There was no way the pick would work out.

The Dallas Cowboys did not have a pick in the fourth round of the 2024 NFL Draft, so everyone knew that the player they picked in the third round (number 87 overall) would have to be someone they had to have very badly.

As was already said, the Cowboys’ first pick on Sunday didn’t come until the fifth round, with the 174th overall pick. This made the number 87 special. Most of the time, the Cowboys put worth first with each pick in the draft. But at pick 87, when they didn’t have to wait for another 87 picks, that principle became less important.

The Cowboys missed out on other players because they picked defender Marist Liufau out of Notre Dаme. Two of those other players have now been named (kind of), and they play running back, a position that a lot of people wаnted to be filled during the draft.

It looks like Marist Liufau, MarShawn Lloyd, or Jaylen Wright won it all for the Cowboys with a total score of 87.

After the draft, the Cowboys didn’t pick up any running backs, but they did bring back Ezekiel Elliott first thing on Monday morning. Elliott’s return has a bit of a “Cowboys Thing” feel to it, but it makes sense on its own. Zeke can definitely help a team in 2024, and as long as the Cowboys don’t give him too much to do, all the jokes and make-believe will be for nothing. I just talked about this idea with Kay Adams on her show Up & Adams on Monday, which you can watch if you’d like to.

When it came to the draft, it was the worst kept sеcrеt in the world that Dallas was going to bring Zeke back at some point. It would be silly to sаy that this didn’t change how they did their work.

In some small way, it is possible that the pending Zeke return allowed the Cowboys to prioritize Marist Liufau at number 87 overall and sаy no thanks to certain running backs like MarShawn Lloyd and Jaylen Wright who went to the Green Bay Packers and Miami Dolphins, respectively. Jeremy Fowler of ESPN says that those were the two guys that Dallas was thinking about at pick 87.

The Cowboys were looking at running back as a possible pick, but they didn’t have a fourth-round pick, which hurt their chances.

The No. 87 pick was a spot where they could have chosen a back, but the Cowboys felt Notre Dаme linebacker Marist Liufau not only addressed another major need but provided the toughness to fit within Mike Zimmer’s defense. Cowboys fans showed MarShawn Lloyd a lot of love before the draft. The USC tailback, who went to Green Bay at No. 88, thought the Cowboys might be one of the teams that would pick him.

Along with Tennessee running back Jaylen Wright, the Cowboys also really liked Miami’s No. 120 pick in the fourth round, which was Wright. Most likely, the Cowboys would have picked Wright up right away if they had a fourth-round pick and he was still going.

Before the draft, there was a lot of talk that Dallas was interested in Jonathan Brooks, a running back from the University of Texas who was picked by the Carolina Panthers. It is possible that this was true and it is also possible that this was some sort of smokescreen, but Brooks was never making it to the Cowboys as he went 46 overall, before Dallas even took Marshawn Kneeland 10 picks later.