ORLANDO – The Cowboys saw their 2014 draft pick total jump from eight players to 11 with one announcement Monday by the NFL.
The league awarded three compensatory picks to the Cowboys – all in the seventh round, giving the Cowboys six in the final round, although those three new picks cannot be traded.
The NFL gave the Cowboys the picks for the free-agent losses of Kenyon Coleman, Mike Jenkins, Victor Butler and John Phillips, while only acquiring Justin Durant in free agency.
The Cowboys picked up a seventh-rounder in early September in a trade with Kansas City for Edgar Jones, but lost their sixth-rounder. The Cowboys added a seventh-rounder from Chicago for Dante Rosario, giving them three sevenths, including their own, before Monday's additions.
The sixth-round pick they acquired from San Diego for Sean Lissemore was traded away to Indianapolis for Ceasar Rayford.
The Cowboys do not have a sixth-round pick because of their trade to acquire Edgar Jones. However, if they covet a player in that round, it seems likely they have some firepower in the [embedded_ad] seventh to move up. The Cowboys picked up two seventh-round picks in September trades for Sean Lissemore and Dante Rosario with San Diego and Chicago, respectively.
Although they didn't have a pick in the final round last year, seventh-round picks have been good for the Cowboys in the past. Jay Ratliff (2005) was a seventh-rounder who made four Pro Bowls. Patrick Crayton, Jacques Reeves and Nate Jones all made the team in 2004 after being seventh-round picks and played multiple years.
However last year, the only seventh-round picks on the Cowboys' roster were not drafted by Dallas – George Selvie and Mackenzy Bernadeau.
The Cowboys have one draft pick in each of the first five rounds, including the 16th overall pick in the first round. The club has not picked 16th since 1961 when they took E.J. Holub, an offensive lineman who eventually went to the AFL and never played for the Cowboys.
