During the first round of the 2026 NFL Draft, Jerry Jones and the Dallas Cowboys got busy. Not only did they trade up one spot to secure Caleb Downs, they traded down from the 20th overall pick when approached with the opportunity to obtain additional draft capital from the rival Philadelphia Eagles.
It's common knowledge that Dallas would've drafted Malachi Lawrence regardless of whether it was at 20 or 23, so the difference was picking up two extra Day 3 picks. But a behind-the-scenes look inside the Cowboys' war room saw Stephen Jones pinpoint the Eagles as their desired trade partner.
They knew moving down from 20 wouldn't be easy, but they knew Howie Roseman would've made it easy. The Joneses wanted the Eagles to call, so they initiated the talks, which helped the Cowboys pick up two fourth-rounders to move back three spots to draft the same player they would've at 20.
It's pretty wild that Dallas got the trade wheels in motion, and not the other way around.
The Dallas Cowboys actually approached the Eagles about their draft-day trade
Typically, when a team is looking to trade up, they are the ones initiating trade talks, but not this time. Dallas knew they had leverage to trade back from this spot. The Eagles were putting their chances of landing Makai Lemon on the line to stay put, so they had to make the price tag worth it to deal with their rivals.
And all of this went down while Lemon was on the phone with Pittsburgh Steelers general manager Omar Khan, who was planning to draft him one pick later at No. 21.
If Lawrence had been unavailable at 20 (or 23), Georgia linebacker CJ Allen is among the players who were in consideration for the Cowboys, but thankfully, it never came to that. After some brief negotiation, Roseman was willing to meet their demands, and the trade came together.
This was the second time in the last five years that the Cowboys and Eagles have struck a deal on Day 1 of the NFL Draft. Last time it involved DeVonta Smith and Micah Parsons, and just like five years ago, this deal helped a falling WR end up in Philly while a high-upside edge-rusher landed in Dallas.
It was awesome to get such uncharted access to Dallas' war room and see the method to the madness with this in-division deal.
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