In the press conference following the first day of the 2016 draft, Jerry Jones said Ezekiel Elliott had the highest grade of any player on their draft board. Many observers at the time assumed that Jerry was just using a tried-and-tested GM line to justify the pick. After all, doesn’t every GM use the “He was the best player on our board” line to justify a controversial draft pick? After all, since NFL teams generally don’t divulge their draft boards, it’s a hard claim to dispute or verify.
10 weeks later a Cowboys intern inadvertently leaked the Cowboys 2016 draft board by posting shots of an empty Cowboys war room that still had the big board all over the walls.