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The Dallas Cowboys' 2013 NFL draft board has been leaked, as Blogging the Boys used footage of the Dallas draft room to piece together a full draft board. It's fascinating and educational to see where the Dallas Cowboys had the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' draft picks ranked. Mostly, they didn't think very highly of the Bucs' haul in the draft.
The biggest shocker is where the Cowboys had the Bucs' top draft pick ranked. They thought that Johnthan Banks was worth just a sixth-round pick. The Buccaneers picked him in the middle of the second round, with the 43rd overall pick. Similarly, the Cowboys thought Mike Glennon was worth a fifth-round pick, while the Bucs selected him in the third round. Fourth-round pick Akeem Spence was a fifth-rounder for the Cowboys, and the Bucs' remaining two picks Steven Means and Mike James weren't even on Dallas' board.
The shocking thing is that little of this is attributable to scheme, aside from the rating of Banks. Dallas defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin has never been a fan of tall, relatively slow corners with some stiffness in their hips. He prefers versatile cornerbacks who can jump routes quickly -- and that's what the Cowboys prefer, too, given their selections of Mike Jenkins and Morris Claiborne in recent years. Similarly, if we judge them by Tony Romo, the Cowboys prefer a mobile quarterback which Glennon is not.
But other than that, the difference in opinion is baffling. Akeem Spence is a classic 4-3 tilted nose tackle, and like the Bucs' scheme Kiffin's front seven uses that position extensively. And yet, he was just a fifth-rounder on the Cowboys' draft board. William Gholston could be a great base 4-3 defensive end -- and he was off their board. Steven Means has the potential to turn into a special pass rusher down the line, but again: off the Cowboys' draft board. Mike James' special teams and third-down ability are largely scheme transcendent, but the Cowboys didn't even have them on their admittedly lean draft board.
Of course, judging by the Cowboys' recent draft history this may not be a bad thing for Tampa Bay. But the differences in opinion are pretty massive -- and if those differences were more widespread, the Bucs perhaps could have picked up some of those players a little further back in this draft. Then again, it only takes one team to like a player for him to be picked.