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Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones missed the chance to draft USC wideout Makai Lemon, who was set to join the Pittsburgh Steelers. Instead, Lemon was picked by the Philadelphia Eagles after a trade with Dallas during the 2026 NFL Draft.
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NFL, American Football Herren, USA Washington Commanders at Dallas Cowboys Jan 5, 2025 Arlington, Texas, USA Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones before the game against the Washington Commanders at AT&T Stadium. Arlington AT&T Stadium Texas USA, EDITORIAL USE ONLY PUBLICATIONxINxGERxSUIxAUTxONLY Copyright: xKevinxJairajx 20250105_krj_aj6_0000326 ©IMAGO/Imagn Images
Dallas Cowboys owner/general manager Jerry Jones pulled off possibly the biggest move in Round 1 of the 2026 NFL Draft. Having already added a great defensive pick by trading up to no. 11, he was on the clock with pick 20. Meanwhile, the Pittsburgh Steelers stood waiting at Pick 21, while general manager Omar Khan was on the phone with USCâs wideout Makai Lemon. The call was just a formality; Lemon was going to be a Steeler. Except Jerry chose that moment to answer a call he was once told to ignore.
While Khan talked to Lemon, Philadelphia Eaglesâ general manager Howie Roseman was executing a trade with Dallas. Philly sent the 23rd, 114th, and 137th picks to Dallas, moving up to the 20th pick and picking Lemon instead. Jerry Jones, when asked afterwards about trading within the NFC East, shared how he sidestepped his old mentor Al Davisâ advice.
Jerry Jones chose to answer a call during the draft instead of focusing on the pick, which led to the Eagles trading up and selecting Lemon.
Al Davis advised Jerry Jones not to answer calls from division rivals to maintain a strategic edge, which Jones ignored during the draft.
Makai Lemon was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles after they traded up to the 20th pick in the 2026 NFL Draft.
The Eagles traded the 23rd, 114th, and 137th picks to the Cowboys to move up and select Makai Lemon.
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âI donât really pay much attention to who Iâm talking to,â Jones said. âAl Davis, probably the first thing he tried to put in my head was, âDonât even answer a call from your division. Jerry, this is all about strategizing against your division opponents because you play them twice and you canât forget that edge there. Thatâs a very strategic edge.â So I didnât take that lesson from Al.â
That advice didnât come from a passing acquaintance. When Jones took over the Cowboys in 1989, Davis â then principal owner and general manager for the Los Angeles / Oakland Raiders â made himself available right from the start.
âHe welcomed me and my family to the NFL 23 years ago and was a trusted friend for all of our time in professional football,â Jones had said in a statement when Davis passed away in 2011.
Davis was hands-on enough that when Jones was still new to the job and considered trading legendary wide receiver Michael Irvin, Davis stepped in and advised Jones against it. Jones had listened at the time. The no-division-trade rule came from the same place â someone who had been in the league long enough to know what it cost you to hand a divisional rival an edge. But Jones has applied the rule only when it suited him.
When the Eagles called about Micah Parsons last season, he shut the door and shipped Parsons to the Green Bay Packers instead. He even had a âpoison-pillâ clause added into the trade, which prevented the Packers from immediately trading Parsons to one of the Cowboysâ divisional rivals. But Jones also has a reference point for going the other way.
NFL, American Football Herren, USA Dallas Cowboys Training Camp Jul 26, 2025 Oxnard, CA, USA Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones observe the playing of the national anthem at training camp opening ceremonies at the River Ridge Fields. Oxnard River Ridge Fields California United States, EDITORIAL USE ONLY PUBLICATIONxINxGERxSUIxAUTxONLY Copyright: xKirbyxLeex 20250726_szo_al2_0236
In 2021, a draft-day swap with Philadelphia let the Eagles take DeVonta Smith while Dallas used the assets to draft Parsons, who spent the next four years as one of the best defensive players in football. Both teams came out ahead at that time. And when Roseman called this time, Jerry saw a similar upside and answered.
The case for the Eagles is also clear. According to ESPN Analyticsâ Draft Predictor, Lemonâs odds of lasting until pick no. 20 were just four percent. He won the Fred Biletnikoff Award last season, posting 79 catches for 1,156 yards and 11 touchdowns. Roseman saw the board shift, knew the Steelers were interested in him, and moved fast.
Pittsburgh didnât lose out on Makai Lemon because they miscalculated. They had him. They lost him because Jerry Jones picked up the phone to make a move no one saw coming. As for Lemon, he was still left processing the swap when he spoke after the draft.
Lemon had been one call away from Pittsburgh, and then suddenly he was an Eagle. But he was happy with the way things turned out.
âI was definitely shocked, definitely,â Lemon said to NBC Sports Philadelphia. âBut I couldnât be even more happy that they did. So, Iâm super blessed. And it was the right time, the right team, and everything worked out just how it was supposed to be.â
Philadelphia gave up three picks to make sure of that. When they were on the clock, they couldnât reach him because Lemon was already talking to the Steelers. It wasnât until one of Lemonâs representatives ran up to him that he realized what was happening. After the draft, this is how Roseman described it:
âWhen we get on the clock, we immediately try to contact the player,â Roseman said. âIt took us a couple of minutes to contact the player and get him on the phone. That hasnât happened very often. The clock got down a little bit lower than we wouldâve liked. But we were able to get in touch with him and obviously select him.â
Lemon is now heading to a team that won Super Bowl LIX two years ago, and still has most of that core intact. Philly moved up three spots to secure him, and did it by going through a division rival. For a receiver, thereâs no clear sign that youâre wanted.
Meanwhile, the Steelers might face some kind of trouble from the league for being on the call with Lemon before they were on the clock. Former Eagles executive Jake Rosenberg raised the question publicly: teams not yet on the clock can contact prospects, but not in a way that blocks the selecting team from reaching their pick. The NFL is expected to investigate as it reviews all draft-week communications.
The reaction forming around Pittsburgh also deserves some pushback. Khan was calling a player he fully expected to draft at pick 21. Thereâs no evidence that the Steelers had any idea Roseman was executing a trade while the Steelers had Lemon on the line. The NFLâs review will come down to one narrow question: Did Pittsburghâs call functionally prevent the Eagles from reaching their pick?
Khan was one pick away, already on the line, already convinced. The Eagles had the trade done before the Steelers knew what hit them. But none of it wouldâve happened in the first place if Jerry Jones let the call go to voicemail.
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