D
Dallas Cowboys
The phones sank the Cowboys this weekend: D.
by Pastor ·
2025 NFL Draft
· 21 picks
· 5 steals
· 10 reaches
Call it belief, call it a gut call, but Anthony Belton at the Round 4 slot is 132 spots clear of consensus, and that is the headline. Hard to defend, and the D reflects that.
The trades bled value they could not afford to lose. The Williams pick is fine in a vacuum, less so with quarterback and tight end still on the board. Leaving quarterback unaddressed is the roster risk they will have to answer for in the fall.
Mukuba at that cost is the sort of edge that compounds over a roster.
In the end, a class the front office will want to grow past quickly.
Pick-by-Pick
In pick No. 12 they get a featured back, and a steal at that. A clean fit for the roster.
In pick 14 they get juice off the edge. More want than need.
In Round 1, Pick 15 they get a home-run threat at receiver, reach and all. The biggest hole, addressed.
In the 18th overall pick they get a rangy last line of defense, outstanding value to boot. Need was not the driver here.
They did well to land Jalon Walker in the 33rd pick, just ahead of his grade. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.
Tate Ratledge at No. 39 is a sound buy, the sort that quietly helps a class. The one spot they could not leave alone, and did not.
A surprising call. With quarterback and tight end still to address, they spent the 45th overall pick on Mykel Williams, an edge rusher they were not short of.
They left a pile of value on the table to take Danny Stutsman this early at the 68th pick. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
Dontay Corleone at slot 74 is the kind of overdraft that needs everything to break right. It fills a real need, too.
The eyebrow-raiser of the weekend. They went safety with Andrew Mukuba while clear needs at quarterback and tight end sat open.
They reached into another round for Emery Jones Jr., and the board is nowhere close to agreeing. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
The board screamed and they did not listen, reaching into the next round for Dorian Strong. A glaring weakness, addressed head on.
A want over a need in No. 130: Jordan Burch adds an edge rusher while quarterback and tight end keeps waiting.
Anthony Belton in Round 4, Pick 31 is a bet on their own eyes over everyone else's grade. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.
Value said wait; Antwaun Powell-Ryland in No. 134 says they were not listening. A sensible fit for a spot that needed help.
A straight-up fair deal on Lander Barton at the Round 4 slot, value and slot in agreement. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
A market-rate running back, with the board and the slot shaking hands on Raheim Sanders. It shores up a spot that genuinely needed the help.
Savion Williams in slot 168 is a reach so steep the board needed a second look to believe it. The biggest hole on the depth chart just got a whole lot smaller.
They paid sticker price for Patrick Payton in the 170th overall pick, and that is fine. The roster fit checks out.
A big swing on Thor Griffith at the 171st pick, well ahead of any board in the building. Another box on the needs board, quietly ticked.
They talked themselves into Davison Igbinosun at Round 6, Pick 11, and the board did not agree. It also answers one of the loudest questions on the roster.