As things stand right now, barring any trades, the Dallas Cowboys currently hold two first-round draft picks in the upcoming 2026 NFL Draft in April. What they end up doing with those two selections is anyone\u2019s guess right now, but one thing\u2019s for sure, they can afford to miss on either one.<\/p>\n
The Cowboys need to come away with plug-and-play starter\u2019s with their two first-round picks this year. They can\u2019t afford to take a risk on players like they have done in the past and Jerry Jones has said as much. With that in mind, here are five buyer-beware prospects that they may want to avoid this year.<\/p>\n
CB Jermod McCoy, Tennessee<\/p>\n
McCoy is one of the most polarizing prospects in the entire 2026 draft class. Even after not playing a single snap in 2025 because of injury, he\u2019s still considered one of the best CB prospects, maybe the best. If he has a strong showing at his Pro Day on March 31 his name will likely resurface in the CB1 discussion with Mansoor Delane. If he performs as expected, he could be a plug-and-play starter and perhaps the best CB on the roster with the Cowboys. Until he answers a lot of questions though, he\u2019ll remain a buyer beware prospect for Dallas in the first-round.<\/p>\n
Edge Keldric Faulk, Auburn<\/p>\n
At just 20 years old, Faulk is one of the more intriguing edge prospects in the 2026 draft class. From a height, weight, length, and athleticism standpoint he checks all of the boxes teams look for in a prototypical edge prospect. Sadly though, the production didn\u2019t match the intangibles during his time in Auburn. That hasn\u2019t stopped him from being ranked as a first-round prospect though. He\u2019s a buyer beware prospect because his impressive athletic traits may never equate to production at the next level, something Dallas has to consider.<\/p>\n
Edge Akheem Mesidor, Miami<\/p>\n
From a talent and production standpoint, Mesidor is without a doubt one of the best edge rushers in the 2026 draft class. He has the talent and skill set to be a plug-and-play starter as a rookie, but despite that he\u2019s still very much a buyer-beware prospect. Not only is he one of the older (25) players getting first-round consideration, but he also has a well documented injury history with his feet. Those are some serious concerns the Cowboys need to take into consideration, but then the end, the talent may outweigh those red flags.<\/p>\n
Throughout his tenure at Clemson Woods has shown flashes of first-round talent, but not the consistency to make him a lock, making him a buyer-beware prospect. For the most part, the Cowboys haven\u2019t valued the DT position in the first-round for the better part of three decades. The lone exception was Mazi Smith a few years ago and we all know how that turned out. That\u2019s not to say any interest Dallas may have in Woods would negate him as a first-round target, but taking everything into consideration he\u2019s definitely a buyer-beware prospect for them.<\/p>\n
If you go by film alone, Allen is one of the better linebacker prospects in the entire 2026 draft class. But he didn\u2019t do himself any favors skipping all athletic testing at the combine and again at his Pro Day. He did do some position drills at his Pro Day, but skipping the athletic testing feels almost as if he\u2019s trying to hide some of his deficiencies as a potential first-round selection. This makes him a buyer beware prospect for the Cowboys, and that\u2019s especially true considering he\u2019d likely need to be a plug-and-play starter at MLB for them as a rookie.<\/p>\n
Who is a prospect that worries you in the draft?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As things stand right now, barring any trades, the Dallas Cowboys currently hold two first-round draft picks in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":839195,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2066],"tags":[230,229,257,437,2461,7,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-839194","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas-cowboys","8":"tag-cowboys","9":"tag-dallas","10":"tag-dallas-cowboys","11":"tag-dallas-cowboys-draft","12":"tag-dallascowboys","13":"tag-football","14":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116307525011119421","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/839194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=839194"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/839194\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/839195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=839194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=839194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=839194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}