B-
Dallas Cowboys
A respectable, level-headed haul for the Cowboys: B-.
by JF335 ·
2024 NFL Draft
· 11 picks
· 3 steals
· 3 reaches
The Cowboys bet big and early on Austin Booker, 33 picks ahead of the board. Bold does not always mean right.
It is not that Booker is a bad player; it is that the Cowboys had louder needs to answer first. They banked enough surplus on Liufau to cover a lot of smaller sins.
Leaving quarterback unaddressed is the roster risk they will have to answer for in the fall. They squeezed a little extra out of every move they made.
Good work on the whole, with quarterback the one box left unchecked.
Pick-by-Pick
Jackson Powers-Johnson at pick 33 is a steep price for a hunch, hard to square with any board. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
Edgerrin Cooper at the Round 2 slot is right where the board had him, plain and simple. Top of the wish list, and they did not leave without it.
Zak Zinter at the 87th overall pick is neither steal nor reach, just the going rate. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
Darius Robinson in pick No. 93 is a reach so steep the board needed a second look to believe it. A minor itch, scratched.
They robbed the room for Marist Liufau here, a fall nobody at the table saw coming. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.
No edge and no loss on Javon Foster in the 125th pick; it is a wash and a sensible one. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
They bypassed pressing needs at quarterback and tight end to take Austin Booker, an edge rusher that was not the priority.
Jaylen Wright at No. 173 is money in the bank, a running back taken below his worth. The roster fit checks out.
They paid sticker price for Jordan Jefferson in pick 180, and that is fine. A sensible fit for a spot that needed help.
A market-rate wide receiver, with the board and the slot shaking hands on De'Corian Clark. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.
A tidy bit of business in the 242nd overall pick, where Ryan Watts graded well above the range. It also answers one of the loudest questions on the roster.