When it's time for the Cowboys to make a selection with the No. 9th pick of the first round of the NFL Draft, the team is targeting five players at that spot.

Tackles Tyron Smith, Anthony Castonzo and Nate Solder are projected to be available in the Top 10 or in the teens if the Cowboys decide to move down. Smith and Castonzo are more Top 10 players with Solder a lower first round selections. But if Dallas moves down and misses out on Smith and Castonzo, they would look at Solder and Carimi.

"When we finished that position [we discovered] there is some depth at that position," said Tom Ciskowski, the Cowboys' director of college and pro scouting. "I don't want to get into specifics or sequence, but I think there will be like five or six offensive tackles [taken] in the first round. So I think it is a deep draft at that position."

Defensive ends J.J. Watt and Cameron Jordan are the other two players the team is considering taking at No. 9.

"There’s a good number in that area as well," Ciskowski said of defensive ens. "The type of height, weight and speed players that we’re looking for, and I think year-in and year-out it’s been difficult to find 5-techniques [ends] to play in the 3-4, and I would say there’s up to six or seven candidates that could be drafted relatively early in the draft. What I mean by that is the first or second round. So they’ll be dispersed, and what Jerry [Jones] mentioned earlier is finding the right type of guys and needs. So needs will dictate a lot what people do with their pick early."

Team officials believe there are a combination of players who should be available with the ninth pick or even a lower pick in the first round should team owner/general manager Jerry Jones decide to trade down.

Since 1989, the year Jones purchased the team, the Cowboys have made 96 trades at draft time, including last year in the first round where Jones moved up to select Dez Bryant. The last team to trade out of the ninth pick was the San Francisco 49ers in 2001.

"You could literally have some teams trying to [trade] to get some of those quarterbacks that are high, believe it or not," Jones said. "[You're] trying to [trade] to get some quarterbacks at a better value. But I agree with [Cowboys team executive] Stephen [Jones] that if the right set of circumstances come along, it takes a pretty good player to move down there. It would be good value for us to consider dropping down there. Now, it ought to be high-priced for us. In other words, we ought to ask for the world if we move down."