Draft position has little to do with it; drafting positions has everything to do with it.
The Cowboys chose to go for 3 OL in the 1st, a DL, LB and WR (trade). However, the 1st round is the least important unless you score a decade like talent like Bosa. It's the flashiest and most watched and totally overrated. What follows the 1st builds teams and the Cowboys have not been great in the later rounds.
Every team decides on quality vs quantity based on their needs and this year will be no different. The other factor is their board and the draft grades by position.
If the Cowboys were better in rounds 2-5, I would be in favor of trading out of that 17 spot and picking up another 2nd, 3rd and 4th.
The other thing they do is take risks with picks as valuable as 2nd rounders.
Evaluating players is both art and science but the blueprint for building a team is all science. They've been good on the O side but on the D side, they've been very mediocre. Their blueprint was faulty or they didn't follow it because they've neglected to build the foundation just as they did before turning to the OL.
The other thing is keeping the coaches out of setting the board. Marinelli adopts ugly pets and gets Hill that high on the board? The scouts and the player personnel guy, McClay, should set the board. The coaches should only have input on positions they need. NFL coaches do not have the time to scout or watch film on college players, they're the chef and line cooks in the kitchen, can't let them go to the store.
We have evidence that Booger trusts McClay's board because he stayed the course and picked McGovern instead of doing what the others, including his idiot son, wanted to do. Jury is out but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt on that pick as well as the Williams pick, takes some players more time to adjust and there was a time rookie 2nd and 3rd round OL didn't see the field unless there was injury.
It's not where the Cowboys pick, it's who's doing the picking. Be nice if they'd let McClay run the draft just once. I'd like to see what he'd do different but I'd bet he wouldn't take a stoner DE or injured LB or a questionable DT with his 2nd. That's 3 2nds not contributing.