The Dallas Cowboys are waiting patiently for draft day after putting up a modest showing during the beginning of free agency. The Cowboys only signed a handful of players, and most notably none of them was a quarterback. Sure, Dallas has its star quarterback in Tony Romo, but his injury issues are well documented as well as the fact that he is heading into his late 30s. Drafting Romo's successor seems to be the thought process of half of the franchise's fans, while the other half would rather see the team take the best player available.
Both sides can agree on one thing, however: Dallas must take a quarterback at some point during the draft so they do not end up in the same position they were in last season. The Cowboys are bringing in six quarterback prospects, Jared Goff, Carson Wentz, Paxton Lynch, Connor Cook, Christian Hackenberg and Jacoby Brissett.
Cowboys fans can add one more name to that list as Dak Prescott has met with the team already and has been through several private workouts with the franchise. These pre-draft meetings coming up with those six guys before Prescott are about one thing - insurance. Dallas would love to take Prescott in the fourth round and put the whole situation to rest, however the draft can fall in plenty of different ways.
Brissett and Hackenberg are likely the third to fourth round graded guys who the Cowboys will target if Prescott is already gone. Wentz, Goff and Lynch are fairly standard as every NFL team will most likely bring the top-tier quarterbacks in to find out what they are all about.
The oddity there is Lynch because he has a middle to late first round grade, which means he is out of the Cowboys' draft range. If the Cowboys end up liking Lynch they could attempt to trade back during the draft and select him later on in the first round. Such a monumental trade would take something big, however the process would begin with Dallas falling in love with a quarterback prospect.
Jerry Jones has stated that he will be patient with Romo and that he intends to win now, and that is what the organization is focused on. If the Cowboys are going to win now, securing a quality backup quarterback along with potent offensive and defensive weapons are a must in the 2016 NFL Draft. Having all of these pre-draft visits pretty much guarantees that within the first four rounds, Dallas will have a new signal caller.
