Recently a photo of the Dallas Cowboys’ draft board was leaked on Twitter. The board obviously revealed where many players in this years past draft were ranked in the eyes of the Cowboys front office (Jerruh), coaching staff, and scouting department. I guess I have to give credit where its due. They aren’t completely incompetent over there.
BloggingTheBoys provided a nice and neat table with all the legible picks listed.
As you can see they have their players graded by round and next to the player name is the actual round and pick number in which the player was selected.
What is interesting from a Redskins perspective is the Redskins’ first three selections (Josh Doctson, Su’a Cravens, and Kendall Fuller) all had second round grades from the Cowboys staff. Josh Doctson was the very first player listed with a second round grade and was the highest graded receiver on the Cowboys board. Kendall Fuller was the fifth best corner on the Cowboys board. He was only listed behind Jalen Ramsey, Vernon Hargreaves, Eli Apple, and Artie Burns. Fuller was also rated higher by a not insignificant margin than Su’a Cravens in the second round.
The Redskins remaining draft picks Matt Ioannidis, Nate Sudfeld, Steven Daniels, and Keith Marshall are either illegible on the draft board or do not make an appearance entirely.
The Cowboys seemingly got the most value out of the draft (according to themselves) in the later rounds. Cornerback Anthony Brown and Safety Kavon Frazier both had 4th round grades from the Cowboys and they were both selected in the sixth round.
The Cowboys grades on certain players also differed dramatically from where they were selected. The biggest standouts include:
Picked Too Early + not a fan of this year’s defensive backs
- Safety Keanu Neal who was selected in the middle of the first round but had a 3rd round grade from the Cowboys.
- Cornerback William Jackson III who was selected in the latter half of the first and had a third round grade.
- Guard Joshua Garnett who was selected in the back of the first round and also had a third round grade.
- Cornerback Cyrus Jones who was selected at the top of the second round had a fourth round grade.
- Cornerback James Bradberry who was also selected in the second round also had a fourth round grade.
- Safety T.J. Green had a fifth round grade and was selected in the second round.
- Cornerback Sean Davis also had a fifth round grade and was selected in the second round.
Gems That Fell
- QB Connor Cook had a second round grade from the Cowboys and was selected in the fourth round.
- DE Quinton Jefferson and DE Ronald Blair both had 3rd round grades from the Cowboys and both were selected in the fifth round.
- RB Jordan Howard and RB Paul Perkins also had 3rd round grades from the Cowboys and both were selected in the fifth round.
I sure wish another team would leak their draft board so we could compare. Draft information like this is always fun to look at and consider. Time will tell if the Cowboys made solid picks themselves in this draft and if their staff was right in their less than favorable evaluations of defensive backs. Anthony Brown rated over Sean Davis and Kavon Frazier rated over T.J. Green is bound to be a point of contention for at least a couple years for those who care about this stuff.
The Cowboys also rated running backs pretty favorably with eight running back prospects with a fourth round grade or above. They also weren't fans of this year’s tight end class with Nick Vannett the only tight end legible and/or listed on their draft board.
In my less than professional opinion I think this was a pretty solid board overall. I agree with most of their harsher ratings of defensive backs (James Bradberry in the second Carolina? Really?) but disagree with other ratings like Eli Apple being a top 10 pick.
Eagles.
Only Carson Wentz represented real value according to this board. The Eagles third round pick Issac Seumalo was rated as a late 4th rounder on the Cowboys board and the rest of the Eagles selections are missing in action. Trading up is terrible for the team. Take it from a Redskins fan.
What do you think of the Cowboys grades on the Redskin players that we know of? Was Josh Doctson a “reach”? Was Kendall Fuller an absolute steal? Let me know in the comments!