B+
Dallas Cowboys
The Cowboys worked the phones like thieves and earned a B+.
by HR ·
2025 NFL Draft
· 18 picks
· 10 steals
· 6 reaches
Boards are made to be trusted, and the Cowboys shredded theirs for Barryn Sorrell. He came off 127 spots early, and the room will hear about it.
That Bowman Jr. pick is the receipt they will wave around later. Every deal seemed to tilt their way, which is not luck.
All told, a draft that does its job without fuss, and there is real value in that.
Pick-by-Pick
In Round 1, Pick 17 they get a bell-cow for the offense, and a steal at that.
Maxwell Hairston at the 58th overall pick is a conviction pick that outran the value. It also answers one of the loudest questions on the roster.
They paid a round early for Jayden Higgins in pick 59, more than the board wanted. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
No edge and no loss on Carson Schwesinger in the Round 3 slot; it is a wash and a sensible one. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
Donovan Jackson at pick No. 91 is money in the bank, a offensive lineman taken below his worth. A glaring weakness, addressed head on.
Good things come to war rooms that wait, and Denzel Burke at slot 104 is the proof. The biggest hole on the depth chart just got a whole lot smaller.
A tidy bit of business in slot 149, where Kurtis Rourke graded well above the range. It shores up a spot that genuinely needed the help.
They went early on Oronde Gadsden II in pick No. 166, and the value did not follow. Another box on the needs board, quietly ticked.
Joshua Farmer at the 170th pick is daylight robbery; nobody expected him to last. The roster fit checks out.
They barely believed it either: Mello Dotson still on the board at Round 5, Pick 33. Top of the wish list, and they did not leave without it.
Billy Bowman Jr. at the Round 5 slot is the steal of the weekend, a first-round talent at a bargain-bin price. Not urgent, but hardly pointless.
Jay Higgins at the 179th overall pick is right where the board had him, plain and simple. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.
A big swing on Barryn Sorrell at pick 188, well ahead of any board in the building. Useful depth more than a marquee fix.
You do not let an interior defensive lineman like JJ Pegues reach No. 211 and blink. They did not. One more legitimate question on the roster, answered.
They robbed the room for Jack Nelson here, a fall nobody at the table saw coming. The one spot they could not leave alone, and did not.
Torricelli Simpkins III in slot 241 is early enough to raise a brow, if not a full objection. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.
Jasheen Davis in the 247th overall pick is a reach so steep the board needed a second look to believe it. It is more luxury than necessity; they were already set here.
They read the board right and Ty Hamilton was the payoff at No. 254. A real hole, addressed with a reasonable pick.