Dallas City News

If the Cowboys trading cornerback Nahshon Wright to the Minnesota Vikings for Andrew Booth Jr. last week felt familiar, it’s because they made a very similar move just a year ago. While Dallas didn’t get much from last season’s swap of Kelvin Joseph for Noah Igbinoghene, perhaps Booth will provide them with a more reward for their effort.

Booth, a second-round pick in 2022, missed part of his rookie year with a knee injury and then struggled in his comeback effort under a new defensive coordinator with the Vikings. He’s now been shipped to Dallas in a trade for unproductive draft pick Wright. While the former third-round pick made it to a fourth training camp, Wright wasn’t likely to make the team after failing to earn a role beyond special teams. He’d fallen well behind rookie Caelen Carson and other prospects like Israel Mukuamu, Eric Scott, and Josh Butler in the race for roster spots.

Last August, the Cowboys sent Kelvin Joseph to the Dolphins in another exchange of struggling cornerbacks. Joseph had been a second-round pick in 2021, the same year Wright was taken, and had issues both on and off the field. Miami sent Igbinoghene, a first-round pick in 2020, to Dallas in a mutual attempt to rehab former highly-regarded prospects.

Neither panned out for their new teams. Joseph was cut midway through the year by Miami and has since bounced between Seattle and Kansas City. Igbinoghene made one play as a Cowboy, returning a blocked field goal for a touchdown in the season opener, and was never heard from again. He only dressed for five games in 2023 despite Dallas losing Trevon Diggs for the year. He’s now with Washington, joining the migration of talent who followed Dan Quinn there as free agents.

There’s nothing to feel bad about regarding Igbinoghene. The Joseph pick was the failure; trying to salvage it with a stab at fixing a former first-round talent was good business. If anything, Dallas did well getting that opportunity with a busted second-round pick. This time around the swap is even better as Booth was not only taken a round higher than Wright but also a year later. He’s two years younger and hopefully has some upside to mine.

While most felt Wright was a big reach when Dallas took him in 2021, some declared Booth to be a steal when the Vikings made him the 42nd overall pick a year later. He came into the NFL with much more belief in his ability and is still just two years removed from that point, having had some tough circumstances so far in his pro career. Essentially, for a player they were going to cut anyway in a few weeks, Dallas just added a guy who had more draft hype than any cornerback they’ve taken since Trevon Diggs.

Of course, given how things went for Booth in Minnesota, it’s possible this attempt won’t go any better than the last one did. At least Igbinoghene actually made the roster, and Booth will face quite a challenge to do that. After all, he’s facing the same competition that Wright was up against.

For all that we bash the Cowboys front office for inaction in some areas, give them credit for moves like this one. They could just toss guys like Nahshon Wright and Kelvin Joseph to the curb at final cuts but instead look for ways to get something back on their investments. The last one didn’t mature but perhaps Andrew Booth’s youth and some better luck with his health will help make this a more fruitful effort.