Recapping the Dallas Cowboys draft along with the rest of the NFC East

The draft has now come and gone. While the Cowboys front office continues to build their depth through undrafted free agency with potential role players and practice squad players, we can go back and recap the draft for each NFC East team and see which teams got better over the last three days. Let’s start with our very own Dallas Cowboys.

Dallas Cowboys

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With a little luck and a phenomenal job by the Will McClay and the scouting department, the Cowboys were able to put together a draft from top to bottom that many are calling one of the best of the 2020 NFL Draft. All of it started with the improbable fall of the best receiver in the draft in CeeDee Lamb who landed in their lap. From there the rest of the NFL Draft seemed like Christmas morning as the gifts just kept falling to the Cowboys. Trevon Diggs, Neville Gallimore, Reggie Robinson II, Tyler Biadasz, and Bradlee Anae all players that were graded higher on many draft boards compared to where they were drafted.

Overall, this Dallas Cowboys team got better on both the offensive and defensive sides of the football. They were able to find not one, but possibly two, immediate starters on the offensive side of the football, with one being drafted at the end of the fourth round. They also got one starter and two immediate role players on the defensive side of the football, one that was found late in the draft. By anyone standards that’s a great draft.

Draft Evaluation - Great

But here don’t take my word on this grade take a look at the national reaction for the Dallas Cowboys draft.

Next up we have the New York Giants.

New York Giants

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The Giants are also getting some love around the nation for the way they ran their draft. Not as much as the Cowboys are receiving, but it still good enough to consider them winners in this draft. The Giants went into this draft needing to fix their offensive line and the back end of their defense. They were able to do both adding not one, but two offensive tackles in Andrew Thomas and Matt Peart. They also took what many considered the best safety in the draft in Xavier McKinney to lead their secondary into the future.

From there the Giants seemed to be focused on rebuilding their linebacker position taking four out of their last six draft picks on the position. The Giants went in with a goal in mind, and they were able to execute that plan. The Giants may not be a factor in the NFC East next season, but they are a team that has gotten better in the long run with this draft class.

Draft Evaluation - Great

Here’s the national reaction to the Giants draft.

Next up the Philadelphia Eagles.

Philadelphia Eagles

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The Eagles draft may have started off with the excitement of seeing CeeDee Lamb almost falling to them only to have him go four picks ahead to their division rival Dallas Cowboys. Once the shock of losing Lamb wore off, the Eagles took two Jalen’s back to back in speedy receiver Jalen Reagor and quarterback Jalen Hurts. While the Hurts pick was a head-scratcher to many at the time, his ability to come in and back up the oft-injured Carson Wentz must have been the motivation.

The Eagles then went on to add more speed to this to when they added linebacker Davion Taylor, safety K’Von Wallace, receiver John Hightower and trading with the 49ers for Marquise Goodwin. They also added a starting guard and swing tackle to their offensive line to replenish depth there. Overall this seemed to be a bad draft by the Eagles, losing out on Lamb, taking a quarterback after paying their starter $100 million dollars, trading for a receiver that has injury issues, and trading a fourth-round pick to the Cowboys only for them to turn around and select their new starting center will haunt this team for years to come.

Draft Evaluation - Bad

Here is some reaction to the Eagles draft.

Finally, we’ve come to the end and the Washington Redskins

Washington Redskins

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The Redskins went into this draft without a second-round pick but were able to take probably the best player in the draft in Chase Young in the first round. They came back in the third and were able to take the Memphis utility back Antonio Gibson to pair with Derrius Guice, and LSU offensive tackle Saahdiq Charles who fell to them due to off-the-field issues that scared teams. After those three picks, the Redskins didn’t really do anything that jumps out as outstanding.

You would think that with the second overall picks in each round the Redskins would find more players that can come in and help this team immediately, but they did find a few players to come in and give new head coach Ron Rivera’s something to build upon. What really hurts the Redskins in this draft is the way the situation was handled trading Pro-Bowler Trent Williams to the 49ers for a fifth-round pick and a third-round pick next year. They could have received more draft capital if they had moved Williams before the draft.

Draft Evaluation - Good

Here’s some reaction to the Redskins draft.

Overall the Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants were able to add players that can come in and start along with players to add depth to their roster. The Washington Redskins were able to find a few good players early in the draft, but not enough in the later rounds to help the team win a lot more games next season. The Philadelphia Eagles didn’t really do much, speed is great but when you create a quarterback controversy for no reason that could hurt your team down the road, that is not good for business.