Should the Dallas Cowboys buy or sell before the NFL trade deadline? Following Sunday's fourth-quarter collapse that dropped them to 3-5 for the season, the majority of fans would like Jerry Jones to swallow his ego and sell off some pieces.
Who says the 84-year-old can't do a little bit of both? Any move should be made with an eye on 2027. Any Cowboys on an expiring or movable contract who still have value around the league should be sold. It really is that simple.
But if the opportunity presented itself for Dallas to land an impact player at a reasonable price who can help the team next year and potentially beyond, why shouldn't Jones pull the trigger? After all, this organization has a horrific track record of drafting defensive players over the last handful of years. Do you really trust them to fix the defense through the draft? I certainly don't.
With that in mind, here's a little trade deadline primer of players the Cowboys should look to bring in and some players who should be on the move before the November 10 deadline.
Players the Cowboys should trade for
Jordyn Brooks, LB, Dolphins
Outside of DeMarvion Overshown, do the Cowboys have any starting-caliber linebackers right now? The answer is no.
Jaishawn Barham is fighting through a rookie wall. Dee Winters was on the verge of getting benched before his Achilles strain. And Shemar James plays with the inconsistency you'd expect from a second-year fifth-round pick.
Brooks may not be the missing piece that puts Dallas over the top this year, but that doesn't mean the front office should pass up an opportunity to acquire him.
First-year Dolphins coach Jeff Hafley would surely hate to lose a player of Brooks' caliber, but Miami is 1-6 and has arguably the worst roster in the NFL. The Dolphins need to start stockpiling draft picks like Schottenheimer his best plays.
Pound for pound, Brooks is one of the more violent and smart off-ball linebackers in the game today. He's registered 63 tackles this season with zero missed tackles. That is the most tackles made without a missed attempt by an defensive player this season.
Even amid rookie LB Jacob Rodriguez's sudden rise to stardom in South Florida, Brooks is quietly putting together another banner year. Understanding that Dallas may not make the playoffs, I'd still trade for Brooks in a heartbeat. He'd fix the linebacker room overnight.
Tuli Tuipulotu, EDGE, Chargers
Has any Cowboys position group disappointed more than the edge room?
Rashan Gary was acquired in the offseason with the hope of raising the floor of Dallas' pass rush. That hasn't materialized, and Donovan Ezeiruaku has yet to live up to the hype that followed him out of Boston College. At this point, Ezeiruaku looks more like a complementary pass rusher than someone who can anchor the position. The Cowboys can absolutely upgrade opposite him.
Tuipulotu is a player you can build your pass rush around. Trading for him would require signing him to a long-term extension, but he'd be worth it, as he's third at the position with a 19.3 percent pass rush win rate, tied for eighth with 26 impact plays, tied for 13th with 29 pressures and tied for seventh with 11 run stops, per SÅ«mer Sports.
An edge actually capable of setting the run, the 24-year-old is arguably just scratching the surface of his pass-rush potential. He fits the mold of a player who would help Dallas for the rest of the season and beyond.
Alex Highsmith, LB, Steelers
As mentioned above, the pass rush in Dallas is still really bad. The team is aware of this, with Nick Harris of the Star-Telegram naming Highsmith as a player to keep an eye on, as well as Josh Sweat (Cardinals), Yaya Diaby (Buccaneers) and K'Lavon Chaisson (Commanders).
Highsmith is comfortably the best player in that group. He's been overshadowed by T.J. Watt and Cam Heyward in Pittsburgh, but he's one of the more consistent two-way edge rushers in the NFL. He really gets after it against the run, but he's fallen to No. 3 in the pecking order after the Steelers extended Nate Herbig before the season.
Highsmith actually has the best pressure rate (14.2 percent) and more pressures (28) than Watt or Herbig this season. The tough part will be convincing the 6-2 Steelers to sell, which could lead to an overpay, but short of landing Maxx Crosby, the Cowboys will be hard-pressed to find a better pass rusher before November 10 than Highsmith.
Will McDonald, EDGE, Jets
Any time you see the Cowboys linked to a potential trade, an edge rusher has dominated the conversation. And rightfully so. You can expect the front office to revamp the position again this offseason, as Gary and Ezeiruaku haven't lived up to the hype.
McDonald doesn't offer much of anything against the run, but he can get after the quarterback. His role with the Jets has dissipated following the selection of David Bailey at No. 2 overall this past April, logging just a 48 percent snap share and starting two of eight games.
A first-round pick in 2023, McDonald currently owns a 14.5 percent pressure rate that ranks 33rd out of 116 edge defenders, per SÅ«mer Sports. He also posted 18.5 sacks between the 2024 and 2025 seasons.
In the final year of his rookie contract, Dallas would have to gauge how much money McDonald wants. The price would also have to be perfect -- perhaps an early Day 3 pick, given how much his stock has fallen this season -- but there's a buy-low opportunity here for teams in need of pass rush help.
The Cowboys certainly check that box. An EDGE core of Ezeiruaku, Malachi Lawrence, Gary (if he's still around) and McDonald would make for a deep room, and Dallas would have plenty of leftover draft capital to go get an alpha, whether it be through another trade, free agency or the draft.
Players the Cowboys should trade away
George Pickens, WR
If the Cowboys aren't going to treat Pickens like a true WR1, what's the point of keeping him? He's rarely a focal point of the game plan, and his season-long production reflects that.
Pickens is averaging just 66.1 receiving yards per game, a significant drop from the 84.1 he averaged last season. For a receiver of his caliber, that's a troubling indictment of how Dallas is using him.
Granted, CeeDee Lamb has been healthy all year (don't worry, I knocked on wood), but that shouldn't matter. Only three quarterbacks have attempted more passes than Dak Prescott's 302: Jordan Love, Jacoby Brissett and Matthew Stafford. There's plenty of volume for Pickens to eat in addition to Lamb. Yet he's only had eight or more targets in half of Dallas' games this year.
Assuming the Cowboys don't plan on paying up to keep Pickens in the offseason, it'd be nonsensical not to shop him. Seeing how many contenders are in need of WR help, odds are Pickens could fetch a second-round pick.
Imagine Josh Allen with Pickens. Imagine what Pickens could do for the Chiefs' offense. The 49ers are counting on practice squad players right now and the Seahawks badly need another playmaker to balance out their Jaxon-Smith-Njigba-dependent offense.
T.J. Bass, OL
You never want to part with a quality backup offensive lineman, and Bass has a strong case as one of the better reserves in the NFL. Knowing the Cowboys' luck, one of their starting five would go down the moment they traded him. But just as Brian Schottenheimer can't keep coaching scared, the front office can't let the fear of a hypothetical injury dictate its decision-making.
If not for Lamar Jackson's thumb injury, Baltimore might have overpaid for Bass' services. Odds are they are less inclined to buy now that Jackson is expected to miss the rest of the regular season.
But still, offensive line depth is in a pretty dark place around the NFL. It stands to reason that Bass would have multiple suitors if Dallas were to make him available.
Bass started at left guard from Weeks 1-3 and did not allow a sack. He wasn't Tyler Smith (nobody is), but he held down the fort. According to Pro Football Focus, the 27-year-old has not allowed a sack in his last 388 pass-block snaps.
A free agent after the season, Bass, unfortunately, checks every box of a player the Cowboys should ship out before November 10. He'd start at either guard spot for most teams in this league.
Kenny Clark, DT
It's a pretty damning indictment of the roster that Clark might be Dallas' second-best trade asset behind Pickens. There's no way to sugarcoat it: He has not lived up to the billing after coming over in the Micah Parsons trade.
Not even the acquisition of Quinnen Williams has unlocked the 31-year-old. He'll wreck the occasional play, but the Cowboys would gladly trade the occasional tackle-for-loss for more consistency down to down. He's not a must-keep by any means, but that doesn't mean he wouldn't be a quality addition on the right team.
The Jaguars, for instance, just lost stud DT DaVon Hamilton for the season. As arguably the most complete team in the AFC, they jump out as a team that could call Dallas about Clark.
While Clark has underwhelmed relative to expectations, he is still a starting player, ranking 27th among interior defenders with 19 impact plays, tying for 12th with five stuffed runs and tying for 32nd with five run stops. He's one of the 25-32 best players at the position.
That doesn't mean he'll net anything more than a fifth-round pick, but Dallas would do well to cash in on him while they still can.
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