Jerry Jones was waving around the Dallas draft board, and I found that to be interesting. It provides a valuable second set of eyes on what actually happened in the first round.
With the wide receivers, most notably, there doesn’t seem to be a ton of difference with the top prospects. Drake London went first, and three other former Ohio State teammates went bang-bang-bang to close out the top dozen picks.
According to the Dallas draft board, Garrett Wilson is definitely the best of the rookie receivers. They had him up at No. 4 overall. They had London 10th (only two spots below where he was selected) and they had Jameson Williams (the Alabama receiver who used to play at Ohio State) and Chris Olave a few spots lower.
Washington selected Jahan Dotson 16th, but he was 11 spots lower on the Cowboys’ board. And Treylon Burks was 5 spots lower.
In the opinion of the Cowboys, the rival Giants got the top 2 players in the draft – Kayvon Thibodeaux and Evan Neal. If it was Bill Belichick who allowed his draft ratings to sneak out, I would wonder if this was a Jedi mind trick. With Jerry Jones, it’s easier to believe as a mishap.
If we include the Jets, the city of New York landed four of the top five players in the draft. The Jets came out of this draft (according to the Cowboys), with the best cornerback (Sauce Gardner), best wide receiver (Wilson) and best running back (Hall).
The reaches of the first round would be tackle Trevor Penning (Saints) and quarterback Kenny Pickett (Steelers). In the opinion of the Cowboys, those players shouldn’t have been selected in the first round.
The steals of the first round would be linebacker Devin Lloyd (Jacksonville) and safety Lewis Cine (Vikings). Both went over a dozen spots lower than where the Cowboys would have picked him.
Three other players last until the second round, going over a dozen spots lower than where Dallas had them. That includes Breece Hall. A lot of teams don’t like selecting running backs in the first round, but the Cowboys had him at 19th overall.
I find this to be interesting information. I wish there was better access to draft grades from a bunch of other teams.
The side-by-side rankings appear below. I tagged the skill-position guys with black dots.
| ACTUAL FIRST ROUND VS. DALLAS DRAFT BOARD | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pk | Dall. | Team | Pos | Player |
| 1 | 7 | Jac. | DE | Travon Walker |
| 2 | 3 | Det. | DE | Aidan Hutchinson |
| 3 | 6 | Hou. | CB | Derek Stingley |
| 4 | 5 | NYJ | CB | Sauce Gardner |
| 5 | 1 | NYG | DE | Kayvon Thibodeaux |
| 6 | 9 | Car. | OT | Ikem Ekwonu |
| 7 | 2 | NYG | OT | Evan Neal |
| 8 | 10 | Atl. | WR | • Drake London |
| 9 | 12 | Sea. | OL | Charles Cross |
| 10 | 4 | NYJ | WR | • Garrett Wilson |
| 11 | 15 | N.O. | WR | • Chris Olave |
| 12 | 14 | Det. | WR | • Jameson Williams |
| 13 | 11 | Phi. | DT | Jordan Davis |
| 14 | 8 | Balt. | S | Kyle Hamilton |
| 15 | 20 | Hou. | OL | Kenyon Green |
| 16 | 27 | Was. | WR | • Jahan Dotson |
| 17 | 22 | LAC | OG | Zion Johnson |
| 18 | 23 | Ten. | WR | • Treylon Burks |
| 19 | -- | N.O. | OT | Trevor Penning |
| 20 | -- | Pitt. | QB | • Kenny Pickett |
| 21 | 31 | K.C. | CB | Trent McDuffie |
| 22 | 32 | G.B. | LB | Quay Walker |
| 23 | 29 | Buff. | CB | Kaiir Elam |
| 24 | 16 | Dall. | OL | Tyler Smith |
| 25 | 25 | Balt. | C | Tyler Linderbaum |
| 26 | 28 | NYJ | LB | Jermaine Johnson |
| 27 | 17 | Jac. | LB | Devin Lloyd |
| 28 | 33 | G.B. | DT | Devonte Wyatt |
| 29 | -- | N.E. | OL | Cole Strange |
| 30 | 21 | K.C. | DE | George Karlaftis |
| 31 | 31 | Cin. | S | Daxton Hill |
| 32 | 13 | Min. | S | Lewis Cine |
| 36 | 19 | NYJ | RB | • Breece Hall |
| 38 | 30 | Atl. | DE | Arnold Ebiketie |
| 39 | 24 | Chi. | CB | Kyler Gordon |
| 45 | 26 | Balt. | DE | David Ojabo |
—Ian Allan