Cowboys Urged to Trade 18-Sack, $12 Million Veteran

Getty The Cowboys could consider trading DE Dorance Armstrong.

The Dallas Cowboys are being urged to unload one of their key veterans before the trade deadline.

As suggested by Bleacher Report’s Alex Ballentine, one player the Cowboys should consider trading is none other than defensive end Dorance Armstrong. Ballentine makes the argument that while Armstrong remains a productive player — he’s coming off of an 8.5 sack season in 2022 and notched two sacks in the season opener — he’s buried on the depth chart and isn’t seeing enough playing time.

“While depth is great on the edges, getting something in return for a player like Armstrong who is set to hit free agency at the end of the year anyway wouldn’t be a bad move,” writes Ballentine. “Armstrong has only played up to 22 snaps in the first three games of the season. Despite the limited role, Armstrong has proven that he can get after the quarterback. He had two sacks in the team’s season opener.”

Dorance Armstrong Has Served as Key Lineman in Rotation

The 26-year-old Armstrong is a former fourth-round pick of the Cowboys who has been a member of the team since 2018. Although Armstrong has never been a full-time starter, he’s always been a rotational player along Dallas’ defensive line.

Since his debut in 2018, Armstrong has missed just eight total games while playing in at least 26% of the defensive snaps in every one of those seasons.

It’s also worth noting that the 6-foot-4, 260-pounder is a versatile athlete, playing a key role on special teams. He appeared on 97 special teams snaps last season and once appeared in 287 special teams snaps during the 2020 season, 62% of the special teams snaps.

Despite appearing in just 47% of the defensive snaps (543 snaps) last year, Armstrong notched a career-high 8.5 sacks — ranking second on the Cowboys — in addition to 33 tackles, 10 tackles for loss and 16 quarterback hits. For perspective, Armstrong had a sack roughly every 64 plays. By comparison, Micah Parsons — who led Dallas with 13.5 sacks — had a sack every 68 plays.

In other words, Armstrong is a legit pass-rushing threat who could be utilized a lot more often on a team that doesn’t have as much defensive line depth. The problem is, the Cowboys have a number of pass-rushing threats. Outside of Parsons, Dallas also features DeMarcus Lawrence, Sam Williams and Dante Fowler Jr.

Armstrong is currently in the final season of a two-year, $12 million deal.

Why Cowboys Probably Won’t Trade Dorance Armstrong

As Ballentine mentions, the Cowboys allow Armstrong to walk in free agency and hope to get a draft pick via the compensatory formula. Or they could simply unload him now before the October 31 trade deadline and guarantee getting something in return.

“The Cowboys can keep Armstrong around for a year and hope that the compensatory pick formula will land them a draft pick in return,” writes Ballentine. “Or they could use their strength to their advantage and look for a trade partner now who will give them a guaranteed pick in next year’s draft.”

Considering the team recently lost top cornerback Trevon Diggs to a season-ending injury, it’s doubtful that the Cowboys are worried about stockpiling draft picks over retaining key depth in case of an injury. All it takes is one injury to either Parsons or Lawrence for Dallas to then rely heavily upon a player such as Armstrong.

While the argument of trading Armstrong would make sense for most teams, it makes little sense for a Super Bowl-contending team such as the Cowboys.