That sound you hear is the NFL draft rumor mill cycling itself into its highest gear, with under 100 hours to go before the first card is turned in.
Just about every mock draft that can be done has been done, and every team's roster needs heading into Thursday night are more than well-documented. But every draft springs a handful of first-round surprises, too, and this year figures to be especially unpredictable, with multiple clubs reportedly ready to do some serious dealing, to trade either up or down in the order.
ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter chummed the waters on Monday morning with a collection of nuggets, intel and insights he's gathered from front offices, coaching staffs, and team sources around the league.
Perhaps most unsurprisingly, the Cowboys and Gambler-in-Chief Jerry Jones is right in the thick of it, at the center of one of the most compelling hypotheticals of all.
Schefter calls the following scenario a "long shot," but one worth keeping an eye on. It requires a lot of other stars to align in just the right way, but he claims that two different teams have raised this exact chain of events as a possibility, meaning there may be some actual fire to go along with the supposed smoke.
It starts with the No. 2 overall pick, where the Jets are expected to take either Texas Tech edge rusher David Bailey or Ohio State edge rusher Arvell Reese. One of those two (but more often Bailey) is widely expected to be the pick for Aaron Glenn's defensive rebuild.
The Cardinals provide the first big plot twist with the No. 3 selection. Despite the team's many obvious needs and an apparent desire to trade back- maybe with an eye toward snagging Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson- Schefter reports there is growing sentiment that Arizona could stay put at No. 3 and take Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love, seen by many as the best athlete in the draft class.
Tennessee is up at No. 4. While the Titans are thought to be watching Love carefully, defensively-minded head coach Robert Saleh would likely be just fine with Ohio State linebacker Sonny Styles as a consolation prize.
That sequence of events would leave either Bailey or Reese- whoever the Jets didn't take at No. 2- available with the No. 5 pick. As Schefter points out, "It would suddenly be very tempting for a team such as the Cowboys to potentially trade up for a top-tier pass rusher."
But trade up with whom? The Giants currently own the No. 5 pick and may not be keen on letting the division-rival Cowboys get ahead of them to grab an elite talent, even if they got extra selections out of the deal. (Heck, the Cowboys may not be thrilled about giving John Harbaugh and the Giants more draft capital to work with, either.)
The Giants, though, aren't necessarily looking for pass-rush help for themselves with a pick this early. Most analysts have them far more interested in a player like Ohio State safety Caleb Downs or Arizona State wide receiver Jordyn Tyson.
That could leave Reese (or maybe Bailey) still on the board at No. 6, where a Browns team eager to trade back will no doubt be ready to take phone calls from an opportunitstic club like Dallas.
Yes, a lot of things have to fall exactly right, and there are 20-some other teams who are all trying to make moves of their own, any one of which could upset this particular apple cart. But Schefter admits this what-if "has generated some speculation in a handful of front offices."
And, as he says: "It's exactly the type of scenario that makes the draft so compelling."
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This article originally appeared on Cowboys Wire: Adam Schefter: Elite pass rusher could fall to Cowboys early in draft