With the NFL Draft only two weeks away, it's officially misinformation season across the league.
You never know how truthful front-office personnel are being in pre-draft interviews, but the prospects the Dallas Cowboys like (or at least want the rest of the NFL to think they like) are beginning to leak out.
Over at his personal blog, local radio host Bob Sturm dishes about who he's hearing Dallas is interested in:
I may be affected by smoke screens or poor information that I am being fed, but I think that if Fletcher Cox and Mark Barron are both on the clock at #14, there will be a massive tug-o-war in the war room over which direction they go. Beyond that, I think they are settling and happy, but not over the moon.
In recent comments to the Dallas Morning News, Stephen Jones indicated that the Cowboys want to upgrade their pass defense, especially given the high-flying offense they face in the NFC East.
That would seem to eliminate Stanford OG David DeCastro, the highest-rated interior offensive lineman, from consideration, leaving the Cowboys looking at players who could upgrade their pass rush or their pass coverage in the first round. Dallas has been linked to Alabama SS Mark Barron for weeks, while there are a huge clump of defensive lineman and edge rushers likely to be available in the middle of the first-round.
Cox, meanwhile, doesn't quite have the measurables of Memphis DT Dontari Poe or the production of South Carolina OLB Melvin Ingram, but he could provide a nice balance between the two.
A video profile of Cox from SB Nation's YouTube channel:
For more on the Cowboys, head to Blogging the Boys, and for more mock draft updates, follow SB Nation Dallas' StoryStream.