So you expected them to take Trysten Hill with their 1st pick(2nd rounder) a few years back? Or LVE? I know I didn't. Not at all. I remember rumblings about LVE but I did not see them taking him especially over Rashaan Evans.
Here's what I expect:
With the Cowboys' first pick, they will
1. Stay put at their draft position.
2. Pick a player at or very near the top of their draft board.
I think they do that consistently enough that I would call them very predictable. That doesn't mean they're 100% predictable. When they have been unpredictable in recent years, I see one common thread: Marinelli. Hill sure seems like he was a Marinelli pick. Same with Charlton. And same with passing on Floyd in 2013, when they traded down to grab Frederick. But even with Hill and Charlton, they stayed put and made a non-sexy pick. Marinelli's gone, so I expect them to be even more predictable.
A small trade up or down (a la Dez) wouldn't surprise me, but I would grant that it would qualify as unpredictable.
Look at last year's draft, the first one with this crew. They mostly stayed put and grabbed whatever value fell to them, as dictated by their board. When someone they liked fell a lot in later rounds, they made a move to get them. But every bit of it sure looked to me like it was dictated by their draft board, not by any ownership whims.