B
Dallas Cowboys
Grand theft in Round 6, Pick 30: the Cowboys steal Mondon Jr. and grade out a B.
by [email protected] ·
2025 NFL Draft
· 14 picks
· 11 steals
· 2 reaches
The value of the weekend has a name and a slot: Smael Mondon Jr., the 205th pick, roughly 95 picks past where he belonged. More right than wrong, and a B to match.
If Griffith pans out, nobody remembers the price. If not, this is the pick they hear about. They covered a lot of ground and still skipped cornerback, which is a strange place to end up. They went 5 of 8 on their needs, which is most of what a draft is for.
The future picks help the war chest more than the win-now roster.
Bottom line, more hits than misses and a roster nudged the right way.
Pick-by-Pick
In the 32nd pick they get a disruptive interior force, and a steal at that.
Derrick Harmon slipping to No. 44 is the kind of luck good rooms make for themselves. One more legitimate question on the roster, answered.
They talked themselves into Jared Ivey at pick 51, and the board did not agree. A minor itch, scratched.
By-the-book stuff, Tate Ratledge at the Round 3 slot squarely in line with his ranking. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.
A slide stopped in the 85th overall pick, with Jayden Higgins worth more than the price. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
Quinshon Judkins in pick No. 132 should not have been possible, and that is the whole point. It patches a soft spot without any drama.
A linebacker of that caliber at slot 148 is the definition of value, full stop. The one spot they could not leave alone, and did not.
They stopped a slide they were happy to see, landing Vernon Broughton in Round 5, Pick 31. It shores up a spot that genuinely needed the help.
Circle this one: Cam Skattebo at Round 5, Pick 33 is a fall that decides a draft. A real hole, addressed with a reasonable pick.
They robbed the room for Jackson Slater here, a fall nobody at the table saw coming. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
They barely believed it either: Damien Martinez still on the board at slot 186. A need, and now a little less of one.
Taking Smael Mondon Jr. in pick 205 is close to grand larceny; a linebacker that good had no business lasting this long. Top of the wish list, and they did not leave without it.
They left a pile of value on the table to take Thor Griffith this early at pick No. 209. The roster fit checks out.
Jamon Dumas-Johnson at No. 248 is a first-round grade at a bargain-bin price, no notes. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.