Scouting Report: Broaddus' Take On All 7 Day 3 Picks

IRVING, Texas – Day 3 of the Cowboys' draft was the busiest by far, with Dallas selecting seven of their nine players on Saturday afternoon.

With all those players to consider, here is a comprehensive scouting report on all seven Day 3 additions. We'll start with the most recent first, covering all five seventh round picks. Earlier reports on fourth-round pick Anthony Hitchens and fifth-round pick Devin Street can be found at the bottom.

Ben Gardner- Stanford - DE - 6-4 - 272 - 5.03

• Will work down the line. Plays the down block. Keeps his feet on the cut. Nice hand use. Uses an arm over move up the field. Nose for the ball. Can find it. Will crash down inside. [embedded_ad]

• Much better when he is on the move. Able to hold the point. Able to split the double team. Can play as a two gap player. Tries to make tackles in the hole, had a couple of misses when he just was not quite able to finish the play. There were snaps where he can played square and was able to hold the point of attack with no problem.

• Didn't get turned or knocked off balance. Had a tackle for loss against Utah, on quicker swim move. Can get his hands inside. Plays along the line, different positions. Plays with some quickness.

• Great deal of toughness to his game. He was rare that you saw him not trying to work off the block and get in the middle of the play. Relentless in his style. There is nothing pretty or classic about the way he plays, but the bottom line is he gets the job done.

Will Smith - Texas Tech - OLB - 6-2 - 231 - 4.59

• Physical player at point of attack, will step up and deliver a blow. Rangy, long build. Will work his hand inside to deal with the blocker. Has a nose for the ball, did a nice job of showing awareness on the read option.

• Helps him in the passing game as well. Was able to hunt the receiver behind him in zone coverage. Showed the ability to carry his man across the formation when he was walked outside in man coverage. Very active in the running game, will bounce off blockers. Will step up, read the blocking scheme and react.

• Really nice job of reading the ball to the flat on the swing, wrap up tackle in space. Will be too aggressive at times and over run the play. Run-Hit factor is really good. Slippery player, all over the place when he attacks the ball. Plays with vision to see what is happening to him scheme wise. Has to be careful not to jump around blocks. Is much better playing blocks with his hands than he is with his shoulder.

• Needs to come under better control when attack the line. Have seen him wrap up as a tackler, then the next time try to block-down tackle. Will bounce off blockers when he blitzes. Is always attack the line. Big fan of his ability to find ways to get to the ball and make the stop.

• Better job against Texas when it came to rushing the passer on the blitz with the quick, arm over move. Better coming forward than he is going back in coverage. Fan of his ability to be in the pile.

Ahmad Dixon - Baylor - S - 6-0 - 212 - 4.62

• Is not afraid to stick his nose in the action. Will wrap up as a tackler, physical. Is a reckless player that will do anything to get to the ball. Can run the play down from the backside. Awareness to play the screen, beat the block and make the tackle.

• Will hunt for his man in coverage. Is choppy in the way he moves, not fluid at all but shows quickness once he sees. Is much better when he can handle plays in front of him, then if he has to turn and run. Takes him a little time to turn and once again get going. Has straight line speed. He will come downhill in a hurry.

• Not a smooth player, is a little bit all over the place. There were a couple of snaps where he was so aggressive, he completely overshot the ball carrier. Needs to break down better in space and come under control. Wants to deliver the big hit and it gets him in trouble. There were some snaps in coverage where his attention would go from one man to another where it should have been with his first read.

• Is relentless in the way that he plays. Is a missile in the way he plays. Is a jump on the back of the ball carrier type of tackler. Can really cover some ground when he has to cover in the flat. Will bounce off blockers and find the ball. Super active.

• Plays with a chip on his shoulder. He is going to hit you, punish you and let you know about it. Will try and rip at the ball when he is in a group when they tackle. Love how much he wants to be in the pile but he is going to need to learn to slow it down a little bit or he will miss too many tackles.  

Ken Bishop -Northern Illinois - DT - 6-0 - 306 - 5.12

• Don't look at the height and weight of this guy but focus on the amount of plays that he makes. One of my favorite players to study in this draft. Plays with power at the point and leverage. Can line up as the one but can also line up as the three, believe he will play in this scheme there.

• Can shed the blocker. Very good on the move. Does a nice job of extending his hands, really quick hands. Outstanding initial quickness. Can work down the line and extend outside the tackle box. Wrap up tackler at the point. Hard to get movement on.

• When he is slow off the ball, he got reached. Plays quick, he has no problem. Great job of finding the ball, has to be careful not to allow man into his body because then he will get washed out of the play. Can free himself with quickness.

• Will fight the down block. Can redirect and work back to ball. Will close down in the hole. Plays square, doesn't get turned. Can control blockers, will two gap the blocker. Shed to make the tackle. Really nice job playing with his hands, active with quick feet.

Terrance Mitchell - Oregon - CB - 5-11 - 192 - 4.61

• Played some press man in the Oregon State game. Would fight the receiver down the field. Will rally when his man drives inside. Tries to not give much room. Will position himself in the route by jamming his man at the line. Had a struggle with the speed of Brandin Cooks.

• Did not see much catch-up speed. Will come off his man to help in coverage or get in on the tackle. Will get in trouble with his hands down the field. In press, thought he needed to do a better job of getting his head around to find the ball.

• Able to handle routes underneath but the longer he has to carry the route, the more the issue with speed. Tried to help out of the slot to a ball to the outside and was just a little late but showed nice awareness. Would like to see him get off the block quicker on the screen. Showed a great deal respect for the speed of Cooks in zone coverage. Wrap try and wrap up as a tackle.

• Not a trained killer but gave the effort. His best trait is his ability to read routes. Nice job of reading the curl against Utah. Receiver ran a solid route but playing four yards off, he drove hard and was able to get underneath. If there is a concern for me with this player is his ability to handle speed because he doesn't have his own if he were to miss on the jam.

Devin Street -Pittsburgh - WR - 6-2 - 198 - 4.55

• Has outstanding size and physical makeup. Runs a ton of vertical routes but there are times where you do not see him separate.

• Did a nice job of running up the seam and making a play. For a guy his size, he is a smooth route runner.

• Plays in the slot at times which is surprising because of his build. Doesn't have the ideal quickness for the job but didn't totally look out of place. Is a long strider. Is not afraid to run his routes all over the place.

• Catches the ball in his hands. Able to make a nice adjustment to the low ball against Notre Dame for a touchdown.

• Effective in the short, intermediate and deep levels. He has an athletic frame with the height/length combination to match up well in the NFL, but needs to consistently play up to his numbers and develop his strength.

• Reminds me of Andre Holmes who was once in Dallas and now with the Oakland Raiders. Has the potential to play as the X or Z.

Anthony Hitchens - Iowa - LB - 6-0 - 240 - 4.74

• He's a compact looking player on tape. You can see that there is a lot of weight packed on his body. For his bulk, felt like there were some times where he was very physical at the point of attack and then others where he could have done a little bit better job with his shed. He'll extend his hands. He does a nice job of finding the ball. Big fan of the way that he reacts. He'll take on in the hole with his shoulder, then work to the ball.

• When he lowers his pads, you see a much better player. There were some snaps where he unloaded on the ball carrier. There is some pop with him. He does a nice job of handling the puller on the trap. He needs to get off the block a tick quick at times, but something he will get better at. Will close down in the hole. He's able to flow to the ball. There were times where he over ran the ball and was very aggressive.

• When he can see it, he can make the play. He's not a fluid-moving athlete in space when it comes to coverage. He's more of open, drop and float. Didn't see him drive back to put himself in position. Think he would be a much better player if he didn't weigh 240 pounds. That might help his quickness, but he's extremely tough.