Dak Prescott's Cowboys Tried QB Malik Willis Draft Trade? Truth Behind the Rumor

Did the Titans trade up for Willis at pick No. 86, two spots ahead of Dallas, for fear the Cowboys were going to draft the QB?

FRISCO - The Dallas Cowboys' commitment to Dak Prescott - financially and otherwise - is unbending.

But maybe the Tennessee Titans don't know that - which may have accelerated their executed plan involving Liberty quarterback Malik Willis.

Did the Titans trade up for Willis at pick No. 86, two spots ahead of Dallas, for fear the Cowboys were going to draft the QB?

The peeling of this onion begins with my friend Ian Rapoport, who on Monday presented the following info on NFL Network:

.@RapSheet said he wondered if the Titans traded up to take Malik Willis at 86 because they thought that the Cowboys might take him. FWIW Dallas took Jalen Tolbert at 88.

(🎥: @nflnetwork) pic.twitter.com/LEy7RXlGrC

— Blogging The Boys (@BloggingTheBoys) May 2, 2022

I watched this and thought Rapoport handled this smartly. He didn't "report'' it as fact; he presented it as a "what-if.''

So I started making phone calls.

First, I asked Rapoport if it would be fair of me to write that he "gently suggested'' the possibility. He agreed with that wording.

Then I contacted a trio of Cowboys executives. (You can find out more about the "who'' here.) My question to each of them:

"Did you flirt with the idea of taking Malik Willis in the third round?''

No.

No.

No.

I gave them the chance to gloat a bit in the event that they'd spread "chum'' in order to fool the Titans. 

No.

No.

No.

So ... It's not true.

Getty

The Titans took Willis, who may end up being a sensational bargain. The Cowboys used their third-rounder on wide receiver Jalen Tolbert, and personnel boss Will McClay seems ecstatic about a potential "culture-changer.''

And Dak Prescott is the QB, backed up, as far as I can tell, by Cooper Rush, who of course has one notable victory under his belt, the 2021 win at Minnesota.

We can argue about whether the 2022 NFL Draft had any good QBs in it; only one quarterback was taken in the first round, Pitt’s Kenny Pickett to the Steelers, and much later Atlanta passed on hometown guy Willis to take Desmond Ridder, and well after Malik Willis went to the Titans, the Eagles signed Carson Strong as a UDFA.

We can also argue about whether the Cowboys are right about Prescott being the ultimate answer, and whether they are right about Rush, and whether Dallas should've thrown the Willis dart because of the potentially huge payoff.

But now you know the truth - from inside The Star - about a fun but false rumor.

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