After giving up a league-high 4,276 passing yards over the course of the 2025 season, the Cowboys found themselves suddenly wanting at the cornerback position, an area of true roster strength as recently as two years earlier.
Trevon Diggs, the two-time Pro Bowler and interceptions leader in 2021, had been unceremoniously cut before the end of the season. DaRon Bland, who had a record five pick-sizes in 2023, missed 10 games the next year and another five in 2025. Caelen Carson? Still proving himself. Shavon Revel? Promising but basically still a rookie. Josh Butler, Reddy Steward, Corey Ballentine, and Trikweze Bridges? Fine depth, but not enough to scare opposing air attacks.
This year’s college prospects offer some high-end talent at the cornerback spot, and the Cowboys seem poised to use one of their two first-round selections to address the need.
Now nearing the end of a pre-draft cycle that has seen heavy buzz around LSU’s Mansoor Delane, Clemson’s Avieon Terrell, and Tennessee’s Jermod McCoy and Colton Hood all being possible targets in Dallas, a new name has entered the chat with just two weeks to go before the commissioner starts giving out bro-hugs on stage in Pittsburgh.
South Carolina corner Brandon Cisse visited with the Cowboys on Tuesday, as reported by ESPN’s Jordan Reid. The meeting counts as one of the Cowboys’ official 30 pre-draft visits. The team also formally met with him at the scouting combine in Indianapolis in February.
South Carolina CB Brandon Cisse had a 30 visit with the Cowboys yesterday and he’ll also visit with the Seahawks this week, per source. pic.twitter.com/QyyfP9icE1
— Jordan Reid (@Jordan_Reid) April 8, 2026
Cisse played his first two years of college ball at North Carolina State before transferring back home to South Carolina as a junior. A 12-game starter for the Gamecocks in 2025, he registered just one interception and six defended passes in a disappointing 4-8 season for the team, but Cisse showed enough to be considered one of the top cornerback prospects in this year’s draft once he declared.
Cisse is just 20 years old, and most scouting reports classify him as still somewhat unrefined in his technique. But everyone agrees that he is athletic and explosive and has speed to spare, meaning he has the raw physical skills to be coached up to perhaps become an NFL star. (And new Dallas defensive coordinator Christian Parker has a knack for turning DB prospects into All-Pros.)
Brandon Cisse is a CB prospect in the 2026 draft class. He scored a 9.24 RAS out of a possible 10.00. This ranked 233 out of 3069 CB from 1987 to 2026.https://t.co/H6HqMr1prVpic.twitter.com/4se6MoXRu3
— RAS.football (@MathBomb) April 7, 2026
Dane Brugler of The Athletic has Cisse ranked as the seventh-best CB in the class; NFL Draft Buzz has him sixth. But with Delane now widely expected to be taken before the Cowboys come on the board at No. 12 and the team reportedly out on McCoy due to injury concerns, the pool of top-flight corners is quickly shrinking.
Most draftniks would likely call Cisse a bit of a reach even with the 20th overall pick, but Dallas is rarely afraid to go in early on a prospect they like. Cisse will certainly be long gone by the time the Cowboys select again at No. 92, so this may also be a case of the team doing their due diligence on a player they could target if a trade puts them in the late-first or early-to-mid-second round.
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This article originally appeared on Cowboys Wire: Cowboys host South Carolina CB Brandon Cisse on pre-draft visit
