Cowboys continue CB hunt; host well-traveled first-round prospect on 30 visit

· Yahoo Sports

With less than two weeks to go before the first round of the NFL draft, the Cowboys have used 21 (at the time of this writing) of their allotted 30 national visits.

Unsurprisingly, 18 of those 21 slots have gone to defensive prospects as the team clearly plans to use most of its draft capital to fix the numerous issues exposed on that side of the ball in 2025. And of all the national players the club has- to this point- invited to The Star, one-third of them have been cornerbacks, a strong indication that Dallas likely views the position as their biggest need.

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Tennessee's Colton Hood is getting a hard look.

The Cowboys reportedly brought in the just-turned 21-year-old last weekend, per Nick Harris of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. That one-on-one session follows a formal meeting with Hood at the scouting combine in Indianapolis.

Of the seven names most outlets list as the top cornerbacks in 2026, the Cowboys have now had four of them in the building for an extended meeting.

Hood has already bounced around a lot on his way to becoming one of the top prospects in this year's draft class. The Georgia native began his college career at Auburn in 2023, where he played in just four games before redshirting the rest of the season. 2024 found him under head coach Deion Sanders and behind eventual Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter in Colorado.

But Hood showed enough in 13 game appearances (one start) with the Buffaloes to land a starting gig in Knoxville in 2025. An ACL injury to opposite corner Jermod McCoy gave Hood more room to shine for the Volunteers. Over 12 starts, he logged an interception returned for touchdown, a fumble recovery and return for touchdown, nine passes defended, 50 tackles, and second-team All-SEC honors.

Hood opted out of Tennessee's bowl game, but impressed scouts at the Senior Bowl. His combine performance further boosted his stock, as did his pro day numbers in late March.

The Athletic's Dane Brugler has Hood ranked as the fifth-best cornerback in this year's draft class and the No. 30 overall prospect.

"Despite not becoming a defensive player until his junior year of high school, Hood plays comfortably in man-to-man on an island. He competes with the physicality of a bigger and longer player, and he looks to reroute receivers from the jump. He needs to shore up some of his technique and become more consistent in finding the football, but he isn’t a passive or athletically deficient player," Brugler writes in this year's edition of The Beast.

"Hood embraces press-man challenges and is the type of balanced, scrappy athlete who can attach himself to receivers and make things difficult for the offense. He has the talent and wiring to be an early NFL starter."

Most outlets have Hood coming off the board in the middle-to-latter part of the first round, meaning he could be a potential target for the Cowboys at No. 20 or perhaps a little later in a trade-back scenario.

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Check back with the Cowboys Wire Pre-Draft Visit Tracker for a running list of who else the team is getting to know.

This article originally appeared on Cowboys Wire: Cowboys host well-traveled Tennessee CB Colton Hood on pre-draft visit

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