Following the second day of the NFL Draft last Friday, Dallas Cowboys vice president of player personnel Will McClay sarcastically joked with reporters, “We love those draft grades right after we pick the player. And we can’t wait to see your post-draft grades.”
Grading draft picks and draft classes is far, far from an exact science. It’s clear that the teams know significantly more about the prospects than reporters. But many fans seem to enjoy reading the grades, so here we go.
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Instead of grading each pick, our Cowboys reporters, Jon Machota and Saad Yousuf, graded four different aspects of this year’s draft, and the days that followed.
The Day 1 trade back
Machota: A
The Cowboys have given critics plenty of fuel for the fire over the last four months. It started with the embarrassing wild-card loss to the Green Bay Packers. Jerry Jones has since piled on with constantly talking about being “all in” despite the franchise doing very little in free agency. And then there is how they have apparently made no progress in contract negotiations with star players. But even the harshest of critics had to be impressed with the way Dallas traded with Detroit on Thursday night, giving up pick No. 24 this year and a seventh-round pick next year to get No. 29 and No. 73 this year.
After losing C Tyler Biadasz and LT Tyron Smith in free agency, the offensive line was clearly the Cowboys’ biggest area of need. To basically turn their first-round pick into potentially new starters at left tackle (Tyler Guyton) and center (Cooper Beebe), was impressive. There will likely be some bumps in the road as Guyton transitions from being a right tackle in college and Beebe doesn’t have much experience at center, but both picks make a lot of sense. Guyton could have easily been Dallas’ pick at 24. He was the best offensive tackle prospect remaining when the Cowboys initially went on the clock. Beebe was the best interior offensive lineman available when they picked early in the third round. And even if Beebe, who was projected by most experts to be an NFL guard, doesn’t work out at center, he could eventually become Zack Martin’s successor at right guard.
The picks
| ROUND | PICK | NAME | POSITION | SCHOOL |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 29 | Tyler Guyton | OT | |
2 | 56 | Marshawn Kneeland | Edge | |
3 | 73 | Cooper Beebe | OL | |
3 | 87 | Marist Liufau | LB | |
5 | 174 | Caelen Carson | CB | |
6 | 216 | Ryan Flournoy | WR | |
7 | 233 | Nathan Thomas | OT | |
7 | 244 | Justin Rogers | DT |
Yousuf: A
The headliner for most teams’ draft is their first-round selection but it’s incomplete to judge the Cowboys by their Day 1 pick alone. Following Tyron Smith’s departure, left tackle was arguably the top need for the Cowboys, especially given their insistence on wanting to keep Tyler Smith at guard. With Biadasz heading to Washington, the Cowboys also had a void at center and had their top center prospect, Graham Barton, available at their original slot (24). When you have a player high on your board and at a position of need, it can be hard to pass. But the Cowboys made the right decision by trading back to No. 29 and picking up an extra third-round pick in the process.
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Barton going at No. 26 made their choice at No. 29 even easier. Guyton was the last tackle on their board with true first-round, starter potential. There’s rawness to Guyton’s game but the potential is obvious and there’s a path forward to seeing him as the left tackle in Dallas for a while. Meanwhile, the Cowboys selected Beebe with the pick they added. Beebe is expected to move to center and is arguably the best value pick of the Cowboys’ draft haul. Given the way the draft lined up between the interior offensive linemen and tackles, if the Cowboys didn’t get a tackle in the first round, they likely wouldn’t have gotten a starting-caliber tackle in this draft. But by still getting Guyton after trading back and landing Beebe — on paper — they patched up their offensive line holes with one swing.
Getting value in the 2024 draft class
Machota: B-plus
Outside of drafting Marist Liufau in the third round, there’s not much questioning of the Cowboys’ eight selections. And even the Liufau pick makes some sense when you factor in Dallas not having a fourth-round pick because of the Trey Lance trade. The need for linebacker help was obvious. It could’ve easily been addressed in the second round if the right player was available. If Liufau ends up becoming a significant contributor, there will be no questioning the pick. But the expectation of a third-round pick is that they will eventually become a starter.
If you lean on Dane Brugler’s annual draft guide as much as I do, there’s no arguing the value that the Cowboys got with their first three picks. Guyton, Marshawn Kneeland and Beebe were all ranked among Brugler’s top 38 players in this class. Guyton was Brugler’s No. 6 OT, Kneeland was his No. 5 edge rusher and Beebe was his No. 3 guard. The first three rounds are my focus when evaluating draft classes. Anything positive a team gets after that is icing on the cake.
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Cowboys 2024 NFL Draft takeaways: What will they do at running back, defensive tackle?
Yousuf: B-plus
The Cowboys, like any team, will say that nearly every pick was a great value pick based on where they had the player on their board. Considering common public perception, the Cowboys were getting great bang for their buck with their first three selections of Guyton, Kneeland and Beebe. Selecting linebacker Marist Liufau seemed to be a bit of a reach in the third round, but it’s also worth noting that the Cowboys weren’t going to pick again until late in the fifth round, so that likely factored into how they used that selection. Cornerback Caelen Carson in the fifth round was another value play for Dallas before its last three picks in the final two rounds were, more or less, on par with where those players were expected to go. Getting above average value on four out of their first five picks, including one in each of the first three rounds, is a tidy bit of business.
Filling needs with the 2024 draft class
Machota: B
The Cowboys entered the draft with offensive tackle, center, running back, defensive tackle and linebacker as their biggest needs. They adequately addressed three of the five. It was also important to potentially get future replacements for Martin and DeMarcus Lawrence, who are entering the final year of their contracts. Beebe and Kneeland could be answers in those areas.
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Not drafting a running back in the first five rounds for the second consecutive year really shows how low they have put the value on the position. It feels similar to the way they extremely devalued the safety position for several years not long ago. There’s also some deja vu to 2018, when the Cowboys opened the season with Allen Hurns, Deonte Thompson and Cole Beasley as their top wide receivers. They eventually traded for Amari Cooper that year. He ended up leading the team in receiving yards and receiving touchdowns. Perhaps Dallas’ leading rusher in 2024 isn’t on the roster yet, either. Fortunately for the Cowboys, they won’t have to part with a first-round pick, like they did in the Cooper trade. A starting-caliber runner should be able to be acquired for much less.
Defensive tackle would be the only other position of need that probably wasn’t addressed early enough. There are still ways to address both positions, but for a team that needs to do a better job of running the ball and stopping the run, significant questions remain.
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Cowboys post-draft depth chart: How will O-line shape up? Still searching for RB1?
Yousuf: B-minus
As it’s been said many times, the Cowboys left the draft without filling their hole at running back. Using their second-rounder or one of their third-rounders could have netted the Cowboys a quality back but one also has to respect sticking to the board and not reaching, especially at a devalued position. It’s plausible that once the run on running backs happened in the fourth round, the Cowboys made peace with their status quo (and then added Ezekiel Elliott after the draft). It’s not a backfield that warrants a lot of excitement, but it’s a conscious choice the Cowboys made when they ignored their options early in free agency and early in the draft.
Aside from running back, the Cowboys did a solid job of filling their needs. They got a potential starting left tackle and a starting center. They added legitimate depth at linebacker, cornerback and edge rusher. Defensive tackle wasn’t really addressed with all due respect to seventh-round pick Justin Rogers. Given the nature of the position, the time needed to make the transition and the recent investment of last year’s first-rounder, it was probably an unfair expectation to think that a real solution would be discovered beyond the first round.
Signing Ezekiel Elliott
Machota: C
Being a locker room leader to some of the younger players could be a notable benefit from this move. On the field, however, the declining statistics are a concern, specifically at rushing yards per game and rushing yards per carry. Both numbers have consistently gone in the wrong direction. If he could somehow turn back the clock for a season and make a significant impact, it could provide a noticeable lift to a team that needs all the help it can get in that department. From potentially unhappy star players waiting on new contracts to not doing much to improve the roster in free agency to a coaching staff in the final year of its contracts, the Cowboys need some positive juice.
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Expectations for Ezekiel Elliott in return to Cowboys: 'I think I still am a dominant guy'
Yousuf: C-plus
I wrote earlier this week that I don’t think adding Elliott on the contract he signed to was a terrible deal for the Cowboys. I do think, in the right role, he can provide value for the Cowboys, on and off the field. That doesn’t mean that I share the viewpoint of the Cowboys that signing Elliott puts the running back group in good shape. It’s about as good as one could hope for, if the position is ignored in the key stages of free agency and draft. Elliott might move the needle more off the field, in his leadership and in jersey sales, than he likely will on the field. Expecting him to rescue the Cowboys from the hole they dug themselves in is unfair to Elliott.
(Top photos of Cooper Beebe, Tyler Guyton: Scott Winters, James Black / Getty Images)