Team's big boards and such are still fluid but there has literally NEVER been a draft where there wasn't a defensive player worthy of a top 10 pick.
NEVER.
Trading down is the theoretical move every year in every draft. Largely because Fans lie to ourselves that value will fall and guys you like be there. I am very guilty of this so of course every year trade down is option 1 for us.
And with the possibility a team will want a QB at 10 it is painfully appealing. Let NE or SF or someone come up and get a QB while paying QB trade rate.
Draft Big Boards:
Dane Brugler: Farley at 10, Surtain 11, Parsons, Parsons 13, JOK 14
PFF: Kwity 11, Farley 13, Barmore 14, Surtain 16
CBS: Parsons 3, Paye 7, Farley 11, Surtain 13
TDN: Farley 10, Surtain 12, Parsons 13
ESPN Scouts inc: Parsons 3, Surtain 8, JOK 12, Farley 13
Kiper/McShay Mock 6 days ago: Parsons 9, Surtain 12, Farley 16.
You never blindly build a draft board. It will always have positional variations built in.
The draft board will break down into:
QBs --low priority in Dallas unless you get a guy ranked higher than Dak and that's unlikely at 1 but definitely not realistic at 10.
OTs --lots of big, quick blockers in this draft but how you rack and stack them is based on OL style and fit. some teams may ding Slater for shorter arms for instance.
Weapons: There are 4-5 legit offensive skill weapons this draft: Smith, Waddle, Chase, Pitts how those rack and stack again will depend a lot on style and flavor. Chase wins outside off the line easily. Waddle might be the prototype and was the most dangerous of all Bama WRs the last couple years when healthy but he wasn't always healthy. Pitts is a monster slot TE that can high point at an elite level but struggles in press and struggles inline. Smith is very thin but he's quick as can be and uncoverable.
CBs --Again Farley, Surtain, Meli, Horn. Different styles but elite potential. Surtain has a very high floor as he is walk in ready to be a starter day 1 He's rock solid but doesn't have the playmaking of Farley. The size of Meli or the physical dog in him that Horn has. The Gorgia kid Campbell might even be higher rated if you ignore tape. He's a 5 star kid with every athletic trait. He can move with the best players in the country but he just never makes a play. It''s all mirroring.
LB: Parsons is often compared to Jaylon. He'd be younger and healthier but he's the same go forward attack dog.He's not nearly as good back ed off the ball and they never really asked him to cover anyone. JOK is a little more well rounded and fits more modern defenses with coverage duties but off-ball LB drops a few spots for most teams.
Then there is the issue of lack of DL. Who is going to be the best pass rusher in this class? Will one even emerge? How do teams view the DTs?
End of day Dallas has to set their boards and run their mocks and come in with a plan they can execute.
You don't turn on auto-draft to BPA and go home.
I'd not consider an offensive weapon in this draft in R1. I can get an offensive weapon every draft R1 and no group of players get overrated by fans more.
I can show you values through 4 or 5 rounds of every draft on weapons.
But weapons are only weapons if utilized properly. Drafting the wrong fits make them a total waste.
Dallas has a top 5 Offense in general but especially a top 5 receiving corps.
With holes galore they bring back : Amari, Gallup, CeeDee, Jarwin, Schultz.
That's a wealth of weapons.
And they fit beautifully together.
The offense is already designed and it works to the tune of topping the league.
But you gotta block folks and you need to be able to run the ball consistently without fumbling it.
You have to be able to play defense and not give up a bottom 5 points per game total.
The areas Dallas needs to improve in are not unknown nor are they unattainable.
Dallas builds there board by groupings. You have an R1 grade that is often not near 25 players deep.
You have an R1/R2 grade group that might get you to 35.
Inside those groups you weight guys versus their position and fit.
And if you draft a kid at 10 you better be planning right now how to maximize that talent for 5 years.