Mock Draft Tips: Don’t like any of your first-round options? The ‘luxury pick’ is your friend

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As part of an occasional series, Fanspeak will offer tips and best practices for its wildly popular and first-of-its-kind On The Clock draft simulator.

Today’s topic: What do you do when all of your favorite targets are drafted ahead of you?


How Dak Prescott became a Cowboy is an example of what can happen when everything goes wrong during a draft.

Dallas, which had the No. 4 overall pick in 2016, thought it would have a shot at either Jared Goff of California or Carson Wentz of North Dakota State.

Then two teams leap-frogged ahead of Dallas: the Los Angeles Rams and the Philadelphia Eagles. Those teams wound up with the QBs, so Dallas drafted running back Ezekiell Elliott.

But Dallas still needed to find a replacement for the aging Tony Romo and was determined to draft one. The team was allegedly close to a trade with Seattle to move back into the first round until Denver swooped in with a better offer.

Then it was on to QB choice No. 4: Michigan State’s Connor Cook. Instead, the Raiders – who had just drafted Derek Carr in the second round of the 2014 draft – surprised many and selected Cook with the No. 100 pick overall.

Dallas had the 101st pick.

Finally – finally – after Goff, Wentz, Lynch, Christian Hackenberg, Jacoby Brissett, Cody Kessler and Cook were drafted, Dallas selected Mississippi State QB Dak Prescott with pick No. 135 overall, one of the last picks of the fourth round and the team’s second fourth-rounder.

But that’s one of those rare occasions when something good happens despite a series of unfortunate events.

Most of the time, it’s just a headache.


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