F
Dallas Cowboys
The Cowboys went off-script early, and it cost them a F.
by Cash T ·
2025 NFL Draft
· 18 picks
· 6 steals
· 6 reaches
Somewhere a scout is still blinking. The Cowboys spent No. 174 on Elijhah Badger, a name the board had a full 118 spots lower.
However the rest shakes out, Castro at that price is a win they earned. The dealing is the wound this class cannot quite close. The tight end hole is the one line item this class does not answer.
Spend now, pay later; the math only works if this class delivers.
About as rough as a weekend gets on paper, with tight end still staring back at them.
Pick-by-Pick
Walter Nolen in Round 1, Pick 15 is exactly on the number, no argument either way. It fills a real need, too.
In the 25th overall pick they get a pocket-collapsing interior rusher at fair value.
A top-tier linebacker at a bargain, Jalon Walker in No. 44, plain and simple. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
This one needs a full-page explanation: Tate Ratledge in the 50th pick, miles early. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
Good things come to war rooms that wait, and Quinshon Judkins at pick No. 74 is the proof. It patches a soft spot without any drama.
Donovan Jackson at pick 76 is neither steal nor reach, just the going rate. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.
They paid a round early for Quinn Ewers in the Round 3 slot, more than the board wanted. Another box on the needs board, quietly ticked.
Denzel Burke in pick 82 is fair value, right on his grade. It also answers one of the loudest questions on the roster.
They will replay Omarr Norman-Lott at slot 92 for years; that is how good the value is. A need, and now a little less of one.
A big swing on Dont'e Thornton Jr. at pick No. 117, well ahead of any board in the building. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.
They talked themselves into Ahmed Hassanein at No. 137, and the board did not agree. It thickens a room that could stand to be thicker.
Circle this one: Sebastian Castro at Round 5, Pick 11 is a fall that decides a draft. It adds depth where they could use a little.
They paid sticker price for Cobee Bryant in the 170th overall pick, and that is fine. The biggest hole on the depth chart just got a whole lot smaller.
A clean, defensible pick in the 172nd pick with a little surplus value in Ajani Cornelius. A glaring weakness, addressed head on.
A wild overpay on Elijhah Badger in pick No. 174, the sort that defines a class for the wrong reasons. Top of the wish list, and they did not leave without it.
Howard Cross III in Round 6, Pick 12 is a bet on their own eyes over everyone else's grade. A sensible fit for a spot that needed help.
They barely believed it either: Ollie Gordon II still on the board at the Round 6 slot. The roster fit checks out.
Shemar James in No. 249 should not have been possible, and that is the whole point. The one spot they could not leave alone, and did not.