Everyone knows that the Dallas Cowboys need to beef up their backup quarterback position and begin to start thinking about life after Tony Romo. Romo, who is turning 36 in a few weeks, appeared in all of four games for Dallas last year. On an unrelated note, the Cowboys lost 12 games last season. Coincidence? I think not.
Plenty of people will tell you that the Cowboys should use the fourth overall pick in this year's draft to address this need. But the top two quarterback prospects in the 2016 class - Cal's Jared Goff and North Dakota State's Carson Wentz - aren't nearly has highly regarded as Jameis Winston and Marcus Mariota were a year ago. Instead, the Cowboys would be better served by grabbing a safer impact player who can help from Day 1; someone like Ohio State defensive end Joey Bosa.
But that doesn't mean the Cowboys need to bypass the QB position all together. There are plenty of intriguing prospects that will be available on Day 2 and Day 3 of the draft, and it sounds like the Cowboys are beginning to do their due diligence on those players.
Dallas reportedly held a private workout with Penn State quarterback Christian Hackenberg yesterday. Hackenberg enjoyed an impressive freshman season in 2013 under Bill O'Brien, which led some to believe he could be a No. 1 overall pick down the line. However, O'Brien's departure for the Houston Texans left Hackenberg in a difficult situation with new head coach James Franklin. The two never really meshed and Hackenberg was always a poor fit for Franklin's offense. Throw in a porous offensive line and it's easy to see why the young QB struggled so mightily in 2014 and 2015.
At 6-foot-4 and 220 pounds, Hackenberg has the ideal size of a prototypical dropback passer. The 21-year-old also has one of the stronger arms in this year's draft class. But his accuracy and anticipation never quite developed as was hoped in college. If the Cowboys were to draft him in the later rounds, he'd likely begin his NFL career as the team's No. 3 quarterback behind Romo and Kellen Moore. But he would be an intriguing developmental project who could eventually compete for a starting job.
Follow Brandon Katz at @Great_Katzby
