Know Your Potential Draft Pick: Rahim Moore

With the Cowboys headed for the top of the draft board come April, we thought we'd get a jump start on introducing you to the players who could wind up being a big part of the next Cowboys team. Next up is Rahim Moore.

Name: Rahim Moore

Position: Safety

School: UCLA

Why He Could Be the Pick: Making comparisons to safeties like Troy Polamalu and Ed Reed should only be done by those who are quite sure that they are talking about one of the best football players they've ever seen. So we won't mention Moore in the same breath as either of them, but we will say that he's the kind of instinctive, ball hawk that any good defense needs protecting the last line of defense.

The Cowboys certainly don't have one of those right now. Alan Ball hasn't distinguished himself as anything more than an average player in his first year as a starter and Gerald Sensabaugh isn't even that good. Those two weren't solely responsible for Rex Grossman making the Cowboys look ridiculous last Sunday nor were they the only culprits for DeSean Jackson's highlight reel, but having a guy in the secondary who can make plays instead of watching them happen would do wonders.

When we started this little series, it looked like the Cowboys would have one of the first three or four picks. Thanks to Jason Garrett's magic touch, that's not the case any longer. The further down the draft order that the Cowboys sink, the more chances there are to pick up a player of high value because of team need instead of simply grabbing the best available player on the board.

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One of the big problems with Double J as personnel guru has been that less sexy positions like safety and offensive line have been ignored at the expense of splashier spots. Look at consistent winners, though, and you'll see great lines and great safeties on almost all of them. Moore fits under a scenario that sees the Cowboys moving in a different direction.  

Why He Won't Be the Pick: The flip side of the above paragraph, obviously. Moore isn't a sizzler and won't grab a ton of headlines on draft day.

There are more practical reasons. Moore's size isn't ideal and he's coming off a 2010 season that was a little bit less eyepopping than the one he turned in as a sophomore. It was still good enough to land him a spot on the All Pac-10 defense, mind you, but it wasn't the kind of overwhelming year that makes him a no-brainer to a team that has plenty of needs.

Likelihood: Low. Since Roy Williams in 2002, the Cowboys have never used anything higher than a fourth round pick on a safety. We don't believe they are going to change course this season.

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