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O-Ver-Ra-Ted! Could It Be? KC Joyner Looks At Who May Be Overvalued In The First Round

Behind the pay wall over at ESPN Insider sits a controversial figure in his own right. Some football fans dismiss KC Joyner's musings, while others think that Joyner's advanced metrics give great insight beyond the stats that are normally found in the box scores. The truth probably lies somewhere in the middle, and found when he isn't dissecting a player on said fan's favorite team. All stats have outliers, and his metrics are no different. Still, I like what he produces for the most part and therefore pay attention to some of his work; albeit with a critical eye.

Yesterday, Joyner compiled a list of who he saw as overrated prospects for the 2012 draft, and it's an interesting one. Leading the charge is the expected first corner, Morris Claiborne of LSU, whom Joyner describes as more Antonio Cromartie than Darrell Revis. Still impressive, but I'm sure you get the distinction implied. It's due to his allowing 7.5 YPA on targets in the last seven games of the year last season.

Joyner also isn't as keen on this year's wide receiver class as other prognosticators. He has issues with Baylor's Kendall Wright (as do I) and his 16 percent body fat and RGIII's better completion percentage on deep balls to his other targets. He is wary of Notre Dame's Michael Floyd's YPA (my concern is that long striders tend to have issues in the NFL) and even has a small blurb on Justin Blackmon in his honorable mention section based on a game against an NFL caliber corner in Texas' Carrington Byndom.

There are other's on the list, most noteworthy to Cowboys fans would be TE Dwayne Allen of Clemson, DE Nick Perry of Arizona and CB Dre Kirkpatrick of Alabama.

Again, you don't have to subscribe (well, to Insider you might have to) to the theories of Joyner; just know that there are folks out there with genuine concerns on some of these prospects.

For more on the Cowboys, head to Blogging the Boys, and for more mock draft updates, follow SB Nation Dallas' StoryStream.

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