In the draft there are the picks in the top 10 where you just can’t miss unless you’re pulling names out of a hat, intentionally trying to blow the pick or you’re Al Davis. Those picks net great players, like Ndamukong Suh, Eric Berry and Russell Okung, guys that you can really build a franchise around for years.

That’s the way the draft is supposed to go. The bad teams get great players and the good teams get good players. It’s fair. Unless you’re a Raiders fan and your happiness is directly linked to Davis’ draft dementia.

The Cowboys would have been a better team with those players, no doubt (could you imagine having Berry on our defense? Yeesh). But getting there would have cost us, for sure. We would have had to say goodbye to most of the rest of our draft and maybe some of our draft next year too.

But Jerry Jones managed to get his man without giving up the world. Jones got Dez Bryant, projected as a top-15 talent in this draft.

There were tons of trades in the first round this year. The Broncos seemed like they didn’t want anything to do with the first round, then wound up with two picks. The Lions got back into the first round and there was general tomfoolery with the 24th overall pick, the pick that eventually ended up in Jones’ hands.

To get to 24, the Cowboys had to send out their 27th pick-leapfrogging the Baltimore Ravens who were probably eying Bryant-while swapping our third-round pick (90th overall) for the Patriots’ fourth-round pick (119th overall).

So, Cowboys fans, wrap your head around this: we moved down 29 spots in the middle of the draft so we could pick up the best wide receiver in the draft.

It doesn’t get much better than that.

I thought the Eagles were on the verge of doing something that would have had me cursing when they moved up to the 13th pick in a trade with the Denver Broncos. I thought we were looking at facing Earl Thomas twice a year. Instead, the Eagles took Brandon Graham with that pick. They shipped out their 24th overall pick and two third-round picks to Denver, who then traded the 24th pick to New England who then traded it to us. Where we took the best wide receiver in the draft in Dez Bryant. No big deal.

I thought the Lions moving back into the first round to get Javhid Best was a solid move during the draft. Their skill positions are downright scary right now. And their defense got better tonight. They’re early favorites for the 2016 Super Bowl if they keep making good picks like these (Know what that’s going to be in roman numerals? Super Bowl L. That just looks stupid.). The Chargers made a smart move to get Ryan Mathews, who is a very solid back, but probably gave up too much in the process (Chargers got pick 12, 110 and 173. Dolphins got pick 28, 40, 126 and linebacker Tim Dobbins. That’s a lot to move up that high.)

But Dallas just got scary. We just got “I need new pants” scary. And we’re that scary right now.

The Cowboys do need a few more players. A safety or two for depth (I’m still big on Mike Hamlin) or to start like Nate Allen or Morgan Burnett are options that collegiate teammates Mike Jenkins and Tashard Choice would be thrilled to have in Dallas. Some offensive line depth would be nice too. Maybe Bruce Campbell falls within our striking distance in the second round? Interior line is a need too, as the guys we have on our roster are pretty untested.

Who knows how we’ll do tomorrow and Saturday. But it’s nice to know that given where we started, what we gave up and what we got, we probably made the best move in the draft.

Slap the #88 jersey on him and see what happens.

A Miami Dolphins source asked me today if I had heard anything about the Dallas Cowboys talking with the Miami Dolphins about a possible draft-day trade that would move the Cowboys up to the No. 12 spot in the NFL draft. The source said he had heard it from someone with inside information on the Dolphins.

I bet you’ve forgotten that Cowboys receiver Miles Austin is going to be a free agent at the end of this year.

Horrors!

Well, it’s not all that bad. Austin will be a restricted free agent after this year, so it’d take a pretty big offer to keep Austin from coming back.

Still, with the way that Austin has been playing this  year, Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones could have to pony up some serious cash.

Using the 2008 collective bargaining agreement, the Cowboys could offer Austin a 1-year, $2.562 million offer and, if Austin refused to sign, the team that did sign him would have to surrender a first-round pick and a third-round pick.

Some teams would be willing to take that hit in the draft, with the way that Austin has been playing. Jones would still have the right of first refusal if another team were to offer Austin a contract.

The right of first refusal works like this: let’s say the Seahawks and super-rich owner Paul Allen come in and offer Austin a 5-year, $40 million contract. Jones would have a week to match that offer. If Jones did match the offer, the Cowboys would contain Austin’s rights. If not, the Cowboys would receive the Seahawks’ first and third-round picks in this year’s draft. That would be the sixth overall pick in this year’s draft, which is projected to be Tennessee’s Eric Berry. If that were to happen, I’d be the first to say “Welcome to Dallas, Mr. Woodso….Mr. Berry.”

The scary thing is, they just might push Jerry for Austin. They have Denver’s first-round pick in this year’s draft and Austin is better than anybody in college right now. Having Austin to complement T.J. Houshmandzadeh would be pretty dangerous. It’d likely be the other way around, as Houshmandzadeh thrives when he’s the second receiving option.

That being said, there’s no way Jones lets Austin go. I wouldn’t think that Austin would want to, given his chemistry with Romo and star status on one of the most prestigious teams in all of sports. Jones will do the right thing here and give Austin the contract he deserves.