Earlier this month Leighton Vander Esch Jersey White , ESPN’s Mel Kiper published his first mock draft of the year to much fanfare and much ridicule. Kiper and his ESPN colleague Todd McShay are two of the biggest names in the mock draft business and have been dominating the mock draft headlines for years, so today we ask ourselves what would have happened if the Cowboys had followed the pair’s mock draft suggestions in each of the last eight drafts - knowing that the Cowboys already did a pretty good job on their own.In the mock draft world, there’s only one mock that ultimately counts: the final mock draft published before the actual draft. That doesn’t stop mock drafters from inundating us with countless mocks before that final one, but none of those carry any real weight. Which is why today we’ll look at Kiper’s and McShay’s final mock drafts from 2011-2018. Before we go there though, here is a summary of the last eight Dallas Cowboys first-round picks, along with some metrics we’ll use to evaluate the picks. Overall, that’s a pretty impressive haul. 19 Pro Bowl seasons, 29 out of a maximum of 36 starter seasons, 466 starts and a very strong Career Approximate Value (CarAV) of 276. Over the last eight years, the Cowboys have had a lot of success with their first-round picks picks (as measured by CarAV), despite whiffing on Morris Claiborne and despite Taco Charlton failing to live up to his draft pedigree so far. Overall, the Cowboys rank fourth in the NFL with their 276 CarAV points behind the Rams, Panthers, and Saints over that period. Here are the total CarAV points for all first-round picks of the last eight years by team: Note that the CarAV numbers in this table are allocated to the team drafting a given player, and not to the team the player eventually moved on to. Amari Cooper for example earned six AV points in Dallas last year but his total CarAV of 31 (including his points in Dallas) are included in Oakland’s tally in the table above.Overall, the table establishes that the Cowboys have gotten more from their first-round picks over the last eight years than most other teams. With that, let’s turn to Kiper and McShay to see how their picks for the Cowboys hold up in this comparison.Here are the players Mel Kiper had the Cowboys picking in his final mock drafts of each of the last eight years: Kiper’s picks would have been a good draft haul for the Cowboys, but not a great one. For the most part, Kiper would have had the Cowboys drafting solid starters, but the players he picked lack the postseason accolades the Cowboys picks garnered. Kiper’s 216 CarAV points would rank this collection of eighth best in the league. That’s not bad, and it’s certainly better than what the much ballyhooed GMs of the Eagles and Giants put together, as well as the less extravagantly lauded Redskins front office. So there’s that. On to McShay’s final mock picks for the Cowboys: McShay gives the Cowboys a run for their money, coming in just 14 CarAV points short of the Cowboys’ total. His picks get a strong boost from the J.J. Watt pick, but would have been a very impressive haul regardless. And if McShay hadn’t fallen for the Manziel hype in 2014 Dak Prescott Jersey White , he might have beaten the Cowboys. The Cowboys - or at least Jerry Jones - came close to picking Manziel themselves, but more rational minds prevailed. McShay’s collection of picks for the Cowboys over the last eight years would have ranked seventh overall in terms of CarAV points. The Cowboys did well in the last eight drafts, and they would still be among the Top 10 teams if they had listened to Kiper or McShay in those drafts; they certainly would have done better with Kiper or McShay than they would have with the majority of NFL GMs out there. Here, for your pre-draft delectation, are the best and worst first-round picks from each of the last seven drafts and what their AV would add up to: What all the numbers above show is that the draft can be a precarious proposition, even in the first round where the best available talent is supposed to be found. Over the last eight years, the Cowboys have been one of the most successful teams at mining this resource. But even for the worst teams in the league, there is some hope, as they could have drafted much worse, just as there is reason for the best teams to improve their efforts, as they are still far away from realizing the maximum potential possible. They're breathing easier in New Jersey, Seattle, and the Motor City, and taking in some rarefied air in western New York.That's what happens when your hapless, helpless and hopeless football teams suddenly turn nasty, effective and victorious.Most shocking, no doubt, was what the Bills did to the Vikings . After being the brunt of so many jokes the last two weeks following inept showings, then exacerbating it by tweeting an image of their helmet traveling to meet the Vikings' helmet — in Wisconsin — the Bills dominated in Minnesota. To boot, they were 16-point underdogs, making them the sixth team in the last 81 games with such a spread to pull off an upset.Where did that come from?Well, cynics will say the Vikings were coming off that emotional tie with Green Bay and face the NFL's most powerful squad in a short week when they host the Rams on Thursday night. The folks in Buffalo will tell you the Bills, who broke a 17-season drought of playoff appearances last winter, aren't as bad as they've looked."No one thought that we were going to come in here and play the way that we did Womens Emmitt Smith Jersey , except the people in this locker room now," offensive tackle Dion Dawkins said, and he was right, particularly about the oddsmakers. "We came into the game fueled and ready to play."Say what you will about their forgettable first two outings, the Bills proved a lot Sunday. A team in turmoil, missing its best offensive player in injured running back LeSean McCoy, seemingly a sieve on defense, manhandled one of the Super Bowl favorites. With a raw rookie quarterback, too."We really don't really pay attention to what people think about us," linebacker Lorenzo Alexander said. "It's all about internal belief and confidence. If you listen to outside noise, we'd never win a game because nobody respects Buffalo at all. We have to continue to go out and earn that respect."Eli Manning has earned plenty of respect — and two Super Bowl rings — in a borderline Hall of Fame career. What he's earned the last year or so has been doubters that he had anything left.At Houston, he showed when given any sort of protection by the Giants, he can be productive and a winner. Manning was besieged in the first two defeats, either sacked or hit or pressured so much he barely got the snap before he was inundated. Against the Texans, and with 2015 first-round draft pick Ereck Flowers wisely benched at right tackle, Manning had some of the best numbers of his career: 25 for 29 for 297 yards and two touchdowns. He connected with nine receivers."I thought we kind of condensed the offense a little bit and made sure guys knew what they were doing," said Manning, pointing out without saying as much that the Giants were slow to react in losses to Jacksonville and Dallas. "Plays that they knew, they were playing fast, the offensive line was playing fast and we have good players, just let them go play. Let's not try to be perfect and trick or do too much. Let our guys go win, because we got good athletes."Seattle once had as talented a roster as any team, winning one Super Bowl that should have been two, and dominating the NFC West. With defections Emmitt Smith Jersey , injuries and retirements, though, these Seahawks need to succeed with guile, grit and coaching acumen.In their first home game, the Seahawks showed they still have a huge advantage at CenturyLink Field, especially when they get going quickly. The Cowboys, coming off a masterful manhandling of the Giants last weekend, ran into a buzzsaw.The 24-13 whooping the Seahawks put on the Cowboys was reminiscent of past Pete Carroll teams. They played with an edge that has marked his squads since his Southern Cal days."We were trying to get to our formula, and we just didn't get started well in the first couple games," Carroll said. "But this is how we want to play. "The day of relief was completed Sunday night when the Lions stunned the Patriots 26-10 as Matt Patricia got his first victory as a head coach — besting his boss while he was leading the New England defense, Bill Belichick.Detroit fans believed their team's prospects heading into 2018 were solid in a tough division. Then they fell flat in the opener against the Jets — yes, the Jets won at Ford Field and the Patriots lost. Last week, the Lions lost at San Francisco.But now, a sigh of relief that could be felt along all the Great Lakes, and a further belief that Detroit can compete in an NFC North where the Vikings and Packers have struggled, too, and the Bears lead at 2-1.Followers of the Bills, Giants, Seahawks and Lions also can take comfort in knowing there are three 0-3 teams out there: the Raiders, Texans and Cardinals. They might even feel some empathy for fans in Oakland, Houston and Arizona.