Is Ealy Back in Play at #16?

Update 5/6/14: Is Ealy back in play at #16?

Well looks like Rapoport was on to something after all. From Ealy’s mouth:

“Dallas was really good. I like them. They feel like they can use me across their D-line, inside and out,” Ealy, who is in New York City to attend the draft this week, told College Football 24/7.” (NFL.com)

Now, while Ealy won’t be drafted as a DT, Charley Casserly did make a solid point that Ealy was most effective in nickel packages where he rushed from the 3-tech position, his speed was very advantageous there. Is Ealy back on at #16?? Hmmmm.

As usual, I’ve been scanning the net for the latest draft tidbits and came across Ian Rapoport’s tweet indicating some teams would want Kony Ealy to add 15lbs pounds and move him to a defensive tackle.

One factor that may get #Mizzou DL Kony Ealy drafted higher than people think: I hear some teams want to put 15 lbs on him and make him a DT

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) May 2, 2014

//platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsI put in my 2-cents, and at first didn’t think this was even a good idea, but Rapsheet had a few good points.

All depends on grades. But if #Mizzou DL Kony Ealy is a three-technique (DT), it may bring in teams like #Giants, #Rams, #Cowboys, & #Bears — Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) May 2, 2014

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For me though, if you’re going to draft Ealy and make him a DT, I’m not taking him in the 1st round, maybe in the 2nd round, but the Cowboys would have to be certain this would work. If you remember Ealy’s stock dropped due to a slow showing at the NFL Combine, but ticked back up after fixing his slow time at his Pro Day.

Josh Norris from Rotoworld chimes in with his own analysis on the Ealy to DT talk:

Could be viewed as No. 2 3Tech in this class RT @Rotoworld_Draft: Some teams view Mizzou’s Kony Ealy as a DT http://t.co/y2jcRpzgtv

— Josh Norris (@JoshNorris) May 2, 2014

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With all these thoughts, I went back to an article I wrote a two months ago, and I actually project Tyrone Crawford as a possible DT. If Josh Norris thinks Ealy would be the #2DT, then we already have that same quality player on the team in Tyrone Crawford.

What I wrote earlier:

Tyrone Crawford may be the key in what the Cowboys do this offseason, he has the size and versatility to play at DT or DE. If we look at Crawford’s NFL Combine stats, he would be around average for a DE this year, but his frame and size could potentially be an ideal fit to replace Hatcher as the 3-technique. If we were to put Crawford into this year’s DT pool, his numbers are right there with all the top end defensive tackles in this year’s draft. I wrote about the top end DTs that could be available for us here. Outside of Aaron Donald, Crawford’s stats would have him as the 2nd most explosive defensive tackle this year.

So, the idea is nice and its quite possible, but why waste the pick. Roll with Crawford as the other defensive tackle.