{"id":66244,"date":"2025-07-05T07:56:12","date_gmt":"2025-07-05T07:56:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=66244"},"modified":"2025-07-05T07:56:12","modified_gmt":"2025-07-05T07:56:12","slug":"cowboys-second-round-pick-called-dark-horse-candidate-for-nfl-defensive-roy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=66244","title":{"rendered":"Cowboys Second Round Pick Called &#8216;Dark Horse Candidate&#8217; For NFL Defensive ROY"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"post-featured-container-id\">\n<div id=\"post-featured\">\n<div>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/501595781_1260901232061523_8381669156937055878_n-e1751684830872.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 820px) 95vw, 780px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/501595781_1260901232061523_8381669156937055878_n-e1751684830872.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780 780w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/501595781_1260901232061523_8381669156937055878_n-e1751684830872.jpg?quality=15&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1100 1100w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/501595781_1260901232061523_8381669156937055878_n-e1751684830872.jpg?quality=35&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1350 1350w\" alt=\"Cowboys Second Round Pick Called 'Dark Horse Candidate' For NFL Defensive ROY\" width=\"780\" height=\"438\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Getty<\/p>\n<p>Dallas Cowboys rookie edge rusher Donovan Ezeiruaku.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Dallas Cowboys edge rusher Micah Parsons has been a one man wrecking crew through his first 4 NFL seasons.<\/p>\n<p>No matter who lines up against him, or around him, Parsons gets to the quarterback like few players in NFL history have to start off their careers.<\/p>\n<p>Now, imagine if he had some help. Imagine if he had a Robin to his Batman.<\/p>\n<p>What wondrous heights could Parsons reach if that were the case?<\/p>\n<p>We might find out in 2025 after the Cowboys seemed to get first round talent in the second round after Boston College edge rusher Donovan Ezeiruaku dropped to them with the No. 44 overall pick.<\/p>\n<p>Bleacher Report\u2019s Brent Sobleski thinks the pairing of Ezeiruaku and Parsons could lead to the rookie becoming one of the NFL\u2019s best first year players on defense \u2014 and a possible Dark Horse candidate for NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe 21-year-old will have the chance to fully capitalize on opponents being distracted by Micah Parsons at all times, which should create plenty of opportunities for Ezeiruaku to win one-on-one matchups,\u201d Sobleski wrote on July 4. \u201cThus, he could create a significant impact from Day 1.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Ezeiruaku\u2019s Size Likely Dropped Him To 2nd Round<\/h2>\n<p>If we are looking for why a player as dominant as Ezeiruaku was at Boston College would drop to the second round, it\u2019s likely because of his size. At 6-foot-2 and 248 pounds, he\u2019s 1-2 inches short and about 10-20 pounds lighter than a typical edge rusher who gets picked in the first round.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEzeiruaku uses every bit of his length paired with aggression to mitigate size differences at the point of attack,\u201d NFL draft analyst Lance Zierlein wrote in his pre-draft evaluation. \u201d \u2026 His hands exploit small advantages to turn them into big ones and he has a variety of ways to challenge protection, though he\u2019s still learning to craft his plans. Ezeiruaku\u2019s play demeanor, skill and athletic talent are the underpinnings of a productive starter with three-down value.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ezeiruaku finished his college career with 28.0 sacks over 4 seasons but saved his best for last. Ezeiruaku kicked off his senior season in 2024 with 2.0 sacks in an upset win over No. 10 Florida State in Ireland He finished the year with 80 tackles, 3 forced fumbles and was second in the nation with 16.5 sacks and third in the nation with 20 TFL.<\/p>\n<p>He was also named ACC Defensive Player of the Year, All-American and won the Ted Hendricks Award as the nation\u2019s top collegiate defensive end.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Cowboys Brought Fowler Back From NFC East Rival<\/h2>\n<p>The Cowboys haven\u2019t put all of their eggs in Ezeiruaku\u2019s basket in terms of finding a complementary edge rusher to play opposite Parsons.<\/p>\n<p>One move Dallas made in the offseason that went largely unnoticed was bringing back edge rusher Dante Fowler Jr. on a 1-year, $6 million contract after he led the Washington Commanders with 11.0 sacks in 2024.<\/p>\n<p>Fowler, the No. 3 overall pick in the 2015 NFL draft, played for the Cowboys in 2022 and 2023 under current Commanders head coach Dan Quinn, who was the Dallas defensive coordinator those years. Fowler had 10.0 sacks in 2 seasons with Dallas while he played in all 34 regular season games with zero starts.<\/p>\n<p>Tony Adame covers the NFL for Heavy.com, with a focus on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Washington Commanders and Denver Broncos. A veteran sports writer and editor since 2004, his work has been featured at Stadium Talk, Yardbarker, NW Florida Daily News and Pensacola News Journal. More about Tony Adame<\/p>\n<h2>More Heavy on Cowboys<\/h2>\n<p>Loading more stories<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dallas Cowboys rookie edge rusher and second round pick Donovan Ezeiruaku called &#8216;Dark Horse Candidate&#8217; for NFL Defensive ROY honors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":66245,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-66244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Cowboys Second Round Pick Called &#039;Dark Horse Candidate&#039; For NFL Defensive ROY - NEWS USA<\/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:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=66244\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cowboys Second Round Pick Called &#039;Dark Horse Candidate&#039; 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