No college football experience? No problem for the Cowboys on Day 3 of the draft.
In the sixth round, the Cowboys pulled the trigger on a high-risk, high-reward prospect: Rico Gathers of Baylor, who didn’t play college football but played on Baylor’s basketball team. The 6-foot-8, 275-pound Gathers wasn’t viewed as an NBA prospect, but he has the kind of natural athleticism NFL teams look for in tight ends, and he says he’s committed to putting in the hard work necessary to make the transition to football. In Dallas, he’ll learn from one of the best in the business in Jason Witten.
Cowboys owner and General Manager Jerry Jones hasn’t been afraid to take chances in this year’s draft. He used the fourth overall pick on Ezekiel Elliott, a very good running back who plays a position that some people think just doesn’t carry Top 5 value in today’s NFL. He then used his second-round pick on Notre Dame linebacker Jaylon Smith, who was a phenomenal college player but is recovering from a very serious knee injury. And now he’s taken Gathers with a late pick.
Gathers was an excellent rebounder at Baylor, and now the Cowboys are hoping he can go up and get some footballs, too.