Cowlishaw: Is Taco Charlton too slow to excel with the Cowboys?

In a first round filled with surprise picks, at least one absurd trade and a focus on offense even in a draft that was short on superstar skill players, the Cowboys stayed the course. They did a favor for jokesters and headline writers but, otherwise, the pick of Taco Charlton at 28 was the most likely move Dallas could have made.

This is a team that, with the exception of the Byron Jones pick from Connecticut two years ago, has kept its focus on the big-time Power Five football schools the last few years. First-round picks from USC, Notre Dame, Wisconsin, LSU, Ohio State and now Michigan since 2011 attest to that.

There are those who have grumbled (ESPN's Bill Polian comes to mind) that Charlton is too slow afoot for the Dallas defense. He's not quick like UCLA's Tak McKinley, who landed in Atlanta at 26, and he's not close to the guys who went 1st and 3rd overall -- Texas A&M's Myles Garrett to Cleveland and Stanford's Solomon Thomas to San Francisco.

But his NFL combine times across the board are about the same as Tennessee's Derek Barnett, who went 14 spots higher to the Philadelphia Eagles. And Charlton was faster in the 40 than Alabama's Jonathan Allen, who went 11 spots ahead to Washington.

At the very least, Charlton is another body for the end rotation that now includes DeMarcus Lawrence, David Irving, Tyrone Crawford, Benson Mayowa and, at times, Randy Gregory. But his success at Michigan as he improved each season has to suggest he can become something more than that.

Regardless, the Cowboys were not a big newsmaker, but you don't expect them to be one on the heels of a 13-3 season. The best teams don't always do much in the opening round.

Meanwhile, the reputation of the Big 12 as a league that doesn't produce elite talent these days continued. Only one player was chosen, and given that it was a Texas Tech quarterback, you know things are upside down. Kansas City went all in, trading two ones and a three to pick Patrick Mahomes at No. 10. Presumably, Head Coach Andy Reid has no plans to rush him into action as he overhauls his game for at least a year.

That's not what I was referring to as an absurd trade, however. That honor goes to the Chicago Bears, who traded third- and fourth-round picks to move up one spot near the top of the board. The Bears inched from No. 3 to No. 2, then selected North Carolina quarterback Mitchell Trubisky, who almost certainly would have been sitting there at No. 3.

The new Bears regime seems to favor quarterbacks not overly burdened with playing time. They paid considerable money for Mike Glennon, whose most recent starts produced a 1-4 record for Tampa Bay three years ago. Now they have Trubisky, who started 13 games at North Carolina but will receive a sizable contract as the No. 2 overall pick.

The Cowboys' next order of business Friday night has to be to go to work on their depleted secondary. The New York Giants drafted Ole Miss' Evan Engram, listed as a tight end but more likely a tall, swift slot receiver. The team the Cowboys couldn't beat in 2016 can go four-wide and line up Odell Beckham Jr., Brandon Marshall, Sterling Shepard and Engram.

A club that lost Brandon Carr, Mo Claiborne, Barry Church and J.J. Wilcox in free-agency might want to address that Friday. A couple of times if possible.

True story. Obsession with lack of speed for DL is what talked us into Terrance Newman (who was a good player) instead of Terrell Suggs, who likely is a HOF player.