Tyler Smith serves as a reminder that the Cowboys can be very good at landing first round studs

Tyler Smith is an important reminder that the Cowboys can surprise us all.

It’s already February and before we know it, the 2025 NFL Draft will be upon us. This is the moment the Dallas Cowboys will do their heavy lifting when it comes to building the roster. It’s no secret they value the draft process immensely like any team should, but hitting on picks becomes more important for a team that avoids free agency like the plague.

The Cowboys are a good drafting team. Whether you go back five years, 10 years, or 15 years, you’ll find that this team rates pretty high in finding players in the draft. Now, if you took a snapshot of just these last couple of years, well, that’s a different story. While they have still found good players here and there, their most recent drafts pale in comparison to the hauls they usually come away with. And with Mazi Smith and Tyler Guyton being the team’s top selections in each of the last two drafts, it’s understandable to wonder if the Cowboy’s good drafting mojo has started to fade.

One might remember that back in 2022, the Cowboys were heavily criticized for selecting Tyler Smith 24th overall. Many “experts” projected Smith as a mid-second-round pick. Some felt the team’s offensive line targets, particularly Zion Johnson and Kenyon Green, were snatched up right before they were on the clock, causing the Cowboys to panic and draft what they believed was the next-best offensive lineman.

The truth, however, is the Cowboys had Tyler Smith graded high on their board and they had the proper documentation to prove it.

Just this quick flash of his draft sheet (what is wrong with you, Jerry?) didn’t reveal much at first glance but put it in the hands of a certain Cool Customer, and we have ourselves some nice data, folks. CSI’ing this photo, OCC came up with the following names for players who received a first-round grade from the Cowboys…

And their second-round grades were as follows…

When the Cowboys were up at pick 24, their highest-graded player was Georgia safety Lewis Cine (13th on their board), but they opted to go with their next highest-graded player, Tyler Smith (16th on their board). Fortunately, the Cowboys’ “trust their board” mantra has a little wiggle room and they took the player who filled a greater need. Smart move.

Six offensive linemen went off the board before the Cowboys turn to pick.

• Pick 6 – Ikem Ekwonu
• Pick 7 – Evan Neal
• Pick 9 – Charles Cross
• Pick 15 – Kenyon Green
• Pick 17 – Zion Johnson
• Pick 19 – Trevor Penning
• Pick 24 – Tyler Smith

Looking back, not only did the Cowboys luck out with the best offensive lineman from this draft class, but they scored one of the best players in the entire draft. In a re-draft, Smith would easily go top 10 overall and possibly even in the top five. He has the third-highest Approximate Value score from Pro Football Reference, trailing only cornerbacks Sauce Gardner and Trent McDuffie.

Smith was a fantastic pick. He’s an All-Pro left guard who will only get better with offensive line coaching ace, Klayton Adams, taking over as the Cowboys’ new offensive coordinator. And now, he can add dodgeball champion to his resume.

In the blink of an eye, Smith has not only become the Cowboys’ best offensive lineman but one of the best guards in the league. The team will exercise his fifth-year option this offseason and at some point sign him to a contract extension.

While recent drafts stick in our mind, we must also remember that Smith is the third piece to the CeeDee Lamb, Micah Parsons, Tyler Smith hat trick of first-round drafting from 2020 to 2022. The Cowboys have been very good at this in the past and with the 12th overall pick in April’s draft, it’s hard to imagine them not coming away with a good player.