FRISCO, Texas – The Cowboys elected to bolster their offensive line with the 12th overall pick in the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft, picking up Alabama guard Tyler Booker.
Dallas was working through some potential trade options while they were on the clock, but ultimately decided to take Booker as Brian Schottenheimer continues his push to strengthen Dallas' front five.
"We were number one, thrilled about the young man, the power, the strength," Schottenheimer said. "When you sit down and you visit with this guy, he's an alpha. He knows what he wants, he knows how good he is, he knows how talented he is…"
"We want to own the line of scrimmage, and this is the guy that gives us a chance to do just that with the pieces we have in place."
Part of the decision was the Cowboys looking around at the rest of their division and seeing the defensive tackles they'll have to play twice a year in the Giants' Dexter Lawrence, Philadelphia's Jalen Carter and Jordan Davis amongst others. Now, Dallas feels confident about their three interior linemen in Tyler Smith, Cooper Beebe and Booker.
"We've got some really top defensive tackles in our division," Cowboys COO and co-owner Stephen Jones said. "We can understand that, and we'll be able to move them around now, and you're either going to pick Tyler Smith or Tyler Booker, so good luck."
At the NFL's league meetings in Palm Beach, Schottenheimer said his roster building philosophy revolved around building from the outside in, focusing on players that are in isolated situations like wide receivers, cornerbacks, offensive tackles and edge rushers.
What was it about Booker that made the Cowboys go away from that line of thinking?
"We feel that he's an immediate starter," Schottenheimer said. "A guy that's going to play for a long time at a very high level. He's a guy that can impose his will, he's a guy that's going to impact not just the offensive line, but the team."
The Cowboys brass didn't clarify where Booker would line up on the offensive line, but presumably he'd be Dallas' starting right guard filling in for Zack Martin, who retired in March.
Those are nearly impossible shoes to fill, but Dallas thinks Booker can give them a seamless transition.
"I went back and looked at it, I was talking to Stephen, our grades were similar to what we had to Zack," Cowboys VP of Player Personnel Will McClay said. "And then some of the character traits, there's a lot of things that are very similar."
A lot has been invested into Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott, and the move to draft Booker provides more help and protection for him up front. Dallas still needs to get him some help at the skill positions, but the first building block has been set going into the second day of the draft.
"Unquestionably, I was motivated, we were motivated that it does help our quarterback," Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones said. "It helps our running game, we've had some experience with this… we need to play to our strengths, Dak's a strength."
Dallas holds the 44th and 76th overall picks going into the second and third rounds on Friday, and the Cowboys are confident that they'll bring in more good football players.
"We have more than 12 players that would be worthy of [the 44th] pick," Stephen Jones said. "And we're 12 back, so we should get a good player."
