The Cowboys have several key defensive needs, but if the next CeeDee Lamb is sitting there at No. 12, could Dallas go offense in the draft?
One of the big discussion points over the offseason for the Dallas Cowboys has been how the franchise should approach the first round of the NFL Draft.
Armed with two first-round picks, the general thought is that the Cowboys, given the dire defensive needs, will take two players to slot into Christian Parker's unit.
But as our own Mike Fisher states, going BPA (best player available) is often the right approach.
When the Cowbosy draft for need, as they did with Mazi Smith and Luke Schoonmaker, you get into trouble. So while the Cowboys have defensive needs, they can't completely rule out an offensive player, can they?
That is the big discussion point, as if the "tags are touching" as Fish says between an offensive and defensive player, who should the franchise go with?
Well, Drew Fabianich, the executive director of the Panini Senior Bowl and a former Cowboys scout, spoke with Fish on the Fish Report and detailed his thoughts on it.
"I think it goes together sometimes, I think if that best player helps you with a need, I think that's the best," Fabianich said.
"Now, put it this way, we took CeeDee Lamb over [K'Lavon] Chaisson, and we needed the defensive end more than we needed a receiver at that point, right? And he was the best damn player. We're sitting there talking about it and it's like, hey, who does everybody want? Well, take the guy that's the higher guy on the board."
It is worth noting that the Cowboys took Lamb at No. 17 in 2020, with Chaisson going three picks later to the Jacksonville Jaguars at Pick No. 20.
Dallas needed a defensive end, but when Lamb fell into their lap, he was the highest player on the board at the time, so the Cowboys chose Lamb.
So, while it is all good and well to say "go defense at any cost" when the draft is so unpredictable, you can never have your thoughts set in stone.
With two first-round picks, the Cowboys have the ammunition to do what they need to do to get the right players in the door.
And Fabianich just told us that if the draft board tells you the best player available is there to be taken, regardless of position, you select that player.
Just as they did with CeeDee.