B
Dallas Cowboys
The Cowboys let Jones fall and pounced. Final grade: B.
by 2024 ·
2024 NFL Draft
· 7 picks
· 6 steals
· 0 reaches
The best pick of the weekend was also the simplest. The Cowboys watched Christian Jones slide 39 picks past his grade and did not hesitate. It nets out to a B, which feels about right.
If this class has a fault line, it runs straight through linebacker. The Smith pick reads as want over need, and the roster will feel it at linebacker, quarterback and other spots.
All told, a solid class that does its job everywhere but linebacker.
Pick-by-Pick
In pick No. 24 they get a press-man option on the boundary at fair value. Exactly the need they had to hit.
A tidy bit of business in the Round 2 slot, where Patrick Paul graded well above the range. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
The board fumbled Javon Bullard all the way to pick 87, and they scooped it up. It thickens a room that could stand to be thicker.
Hard to square with the roster. With positions of obvious need still on the board, Tykee Smith adds a safety and leaves linebacker, quarterback and other spots untouched.
They will replay Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint at the 173rd overall pick for years; that is how good the value is. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.
Isaiah Williams at the 213th pick is the sort of value that quietly wins a weekend. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
You do not let an offensive lineman like Christian Jones reach No. 242 and blink. They did not. Top of the wish list, and they did not leave without it.