B+
Dallas Cowboys
The Cowboys won the weekend at the trade table. Grade: B+.
by PEDRO EL VAQUERO ·
2025 NFL Draft
· 9 picks
· 4 steals
· 2 reaches
The tape said wait; the Cowboys did not. Paris Shand went at the 209th overall pick, a good 94 picks before the board was ready. Solid and sensible more than spectacular: a B+.
Lawson at that cost is the sort of edge that compounds over a roster. The trade ledger is the best part of the whole weekend. They will regret leaving cornerback for another day if the season turns on it.
Logan Wilson gives the group a proven body among the projects.
All told, a draft that does its job without fuss, and there is real value in that.
Pick-by-Pick
In the 13th pick they get a disruptive interior force. A clean fit for the roster.
Omarion Hampton in pick No. 42 is a gift, value that borders on unfair. It shores up a spot that genuinely needed the help.
Jalen Royals at slot 75 is neither steal nor reach, just the going rate. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.
Deontae Lawson at Round 5, Pick 11 is daylight robbery; nobody expected him to last. The one spot they could not leave alone, and did not.
Jalen Catalon at the Round 5 slot is the steal of the weekend, a first-round talent at a bargain-bin price. It thickens a room that could stand to be thicker.
They did well to land Connor Colby in No. 170, just ahead of his grade. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
A big swing on Quinn Carroll at the Round 5 slot, well ahead of any board in the building. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.
You do not let a safety like Lathan Ransom reach pick No. 186 and blink. They did not. A want dressed up as a pick, at a spot they had covered.
They talked themselves into Paris Shand at No. 209, and the board did not agree. Not urgent, but hardly pointless.