Devin Moore has heard it plenty on his way from Florida to Frisco.
The 22-year-old cornerback, selected by the Cowboys in the fourth round, knows exactly what teams were concerned about during the pre-draft process.
“I had some injuries in college,” Moore told DallasCowboys.com at the start of rookie minicamp last week.
That’s perhaps understating things. Moore missed eight games in 2022, five in 2023, and six in 2024, all due to different issues. And while he saw the field in 11 of 12 games for the Gators as a senior, a grand total of 30 collegiate game appearances across four seasons does tend to raise questions.
That skepticism will, unfortunately, hang over Moore until he proves otherwise, and that will simply take time.
Not everyone believes he’ll do it.
The Athletic’s Mike Sando recently compiled a rundown of what NFL executives had to say about each NFC team’s draft haul. For the Cowboys, Moore’s past definitely sounded the alarm and even inspired a dire prediction from one front-office type.
“Devin Moore’s injury history is concerning,” the unnamed exec said of Moore. “He will not have a long career.”
That’s the kind of casual dismissal that will no doubt only add to the size of the chip on Moore’s shoulder. The Florida native told the Cowboys they got “the best corner in the draft” despite not taking him until the No. 114 overall pick, after 12 others listed at his position.
“I feel like [the injuries] had me very overlooked and slept on,” Moore said. “The size, the speed, ability to bend and tackle, the length, I feel like I had been overlooked.”
Dane Brugler, in his annual draft guide titled “The Beast,” had Moore ranked as the 16th-best cornerback in this year’s class (so not completely overlooked), but Brugler was quick to call Moore’s injury history “a bright red flag” and characterized him as “a high-risk, high-reward prospect because of the durability questions.”
It’s that high-reward part that may have finally wooed the Cowboys, who have dealt with multiple availability issues at corner in recent years. And maybe there was some speak-it-into-existence, wish-upon-a-jersey juju manifesting happening when the team issued Moore No. 29, the same digits that C.J. Goodwin wore for eight mostly-healthy seasons in Dallas.
Even the anonymous exec who called for Moore to flame out early admitted that, given his talent when he is on the field, he may well be worth a roll of the dice.
“But if you are going to take a risk,” the exec said, referring to the Cowboys’ selection of Moore, “take it with a talented guy at a premium position that gets heavily paid in the market. If you get a starter or even a third corner, that is worth it.”
The motivated Moore is aiming for more.
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This article originally appeared on Cowboys Wire: NFL exec hates on Cowboys’ draft pick: ‘He will not have a long career’
Reporting by Todd Brock, Cowboys Wire / Cowboys Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
