There are no hard and fast rules to drafting in the NFL. If there were, every No. 1 overall pick would work out, and the last three rounds would never yield a top prospect. Things are fluid and it's much more art than science.
The Dallas Cowboys hands certainly aren't tied when it comes to the 2025 NFL draft. They should be able to grab an impact player at No. 12 despite the class being seen as lackluster compared to other years. But what if Dallas wants to take a stronger approach to guaranteeing success? The Cowboys have made themselves at home in recent years in the trade market. Could they revisit that in this year's first round and if so, which strategy would be the most beneficial? This series will examine and grade the six different types of first-round trades Dallas could make.
Trade Up using a future 1st-round pick
Throughout the first two-thirds of Jerry Jones' tenure as owner of the Dallas Cowboys, they traded in the first round with regularity. Moving up to grab a player was something they had no problem doing, but that has faded over the last decade plus. The last time the Cowboys moved up in the first-round of the draft was in 2012, when they bundled their first and second rounders to go up to No. 6 to grab Morris Claiborne.
Prior to that move, their draft history was littered with instances of going up to grab their guy. 2010 for Dez Bryant, 2008 for CB Mike Jenkins, 2007, 1999, 1997, 1994 and of course 1990 to go up for Emmitt Smith. None since. More importantly though, the Cowboys have never sacrificed a future first-round pick in order to go up and target a specific player.
The "what-if" risks are monumental. What if the club bottoms out and has a top-10 pick next year they've shipped off? What if the next year's class has 22 prospects graded as first-rounders instead of the typical 15-18? It's just not normally a risk the Cowboys are willing to do.
The only times Dallas has been willing to part with their first-round picks, under Jones, have been for veteran additions to the team.
Our Rating: C
There's simply too much risk involved here for this to be a sound strategy. Trading a future first rounder, in a draft class that is currently considered to be a big improvement over the current one has too much unknown to pull the trigger on.
This article originally appeared on Cowboys Wire: Cowboys could package future 1st to move up in 2025, but is it wise?
