IRVING, Texas --If Stephen Jones was told before the draft the Cowboys were trading in the first round, he would have guessed a moved down from No. 14 -- not up.
But when LSU's Morris Claiborne slipped to No. 6, they sent their second-round pick to St. Louis for the right to move up eight spots and take the consensus top cornerback in this year's class.
Had they stayed put at No. 14, Jones said LSU defensive lineman Michael Brockers (who went there to St. Louis) likely would have been the pick -- unless they had the option to consider a trade down that would have netted them an extra high pick.
"I would have guessed that we would have moved back if we were going to go anywhere," Jones said. "We obviously liked Brockers and he probably would have ended up being our pick because we thought he was quite a bit better than taking say an offensive guard.
But at the same time, when it got right down there to it and someone offered us a big pick – we were thinking we might get a (second-round) offer to go from 14 to 18 or 14 to 20 knowing that you still might get a hell of an offensive guard, a guy like (David) DeCastro or (Kevin) Zeitler or someone like that. We would have obviously looked at that."
