D
Dallas Cowboys
Ward is the plan now, and the Cowboys grade out a D.
by Boke ·
2025 NFL Draft
· 18 picks
· 7 steals
· 7 reaches
The Jamaree Caldwell selection is the head-turner. The Cowboys reached 111 spots for him, and it will define how this weekend is remembered. Too much went sideways, and the D is the honest tally.
That Barton pick is the receipt they will wave around later. So much rides on Cam Ward that the rest of the class almost grades on a curve behind him.
They lost the exchange badly enough to drag the whole class down. The Styles pick reads as want over need, and the roster will feel it at cornerback and tight end.
The cornerback spot stays a question, and it was the one they most needed an answer at.
In short, the board sent warnings, and they will be hoping it was wrong.
Pick-by-Pick
A market-rate quarterback, with the board and the slot shaking hands on Cam Ward. Another box on the needs board, quietly ticked.
In the Round 1 slot they get a weapon on the perimeter at fair value. The biggest hole, addressed.
They reached a country mile for Donovan Jackson at Round 2, Pick 1, and the board is aghast. The one spot they could not leave alone, and did not.
They left a pile of value on the table to take Ajani Cornelius this early at the 44th overall pick. A glaring weakness, addressed head on.
Jordan Burch at the 57th pick is the kind of overdraft that needs everything to break right. Not urgent, but hardly pointless.
A tidy little value on Alfred Collins in pick 67, a step better than break-even. It fills a real need, too.
They paid up for Tez Johnson at the 76th overall pick when waiting would have done the job. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
You do not let a safety like Andrew Mukuba reach the Round 3 slot and blink. They did not. Useful depth more than a marquee fix.
TreVeyon Henderson in Round 4, Pick 1 is the kind of fall that makes a whole class. It shores up a spot that genuinely needed the help.
No edge and no loss on Savion Williams in pick No. 109; it is a wash and a sensible one. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
A surprising call. With cornerback and tight end still to address, they spent No. 112 on Sonny Styles, a safety they were not short of.
They robbed the room for Danny Stutsman here, a fall nobody at the table saw coming. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
Raheim Sanders in the 168th pick should not have been possible, and that is the whole point. A sensible fit that makes the depth chart a little sturdier.
They talked themselves into Jamaree Caldwell at slot 170, and the board did not agree. The roster fit checks out.
Cody Simon at the 173rd overall pick is a first-round grade at a bargain-bin price, no notes. Top of the wish list, and they did not leave without it.
Brady Cook at pick 186 is an overdraft of the loud, memorable kind. One more legitimate question on the roster, answered.
Steal is underselling it; Ja'Quinden Jackson at the 209th pick is a heist with the alarm still ringing. A real hole, addressed with a reasonable pick.
Lander Barton in the Round 7 slot is a gift, value that borders on unfair. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.