Cowboys Exposed: Is Dallas Really A 'Draft And Develop' Franchise?

FRISCO - We have often heard over the years that the Dallas Cowboys love to “draft and develop” as the foundation for how they build their rosters.

You know the drill: Draft a player, spend years developing him into a star, and then pay him when the time comes.

(Or don’t).

You could make the case that this is a gigantic feature in how owner Jerry Jones’ Cowboys define themselves.

I could debate that case, however - and have - by stating that Dallas shouldn’t get extra credit for being a “draft-and-develop’’ team because every franchise believes in that.

And more, I’ve accused the Cowboys of using “draft and develop’’ as a motto meant to shield them from critics who say (accurately) that the motto can also mean a team is too cheap to use outside free-agency signings as a path to improvement.

Much has been made of how well the Cowboys draft, and maybe that's rightly so; they’ve hit on top-quality picks at the top of the selection process and beyond over the years.

So yeah, maybe they’ve got part of the “draft” part down. Or so it seems.

But do they have the “develop” part as mastered as they might like to claim?

Let’s examine ...

With free agency in full swing, the Cowboys traded away Osa Odighizuwa and Solomon Thomas to the San Francisco 49ers.

RJ Ochoa from Blogging the Boys notes that with Osa now traded, there are no members of the Cowboys’ 2021 draft class who are still on the team.

Micah Parsons, Kelvin Joseph, Osa Odighizuwa, Chauncey Golston, Nahshon Wright, Jabril Cox, Josh Ball, Simi Fehoko, Quinton Bohanna, Israel Mukuamu, and Matt Farniok are all gone.

Errrr … what happened to that “draft-and-develop mantra’’?

OK, but that’s just one year. One draft.

But alas, another one of our friends, Joe Hoyt of the Dallas Morning News, wrote further about the details.

Dallas has no players from its 2019 draft class on the roster; to be fair, Donovan Wilson has been a starter and a team captain but is a free agent) and isn’t being prioritized.

Dallas has just one guy from 2020 (CeeDee Lamb).

Dallas has no keepers from 2021, as mentioned above.

Dallas has four from 2022 - Tyler Smith, Sam Williams, DaRon Bland and Jake Ferguson, a good haul.

And from the 2023 class, just two, Luke Schoonmaker and DeMarvion Overshown, are on the roster.

That doesn’t exactly say “draft and develop,” does it?

From those five draft classes, Dallas currently has just seven players, and Williams (just re-signed to a prove-it deal) and Schoonmaker (a mediocre backup) are on thin ice.

It’s too early to rip apart the last two classes. The 2024 group has a chance to work out, with Tyler Guyton, Cooper Beebe, Marist Liufau, Caelen Carson, Ryan Flournoy, Nathan Thomas and Justin Rogers still in play.

Same with last year’s class, with Tyler Booker, Donovan Ezeiruaku, Shavon Revel Jr., Jaydon Blue, Shemar James, Ajani Cornelius, Jay Toia and Phil Mafah still on the scene.

So time will tell if the newer classes can buck the trend.

But as far as Dallas being a “draft and develop” franchise? This organization might not be as good at it as it claims.