D
Dallas Cowboys
Ward is the plan now, and the Cowboys grade out a D.
by jwhyrick93 ·
2025 NFL Draft
· 11 picks
· 8 steals
· 1 reaches
Somebody in pick 209 was going to get robbed, and it turned out to be the rest of the league. The Cowboys sat still while Smael Mondon Jr., the No. 106 name on the board, slid all the way to them, then sprinted to the podium. Too much went sideways, and the D is the honest tally.
They will need Nelson to outplay his draft slot in a hurry to justify it. Overpaying at the table undid a lot of the good work elsewhere. Cam Ward is the bet, and the class will be judged on how it pays off.
That wide receiver hole did not close this weekend, and it was the biggest one on the wall.
Add it up and it is a weekend the front office will hope everyone forgets, wide receiver very much included.
Pick-by-Pick
In the 2nd pick they get the arm they will build around. A real need, handled.
In the Round 1 slot they get a workhorse for the backfield, outstanding value to boot. A clean fit for the roster.
They barely believed it either: Jalon Walker still on the board at the Round 2 slot. A glaring weakness, addressed head on.
Jack Nelson at No. 76 is a steep price for a hunch, hard to square with any board. It also answers one of the loudest questions on the roster.
Barrett Carter at the 148th overall pick is the steal of the weekend, a first-round talent at a bargain-bin price. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
Sonny Styles in pick 168 should not have been possible, and that is the whole point. A minor need, but a need all the same.
Taking Jake Majors in the 170th pick is close to grand larceny; an offensive lineman that good had no business lasting this long. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.
Somehow Cody Simon was still sitting there in slot 171, and they pounced on premier linebacker value. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
A tidy little value on Nazir Stackhouse in Round 6, Pick 12, a step better than break-even. One more legitimate question on the roster, answered.
Smael Mondon Jr. in pick No. 209 is a gift, value that borders on unfair. The biggest hole on the depth chart just got a whole lot smaller.
They robbed the room for Terrance Ferguson here, a fall nobody at the table saw coming. A need, and now a little less of one.