FRISCO, Texas — The witching hour soon approacheth for the Dallas Cowboys and entire league alike, seeing as the 2025 NFL Draft is a little more than one week away. This means the next several days will have little to nothing to do with interviewing prospects and more so about finalizing the draft board and coming to terms with a variety of potential scenarios.
For the Cowboys, who own the 12th-overall pick in the draft, one such scenario could involve a trade down to recover a fourth-round pick (or the like) after having sent theirs to the Carolina Panthers in exchange for wide receiver Jonathan Mingo, as one example.
But would they entertain moving … up … for anyone?
"I don't necessarily see us moving up, the way the board's coming together," said executive vice president of player personnel Stephen Jones to 105.3FM the Fan on Tuesday.
Jones then leaned into the greater probability of an aforementioned potential move down to begin the Brian Schottenheimer roster era, but it sounds more likely the Cowboys stay put where they are and pull the trigger on a player they view as a future megastar. After all, they've got some experience with hitting big when they swing within the immediate post-top 10 window.
"[I] could see a situation where we'd move down," said Jones. "But you also look at that pick, and we've had some good things happen to us just outside of the top 10 with DeMarcus Ware, Micah Parsons and Zack Martin — Hall of Fame-type players — that fall to you, and you just pick them. That very well could be the case in this draft."
For reference, Ware, Parsons and Martin were selected 11th-overall, 12th-overall and 16th-overall, respectively, though the selection of Parsons was preceded by a trade down that sent the 10th-overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft to the Philadelphia Eagles in exchange for the 12th-overall pick.
The Eagles selected Heisman Trophy winning receiver DeVonta Smith, the Cowboys grabbed Parsons after missing out on Jaycee Horn and Patrick Surtain, and the rest is history.
When they go on the clock this time around on Thursday, April 24, the Cowboys will have a shot at doing something special, but only they know what that'll be; and not until the exact moment when they're faced with making the decision.
