Stephen Jones Heavily Suggests Cowboys Will Trade Lineman

Stephen Jones

Getty Stephen Jones

If there’s a flurry of activity in the next 72 hours, leading up to Saturday’s roster cutdown deadline, expect the Dallas Cowboys to be at the forefront.

Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones revealed Wednesday at the team’s 2019 Kickoff Luncheon that he’s fielded trade calls involving Dallas’ bevy of offensive and defensive linemen.

Jones implied the Cowboys will pull the trigger on at least one deal.

“I think there’s a possibility for sure that we could move somebody,” he said.

On the offensive side, Dallas has heavily worked its backups (Cameron Fleming, Jake Campos, Mitch Hyatt, Xavier Su’a-Filo) this preseason with multiple starters (tackles Tyron Smith and La’el Collins and guards Zack Martin and Connor McGovern) all missing time this summer.

Defensively, due to injuries to starting ends DeMarcus Lawrence and Tyrone Crawford, the team has given additional reps to former first-round draft pick Taco Charlton, who dominated last week’s preseason victory over the Texans, collecting three tackles, two sacks, two forced fumbles, a pass deflection and fumble recovery across just 19 snaps.

Financially, the Cowboys would benefit most from moving Fleming ($1.5 million cap savings; $750,000 in dead money), Charlton ($1.376 million; $1.358 million), or DE Robert Quinn ($8 million; $0), who was suspended for the first two games of the regular season, and whose trade value as such is likely nonexistent.

“We do get calls on both the offensive and defensive line,” Jones added, via the Dallas Morning News. “We’ve made that a priority over the years, and it’s a strength of ours. Teams are interested in it.”

All NFL teams, including the Cowboys, who currently sport over $20 million in available cap room, must trim their rosters down to 53 players by 4 p.m. ET on Saturday.

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Charlton on the Way Out?

If Taco’s time in Big D is nearing its end, it’ll come as no surprise to the ballyhooed defender. Charlton, despite turning in a performance that may ultimately save his job, was blunt in affirming that he hasn’t yet earned it.

“I ain’t done s–t,” he said after the Texans game, via Pro Football Talk. “I ain’t done nothing. I still have a lot of work to do, a lot of stuff to prove. This ain’t nothing to me but lace them up. Let’s play the next game.”

Charlton sustained an ankle injury against Houston and could miss Thursday’s preseason finale. The Cowboys would absorb a $3.193 dead money hit if they were to release him in the penultimate year of his four-year, $10 million rookie deal.


Good Problem to Have

Essentially, the Cowboys boast too many good players, unable to carry every last one into the Sept. 8 season-opener. There are only so many seats to fill, and those left standing are out of luck, partly for reasons beyond their own volition.

Between now and Saturday, the club will hem and haw over which 53 deserve the proverbial golden tickets — a group that may include a few outside additions.

“This is about as good as we’ve felt about our roster in a long, long time. But you never say never on being able to find something that could improve,” Jones said, per The Athletic. “Certainly we’ll be looking for that. One of the problems we got right now is that spots are tight.”


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Follow Zack Kelberman on Twitter @KelbermanNFL