B+
Dallas Cowboys
The Cowboys let Watts fall into their laps, and walked away with a B+.
by HR ·
2025 NFL Draft
· 13 picks
· 11 steals
· 2 reaches
The Cowboys spent the weekend waiting on one name, and it fell: Xavier Watts, the No. 46 name on the board, in pick 150. A sturdy weekend that grades out a B+.
The Sorrell reach is the anchor dragging on the value grade. They punted on interior defensive lineman, and it is the miss that keeps the grade honest.
The dealing nudged the ledger their way without much fuss.
Solid rather than spectacular, and there is nothing wrong with that.
Pick-by-Pick
Abdul Carter at No. 12 is the sort of value that quietly wins a weekend. Depth more than a fix, but depth they can use.
A wide receiver of that caliber at slot 46 is the definition of value, full stop. It also answers one of the loudest questions on the roster.
Quietly one of the better values of the day, Dylan Sampson at the 76th overall pick. It fills a real need, too.
A quiet steal in the 117th pick: Smael Mondon Jr. for less than the market said. The biggest hole on the depth chart just got a whole lot smaller.
The board fumbled Xavier Watts all the way to pick No. 150, and they scooped it up. It thickens a room that could stand to be thicker.
Will Howard at pick 172 is the steal of the weekend, a first-round talent at a bargain-bin price. A real hole, addressed with a reasonable pick.
Terrance Ferguson at Round 5, Pick 35 is daylight robbery; nobody expected him to last. The roster fit checks out.
They robbed the room for Dylan Fairchild here, a fall nobody at the table saw coming. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
A top-tier safety at a bargain, Malachi Moore in slot 190, plain and simple. A want more than a need, though you can never have too many.
You do not let a cornerback like Jacob Parrish reach No. 211 and blink. They did not. A glaring weakness, addressed head on.
They talked themselves into Barryn Sorrell at the 244th pick, and the board did not agree. A luxury on a unit that was already in good shape.
A real head-scratcher, Quinn Carroll in the 245th overall pick is miles ahead of his ranking. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.
A tidy bit of business in pick No. 249, where Seth McLaughlin graded well above the range. The one spot they could not leave alone, and did not.