SLIDING DOORS: Did The Cowboys Make The Right Decision PASSING On Rueben Bain and Dillon Thieneman?

Summary

Locked On Cowboys Podcast – Episode Summary

Episode Title: SLIDING DOORS: Did The Cowboys Make The Right Decision PASSING On Rueben Bain and Dillon Thieneman?
Date: April 29, 2026
Hosts: Marcus Mosher & Landon McCool

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Marcus and Landon revisit the Dallas Cowboys’ 2026 NFL Draft, considering alternate scenarios and “sliding door” moments. They dissect whether the Cowboys could have improved their haul by taking other players, notably Rueben Bain or Dillon Thieneman, and evaluate scenarios involving trade-ups and trade-downs. The discussion provides nuanced insight into the Cowboys’ decision-making, draft strategy, and the short- and long-term implications of the moves they made or passed on.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Revisiting the Draft: Did the Cowboys Make the Right Moves?

• The hosts open by acknowledging the general positivity around Dallas’s draft – particularly landing Caleb Downs and Malachi Lawrence.
• Marcus introduces the central topic: "Could they have done better?" by exploring if passing on Rueben Bain and Dillon Thieneman was the right call.
• Focus is placed on “what if” scenarios involving trade-ups, staying put, and alternate picks.

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2. Scenario 1: Trading Up with Cleveland for Pick 6 (Sonny Styles)

Timestamps: 01:25–10:20

• Pre-draft, Marcus and Landon believed Cleveland could be a trade-out candidate at #6.
• They discuss a hypothetical pick swap (12 & 20 for 6 & 39) for Sonny Styles if he were available.
• Landon’s Take:
  • Considers it a tough call due to cross-positional value and uncertainty on NFL outcomes.
  • Notes you’d lose the fifth-year option for a linebacker (as seen with Jack Campbell in Detroit), complicating contract planning.
  • Likes the actual outcome: flipping a fifth for a starting linebacker and securing Malachi Lawrence, "probably a tier above" other edge options at that range.

  "Flipping a fifth for... a starting linebacker seems smart to me. And you don’t get into the complicated contract stuff." (04:08, Landon McCool)

• Marcus highlights that with a trade-up, at 39, "you’re not locked into any one position," and values (e.g. Emmanuel McNeil Warren at 58) could have been solid.
• Trade-down from 20 netted two fourths, giving higher-quality mid-round picks versus fifths.
• Concludes this scenario might have worked, but the Cowboys’ actual maneuvers maximized flexibility and value.

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3. Scenario 2: Staying Put at 12 & 20 – The Rueben Bain & Thieneman Debate

Timestamps: 12:06–19:03

• What if Dallas held at 12 & 20 (or 23)?
• Would Caleb Downs have fallen?
  • Landon: “Probably, but you don’t know for sure," and the trade up only cost two fifths, so no regrets.

  "If we had found out that the Cowboys had a deal on the table for two fifths to move up one spot to go get Caleb Downs and they didn’t, I think we would be burning Jerry Jones in effigy right now." (12:58, Landon McCool)

• If Downs was sniped, could Rueben Bain (EDGE) at 12 and Dillon Thieneman (S/CB) at 23 have been a better outcome?
  • Both hosts weigh the Bane-Thieneman combo versus Downs-Lawrence.
  • Landon: Values Downs’ versatility and immediate impact but sees the appeal of Bain’s edge skill and Thieneman as a chess piece, though there are questions about role fit (“I don’t know that I’ve seen [Thieneman] do specifically what we’d be asking him to do...”).
  • Marcus suggests pairing Bane and a corner (Chris Johnson) as a position-value play—saving on two premium positions.
• Ultimately, both view the “actual” draft as safe and with a better floor but recognize the alternative as intriguing – and the future will tell if short arms (Bain) or versatility (Thieneman) were rightly valued/docked.

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4. Scenario 3: Aggressive Trade-Up for a Blue-Chipper (Arvell Reese)

Timestamps: 19:27–27:07

• Hosts revisit the idea of sending picks 12 & 20 to move into the top 3 or 4 for an elite prospect (Arvell Reese).
• Marcus: Would you give up the middle class for a true star?
• Landon: Hesitant, as this reduces opportunities to address other needs; “You lose the opportunity to kind of get the rest of the kind of upper middle class of your defense with the rest of those picks.” (24:03)
• If Reese had gone at 3, Dallas would miss out on premium picks in the second and third. There was no guarantee a highly-rated need pick would be available in the mid-rounds with the lost capital.
• Both agree that while landing Reese would be exciting, missing out on subsequent contributors (and possibly Downs falling anyway) would be a tough pill to swallow.

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5. Process Grade: Evaluating Dallas’s Draft Approach

Timestamps: 27:07–29:24

• Both give credit to the Cowboys’ improved draft manipulation, citing Jerry Jones' growing trust in analytics and smarter movement up and down the board.
• Landon: “This is kind of the trophy of them all, just to kind of point to saying, hey, this is what’s possible if you’re willing to move around a little bit.” (28:06)
• Marcus: Ultimately, it’s an “A-” draft; not a perfect outcome, but about as good as could be accomplished given the board.
• Both appreciate that the Cowboys “thread the needle” and came away with value and blue-chip talent despite multiple needs.

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Notable Quotes

• Landon McCool [04:08]:
  "Flipping a fifth for... a starting linebacker seems smart to me. And you don’t get into the complicated contract stuff."
• Marcus Mosher [06:59]:
  "You ended up benefiting more from what the Cowboys actually did."
• Landon McCool [12:58]:
  "...if we had found out that the Cowboys had a deal on the table for two fifths to move up one spot to go get Caleb Downs and they didn’t, I think we would be burning Jerry Jones in effigy right now.”
• Landon McCool [28:06]:
  "This is kind of the trophy of them all, just to kind of point to saying, hey, this is what’s possible if you’re willing to move around a little bit."

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Key Timestamps

• Draft scenario setup: 01:25–02:40
• Trading up for Styles/Cleveland trade analysis: 02:40–10:20
• Staying at 12/20, Bane & Thieneman comparison: 12:06–19:03
• Top-5 trade-up for Arvell Reese: 19:27–27:07
• Process evaluation and final thoughts: 27:07–29:24

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Episode Takeaways

• The Cowboys’ actual draft strategy maximized flexibility and value, likely outperforming alternate, riskier approaches.
• The margin between possible scenarios was slim, but the front office’s process and execution earn high marks.
• Passing on Rueben Bain and Dillon Thieneman was defensible and may prove prudent, but the “what ifs” remain compelling—especially if Bain or Thieneman become stars.
• The episode emphasizes process over hindsight grading, focusing on how Dallas can continue to blend analytics and value-driven moves in future drafts.

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Tone & Style:
The conversation is analytical, cautious, and even-handed, with both hosts showing a mix of “fan optimism” and clear-eyed “draftnik” skepticism. They balance “woulda, coulda, shoulda” musings with realistic appreciation of the Cowboys’ strategy.

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For New Listeners:
This episode offers a deep dive into NFL draft process and strategy with plenty of context, player analysis, and forward-looking speculation. Even if you missed the 2026 draft, you’ll come away understanding the rationale behind Dallas's moves and why front-office process matters as much as the picks themselves.

Transcript

[Landon McCool]

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[Marcus Mosher]

The Dallas Cowboys had an amazing draft, but could they have done better? We'll discuss that more next.

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[Marcus Mosher]

on podcast network your team every day. Welcome back. I'm your host Marcus Mosher. He is Landon McCool. And on today's show, we are going back and looking at the NFL draft. The Cowboys obviously had a really good draft, at least in our eyes. Grabbing Caleb Downs, grabbing to me, one of the better pass rushers in the draft and Malachi Lawrence. But could they have done better? We're going to dive into some different scenarios, talk about the Reuben Bane, Dylan Diedeman pairing. We'll talk about maybe going up for Arvell Reese. But Landon, you and I spent a lot of time pre draft talking about a potential trade up with Cleveland at 6 because we thought that Cleveland was one of the teams that would be the most likely to trade down from six inside the top 10. Well, we were right. They did. They traded down out of the top 10. They were the only team inside the top 10 that moved. And one of the scenarios we talked about is if Sonny Styles was going to be on the board at 6, if he got past the Giants at 5, doing this pick swap of 12 and 20 for 6 and 39. Having hindsight, you know, to benefit us, do you wish the Cowboys would have made that swap?

[Landon McCool]

You know, I, I think it's hard to say. I mean, I, I think this, you know, we're going to go through a couple of these scenarios. Right. And I think for me, this is the one that is the toughest call. Yeah, right. Because it's. You're asking to talk about like, you know, cross positional value and all that. And obviously we don't even know how these players are going to be in the NFL. But I, I do think that, you know, going up to six and, and getting styles and then like, let's say you were at 39. And I mean you. The thing about it is that because you've taken styles, anything could be on the table at 39. Like, you're not necessarily. So you probably would go with like, I don't know. I, I would probably gone with our Mason Thomas who ended up going 40.

[Marcus Mosher]

I think 41. Either one of those guys if you

[Landon McCool]

wanted to go the defensive back route. I mean, obviously Avion Terrell ended up going 48. D' Angelo Ponds went to 50, went to Green Bay at 52. So like you and Gabe Yakis is still available. Guys like that that we kind of like and you'll make deal. Warren ended up falling a lot. So I do think that there are, you know, certainly opportunities for you. I will point out though, ironically enough, Colton Hood and traded stukes go 37 and 38. So two of the guys that probably really would have been your choice at 39 go right off the board right before you. So I tend to think that I, I think where I stand right now and maybe, you know, I changed my mind. I think where I stand right now I would probably take what we got because when you compare the two situations, then you have to incorporate the, the. The fifth year option with linebacker, which as you predicted, we saw play out this. This week with Jack Campbell and the Det. It just adds a level of difficulty that, you know, when comparing excellent situations, you know, you get down to the kind of the nitty gritty. And that may be kind of the deciding factor because I do feel like I do like what they ended up doing at linebacker. Flipping a fifth for. For a starting linebacker seems smart to me. And, and you don't get into the complicated contract stuff. And I also think that Malachi Lawrence is obviously probably a tier above any one of these selections. You at least made a 39.

[Marcus Mosher]

They at least they.

[Landon McCool]

Not a. Tears. Yeah, I mean, yeah, maybe not a tier, but like a. Significantly the. The head of this at the top of the tier.

[Marcus Mosher]

Yeah, I, I like Cassius how A little bit better. But I understand why they liked Malachi Lawrence better. But I agree with you. I think he was in that tier above. I. Let's do the positives of this really quickly. Yeah, Styles was there. This was kind of the guy that we've been targeting for a while in a Potential trade styles I think instantly walks in is your starting week one middle linebacker. You pair him with the Marvi and overshone and you feel really good about that position for the next four years. Right. You, you're going to probably draft a couple more linebackers and fill in the depth. But even if it's just sunny Styles overshone and you know, you grab somebody, you know, you've got Shemar James, you grab a veteran linebacker, to me that was their biggest need on defense. And then at 39, you mentioned the guys like that. I think we would have been thrilled to see our Mason Thomas or Cassius Hal at pick, you know, 39. I also Emmanuel McNeil Warren is a guy that we frequently talked about as an option at 20, he fell all the way to pick 58. Now maybe we were too high on EMW, but also that would have been outstanding value. So I could see a world where that is just as good if not better than what the Cowboys accomplished. But the flip side of this is you get Malachi Lawrence on a five year deal with the fifth year option, you wouldn't have had that with our Mason Thomas and Cassius Howell. And the other part about it we need to mention is the Cowboys were able to trade down from 20, yes, 23 and pick up two additional fourth round picks. Now they did give away two fifth round picks to move up for Caleb Downs, but we don't really care about fifth round.

[Landon McCool]

Well, but I think it matters because if you had had those fifth rounders instead of the fourth rounders, the quality of player that you would have gotten in the fifth round would not have been the same as what you ended up getting in the fourth round.

[Marcus Mosher]

That's what I'm saying, that you ended up benefiting more from what the Cowboys actually did. And we should mention this like I, I, I just don't think Cleveland was all that interested and doing a pick swap. And the reason was is they didn't feel like the, the player that they were going to get at 39 was going to be all that different than the player that they were going to get, you know, at 24 or excuse me, at 2020.

[Landon McCool]

Yeah.

[Marcus Mosher]

And it kind of true like they, they drafted denzel Boston at 39 and that was a name that we mentioned frequently is like hey, if they trade it back to 20, they could maybe take Denzel Boston or Casey Conception. They ended up taking both anyways.

[Landon McCool]

I think, I think part of it is that you felt like you were saving on the, the contract. Right. Is that they wouldn't have to pay a number six contract to a offensive lineman that they didn't feel like was necessarily worth it. Right. That was the original appeal. But yeah, I agree. They ended up getting a deal where they actually gained picks, which is, of course, ultimately what Andrew Berry was looking for. I. I will point out one more thing about this specific trade that we should. We should add into our calculus. Are we so certain that if they had traded up to six that they wouldn't have just taken Caleb Downs?

[Marcus Mosher]

No, I'm not certain. I. I think the only reason why they would have. I think the 6 was interesting because Styles feels a bigger need than what safety was. But I don't know, or I don't think that Styles had a higher grade than what Caleb Downs did on their board.

[Landon McCool]

The reason I'm asking is because part of the reason they may have just made this trade is because it's the only one that they could have done before that kind of line of demarcation before. Before the 10th pick, which is where we were really afraid Downs going. So I, I do wonder that there is. If there isn't a world where the Cowboys do this trade, end up taking Caleb Downs, and if they did that, then it's hard to argue that what we got was better, wasn't better. Right. Because, like, ultimately you got Caleb Downs, plus you upgraded your fist to a four, your fourth. Right. And you're paying him less money. So, yeah.

[Marcus Mosher]

The other part of this that we should mention, at least from the Brown side, is they were pretty locked into Spencer Fano, clearly. And it makes sense because he can play just about any position on the offensive line. They were able to get him at 9, but with the Giants going offensive line at 10 and then the Dolphins taking an offensive lineman, they ended up taking Kaden Proctor. There was no sure thing that he was going to be available at 12, and that's kind of the guy that Cleveland has been wanting throughout this entire process. Again, I think we like the idea maybe more than the Cleveland Browns fans did. And again, it worked out incredibly well for Cleveland. They got Fano, they got Concepcion, they got Boston, and oh, by the way, they also got Emmanuel McNeil Warren in the second round. Heck of a draft by them. By the way, kudos to Andrew Barrett.

[Landon McCool]

Absolutely. Absolutely. I think part of it too is that, is that we didn't know the specifics, that they had a specific offensive lineman in mind that would have changed the math. I think for us, we were, we were thinking they're just going into where the meat of what they need is. That's why it would make sense for us.

[Marcus Mosher]

All right, let's talk about another scenario. The Cowboys just staying at 12 and 20 and picking the best players available. Would that have been a better option for Dallas? We'll get to that next. This episode is brought to you by Ruot. The NFL draft was amazing this weekend. It was absolutely stunning. I. I had so much fun. And it's a time where preparation meets opportunity and every decision matters. And it's all about being ready when your moment comes. And that same mindset applies off the field, too. And that's where Rugiate comes in. Rouge. It offers treatments designed to help you feel ready and confident when it matters the most. Their top option, Rouge yet ready is a mint that dissolves under your tongue. With clinically proven ingredients. It works quickly, often in about 15 minutes or so, and the effects can last up to 36 hours. And they also offer go long, designed to help with both performance and control. It's all about showing up at your best whenever that moment is. Head over to rugiat.com lothunnfl and get 15% off your ED treatment. That's R U G I-E-T.com lot NFL for 15% off Ruat Performance Medicine for

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[Marcus Mosher]

Welcome back to the Locked on Cowboys podcast. We'd like to thank you for making us your first listen every single day. Don't forget to check out the everyday club for ad free episodes and discord server access with Landon and I and other listeners of the show. Just tap the link in the show notes or go to locked on cowboys.supercast.com all right, let's talk about a scenario where the Cowboys just stick at 12 and stick at 20 or even. Even if you want to go back and move from 20 to 23. I know there are a lot of GMS out there that just believe never trade up in round one. You're. You're not. The difference in player that you're going to get at 11 or 12 isn't that big of a deal. So a couple different things. First of all, do you think if the Cowboys would have just sat at 12, the Caleb Downs would have fallen to them?

[Landon McCool]

Yes, I do think that it probably would have happened that way. But we don't know for sure. You know, I, I think, is it worth the risk? No. Because ultimately it didn't cost you anything. You know, like, I mean, if, ultimately, like, oh, I, I didn't. The, if they had, if we had found out that, that they had, say somebody traded up and, and taking Caleb Downs At 11, if we had found out that the Cowboys had a deal on the table for two fists to move up one spot to go get Caleb Downs and they didn't, I think we would be burning Jerry Jones at effigy right now.

[Marcus Mosher]

I, I think we would as well. Now, the only saving grace is let's say they, they stood at 12. Caleb Downs goes 11 to Miami and, and they decide, somebody in that war room decides, hey, let's, we can't pass on Reuben Bane. He's too good of a pass rusher. They take Reuben Bane at 12, and then at 20 or 23, you take Dylan Thieman, a guy that at least you and I really, really liked. It sounds like the Cowboys did as well. He was available at pick 25, so you give him, let's say, at pick 23. Do you like the combination of Reuben Bane and Dylan Thieman better than you like Caleb Downs and Malachi Lawrence?

[Landon McCool]

This is tough. You know, I, I, I think, I think I probably like it as much for me, but I also would be worried about the Cowboys doing this a little bit more than the other one. I feel like the other situation has maybe a little bit better floor to the, to the, the situation because I don't know. My question with Diedeman is I, I think he's got elite athletic ability. I, I don't know that I've seen him do specifically what we're, we, we would be asking him to do unless he was coming in to just play safety and not necessarily take over that kind of star nickel role. And then for Bane, I mean, I think we've discussed, we've discussed the issue here quite a bit. I don't have any concerns about his ability to rush the passer or anything about it, but I do think there are some other aspects of the job that he would be doing that I would be concerned about because he doesn't have that kind of athleticism. Right. Well, let me ask you this sort of athleticism.

[Marcus Mosher]

Let me rephrase this.

[Landon McCool]

Yeah.

[Marcus Mosher]

What do you think helps the Dallas more in 2026? Caleb Downs and Malachi Lawrence or Rumid Bain and Dylan Thieman?

[Landon McCool]

I think that's hard to answer because I, I think I, I think like if I'm power ranking the scenarios, my, my thought process is that Caleb Downs is by far the, the best of these four players to have an immediate impact.

[Marcus Mosher]

I agree.

[Landon McCool]

I, I think Bane probably is too. But, but I also, like I said, have some concerns. I know that Bane would come in and be a, a rock solid pass rusher for, for you. Right. But I also feel like if we're just limiting the role to that, that Malachi Lawrence can also handle just that role pretty well. So I, I think that Bain also plays more on the edge. I, I mean, as far as a run defender, I, I think it's really difficult. It's an interesting question because they're, they're not, it's not quite an exact fit. I guess I would probably give the edge to Bane Thiemen maybe just because I feel like Bane is a more complete edge player or at least my perception is. And the theme in like, it's not like you wouldn't find a use for them and it's just like maybe he doesn't play the nickel, so. But I, I think it's very close, to be honest.

[Marcus Mosher]

See, that's why I would even be tempted to say, like, if you were looking at this from a position value standpoint and trying to maximize the value here, going Ruben Bane at 12 and then taking someone like Chris Johnson at pick 23 who ended up going to Miami at 27, you're getting a cornerback and an edge rusher, two of the most valuable positions in the NFL. If you hit on both, and even if they're just doubles rather than home runs, you're saving a bunch of money year in and year out at those two positions. I, I think Thieman is a better player than Chris Johnson, but he, I don't think Chris Johnson solves your slot issue that the Cowboys clearly had. And if you don't draft phenomen at 23 and you take Johnson, you're hoping that a slot falls to you at 92. And I just, I don't know how likely that is.

[Landon McCool]

Well, I mean, I, I gotta tell you too, I kind of feel like if you add in Barham into this situation, I, I think the issue too is that if you draft Bane, are you still getting two more kind of edge players? Because to me, I feel like that's the aspect I actually like about them solving this edge issue is that they've solved it not by just putting all their eggs in one basket. You know, they've solved it by they, by kind of collectively getting it the way they need. Well, by, by having all these picks and you may not have had the opportunity if, if you didn't have those extra, those fists didn't become force. You know, if I'm saying, you know,

[Marcus Mosher]

now again, hindsight is 2020 and it's so easy to go back and do this. But I mean in theory you could have done Bane at 12, Chris Johnson at 23, still take Barum at 92 and then at pick 112, Keante Scott was still available. You grab your slot corner. But again, nobody thought Keonte Scott was going to be available at that point. So it would have been, it would have been really hard to get away with that. But I, I will be fascinated. I, I'm going to be really curious to see does the combination of Caleb Downs and Malachi Lawrence, does that end up being better than Reuben Bain and Dylan Thieman? Were the Cowboys out thinking themselves a little bit by knocking Bane down their board because he has short arms? It'll be fun to follow.

[Landon McCool]

Yeah, I mean I, I think the one reason that I wouldn't necessarily, you know, knock him for it is because I think even if they did take Reuben Bain at 12, I, I have a hard time believing, knowing what we know, that he's rated as highly on his, their board as Caleb Downs is. So I'm certainly not going to knock them if they took the player who's at a different higher tier, especially since he's a blue chip player.

[Marcus Mosher]

All right, let's talk about one other scenario that you and I discussed pre draft and that is going way up the board to get a blue chip player at a premium position. Did the Cowboys miss out? We'll get to that next.

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[Marcus Mosher]

Welcome back to the Lot Done Cowboys podcast. We'd like to thank you for making us your first listen. Every single day we are looking back at the Cowboys draft strategy and wondering, could they have done better? They did extremely well. Again, just to be clear, we are very happy with what the Cowboys did in the draft, but there are a lot of different scenarios that we talked about pre draft that I wanted to mention, and one that we talked about over the last couple weeks is moving up inside the top five to go get a player like Arvell Reese or David Bailey who we thought could have been like, either, you know, the number one or number two player on their board. David Bailey goes to the Jets. That was never realistic. Jeremiah Love goes three to the Cardinals. Now the Cardinals are trying to trade out of that spot. They just never got a serious offer. The Titans at 4, they talked about trading out of there as well. They ended up taking Carnell Tate, knowing that ARVELL Reese went 5. Is there any part of you that regret. Not regrets, but wishes the Cowboys would have explored that option, going to three or four to get Reese?

[Landon McCool]

I mean, I'd like to know what the cost was to go to four. You know, like, if there's a way for an enterprising young reporter to figure out exactly what they were finding out like, or what they were asking, like, I do think that that is something that was worth exploring for sure. Again, like, I, I think in, in that scenario, you don't realize that you're gonna have a blue chip player fall all the way to you at 11, that you could trade up and go get. Right. But I, I think the original thought process for us was we don't think these guys are going to fall. Let's be aggressive and go get one of our guys. And in this specific draft, going up to four would have gotten you maybe the top player on your board. Right?

[Marcus Mosher]

Like, yeah, well, I mean, Reese was my top player.

[Landon McCool]

Yes, we, we, we can. Yeah, well, we can certainly haggle. I think the, the value of Sonny Styles versus Caleb Downs, I, I think that's extreme. They're extremely close, all things considered. But I, I have, I have to believe that Arvo Reese is, is a half tier above both of those two simply because of the pass rushing aspect and the upside there. So I, I think that it depends on the cost, but certainly if that was an option available to the Cowboys, it would be interesting to see how they kind of cobbled together the rest of their draft Based on that, that.

[Marcus Mosher]

So let's, let's make up a fake trade. Let's say the Cowboys sent picks 12 and 20 to Arizona for 3 and 65. Now, Dallas probably would have needed. Said. Needed to have sent more in that trade, but again, we're just making that up at three. You take R.V. reese at pick 65. A lot of the top guys were kind of already gone in that range, and honestly, I, I don't know who they would have taken. Like, I, I'll read you some of the names that were taken in the third round. Carson Beck, Keon Crawford, Markel Bell, Sam Rush, Romello Height, Takario Davis, Oscar Delp, Malachi Fields, Caleb Douglas, Drew Aller, Zachariah Branch. I mean, like, none of these guys were intriguing from a Cowboy standpoint. You. You, maybe you take Barum, but he's kind of similar to Arvell Reese, the guy that you would have already selected pick number three.

[Landon McCool]

Oh, you. You certainly can't do that. I mean, that's the problem is now you have to get a corner or you have to get an edge because you've lost an extra pick. That's the problem with doing this is that you lose the opportunity cost. And, like, since he's a linebacker that you're taking, you don't have the opportunity like you did in what and how really played out, where you could flip a fifth for a starter, right? Like, you're not going to flip a fifth for a starting corner, a starting edge probably, so that I think you could do that at linebacker. So I, I think that there's the way it all played out. The Cowboys got a ton of value for all those picks, but, you know, that's the problem kind of with trading up, especially in a situation where the Cowboys are more than one player away, is that, you know, you lose the opportunity to kind of get the rest of the kind of upper middle class of your defense with the rest of those picks.

[Marcus Mosher]

And here's the other thing. Like, we would have been really excited about having our Val Reese, and we would have talked ourselves into him being the transformative guy up front. And again, I, I still believe Arval Reese can be that player. You know how sick we would have been on Thursday night recording the podcast if Caleb Downs would have just fallen to 12th. And it's like, you know, we really like Arvel Reese, but we could have just stayed at 12 and drafted Caleb Downs and then drafted a pass rusher later on in round one. And that's why I ultimately say, like, this is like an A minus draft for the Cowboys. Yes. Maybe they could have done a couple things differently to give it an A plus, but nobody's ever complained about an A minus.

[Landon McCool]

Yeah, I mean honestly, what, what do we keep talking about? What was best case scenario for this situation is that you stay at where you are and one of these players fall to you or you have to make a small trade down or you get trade up to go get them. Trade back was always the thought of the best case scenario because we just never anticipated that this would ever actually happen. So the fact that it did play out the way it did, the fact that you were able to make the small trade up, and then again, I can't stress this enough, the fact that you were able to more than make up for the trade, like you might as well have just had him fall to you at 12. Like it, like it's basically point wise, it's the same thing. Yeah. You actually still benefited from the trade back despite trading up early in the round. So yeah, to me it's, there's a lot of scenarios we could have played out and even now we're hunting for best case scenario.

[Marcus Mosher]

Like knowing how guys fall.

[Landon McCool]

Yes, exactly.

[Marcus Mosher]

Already knowing guys fault.

[Landon McCool]

Yeah. So like we're having the benefit of hindsight, like, and just, I mean honestly we don't know how it would have played. It could have played out completely, completely different because the Cowboys traded up and, and now they're not picking at 20 and that whole middle, middle of the draft would have been different. So who knows what, how it would have fallen. But I, I do think that, you know, it, it probably would be a still good scenario and, and we would be happy with it. Like you said. I, I don't think that it would have been a better scenario than what the way it actually played out.

[Marcus Mosher]

No, I, I, the only thing that I, I think I would have done a little bit differently if I was. Dallas is trying to trade down again from 23. Now I know the 49ers were interested in Malachi Lawrence as well, but I think even if you could have dropped down from 23 to 30, 31, picked up an additional third round pick, that would have been better. But if they believe Malachi Lawrence is going to be, or it was clearly the best pass rusher left in that tier or, or maybe they thought he was on the same tier as Ruben Bane and some of these other guys and, and that's why they decided to get them. It's really hard to blame them for what they did. I, I Think from a process standpoint, they had needs at safety or really nickel linebacker and edge, and they came out of the first three rounds with a nickel guy, probably the next. The best nickel in the class. A really athletic edge rusher and a hybrid linebacker edge guy. That can help you right away.

[Landon McCool]

Yeah, I mean, again, as far as, like, and that's, I mean, like, it's. Everyone's giving letter grades right now, and we've talked about how we feel about that and that's, you know, writers have jobs to do. That's fine. Like, I, I think for me, what you can judge now is, is, is their process, right. The way that they handled and manipulated the draft to kind of get where they needed to go to get value. They had a lot of needs. Right. And, and it was a difficult needle to thread. And we, we talked about it all off season, how, how difficult it was going to be, and they, they did it. And they, they did it while also picking up a blue chip player as one of their guys that they got. So, yeah, I think, you know, there's been a lot of hemming and hawing about the way that they've drafted lately and, and rightfully so. There's been problems, I think, that we've talked about, like, the analytics department and how it's grown and how we think it's helping. I think you can again, point to this as showing Jerry that, hey, you can move around a little bit, you can manipulate the draft where you need to and still get what you want and come away with some really great value. And I think this is kind of the trophy of them all, just to kind of point to saying, hey, this is what's possible if you're willing to move around a little, little bit.

[Marcus Mosher]

All right, that is it for today's show. We'd like to thank you for making Locon Cowboys your first listen every single day. Make sure you subscribe and follow the podcast so you get all of the latest episodes. Check out the NFL Draft, where they're doing fantastic work breaking down the 2026 NFL Draft. Follow Landon on Twitter @McCool BCB. I'm @Marcus Underscore Moser. We'll see you right back here tomorrow.

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