Jerry Jones’ tone deaf trade deadline quote shows why Cowboys are looking up at Eagles
By Jerry Trotta
The Dallas Cowboys surprised everyone this offseason when they traded for Stephon Gilmore and Brandin Cooks. The deals represented the elusive low-risk, high-reward trade at a reasonable price that all teams strive for, so Jerry Jones and the front office deserve major props for that.
There's a reason the trades caught folks off-guard. Very seldom do the Cowboys offload draft capital in the name of pursuing a Super Bowl. That's been a point of contention among the fan base, and understandably so given multiple teams have reaped the benefits of making "all-in" or "win-now" moves.
Sadly, the Eagles are the poster child for this level of move. Sure enough, they got the trade deadline wheels churning Monday when they acquired All-Pro safety Kevin Byard from the Titans for what amounted to pocket change.
We have our own ideas for how Dallas should counter Philly's chess move, but there's little reason to believe the Cowboys will be major deadline players.
Jones basically revealed as much on 105.3 The Fan on Tuesday.
Jerry Jones told @1053thefan the Cowboys won’t initiate trade talks to improve roster before deadline. “The initiation of an opportunity to make a trade at this time that would help us principally has to start over on the other end… I like where we are with our personnel today.”
— Michael Gehlken (@GehlkenNFL) October 24, 2023
Jerry Jones take on trade deadline shows why Eagles are a step above the Cowboys
Is this not the fundamental difference between the Cowboys and Eagles?
We take anything Jones says to the media with a grain of salt, as it's feasible Jones is keeping Dallas' actual deadline plans close to the vest, but does this quote not align with how the team has done business during Jones' tenure as far as trades?
Trading for Gilmore and Cooks will pay off for the Cowboys, but aren't teams supposed to try to improve the roster in the offseason? The Eagles beat everyone to the punch in April by trading for D'Andre Swift, their leading rusher, a year after they acquired A.J. Brown, their leading receiver, in the same month.
Those moves align with the Cowboys' trades for Cooks and Gilmore. What separates Eagles general manager Howie Roseman from Jerry Jones and other GMs is identifying problem spots mid-season and pushing the envelope to fix them.
Take a gander at these perfectly-worked trades.
Current veterans on the Eagles roster acquired via trade:
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) October 23, 2023
WR AJ Brown for a 1st and 3rd round pick
CB Darius Slay for a 3rd and 5th round pick
S Kevin Byard for a 5th and 6th round pick and S Terrell Edmunds
RB D’Andre Swift for a 4th and swap of 7th round picks
Philly did this last August when it traded for safety C.J. Gardner Johnson and in October when it traded for edge rusher Robert Quinn. The Quinn move didn't work out, but that's just a blip on Roseman's trading resume and it admirably didn't stop him from acquiring one of the NFL's top safeties in Kevin Byard to overcome injuries in the secondary.
If there's a low-cost move to be made, Roseman is always sniffing around. That, paired with Jones' seeming satisfaction with the Cowboys' current personnel just underlines why the Eagles have jumped ahead of Dallas as one of the league's best-run franchises.
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