Jerry Jones drops a trade bombshell, revealing a deal is done. What position did the Cowboys reinforce, and what moves are next?
The Dallas Cowboys always seem to dance to the beat of their own drum, often bucking conventional wisdom in most situations. This is a trickledown effect from the top of the organization: Owner/GM and showman extraordinaire Jerry Jones.
In true Jones fashion, he revealed some notable news in the afternoon leading up to the team’s Week 9 matchup against the Arizona Cardinals on Monday Night Football: he soft launched a trade. For the older generation amongst us, that means that he announced that a trade has been made by the team but hasn’t revealed which players or team is involved in the trade.
It’s notable that he also said that he’s working on two more trades ahead of the Nov. 4 trade deadline. We’ve talked multiple times about how this team isn’t simply one player away, and it would seem that Jerry has also reached that same obvious conclusion.
Back to the trade that has already been consummated, we can take a look at the team’s roster and get a general idea of what position was addressed. It goes without saying that quarterback, tight end, wide receiver, offensive line, and special teams were not needs, ruling out those positions.
The only offensive position that needed addressing was the second running back spot, but that has always felt like a “nice to have” sort of move than a gaping hole on the roster. With Jones saying that this move addresses some “shortcomings”, adding a running back doesn’t seem like the probable outcome of this trade.
That of course leaves the defense. Suffice it to say, just about any position group could’ve been the target on this side of the ball.
The cornerback group has been underwhelming and injured, as have the safeties. Looking at the linebackers, rookie Shemar James has been a bright spot but is more of a nice piece than a bankable cornerstone at this point while vets Jack Sanborn (No. 55 of 82 per PFF, placed on IR today) and Kenneth Murray Jr. (No. 79 of 82) have been banged up and disappointing when healthy.
And of course there’s the defensive line. While rookie EDGE Donovan Ezeiruaku has been trending upwards lately and looks like a hit in the draft, one man does not make a pass rush, while Sam Williams and Marshawn Kneeland have been disappointing at best and unplayable at worst.
Speaking of disappointing, the interior defensive line has been incredibly underwhelming. Trade acquisition Kenny Clark ranks No. 69 out of 124 players at his position, including a 46.0 run defense grade. Meanwhile, Osa Odighizuwa ranks No. 86 out of 124 players in the first year of a four-year, $80 million deal.
Mix it all together and you have a defense that would benefit from reinforcements at any position. Notably, Jones said that this move will address “some things,” lending credence to the thought that the team could be adding two players with this one move.
We’ll have more information by tomorrow’s deadline, but one thing is abundantly clear: the Cowboys team we see in Week 11 against the Las Vegas Raiders will look very different than the one we see against the Cardinals.