FRISCO, Texas — Historically speaking, the Dallas Cowboys have been more than willing to roll the dice on certain picks in the NFL Draft that weren't ready to take the field when their respective rookie season officially got underway a few months later.
Names like Jaylon Smith (2016), Damone Clark (2022) and Shavon Revel (2025) immediately come to mind here.
While Clark and Revel were able to make their NFL debut for the Cowboys at some point in their first year, Smith could not, but, all told, any rookie that might miss a large chunk of the 2026 season isn't one the Cowboys seem interested in using a top pick (if any) on.
The unexpectedly firm stance is one that was initially lobbed to media by owner and general manager Jerry Jones who, speaking from the league meetings in late March, admitted the fact Dallas needs to quickly turnaround its previously franchise-worst defense is a key reason of why there's the team doesn't have the luxury of waiting on a top pick to get healthy.
"We can't redshirt a second-round pick," he said. "We don't have a second-round pick to begin with, but if we got one, we can't redshirt those guys this year. We gotta go… We got to go this year. We got to have it out there, and when we got to be working it this year."
That's telling, and it draws question marks around some top names in this year's draft linked to the Cowboys that are fielding recent injury questions during the pre-draft process:
- Jermod McCoy, CB, Tennessee
- Caleb Banks, DT, Florida
- Akheem Mesidor, EDGE, Miami
- CJ Allen, LB, Georgia
As it stands, McCoy, Mesidor and Allen are all healthy again and the latter just put concerns regarding his knee to bed with an average 40-yard dash time of 4.47s, though Banks' broken metatarsal in his foot, suffered at this year's NFL Combine, required surgery to repair and will likely land him on a team's PUP or NFI list to begin training camp.
How does any of this, be it for those named above or any incoming draft pick, weigh in the minds of the clearly less-forgiving Cowboys nowadays, though?
"We're trying to do all the work that we need to do to get our hands around what [a rookie's] status will be, before we start with everything," executive vice president and director of player personnel Stephen Jones told 105.3 the Fan a little more than a week before the 2026 NFL Draft.
"What his status is for the minicamp, what his status is for training camp, and then, ultimately, will he be able to play a part of the season? None of the season? You know, all those are levels that then we put into it, and decide where we might come down on that particular player."
The front office in Dallas is careful to not use that as the only determinant in scouting a prospect, however, given there are examples of NFL players who missed their final collegiate season due to injury but went on to do big things as a professional.
"There's been a lot of players in this league that miss a year due to injury that really come back and have great careers," Stephen Jones said. "So, I don't know that it's [the only] deciding factor."
More than anything, the Cowboys want to make sure their top picks, if not all of their picks, are carrying an early expectation of being ready for the summer offseason program at best and, at worst, aren't absent for a large chunk of what will be one of the most pivotal seasons in recent memory for the franchise.
"[Potentially missing a] big part of our coming season is probably a bigger factor than somebody who just missed last year," Jones said. "Be ready to go — all ready. Ready to go and start minicamp."
