Morning After Day 2 - Trusting the Process
What is the best way to profit in long run? Adding the best players available, of course.
Bob Sturm
Apr 26, 2025
Our time is short this morning because radio awaits again for a full day of Day 3 of the NFL Draft. That’s ok, because it is dangerous to summarize your feelings in the middle of a process, but I wanted to give you a little something here on Saturday Morning and then offer you the film work from this spring on both the picks from Friday Night – 2nd rounder Donovan Ezeiruaku and 3rd rounder Shavon Revel.
I have been working Cowboys drafts since they took Greg Ellis in 1998 over Randy Moss. That particular pick is important to this conversation because in 1998, they took a very nice player that they needed over a better player that they didn’t need. In other words, they ignored the blinking light of football blessing because they had tunnel vision about the immediate moment they were living in.
We have no idea how much Randy Moss in Dallas might have extended the career of Troy Aikman and changed the course of history. Perhaps he would have or perhaps it would have flamed out just as quickly as the Triplets did, but it still makes a lot of people wonder why they wouldn’t just show up on draft day and grab the guys who are the best at what they do.
It is admittedly a move that makes you a bit shorthanded and nervous about that in certain spots. It isn’t a paint-by-numbers formula where you have your ducks in a row in July and feel like you have the answers for everything. But, doggone, I think if this Cowboys draft was in 1998, they would have left with Randy Moss. And I cannot be mad about that.
On Thursday, the team took Tyler Booker and as you know from what I wrote yesterday morning, I am thrilled about adding that guy to this team. Yes, your needs are unaddressed, but I believe his talent and potential fit exceeds the immediate needs on the board at this moment in time.
And, here is the thing, of course they are going to address those needs on Friday, right?
Not really. On Friday, they went and helped their defense with one of the best pass rushers in this draft and then one of the very best corners. If I would have told you before the draft that you could leave with three fringe 1st rounders without a single trade, I would hope you would be thrilled. Well, guess what? I believe they did.
If you followed my 100-day project of ranking this draft, you know I do it because I want to have unaltered evaluations of the players the Cowboys pick. I don’t want those numbers to be influenced by the selections because a “homer bias” helps nobody. So, we evaluate them, rank them, and then seal it up before a single pick is made.
I’m not saying my rankings are gospel, but I think you will find they are reasonable according to consensus boards and most evaluations. This is an inexact science for sure, but three of my top thirty-three are now in Dallas?
That is phenomenal work by the front office, in my opinion.
Now, we can certainly ask if any of them can play RB or WR and how this helps Dak Prescott and all of those questions are reasonable.
But, if you are looking for signs that there is potential growth for this organization’s process and how the big moves in January of 2025 could possibly mean that this franchise has some better methodology right now, these three picks might be worth getting pretty excited about.
I believe from a viewpoint of adding exceptional talents to their roster – we always hear that “they aren’t as talented as you guys say they are” – this has been a home run draft so far and I might argue they have done about as well as anyone could imagine from their position in the draft order.
The decision in Round 2 to take Donovan Ezeiruaku
I think it is simple here. He was a player that should really help them get pressure on the QB. There is no greater priority for a defense than bringing pressure and I think you will find when you watch his tape that Ezeiruaku is that guy. He bends and gets home with regularity and is another well-respected and hard working player.
But, most importantly, you can absolutely say he is the “blinking light” which the Cowboys decision-makers reference. A blinking light is simply the highest ranked player remaining on your board and a player that should not be easily ignored to go handle a pressing need. When you look at Pick 44 and Ezeiruaku, you see the absolute BPA at a premium position.
There were three players that I was wrestling with, but they all got sniped before the Cowboys picked:
- No. 38 - TreVeyon Henderson, RB - New England
- No. 39 - Luther Burden, WR - Chicago
- No. 43 - Alfred Collins, DT - San Francisco
All three of those would give me at least some pause, but they didn’t make it. But, then a pass rusher of great quality falls in your lap. Should you reach or should you trust your process.
I think it is an easy call. There is no player taken in the next 10 picks I would rather add to this roster than Ezeiruaku and with DeMarcus Lawrence gone and Sam Williams coming up on the end of his contract, who besides Micah Parsons looks like a sack producer? I was absolutely convinced this was the pick.
Next, comes Round 3.
At Pick No. 76, the Cowboys Made Another BPA decision
This is where many of us had RB earmarked. You know where I sit on this, but I also will tell you that my work begins to run out by Round 3. Unless you have the entire group evaluated, you begin flying blind here if you do it my way. I have tunnel vision so seeing RJ Harvey gone at No. 60 bothers me, but I didn’t even consider WR Pat Bryant from Illinois. I just don’t have the knowledge to be taken seriously on guys like him.
But, I do know CB Shavon Revel. I know him because he was another player who I thought would probably go in the 1st-2nd range, but he is not from a major university and he is damaged goods with his ACL at practice in September. The backstory and the tape tell us he is one of the very best corners in the draft. Again, the blinking light.
I think Dallas should have considered Iowa State’s WR Jaylin Noel, who I had ranked 44th. But, Shavon Revel is my 21st player and he is even higher than Tyler Booker (23rd) and Ezeiruaku (33rd). If my team doctor did his knee and it all checks out, then how am I leaving a top 25 player at a premium position and one of my major need spots on the board?
You should not do that. They needed a corner. We don’t know how Trevon Diggs will be and we certainly don’t know if DaRon Bland is worth the going rate in an extension as he enters his final year. You just lost Jourdan Lewis. The corner position was dangerously thin and Revel was my 4th CB. He is available at No. 76?
Absolute no-brainer.
What About RB and WR and even 1-Technique?
I don’t know. I really don’t. You can’t control the other 31 teams and therefore the work is far from done. They have seven picks and the Cowboys absolutely believe they can help their RB position on Day 3. We will see if that is true.
They also still believe that Jonathan Mingo deserves this off-season and training camp. I agree with that.
1-Technique is a Day 3 spot, too. Not sure what can be expected, but that is not a premium position, so perhaps they have chosen wisely.
Job is definitely not done.
But, if you are asking what a smart team would do and should the Cowboys consider that, there are almost no more important spots to a NFL team than pass rusher and cornerback and the Cowboys got two 1st Round talents on Day 2 at each of those premium spots because they heeded the blinking light.
Not only can I not be mad, but I find myself thrilled.
In my opinion, they were fantastic on Day 2 and I believe they did the right thing.
It is on to Day 3.
