{"id":869430,"date":"2026-04-18T21:15:21","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T21:15:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/869430\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T21:15:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T21:15:21","slug":"dallas-cowboys-performance-against-the-consensus-draft-board-in-round-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/869430\/","title":{"rendered":"Dallas Cowboys performance against the consensus draft board in Round 1"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">With just a few days before the 2026 NFL draft, the picture is coming clearer of the Dallas Cowboys draft plans if you trust the pundits. Now more than ever, analysts are projecting the Cowboys to move up into the top ten to land one of the better defensive prospects in the draft. But if they stick and pick, who could be an option?<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">The first round has not been kind to the Cowboys in recent drafts. Tyler Booker was a nice breath of fresh air in 2025, proving to be a quality rookie starter in year one, but both Tyler Guyton and Mazi Smith struggled to make positive impacts in the first few years of their rookie deals in Dallas. Guyton still has hope, Smith is long gone.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">When reviewing the last few draft classes for the Cowboys, CeeDee Lamb and Tyler Smith stick out as home runs. While Smith was not considered a \u201cmust take\u201d at the time, Lamb certainly was. Taking a look at an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wideleft.football\/p\/2026-nfl-draft-consensus-big-board\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NFL Draft Consensus Board<\/a> over the last few years, Lamb is one of the few that stand out.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">In 2025, Tyler Booker was ranked 31st on the consensus board but was taken with the 12th pick. So far the Cowboys look to be right on that one. In 2024, Tyler Guyton was ranked 30th on the consensus board and was taken at 29.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">In 2023, Mazi Smith was ranked 49th on the consensus board, the Cowboys selected him at pick number 26. In 2022, Tyler Smith was ranked 47th on the consensus board but was drafted 24th.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">In 2021, Micah Parsons was ranked 11th on the consensus board and the Cowboys got him at 12. In 2020, CeeDee Lamb was ranked ninth on the consensus board and was picked at 17.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">The book is still out on Tyler Booker, but he and Tyler Smith look like the two major wins for the Cowboys versus the consensus. Tyler Guyton is an incomplete grade so far, but could go down as a miss by the Cowboys and the consensus.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Mazi Smith was a cautionary tale about straying too far from the consensus and letting need take over.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Both Micah Parsons and CeeDee Lamb were major hits, with Parsons about level with the consensus, and Lamb representing a sliding player the Cowboys had to grab.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">If the Cowboys want to get as close to sure-things as they can, they would be wise to not go against the consensus. While it feels like a forgone conclusion the Cowboys will be drafting defensive players with their two first-round picks, given the numerous needs on that side of the ball, they really need to hit on both picks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Do you think Dallas will stick with the consensus on their picks, or will they take a chance on some players if the big-time defender prospects are already gone?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With just a few days before the 2026 NFL draft, the picture is coming clearer of the Dallas&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":824435,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2066],"tags":[230,229,257,437,2461,7,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-869430","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\/116427785746782449","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/869430","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=869430"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/869430\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/824435"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=869430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=869430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=869430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}