Sunday in Denver was a litmus test for the Dallas Cowboys. They set out to take on one of the NFL’s better teams in the Broncos, and while they are an AFC team and therefore a loss to them is the most minimal kind of defeat Dallas could ever suffer from a tie-breaking standpoint, the manner in which they lost matters greatly for overall context.
Consider that hours before Dallas was humiliated a mile above sea level that another report surfaced around their intent to find a pass rusher to add to what they have going on these days. The Micah Parsons jokes write themselves and we will just acknowledge that and move on.
No one is here to overreact to one loss. The difference between 3-4-1 and what would have been 4-3-1 isn’t massive enough to swing the pendulum, but that the amount of runway left for Dallas to get off the ground is diminishing and that they looked like they had no business even doing so given how they fared against a quality opponent in Denver, those things definitely swing it a bit.
The Cowboys should avoid a big-time trade
Last year the Cowboys were in the middle of one of their more toxic and chaotic seasons in some time, and that is really saying something. Right as the NFL’s trade deadline approached they sent their fourth-round pick away for the second time in as many years and to date received a player who was similarly productive.
Jonathan Mingo has technically offered more than Trey Lance ever did, but the competition is a depressing one. It is unfortunate for Mingo that he is catching strays as being referenced here, we mean no offense, but that trade was very obviously the Cowboys desperately doing anything they could to try and maintain relevance in the lost season that was 2024.
We are almost a year removed from that deal with the Panthers and Mingo has yet to provide any return on investment. In fact, the investment was so poor that the Cowboys were heavily linked to Tetairoa McMillan in the process leading up to the NFL draft. When Carolina took him the Cowboys were still so desperate for help at the position that Mingo plays that they traded for George Pickens. To be clear Pickens has been a revelation, but you can see how broken the overall process was which is the point.
It goes without saying that “anything can happen” and that the Cowboys can rip off a bunch of wins and be in the proverbial tournament at regular season’s end. Crazier things have certainly happened.
But the lack of fight and competition between Dallas and Denver on Sunday should serve as a sobering reminder as to the gap that exists between the Cowboys and the NFL’s current elite. There are trades that could certainly help this team, even acquiring Maxx Crosby would provide assistance for future seasons and therefore carries merit, but reality has to be faced that 2025 may not be the year.
What would be particularly harmful for the short- and long-term of the Cowboys franchise would be some sort of panic trade as a result of how lopsided Sunday’s contest was. That would be reminiscent of the Mingo trade. Consider that the Cowboys dealt for Mingo last year right after falling to 3-5 on the season with their loss to the Atlanta Falcons. In addition to losing the game the Cowboys lost Dak Prescott for the rest of the season and were hurting for any kind of relevancy, to use the verbiage up top. They are teetering into that territory right now and if recent history is any indication they will do whatever they can to avoid fully falling into that space, like send a fourth-round pick away for no justifiable reason.
Lessons have to be learned. Medicine has to be taken. Hopefully the Cowboys are cautious and understanding of these ideas heading into next week’s trade deadline.
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