After fumbling, stumbling, bumbling, and reaching their way through the first two days of the NFL Draft, the Dallas Cowboys got one thing right on the third and final day.
They didn’t draft a tight end. After an overall middle-grade draft, we’ll take whatever victories we can get.
See, Ron, I can write something positive about the Cowboys. You’re welcome.
Dallas entered the draft needing major upgrades at both running back and wide receiver.
After the first two nights, they still needed major upgrades at running back and receiver.
The Cowboys front office would have you believe that the fourth-round pick in this draft that they gave up last season addressed the wide receiver issue.
But the need to upgrade had already taken into account the presence of Jonathan Mingo. He was already on the roster at the end of last year.
Despite the Jones’ insistence that they had a second-round grade on Mingo in the 2023 draft, making him a “great value” as their “fourth round non-pick” two years later, the Cowboys needed to draft a serious WR2.
This they did not do on Saturday. Nor did they improve the running back room that much either, despite making two picks at the position.
Day 3 Picks
- 5. Jaydon Blue, RB
- 5. Shemar James, LB
- 6. Ajani Cornelius, OT
- 7. Jay Toia, DT
- 7. Phil Mafah, RB
- 7. Tommy Akingbesote, DT
Is former Texas Longhorns’ player Jaydon Blue a good running back? Yes.
Like the picks Dallas made in the first three rounds, Blue will probably be a good player.
But that’s not what the Cowboys needed, not coming into the draft, and especially on Day 3 of the draft. By the time Dallas finally turned its attention to the position, the great backs were gone.
That only makes their egregious decision to pass on Omarion Hampton in the first round all the more boneheaded.
Passing on Cam Skattebo in the third round, taking instead a cornerback who will begin camp on the PUP list, is inexplicable and inexcusable.
The pick of Blue in the fifth round, along with the seventh-round pick of running back Phil Mafah smacks of desperation.
They will join a running back room of: Javonte Williams, Miles Sanders, Deuce Vaughn, Malik Davis, and Hunter Luepke. Do any of those players scare you?
I guarantee you, they aren’t scaring any NFL defensive coordinators.
We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Receivers
At least the Cowboys (finally) addressed the running backs.
Dallas apparently boarded the good ship Denial and sailed on down the river Denial when it came to the receiver room.
They entered the draft with no solid WR2. They left the draft with no solid WR2.
The Cowboys certainly let some solid WR2 players pass them by on Thursday and Friday.
There will be no WR2 showing up at The Star as an undrafted free agent either.
CeeDee Lamb is going to be double-teamed with no one there to draw the coverage away in 2025. Because Jones Inc.’s draft strategy appears to be based on a whole lot of Hopium.
Two Positions That Were Improved
The Cowboys did help out the linebacker room on Saturday. Grabbing Florida’s Shemar James may prove to be the best pick of the draft for Dallas.
The Cowboys grabbed a pair of defensive tackles in the seventh round.
If either Jay Toia or Tommy Akingbesote are able help plug the gaping hole in the defensive line when it came to stopping the run, they would be the steals of the draft.
The selection of yet another offensive lineman in the sixth round, Ajani Cornelius, will likely be the worst of the Saturday picks.
After Friday’s picks, I graded the Cowboys’ draft as an “F”. As in, it was an absolute failure to address the team’s greatest needs.
Many readers, and pundits, praised the “value picks” by the Cowboys in this draft.
Value picks don’t win championships. Game-changing, difference makers do.
Dallas didn’t get any of those in this draft.
But after Saturday’s haul, the final overall grade for Dallas’ 2025 draft class is: C. A middle grade for a mid-draft.
The National Nightmare Ended
Much was made of Shedeur Sanders’ free fall from Top 3 pick to “will he even get drafted?”
He finally did. In the fifth round by the Cleveland Browns.
Despite the silly claims that his race was behind his fall from NFL grace – seriously, who were the first picks of the 2024 & 2025 drafts, again? Who was the second overall pick last year?
What were the positions and races of all three players?
Yeah, miss all of us with that ridiculousness.
Sanders, and Sanders Inc., shot themselves in the foot several times over the past few months. They burned up millions of dollars doing it too.
Now, Sanders has a chance to prove he is a starting NFL quarterback.
Hopefully, his draft free fall will get his mindset right, and he will prove all the rest of us wrong.
But his free fall came with some collateral damage.
ESPN’s draft guru Mel Kiper’s reputation is now fused to the bottom of an eternal dumpster fire. His three-day meltdown as Sanders tumbled was epically sad.
Expect Kiper’s days at ESPN to come to an end soon.
I think when people say his race played a role in it they could be referring to if he was white it wouldn’t have been as bad a fall. Do I think him and his father was wrong in the draft process in how they acted yes of course. But to fall from maybe the 2nd pick to the 5 round for it seems really weird. When players like Johnny Manziel was alot worst and bragging and still was a first round pick.
Quinn Ewers really dropped like a rock and he played in a tougher conference and actually got his team to a national title game. The more you hear about how Sanders approached the team interviews the more you understand why he fell so far.
I think they need to stop lying and just be honest. They say they take the best player available but not taken him until the 5th round? Again and it’s not just the Browns but every team in the NFL. This was definitely a colluded thing that all NFL owners need to stop. It’s hurting the game and what people think of it.
The only “collusion” here was all of the owners understanding Sanders is all hat and no cattle.
The common denominator for Sanders among the teams he did interviews with was his attempt to dictate to them how it was going to be.
Rookies don’t get to do that in the NFL. Plus, most scouting reports were not that favorable. When you look past the hype you see a flawed QB. The antics of his father and Sanders own approach to the draft sank him. Nothing else.
NFL players are about 60%-70% Black. Your comment here and especially the one below about “collusion” make no sense.
There has never been a time that I could remember where a top 5 pick drops this far from a couple of bad meetings and I guess his father. If a couple of teams that he had bad meetings don’t want him for just that that’s fine. But for every team to pass on what everybody just 2 weeks ago said was going top 5 or 10 at least 4 times sounds a little questionable to me. I love our Cowboys but we just spent what a 2nd or 3rd round pick on Trey Lance who did nothing. We just had Dak miss alot if time 2 out of the past 4 years that ultimately ended our season. There are players that smoke weed the the before the draft and dont drop that far. Didnt the Cowboys draft Jaylon Smith and it was a chance he could never play again. Teams say they pick from best available person or talent not for need but I highly doubt more then 5 or 10 teams had less then a 1st or even 2nd round talent on him. And I’m not saying I think it was because he is black I just simply said some people could think that. And it’s not just me that think something is off about it it’s literally all they talked about the whole draft. How are the odds the Falcons coach son call and act like the Saints was going to draft him then right before he hangs up says we’ll your going to be waiting for a long time.
You really do not get this whole draft thing. You said “value” picks do not win championships, rather difference makers do. Well, when you draft for need over best available players you usually are not getting these “game changers”. Your way of thinking about the draft really contradicts itself. The defensive end they got in the second can 100% be a difference maker. If they, instead, reached for a running back like R.J. Harvey (who I like) they probably are not getting a game changer. I would argue the RB they got in the 5th will be just as much of a difference maker as many of the rb’s taken in the 2nd round. In the draft you take “difference makers” not simply try and fill a hole that can be filled via free agency, trades, or picks later in the draft. If they sign or trade for a WR I would venture to say that they will make more of a difference than any other WR taken in rounds 4-7. You can learn to separate roster building from the draft. I give them at minimum an A for the draft, but as of right now, just a B- for their roster development this off-season. The draft is about getting talent, not just filling holes.
The DE they took in the second isn’t even projected to start. The DB they took in the third round will be on the PUP list and isn’t slated to start either.
Had they gone WR/RB or RB/WR in the 2nd and 3rd rounds, they’d have a starting RB1 and a starting WR2.
If Dallas would fill the holes in FA, this draft would be graded higher than the C that I gave it. But they don’t.
But hey, man, we got those “great value picks” riding our bench, baby!!!!
Miss me with that “you don’t get this whole draft thing” BS as you fall to your knees and praise All-In Man and Cap Boy Blunder as they begin their 30th straight year without making it past the Divisional round of the playoffs.
You may be a writer, but you sure can’t read. Show me where I praised the front office with their overall team building? Despite me praising their draft, I gave the overall offseason a B-, and that is only because the off-season has not ended. If they do not get another WR I will lower it to a C. I simply said the draft and free agency are two different things. If they fail to address positions in free agency and then reach for players in the draft to simply fill holes you are destined to have an overall less talented team than everyone else. The draft is about next year, and subsequent years. The overall consensus for this draft for the Cowboys has been a B+, with some outlets rating it an A+. Obviously you have a right to disagree, but I find it confusing how brash you are about it. It is clear you are not a fan of this front office. Could this be clouding your ability to judge some of the moves objectively?
29 years and counting of screw-ups, draft blunders, horrible trades, and a grand total of 0 Divisional round, Conference championship games, and Super Bowl wins.
Tell me, Derek, just how many more years of this will it take before you finally see the light and understand this one undeniable fact: Jerry Jones and this entire front office is incompetent. I wouldn’t trust any of them to run a lemonade stand.
Dallas could have drafted this way on Thursday and Friday:
1 (12) – Tyler Booker, G, Alabama
2 (44) Tre Harris, WR, Ole Miss
3 (76) Cam Skattebo, RB, Arizona St.
The Cowboys would then have three solid starters on Week 1. With a three-down RB1 and a strong WR2 on the roster.
Instead we get two backups, neither projected to start, and one of them with a bad knee. This on top of having added to an offensive line that now has 15 players in that room alone.
And you want me to say: Wow! What a great draft, Jerry!!!!
Hard pass. You can willingly suspend disbelief, but not me. We’re looking a 5-12 this year and another losing season for the next two or three unless major changes are made at The Star.