Mike Zimmer was clearly fed up with Nahshon Wright before surprising trade

Dallas Cowboys fans were buzzing on social media Friday when word spread that Mike McCarthy, Jerry Jones, Stephen Jones and Will McClay all weren't at practice. It was an odd development, and fans instantly thought the Cowboys were working hard behind the scenes to finalize CeeDee Lamb's extension.

It would be typical of Jerry Jones to finalize a contract with a superstar less than 24 hours after he dumped gasoline on the situation with a tone-deaf comment. The fact Lamb called out Jones, though, hinted the two sides aren't close to an agreement.

It turns out, the Cowboys' braintrust had a good reason for missing practice: They were busy trading cornerback Nahshon Wright to the Minnesota Vikings in a rare player swap for cornerback Andrew Booth, a second-round pick in 2022 out of Clemson.

Wright was a questionable fit in Mike Zimmer's defense. His play in training camp left a lot to be desired and he was trending toward being cut after preseason. It appears Zimmer's final straw with Wright occurred in Thursday's joint-practice with the Los Angeles Rams.

David Moore of the Dallas Morning News noticed that Zimmer gave Wright a talking to after he allowed a red zone touchdown to Rams receiver DeMarcus Robinson.

Cowboys' Mike Zimmer critiqued Nahshon Wright before surprising Vikings trade

Zimmer clearly tried to make it work with Wright, who worked with the first-team in training camp while Trevon Diggs worked his way back from ACL rehab. Diggs' return paired with the emergence of rookie standout Caelen Carson made Wright expendable.

The Cowboys deserve credit for finding a buyer for Wright. A third-round pick in 2021, Wright was either going to be released in a few weeks, or make the team and barely play this season before leaving in March as an unrestricted free agent.

It's an unfortunate ending to Wright's Cowboys career, but his height and length both placed above the 90th percentile for cornerbacks. Those traits don't carry much weight with Zimmer. He was a better fit under former defensive coordinator Dan Quinn, who loves lanky corners.

Wright tested poorly in short-area quickness coming out of college. He scored a lowly 2.47 relative athletic score at the 2021 combine. He struggled mightily in the 20- and 10-yard splits as well as the shuttle run and three-cone drill.

Zimmer asks his CBs to travel with receivers across the field and Wright's athletic profile doesn't align with that whatsoever. He is better suited sticking along the boundary and using his height and length to disrupt passes.

It's clear that the Cowboys are content with Diggs, DaRon Bland and Carson as their perimeter corners and their acquisition of Booth shows they wanted to get deeper in the slot behind Jourdan Lewis.

The trade caught everyone off-guard, but Zimmer's critique of Wright in Thursday's scrimmage foreshadowed the seemingly inevitable end of Wright's tenure with Dallas.

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