D
Dallas Cowboys
Sanders is the Cowboys' new face under center. Grade: D.
by bobbo ·
2025 NFL Draft
· 18 picks
· 10 steals
· 4 reaches
Some picks age like wine; J.C. Davis at pick 209 will need to, sitting 51 spots clear of his grade.
Lawson falling to them is the kind of break a good board is built to catch. They handed away value on the phones that the picks cannot earn back.
Whatever Shedeur Sanders becomes, the front office has tied its fortunes to the answer. They punted on cornerback, and it is the miss that keeps the grade honest.
Bottom line, they will need several of these picks to beat their grades just to break even.
Pick-by-Pick
In No. 1 they get a passer to set the clock by. A real need, handled.
In Round 1, Pick 4 they get an every-down engine for the run game at fair value. A clean fit for the roster.
Nice patience on Kenneth Grant, who had no business lasting to pick 35. A need, and now a little less of one.
Jalon Walker at slot 38 is the sort of value that quietly wins a weekend. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.
Tyler Booker in the 44th overall pick lands just on the right side of the ledger. Top of the wish list, and they did not leave without it.
Gunnar Helm at the 102nd pick is the steal of the weekend, a first-round talent at a bargain-bin price. It fills a real need, too.
Quinshon Judkins in the 119th overall pick should not have been possible, and that is the whole point. One more legitimate question on the roster, answered.
A swing that ignored the value entirely, Simeon Barrow Jr. well ahead of where he belonged. A real hole, addressed with a reasonable pick.
Taking Lathan Ransom in the Round 5 slot is close to grand larceny; a safety that good had no business lasting this long. A quiet depth add at a thin-ish spot.
Deontae Lawson at the 166th pick is a first-round grade at a bargain-bin price, no notes. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
Circle this one: Danny Stutsman at Round 5, Pick 31 is a fall that decides a draft. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
Zane Durant at pick No. 170 is neither steal nor reach, just the going rate. It shores up a spot that genuinely needed the help.
This one needs a full-page explanation: Theo Wease Jr. in No. 171, miles early. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.
They will replay Cam Skattebo at pick 177 for years; that is how good the value is. A sensible fit for a spot that needed help.
A top-tier linebacker at a bargain, Smael Mondon Jr. in pick 187, plain and simple. A glaring weakness, addressed head on.
They talked themselves into J.C. Davis at the Round 6 slot, and the board did not agree. The biggest hole on the depth chart just got a whole lot smaller.
Joey Slackman at No. 240 is an overdraft of the loud, memorable kind. It plugs a real leak on the depth chart.
A safety of that caliber at pick No. 247 is the definition of value, full stop. A luxury on a unit that was already in good shape.