The Dallas Cowboys continue to create buzz that the team will explore moving up in the draft. Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer reported the Cowboys have been linked to potentially trading up for Oregon star pass rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux if he slides on draft night. Breer provided an update on the Cowboys rumors adding that he does not see Dallas being willing to move into the top 10.
“I don’t think Kayvon Thibodeaux falls out of the top 10 altogether,” Breer noted on April 27, 2022. “I don’t think Detroit takes him at No. 2, and I’m skeptical that the Jets would at No. 4. Maybe the Panthers would at No. 6 if the tackles are gone. I think the Giants might at No. 7. So if I had to guess, I think he probably lands somewhere in the back half of the top 10.
“I don’t think Dallas makes that kind of move up—to go from 24 into the top 10 would take a haul of picks, and maybe even next year’s 1. But maybe they’d consider something if Thibodeaux somehow dropped into the teens (which I don’t think will happen).”
Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones also relayed that the team would consider trading down from No. 24 if there were several players they still liked remaining on the board. Yet, much of the talk from both Stephen and Jerry Jones has centered around the idea of moving up in the draft.
“It’s impossible to project, but I will say this about the draft, I think it’s very middle-of-the-draft heavy, you know, the third through the fifth round,” Stephen Jones explained during the team’s April 26 pre-draft press conference. “First and second [rounds are] a little more thin than we’re used to, but I still think we’re going to have a great opportunity to really improve our football team.
“Whether it’s at the 24th pick [or] if we decide to make a move to go up then there’s some players that would fit that category that you might be intrigued by. Then there’s always the option that if four or five guys are sitting there that you really think a lot of, then it’s not impossible, you know, we might move down a little bit.”
The Cowboys could also look to move up in the draft to select a receiver given the team’s sizable need at the position. Dallas traded Amari Cooper this offseason, and Michael Gallup could miss the start of the season as he continues to recover from surgery to repair his ACL injury. Without mentioning specific names, Jerry Jones indicated there are some particular prospects that he is willing to move up to select.
“I would trade up this draft,” Jones told reporters on April 13. “And just going in, as much as you can say about it until you see what’s there, who’s on the other line. But yeah, I would trade up since we’re down as low as we are in those first two or three rounds, if we had a chance to and somebody that we had really coveted was sitting at the bottom. [Travis] Frederick was sitting down there at the bottom and we were able to trade up and get him.”
