{"id":41845,"date":"2026-01-17T12:20:29","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T12:20:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=41845"},"modified":"2026-01-17T12:20:29","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T12:20:29","slug":"lsu-star-called-perfect-draft-pick-for-cowboys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=41845","title":{"rendered":"LSU Star Called &#8216;Perfect Draft Pick&#8217; for Cowboys"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"post-featured-container-id\">\n<div id=\"post-featured\">\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-2246872219-e1768649153614.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 820px) 95vw, 780px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-2246872219-e1768649153614.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780 780w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-2246872219-e1768649153614.jpg?quality=15&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1100 1100w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-2246872219-e1768649153614.jpg?quality=35&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1350 1350w\" alt=\"LSU Star Called 'Perfect Draft Pick' for Cowboys\" width=\"780\" height=\"438\" \/><\/figure>\n<div>\n<p>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The Dallas Cowboys finally rid themselves of the walking albatross that was former NFL All-Pro cornerback Trevon Diggs late in the 2025 season, admitting defeat with a player who only played in 19 regular-season games after he signed a 5-year, $97.6 million contract extension before the 2023 season.<\/p>\n<p>What the Cowboys need to do now is simple \u2014 draft another elite cornerback.<\/p>\n<p>Pro Football Focus called LSU cornerback Mansoor Delane the \u201cPerfect Draft Pick\u201d for the Cowboys at No. 12 overall \u2014 the first of 2 first round picks the Cowboys have available in 2026, along with the No. 20 pick from trading edge rusher Micah Parsons to the Green Bay Packers.<\/p>\n<p>From PFF: \u201cThe Cowboys earned the worst coverage grade in the NFL this season (30.9) and desperately need to upgrade their secondary. Delane surrendered only a 26.7 passer rating into his coverage this year, the lowest mark among Power Four cornerbacks.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Transfer Put Delane in National Spotlight<\/h2>\n<p data-mrf-recirculation=\"Articles \/ Paragraph Links\">Delane, 6-foot and 191 pounds, played his first 3 seasons of college football at Virginia Tech, where he was a Freshman All-American in 2022 and named All-ACC in 2024 before he transferred to LSU.<\/p>\n<p data-mrf-recirculation=\"Articles \/ Paragraph Links\">Getting to play and thriving against the nation\u2019s best competition thrust him onto draft boards. Through 7 games against SEC play, he has 33 tackles, 1 interception and 7 pass deflections. For his career, Delane has 7 interceptions, including 4 picks in 2024.<\/p>\n<p data-mrf-recirculation=\"Articles \/ Paragraph Links\">ESPN\u2019s Mel Kiper Jr. has Delane listed as the No. 4 cornerback\u00a0on his 2026 Big Board.<\/p>\n<p data-mrf-recirculation=\"Articles \/ Paragraph Links\">On October 28, Delane was announced as one of the semifinalists for the Jim Thorpe Award, given to the nation\u2019s top collegiate defensive back.<\/p>\n<p data-mrf-recirculation=\"Articles \/ Paragraph Links\">From NFL Draft Buzz: \u201cAfter cutting his teeth at Virginia Tech for three seasons where he started 29 consecutive games, Mansoor Delane made the calculated decision to bet on himself and transfer to LSU for his final collegiate campaign. This wasn\u2019t just another player looking for NIL money \u2014 this was a future pro meticulously plotting his path to Sundays.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Diggs\u2019 Time in Dallas Came to Messy End<\/h2>\n<p>Diggs was claimed by the Packers\u00a0off waivers on December 31 \u2014 just one day after he was released by the Cowboys.<\/p>\n<p data-mrf-recirculation=\"Articles \/ Paragraph Links\">Diggs missed 8 games this season following a mysterious, at-home accident\u00a0he later said came from a television falling on his head as he tried to mount it on an outdoor patio \u2014 a disclosure that didn\u2019t come until months after the accident.<\/p>\n<p data-mrf-recirculation=\"Articles \/ Paragraph Links\">The final straw for the Cowboys came when Diggs asked to stay in the Washington D.C. area and spend Christmas with his family after a game against the\u00a0Washington Commanders on Christmas Day \u2014 Diggs is from the D.C. area \u2014 and not fly home on the team plane.<\/p>\n<p data-mrf-recirculation=\"Articles \/ Paragraph Links\">The Cowboys refused his request and Diggs stayed anyways.<\/p>\n<p data-mrf-recirculation=\"Articles \/ Paragraph Links\">\u201d \u2026 Things can get spun but bottom line? Team wanted him to return back with team postgame to Dallas and fly back to Washington area on his own,\u201d\u00a0The NFL Network\u2019s Jane Slater\u00a0wrote on X hours before news broke of Diggs signing with the Packers. \u201cHe didn\u2019t. That clearly pushed an already tenuous situation but the end was inevitable and he ultimately made a choice and the team made theirs but it doesn\u2019t mean he\u2019s a liar.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>PFF called talented LSU cornerback Mansoor Delane the &#8220;Perfect Draft Pick&#8221; for the Dallas Cowboys at No. 12 overall.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":41846,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41845","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dallas-cowboys"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>LSU Star Called &#039;Perfect Draft Pick&#039; for Cowboys - Breaking News<\/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:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=41845\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"LSU Star Called &#039;Perfect Draft Pick&#039; 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