B+
Dallas Cowboys
The Cowboys cashed the board's mistake on Rodriguez: B+.
by D.HAWK ·
2026 NFL Draft
· 9 picks
· 4 steals
· 1 reaches
Give the war room a raise for the dealing alone. The Cowboys came out ahead on every exchange that mattered, and it was not close. Solid and sensible more than spectacular: a B+.
Whatever else happened, they won the night they took Rodriguez. They covered a lot of ground and still skipped quarterback, which is a strange place to end up.
In sum, a sturdy weekend with one asterisk, the quarterback spot they never got to.
Pick-by-Pick
In No. 12 they get a lockdown presence outside. The biggest hole, addressed.
In the 30th overall pick they get a quarterback's worst nightmare, though they paid up to get him. More want than need.
Steal is underselling it; Jacob Rodriguez at pick 93 is a heist with the alarm still ringing. The biggest hole on the depth chart just got a whole lot smaller.
The board had Malik Muhammad higher than Round 4, Pick 12, and the cornerback fell to them anyway. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.
A tidy little value on Skyler Gill-Howard in the Round 5 slot, a step better than break-even. A need, and now a little less of one.
Kaleb Elarms-Orr at pick No. 177 is right where the board had him, plain and simple. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.
A straight-up fair deal on Keagen Trost at the 180th pick, value and slot in agreement. Top of the wish list, and they did not leave without it.
Chase Roberts slid further than he should have, and the Round 7 slot is lovely value for the wide receiver. A glaring weakness, addressed head on.
A quiet steal in No. 251: Fa'alili Fa'amoe for less than the market said. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.