There are two positions Dallas Cowboys fans keep coming back to after free agency and the NFL Draft: linebacker and running back. While Dallas has enough bodies to get by, adding a proven commodity at both spots would leave the roster with virtually zero holes.
Until the Miami Dolphins take Jordyn Brooks off the table, Cowboys fans will keep fantasizing about a trade for the All-Pro linebacker. Dallas has already checked in on Brooks, and Miami drafting linebackers in the second and fourth rounds last month only fueled the speculation.
Despite that, it's been all quiet on the Brooks front, but that could change after the Dolphins and star running back De'Von Achane reached an agreement on a four-year, $68 million extension, making him the third-highest-paid RB with a $17 million annual average value.
ESPN insider Jeremy Fowler followed up by affirming that Brooks "is a name to watch" and, like Achane, is valued in the building despite garnering trade interest this offseason.
The Dallas Cowboys are running out of time to trade for Jordyn Brooks
Not that it wasn’t already urgent, but the Cowboys now have even more reason to move for Brooks.
While Jon-Eric Sullivan is a first-time general manager, extensions tend to come in clusters. If Miami has any interest in keeping Brooks, who's entering the final year of his contract, it also needs to act quickly.
Brooks' contract suggests that a trade won't come together overnight. While he’s set to hit free agency after 2026, the Dolphins would save just $2.58 million in cap space by trading him before June 1 while taking on $8.27 million in dead money, per OverTheCap. Those figures would flip with a post-June 1 trade.
Given that Miami already has $179 million in dead money this year and $56 million on the books for 2027, it likely won’t want to dig an even deeper hole. June 1 is less than three weeks away, so it’s not like the Cowboys would have to wait forever. But that’s still plenty of time for Brooks and the Dolphins to hammer out an extension.
If anything is working in Dallas' favor, it's that Miami has been more vocal about keeping Achane relative to Brooks. He might be valued by the franchise, but he'll also turn 29 in October.
By the time the Dolphins are ready to compete again, Brooks may be nearing the end of his career. That has to factor into the equation. The Cowboys, on the other hand, are entrenched in a win-now window.
It’s a rare alignment where the timing makes far more sense for Dallas than it does for Miami. We'll have an answer soon enough.
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