The Dallas Cowboys have plenty of options on the table when it comes to handling their two first-round picks in the upcoming NFL Draft.
Once the coaching carousel finishes turning around the NFL teams such as the Dallas Cowboys, who are locked in with a new coordinator, will begin assessing their on-field personnel, accumulating a pool of NFL Draft prospects, and surveying the free-agency market to begin the offseason.
Just after Christian Parker was hired to be the defensive coordinator in Dallas this past week, it appears that some of that work has already begun.
Regarding the Draft, that's an area the Cowboys typically weigh heavily on their daily offseason to-do list ... and this season is especially critical.
Dallas owns two first-round picks (No. 12 and No. 20), which could either both be used on reinforcements for last year's awful defense or swapped for increased draft capital - or even a player - later on.
After the Cowboys' heavy top load, they do not have a selection again until Round 4 on the third day of the draft. Something tells me Jerry Jones won't be too thrilled about idling on Day 2, but that may depend on how successful Dallas is on Day 1 in drafting who they want.
Of course, you can do all the scouting in the world but still not know how the top of the draft will shake up. It's important to remember the opportunity to trade - so much so that some places mock-up draft-day swaps because they make that much sense.
Over at The Landry Hat, one fun idea has Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer calling up old buddy and mentor Mike McCarthy, who's just unboxing his things in his new Pittsburgh office before running his hometown Steelers.
There is a ton of familiarity here, of course, as former Cowboys boss McCarthy knows what Dallas needs just about as well as Schottenheimer and Jones do - if not more.
Might this new relationship lead to an agreement that goes, "You need this, and I need this, so let's help each other out?"
It's usually not that easy, but given that Dallas and Pittsburgh are in opposite conferences and the only sense of any "rivalry" is in regards to ancient franchise history over current head-to-head results, there isn't much dire risk worth avoiding.
There won't be any George Pickens-type trade here, but writer Marcus Mosher suggests a draft-day deal where Dallas moves down and inherits two players for the price of one.
PIT Receives: Cowboys' No. 12 pick
DAL Receives: Steelers' No. 21 pick and EDGE Nick Herbig
These types of trades are always interesting because, though it's a lottery-level pick, getting two players for the price of one rookie is a gamble that has more equity than you'll get anywhere else. This move also keeps the Cowboys with two first-rounders, now at No. 20 and 21.
This would have to come down to whether the Cowboys have a handful of prospects they wouldn't be willing to move off of at No. 12, and whether the top of the draft allows one to get there.
Last year, most pundits predicted Arizona wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan to land in Dallas with the No. 12 pick as a seamless fit next to CeeDee Lamb. When McMillan was drafted at No. 8 to Carolina, Dallas went to its next-best option in guard Tyler Booker to fill another roster void. Then came the Pickens trade with Pittsburgh a week later, so everything worked out.
Again, things don't always work out that well.
Parker and the Cowboys are in need of a pass rusher after last year's Micah Parsons dump proved unsuccessful on the field (shocker, I know). This draft has a handful of legit prospects at defensive end, but there's no guarantee they fall to the middle of the first round.
Herbig, with three years of experience and still just 24 years old, could be someone worth getting excited about.
The former fourth rounder in 2023 had his best season to date in 2025, racking up 7.5 sacks and 13 tackles for loss in 15 games, six of them starts. He benefitted most when Steelers star T.J. Watt was out with injury, so putting him in a situation where he is a starter at EDGE for a full season could yield similar production.
We're still early in the process of something like this panning out, but the fact remains that Dallas has plenty of options when it comes to handling their two first-round picks in the upcoming NFL Draft.
