Dallas Cowboys 7-round 2020 NFL mock draft after postseason elimination

With the team’s third-round pick, the Dallas Cowboys select Donovan Peoples-Jones from Michigan.

Let’s face it; we never will be able to tell how Prescott would have performed this season had his receivers been used properly. Multiple wide receivers this season cost the team at big moments during the 2019 season for the Dallas Cowboys, and it is about time that fresh blood was brought into the wide receivers room.

With Peoples-Jones, the Dallas Cowboys get a steady receiver, who has spent enough time competing on the national stage to handle big moments. The Michigan Wolverines program gets a lot of attention in the media and the team recruits as well as any team in the northern part of the country. He is coached by a former NFL Super Bowl attending coach Jim Harbaugh.

Every year they face ranked teams, including rivals Penn State and Ohio State. Those games are almost always universally broadcasted nationally. So we know that the stage won’t be too big for Peoples-Jones.

In the last two seasons, Peoples-Jones has earned 14 touchdowns, with a career-long catch of 79 yards in 2018, according to ESPN. The 6-foot-2 207-pound receiver grew up in Detroit, Michigan and has a reputation of being as tough as they come. He came out of college as a five-star recruit and decided to stay home, opting to reject offers from over 20 different schools, including Ohio State.

His body type and stature are those of a typical wide receiver in the NFL, so it’s not as if cornerbacks are going to manhandle this guy at the line of scrimmage. While his overall speed is less than ideal, his catches show very good form and he is rarely unprepared when the ball arrives.

His hands are ready more times than not. This is an important detail considering the number of dropped passes this team suffered in the de-facto NFC East Championship against the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 16.

This team is going to need receivers if they hope to keep the development of Prescott progressing into 2020. The team has done a good job of putting talented players on the field for Prescott to throw to. But with the level of injury that befalls the average NFL wide receiver corp. every year, Dallas could use a few big, strong wide receivers in the wings, in case Amari Cooper continues to be injured in 2020.

A lot of draft analysts have Peoples-Jones ranked further down in the draft, but I see a ton of potential for the young wide receiver. He is loyal, driven, strong and built like an NFL wide receiver when he entered his freshman year. His top line speed isn’t the best. But people underestimated D.K. Metcalf last year too.

All we heard was size isn’t everything; just because he was big didn’t mean he would thrive once we entered the league. So far in 2019, Metcalf looks every bit the part of a deep threat wide receiver. I expect something similar to happen with Peoples-Jones. Expect him to move up the draft boards after the combine.