Dallas City News

Final roster cuts are less than a week away. On Tuesday, August 27th, teams must reduce rosters in one fell swoop from the current 90 to a maximum of 53 players.

Those roster cuts are usually accompanied by a flurry of trades both before and after the deadline, and the Cowboys have not been averse to joining that flurry, at least since Will McClay took over as the VP of player personnel in 2013. Here’s an overview of the Cowboys’ trade activity around final roster cuts since then.

• In 2013, a trade didn’t materialize until after final roster cuts when the Cowboys traded for LB Edgar Jones from the Kansas City Chiefs on the day after final roster cuts. They then followed that up by trading DT Sean Lissemore to San Diego and TE Dante Rosario to Chicago the next day, both for seventh-round picks.
• In 2014, they traded DE Ben Bass to New England for CB Justin Green in mid-August and traded for DE Lavar Edwards on the day of final roster cuts for a conditional seventh-round pick.
• In 2015, the Cowboys acquired RB Christine Michael in a trade with Seattle for a conditional seventh-round pick after final roster cuts and traded for Oakland WR Brice Butler a week later.
• In 2016, Denver contacted Dallas to try to trade Mark Sanchez prior to final roster cuts, but the Cowboys didn’t budge, though they quickly signed Sanchez once the Broncos released him.
• In 2017, they acquired CB Bene’ Benwickere in a trade (for a conditional sixth-round pick in 2019) with Cincinnati on the day of final roster cuts. One day after final roster cuts they traded for LB Jayrone Elliott out of Green Bay (for a 2018 conditional seventh-round pick).
• In 2018, they acquired OG Parker Ehinger in a trade with Kansas City for CB Charvarius Ward a day prior to final cuts. Ward went on to win a Super Bowl with the Chiefs, lead the league in pass defenses with the 49ers last year and made the Pro Bowl and second-team All Pro. Ehinger never played a snap for the Cowboys.
• From 2019 to 2022, obviously exhausted by the flurry of activity the previous years, the Cowboys rested.
• Last year, the Cowboys came back with a vengeance when Jerry Jones put on his GM cape and traded a fourth-rounder for Trey Lance three days prior to final roster cuts.

And earlier this week Jerry Jones hinted the recent moves for defensive linemen “won’t be the final pieces to the puzzle.”

None of the roster-cut trades listed above delivered world-beaters to Dallas. But expecting world-beaters from these types of trades is not realistic anyway. These trades are about plugging obvious roster holes.

Which is why Will McClay and the rest of the front office are probably busy right now trying to line up a few trades in an effort to plug remaining roster holes and to perhaps get better value for some of the bubble players that may not make the 53-man roster.

An equally likely scenario is that the Cowboys could be looking to invest one of their 2025 late-round draft picks a little early.

The Cowboys are currently projected to receive four compensatory draft picks next year, likely three fifth-rounders and one sixth-rounder on top of the original fifth- and sixth-round picks they still hold (the seventh-rounder was shipped to Detroit).

The odds of finding a future starter in rounds 5-7 of the draft are slim. The Cowboys have drafted 49 players in rounds 5-7 since 2013, and only four became multi-year starters for the Cowboys: Xavier Woods, Anthony Brown, Donovan Wilson, and DaRon Bland.

Bottom line is, if you want to get a better return on your draft capital, trade your late-round picks for proven veterans who can have an immediate impact. Find some sucker team that thinks it can beat the odds with a late-round pick and is willing to gamble a veteran on that.

The Cowboys will definitely have an eye out for a running back, might be open for a proven vet at wide receiver, and may look for upgrades at other positions as well. Why not go and get the guys you want instead of sorting through what’s left after final roster cuts?

And with a likely surplus of players in the secondary, at TE, and even on the O-line, perhaps some of these surplus players could be turned into future draft capital?

Work those phones, Stephen Jones!