The Dallas Cowboys could be in position to add Oregon receiver Malik Benson with pick No. 152 in the fifth round, one of five Day 3 selections they control in the NFL draft. Benson’s speed gives Dallas a potential downfield option as the team looks past its top pair of CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens.
Benson, who ran a 4.37 40-yard dash at the NFL Scouting Combine, started last season for the Ducks and caught 43 passes for 719 yards and six touchdowns, averaging 16.9 yards per reception. That kind of burst is part of why he is viewed as a burner who can threaten the top of a defense, even if he still needs work on the short and intermediate parts of his route tree.
The fit becomes clearer when the Cowboys’ receiver room is laid out. Dallas has already said it will not discuss any long-term deal with Pickens, who is expected to play next season on the franchise tag, leaving Lamb and Pickens as the established one-two punch while the rest of the depth chart sorts itself out.
Ryan Flournoy and KaVontae Turpin are battling for the WR3 job, and Jonathan Mingo, Parris Campbell and Traeshon Holden are also in the mix. That leaves Dallas in a spot where a fifth-round swing on a player like Benson would not need to solve everything at once; it would need to add speed, stretch the field and give the Cowboys another piece to develop behind their stars.
The question now is whether Dallas uses one of those five Day 3 picks on a receiver who can change how a defense has to line up, or waits and lets another team take the fastest name still sitting there.
