{"id":44227,"date":"2025-04-27T01:00:08","date_gmt":"2025-04-27T01:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=44227"},"modified":"2025-04-27T01:00:08","modified_gmt":"2025-04-27T01:00:08","slug":"cowboys-land-unexpected-potential-star-in-wild-nfl-draft-prediction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=44227","title":{"rendered":"Cowboys land unexpected potential star in wild NFL draft prediction ."},"content":{"rendered":"<article>This selection would be a shocker for the Dallas Cowboys.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,w_6398,h_3598,x_0,y_0\/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images\/ImagnImages\/mmsport\/cowboys_country\/01jshsqz4sq88xp7hbtk.jpg\" alt=\"Cowboys land unexpected potential star in wild NFL draft prediction -binh123\" \/>Georgia defensive back Malaki Starks participates in drills during the 2025 NFL Combine at Lucas Oil Stadium. \/ Kirby Lee-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p>Following a 7-10 campaign, the\u00a0Dallas Cowboys\u00a0have the No. 12 pick in the 2025\u00a0NFL draft.<\/p>\n<p>That gives them the opportunity to add a game-changing player, with\u00a0wide receiver being the expected route. Not everyone believes this is the way the draft will go for Dallas, however.<\/p>\n<p>For example, Vinnie Iyer of\u00a0<em>Sporting News<\/em>\u00a0takes a completely different route,\u00a0selecting Georgia safety Malaki Starks at No. 12\u00a0in his latest NFL mock draft.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,w_5217,h_3478,x_0,y_0\/c_fill,w_620,ar_3:2,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images\/ImagnImages\/mmsport\/cowboys_country\/01jshtcbtx3p3fzsefph.jpg\" alt=\"Cowboys land unexpected potential star in wild NFL draft prediction -binh123\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Georgia Bulldogs defensive back Malaki Starks practices before the 2024 SEC Championship game \/ Brett Davis-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p>\u201dThe Cowboys\u00a0need to think about getting much better playmaking at the position over Donovan Wilson and Malik Hooker. Starks can give them a potential do-everything superstar, a la Micah Parsons in the front seven.\u201d \u2014 Iyer,\u00a0<em>Sporting News<\/em><\/p>\n<p>To be fair to Iyer, Arizona wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan was already off the board, although he could have gone with Emeka Egbuka from Ohio State or Matthew Golden from Texas.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,w_4292,h_2861,x_0,y_0\/c_fill,w_620,ar_3:2,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images\/ImagnImages\/mmsport\/cowboys_country\/01jshtt55r7d4q0spwsm.jpg\" alt=\"Cowboys land unexpected potential star in wild NFL draft prediction -binh123\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Former Georgia defensive back Malaki Starks runs a drill during UGA Footballs Pro Day in Athens, Ga. \/ Joshua L. Jones \/ USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p>That said, this selection would surely be greeted with frustration from the fan base. With their hearts set on offense firepower, they won\u2019t be satisfied with a safety \u2014 even if he is the best in the class.<\/p>\n<p>Passing on a receiver for a position that won\u2019t be a need until 2026 would also be risky for Dallas. They\u2019ll still have holes at receiver, running back, and cornerback that must be addressed.<\/p>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This selection would be a shocker for the Dallas Cowboys.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":44228,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Cowboys land unexpected potential star in wild NFL draft prediction . - 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=44227\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cowboys land unexpected potential star in wild NFL draft prediction . - 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