Cowboys 2018 draft class could be one of their recent best

The 2018 draft class was surprisingly good

It always amazes me how just a simple post on Twitter can create such a back-and-forth discussion among fans, specifically regarding the Dallas Cowboys and the NFL draft.

DeMarvion Overshown posted on Monday, “Class of 2018 got some dawgs in the NFL!” To which I responded with the following:

The response from fans started a chain of discourse, with some fans being puzzled by the thought and others admiring that getting five starters from one class is a positive.

Overshown later clarified he was talking about high school football, but the point still rings true. If the success of a draft class comes down to the definition of being on the roster long-term, then this one would be a bust, considering no one from that year is left heading into 2025.

However, a bird’s-eye view of the Cowboys’ 2018 draft class would offer a different perspective that seems more glowing. The first five picks, Leighton Vander Esch, Connor Williams, Michael Gallup, Dorance Armstrong, and Dalton Schultz, developed into starters or high-end rotational players.

Vander Esch and Gallup had the most promise of the group after year one, but both had their careers shortened in Dallas due to injury. Gallup still had a 1,000-yard season in his second year, and Vander Esch finished his career 16th in team history among all defensive players with 469 combined tackles. For playing a full season just twice out of six years, finishing with that production meant he made the most of his snaps on the field.

Williams, Armstrong, and Schultz are more the product of not maximizing their potential until the end of their rookie contracts. Over his first four years, Armstrong showed enough flashes for the team to offer him a two-year contract extension. He followed that up with 16 sacks over two years as a rotational rusher and ace special-teams player. Armstrong then followed Dan Quinn over to Washington last year in a lucrative deal for a guy who was once considered a “bust.”

Schultz started his career trying to follow in Jason Witten’s footsteps, who retired in his rookie season. However, he had to sit behind him in 2019 when Witten returned to Dallas after a one-year hiatus. After finally getting a chance in 2020 when Blake Jarwin went down with a season-ending injury in Week 1, Schultz had a career year in 2021 that ended with 808 yards and eight touchdowns and was retained on a franchise tag.

Williams was a solid guard with Dallas, but his best position came with the Seattle Seahawks, where they unlocked something in him to become one of the NFL’s best centers over a year and a half. His career was also derailed and ultimately ended due to injury, but you wonder what if the Dallas coaching staff tried him out at center to start his career, if it would have played out any differently.

Mike White has started NFL games and was once the darling of the New York Jets fanbase, and Cedrick Wilson showed he could be a capable third wide receiver and utility player who can occasionally make a couple of trick plays. His best season came under then-offensive coordinator Kellen Moore, who is now his head coach with the New Orleans Saints.

Right now, the Cowboys are having trouble finding this type of production in their 2022 and 2023 draft classes. Of 17 players drafted from those two classes, Tyler Smith, DeMarvion Overshown, Jake Ferguson, and DaRon Bland are the only ones you can feel confident in. Everyone else is running out of time to show they can develop or overcome injuries and narratives (Sam Williams, Jalen Tolbert, Damone Clark) that have hurt their careers.

If the Cowboys had five solid starters from each class like they did with the 2018 rookies, there would be much more confidence in Dallas’s direction as they head into Brian Schottenheimer’s first year as head coach. The lingering questions about recent draft picks should remind us not to take draft classes like the one in 2018 for granted, because history shows they don’t come around often.