Way-Too-Early Cowboys 2025 Mock Draft 2.0: 3-round assault tabs Prescott heir, RB, WR

The Dallas Cowboys signed Dak Prescott to a four-year, $240 million extension right before the season started. It ended a long, tedious waltz that grew from a bad place, the 2020 and 2021 franchise tags and extension where the quarterback never blinked. For the second consecutive series of negotiations, the signal caller bested Jerry and Stephen Jones, and is now the owner of the best contract in pro football.

On the surface, it’s easy to see how this settles the QB situation through contract end, the 2028 season. It doesn’t, and perhaps that’s a good thing. Prescott is certainly in a category of quarterbacks who, when things are properly surrounding him, can play at an MVP level. He has however yet to be on a team that’s attained postseason success and as such, Dallas should not close the door on the position as a place to improve. And because of that, the Cowboys should consider the drafting ways of the Green Bay Packers and Atlanta Falcons, and it a player they deem a franchise changer is available, pull the trigger.

There’s clearly an argument to be made for spending a first-round pick on a player who would be able to help immediately. The Packers sat Jordan Love for three years and in that time were unable to win a second championship under Aaron Rodgers. The Falcons signed Kirk Cousins to a deal this spring and then drafted Michael Penix two months later; time will tell if they would’ve been better served grabbing immediate help.

There’s also an argument to be made that the Cowboys’ string of first-round hits has taken the last two seasons off with the selection of Mazi Smith and Tyler Guyton. The hope is now seasoning will turn these duds into studs, but they are not immediately helping the team. So a case can clearly be made for shaking up philosophies on multiple fronts.

In this exercise, we’ll envision Dallas playing the long game, as they’ve already admitted they’re in a soft rebuild. Drafting a QB in the first round and having them sit at least one year and likely two, gives Prescott time to change the narrative. And though he has a no-trade clause again, that is simply a right to sign off on a destination, rather than saying a trade will never happen.

If the Cowboys win in 2025 or 2026, then they’d have a seasoned first-round QB they could trade away on a rookie deal with multiple years of team control. If they don’t win, a fresh start would make sense for everyone and even with no trade there’d be cap relief from moving on as early as 2026, with significant relief starting in 2027.

There’s little reason not to leave the possibility open, and certainly no reason to not explore the path in a mock draft exercise in mid-October.

Here’s a look at a 2025 NFL draft simulation for the first three rounds, conducted on Pro Football Focus.