NFC Draft Performance Assessments 2025
The Lions go Tantric, Jerry Jones goes woke, the Falcons see double and Howie Roseman plays draft-pick pinochle. Assessments for all 16 NFC teams!
These are not draft grades. They are Draft Performance Assessments (DPAs). They are like draft grades, but 3000% better because they accurately reflect how subjective and superficial this whole process is they have a fancy name and a scientific veneer. And sub-categories; most readers actually find those helpful.
The AFC DPAs are still baking and will be published bright and early on Tuesday morning.
NFC East
Dallas Cowboys
Improved Roster: A-
Used Resources Well: B
Met Needs: C (no WR/TE help)
Final DPA: B
This draft haul was … Normal? Sane? Clearly the work of a professional scouting department rather than a cranky codger with bourbon stains on his bathrobe?
Tyler Booker felt like a reach with the 12th pick, but the Cowboys have an outstanding track record with first-round offensive linemen, particularly those whose names begin with “Ty.”
Productive, consistent Donovan Ezeiruaku is a heck of a bookend for Micah Parsons to find midway through the second round. The third round was the perfect place for toolsy midmajor ACL-case Shavon Revel; the Cowboys secondary will be stacked if he hits.
The end of Day Three was a five-boom Costco shopping spree. The Cowboys even drafted two running backs (Jaydon Blue and Phil Mafah) in their proper Day Three spots; Blue could end up as the pass-catcher in their backfield committee.
So, Jerrah: what do you think of the new Cowboys? You know, from a character standpoint?
These guys are influencers with their work ethic and with their understanding of, what's the word for it today? Woke. Seriously. What is that? That's having good instinct. That's looking ahead. That's understanding, that's caring when maybe others don't. Some woke. These guys, all of them really, they've demonstrated that they've got the ability to not only feel it but use it to help their teams.
Oh, now I get it! The Cowboys have become so bugnuts that they worked their way back to sanity via the scenic route! It’s like drinking yourself sober! If anyone could do so, it was bound to be Jerrah.
New York Giants
Improved Roster: B
Used Resources Well: C-
Met Needs: D-
Final DPA: C-
Two thoughts on the Jaxson Dart trade/choice/disaster:
The Giants either chose Dart because a) they have horrendous taste in QBs; b) Brian Daboll realized he would be insta-fired the first time he threw a red-faced tantrum at Shedeur Sanders (a league-wide realization which now defines Sanders’ career); or c) John Mara demanded a Fake Eli to satisfy his fetish. Or all three. Probably all three.
Trading up gave the Giants a fifth-year option on Dart’s rookie contract. That would be great if the Giants had not failed to exercise Daniel Jones’ fifth-year option before his flicker-of-competence in his fourth season, then signed him to a $160-million albatross in a daze of panicky wishful thinking. The Giants can’t have nice things, because they ruin them.
Trading up for Dart cost the Giants a third-round pick. They used their other third-rounder on DT Darius Alexander, who spent six seasons at Toledo. Alexander has some fancy footwork and handwork, but as a 24-year-old from a midmajor, he’ll likely max out as a rotation player.
Abdul Carter is awesome. Alexander should be OK. Cam Skattebo is a fun tackle-dragger who can also contribute in what will be a very robust screens-and-dumpoffs game. But the Giants just improved their defensive line (traditionally their only good unit), turned quarterback into a multiple-choice quiz with three wrong answers and failed to find any real help for Malik Nabors. They are going to be bad in a very familiar way in 2025.