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By Jon Machota 1h ago
Regardless of how badly or how well things are going for the Cowboys this time of year, team owner and general manager Jerry Jones never completely rules out a move at the trade deadline. Executive vice president Stephen Jones will usually say they are always looking to improve the roster and that player acquisition is a 365-day-a-year business.
But does it make sense for the 2-4 Cowboys to make a move this year before the Nov. 3 trade deadline? They are in first place in the NFC East, but they also would have the 11th overall pick in next year’s draft if the season ended today.
Try to make a playoff run? Or stick with what you have and let it play out, good or bad?
Let’s break it down.
Here are the last 10 player trades the Cowboys have made.
Sept. 6, 2015: Seventh-round choice (Devin Lucien) in 2016 to Seattle for Christine Michael.
Sept. 16, 2015: Fifth-round choice (DeAndre Washington) in 2016 to Oakland for Brice Butler and sixth-round choice (Anthony Brown) in 2016.
Sept. 23, 2015: Fifth-round choice (Nathan Peterman) in 2017 to Buffalo for Matt Cassel and seventh-round choice (Joey Ivie) in 2017.
Sept. 2, 2017: Sixth-round choice (conditional) in 2019 to Cincinnati for Bené Benwikere.
March 20, 2018: Fifth-found compensatory choice (Johnny Townsend) in 2018 to Oakland for Jamize Olawale and sixth-round (Jamil Denby) in 2018.
April 28, 2018: Sixth-round choice (Jamil Denby) in 2018 to L.A. Rams for Tavon Austin.
April 28, 2018: Ryan Switzer to Oakland for Jihad Ward.
Oct. 23, 2018: First-round choice (Johnathan Abram) in 2019 to Oakland for Amari Cooper.
March 29, 2019: Sixth-round choice in 2020 to Miami (John Penisini) for Robert Quinn.
Oct. 25, 2019: Conditional seventh/sixth in 2021 to New England for Michael Bennett.
As you can see, Dallas has made moves this time of year the last two seasons, acquiring Cooper in 2018 and Bennett last season. The Cowboys were 3-4 going into the bye week before the Cooper trade. They were 4-3 before adding Bennett. Obviously, in both scenarios, they still had their franchise quarterback, Dak Prescott, and weren’t experiencing the number of injuries to key players that they are this year.
If they are interested in improving the roster, three positions need the most help: offensive tackle, defensive tackle and safety.
The offensive tackle spot is without starters Tyron Smith and La’el Collins for the rest of the season. Brandon Knight is out at least a couple of weeks after having minor knee surgery on Tuesday. That leaves undrafted rookie free agent Terence Steele to again start at right tackle and veteran swing tackle Cameron Erving to start on the left. The only other tackle on the active roster is Greg Senat.
Defensive tackle was in trouble as soon as Gerald McCoy suffered a season-ending quad injury in training camp. Even with Trysten Hill, Dontari Poe, Tyrone Crawford, Antwaun Woods and Neville Gallimore all healthy, it probably wasn’t going to be a team strength. Now Hill is out for the season with a knee injury. Justin Hamilton, who was moved up from the practice squad last week, was probably their best tackle against the Arizona Cardinals on Monday night. At least at offensive tackle, there’s hope of getting Smith and Collins back fully healthy next season. There’s not a lot of upside in the middle of that defensive line even when they’re at 100 percent. Adding a player who can help this season as well as in the future would have to be intriguing.
Safety is again the weakest position on the roster. Their best safety, Xavier Woods, is in the final year of his rookie contract. The Cowboys could trade for a safety and then draft one relatively high in next year’s draft, and no one would question either move. But it remains the position they value least. Addressing it going forward likely means signing an average veteran in free agency and then maybe investing a third-round pick. It’s unlikely that they will significantly upgrade at safety any time soon.
So what do the Cowboys have to give up in a trade? Well, they are expected to have plenty of draft picks next year thanks to some of the compensatory picks they’re expected to get in return for losing free agents like Byron Jones, Robert Quinn, Randall Cobb and Maliek Collins. But does Dallas want to part with those picks considering the plan is to keep Prescott on the roster for the foreseeable future? The Cowboys are likely going to need as many premium draft picks as possible to fill out the rest of a roster that will be even more loaded with big contracts after getting a deal done with Prescott. The best way to improve what has been arguably the NFL’s worst defense would be spending significant draft picks on that side of the ball.
Would the Cowboys consider trading an established player on their roster in exchange for another player or more draft picks? The problem with that idea is there aren’t many valuable assets that would interest opposing teams on this roster. Dallas’ biggest contracts belong to DeMarcus Lawrence, Amari Cooper, Tyron Smith, Ezekiel Elliott, Tyrone Crawford, Jaylon Smith, Zack Martin and La’el Collins. Martin is the only player of that group who would command serious interest, and there’s no way the Cowboys are trading him. Wide receiver is their best position, so Michael Gallup and Cedrick Wilson could draw some interest in a trade, but it seems highly unlikely that they would part with Gallup, while Wilson probably wouldn’t bring enough in return to make that deal worth it.
“Obviously we’ll continue to evaluate this football team,” Stephen Jones said this week on 105.3 The Fan. “There’s a lot of football left to be played. We’re in a division that, as a group, is not winning a lot of football games right now. We’re still in the mix.”
Technically, they are still in the mix. But it just seems unlikely that the Cowboys will make any notable moves before this year’s deadline.
