A
Dallas Cowboys
Best value of the weekend goes to the Cowboys for Cisse: A.
by AceMarquis23 ·
2026 NFL Draft
· 20 picks
· 18 steals
· 0 reaches
Call it larceny. Brandon Cisse sat on the board until No. 228, and the Cowboys did not need to be asked twice.
They robbed the room blind at the table, and it lifts the grade on its own. With quarterback unsolved, spending premium capital on safety is the choice that costs them. They covered a lot of ground and still skipped quarterback, which is a strange place to end up.
The imported veterans give this class a floor the draft picks could not on their own.
Few war rooms will sleep better than this one tonight.
Pick-by-Pick
By-the-book stuff, Arvell Reese at pick No. 6 squarely in line with his ranking. Top of the wish list, and they did not leave without it.
In pick 12 they get a centerfielder for the defense at a price that makes it sweeter. Need was not the driver here.
They stopped a slide they were happy to see, landing Jeremiyah Love in the Round 1 slot. It patches a soft spot without any drama.
In No. 19 they get a plug-and-play piece up front at fair value. The biggest hole, addressed.
In the 24th pick they get a double-digit-sack hope, outstanding value to boot. More want than need.
Sonny Styles slipping to the 36th overall pick is the kind of luck good rooms make for themselves. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
They robbed the room for Mansoor Delane here, a fall nobody at the table saw coming. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.
Carnell Tate in Round 2, Pick 25 should not have been possible, and that is the whole point. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.
Steal is underselling it; Jermod McCoy at pick 70 is a heist with the alarm still ringing. The biggest hole on the depth chart just got a whole lot smaller.
You do not let a linebacker like CJ Allen reach the 75th pick and blink. They did not. A glaring weakness, addressed head on.
The board fumbled Kenyon Sadiq all the way to the Round 3 slot, and they scooped it up. A need, and now a little less of one.
Jordyn Tyson at Round 4, Pick 2 is daylight robbery; nobody expected him to last. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.
Taking Kayden McDonald in slot 103 is close to grand larceny; an interior defensive lineman that good had no business lasting this long. It plugs a real leak on the depth chart.
They bypassed pressing needs at quarterback to take Dillon Thieneman, a safety that was not the priority.
A top-tier offensive lineman at a bargain, Jake Slaughter in the 146th overall pick, plain and simple. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
They barely believed it either: Akheem Mesidor still on the board at pick No. 152. They added to a strength when a need was still open elsewhere.
A cornerback of that caliber at pick No. 177 is the definition of value, full stop. It also answers one of the loudest questions on the roster.
Circle this one: Lee Hunter at slot 180 is a fall that decides a draft. It fills a real need, too.
They will replay Gabe Jacas at Round 7, Pick 2 for years; that is how good the value is. It is more luxury than necessity; they were already set here.
Brandon Cisse at the 228th overall pick is a first-round grade at a bargain-bin price, no notes. The one spot they could not leave alone, and did not.