No Trades. No Spin. What's Dallas Cowboys Excuse For Failing to Deal at NFL Deadline?
FRISCO - The NFL trade deadline came went went on Tuesday without the Dallas Cowboys making a move. That is neither "good'' nor "bad''; moves for the sake of moving accomplish little, no matter what the "Do Something!'' Club thinks.
But the Cowboys seem to be leaking out a "spin'' of sorts, trying to peddle the twisted logic that they couldn't/needn't make a get-better trade because ... well, they already made get-better trades last spring and last winter.
In this space? "No trades'' are now a fact. And so is "no spin.''
Jerry Jones
In a Dallas News story entitled, "Don’t be fooled by Dallas’ inactivity at the deadline. Cowboys made their moves months ago,'' the local paper seems to be pleading the Cowboys' case that deadline moves were unneeded and/or undoable because of the previous moves made by the club, including having parted with a sixth-round pick last year for Johnathan Hankins, then giving up a fifth-round pick in March for cornerback Stephon Gilmore, then in March giving up a fifth- and a sixth-rounder for receiver Brandin Cooks, then in August giving up a fourth-round pick for quarterback Trey Lance.
The paper's summation: "Why didn’t the club make a comparable move ahead of Tuesday’s deadline? Well, it didn’t have a sixth-round pick in this draft to trade. Or a fourth- or fifth-rounder, for that matter.''
True. Obviously. But the club has other picks, right? What does getting better by using picks in March have to do with doing the same thing in October? How does one preclude the other?
The News writes, "The more accurate (narrative) is that the franchise made its moves months ago.''
But where is it written that that's the "trade rule''? That a team can't do both? Because apparently the Eagles, 49ers, Lions and Seahawks - the other four true contenders in the NFC, along with Dallas - didn't get the memo.
While the Cowboys stood pat, in recent days ...
The Eagles traded for Pro Bowl safety Kevin Byard, the Seahawks traded for stud defensive lineman Leonard Williams, the Detroit Lions traded for receiver Donovan Peoples-Jones and the 49ers traded for gifted pass-rusher Chase Young.
Given "the memo'' ... how is it that the Eagles did that, but also (using the same calendar as the Cowboys are using) in recent months traded for pass-rusher Robert Quinn, standout safety Chauncey Gardner-Johnson and superstar receiver A.J. Brown?
How is is that during that same time the 49ers traded for pass-rusher Randy Gregory and superstar running back Christian McCaffrey?
How is it that the Lions were involved in trades including names like D'Andre Swift, T.J. Hockenson and Jameson Williams?
How is it that the Seahawks would, days before the Williams trade, sign pass-rusher Frank Clark?
How is it that the buzz around here is that nobody would trade an offensive lineman, yet the Jaguars got one from Minnesota in Ezra Cleveland, or that the price was too high on cornerbacks but the Bills got one in the Packers' Rasul Douglas?
(Sidebar: The plugged-in Bryan Broaddus is reporting that Dallas wasn't in search of O-line help. We'll listen to Broaddus on this ... but we also have to listen to Jerry, who on Sunday night said, "If you really looked at our team right now, the biggest need is depth in the offensive line.")
Are we saying Dallas should've joined in on the buying spree "at any cost''? Absolutely not. We're saying that instead of some lame claim about what just happened, Cowboys Nation would respect a simple truthful concession from the team that "the price was wrong.''
