D
Dallas Cowboys
McCarthy is the plan now, and the Cowboys grade out a D.
by grmjr ·
2024 NFL Draft
· 19 picks
· 5 steals
· 11 reaches
There is reaching, and then there is DeMonte Capehart at the Round 7 slot. The Cowboys jumped the board by 58 and dared it to prove them wrong.
They lost the exchange badly enough to drag the whole class down. Everything downstream of J.J. McCarthy depends on J.J. McCarthy, and the building knows it.
The Smith-Wade pick is the one they will point to when this weekend is judged. They punted on tight end, and it is the miss that keeps the grade honest.
Bottom line, they will need several of these picks to beat their grades just to break even, and tight end is still a hole.
Pick-by-Pick
In slot 24 they get a blindside protector at fair value. It fills the loudest need on the roster.
In pick 28 they get a passer to set the clock by, though the board says they badly overpaid. A real need, handled.
A swing that ignored the value entirely, Edgerrin Cooper well ahead of where he belonged. It also answers one of the loudest questions on the roster.
Jonathon Brooks in the 56th overall pick is early enough to raise a brow, if not a full objection. It plugs a real leak on the depth chart.
They left a pile of value on the table to take Cooper Beebe this early at No. 60. The one spot they could not leave alone, and did not.
Brenden Rice in the 67th pick is exactly on the number, no argument either way. A glaring weakness, addressed head on.
They paid a round early for Sedrick Van Pran in the 87th pick, more than the board wanted. The biggest hole on the depth chart just got a whole lot smaller.
Mike Sainristil in Round 3, Pick 37 is a bargain the rest of the room will envy. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
They reached into another round for Tommy Eichenberg, and the board is nowhere close to agreeing. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
Jaden Hicks at pick 124 is the sort of value that quietly wins a weekend. It thickens a room that could stand to be thicker.
A straight-up fair deal on Jarrian Jones at the Round 4 slot, value and slot in agreement. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.
Edefuan Ulofoshio at the 141st overall pick is the kind of overdraft that needs everything to break right. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.
Kris Abrams-Draine in pick No. 161 is a gift, value that borders on unfair. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
They robbed the room for Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint here, a fall nobody at the table saw coming. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.
A real head-scratcher, Jase McClellan in the Round 6 slot is miles ahead of his ranking. A sensible fit for a spot that needed help.
Chau Smith-Wade at pick 206 is daylight robbery; nobody expected him to last. Top of the wish list, and they did not leave without it.
They liked Isaiah Neyor enough to skip the value, taking him in the 223rd pick. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.
This one needs a full-page explanation: DeMonte Capehart in pick No. 245, miles early. It shores up a spot that genuinely needed the help.
A reach on Trevor Keegan in Round 7, Pick 29; the board had better options right there. A glaring weakness, addressed head on.