The Dallas Cowboys used the 218th-overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft to select receiver Anthony Smith out of East Carolina, adding a wideout who averaged 18 yards per catch over the past two seasons and finished his college run with 1,852 receiving yards and 13 touchdowns.
Smith, who began his career at North Carolina State before transferring to East Carolina in 2024, measured 6-foot-2 and 185 pounds and posted a Pro Day average speed of sub-4.45 seconds with a 41-inch vertical. For Dallas, it was the final pick of a draft in which the club had three fourth-round selections and used its Day 3 choices mostly on defense before turning back to offense for Smith, its only seventh-round pick.
The selection also fits a broader theme from a Cowboys draft that leaned heavily toward reshaping the defense. Jerry Jones said, “we've changed this defense,” after the team spent two of its Day 3 picks on defense and only one on offense before closing with Smith. The move gives Dallas another receiver with size and speed, and it reunites Smith and Shavon Revel in the same locker room.
Smith’s path to Dallas was built over four collegiate seasons at North Carolina State and two productive years at East Carolina, where his role expanded into one of the most explosive passing-game threats in the program. The Cowboys are betting that production and athletic profile will carry over to the NFL, even as the draft class as a whole points to a team intent on changing how it plays on one side of the ball.
