How the Cowboys could make a big splash by trading down, not up, in the 2025 NFL Draft

It would be very wise for the Cowboys to trade down during the NFL Draft.

We are less than a month away from the 2025 NFL Draft, where the Dallas Cowboys will go to work and find some new players. Some have expressed an interest in trading up for Colorado’s Travis Hunter to give them another star player at a premium position(s).

Previously, we discussed why this would not be the best route to take, and today we’re going to go in the opposite direction and examine what a Cowboys draft might look like if they were to trade back instead. Currently, they have the following selections within the top 100 picks:

• 1st round, pick 12
• 2nd round, pick 44
• 3rd round, pick 76

The Cowboys don’t have a fourth-round pick and wouldn’t pick again until their fifth-round pick at 149. That puts a lot of pressure on them to come through on their first three picks. This is especially challenging considering there are so many areas on the roster that would benefit from those resources.

Instead of trading up in the draft and giving up draft capital, the Cowboys should look to trade back and acquire some. And we’re not talking about doing it just once. That’s not splash. What if the Cowboys traded back twice in the first round, added more picks, and still landed their targets? That’s an ideal scenario for a team with many needs that relies heavily on finding quality contributors with their draft picks. This is how this could work.

Pick 12 rolls around, and none of the “blinking light” players remain. The team works the phone and makes a trade with the Denver Broncos that goes like this…

• Broncos receive the 12th overall pick (worth 1200 points on the trade chart)
• Cowboys receive the 20th overall pick (850 points) + Denver’s 2nd-round, pick 51 (390 points)

Let’s say the Cowboys have their sights set on one of the first-round receivers, but when pick 20 gets here, only Arizona’s Tetairoa has been taken. With multiple options still available, the Cowboys work the phones again and make a deal with the Los Angeles “%#$@ them picks” Rams that goes like this…

• Rams receive the 20th overall pick (850 points)
• Cowboys receive the 26th overall pick (700 points) + the Rams 3rd-rounder, pick 90 (140 points)

The Cowboys add two more top 100 picks and are now armed with the following picks:

• 1st Round, pick 26
• 2nd Round, pick 44
• 2nd Round, pick 51
• 3rd Round, pick 76
• 3rd Round, pick 90

Now, the question becomes, what do they do with these picks? The Cowboys would be sitting in a great position to attack several areas of their roster.

PICK 26 – Find a receiver to complement CeeDee

The Cowboys don’t need to use the 12th overall pick to land a talented receiving partner to help CeeDee Lamb. They can find a quality pass catcher late in the first round. Ohio State is a factory for creating star NFL receivers and Emeka Egbuka (projected draft position 32) is their latest product. Another choice is the dynamic playmaker from Missouri, Luther Burden (34). Pro Football Focus has both of these guys inside their top 20 on their big board, but the chances at least one of them makes it to 26 is very strong.

PICK 44 – Secure depth at corner

It’s nice to have two All-Pro corners on the roster, and normally that would make you feel comfortable at the position, but the Cowboys are anything but normal. The uncertainty of Trevon Diggs (health) and DaRon Bland (contract) leave them a lot to think about, and for a position as important as cornerback, that’s not an area they want to be thin at. There is a nice cluster of starting caliber corners all projected to go near where the Cowboys pick in the second round: Kentucky’s Maxwell Hairston (35), East Carolina’s Shavon Revel Jr. (39), Florida State’s Azareye’h Thomas (40), Mississippi’s Trey Amos (41), and Notre Dame’s Benjamin Morrison (42). Finding a new starting CB in the second round shouldn’t be a problem.

PICK 51 – Get a Buckeye back

The Cowboys must find a new starting running back, and they must find it in this draft. Let’s be real, Javonte Williams or Miles Sanders aren’t scaring anyone. While the answer doesn’t have to be Ashton Jeanty at pick 12, the Cowboys would be smart not to dilly-dally too long and target one of the better backs in the draft. As luck would have it, both the Ohio State running backs, TreVeyon Henderson (45) and Quinshon Judkins (47), are projected to go near pick 51. Whether or not they are the running backs the Cowboys desire, there will be a handful of great options in this area of the draft and having an extra pick here helps tremendously.

PICK 76 – Add some power inside

With extra resources spent at defensive end and linebacker and hoping a top 50 draft pick is used on a corner, the Cowboys defense is looking a lot better, but one area that still needs reinforcements is defensive tackle. The team re-signed Osa Odighizuwa and added Solomon Thomas, but they still need more power. South Carolina’s T.J. Sanders (69) and Texas A&M’s Shemar Turner (82) could be great value third-round picks. Both defensive tackles would go in the second round on PFF’s big board but might make it to Dallas in the middle of the third.

PICK 90 – Be serious about finding Dak’s backup

Don’t look now, but the Cowboys don’t have a backup quarterback. Will they just hold their breath that a quarterback who has missed time in four of the last five years will stay healthy? Probably not. The Cowboys will address this position, but how exactly is still unclear. They could still find a low-cost veteran somewhere down the line, or they could look to the draft to find a possible answer. But rather than taking a complete flyer on a late-round pick, they could be a little more assertive and take one sooner. Going after a player like Texas’ Quinn Ewers (81) or Louisville’s Tyler Shough (95) could be their last chance before the options become a true gamble.

The Cowboys may not have the quantity of picks from all the trading they have done recently, but they still hold a lot of total draft capital and with a couple of deals, they could turn that into five top-100 picks. Remember, they didn’t have a fourth-rounder last year but still managed to land four top-100 picks, and that was with less draft capital than they have this year. There is certainly an opportunity there to do some finagling.

What would you think about a draft haul like that? Or do you have better ideas for those draft picks?