ESPN’s draft guru Todd McShay has Texas running back Bijan Robinson ranked as the second-best player in the upcoming NFL draft. He says “probably close to a dozen teams” he’s spoken to have Robinson in the top five, grade-wise.
But that doesn’t mean he’ll be selected that high. And if he starts to slip into the middle of the first round, he just might tantalize some RB-needy club into trading up to get him.
McShay believes the Cowboys could be that team.
Appearing on The Dan Patrick Show this week, McShay gushed over Robinson’s skill set, imagining him as being able to fill a Christian McCaffrey-esque role as both a powerful runner and a legitimate receiving threat. And he says the Dallas front office may not be able to resist, should Robinson make it past, say, the Eagles with the 10th overall pick.
“Dallas is obsessed with getting a running back that can be their guy, be a complement to Tony Pollard, like they had with Zeke when Zeke was closer to his prime,” McShay said. “Mike McCarthy is dying for a big power back like that, wants to run the football. They want to be a run-based team, and they would love to bring the Texas star into Dallas and make him the star of their offense.”
Bijan Robinson to Dallas? Todd McShay (@McShay13) says it wouldn’t shock him if the #Cowboys made a splash and traded up into the teens to take the former #Longhorns running back.
Todd’s full appearance: pic.twitter.com/mflfjx77Xr
— Dan Patrick Show (@dpshow) April 17, 2023
Robinson would change the look of the Cowboys offense, for sure, giving them a serious one-two punch out of the backfield and preventing defenses from doing much double-teaming of receivers like CeeDee Lamb, Brandin Cooks, and Michael Gallup.
But trading up to get Robinson would cost Dallas in the later rounds. The question will be whether the war room feels it’s better to amass more players at more positions… or sacrifice the backup linebacker or project edge rusher they’d get in the third round in order to grab a transcendent talent who could touch the ball 20 times a game.
The deafening buzz such a move would create around the league- and in the Lone Star State especially- may be just too much for the Jones Boys to pass up.
“Dallas is sitting at 26,” McShay continued. “It wouldn’t shock me if they made a splash, jumped up into the teens, ahead of teams like Detroit and the Chargers and went and got Bijan, maybe around 14, 15, 16.”
The Cowboys aren’t historically averse to trading up per se, but improving 10 to 12 spots is an awfully big leap. In 2011, they climbed eight spots to take cornerback Morris Claiborne. In 2010, they traded up to get wide receiver Dez Bryant, but they moved just three spots to get him. They traded into the first round- using later-round picks- in 2007 to select linebacker Anthony Spencer.
To get themselves into the mid-teens this year, as McShay is suggesting, it would certainly cost them enough to qualify as a splash.
The Cowboys would then have to hope that Robinson makes an even bigger splash come fall.
