B
Dallas Cowboys
A masterclass at the trade table lands the Cowboys a B.
by D.HAWK ·
2026 NFL Draft
· 7 picks
· 2 steals
· 1 reaches
The trade table was a mismatch, and the Cowboys were on the right end of it, hauling in a fortune in surplus value. The bottom line is a respectable B.
Spending an early pick on edge rusher with offensive lineman, quarterback and other spots open is the decision the grade keeps circling back to. Every board in the league had Young lower, and that gap is the story. They covered a lot of ground and still skipped offensive lineman, which is a strange place to end up.
That Wallace III pick is the receipt they will wave around later.
In short, they left a little better than they arrived, which is the whole idea.
Pick-by-Pick
In pick No. 20 they get a ballhawk on the outside at fair value. Exactly the need they had to hit.
A swing that ignored the value entirely, Zion Young well ahead of where he belonged. It adds depth where they could use a little.
A curious use of the Round 2 slot. Offensive lineman, quarterback and other spots needed the pick; an edge rusher in Jake Golday did not.
Zakee Wheatley at the 92nd overall pick is a sound buy, the sort that quietly helps a class. A minor need, but a need all the same.
They read the board right and Bryce Boettcher was the payoff at slot 177. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
A clean, defensible pick in No. 180 with a little surplus value in Marlin Klein. One more legitimate question on the roster, answered.
Harrison Wallace III is a better player than the 218th pick suggests; smart patience, rewarded. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.