Getty Jerry Jones, Dallas Cowboys owner, whose team was silent at the NFL trade deadline
After Tuesday’s NFL trade deadline passed with no activity from Dallas, owner and general manager Jerry Jones of the Cowboys was widely lampooned for the lack of movement. On Friday, speaking from the Texas Rangers’ World Series parade, offered a defense of his trade-deadline approach: The Cowboys already had their deadline.
It just came earlier than most.
“We’ve really had our trading deadline, we had our trading deadline before the season started,” Jones told the K&C Masterpiece show on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas. “That’s why we traded for Stephon Gilmore and that’s why we traded for Brandin Cooks. And so I know there’s been a lot of talk there lately about trading deadline but thank goodness, we had the opportunity to get that trading deadline done back before we started the season.”
That was back in March, of course. Cooks was acquired in a draft-pick swap with the Texans on March 19, and Gilmore came via the Colts, for a fifth-round pick five days earlier.
Multiple Cowboys Spots Need Help
Jerry Jones took heat this week for letting the deadline lapse with no movement from the Cowboys. Sure, the team made trades seven months ago, but since then, several weak spots have cropped up that could have been addressed by trade.
Star corner Trevon Diggs was injured and the secondary needs help. The offensive line, too needs depth amid a series of injuries. The defensive line has holes. The wide receivers around star CeeDee Lamb (including Cooks) have struggled, and the Cowboys were linked to several star pass-catchers. Even starting running back Tony Pollard could use help.
The Cowboys were listed as trade-deadline “losers” at multiple sites after Tuesday, including A-to-Z Sports and SI.com. As SI’s Gilberto Manzano wrote, “The Cowboys have played well defensively after a few rough weeks adjusting without cornerback Trevon Diggs, who tore his ACL earlier this season. But the Cowboys are in need of offensive line help and another running back to complement Tony Pollard.”
Jerry Jones: Trade Deadline Players Behind Curve
Making matters worse is what the other NFC contenders did ahead of Tuesday’s NFL trade deadline: Seattle (Leonard Williams), San Francisco (Chase Young) and Philadelphia (Kevin Byard). Jerry Jones defended the team’s relative inactivity by saying those players traded to other teams will have the challenge of learning a new playbook.
But because the Cowboys had their trade deadline in March, Jerry Jones said, they don’t have that problem.
“Right now, one week after the trading deadline, these guys have been working with quarterbacks, they’ve been working with schemes, they’re ready to go. Guys that were just brought in last week, they’ve got a nice little curve to get on the same page,” he said.
As for what was possibly on the table for the Cowboys ahead of the trade deadline, the owner wanted to keep that to himself. When next year’s trade deadline comes, he did not want to deter teams from calling, though he put a typical Cowboys Jerry Jones spin on it.
“I understand the reason for the question,” Jones said. “But really, if you look at it, anything that is talked about or speculated about is as dead as Napoleon. It didn’t happen. It just didn’t happen. So it serves no purpose, first of all, it might be a negative in future conversations. And so it serves no purpose.”
So, Jerry Jones and the Cowboys will move forward with what they have. At least, until the next tradeline in March.