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UPDATE: Griffen was traded to the Detroit Lions on Tuesday afternoon in exchange for a 2021 sixth-round draft pick, ESPN reported.
A fire sale in Frisco? Don’t put it past Jerry Jones.
The mercurial Dallas Cowboys owner, for the second straight week, confirmed his impending activity ahead of the Nov. 3 NFL trade deadline. And reading between the lines, there could be as many subtractions as additions to the sinking 2-5 squad.
“The facts are that fundamentally, we’re not stopping the run and when you don’t do that, then a lot of other things come in behind that as to what you are lacking. But we got to correct this,” he said Tuesday on 105.3 The Fan. “We got to correct it. We’ll change some personnel for sure. We just to step in here and make adjustments. That’s what you do.”
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In a heated radio interview, Jones was asked to address media reports claiming defensive end Everson Griffen, nose tackle Dontari Poe, and defensive back Daryl Worley have been made available for trade, the sacrificial lambs for a unit that ranks dead last against the run and scoring, allowing 34.7 points per game under embattled coordinator Mike Nolan.
His response was predictably indeterminate.
“I thought Griffen played well,” he said. “Now, we need all the players we can get on the table. I don’t know about the other guy[s].”
Across seven games and 281 defensive reps, outsnapping veteran Tyrone Crawford, Griffen has tallied just 20 tackles (10 solo) and 2.5 sacks. The 33-year-old (in December) turned in his best Dallas effort to date amid Sunday’s loss at Washington, as Jones alluded, logging five tackles and one sack. But it might not be enough to stave off a pink slip, especially now that reinstated DE Randy Gregory is back on the field.
The harsh reality, too, is that Griffen is the only purportedly dangled player who has any semblance of appeal. Good luck getting even a bag of chips for Poe and Worley, primary culprits on a historically bad defense. Jones knows this, and his semi-flattering remark might be interpreted as attempting to inflate Griffen’s value. He has so far found no takers, ESPN reported Monday, as all’s quiet on the four-time Pro Bowler’s front.
“I don’t think the Cowboys want to trade me,” Griffen told NFL reporter Josina Anderson on Monday. “I haven’t heard that.”
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Possible Financial Ramifications
As equally unsurprising as his cold market is the incentive to part ways. The Cowboys — currently $23.86 million under the salary cap — would clear $5.812 million and incur no dead-money hit by moving Griffen, per OverTheCap.com. They’d likely draw a conditional late-round draft pick in return.
Trading Poe, who inked a two-year, $9 million free-agent deal with Dallas, would save $2.437 million and leave behind $1.5 million in dead money. Shipping away Worley, typically the starting outside CB opposite Trevon Diggs, would generate $1.968 million in savings, with $1 million dead.
The Cowboys probably will be forced to release either offseason signing if they’re deadset on divorces. Poe and Worley’s respective league-wide interest undoubtedly is less than zero.
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Follow Zack Kelberman on Twitter: @KelbermanNFL