Which Cowboys rookie do you think will make the biggest impact during their rookie season?
As a rule of thumb, you’d probably expect your first-round pick to have the best rookie season out of your rookie class. After all, there’s a reason you picked that guy in the first round.
With their first three picks, the Cowboys took the highest-rated players on their board at the time in guard Tyler Booker, defensive end Donovan Ezeiruaku and cornerback Shavon Revel Jr.
But for the Cowboys, that may be a little different – and not because first-round pick Tyler Booker won’t be any good, not at all. This year may be different because with their first three picks, the Cowboys took the highest-rated players on their board at the time in guard Tyler Booker, defensive end Donovan Ezeiruaku and cornerback Shavon Revel Jr. Expectations are correspondingly high for the first three picks, and even Day 3 picks like RBs Jaydon Blue and Phil Mafah along with LB Shemar James may have a chance at having immediate impact given the lack of depth at their positions.
So which one of them will have the best season?
Tyler Booker will be the immediate starter at right guard, but how do you accurately measure the impact of an offensive lineman, especially one brought in to stabilize the interior of the line? Does it have to be a Pro Bowl in his rookie season, perhaps a couple of highlight-worthy pancake blocks of Jalen Carter, maybe a significant uptick in rushing yardage up the middle?
Donovan Ezeiruaku may not end up with a lot of starts in his rookie season, but even if he only gets to see action on passing downs, what are the expectations? Sacks are still the pass rusher’s currency of choice, and fair or not, Ezeiraku’s rookie season will be measured on those. The record for most sacks by a rookie in an NFL season is 14.5, set by Jevon Kearse in 1999 and narrowly missed by Micah Parsons (13) in 2021. That’s certainly asking too much. DeMarcus Ware had eight in his 2025 rookie season, still too much for a passing-down specialist? Is five good enough, which is a little more than what DeMarcus Lawrence averaged over his last six years? Or will his role be to help scheme Micah Parsons open, and will Parsons’ sack total also reflect on Ezeiruaku?
Shavon Revel, if recent reports are to be believed, could be ready for the season opener, which also raises expectations. At this point, there is no clarity on what the depth chart at CB will look like for the Cowboys. Revel could easily emerge as an immediate starter, but even if ends up as “just” the fourth corner, your fourth corner in a nickel defense is just one snap away from being a starter. Just like sacks are the currency of choice for pass rushers, interceptions are the gold standard for defensive backs. Daron Bland had five in his rookie season, Trevon Diggs had three, Jourdan Lewis had one. What will it be for Revel?
Jaydon Blue is penciled in as the number two back behind Javonte Williams on the Ourlads depth chart and Phil Mafah is fourth, which reminds me of the 2008 season, when rookies Felix Jones and Tashard Choice were rushing behind veteran Marion Barber. Barber took the bulk of the snaps, while Jones and Choice came in for spot duty, but both got more than 5.0 yards per attempt. Jones put up 8.9 Y/A on just 30 attempts, Choice got 5.8 Y/A on 92 attempts. Choice would dip to 4.0 the following year, but Jones maintained the high Y/A for one more year with 5.9 in 2009. Is 5.0 Y/A the right benchmark for the two RBs in spot duty?
Shemar James comes into a linebacker room with almost as many question marks as the cornerback room, but his first-year impact will likely be on special teams, anything beyond that would be unexpected. Then again, nobody expected Marist Liufau to play much of a role in his rookie season last year, but he ended up with nine starts on the year.
Vote in the attached poll or let us know in the comments which rookies you think will have the most success this year.