First things first, the 2019 Dallas Cowboys draft class was unlikely to ever be a home run. That much was all but certain after the team dealt their first-round selection midway through the 2018 campaign for wide receiver Amari Cooper. For that much, they get a pass. What it doesn’t do is excuse a draft that, at least for one year, was an abject failure.

Drafting well is often cited as the cheapest and most efficient way to add talent to a roster in today’s NFL. In 2019, the Cowboys failed to reap any significant benefits from their effort to restock the cupboard.

What follows is a simple measurement, using draft capital (as defined by Chase Stuart at Football Perspective) against the amount of snaps played by rookies league-wide during the most recent NFL season.

Before we start, it’s important to note that all snaps aren’t created equal. This can be due to a number of reasons, but the concerns largely hinge on the quality of play by the player or special teams duties. Looking at production through this lens provides perspective while normalizing the data.

Dallas supporters will rush to point out draft capital as the reason the team’s snap counts appear to be woeful.

Here are the snap counts for each individual rookie from the class.

2nd Round – DT Trysten Hill – 125 snaps
3rd Round – OL Conner McGovern – 0 snaps
4th Round – RB Tony Pollard – 318 snaps
5th Round – CB Michael Jackson – 0 snaps
5th Round – DE Joe Jackson – 87 snaps
6th Round – Safety Donovan Wilson – 154 snaps
7th Round – Mike Weber – 0 snaps

Next is a handy chart (thanks to Dan Morse for his guidance) that shows where the Cowboys fall relative to the rest of the league.

The Cowboys rank No. 31 in the NFL in terms of draft capital spent per snap, beating only the New England Patriots. It was always a safe bet Dallas would have low production in terms of snaps due to the low capital they had, but the New Orleans Saints, who had less, out performed the Cowboys, as did teams who had just slightly more, including the Kansas City Chiefs, Cleveland Browns and Miami Dolphins.

Snap Counts

Going solely by snap counts in Year 1, the 678 that this crop of Cowboys rookies put together is their worst in nearly a decade. The information between 2009 and 2018 on the graphic below is brought to you courtesy of Bob Sturm of The Athletic while 2019’s information is taken from the irreplaceable Pro Football Reference.

On the surface, it’s terrible. Digging deeper makes you want to turn the hole  into a grave to crawl into for the off-season. Not only did the Cowboys’ rookies play in only 678 snaps, there’s 24 individual players drafted after the selection of defensive tackle Trysten Hill (125 snaps) that were on the field more than all eight Cowboys selections combined.

Two of the following names will be soul crushing to internet draftniks everywhere. The safeties that many Dallas fans coveted, Juan Thornhill of the Chiefs (1044 snaps) and Taylor Rapp (884) of the Rams appear on it as players who got more run than all of the players the Cowboys drafted combined. It’s the same with five other safeties, including the Saints’ Chauncey Gardner-Johnson, taken in round four. The full list can be seen below.

RD	Player	Snaps	POS
2	Juan Thornhill	1044	S
2	Taylor Rapp	884	S
2	D.K. Metcalf	934	WR
3	Dawson Knox	722	TE
3	Michael Deiter	1061	OL
3	Diontae Johnson	700	WR
3	Nate Davis	780	OL
3	Oshane Ximines	802	DE
3	Terry McLaurin	770	WR
3	Will Harris	930	S
3	Mike Edwards	729	S
4	Michael Jordan	679	OL
4	Amani Hooker	706	S
4	Khari Willis	679	S
4	Maxx Crosby	906	DE
4	Chauncey Gardner-Johnson	751	S
4	Kendall Sheffield	839	CB
5	Mack Wilson	1071	LB
5	Darius Slayton	713	WR
5	Cole Holcomb	960	LB
5	Dre Greenlaw	900	LB
6	Gardner Minshew	907	QB
6	Kelvin Harmon	685	WR
6	Dennis Daley	724	OL

The Dallas Cowboys have largely performed well in the draft with Will McClay at the helm. 2019 wasn’t that case. Though the salary cap is largely a tool for owners to use for reasons not to pay players their market value and despite the Cowboys having a ton of cap space to work with heading into 2020’s free agency, they have their work cut out for them deciding who to pay.

Quarterback Dak Prescott and wide receiver Amari Cooper headline the group. But don’t forget the likes of cornerback Byron Jones and defensive tackle Maliek Collins. This doesn’t even mention aging veterans like defensive linemen Robert Quinn and Michael Bennett, but rest assured, those are valuable assets that could be gone.

If Dallas is unable to keep some of the aforementioned players, it’s imperative the 2020 draft can come in and provide meaningful playing time as quickly as possible.

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