3 mistakes Cowboys made in the 2023 NFL Draft

2. Drafting the wrong tight end

There’s nothing wrong with Luke Schoonmaker as a prospect. There’s a chance he develops into a nice starter due to his combination of blocking ability and speed to threaten opposing secondaries. The problem with selecting him this season is that there were quite a few superior prospects available to the Cowboys.

Spending a first-round pick on a tight end could have been the perfect combination of Dallas trying to fill a need and realizing maximum value. This was a deep class of tight ends and the Cowboys know that Dak Prescott is at his best with a trusted safety valve at the position. Replacing Dalton Schultz was arguably the team’s biggest need heading into the draft.

The Buffalo Bills might have ruined Dallas’ plans by taking Dalton Kincaid one spot ahead of them with the No. 25 overall selection. That still left Sam Laporta, Michael Mayer, and Luke Musgrave on the board for head coach Mike McCarthy and the team’s brain trust.

Instead, they passed on both guys and ended up with Schoonmaker all the way down at No. 58. He’ll catch plenty of passes from Prescott this season but he lacks the upside to blossom into anything more than an average starter. That’s a miss in Round 2 for the Cowboys.