Cowboys do Mike Zimmer huge favor in no-brainer trade with Giants

The Dallas Cowboys' roster is in excellent shape as we enter the second week of preseason. Like most teams, though, it's far from perfect. Mike Zimmer has already made a seismic impact on the defense, but he can only do so much with the talent at his disposal.

Having said that, the front office deserves credit for retooling the linebacker position. It also added fresh blood in the secondary with fifth-round gem Caelen Carson. Furthermore, Micah Parsons compared second-round pick Marshawn Kneeland to eight-time Pro Bowler and 2010s All-Decade Team member Cameron Jordan.

Those are great signs for the current iteration of the Cowboys as well as the future. Despite that, Cowboys fans couldn't help but temper expectations for the defense due to the state of the nose tackle position. It was expected that Dallas would find their new NT in the roster-cuts fallout.

In a shocking turn of events, the front office was proactive and went out and traded for veteran Jordan Phillips from the New York Giants late Wednesday night.

Cowboys acquire DT Jordan Phillips in trade with NY Giants

Per reports, the Cowboys acquired Phillips and a 2026 seventh-round pick in exchange for a 2026 conditional sixth-round pick. At face value, this is a great trade for Dallas and Zimmer.

A second-round pick in 2015, Phillips has started 62 games in his career. At a towering 6-6 and 341 pounds, Phillips gives the Cowboys much-needed help at one-tech. He started nine games last season for a good Bills team. He was a big reason Dallas' offense couldn't get anything going in the 31-10 blowout loss in Buffalo late in the season.

At the end of the day, Phillips has been a good rotational player for a while. The 32-year-old has played at least 40% of his team's defensive snaps in eight of nine seasons. He's a serviceable backup for 2023 first-round pick Mazi Smith and he has some pass-rush upside to boot.

Health has always been a big concern with Phillips, however. He hasn't played a full season since 2019 and has played 44 of a possible 66 games in the last four seasons.

That is certainly something to watch, but the Cowboys deserve a lot of credit here. They traded what amounts to pocket change in draft pick terms for a player that fills a massive hole -- arguably the biggest hole on the roster.

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