The Dallas Cowboys fulfilled their tight end prophecy in the second round of the 2023 NFL Draft when they selected Michigan's Luke Schoonmaker.
Schoonmaker projects as a like-for-like Dalton Schultz replacement who could offer more as a run-blocker, which ostensibly is his greatest strength. Backed into a corner after draft crushes Michael Mayer, Sam LaPorta and Luke Musgrave went early in the second round, Dallas reached on the Michigan product, whom many experts viewed as a third or fourth-round prospect.
The Cowboys admittedly didn't have many players to choose from, but O'Cyrus Torrence, Drew Sanders, Marvin Mims and DJ Turner all were still available. You can't fault the Cowboys for filling a need, but fans are understandably left wanting more after the normally-disciplined war room reached on Schoonmaker.
These reactions on Twitter in particular stood out.
Cowboys draft Luke Schoonmaker: Best memes and tweets reacting to second-round pick
That feels HIGH for Luke Schoonmaker.
— Marcus Mosher (@Marcus_Mosher) April 29, 2023
That's because it was high for Schoonmaker. Pro Football Network mocked the former Wolverine to Dallas after the first round's results, but with the No. 90 overall pick. That offers a little context into how much the Cowboys extended themselves.
Putrid https://t.co/tRHxq2jEGJ
— Defy (@defytalkcowboys) April 29, 2023
don't love that pick honestly
— Micah Parsons Fan (@demcowboysfan) April 29, 2023
Luke Schoonmaker will turn 25 during the 2023 season.
— Marcus Mosher (@Marcus_Mosher) April 29, 2023
YIKES!
What happened to drafting young, athletic players with upside? Hard to imagine Schoonmaker has much developing left to do.
Ew lol
— Connor Livesay (@ConnorNFLDraft) April 29, 2023
Schoonmaker is gonna have to do some crazy things in order for them to justify drafting him over all of the insane talent that made it to 58.
— Defy (@defytalkcowboys) April 29, 2023
Guy was projected to go much later too. Just disappointed with the value
Cowboys fans were willing to put the "positional value" debate aside after the team drafted Mazi Smith in the first round. Doesn't appear to be the case with Schoonmaker, and rightfully so for all the reasons mentioned above.
Schoonmaker is 3 months older than Jake Ferguson… who was an older prospect when he entered the NFL a year ago…
— Joey Ickes (@JoeyIckes) April 29, 2023
We'll end it there.
Again, there's no anti-Schoonmaker agenda here. We're merely informing Cowboys fans of the fan base's reaction to the pick. He brings multiple positives to the table and it isn't his fault the front office entered panicked mode and decided they needed to come out of the second round with a tight end in tow.