D
Dallas Cowboys
The Cowboys got the worse of every deal, and it shows in the D.
by Grumpy ·
2024 NFL Draft
· 21 picks
· 2 steals
· 10 reaches
The move everyone will second-guess came early. The Cowboys reached some 38 spots for Tommy Eichenberg, and value like that does not grow back.
The trades bled value they could not afford to lose. On value alone, Johnson makes the weekend a net positive.
In the end, a class the front office will want to grow past quickly.
Pick-by-Pick
In No. 11 they get a building block for the line. The biggest hole, addressed.
In the 23rd overall pick they get a sticky cover corner at fair value. It fills the loudest need on the roster.
In Round 1, Pick 24 they get a double-digit-sack hope. More want than need.
In pick 27 they get a pocket-collapsing interior rusher, though they paid up to get him. A clean fit for the roster.
They liked Edgerrin Cooper enough to skip the value, taking him in slot 35. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.
Ja'Lynn Polk at the Round 2 slot is a clear overpay, with better names still on the board. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
T'Vondre Sweat at the 66th pick is neither steal nor reach, just the going rate. A real hole, addressed with a reasonable pick.
They took Blake Corum at par in slot 71, which is nothing to complain about. It fills a real need, too.
Ben Sinnott in No. 87 is early enough to raise a brow, if not a full objection. It plugs a real leak on the depth chart.
They paid sticker price for Sedrick Van Pran in pick No. 90, and that is fine. Top of the wish list, and they did not leave without it.
Maason Smith at the Round 4 slot is right where the board had him, plain and simple. It patches a soft spot without any drama.
Tommy Eichenberg in the 108th overall pick is a bet on their own eyes over everyone else's grade. The biggest hole on the depth chart just got a whole lot smaller.
A quiet steal in Round 4, Pick 29: Brenden Rice for less than the market said. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.
A market-rate offensive lineman, with the board and the slot shaking hands on Christian Jones. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.
Jordan Travis at pick 162 is a steep price for a hunch, hard to square with any board. A need, and now a little less of one.
A reach on Khristian Boyd in the 174th overall pick; the board had better options right there. They added to a strength when a need was still open elsewhere.
A straight-up fair deal on Dwight McGlothern at No. 177, value and slot in agreement. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
Jase McClellan at Round 6, Pick 26 is the kind of overdraft that needs everything to break right. It shores up a spot that genuinely needed the help.
Dillon Johnson at slot 232 is money in the bank, a running back taken below his worth. Another box on the needs board, quietly ticked.
A wild overpay on Michael Barrett in the Round 7 slot, the sort that defines a class for the wrong reasons. It also answers one of the loudest questions on the roster.
This one needs a full-page explanation: Jalen Sundell in pick No. 244, miles early. A glaring weakness, addressed head on.