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Monday Stack: Broderick Jones & The 53 Men
Busy weekend for the Cowboys offered plenty of surprises and a trade to consume.
Bob SturmAug 31, 2026
As you might expect, we have a big Monday piece that will be primarily about key big items:
- The trade for a swing tackle.
- The final roster decisions for the 53-man Roster
The Cowboys Traded for Their New Swing Tackle
Broderick Jones? Now that is a name I have not thought about in a very long time.But, as they say, this is why we look at all of those prospects every spring. Because once in a while, we will have to refer back to our work in 2023’s draft to remember what we thought of the big man coming out of Georgia whom the Cowboys just dealt for on Saturday for their final roster:
Now, I am sure that everyone and their brother have already weighed in on this one because I see the conversations on twitter that normally happen. Some people like the trade and others don’t. Then I see that those who like the trade are mad at those who don’t because “they always hate the new players.” Then, if I am seeing this right, those who don’t like the trade are mad at those who like it because “they are always excited about every new player the Cowboys get and are in the back-pocket of the franchise.”
Well, I tried to ignore the discussion and do my own homework below. I will confess though, I am accused of being a bit of an optimist on certain acquisitions. I will also tell you that I like looking for value a few years down the road on certain players.
Here is two-minutes of talking with Joe Hoyt the other day on the Hardline in the pregame of their final preseason game against the Saints.
“The position I feel the lousiest about is offensive line,” was my quote and we talked about going to get a swing tackle from “elsewhere.”
“They don’t have a swing tackle right now,” Joe Hoyt - Dallas Morning News on Friday.
Also, last week, my paragraph was along these lines:
Well, they made a trade. And they made a trade for a guy that I assume they loved in his draft year and have decided to take a chance on. But, make no mistake, things have not gone very well for Broderick Jones in the last 12 months and that is why he is available for the price of this one.
What was the price?
Dallas’ third and sixth-round picks for the Pittsburgh fourth rounder. Now, these are all 2027 picks, so we don’t know the order, of course. But, there are two ways to calculate the price: to add 2026 prices from each team or to value to the final pick in each round. Let’s do both.Using 2026 prices, Dallas sent away picks 76 and 193 for Pittsburgh for 121. That means Dallas sent away 210 pts and 14.2 for a total of 224.2 points in exchange for 52 points. The net loss of 172 points or roughly pick No. 84 which is a mid-round 3rd.
Using the 2027 standard, Dallas gave 130.6 in exchange for 44 points from Pittsburgh which is a net loss of 86 points or roughly pick No. 104 which is an early 4th.
Either way, depending on how you look at it, you gave either the pick you used for Jaishawn Barham or Drew Shelton to get this year of Broderick Jones to see if he can upgrade your 3rd tackle spot and revive his career.
Let’s talk Broderick Jones - Why Is He Available?
The truth is that he has been a disappointing tackle from his draft in 2023. Back then, he was an athletic marvel and appeared to be on a fast track to stardom. He was very interesting out of Georgia and I was pretty thick with the praise from his Sturm 60 profile:
Sturm 60 Rewind: '23 - Georgia T Broderick Jones
Bob Sturm
·
Aug 30
Read full story
The trouble is that he has not quite been that guy. His development has not gone great and the Steelers have been a messy organization during his run from 2023-2025 (just ask his Georgia teammate, George Pickens) and therefore it has been a sink or swim world for many of these picks and Jones has been left behind.
Pittsburgh has spent tons of capital on their OL since 2023. They traded up to take Jones with the 14th pick in 2023. Then in 2024, they took another tackle in Troy Fautanu in Round 1 at pick 20. Then in Round 2 they took their center Zach Frazier at pick 51. This year in Round 1 they took yet another tackle we loved in Max Iheanachor with the 21st pick. Find a team that has taken OL four times in the top 51 picks over a four year stretch. That is a lot of investment for a team that is still not crazy about its OL.
His 2024 was at right tackle and he was incredibly mediocre. Not consistent in his technique and not good enough. But, in 2025, they wanted to switch him to left tackle and things were actually progressing ok. There were a few games where he looked the part at left tackle, but still needed a lot of refinement.
His comp in 2025 before his injury? Well, you might not care for this one:
He was very similar in snaps and grades with Tyler Guyton. The trouble is that this was his 3rd season and Guyton’s second which has some real contract weight to it in that after Year 3, you can activate his 5th year for a 1st rounder which for Broderick would guarantee $19m for a guy who ended Year 3 needing neck fusion.
Reports on the nature of the injury might explain them drafting another tackle in Round 1. If Jones was a top performer, it might be one thing. But, being mediocre and needing a neck fusion are quite another:
Now, could he go on in his career? He was medically cleared and practicing at Steelers camp, mostly with the second-team line at both tackle spots and projected to be their swing tackle for the two kids as his contract would expire this year.
Let’s look at his tape. I have cut up 12-15 snaps from each of his preseason games this month to see what the Cowboys were seeing and keep in mind they are comparing him to Drew Shelton and Nate Thomas:
2026 Preseason Week 1 - Green Bay
As you can see, it is very far from perfect. But, it is also his first live action since the fusion. Just like in college, the run blocking is much better than the pass protection and his technique in pass-pro is still very lunge-based and top-heavy with less of a punch than we want.
2026 Preseason Week 2 - New York Jets
Now, they played Week 2 back at right tackle. They said he lost some weight and you can see he is a little light in the strength department on a few snaps. He moves pretty well, but gets pushed back more than we want. I think he appeared a bit more comfortable as this tape went along and the run stuff is starting to look better for me. Pass pro is an adventure, but with the Cowboys starters at tackle, this is more of the same. He over-sets and that gets him trouble, it seems.
2026 Preseason Week 3 - Buffalo
Then, here was this past weekend right before the trade in Buffalo. There are some decent reps on this tape that give me a feeling that he is an upgrade from the backup tackles they have in-house. That was my top concern in how thin they are at tackle if they are keeping Tyler Smith as a guard. They don’t want the first twisted ankle to uproot Tyler and push him out there. They needed a veteran swing tackle that they can trust for short term subs.
Is he better than that? I wanted to grab a game at each spot that was highly-graded from 2024 and 2025 (pre fusion) and see what it looks like. He has played nearly 3,000 snaps at the NFL level and while he has not been awesome, he has proven he can survive out there and has a chance to improve. Let’s see a few.
2024 Kansas City
Now here, you can see this being a guy that you think could ultimately start for you at some point if the price is right. He is really strong as a zone run blocker and his movement skills are nice. He does still have issues with over-setting on pass protection and that needs to be fixed. But, I see the pancake man from Georgia.
One more. Last October - right before his injury on Sunday Night against Micah and the Packers:
2025 Green Bay
Back at left tackle, he remains rough in pass protection in space. You will want to help him out against those elite guys and he sees plenty of them in the AFC North. I think there is plenty of good, but also so much he can get better at. He needs to reset and get some strong coaching.
I honestly like this kind of opportunity. I really do. First reason I like this move is because this was their weakest spot and they just improved it. I know, you would like to improve it for free, but I don’t think he gets released by the Steelers if you don’t offer something nice. From Dallas’ standpoint, he is very valuable because if you lose a starter, you had nothing behind it at all. Nate Thomas lost all value and is now in Houston on a trade where they probably added that value into this deal’s math, too.
Now, if he can get in the Cowboys OL lab and push Steele or Guyton to start by the end of this year or next year in camp (I assume he will be very cheap to bring back) then great. Otherwise, you took care of swing tackle and cleaned up another major weakness by building a smarter roster.
To me, this is what you want to do in the final week in August. See if you can take some currency – basically trade back a round – and try to buy some injury insurance. I think Jones is a proper swing tackle in this league with a better upside than they had. I realize he is far from perfect, but that can be true while still being better than what you had. I am all for it.
The final roster decisions for the 53-man Roster
Now, let’s go through this final roster - positional group by group:Cowboys 53: Dak Prescott, Joe Milton III, Sam Howell
My 53: Dak Prescott, Joe Milton
Thoughts: Interesting that they kept 3 QBs here for now. Will they roster Milton and Howell all the way through? Again, if you think you have a chance this year, I would definitely consider carrying three in case of emergency. But, I was not expecting this. By the way, this will not be the only time I will say that here.
RB (3): Javonte Williams, Malik Davis, Hunter Luepke
My 53: Javonte Williams, Malik Davis,
Thoughts: They cut Jaydon Blue! I did not anticipate that at all and I can only guess that they just wonder what he is at this level. They wanted him to beat out Malik Davis and resolve all of their fears, but credit to Davis – he would not go out easy and protected his turf well. I figure they will get Blue to the practice squad, but this name really rocked my world a bit. Perhaps he is a full tweener.
TE (3): Jake Ferguson, Luke Schoonmaker, Brevyn Spann-Ford
My 53: Jake Ferguson, Luke Schoonmaker, Brevyn Spann-Ford
Thoughts: This one went according to our vision. No big surprises there. We shall see about Michael Trigg’s future in Dallas or not.
WR (6): CeeDee Lamb, George Pickens, Ryan Flournoy, KaVontae Turpin, Camden Brown, Jonathan Mingo
My 53: CeeDee Lamb, George Pickens, Ryan Flournoy, Kavonte Turpin, Camden Brown, Jonathan Mingo
Thoughts: All six made the squad that we thought. In the end, this was also pretty easy to see, I thought.
OL (9): Tyler Guyton, Tyler Smith, Cooper Beebe, Tyler Booker, Terence Steele, T.J. Bass, Broderick Jones, Drew Shelton, Ajani Cornelius
My 53: Tyler Guyton, Tyler Smith, Cooper Beebe, Tyler Booker, Terence Steele, TJ Bass,
Thoughts: In the end, as I posted above, “The idea of Nate Thomas or Drew Shelton being the solutions at tackle are extremely problematic and I must tell you that this is where I would be shopping hard to find a swing tackle I can trust there in the trenches. Nobody has emerged and it just looks rather bleak.” They shopped elsewhere and in the end were disappointed in Thomas and Shelton and decided to be aggressive about it rather than “hope for the best”, which is never a good idea.
DL (5): Quinnen Williams, Kenny Clark, Otito Ogbonnia, Jonathan Bullard, LT Overton
My 53: Quinnen Williams, Kenny Clark, Otito Ogbonnia, LT Overton,
Thoughts: I was thinking they might try to roster Toia in this process and slide Bullard through waivers without problem, but I guess they didn’t want to risk it an instead conceded that Toia might not be required. Or, perhaps he can be kept in the practice squad if he makes it through. By the way, usually, just about everybody goes unclaimed and we all worry way more than we should about that sort of thing. Anyway, they kept five, but I guess I got too cute here.
Edge (6): Rashan Gary, Donovan Ezeiruaku, Von Miller, Malachi Lawrence, James Houston, Tyrus Wheat
My 53: Rashan Gary, Donovan Ezeiruaku, Malachi Lawrence, Von Miller,
Thoughts: I guess I overthought this one. I figured Von Miller took out James Houston’s job and that Sam Williams would impress more than Tyrus Wheat. Instead, Tyrus has a little Malik Davis in him in that he does enough at a level of satisfaction that they keep coming back to him. Wheat is a big special teams guy and he made it because he is excellent at that.
LB (4): DeMarvion Overshown, Dee Winters, Jaishawn Barham, Shemar James
My 53: DeMarvion Overshown, Jaishawn Barham, Dee Winters, Shemar James,
Thoughts: So Wheat making it must have knocked Barron off the back. I won’t get too far in the weeds here, but I really thought Barron and maybe Robinson would make it for special teams but those top four players are your linebackers and that looks like quite an upgrade from 52 weeks ago.
CB (5): DaRon Bland, Cobie Durant, Shavon Revel, Ameer Speed, Caelen Carson
My 53: DaRon Bland, Cobie Durant, Shavon Revel,
Thoughts: Devin Moore and Marist Liufau both go to the IR which opens up spots for Ameer Speed on special teams and Caelen Carson over Trikweze Bridges is very interesting to me. But, just five corners and we will see how this balances out here once Week 1 arrives.
S (6): Malik Hooker, Jalen Thompson, Caleb Downs, P.J. Locke, Markquese Bell, Alijah Clark
My 53: Caleb Downs, Malik Hooker, Jalen Thompson, PJ Locke, Alijah Clark
Thoughts: Markquese Bell is also in on special teams and beating out Julius Wood, we surmise. Six safeties is a ton of them, but that is how it will go (for now)
Specialists: Brandon Aubrey, Bryan Anger, Trent Sieg
My 53: Brandon Aubrey, Bryan Anger, Trent Sieg
Thoughts: Nothing to see here.
I normally try to hit 48-50, but this one was not that. 45 is all.
Eight that I didn’t have: Sam Howell, Broderick Jones, Jonathan Bullard, Tyrus Wheat, James Houston, Ameer Speed, Marquese Bell, and Caelen Carson.
Eight that didn’t make it that I did have: Jaydon Blue, Nate Thomas, Jay Toia, Sam Williams, Justin Barron, Curtis Robinson, Devin Moore (IR), and Trikweze Bridges.
But, overall, it looks like a better roster than we saw in 2025 and I expect a much better record, too.
What are your thoughts?
