Draft History: 2000

IRVING – The wait tested everyone's patience.

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and coach Dave Campo gritted their teeth and tossed out the bromide, "patience my butt, I'm going to kill somebody." Larry Lacewell, the team's director of college and pro scouting, took a nap.

But seven hours after it all began, when the NFL draft finally meandered into the middle of the second round, the player the club hoped to select was still around. The Cowboys shrugged off two trade proposals for the 49th pick and drafted Tennessee cornerback Dwayne Goodrich.

"We had Dwayne Goodrich targeted very early in this process," Campo said. "We never wavered on that all the way through.

"In my wildest dreams, I really did not believe he would drop to us."

Dallas sent its first-round picks in this and next year's draft to Seattle to acquire receiver Joey Galloway. The team shipped its third-round pick to the Seahawks last off-season for receiver James McKnight.

Those two deals helped fortify a weak position. Saturday's pick, meanwhile, addressed a crying need at corner. The imminent departure of Deion Sanders and the injury woes of Kevin Smith and Kevin Mathis left the Cowboys vulnerable in the defensive backfield.

Goodrich eases those concerns. The 5-11, 198-pound corner had been projected as a late first-round pick after his junior season. The Cowboys were convinced his stock slid as a senior due to a back injury he suffered in the weight room before the start of the season, a new secondary coach and a new scheme that required the corner to play off the receiver rather than up on the line.

"You're not taking a guy who has never done it," Lacewell said. "I'd rather bet that he is going to play good again than bet that he's got to learn to play.

"He's not coming out of Timbuktu. He's coming out of a national championship school. ... There are a whole lot of arrows, in my opinion, going upwards, that point toward hitting a home run there, maybe."

Campo said Goodrich's fall was almost a carbon copy of what happened to linebacker Randall Godfrey at Georgia four years earlier. That was the case of another top player in the Southeastern Conference who was available for Dallas in the second round because he didn't live up to the standards of his sophomore and junior seasons.

Jones said Goodrich's back and accelerated heart beat – similar to a condition shared by former Cowboys running back Sherman Williams – aren't concerns. He stressed the cornerback received a five on his medical report by the club, the highest grade possible.

"Last year, I tried to make too many big plays," said Goodrich, who finished with 12 interceptions for his college career.

The last time the Cowboys used their top pick on a cornerback came in 1992, when the club selected Kevin Smith in the first round. Dallas hasn't taken a cornerback higher than the third round in the past seven years.

The Cowboys have drafted 75 players since Smith was added to the roster, and only seven of those picks were used on cornerbacks. None of those players are currently on the Dallas roster.

Cornerback is arguably one of the toughest positions to judge because so many variables – speed of receiver, ability of quarterback, pressure applied by defensive line – factor into the equation. But the Cowboys are committed to unearthing one or more corners in this draft who can make the team and contribute in 2000.

"We have spent more time evaluating this position than any combination of positions at any time in the last 11 years," Jones said. "I've never felt more comfortable making a pick.

Dallas had Goodrich rated as the third best corner in this draft. Only Ohio State's Ahmed Plummer (No. 24 to San Francisco) and California's Deltha O'Neal (No. 15 to Denver) ranked higher.

When the Cowboys were on the clock, Tampa Bay offered the 57th pick in the second and a fourth-round pick to move up. Pittsburgh also expressed an interest. Jones said he never considered either possibility since Goodrich was available.

The focus now shifts to Sunday, when the Cowboys have four picks.

"With our picks on the second day and what we do in college free agency, we have got to get in here and hit a home run," Jones said. "I don't mean on any single player. We've just got to make this the best second day we've had. Ever."

Goodrich made the first day of the draft – and the wait – worthwhile.