We have officially entered draft month! The 2026 NFL Draft is now just weeks away, meaning draft rankings and big board’s should be pretty much completed at this point, at least for the most part. There’ll probably be a little shuffling and reshuffling prior to “draft day”, but overall teams should have a pretty good idea of which players they want to target and when.
Based on different variables depending on the team, opinions will vary about individual players and where they have them slotted amongst
their peers in the 2026 draft class. That’s only natural. Every team has disparate roster “needs” and not every player is a fit. This is what makes the draft process so interesting.
With that in mind, we thought we’d take a closer look at the draft simulators and attempt to predict how the Dallas Cowboys would draft based on their roster “needs”. We used Pro Football Focus, Pro Football Network, A to Z Sports, NFL Mock Draft Database, and StickToTheModel for this exercise, and as you can imagine, there were noticeable differences as well as a few surprises. We also used Dallas’ original picks, no trades.
So, what would we learn by doing this mock draft exercise using five different simulators?
The first thing we learned was that there seems to be a good chance one of the true blue-chip players will slide to the Cowboys at No. 12. It happened in every simulation, albeit three different players. We should all be overjoyed if that comes to fruition.
The second thing we learned is the Cowboys should be able to land another impact rookie at No. 20. We were able to add starting caliber players in every simulation at different positions. That means the Cowboys should have options there who can help immediately.
Another thing we learned is addressing the LB position will be difficult unless the Cowboys “reach” at the position. It was too early at No. 20 and a little too late at No. 92. Waiting until the fifth-round like we did definitely isn’t ideal unless they add a starting caliber LB prior to the draft.
We also learned Day 3 of the draft could provide the Cowboys with some important depth players who could play key roles as rookies, whether on offense or defense. There are several positions on both sides of the ball, mostly defense, where the depth could be upgraded.
Overall, this was an interesting exercise. It’s mostly for fun, however, it gives us an idea of where the Dallas Cowboys could target certain players/positions based on player rankings from different draft simulators. And who knows, the Cowboys player rankings may be similar.
Which of these five simulated drafts is the best one?
