B
Dallas Cowboys
A sensible, unshowy class lands the Cowboys a B.
by JCG1819 ·
2025 NFL Draft
· 13 picks
· 7 steals
· 4 reaches
Somewhere a scout is still blinking. The Cowboys spent slot 187 on Ethan Downs, a name the board had a full 95 spots lower.
Getting Brown where they did is the sort of value that quietly makes a class. If this class has a fault line, it runs straight through tight end.
Stockpiling next year's capital is patient, if unglamorous, asset work. The roster is better shaped than it was, with wide receiver chief among the fixes.
All told, a solid class that does its job everywhere but tight end.
Pick-by-Pick
Nick Emmanwori in Round 1, Pick 24 lands just on the right side of the ledger. Useful depth more than a marquee fix.
Emeka Egbuka in No. 45 is the kind of fall that makes a whole class. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
A running back of that caliber at the 76th overall pick is the definition of value, full stop. It shores up a spot that genuinely needed the help.
A tidy little value on Denzel Burke in the 117th pick, a step better than break-even. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
Somehow Will Howard was still sitting there in pick 139, and they pounced on premier quarterback value. A sensible fit for a spot that needed help.
Jared Wilson at pick No. 149 is the steal of the weekend, a first-round talent at a bargain-bin price. A glaring weakness, addressed head on.
Brashard Smith in pick No. 171 should not have been possible, and that is the whole point. A need, and now a little less of one.
Simeon Barrow Jr. in the Round 5 slot is a reach so steep the board needed a second look to believe it. Another box on the needs board, quietly ticked.
Ethan Downs at the 187th overall pick is a steep price for a hunch, hard to square with any board. It thickens a room that could stand to be thicker.
They barely believed it either: Logan Brown still on the board at slot 204. Top of the wish list, and they did not leave without it.
Jay Higgins at Round 6, Pick 35 is the sort of value that quietly wins a weekend. It also answers one of the loudest questions on the roster.
Rayuan Lane III at the 239th pick is the pick scouts circle, and not in a good way. Nice player, but the depth chart did not need him here.
They reached a country mile for Jackson Woodard at pick 247, and the board is aghast. The one spot they could not leave alone, and did not.