D+
Dallas Cowboys
The Cowboys bet the future on Ewers. The board says D+.
by miggy2681 ·
2025 NFL Draft
· 18 picks
· 18 steals
· 0 reaches
When a board-topper like Xavier Restrepo slides to the 169th overall pick, you do not overthink it, and the Cowboys did not.
They lost the exchange badly enough to drag the whole class down. Quinn Ewers is the bet, and the class will be judged on how it pays off. Spending an early pick on edge rusher with tight end open is the decision the grade keeps circling back to.
That tight end hole did not close this weekend, and it was the biggest one on the wall.
In the end, a class the front office will want to grow past quickly.
Pick-by-Pick
In pick No. 12 they get a bell-cow for the offense, and a steal at that. A real need, handled.
In No. 16 they get their quarterback of the future, outstanding value to boot. A clean fit for the roster.
They will replay Cam Ward at slot 44 for years; that is how good the value is. One more legitimate question on the roster, answered.
Walter Nolen in No. 47 should not have been possible, and that is the whole point. It fills a real need, too.
They barely believed it either: Emery Jones Jr. still on the board at the 73rd pick. The biggest hole on the depth chart just got a whole lot smaller.
You do not let an edge rusher like Mykel Williams reach pick No. 74 and blink. They did not. Not urgent, but hardly pointless.
Hard to square with the roster. With positions of obvious need still on the board, Jalon Walker adds an edge rusher and leaves tight end untouched.
They robbed the room for Jordan Hancock here, a fall nobody at the table saw coming. A glaring weakness, addressed head on.
They zigged when the board said zag, taking Jordan Burch at edge rusher with tight end open.
Wyatt Milum at pick 163 is daylight robbery; nobody expected him to last. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
Steal is underselling it; Xavier Restrepo at slot 169 is a heist with the alarm still ringing. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.
Circle this one: Jahdae Barron at the 170th pick is a fall that decides a draft. It adds depth where they could use a little.
Deontae Lawson at No. 171 is the steal of the weekend, a first-round talent at a bargain-bin price. It also answers one of the loudest questions on the roster.
A edge rusher of that caliber at pick No. 189 is the definition of value, full stop. Insurance at a position that did not really ask for it.
A top-tier offensive lineman at a bargain, Dylan Fairchild in the 208th overall pick, plain and simple. The one spot they could not leave alone, and did not.
Somehow TJ Ferguson was still sitting there in Round 7, Pick 12, and they pounced on premier offensive lineman value. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
Riley Mahlman in the Round 7 slot is the kind of fall that makes a whole class. Top of the wish list, and they did not leave without it.
Taking Damien Martinez in pick 256 is close to grand larceny; a running back that good had no business lasting this long. A real hole, addressed with a reasonable pick.