Cowboys Trade at NFL Deadline? Did Jerry Jones 'Drop Huge Hint'?
FRISCO - There is, we will humbly submit, an advantage to having covered the Dallas Cowboys for the last 30-plus years: We speak "Jerry-ese.'' And it is a skill that comes in mighty handy every year as the NFL trade deadline approaches.
Case in point: Owner Jerry Jones speaking this week with 105.3 The Fan, and in the judgment of the fine folks at FanSided, "detailing what that the Cowboys plans for the trade deadline are. ... dropping a huge hint ... ahead of what could be a wild NFL trade deadline.''
Wow!
Jerry "detailed plans?''
He "dropped a huge hint''?
He's suggesting it's going to "be a wild NFL trade deadline''?
Actually, if a person is proficient at "Translating Jerry,'' the Cowboys owner did exactly none of those things.
Jerry's quote, that has excited the uninitiated?
The Cowboys, he said, are “open for business year-'round. I think we’ve got a unique situation because we’ve got players coming that we’re going to have to have roster spot room for. So, we’re busy.”
Wow!
Except ... We talked to two team sources shortly after Jerry's interview, asking specifically about Dallas being "busy.'' Both sources politely disagreed with the owner's assessment.
"Business as usual,'' is how one put it.
"Nothing on the front burner,'' said the other.
Maybe the only thing "unusual about business'' is that Dallas is 5-1, which can create a go-for-it mindset when envisioning a long-awaited return to the Super Bowl. But "open for business year-'round'' is something Jerry has literally said, in one form or another, for the last 30-plus years.
It's not a revelation. It's a by-rote response.
But what about, "We’ve got players coming that we’re going to have to have roster spot room for''? Does he mean, "players coming via trade''?
Nope. He does not. He means that the Cowboys do have players in Michael Gallup, Kelvin Joseph, Neville Gallimore and DeMarcus Lawrence (we're told in that order) who are coming off IR lists.
Those are the "players coming.''
And when he said that room must be made, he's talking about who on the present active roster will be cut. Or IR'ed. Or, in theory, traded.
But as we've reported in this space, no matter theories from even in-the-know folks at ESPN, there is not in place a plan to trade away Gallup. The idea is not to "make room'' by trading Gallup away; the idea is to make room for Gallup. For Joseph. For Gallimore. And for Lawrence.
Bleacher Report thinks the Cowboys are going after Steelers cornerback Joe Haden. But CowboysSI.com has told you that Dallas is not planning a pursuit of Joe Haden. (You should believe CowboysSI.com).
It's easy to get fooled by Jerry's salesmanship style of speaking; it's sexy for media and fans to dream up trade scenarios, and the owner knows it. So while Jones sometimes does drop hints (and enjoys the game of doing so), there are no hints here.
That doesn't guarantee Dallas will or won't make a deal before the Nov. 2 deadline. But we don't need "hints'' to guide you, because we've already been told: Here inside The Star, the Cowboys feel like their probable "roster additions'' in November are going to be named "Gallup.'' "Joseph,'' "Gallimore'' and "Lawrence.'' And the feeling won't be about selling dreams. The feeling will be real.
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