Even if you aren't into gambling, it feels like a safe bet that the Dallas Cowboys will select a running back in the 2025 NFL Draft. Whether they come out of Thursday with a new RB1 remains to seen, however.
Saddled with the No. 12 overall pick, Dallas might be just out of Ashton Jeanty's range. Jeanty is as a top-five player in this draft. Between the Jaguars at No. 5, Raiders at No. 6, Saints at No. 9 and Bears at No. 10, Jeanty has no shortage of suitors.
If Jeanty doesn't fall, it would be hard for Jerry Jones and Co. to justify taking a running back, even in a trade-down scenario. North Carolina's Omarion Hampton is a really good prospect, but he doesn't meet the "special" billing that is generally required for RBs to go in round one.
In other words, it is Jeanty or bust for the Cowboys. We like to think Jones has punted on the idea of drafting Jeanty, but the Boise State phenom might have given the 82-year-old something to think long and hard about.
Ashton Jeanty lays out exactly why the Cowboys should draft him
Jeanty penned a letter to NFL general managers in The Players' Tribune and made a simple case about why teams should draft him.
"I’ve taken the long way. I’m done with that way. If you pick me, it’s simple: I’m coming to your franchise to do what Saquon [Barkley] and the Eagles just did. I’m coming to win, big, soon ... It's TACKLE football ... you know what I'm saying? I'd draft the guy they can't tackle."Boise State RB Ashton Jeanty
This is the last thing Cowboys fans wanted to read before Thursday. Not because Jeanty isn't a potential future superstar and wouldn't transform the offense. But if the fan base has stumbled across it, odds are Jerry Jones has, too.
Read more: Re-grading the Cowboys' 2024 NFL Draft class one year later
We don't think Jones is reckless enough to trade up for Jeanty. At the same time, we know Jones loves a star running back and trading up is what it would require for Dallas to draft Jeanty.
Whether it be to the Jaguars at No. 5, Raiders at No. 6 or the Bears at No. 10, seemingly every mock draft published in the last month has had Jeanty go inside the top 10.
It's not outlandish to think Jones could get seduced by Jeanty's letter. Crazier things have happened over the duration of his ownership.
The Cowboys need an impact player in the first round more than anything else. Jeanty may check that box more than the two players everyone expects them to draft: Arizona wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan and Texas wide receiver Matthew Golden.
While Dallas' valuation of RBs has done a 180 in recent years, you just know Jones is itching to get his hands on a player like Jeanty, who played at Lone Star High School in Frisco and has doubled and tripled down about wanting to get drafted by the Cowboys.