Cowboys Trade Call On Steelers' Patrick Queen vs. Maxx Crosby? Inside Scoop On 'Totally Fake' Report

It's impossible to know if this is a Dallas Cowboys-related report that's simply a mistake ...

Or a Dallas Cowboys-related report that is knowingly and purposely misleading.

But we decided to dig into the multiple news items that insist that the Cowboys - buoyed by a 38-21 win at Philadelphia that snapped a two-game losing streak and nudged Dallas to 3-4 - are now frantically on the phones making assertive trade calls ahead of the Nov. 10 NFL deadline.

A centerpiece name of these reports?

Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Patrick Queen.

This movement seems to have been triggered by ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler having named the Cowboys as the “Top Trade Fit” for a player in Queen who during his career has been an NFL All-Pro and a two-time Pro Bowler.

Along with his report, though, Fowler carefully walked the tightrope of truth by both predicting a "20-percent chance'' of a trade and writing, "The Steelers’ status as a 5-2 team likely keeps him in Pittsburgh.”

Clever. Fowler is going to end up being right, no matter what happens!

Next up, an aggregation of Fowler's "report'' from a Steelers SB Nation site (no, I'm not going to link to it) that flat-out writes, "The Steelers were contacted by Cowboys about Patrick Queen trade.''

The problem with these "reports''? NFL sources tell me that Dallas last "reached out'' to the Steelers about Queen - a good player who is in the final season of the three-year, $41 million contract he signed with the Steelers before the 2024 season - in May.

That's right; ESPN (and other sites) are gaining traction by accidentally/on-purpose pretending this is a new story.

One plugged-in voice put it to me this way: "That's totally fake.''

At the other end of the rumor spectrum, the way I see it and hear it? The idea of Dallas reconnecting with the Raiders to bid on Maxx Crosby, something we write about below.

(Colleague Bryan Broaddus, the former Cowboys scout, is boldly predicting Dallas "is going to get Maxx Crosby'' ... and I promise you this thought is more sourced that the Queen-related junk.)

Now, as I often say, this is a Never-Say-Never League and I'd be wise to be a C.Y.A. guy. Maybe tomorrow there will really be a fresh Cowboys call to Pittsburgh; after all, given the trio of transactions in the last year-plus - George Pickens to Dallas, coach Mike McCarthy to Pittsburgh, Broderick Jones to Dallas and Joey Porter Jr. to Dallas - the clubs clearly have one another on speed-dial.

(Sidebar: I'd much prefer Dallas try to pry loose somebody from the TJ Watt-led Steelers pass-rush group - a story for another day.)

Additionally, Queen - the former LSU standout who went No. 28 overall in the 2020 NFL Draft to the Ravens, where he starred before jumping to the AFC South rival Steelers - could be a help here. 

The Cowboys are hoping playmaking linebacker DeMarvion Overshown can stay healthy. Season-opening starter Dee Winters is out injured. Rookie Jaishawn Barham has been supplanted by young journeyman Shemar James. 

So yes, Dallas' traditionally crummy defense could use help. Maybe even in the form of Patrick Queen. But "The Steelers were contacted by Cowboys about Patrick Queen trade'' as a breaking news story?

"That's totally fake.''