Cowboys draft: Mel Kiper latest mock suggests there is competition at right tackle

Over the last week two different prominent mock drafts have suggested that Terence Steele’s job could be not 100% totally his.

We are in the middle of NFL combine week which is a time where all sorts of information is passed between teams in Indianapolis. Groundwork for trades, future free agent discussions and all sorts of other things is laid, but at the end of the day the event is about the upcoming NFL draft.

The Dallas Cowboys hold the 24th overall pick when it comes to the first round and what they do with that pick still feels like a bit of a mystery. In the time leading up to the draft we will pick up a better idea, but for now offensive line feels like a good place to start guessing.

This has been the theme of many mock drafts as top-tier analysts have Dallas beefing up their trenches. In his latest mock draft, ESPN’s Mel Kiper had the Cowboys taking a prominent tackle, Georgia’s Amarius Mims.

24. Dallas Cowboys

Amarius Mims, OT, Georgia

Mims has even fewer college starts than Guyton, as he was limited to just eight over the past three seasons because of injuries and draft picks in front of him on the Bulldogs’ depth chart. But when he did play, he made defenders look silly. Mims, 6-7 and 340, allowed zero sacks and just five total pressures across 372 career pass blocks. Will NFL teams be scared off by his limited experience, or will they draft him high based on his size and potential? I lean toward the latter, because he was that good when he got on the field.

To make room for Mims, the Cowboys could part ways with longtime left tackle Tyron Smith, who’s a free agent, or have him compete with Terence Steele on the right side. He played right tackle in college but has the talent to play both sides.

It is certainly conceivable to see the Cowboys drafting Mims, even if Tyron Smith returns for a 14th season with the team. The Cowboys have very little tackle depth (in terms of reliability) and need to start planning for a Tyron-less world.

Here is what the great Bob Sturm had to say about on his Substack if you are looking for another viewpoint.

OVERALL: This league is all about finding elite talents and when one comes along, the best teams focus on what he can do and attempt to clean up what he cannot do in his early career. That said, we cannot know what is unknown, so I would probably place him – like Guyton – as a FIRST-SECOND ROUND grade.

But back to the mock at hand, Mel Kiper said something rather interesting at the end of his blurb. He mentioned Mims competing with Terence Steele on the right side.

This is the second time in a week that a prominent NFL draft expert has suggested that the right tackle position is not completely locked up in the hands of Terence Steele (NFL Media’s Daniel Jeremiah did so recently). Given the massive extension given to Steele just an offseason ago, nobody would have speculated that his job was in any kind of jeopardy. To be clear we are talking about the opinions of two NFL draft experts, but they are notable in that respect and very plugged in to talk around the league.

When we talked about the Daniel Jeremiah comment we pondered whether or not the Cowboys were considering potentially moving Steele to left guard as they sort of discussed doing last year, that would technically lead to a competition at right tackle. Could there be legitimate whispers about that happening?