The big focus around the Cowboys on Tuesday was on quarterback Tony Romo’s departure from the team to become part of CBS’ coverage of the league, but that’s not going to be the case for the rest of the week.
Like most teams, the Cowboys are in draft research mode and this week will see a slew of visitors to the team as they do their homework on prospects. Albert Breer of NFL Media reports that the team will have 18 players in for meetings over the course of the week and a new backup quarterback isn’t the focus of their efforts.
The focus is on the defense as 17 of the players coming to see the team play on that side of the ball. There are pass rushers (Tennessee’s Derek Barnett and Michigan’s Taco Charlton), cornerbacks (Florida’s Teez Tabor and Washington’s Kevin King) and safeties (Louisiana Tech’s Xavier Woods and Colorado’s Tedric Thompson) among the players scheduled to visit.
USC wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster is the one exception and the Cowboys aren’t likely to spend all of their picks on defensive players later this month. Given how much they’ve talked about improving on that side of the ball, though, it won’t come as a surprise if things are heavily slanted in that direction.