The focus for the Dallas Cowboys as we near the NFL trade deadline on November 4 has to be singular. With a 3-3-1 record through seven weeks, they appear to be a fringe playoff team. But their current offensive production might not be sustainable, and the team will need a little more from its defense. After trading away Micah Parsons, the unit has been in shambles all season.
But with a plethora of teams headed towards a roster teardown or with wildly tradeable players on the squad, the potential for trades is going to be sky high for the Cowboys. While the combination of Dak Prescott, George Pickens, and CeeDee Lamb should be enough to carry them offensively, one analyst believes a shrewd move could take them to the next level defensively and make them a legitimate threat in the NFC.
Could the Dallas Cowboys Make Another Blockbuster Trade?
As it currently stands, the defense for Dallas is an atrocious watch, ranking as the fourth-worst unit on PFSN’s Defense Impact. That isn’t a testament to any life from the unit itself, but rather indicative of how bad the bottom three teams have been.
But, a top-four offense on PFSN’s Offense Impact has been able to offset that for the Cowboys for the most part, keeping them in games against the likes of the Philadelphia Eagles and the Green Bay Packers.
Ultimately, though, if the team is serious about a playoff push, they’ll need to make some upgrades defensively. Last year, the Cincinnati Bengals tried this model and failed miserably. But, as it turns out, they could be of some help to Dallas.
Cowboys insider and The Athletic writer Jon Machota put together a list of trade candidates that could make a major impact on the roster. One of the biggest names on the list was four-time Pro Bowler Trey Hendrickson.
“The 30-year-old is playing under a one-year, $29 million contract. Depending on what would be given up in a trade, an extension might have to be part of the deal.” After contract negotiations got him nowhere with the Bengals in consecutive years, that might be an understatement from Machota.
Dallas has to go into the trade expecting to give him an extension. After how squeamish they were about giving one to a homegrown talent like Parsons, who was significantly younger as well, that might be a tough sell for owner and general manager Jerry Jones.
However, the production they would get is second to none. As Machota voiced, “Hendrickson has basically been a sack-per-game player the last three seasons. He totaled 17.5 in each of the previous two seasons. He has four sacks and eight QB hits in six games this season.”
That kind of defensive uplift could instantly elevate the Cowboys into the absolute elites of the NFL, let alone the NFC, particularly in a season where no singular team has stood as above everybody else.
