1(6): Morris Claiborne, CB, LSU: Giving up a second rounder was a hefty price, but it was worth it. Claiborne gives the team something the modern Cowboys have basically never had, which is an elite physical corner. Their top cover men have always tended to be Deion Sanders/Terence Newman toreador types who were fast but shied away from tackling. Claiborne is fast AND likes to get up in receivers' grills. And while the initial talk has the team now trading Michael Jenkins, I don't see any rush. For one thing, Jenkins has basically no trade value given his salary and coming off two poor and injury-riddled seasons in a row. And with Claiborne, Brandon Carr, Jenkins and Orlando Scandrick, Dallas has almost certainly the best depth in the league at corner. In an increasingly pass-happy league, that kind of depth is invaluable. Trading Jenkins for, what, maybe a fifth rounder at best, doesn't seem worth it.
3(81): Tyrone Crawford, DE, Boise St.: This pick is entirely in keeping with the last few Dallas drafts. Sean Lee and Bruce Carter were both players with first round upside who fell due to injuries and who the Cowboys were willing to get little out of in their initial NFL campaigns in the hopes of a bigger payoff later. Crawford's exceptional physical tools (in terms of his Combine numbers, he was basically a bigger, slightly slower Melvin Ingram) also give him first round upside, but while he's healthy his inexperience (played high school football in Canada and had to go the JUCO route just to get noticed by Boise St, where he only started as a senior) is what kept him from going higher. He's a project, but every indication is that he's got the smarts and work ethic to translate that potential into production eventually, and he could still be a mean special teams contributor as a rookie. Keep an eye on the Cowboys' moves heading into camp: if they end up cutting a Marcus Spears or Kenyon Coleman to clear a bit of cap room, you'll know they love what they're seeing out of Crawford.
4(113): Kyle Wilber, OLB, Wake Forest: He was probably the best pass rusher left on the board at this point, but that doesn't mean this was a particularly good pick. He looks like a one-dimensional player to me, one who'll struggle in coverage and against the run, and I have a hard time seeing him being an improvement over Anthony Spencer down the road. As a situational player he should be useful, but the Cowboys already have a guy like that on the roster in Victor Butler.
4(135): Matt Johnson, SS, Eastern Washington: This was the pick Cowboys fans seemed to hate the most during the draft, but I suspect they'll change their tunes soon enough. I thought this was a tremendous grab myself. Johnson was a four year starter, but he barely played in his senior year due to a biceps tear that caused his draft stock to drop. If he's fully healthy he could be very productive as he's got solid athleticism and great instincts, racking up 17 INTs in his college career despite arguably being better against the run than the pass. I don't want to oversell him - Johnson's a small school player who'll have a lot to learn before he'll be ready for NFL competition - but in a season or two he could end up being a solid solution to a long-standing problem in the Dallas secondary.
5(152): Danny Coale, WR, Virginia Tech: Solid value in this spot. Coale's got good size and speed and finds ways to get open, traits that could serve him well if he wins the Cowboys' slot receiver role. He didn't seem to do much after the catch in college though despite his physical tools, and he certainly won't be much of a fantasy option in Dallas behind Austin, Bryant and Witten. He could win a regular role in the offense though and make Kevin Ogletree obsolete, which is all you could possibly ask from a fifth rounder.
6(186): James Hanna, TE, Oklahoma: The seemingly obligatory Jerry Jones Sooner pick. Hanna has tremendous size and speed for a tight end and has shown very good pass-catching ability, but he's nothing as a blocker and seems more like a Colts-style H-back to me than the heir apparent to Jason Witten as a "complete" three-down starting tight end. As a backup to Witten though, he could be a nice complement to John Phillips on the depth chart.
7(222) Caleb McSurdy, ILB, Montana: Guess the Cowboys did a lot of heavy scouting on Big Sky conference games. McSurdy's just a guy, really. He could be solid against the run, but he's physically unimpressive (short arms, mediocre speed, etc) and extremely limited in pass coverage. Hard to see him being anything more than special teams guy in the NFL.
The one glaring hole in the draft was on the offensive line. There was a reason the Cowboys were linked to David DeCastro in so many mock drafts - while Tyrron Smith and Doug Free give them solid-to-great bookends at tackle, the middle of the line was a mess last season and wasn't dramatically upgraded through free agency. Someone like Joe Looney (117th to the 49ers) would have made more sense to me than Wilber in the 4th, or even taking a chance on Mark Asper (178th to the Bills, but he dropped in part due to the fact that he took a couple of years off from school to do missionary work).
That caveat aside, I thought this was a very good draft for Dallas, and very un-Jerry Jones-like (which is about as high a compliment as you can give). While Claiborne might be the only 2012 starter in the bunch, he should be an immediate impact player and I can see three potential 2013 defensive starters (Claiborne, Crawford and Johnson) in the mix with Coale and Hanna also making meaningful contributions on offense. The focus seemed to be on high-motor, high-football IQ players, an approach more reminiscent of the Jimmy Johnson days, and it's one that should help the club a lot if they stick with it for a few years and keep weeding out the Martellus Bennetts from the roster. If I were a die-hard Dallas fan, I'd be pretty happy right now.