The Dallas Cowboys are coming up on the 2025 NFL Draft, and needless to say, it will be a very important one for the franchise. They have a new head coach in Brian Schottenheimer, and he’s looking to separate himself from the past and forge ahead with new players and a new approach.
Of course, guys like Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb will still be with the Cowboys. But, the team also has to usher in new talent. That’s where the NFL Draft comes into play.
Dallas Cowboys Urged Not to Overlook Diamond in the Rough
The Dallas Cowboys would be wise to go for a wide receiver in this year’s draft, and they likely will. Right now, the favorite is Arizona’s Tetairoa McMillan, but if he’s taken by the time the Cowboys have their No. 12 pick, which could very well happen, all is not lost.
There’s nothing wrong with having a Plan B, and the Cowboys could have that in one underrated player. In an April 17 feature for Blogging the Boys, NFL analyst and expert David Howman calls Melquan Stovall “the most underrated prospect in the 2025 NFL Draft” and urges the Cowboys to look at him.
“Stovall is a unique case, as he has six years of college football to his name but with major asterisks on each individual season,” Howman notes, adding that there are three different programs he played for, so Stovall’s kind of flying under the radar in the draft. Those teams, by the way, are Nevada, Colorado State and Arizona State.
“Standing at 5’9″ and 190 pounds, Stovall is a slender but speedy receiver who almost exclusively worked out of the slot,” Howman adds.
Stovall certainly has Howman’s stamp of approval, with Stovall stating that the player is “everything you want in a slot receiver. He’s speedy, having run a 4.4 40-yard dash at the Big 12’s combined pro day (Stovall wasn’t invited to the NFL Combine). He’s also quick and explosive, with one of the better athletic profiles among receivers in this draft class.”
Howman calls Stovall a great athlete,” as well as “reliable,” with a career 4.8% drop rate across his six seasons.
Taking the Good With the Bad
But, there are some negatives to Stovall, which is expected. No player is perfect, and Stovall wouldn’t be so under the radar if he was that perfect a pick. Howman says that while there are some “very real issues with Stovall’s player profile,” that doesn’t mean he isn’t worth being selected high in the draft.
“His size effectively limits him to a slot role, and his lack of elite production regardless of asterisks is going to scare teams away,” Howman states. “That’s why Stovall is likely headed for undrafted free agency, though some savvy team may take a late flyer on him in the sixth or seventh round.”
In the end, NFL teams could do a lot worse than Stovall. “He has a rare combination of experience, athleticism, and untapped potential that isn’t entirely dissimilar from other once-overlooked receiver prospects like Stefon Diggs or Puka Nacua,” Howman notes.
So, if the Cowboys are in a pinch, they should get him on their radar.