The Dallas Cowboys’ defense is far from perfect, but the top priority in the NFL Draft has to be building a more talented offense for Dak Prescott.

The unit has said goodbye to Zack Martin and it currently is lacking a starting wide receiver opposite CeeDee Lamb and a starting running back. Regardless of where you rank Prescott in the quarterback hierarchy, not many QBs would flourish in Dallas’ current offensive environment.

Prescott is coming off a down year for his standards, but the Cowboys were a top-five scoring offense three consecutive seasons before that. That included ranking first in points in 2023 and 2021, as well as fifth in yards in 2023 and first in yards in 2021.

Long story short, Dallas needs to come away with a playmaker in the first round. They did exactly that in Matt Verderame’s new mock draft for Sports Illustrated, which featured trades for all 32 teams.

Cowboys trade down for new starting RB in proposed deal

Verderame had the Cowboys trading down 10 spots to pick No. 22 in a deal with the Chargers.

Despite moving back almost half a round, Dallas only got the No. 55 overall pick from Los Angeles in addition to the 22nd pick. An extra second-round pick is nothing to sneeze at, but the front office should be able to pick up a fourth-rounder here as well. But we digress.

The biggest contention, though, is definitely Verderame’s pick for America’s Team: North Carolina running back Omarion Hampton.

Both Tetairoa McMillan (No. 7 to the Patriots) and Matthew Golden (No. 18 to the Texans) were not available. However, Emeka Egbuka and Luther Burden were still on the board. The Cowboys would have been better off taking one of Egbuka or Burden than a RB.

Not only is there a precipitous drop-off at WR after the top four prospects, but Dallas would have two picks in the second round to address running back.

All of that said, Hampton would give the running game a monstrous boost. He’s built like an NFL running back and his strong lower half gives him great contact balance. While not a blur in open space, he ran a 4.46 40-yard dash at the Combine. That is plenty fast enough.

Hampton has the potential to be a three-down back as a rookie. While Prescott arguably needs a WR2 more than a starting running back, getting Hampton while picking up an extra second-round pick would allow Dallas to get a WR at No. 44 and focus on a cornerback and nose tackle at No. 55 and No. 76.

The draft could turn out a lot worse.