The Landry Hat
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3 worst trades in Dallas Cowboys history

By Lauren Barash

ARLINGTON, TX - NOVEMBER 26: Wide receiver Roy Williams #11 of the Dallas Cowboys looks over to the sidelines during a game against the Oakland Raiders at Cowboys Stadium on November 26, 2009 in Arlington, Texas. The Cowboys defeated the Raiders 24-7. (Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images)
ARLINGTON, TX - NOVEMBER 26: Wide receiver Roy Williams #11 of the Dallas Cowboys looks over to the sidelines during a game against the Oakland Raiders at Cowboys Stadium on November 26, 2009 in Arlington, Texas. The Cowboys defeated the Raiders 24-7. (Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images) /
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Cowboys, Joey Galloway
NEW ORLEANS – DECEMBER 28: Wide receiver Joey Galloway #84 of the Dallas Cowboys evades cornerback Deveron Harper #28 of the New Orleans Saints during the game at the Superdome on December 28, 2003 in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Saints defeated the Cowboys 13-7. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images) /

2. Joey Galloway, 2000

This trade was bad for so many reasons that it’s hard to know where to even start. But I guess the beginning is apparently the best place. The Cowboys needed help at wide receiver after Michael Irvin sustained a spinal cord injury in 1999 that forced him to retire. Enter Jones with a typical “Jerry Jones splash move.” The GM decided to send two first-round picks to the Seattle Seahawks for the high-powered Joey Galloway.

Jones wasn’t wrong to want Galloway. In four years with Seattle, he averaged more than 1,000 yards per season and had 36 touchdowns. The receiver wanted a contract from Seattle badly enough that he held out the entire first half of the 1999 season. The Seahawks put the franchise tag on him and then traded him to Dallas for money and prime draft selections.

If Galloway played the way he did in Seattle, this might have made sense. But he didn’t. Galloway tore his ACL in his very first game with the Cowboys and never did much for America’s Team after that. Not only was Galloway a bust, but the lack of first-round picks when the team needed to replace QB Troy Aikman made the trade even worse.

An argument in Galloway’s favor is that Aikman was only under center for one of his games in Dallas. The receiver had 64 yards and a touchdown in that contest. So there’s a possibility that he could have been more productive if Aikman had remained QB and stayed healthy. Regardless, he was later traded to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, where he would sadly have more success. In his mid-30s, Galloway had three 1,000-yard seasons with the Bucs. Thanks for saving it for Tampa, Joey.

But wait! There’s more! Remember those draft picks that Dallas gave up? Those would come back to haunt Dallas, too. One of those picks was Shaun Alexander, a running back selected out of Alabama who would go on to win a league MVP award and set an NFL record for single-season touchdowns. He also obliterated records in Seattle for both yards and touchdowns. Sigh.

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