Cowboys news: Davante Adams trade talk has some wondering about Dallas, as usual

The latest news around the Dallas Cowboys

Davante Adams requests trade: Eight potential landing spots for Raiders’ star receiver – Eric Edholm, NFL.com

Could the former Green Bay Packers and his $88 million cap hit reunite with Mike McCarthy and the Dallas Cowboys?

What is a trade-destination list without Dallas listed somewhere? Like the Bills, the Cowboys had a quiet offseason – and it has been a growing topic of debate as the team has started slowly out of the blocks at 2-2. You can never count the Cowboys out in any potential deal, even if they have not been a big-swing team with this type of move in recent years.

With the makeup of their offense now, shorthanded in the backfield, this is a pass-first offense. But beyond CeeDee Lamb, do the Cowboys have a game-changing pass catcher? Jake Ferguson is a solid threat at tight end, and Brandin Cooks and Jalen Tolbert have their imprint on the scheme, but an Adams-Lamb pairing might instantly make them the top WR combo in the league.

This one feels less likely than the others above them on the list, but there’s no doubting the pressure in Dallas right now. Everyone, starting with owner Jerry Jones, wants another Super Bowl title badly. Getting Adams would help their chances, but it also wouldn’t be a cure-all for what currently ails them on defense and elsewhere.

Coaches Seeing a “More Confident” Mazi Smith – Kyle Youmans, DallasCowboys.com

Mazi Smith turning the corner as a pro would be a fantastic development.

Smith put together his best game as a pro in Week 4 with a pair of run stops and an all-around confidence builder in the game as the Cowboys stopped the run and beat the Giants 20-15. Paired with Smith’s fourth quarter performance against Baltimore, there are signs that he’s turning his season around.

“Getting more confident, comfortable. Those are two things that I see from him each and every day,” head coach Mike McCarthy said. “More of a consistency, particularly the nose stunt, he hit two of those nicely in the game. It’s a game of consistency, but I definitely see a more confident Mazi Smith.”

It boils down to technique. Smith, who has struggled to anchor the defensive line, finally had success in doing so against the Giants.

“Just trusting the people around me,” Smith said. “The pieces around me and trusting the game. I’ve been playing for a long time. It’s finally come to fruition in my play and have to keep building, stay low with my pad level.”

Over the first three games, Mazi was graded as the 123rd defensive tackle out of 124 total in the NFL by Pro Football Focus. He went from a 33.0 grade in Week 3 against Baltimore, to the highest grade of the Week 4 matchup with a 88.4 overall defensive grade.

“I think Mazi has a lot more confidence right now,” defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer said. “When we got to training camp, I’m not sure he had that kind of confidence, but I think it’s continued to grow. More times you catch him doing things right, the better he does things. Hopefully he’s walking around with his head high and his chest out this week.”

Cowboys DE DeMarcus Lawrence going on IR for Lisfranc injury – Todd Archer, ESPN

The Cowboys made the move we knew was coming.

The Dallas Cowboys are putting defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence on injured reserve because of a Lisfranc injury to his right foot and have signed defensive end KJ Henry off the Cincinnati Bengals’ practice squad.

Lawrence is expected to need four to eight weeks to recover from the injury he suffered in the third quarter of last week’s win against the New York Giants, but he will not require surgery. The Cowboys are preparing to play without edge rusher Micah Parsons this week because of a high left ankle sprain.

Poachers are What the Dallas Cowboys Need to Be – Cody Warren, Inside the Star

The Cowboys could add to their roster by poaching practice squads.

Here is some running back help if the front office goes poaching.

Christopher Rodriguez (Washington Commanders PS)

Christopher Rodriquez would be the perfect player to poach. He’s a bigger back who can make the challenging runs.

He is 5’11″and 224 lbs, so he can take on hits and move a pile, which is something our current backs are unable to do.

Rodriguez showed last year he can run the ball in this league even with a subpar offensive line. In 51 attempts, he rushed for 247 yards for 4.84 yards a carry and two touchdowns.

He had nine rushes for ten or more yards in those 51 attempts. How many ten-plus yard runs do the Dallas Cowboys running backs have this year? The answer is one.

Cowboys signing EDGE K.J. Henry from the Bengals’ practice squad – RJ Ochoa, Blogging the Boys

K.J. Henry is familiar with the Cowboys defensive line coach, Jeff Zgonina.

On the other side of the defensive line DeMarcus Lawrence has a foot injury that is expected to sideline him somewhere between 4-8 weeks. He is, obviously, a candidate to officially head to injured reserve soon.

The most common sense in the world dictated that Dallas would soon enough bring in some pass rush help and that officially happened on Tuesday morning. ESPN reported that Dallas is signing K.J. Henry to a two-year deal off of the Cincinnati Bengals’ practice squad.

The Washington Commanders drafted Henry in the fifth round of the 2023 NFL Draft, he was the second pick of that round so he went somewhat early-ish on Saturday.

As far as this season is concerned Henry appeared in two games for the Bengals, their first two of the season. He logged only two snaps in the season opener against the New England Patriots, but saw a bit more work a week later against the Kansas City Chiefs. In that Chiefs game specifically he had one pressure on Patrick Mahomes and had an overall pressure rate of 16.7% for the contest.