Post-Draft notes: Where do Dallas Cowboys go at receiver? Amari Cooper reunion?
The NFL Draft is in the rearview mirror, as the Dallas Cowboys made nine selections and added a handful of other college talents in the undrafted market to power closer to its training camp roster.
The team will welcome in the new additions for a rookie minicamp on May 2-3 at The Star in Frisco where they will do a walkthrough practice on Friday before putting the pads on for a Saturday session in front of their new coaches.
While that is going on, the front office and personnel department will continue to work on veteran additions to the team to fill out needs on the roster. Let’s start with that.
Cowboys digging on veteran receiver options
One of the bigger surprises of the draft was Dallas coming out of its nine selections without adding a player to the wide receiver room.
While Arizona wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan was one of the top names on the Cowboys’ draft board going into the first round, he was selected four picks before Dallas went on the clock by the Carolina Panthers. Other options presented themselves throughout the draft, but Dallas decided to not address the position.
ESPN’s Todd Archer reported that the Cowboys had discussions with an AFC North team about trading for a receiver, but the two sides parted ways on those talks ahead of the draft. That report has been confirmed by a Star-Telegram team source.
While attention is still devoted to the trade market, so is the availability of veteran free agents. Intriguing options remain unsigned such as Keenan Allen, Nelson Agholor and Robert Woods. However, there is building team interest in bringing free agent Amari Cooper back for a reunion in Dallas, according to a Star-Telegram team source.
The Cowboys traded a first-round pick for Cooper’s services in 2018 and he remained with the franchise until being traded to the Cleveland Browns ahead of the 2022 season. In 56 games with the team, Cooper hauled in 292 receptions for 3,893 yards and 27 touchdowns.
Team interest is one thing, but the appeal will have to be reciprocated by Cooper if the two sides do, in fact, connect over a second stint with the Cowboys.
High expectations for top picks
While first-round selection Tyler Booker talked to the media on Friday afternoon in his introductory press conference dressed in a tailor-made burgundy suit with his family by his side, his new head coach in Brian Schottenheimer had noticeable tears build up in his eyes to his right.
“I’m just excited for the fans to get a sense of the young man that we’ve brought into our family,” Schottenheimer said. “But it’s not even beginning to resonate just because of the type of competitor he is, and that’s what this guy is, a competitor. So I’m just really happy for him. I’m happy for us. I’m happy for his family.”
Booker is being tasked with filling the shoes of Zack Martin at the right guard position on the offensive line for Dallas, and he’s far from the only pick with a high expectation in front of him.
Despite tearing his ACL last September, third-round selection Shavon Revel Jr. is expected to make his way back onto the field while the team is at training camp in August. The cornerback position continues to draw some concerns about its readiness going into 2025 with Jourdan Lewis’ departure and Trevon Diggs’ ongoing rehab of his own, and now Revel’s health will add to those concerns.
The draft room celebrated a bit harder on Friday night after the selection of Revel, a player the team sees as a second-round talent that they were able to select in the third round. Nicknamed “Condor” by the scouts during the process for his nearly 80-inch wingspan, there is a high hope that Revel will immediately outperform his draft selection.
“That’s a big question for me,” Jerry Jones said about Revel’s injury. “This is the best medical we got about being ready. In other words, he’s better than the guys that we’re counting on being ready that we’ve got on an injury situation. Feel good about it. Feel very good about it.”
A running back competition awaits
For the second year in a row, the Cowboys went into day three of the draft needing to grab a running back. Instead of staying away from the position like they did in 2024, they doubled up on Texas’ Jaydon Blue and Clemson’s Phil Mafah.
Both will immediately insert themselves into a running back competition at training camp that will also include free agent additions Javonte Williams and Miles Sanders along with third-year sixth-round pick Deuce Vaughn.
“We do feel really good,” Stephen Jones said about the position. “We like the two veterans we brought in and we thought the two we picked today complemented each other. We got the explosive really juicy back and then we got the big back.”
The team is expected to go into camp with the players currently on the roster to piece together a position group that will have to answer some preseason questions while in Oxnard. Calif. for training camp.
“I’m willing to do whatever it takes to put the team in the best position,” Blue said. “Whether that’s me coming in as a running back by committee, or me coming in earning the spot and being the guy.”
Blue was thought of highly by the Cowboys going into the draft process, with some offensive coaches having him as high as the third-best running back in the draft, according to a Star-Telegram source.
“I feel like we can complement each other very well,” Mafah said about his pairing with Blue.
A quarterback pick came close
While the Cowboys essentially used their quarterback draft pick on acquiring Joe Milton III from the New England Patriots earlier this month, a couple of options did present themselves on day three during a draft that saw more quarterback controversy than any draft in recent memory.
While the Cowboys did not have any plans on drafting a quarterback after acquiring Milton, as two names slipped, they became more of a consideration for Dallas: Shedeur Sanders and Quinn Ewers.
Sanders is someone that Jerry Jones pounded the table for in Thursday night’s press conference to be drafted by a quarterback-needy team. While conversations did continue behind closed doors, there was an expectation that Dallas would have had to trade back into the fourth round to get him. That obviously never made it further than the concept phase, and Sanders was finally selected with the No. 144 selection by the Cleveland Browns, just five picks before the Cowboys went on the clock for the first time on day three.
Ewers was someone that Schottenheimer saw throw at Texas’ Pro Day back in 2024 for receivers Xavier Worthy and Adonai Mitchell, and he had kept his eye on the DFW-raised signal-caller. His name was another that got thrown around in the draft room on day three, but Dallas resorted to filling needs at other spots. Ewers was finally selected in the seventh round by the Miami Dolphins.
They are expected to invite a quarterback to rookie minicamp this weekend to throw to pass-catchers in a tryout opportunity.
Undrafted class coming together
While the draft is the easiest path toward finding impact players, the Cowboys have found success throughout the franchise’s history in finding talent in the undrafted free agent market. Some of those players include Hall of Famer Drew Pearson, Barry Church, Tony Romo and more. Eleven players that were signed by the Cowboys as an undrafted free agent are currently on the 90-man roster including Terence Steele, Markquese Bell, Hunter Luepke and more.
Dallas has agreed to terms with nine players and is expected to make a handful of other additions before the team’s rookie minicamp this weekend.
Here are the players currently in line to sign with Dallas upon their arrival on Thursday.
- Syracuse S Alijah Clark (agreed to third-richest undrafted contract in the NFL in 2025 class)
- Syracuse LB Justin Barron
- Stephen F. Austin CB Bruce Harmon
- Oregon WR Traeshon Holden (reunites with wide receivers coach Junior Adams who coached him at Oregon)
- Virginia TE Tyler Neville
- Eastern Kentucky DB Mike Smith Jr.
- Auburn TE Rivaldo Fairweather
- Texas Tech WR Josh Kelly
- Kentucky DB Zion Childress
This story was originally published April 28, 2025 at 1:54 PM.
