Cowboys expect to stay at No. 4 and draft best player available

With two quarterback-hungry teams jumping into the NFL Draft’s top two spots, it appears more and more likely that the Dallas Cowboys will be content to stay put and make the fourth overall pick.

There will be no moving up and, barring an unforeseen opportunity that they can’t pass up, they will not trade down.

Thanks largely to the Los Angeles Rams and Philadelphia Eagles trading their way into the first two picks, owner Jerry Jones said the Cowboys have a chance to get an outstanding player with the fourth overall choice and they plan to stay there and take him.

“We would use that pick for sure, that’s a good pick,” Jerry Jones said. “We’re going to have a player — because you assume those two quarterbacks are going to go ahead of us — and have a really top, impact-type player.”

Who that is remains to be seen.

However, the more the Cowboys talked during their annual pre-draft news conference on Monday, the more it seemed liked the team was focusing on three players: Florida State cornerback Jalen Ramsey, Ohio State running back Ezekiel Elliott and Ohio State defensive end Joey Bosa.

Vice president Stephen Jones said the Cowboys will take the best player available and not force a need.

“At the end of the day, you get a chance when you’re picking this high to get a player who makes a difference for a long period of time,” Stephen Jones said. “To compromise that to go down the line to pick a guy just because you need a certain position, would probably not be the right decision.”

Going with the best player available would put the Cowboys in the camp of Ramsey, who is widely considered one of the top players in the draft. Some pundits even have him ranked first overall.

However, the San Diego Chargers, who pick third overall, covet him as well.

“He’s an impact player at the highest level,” Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said. “He’s been a guy that has played both safety and corner, and seems to me he plays them equally well.”

The Cowboys need help at cornerback and Ramsey could be an impact starter from Day 1.

What impressed Jerry Jones was his work ethic and practice intensity. The owner compared Ramsey to Hall of Famers Deion Sanders and Michael Irvin.

“The corner got suspended from playing a regular season game because he was too aggressive at his own practice,” Jones said. “Now who does that remind you of around here? I think Deion and Michael and those guys used to go at it, and both said the games are the easiest part.

“If you’re up at the top of this draft, you really somehow like to come out with something like that. That’s hard to find.”

Bosa would give the Cowboys the highest-rated defensive lineman in the draft while also addressing a huge need.

Cowboys veteran defensive ends DeMarcus Lawrence and Randy Gregory, their top two players at the position, will be suspended for the first four games of the season for violating the NFL’s substance abuse policy.

Jones made it clear that the Cowboys have no character concerns with Bosa, who was suspended for the first game of the 2015 season for violating team rules.

“His character issue would not be a factor in us drafting him,” Jerry Jones said.

The Cowboys have done extensive homework on Bosa via a workout at Ohio State, a visit to the team’s Valley Ranch headquarters and other interviews.

“He’s had a couple of issues in his life up to this point. That’s not unique to Joey Bosa,” Garrett said. “What we try to do is we try to determine what the circumstances are around those incidents and talk to a lot of people who know him well, all the way back to high school and college. People we think we can trust.”

Elliott is the wild card because he gives the Cowboys a chance to select a wow player, despite playing a position that has had diminishing value in recent years.

The Cowboys, who let DeMarco Murray walk in free agency last season, signed free agent running back Alfred Morris to join veteran holdover Darren McFadden. They also have Lance Dunbar coming back off injury and the prospect of adding quality backs in the middle of the draft.

“Just because we didn’t do Murray, just because we have running back by committee, just because we have veterans as we’ve said, doesn’t mean at all that we’re not in the running back business,” Jones said.

This story was originally published April 25, 2016 at 9:38 PM with the headline "Cowboys expect to stay at No. 4 and draft best player available."