Recent Dallas Cowboys trade up rumors would help explain big mystery from their pre-draft strategy
The Dallas Cowboys are expected by many, including insiders, to move up in the 2026 NFL Draft. If they do, it would help explain their strategy involving pre-draft visits.
In case you somehow missed it, the Dallas Cowboys and Cleveland Browns trade buzz reached a fever pitch this week. A lot of it had to do with three prominent NFL Draft insiders simulating the exact same scenario in their respective mock drafts.
Todd McShay (The Ringer), Dane Brugler (The Athletic), and Mel Kiper Jr. (ESPN) all published mock drafts earlier in the week. Lo and behold, all three had Dallas trading up to No. 6 overall to select Ohio State linebacker Sonny Styles.
In an earlier article, I wrote about why it checks out on the Cowboys’ side of things (TLDR: They need a linebacker and they won’t get a blue-chip defender at No. 12). But now, we’re looking at how such a trade up would help explain one of the biggest pre-draft mysteries from Dallas’ strategy.
A trade with the Browns would help explain Cowboys’ pre-draft visits
Here’s the part that ties it all together. If you’ve been tracking the Cowboys’ pre-draft visitors, there’s been a quiet mystery brewing. And it’s all about two categories of players on their Top 30 list that don’t fit where Dallas is picking.
The first bucket includes top-of-the-class prospects. The Cowboys hosted the likes of Ohio State’s big three (LB Sonny Styles, S Caleb Downs, and LB/ED Arvell Reese), and Texas Tech EDGE David Bailey, all players widely expected to be gone before No. 12.
Why meet with them if you don’t plan to move up?
The second bucket is just as telling: second-round-caliber prospects. Dallas met with cornerbacks Brandon Cisse from South Carolina and D’Angelo Ponds from Indiana, along with Miami cornerback Keionte Scott and Louisville wide receiver Chris Bell.
Bell has an injury that will factor into his draft stock, but based on talent alone, some evaluators believe he’d be a first-rounder if healthy. These are players who would be seen as reaches at No. 12 and No. 20 but that have no shot at being there at No. 92 in the third round.
But they’d fit perfectly at No. 39, which would likely be a part of a Cowboys-Browns trade. Trading up to No. 6 explains the first group. Dropping from No. 20 to No. 39 explains the second.
Now granted, Dallas could be holding visits as part of a due diligence process in case they trade down and gain a second-round pick. But the combination of the two buckets makes a deal with Cleveland make almost too much sense.
For now, we wait
I’m speculating here. I don’t know what will happen on draft night, and neither does anyone else. But I don’t think insiders as prominent as McShay, Kiper Jr., and Brugler would all coincide with such a specific move unless they were hearing something genuine from someone they trust.
And if their predictions become reality, the Cowboys’ pre-draft visits would make much more sense.