past two seasons while coaching up this defense.
The Cowboys defensive coordinator prides himself on coaxing the most out of the least when it comes to defensive linemen. Bosa can step in right away with a high level of play that will immediately get a boost because of the coaching around him.
Ceiling vs. floor
One of the weird knocks on Bosa is he's currently as good as he'll get. First of all, he's really good! So that's not terrible. Secondly, that makes no sense. He's a 20-year-old human being. There's no way you can cap someone's ceiling almost a decade before he hits his athletic prime.
But the good news is Bosa does have a high floor. That's not a bad thing -- if you're talking about a prospect with unlimited upside, there's certainly more interest there for NFL teams because of the prospect of what could happen. But when you're talking about a team like the Cowboys, who are in need of a plug-and-play defensive lineman, finding a top talent in the draft who can step in right away and be productive, a high floor is a positive.
Talent and versatility
Dig around the pre-draft rankings for this class and look at the rankings of edge rushers, and Bosa is the clear-cut top talent. He's the No. 4 overall ranked player on Rob Rang's Big Board.
We're not talking about some dude who might be an OK prospect. Bosa was considered the top guy coming into the 2015 season and he managed to maintain his status as a top-10 consensus prospect in the entire draft despite missing one game (Virginia Tech) with a suspension and getting tossed out of his last game (Fiesta Bowl) because of targeting.
He consistently performed at a high level and maintained his status despite the opportunity to be picked apart.
For Dallas, there's also the bonus of what he brings on the field in terms of versatility. Bosa isn't some hyper-explosive/athletic pass rusher who is going to burst by offensive linemen. He's got raw strength, though, and if he gets one-on-one matchups he's going to bully some people.
Against the run, Bosa's shown a consistent ability to chase down rushers out of the backfield, and he displays the on-field, in-play intelligence and instinct to not get beat badly in the run game. He would improve Dallas' defense on multiple fronts.
He's also capable of moving inside if needed. Whoever drafts Bosa is going to prefer playing him as a 4-3 end obviously, but he's capable of sliding inside and powering up against interior offensive linemen.
Economics of time
This is where the quarterback quandary comes into play. Having a succession plan for Tony Romo is critical in Dallas, given there's no definite timetable for the franchise quarterback. He could play two years. He could play four years. His back and his injury history can't give Jones any real positive feeling about the long haul at the position.
If the Cowboys love Wentz, it's understandable why they would invest. But there's a chance Romo plays four years, a.k.a. the length of a rookie contract. Wentz might not see the field until it's time for his fifth-year option. Jones repeatedly says he would give up just about anything to win a Super Bowl, and you know he wants one with Romo to boot.
This is a team built to win now and it has been for a while. The offensive line and running game plus Dez Bryant and Romo's return will make the offense dangerous. There are pieces in place defensively to improve. Going with a quarterback-of-the-future now when we're talking about developmental prospects? It's just a weird strategy.
Going with a guy like Bosa who can help now, develop in Marinelli's system, solve a position of need, improve a major area of concern for the Cowboys and give them an opportunity to improve their win-now prospects while capitalizing on a top-five pick to acquire an upper-echelon prospect is just too easy a call not to make.
