In a recent interview at the 2026 NFL Combine, Stephen Jones addressed the media answering several questions and also throwing out some important information for anyone listening, especially other teams around the league. One hook he recently baited hoping to get a bite may be the statement he made about the Dallas Cowboys being willing to trade one of their first-round draft picks.
As things stand right now, the Cowboys currently have the 12th and 20th overall picks in the first round in the 2026 NFL Draft. There’s already been quite a bit of speculation as to what they should do with those two draft picks and this should only add fuel to the fire. Now that the hook has been baited, Dallas now just has to sit back to see if they get any nibbles.
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All this is a wait-and-see type of situation. As such, it’s good practice to know the Cowboys options with their two first-round picks ahead of time. So, let’s take a quick look at that.
Cowboys’ options with picks 12 and 20
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Stand pat, pick at 12 and 20
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Stand pat at 12, trade 20
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Trade 12, stand pat at 20
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Package 12 and 2o to trade up
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Trade down from both 12 and 20
The Cowboys have a plethora of options they could potentially choose from with their two first-round draft picks. Sadly, there’s simply no way of telling how any of this will play out right now until the draft gets underway. That however could change if they make some sort of pre-draft trade, but again, that’s simply speculation right now and nothing else.
All options are more than likely on the table as things stand right now, however, trading down from 12 seems the least likely because that’s the best chance to land one of the top players in this year’s draft class. With that in mind though, we wanted to explore the possibility of why the Cowboys may be looking to trade down from that spot and how that could potentially come to fruition.
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Which players get drafted with the first 11 selections ahead of the Cowboys will be really important, telling us if they are looking to trade down from 12 or not. There’s a real possibility most, if not all, of the players Dallas could be targeting could already be off the board. That could leave them in a real pickle when they are finally on the clock, looking for a trade partner to move down from 12.
The popular selections for the Cowboys right now with the 12th overall pick in the first round are LB Sonny Styles, CB Mansoor Delane, CB Jermod McCoy, edge Akheem Mesidor, and edge Cashius Howell. There’s a really good chance the first three could be off the board for the Cowboys and both the Mesidor and Howell seem like a little bit of a reach to draft there.
If this is how the situation plays out, what would you do? Would you stick to your board and draft the best player available (BPA), even if it’s an offensive player? Would you reach a little bit knowing you still have another first-round selection only eight picks away? Or, would you try to find a trade partner to move down?
This situation could very well come to fruition for the Cowboys. They’ve likely already run this exact scenario or something similar multiple times to get better understanding of what’s in the best interest of the organization. And, it’s reasonable to believe they’ve likely come to the conclusion trading down could be in their best interest, hence Stephen Jones throwing out a feeler to other teams recently to see who bites.
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It’s going to be really interesting to see how all of this plays out when the draft gets underway in April. All we can do now is sit back and wait to see if Stephen Jones gets any nibbles on the hook he set and which of their two first-round picks gets traded, if any.
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