It is often said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. How two people look at something could yield two entirely different points of evaluation. If you think it is worth a lot then you would likely be willing to pay a heavier price than someone who doesn’t. This disposition often comes into play relative to rosters in the NFL, but there are certain rules that make things more objective.
Relative to football and the finances of constructing a roster there are five positions that generally command more money than the others. It pays to be a quarterback, wide receiver, left tackle, edge rusher, or cornerback of serious skill as those positions are inherently more valuable because of the way the game works. You can provide a bigger difference there.
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Value is subjective and filtering it through various forms is a ton of fun.
ESPN placed first-round pick value on certain Cowboys players
The great Bill Barnwell took it upon himself recently to identify how many players on each NFL team carry the value of a first-round pick. The idea here is if said players were to ever be made available in some sort of trade, but obviously a lot of them listed (he did this for every team as noted) would never even reach that point. This is for fun.
In Barnwell’s estimation there are five players on the Cowboys who could fetch a first-round pick and more.
One first-round pick and more: G Tyler Booker, WR CeeDee Lamb, QB Dak Prescott, G Tyler Smith, DT Quinnen Williams. The Cowboys just sent this sort of haul to acquire Williams, and between Booker and Smith, they have the NFL’s best 1-2 punch at guard. Lamb’s contract, which pays the 2020 first-round pick like one of the highest-paid wideouts in the game, might begin to look worrisome if he’s unable to reach the heights we saw in 2023 again sometime soon.
Prescott’s value would be a fascinating discussion in its own right if the Cowboys star ever chose to waive his no-trade clause. His four-year, $240 million extension is the most player-friendly contract in the league, and it’s a product of owner Jerry Jones mishandling Prescott’s initial run toward free agency in 2019 and 2020. I’m not sure other teams see Prescott as that caliber of quarterback, although his consistency on the field would appeal to franchises that haven’t been able to find a steady hand under center.
As noted the Cowboys just paid a similar price to this to acquire Quinnen Williams so you would hope that he would still go for it. Dallas has established themselves as having the best duo of interior linemen in the NFL, Tyler Smith was recently acknowledged as the top one, and both Tylers were first-round picks so this tracks. As far as Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb are concerned they are both top five-ish at their respective positions, and as they play at the money five spots the value speaks for itself.
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The transactional nature of some of these is pretty literal, like with Quinnen Williams given that the Cowboys just paid what they did to acquire him. It is for this same sort of reason that Barnwell also has Cowboys rookies Caleb Downs and Malachi Lawrence as players who could fetch a first-round pick as they obviously just went for one each.
One first-round pick: Edge Malachi Lawrence, S Caleb Downs. Dallas’ two 2026 first-round picks land here. Downs was taken 12 picks ahead of Lawrence, but the latter plays a position teams value at a much higher rate in trades. I believe they’ll both end up as valuable contributors to an improved Cowboys defense this season.
You may be wondering where George Pickens is in this conversation. According to Barnwell, he just misses the cut, and so does kicker Brandon Aubrey.
Missing out: WR George Pickens, K Brandon Aubrey. Pickens might already be on a different team if somebody was willing to deal a first-round pick for the franchised wideout, who will be a free agent after the season. Aubrey’s spectacular leg and ability to extend the potential scoring range by a few yards makes him uniquely valuable among kickers, but I’m not sure any team is paying a first-round pick when they could just try to develop the next Aubrey (or Will Reichard or Cam Little).
Interestingly both Pickens and Aubrey were thrown out as potential trade pieces over the offseason by Cowboys fans given their respective contractual situations with the team. It stands to reason that neither of them could truly yield a first-round pick or else a deal may have been struck, as Barnwell states.
Whatever the case, the fact that the Cowboys have so many players listed in this overall territory is pretty cool. Do you think someone else should be here? Is someone here that shouldn’t be? Let us know in the comments below.
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