NFL Draft 1st round winners and losers: Look out, the Cowboys made the best pick in the draft

Caleb Downs of Ohio State celebrates after being selected by the Cowboys on Thursday night. (Photo by Emilee Chinn/Getty Images)

(Emilee Chinn via Getty Images)

And if that’s all the Cowboys did, it would have been a good night. Dallas wasn’t done. They traded down three spots with the Eagles from No. 20 to No. 23, collecting picks 114 and 137 while shipping off a seventh rounder, 218th overall. The Cowboys moved up to No. 11 in the first round and somehow, by the end of the round, ended up with better draft capital than they started with. That’s how you work a draft.

With the 23rd pick, the Cowboys drafted UCF defensive end Malachi Lawrence, a big and explosive edge rusher who can help the defense right away.

The Cowboys have done well to fix their defense this offseason, starting with firing coordinator Matt Eberflus and hiring Eagles passing game coordinator and defensive backs coach Christian Parker to replace him. They have added defensive ends Rashan Gary and Lawrence, safeties Jalen Thompson and Downs and get a full season from defensive tackle Quinnen Williams. The Cowboys offense will be very good as long as George Pickens is engaged on the franchise tag, and certainly that’s a concern. But if that works itself out and the defensive additions click, the Cowboys will be dangerous.

The Cowboys haven’t had ultimate success in a long, long time. Cowboys haters will remind you often that the 1995 season was the last time they reached the conference championship round. But they usually do pretty well in the draft, and they nailed it on Thursday night.

Here are the rest of the winners and losers from the first round of the NFL Draft:

WINNERS

Ty Simpson: The Los Angeles Rams’ side of the Simpson pick will be debated. They could have taken one of a number of players who would help them now as they chase a Super Bowl. Simpson had just one season of being a starter in college and some questions about his level as a prospect.

But it’s hard to argue that Simpson fell into the right situation.

Going to a team like the Jets or Cardinals, who never get quarterback right and would have jammed Simpson into the starting lineup too early, would have likely led to a terrible result. The Rams can let Simpson sit and learn. In a perfect world, Simpson won’t play a meaningful snap for the Rams all season. And he’s a rare first-round quarterback who needs to sit and learn, after just 15 college starts. That’s a good match.

Organizations fail quarterbacks way more often than the other way around, the saying goes. Many of teams that could have picked Simpson might have put him in a bad spot. The Rams’ choice will be debated, but the braintrust of Les Snead and Sean McVay deserve the benefit of the doubt. And if Simpson is going to turn into a top-end NFL starter, he fell into the right spot to make that happen.

Aaron Glenn: The New York Jets coach enters this season on the hot seat. But he’ll have some help to get off it.

Glenn had to be pleased when the Jets chose Texas Tech pass rusher David Bailey with the second overall pick, selecting him over Ohio State edge/linebacker Arvell Reese. Reese might have a higher upside, but Bailey helps more right now. That’s good for Glenn.

Then the Jets got two offensive pieces later in the round. They took Oregon tight end Kenyon Sadiq with the 16th pick and then traded back up into the first round to take Indiana receiver Omar Cooper Jr. with the 29th pick when Cooper fell a bit. The offense needed to add some firepower and got it.

It helps to have a good draft when you start it with four picks in the top 44. But the Jets got a nice haul on the first night. Glenn has some young talent to work with. Now he has to show he can develop it.

Whoever the Cardinals’ next QB will be: The Arizona Cardinals taking a running back at third overall, when they had significant needs up and down the roster, is questionable. But it’s hard to say they will regret having Jeremiyah Love for the forseeable future.

Love is a dynamic player and in a draft class that wasn’t that strong, was a fine reach at No. 3. And whoever the Cardinals draft at quarterback in 2027 will be in a good place. They have Love, Marvin Harrison Jr., Michael Wilson and Trey McBride at the skill positions. That’s a lot of fantastic young talent. This season might be uneven with Jacoby Brissett likely to start at quarterback, and Love might have some Ashton Jeanty-type rookie struggles as teams load up the box against him, but a foundation is being set on the Arizona offense.

AJ Brown, if he wants out: When the Eagles sent late picks in a trade with the Packers for Dontayvion Wicks, it was viewed as a sign Brown would be traded. If that was a sign, Thursday night was a blaring alarm.

The Eagles traded up to draft USC receiver Makai Lemon with the 20th overall pick. Now it seems inevitable Brown will be traded. A post-June 1 trade of Brown has been anticipated, presumably to the Patriots. The Lemon pick seems to confirm that. Lemon will have a hard time replacing Brown, one of the best receivers in the NFL, but the Eagles were proactive to make sure they didn’t leave a huge hole in the offense if they do move Brown.

LOSERS

Rueben Bain Jr., but not the Buccaneers: Bain was considered a possibility to go as high as No. 2 overall as the offseason started. He had to be surprised to slip to the 15th pick.

Probably not as surprised as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The Buccaneers came into the NFL Draft with a clear need at edge rusher, but couldn’t have dreamed that Bain would be available at No. 15. When the Baltimore Ravens made the reasonable decision to pass Bain to take guard Olaivavega Ioane, the Buccaneers couldn’t have had a moment of hesitation. The Bain pick was a perfect match of need and talent. Bain might have slipped a bit due to his arms being shorter than usual for an edge rusher and his involvement in a fatal 2024 car crash, but the talent is undeniable. Bain was a game changer at Miami. The Buccaneers hope he replicates that in the pros.

The Giants’ glut of edge rushers: The New York Giants have an issue that other teams would take. They have too many edge rushers.

When the Giants drafted Abdul Carter third overall last year, there was a question of how he, Brian Burns and Kayvon Thibodeaux, the fifth pick of the 2022 draft, could all fit together. And then on Thursday, the Giants added Arvell Reese to the mix.

The Giants got great value on Reese at fifth overall. Reese played linebacker and was a part-time pass rusher at Ohio State, but he has said he considers himself an edge rusher entering the NFL. The Giants said Thursday they plan to use Reese at inside linebacker and weak-side linebacker, via Dan Duggan of The Athletic, though it will be hard to keep him from being a full-time edge rusher if he flashes there early in his career. It could mean Thibodeaux gets squeezed out, because it’s very unlikely Burns, Carter or Reese goes anywhere.

It’s a good problem to have. The Giants will figure out what to do with Reese. They weren’t passing on one of the better values of the first round.

Safeties: Safety might be the new running back.

Even though players like Kyle Hamilton and Nick Emmanwori were clearly underdrafted and have become very valuable defenders in the NFL, there hasn’t been a revolution at safety. The position is still undervalued. Caleb Downs might be the best player in the draft, and he fell to No. 11. Oregon’s Dillon Thieneman was raved about by draft analysts, and he had to wait until No. 25 to be picked. The Chicago Bears made a great pick there to take Thieneman. Toledo’s Emmanuel McNeil-Warren is another versatile playmaker at safety, and it’s arguable he was the best player to not be picked in the first round. Some team will get a nice steal with him early in the second round.

Offenses are highlighting scheme versatility, gradually incorporating more multiple tight end sets to attack defenses that got smaller to defend spread attacks. A good way to counter that is with safeties that can do it all. The Cowboys and Bears seem to understand that.

Titans’ reach on Carnell Tate: Ty Simpson was the most surprising pick of the first round. Tate wasn’t far behind.

Among all the reputable mock drafts, none had Tate going in the top four. The Tennesee Titans didn’t care, selecting the Ohio State receiver ahead of Arvell Reese, among others.

Maybe the Titans will be vindicated. Tate comes from a school that has done very well producing NFL receivers. But nobody saw him as a prospect on the same level as some of the receivers recently selected in the top five. Many thought Jordyn Tyson was the true WR1 in the class. But the Titans had conviction. Now Tate has to prove them right.