Cowboys draft picks, grades, takeaways: Dallas builds through trenches, has a lot of faith in WRs on roster

FRISCO, Texas — The Dallas Cowboys 7-10 season in 2024 was hampered by injuries in a number of key spots including along both the offensive and defensive lines.

Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones clocked that immediately and hammered away at those spots along both lines while providing new head coach Brian Schottenheimer with two young running backs to mold in his first season calling the offense in Dallas. So how did the Cowboys fare with their nine picks in this draft class? 

Take a look at the grades for all nine of their picks, plus five key takeaways from how Dallas chose to fill out its roster in the draft. 

* Overall selections: 9

Cowboys build through trenches in order to better compete with Eagles, rest of NFC East

The Super Bowl LIX champion Philadelphia Eagles steamrolled teams with their offensive line and 2024 NFL Offensive Player of the Saquon Barkley offensively and crushed opposing offenses, including the AFC champion Kansas City Chiefs led by Patrick Mahomes, with a punishing defensive line. That’s something the Cowboys were certainly aware of when using five of their nine draft picks on either offensive or defensive linemen throughout the 2025 draft. The New York Giants also reinforced a defensive line led by Pro Bowl defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence and Pro Bowl edge rusher Brian Burns with the draft’s top edge rusher in Penn State All-American Abdul Carter. Safe to say Dallas’ NFC East competition influenced their draft class this year.  

“I think the game is won in the trenches,” Stephen Jones said Saturday. “At the end of the day, it’s a big man’s game. Jerry always likes to say it should be a different sport if you’re playing there in the trenches on the offensive or defensive line. … I think that’s where games are won and lost. 

“We got a division that, we have a lot of good teams in our division. They’re strong, strong, strong on their fronts. We have to keep up with that and have the answers. To me, it looks to the fact that we stressed that. It’s important to have a strong offensive line and defensive line. We’ll continue with that. We want to get it right. We had a tough year last year with some injuries that bit us a little, so you can’t have enough of them. That’s why we continue and will continue to pick guys in the fronts.”

Cowboys crush first two days of draft with plug-in starters

Both Schottenheimer and owner/general manager Jerry Jones labeled first-round pick Tyler Booker an “immediate starter” at right guard after an All-American career at Alabama. Second round pick Donovan Ezeiruaku, whose 16.5 sacks in 2024 were the second-most in college football, could compete with free agency signee Dante Fowler for a starting edge rusher spot opposite All-Pro Micah Parsons following the free agency departure of Pro Bowler DeMarcus Lawrence to the Seattle Seahawks. The cornerback spot opposite All-Pro DaRon Bland is certainly up for grabs with All-Pro Trevon Diggs working his way back from an injury. 

Jerry Jones said Diggs hurting his knee in December following a 2023 ACL tear has taught him the lesson about being more cautious in his rehab and not rushing back too soon. Stephen Jones reiterated that third-round pick cornerback Shavon Revel Jr. will likely start training camp on the Physically Unable to Perform List (PUP), but that he won’t stay that way. The 6-foot-2, 194-pounder could be in play for significant snaps right away as a rookie if he gets back from his own ACL injury suffered early last fall ahead of Diggs this year. 

Dallas secures its future at RB with a thunder and lightning duo

Cowboys vice president of player personnel Will McClay was banging the table for fifth-round pick running back Jaydon Blue nearly a week before the draft began. Why? Because with his 4.38-second 40-yard dash speed, McClay sees him as a legit game-changer with the ball in his hands. 

“Will was hollering Blue three, five, six days ago,” Jerry Jones said. “He liked Blue.”

“At the end of the day in the NFL, you’re looking for explosive playmakers, and he’s an explosive playmaker,” McClay said. “You put him in the backfield behind with what we’ve built on the line, and he has a chance to be explosive. … An explosive player that can flip the field for you on carries. Can also win you some matchups in one-on-one coverage vs. linebackers. He’s an explosive playmaker. It’s a different speed that he plays at.”

Schottenheimer likened seventh-round pick Phil Mafah, more of a bruiser at 6-foot-1, 234 pounds, to Arizona Cardinals Pro Bowl running back James Conner in terms of what Dallas could do with him schematically. That’s through the lens of Cowboys new offensive coordinator Klayton Adams coming over after holding the role of offensive line coach with Conner’s Cardinals. Schottenheimer said Javonte Williams and Miles Sanders will factor heavily into the mix this season for starter’s touches, but they’re both on one-year deals. He said the selections of both Blue and Mafah indicate they believe each could have starter’s traits that could blossom down the road. 

Dallas truly believes in its guys at WR … or there’s a trade coming soon

The draft has come and gone, and Dallas was unable to address the wide receiver position, selecting zero players at the position with its nine picks. On Saturday after the second day of the draft, Jerry Jones lauded the potential of Jonathan Mingo, Jalen Tolbert and Ryan Flournoy to be potential WR2s in Dallas’ offense. On Sunday, he slightly walked back those comments in saying the door is still open for player acquisition at the wide receiver position. 

“The train has not left the station if improvement is needed on what we have on campus,” Jerry Jones said. … “Our No. 114 pick was traded to Carolina for Jonathan Mingo. … My point is … we don’t have to be through at receiver in any way.”

Tolbert was No. 2 on the Cowboys in receiving yards last season with 610, but he’s like better suited to be the No. 3. Mingo has been one of the worst in the NFL at yards of separation per target through his first two seasons, but Dallas might hope it can dig more production out of the former second-round pick. If a “substantive trade” isn’t made for a wide receiver this offseason, the Cowboys will be praying for internal development at the position in 2025. That’s something Schottenheimer said he is “comfortable with” Saturday. 

“We’ve got a really good group of young receivers that we’re excited to see take the next step,” Schottenheimer said. “Again …. we’ve got guys with skills. Through this new scheme that we’re putting in and the influence of [new wide receivers coach] Junior Adams coming in, even just seeing the excitement that CeeDee [Lamb] has for some of these guys and the traits that they have. … We’re excited for these young guys, and we’re excited for them to take the next step.”

New defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus must have hit it off with Jerry Jones, Cowboys front office

Cowboys head of analytics John Park led the Indianapolis Colts‘ analytics department from 2016-23 before taking the same role with Dallas in 2024. That means he overlapped with new Cowboys defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus in Indianapolis, where the latter held the same role from 2018-21 before being hired as the Chicago Bears head coach.  

That preexisting relationship, plus the one established between Eberflus and Jones when he was the Cowboys linebackers coach from 2011-17, shined this weekend. Dallas spent both of its Day 2 picks on defense with Ezeiruaku (second round) and Revel (third round). Three of Dallas’ Day 3 picks were spent on the front seven between linebacker Shemar James and defensive tackles Jay Toia and Tommy Akingbesote. Run defense has been an issue for the Cowboys for years, and it’s clear the Cowboys are hellbent on correcting that issue in 2025.