OVERPAY: Will The Dallas Cowboys Need To OVERPAY For Pick No. 6? | Mock Draft Trade!

Summary

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Locked On Cowboys — “OVERPAY: Will The Dallas Cowboys Need To OVERPAY For Pick No. 6? | Mock Draft Trade!”

Hosts: Marcus Mosher & Landon McCool
Date: April 9, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Marcus Mosher and Landon McCool dive into the hot topic of the Dallas Cowboys potentially trading up to pick No. 6 in the NFL Draft, a move long rumored in Cowboys circles. They run a live mock draft simulation exploring the logistics, potential value (or lack thereof), and risks associated with trading up from picks 12 and 20 to obtain No. 6 (and 70) from the Cleveland Browns. This practical exercise explores which prospects would justify the cost and debates if the Cowboys can afford to "overpay" for a top defensive player.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Trade Scenario Setup: Cowboys Trading Up to No. 6

• Background: Cowboys have been linked to a possible move up in the first round for weeks, possibly targeting a difference-making defensive talent. The most discussed scenario is swapping picks 12 and 20 for 6 and another Browns pick (possibly 70 or 39).

• Host Skepticism: Marcus and Landon are highly critical of the value, questioning if the Cowboys would get enough in return.

  “Absolutely not. No. Because I think for me it's like you're not getting nearly the value that you need.” — Marcus Mosher [02:17]

  “In what universe, buddy? Then stick and pick is what I would tell them.” — Marcus Mosher [02:40]

2. Draft Board Context & Urgency

• Only five defensive players have a true first-round grade on their joint Cowboys board.

• In their mock, key targets are flying off the board, amplifying the pressure to make a move before missing out.

  “Maybe they don't love Gerard McCoy. Maybe they don't love Reuben Bane...you get a little bit of a sense of urgency to try to move up and make sure that you secure one of those difference makers.” — Landon McCool [02:57]

• Notable Draft Board Moves:

  • Arvell Reese (Jets, #2)
  • Sonny Styles (Titans, #4)
  • David Bailey (Giants, #5)
  • Cowboys are then on the clock at #6 with Caleb Downs and Mansour Delane as top options.

3. Decision at Pick No. 6

• The choice boils down to DBs Caleb Downs vs. Mansour Delane.

• Marcus’s Dilemma: Leaning Delane due to “premium position value” after giving up heavy draft capital.

  “Because you're giving up so much, you almost feel like it has to be a money five position.” — Marcus Mosher [04:02]

• Both hosts agree Delane is the rational pick in this trade-up scenario, though not enthusiastically.

4. Aftermath: The Ripple Effect of the Trade

• Trading away pick 20 leaves a massive gap before their next pick at 70.

• Several preferred prospects are off the board by their remaining picks.

  “Yeah. You've kind of traded yourself right out of the range of the positions that you need.” — Marcus Mosher [09:03]

• Position group options at 70:

  • Edge: Bleak options
  • LB: Names like Kyle Lewis, Anthony Hill, Keishaan Elliott
  • S: Kamari Ramsey, Genesis Smith available
  • DT: Daryl Jackson, Dante Corleone highlighted

• They settle on Anthony Hill (LB, Texas) at 70 and Dante Corleone (DT) at 92, rounding out their haul after the splashy trade-up.

• Mock haul summary:

  • #6: Mansour Delane (CB)
  • #70: Anthony Hill (LB)
  • #92: Dante Corleone (DT)

  “It could be worse...you are getting an awesome cornerback that we think is a top six player in this class, you’re getting a linebacker that maybe we don’t love as much as most people do, and then Dante Corleone, somebody that we pick in just about every mock drop. So it could be worse.” — Landon McCool [11:21]

5. Debate: Was it Worth It?

• Both agree the value was poor, labeling it possibly their “least favorite outcome” of any mock so far.

  “This is my least favorite outcome so far of all these mocks.” — Marcus Mosher [11:48]

• Marcus prefers sticking at 12 and 20 and possibly trading back instead. Landon muses that the only justifiable scenario for such a move is if one of their top-three blue-chip defenders is available at No. 6 (Bailey, Reese, Styles).

  “If you're losing that much value, you have to be going to get a money five player that's a blue chip. Like it's got to be that combination. Otherwise this is not worth it.” — Marcus Mosher [13:56]

• Landon: Even the best-case outcome feels “not my preferred outcome”—the trade-up is only palatable for a “difference-maker” at a true premium spot.

  “But honestly, I think if you're looking at the names that were picked between let's say 12 and 23, 24, I just don't know that I like any pairing there better than I like the pairing of Mansour Delane and Anthony Hill.” — Landon McCool [13:00]

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Memorable Quotes & Notable Moments

• On Overpaying for Pick 6:

  • “In what universe, buddy? Then stick and pick is what I would tell them.” — Marcus Mosher [02:40]

• On Post-Trade Regret:

  • “You've kind of traded yourself right out of the range of the positions that you need.” — Marcus Mosher [09:03]

• Summing Up the Draft Haul:

  • “It could be worse....you are getting an awesome cornerback that we think is a top six player in this class...” — Landon McCool [11:21]

• On Acceptable Targets:

  • “If you're losing that much value, you have to be going to get a money five player that's a blue chip.” — Marcus Mosher [13:56]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [01:07] Intro to the Trade-Up Mock Scenario
• [02:17] Hosts Reject Initial Browns Offer
• [02:57] Defensive Draft Board and Urgency to Move Up
• [04:00-05:16] Decision at Pick 6: Delane vs. Downs
• [06:10] Recap of Trade and Remaining Pick Options
• [08:41-09:44] Evaluating Prospects at Picks 70 & 92
• [11:19-11:48] Mock Haul Review & Value Assessment
• [12:08-13:56] Alternative Scenarios & Overall Reflections

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Conclusion

Both hosts ultimately conclude that unless a special “money five” blue-chip prospect falls, the Cowboys shouldn’t overpay and jump up at the cost of massive draft capital loss. The example illustrates the perils of getting too aggressive with draft trades, especially in a class with thin blue-chip depth. The consensus: Stand pat unless a true difference-maker is in reach.

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Transcript

[Marcus Moer]

It's the Locked On Podcast Network.

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[Landon McCool]

What might a trade with the Browns at 6 look like? We'll tell you next. You are Locked On Cowboys, your daily Dallas Cowboys podcast, part of the Locked On Podcast network. Your team every day. Welcome back. I am your host Marcus Moer. He is Landon McCool. And on today's show, we are running another mock draft simulation. We're only two weeks away from the draft and what we're doing on this one is we are trading up to number six. And this has been something that has been rumored for two months now. The Cowboys going up from 12 to 6 using their two first round picks. Now, Lane and you and I have always had the idea of basically swapping 12 and 20 for 6 and 39. And maybe there would be some change in there. But after listening to some local Browns radio stations, it sounds like their best offer would be 6 and 70 before we even do this. If that's all Cleveland would, you know, would offer for this pick. Are you doing it?

[Marcus Moer]

Absolutely not. No. Because I think for me it's like you're not getting nearly the value that you need. Like you should be getting two third round picks if that's the case. Right. Like it's it that you're, you're short like 200 plus 250 points almost.

[Landon McCool]

So now what if they say this is just the cost of trading up, you're gonna have to overpay.

[Marcus Moer]

In what universe, buddy? Then stick and pick is what I would tell them. Look, look, the Cowboys are desperate enough to do this. I think we should show the world like, you know, why this is a bad idea. But, like, I, I don't think that if it was me, I, I simply would just not do the trade.

[Landon McCool]

I. I'm with you now. The reason why we're doing this is just to kind of go through this example. In the mock draft that we have set up today, we have the Cowboys trading up using those same parameters, but the idea is that they only have five defensive players they love. Maybe they don't love Gerard McCoy. Maybe they don't love Reuben Bane in. In this mock draft. If you're watching with us on YouTube right now, Arvell Reese goes to the jets at 2. Sunny Styles goes to the Titans at 4. David Bailey goes to the Giants at 5. And. And that means you're down to Caleb Downs. And Monsour Delaine is really, like your only first round graded defensive players. And that's why you get a little bit of a sense of urgency to try to move up and make sure that you secure one of those difference makers.

[Marcus Moer]

First of all, it'd be wild if David Bailey ended up with the Giants, and now suddenly they got like, wave after wave of pass.

[Landon McCool]

Yes.

[Marcus Moer]

Yeah, but.

[Landon McCool]

Yeah, but it is Mal. So let's say it's the, The. The. The Cardinals that take Bailey and it's the Giants. Jeremiah. That's the way that it goes.

[Marcus Moer]

It's fine. I, you know, for me, I think, first of all, like, it makes it even harder to draft the player that I actually want to draft because the, the player I actually want to draft downs here. Right. But because you're giving up so much, you. You almost feel like it has to be a money five position. And so I, I would. I would probably end up going, man, Delane, and, And I'd still be really mad about this whole situation.

[Landon McCool]

Now, maybe what you could do is maybe you could try to see if they don't want to give up 39. Like, they're dead set on not giving up 39. Maybe you pick up 107 or maybe you do some kind of pick swap, but we're going with just this 6 and 70 for 12 and 20, and obviously the Browns accept it. Cowboys are on the clock here. Caleb Downs, Monsoon, Delane. Who you taking?

[Marcus Moer]

Yeah, again, like, if. If they're not going to take Bane and it's a Caleb Downs, monster Delane conversation. I would normally take Caleb Downs, but because you've given up so much draft capital, I almost feel like you have to take Mansur Delane here, there.

[Landon McCool]

All right, so I agree with you. We did a show yesterday where we tried to, you know, stack the players on the board and I think it's really close between these two. By the way simulated this trade, Reuben Bane goes to the Commanders at 7, Carnell Tate to the Saints at 8, Caleb Downs at 9, Dylan Theman at 10. And this is kind of what we were talking about on our earlier show on Thursday is what do you do if you're wiped out at 12? Now you're picking guys like Hakeem Ezador or Caldrick Falk. And as much as I don't love the trade value here, Landon, I like it a lot better than reaching at 12 for a player

[Marcus Moer]

I don't know. Well, let's, let's let it play out because honestly, I mean, you know, we're, we're without our 20th pick now and, and, and, and we got a long way to go for another pick.

[Landon McCool]

All right, so we still have two picks at 70 and 92 to fill out this defense. We'll tell you what the Cowboys might be able to do next this episode is brought to you by FanDuel. The NBA playoffs are here, where every possession matters, every matchup is magnified, and every game can swing a series. And right now, FanDuel is giving new customers a great way to get get in on the action. Here's what I like about it. You can bet just $5 and get $250 in bonus bets if your first bet wins. And the app makes it super easy to follow the action with player stats, trends, matchups, all in one place. And during the playoffs, the extra insight really matters when you're looking at the stars, the role players and the key moments. It makes the entire playoff experience more engaging with from start to finish. So head over to FanDuel.com to get started. FanDuel play your game. This episode is brought to you by Turbo Tax. Tax season is here and for a lot of us, the old ways of doing taxes is a lot. Trying to book an appointment that's not the most convenient. Sitting in a waiting room with a stack of papers emailing back and forth and wondering if they really get your situation. But this year you're getting a major upgrade. Intuit TurboTax now has in person locations nationwide. You can meet face to face with a real tax expert and get your documents uploaded straight to your TurboTax app on the spot. And just like that, you're done. Your TurboTax expert works to get you every dollar that you deserve while you get real time notifications as you go about your day. It's the relief of Walking in and meeting a real person and walking out knowing that your taxes are being handled. So head over to turbotax.com local to find a store near you and book your appointment today. Welcome back to the Locked on Cowboys podcast. We have just completed a trade with Cleveland where the Cowboys gave up picks 12 and 20 to get back 6 and 70. And by the way, looking at this mock draft right now, Laynon, the Browns that pick 20 selected Hakeem Mazador, the guy that we were maybe going to take at 12. The best guys that were on the clock at that point, Keldrick Falk, Emmanuel McNeil, Warren Avion, Terrell Cade McDonald, Cassius Howell. A lot of really good players off the board at that spot.

[Marcus Moer]

Yeah, a lot of. A lot of good players off the board at this point, too, when we get all the way down to 70.

[Landon McCool]

So there's still good players available. So we got our cornerback. Let's start looking at some of the other need positions that the Cowboys have. And let's look at edge rusher, top guys. LT Overton, D Ron Crawford. Pretty bleak. Pick 70.

[Marcus Moer]

Yeah. Yeah. You've kind of traded yourself right out of the range of the positions that you need. You still got some linebackers here. It looks like you want to give

[Landon McCool]

Kyle Lewis, one of our favorites, Anthony Hill. Pff. Absolutely hates Anthony Hill. Maybe the Cowboys like him a little bit more. Keisha and Elliott is also available, so you do have options at linebacker. We'll come back to that in a second. If you wanted to grab a safety. Kamari Ramsey, Genesis Smith, Saki Wheatley, all available defensive tackle, another position, Daryl Jackson, Dante Corleone, Caleb Proctor. Who stands out to you?

[Marcus Moer]

Keante Scott stands out to me. I mean, that's, that's.

[Landon McCool]

That.

[Marcus Moer]

That would be, I think, probably the highest rated player on my board.

[Landon McCool]

But we already took. Delay and you take it another.

[Marcus Moer]

We already took. Well, I mean, that's. I mean, here's. Here's the issue here, buddy. Like, I.

[Landon McCool]

Well, to be fair, this is a good part of the exercise. I think if you were to take downs at 6, I think you would feel better about some of the cornerbacks available because there are.

[Marcus Moer]

I would probably take.

[Landon McCool]

Yeah. Kathy Scott, trading Stukes, David Davison, Igbosan, Chandler Rivers, even guys that were not super high on, like Malik Muhammad. Maybe you're going to get more bang for your buck by drafting Caleb Downs at 6 over Delane.

[Marcus Moer]

Yeah, but we unfortunately did not do that. So I, I think for me, it's. It's probably got to be one of these linebackers, you know, I just. I don't really feel great about the edge class. I mean, I like Kyle Lewis. My concern is that, like, are you just drafting another secondary guy? By drafting.

[Landon McCool]

That's why I think it's Anthony Hill, right?

[Marcus Moer]

It probably is. Yeah.

[Landon McCool]

So there's Anthony. Anthony Hill's the pick. I know there's a lot of Texas fans that are listening to this podcast right now thinking this is like the best case scenario. At pick 92, same kind of guys available. Dalen Everett. But you already got your corner if you wanted to go draft, like an edge rusher. It's the same names. Defensive lineman. Top guys available include Dante Corleone, Caleb Proctor, Landon Robinson. Corleone's a guy that we've liked for a while now. Do you want to take him and just Corleone?

[Marcus Moer]

Yeah, that's who I would take, I think.

[Landon McCool]

Okay, so there you go. That's. That's what this would look like. And all things considered, Landon, it's not the worst. It really is not. Because you are getting. You are getting an awesome cornerback that we think is a top six player in this class. You're getting a linebacker that maybe we don't love as much as most people do, but at 70, it's fine. And then Dante Corleone, somebody that we picking just about every mock drop. So it could be worse.

[Marcus Moer]

It'd be tough. I don't know. I. This is. This is my least favorite outcome so far of all these mocks.

[Landon McCool]

Okay, do you like. I get. I get it. This is not my preferred outcome, but let's say you let the board play out the way that it was going to play out. Would you like a draft better of Hakeem Mazador and CJ Allen with 12 and 20 instead?

[Marcus Moer]

No, because I think it would have been someone like, you know, one of the other safeties or Thienaman. Up top.

[Landon McCool]

He was. Went to. I think he was at pick 11. Yeah, he went to pick up. Sorry, pick 10 to the Bengals.

[Marcus Moer]

Well, but we also affected the outcome here by going up and trading. You know what I'm saying? So there would have been one more of those guys, I think, available. I. We just don't know what. What Cleveland would have taken. But I guess my point being that I. I think I would have stayed. I would have preferred to be at 20 and go. And I could get cash as hell. Or if I wanted to. If I wanted. Just. If I was completely blown out, I could get Kaden McDonald, you know, I just feel like losing. You're trading all the way out of the value zone. It feels like, or at least the back end of the value zone and I have a real problem with it. And on top of that, you're losing incredible amounts of value on this Trey.

[Landon McCool]

You are. That's the biggest thing for me. But honestly, I think if you're looking at the names that were picked between let's say 12 and 23, 24, I just don't know that I like any pairing there better than I like the pairing of Mansour Delaine and Anthony Hill. And I'm not even a big Anthony Hill fan.

[Marcus Moer]

I, I don't disagree, but I also think that, look, Spencer Fano and Francis Maligoa went 12 and 13. I also think that if we had tried and gotten to 12, we probably would have gotten some trade back offers from somebody.

[Landon McCool]

That's a fair point. So that this is I think a very realistic scenario if the Cowboys want to trade up to six. But here's the thing, honestly, if you're going to do this trade, I kind of needed to be one of David Bailey, Arvell Reese or Sonny Stiles. Like I need one of those three guys. I love Delane, I'm a huge fan. I love Caleb Downs. I think it needs to be one of those top three if you're going to make this bold of a trade.

[Marcus Moer]

If you're losing that much value, you have to be going to get a money five player that's a blue chip. Like it's got to be that combination. Otherwise this is not worth it. And frankly even then it probably to me is not worth it for this contract.

[Landon McCool]

All right, that is it for today's show. We'd like to like to thank you for making Laton Cowboys your first listen every single day. And if you never miss an episode, the Everydayer Club is built for you. Get locked on Cowboys ad free members only, discord access and so much more. Head over to lockon cowboys.supercast.com to join the club. And for those of you on video, we can send you the first ever 24.7national NBA YouTube channel and on audio, make your second listen the locked on NFL Draft podcast. Follow Landon on Twitter @mccoolbcb I I'm arcusmozier and we will see you right back here tomorrow.

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