Rookie battleground: Cowboys vs. Lions breakdown for draft picks/UDFAs

Rookie battleground: Cowboys vs. Lions breakdown for draft picks/UDFAsStory byMike PolandWed, December 3, 2025 at 2:00 PM UTC·11 min read

Each week we dive into each team’s rookie class and compare how they stack up against each other. (Grades for each player are the overall offensive or defensive grade handed out by PFF.com)

Dallas Cowboys

Tyler Booker (OG)

First Round

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Tyler Booker’s rookie season at right guard has quietly been very solid overall. By his most recent numbers, he’s logged 645 offensive snaps with 416 pass-blocking snaps, allowing just 16 total pressures and one sack, along with six penalties. He’s currently at just 4.6% in pressure rate allowed, which is fifth-lowest among guards this year, which is very impressive for a first-year interior lineman. The penalties are the main blemish, but the low sack and hit totals show he’s not getting his quarterback smoked through his gap very often.

ESPN’s trench metrics back up the idea that he’s holding his own as their win-rate leaderboard has him in the top-20’s among guards in pass block win rate at 95%, which is way above league average for interior linemen, while the Cowboys’ line as a whole sits at 12th in pass block win rate at 66%. Add in individual PFF game grades that sees Booker in the mid 70’s in both run and pass-blocking, helps show the pattern is clear with Booker.

This week’s trip to Detroit is a different kind of test for Booker. The headline matchup is dealing with Aidan Hutchinson when the Lions move him around or run games that loop him inside toward Booker’s gap. Hutchinson comes in with 8.5 sacks and four forced fumbles this season and remains one of the league’s most disruptive edge players.  On the interior, Booker will see plenty of Alim McNeill and D.J. Reader. McNeill is their highest-graded interior defender on PFF and has strong overall and run-defense grades, while Reader is a classic space-eating nose who’s at graded 65.3 overall with solid run support. The Lions rotate in Al-Quadin Muhammad and Marcus Davenport off the edge, so any line stunts can stress that right-side of the line.

From a numbers angle, ESPN’s team win-rate table makes this interesting. Detroit’s pass rush win rate sits near the bottom of the league at about 31% (28th), and their run-stop win rate is similarly low around 28% (30th), even though Hutchinson and a couple of individual linemen are outstanding.  That suggests that if Booker and the rest of the Cowboys’ interior can keep Hutchinson from wrecking drives and hold up against McNeill’s power, there should be opportunities both to run at this front and to protect long enough for deeper concepts.

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Grade: 72.4

Donovan Ezeiraku (DE)

Second Round

Ezeiruaku’s rookie year has been really efficient more than flashy. PFF has him at an 81.2 overall grade, 18th out of 112 edge defenders, with 28 total pressures on 427 snaps so far. Through nine games he’d already stacked 28 pressures, two sacks, and 11 quarterback hits, which gives everyone the rough shape of his production. Importantly for a young edge, he’s been clean from a discipline standpoint with just one enforced penalty all season.

The underlying metrics back up production with his pass-rush win rate at about 13%, good enough to sit just outside the top-20 among all edge rushers, which is strong for a first-year player. The Cowboys’ front as a whole is 14th in pass-rush win rate (39%) and 7th in run-stop win rate (32%), and Ezeiruaku’s mix of pressures and run stops is a big part of why that unit grades out as above average in both.

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Now he gets a very real test against Detroit. Offensively the Lions are top-tier. They’re third in the league in total offense at 376 yards per game and fourth in rushing, at 138 rushing yards per game. Their line is widely graded as a top-5 unit. PFF has them 23rd in pass-blocking but third in run-blocking, while ESPN’s trench metrics put them 28th in pass-block win rate and 17th in run-block win rate. Detroit has only allowed 13 sacks, which is middle of the pack given how often they throw. Individually, Ezeiruaku will see a mix of Taylor Decker and Penei Sewell depending on how Matt Eberflus wants to deploy him, plus some snaps on interior games toward Graham Glasgow. Decker has given up 18 total pressures and two sacks with five penalties, second most on the team. Glasgow has been cleaner inside, with 15 pressures and one sack, which is good among centers this year. At right tackle, Sewell is the big problem. PFF has him with a ridiculous 97.7 run-block grade (1st among tackles), and ESPN charts him at a 79% run-block win rate, seventh-best among tackles.

Behind that line is Jahmyr Gibbs, who’s already over 1,000 rushing yards at 5.8 yards per carry with ten rushing touchdowns, and has real receiving juice. Detroit has leaned even harder into the ground game with injuries to their passing weapons, and film shows they love running behind Sewell to the right, where Gibbs is averaging more than seven yards per carry. That’s exactly the direction where Ezeiruaku’s edge-setting and run-stop ability will be stressed.

Grade: 81.2

Shavon Revel Jr. (CB)

Revel’s rookie season so far has been small-sample, up-and-down work as a depth outside corner coming off the ACL injury. PFF has him at a 50.8 overall grade with not enough snaps to be properly ranked, and he hasn’t yet got any interceptions. Across his first three games he’s logged nine total tackles and just one notable penalty, an illegal contact flag against the Chiefs. Coverage has actually been the better part of his profile and against Kansas City, he  allowed only two catches for 15 yards on three targets, good for a passer rating allowed of just 78.2.

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This week in Detroit, the threats in front of him are real even with the Lions banged up. Amon-Ra St. Brown is dealing with an ankle sprain but still leads the team with 75 catches for 884 yards and nine touchdowns, functioning as the do-everything chain-mover who can work from the slot or outside. Reports are that he is unlikely to play. Jameson Williams is the vertical stressor and has 38 catches for 706 yards (18.6 per grab) and six touchdowns this season, so if Revel draws him on the boundary, his eye discipline and deep speed get stress-tested right away. Even with Sam LaPorta on injured reserve, Detroit can still stress zones with auxiliary targets like Jahmyr Gibbs.

Put simply, Revel is a talented but still-shaky rookie corner walking into a matchup where Detroit’s receivers are good enough to separate and their backs are good enough to punish poor tackling, so there’s a lot riding on Revel if he starts this week.

Grade: 50.8

Shemar James (LB)

Fifth Round

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James’ rookie season has settled into a clear reserve linebacker and core special teamer profile. Early in the year he was getting around 25–30 defensive snaps a game as the third linebacker, but since Logan Wilson arrived and DeMarvion Overshown returned his usage has tailed off weekly into 12 snaps a game. That’s kept his raw numbers modest and his PFF grades have hovered in that low-to-mid range where he’s not killing you, but he’s not demanding more snaps either.

Against Detroit he’s still important as part of the rotation. When he’s on the field, he’ll see a lot of Jahmyr Gibbs and that Lions wide-zone, plus underneath stuff to Gibbs and the tight ends that forces linebackers to tackle in space. Inside, he’ll be reading behind a very good run-blocking line and dealing with play-action and crossers off it.

Grade: 40.9

Trikweze Bridges (CB)

Seventh Round

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Bridges has settled in as a rotational outside corner this season, enough snaps to matter, not enough to be a clear full-time starter. He’s generally held up decently in coverage on limited targets with a few busts.  His tackling and red-zone work have been more up and down, as we saw against Kansas City, where he was mostly sound but did lose at least one tight rep near the goal line. Against Detroit, his role depends on health of other corners slowly coming back from injury. If he does play he’s likely to see time outside against the bigger bodies and vertical threats.

Grade: 44.1

Alijah Clark (DB)

UDFA 

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Clark’s role this season has been almost entirely as a special teamer, he’s on most of the kick and punt units, rarely seeing defensive snaps this season. But his impact shows up in the hidden-yardage stuff with lane discipline, blocks, and of course some impressive tackles on kick coverage. He’s generally kept things clean, which is exactly what coaches want from a young specialist, and there’s always the threat of him knocking that ball free, like he did against the Eagles.

Grade: 80.2 (ST Grade)

Jaydon Blue (RB)

Fifth Round

Inactive

Grade: 50.0

Ajani Cornelius (OT)

Sixth Round

Inactive

Grade: N/A

Jay Toia (DT)

Seventh Round

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Inactive

Grade: 29.9

Phil Mafah (RB)

Seventh Round

Inactive

Grade: N/A

Detroit Lions 

Tyleik Williams (DT)

First Round 

Williams has been exactly what the Lions thought they were drafting, a big, sturdy interior lineman who lives in the B-gap and does a lot of dirty work that doesn’t show up in the box score. Detroit has mostly used him in a rotation next to Alim McNeill and D.J. Reader, where his first job is to fit that B-gap, hold his ground against double teams and keep the linebackers clean rather than freelancing for splash plays.  Because of that role and the snap share that comes with it, his counting stats are light so far. He has  just a handful of total tackles and zero sacks on the year, and public tracking puts him at 15 total pressures. PFF grades him at 60.9 overall with a pass-rush grade at 64.2 and run defense of 55.6, which basically says average starter or plus rotational guy. He wins some downs with power and leverage, but he’s still learning how to turn that pocket push into finishes on the quarterback.

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Grade: 60.9

Tate Ratledge (OG)

Second Round

Ratledge has been very much the guy people expected in his rookie year for Detroit, a nasty, physical interior lineman who’s ahead of the curve in the run game and still finding his feet in pass protection. PFF has him with a 2025 run-block grade around 74.5 (19th of 81 qualifying guards) but a pass-block grade down at 46.1, near the bottom of the position, with 20 total pressures allowed and two sacks charged to him so far.  That lines up with ESPN’s tracking, which pegs his individual pass block win rate at 84.7%, ranking 64th of 65 guards, basically saying he loses too many true one-on-one pass sets.

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Big picture, he’s started right away on a top-tier line, helped fuel a very good rushing attack by caving in his side of the line, and taken his lumps when defenses isolate him in protection. For a second-round rookie being asked to replace lost linemen this season he’s added some level stability inside.

Grade: 68.7

Isaac TeSlaa (WR)

Third Round

TeSlaa’s rookie year with Detroit has been all about low volume, high impact. On paper the numbers are tiny with six catches for 100 yards and three touchdowns this season, but nearly every touch has been a big, contested shot play or red-zone moment. He’s buried behind Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jameson Williams and Jahmyr Gibbs in the target pecking order, so most weeks he’s a rotational outside receiver and special-teams body rather than a featured weapon.

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He’s a vertical ball winner who can Moss defensive backs and finish one-handed catches on the sideline or in the end zone. With St. Brown and other veterans battling injuries, he’s started to see a bit more action, including a second-half touchdown on Thanksgiving after St. Brown went down. Big picture, he’s still very much a developmental piece, but the combination of size, ball skills and early production efficiency makes it pretty easy to see him growing into a bigger part of the offense over the next year or two if the route running and consistency grows.

Grade: 60.8

Dominic Lovett (WR)

Seventh Round

Inactive

Grade: 43.3

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