Dallas Cowboys: Three positions the team could trade for

With final cuts coming in just over a week, the Dallas Cowboys could look into making some trades soon to help bolster their roster at these three positions.

When the league eliminated the 75-man roster cut down day entirely this year, it meant that NFL teams would carry a 90-man roster until September 2nd. And on that day, teams like the Dallas Cowboys, will be required to waive a whopping 37 players. That means 1,184 football professional will be out of a job.

But for a few of them, not for long. Some of those players will be claimed by other NFL teams. Others will land on practice squads.

As for the Cowboys, they have many difficult decisions ahead as injury and a lack of real positional competition has left them with some weak spots to address along their roster.

According to former NFL football executive Michael Lombardi, we can expect NFL teams to begin making trades in the next few days as they try to get ahead of the chaos of final cut day to fill the needs on their rosters. And I believe the Cowboys will active as well.

If Dallas opted to make a trade or two in the coming days, what positions on their current roster would they likely address? Here are my three best guesses…

CORNERBACK

Despite committing four of their nine picks to their defensive secondary in the 2017 NFL Draft, the Cowboys have some serious injury issues at the cornerback position right now. The main culprit appears to be the dreaded hamstring issues that plagued Dallas a few seasons back.

With rookies Chidobe Awuzie and Jourdan Lewis both sidelined, and with second-year corner Anthony Brown just now working his way back from his own hamstring injury, Dallas is scrambling just to find fill-ins to play in the preseason. Not to mention to prepare these first-year corners to play in, count em, 17 days till Week One.

Throw in the fact veteran and projected starter Nolan Carroll might be facing a suspension for a DUI arrest in May, and suddenly the Cowboys could be looking to start someone like Duke Thomas against the New York Giants on September 10th.

So, it’s logical to think the Cowboys could look to add a veteran cornerback to their roster in the coming days to provide some stability to a defensive secondary that is without three of their starters from last year.

QUARTERBACK

The play of the Cowboys’ quarterbacks has been the talk of the preseason, with undrafted rookie Cooper Rush outplaying veteran Kellen Moore through the team’s first three exhibition games.

But even if Rush is able to leapfrog Moore on the depth chart, Dallas is unlikely to risk having an unproven rookie as the primary backup to Dak Prescott. Instead, I think the Cowboys might opt to trade or sign a more proven, veteran quarterback that could come in and run the offense if needed. Now, that player may be Luke McCown, who is already on the roster.

But there is certainly the possibility the Cowboys find a better option than McCown on the market, and bring him in. In my mind, that would make Rush the third quarterback on the active roster and Moore waived only to be stashed on the practice squad as another defacto coach for the second-year Prescott to rely on.

LEFT GUARD

The battle for left guard appears to be Jonathan Cooper‘s to lose. But there is a sense, at least to me anyways, that the Cowboys aren’t completely settled at that position. Chaz Green was the early favorite but is certainly too unreliable to start due to his durability issues.

That likely leaves the Cowboys scouring the trading market for a veteran left guard who has just enough left in the tank to start between two All-Pros in left tackle Tyron Smith and center Travis Frederick. Maybe Cooper is the right man for the job. But something tells me Dallas wouldn’t mind an upgrade for the right price.

Next: Dallas Cowboys mid-preseason roster projection

Did I miss a position of need? What area of the Dallas Cowboys current roster are you the most worried about? Tell us in the comment section below.