Dallas Cowboys to trade Houston Texans for a defensive tackle
The Dallas Cowboys have agreed to a trade for a Texans’ defensive tackle
The Dallas Cowboys enter their Week Eight matchup against the Philadelphia Eagles possessing the worst rushing defense in the NFL. Dallas allows a whopping 178.3 yards on the ground per game to opposing offenses. But the Cowboys have made a couple of moves this week hoping to cure their ills.
On Wednesday, the Cowboys released veteran defensive tackle Dontari Poe. Dallas signed the two-time Pro Bowler to a two-year, $8.5 million deal this offseason to become the team’s run stopper. Unfortunately, Poe underwhelmed in Dallas leading to his departure this week after only seven games.
On Friday, news broke that the Cowboys have agreed to trade a seventh-round draft selection to the Houston Texans in exchange for defensive tackle Eli Ankou. That’s according to Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle. The trade can not be officially executed until Monday.
Playing his college ball for UCLA, Ankou had his best season for the Bruins a junior back in 2015. He racked up 47 total tackles, 5.0 tackles for loss, three pass deflections, and 1.5 sacks in 12 games that season. Ankou was a third-round selection in the Canadian Football League Draft but elected to go to the NFL instead.
As an undrafted rookie free agent in 2017, Ankou was originally signed by the Houston Texans. The journeyman defensive tackle has since spent time with the Jacksonville Jaguars, Cleveland Browns, and Indianapolis Colts.
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The 26-year old native of Ottawa, Ontario played nine games for the Browns last season, racking up seven total tackles and one tackle for loss in two starts. Ankou was waived by the Browns before the start of this season and quickly picked up off waivers by the Colts. He has played in a total of 20 games over his professional career and never more than 17% of his team’s defensive snaps.
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The 6-foot-3, 325-pound interior defender was waived by Indianapolis earlier this month and claimed off the waiver wire by the Texans just last week. Now, if the trade goes through on Monday, Eli Ankou will be added to the defensive tackle rotation in Dallas that also includes Neville Gallimore, Justin Hamilton, Antwaun Woods, and Tyrone Crawford.