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5 major takeaways from the Cowboys’ 2022 NFL Draft

By Terence Watson

FRISCO, TEXAS - JANUARY 08: Team owner Jerry Jones of the Dallas Cowboys talks with the media during a press conference at the Ford Center at The Star on January 08, 2020 in Frisco, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
FRISCO, TEXAS - JANUARY 08: Team owner Jerry Jones of the Dallas Cowboys talks with the media during a press conference at the Ford Center at The Star on January 08, 2020 in Frisco, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images) /
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As much as we all like to complain about the Dallas Cowboys process when it comes to free agency and the draft, they continue to pump out solid free agency signings and draft picks as of late. Jerry and Stephen Jones have put a lot of faith but also a lot of pressure on Will McClay and this scouting department to gather information on the players both in the league and in the draft and match it with what the coaching staff is looking for. That’s a tough job, but McClay and company have done a solid job of being able to get both assessments done.

In this year’s NFL Draft, the Cowboys had needs in terms of personnel but also had a desire to change to culture and attitude of this team. While trying to figure out how to get both, this team gave us some insight into how they decided on roster moves and draft picks. We learned a lot about this front office from this year’s draft.

5 takeaways from the Dallas Cowboys’ 2022 NFL Draft

Cowboys, Jerry Jones, Mike McCarthy
FRISCO, TEXAS – JANUARY 08: (L-R) Executive Vice President Stephen Jones of the Dallas Cowboys, Head coach Mike McCarthy of the Dallas Cowboys, and Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones talks with the media during a press conference at the Ford Center at The Star on January 08, 2020, in Frisco, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images) /

1. Jerry Wasn’t Lying and Has the Final Say

Each year before the draft, the Cowboys give their annual press conference ahead of the draft, and each year Jerry Jones drops a few nuggets to throw chum in the water as well as a few one-liners to lighten the mood. This year was no different. But, one thing that was made perfectly clear by Jerry was the fact that he makes the final decision on free agents and draft picks. Jerry took ownership of the Randy Gregory debacle while at the same time throwing in a little white lie about how the situation occurred.

One thing that Jerry didn’t lie about, though, was the fact that they didn’t have as many first-round graded players in this year’s draft as they had in years past. So much so, that Jerry decided to show off their draft board after the selection of first-round pick Tyler Smith, and people seemed to have been able to decipher it from screenshots. If the reports on this are true, then Jerry surprisingly wasn’t lying about where they had Smith on their board. They also had him above the players many assumed or hoped the Cowboys would select with the 24th pick.

We’ve all come to believe that Stephen has basically taken over. While he may have in some aspects of the organization’s decision-making, Jerry is still the head man on campus when it comes to roster moves, and quite honestly, I like it that way.

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