D+
Dallas Cowboys
Grand theft in the Round 5 slot: the Cowboys steal Mustapha and grade out a D+.
by glennse1 ·
2024 NFL Draft
· 15 picks
· 3 steals
· 0 reaches
The Cowboys lost the trade war and it was not close, handing partners the better end again and again. It grades a D+, and the process earned it.
For all the activity, quarterback went untouched, which is hard to explain. The Cowboys indulged a want in Solomon while a need in quarterback and tight end stayed open.
The Mustapha steal is the beam this whole class leans on. The Cowboys clearly valued win-now help, adding bodies who have done it before.
Bottom line, they will need several of these picks to beat their grades just to break even, and quarterback is still a hole.
Pick-by-Pick
In pick 11 they get an anchor for the offensive line at fair value. It fills the loudest need on the roster.
No edge and no loss on T'Vondre Sweat in the 42nd overall pick; it is a wash and a sensible one. It patches a soft spot without any drama.
By-the-book stuff, Jeremiah Trotter Jr. at Round 2, Pick 28 squarely in line with his ranking. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.
Mike Sainristil in the 68th pick is exactly on the number, no argument either way. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
They did well to land Blake Corum in slot 90, just ahead of his grade. The roster fit checks out.
Javon Baker in No. 99 lands just on the right side of the ledger. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.
Trey Benson at No. 109 is money in the bank, a running back taken below his worth. It shores up a spot that genuinely needed the help.
The needs board was loud and they turned it down, spending pick 111 on Javon Solomon with quarterback and tight end unsolved.
A tidy little value on Nehemiah Pritchett in the 137th pick, a step better than break-even. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
Somehow Malik Mustapha was still sitting there in slot 175, and they pounced on premier safety value. Not urgent, but hardly pointless.
Nice patience on Luke McCaffrey, who had no business lasting to pick No. 182. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.
No drama and no debate, Myles Murphy went about where he belonged in the 213th overall pick. A sensible fit for a spot that needed help.
They took Trevin Wallace at par in the Round 7 slot, which is nothing to complain about. A glaring weakness, addressed head on.
Ethan Driskell at Round 7, Pick 22 is neither steal nor reach, just the going rate. The one spot they could not leave alone, and did not.
A straight-up fair deal on Jordan Magee at pick 246, value and slot in agreement. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.