Do you feel the Cowboys have done “enough” this offseason?
Another draft has come and gone, and the immediate aftermath brings plenty of bold proclamations about which teams crushed it and which teams blew it. The Dallas Cowboys are one of the few teams that routinely get lumped into the former category, but it hasn’t always translated to actual on-field success.
With the 2025 NFL Draft in the rearview (though just barely), how did they do in their first draft under new head coach Brian Schottenheimer? And how complete is this roster as they try to bounce back from a 7-10 campaign? Our own Tom Ryle and David Howman have some thoughts.
Tom: I am encouraged by this draft on several fronts. First, they used their first-round pick to address the biggest hole on the roster by taking Tyler Booker to fill the enormous open spot left by the retirement of future Hall of Fame guard Zack Martin. This was a need-driven pick, but even if it was a slight reach, you have to respect the thinking here. Then, with that done, they leaned much more into best player available, as you pointed out in your article after the first round.
Both Donovan Ezeiruaku and Shavon Revel were seen as borderline first-round talents. They got incredible value with both of them. Then looking over the Day 3 picks, they showed they were dead serious about building the roster from the inside out, with a total of five picks dedicated to fortifying the line on both sides of the ball. Investing over half their draft capital there was a clear choice of substance over flash and shows the influence of Brian Schottenheimer and Matt Eberflus. If it heralds Jerry and Stephen Jones letting their lieutenants do their jobs without interference, this bodes well for the future.
The only criticism I can see is that they didn’t get a WR or a TE, but with so many needs they could only do so much. I don’t fault them for how they decided to go.
Howman: I’m with you on the value of the Ezeiruaku and Revel picks. Those were both tremendous value, especially Ezeiruaku, who should blossom into a productive pass rusher sooner than later. Revel does concern me a bit with his injury, especially considering Trevon Diggs is also coming off a significant injury, but I like the pick a lot.
It’s going to sound like I’m critical of this draft, and I’m really not – I gave the overall draft class a B+ grade, after all. But I am much more bothered by the wide receiver neglect than you seem to be. Banking on Jonathan Mingo to be your WR2 in 2025 is dangerously arrogant; I really, really hope to see a veteran free agent added in the coming days to address this concern.
I get your point about beefing up the trenches, and it certainly doubled-down on comments from Schottenheimer this offseason, but I’m not sure it was as necessary as getting a wide receiver. Dallas signed several experienced free agents – Saahdiq Charles, Robert Jones, and Hakeem Adeniji on offense; Solomon Thomas, Dante Fowler, and Payton Turner on defense – that offered better insurance in those areas than Mingo does at receiver.
Again, I don’t hate this draft class, but I probably would’ve done things a little differently.
Tom: I wouldn’t have minded a WR at all, but given that it would have probably been in the sixth or seventh round, I’m skeptical just how good a player they could have found. One important thing to remember is that this is not a WR-by-committee situation where they are struggling to find WR1. CeeDee Lamb is the big dog, and they are just trying to find a couple of solid, reliable options to complement him. It is no guarantee that they have anyone currently on the roster that will work, but it isn’t a totally forlorn situation either.
What this does reveal is that they possibly should have reconsidered trading away that fourth-round pick for Jonathan Mingo. We still have to see if Mingo will develop into something. His first year with the team is not encouraging, but maybe the way Schottenheimer coaches things will have a positive impact. I will grant you that WR is going to be a concern for a while this year. I just think the biggest mistake was the trade in 2024. I am pretty much in agreement with the idea that this was a very good draft with a few flaws.
I was expecting them to sign the usual car full of wide receiver UDFAs, but I didn’t realize that they had so few roster spots left after using their nine draft picks. They wound up with nine UDFAs, including two wideouts, and I can’t remember them having that few. I think this is an underappreciated thing. While they hardly made a big splash, they clearly leaned harder into plugging roster holes with veterans than in past seasons. It doesn’t seem like a seismic shift in how they build the roster. More like a bit of continental drift, in a good direction.
Howman: I agree on the point that the Mingo trade continues to age like milk, with all due respect to Mingo himself. I would love nothing more than for Mingo to show up to Oxnard and absolutely ball out and look exactly like the player that some believed had first-round potential just two years ago.
As of right now, we don’t know what he is, which is why it’s concerning that the team seemingly feels content to bank on him. The draft didn’t exactly fall in a favorable way for taking a wide receiver, either – there were several I liked in the second round, but none would have been more valuable than Ezeiruaku – and I’m glad the Cowboys didn’t press the issue on the front.
All in all, this draft was a pretty promising one. It was a good reminder that Will McClay knows what he’s doing, but without a legitimate WR2 emerging between now and September, it will be hard to look at this draft as a pièce de résistance for a serious contender.