D+
Dallas Cowboys
The Cowboys lost the trade table, and the D+ tells the story.
by Greatness ·
2024 NFL Draft
· 14 picks
· 1 steals
· 4 reaches
If confidence were a draft strategy, the Cowboys would have aced it. Mason Fairchild at slot 245 is 54 spots clear of where he belonged. Put together, it is a D+.
They lost the exchange badly enough to drag the whole class down. If this class has a fault line, it runs straight through quarterback.
Smith falling to them is the kind of break a good board is built to catch.
Add it up and it is a weekend the front office will hope everyone forgets, quarterback very much included.
Pick-by-Pick
In the 16th pick they get a building block for the line. It fills the loudest need on the roster.
In No. 24 they get a ballhawk on the outside at fair value. Exactly the need they had to hit.
They paid sticker price for T'Vondre Sweat in pick No. 56, and that is fine. It patches a soft spot without any drama.
They did well to land Blake Corum in the Round 3 slot, just ahead of his grade. A real hole, addressed with a reasonable pick.
A straight-up fair deal on Sedrick Van Pran at pick 87, value and slot in agreement. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
Marist Liufau in Round 3, Pick 27 is fine work, a shade of surplus and no downside. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.
No drama and no debate, Javon Foster went about where he belonged in the 124th overall pick. It also answers one of the loudest questions on the roster.
Value with a capital V on Ainias Smith in No. 129, a genuine coup. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.
Jaylan Ford in the 174th pick is fair value, right on his grade. The biggest hole on the depth chart just got a whole lot smaller.
They liked Christian Jones enough to skip the value, taking him in the Round 6 slot. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.
Jase McClellan at slot 212 is neither steal nor reach, just the going rate. A need, and now a little less of one.
They paid a round early for Matthew Jones in pick 225, more than the board wanted. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
A big swing on Dwight McGlothern at Round 7, Pick 10, well ahead of any board in the building. A glaring weakness, addressed head on.
A wild overpay on Mason Fairchild in pick No. 245, the sort that defines a class for the wrong reasons. A sensible fit that makes the depth chart a little sturdier.