Mickey Spagnola

FRISCO, TexasIn 1984, Wendy's came out with the popular TV commercial slogan, "Where's the beef?"

Well, very fitting for the Dallas Cowboys in preparing for this 2025 NFL Draft to ask, "Where's the depth?"

Sure, most everyone wants to know what in the world will the Cowboys do with the 12th pick in the first round come April 24, this year the physical draft actually being held in Green Bay, Wisconsin, where a Draft Theater is being built outside Lambeau Field. And even though this will be the end of April, hope they'll have heat in that structure.

We already know what the Cowboys needs are, and that hasn't changed. Even if they have acquired in free agency or by trade 11 new players, along with re-signing six of their own free agents, two of their restricted free agents and three of their exclusive-rights free agents.

And in no particular order, we're talking about needs at wide receiver, cornerback, running back, defensive line (inside and out), linebacker and offensive line. That about covers it, doesn't it?

But what to do what to do in the first round at No. 12, matching their highest position (Micah Parsons, 2021) since selecting Ezekiel Elliott at No. 4 in 2016.

Now, it's clich to say that when you're at the mercy of what the 11 teams ahead of you do, just go BPA Best Player Available no matter the position. But there is a little more strategy to that when, as the Cowboys do, there are so many needs.

That's when the depth of the draft comes into play. Like, having to project what are the deepest positions in the draft. Because if there is a plethora of players at a particular position worthy of becoming selections in the first two rounds, and there is another position with very little depth, meaning might not be there to select a good one in the second round, then depth might dictate who you take in the first round.

And from COO and co-owner Stephen Jones at last week's NFL Meetings, when the topic of depth in this draft came up, here is what he had to say:

"There is some depth in this draft, certainly the defensive line, both outside and inside. We think there is really good depth (overall). I think the running back group is really stout, compared to past years, so I think there is a great opportunity to pick up a young back."

Well, let's look at an example since the Cowboys have three picks in the top 76 of the first three rounds. According to Dane Brugler's top 100 in his annual "The Beast" draft guide, he's ranked 10 defensive tackles in the top 76, 10 defensive ends in the top 52, five running backs in the top 60, six cornerbacks in the top 51 and six wide receivers in the top 44.

Thus, the juggling act with the Cowboys drafting at 12, 44 and 76 over the first three rounds. And according to Brugler's rankings, finding a talented defensive tackle in the third round is a good possibility for the Cowboys and a defensive end within the second round. Same with the running backs, five of those guys stretching over the first two rounds, with the cornerbacks and wide receivers not as plentiful over those two rounds.

Thus, a juggling act at times of what position to select in the first round but having a good idea of what position of talent still might be plentiful in the second and maybe the third round.

Yep, "Where's the depth?" a consideration.

• Asterisk, Please:A lot has been made of the Cowboys acquiring Joe Milton III in a trade with New England for a fifth-round draft choice, and that in the only game played last year by the Patriots' sixth-round pick, he completed what appears to be an impressive 22 of 29 passes for 241 yards, one touchdown and a QB rating of 111.4. Not bad, right? But we must point out in his 23-16 win, Milton didn't actually start in the game that the Bills didn't try much to win. Drake Maye actually started, played three plays and was lifted after he got sacked on the third play. And the Bills barely played any of their defensive starters in the game. Like defensive end Von Miller played just three snaps. Defensive starters like Ed Oliver, Matt Milano, DaQuan Jones, Terrell Benard, Christan Benford and Greg Rousseau didn't even play. Again, let's tap the brakes here.

• Happy Birthday:Cowboys Pro Bowl wide receiver CeeDee Lamb turned all of 26 on Tuesday. And get this, Lamb, the Cowboys' first-round draft choice in 2021, has the fourth-most career receiving yards by the age of 25 during his first four seasons (5,145) in NFL history. The only players by the age of 25 with more are Justin Jefferson (5,899), Ja'Marr Chase (5,425) and Randy Moss (5,396). Not bad company.

• Sleeping on the Corner:Now this guy might not be a first-round draft choice, but don't go to sleep on East Carolina cornerback Shavon Revel Jr., ranked the sixth-best corner in the 2025 Dallas Cowboys Star Magazine Draft Guide, which, by the way, is now available in print and online. Revel, who played three seasons at East Carolina after a year at Louisburg (N.C.) Junior College, played but three games this past year after suffering a torn ACL in practice and was unable to perform at the NFL Scouting Combine nor a Pro Day. But the Cowboys should know all about Revel since Cowboys lead orthopedic surgeon Dr. Dan Cooper performed his surgery in early October. The 6-2, 194 corner ran a 4.4-second time in the 40 at the ECU prospect camp after working the night shift at Amazon, had a 39-inch vertical and 11-foot broad jump. Quite athletic, and the Cowboys have been known to take a second-round chance on talented draft choices coming off an injury. Saw one ranking where Revel was the fourth-ranked corner behind Travis Hunter, Jahdae Barron and Will Johnson. That's Revel, Junior.

• The Other Sanders:So all the draft attention seems to be surrounding Colorado head coach Deion Sanders and son quarterback Sheduer Sanders. But back during the Big 12 Pro Day workouts out here at Ford Center, my good buddy David Smoak on his 365 Sports podcast had an interview with his other son, Shilo Sanders, the Colorado safety who likely will be a late round or undrafted free agent signing in this draft. Pretty funny guy. Topic of 40-yard dashes came up, and we all know Deion claims he runs "a 4.2 for breakfast." Shilo laughs and digs his dad, "I haven't seen no proof of it, but the thing is he was talking about it, 'Man, I run 4.2 for breakfast. I run 4.2 and don't have to stretch or nothing.'" So Shilo was picking his dad's brain on how he trained for his 40, and Shilo says Deion goes, "Son, I didn't train for nothing." Shilo said then someone online pointed out to him his dad ran tack at Florida State. "So that is what he was doing. He had some speed training, too." Great when your kids grow old enough to give you, uh, some stuff.

• Other Stuff:The Cowboys continue rolling the dice on low-risk, low-salary players, coming to terms with offensive lineman Shaahdiq Charles, an 18-game starter with Washington over his four-year career who earned the starting guard spot for the Titans last year before unexpectedly retiring for personal reasons. So can't hurt to take a look, knowing they need some veteran backups at least on that line at guard and tackle A soon as quarterback Trey Lance signed with the Chargers last week, reports came out the one-year deal was worth "up to" $6.2 million, probably a great exaggeration by his agent since now the real base revealed is $2.045 million for a QB of little experience and, at the moment, no more than the Chargers' third quarterback behind starter Justin Herbert and backup Taylor Heinicke See where Cowboys former 2021 third-round draft choice Nahshon Wright, who was traded last year to Minnesota for Andrew Booth and ended up on the Vikings' practice squad, has been released, with Booth hanging on the Cowboys' soon-to-be 90-man roster by a thread Be interesting to see how teams judge Texas defensive tackle Alfred Collins, who reportedly was to visit with the Texans and Cowboys but had missed his Texas Pro Day workout while still in a walking boot with what has been classified as a "minor calf strain."

Even though the Cowboys have traded for Milton, now at least having two healthy quarterbacks able to participate when the offseason workouts begin next week out here at The Star, Cowboys new head coach Brian Schottenheimer has been keeping a keen eye on these draftable QBs, having seen Ohio State quarterback Will Howard and Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart throw at their Pro Days. Schottenheimer also will continue to monitor those available free-agent veteran quarterbacks as the potential backup, but thought it interesting his views on evaluating quarterbacks.

So here is this week's last word from Schotty from the NFL Meetings:

"The thing that I love, that when you are evaluating the quarterback, you've got to go to the film. When we had the first pick in the draft in 2004 (with the Chargers), and we were going through the process trying to figure out if we were going to take Eli Manning, Philip Rivers, who else was there, Roethlisberger I think, we went, we did all the private workouts and everything. And I asked Philip Rivers after we drafted him (draft day trade of Eli Manning to the Giants for Rivers), I said, 'Hey, how did you do with your Pro Day?' and he said, 'Pfff, I killed it.' I said, 'What do you mean?' He said, 'I could have thrown that workout with my eyes shut.' He goes, 'It's so well-rehearsed,' which it should be, right?

"But it's so well-rehearsed, you know when you go in there for a Pro Day, they know I'm throwing a hitch to the right to this guy, throwing a hitch to John. Hey, I'm throwing a slant over here. I'm going to fake left, go right, throw a back-shoulder. They could do it in their sleep.

"I think with quarterbacks specifically, it's more about the game film and the makeup, the type of leader that they are."

And that right there is about as honest a shot as you can get.