Christian Parker has Cowboys changing their ways on how they view rookie CB targets

If recent history were to be believed, then the cornerback-needy Cowboys would likely be taking a hard look at Washington cornerback Ephesians Prysock in this year’s NFL Draft.

Prysock’s name is not the only thing that sticks out. He stands tall at 6-3. He has the ideal arm length that many teams — the Cowboys chief among them, recently — seek, measuring in at 33 and one-eighth inches. That places Prysock in the 94th percentile among draft prospects since 2011, according to mockdraftable.com.

There’s reason to believe, however, that recent history can’t be trusted this time around for the Cowboys.

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones (center), COO Stephen Jones (right) and head coach Brian...

Cowboys

We already knew that change was coming for the Cowboys based on their defensive coordinator shift. Former NFL head coach Matt Eberflus lasted just one season, captaining the Cowboys defense to the depths of the NFL. They then turned to 34-year-old Christian Parker, a disciple of Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio and a former Eagles defensive passing game coordinator himself, to turn around the worst defense in the NFL.

Cowboys co-owner Stephen Jones made it clear at the NFL Combine that their player acquisition process would be centered around getting players to fit Parker’s system. The Cowboys backed that up with one signing in particular. Dallas signed former Rams corner Cobie Durant this offseason to add depth and compete for a starting role in Parker’s defense.

Durant, notably, plays outside corner. He also does so with a much different look than the corners the Cowboys usually target. His arms are less than 31 inches. He’s listed at 5-9, making him the smallest corner acquisition the Cowboys have made in at least the last decade.

“Guys are just looking for guys that can make plays, man,” said Durant, who has 11 interceptions and 35 pass breakups in his first four NFL seasons. “There have been plenty of guys that have been under the 6-foot spectrum and made plays.”

That could be telling for a Cowboys team that will likely select a corner early in the draft. Instead of looking for arm length and height this cycle, keep an eye on something else for potential Cowboys corners.

“What you see for Christian Parker, for instance, is we need to have processing ability,” said Cody Alexander, a former high school and college coach who runs “MatchQuarters,” a defensive football think tank. “We need to have guys that can play multiple different things within our system because we run man, we run zone, we have a bunch of different ways we’re going to do things. So it’s not necessarily about the traits; it’s about the production, and that’s kind of been the pivot.”

The Cowboys’ previous pursuit of tall, long corners has been understandable. Alexander was quick to remind that every defensive coach, ideally, would like those traits in their corners.

“They’re going to want somebody who’s 195 pounds and jumps out of the gym,” he said. “That’s typically what you want.”

But the danger lies in targeting it specifically. And for the Cowboys, targeting those types of guys made sense for a while: their defenses involved a need for players who could operate in press-man coverage. Press coverage is a hand-to-hand combat game at the line of scrimmage. Just like in boxing, there’s an edge for those who possess length.

Corners with 32-inch arms are usually the threshold for that press-man ability. Since 2015, 11 of the 15 corners the Cowboys have drafted possessed 32-inch or longer arms.

In Parker’s system, it’s not really necessary. Alexander said the league runs mostly off-ball zone coverage these days. Last year, the Eagles ran man coverage just under a quarter of the time — and that’s not including potential press-man coverage usage.

“That arm length is kind of negated,” in that case, Alexander said. “I just need to know: can you jump? If you can extend, and do you have the ball production at the college level. Are you around the ball? Do you have good hand placement?”

Consider Indiana corner D’Angelo Ponds as an example. Ponds is 5-9. His arms are sub-30 inches. That might be concerning at first glance, unless a draft evaluator also saw that he had the highest vertical jump at the NFL Combine and was only second among all prospects to Vanderbilt tight end Eli Stowers (Denton Guyer). Ponds also had the production in college, totaling 33 pass breakups and seven interceptions in three seasons at James Madison and Indiana.

Interestingly enough, Ponds also came from a system in Indiana that barely ran man coverage. Ponds, an outside corner, only ran man coverage on 7.6% of his snaps last season, according to Pro Football Focus. Prysock, for example, was in man coverage 40.6% of the time.

This is not to say the Cowboys will draft Ponds and won’t draft Prysock. Their recent comments and the signing of Durant just signal an emphasis on something other than arm length — a previous staple in their past.

“Traits get you in trouble, because you have to understand how the traits are used,” Will McClay, the Cowboys vice president of player personnel, said on 105.3 The Fan (KRLD-FM) from the combine. “Traits are nothing if you don’t know what to do with them.”

McClay then said he learned a new scouting phrase from Parker since Parker arrived in Dallas: “brain works.”

“It’s a very simple term, but when you watch [film] and you say, ‘Oh, this guy’s brain works,’ then you can see the movement and you can see different things. And so it comes in all different shapes and sizes.”

Which means potential Cowboys cornerbacks come in all shapes and sizes, too. They’ve already shown that willingness by signing Durant.

“They’re just looking for guys that have that dog in them and have that heart,” Durant said. “Guys that have a bunch of confidence when they’re going out there, playing between those white lines, and that’s what I bring, even though I’m not on the spectrum of being a six-foot. I bring an excitement to the game, my swag, how I go about business and just being around the ball, and being around my teammates, and hunting.”

Targets Acquired

It’s probably a good year for the Cowboys to need a corner if arm length and height aren’t a requirement. Here’s a look at notable corner prospects, their height and arm length, and how they compare to corner prospects since 2011.

NameSchoolHeight (percentile)Arm length (percentile)Mansoor DelaneLSU6-0 (61st)30 inches (8th)Jermod McCoyTennessee6-0 3/4 (69th)31 1/4 (43rd)Colton HoodTennessee5-11 5/8 (54th)31 3/8 (49th)Avieon TerrellClemson5-10 3/4 (31st)31 (34th)D’Angelo PondsIndiana5-8 5/8 (2nd)29 3/8 (2nd)Brandon CisseS. Carolina6-0 (61st)30 3/4 (26th)Chris JohnsonSan Diego St.6-0 (61st)30 5/8 (22nd)

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