Cowboys (Media) Trade Proposal: TE Dalton Schultz for Bears LB Roquan Smith?

FRISCO - The Dallas Cowboys are about to launch a 2022 season with a Sunday night visit from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers that figures to reveal some important aspects this Dak Prescott-led offense.

In our opinion - the comments from Jerry Jones and Tony Romo that suggest this will be an Ezekiel Elliott-keyed run-first offense aside - one of the coming reveals is that while CeeDee Lamb is going to collect an astounding number of targets ...

Dalton Schultz might as well.

It is therefore a bit bewildering to see Bleacher Report suggest that it thinks the Cowboys should consider making a trade involving Schultz and netting linebacker Roquan Smith from the Chicago Bears.

Their thinking?

"Schultz is an integral part of the Cowboys offense, but they're already paying top dollar at four different offensive positions (quarterback, running back, right guard and left tackle)," writes Bleacher Report. "Can they realistically afford to give Schultz a major deal as well?''

Yeah, but ...

*If Dallas doesn't want to "pay top dollar'' anymore, why would it want to take on Roquan, who is involved in a contract dispute - and who will eventually make $15 million-plus APY?

*Why do the Bears want to "pay top dollar'' to Schultz, who is making $11.8 million this year (and will be a free agent in 2023)?

*Why, especially, do the Bears need to move off a Pro Bowl linebacker to acquire a tight end when they already employ Cole Kmet? The 6-6, 260-pound Kmet is a second-round pick entering Year 3 and coming off a season during which he produced 60 receptions for 612 yards. How, therefore, is tight end a Bears need?

*Why do the Cowboys, already loaded at linebacker with Micah Parsons, Leighton Vander Esch, Anthony Barr and Jabril Cox, need another one?

*And most of all: While it is conceivable that Dallas will fall in love with Schultz backups like rookies Jake Ferguson and Peyton Hendershot - allowing the Cowboys to let Dalton Schultz go free after the season ... how does B/R figure (in another speculative scenario) that Dallas would accept "a conditional 2023 fourth-round draft pick'' for Schultz when, if he walks, the Cowboys will receive a compensatory pick for him?

There's an easy bottom line here: While Smith is (in a vacuum) a "better player'' than Schultz, he is not more valuable to Dallas than Schultz is.

The Cowboys, as presently constructed, need a Dalton Schultz on offense (as we bet we'll start seeing on Sunday) more than they need a Roquan Smith on defense - making this one of those "trade proposals'' that would see both the Cowboys and the Bears "slamming down the phone'' on one another.

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