3 trades the Cowboys will regret not making at 2023 deadline

2. Ezra Cleveland, Guard

Dallas entered the season with an issue along the offensive line and did very little to address it. As good as Tyron Smith has been throughout his career, he’s also been far from durable. Not only has he been unable to play a full season since 2015, but he’s only managed to play in 16 games over the past three years combined.

Despite this, Dallas had him as their starting left tackle. As expected, he’s again been shelved for roughly half of the year playing in four games while missing three.

To make matters worse, they just lost Chuma Edoga to an ankle injury in their win over the Rams. While the belief is that he avoided a serious injury, the Cowboys still should have tried to add some depth to the position at the deadline.

One player who could have really helped is Ezra Cleveland, who was sent from the Minnesota Vikings to the Jacksonville Jaguars in exchange for a sixth-round pick.

Cleveland was a sixth-round pick himself back in 2020 and was in the final year of his rookie deal. Minnesota clearly didn't intend to re-sign him next year, instead feeling confident with Dalton Risner taking over full-time at left guard.

For the Cowboys, Cleveland would have afforded them the opportunity to move Tyler Smith to left tackle and start preparing him to take over for Tyron Smith full-time. Who knows, they might have even been able to extend him and shore up their line for years to come.