B
Dallas Cowboys
Best value of the weekend goes to the Cowboys for Bailey: B.
by cspete2880 ·
2024 NFL Draft
· 10 picks
· 2 steals
· 2 reaches
The Cowboys did not reach, did not trade up, did not blink. They just waited, and Emani Bailey fell into pick No. 212. Nothing here to lose sleep over; call it a B.
The cost of the Taylor III reach is exactly the players who went right after him. If this class has a fault line, it runs straight through wide receiver. Small wins on the phones, but wins all the same.
Building through the lines is a philosophy, and they stuck to it.
In short, they left a little better than they arrived, which is the whole idea.
Pick-by-Pick
In pick 26 they get a building block for the line. The biggest hole, addressed.
They liked McKinnley Jackson enough to skip the value, taking him in the Round 3 slot. It plugs a real leak on the depth chart.
A clean, defensible pick in Round 3, Pick 24 with a little surplus value in Mike Sainristil. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
A tidy bit of business in pick No. 89, where Cooper Beebe graded well above the range. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
A wild overpay on Leonard Taylor III in No. 90, the sort that defines a class for the wrong reasons. The roster fit checks out.
Fair-plus on Kris Abrams-Draine, a quiet win that adds up over a draft. The one spot they could not leave alone, and did not.
A market-rate linebacker, with the board and the slot shaking hands on Curtis Jacobs. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.
A running back of that caliber at the 212th pick is the definition of value, full stop. A sensible fit that makes the depth chart a little sturdier.
Mark Perry at the 245th pick is neither steal nor reach, just the going rate. Depth more than a fix, but depth they can use.
They did well to land Eric Gentry in the Round 7 slot, just ahead of his grade. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.