'25 Draft Film Study - LB Shemar James
Cowboys add an athletic prospect to help special teams and their pass coverage.
We need to finish up our look at the Cowboys draft picks here before training camp arrives and the Day 3 guys were put on hold since we last looked at Jaydon Blue. We still have four players left that I have not examined and I want to knock one out today.
It is pick No. 152 in Round 5, Shemar James.
Now, quite frequently, when a team is nearing its pick, they collect names that they want to grab when the number comes up. This might be a pool of quite a few and they have them stacked and then you generally take the highest one standing.
However, there are times when grades are close and the room is perhaps split on who should be taken. I have no idea if Jaydon Blue and Shemar James were being debated with any sort of intensity amongst the front office, but the pick ended up being the Texas RB Blue at 149.
Then, Dallas would not pick again until 174 and they leaped right back into action.
They jumped up to pick 152 from 174 with a trade with the Cardinals:
Arizona traded a fifth-round selection (152nd overall) to Dallas in exchange for fifth- and sixth-round selections (174th and 211th overall)
According to our points chart, No. 152 is worth 30.6 points. No. 174 is 21.8 and No. 211 is worth 7 points so Dallas was able to make this trade with a feeling like they even scored a small “win” by trading off 28.8 points and getting back 30.6.
When a team is so eager to pick again, we assume they had one player in mind and probably the guy who might have lost the debate for pick No. 149. Why not get on the phones and see if we can scoop up the other guy, too, right? If the price is right, let’s just grab them both.
So, evidently, they did.
There is something about wanting a player bad enough to motivate a trade-up that always becomes part of the discussion. You can argue some picks are guys who you settle on because “you have to take someone,” but if you move up to target one guy, we are going to assume you love him.
Here is how that went:
“this kid plays like he loves the game of football, and you know there's no turning down anything, he's running 100 miles an hour so just adding that to the group.” - Will McClay on LB Shemar James.
Ok, with that glowing introduction, let’s dive in.
No. 6 - Shemar James - Age 20 - Junior - 6’1 - 222 - Florida
James is a three-year linebacker who is a two-year starter for Billy Napier. He was a team captain in 2024 and is also one of the very youngest players in the draft.
Native of Mobile, Alabama, was a 4-star recruit committed to Florida after being offered by every program in the country. He played basketball and track, including the 100m.
Started in 2023 and 2024, however was knocked out of the 2023 season with a dislocated knee cap which required surgery.
Returned in 2024 and was elected team captain for the Gators as he played in all 13 games.
2022 - 321 snaps, 5 QB Pressures, 2 missed tackle, 13 stops - 60.8 PFF
2023 - 395 snaps, 3 QB Pressures, 6 missed tackles, 23 stops - 69.1 PFF
2024 - 580 snaps, 14 QB Pressures, 13 missed tackles, 20 stops - 58.2 PFF
We will look at three games – Week 1 vs Miami, Week 7 at Tennessee, and Week 8 vs Kentucky.
Let’s dive in!