Cowboys draft 2024: 5 draft prospects that come with a ‘buyer beware’ sign

Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

Here are five early round prospects on the Cowboys radar that come with major question marks

With the draft just around the corner everyone’s news feed is full to the brim with mock drafts, scouting reports and pro comparisons. Everyone has their own vision on who the Dallas Cowboys should take and who their favorite prospects are. With that comes some early-round names fans want to see drafted, but some of those prospects come with question marks people need to know before buying in.

Below are five names on the Cowboys radar in the early rounds that come with some “buyer beware” signs.

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OT, Tyler Guyton
This one is the most obvious on this list. Guyton has a severe lack of playing experience and only started 14 games in the four years of playing at college. This hampers Guyton in terms of technique and consistency. Most prevalent of the issues comes in the form of run blocking. Not only was his run blocking an issue in 2022, it got worse in 2023. Inside run blocking is far from his biggest strength and maybe the biggest learning curve for Guyton coming into the NFL, and that’s a huge problem when you consider inside zone runs are featured very heavily in Dallas.

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LB, Payton Wilson
Another pretty obvious one here, but Wilson is getting a lot of hype among Cowboys fans after getting a 30-visit. Wilson’s issues stem from injuries which are seriously concerning. Two ACL’s, two shoulders and handful of other injuries means this guy has spent plenty of time on the sideline injured while at NC State. Given the Cowboys have tried injury-prone linebackers in the past (Sean Lee, Leighton Vander Esch and Jaylon Smith), you have to consider rationally whether this prospect is worthy of an early-round selection. Add to the fact his age and the volatility of the linebacker position, this all makes for a huge buyer beware.

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C, Jackson Powers-Johnson
Center is a huge need for Dallas, unless you’re high on Brock Hoffman. One early name being thrown around to fit the bill in Dallas is Jackson Powers-Johnson. He’s a very good blocker and the ceiling for this guy is as high as any among the inside offensive linemen. But he has two major issues coming into the draft to be aware of. The first one is the injury concerns that have been made recently, and that’s something teams need to assess when they check the medicals and give that their own risk assessment. If they feel the medical situation is fine then they need to consider problem number two, experience.

Last season was the first year Powers not only played as a starter, but played center. He played two years as a rotational inside offensive linemen where he took snaps at left and right guard as well as some at center. If you watch Oregon last year, you will see a number of plays where Bo Nix is trying to catch off-target snaps, all a result of a lack of experience from Powers. No doubt this is fixable in the NFL when he gets drafted, but it’s a huge indicator of his lack of experience and lack of natural instincts at playing the position. That’s a huge question mark when you consider he’s a consensus first-round pick.

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WR, Keon Coleman
In 2022, Coleman showed flashes of what he could do and his 798 receiving yards and seven touchdowns set him up for a huge season. The 2023 season started where everyone expected him to be. He scored three touchdowns in Week 1 against LSU and came back the following week to score another. But here’s the problem everyone needs to check before buying completely in on Coleman. After Week 4 his production completely fell off and scored only five touchdowns for the rest of the season. Three of the last two weeks of the season he failed to even get over 25 yards of receiving in a game. But the biggest problem comes in the form of his contested catches. He caught just seven of 26 contested targets and considering how people view his play style and where they want him to play, this is a big beware.

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OT, Amarius Mims
If it’s a lack of playing time and experience that’s concerning with Tyler Guyton, then Mims’ situation is even more worrying. In the first two years of playing, Mims played as a backup right tackle at Georgia and totaled 352 offensive snaps in that time. It wasn’t until last year did he finally get the nod to play as a starter on the offensive line, and that was cut short. He suffered an ankle injury in Week 3 and didn’t come back to play until Week 11. This has led to him coming into the draft with issues of inconsistency in the run game and with his ability to mirror. Also take into account he played every snap in college at right tackle, his versatility is a huge question mark. High-ceiling player, but one of the lowest floors among the early round offensive tackles.

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