Chalk up the Dallas Cowboys as a potential landing spot for Minkah Fitzpatrick.
During Friday’s appearance on 105.3 The Fan, Cowboys vice president Stephen Jones revealed that he contacted the Miami Dolphins within the past 24 hours, presumably to ask about the versatile, second-year defensive back.
Jones didn’t mention Fitzpatrick by name, but … c’mon.
“We always . . . when you hear rumors, you get calls,” he said, via Pro Football Talk. “You have conversations between myself, Jerry [Jones], Will [McClay]. We’re always checking around and seeing what’s going on. We have a pretty steady diet of visiting with other teams. We’re always trying to improve our roster.”
Interestingly, Fitzpatrick, the Dolphins’ first-round draft pick in 2018, is represented by the same agent — Joel Segal — as Dallas defensive end Taco Charlton, who’s reportedly being dangled in trade talks, with the Cowboys targeting a player-for-player swap.
“I think they would shoot for a five [fifth-round draft pick] right now, I really do. I don’t think there’s a, you know, you’re going to get a whole lot of value there,” in-house Cowboys reporter Bryan Broaddus said earlier this week, via Blogging The Boys. “I know there’s a team that they’re talking to, I don’t want to get into the team because I don’t want to hurt their chances with the team. But there’s a team they’re talking to about another player on that team at a position that can help them.”
The shamelessly tanking Dolphins purportedly are seeking a first-round pick in return for Fitzpatrick, the No. 11 overall choice last year and a two-time All-American at Alabama, where he honed his skills as a cornerback-safety-dime linebacker hybrid who can wreak havoc all over the field.
Fitzpatrick (6-1, 202) recorded 80 tackles, nine pass deflections, two interceptions and a defensive touchdown across 16 appearances as a rookie. He made six tackles in Miami’s Week 1 loss to the Ravens last Sunday.
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Cost of Acquisition and Where He’d Fit In
Aside from the draft capital it’d take to land him — I suggest Taco and a 2020 second-rounder for Minkah and a sixth — the Cowboys would have to absorb his four-year, $16.4 million contract, which includes cap hits of $3.738 million, $4.485 million and $5.233 million for 2019, 2020 and 2021, respectively.
Fitzpatrick would immediately slide into a starting role in Dallas’ secondary, perhaps replacing safety Jeff Heath opposite Xavier Woods. His addition would boost an already formidable secondary that boasts Byron Jones, Chidobe Awuzie, Anthony Brown and Jourdan Lewis.
Unlikely to Materialize?
Allow David Moore of the Dallas Morning News to be the wet blanket. Checking into Jones’ remark, Moore reports the Cowboys indeed pinged Miami about Fitzpatrick, but the inquiry was due diligence, “not an aggressive pursuit,” and that they were “kicking the tires at this stage, nothing more.”
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Cowboys’ Jones Hints at Trade for Dolphins Stud Minkah Fitzpatrick