During the press conference following the first-round selection of offensive lineman Tyler Smith, Dallas Cowboys team owner Jerry Jones pulled a classic move. When discussing the team’s rankings of prospects, Jones said insisted they had Smith rated over fellow offensive linemen Kenyon Green and Zion Johnson; two players routinely mocked to Dallas but both gone by the time Dallas hit the clock at No. 24. This was an unpopular opinion amongst the media, and in a very successful attempt to prove it, Jones lifted up a sheet of paper with the team’s draft board on it as a visual aid.
Whether he intended this to become a detective investigation is beyond comprehension but that’s what it became. Dallas fans and media members collaborated to decipher the board that Jones held up and WFAA’s Mike Leslie got the ball rolling.
Lol not for lack of trying… I legit went home and screencast our video of the presser from my laptop to my TV… this was all I got pic.twitter.com/rjVG093qAT
— Mike Leslie (@MikeLeslieWFAA) May 3, 2022
KD Drummond is a veteran in these investigations and called up his old crew to go digging. It took less than two hours for the group, and they solved the top 16 to their best ability. The list goes as follows.
- Kayvon Thibodeaux, DE, Oregon
- Evan Neal, OT, Alabama
- Aidan Hutchinson, DE, Michigan
- Garrett Wilson, WR, Ohio State
- Ahmad “Sauce” Gardner, CB, Cincinnati
- Derek Stingley, Jr., CB, LSU
- Travon Walker, DE, Georgia
- Kyle Hamilton, Safety, Notre Dame
- Ilem Ekwonu, OT, NC State
- Drake London, WR, USC
- Jordan Davis, DT, Georgia
- Charles Cross, OT, Mississippi State
- Lewis Cine, Safety, Georgia
- Jameson Williams, WR, Alabama
- Chris Olave, WR, Ohio State
- Tyler Smith, OG, Tulsa
This was just the beginning of a search that continued. Jumping in was The Athletic’s Jon Machota, who jumped down the rabbit hole and came back up with 34 names on the sheet.
The board shows 14 names in the top box, signifying the 14 first-round grades according to Machota. The next 20 were second-round grades, including Chris Olave and of course Smith, who the Cowboys selected. Here’s the final 18.
17. Devin Lloyd, LB, Utah: drafted at No. 27 by the Jaguars.
18. Daxton Hill, S, Michigan: drafted at No. 31 by the Bengals.
19. Breece Hall, RB, Iowa State: drafted at No. 36 by the Jets.
20. Kenyon Green, OG, Texas A&M: drafted at No. 15 by the Texans.
21. George Karlaftis, DE, Purdue: drafted at No. 30 by the Chiefs.
22. Zion Johnson, OG, Boston College: drafted at No. 17 by the Chargers.
23. Treylon Burks, WR, Arkansas: drafted at No. 18 by the Titans.
24. Kyler Gordon, CB, Washington: drafted at No. 39 by the Bears.
25. Tyler Linderbaum, C, Iowa: drafted at No. 25 by the Ravens.
26. David Ojabo, DE, Michigan: drafted at No. 45 by the Ravens.
27. Jahan Dotson, WR, Penn State: drafted at No. 16 by the Commanders.
28. Jermaine Johnson, DE, Florida State: drafted at No. 26 by the Jets.
29. Kaiir Elam, CB, Florida: drafted at No. 23 by the Bills.
30. Arnold Ebiketie, DE, Penn State: drafted at No. 38 by the Falcons.
31. Trent McDuffie, CB, Washington: drafted at No. 21 by the Chiefs.
32. Quay Walker, LB, Georgia: drafted at No. 22 by the Packers.
33. Devonte Wyatt, DT, Georgia: drafted at No. 28 by the Packers.
34. Logan Hall, DE, Houston: drafted at No. 33 by the Buccaneers.
Knowing Jones, this was probably all part of an Emperor Palpatine level plan to stir up the Dallas sports world but there’s the full list from the front page of grades.
“The good news is, most of those players are gone,” Stephen Jones added after Jerry Jones put the paper down.
Of the 34 listed above, Breece Hall, Gordon, Ojabo, Ebiketie and Logan Hall were still available when the second round started Friday night. According to our list, Smith was the second-highest-graded player remaining behind Cine. That Dallas picked Smith over Cine shouldn’t be a surprise considering how the Cowboys have valued safety in the draft over nearly the past 20 years. Roy Williams, in 2002, is the last safety Dallas has drafted in the first or second rounds.
All is said and done from the 2022 NFL draft and that’s another case on the books for the Cowboys’ investigators and Stephen Jones might keep a tight grip on that sheet from now on.
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