Dallas should keep an eye on where these players would fit for the Cowboys.
It’s a rough week to be a Dallas Cowboys fan. Division rivals Washington and Philadelphia are in the NFC championship. This means that the Cowboys are the lone team in the NFC to have not made the conference championship since 1995, a bitter reality indeed.
The Cowboys will use the 2025 NFL Draft to acquire players and improve their roster to try and catch their rivals, and the College Football National Championship is tonight. Like the rest of the country, the Cowboys will get an opportunity to see a good crop of players in tonight’s final as the Notre Dame Fighting Irish play against the Ohio State Buckeyes.
Tonight’s national title game affords the Cowboys front office and the fans a good look at players that could be taken by the Cowboys and help the team as soon as next season. Here are five players Cowboys fans should familiarize themselves with now before the draft process officially begins.
Sonny Styles, Ohio State LB/S
Styles is a hybrid player with the characteristics of a linebacker and a safety. He was recruited to Ohio State to play safety, but after injuries occurred, he was transitioned to play linebacker, and he looks good doing so. Think of how DeMarvion Overshown plays to understand what Syles would bring to the Cowboys’ defense. Except he’s a better coverage defender. Styles can easily carry tight ends and running backs coming out of the backfield. Styles also could serve as an insurance policy for Overshown, who is recovering from another ACL injury. Still, if both are healthy, the pairing could be terrific with Marist Liufau in the mix. Styles is an underclassman and would have to declare for the draft to be eligible to be taken by the Cowboys.
TreVeyon Henderson, Ohio State RB
TreVeyon Henderson has electric speed. When you think of game-changers at running back, they can elevate teams like Saquon Barkley and Jahmyr Gibbs, and it starts with having premier speed. Henderson has two extra gears. If you get the ball in his hands on outside zone runs or as a receiver, he’s a threat to take it the distance. Henderson broke Archie Griffin’s record for rushing yards in a single game with 277 yards in 2021. As he’s done at Ohio State, he can work in tandem to avoid a heavy workload and would work well in a committee with Rico Dowdle to give Dallas a backfield that’s much improved from what they have now.
Emeka Egbuka, Ohio State WR
There’s a pattern here. The Cowboys have their core players being overexerted and being asked to carry too much of the burden for their position group. CeeDee Lamb fits that exactly. Oftentimes, Lamb was neutralized in games last season because he had no one else to draw the attention of the opposing defenses. He needs a running mate. His stats will always look good, but teams can gameplan against him without another premier weapon to minimize his impact. Looking at the roster, Brandin Cooks missed a lot of last season and is an unrestricted free agent. Jalen Tolbert has shown flashes but hasn’t proven he’s ready to be relied upon heavily as the secondary option. Egbuka has more than enough traits to pair nicely with CeeDee Lamb and alleviate the burden from Lamb. Egbuka is an outstanding route runner who wins from the outside or inside the slot and catches the ball well downfield.
Xavier Watts, Notre Dame S
If there is one area the Cowboys’ defense lacked in recent years, it was takeaways from the safety position. Notre Dame’s Xavier Watts is the type of guy to help with that. After not recording an interception in his first two seasons, Watts has gotten 13 in the last two years. Watts can also provide support as a run defender in addition to his coverage ability. Malik Hooker is heading into his ninth NFL season, so Dallas needs to get younger at safety. Watts could provide a bridge into the future as a starter for the team in a couple of years.
Riley Leonard, Notre Dame QB
Riley Leonard could be a third-round pick or slide into the sixth round, depending on who you ask. Leonard doesn’t have elite arm strength and premier velocity, but that’s fine. He’s likely more of a developmental backup to begin his career than an immediate starter. Leonard does make good decisions with the ball, having thrown 43 touchdowns to 18 interceptions in his career. Leonard is also an underrated option as a runner. He set a career-high this season with 866 rushing yards. Leonard is thought to have excellent character and maturity. Dallas could be a very low-risk but useful draft pick.
Honorable mention: Benjamin Morrison, Notre Dame CB
He won’t play because of an injury, but Morrison, if taken by Dallas, will come at a tremendous value. A cornerback is a sneaky need for the Cowboys. A position that might’ve looked like one of the strongest positions on the team is now a question mark. Former All-Pro Trevon Diggs played through an injury-plagued season that the Cowboys ultimately shut down prematurely and underwent bone graft surgery. DaRon Bland, another ex-All-Pro, battled a foot injury that kept him off the field past midway through the season, and when he came back, he wasn’t his same self. It’s alarming, to say the least.
Notre Dame cornerback Benjamin Morrison was one of the best corners in the nation as early as a freshman at Notre Dame. He has excellent instincts to read patterns and mirror receivers. He’s very fluid and transitions easily from his backpedal into driving on the ball. Morrison also has good ball skills for disrupting receivers. He had season-ending surgery, but Dallas would be happy to get him after the first round in April.
