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NEW YORK -- Three NFC East teams picked in the first round of the NFL draft Thursday night, and the combined weight of the three players they picked is 922 pounds. Finally, they're paying attention to what's important.

Yes, the Philadelphia Eagles, New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys each picked an offensive lineman in this year's first round. And while that had something to do with the oddity of a first round that included one quarterback, no running backs and nine offensive lineman, it also says a lot about how badly this division as a whole needs to address this long-neglected need.

Tackle Lane Johnson, tackle/guard Justin Pugh and center/guard Travis Frederick, the 2013 first-round picks of the Eagles, Giants and Cowboys, are no cosmic coincidence. They are medicine, ordered with a purpose by teams that have figured out where they're lacking and that they all need to muscle up in the short-term and long-term.

I am of the belief -- and have written at length on this blog -- that one of the main reasons the NFC East is in a down cycle is division-wide offensive line decay. And yes, the division is down. Over the past three seasons, the division's combined record is 97-101 (yes, counting postseason and the Super Bowl). No NFC East team has won 11 games since 2009, which was also the last year in which it fielded more than one playoff team. Two years ago, the Giants won the division with a 9-7 record. This past year, the Washington Redskins won it at 10-6. Bleh.

The NFC East has superstar talent at quarterback and running back and wide receiver and pass-rusher. But with the exception of a magical six-game run the Giants made at the end of the 2011 season, excellence has eluded its once-feared teams. And the consistent issue that seems to be holding them back is the offensive line. To wit:

The Giants have basically been getting by with an aging, patchwork group. Former second-round pick Will Beatty emerged as a star last year when finally healthy, but veterans Chris Snee and David Diehl are fading and Kevin Boothe and David Baas aren't special. Until Thursday night, the Giants hadn't taken a first-round lineman since Luke Petitgout in 1999. You can try and hit on free agents and second- and third-rounders for a while, but eventually you need to add some top-end talent to the mix. Enter Pugh, a college tackle who may project as a pro guard and offers versatility in the short-term and a possible long-term answer at any one of several positions.

The Eagles had a fine line in 2011, but four of their five starters missed significant time due to injury in 2012, and they finished 4-12 and changed head coaches. Enter Johnson, this year's No. 4 overall pick, who likely starts at right tackle right away, moving Todd Herremans inside to guard and serving as an eventual replacement for left tackle Jason Peters.

The Cowboys' neglect of the offensive line had reached epidemic proportions before they took tackle Tyron Smith in the first round in 2011, and if you watched them last year you came away thinking they needed to upgrade every one of the starting line positions but his. Enter Frederick, who was a surprise first-rounder, but not as much of a reach as he initially looked. With four tackles and the top two guards gone in the top 11 picks, the Cowboys decided to trade down from 18 and get the guy they wanted at the tail end of the first round. Quibble if you want with the return they got on their trade. And sure, maybe Frederick would have been there when they picked again Friday night at 47. But (a) maybe not, since offensive lineman are going faster than ever and (b) so what? The Cowboys' short-term and long-term needs at offensive line were significant enough that they needed to come away from this year's first round with an upgrade. Frederick is almost certain to be an upgrade over one or more of Phil Costa, Nate Livings and Mackenzy Bernadeau, and the Cowboys were absolutely right to make this need a priority on this night.

The Redskins' line played fine in 2012 and has a superstar in left tackle Trent Williams. But a lot of its success has to do with the help it gets from its mobile quarterback. The Redskins remain unsettled at right tackle. They didn't have a first-round pick this year as a result of last year's deal for Robert Griffin III, but don't be surprised if they too look to address the line once they start picking Friday and Saturday.

This seems obvious, of course. It's a long-held NFL adage that the best way to build teams is through the lines. Consistent, reliable offensive line play helps you control games and maximize your skill-position talent. Deficient line play helps you squander your skill-position talent, or worse, make it more susceptible to injury. But while it may seem obvious from the outside, the NFC East's teams have let the line play lapse. Thursday was a clear sign that they have realized this and plan to address it moving forward. I don't think these three will be the last offensive linemen taken by NFC East teams in this year's draft, but each is vital to the division's effort to regain its status as one of the toughest in the NFL. Because thanks to the decay of its offensive lines over the past few years, the fact is that it has not been.

Pick: Wisconsin center Travis Frederick, No. 31 overall.

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Nate Newton joins Fitzsimmons & Durrett to discuss the first round of the NFL draft. Listen

Pros: The 6-foot-3 5/8, 312-pound Frederick is a big center who is considered a mauler. He has significant experience and position flexibility, having started 18 games at center and 13 at guard during his college career. He was an Academic All-Big Ten selection in 2012 who has excellent intangibles. He’s a smart player with good awareness and a mean streak.

Cons: Frederick is far from an elite athlete. He ran a 5.58-second 40-yard dash with a 1.91-second 10-yard split. He’s often slow getting to the second level in the running game and tends to struggle against quick interior pass-rushers. This pick will be widely considered a reach. ESPN’s Scouts Inc. ranked Frederick as the No. 70 player in the draft.

Cowboys fit: Frederick could replace Phil Costa at center or start at either guard position. This is a pick that addresses a glaring need for the Cowboys to upgrade the interior offensive line.

Could have had: Georgia LB Alec Ogletree, Notre Dame LB Manti Te'o, Tennessee WR Justin Hunter, Florida S Matt Elam, Florida State OT Menelik Watson, Florida State DE Cornelius “Tank” Carradine, Florida DT Sharrif Floyd.

IRVING, Texas - The Dallas Cowboys drafted Wisconsin center Travis Frederick with the 31st pick of the 2013 NFL draft on Thursday night.

The Cowboys traded their No. 18 pick to San Francisco for the 31st pick in the first round and the 74th overall pick (third round).

Frederick (6-foot-3, 312 pounds) made 31 career starts at Wisconsin and has played center and left guard.

The addition of Frederick gives the Cowboys three centers on their 2013 roster: Phil Costa, Ryan Cook and now Frederick.

Frederick became the ninth offensive linemen drafted in the first round and the first center taken by the Cowboys since Bill Nagy was taken in the seventh round in 2011.

The move by the Cowboys to trade down comes with some questions.

Dallas bypassed highly-regarded safety Eric Reid, guard Justin Pugh, tight end Tyler Eifert and defensive tackles Sylvester Williams and Sharrif Floyd by moving down.

Instead, the Cowboys have Frederick, who has a thick upper body with a solid base. NFL scouts say Frederick is mobile enough to get to the second level and has the ability to play both guard and center. Frederick isn't athletic and doesn't have a lot of burst and has trouble against athletic interior defensive linemen.

IRVING, Texas – Got a sense of draft-day déjà vu?

This feels a lot like 2004, when a prospect who filled a major need tumbled down the first round right into the Cowboys’ laps … and Jerry Jones decided to trade down instead of making what seemed to be a no-brainer pick.

That didn’t exactly work out for the Cowboys. Steven Jackson is still running strong after racking up 10,135 career rushing yards, more than doubling the career total of Julius Jones, the back the Cowboys selected with their second-round pick. They at least got good trade-chart value in that deal, although the production of Marcus Spears, the 2005 first-round pick they added, certainly didn’t justify passing on Jackson.

We’ll see whether defensive tackle Shariff Floyd makes the Cowboys look foolish. Widely considered a top-five talent, he fell all the way to the Vikings at No. 23 overall. Maybe Floyd, who only had 4.5 career sacks at Florida, was overrated in the pre-draft process. Time will tell.

The Vikings have benefited before from the Cowboys surprisingly passing on a potentially elite talent who would have filled a major need in Dallas. Remember Randy Moss?

If a picture is worth 1,000 words, the video of coach Jason Garrett in the Cowboys’ war room right after Jerry pulled the trigger on the trade would have caused censors to sweat. Garrett might offer the company line later, but he clearly didn’t appear to be pleased.

We couldn’t see new defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin, whose Tampa 2 scheme requires a disruptive three-technique tackle, such as Floyd.

Kiffin has benefitted greatly from a Jerry trade-down deal before. The Cowboys dealt the No. 28 overall pick to Tampa Bay in 1995, turning it a couple of second-round busts (G Shane Hannah and RB Sherman Williams) and run-of-the-mill fourth-round tight end Eric Bjornson. The Bucs took linebacker Derrick Brooks and watched him make 11 Pro Bowls.

IRVING, Texas – Accumulating draft picks is not a bad strategy.

Passing on a player that was highly rated in the first round, like Sharrif Floyd, is perplexing. Clearly there is something about Floyd that has turned teams off or he would not have fallen this far.

But the Cowboys did not get equal value in return for their trade with San Francisco. They Cowboys dropped from No. 18 to No. 31 and picked up the 74th pick, the first of the Niners’ two third-round selections.

The trade charts give San Francisco a big edge. The Cowboys could have received the Niners’ second-rounder in return.

By moving down, the Cowboys passed on Floyd, who went to Minnesota at No. 23, but also lost out on three targets they liked in safety Eric Reid, whom San Francisco took, guard/tackle Justin Pugh (New York Giants) and guard Kyle Long (Chicago). They also liked tight end Tyler Eifert, who went to Cincinnati with the 21st pick.

The art of moving down didn’t seem to favor the Cowboys here.

IRVING, Texas -- The Dallas Cowboys made their 60th draft day trade under owner/general manager Jerry Jones on Thursday night.

The Cowboys switched spots with San Francisco, moving from No. 18 to No. 31 in the first round. The Cowboys also acquired a third-round pick, the 74th overall selection.

The 49ers drafted LSU safety Eric Reid with the 18th pick of the first round.

Dallas was interested in several players, including Sheldon Richardson, Kenny Vaccaro, Chance Warmack and Jonathan Cooper, but those players were off the board by the time the Cowboys' turn came to pick.

However, the Cowboys left highly-regarded Florida defensive tackle Sharrif Floyd and defensive tackle Sylvester Williams on the board.

The Cowboys have two third-round picks, 74th and 80 overall.

Join our ESPN.com NFL experts for the first round of the 2013 NFL draft.

We'll be analyzing every pick from 1 to 32. We'll get started an hour early at 7 p.m. ET, so submit your questions and comments and we'll see you there.

It's kinda silly that we're talking about this, but Dallas Cowboys owner/general manager Jerry Jones' visit to the George W. Bush Presidential Center opening on the SMU campus today shouldn't be considered a big deal.

PODCAST
Ed Werder joins Fitzsimmons & Durrett live from Kansas City to discuss Jerry Jones' attendance at the Bush Library on NFL draft day, what he expects the Chiefs to do with the No. 1 pick and tell a funny tale about Bill Clinton and Jerry Jones. Listen

It's a huge deal that the center opened and Jones, considered one of the most powerful people in Dallas/Fort Worth, should be there, especially when he's had the Bush family attend games.

You could say that Jones should be at Valley Ranch all day waiting by the phone in case it rings.

Guess what?

Jones has a flip phone and it could buzz with a call from an NFL team, or his son -- executive vice president Stephen Jones -- could reach him to talk about a potential deal in tonight's draft.

But to say Jones shouldn't attend the opening today isn't fair.

If a deal needed to go down, Stephen Jones could handle it. And if he needed more information, Jerry Jones could have stepped away to talk. Any trade can't go down officially until tonight anyway, so there's no rush.

Last year, St. Louis contacted the Cowboys on Thursday afternoon about a trade. By the evening, the Cowboys had agreed to move up and eventually selected Morris Claiborne, the best corner in the 2012 draft class.

Jones is a public figure and goes to various events. While the Dallas Cowboys are his moneymaker, he shouldn't be ripped for attending an historical event in Dallas.

IRVING, Texas – With the 18th pick in the first round, the Cowboys could make their pick sometime around 10 p.m. That’s a lot of time to sit around and wait.

PODCAST
Todd Archer joins Fitzsimmons & Durrett to discuss what we can expect in the first round of the NFL draft and how it relates to the Dallas Cowboys. Listen

Throughout the week, the Cowboys have run through every possible scenario so when they are on the clock (or even a little earlier than that) they will have a pick ready. It’s like going in with multiple game plans on a Sunday.

Best-case scenario: Somehow, some way Jonathan Cooper or Chance Warmack are available. History says they will there because five offensive linemen have not gone so early in thirty-plus years, but it seems like there is a lot of evidence to the contrary.

Cooper would be the preference but Warmack would be a nice pickup, too. They would walk in as Day 1 starters, which has become something of a catch-phrase around the Cowboys here this week. They would upgrade the weakest part of the team.

The only way this happens is if a quarterback or two or a wide receiver or two go early. Perhaps a running back. They need some unexpected moves that would push Warmack (most likely) down to them.

Likely scenario: The Cowboys take a defensive lineman, like Sheldon Richardson or Sylvester Williams, or safety Kenny Vaccaro.

As of this moment, I believe they would take Richardson if they cannot move back and the offensive linemen are gone. He can play both interior spots with the idea of him becoming the Warren Sapp for this Monte Kiffin defense. Williams is more of the traditional run stopper. Both would bring value to the defense.

Vaccaro is the top safety and he would fill an immediate need. Does he slip to No. 18? The Cowboys worked him out privately and had him at Valley Ranch for a visit.

Of the three, Williams figures to be the guy most likely to be available.

Second-best case scenario: Trade down in the first round and pick up extra picks.

Some might believe this would be the best-case scenario, but the offensive line needs big help.

If the Cowboys can move down, then that would open up more players to them and fit with their draft board more. They are in a no-man’s land right now where there is a gap in talent.

Depending on how far back they go, this would give the Cowboys looks at offensive lineman D.J. Fluker and Justin Pugh, defensive end Bjoern Werner and safeties Eric Reid and Jonathan Cyprien.

A pick of Fluker would seem to mean Doug Free would not be back. Pugh could be a walk-in starter at guard. Werner would fill a need as a backup defensive end with the eye on him starting in the future with Anthony Spencer on a one-year deal. Reid and Cyprien would be walk-in starters, too.

Worst-cast scenario: Everybody listed above is gone and they can’t trade down.

They must be willing to make a pick and this is where Notre Dame tight end Tyler Eifert comes into the mix. He could be their best player available but drafting a first-round tight end doesn’t help them that much in 2013 or give Jason Garrett the best chance to win now.

Eifert will be a terrific player, but Garrett has not shown the ability to work multiple tight end packages effectively like New England has. The Cowboys couldn’t make it work with second-rounders Anthony Fasano or Martellus Bennett behind Jason Witten.

Wide receiver Cordarrelle Patterson, Werner, Cyprien and Fluker would also be in this mix. Picking any of them at No. 18 would likely be higher than the Cowboys would want.

PODCAST
Dallas Cowboys cornerback Morris Claiborne joins Fitzsimmons & Durrett for a special announcement and to discuss his draft experience along with what we can expect from the Cowboys in 2013. Listen

Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Dez Bryant took to Twitter to express his support for LSU defensive back Tyrann Mathieu on Thursday afternoon.

"A lot of great players in this draft but @Mathieu_Era is the best player in the draft," Bryant tweeted. "You can say whatever you want about him #gamechanger.

Dez followed up with: "I'm not saying what i say matters...I'm just giving my opinion on this draft like everyone else."

"It is very interesting to know where he is going ... who wouldn't want to know? the dude is a beast."

A lot of great players in this draft but @mathieu_era is the best player in the draft.. You can say whatever you want about him #gamechanger

— Dez Bryant (@DezBryant) April 25, 2013

The Cowboys haven't expressed an interest in the "Honey Badger," who is projected to go in the middle rounds of the draft.

Mathieu, a Heisman Trophy finalist in 2011, missed the entire 2012 season after LSU expelled him for repeated positive tests for marijuana in August. After a few weeks in drug rehabilitation center in Houston, Mathieu was arrested in October for marijuana possession at LSU.

"I thought my bottom was when I got kicked out of school, but I think when I got arrested in October, that was a different bottom," Mathieu said at LSU's pro day.

Jerry Jones' dedication to being the general manager of the Dallas Cowboys has never been more evident.

The man is managing to carve out time for the NFL draft during such a hectic time in his schedule!

Geez, Jerry probably didn't even get to go to the after-party following this morning's dedication of the George W. Bush Presidential Center on SMU's campus.

It was pretty poor timing for a high-profile event to be held in Jerry's neck of the woods. Heck, he probably had to stop celebrating a little early the previous night, when Jerry was on hand for the official announcement that the first real college football championship game would be played in his $1.2 billion football palace.

What focus it must take for Jerry to retreat to the Valley Ranch war room during such a fascinating time!

There's not another NFL GM important enough to get invited to the Bush shindig. Then again, there's not another NFL GM who would be caught dead socializing on the day of the draft. Or another NFL GM who would keep his job after delivering one playoff win in four presidential terms.

PODCAST
Ed Werder joins Fitzsimmons & Durrett live from Kansas City to discuss Jerry Jones' attendance at the Bush Library on NFL draft day, what he expects the Chiefs to do with the No. 1 pick and tell a funny tale about Bill Clinton and Jerry Jones. Listen

Such is life with Jerry, who refuses to give up the GM gig despite it ranking somewhere between pizza spokesman and panties salesman on his long list of part-time jobs.

The good news for Cowboys fans: Head coach Jason Garrett, personnel chief Tom Ciskowski and a bunch of scouts and coaches have made the draft their top priority for weeks or months.

And they'll get to talk to Jerry last, so they can trump any ideas W offered about what to do with the 18th overall pick.

Where they're picking: No. 18

Conventional wisdom tells us the top six offensive linemen will be gone by 18, depriving the Cowboys of the chance to address their most significant short-term and long-term need. The mock drafts in which this happens have the Cowboys taking a defensive tackle such as Sheldon Richardson or Sylvester Williams at No. 18, and some are still connecting the Cowboys with Texas safety Kenny Vaccaro, since safety is a need as well. Everybody seems to agree that the Cowboys' dream scenario is that they get one of the draft's top two guards, either Chance Warmack or Jonathan Cooper, but no one seems to think either will fall to 18.

PODCAST
Ed Werder joins Fitzsimmons & Durrett live from Kansas City to discuss Jerry Jones' attendance at the Bush Library on NFL draft day, what he expects the Chiefs to do with the No. 1 pick and tell a funny tale about Bill Clinton and Jerry Jones. Listen

History tells us that the conventional wisdom is wrong. The last time six offensive linemen went in the top 17 picks was 1966, when the league only had 15 teams in it. Guards don't tend to go early, since most teams don't assign top-half-of-first-round value to that position. History tells us the Cowboys will be able to get offensive line help if they want it in the first round. But history also tells us that the Cowboys tend to pick out a guy they really like in the first round (Dez Bryant, Tyron Smith and Morris Claiborne are the recent examples) and do what they can to get him.

They probably won't end up with Vaccaro. First of all, it's possible he goes earlier than 18 (say, to St. Louis at 16). Second of all, their needs on the lines and the comparative value at those positions likely will push them to take a linemen of one sort or the other in a draft whose second round is packed with starting-caliber safeties. Sure, it's possible Vaccaro is this year's Jerry Jones crush and there's nothing anyone else in the braintrust can do to talk him out of it. But I'd be surprised if they end up with the Texas safety.

They could shock us by taking a tight end. The Blogfather, Matt Mosley, says he's been hearing the Cowboys love Notre Dame tight end Tyler Eifert, and if that's the case they could be making plans to move up to get him. While that would seem silly with Jason Witten still in place and at the top of his game, it's not completely crazy to find another weapon for Tony Romo in the passing game. If Eifert is the Cowboys' best player available, they could go for it. It would be foolish, and would leave them too short in too many other areas, but I'm not sure that would stop them.

My prediction: I'm leaning on history here and saying the mocks are all wrong and the Cowboys are going to be able to get one of those guards. Since we're making a pick, I'll say it's Chance Warmack who falls either all the way to 18 or at least into the 14-15 range that would allow them to make a sensible, cost-effective trade-up to get him. Not like last year's trade for Claiborne, which cost them their second-round pick, but maybe for a later-round pick or even a 2014 one.

IRVING, Texas – Over the last few years, the Cowboys’ top-30 visitors before the draft have been a good indicator into who they end up selecting.

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Nate Newton went undrafted in 1983, but he still feels like he was part of one of the greatest draft classes in league history. Newton joins Fitzsimmons and Durrett to discuss his draft experience from 30 years ago and his journey to three rings. Listen

Guys like Dez Bryant, Sean Lee, Tyrone Crawford and Matt Johnson, among others, visited Valley Ranch and ended up getting picked by the team.

Here is the list of this year’s invites to keep handy for the next three days:

S Kenny Vaccaro, Texas
S Jonathan Cyprien, Florida International
S Eric Reid, LSU
G Chance Warmack, Alabama
RB Le’Veon Bell, Michigan State
RB Joseph Randle, Oklahoma State
DL Sheldon Richardson, Missouri
RB Knile Davis, Arkansas
G Jonathan Cooper, North Carolina
OL Justin Pugh, Syracuse
DT Kawann Short, Purdue
DT Jordan Hill, Penn State
C Travis Frederick, Wisconsin
S Phillip Thomas, Fresno State
WR DeAndre Hopkins, Clemson
LB Sio Moore, Connecticut
LB Gerald Hodges, Penn State
CB B.W Webb, William & Mary
WR Charles Johnson, Grand Valley State
RB Giovani Bernard, North Carolina
OL Kyle Long, Oregon
S J.J. Wilcox, Georgia Southern
LB Brandon Magee, Arizona State
TE D.C. Jefferson, Rutgers
TE Dion Sims, Michigan State
WR Markus Wheaton, Oregon State
S Jakar Hamilton, South Carolina State
DT Bennie Logan, LSU

PODCAST
Ed Werder joins Fitzsimmons & Durrett live from Kansas City to discuss Jerry Jones' attendance at the Bush Library on NFL draft day, what he expects the Chiefs to do with the No. 1 pick and tell a funny tale about Bill Clinton and Jerry Jones. Listen

Todd Archer ran some numbers, and his conclusion is that the Dallas Cowboys struggle with the draft. Here's some of his data:

Since 2007, the Cowboys have drafted 47 players and only 18 remain. That’s not good. After a quick perusal of the NFC East, it’s the worst percentage (38.3%) of any team in the division. From 2007-12, Philadelphia has 28 of 59 picks left (47.5%); Washington has 24 of 48 picks (50%) and the New York Giants have 24 of 46 picks left (52%).

...

In the last three years, which should be the core of a team, the Cowboys have 15 of 21 picks left. The Eagles are the worst with 23 of 33 picks. Washington is the best at 21 of 27 and the Giants have 16 of 22 picks remaining.

The point of entry for Todd's analysis was a discussion about whether they should have moved down in the 2011 draft, when they stayed put and took Tyron Smith at No. 9 and whether they were wise to move up in 2012, when they used their first-round pick and their second-round pick to draft Morris Claiborne. Todd thinks last year's move and 2011's non-move were mistakes. I agree, as I think most of you know, about last year. Because I think Smith will be a franchise left tackle, I don't hold the 2011 decision against them.

But what I see here is a clue about how the Cowboys play the top of the draft, and it's a discouraging one. It appears to me that Jerry Jones, who ultimately makes these decisions, falls in love with a player and does what he can to get him, the rest of the draft be damned. And a roster as thin with top-level talent as Dallas' has been for the last couple of years needs to make the second, third and fourth rounds more productive than the Cowboys usually have.

They love Claiborne as a keystone piece for the future, and that's fine. But had they held onto that second-round pick, they might have been able to come out of the first two rounds with, for example, Fletcher Cox and Peter Konz. (Yes, they'd have had to move up for Cox, but likely not with a second-rounder in the deal.) Two starting pieces instead of one. This is the approach Dallas needs to take this year -- finding a new starting offensive lineman in the first round and then looking for immediate contributors, on either line or at safety, in Rounds 2 and 3.

When they dealt away their second-round pick last year, a lot of Cowboys' fans said that was OK because they always mess up the second round anyway. But 2011's second-rounder was Bruce Carter and 2010's was Sean Lee. They also got DeMarco Murray in the third round in 2011. These are players on which they're attempting to build their future core, and it would be wise to keep in mind the value those picks (and those that follow them) have when things get hot and heavy tomorrow night and the temptation to grab a player they love overrides the value of the pick or picks needed to get him.

Remember, when we critique a draft in progress on this blog, we're not making predictions about how guys will play, because we can't and neither can anyone else. We're looking at the value of the picks and how they were used -- whether they could have waited until the fifth or sixth round for a guy they took in the fourth, for example. That's what you'll find here Thursday night through Saturday night, and we'll have a close eye on the Cowboys, of course, since this is a gigantic draft for them and they can't mess it up.

IRVING, Texas – In an ideal world the Cowboys would love to see Jonathan Cooper or Chance Warmack be available with the No. 18 pick in the first round.

PODCAST
Randy Galloway, Matt Mosley and Glenn "Stretch" Smith discuss some of the players the Cowboys should be looking at in the upcoming NFL draft. Listen

Some might call that a fantasy world.

So do the Cowboys trade up, even a smidge, to get one of them in tonight’s first round?

With so many teams reportedly looking to move down, the cost might not be so prohibitive. I’ve been fairly strong in my belief that the Cowboys need as many early picks as possible, but if it costs a fourth-rounder to move up a couple of spots I could be talked into it.

But there is also this to remember from last year’s draft: high-level people with the team last year felt taking guard David DeCastro at No. 14 was too high. Pittsburgh took DeCastro with the No. 24 pick.

If they felt No. 14 was too rich for the best guard in last year’s draft, then does it make sense to trade up higher than that for this year’s top guards?

Some believe DeCastro was a better prospect than Cooper and Warmack. Others believe differently. It’s not clear how the Cowboys compare the players. An element to the decision has to be the position. Rightly or wrongly safeties and guards are not as valued as other positions.

Unlike last year’s draft, this year’s crop of players does not have the top-end skill players. Perhaps that has pushed Cooper and Warmack up the boards of many teams. Perhaps that’s why DeCastro was available at No. 24 last year.

Last year the Cowboys had just paid decent money to Nate Livings and Mackenzy Bernadeau in free agency before the draft. Why take a guard in the first round when you just gave Livings a $3.5 million signing bonus and Bernadeau a $3.25 million bonus?

This year the Cowboys know what they have in Livings and Bernadeau, which could make them more inclined to go the guard route this year even if it costs them a little bit more.