FRISCO, Texas — After an arduous day of waiting through the rest of the league making first round selections, the Dallas Cowboys were finally able to make their initial marks on the NFL Draft, Friday night. And they bolstered their interior line on both sides with their second and third round picks.
Defensive tackle Trysten Hill out of UCF was the Cowboys first pick in the 2019 draft, at pick number 58 in the second round. Penn State offensive lineman Connor McGovern was the pick 90 in the third round.
“We spent a lot of time with Trysten," head coach Jason Garrett said. "Rod Marinelli went down to work him out. We visited with him in Indianapolis. We visited with him here. He is just one of those players who has great size, quickness, explosiveness."
The Cowboys could've gone with a safety at pick number 58, and had an option there in Virginia's Juan Thornill. But ultimately the Cowboys elected to go with Hill, because of the importance of the three technique tackle position in defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli's system.
“I think that disrupting the passer helps makes safeties play better," owner Jerry Jones added. "It makes it easier for them to do their thing, easier to cover, easier for the quarterback to not be as accurate, easier for the quarterback to have to throw quicker, easier for the quarterback to have to disrupt the plans of the offense. When you can get rush and disruption, which is what we think his game is, is where it starts. We certainly decided that there. I don’t want to make any less of the fact that we just liked him as a player better than the alternative. It also happened to have fit us better. It was a good thing because we had discussed this for several days.”
As for the pick of McGovern -- that surprised many. But the Cowboys feel he fits in well as either a guard or center. The initial speculation is that they may move Connor Williams out to right tackle, in due time, and have McGovern play left guard.
That said, the selection Friday night had more to do with him being the best player on the Cowboys board at that moment.
"He was a classic case of us doing our best to look up at the board and say, ‘Who’s the best player up there?’," Garrett said. "He for us, was by far the best player at that time. Exactly what we want in our offensive line. He’s smart. He’s tough. He loves to play the game. He plays the game the right way. He has some position flex. He plays both center and guard. More than anything else, it was us looking at each other and saying, ‘There’s the blinking light.’ He was a highly graded player for us who has all the physical tools that we want. He has all the intangible qualities that we want. We said, ‘Let’s take this guy; he’s going to help our football team.’”
