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2012 NFL Mock Draft: Cowboys Have Multiple Needs To Meet

The latest NFL Mock Draft at SB Nation has the Dallas Cowboys taking offensive lineman David DeCastro from the Stanford Cardinals with the 14th overall pick. This is clearly a move to provide more protection for Tony Romo, who Jerry Jones' reputation has been directly tied to for a few seasons now.

Romo had a successful 2011 season, but was still sacked 36 times which included six sacks in the season finale to get into the playoff against the eventual Super Bowl champion New York Giants. Romo was sacked 11 times in the last four games.

As the Mock Draft noted, the Cowboys are just dying to upgrade their secondary. But if Romo doesn't have time to throw the ball, the Dallas defense has much bigger problems, as they'll likely spend more time on the field:

"Children in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area still cry when they think about the Cowboys' secondary. Nobody cries more than Rob Ryan, whose head coaching career hit a speed bump because of that unit. Jerry Jones cares about children and Rob Ryan; ergo, he will spend big bucks on Brandon Carr or Cortland Finnegan in free agency. Jones has his own reputation staked on Tony Romo. DeCastro gives Romo a little protection and some more help via the running game."

DeCastro is entering the draft after his junior season at Stanford, where he protected the most coveted quarterback in college football and the consensus overall No. 1 pick in this year's draft, Andrew Luck.

For more information on the Cowboys, visit Blogging the Boys.

Photographs by jamesbrandon, jdtornow, phlezk, flygraphix, mcdlttx, tomasland, and literalbarrage used in background montage under Creative Commons. Thank you.