{"id":22441,"date":"2025-01-28T05:33:44","date_gmt":"2025-01-28T05:33:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=22441"},"modified":"2025-01-28T05:33:44","modified_gmt":"2025-01-28T05:33:44","slug":"breaking-cowboys-to-add-explosive-playmaker-per-mel-kiper-jr-draft-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=22441","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING: Cowboys to Add \u2018Explosive\u2019 Playmaker per Mel Kiper Jr. Draft"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/GettyImages-2185168032-e1737914538219.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\" alt=\"Cowboys potential draftee Luther Burden\" width=\"780\" height=\"439\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ql-align-center\"><em>Getty<\/em><em>Cowboys potential draftee Luther Burden<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The\u00a0Cowboys\u00a0have a coach, and no matter your opinion on new guy Brian Schottenheimer, fact is, they could bring back Tom Landry himself and it would not matter if they don\u2019t upgrade the roster heading into 2025. Given the way the team has flopped in free agency, there might not be much hope for the Cowboys there. But the draft is still a shining beacon of hope for the roster.<\/p>\n<p>And while there is a strong sense that, at No. 12, the Cowboys will go ahead and pick Boise State star running back Asthon Jeanty, there is also a clear need for other spots on the roster to be filled. If the Cowboys can manage to not bungle the free-agent\/trade period in March, they could easily address the running back spot at a cost-efficient price.<\/p>\n<div id=\"qcmgidgb\">\n<div>\n<div data-type=\"_mgwidget\" data-widget-id=\"1677046\" data-uid=\"1805e\">\n<div id=\"mgw1677046_1805e\">\n<div>\n<div class=\"mgbox card-media\">\n<div class=\"mgheader\">\n<p>That would free them up to do something more difficult in the draft: Find a productive No. 2 receiver to pair with CeeDee Lamb.<\/p>\n<p>As it stands,\u00a0Brandin Cooks\u00a0is the Cowboys\u2019 No. 2, and is heading into free agency. It\u2019s hard to imagine that Cooks will be back, at age 31 and coming off an injury-racked season. The team has given chances to Jalen Tolbert, who is useful, but not a No. 2. And there is a chance that Jonathan Mingo, acquired at last year\u2019s trade deadline, could snap out of his career-long funk and become productive.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Cowboys go WR in Kiper\u2019s Mock<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>At ESPN,\u00a0draft guru Mel Kiper Jr.\u00a0sees things the same way. Jeanty figures to be an option, especially if the Cowboys do nothing in free agency. But a better answer might be Missouri star Luther Burden III, and that\u2019s Kiper\u2019s Cowboys pick.<\/p>\n<div class=\"autors-widget\">\n<div>\n<div>\n<p>Wrote Kiper this week: \u201cI think it\u2019s possible the Cowboys will take Jeanty, and there\u2019s no arguing that they need a boost to the run game. But I imagine they\u2019d first try to fix that hole in free agency. \u2026<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPutting Burden\u2019s valuable after-the-catch ability opposite\u00a0CeeDee Lamb\u00a0would open things up for\u00a0Dak Prescott. Dallas has been looking for a reliable one-two receiver punch in the offense for a while; it hasn\u2019t had two WRs over 700 receiving yards since 2021, when\u00a0Amari Cooper\u00a0was still in town. Burden has the explosive traits to change that.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Luther Burden Had a Down Year at Missouri<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Now, if you go by the numbers alone, Burden clearly took a step backward this season, with just 676 yards as a receiver on 61 catches. He added 115 yards rushing and two touchdowns on just nine carries.<\/p>\n<p>The drop-off, though, was more a function of the poor play from quarterback Brady Cook, who had a bad year. The Tigers offense struggled to get Burden, who has been compared to 49ers star Deebo Samuel for his toughness and versatility, the ball.<\/p>\n<div id=\"qcmgidgb3\">\n<div>\n<div data-type=\"_mgwidget\" data-widget-id=\"1677046\" data-uid=\"059ab\">\n<div id=\"mgw1677046_059ab\">\n<div>\n<div class=\"mgbox card-media\">\n<div class=\"mgheader\"><\/div>\n<div id=\"4dc4c0d9-dd39-11ef-b55c-e43d1a2a04aa\" class=\"mgline teaser-12578197 type-w\" data-i=\"JqEGtG-v1IQIDi3RIAdJpZNerYu8_n0fYXdSqVv84qrKq-78i6CvspWDTR7dnYGWFyGfzWBmLxo8ER6AJAXcgPJYRBLRAhNSbiKfQK-9oY0*\" data-cat=\"IAB6\" data-observing-start=\"1738042398769\" data-observing-time=\"1559\" data-showed=\"1\">\n<div class=\"mgline-inner\">\n<p>Missouri coach\u00a0Eli Drinkwitz said of Burden: \u201c\u201dGame on the line, 4th-and-17, he really doesn\u2019t even run the route that he\u2019s supposed to but he just has what he calls \u2018Luther instincts\u2019 \u2026 He\u2019s always been a gamer. In St. Louis, he\u2019s known as \u2018Touchdown Luther.\u2019 If you want a touchdown you just have to get the ball to Luther.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"4dc4caf5-dd39-11ef-92a6-e43d1a2a53a0\" class=\"mgline teaser-13780658 type-w\" data-i=\"JqEGtG-v1IQIDi3RIAdJpXBP8AXnB-FC0BYUHvW5aXnXrqyZFLpnqu3afnywrprsFyGfzWBmLxo8ER6AJAXcgOp4R_jKjAGzWzjxnyu9sH0*\" data-cat=\"IAB9-1\" data-observing-start=\"0\" data-observing-time=\"0\">\n<div class=\"mgline-inner\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; GettyCowboys potential draftee Luther Burden The\u00a0Cowboys\u00a0have a coach, and no matter your opinion on new guy Brian Schottenheimer, fact is, they could bring back Tom Landry&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22442,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hot-news","category-nfl"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>BREAKING: Cowboys to Add \u2018Explosive\u2019 Playmaker per Mel Kiper Jr. Draft - 24\/7 News America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=22441\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BREAKING: Cowboys to Add \u2018Explosive\u2019 Playmaker per Mel Kiper Jr. Draft - 24\/7 News America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"&nbsp; 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