What did Jerry Jones see in Travis Frederick, and why didn’t anyone else see it?
A day after Jones, the Cowboys’ owner and general manager, spent a first-round draft pick on Frederick, a center from Wisconsin, that’s a question being asked in many quarters. Because not many people thought Frederick was a first-round pick.
On Mike Mayock’s list of the top 100 prospects in the draft, Frederick checked in at No. 92 — 50 spots lower than the next-lowest player selected in the first round. On the ESPN.com draft board, Frederick was listed as a third-round pick.
But that’s just members of the media. What did NFL teams think? Ed Werder of ESPN surveyed five NFL teams and asked for their grades on Frederick. One team rated him a fourth-round pick, two had him as a fifth-round pick, one had him as a sixth-round pick and one had him as a borderline sixth- or seventh-round pick.
Jones, however, said after the first round that center is an important position in the Cowboys’ offense, and that Frederick was the No. 22 player on their draft board. So Jones believes that after trading down to pick No. 31, the Cowboys got good value.
Even if few others agree.