Although the Cowboys traded for Brandin Cooks last month, they continue to do extensive homework on this draft’s top wide receiver prospects. After meeting with Zay Flowers and Jalin Hyatt, Dallas hosted TCU pass catcher Quentin Johnston on Tuesday, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets.
Johnston, who met with the Chiefs on Monday, is Baltimore-bound today for a Ravens meeting. Those two teams present needier wide receiver situations, but the Cowboys’ intel-gathering operation at receiver is a bit more interesting. The Giants have been connected to Johnston as well.
Dallas did not appear to capitalize fully on Amari Cooper‘s value last year, trading the Pro Bowler to Cleveland for fifth- and sixth-round picks. The team dealt the $20MM-per-year receiver just before the market boomed, and Cooper’s presence ended up being missed during a year that featured trade offers — one for Broncos wideout Jerry Jeudy — and a nonstop Odell Beckham Jr. free agency courtship. But the Cowboys now have Cooks, Lamb and Michael Gallup — more than a year out from his ACL tear — in the fold now. It would represent an interesting best-player-available move for Mike McCarthy‘s team to pull the trigger on a receiver early in this draft.
Then again, the Cowboys did let Dalton Schultz walk in free agency and have Cooks going into an age-30 season. Cooks’ contract runs through 2024, but the oft-traded speedster is only on the team’s books at $6MM and $10MM over the next two seasons. The veteran makes for an affordable Lamb complement. Gallup’s five-year, $57.5MM deal runs through 2026. Lamb is signed through 2023, but the team will undoubtedly exercise their WR1’s fifth-year option. Lamb is also on Dallas’ extension radar.
The Chiefs and Ravens have each been connected to both Beckham and DeAndre Hopkins. Baltimore has made Beckham an offer, though the ex-Giants Pro Bowler may well be waiting on a Jets-Aaron Rodgers trade to be finalized. But that process has stalled, potentially opening the door for other suitors. The Ravens have used first-round picks on receivers twice in the Lamar Jackson era, selecting Marquise Brown in 2019 and Rashod Bateman in 2021. The team also chose Breshad Perriman in the 2015 first round. Kansas City, conversely, has not taken a wideout in Round 1 during Andy Reid‘s tenure. The team’s last such investment — Jonathan Baldwin — came 12 years ago and did not provide much help.
ESPN’s Scouts Inc. grades Johnston as this draft’s top wide receiver, slotting him as the pool’s 12th-best prospect. NFL.com’s Daniel Jeremiah is slightly less bullish on the ex-Horned Frog, placing him 30th overall as the fourth-best receiver talent available — in a draft that has not generated receiver hype on the level with the previous 2020s crops. Todd McShay’s most recent mock sends Johnston to the Ravens at No. 22. Johnston, who goes 6-foot-3 and 208 pounds, was instrumental in the Big 12 program completing an unexpected journey to the national championship game; he hauled in 60 passes for 1,069 yards and six touchdowns as a junior.