Wednesday brought with it quite the breadcrumb. This was actually a whole loaf. Mel Kiper, Todd McShay, and Dane Brugler (seemingly) formed an alliance and all wrote down the same name at Tribal Council: Dallas Cowboys trade up to number 6 overall to draft Sonny Styles.
The three musketeers in question did indeed have the Cowboys doing the exact same thing in their respective mocks that were published on Wednesday. It is one thing for three top insiders to have a team drafting the same player, but that they each had Dallas executing the same trade with the same team for the same player is curious.
Why could the insiders all be saying the same thing?
It is very common for draft insiders to empty their bag as the draft approaches. We have a week and change to go until the 2026 NFL Draft so we are right around that window.
This suggests that they all believe this to be highly likely. They could be arriving to the same conclusion (Dallas trading up with Cleveland for Styles) from the perspective of adding the same kind of math together:
- They each have heard that Dallas loves Styles
- They each know that Styles is going to go somewhere early (around the top 6)
- They each have heard that Cleveland really wants to move down
- They each (like all of us) know the Cowboys have multiple first-round picks and are therefore able to weaponize them in a way to move up
All of that tracks. There is no funny business involved (not accusing anyone of being tied to funny business, by the way). Maybe this is just simply a matter of this particular coincidence. Perhaps all three analysts in question did the math and came to the same conclusion. Stranger things have happened.
Could there actually be funny business happening, though?
When the internet first realized the coincidence at play here I reached out to Jared Mueller from Dawgs By Nature. I was curious to see his thoughts given that the spot Dallas is trading up to is Cleveland’s.
His exact response:
Yeah I saw that.
Feels like that means its not happening for sure lol.
Or Dallas is trying to push ARZ to accept a lower deal than they want?
The second part of the answer was intriguing. If we allow ourselves to think about funny business happening (standard gamesmanship around the NFL draft, to be honest) perhaps the Cowboys are putting word out about being connected to Cleveland for a reason. Jared’s instinct was that the reason could be a different team might now become jealous that their offer was not the one the Cowboys wanted.
Could the team in question be the Arizona Cardinals as Mueller thought? Dallas has been connected heavily to Arizona’s pick (number 3 overall) and could hypothetically be signaling to the Cardinals that they are not willing to pay what Arizona is asking and are content to move up, just three spots later.
The Cowboys very recently held firm in a draft trade against Arizona
The general managers of both the Cowboys and Cardinals (Jerry Jones/Stephen Jones and Monti Ossenfort) are the same as they were two years ago during the 2024 NFL Draft. This matters for some context.
You will recall that the Cowboys traded back from their initial selection (24th overall) in 2024. They moved down five spots in a trade with the Detroit Lions and netted a third-round pick that became Cooper Beebe. Tyler Guyton was the player Dallas took at 29.
Detroit moved up for Terrion Arnold, but they were not the only team eyeing the Cowboys as a spot to climb towards. The Cardinals seemed to have eyes for Jordan Morgan who went 25 overall to the Packers. Ossenfort was seen in a video produced by the Cardinals team website chatting with the Cowboys about the prospect of moving up to 24, but their offer was nowhere near as sweet as Detroit’s. We recounted the whole thing in the aftermath right here, but this is the clip in question.
In that situation the Cowboys found a better option than Arizona in Detroit. Could they be up to the same sort of situation in the here and now? Is Cleveland that team? Or is Cleveland at least the idea of that team?
You have to assume everyone is lying around the NFL draft. A week from now all truth will come to pass.
