Mel Kiper Jr, Adam Schefter disagree over who Dallas Cowboys will draft in first round

The Dallas Cowboys hold the No. 12 overall pick in the upcoming 2025 NFL Draft. However, ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. and Adam Schefter do not see eye-to-eye on who they might select.

Given Dallas’ struggles in the rushing game this past season, the expectation is for the Cowboys to draft a running back. Kiper Jr. went against the grain for this selection, instead choosing Missouri’s Luther Burden III as the best fit for Dallas in the first round.

“I thought about Ashton Jeanty,” Kiper explained during an NFL Draft special on ESPN on Wednesday. “They need a running back, no question. They [drafted] Emmitt Smith and Zeke Elliott [in the first round], but they got Tony Pollard in the fourth round. So I thought maybe they go to a wideout like Luther Burden III.

“His numbers were down across the board, and he didn’t have the production this year as he did in 2023, but late in games when they needed a big catch, Luther Burden III came through.”

The St. Louis native caught 61 passes for 676 yards and six touchdowns in 2024, helping Missouri to a 9-3 record. He ultimately finished his college career with 192 receptions for 2,263 yards and 21 scores — but Adam Schefter isn’t so sure the Cowboys would pass up a golden opportunity to draft the top running back in the 2025 NFL Draft.

“Listen, I don’t know that there’s any more of a natural match in the first round than the Dallas Cowboys and Ashton Jeanty,” Schefter said, who admitted he was surprised at Kiper’s choice. “They need a running back, they need a difference-maker at that position. It would be interesting to see if they see any player in this draft — wide receiver, offensive line, whatever it may be — that they think is more valuable than Ashton Jeanty.”

Jeanty, the Heisman Trophy runner-up to Colorado two-way star Travis Hunter, led all of college football with 2,601 rushing yards and 29 touchdowns on 374 carries this season, coming just 28 yards shy of breaking Barry Sanders‘ NCAA single-season rushing record of 2,628 yards set in 1988.

NFL.com lists the Cowboys’ needs as a running back, offensive guard, defensive tackle, cornerback and linebacker, which suggests that adding Burden to tag alongside CeeDee Lamb isn’t Dallas’ biggest priority in the draft.

That remains to be seen, but many have expected the Cowboys to be selecting a running back this April. If Kiper’s first-round prediction comes true, Dallas will likely look for its next tailback in the second or third rounds.