Cowboys: Trade for Brandin Cooks proves a different approach
The Dallas Cowboys are doing things differently this time around. If you've paid close attention, the offseason has been approached unlike any of the last few years. It's only fair to say the Cowboys' front office has lacked the aggressive signings and trades to complement their excellent drafting skills. They value their picks and they […]
The Dallas Cowboys are doing things differently this time around. If you've paid close attention, the offseason has been approached unlike any of the last few years.
It's only fair to say the Cowboys' front office has lacked the aggressive signings and trades to complement their excellent drafting skills. They value their picks and they pay their own but rarely do they go out of their way to get big-time veterans.
And listen, developing players is all good and well but every contending team in the past few years has also added NFL-tested players via free-agent signings or trades. It's an essential aspect of team building and one that the Cowboys haven't excelled at.
Just think back to last year. The biggest external additions to the team were DE Dante Fowler Jr. and WR James Washington. Both arrived at Dallas with pretty insignificant contracts.
But last week's trades for WR Brandin Cooks and CB Stephon Gilmore prove the Cowboys are willing to do things differently in 2023. They gave up a combined three Day 3 draft picks for two players with a combined $20 million base salary.
Gilmore arrives with two First-Team All-Pro seasons in his resume. Cooks has six 1,000-yard seasons under his belt. A quick look at the Cowboys' trade history proves how different these two transactions are from what the team usually does.
The biggest names on the tweet above include Amari Cooper, Michael Bennett, and Jonathan Hankins. All three of them were in-season trades, which means the team was reacting at the time more than it was being proactive. They got those players because they had few options and needed immediate help.
Who knows exactly where these moves are coming from? It might be a different strategy being employed by the front office (led by Stephen Jones and Will McClay) or if it's the head coach exercising his influence.
But what matters is that for the first time in a long, long time, the Cowboys are approaching things differently. It's no longer "we like our guys" and "we value our draft picks."
Even beyond the couple of high-profile trades, the Cowboys made decisions regarding their own guys that deviate from their usual way of doing things. They cut RB Ezekiel Elliott and they paid big money to safety Donovan Wilson.
Whether or not it pays off when football season actually starts, the Cowboys deserve their props for finally showing a willingness to evolve their team-building tactics.
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