The NFL Combine is over. 

We saw a new fastest man take the field, we saw incredible catches, and we saw players with incredible size have jaw-dropping days.  

When the Combine comes around, reporters' favorite question is "Did you meet with x team?"

The important thing to know about meetings at the Combine, is that there are two types.

There are formal meetings which are the most important of the two. These are meetings where prospects sit down with decision-makers on NFL teams. In these meetings, teams get to know the player as a person, they run through film getting the players' viewpoint on why they did what they did on the field. 

Then there are informal meetings. Informal meetings can be as simple as asking a prospect a question as they walk past you in the hallway. Thus there is virtually no point to tracking these.

The full Dallas Cowboys'  2024 formal Combine meetings can be found here. Now, what are some things we can take away from this list?

The Cowboys are notorious for telegraphing the position they are selecting, sometimes almost fully giving it way hours before the draft, who they are targeting specifically (see Tyler Smith in 2023).

I believe the Cowboys have already telegraphed the position they are selecting in round one this year.

The Cowboys are taking an offensive tackle in round one

In formal Combine meetings, they met with seven offensive tackles, all of whom have been mocked to them in the first round at one point or another:

• Amarius Mims, Georgia
• JC Latham, Alabama
• Jordan Morgan, Arizona
• Graham Barton, Duke
• Isaiah Adams, Illinois
• Tailese Fuaga, Oklahoma State
• Blake Fisher, Notre Dame
• Troy Fautanu, Washington
• Christian Jones, Texas
• Tyler Guyton, Oklahoma

With the recent news of future Hall of Famer Tyron Smith, it does everything but the Cowboys coming out and verbally saying they are drafting an offensive tackle. 

The Cowboys will add a running back at some point during the draft

The Cowboys met with five running backs during formal meetings. Almost all of them are viewed as players just outside the top 100. 

I would think the Cowboys start looking at running backs in round three. The names they met with in Braelon Allen, Audric Estime, Ray Davis, and Jaylen Wright are all players who are viewed as day three players. With Tony Pollard set to hit free agency, it makes sense to add another back to the room.

The Cowboys might not double dip at linebacker

If you ask most people what the glaring problem is for the Cowboys, linebacker would be one of the most guessed answers. The Cowboys only formally met with three linebackers:

• Junior Colson, Michigan
• Ty'Ron Hopper, Missouri
• Edgerrin Cooper, Texas A&M

This leads me to believe they are only exploring adding one in the draft as it currently stands. We will know more when their 30 visits get announced, but perhaps it points to them actually spending in free agency; which would be a pleasant surprise to almost every Cowboys fan. These are the linebackers the Cowboys formally met with at the Combine

They are building contingencies in case Mazi Smith doesn't work out

It's not a secret that the Cowboys first-round pick last year, Mazi Smith didn't live up to expectations. 

Now whose fault that is, is up for debate, but Mazi Smith lost weight, and it did not serve him well. Ultimately it led to the Cowboys bringing Jonathan Hankins to help their run defense. 

It appears the Cowboys are looking at contingency plans in case Mazi can't add the weight back. They met with four defensive tackles, and three of them are 1 techniques. 

• McKinnley Jackson, Texas A&M
• Kris Jenkins, Michigan
• Ruke Orhorhoro, Clemson
• T'Vondre Sweat, Texas

The interesting part is, only one of the one techniques is viewed as a player outside the top-100 players. Could this signify they are going to spend another premium pick on the same position? Time will tell, but the cards are stacking against Mazi Smith.

Latest mock draft has the Cowboys giving up on young player

This would be a mistake.