Dallas Cowboys 2018 Draft: The front office does it again!

The Dallas Cowboys are officially done with the 2018 NFL Draft. What did their selections tell us about the team moving forward?

The Dallas Cowboys front office has shown an ability consistently stay true to their team building vision.

Over the past few years, director of player personnel, Stephen Jones, and assistant director of player personnel Will McClay have employed a ‘best player available’ draft strategy.

They have balanced this with an accurate assessment of position depth to nail picks deep into day three of the draft and plug needs along the way.

This draft was a great example of that consistent approach, especially in the first three rounds.

In this article, we will focus on those three rounds and how the front office was able to use their draft strategy to walk away with one of the best hauls of the first two days.

As the first round of the NFL draft was rolling and the picks crept towards the Cowboys selection at nineteen, it was becoming clear the team would have its pick of all the eligible wide receivers in the draft. And nationally, the pressure was on to select one of the two first-round wide receiver targets.

Although Cowboy fans were certain that pick would be safety Derwin James if he got there, the Los Angeles Chargers made the biggest ‘steal’ pick of the draft and selected him to replace last years starter at free safety, Tre Boston.

Who, with Seattle Seahawks free safety Earl Thomas III out of the picture, the Cowboys should consider signing as they weren’t able to grab a guy they liked in the draft. But that’s an article for a different day.

Nevertheless, the front office had the option with their first selection to immediately rush to plug the X-shaped hole left by wide receiver Dez Bryant. But they were able to pass up on making the same mistake teams have made in the past several years with first-round wide receivers.