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FRISCO, Texas — This year's free agency spree was far more active in Dallas than the Cowboys usually allow, but not every box was checked, as they're readily admitted time and again going into the 2026 NFL Draft; and it's time for my one and only mock draft to try and predict how they might, could and probably should take their roster over the top.
A swift turnaround is required by the defense, now led by Christian Parker and a slew of new position and assistant coaches on that side of the ball. A full rebuild is in-progress, one could rightfully say, and with two first-round picks in-hand, there's plenty of ammunition to do something special on Day 1.
Top draft needs (unranked): LB, DB, EDGE, OT, TE (depth), WR (depth)
Help is needed at every level of the defense, one example being that while it's possible DaRon Bland can return to great form, his nagging foot injury gives pause. It's possible Shavon Revel will be amazing with a healthy offseason and Parker's tutelage in Year 2, but that can't be guaranteed.
The addition of Cobie Durant is solid, but it's a one-year deal. Caelen Carson is still working to find his footing in Year 4, and Josh Butler, while I love his potential, isn't enough to make me pass on a top cornerback if one is staring me in the face. And that's just one position, with others that have to be addressed as well, but not every one of them is on defense.
So, let's see what I can cook up this time around — shall we draft?
Cowboys, you're officially on the clock for my one-and-ONLY annual mock draft.
Historical Science Lab Mock Draft Wins
2026 Current Draft Selection Order (8)
- Round 1: 12th-overall
- Round 1: 20th-overall
- Round 3: 92nd-overall (via 49ers)
- Round 4: 112th-overall
- Round 5: 152nd-overall
- Round 5: 177th overall (compensatory)
- Round 5: 180th-overall (compensatory)
- Round 7: 218th-overall
2026 Final Mock Draft Selection Order (10)
- Round 1: 12th-overall
- Round 1: 28th-overall*
- Round 2: 59th-overall (via Texans)*
- Round 3: 92nd-overall (via 49ers)
- Round 4: 112th-overall
- Round 5: 152nd-overall
- Round 5: 177th overall (compensatory)
- Round 6: 205th-overall (via Lions)* Round 6: 213th-overall (via Lions)*
- Round 7: 218th-overall
Highlights of 2026 Mock Draft
- *DAY 1 TRADE: 20th-overall to HOU, 28th-overall + 59th-overall to DAL
- **DAY 3 TRADE: 180th-overall to DET, 205th-overall + 213th-overall to DAL
Day 1
1. Mansoor Delane, CB
- Pick: 12th-overall, Round 1
- School: LSU
- Pre-draft interest: Official 30 visit
- Honors: Unanimous All-American (2025)
Delane falling out of top-10 is a coup and I'm not looking a gift horse in the mouth. He's gotten better every single season in college, be it at Virginia Tech or following his transfer to LSU. Delane is telepathic in how he reads routes, and his athleticism makes him elite in zone while his physicality allows him to excel in press man, and with the speed to stay on the hip of speedy WRs.
Yeah, I couldn't run in this card fast enough at 12th-overall, potentially creating a dynamic where Delane can tandem with Revel as the long-term future at boundary corner in Dallas.
Note: There was an early run on blue-chip pass rushers, and both Caleb Downs and Sonny Styles were gone (Giants took Styles and then Carnell Tate with their two first-round picks) making this an easy decision for me: give me the best cornerback in this class and one that could be the franchise at the position for the next several years to come.
2. CJ Allen, LB
- TRADE! 20th-overall to HOU, 28th-overall + 59th-overall to DAL
- Pick: 28th-overall, Round 1
- School: Georgia
- Pre-draft interest: NFL Combine (formal), Pro Day
- Honors: First-team All-SEC (2025), Consensus All-American (2025), 2x SEC Champion (2024, 2025)
Having lost out on Sonny Styles, I gladly took Allen for what the Cowboys needed at the linebacker position, and I gained a second-round pick while doing it (*insert evil laugh here*), and one that reunites with a former Georgia coach turned Cowboy: Chidera Uzo-Diribe; though he'll be handed off to Scott Symons at the NFL level.
As cerebral a football mind as you'll ever see, Allen's IQ at the position is so high that he wasn't simply the green dot at Georgia for Kirby Smart and defensive coordinator Glenn Schumann. Allen literally called all of the defensive plays on the field, also performing at a high level despite battling a knee injury in 2025.
He's fully healthy now though, evidenced by his 4.47s average 40-yard dash in his pre-draft workout in April, also putting to bed speculation that he's somehow slow — an accusation film never consistently supported in the first place. As a related sidenote, his spider graph is lacking measurables due to his decision to not workout at the NFL Combine. Allen with DeMarvion Overshown and Shemar James is a great start at making sure the LB position is fixed going forward but, as it turned out, I wasn't done there in this draft.
Day 2
3. Anthony Hill Jr., LB
- Pick: 59th-overall, Round 2
- School: Texas
- Pre-draft interest: Dallas Day visit
- Honors: 2x First-team All-SEC (2024, 2025), Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year (2023), Freshman All-American (2023), 2x Second-team All-American (2024, 2025)
Entering this draft, the Cowboys have no second-round pick and that simply will not do for a defense that needs so many reinforcements that can make an impact fairly quickly.
Allen helps solve that issue at linebacker, and Anthony Hill Jr. still being on the clock with the 59th-overall pick — no run on LBs having occurred to this point in the mock draft, thankfully — gave me a ready-made double down at the position, and with one of the best athletes in the draft. Hill's ability to get after the passer in blitz packages, to defend the run and to play sideline-to-sideline in coverage is more than enough to bring the hometown kid back to Dallas.
It also unites him with another former No. 0 out of Texas, Overshown, who mentioned on X (formerly known as Twitter) that Hill "will be a steal" in this year's draft. Whether I stole the three-down inside linebacker or not, based upon the board of draftniks around the world, is up for debate; but what can't be argued, in my opinion, is the fact he and Allen effectively and collectively check the LB box the Cowboys failed to in free agency.
I task the coaching staff with making sure he keeps his pads low to avoid missing a tackle or two, my biggest knock to his game, at times.
4. Zakee Wheatley, S
- Pick: 92nd-overall, Round 3
- School: Penn State
- Pre-draft interest: NFL Combine (informal), Pro Day
- Honors: Fiesta Bowl Defensive MVP (2024)
I know what you're thinking: the Cowboys signed Jalen Thompson and P.J. Locke, so why use a third-round pick on the safety position? I counter with a question of my own: How long is Locke's current contract? It's of the one-year variety and, is Malik Hooker the future at the free safety position in Dallas? He's in a contract season and will be 31 next year.
All of this is to say, as Thompson prepares to be strong safety and a versatile nickel guy as needed, and Juanyeh Thomas now in Indy, the safety position is in need of both depth and a future long-term starter.
I do believe Wheatley has the potential to be that, and at free safety, in Dallas. This is a prospect that allowed only 36 passing yards in coverage in 2025, and was good enough to get Official 30 invites from multiple teams. His ability to cover deep is exceptional and his wingspan frustrates receivers at the point of attack, his run defense is some of the best in the class and he's no stranger to performing under the bright lights.
Day 3
5. Mason Reiger, EDGE
- Pick: 112th-overall, Round 4
- School: Wisconsin
- Pre-draft interest: Pro Day
- Honors: East-West Shrine Bowl Defensive MVP (2026)
I truly cringed when the run on EDGE rushers began in the first round, but I wasn't going to force the issue in a class I believe has some depth to it. When it came time to go on the clock at 112th-overall, my blinking light was Mason Reiger who, unironically, was my No. 1 prospect for the Cowboys during the East-West Shrine Bowl at The Ford Center in late January, where the former Badger went on to win Defensive MVP in that contest.
Reiger is neither lacking for motor, ability nor athleticism. He graded out as a 9.65 out of 10 on the Relative Athletic Scale, and I believe he's tailor-made to be an outside linebacker for Christian Parker and Chidobe Uzo-Diribe, lining him up wide giving him an opportunity to succeed time and again with his twitch.
What I'd like to see is Reiger add a bit of muscle mass to help defend the edge against the run better, but be smart about it and don't lose the gifts that got him here in the first place.
Reiger joining Rashan Gary and a healthy Donovan Ezeiruaku gives Marist Liufau a chance to acclimate — James Houston emerging as a contributor as well — and go ahead and re-sign Jadeveon Clowney post-draft to help push Sam Williams.
6. Malik Benson, WR
- Pick: 152nd-overall, Round 5
- School: Oregon
- Pre-draft interest: East-West Shrine Bowl, NFL Combine (formal)
Six picks into the 2026 NFL Draft, it's time to address the offensive side of the ball, and that's where Malik Benson comes in for me. The WR position seems set atop the depth chart, sure, with George Pickens' Pro Bowl season being followed by a franchise tag and Ryan Flournoy having a breakout season of his own in 2025.
Things are unsettled behind those three, however, and the Cowboys would hate to find that out in the event of some sort of injury. Benson is a 6-foot, 189 lb. turbocharged former Duck that has plenty of familiarity with one Cowboys' position coach in particular: wide receivers' coach Junior Adams, former co-offensive coordinator/wide receivers coach at Oregon.
The interest from the Cowboys is there, as it should be, for a receiver with a career-best 719 receiving yard and six touchdowns in a high-powered Oregon offense in 2025. A 4.37s speedster that can take the top off of defenses and his ball-tracking and ability to contort his body to bring deep passes in is a thing of beauty. Coach some run protection into Benson and he could be special.
7. Kage Casey, OT
- Pick: 177th-overall, Round 5
- School: Boise State
- Honors: 2x First-team All-Mountain West (2024, 2025), Second-team All-Mountain West (2023)
Keeping on the offensive side of the ball, there's a question to be answered at left tackle, the blindside of Dak Prescott (kind of important to answer it, I'd say). Tyler Guyton needs to remain healthy, something he knows and needs to make good on, because his progress has been stalled far too often by injury in his first two seasons.
Tyler Smith wants to stay at left guard, and the Cowboys want to keep him there, but they'll move him to left tackle if they need to, as they did in December when Guyton and Nate Thomas weren't available. And speaking of Thomas, he'll need to prove what he showed in last year's training camp and in-season wasn't a fluke.
One of the most important positions on the field being unsettled makes my guts bubble, to be honest, and I love what Casey might bring to the equation out of a program the Cowboys once had a stellar pipeline into. Casey logged more than 2,700 snaps for the Broncos but allowed zero sacks and only six pressures in 2024 and, in 2025, delivered a run block grade of 80.0 and a pass block grade of 80.1 — the definition of balance, and with an anchor that won't budge and hands that just won't quit.
Sign me up and I promise it's not because his first name doesn't have a C in it.
8. Domani Jackson, CB
- TRADE! 180th-overall to DET, 205th-overall + 213th-overall to DAL
- Pick: 205th-overall, Round 6
- School: Alabama
- Pre-draft interest:
The last time the Cowboys drafted a cornerback out of Alabama, it worked out exceedingly well for them, at least for the duration of the rookie contract. Trevon Diggs is no longer in Dallas, his career having been lessened by injury, but Jackson would probably love a go at it himself.
I stared at this pick until there were just 10 seconds left on my clock, torn between Jackson and Ephesians Pryscock out of Washington but, at the end of the day, I deferred to my board that has Jackson rated higher, but it was admittedly a close call that I'm comfortable with the result of.
Jackson is a burner in a straight line and has the quickness to keep with inside breaks off of the top of routes. Also, and this is equally key, the former Roll Tide cornerback is a menace physically, a huge fan of press coverage and rattling the jaw of ball carriers, and he has the length to force receivers to go where they might not want to on routes. Unlike Diggs, Jackson's athleticism hasn't translated yet into gobs of interceptions, and if Christian Parker can unlock that part of his game — look out.
My trade with the Lions was to go from having three fifth-round picks and no sixth-rounders to having two fifth-rounders and two sixth-rounders to allow me to give both the defense and the offense a high-ceiling flier pick before the draft concluded (see next selection for clarity).
9. Dallen Bentley, TE
- Pick: 213th-overall, Round 6
- School: Utah
- Pre-draft interest:
- Honors: Third-team All-Big 12 (2025)
Being mostly set at a position isn't the same as being entirely set. At tight end, Jake Ferguson is a two-time Pro Bowler on a new contract at TE1, but nothing is settled behind him. Luke Schoonmaker is a former second-round pick entering a contract year looking to prove himself in Year 4, and Brevyn Spann-Ford is definitely making a push for the TE2 role in the future, but even if he secures it, he's a restricted free agent in 2026, and who'll be TE3?
Bentley has the ability to answer that question while challenging Bentley for TE2 reps, a prototypical NFL tight end that is also more athletic than his size would imply, scoring a 9.31 Relative Athletic Score. He can block in-line as well, something the Cowboys will love in support of Javonte Williams and the run game, as well as protecting Prescott at times.
His hands are dipped in Flex Seal, by the way, registering zero drops (that was a major issue of the Cowboys' offense over the past two seasons) and had a breakout season at Utah last year, to the tune of 600 yards and six touchdowns.
Bentley won't stretch the field often, but his bully demeanor, athleticism, surehandedness and consistency in the passing attack should do nicely in the capable hands of tight ends coach Lunda Wells and with Prescott at quarterback.
10. Jeff Caldwell, WR
- Pick: 218th-overall, Round 7
- School: Cincinnati
- Honors: All-conference (2024), Second-team All-American (2024), Walter Payton Award finalist (2024)
First of all, look at that spider graph and tell me that web isn't not a scene from Spider-Man: Brand New Day.
Second, what's better than one wide receiver that's fast as hell? Two, of course. Malik Benson can torch defenses downfield, and so can Caldwell, the latter actually being a bit faster than the former — winning out with a 4.31s 40-yard dash in pre-draft workouts. And seeing projections for Caldwell as high as the sixth-round makes him a steal for me in the seventh, please and thank you.
Caldwell's downside is his lack of big game experience, having only 13 games under his belt at Cincinnati, but he made the most of those opportunities with six touchdowns to go along with 478 receiving yards in 2025. A transfer out of Lindenwood, where he spent his first three seasons of collegiate football, Caldwell was named First-team All-OVC–Big South in 2023.
He was just getting started, his 2024 season featuring a breakout 1,032 yards and 11 touchdowns en route to all-conference honors, also a Second-team All-American and finalist for the Walter Payton Award given to the most outstanding offensive player in the FCS. He'd parlay that into a transfer to Cincinnati and, by the way, he was also named as one of "Freaks List", capable of topping 22 mph in a straight line and scoring a perfect 10 out of 10 on the Relative Athletic Score scale, and I'd rather not risk losing him in undrafted free agency.
And, with that science, the Cowboys are no longer on the clock .. in this mock … but buckle up because the real life party gets started on April 23 in Pittsburgh, so let's see if they can work some magic when it matters most.
