D+
Dallas Cowboys
Best value of the weekend goes to the Cowboys for Tampa: D+.
by grmjr ·
2024 NFL Draft
· 13 picks
· 6 steals
· 4 reaches
The Cowboys bet big and early on Austin Booker, 32 picks ahead of the board. Bold does not always mean right. The process wobbled, and the D+ is where it lands.
They lost the exchange badly enough to drag the whole class down. For all the activity, interior defensive lineman went untouched, which is hard to explain. Tampa at that cost is the sort of edge that compounds over a roster.
On the needs board they went 7 of 8, with wide receiver the one that mattered most.
Bottom line, they will need several of these picks to beat their grades just to break even.
Pick-by-Pick
In the 9th overall pick they get a true top target. The biggest hole, addressed.
In No. 24 they get a long-term starter on the line at fair value. Exactly the need they had to hit.
Jordan Morgan at pick 56 is a first-round grade at a bargain-bin price, no notes. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
They paid sticker price for Blake Corum in the 75th pick, and that is fine. A sensible fit for a spot that needed help.
Taking T.J. Tampa in pick 76 is close to grand larceny; a cornerback that good had no business lasting this long. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.
A swing that ignored the value entirely, Dallin Holker well ahead of where he belonged. A need, and now a little less of one.
A real head-scratcher, Austin Booker in the 124th pick is miles ahead of his ranking. A minor itch, scratched.
The board fumbled Dominick Puni all the way to Round 4, Pick 27, and they scooped it up. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
A running back of that caliber at slot 146 is the definition of value, full stop. The roster fit checks out.
They let Jordan Travis come to them and pounced at the 147th overall pick. A real hole, addressed with a reasonable pick.
Maurice Smith in pick No. 212 is a reach so steep the board needed a second look to believe it. The biggest hole on the depth chart just got a whole lot smaller.
Good things come to war rooms that wait, and Nathaniel Watson at the Round 7 slot is the proof. A glaring weakness, addressed head on.
A conviction pick on Cal Haladay at No. 245 that the board grades a round light. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.