NFL Draft 2023: First-round trades Cowboys could make, including jumps inside top 20, trading out of Round 1

The Cowboys are one of the 2023 offseason’s biggest winners, having brought back nearly all of the pieces from their top-five defense on affordable deals while swinging low-risk trades for established veterans in key positions of need like wide receiver Brandin Cooks and cornerback Stephon Gilmore. With most of their bases covered, the Cowboys can fully operate in “best player available” mode starting with the first round of the 2023 NFL Draft on April 27. 

While Jerry Jones hasn’t moved around much in the recent NFL Draft first rounds, here are three plausible first-round trade possibilities:

Trade up to No. 19

• Cowboys get: 2023 first (No. 19)
• Buccaneers get: 2023 first (No. 26), 2023 third (No. 90), 2024 fourth

According to Senior Bowl executive Jim Nagy, “numerous teams” that he has spoken to only have one wide receiver with a first-round grade: Ohio State’s Jaxon Smith-Njigba. However, plenty of teams will pick players in the first round who don’t necessarily have a grade on their board to match, mostly in the back half of the opening round. If the Cowboys are one of those teams who feel that way about this current crop of wideouts, perhaps they slide up to the 19th overall pick, just ahead of teams like the Seattle Seahawks (20th overall pick) and the Los Angeles Chargers (21st overall pick), organizations that could be highly interested in adding a first-round receiver. Smith-Njigba or TCU’s Quentin Johnston, a local product, could be worth adding for now and later as a Cowboy. 

In 2023, it gives quarterback Dak Prescott a healthy stable of receiving options in addition to 2022 First-Team All-Pro CeeDee Lamb, Brandin Cooks and Michael Gallup. Down the road, one of the draft’s top wideouts gives the Cowboys a cost-friendly playmaker. This way Dallas wouldn’t feel like it would have to re-sign a then-32-year-old Cooks after the 2024 season. It would also free up the organization to cut Gallup for more cap space at some point if his bounce back from a knee injury suffered in 2021 doesn’t occur as projected. 

Trade up to No. 17

• Cowboys get: 2023 first (No. 17)
• Steelers get: 2023 first (No. 26), 2023 third (No. 90), 2023 fifth (No. 169)

While the Cowboys have plenty of positions filled defensively, defensive tackle is a need Dallas has long term. The Cowboys re-signed 31-year-old Johnathan Hankins to start at that spot on a one-year deal, which is a positive for their run defense in 2023. However, if the Cowboys are looking for a multiyear solution at that spot, perhaps they slide ahead of the Detroit Lions to take Pittsburgh’s Calijah Kancey. He broke fellow Pitt alum Aaron Donald’s defensive tackle 40-yard dash record (4.68) with a 4.67 mark at the 2023 NFL Scouting Combine.

Kancey also measures similarly to Donald as a smaller defensive tackle who is a strong pass rusher thanks to great burst off the line of scrimmage. 

NFL combine comparison

* NFL combine record for defensive tackles

No one is Aaron Donald, but Kancey’s college film is fantastic. He’s a physical, “bite your kneecaps” type of player that Lions head coach Dan Campbell would love. This Cowboys trade up to 17 allows for them to slide just ahead of Campbell’s Lions, the owners of the draft’s 18th overall pick. 

Trade down to No. 38

• Cowboys get: 2023 second (No. 38), 2023 third (No. 70)
• Raiders get: 2023 first (No. 26)

The Las Vegas Raiders can cut Jimmy Garoppolo after the 2024 season, the second year of his three-year, $72.8 million contract, and save $24.3 million in cap space without any dead money. The Raiders make this trade up to the back end of the first round to secure Tennessee’s Hendon Hooker, a quarterback they have “met extensively” with throughout the pre-draft process. 

While it’s not as exciting as a fan to see your team trade out of the first round, the Cowboys could clean up on Day Two of the 2023 NFL Draft with four selections: the 38th overall pick (the Raiders’ second-round selection seven picks into the round), the 58th overall pick (their own second), the 70th overall pick (the Raiders’ third-round selection seven picks into the round) and the 90th overall pick (their own third). Picking at 38 could yield a player some NFL teams may have been comfortable reaching for at the back end of the first round. Ending the second day of the draft with four new, cost-controlled players would be a win for the Cowboys with high-dollar extensions for Lamb, linebacker Micah Parsons and cornerback Trevon Diggs looming along the horizon.