The first draft the Cowboys participated in was 1961, in which they made defensive tackle Bob Lilly of TCU their first-ever selection.
All 32 teams have one pick in each round, going in the reverse order of the previous season's standings - so the team with the worst record goes first and the Super Bowl winners last - but previous trades mean that is not strictly the case.
But elite RBs and WRs typically get drafted first because you need more starters at those positions and their scoring drops off more sharply. That's why the best way to draft is generally to prioritize RBs and WRs while waiting on QBs and TEs.
Draft picks are awarded in order of lowest winning percentage, and the tiebreaker is opponents' winning percentage, with the team that played the easier schedule picking first.
How is the NFL Draft order determined? The selection order is dictated by the reverse order of finish in the previous season. Each round starts with the team that finished with the worst record and ends with the Super Bowl champions, unless any trades have occurred.
The NBA draft lottery is an annual event held by the NBA, where the teams who did not make the playoffs in the past year participate in a state-lottery style process in order to determine the order that the first several teams pick players in the draft.
Their 2025 12th overall pick will mark just the seventh time since 2000 that the Cowboys have picked within the top 15 of the first round. Along with their first round selection, the Cowboys own their second (44th overall), third, fifth, and sixth round picks in the 2025 NFL draft.
The order of selection is determined by the reverse order of finish in the previous season. Barring any trades between clubs, each round starts with the team that finished with the worst record and ends with the Super Bowl champions. Teams that didn't qualify for the playoffs are assigned draft slots 1-20.
The minimum base salary for a rookie will be $795,000 in 2024, up from $750,000 the prior year. The first-round picks all receive four-year deals, with a fifth-year team option.
If a team lost a minority executive or coach to another team, that team would receive a third-round compensatory pick for two years. If a team lost both a coach and personnel member, it would receive a third-round compensatory pick for three years.