D
Dallas Cowboys
Legette should have been long gone. The Cowboys pounced, and earned a D.
by Greatness ·
2024 NFL Draft
· 19 picks
· 7 steals
· 7 reaches
It is the swing that defines the weekend: Darius Robinson in pick 87, a good 34 spots before the room expected him. Put together, it is a D.
The trade table is where this weekend went wrong. Spending an early pick on DT-EDGE with tight end open is the decision the grade keeps circling back to. Whatever else happened, they won the night they took Legette.
If this class has a fault line, it runs straight through tight end.
It is a steep hill from here, and the grade knows it.
Pick-by-Pick
A clean, defensible pick in the Round 1 slot with a little surplus value in Malik Nabers. The biggest hole on the depth chart just got a whole lot smaller.
Jer'Zhan Newton in No. 24 is a bargain the rest of the room will envy. A need, and now a little less of one.
J.J. McCarthy in slot 39 is exactly on the number, no argument either way. It shores up a spot that genuinely needed the help.
Nice patience on Jordan Morgan, who had no business lasting to pick No. 43. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
A premium they did not need to pay, Edgerrin Cooper a notch or two before his time. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.
They paid up for Trey Benson at pick 56 when waiting would have done the job. It fills a real need, too.
A conviction pick on Cooper Beebe at slot 66 that the board grades a round light. Top of the wish list, and they did not leave without it.
Junior Colson at pick No. 70 is right where the board had him, plain and simple. A glaring weakness, addressed head on.
They zigged when the board said zag, taking Maason Smith at DT-EDGE with tight end open.
Value said wait; Darius Robinson in Round 3, Pick 24 says they were not listening. A quiet depth add at a thin-ish spot.
They will replay Xavier Legette at the 90th pick for years; that is how good the value is. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
Fair-plus on Dominick Puni, a quiet win that adds up over a draft. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.
They stopped a slide they were happy to see, landing Leonard Taylor III in pick 125. A sensible fit that makes the depth chart a little sturdier.
Taking Kris Abrams-Draine in the 142nd overall pick is close to grand larceny; a cornerback that good had no business lasting this long. The one spot they could not leave alone, and did not.
A running back of that caliber at the Round 5 slot is the definition of value, full stop. It patches a soft spot without any drama.
A straight-up fair deal on Jaylan Ford at Round 5, Pick 37, value and slot in agreement. It also answers one of the loudest questions on the roster.
A slide stopped in slot 213, with Christian Jones worth more than the price. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
A reach for Marcus Harris in pick No. 221; a little patience would have been rewarded. A luxury on a unit that was already in good shape.
Dwight McGlothern at No. 242 is a conviction pick that outran the value. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.